Mabel certainly felt distrust and apprehension; but her entire
situation was so novel, and her reliance on her guide so great,
that she retained a self-command which might not have existed had
she clearer perceptions of the truth, or been better acquainted
with the helplessness of men when placed in opposition to the power
and majesty of Nature.

"Is that the spot you have mentioned?" she said to

Jasper, when the roar of the rift first came distinctly on her
ears.

"It is; and I beg you to have confidence in me. We are not
old acquaintances, Mabel; but we live many days in one, in this
wilderness. I think, already, that I have known you years!"

"And I do not feel as if you were a stranger to me, Jasper. I
have every reliance on your skill, as well as on your disposition
to serve me."

"We shall see, we shall see. Pathfinder is striking the rapids
too near the centre of the river; the bed of the water is closer to
the eastern shore; but I cannot make him hear me now. Hold firmly
to the canoe, Mabel, and fear nothing."

At the next moment the swift current had sucked them into the
rift, and for three or four minutes the awe-struck, rather than the
alarmed, girl saw nothing around her but sheets of glancing foam,
heard nothing but the roar of waters. Twenty times did the canoe