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A SKILFUL EXPLOIT.

derstanding, while shot succeeded shot in quick, succession, all now being aimed at the solitary man in the nearest canoe.

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"Ay, empty your rifles, like simpletons as you be," said the Pathfinder, who had acquired a habit of speaking when alone, from passing so much of his time in the solitude of the forest; 'empty your rifles, with an onsteady aim, and give me a chance to put yard upon yard of river atween us. I will not revile you, like a Delaware or a Mohican, for my gifts are a white man's gifts, and not an Injin's; and boasting in battle is no part of a Christian warrior; but I may say, here, all alone by myself, that you are little better than so many men from the town, shooting at robins in the orchards! That was well-meant," throwing back his head, as a rifle-bullet cut a lock of hair from his temple-"but the lead that misses by an inch is as useless as the lead that never quits the barrel.-Bravely done, Jasper ! the sergeant's sweet child must be saved, even if we go in without our own scalps."

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should he continue to move in any one direction. He was consequently compelled to change the course of the canoe, at one moment shooting down with the current, with the swiftness of an arrow, and at the next checking its progress in that direction, to glance athwart the stream. Luckily the Iroquois could not reload their pieces in the water, and the bushes that everywhere fringed the shore rendered it difficult to keep the fugitive in view when on the land. Aided by these circumstances, and having received the fire of all his foes, the Pathfinder was gaining fast in distance, both downward and across the current, when a new danger suddenly, if not unexpectedly, presented itself by the appearance of the party that had been left in ambush below, with a view to watch the river.

These were the savages alluded to in the short dialogue that has been already related. They were no less than ten in number, and, understanding all the advantages of their bloody occupation, they had posted themselves at a spot where the water dashed among rocks and over shallows, in a way to form a rapid, which, in the language of the country, is called a rift. The Pathfinder saw that if he entered this rift he should be com

By this time the Pathfinder was in the centre of the river, and almost abreast of his enemies, while the other canoe, impelled by the vigorous arms of Cap and Jasper, had nearly gained the opposite shore at the precise spot that had been point-pelled to approach a point where the Iroquois ed out to them. The old mariner now played his part manfully; for he was on his proper element, loved his niece sincerely, had a proper regard for his own person, and was not unused to fire, though his experience certainly lay in a very different species of warfare. A few strokes of the paddles were given, and the canoe shot into the bushes, Mabel was hurried to land by Jasper, and, for the present, all three of the fugitives were safe.

had posted themselves, for the current was irresistible, and the rocks allowed no other safe passage, while death or captivity would be the probable result of the attempt. All his efforts, therefore, were turned toward reaching the western shore, the foe being all on the eastern side of the river. But the exploit surpassed human power, and to attempt to stem the stream would at once have so far diminished the motion of the canoe as to render aim certain. In this exigency the guide came to a decision with his usual cool promptitude, making his preparations accord

Not so with Pathfinder. His hardy self-devotion had brought him into a situation of unusual exposure, the hazards of which were much increased, by the fact that just as he drifted near-ingly. Instead of endeavoring to gain the chanest to the enemy, the party on the shore rushed down the bank, and joined their friends who stood still in the water. The Oswego was about a cable's length in width at this point, and the canoe being in the centre, the object was only a hundred yards from the rifles that were constantly discharged at it, or at the usual target distance for that weapon.

In this extremity the steadiness and skill of the Pathfinder did him good service. He knew that his safety depended altogether on keeping in motion; for a stationary object, at that distance, would have been hit nearly every shot. Nor was motion itself sufficient; for, accustomed to kill the bounding deer, his enemies probably knew how to vary the line of aim so as to strike him,

nel, he steered toward the shallowest part of the stream, on reaching which, he seized his rifle and pack, leaped into the water, and began to wade from rock to rock, taking the direction of the western shore. The canoe whirled about in the furious current, now rolling over some slippery stone, now filling, and then emptying itself, until it lodged on the shore, within a few yards of the spot where the Iroquois had posted themselves.

