208 NEW TRACKS IN NORTH AMERICA. : 
* 
yet they had seen no natural bridge spanning the cha 
above them, nor had fall or cataract prevented their safe 
advance. About three o’clock on the afternoon of the 28th, 
they heard the deep roar as of a waterfall in front of them; 
They felt the raft agitated, then whirled along with frightfu 
rapidity towards a wall that seemed to bar all farther progress. 
As they approached the cliff, the river made a sharp ee 
around which the raft swept, disclosing to them, in a lon 
vista, the water lashed into foam, as it poured through é 
narrow precipitous gorge, caused by huge masses of rock 
detached from the main wall. There was no time to think. 
The logs strained as if they would break their fastenings 
The waves dashed around the men, and the raft was buried 
in the seething waters. White clung to the logs with th 
grip of death. His comrade stood up for an instant with the 
pole in his hands, as if to guide the raft from the rocks against 
which it was plunging; but he had scarcely straightened 
before the raft seemed to leap down a chasm, and, amid the 
deafening roar of waters, White heard a shriek that thrille 
him to the heart, and looking round he saw, through the mist 
and spray, the form of his comrade tossed for an instant om! 
the water, then sinking out of sight in the whirlpool. 
White still clung to the logs, and it was only when the 
raft seemed to be floating smoothly, and the sound of the 
rapids was left behind, that he dared to look up; then it was 
to find himself alone, the provisions lost, and the lengthening 
shadows warning him of the approaching night. A feeling 
of despair seized him, and clasping his hands he prayed for 
the death he was fleeing from. He was made cognizant of 
more immediate danger by the shaking of his raft, the logs 
=e separating ; ; then he worked, and succeeded in effecting. 
s near some flat rocks, where he made his raft fa 
