CHAPTER XII
WINNING AN INDIAN'S ADMIRATION
Fortunately for all of them, Jack Stormways was not given to fear. Inemergencies he acted from intuition, rather than through thinking thingsout, no matter however speedily.
There may come times when a second counts for everything. Jack believedsuch an occasion was now upon them; and he acted instantly.
The man in falling forward had pushed his paddle alongside Jack. It wasas plain an invitation to fill his place as could have been given.
Making one swoop the boy snatched up the stout blade, and instantlydipped it over the port side. Desperately he exerted his strength tosteer the canoe away from the fatal eddies that sought to draw themstill further into the vortex.
The Indian in the bow may have suspected something of what had occurred;but he dared not turn his head now, or take his attention away from therocks ahead for even one lone second.
As for the five boys, they were all staring at the near-by whirlpool asthough actually fascinated by its terrors; and not suspecting how closethey were to plunging straight into its grip.
With every atom of his strength did Jack work, dipping as deeply as hecould, and striving against the giant power of the mill race on whichthey were speeding.
The edge of the circling current was horribly close; in fact they seemedto skirt its very border, closer perhaps than even the veteran guideever carried his cargoes of tourists, when in his prime.
Jack fairly held his breath as the crisis came. He did not know, couldnot tell whether they would win out or not. It was an experience thatwould doubtless continue to haunt the lad for a long time. Perhaps hewould awaken in the night with a start and a low cry, having dreamedthat once again he sat in the canoe with the dark skinned steersmanfallen in a faint, and the hungry maw of the whirlpool yawning so veryclose on their left that one could have tossed a chip directly into it.
"Wow! wasn't that a close shave though, boys?" shouted George, halfturning his head to look at his mates; and then following his words withanother cry: "Look at Jack, would you? Great governor! what happened?"
And as the others twisted around to look, they were amazed to discoverthat Jack was wielding that paddle like a veteran, his face as white aschalk, and his eyes staring; but his teeth firmly pressed together, witha look of grim determination on his young face.
Not a word was spoken until they had passed the last bristling rock, andspun out below where the foamy water took on a less violent aspect.
Then Bedlam broke loose.
"Sit still, all of you!" cried Jack, as he saw a movement on the part ofhis chums to get up; "you'll upset the canoe yet, if you try that. Waittill we reach the shore, and you'll know about it. The man has fainted,that's all; and I had to take his place."
"But he was all right when we started, for I looked around and saw him,"declared Herb.
"That's true," Jack answered. "He keeled over just before we got to thewhirlpool, and as he dropped his paddle right beside me, all I had to dowas to dip it in, and exert myself a little."
"A little!" echoed George, with thrilling emphasis, "look at the beadsof sweat on his forehead, fellows! Jack, honest now, you must have savedall our lives. Ugh! just to think, if the boat had swerved then, wherewould we be right now?"
They looked at each other, and turned paler than when passing throughthe yeasty waters of the rapids. But Jack tried to make light of it all.
"Oh! shucks!" he laughed, though his voice trembled a bit in spite ofhis wonderful nerve; "any of you would have done the same thing. Why,there was nothing else to do, to tell the truth."
"Me?" exclaimed Nick; "I'd sure have been so frozen with horror that allI could do would have been to grab hold of the boat, and shut my eyes.Kept 'em shut part of the time, anyhow. Felt like I had an awfultemptation to just jump out of the boat, and into that nice water thatwas singing and gurgling along beside us."
"I guess you'd better never try the rapids any more then, Buster," saidGeorge, "if that's the way it affected you. I remember now hearing yousay you never was able to walk on the ties of a railroad bridge, or lookover a precipice, because something made you dizzy."
They reached the shore near the small house where Old John Boucher andhis family, one of the sons said to be a preacher, lived in the daysgone by. When the boys climbed out of the canoe, the Indian stepped into help his comrade, who had by then come out of his swoon, and was ableto feebly walk.
To the surprise of Jack the Indian who had been in the bow stopped tohold out his hard-skinned hand, and squeeze that of the boy.
"You Jack all right! Think it all over with everybody when Jim he fall.But you do right, think. Bully!" was what he said.
"Hurray!" shouted Nick, waving his new hat wildly.
"Three cheers and a tiger for our commodore!" exclaimed George; and theywere given with a vim that caused many on the stone walk along the canalembankment to look down in wonder toward the little group.
Nor would the guide accept any pay for the trip. They could not force iton him.
"You ride with me all time, and not cent pay, Jack!" he declared, hisblack eyes sparkling with sincere admiration as he looked in the face ofthe white boy.
Of course the voyagers had lots to talk about while they continued theirexploration of the city on the great canal. They even climbed the hillnear where the government barracks stood during the Spanish-Americanwar, and obtained a fine view of the entire neighborhood. Yet nothingattracted their attention as did the ever rushing rapids, where thewaters of the greatest inland sea in the world emptied into the riverthat was to bear them through the other lakes in the chain, and by wayof the St. Lawrence River, to the far-distant sea.
The thrilling adventure had apparently sobered the boys too, for therewas much less horse play than usual, nor were jokes in order for thebalance of that day.
