"What is it, Henry?" asked Shif'less Sol, who had noticed the change. "We've been along here before," replied the great youth. "I know the shores now, and it's mighty lucky for us that we are just where we are." The shiftless one looked at the northern, then at the southern forest, and shook his head. "I don't 'pear to recall it," he said. "The woods, at this distance away, look like any other woods at night, black an' mighty nigh solid." "It's not so much the forest, because, like you, I couldn't tell it from any other, as it is the curve of the river. I thought I saw something familiar in it a little while ago, and now I know by the sound that I'm right." "Sound! What sound?" "Turn your ears down the river and listen as hard as you can. After a while you'll hear a faint humming." "So I do, Henry, but I wouldn't hev noticed it ef you hadn't told me about it, an' even ef I do hear it I don't know what it means." "It's made by the rush of a great volume of water, Sol. It's the Falls of the Ohio, that not many white men have yet seen, a gradual sort of fall, one that boats can go over without trouble most of the time, but which, owing to the state of the river, are just now at their highest." "An' you mean fur them falls to come in between us an' the big canoes? You're reckonin' on water to save us?" "That's what I have in mind, Sol. The falls are dangerous at this stage of the river, no doubt about it, but we're not canoemen for nothing, and with our lives at stake we'll not think twice before shooting 'em. What say you, boys?" "The falls fur me!" replied the shiftless one, quickly. "Nothin' could keep me from takin' the tumble. I jest love them falls," said Long Jim. "It's that or nothing," said Paul. "On!" said Silent Tom. "Then ease a little with your paddles," said Henry. "The Indians know, of course, that the falls are just ahead, and I notice they are not now pushing us so hard. It follows, then, that the falls are at a dangerous height they don't often reach, and they expect to trap us." "In which they will be mighty well fooled." "I think so. I'll sit in the prow of the boat and do my best with my paddle to guide. I believe we can shoot the falls all right, but maybe we'll be swamped in the rapids below. But we're all good swimmers, and, if we do go over, every fellow must swim for the northern bank, where the Indians are fewest. Some one of us must manage to save his rifle and ammunition or we'd be lost, even if we happened to reach the land. Still, it's possible that we can keep afloat. It's a good canoe." "A good canoe!" exclaimed the shiftless one, in whom the spirit of achievement and of triumph was rising again. "It's the finest canoe on all this great river, and didn't I tell you boys that them that's bold always win! Jest when our last chance 'peared to be gone, these falls wuz put squar'ly in our track to save us! Will they wreck us? No, they won't! We'll shoot 'em like a bird on the wing!"