Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/260

245 Tiic irrrsT last, are th#e others i:b><he lead, bitt^ione of these is aboiifc 4» get ahead and so hia craft is' toppled; and nov iWm turn and are on the way to the winning place. B«fe now comes twenty or more, who must stop thes» two sore, so these twenty are all after the two poor fel- lows, their canoes are eyen taken possession of,, end back to the turning; point, so they must retarn to gefe them if they wish to be in the race. Abont twentiy^ are now fairly turned, and the real fun commeooes. Remember they now have to go up the river, which Is a different proposition to coming down, and all^ngh everyone of them are like ducks in the water, yet to swim against the current is not like being in a canoe with a good paddle. The different methods of trying to get the lead were numerous; some when upset con- cluded to discard their psiddle and swim, pushing their canoe ahead; others hung on to their paddle not- Withstanding they were in the water. When the man without a paddle got an opportunity to clamber into a craft, but had nothing to propel her with, he strad_ died the thing and used his feet for paddles. Others who had lost their propulsion blade laid down flat and used their hands to forge ahead. But see, there are several who have succeeded in getting away. But here comes a mob of tail enders, who could not resist the temptation to undo them; so all three are left in the water. But it begins to look as though these three are the ones who are in the race, for all are passed now, and they are more than half way en the first half, and now our young Indian begins to con- teinplate his coup, for he is drawing near the very place wlicr3 he knows his trick will succoed if he can