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

spell, we could look at nothing in heaven or earth except the next niggerhead andthe next, or at our unfortunately large feet.There was no question of stopping to rest once we were among those giantgrasses, we had to keep moving; it was our worst experience of walking on thatjourney or on any other. We are neither of us habitually fairy-like in our movements,but I would defy Ariel himself to trip across those wobbling heads withenjoyment or agility.The Bell River, into which the Little Bell flows, was not far ahead now but,being below the level of the country, it was not yet visible. Lazarus pointed outthe direction in which we were to go across those niggerheads, then he andJimmyand the canoe disappeared as completely as if the earth had swallowed them up."We must keep our heads," I said mournfully, as we started off with no landmarksto guide us, nor any sign ahead of the existence of a river. Each successive grassheadwas wobbling under my feet. "We must keep our direction," returned Gwenshortly, as she tottered or lurched from one precarious foothold to another.We were to await our guides at the confluence of the two rivers but how, wewondered, should we ever find it? We never did find it by our own efforts, forafter a while we heard a shout ahead of us and there were the two men coming backto say they had not reached the Bell, but there was good water ahead and they couldtake us on in the canoe. Then we went skimming down through one long patch ofbroken water after another, while Gwen was, of course, crooning to herself "delicious,delicious" and I held on to the gunwale awaiting the final bump.At last, when it was nearly 9, we came to the point where the Little Bell entersthe Bell. A blessed cool breeze blew there and the place was free of mosquitoesand we camped on the left bank among willows and all ate an enormous supper tocelebrate the day. We were too exhausted to wash ourselves thoroughly, the dayhad been over-full with physical efforts and changing moods, with upriver toiland portages and downriver dangers. The guides were in a most cheerful mood.All their troubles were behind them, not that they ever regarded rapids as troubles;they were more concerned with snags and boulders and the food supply.Risk and danger was all in the day's work, rapids were milestones on their naturalhighway.Mter supper our energy revived enough for us to cook bannock and doughnuts.The old-timers had been false prophets. We had navigated the Rat. We hadnot been eaten by mosquitoes. We had crossed the Divide. Now there was only thedownriver journey before us.