noe, straight as an arrow. Moving
her paddle now on one side, now on the other, she guided it down the
steep descent, the water bubbling and foaming, the tops of the dark
rocks appearing on either side, against which had the frail fabric
struck it must have been dashed to pieces. Even Ben held in his breath
till they were once more in smooth water.

"Paddle on! paddle on!" she cried; and Oliver repeated the order to Ben,
who understood not her language. A wall of trees rose on either bank,
above which the blue sky appeared, tinged with the light of morning,
though the stream down which the canoe sped her way still lay in deepest
gloom. Every rock and sand-bank was well known to Virginia, who steered
steadily onward. Gradually the stream widened, and the current ran with
less force. Hitherto, scarcely a word had been uttered, except when the
young pilot directed her crew to cease paddling or to paddle on.

"How shall we be able to get up in the longboat?" asked Oliver, who
thought that he might at length venture to speak; "nearly as much water
is required as a man could wade through."

Virginia understood his explanation. "There is another passage to the
left, where the water is deep, though the current is rapid, and strong
men can drag up such a canoe as you describe," she answered.

"Our men will not be prevented from coming up on that account, then," he
remarked, satisfied that the undertaking might be accomplished.

Sooner than he expected the canoe entered the broad river, at the mouth
of which he hoped to find the ship at anchor. The sun had now risen,
his bright rays glancing across the placid water, which shone like a
sheet of burnished gold. Virginia gazed at it with astonishment. "I
can be your pilot no longer," she said, "for I have been here twice only
before--the first time the water was dark and troubled, and I thought
that I had reached the mighty lake across which the canoes of the
palefaces, as I had heard, sail from their own lands. I came again,
when seeing the opposite bank, I knew that I was in another river, but
feared to venture far lest I should be unable to return against the
current."

"Continue to steer, I pray you," said Oliver, "Ben will act as pilot to
tell you which way to go, for neither of us can manage the canoe as you
do; all we have to do is to keep near to the shore on our right, and we
cannot miss our way."

Virginia seemed well pleased at the confidence placed in h