44 A Wild Ride

[Stephen Whiteside]

44 A Wild Ride

© Stephen Whiteside 25.11.2011

The little creek was flowing swiftly. Horatio and Magnifico were soon swept into the middle of the stream. The power of the water felt amazing. They suddenly realised they had absolutely no control whatsoever over their little craft. They were entirely at the mercy of the current. Still, they were moving downstream, and much more quickly than they could ever have done on foot.

The raft was spinning slowly, as well as charging downstream. Neither of them had the courage to change their footing, so the effect was very disorienting. One moment they were facing the bank, then they were looking upstream, then they were facing the opposite bank, and so on.

Horatio hardly believed they would have a clean run right into the river. And so it turned out to be. The raft stopped with a mighty jolt, while they were both facing in the opposite direction. Such was the depth to which they had sunk their claws into the bark, they did not lose their footing. However, they were shaken to their boots. Or at least to where their boots would have been if they were not rodents, but some other creatures that wore boots.

Too frightened to change their footing, they turned their heads to try to work out what had gone wrong. The raft had come to rest against a small fallen tree that stretched out far into the stream. The pressure of the water was pushing the raft up hard against the slim trunk, and tilting it at a desperate angle.

What to do? One false move, and they would both be in the water. Perhaps if they had some sort of a pole they could push themselves off but, in their excitement, they had not thought of anything like that. It was just them and the raft. And it seemed they were powerless right now to do anything other than just hold on. Hold on for dear life.

Minutes went by. Horatio and Magnifico looked at each other with fear. The pressure of the stream seemed to be increasing slightly. Presumably there had been a fall of rain somewhere upstream. The raft moved slightly. They waited some more and the raft shifted again. It appeared that the increased current was pushing the tree slightly to one side. Another small shift, and they were free! Spinning crazily, the raft shot off downstream once more, the rat and the mouse hanging on for dear life!

Before they knew what was happening, they had hit a wide, shallow, pebbly stretch of water. The flow became turbulent as the water bounced over the time-worn stones on the creek bed. Horatio and Magnifico were jolted violently, up and down, back and forth. They had to clench their jaws shut to avoid biting their tongues. Even then, their teeth seemed to rattle in their heads.

At last that, too, was over, and the tiny raft was deposited roughly into a dark, deep pool. Here all was calm and peaceful, and very quiet - the exact opposite of all that had gone before. Trees reached above them from either bank, touching each other in the middle to all but shut out the sunlight. This was frightening, too, but in an entirely different way!

To their great relief, the raft began to slow down. They felt they could breathe once more. Slower and slower it moved. At last, about a third of the way out into the middle of the pool, the raft seemed to have almost stopped moving at all.

For the first time since scrambling onto the raft after it had fallen into the water, Horatio and Magnifico felt it was safe to move around a little. They were absolutely soaked to the skin and, once again, they shook themselves vigorously to shake off water. It didn’t really make any difference. They were already as wet as can be.

Horatio crept to the edge of the raft, and peered down into the water. What mystery did the creek conceal within its depths? What monsters lurked beneath? He shuddered. He didn’t really want to know, and he hoped he never found out.

Now a new problem faced them. It appeared they were becoming marooned in the middle of the pool. The water was flowing so slowly, it was going to take them an age to reach the other end of it - if they ever did. Mind you, if it was to lead to a repeat of the last set of rapids, he was not sure he really wanted to. Still, they couldn’t stay there forever.

Look, Magnifico, just at the end of the pool there. There’s a short stretch of mudbank. Let’s aim for that. We can paddle.

Well spotted, Horatio.

And so the two gingerly dipped their paws into the cold, mysterious water. What to expect? Would some mighty fish suddenly emerge from the depths and bite their paws off? Well there was nothing else they could do. They couldn’t wait in the middle of the pool forever. They had to make some attempt to take control over their own lives.

Slowly but surely, they could sense that the raft was moving from the middle of the pool towards the bank. Horatio’s paw was much wider than Magnifico’s, and his pull was much stronger. The two had to constantly swap sides to prevent the raft from simply turning in circles. But it was working, nonetheless. The bank was creeping imperceptibly closer. Eventually, with a small bump, the raft grounded on the mud. A couple of skips, and they were both back on dry land. Then they pulled the raft with their teeth up partway onto the mud also to make sure it was not taken further downstream without them.

A little further up the mudbank, at the edge of the encroaching foliage, lay a small pool of sunlight. Ah, warm sun! Life giver! Horatio and Magnifico lay back, stretched out, and soaked up its vital heat. Terra firma! What bliss! The spirit of Dulcie was continuing to watch over them!