As they advanced toward it, Forester called out, "_Give way
strong!_" and all the boys pulled their oars with all their
strength, without, however, accelerating the strokes. This gave
the boat a rapid headway, and then Forester gave the order to
_trail_, when the boys simultaneously lifted the oars out of the
row-locks and let them drift in the water alongside of the boat. As
the boat was advancing very swiftly, the oars were immediately swept
in close to her sides, and thus were out of the way, and the boat
glided safely and swiftly through the passage, and emerged into a
broader sheet of smooth water beyond.
"_Recover!_" said Forester. The boys then, by a peculiar
manoeuver which they had learned by much practice, brought back their
oars into the row-locks, and raised the blades out of the water, so
as to get them into a position for rowing. "_Give way!_" said
Forester, and immediately they were all in motion, the boat gliding
swiftly down the stream.
After they had gone on in this way a few minutes, Forester ordered the
oars _apeak_, and put the crew at ease. When the oars are apeak,
they are drawn _in_ a little way, so that the handle of each oar
may be passed under a sort of cleat or ledge, which runs along on the
inside of the boat near the upper edge of it. This keeps the oar firm
in its place without the necessity of holding it, the handle being
under this cleat, while the middle of the oar rests in the row-lock.
Thus the oarsmen are relieved from the necessity of holding their
oars, and yet the oars are all ready to be seized again in a moment,
whenever it becomes desirable to commence rowing.
Meantime the boat slowly drifted down the stream. The water was here
deep and comparatively still, and the boys amused themselves with
looking over the sides into the depths of the water. They glided
noiselessly along over various objects, - now a great flat rock, now
a sunken tree, and now a bed of yellow sand. Every now and then,
Forester would order the oars out, and make the oarsmen give way for
a few strokes, so as to give the boat what they called steerage way,
that is, way through the water, so that holding the paddle in one
position or the other would steer it. In this way Forester guided the
boat in the right direction, keeping it pretty near the middle of the
stream.
This mill-stream, as has already been stated, emptied into the river,
and the boat was now rapidly approaching the place of junction. In a
few minutes more the river came into view. The boys could see it at
some distance before them, running with great rapidity by a rocky
point of land which formed one side of the mouth of the brook.
"Now, boys," said Forester, "is it safe for us to go out into that
current?"
"Yes," said Marco, "by all means, - let us go."
"Perhaps we shall upset in the rips," said some of the boys.
"No matter if we do," said Marco; "it is not deep in the rips, and of
course there is no danger."
"That is in our favor certainly," said Forester. "Whenever the current
sets strong, there it is sure to be shallow, so that if we upset
we should not be drowned; and where it is deep, so as to make it
dangerous for us to get in, it is always still, and thus there is no
danger of upsetting."
"What is the reason of that?" said one of the boys.
"The reason is given in this way," said Forester, "in the college
mathematics. The velocity of a stream is inversely as the area of the
section."
The boys did not understand such mathematical phraseology as this, and
so Forester clothed his explanation in different language. He said
that where the stream was shallow or narrow, the current must be more
rapid, in order to get all the water through in so small a space, but
where it is deep, it may move slowly.
Forester landed his crew upon the rocky point, where they had a very
pleasant view up and down the river. He proposed to them to have their
luncheon there, and to this they agreed. So they went back to the edge
of the rocks, where there was a little grove of trees, and they sat
down upon a log which had been worn smooth by the action of the water
in floods, and bleached by the sun.
There were plenty of dry sticks and slabs lying about upon the shore,
which Forester ordered the crew to collect in order to build a fire.
It was not cold, and they had no need of a fire for any purposes
of cooking, but a fire would look cheerful and pleasant, and they
accordingly made one. Forester had some matches in his pocket. Two of
the crew brought the basket from the boat, and when they had opened
it, they found an abundant store of provisions. There was a dozen or
more of round cakes, and a large apple-pie, which, as there were just
eight of them, gave forty-five degrees to each one. There was also a
jug of milk, and a silver mug, which Forester's mother had lent them
for the excursion, to drink out of.
The boys, whose appetites had been sharpened by their exertions in the
portage of the boat round the falls, and in rowing, did not cease
to eat until the provisions were entirely exhausted, and then they
carried the empty basket back to the boat.
