C Ihe Ladies c cu. V'VVAN - History and Classics, Department of

Moods, Rapids and IslandsII3was limited. He had only once before negotiated the Rat in summer and that wasabout two years previously when he had taken a lawyer up, but after that trip hehad sworn he would never go again. There were summers when nobody went upthat river. How did he learn to navigate rough water, we asked, since the Peel andthe Husky are smooth currents."Swift water Peel and Husky sometimes," he said.1 asked him if we should have died of hunger, had he andJimmy been capsizedand drowned."That feller no drown," he said, pointing to Jimmy as if to suggest that he wasan unsinkable cork. 1 persisted that Jimmy could be drowned and Gwen askedhim: "What you say Jimmy's father and mother if Jimmy drown and you go homealone?""I just say Jimmy he drown,' that's all," he answered, shrugging his shoulders.Before going to sleep that night I said to myself severely: "You set out on thisexpedition with a craving to travel in wild country. Now you know what wildcountry can do to a man or woman and you should be satisfied."N ext day we pushed on upriver in a happy mood; our only care was to reach thehead of the Rat and we knew now that Lazarus would take that care off our shoulders.As for the craving to reach wild country and yet more wild country,nothing, in over 30 years of subsequent travelling, has ever cured me of that andnothing ever will.