The Six River Motor Boat Boys on the St. Lawrence; Or, The Lost Channel

by William Osborn Stoddard

  CHAPTER XV

  THROUGH THE FAMOUS RAPIDS

  A special bunk, the softest and springiest that could be made, wasfitted up for Captain Joe in the cabin that night. The old fellow soenjoyed visiting with the boys that it was late before they went tosleep, and so the sun was well up when they left their beds in themorning.

  "Now," Clay said, after all had indulged in a short swim in the river,"we're going to celebrate the arrival of Captain Joe by one of Alex'sbeefsteak breakfasts at a restaurant. Captain Joe has traveled so farto see us that we're not going to take any chances on having himpoisoned by Case's cooking."

  "Now look here, boys," Captain Joe remonstrated, "I've had a good manyrestaurant meals along the South Branch since you boys deserted me,and a chef has been cooking for me on the Rutland boat, so I proposethat we get breakfast right here, on the _Rambler_. It will be anovelty for me, anyway."

  "What would you like, Captain?" asked Alex.

  "Well," said Captain Joe almost smacking his lips, "you know the kindof pancakes they serve at the Bismark, Chicago? They're half an inchthick, you know, and as large as the bottom of a milk pan. Cost aquarter apiece, and a fellow doesn't want anything more to eat allday! Now, you go ahead and make pancakes like we used to get at theBismark."

  "And eggs, and ham, and beans, and coffee, and fried potatoes, andcanned peaches?" asked Case. "We're sure going to celebrate, CaptainJoe."

  "Well boys," said the old captain, "if you want to go and makeprovision tanks of yourselves, you can do it, but for my part, I'mgoing to be careful in my eating, as I'm getting old! Just rig me up asimple little meal consisting of eight or ten of those twenty-fivecent pancakes and half a dozen eggs and three or four cups of coffee,and I'll try to worry through the day."

  "I don't see how you can get along with anything less than a dozenpancakes and a gallon of coffee," laughed Clay, "and I'll go on shoreand buy a box of the finest cigars to be had in Ogdensburg."

  Captain Joe held up a warning finger.

  "Now look here, boys," he said, "you know how I used to pull away atthat dirty old pipe on the South Branch. I used to be ashamed ofmyself, smoking up your quarters, so after you left I quit the weedentirely. I haven't smoked a pipe or cigar for a long time," he added,proudly.

  And so the breakfast was prepared as Captain Joe directed. The boysset out what little honey Teddy hadn't succeeded in getting hold of,and the pancakes were greatly enjoyed. But the Captain didn't finishhis stunt.

  "You boys are mighty good to an old man like me," he said.

  "Mighty good!" repeated Clay. "Don't you remember when some sneakstole all the money we had been saving for a year to take us on theAmazon trip? Don't you remember how we hustled and got a little moretogether, and how you were afraid we wouldn't have enough, and mightgo broke in the Andes, and you took two hundred dollars and put it ina packet and told us to open it when we got into trouble? There isnothing on this boat you can't have, Captain Joe."

  "Well," said the old man, "I didn't need the money, and, besides, Igot it back. It didn't cost me anything to lend it."

  "We needed it, though," grinned Alex, "and we might have been backthere yet if we hadn't had it. You're the luckiest man I know of or itwould never have been returned. And we were lucky, too."

  "And now, if you don't mind," said Captain Joe, "we'll cut all thistalk out. I'm going to stay with you boys just as long as you'll letme, and I don't want to hear any more talk about that consarned twohundred dollars. I've heard too much already."

  "We think of it every time we see the white bulldog," laughed Case.

  "By the way," said the Captain, "I've got that two hundred dollars inmy jeans this minute, and if you should happen to want any of it justlet me know. I really don't know what to do with it."

  "Pigs will be flying when we use any more of your money, Captain Joe,"Alex smiled. "We've got plenty of our own."

  After breakfast, with Captain Joe at the helm, the boat was turnedtoward the Great Lakes. It was seven o'clock when they left Ogdensburgand at ten they were at Alexandria Bay.

  "Suppose we keep on the Canadian side going up," Captain Joesuggested, "and then, when we come back, we can take the Americanside."

