Trial by water
by Sewell Peaslee Wright (1897–1970)
- Free to read
- 5 min read
- Reading level: 7th grade
"Trial by water by Sewell Peaslee Wright" is a pulp adventure short story written in the late 1920s. The tale uses a hazardous river passage as a crucible to test love and loyalty, focusing on jealousy, courage, and betrayal. Jean Baptiste Chabrier, a quiet northern bushman, guides a canoe through the Assin-nebah rapids with his wife, Charlotte, and their guest, Les Walters, a charming sawyer who has won Charlotte’s attention. Sensing her wavering heart, Jean deliberately wrecks the canoe at the safer end of the rapids to force a revealing crisis. In the churning water Charlotte turns to Les, who panics, strikes her away, and scrambles for shore, leaving her to drown. Jean, having seen enough—especially the cut on her cheek from Les’s ring—rescues her and brings her to land. The “trial by water” leaves a scar as a lasting reminder and delivers its verdict: Les’s cowardice is exposed, Charlotte’s misplaced faith is corrected, and Jean’s stern test decides the triangle’s fate.
- Short stories
- Triangles (Interpersonal relations)
- Spouses
- Canoes and canoeing
Read the opening
_A son of the voyageurs tests the hearts of
his young wife and of his debonair friend._
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Argosy All-Story Weekly March 30 1929.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Jean Baptiste Chabrier listened, with an odd gleam in his dark, quiet eyes, to the roaring of the rapids. A dangerous place, those rapids! Who knew better than Jean Baptiste, who for three years had made his home within the sound of Assin-nebah's voice? Assin-nebah—that was as the Crees said it; "rocky water" it meant in the English.
Chabrier's mild and thoughtful gaze rested upon the figure of the girl seated in the middle of the canoe. He could not see her face, for she was looking ahead, just as he was. There had been a time when she would have faced Jean Baptiste, her husband; but now she looked toward the man in the bow—big, blond, gay Les Walters, the sawyer.
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About this edition
This free edition of Trial by water by Sewell Peaslee Wright comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #76668, released 2025-08-10. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Short Stories, Romance, Adventure, American Literature.
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