his post aft. Mabel was half-reclining on some of her own effects, behind her uncle, while the Pathfinder and Eau-douce stood erect, the one in the bow and the other in the stern, each using a paddle, with a long, steady, noiseless sweep. The conversation was carried on in low tones, all the party beginning to feel the necessity of prudence, as they drew nearer to the outskirts of the fort, and had no longer the cover of the woods.

The Oswego, just at that place, was a deep, dark stream, of no great width, its still, gloomy-looking current winding its way among overhanging trees, that, in particular spots, almost shut out the light of the heavens. Here and there some half-fallen giant of the forest lay nearly across its surface, rendering care necessary to avoid the limbs; and most of the distance, the lower branches and leaves of the trees of smaller growth were laved by its waters. The picture which has been so beautifully described by our own admirable poet, and which we have placed at the head of this chapter, as an epigraph, was here realized; the earth fattened by the decayed vegetation of centuries, and black with loam, the stream that filled the banks nearly to overflowing, and the "fresh and boundless wood," being all as visible to the eye, as the pen of Bryant has elsewhere vividly presented them to the imagination. In short, the entire scene was one of a rich and benevolent nature, before it has been subjected to the uses and desires of man; luxuriant, wild, full of promise, and not without the charm of the picturesque, even in its rudest state. It will be remembered that this was in the year 175-, or long before even speculation had brought any portion of western New York within the bounds of civilization, or the projects of the adventurous. At that distant day, there were two great channels of military communication between the inhabited portion of the colony of New York, and the frontiers that lay adjacent to the Canadas;-that by Lakes Champlain and George, and that by means of the Mohawk, Wood Creek, the Oneida, and the rivers we have been describing. Along both these lines of communication, military posts had been established, though there existed a blank space of a hundred

miles between the last fort at the head of the Mohawk, and the outlet of the Oswego, which embraced most of the distance that Cap and Mabel had jourreyed under the protection of Arrowhead.

"I sometimes wish for peace again," said the Pathfinder, "when one can range the forest without s'arching for any other enemy than the beasts and fishes. Ah's me! many is the day that the Sarpent, there, and I have passed happily among the streams, living on venison, salmon, and trout, without thought of a Mingo or a scalp! I sometimes with that them blessed days might come back, for it is not my raal gift to slay my own kind. I'm sartain the serjeant's daughter don't think me a wretch that takes pleasure in preying on human natur' ?"

At this remark, a sort of half interrogatory, Pathfinder looked behind him; and, though the most partial friend could scarcely term his sun-burnt and hard features handsome, even Mabel thought his smile attractive, by its simple ingenuousness, and the uprightness that beamed in every lineament of his honest counte

nance.

"I do not think my father would have sent one like those you mention, to see his daughter through the wilderness,” the young woman answered, returning the smile as frankly as it was given, and much more sweetly.

"That he wouldn't, that he wouldn't; the serjeant is a man of feelin', and many is the march and the fight that we have stood shoulder to shoulder in, as he would call it—though always keep my limbs free, when near a Frencher or a Mingo." "You are then the young friend of whom my father has spoken so often in his letters?"

"His young friend—the serjeant has the advantage of me by thirty years; yes, he is thirty years my senior, and as many my Detter."

"Not in the eyes of the daughter, perhaps, friend Pathfinder," put in Cap, whose spirits began to revive when he found the water once more flowing around him. "The thirty years that

you mention, are not often thought to be an advantage in the eyes of girls of nineteen."

Mabel colored, and in turning aside her face, to avoid the looks of those in the bow of the canoe, she encountered the admiring gaze of the young man in the stern. As a last resource her spirited, but soft blue eyes, sought refuge in the water. Just at this moment a dull heavy sound swept up the avenue formed by the trees, borne along by a light air that hardly produced a ripple on the water.

"That sounds pleasantly," said Cap, pricking up his ears like a dog that hears a distant baying; "it is the surf on the shores of your lake, I suppose?"

"Not so-not so," answered the Pathfinder-" it is merely this river tumbling over some rocks, half a mile below us."

"Is there a fall in the stream?" demanded Mabel, a still brighter flush glowing in her face.

"The devil! Master Pathfinder-or you, Mr. Oh! The-deuce -(for so Cap began to style Jasper, by way of entering cordially into the border usages), had you not better give the canoe a sheer, and get nearer to the shore? These water-falls have generally rapids above them, and one might as well get into the Maelstrom at once as to run into their suction."

