River Don

“ In the Caucasus—the land of the Kimbry, don was a generic term for water and for river: [929] we have a river Dane in Cheshire, a river Dean in Nottinghamshire, a river Dean in Forfarshire, a river Dun in Lincolnshire, a river Dun in Ayrshire, and a river Don in Yorkshire, Aberdeen, and Antrim. ”

“ In that pleasant district of merry England which is watered by the river Don, there extended in ancient times a large forest, covering the greater part of the beautiful hills and valleys which lie between Sheffield and the pleasant town of Doncaster. ”

“ The whole of the marsh to the East, once deep and clear water, is," he asserts, "the work of the Don, and in the Bay of York, where now its destructive mouths are turned, vegetation shews itself in almost every direction, prognosticating" as he speaks, "the approaching conversion of this beautiful sheet of water into another marshy delta of the Don." Fothergill, too, in an address to the Electors of the County of Durham, in 1826, indulges in a fling at the river which pays its tribute to the Harbour of York. ”

“ Case put in.
“I don’t see how we’ve got along without a dog as long as we have,” grinned Jule.
“What sort of a river is this Para stream?” asked Case, as the Rambler pressed on through what seemed to be a lake anywhere from ten to fifteen miles in width, with a row of long islands hugging the south shore.
“No river at all,” Frank replied. “It is merely an estuary, as you will see when the Atlantic tide meets the current coming down from the west. And the river that runs into this estuary isn’t the Para at all. It is the Tocantins, a stream a thousand miles long. ”

“ We're going fishing today!"
Instantly Don was wide awake. He bounced out of bed and began to dress as quickly as he could. In five minutes he was in the kitchen; but Joyce was there ahead of him, helping Grandma to pack the lunch basket.
Don was so excited that Grandma could coax him to eat only a few bites of breakfast. He was the first one in the car, ready to start for the river.
The sun was just peeping over the hills, when they drove into a pretty, shady nook on the bank of the river. "This is always a good place to fish," said Grandpa. ”

“ While the lads listened, hardly knowing what to do to protect themselves, Mose pointed a shaking hand at a spot far down the lagoon. Clay looked and saw a great blaze on what seemed a wooded knoll to the west of the river.
“There’s a camp down there!” he said.
“That makes it nice!” grinned Alex. “No honest men ever made camp in that hole at this season of the year! It is dollars to tripe that if we don’t put on power the crest of the flood will wash us down, when the full strength comes, and beach us among a band of river pirates! ”

“ Don suggested. “I can’t swim across!”
“I don’t believe the Rambler can get over to this shore,” Clay said, looking over the mass of broken waters. “There’s more than a million big rocks in there. You know, we kept off this shore when we came up.”
“Well we can walk up and see what the chances are,” Don grunted.
But the lads did not walk up very far before they came to a cliff which stood out flush with the water, and against which the current thundered with a sound like the booming of heavy artillery. To the west the canyon wall rose sheer a thousand feet. ”

“ Blue lights don’t rise up out of rivers through human agency.”
The boys were all astir shortly after daybreak, and Alex went on a scouting tour up to the little river settlement at the mouth of Wolf Creek. The Rambler lay only a few feet from a rough pier which had been spiled out into the stream, so the boys had no difficulty in reaching the shore. The rowboat, it will be remembered, had been left up the river when the two boys had set out on their hunting trip. ”

“ Mr. Frost, Alex and Tom were still on the level dump in front of the old mine. They motioned to Clay and Don as they came out, indicating that they were going away to look for the Rambler. Clay held up the box, drew the paper out, and held that up, too. There was excitement across the great chasm!
Alex seemed to be pointing the way down, and Banker Frost was motioning to Clay to be careful of the box and the paper.
“If those natives got down from here, we can!” Don exclaimed. “We can go anywhere they can! How we are going to get across the river is what gets me! Can you swim it?” ”

“ The Colorado river, in passing through the Grand Canyon, makes many sharp turns in drift because of great rocks which have tumbled down from the cliffs, and so block the flow, turning it aside in angry swirls. It was one of these eccentricities the boys faced.
“There’s where I want to fish!” Clay explained, bending to the oars again. “Keep her over to the west, and we’ll get a big one in that deep pit next to the shore. If we ease along with the current, we won’t tip over. Don’t let the current strike her on the side!” ”

