long the banks had four or five trunks, and leaned far
out over the water, making the shadows which gave the river its
name. A crane, startled by the approach of the canoes, rose in
wheeling flight over their heads. The willows waved their
feathery boughs in the sun and gleamed bright against the dark
background of the pines. Migwan noted down the different
contours of the trees, how the elms spread out wide at the top,
how the pines tapered to a point, how the maples spread out
irregularly. A flock of wild ducks passed them. In some places
the banks of the river were honeycombed by the holes of bank
swallows. A turtle, sitting on a half-sunken log, stretched his
neck and looked after them as long as he could see them. All
these things Migwan saw and set down in her book with a quiet
enjoyment.

A ripple of excitement ran through the girls as they saw, far in
the distance, the big river steamer approaching. "Shall we land
until it has passed?" called Sahwah.

"We can't land here," answered Nyoda, "the banks are nothing but
mud and slime. Come in as close to shore as possible, and keep
paddling so the waves from the steamer won't swamp you." The big
passenger boat nearly filled the river from bank to bank, but she
came very slowly and the waves she made did not amount to much
after all. The people on board ran to the rail with their
cameras to snapshot the three canoes full of girls--a birchbark
canoe ahead bearing the huntress with her rifle; a big green
canoe next packed with ponchos and supplies, followed by a canoe
with sails, at the top of which floated the Winnebago banner.
Sahwah saluted with her paddle as she passed; the other girls
waved their handkerchiefs in friendly greeting.

Farther up the river there were rapids and the paddling became
strenuous indeed. The sails had to come down from the sailing
canoe, and the crew, who had been having an easy time, of it, had
to bend to their paddles with all their might. Going through a
rapid requires short, hard strokes in swift succession, to make
any headway at all, and more than once a canoe was whirled around
in the rushing water and hurled back downstream. Sahwah was
having a great time. She pretended that she was in the rapids of
the Niagara, paddling for her life, and put forth such strenuous
efforts that she soon left the others behind.

The girls were so tired by the time they reached calm waters
again that Nyoda ordered them to land on a