PHANTOM FALLS. 159 



" N'ever fear on that point, John ; when I am 

 ready to die, I shall choose another grave than 

 that boiling hell of water to sleep in. When I 

 feel the tap of your paddle-staff on the boat, I 

 will do my part; never fear." 



Here the conversation ceased, and we sat in 

 silence, — a silence so profound as to be almost 

 painful. Ten, twenty, thirty minutes passed, and 

 nothing appeared. I grew imj)atient, incredulous. 

 I even began to feel that I would not hke my 

 friends to know what a fool I was making of 

 myself. " John," said I at length, taldng out my 

 watch, and holding its face up to a bright beam 

 of light which had found its way through the 

 dark foliage overhead, — " John, it is five min- 

 utes to twelve, and we have made fools of our- 

 selves long enough. I don't think the Indian 

 girl will make her toilet under the falls to-night, 

 even if we should sit cramped up here till 

 .morning. Come, shove into the — " 



A low moan, almost human in its piteousness, 

 arose on the midnight air. Again the hound, by a 

 supernatural instinct, had divined the approach of 

 the spirit. I looked toward the camp. The dog 

 sat on his haunches, facing the lake, his nose lifted 

 into the air. Outlined as he was against the fire, 

 I could see the uneasy tremulousness of his body. 

 He opened his mouth, and up through the stillness 

 swelled the saddest of all sounds, — the prolonged 



