im, and he looks
at it. Then he runs up, claps the gun to his shoulder, and pulls the
trigger; but it wos a rusty old lock, an' no fire came. There was fire
come from the bar's eyes, though, I _do_ guess! It ran at him, an' he
ran away. Of course Caleb soon came up, an' Bob primed as he ran an'
wheeled about, stuck the muzzle of the old musket right into Caleb's
mouth, and fired. He swallered the whole charge, that bar did, as if it
had been a glass o' grog, and didn't he cough some? Oh no! an' he
roared, too, jist like this--"

Big Waller, in the excitement of his narrative, was about to give a
vocal illustration, when Bounce suddenly extinguished him by clapping
his hand on his mouth.

"Hist! you wild buffalo," he said, "you'll frighten off all the bars
within ten miles of us, if you raise your horrable trumpet!"

"I do believe, I forgot," said the Yankee with a low chuckle, when his
mouth was released.

"Well, but what happened to Bob Swan?" inquired March eagerly.

"Wot happened? I guess the bar cotched him by the leg, an' smashed it
in three places, before you could wink, but, by good luck, I come up at
that moment, an' put a ball right through Caleb's brains. Bob got
better, but he never got the right use o' his leg after that. An' we
found that he'd fired a charge o' small shot down that bar's throat--he
had!"

"Hallo! look! is yon Caleb?" inquired March in a hoarse whisper, as he
pointed with his paddle to a distant point up the river, where a dark
object was seen moving on the bank.

"That's him," said Bounce. "Now then, do your best, an' we'll land on
the point just below him."

"That's sooner said than done," remarked Redhand quietly, "for there's
another portage between us and Caleb."

As the old man spoke, the canoe passed round a low point which had
hitherto shut out the view of the bed of the river from the travellers,
and the vision of a white, though not a high, waterfall burst upon their
sight, at the same moment that the gushing sound of water broke upon
their ears. At any other time the beauty of the scene would have drawn
forth warm, though perhaps quaint and pithy, remarks of admiration.
Wood and water were seen picturesquely mingled and diversified in
endless variety. Little islands studded the surface of the river, which
was so broad and calm at that place as to wear the appearance of a small
lake. At the upper end of this lake it narrowed abruptly, and here
occurred the