In the mean while the Pathfinder was far from being out of danger; for the first minute, admiration of his promptitude and daring, which are high virtues in the mind of an Indian, kept his enemies motionless; but the desire of revenge, and the cravings for the much-prized trophy, soon overcame this transient feeling, and aroused

them from their stupor. Rifle flashed after rifle, and the bullets whistled around the head of the fugitive, amid the roar of the waters. Still he proceeded like one who bore a charmed life, for while his rude frontier garments were more than once cut, his skin was not razed.

As the Pathfinder, in several instances, was compelled to wade in water that rose nearly to his arms, while he kept his rifle and ammunition elevated above the raging current, the toil soon fatigued him, and he was glad to stop at a large stone, or a small rock, which rose so high above the river, that its upper surface was dry. On this stone he placed his powder-horn, getting behind it himself, so as to have the advantage of a partial cover for his body. The western shore was only fifty feet distant, but the quiet, swift, dark current that glanced through the interval, sufficiently showed that here he would be compelled to swim.

A short cessation in the firing now took place on the part of the Indians, who gathered about the canoe, and, having found the paddles, were preparing to cross the river.

"Pathfinder!" called a voice from among the bushes, at the point nearest to the person addressed, on the western shore.

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"Be of good heart-friends are at hand, and not a single Mingo shall cross without suffering for his boldness. Had you not better leave the rifle on the rock, and swim to us before the rascals can get afloat?"

"A true woodsman never quits his piece, while he has any powder in his horn, or a bullet in his pouch. I have not drawn a trigger this day, Eau-douce, and shouldn't relish the idea of parting with them riptyles, without causing them to remember my name. A little water will not harm my legs; and I see that blackguard, Arrowhead, among the scamps, and wish to send him the wages he has so faithfully earned. You have not brought the sergeant's daughter down here in a range with their bullets, I hope, Jasper!"

"She is safe, for the present at least; though all depends on our keeping the river between us and the enemy. They must know our weakness, now; and, should they cross, no doubt some of their party will be left on the other side."

"This canoeing touches your gifts rather than mine, boy, though I will handle a paddle with the best Mingo that ever struck a salmon. If they cross below the rift, why can't we cross in the still water above, and keep playing at dodge and turn with the wolves?"

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"The sergeant's daughter must be saved," returned the guide, with calm energy. "You are right, Jasper; she has no gift to authorize her in offering her sweet face and tender body to a Mingo rifle. What can be done, then? They must be kept from crossing for an hour or two, if possible, when we must do our best in the darkness."

"I agree with you, Pathfinder, if it can be effected; but are we strong enough for such a purpose?

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"The Lord is with us, boy-the Lord is with us; and it is onreasonable to suppose that one like the sergeant's daughter will be altogether abandoned by Providence, in such a strait. There is not a boat atween the falls and the garrison, except these two canoes, to my sartain knowledge; and I think it will go beyond redskin gifts to cross in the face of two rifles, like these of yourn and mine. I will not vaunt, Jasper, but it is well known on all this frontier that Killdeer seldom fails."

"Your skill is admitted by all, far and near, Pathfinder, but a rifle takes time to be loaded; nor are you on the land, aided by a good cover, where you can work to the advantage you are used to. If you had our canoe, might you not pass to the shore with a dry rifle ?"

"Can an eagle fly, Jasper? "" returned the other, laughing in his usual manner, and looking back as he spoke. "But it would be onwise to expose yourself on the water, for them miscreants are beginning to bethink them again of powder and bullets."

"It can be done without any such chances. Master Cap has gone up to the canoe, and will cast the branch of a tree into the river to try the current, which sets from the point above in the direction of your rock. See, there it comes already; if it float fairly, you must raise your arm, when the canoe will follow. At all events, if the boat should pass you, the eddy below will bring it up, and I can recover it."

While Jasper was still speaking, the floating branch came in sight, and quickening its progress with the increasing velocity of the current, it swept swiftly down toward the Pathfinder, who seized it as it was passing, and held it in the air as a sign of success. Cap understood the signal, and presently the canoe was launched into the stream, with a caution and an intelligence that the habits of the mariner fitted him to observe.