  "Can you take the boat up and back without knocking off any of theseheadlands?" asked Alex with a wink at the Captain.

  "Look here, young man," replied the Captain not at all offended, "Iwas dipping the water into this river before you were born. I can takethis boat within an inch of every island and crag and headland betweenhere and Lake Ontario and never scrape off an ounce of paint. I'vesailed on the ocean, too, and all up and down the Great Lakes. ThisSt. Lawrence river was always like a little pet kitten to me."

  According to this suggestion, the captain left Alexandria Bay to thesouth and proceeded over to the Canadian side. The boat was now juststarting in on its run through the famous Thousand Islands.

  Many times it seemed to the boys as if Captain Joe intended to run thecraft directly through some of the magnificent cottages located highabove the river, but always the boat turned just in time to keep infoot-clear water. The boys stood leaning on the gunwale for hourswatching the splendid panorama of the river.

  There were islands rich with verdure; there were islets brown androcky, there were great level places hemmed in by the river wheremagnificent summer residences showed against the beauty of thelandscape.

  Now and then summer tourists hailed the _Rambler_ from the river, andoccasionally girls and boys ran down the island piers to greet herwith the waving of flags. It was a glorious trip.

  Captain Joe explained many features of the stream as they passed up,and as long as the boys lived they remembered the shimmer of the sunon the island foliage, the white-fringed waves rumpled by the lightwind, and the voice of the kind old man telling them the experiencesof a life time.

  Just before sundown, after one of the pleasantest days they everexperienced, the boys reached Kingston. Captain Joe seemed disinclinedto leave the boat that night, and so the boys spent three hourswandering up and down the streets of the historic old city. Off to thewest lay the famous Bay of Quinte. Farther south was Sackett's Harbor,while between the two lay Wolfe island, stuck into the mouth of theSt. Lawrence river like a great plug. The boys enjoyed the nightramble immensely.

  "Now, Captain Joe," Clay said in the morning, "suppose we circle Wolfeisland, inspect the light house at Cape Vincent, and spend part of aday at Sackett's Harbor? I don't know of any better way to spend thenext twelve hours than in making a trip like that."

  "Sackett's Harbor was a military point during the last war with GreatBritain," Jule said, "and I'd like to look over the town."

  "Nothing much doing there now in the way of guns and soldiers,"Captain Joe said, "but, as you say, it would pay you well to spend aday on the waters in this vicinity. You may never have the chanceagain."

  So the _Rambler_ headed for Cape Vincent, where they stopped longenough to inspect the big light, first taking a view of Sackett'sHarbor. About noon, they came to Clayton, where they paused longenough to inspect several groups of islands on the American side.

  Then, with Captain Joe still at the helm, the boat passed down toAlexandria Bay where they tied up for the night.

  "To-morrow," Captain Joe said, as the boys made great inroads on theBismark pancakes stacked up on the table, "I'll take you through theLachine rapids. You'll find we'll have to go some."

  "You haven't got any government license!" laughed Alex.

  "No," said the old Captain, "I'm not an ignorant Indian. I can readand write, and so I can't get a government license, but I'll tell youwhat I can do. I can take this boat down the Lachine without getting adrop of water on the deck."

  The Captain was a little bit inclined to tell what he had done andwhat he could do, but his stories were all truthful and interesting,so the boys rather enjoyed them, and the captain enjoyed talking.

  "You needn't think we're going to fly through the air on this trip,"Jule said winking at th
e Captain. "We're going to take about two daysto get down to the Lachine. We'll loaf along the river to-morrow,making about one hundred miles, tie up for the night, and reachLachine in the afternoon of the day after. What do you think of thatfor a program, boys?" he added, turning to Clay.

  "That's the way I figured it out," Clay answered. "There is no use inbeing in a hurry. We've got all the time there is."

  Every person on the boat, except perhaps the dog and the bear, sleptsoundly that night. There was no wind, and the little bay they were inprotected them from the wash of the steamers. When they awoke in themorning the sun was rising round and red out of the river.

  That day was another one long to be remembered by every member of the_Rambler_ party. They drifted, using the motors just enough to giveheadway, fished in the clear water, and told stories of old days onthe South Branch--days long to be remembered by them all.

