acked together on both sides. The boat
continued on her course for half an hour longer, when she seemed to have
come to the end of all things, and the gong rang to stop her.
"Here we are!" exclaimed Scott. "And here we are likely to remain,
unless we back down stream till we find a place wide enough to turn in."
The obstruction which closed the passage of the river against the
Blanchita was a bridge of dead pines which the current had brought down,
and they had caught at the sides till they formed the barrier. It was
not more than six feet wide, though it might as well have been a hundred
so far as blocking up the river was concerned.
"I don't like the idea of stopping here, for I want to see the lakes
above; and I hoped we might get some fishing there," said Louis.
"What the matter is?" called Achang from his workshop.
He moved to one side so that he could see the obstruction.
"You can go through that, Captain," he continued, after Morris had
corrected his English. "I have come up here before, and we have cut a
way through."
"All right; we will see what the bridge is made of," said the captain,
as he rang to back the boat.
She backed down the stream about twenty rods, and then he stopped her.
He then ordered Clingman to draw a piece of sailcloth over the stem, to
prevent the dead pines from scratching the paint on the bow. As soon as
this was done, she went ahead again at full speed, and the captain
called to the engineer to give her all the steam he could. She went
ahead at a furious rate, and Scott pointed her to what seemed to be the
weakest place in the barrier.
"Now hold on, fellows, or she will tip you over!" shouted the captain as
the boat approached the obstruction.
She struck the mass of pines, and drove her bow far into it, but stopped
without going through it. The barrier was not solid, and was held
together by the entanglement of the bushes as they were driven into the
nucleus of the mass by the current.
"We can't cut through in that way," said Scott, as he looked at the
half-sundered bridge.
"We don't want to take the back track," added Louis.
"There are more ways than one to skin a mosquito, and we haven't half
tried yet," replied the captain. "The thing is softer than I supposed,
and yielded when the boat hit it. I could go through, but it would take
all the paint off the sides. Get out the anchor, Clingman, and we will
see what can be done."
"I think we shall stick fast en
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