5 2 TJie Home of the ]Vok'erene and Beaver. 



rapeed, and we must make von liteel portage 

 before ve shall camp pour la nuit — for de night." 



Steadily plying their paddles the boatmen speeded 

 the canoes onward, and now a sudden bend in the 

 river brought Paul in full view of the rapid, rushing 

 down a narrow gorge, flanked on either side by 

 pine-clad rocks, whose scarped sides seemed in- 

 surmountable to any living thing less active than a 

 chamois. 



" Surely we are not going any nearer to that 

 cauldron } " he asked Pierre, pointing towards the 

 seething waters that tore through the defile in a 

 snow-white mass of milky foam. The voyageur 

 v/as too much occupied in guiding the canoe to 

 reply, but his little wife smiled pleasantly, showing 

 her white teeth, and pointing to the rapid, so the 

 young man could only suppose that they actually 

 were about to enter the broken water, and con- 

 cluded that his best plan was to sit perfectly still 

 and watch how events would turn out. 



The canoe containing Paul and Pierre was the 

 leader, and guided by the I'oyageiir the heavily 

 laden cockleshell was forced by the sinewy arms of 

 the boatmen against the torrent until even their 

 iron muscles were unable to gain another foot ; 

 then with a curve of the steering paddle Lefranc 

 shot towards the rocky wall, and Paul for a moment 