"Trust to us-trust to us, friend Cap," answered Pathfinder; 66 we are but fresh-water sailors, it is true, and I cannot boast of being much, even of that; but we understand rifts, and rapids, and cataracts; and in going down these, we shall do our endeavors not to disgrace our edication."

"In going down!" exclaimed Cap-" the devil, man! you do not dream of going down a water-fall in this egg-shell of bark!"

66 Sartain; the path lies over the falls, and it is much easier to shoot them than to unload the canoe, and to carry that, and· all it contains, around a portage of a mile, by hand."

Mabel turned her pallid countenance towards the young man in the stern of the canoe, for just at that moment a fresh roar of the fall was borne to her ears, by a new current of the air

and it really sounded terrific, now that the cause was understood.

"We thought, that by landing the females and the two Indians," Jasper quietly observed, "we three white men, all of whom are used to the water, might carry the canoe over in safety, for we often shoot these falls."

“And we counted on you, friend mariner, as a mainstay," said Pathfinder, winking at Jasper over his shoulder, “for you are accustomed to see waves tumbling about, and without some one to steady the cargo, all the finery of the serjeant's daugh ter might be washed into the river, and be lost."

Cap was puzzled. The idea of going over a water-fall was perhaps more serious, in his eyes, than it would have been in those of one totally ignorant of all that pertained to boats; for he understood the power of the element and the total feebleness of man when exposed to its fury. Still, his pride revolted at the thought of deserting the boat, while others not only courageously, but coolly, proposed to continue in it. Notwithstanding the latter feeling, and his innate as well as acquired steadiness in danger, he would probably have deserted his post, had not the images of Indians tearing scalps from the human head taken so strong hold of his fancy, as to induce him to imagine the canoe a sort of sanctuary.

"What is to be done with Magnet ?" he demanded, affection for his niece raising another qualm in his conscience. "We cannot allow Magnet to land if there are enemy's Indians near?"

"Nay-no Mingo will be near the portage, for that is a spot too public for their deviltries," answered the Pathfinder, confidently. "Natur' is natur', and it is an Injin's natur' to be found where he is least expected. No fear of him on a beaten path, for he wishes to come upon you when unprepared to meet him. and the fiery villains make it a point to deceive you, one way or another. Sheer in, Eau-douce; we will land the serjeanc's daughter on the end of that log, where she can reach the shore with a dry foot."

The injunction was obeyed, and in a few minutes the whole

38

THE

party had left the canoe, with the exception of Pathfinder and the two sailors. Notwithstanding his professional pride, Cap would have gladly followed, but he did not like to exhibit so unequivocal a weakness in the presence of a fresh-water sailor.

"I call all hands to witness," he said, as those who had landed moved away, " that I do not look on this affair as anything more than canoeing in the woods. There is no seamanthip in tumbling over a water-fall, which is a feat the greates lubber can perform as well as the oldest mariner."

"Nay, nay, you needn't despise the Oswego Falls, neither," put in Pathfinder, "for though they may not be Niagara, nor the Genesee, nor the Cahoos, nor Glenn's, nor them on the Canada, they are narvous enough for a new beginner. Let the serjeant's daughter stand on yonder rock, and she will see the manner in which we ignorant backwoodsmen get over a difficulty that we can't get under. Now, Eau-douce, a steady hand and a true eye, for all rests on you, seeing that we can count Master Cap for no more than a passenger."

The canoe was leaving the shore, as he concluded, while Mabel went hurriedly and trembling to the rock that had been pointed out, talking to her companion of the danger her uncle so unnecessarily ran, while her eyes were riveted on the agile and vigorous form of Eau-douce, as he stood erect in the stern of the light boat, governing its movements. As soon, however, as she reached a point where she got a view of the fall, she gave an involuntary but suppressed scream, and covered her eyes. At the next instant, the latter were again free, and the entranced girl stood immovable as a statue, a scarcely breathing observer of all that passed. The two Indians seated themselves passively on a log, hardly looking towards the stream, while the wife of Arrowhead came near Mabel, and appeared to watch the motions of the canoe with some such interest as a child regards the leaps of a tumbler.

As soon as the boat was in the stream, Pathfinder sank on his knees, continuing to use the paddle, though it was slowly, and in a manner not to interfere with the efforts of his compa