“Uh, thanks for the reassurance, Toshty,” Annie said. “But if that rumble I hear is where we’re going, my stomach is already queasy!”
“Yes, that’s it.” Toshty replied, stopping and sitting down on his pack. “We’ll stop here for a few minutes and rest. Enjoy the freedom to stretch. It’ll be your last chance for a while.” Breister and Annie gave Toshty uncertain looks. What was this crazy old Owl getting them into, they wondered?
“I need to tell you here what to do when we reach the river, while we can still talk,” Toshty continued. “Once we get near the river, hand signals will be our only way to communicate.”
Reaching into a pocket in his pack, Toshty pulled out some small balls of cotton mixed with pine sap. “Here’s a pair of earplugs for each of you,” he said. “First instruction is always to wear them,” Toshty explained, showing them how to mold the earplugs to fit securely in their ears.
Breister and Annie could already see how necessary the earplugs would be. In the closed caverns, the roar of the river would soon become deafening as they advanced towards it.
Toshty’s instructions to Breister and Annie hinted at what lay ahead. “The Deep Springs River is like a maddened beast,” he began, “it surges and plunges through a tube-like channel through the rock. Riding in a canoe, we are completely unable to resist the power of the river, or control our ride. All we can do is wait it out.” He paused, looking with a slight hint of bemusement at his friends.
“Now, now, I know that sounds terrifying and you wonder why anyone would take such a ride,” he continued. “Over the eons the surging water has worn and smoothed the walls of the channel to a glass-like smoothness. It’s like being blown through a reed!” He could see that the fears of his friends were not being soothed by his explanation, but he went on with his instructions nevertheless. Breister and Annie listened with apprehensive interest.
“We’ll inflate the canoe when we get to the river,” Toshty directed. “Then we lie down in the bottom, one after another, with the heaviest beast in the middle.” He poked Breister in his considerable belly playfully, indicating that would be his place.
Grinning at his friends, he continued, “Except for the stomach-turning twists and turns, and the ‘scream-like-you’re-going-to-die’ plunge through complete darkness, it’s just like being blown through a hollow reed.”
Breister and Annie looked at Toshty darkly. “Don’t worry, friends,” Toshty assured them, “I’ve done it dozens of times.”
“When we board the canoe, lie face up,” Toshty grinned, obviously understanding his friends’ discomfort. “You’ll have to raise your head to breathe sometimes because there’ll be water in the bottom of the canoe. You won’t need light to see anything, because your eyes will be closed as tight as you can get them! It’s an absolutely terrifying ride...But when it’s over, you’ll think it was great fun!”
“Yeah,” Breister muttered, “when it’s over!”
“Toshty,” Annie asked, looking worried, “you mean we just lie there on our backs, zooming along in the dark, with no way to control our ride or see what’s coming?”
“Good question, easy answer!” Toshty replied. “You are exactly right! No paddling is possible. In fact, the worst thing you could do is sit up and imbalance the canoe. Remember it’s like being blown through a hollow reed,” he laughed. “Just lie back and enjoy the fun!”
Breister felt his stomach beginning to churn. He was not looking forward to this. “How do we collect honey and eggs going along like that?” he asked. “You said we’d collect more during our trip?”
“After about a day’s ride, zinging along without a stop,” Toshty answered, “we’ll reach a place called the ‘Ocean of Dreams.’ It’s a huge underground lake where the fast part of the river ends. The Ocean of Dreams has lots of fantastic rock formations all around it, and it’s fractured with many cracks that reach the surface. We’ll find lots of honey and cave bird eggs there.”
“Why is it called the Ocean of Dreams?” Annie asked.
“Just imagine a place with rock formations so fantastic that, if you can dream it, you can see a rock formation that resembles it! You won’t believe it until you see it. One day, you could have a pleasant dream or a frightening nightmare, and find its image in the Ocean of Dreams.” He nodded his head knowingly. “You won’t believe it!” he repeated.
“So, after the Ocean of Dreams, what happens?” Breister asked.
“We pick one of the streams flowing out of it and go on to the Rounds,” Toshty replied. “The river will be much calmer then and we can paddle normally the rest of the way.”
“One of the streams?” Annie asked.
“Yes,” Toshty replied, “there are dozens of outlets from the Ocean of Dreams...you have to know which one you want.”