Part 1 (1/2)

Down the River to the Sea.

by Agnes Maule Machar.

CHAPTER I

NIAGARA.

The brilliant suns.h.i.+ne of a July day lighted up the great cataract and the rich verdure of the surrounding landscape, bringing out all the wonderful variety of hue in the surging ma.s.s of falling water, the snowy clouds that perpetually veiled and unveiled it, the iridescence that floated elusively amid their ever-s.h.i.+fting billows, and the deep emerald of the islands that nestled so confidingly among the foaming, seething rapids that swept down the slope above, in order to take the fatal leap. The Clifton House veranda had its usual complement of lounging groups of guests, most of them so absorbed in gossip, flirting, or the last sensational novel, that they scarcely seemed to notice the grandeur of the scene they had come so far to enjoy. Of a very different cla.s.s of visitors was May Thorburn, who sat silently in a vacant corner of the wide veranda, gazing at the ceaseless rush of the Horse-shoe Fall, in a speechless ecstasy of delight. The brown-haired, brown-eyed, rather pale girl, who sat so absorbed in the wonderful grandeur of the scene before her, was not quite sure whether she was the same May Thorburn, who, only a few days before, had been all engrossed in the usual endless round of home duties, sweeping, dusting, or st.i.tching away at the family mending (and how much mending _that_ family needed!), and trying to squeeze in, between these homely avocations, a little of the poetry and music in which her soul delighted. And now, here she was, in the midst of Nature's grandest poetry and music, realizing what had been the day-dream of years! And all this wonderful happiness had come about through the thoughtful kindness of her cousin, Kate Severne, in inviting her to share the delights of a trip all the way from Niagara to the Saguenay--names that had so long stood in her mind as equivalents for the greatest enjoyment that any tourist could hope for--at least outside of Mont Blanc.

She had come by way of Hamilton, and as the train swept her rapidly through the region of peach orchards, her mind was full of vague antic.i.p.ations of the delights of the prospective journey, with occasional speculations as to Kate's two Scotch cousins, Hugh and Flora Macnab, whose visit to Canada was the immediate occasion of this present trip. Kate, who had repeatedly gone over the whole ground before, and knew it well, wished to act the part of _cicerone_ herself, while her kind, though somewhat peculiar aunt, Mrs. Sandford, was the _chaperone_ of the little party. It had been the thoughtful suggestion of this aunt that May, who so seldom had a holiday, should be invited to join them, a suggestion which Kate had gladly carried out, in the kind and welcome letter of invitation which had put May into such a little flurry of delightful excitement and preparation.

The rest of the party had arrived before May; and her cousin Kate had met her at the Clifton House station with an enthusiastic welcome and a torrent of information as to their future plans, scarcely half of which May could take in, being quite happy enough in the sense of being _really at the Falls_ at last, and of getting her first glimpse of them. She only vaguely heard, in an unreal sort of way, Kate's eager account of her cousins--how ”nice” and amiable Flora was, and how well she could sketch; and how Hugh, though very quiet, was very clever, too,--had taken honors at college, had somewhat injured his health by over-study, so that he was obliged to take a rest, and had even written a little book of poems which was soon to be published,--indeed, was now in the press. ”And I shouldn't wonder if he were to write another about his travels here, and put us all into it,”

she added.

May had no particular desire to ”be put into a book,” but, just then, the interest of the scene before her, with the thunder of ”many waters” in her ears, was strong enough to exclude all other ideas. Her eager, watching eye just caught a glimpse of what seemed a giant's caldron of milky spray, and behind it a dazzling sheet of snow; but her cousin hurried her on into the hotel and up to her room, which, to her delight, commanded a splendid view of the Horse-shoe Fall, on which she could feast her eyes at leisure to her heart's content. And now, indeed, antic.i.p.ation and faith were swallowed up in sight! She had, of course, frequently seen photographs of the great cataract, so that the outlines of the view were familiar enough; but the exquisite coloring, the ceaseless motion, the sense of infinite power, no picture could possibly supply. As she Lay dreamily back in a lounging chair, on the veranda, scarcely conscious of anything but the grandeur of the scene, a line or two from Wordsworth's ”Yarrow Visited” flitted across her mind:

----”this is the scene Of which my fancy cherished So faithfully a waking dream!”

