an inch is as useless as the lead that never quits the barrel.
Bravely done, Jasper! the Sergeant's sweet child must be saved, even if
we go in without our own scalps."

By this time the Pathfinder was in the centre of the river, and almost
abreast of his enemies, while the other canoe, impelled by the vigorous
arms of Cap and Jasper, had nearly gained the opposite shore at the
precise spot that had been pointed out to them. The old mariner now
played his part manfully; for he was on his proper element, loved his
niece sincerely, had a proper regard for his own person, and was not
unused to fire, though his experience certainly lay in a very different
species of warfare. A few strokes of the paddles were given, and the
canoe shot into the bushes, Mabel was hurried to land by Jasper, and for
the present all three of the fugitives were safe.

Not so with the Pathfinder: his hardy self-devotion had brought him
into a situation of unusual exposure, the hazards of which were much
increased by the fact that, just as he drifted nearest to the enemy the
party on the shore rushed down the bank and joined their friends who
still stood in the water. The Oswego was about a cable's length in width
at this point, and, the canoe being in the centre, the object was only a
hundred yards from the rifles that were constantly discharged at it; or,
at the usual target distance for that weapon.

In this extremity the steadiness and skill of the Pathfinder did him
good service. He knew that his safety depended altogether on keeping in
motion; for a stationary object at that distance, would have been hit
nearly every shot. Nor was motion of itself sufficient; for, accustomed
to kill the bounding deer, his enemies probably knew how to vary the
line of aim so as to strike him, should he continue to move in any one
direction. He was consequently compelled to change the course of the
canoe,--at one moment shooting down with the current, with the swiftness
of an arrow; and at the next checking its progress in that direction, to
glance athwart the stream. Luckily the Iroquois could not reload their
pieces in the water, and the bushes that everywhere fringed the shore
rendered it difficult to keep the fugitive in view when on the land.
Aided by these circumstances, and having received the fire of all his
foes, the Pathfinder was gaining fast in distance, both downwards and
across the current, when a new danger suddenly, if not unexpectedly,
present