Page:Athletics and Manly Sport (1890).djvu/386

Rh floated her, she had anything but a racing bottom; but she was as tight as a drum.

Below Easton, opposite the great rolling-mill, we saw a sight of striking effect,—a multitude of men and boys—perhaps a hundred altogether—stripped for swimmiing, and standing on the high bank. They were outlined against the sky; and as we passed them a hundred yards off, they seemed models of lightness and grace. It was probably the great number of white bodies that made the scene so strange.

Such peaches as we lived on that day—such cantelopes, such melons! Such an island as we camped on, with clean sand as soft as flour! Such a spring pouring out of the mountain across the river, the water as cold as ice, and as clear as liquid diamonds! We enjoyed it with the keenness born of regret; for next day one of our party would have to leave the river.

At Reigelsville, next day, a little Jersey town on a high bank, Moseley boarded the train with his canoe. The other two proceeded; but it was lonely for a day or two, and we sadly missed the strong canoeman and the cheery companion who had left us.

A few miles below Reigelsville the river makes a dive down hill, without breaking, so that we seemed to be on a level with the tops of trees