last agreed to do; adding that "he guessed, with more or less
of a ducking, we might gratify our curiosity, though he could not help
thinking it was mighty foolish."

The lady of the lock, more timid, or, as it turned out, more sage,
remonstrated in vain. In the teeth of her advice and predictions,
sufficiently alarming, we mounted our nags, and, under the good man's
guidance, descended to the ford, by a very rough path; the din of the
unseen torrent sounding in our ears.

On reaching the stream in question, we found it not over twenty yards
across, with an apparently tolerable landing on the opposite side; so
that, albeit it had a threatening sort of look, and bullied and
blustered somewhat loudly, myself and Mr. K----r decided _instanter_
upon crossing. Our companion, a very tall and heavy man, mounted on a
little thorough-bred steed none the stronger for the severe bucketting
it had already gone through, we very wisely prevailed upon to await our
return, and serve as our guide to the right landing when we should have
to re-cross.

With all that eagerness with which men rush on novelty, especially when
any obstacle is thrown in the way, we pushed forward, listening
impatiently to the distant thunder of the Falls. Like all obstacles, we
found these before us less in reality than in report, our chief
difficulty lying in the strength of the current, flowing over an unequal
bottom; but in no part was the water up to the horses' shoulders. We
kept their noses well up stream, and, after a little floundering about,
reached and mounted the sandy bank in no time, whence a short rough ride
over the thickly-wooded islet, gave the wished-for sight to our eyes in
all its gloomy grandeur; and never before do I remember having looked
upon so wildly sublime a scene.

We dismounted; and, tying our horses to a tree, descended into the vast
basin within whose rugged depths the river finds at all seasons ample
space for its fury. Opposite to our stand the face of the black rock
rose perpendicular for a hundred and fifty feet; and over its brow waved
a grove of lofty trees and graceful flowering shrubs, forming together a
plume befitting such a crest, and worthy to float above such a _melee_.

Along in front of our position, and only a few yards off, the river was
precipitated from a ledge of rock, three huge masses of which towered
high over it, lying athwart the line of the torrent at apparently equal
distances, as though Nature ha