Part 12

"Are we almost up to it, Mr. Larkin?" I gasped out.

"Almost, Captain," said he; "don't give up!"

The oars flashed as their blades turned up to the moonlight, for the men who plied them were fathers and had fathers' hearts.

Suddenly Mr. Larkin ceased pulling, and my heart for a moment almost stopped its beating; for the terrible thought 5 that he had given out crossed my mind. But I was reassured by his voice: "Gently, Captain, gently; a stroke or two more; there, that will do," and the next moment Mr. Larkin sprang upon the ice. I started up, and calling to the men to make fast the boat to the ice, followed him. 10

We ran to the dark spot in the center of the mass and found two little boys. The head of the smaller was resting in the bosom of the larger, and both were fast asleep. The lethargy which would have been fatal but for the timely rescue had overcome them. 15

Mr. Larkin grasped one of the lads, cut off his shoes, tore off his jacket, and then, loosening his own garments to the skin, placed the cold child in contact with his own warm body, carefully wrapping his overcoat around him. I did the same with the other child, and we then returned to the 20 boat.

The children, as we learned when we had the delight of restoring them to their parents, were playing on the cake of ice, which had jammed into a bend of the river about ten miles above New York. A movement of the tide set the 25 ice in motion, and the little fellows were borne away that cold night and would inevitably have perished but for Mr. Larkin's espying them as they were sweeping out to sea.

1. Daring rescues are countless. Do you know of any in your community--by police, firemen, or civilians?

2. What about the rescue described here is unusual?

DESCENDING THE GRAND CAÑON

One of the most daring voyages in the history of American exploration was Major John Wesley Powell's descent through the Grand Cañon of the Colorado River, in 1869. The river had been discovered three hundred years before his memorable journey, but Major Powell was 5 the first to explore the magnificent gorge through which it flows and to report his findings to the world.

Major Powell was a scientist. The lack of knowledge about the Grand Cañon was a challenge too strong for him to resist. With a party of ten picked men he started on 10 the perilous voyage, on May 24, 1869. He did not know that ahead of them was a seething stretch of water, two hundred miles in length, broken by rapids and waterfalls, teethed with jagged stones, and walled in by solid rock a mile high in places. 15

Into the cañon shot the frail boats. Oars were soon broken on rocks, and new ones had to be made from drift logs. The constant hammering of the boats made them leaky. To calk the seams, the men had to climb thousands of feet to get resin from some stunted pine tree. 20 More than once a boat filled with water in a turbulent passage, but the swiftness of the current carried it to more placid waters below, where it could be bailed out.

The difficulties of the explorers were increased by the lack of daylight hours. The sun shines each day for only 25 a short time in the gorge, and twilight follows twilight in close succession. Moreover, the winding passage prevented a view ahead. Falls were guessed at by the roaring of waters reverberating against the walls of rock. Upon such a warning the boats were landed, and if there was ledge room to walk, the men carried and dragged their vessels around the danger spot. If there was no shelving 5 rock wide enough to permit a portage, the men climbed to a higher ledge and eased the boats over the falls with ropes. Sometimes nothing was left to do but to "shoot" the falls and trust to luck to get over without capsizing.

The food supply of the crew soon ran low. The flour 10 was water-soaked, the bacon became tainted, and much of the supply was lost by going overboard.

Short rations, scant sleep on damp ledges, and the hard labor of navigation soon told on the men. But most of them were of tried courage and endurance. One day they 15 came to a little patch of earth by the side of the river. On this some corn and squashes were growing--probably planted by Indian tribes living at the top of the gorge. The corn was too immature to be eaten; but the men enjoyed a feast of baked squash, even though the squashes 20 were green.

At the end of fifteen days all of their provisions were gone, excepting some heavy flour and dried apples. They had arrived at a place where they could climb out of the cañon and the question arose as to seeing the voyage finished 25 or giving it up. Three men decided to give up; so they took their share of provisions and guns and climbed out, only to be killed shortly afterwards by the Indians. The remainder pursued their awful way, not knowing how much longer they must endure the terrible hardships. 30

Suddenly, on the sixteenth day, they emerged into an open space. The Grand Cañon had been traversed!

Down the river they floated till the following day, when they found some settlers drawing in a fish net. These settlers had heard that Major Powell had been lost in the cañon and were keeping a lookout for pieces of boats. Instead, a worn but victorious party confronted them. 5 Food in plenty was soon forthcoming, and the members of the party were feasted as heroes.

