The wind was now fresh enough to urge the _Scud_ through the water with considerable velocity, and Jasper eased her helm as she opened the river, and luffed nearly into the mouth of that noble strait, or river, as it is termed.Adull, distant, heavy roar came down through the opening in the banks, swelling on the currents of the air, like the deeper notes of some immense organ, and occasionally seeming to cause the earth itself to tremble.
"That sounds like surf on some long unbroken coast!"exclaimed Cap, as a swell, deeper than common, came to his ears.
"Ay, that is such surf as we have in this quarter of the world," Pathfinder answered."There is no under-tow there, Master Cap; but all the water that strikes the rocks stays there, so far as going back again is consarned.That is old Niagara that you hear, or this noble stream tum-bling down a mountain."
"No one will have the impudence to pretend that this fine broad river falls over yonder hills?""It does, Master Cap, it does; and all for the want of stairs, or a road to come down by.This is natur', as we have it up hereaway, though I daresay you beat us down on the ocean.Ah's me, Mabel! a pleasant hour it would be if we could walk on the shore some ten or fifteen miles up this stream, and gaze on all that God has done there.""You have, then, seen these renowned falls, Path-finder?" the girl eagerly inquired.
"I have -- yes, I have; and an awful sight I witnessed at that same time.The Sarpent and I were out scouting about the garrison there, when he told me that the tradi-tions of his people gave an account of a mighty cataract in this neighborhood, and he asked me to vary from the line of march a little to look at the wonder.I had heard some marvels consarning the spot from the soldiers of the 60th, which is my nat'ral corps like, and not the 55th, with which I have sojourned so much of late; but there are so many terrible liars in all rijiments that I hardly believed half they had told me.Well, we went; and though we expected to be led by our ears, and to hear some of that awful roaring that we hear to-day, we were disappointed, for natur' was not then speaking in thunder, as she is this morning.Thus it is in the forest, Master Cap; there being moments when God seems to be walking abroad in power, and then; again, there is a calm over all, as if His spirit lay in quiet along the 'arth.Well, we came sud-denly upon the stream, a short distance above the fall, and a young Delaware, who was in our company, found a bark canoe, and he would push into the current to reach an island that lies in the very centre of the confusion and strife.We told him of his folly, we did; and we reasoned with him on the wickedness of tempting Providence by seeking danger that led to no ind; but the youth among the Delawares are very much the same as the youth among the soldiers, risky and vain.All we could say did not change his mind, and the lad had his way.To me it seems, Mabel, that whenever a thing is really grand and potent, it has a quiet majesty about it, altogether unlike the frothy and flustering manner of smaller matters, and so it was with them rapids.The canoe was no sooner fairly in them, than down it went, as it might be, as one sails through the air on the 'arth, and no skill of the young Delaware could resist the stream.And yet he struggled manfully for life, using the paddle to the last, like the deer that is swimming to cast the hounds.At first he shot across the current so swiftly, that we thought he would prevail; but he had miscalculated his distance, and when the truth really struck him, he turned the head up-stream, and struggled in a way that was fearful to look at.I could have pitied him even had he been a Mingo.For a few moments his efforts were so frantic that he actually pre-vailed over the power of the cataract; but natur' has its limits, and one faltering stroke of the paddle set him back, and then he lost ground, foot by foot, inch by inch, until he got near the spot where the river looked even and green, and as if it were made of millions of threads of water, all bent over some huge rock, when he shot back-wards like an arrow and disappeared, the bow of the canoe tipping just enough to let us see what had become of him.
I met a Mohawk some years later who had witnessed the whole affair from the bed of the stream below, and he told me that the Delaware continued to paddle in the air until he was lost in the mists of the falls.""And what became of the poor wretch?" demanded Mabel, who had been strongly interested by the natural eloquence of the speaker.
"He went to the happy hunting-grounds of his people, no doubt; for though he was risky and vain, he was also just and brave.Yes, he died foolishly, but the Manitou of the red-skins has compassion on his creaturs as well as the God of a Christian."A gun at this moment was discharged from a blockhouse near the fort; and the shot, one of light weight, came whistling over the cutter's mast, an admonition to ap-proach no nearer.Jasper was at the helm, and he kept away, smiling at the same time as if he felt no anger at the rudeness of the salutation.The _Scud_ was now in the current, and her outward set soon carried her far enough to leeward to avoid the danger of a repetition of the shot, and then she quietly continued her course along the land.
As soon as the river was fairly opened, Jasper ascertained that the _Montcalm_ was not at anchor in it; and a man sent aloft came down with the report that the horizon showed no sail.The hope was now strong that the artifice of Jasper had succeeded, and that the French commander had missed them by keeping the middle of the lake as he steered towards its head.
