PHANTOM FALLS. 153 



" I say anything you say, Mr. Murray," prompt- 

 ly responded John. " I never yet saw a canoe I 

 was afraid to run my boat alongside of ; but what 

 shall we do if it goes from us ? Shall we give 

 chase ? " 



" Certainly," I responded ; " and I don't believe 

 that anything short of a ghost can out-paddle us, 

 if we fairly settle ourselves down to it." 



"Nor I either," returned Jolm, laugliing; "but 

 what if it leads down the rapids ? I heard an old 

 trapper say that he followed it once to the very en- 

 trance of them, down which it glided and escaped 

 him." 



"Well, as I said, John, we wiU explore the 

 rapids to-day, and map us out a course. The river 

 is high, and with the full moon we can easily run 

 them. It is a good mile, you say, before we reach 

 the falls, and it must be ghost or devil if, with a 

 good paddle at either end of this shell, you and I 

 cannot catch it in a mile race." 



So it was arranged, and, taking up our paddles, 

 we stepped into our boat and started for the 

 rapids. In a moment we had turned the point and 

 shot out into the current, in which, with reversed 

 strokes of the paddles, we held the light shell 

 stationary while we scanned the reach of tremu- 

 lous water below. No prettier sight can a man 

 gaze at, nor is there one more calculated to quicken 

 the blood, than to see two men sit bareheaded and 

 7* . 