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"Rifle flashed after rifle, and the bullets whistled around the head of the fugitive, amid the roar of the waters."

The Pathfinder, p. 32.

THE DELAWARE'S FATAL SHOT.

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It floated in the same direction as the branch, I much too well skilled in forest warfare to neglect to and in a minute was arrested by the Pathfinder.

"This has been done with a frontier-man's judgment, Jasper," said the guide, laughing; "but you have your gifts, which incline most to the water, as mine incline to the woods. Now let them Mingo knaves cock their rifles and get rests, for this is the last chance they are likely to have at a man without a cover."

"Nay, shove the canoe toward the shore, quartering the current, and throw yourself into it as it goes off," said Jasper, eagerly. "There is little use in running any risk."

defend the only pass that in truth now offered even a probable chance for protection.

As the Pathfinder had said, three warriors were in the canoe, two holding their rifles at a poise, kneeling in readiness to aim the deadly weapons; the other standing erect in the stern to wield the paddle. In this manner they left the shore, having had the precaution to haul the canoe, previously to entering it, so far up the stream, as to get into the comparatively still water above the rift. It was apparent, at a glance, that the savage who guided the boat was skilled in the art,

"I love to stand up face to face with my for the long, steady sweep of his paddle sent the inemies like a man, while they set me the exam-light bark over the glassy surface of the tranquil ple," returned the Pathfinder, proudly. "I am river as if it were a feather floating in air. not a red-skin born, and it is more a white man's gifts to fight openly than to lie in ambushment." "And Mabel?"

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"There can be no doubt, if you give a vigorous push."

Pathfinder made the necessary effort, the light bark shot across the intervening space, and Jasper seized it as it came to land. To secure the canoe and to take proper positions in the cover occupied the friends but a moment, when they shook hands cordially, like those who had met after a long separation.

"Now, Jasper, we shall see if a Mingo of them all dare cross the Oswego in the teeth of Killdeer! You are handier with the oar, and the paddle, and the sail, than with the rifle, perhaps; but you have a stout heart and a steady hand, and them are things that count in a fight."

"Mabel will find me between her and her enemies," said Jasper, calmly.

"Yes, yes, the sergeant's daughter must be protected. I like you, boy, on your own account, but I like you all the better that you think of one so feeble at a moment when there is need of all your manhood. See, Jasper, three of the knaves are actually getting into the canoe! They must believe we have fled, or they would not surely ventur' so much, directly in the very face of Killdeer!"

Sure enough, the Iroquois did appear bent on venturing across the stream, for, as the Pathfinder and his friends now kept their persons strictly concealed, their enemies began to think that the latter had taken to flight. The course was that which most white men would have followed; but Mabel was under the care of those who were

"Shall I fire?" demanded Jasper, in a whisper, trembling with eagerness to engage.

"Not yet, boy; not yet. There are but three of them, and if Master Cap, yonder, knows how to use the pop-guns he carries in his belt, we may even let them land, and then we shall recover the canoe."

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"No fear for the sergeant's daughter. She is safe in the hollow stump, you say, with the opening judgmatically hid by the brambles. If what you tell me of the manner in which you concealed the trail be true, the sweet-one might lie there a month, and laugh at the Mingoes."

"We are never certain-I wish we had brought her nearer to our own cover!"

"What for, Eau-douce ?-To place her pretty little head and leaping heart among flying bullets. No-no-she is better where she is, because she is safer."

"We are never certain-we thought ourselves safe behind the bushes, yet you saw that we were discovered."

"And the Mingo imp paid for his cur'osity, as them knaves are about to do-"

At that instant the sharp report of a rifle was heard, when the Indian in the stern of the canoe leaped high into the air, and fell into the water holding the paddle in his hand. A small wreath of smoke floated out from among the bushes of the eastern shore, and was soon absorbed by the atmosphere.

"That is the Sarpent hissing!" exclaimed the Pathfinder, exultingly. "A bolder or truer heart never beat in the breast of a Delaware. I am sorry that he interfered, but he could not have known our condition-he could not have known our condition.”

The canoe no sooner lost its guide, than it floated with the stream, and was soon sucked into

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