DOWN THE SOO RAPIDS—CONCLUSION
Teddy’s prophecy came true.
They did camp that night on the shore of White Fish Bay. A suitable
place was found where above a sandy beach a high bank offered good
inducements.
But the boys were not taking chances. While the sun went down in a
golden and rosy mass of color, who could say that they might not be
visited by one of those sudden electrical storm which during the summer
sweep over the great lake, making it dangerous for any small boat to be
out.
So the boys not only took extra precautions to fasten their tent down
securely; but with considerable trouble they even brought both canoes
up the high bank and fastened them, bottoms up, with ropes.
Never did they feel better repaid for their labor.
About half way between midnight and dawn a crash of thunder aroused
them. Hurrying out, after dressing they found black clouds sweeping
down from the northwest. Already the little waves were breaking on the
beach below. Had they simply drawn the canoes out of the water and left
them there, doubtless this would have been a period of more or less
anxiety concerning the welfare of the small craft.
As it was, all they had to do now was to rope down the canvas a little
more securely, and then await the coming of the squall.
It was what Dolph called a “screamer.”
The rain was carried on a howling wind that must have come across that
big body of water from the Canada side at the rate of fifty miles an
hour.
Fortunately the tent had some protection from this fierce wind, since
they had erected it just back of a large granite rock. And while the
rain beat down in a flood not to speak of the spray that dashed twenty
feet in the air, as the great waves slapped up against the rocks back
of the now covered beach—in spite of all this the Khaki colored tent
did not leak a single drop.
Whoever was responsible for the waterproofing, must have done a fine
job; for if ever canvas was put to a severe test, that tent was.
The thunder roared, the lightning flashed, and the wind and waves
howled; but while the three canoe boys made no attempt to capture
any sleep while the summer storm was at its height, they felt no
uneasiness. With those firm rocks underneath, the billows of the
biggest of all lakes could do them no damage.
They supposed they might be marooned there for twenty-four hours
because the lake would be too rough for their small craft.
In this, however, they were pleasantly disappointed, when the storm
went off muttering and growling toward the south, and the boys thought
to try and get some sleep, the giant waves were still battering away
at their old enemies the rocks, and sheets of spray fell upon the tent
from time to time.
When Teddy awoke he missed all this row; and making his way outside,
for it was morning, with the sun shining brightly, he was surprised and
gratified to discover that the sea had gone down as if by magic, owing
to a change of wind.
“That looks as if we might get away this morning,” remarked Dolph,
joining him.
“It certain does. But where is Amos?” demanded Teddy.
“Listen!”
The sound of chopping came from a point near by.
“Why, of course it wouldn’t be Amos if he didn’t think of a fire the
first thing,” declared Teddy.
“And it won’t feel at all bad this A. M.,” said Dolph. “That storm sure
did purify the air and sent the mercury tumbling down the tube. Whew!
my fingers are actually _cold_, and this a summer day, too.”
That day they paddled a good many miles along the shore. The wind
being now in the south, favored them, for as a rule the water was very
calm. It warmed up at noon, so that they were glad to strip down to a
sleeveless jersey.
And when it was finally decided to camp again for the night they
had made such good progress that Teddy, after consulting his chart,
declared another such day ought to land them at the Soo where they
expected to spend several days ere going down the St. Mary’s river to
the head of Lake Huron, where they would put their boats on the steamer
bound for Mackinac Island.
The first part of the program was carried out on the following day,
thanks to the favorable weather, which kept the waves from heading in
on the southern shore.
Late that afternoon they sighted the electrical building and tower
that marks the wonderful locks of the great Soo Canal. Here they found
a congestion of whaleback steamers and barges bound east with ore and
grain, while others were going the other way laden with coal and other
things needed around Duluth and the vast grain region beyond Superior’s
farther boundary.
There was almost constant whistling day and night.
Making camp outside of town, the boys spent their first night at the
Soo in their own reliable tent.
On the following morning they hired a man to look after things, and
started out to see the sights of the place.
