, and an owl's eyes
would be blinded by the darkness of such a hole."

The whole party was soon reunited, and another consultation was held
between the scout and his new comrades, during which, they whose fates
depended on the faith and ingenuity of these unknown foresters, had a
little leisure to observe their situation more minutely.

The river was confined between high and cragged rocks, one of which
impended above the spot where the canoe rested. As these, again, were
surmounted by tall trees, which appeared to totter on the brows of the
precipice, it gave the stream the appearance of running through a deep
and narrow dell. All beneath the fantastic limbs and ragged tree-tops,
which were, here and there, dimly painted against the starry zenith, lay
alike in shadowed obscurity. Behind them, the curvature of the banks
soon bounded the view, by the same dark and wooded outline; but in
front, and apparently at no great distance, the water seemed piled
against the heavens, whence it tumbled into caverns, out of which issued
those sullen sounds that had loaded the evening atmosphere. It seemed,
in truth, to be a spot devoted to seclusion, and the sisters imbibed a
soothing impression of security, as they gazed upon its romantic, though
not unappalling beauties. A general movement among their conductors,
however, soon recalled them from a contemplation of the wild charms that
night had assisted to lend the place, to a painful sense of their real
peril.

The horses had been secured to some scattered shrubs that grew in the
fissures of the rocks, where, standing in the water, they were left to
pass the night. The scout directed Heyward and his disconsolate
fellow-travellers to seat themselves in the forward end of the canoe,
and took possession of the other himself, as erect and steady as if he
floated in a vessel of much firmer materials. The Indians warily
retraced their steps towards the place they had left, when the scout,
placing his pole against a rock, by a powerful shove, sent his frail
bark directly into the centre of the turbulent stream. For many minutes
the struggle between the light bubble in which they floated, and the
swift current, was severe and doubtful. Forbidden to stir even a hand,
and almost afraid to breathe, lest they should expose the frail fabric
to the fury of the stream, the passengers watched the glancing waters in
feverish suspense. Twenty times they thought the whirling eddies were
sweeping