Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/170

 called to his senses by a warning shout from his friends behind.

"Look out, there," yelled Joe and Roy, in concert. "You'll be over the brink the first thing you know."

Tom heard the warning, but it came too late. He dropped his paddle into the water and made desperate efforts to check his canoe, which had already gained rapid headway; but the swift current had taken firm hold of him, and finding that it was much stronger than he was, he resolved to go ahead and trust to luck to keep from running into Arthur Hastings, in case the latter met with an accident.

Tom afterward said that he did not remember much about that wild ride. He was lost in admiration of Arthur Hastings's skill as a canoeist, and followed in his wake through all the turns he made, which were so numerous and bewildering that Tom did not see how one boy's head could contain them all. It was a lucky thing for him and his cousins that they did not attempt to go through there without a guide. He did not hear the waters foaming and roaring around him, nor did he see a single