as at
his heels, and took the water like a duck. The poor clerk, in his
hurry, swayed from side to side tryin' to prevent the canoe goin' over.
But when he went to one side, he was so unused to it that he went too
far, and had to jerk over to the other pretty sharp; and so he got worse
and worse, until he heard the bear give a great snort beside him. Then
he grabbed the paddle in desperation, but at the first dash he missed
his stroke, and over he went. The current was pretty strong at the
place, which was lucky for him, for it kept him down a bit, so that the
bear didn't observe him for a little; and while it was pokin' away at
the canoe, he was carried downstream like a log and stranded on a
shallow. Jumping up, he made tracks for the wood, and the bear (which
had found out its mistake) after him; so he was obliged at last to take
to a tree, where the beast watched him for a day and a night, till his
friends, thinking that something must be wrong, sent out to look for
him. (Steady, now, Mr Charles; a little more to the right. That's
it.) Now, if that young man had only ventured boldly into small canoes
when he got the chance, he might have laughed at the grizzly and killed
him too."

As Jacques finished, the canoe glided into a quiet bay formed by an eddy
of the rapid, where the still water was overhung by dense foliage.

"Is the portage a long one?" asked Charley, as he stepped out on the
bank, and helped to unload the canoe.

"About half a mile," replied his companion. "We might make it shorter
by poling up the last rapid; but it's stiff work, Mr Charles, and we'll
do the thing quicker and easier at one lift."

The two travellers now proceeded to make a portage. They prepared to
carry their canoe and baggage overland, so as to avoid a succession of
rapids and waterfalls which intercepted their further progress.

"Now, Jacques, up with it," said Charley, after the loading had been
taken out and placed on the grassy bank.

The hunter stooped, and seizing the canoe by its centre bar, lifted it
out of the water, placed it on his shoulders, and walked off with it
into the woods. This was not accomplished by the man's superior
strength. Charley could have done it quite as well; and, indeed, the
strong hunter could have carried a canoe of twice the size with perfect
ease. Immediately afterwards Charley followed with as much of the
lading as he could carry, leaving enough on the bank to form another
load.