“Because when higher powers are present we must be silent. We are never allowed to speak till after they have spoken, and are gone.” “Then, how could you have caught the frog?” “Through the power you would have given us. But nothing can stop us or molest us now.” Then the boat went on, down the brook, and nothing more happened to stop her progress. On she went, till at last, all of a sudden, the mists and vapors before her vanished, and Eva saw, just in front of her, what seemed the open mouth of a huge serpent ready to devour them. But the boat went on until it came near the terrible jaws, and then Eva saw that they were only two great rocks, one on each side of the brook,--and the boat passed unhurt between them. And just beyond them the water stopped short; and then the boat came to a pause, and nothing that Eva could say or do would move her one inch. And then another of the trout put up his head, and told Eva she should bid the boat go to the shore; which she did; and the boat obeyed, and then stopped again, her bow resting on the shore. “We can do no more for you,” the trout then told her. “We must now go home, for there, where the brook stops, the Enchanted River runs. On it our boat cannot go, and in it we cannot live; so, though we would like to help you, we cannot.” Then Eva thanked them for what they had done, and taking one of her long bright curls, she tied part of it round each trout’s neck, where it shone like a collar of gold. And they told her that she should keep the rest of the curl, and if at any time she was in trouble from which she could not escape, and was near water, and thought that they could help her, she should throw the rest of the curl into the water, and they would come to her. Then, holding in her hand the two feathers the jackdaw had dropped, which the trout told her might be useful, Eva bade the trout farewell, and stepped on shore. And as her foot touched the ground, the boat moved off into the stream, and waited there. And presently Eva said, “Go home, little boat,” and the boat immediately, with the trout, began to go up the brook. She watched it till it was out of sight, and then the child stood alone on the banks of the Enchanted River. [Illustration] CHAPTER XIII. _THE ENCHANTED RIVER._