It was a new world for him. Quonab taught
him never to enter the canoe except when she was afloat; never to
rise in her or move along without hold of the gunwale; never to
make a sudden move; and he also learned that it was easier to
paddle when there were six feet of water underneath than when
only six inches.
In an hour they had covered the five miles that brought them to
the Hudson, and here the real labour began, paddling up stream.
Before long they came to a shallow stretch with barely enough
water to float the canoe. Here they jumped out and waded in the
stream, occasionally lifting a stone to one side, till they
reached the upper stretch of deep water and again went merrily
paddling. Soon they came to an impassable rapid, and Rolf had his
first taste of a real carry or portage. Quonab's eye was
watching the bank as soon as the fierce waters appeared; for the
first question was, where shall we land? and the next, how far do
we carry? There are no rapids on important rivers in temperate
America that have not been portaged more or less for ages. No
canoe man portages without considering most carefully when,
where, and how to land.
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