heir useless
oars; and, running nimbly along the timber, rallied in a group about
their standard, waving their caps, and braving the wild roar of the
water with as wild a cheer. Suddenly the fluttering pennon drooped
against the mast, then rose erect above it; the loud hurrah was lost,
and headlong down they sank.

The heavy mass, loosely bound together, now writhed and bent about like
a net of twine cast upon an angry brook, whilst the concussion produced
by the clashing timbers sounded like a discharge from a battery. I drew
short breath as I looked upon the men emerging from the foam, and again
actively running to quarters to resume the heavy oars.

If the raft goes down unbroken, they guide it so as to preserve the very
strength of the stream, until the diminished pace again demands their
labour; but if any timbers are severed from the parent bed by the leap,
as is frequently the case, the sternmost gang leisurely dart their
pile-headed poles of an almost unwieldy length into the stray logs, and
thus drawing them quickly back again, secure them in their places
preparatory to the next fall lying on their perilous path.

I felt monstrously excited when, roused by the cry of the near
_voyageurs_, I rose for the first time to witness a scene to which I
feel my pen can do but little justice; from the first glance at the
timber-ends emerging past a leafy turn in the up-stream, and bounding
onward with a momentary increase of impetus, until the strong raft
becomes but as a bed of straw upon the torrent. Then there is the
desperate plying of the oars, their hurried abandonment, with the
in-gathering, of the bold crew clinging together with cheers round their
bright flag, until the leap is made, and the assailing waves rise
boiling about and above them.

One of the descending rafts, for we were favoured with several, parted
in nearly two halves within the rapids: luckily no one had been left out
of bounds; for, as the fishermen assured us, the strongest swimmer is
never seen alive after his first plunge into these frightful eddies.

Having abided our time, we purchased a fine shad, which we took to a
near cottage, where the mistress cheerfully set about _boucan_-ing it
for us; that is, roasting it over the fire in the smoke of the wood.
With this, some brown-bread, and a glass of water, we made an excellent
luncheon; then, after taking a considerable circuit, re-entered
Montreal, and crossed at once to the island _par e