1. Give a two-minute talk on the Grand Cañon, touching on location, general character, etc. Consult your geographies and reference books for material. Make your talk interesting.

2. Why did Major Powell undertake this dangerous trip? How many men went with him? How many deserted him? What were some of the troubles they encountered? How did the venture turn out?

3. Name some other famous explorers. Who discovered the north pole? The south pole? The Mississippi River? The Pacific Ocean?

NIGHT FISHING IN THE SOUTH SEAS

BY FREDERICK O'BRIEN

Mr. O'Brien spent some time among the South Sea Islands, and had many interesting adventures there. One of the most exciting was this encounter with a swordfish, which he relates in a delightful manner.

Red Chicken became my special friend and guide, and on one occasion it was our being together, perhaps, saved his life, and afforded me one of the most thrilling moments of my own.

He and I had gone in a canoe after nightfall to spear fish 5 outside the Bay of Virgins. Night fishing has its attractions in these tropics, if only for the freedom from severe heat, the glory of the moonlight or starlight, and the waking dreams that come to one upon the sea, when the canoe rests tranquil, the torch blazes, and the fish swim to meet the 10 harpoon. The night was moonless, but the sea was covered with phosphorescence, sometimes a glittering expanse of light, and again black as velvet except where our canoe moved gently through a soft and glamorous surface of sparkling jewels. A night for a lover, a lady, and a lute.

Our torch of coconut husks and reeds, seven feet high, 5 was fixed at the prow, so that it could be lifted up when needed to attract the fish or better to light the canoe. Red Chicken, in a scarlet pareu fastened tightly about his loins, stood at the prow when we had reached his favorite spot off a point of land, while I, with a paddle, 10 noiselessly kept the canoe as stationary as possible.

Light is a lure for many creatures of land and sea and sky. The moth and the bat whirl about a flame; the sea bird dashes its body against the bright glass of the lonely tower; wild deer come to see what has disturbed the dark 15 of the forest; and fish of different kinds leap at a torch. Red Chicken put a match to ours when we were all in readiness. The brilliant gleam cleft the darkness and sent across the blackness of the water a beam that was a challenge to the curiosity of the dozing fish. They hastened 20 towards us, and Red Chicken made meat of those that came within the radius of his harpoon, so that within an hour or two our canoe was heaped with half a dozen kinds.

Far off in the path of the flambeau rays I saw the swordfish leaping as they pursued small fish or gamboled for 25 sheer joy in the luminous air. They seemed to be in pairs. I watched them lazily, with academic interest in their movements, until suddenly one rose a hundred feet away, and in his idle caper in the air I saw a bulk so immense, and a sword of such amazing size, that the thought of danger 30 struck me dumb.

He was twenty-five feet in length, and had a dorsal fin that stood up like the sail of a small boat. But even these dimensions cannot convey the feeling of alarm his presence gave me. His next leap brought him within forty feet of us. I recalled a score of accidents I had seen, read, and heard of; fishermen stabbed, boats rent, steel-clad ships 5 pierced through and through.

Red Chicken held the torch to observe him better, and shouted: "_Apau!_ Look out! Paddle fast away!"

I needed no urging. I dug into the glowing water madly, and the sound of my paddle on the side of the canoe 10 might have been heard half a mile away. It served no purpose. Suddenly half a dozen of the swordfish began jumping about us, as if stirred to anger by our torch. I called to Red Chicken to extinguish it.

He had seized it to obey when I heard a splash and the 15 canoe received a terrific shock. A tremendous bulk fell upon it. With a sudden swing I was hurled into the air and fell twenty feet away. In the water I heard a swish, and glimpsed the giant espadon as he leaped again.

I was unhurt, but feared for Red Chicken. He had 20 cried out as the canoe went under, but I found him by the outrigger, trying to right the craft. Together we succeeded, and when I had ousted some of the water, Red Chicken crawled in.

"_Papaoufaa!_ I am wounded slightly," he said, as I 25 assisted him. "The Spear of the Sea has thrust me through."

The torch was lost, but I felt a big hole in the calf of his right leg. Blood was pouring from the wound. I made a tourniquet of a strip of my pareu and, with a small harpoon, 30 twisted it until the flow of blood was stopped. Then, guided by him, I paddled as fast as I could to the beach, on which there was little trouble in landing as the bay was smooth.

Red Chicken did not utter a complaint from the moment of his first outcry, and when I roused others and he was carried to his house, he took the pipe handed him and 5 smoked quietly.

