ift and the
Oswego Falls are very different in their characters 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, recovered 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 happiness to you."

"The Pathfinder may claim a full share in the merit; but what