It was not long after that they turned in, and never did they sleep more soundly, although a number of mosquitoes visited them. Foster Portney was the first to get up, and by the time the boys followed, a delicious smell of frying fish and boiling coffee was floating through the air. A ten minutes' ride on the lake brought them close to the entrance of the river. Here the water was broken up into a dozen currents, swirling this way and that and throwing the spray in every direction. On either side of this watercourse were high walls. "Now fer the tug o' war!" said Captain Zoss, and immediate preparations were made to shoot the canyon and the falls of which Randy and Earl had heard so much. Once past that dangerous spot, the remainder of the trip to the gold regions would be an easy one. CHAPTER XIX. NEARING THE END OF A LONG JOURNEY. Both Earl and Randy had heard from the miner Wodley that it was only of late years that prospectors after gold in Alaska had had the daring to shoot the White Horse Rapids, of which even the Indians in their light canoes were afraid. Formerly white men had packed everything, even to their boats, round the dangerous runs of water, a task which to them looked herculean, when they gazed at the tall mountains, and at the crooked trail Wodley pointed out. After much talking by all hands, it was decided that Wodley's boat should go through first, loaded down only with the mining tools, which would not suffer from getting wet. Wodley was at first going to take the trip alone, leaving his wife and the other miners of the party to join the Portney crowd, but at the last moment Captain Zoss asked to be allowed to take a hand, and the offer was accepted. The sail was taken from the _Buster_, as Wodley had named his craft, a heavy-set affair, built to stand some rough usage, and, each armed with an oar and a heavy pole, the two men shoved off from the rocky shore. A few strokes sufficed to send them into the current, and fairly caught, the boat swung around and started on her mad career through the canyon of rocks and water and flying spray. "She's off!" shouted Earl, and followed by Randy he sped alongshore and up to the edge of the canyon, where he might see what progress was made. But hardly had they reached a convenient spot when the _Buster_ shot along far beneath them, and around a bend, and was hidden from view in the midst of a whirlpool of waters that threatened each instant to ingulf her. "If she isn't smashed up before she reaches the end of the canyon, then I'll miss my guess!" ejaculated Earl. "My, but how she did spin along!" "Wodley ought to know what he's doing," answered Randy. "If she is smashed up, I hope he and the captain come out alive."