With two good men to paddle, it is not difficult to tire him out.
Though he swims with extraordinary rapidity under water--fast enough
to follow and catch a trout--a long deep dive tires him, and he must
rest before another. If you are chasing him, shout and wave your hat
the moment he appears, and paddle hard the way his bill points as he
dives again. The next time he comes up you are nearer to him. Send him
down again quick, and after him. The next time he is frightened to see
the canoe so close, and dives deep, which tires him the more. So his
disappearances become shorter and more confused; you follow him more
surely because you can see him plainly now as he goes down. Suddenly
he bursts out of water beside you, scattering the spray into your
canoe. Once he came up under my paddle, and I plucked a feather from
his back before he got away.
This last appearance always scares him out of his wits, and you get
what you have been working hard for--a sight of Hukweem getting under
way. Away he goes in a smother of spray, beating the water with his
wings, kicking hard to lift himself up; and so for a hundred yards,
leaving a wake like a stern-wheel steamer, till he gathers headway
enough to rise from the water.
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