nothing," said Paul.

"On!" said Silent Tom.

"Then ease a little with your paddles," said Henry. "The Indians know,
of course, that the falls are just ahead, and I notice they are not now
pushing us so hard. It follows, then, that the falls are at a dangerous
height they don't often reach, and they expect to trap us."

"In which they will be mighty well fooled."

"I think so. I'll sit in the prow of the boat and do my best with my
paddle to guide. I believe we can shoot the falls all right, but maybe
we'll be swamped in the rapids below. But we're all good swimmers, and,
if we do go over, every fellow must swim for the northern bank, where
the Indians are fewest. Some one of us must manage to save his rifle and
ammunition or we'd be lost, even if we happened to reach the land.
Still, it's possible that we can keep afloat. It's a good canoe."

"A good canoe!" exclaimed the shiftless one, in whom the spirit of
achievement and of triumph was rising again. "It's the finest canoe on
all this great river, and didn't I tell you boys that them that's bold
always win! Jest when our last chance 'peared to be gone, these falls
wuz put squar'ly in our track to save us! Will they wreck us? No, they
won't! We'll shoot 'em like a bird on the wing!"

He looked back at their pursuers, and gave utterance suddenly to a long,
piercing shout of defiance. The Indians in the canoes replied with war
whoops that Henry could read easily. They expressed faith in speedy
triumph, and joy over the destruction of the five. He saw, moreover,
that they were using only half strength now, preferring to take their
ease while the game struggled vainly in the net. But as well as many of
these warriors knew the five they did not know them to the full.

The shiftless one waited until their last war whoop died, and then,
sending forth once more his long, thrilling note of defiance, he burst
again into his triumphal chant.

"Steady now with the paddles, boys," he cried, "an' we'll ride the water
ez ef we'd done nothin' else all our lives! Oh, I love rivers, big
rivers, speshully when they hev a strong current like this that takes
your boat 'long an' you don't hev to do no work! Now it reaches up a
thousand hands that grab our canoe an' sail 'long with it! Don't paddle
any more, boys, but jest hold yourselves ready to do it, when needed!
The river's doin' all the work, an' it never gits tired! Look, now, how
the current's a-rushin', an' a-dancin', an' a