If you are dashed headlong or
sideways against any of the five hundred and one waiting rocks, that will
doubtless be the end of you; but there is a good chance that you may get
through without hitting anything. A minute, or two minutes at the most,
will see you through the rapids to calm current beyond. You can hold your
breath that length of time, so that the spray and wildly tossing waves of
the rapids, the froth and spume, will not get up your nose and choke you."
In the meantime, I had fixed my eye on an immense square block of rock,
that rested just above the dangerous rapids, and close to the southern
shore. I knew if I could reach the shore inside that rock I was safe, so
striking out vigorously, and aiming for a point far above it, I swam as
strongly as I knew how, making every stroke tell, refusing to be alarmed or
confused by the terrifying roar of the rapids, which now seemed but a step
away. I did not have to test my method of going through the rapids. I
reached the shore in safety, walked back to camp, had a good breakfast,
made all the more appetizing by my swim and the consequent danger, and in
half an hour the ride up the trail and my companions were absorbing all my
attention. To all of them, save one, this recital of my morning's adventure
will be new.
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