“ Don remarked, with a sigh. “Looks like I’d have to leave you and take to the plateau in order to get to the Grand Canyon, after all. “This seems to be a locked door, all right! No boat can ever get above that tumble!”
“I’ve heard of boats going past Black Canyon,” Case insisted.
“They must have gone up in a balloon, then!” Alex suggested.
“There may be a passage around this series of falls,” Clay said.
“Well,” Alex sighed. “We’re out of sight of river pirates, anyway. We can see the blue sky over our heads, and that is about all!”
“Fine place to camp, on that shelf of rock!” Case put in. ”

“ Its upper part is beset with rapids, and its lower is of little value for navigation on account of the numerous sandbanks and blocks of rock which choke its bed. (2) A river distinguished as the Western Don, which rises in the E. of Austrian Galicia between Tarnopol and Brody, and flows N.N.W. as far as Brest-Litovsk, separating the Polish provinces of Lublin and Siedlce from the Russian governments of Volhynia and Grodno ”

“ We might hunt and fish here until another flood comes along,” he added with sarcasm in his tone.
“That would suit me, all right,” Alex returned. “I don’t care how long we remain here. There’s plenty of game in the woods, and, now that you have learned to make bread, we are not likely to starve to death.”
Clay who had been roaming around in the sticky soil which the river had deposited on the inundated lands, now came rushing up to the boat.
“Get out the rifle!” he said, speaking softly to Case. “There’s a fine deer back there in the thicket. We’ll have venison for dinner.” ”

“ Clay said just before twilight, “which looks to me like a river saloon and I think those on board are watching the Rambler.”
“If it is,” Case suggested, “we’d better take to our heels. We don’t want any more experience with river pirates.”
“I should say not!” broke in Alex. “Those fellows don’t own the river. We’ve got just as much right here as they have. If they try to come aboard, we’ll set Teddy on them.”
The suspicious steamer checked her speed as the boys slowed down on the Rambler, and it was soon evident that those in charge of the whiskey boat were desirous of speaking with the boys. ”

“ I’ve got a hunch that they will make for the river and try to cross to the American side.”
“I don’t see why they should do that,” was the reply. “There are plenty of mountains, or high ground at least, for them to hide in. But you may be right. We’ll try the river first.”
After searching the bank of the river, the boys made for the Rambler, crossed the Esmeralda, and went on board. There they found the surgeon bending over the injured man and everything in confusion.
“What’s doing here?” asked Jule.
Then Clay told the story of the attack on the boat and how Captain Joe came to the rescue. ”

“ There is nothing there but dust and a few living things, such as dishes and the like. You wouldn’t care to see them, I take it.”
Don was about to make a hasty reply, but Clay seized him by the arm and drew him to one side. The boy was shaking with anger.
“Keep cool!” Clay warned. “We’ll get into that house, all right, but we’ll do it without permission from him.”
Flint and Ike went away while the two boys talked together. When they had disappeared down the river, the lads finished their breakfast and prepared for a visit to the old mine. ”

“ We’ll have to climb some to get to the shack where Uncle David lived, and so you may be able to satisfy your love of nature without going to the top.”
“Did any one ever sail down through this canyon?” asked Alex.
“Yes,” Don answered, “Major Powell succeeded in getting through with a boat, but some members of his party lost their lives. We can nose the Rambler up for quite a distance yet, but of course we can’t go through.”
“Then suppose we camp in the canyon itself to-night?” Alex questioned. “It will be fine to hear the waters singing!” ”

“ But Clay was half out of the narrow entrance, clinging to points of rock with his fingers, digging his toes into crevices which were too shallow for much of a hold.
“Can you make it?” Don called out, anxious and afraid for his chum.
“Sure I can! Wait until I get up on the shelf and I’ll help you out of the passage! And, say, there’s the mine dump away up to the north, and some one on it! I believe it is Alex and Tom. Yes, and there’s the banker! They are looking through field glasses!” ”