"The Aavehie was against him," said an old man. Aavehie is the god of fishermen, who was always propitiated by intending anglers in the polytheistic days and who still has power. 10

There was no white doctor on the island, nor had there been one for many years. There was nothing to do but call the _tatihi_, or native doctor, an aged and shriveled man whose whole body was an intricate pattern of tattooing and wrinkles. He came at once, and with his clawlike 15 hands cleverly drew together the edges of Red Chicken's wound and gummed them in place with the juice of the _ape_, a bulbous plant like the edible taro. Red Chicken must have suffered keenly, for the _ape_ juice is exceedingly caustic, but he made no protest, continuing to puff the pipe. Over 20 the wound the _tatihi_ applied a leaf, and bound the whole very carefully with a bandage of tapa cloth, folded in surgical fashion.

--_White Shadows in the South Seas._

1. What were the author and Red Chicken doing at the outset? Read the lines where the adventure begins.

2. Like most real adventures this one was all over in a moment. What happened? Why did it occur?

3. Spell, pronounce, and explain: phosphorescence, lure, stationary, propitiated, polytheistic, tattooing, caustic.

(Taken from O'Brien's _White Shadows in the South Seas_ by permission of the publishers, The Century Co.)

A BALLAD OF EAST AND WEST

BY RUDYARD KIPLING

No man has written more stirring tales, in prose or verse, in recent times than Rudyard Kipling. Born (1865) in Bombay, India, the son of an Englishman in the civil service, he became steeped in the ways of the men of the East. Consequently his first writings were sketches of Anglo-Indian life, written for Indian newspapers with which he was connected. Then followed a series of books on Eastern themes, some in prose and others in verse. Among these was _Departmental Ditties_ from which the following narrative poem is taken. Read it through first to get the story and the atmosphere in mind.

Kamal is out with twenty men to raise the Border side, And he has lifted the Colonel's mare that is the Colonel's pride: He has lifted her out of the stable door between the dawn and the day, 5 And turned the calkins upon her feet, and ridden her far away.

Then up and spoke the Colonel's son that led a troop of the Guides: "Is there never a man of all my men can say where Kamal 10 hides?"

Then up and spoke Mahommed Khan, the son of the Ressaldar, "If ye know the track of the morning mist, ye know where his pickets are. 15

"At dusk he harries the Abazai--at dawn he is in Bonair; But he must go by Fort Bukloh to his own place to fare So if ye gallop to Fort Bukloh as fast as a bird can fly, By the favor of God ye may cut him off ere he win to the Tongue of Jagai. 5 But if he be passed the Tongue of Jagai, right swiftly turn ye then, For the length and the breadth of that grisly plain is sown with Kamal's men. There is rock to the left, and rock to the right, and low 10 lean thorn between, And ye may hear a breech bolt snick where never a man is seen."

The Colonel's son has taken a horse, and a raw, rough dun was he, 15 With the mouth of a bell, and the heart of Hell, and the head of the gallows tree. The Colonel's son to the fort has won, they bid him stay to eat-- Who rides at the tail of a Border thief, he sits not long at 20 his meat.

He's up and away from Fort Bukloh as fast as he can fly, Till he was aware of his father's mare in the gut of the Tongue of Jagai; Till he was aware of his father's mare with Kamal upon her 25 back, And when he could spy the white of her eye, he made the pistol crack. He has fired once, he has fired twice, but the whistling ball went wide. 30 "Ye shoot like a soldier," Kamal said. "Show now if ye can ride."

It's up and over the Tongue of Jagai, as blown dust-devils go, The dun he fled like a stag of ten, but the mare like a barren 5 doe. The dun he leaned against the bit and slugged his head above, But the red mare played with the snaffle bars, as a maiden plays with a glove. 10 There was rock to the left and rock to the right, and low, lean thorn between, And thrice he heard a breech bolt snick tho' never a man was seen.

They have ridden the low moon out of the sky, their hoofs 15 drum up the dawn, The dun he went like a wounded bull, but the mare like a new-roused fawn. The dun he fell at a watercourse--in a woeful heap fell he, And Kamal has turned the red mare back, and pulled the 20 rider free.

He has knocked the pistol out of his hand--small room was there to strive, "'Twas only by favor of mine," quoth he, "ye rode so long alive: 25 There was not a rock for twenty mile, there was not a clump of tree, But covered a man of my own men with his rifle cocked on his knee.

