as to run into their suction."

"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 endeavors not to disgrace
our edication."

"In going down!" exclaimed Cap. "The devil, man! you do not dream
of going down a waterfall 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 towards 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, "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 to 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."