“ I was actually beginning to fear that our river trip from this time on would be one long sweet dream.”
The boys passed another restful night and were up with the sun. The first thing Alex did after bathing and dressing was to spring to the pier and start off into the city.
“Here, here!” cried Captain Joe. “We don’t allow little boys to go wandering off alone! ”

“ The boat will be safe in the daytime, I think.”
“Where will they go?” asked Clay. “I’d like to surprise them.”
“If they follow along that shelf, after once getting to the top of it,” Don went on, “they will come out in time near the old mine, at the shack where Uncle David lived so long. They will go into the house and look for the ghost. Let us get there first!”
“All right! We’ll go just as soon as it gets light.”
But with the first glimpse of the summer sun came two husky men in a shell of a boat. They rowed up to the shore and stepped out close to the place where the Rambler was anchored. ”

“ He did not even mention it to me,” he concluded, looking King enquiringly in the face.
“The man who came out from Chicago to see me,” the deputy explained, “laid great stress on the handbag. He seemed to think that Don would keep the bag as well as the money. And he wanted the bag just as much as he wanted the treasury notes.”
“How did he know that Don was out in this country?” asked Alex.
“Oh,” laughed King, “a lad like Don is easy to follow. He was in Phoenix and Yuma several days, but always got out just ahead of the man who engaged me to handle the case. ”

“ They keep you so infernally busy with their cows and sheep and things; and I knew one farm dog that had to churn twice a week. They stuck him in a treadmill and made him.”
“A farm's no worse than living in a city,” said Mutt Mulligan. “A city dog ain't a real dog; he's either an outcast under suspicion of the police, or a mama's pet with ribbons tied around his neck.”
“You can't tell me,” says Jack. “I know. A country town with plenty of boys in it, and a creek or river near by, is the only place for a dog. Well, as I was saying, I felt sorry for Percival, and we made friends. ”

“ Away toward the ledges by the harbor mouth some gulls skimmed the waves, uttering harsh and melancholy cries. Overhead a few vapory clouds were tinted with pink and edged with burnished gold.
Don gave little heed to his surroundings as he sat there in the ledge, staring down at the restless water that ran green and foamy over the broken rocks, but the expression on his mobile face indicated that the battle within him was waxing fiercer. ”

“ A deep and narrow valley lay now before us, into whose recesses our eye was prevented from penetrating, by the winding course it pursues, and the shutting in of its precipices, which fold into each other, and preclude all distant view. Through this magic feature of country the river Dove leads his stream, murmuring innocently and agreeably over his stony bed in the halcyon days of summer, but swelling into rage during the winter months ”

“ The crew, warned of peril, searched the whole schooner over, slowly and methodically, lighted by lanterns. We could not find her. Well, swimming comes natural to snakes.
I went ashore as quickly as I could get a boat manned and rowed. I took Don on a leash, a shot-gun loaded, and both pockets of my jacket full of cartridges. We ran swiftly along the beach, Don and I, and then turned into the grass to make a short cut for Graves's house. All of a sudden Don began to tremble with eagerness and nuzzle and sniff among the roots of the grass. He was "making game." ”

“ It was the intention of Captain Irwin to call at Vasse; and he also contemplated a visit to the Murray River, for the purpose of inspecting that outport, but a foul wind frustrated these purposes.
A river called the Donnelly, fresh at the mouth, and having ten feet of water at the bar, is said to have been seen by Mr. Preston, falling into the sea, about thirty miles east of Augusta. If this be the case (which I doubt) it differs very much from every other known river in this climate; to counteract the force of the salt water at the mouth, it must have a powerful stream. ”

“ Just then he flew across the orchard and down to the creek, alighting among the willows along the bank.
That afternoon the children went to the creek, to see if there were any water lilies in bloom. As they neared the clump of willows, Don said, "Let's be quiet, and see if we can find the mocking bird." So they walked softly, and talked in whispers; but they did not catch a glimpse of the lovely songster. Suddenly Don stopped and pointed to a big green frog sitting on a lily pad in the middle of the creek.
"Oh-h-h!" exclaimed Joyce. Instantly there was a splash, and the frog was gone. ”