"If I had raised my bridle hand, as I have held it low, The little jackals that flee so fast were feasting all in a row: If I had bowed my head on my breast, as I have held it high, The kite that whistles above us now were gorged till she could not fly." 5

Lightly answered the Colonel's son: "Do good to bird and beast, But count who come for the broken meats before thou makest a feast. If there should follow a thousand swords to carry my 10 bones away, Belike the price of a jackal's meal were more than a thief could pay.

"They will feed their horse on the standing crop, their men on the garnered grain, 15 The thatch of the byres will serve their fires when all the cattle are slain. But if thou thinkest the price be fair,--thy brethren wait to sup. The hound is kin to the jackal spawn,--howl, dog, and 20 call them up! And if thou thinkest the price be high, in steer and gear and stack, Give me my father's mare again, and I'll fight my own way back!" 25

Kamal has gripped him by the hand and set him upon his feet. "No talk shall be of dogs," said he, "when wolf and gray wolf meet. May I eat dirt if thou hast hurt of me in deed or breath; What dam of lances brought thee forth to jest at the dawn with Death?"

Lightly answered the Colonel's son: "I hold by the blood of my clan: 5 Take up the mare of my father's gift--by God, she has carried a man!" The red mare ran to the Colonel's son and nuzzled against his breast, "We be two strong men," said Kamal then, "but she loveth 10 the younger best. So she shall go with the lifter's dower, my turquoise-studded rein, My broidered saddle and saddlecloth, and silver stirrups twain." 15

The Colonel's son a pistol drew and held it muzzle end, "Ye have taken the one from a foe," said he; "will ye take the mate from a friend?"

"A gift for a gift," said Kamal straight; "a limb for the risk of a limb. 20 Thy father has sent his son to me, I'll send my son to him!" With that he whistled his only son, that dropped from a mountain crest-- He trod the ling like a buck in spring, and he looked like a lance in rest. 25 "Now here is thy master," Kamal said, "who leads a troop of the Guides, And thou must ride at his left side as shield on shoulder rides.

"Till Death or I cut loose the tie, at camp and board and bed. Thy life is his--thy fate it is to guard him with thy head. So thou must eat the White Queen's meat, and all her foes are thine, 5 And thou must harry thy father's hold for the peace of the Border line, And thou must make a trooper tough and hack thy way to power-- Belike they will raise thee to Ressaldar when I am hanged 10 in Peshawar."

They have looked each other between the eyes and there they found no fault, They have taken the Oath of the Brother-in-Blood on leavened bread and salt; 15 They have taken the Oath of the Brother-in-Blood on fire and fresh-cut sod, On the hilt and the haft of the Khyber knife, and the wondrous Names of God.

The Colonel's son he rides the mare and Kamal's boy the 20 dun, And two have come back to Fort Bukloh where there went forth but one. And when they drew to the Quarter Guard, full twenty swords flew clear-- 25 There was not a man but carried his feud with the blood of the mountaineer. "Ha' done! ha' done!" said the Colonel's son. "Put up the steel at your sides! Last night ye had struck at a Border thief--to-night 'tis a 30 man of the Guides!"

Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat; But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor 5 Birth, When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth!

--_Departmental Ditties._

1. What do you think Kipling means by "East is East, and West is West"? Who in the poem represented the East? Who the West? Where is the scene of the poem laid?

2. What incident gave rise to the ride? Interpret the advice given by Mahommed Khan. What did he mean in lines 14-15, page 168, and lines 12-13, page 169?

3. What happened in the first lap of the ride? In the second? How was Mahommed Khan's advice shown to be true? What was the climax of the chase?

4. What happened when the two chief characters met face to face? What kind of man was Kamal? Prove your comments from the poem.

5. How did the whole affair turn out?

6. You doubtless have read Kipling's _Jungle Books_, and you will wish to read _Captains Courageous_, and some of his short stories like "Wee Willie Winkie."

Kipling married an American woman and lived for a time at Brattleboro, Vt. He now resides in England.

_UNDER THE OPEN SKY_

_Love had he found in huts where poor men lie; His daily teachers had been woods and rills, The silence that is in the starry sky, The sleep that is among the lonely hills._

--WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.

[Illustration: A NIGHT AMONG THE PINES

(_See following page_)]

A NIGHT AMONG THE PINES

BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

This is an account of one night's camping-out experience in the mountains of southeastern France. Stevenson's only companion was Modestine, a donkey "not much bigger than a dog, the color of a mouse, with a kindly eye and a determined jaw." The selection is especially fine in its interpretation of night out of doors. Read it to gather the impressions that the sights and sounds made upon the author. Then read it to discover what you would have listened for (and probably heard) had you been in the same position.