other and
another. The bullets sang close to my ear.

"Down--down!" warned Gummidge.

"Keep low!" shouted Moralle and Lavigne in one breath.

My brain grew suddenly clear, but I did not heed the friendly advice.
Three shots had missed me, and I knew that the canoe was jerking about
too much with the current to admit of a sure aim the savages.

"Paddle on, Moralle!" I cried. "Faster--faster!"

Meanwhile I watched the right hank, hoping to get another chance at
Cuthbert Mackenzie. Baptiste--brave fellow!--was on the alert with me
but he was scanning the left shore, and a sudden exclamation from him
drew my eyes in the same direction. Ten yards in front, on the edge of
the timber, a redskin thrust his coppery face from the leaves. I fired
as quickly and the savage vanished with a yell of pain.

We were almost upon the rapids, and half a minute more would see us
plunged into the seething, foaming slide of angry waters. To right and
left, where the jagged reef touched the forest, stood three or four
painted redskins, with muskets to their shoulders. And some distance
below the falls, where the water broadened and shallowed, I made out the
feather-decked heads of more Indians. This was a dread and significant
discovery, and I instantly perceived the trap that had been laid for us.

"Keep under cover!" I shouted at the top of my voice.

"Be ready to fight when we pass the rapids! The devils are waiting for
us below, blocking the way! Don't try to paddle, Moralle. The canoe is
headed straight for the rift in the middle. It's sure death if you show
yourself."

CHAPTER XIV.

AN INDIAN'S GRATITUDE.

Above the thunder of the falls my warning was heard and understood.
Glancing back to make sure, I saw the startled faces of the two women,
and the grimly-set countenance of Jim Gummidge. From the stern Moralle
half-rose, looked this way and that, and made two daring strokes with
the paddle. He dropped under cover again just as a volley of musket
balls swept close over the canoe.

"You fool!" I shouted at him.

"I had to do it," he yelled back. "We were swinging to the left. It's
all right now."

"Steady! Here we go!" cried Gummidge.

I gave Flora a brief look that brought a dash of hot color to her pale
cheeks, and then I turned quickly to one of my loopholes--Baptiste was
gazing from the other. There was scarcely time to see anything. Like a
flash I made