  That night partook of the character of the last one so far as sleepand rest were concerned. The boat lay at a little pier not far from arural settlement. Early in the evening villagers came down attractedby the clamor of the motors but soon returned to their homes.

  It was on that evening that Alex made his famous attempt to cook ariver fish a la Indian. There was something the matter with the fish,or with the hot stones, or with the soil! At any rate, the whitebulldog and the bear cub got the supper the boy had sweated over foran hour or more.

  Shortly after noon on the following day, the _Rambler_ came to thehead of the Lachine rapids, six miles above Montreal.

  Although the boys had every confidence in Captain Joe as a pilot, someof them were inclined to think that his memory of the rapids might notbe as good as his skill. Many a time during that passage the grand andlofty tumbling of the waters as they broke upon projecting rocksseemed about to engulf the frail craft.

  Many a time the nose of the _Rambler_ seemed pointing directly at ahidden rock which sent the river spouting into the air like the "blow"of a great whale. Many a time the wayward current caught the prow andtwisted it about until it seemed as if the boat would never respond toher rudder again.

  But the eyes of the captain were true, the arms of the old sailing manwere strong, and so the boat always came back to the course he hadmapped out for her. When at last the rapids were passed, the boys weregreatly relieved.

  During the excitement of the trip, little fear had been felt after thefirst plunge, but now that it was over, they realized that they hadbeen in absolute peril. Almost with the momentum which had carried the_Rambler_ down the Lachine, the boat came to a pier on the river frontat Montreal. Looking about, the boys saw that they were almost in thelocation where they had tied up before.

  Clay sprang ashore, hastened to a telephone, talked eagerly for a fewmoments and then returned to the _Rambler_. Captain Joe sat out on theprow and the boy took a deck stool beside him.

  "Captain Joe," the boy asked, "what would have taken place if we hadrun out of gasoline while navigating the rapids?"

  The captain eyed the boy with surprise showing on his weather-beatenface. He poked Clay in the ribs before answering.

  "Why do you ask an old captain a foolish question like that?" he said.

  "I'm asking for information," was the reply. "Tell me what would havehappened. I really want to know."

  "Well," Captain Joe replied, scratching his chin meditatively, "if thegasoline had given out in the rapids, just about this time there wouldbe a lot of boards bumping against the rocks, and a motor rusting inthe bottom of the river, and five human beings, a bulldog and a bearfloating out toward the Gulf of St. Lawrence."

  "That's just what I thought," Clay exclaimed. "That's just why I wasscared stiff when I found out that we were just about out of gasolineas we struck the head of the rapids."

  "And you never said a word about it," asked the captain, "to any ofthe boys? You kept it all to yourself?"

  "Huh," replied Clay, "where was the use in scaring the fellows out ofa year's growth. Didn't you notice my cap walking straight up into theair? That was because my hair lifted it."

  "Boy, boy," expostulated Captain Joe, "don't lie to the old man. Idon't believe you were scared at all."

  "Well, anyway," replied Clay, "the tanks are empty, and there will bea wagon down here pretty quick to fill them up. Now mind you, I'm notgoing to say a word to the other boys about this. If I do, they'llnever get over roasting me. We should have taken on gasoline atKingston, but I forgot all about it."

  "Do you remember what you told me about this Lawyer Martin?" askedCaptain Joe. "He seems to be the lawyer leading the band of ruffianswho are trying to keep the lost channel lost forever!"

  "Yes," replied Clay, "and I was just going to speak about that. It wasin Montreal that we met him, disguised as a riverside character, and Iwas wondering if it might not be well to go ashore and look him up."

  "Don't you ever think of doing that," Captain Joe replied. "You getyour gasoline and lay in additional pancake material and we'll go ondown the river to Cartier island. That's what they call thatpeninsula, isn't it? Let me tell you this," the old man added, "if youhave anything more to do with this man Martin, you let him be the oneto do the looking up."

  "That's good sense, too," agreed Clay. "He might discover that we wereon our way back if we went up into the city. So we'll remain quietto-night and set out for Cartier island and the lost channel earlyto-morrow morning."