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 the passage.

"Fourteen spoonsful, Eau-douce; fourteen fairly measured spoonsful. 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."

66

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 safety 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 had 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 it 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 Eaudeuce, (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 cockswains with me who could come down that shoot too, if they only knew the channel."

"It isn't enough to know the channel, friend mariner," said Pathfinder; "it needs narves and skill to keep the canoe straight, and to keep her clear of the rocks too. There isn't another boatman in all this region that can shoot the Oswego, but Eau-douce, there, with any sartainty; though, now and then, one has blundered through. I can't do it myself, unless by means of Providence, and it needs Jasper's hand and Jasper's eye, to make sure of a dry passage.

Lest the reader suppose we are dealing purely in fiction, the writer will add that he has known a long thirty-two pounder carried over these same falls in perfect safety.

Fourteen spoonsful, after all, are no great matter, though I wish it had been but ten, seeing that the serjeant's daughter was a looker on."

"And yet you conned the canoe; you told him how to head, how to sheer."

and

"Human frailty, master mariner; that was a little of white-skin natur'. Now, had the Sarpent, yonder, been in the boat, not a word would he have spoken, or thought would he have given to the public. An Indian knows how to hold his tongue; but we white folk fancy we are always wiser than our fellows. I'm curing myself fast of the weakness, but it needs time to root up the tree that has been growing more than thirty years."

"I think little of this affair, sir; nothing at all, to speak my mind freely. It's a mere wash of spray to shooting London Bridge, which is done every day by hundreds of persons, and often by the most delicate ladies in the land. The King's Majesty has shot the bridge in his royal person.

"Well, I want no delicate ladies or king's majesties, (God bless 'em,) in the canoe, in going over these falls; for a boat's breadth, either way, may make a drowning matter of it. Eau-douce, we shall have to carry the serjeant's brother over Niagara, yet, to show him what may be done on a frontier!"

"The devil! Master Pathfinder, you must be joking, now! Surely it is not possible for a bark canoe to go over that mighty cataract!" "You never were more mistaken, Master Cap, in your life. Nothing is easier, and many is the canoe I have seen go over it, with my own eyes, and, if we both live, I hope to satisfy you that the feat can be done. For my part, I think the largest ship that ever sailed on the ocean might be carried over, could she once get into the rapids."

Cap did not perceive the wink which Pathfinder exchanged with Eau-douce, and he remained silent for some time; for sooth to say, he had never suspected the possibility of going down Niagara, feasible as the thing must appear to every one, on a second thought, the real difficulty existing in going up it.

By this time, the party had reached the place where Jasper had left his own canoe, concealed in the bushes, and they all re-embarked; Cap, Jasper and his niece, in one boat, and Pathfinder, Arrowhead, and the wife of the latter, in the other. The Mohican had already passed down the banks of the river by land, looking cautiously and with the skill of his people for the signs of an enemy.

The cheek of Mabel did not recover all its bloom, until the canoe was again in the current, down which it floated swiftly, occasionally impelled by the paddle of Jasper. She witnessed the descent of the falls, with a degree of terror that had rendered her mute, but her fright had not been so great as to prevent admiration of the steadiness of the youth, who directed the movement, from blending with the passing terror. In truth, one much less quick and sensitive might have had her feelings awakened by the cool and gallant air

with which Eau-douce had accomplished this clever exploit. He had stood firmly erect, notwithstanding the plunge; and to those who were on the shore, it was evident that by a timely application of his skill and strength, the canoe had received a sheer that alone carried it clear of a rock, over which the boiling water was leaping in jets d'eau, now leaving the brown stone visible, and now covering it with a limpid sheet, as if machinery controlled the play of the element. The tongue cannot always express what the eyes view, but Mabel saw enough, even in that moment of fear, to blend for ever in her mind, the pictures presented by the plunging canoe, and the unmoved steersman. She admitted that insidious feeling which binds woman so strongly to man, by feeling additional security in finding herself under his care, and for the first time since leaving Fort Stanwix, she was entirely at her ease in the frail bark in which she travelled. As the other canoe kept quite near her own, however, and the Pathfinder, by floating at her side, was most in view, the conversation was principally maintained with that person; Jasper seldom speaking unless addressed, and constantly exhibiting a wariness in the management of his own boat, that might have been remarked by one accustomed to his ordinary confident, careless manner, had such an observer been present to note what was passing.

"We know too well a woman's gifts, to think of carrying the serjeant's daughter over the falls," said Pathfinder, looking at Mabel, while he addressed her uncle; "though I've been acquainted with some of her sex, in these regions, that would think but little of doing the thing

"Mabel is faint-hearted, like her mother," returned Cap, "and you did well, friend, to humor her weakness. You will remember the child has never been at sea.'

"No-no-it was easy to discover that, by your own fearlessness - any one might have seen how little you cared about the matter! I went over once with a raw-hand, and he jumped out of the canoe, just as it tipped, and you may judge what a time he had of it!"

"What became of the poor fellow?" asked Cap, scarce knowing how to take the other's manner, which was so dry, while it was so simple, that a less obtuse subject than the old sailor might well have suspected its sincerity. "One who has passed the place knows how to feel for him."

