I did not want to tell them that I was afraid, for fear they would
say I was fainthearted. I thought that would be very much against me, and
as I had such a brave crew, I made up my mind to go up the strong
current. I turned the bow of the boat up against the current, as much as
I could with one hold, but could not get it straight against the current.
It shot ahead its length or more, then I moved my hand pole to get a new
hold. Now we were over the creek and the water being four or five feet
deep, it was impossible for me to get my pole down to the bottom again in
time to save us. While I was trying to do that, the current being
stronger than I supposed, turned the boat sidewise. I saw that we were
gone for it. The girls sprang to one side of the boat and down we went,
at one plunge, all together into the water. My craft was foundered,
filled with water and went down, (stream at least). Miss Lucy Lord was
the heroine of the occasion; luckily, she saved herself by jumping,
though she got very wet. She got on to a little hummock on the bank and
was on terra-firma.
As soon as I took in the situation, I exerted myself to save the rest of
the crew.
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