“Well, Milt, of all the darn fools!” exclaimed Harden.  “After telling us to keep to the right, what did you try to do yourself?  If you’d gone inside that big finger rock at the end of the rapid you’d have had no trouble.”

“I never had a chance to go inside that rock,” panted Milton.  “A pot-hole spouted a boat’s length ahead and threw me clear to the left.”

“Say,” said Agnew, “we got some crew in our boat now.  Jonas, you are some little oarsman!”

“Scared as ever, Jonas?” asked Enoch.

“I wasn’t never so much scared, you know, boss, as I was nervous.  But this charm is sure a good one.  If we can live through this here day, we can live through anything.  I want you to wear it, to-morrow, boss.  Seems like the head boat needs it more’n us folks.”

Jonas’ liquid black eyes twinkled.  Enoch laughed.  “If I hadn’t known you were a good sport, Jonas, I’d never have let you come with us.  Keep your charm, old man.  I don’t expect ever to gather together enough strength to get into the boat again!”

“Nobody’s going to try to get in to-night,” said Milton, without lifting his head from the rocks on which he lay.  “We camp right here.  It’s four o’clock anyhow.”

“Then I’ve something still left to be thankful for!” Enoch closed his eyes with a deep sigh of relief.

When he next opened them it was dusk.  Above him, on the narrow canyon top, gleamed the wonder of the desert stars.  There was a glow of firelight on the rocks about him.  Enoch sat up.  It was an inhospitable spot for a camp.  The roar of the falls was harsh and menacing.  The canyon walls shot two thousand feet into the air on either side of the sliding waters.  Enoch was suddenly oppressed by a vague sense of suffocation.  He realized, fully, for the first time that the menace of the Canyon was very real; that should a sudden rise of the waters come at this point, there was no climbing out, no going back; that should the boats be lost——­ He shook himself, rose stiffly and joined the group around the fire.

“Ship ahoy, Judge!” cried Harden.  “Are you still traveling in circles?”

“Humph!” grunted Milton.  “The Judge may be a tenderfoot in the Canyon, but he’s no tenderfoot in a boat.  Ever on a college crew, Judge?”

“Yes, Columbia,” replied Enoch.

“I thought you’d raced!  Jove, how you did heave the old tub round!  Jonas, how about grub for the Judge?”

“How come you to think you have to tell me to look out for my boss, Mr. Milton?” grumbled Jonas, coming up with a pie tin loaded with beans and bacon.

“Hello, Jonas, old man!  What do you think of this parlor, bedroom and bath?” asked Enoch.

“I feel like Joseph in the pit, boss!  Folks back home wouldn’t never believe me if Mr. Agnew hadn’t promised to take some pictures of me and my boat.  That’s an awful good boat, the Mary, boss.  She is some boat!  Did you see me jerk her round?”