第40章

As the arrangement now stood, however, everything de-pended on the skill of those who guided the canoes; for should either hit a rock, if not split asunder, it would almost certainly be upset, and then would come not only all the hazards of the river itself, but, for Mabel, the cer-tainty of falling into the hands of her persuers.The utmost circumspection consequently became necessary, and each one was too much engrossed with his own thoughts to feel a disposition to utter more than was called for by the exigencies of the case.

At the canoes stole silently along, the roar of the rift became audible, and it required all the fortitude of Cap to keep his seat, while these boding sounds were approached, amid a darkness which scarcely permitted a view of the outlines of the wooded shore and of the gloomy vault above his head.He retained a vivid impression of the falls, and his imagination was not now idle in swelling the dangers of the rift to a level with those of the headlong descent he had that day made, and even to increase them, under the influence of doubt and uncertainty.In this, however, the old mariner was mistaken, for the Oswego Rift and the Oswego Falls are very different in their char-acters and violence; the former being no more than a rapid, that glances among shallows and rocks, while the latter really deserved the name it bore, as has been already shown.

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 appear about to dash against some curling and bright wave that showed itself even amid that obscurity; and as often did it glide away again unharmed, impelled by the vigorous arm of him who governed its movements.Once, and once only, did Jasper seem to lose command of his frail bark, during which brief space it fairly whirled entirely round; but by a desperate effort he brought it again under control, re-covered the lost channel, and was soon rewarded for all his anxiety by finding himself floating quietly in the deep water below the rapids, secure from every danger, and without having taken in enough of the element to serve for a draught.

"All is over, Mabel," the young man cried cheerfully.

"The danger is past, and you may now indeed hope to meet your father this very night.""God be praised! Jasper, we shall owe this great hap-piness to you."

"The Pathfinder may claim a full share in the merit;but what has become of the other canoe?"

"I see something near us on the water; is it not the boat of our friends?"A few strokes of the paddle brought Jasper to the side of the object in question: it was the other canoe, empty and bottom upwards.No sooner did the young man as-certain this fact, than he began to search for the swimmers, and, to his great joy, Cap was soon discovered drifting down with the current; the old seaman preferring the chances of drowning to those of landing among savages.He was hauled into the canoe, though not without difficulty, and then the search ended; for Jasper was persuaded that the Pathfinder, would wade to the shore, the water being shal-low in preference to abandoning his beloved rifle.

The remainder of the passage was short, though made amid darkness and doubt.After a short pause, a dull roaring sound was heard, which at times resembled the mutterings of distant thunder, and then again brought with it the washing of waters.Jasper announced to his companions that they now heard the surf of the lake.

Low curved spits of land lay before them, into the bay formed by one of which the canoe glided, and then it shot up noiselessly upon a gravelly beach.The transition that followed was so hurried and great, that Mabel scarcely knew what passed.In the course of a few minutes, how-ever sentinels had been passed, a gate was opened, and the agitated girl found herself in the arms of a parent who was almost a stranger to her.