athfinder, if it can be effected; but are we strong
enough for such a purpose?"

"The Lord is with us, boy, the Lord is with us; and it is unreasonable
to suppose that one like the Sergeant's daughter will be altogether
abandoned by Providence in such a strait. There is not a boat between
the falls and the garrison, except these two canoes, to my sartain
knowledge; and I think it will go beyond red-skin gifts to cross in
the face of two rifles like these of yourn and mine. I will not vaunt,
Jasper; but it is well known on all this frontier that Killdeer seldom
fails."

"Your skill is admitted by all, far and near, Pathfinder; but a rifle
takes time to be loaded; nor are you on the land, aided by a good cover,
where you can work to the advantage you are used to. If you had our
canoe, might you not pass to the shore with a dry rifle?"

"Can an eagle fly, Jasper?" returned the other, laughing in his usual
manner, and looking back as he spoke. "But it would be unwise to expose
yourself on the water; for them miscreants are beginning to bethink them
again of powder and bullets."

"It can be done without any such chances. Master Cap has gone up to
the canoe, and will cast the branch of a tree into the river to try the
current, which sets from the point above in the direction of your rock.
See, there it comes already; if it float fairly, you must raise your
arm, when the canoe will follow. At all events, if the boat should pass
you, the eddy below will bring it up, and I can recover it."

While Jasper was still speaking, the floating branch came in sight; and,
quickening its progress with the increasing velocity of the current,
it swept swiftly down towards the Pathfinder, who seized it as it was
passing, and held it in the air as a sign of success. Cap understood
the signal, and presently the canoe was launched into the stream, with
a caution and an intelligence that the habits of the mariner had fitted
him to observe. It floated in the same direction as the branch, and in a
minute was arrested by the Pathfinder.

"This has been done with a frontier man's judgment Jasper," said the
guide, laughing; "but you have your gifts, which incline most to the
water, as mine incline to the woods. Now let them Mingo knaves cock
their rifles and get rests, for this is the last chance they are likely
to have at a man without a cover."

"Nay, shove the canoe towards the shore, quartering the current, and
throw yourself into it as it