As the morning progressed, the wind rose higher and the river widened. It was as if the opening out gave play to the breeze, and a good ten miles were run before sundry warnings of shallowing water made the captain give orders for reducing the sail; but, in spite of this, as the brig rounded a curve which disclosed to the delighted vision of the travellers a glorious landscape of open park-like country backed by mountains, with the sparkling waters of a furious rapid running from side to side where the river contracted again after opening out like a lake, there was a soft grinding sensation, and the way of the vessel was slowly checked, while the next minute it was fully grasped that they were fast on a sandbank, with the open forest on one side only a hundred yards or so away, and on the other fully a mile. "We've done it now, squire," said the captain, turning to Brace and mopping his face with a handkerchief he took out of the crown of his straw hat. "Done it?" "Yes; here we are, wrecked and set fast in the bed of the river." "But I suppose we shall only remain here for an hour or two." "Or for a year or two, or altogether, my lad. Maybe we shall never be able to get the brig off again; but we must hope for the best. It's just as if we were set in the ice up yonder in the Arctic regions, eh?" "This place is not very Arctic," said Brace, laughing. "No, my lad, not very," said the captain, as Sir Humphrey came up. "We seem to be in for it now, sir." "Yes, but I suppose we are not stuck very fast. You'll send out an anchor and haul upon it with the capstan." "Wouldn't be any good, sir. We're fast in the sand upon an upright keel, and until the water rises after a storm here we stick." "But you talked about throwing over some of the ballast to lighten the vessel if a case like this occurred," said Brace. "Yes, squire, that would do perhaps; but what then? Go back?" "Go back!" cried Brace; "certainly not. We want to go forward." "Then you'll have to go another way," said the captain decisively, "for the brig has done her work." "But you'll be able to get her off in a short time?" "I daresay I can, but look yonder at that cloud," said the captain, and he pointed towards where, faintly seen, a rainbow spanned the river above a rolling white cloud. "What does that mean, captain--a shower?" Brace asked. "Yes," said the captain, "a heavy one, squire, falling over the rocks in hundreds of tons a minute. There's our limit. That's a cloud of spray from some grand falls which I daresay run right across the river. I shouldn't wonder if the country rises now in steps right away to the mountains. If we could get up that fall, maybe we could go on sailing for a hundred miles before we came to another; but it is not possible to get the brig up, and, between ourselves, I think we've done wonders to get her up here so far."