142           THE  TRAIL OF '98
its fearsome dips and rises, its columned walls corroded with age and filled with the gloom of eternal twilight. The water smashed and battered us, whirled us along relentlessly, lashed us in heavy sprays; yet with closed eyes and thudding hearts we waited. Then suddenly the light grew strong again. The primaeval walls were gone. We were sweeping along smoothly, and on either side of us the valley sloped in green plateaus up to the smiling sky.
I unlocked my arms and peered down to where her face lay half hidden on my breast.
" Thank God, I was able to reach you! "
" Yes, thank God! " she answered faintly. "Oh, I thought it was all over. I nearly died with fear. It was terrible.    Thank God for you! "
But she had scarce spoken when I realised, with a vast shock, that the danger was far from over. We were hurrying along helplessly in that fierce current, and already I heard the roar of the Squaw Rapids. Ahead, I could see them dancing, boiling, foaming, blood-red in the sunset glow.
" Be brave, Berna," I had to shout again; "we'll be all right.    Trust me, dear! "
She, too, was staring ahead with dilated eyes of fear. Yet at my words she became wonderfully calm, and in her face there was a great, glad look that made my heart rejoice. She nestled to my side. Once more she waited.
We took the rapids broadside on, but the scow was light and very strong. Like a cork in a mill-stream we tossed and spun around.    The vicious,