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 48o DICK SANDS, THE BOV CAPTAIN. and fîrcd at the man who was stccring ; the bullet shattered the rudder-scull into fragments. The cannîbals iittered a ycll of terror. Deprîved of guidance, the canoc was at the mercy of the current. and, borne along with increasing speed, was soon wîthin a hundred feet of the cataracL The anxîous watchers on the bank instantly discerned Dick's purpose, and understood that in order to save thera he had formed the resolution of precipitating himself with the savages into the secthing waters. Nothing could avaîl fo arrest the swîft descenL Mrs. Weldon in an agony of despair waved her hands in a last sad farewell, Jack and Benedict seemed paralyzed, wtiilst Hercules involuntarily extended his great strong arm that was powerJess to aid. Suddenly the natives, irapelled by a last frantic effort to reach the shore, plunged into the water, but theîr move- ment capsizcd the boat. Face to face with death, Dick lost nothing of hîs în- domitable présence of mind. Might not that light canoë, floating bottom upwards, be made the means for yet another grasp at life? The danger that threatened him was twofold ; thcrc was the risk of suffocation as well as the péril of being drowned ; could not the inverted canoc be used for a kind of float at once to keep his head above water and to serve as a screen from the rushing air ? He had some faînt recoliection of how ït had beeh proved possible under some such conditions to descend in safety the fallsof Niagara. Quick as lightning he seized hold of the cross>bench of the canoë, and with his head out of water beneath the up- turned keel, he was dashed down the furious and well-nigh perpendicular fall. The craft sank deep into the abyss, but rose quickly again to the surface. Hcre was Dick's chance ; he was a good swimmcr, and his life dependcd now upon hîs strength of arm. It was a hard struggle, but he succceded. In a quarter of an hour he had landed on the left-hand bank, where hc