Having some time to spare they took the ferryboat, and crossed to theCanadian side of the river below the rapids. Here they viewed the othercanal, through which considerable commerce also passes, principallyCanadian.
They also took advantage of their "visit abroad," as George called it,to inspect the big pulp mills, where spruce logs were ground up, andmade into sheets that would later on become paper.
The latter end of the day was put in securing provisions calculated tolast for a week or more, since they could not tell when another chanceto procure supplies might come their way, once they embarked upon thebosom of Lake Superior.
Nick was once more in his element. He suggested all sorts of things thathe had read about in his cook book. Had they sent him forth, with plentyof money and unlimited assurance, the chances were, as George declared,the expedition would have had to hire another boat, just to transportthe stuff that fellow would have flooded them with.
"I bet he'd buy out a whole grocery store, given half a chance," saidJosh.
"Why, we've got all the stuff right now we can stow away comfortably,"declared Herb, scratching his head as he contemplated the numerouspackages, and then looking toward his boat near by.
"Do as we suggested before, Herb," said Josh.
"What was that?" demanded Nick, suspiciously.
"Make Buster take up his quarters in the dinky. It'll be a ride thatmight take the shine off even that dash down the rapids."
"Not any," asserted the fat boy strenuously. "I'm too heavy for suchmonkey shines. Josh likes the water better than I do. You all saw how hecan dive so gracefully just as if he had taken lessons from a granddaddyfrog. If anybody has to be quartered in a dinky to make room, he's thechap, all right."
But after a while the last package was put away, and places found forall.
George drew Jack aside as the others were arranging things aboard thevarious boats.
"I've been making a few inquiries as to whether another small motor boatwent through here," he remarked.
"Oh! yes, I'd come near forgetting Clarence," laughed Jack. "And Isuppose he took the canal several days ago. He must have ga
ined on uswhile we were losing time, stuck in the mud, stormbound and suchthings."
"Well, he didn't go through here, anyhow," replied George. "And thechances are ten to one he'd never think of using the Canadian locks."
"But he had a good start of us," remarked his chum.
"Well, do you think the _Wireless_ is bound to monopolize _all_ the mudin the St. Mary's river?" exclaimed George, indignantly. "I guessClarence has stuck somewhere on the way up; and as he didn't have anybully chums to pull him off he's there yet!"
"We didn't see anything of him," mused Jack; "but then, there were lotsof times when we had a choice of channels. Even the big boats take oneof two that are buoyed and targeted. Yes, Clarence might have chosen onewe let alone. But of course, if he hasn't passed through the canal, hemust still be below."
"I'm sorry," George remarked, gloomily.
"I suppose so, because you're only thinking of that grand race youexpected to pull off with your old rival, sooner or later. But the lessI see of Clarence the better I'm pleased."
"Do we go ashore to a restaurant tonight, Jack?" continued the other.
"Let the others decide," Jack replied. "As for me, I think it would bethe best thing to do. Josh is being overworked, as it is, and needs alittle rest. Besides, Buster will be tickled, because that would leavemore grub in the bunch for the future."
Little Jocko, the monkey, had made himself quite at home with the boys.They took turns having him aboard, and he furnished considerable fun forthe crowd with his antics. As yet he had not become quite reconciledto Nick, and always showed his white teeth whenever the fat boy camearound. But by treating him to choice bits of food Buster was winningthe little chap over by degrees.
The balance were of the same mind as Jack when the proposition was putup to them. And accordingly they went to dinner in two detachments, Nickbeing with the first, and serving as a connecting link between both;for he was still there when Jack, Jimmie and George arrived at theeatinghouse; and sat them out in the bargain.
Still, the second squad had enough, and could not complain that Nick hadmade a famine in that particular restaurant; which Josh had hinted waspossible, when telling them how the fat boy had refused to leave whenthey did.
It was an entirely different night they spent there at the Soo, frommost of the quiet ones of the trip. Much noise continued throughout thelivelong night; for the lock is lighted by electricity, and vessels cankeep passing up and down the nineteen feet rise and fall at any and allhours.
Frequently during the night the hoarse whistle of some big steamer, or atug towing whaleback barges, would sound close at hand, awakening thosewho were not accustomed to this bustling nature of things.
In the morning all of them declared that they had passed an uneasynight; and professed to be delighted because it would not be repeated.
"Tonight we hope to be in camp somewhere along the quiet shore of theBig Lake," said George, yawning and stretching.
"Yes," added Jack, with kindling eyes, "where those whoppers of speckledbeauties are to be found, if looked for."
"Yum! yum! speed the hour!" mumbled Nick; and of course no one needed tobe told that already his thoughts were turning to the glowing camp fire,and the tempting odors that would arise when the coffee pot was on, andthe pink trout sputtering in the several fryingpans.
And shortly afterward, breakfast having been eaten at the samerestaurant, which had evidently laid in a new lot of supplies sincetheir last raid, they entered the big lock, to have the boats elevatedto the upper level.
Motor Boat Boys on the Great Lakes; or, Exploring the Mystic Isle of Mackinac Page 12