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falling into the river and being carried away, so he had made himself a life preserver.

Another shove, and heave-ho! We were caught up in the Tuichi's current. The river, which had appeared fairly calm from the bank, did not feel calm at all. The current was extremely swift. Karl pulled hard at the water with his oar, trying to keep the bow pointed straight forward. He yelled instructions back to Kevin and Marcus.

'If she pulls to the left, Kevin has to push her back from the right, and if to the right, then Marcus pushes.'

That quickly proved to be impossible. The poles were now too short to reach the bottom of the deep river. Marcus had turned ghostly white, Kevin wasn't displaying any emotion, and I was very excited. Karl was uptight.

'If you can't reach the bottom, row, row, pull hard!'

'This is a round pole, not an oar. You can't row with it,' Kevin said.

'Do as I say. Is that clear? Do as I say!' Karl yelled.

Kevin rowed indifferently, not making much effort, and it did seem to be pointless. The Tuichi was straight and smooth, and so far we were cruising along without any problems.

After about an hour we came to shallow waters where large rocks jutted out.

'Watch out! Now pull to the left, Kevin, to the left!' Karl pulled at the oar with all his might.