Of course, they spent most of their time for two days at the great
lock, watching the vessels come and go. The grand rapids also
fascinated them. And there was the government fish hatchery on a little
island between the canal and the river, where the boys were interested
in many things connected with the artificial raising of fish.
In the pools belonging to the hatchery they saw scores of monster
speckled trout of a size to make Dolph’s mouth water—fully eight
pounds. They would even rush at and seize upon a blade of grass when he
tapped the water with it, as an insect might do.
Of course, these fish were kept in order that eggs might be secured by
millions, and placed in the jars to hatch out.
The boys early made the acquaintance of some stalwart, dark-featured
fellows who had long canoes over twenty feet in length in which for
half a dollar each, two of them would take a party of four or six down
the whirling rapids.
And of course the boys quickly took that trip. The guides who piloted
them claimed to be the grandsons of old John Boucher the Indian whom
tens of thousands of tourists knew as the most daring and skilful guide
of all the canoe men at the Soo. Old John some years ago took another
pilot aboard, and started on the longest voyage he ever undertook. But
from what he told the writer, just two years before he lay down in
his last sleep, with the familiar roar of the Soo Rapids sounding in
his ears, the way was fully charted and buoyed to him, and he had the
utmost confidence in his pilot.
In sweeping down the rapids where the outlet of Lake Superior drops
nineteen feet in the mile, the boys noticed the terrible gaping
whirlpool over to the left. They saw their guides avoided it sharply,
and upon questioning later as to why this was done learned that only
one man had dared to always pilot his canoe close to the edge of that
seething vortex, to be sucked into which meant death.
“Since Old John is gone, no guide cares to take chances,” was the reply.
Of course, the boys also hunted up the grandmother of little Sallie.
They found her living in comfort, with a son who had some office
connected with the electrical department of the great locks.
The old lady was shocked when she learned what kind of a man Crawley
really was. She declared that if the girl came back again as usual
after a summer with her father she should never go out into the pine
woods again.
And she never did.
Some months later Teddy, who had left his address with the old lady,
received a letter from her that really eased his mind greatly, as it
did also those of Dolph and Amos, when they came to hear about it.
Sallie was home again, sad, but fully satisfied that she had carried
out the last injunction of her mother to stick to her father to the
end.
Crawley was no more. He had been killed by a stroke of lightning, and
the girl rendered unconscious at the same time. Recovering, little
Sallie had made her way to the camp of a party of Chicago people, whom
she knew were on the other side of the small lake.
These people had buried Crawley, and seen to it that the wise little
girl was put in charge of a conductor on a train who would deliver her
to her folks.
Sallie wanted to be remembered too—as if any of them would ever forget
her.
Taking their smaller canoes right into the big ones, the boys again
shot the rapids and then leisurely made their way down the St. Mary’s
River, camping several times and taking their toll of the fierce bass
for which certain stretches of this river are noted.
At the mouth of the river they waited for the daily steamboat from
the Soo, which took boys and canoes aboard, landing them at Mackinac
Island. After a day at this loveliest of all islands, having a week
more on their hands, the boys boarded the steamer Islander, which
carried them, also their canoes, in among the Snow Islands.
Here they passed the balance of their vacation, devoting some time to
fishing, more to taking snap shots, and most of all to satisfying the
clamorous demands of their healthy young appetites.
Finally they got in touch with civilization, had their boats shipped
out, and in the end landed at Teddy’s home in Grand Rapids.
Dolph declares that another summer will find him up in Michigan again,
with his two staunch and true camp mates. And in return, by letter,
Teddy has confided his belief that Amos, who is attending school with
the prospect of studying medicine when he graduates, only hopes to go
along with them so that he may run over to the Soo and pay his promised
visit at the home of the old lady who is the grandmother of Sallie.
THE END
[Illustration: DECORATION]
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE:
—Obvious print and punctuation errors were corrected.
End of Project Gutenberg's Camp Mates in Michigan, by St. George Rathborne