Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/162

 than it is in the lake. The people who come here to spend the summer do not often go down there, because there is no wagon road through the woods, and they are afraid to trust themselves to the rapids. Well, they are frightful to look at, that's a fact, but" "We know that very well," interrupted Ralph. "We have gone down there a dozen times with our minds fully made up that we would run those rapids, or smash our canoes in trying, and we have as often come back without making the attempt. When we reached the place where the water leaves the lake, and goes foaming and boiling over the rocks in the gorge below, our arms always went back on us."

"Your arms?" repeated Sheldon.

"Yes. Our hearts were brave enough for any thing, but our cowardly arms wouldn't pull the canoes into the rapids."

"Oh!" said Sheldon. "Well, your cowardly arms were the wisest part of you, for you certainly ought not to try to go through until you know where the channel is. Those rapids have been run hundreds of times, though not