Where did you
learn to steer a canoe?"

"I believe you are actually afraid. Why, I was born on the Potomac,
and have used a paddle since I was old enough to lift one. Come,
place the canoe in here and we will keep to the near shore until we
reach the bend. There is a little fall just below this and I love to
shoot it."

He steadied the canoe with one hand while he held out the other to
help her, but she stepped nimbly aboard without his assistance.

"Wait a moment while I catch some crickets and grasshoppers."

"Gracious! What a fisherman. Don't you know we have had frost?"

"That's so," said Alfred, abashed by her simple remark.

"But you might find some crickets under those logs," said Betty. She
laughed merrily at the awkward spectacle made by Alfred crawling
over the ground, improvising a sort of trap out of his hat, and
pouncing down on a poor little insect.

"Now, get in carefully, and give the canoe a push. There, we are
off," she said, taking up the paddle.

The little bark glided slowly down stream at first hugging the bank
as though reluctant to trust itself to the deeper water, and then
gathering headway as a few gentle strokes of the paddle swerved it
into the current. Betty knelt on one knee and skillfully plied the
paddle, using the Indian stroke in which the paddle was not removed
from the water.

"This is great!" exclaimed Alfred, as he leaned back in the bow
facing her. "There is nothing more to be desired. This beautiful
clear stream, the air so fresh, the gold lined banks, the autumn
leaves, a guide who--"

"Look," said Betty. "There is the fall over which we must pass."

He looked ahead and saw that they were swiftly approaching two huge
stones that reared themselves high out of the water. They were only
a few yards apart and surrounded by smaller rocks, about high the
water rushed white with foam.

"Please do not move!" cried Betty, her eyes shining bright with
excitement.

Indeed, the situation was too novel for Alfred to do anything but
feel a keen enjoyment. He had made up his mind that he was sure to
get a ducking, but, as he watched Betty's easy, yet vigorous sweeps
with the paddle, and her smiling, yet resolute lips, he felt
reassured. He could see that the fall was not a great one, only a
few feet, but one of those glancing sheets of water like a mill
race, and he well knew that if they struck a stone disaster would be
theirs. Twenty feet above the white-capped wave which ma