Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/167

 the way through; but he won the second place, and was prompt to fall into it when Arthur Hastings caught up his paddle and pulled away from the beach.

Tom and his cousins had often viewed the rapids from the bank while trying in vain to screw up courage enough to attempt their passage, and if they looked dangerous to them then, they looked ten times more frightful when they surveyed them from their canoes on this particular morning. The sight of them was enough to make any body's nerves quiver. They looked as steep as the roof of a house, and the bottom of the gorge through which they ran, seemed to be literally covered with bowlders. Torn could not see a single place which looked wide enough to admit of the passage of a canoe.

"What do you think of them?" asked Arthur, as he and Tom backed water with their paddles to keep their canoes from taking the plunge before they were ready.

"Who was the first man who went down here?" said Tom, in reply.

"One of the hotel guides."