This was the most critical part of the dangerous
navigation. With a wide sea-board, and full command of
their helm, they had nothing to fear; but so limited was
the passage of this river, it was with difficulty the
yards and masts of the schooner could be kept disengaged
from the projecting boughs of the dense forest that lined
the adjacent shores to their very junction with the water.
The darkness of the night, moreover, while it promised
to shield them from the observation of the savages,
contributed greatly to perplex their movements; for such
was the abruptness with which the river wound itself
round in various directions, that it required a man
constantly on the alert at the bows to apprise the helmsman
of the course he should steer, to avoid collision with
the shores. Canopies of weaving branches met in various
directions far above their heads, and through these the
schooner glided with a silence that might have called up
the idea of a Stygian freight. Meanwhile, the men stood
anxiously to their guns, concealing the matches in their
water-buckets as before; and, while they strained both
ear and eye through the surrounding; gloom to discover
the slightest evidence of danger, grasped the handles of
their cutlasses with a firm hand, ready to unsheathe them
at the first intimation of alarm.
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