"He was a poor fellow, as you say; and a poor frontier man, too, though he came out to show his skill among us ignoranters. What became of him? - Why, he went down the falls topsy-turvy like, as would have happened to a court-house or a fort."

"If it should jump out of a canoe," interrupted Jasper, smiling, though he was evidently more disposed than his friend to let the passage of the falls be forgotten.

"The boy is right," rejoined Pathfinder, laughing in Mabel's face, the canoes being now so near that they almost touched; "he is sartainly right. But you have not told us what you think of the leap we took?

"It was perilous and bold," said Mabel; "while looking at it I could have wished that it had not been attempted, though, now it is over, I can admire its boldness, and the steadiness with which it was made."

"Now, do not think that we did this thing, to set ourselves off in female eyes. It may be pleasant to the young to win each other's good opinions, by doing things that may seem praiseworthy and bold; but neither Eau-douce, nor myself, is of that race. My natur', though perhaps the Sarpent would be a better witness, has few turns in it, and is a straight natur'; nor would it be likely to lead me into a vanity of this sort, while out on duty. As for Jasper, he would sooner go over the Oswego falls, without a looker-on, than do it before a hundred pair of eyes. I know the lad well, from use and much consorting, and I am sure he is not boastful or vain-glorious."

Mabel rewarded the scout with a smile, that served to keep the canoes together for some time longer, for the sight of youth and beauty was so rare on that remote frontier, that even the rebuked and self-mortified feelings of this wanderer of the forest, were sensibly touched by the blooming loveliness of the girl.

"We did it for the best," Pathfinder continued; "'twas all for the best. Had we waited to carry the canoe across the portage, time would have been lost, and nothing is so precious as time, when you are mistrustful of Mingos."

"But we can have little to fear, now! The canoes move swiftly, and two hours, you have said, will carry us down to the fort."

"It shall be a cunning Iroquois wo hurts a hair of your head, pretty one, for all here are bound to the serjeant, and most, I think, to yourself, to see you safe from harm. Ha! Eau-douce; what is that in the river, at the lower turn, yonder, beneath the bushes,-I mean standing on the rock?"

"T is the Big Serpent, Pathfinder; he is making signs to us, in a way I don't understand."

"T is the Sarpent, as sure as I'm a white man, and he wishes us to drop in nearer to his shore. Mischief is brewing, or one of his deliberation and steadiness would never take this trouble. Courage, all! we are men, and must meet deviltry as becomes our color, and our callings. Ah! I never knew good come of boasting; and here, just as I was vaunting of our safety, comes danger to give me the lie."

THE Oswego, below the falls, is a more rapid, unequal stream, than it is above them. There are places where the river flows in the quiet stillness of deep water, but many shoals and rapids occur; and,

at that distant day, when every thing was in its natural state, some of the passes were not altogether without hazard. Very little exertion was required on the part of those who managed the canoes, except in those places where the swiftness of the current, and the presence of the rocks required care; when, indeed, not only vigilance, but great coolness, readiness and strength of arm became necessary, in order to avoid the dangers. Of all this the Mohican was aware, and he had judiciously selected a spot, where the river flowed tranquilly, to intercept the canoes, in order to make his communication without hazard to those he wished to speak.

The Pathfinder had no sooner recognised the form of his red friend, than, with a strong sweep of his paddle, he threw the head of his own canoe towards the shore, motioning for Jasper to follow. In a minute both boats were silently drifting down the stream, within reach of the bushes that overhung the water, all observing a profound silence; some from alarm, and others from habitual caution. As the travellers drew nearer the Indian, he made a sign for them to stop; and then he and Pathfinder had a short but earnest conference, in the language of the Delawares.

"The chief is not apt to see enemies in a dead log," observed the white man, to his red associate; "why does he tell us to stop?" "Mingos are in the woods."

"That, we have believed these two days: does the chief know it?" The Mohican quietly held up the head of a pipe, formed of stone. "It lay on a fresh trail that led towards the garrison" for so it was the usage of that frontier to term a military work, whether it was occupied or not.

"That may be the bowl of a pipe belonging to a soldier. Many use the red-skin pipes."

"See," said the Big Serpent, again holding the thing he had found. up to the view of his friend.

The bowl of the pipe was of soap-stone, and it had been carved with great care, and with a very respectable degree of skill. In its centre was a small Latin cross, made with an accuracy that permitted no doubt of its meaning.

"That does foretell deviltry and wickedness," said the Pathfinder, who had all the provincial horror of the holy symbol in question, that then pervaded the country, and which became so incorporated with its prejudices, by confounding men with things, as to have left its traces strong enough on the moral feeling of the community, to be discovered even at the present hour; "no Indian who had been parvanted by the cunning priests of the Canadas would dream of carving a thing like that on his pipe! I'll warrant ye, the knave prays to the image every time he wishes to sarcumvent the innocent, and work his fearful wickedness. It looks fresh, too, Chingachgook?" "The tobacco was burning when I found it."

"That is close work, chief-where was the trail?"

The Mohican pointed to a spot not a hundred yards distant from that where they stood.