Fred Linden and Terry Clark were alarmed when, on their way home, they came to the across which they had paddled only a short time before. It was then the comparatively shallow stream that was scarcely an obstacle in their path; now it was a rushing , whose volume was increasing with great rapidity. The sinuosities of the creek had caused it to gather in a large part of the rain that had fallen some miles away, and its usual boundaries were .  
It was well that Fred had tied his canoe to the tree that was quite a distance from the stream, for had he not done so it would have been swept away like an egg shell. As it was, the water had reached the base of the tree, while the boat was bobbing up and down almost in a straight line with the course of the creek, as though it was to get loose.
 
"My gracious, Terry!" said Fred, "this is a little worse than I expected; it is going to be hard work to get across."
 
"Ye are right for once," added the other, gravely shaking his head; "them rapids are a little closer than I loike."
 
"It seems to me," added Fred, who was to admit that he was afraid to try the task, "that I have gone over the creek when it was just as high and rapid, and have crossed at this place, too."
 
"Who swung the paddle?"
 
"Father did once and Mr. Bowlby at another time."
 
"Did ye iver manage the paddle yersilf when the creek got onto one of its tears?"
 
"I don't remember that I have, but that has been only because the need did not arise; I am not afraid to try it, even if you are."
 
"Who said I was afraid?" demanded Terry; "I'm riddy to into the boat and sway the paddle mesilf, and I'll do it, too."
 
He stepped into the water, which was up to his shoe tops, and began drawing in the rope which held the boat from breaking away. His companion laughed and said nothing until the canoe was at their feet and up on the land away from the rushing current.
 
"Don't be quite so , Terry; that boat belongs to me and I can handle the paddle better than you; anyway I shall try to take us to the other side, and all that you have to do is to keep those limbs and trees from capsizing us."
 
The time occupied in pulling the boat to the spot had given the Irish lad a chance to his usual good nature, and he made no protest against the decision of his companion, though Terry was no unskillful handler of the paddle himself.
 
The creek was probably over a hundred feet wide, and the current with limbs and trees that swung up and down, sometimes out of sight and then popping up again, as though they were frolicking in the swift waters. It would require a strong arm and a cool head to force the birchen craft through87 these obstacles to the shore on the other side. It must be admitted, too, that it was a piece of imprudence on the part of the lads, who would have been wiser had they quietly waited where they were until the itself. A stream that rises so fast with the same quickness, and long before nightfall the creek would shrink to proportions that would take away all to any one in paddling across.
 
They would have been compelled to go a long distance up stream before finding a place where the crossing was easier, and it would have been almost impossible to drag the canoe . They would have held fast to one end of the rope and allowed it to dance through the rapids, so as to allow them to make the passage below, where the great peril was removed, had they not known that the chances were ten to one that it would be snatched from their grasp, thus shutting them out altogether.
 
Looking up and across the sloping clearing, the cabins forming the settlement of Greville could be seen at no great distance. From several of the stone chimneys the smoke was curling lazily upward, and now and then glimpses could be caught of persons moving hither and thither, but no one appeared to be looking in the direction of the creek, or if any one was doing so, he saw nothing of the two boys on the further shore and debating with themselves the best course to follow. At any rate no one would think they were unable to take care of themselves.
 
Both Fred and Terry knew that there was but one plan to follow; that was quietly to wait where they were until near night, by which time all danger would be gone. But neither proposed the course nor made mention of it. It is natural for youth to be rash, and there was a of timidity in such a shrinking back that was repellent to American and Irish lad alike. And so you will understand how it was that each showed an eagerness to enter into the contest with the angry current.
 
You will see, too, how foolish they were, when I tell you that during the few minutes they stood by the tree to which the rope had been tied discussing the situation, they saw the proof that the creek was . There was a perceptible lowering of the surface, as was shown by the soi............