knowing now that their only safety was in flight. On dashed they through
the waters which now began to bear them forward with wondrous haste. A
thought of horror struck them: they were in the rapids, while before
them the white foam of the falls flashed through the darkness. The tide
had ebbed in their absence, and the river, smooth and level when full,
showed all across it, at the flood, a dark abyss of fearful rocks and
boiling surf. This they knew, but it was now too late to recede; the
dark stream bore them onward, and now even the Indians dare not follow,
but landed and ran along the shore shouting with delight at their
inevitable destruction. It was a moment of dread, unutterable horror to
Silas and his comrades. Their bark whirled round in the giddy
waves--then was there a wild plunge--a fearful shock--a shriek of death,
and the flashing foam gathered over them, while loudly rang the voices
from the shore. But suddenly, by some mighty effort, the boat was flung
clear of the rocks and uninjured into the smooth current of the lower
stream. A few strokes of the oar brought them to the fort, which they
entered; and heard the Indians howling behind them like wolves baffled
of their prey. But they and the dangers they had so lately passed were
alike forgotten in the night's carousal; and, when the season was ended,
they returned to their homes in the settlements, enriched with the
spoils they had gained in hunting, and Silas with his treasured pearl of
the prairie.

But here, some months after they returned, and while, his heart was yet
brightened with her smiles, a dark shade passed over her sunny brow, and
she vanished from his home. An Indian of her tribe was said to have been
lingering near the village, and she no doubt had joined him and returned
to her kindred. Other tidings of her fate Silas heard not. Alas! she
knew the undying vengeance of her people, and by giving herself up to
them thought to shield him from their hatred.