"
Jackson and Betty were accordingly directed to pack up what was
needful, and hold themselves in readiness to be embarked on our return
from the excursion on the water. Jessie, her sister, and myself took
the canoe; the doctor and Cutler the boat, and Peter was placed at the
stern to awaken the sleeping echoes of the lake with his pipes. The
doctor seeing me provided with a short gun, ran hastily back to the
house for his bow and arrows, and thus equipped and grouped, we
proceeded up the lake, the canoe taking the lead. Peter struck up a
tune on his pipes. The great expanse of water, and the large open area
where they were played, as well as the novelty of the scene, almost
made me think that it was not such bad music after all as I had
considered it.
After we had proceeded a short distance, Jessie proposed a race
between the canoe and the boat. I tried to dissuade her from it, on
account of the fatigue she had already undergone, and the excitement
she had manifested at the waterfall, but she declared herself
perfectly well, and able for the contest. The odds were against the
girls; for the captain and the doctor were both experienced hands, and
powerful, athletic man, and their boat was a flat-bottomed skiff, and
drew but little water. Added to which, the young women had been long
out of practice, and their hands and muscles were unprepared by
exercise.
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