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the streams, living on venison, salmon, and trout, without thought of a Mingo or a scalp! I sometimes wish that them blessed days might come

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 pad-back, for it is not my raal gift to slay my own dle, 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.

kind. I'm sartain the sergeant'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 sunburnt 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 countenance.

given, and much more sweetly.

"That he wouldn't, that he wouldn't; the sergeant 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 I 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 sergeant has the advantage of me by thirty years; yes, he is thirty years my senior, and as many my better."

The Oswego, just at that place, was a deep, dark stream, of no great width, its still, gloomylooking 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 "I do not think my father would have sent across its surface, rendering care necessary to one like those you mention, to see his daughter avoid the limbs; and, most of the distance, the through the wilderness," the young woman anlower branches and leaves of the trees of small-swered, returning the smile as frankly as it was er 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 had been subjected to the uses and desires of man; luxuriant, wild, "Not in the eyes of the daughter, perhaps, full of promise, and not without the charm of the friend Pathfinder," put in Cap, whose spirits bepicturesque, even in its rudest state. It will began to revive when he found the water once more remembered that this was in the year 175-, or flowing around him. "The thirty years that you long before even speculation had brought any mention are not often thought to be an advantage portion of Western New York within the bounds in the eyes of girls of nineteen." 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 journeyed 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 inemy than the beasts and fishes. Ah's me! many is the day that the Sarpent, there, and I have passed happily among

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

DESCENDING THE OSWEGO FALLS.

19

Jasper, by way of entering cordially into the Magnet to land if there are enemy's Indians border usages), "had you not better give the ca- near." noe 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; 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 endivors 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?” "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 toward 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, แ 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 sergeant's daughter 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

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"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 sergeant'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 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 any thing more than canoeing in the woods. There is no seamanship in tumbling over a water-fall, which is a feat the greatest lubber can perform as well as the oldest mari

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“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 sergeant'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 toward 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 companion. The latter still stood erect, and, as he kept his eye on some object beyond the fall, it was evident that he was carefully looking for the spot proper for their passage.

"Farther west, boy; farther west," muttered Pathfinder; "there where you see the water foam. Bring the top of the dead oak in a line with the stem of the blasted hemlock."

Eau-douce made no answer, for the canoe was in the centre of the stream, with its head pointed toward the fall, and it had already begun to quicken its motion, by the increased force of the current. At that moment, Cap would cheerfully have renounced every claim to glory that could possibly be acquired by the feat, to have been safe again on shore. He heard the roar of the water, thundering as it might be, behind a screen, but becoming more and more distinct, louder and louder; and before him he saw its line cutting the forest below, along which the green and angry element seemed stretched and shining, as if the particles were about to lose their principle of cohesion.

"Down with your helm-down with you helm, man!" he exclaimed, unable any longer to suppress his anxiety, as the canoe glided toward the edge of the fall.

"Ay-ay-down it is, sure enough," answered Pathfinder, looking behind him for a single instant, with his silent, joyous laugh—“ down we go of a sartainty!—Heave her starn up, boy; farther up with her starn!"

The rest was like the passage of the viewless wind. Eau-douce gave the required sweep with his paddle, the canoe glanced into the channel, and for a few seconds it seemed to Cap that he was tossing in a caldron. He felt the bow of the canoe tip, saw the raging, foaming water careering madly by his side, was sensible that the light fabric in which he floated was tossed about like an egg-shell, and then, not less to his great joy than to his surprise, he discovered that it was gliding across the basin of still water, below the fall, under the steady impulse of Jasper's paddle.

The Pathfinder continued to laugh, but he arose from his knees, and, searching for a tin pot and a horn spoon, he began deliberately to measure the water that had been taken in in the passage.

"Fourteen spoonfuls, Eau-douce; fourteen fairly-measured spoonfuls. I have, you must acknowledge, known you to go down with only ten."

"Master Cap leaned so hard up-stream," returned Jasper, seriously, "that I had difficulty in trimming the canoe."

"It may be so-it may be so; no doubt it was so, since you say it; but I have known you go over with only ten."

Cap now gave a tremendous hem, felt for his cue, as if to ascertain its safety, and then looked back, in order to examine the danger he had gone through. His impunity is easily explained. Most of the river fell perpendicularly ten or twelve feet; but near its centre, the force of the current had so far worn away the rock, as to permit the water to shoot through a narrow passage, at an angle of about forty or forty-five degrees. Down this ticklish descent the canoe had glanced, amid fragments of broken rock, whirlpools, foam, and furious tossings of the element, which an uninstructed eye would believe menaced inevitable destruction to an object so fragile. But the very lightness of the canoe favored its descent; for, borne on the crests of the waves, and directed by a steady eye and an arm full of muscle, it had passed like a feather from one pile of foam to another, scarcely permitting its glossy side to be wetted. There were a few rocks to be avoided; the proper direction was to be rigidly observed, and the fierce current did the rest. *

To say that Cap was astonished, would not be expressing half his feelings. He felt awed, for the profound dread of rocks, which most seamen entertain, came in aid of his admiration of the boldness of the exploit. Still he was indisposed to express all he felt, lest he might be conceding too much in favor of fresh water and inland navigation; and no sooner had he cleared his throat with the aforesaid hem, than he loosened his tongue in the usual strain of superiority.

"I do not gainsay your knowledge of the channel, Master Oh! the-Deuce" (for such he religiously believed to be Jasper's sobriquet), "and after all, to know the channel in such a place is the main point. I have had coxswains with me who could come down that shoot too, if they only knew the channel."

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"Eau-douce gave the required sweep with his paddle, the canoe glanced into the channel, and for a few seconds it seemed to Cap that he was tossing in a caldron."

The Pathfinder, p. 20.

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