”No!” she mentally decided, ”no 'waking dream' could picture Niagara.”

”Well, dreaming as usual?” May looked up with a start, as she felt Mrs. Sandford's plump hand on her shoulder. ”Kate wants you to make haste and get ready for an expedition. Here are the Scotch cousins.

This is Flora, and this is her brother Hugh. You don't need any formal introduction. Kate will be down in a moment, and you are all going for a long stroll, she says, for which I don't feel quite equal yet after my journey, though it _is_ a charming afternoon; so I shall stay here and rest. Kate has promised me not to let you run into any sort of danger, and I am sure you'll find her a capital _cicerone_.”

Kate, who appeared just then, renewed her promise to be most prudent, and especially to look after her cousin Hugh--her aunt's chief object of anxiety. ”And, indeed, you _need_ taking care of,” she said, in answer to his attempted disclaimer. ”You know you're under orders not to overwalk yourself, or get heated or chilled, so mind, Kate, you _don't let him_. I don't want to have to stop on the way to nurse an invalid!”

”I don't think you need be at all afraid, Aunt Bella,” the young man replied, with what May thought a pleasant touch of Scottish accent, though his pale face had flushed a little at the allusion to his semi-invalidism, which had been the immediate cause of his journey to Canada. His sister Flora, however, with her abundant fair hair, which, like her brother's, just missed being red, looked the picture of health and youthful energy.

May, with her straw hat beside her, needed no further preparation for the expedition, on which she was, indeed, impatient to set out at once, Kate, to her relief, leading the way with Mr. Hugh Macnab, who was not _her_ cousin, and it did not seem to her that she could find anything to say to any one so learned and clever as this quiet-looking young man must be. It seemed much easier to talk to the frank and merry Flora, who tripped on by her side, looking very fresh and trim and tourist-like, in her plain gray traveling hat and gray tweed dress, made as short as a sensible fas.h.i.+on would allow, and showing off to perfection a lithe, well-rounded figure and a pair of shapely and very capable feet. The party entered what is now called Victoria Park, and walked leisurely along the brink of the precipitous cliff that here formed the river bank, stopping at frequent intervals the better to take in some particular aspect of the wonderful scene before them.

”That's the advantage of not taking a carriage, _here_,” explained Kate, who had relentlessly refused all the entreaties of the hackmen.

”It's ever so much nicer to go on your own feet, and stop just where you please, and as long as you please! We don't want to hurry _here_.

It's a charming walk, now that all the old photographic saloons and so-called museums have been cleared away! By and by, when we feel a little tired, we can take a carriage for the rest of the way.”

May soon felt the dreamlike sensation come over her again, as they wandered slowly along the steep cliffs of shade, and came from time to time on some specially charming view of the white foaming sheet of the American Falls, so dazzlingly pure in its virgin beauty, as it vaults over the hollow cliff into the soft veil of mist that perpetually rises about its feet--always dispersing and ever rising anew. Then, as their eager gaze followed the line of the opposite bank, black, jagged and s.h.i.+ning with its perpetual shower-bath of spray, what a glorious revelation of almost infinite grandeur was that curving, quivering sheet of thundering surge, with its heart of purest green, and its mighty ma.s.ses of dazzling foam, and its ascending clouds of milky spray,--sometimes entirely obscuring the fall itself, as they float across the boiling caldron,--sometimes partially dispersed and spanned by the soft-hued arc, which here, as at the close of the thunder-storm, seems like the tender kiss of love, hus.h.i.+ng the wild tumult into peace. From many other points she could get better views of individual details, but no n.o.bler view of the mighty whole, than from this silent, never-to-be-forgotten ramble. No one said much; even the lively Kate lapsed from her office of _cicerone_, or, rather, best fulfilled it, by her silence; for, when the infinite in Nature speaks, the human voice may well be still. And how grand a voice was that which the cataract was speaking,--even to the outward ear! The ”voice of many waters”--mighty as thunder, yet soft as a summer breeze--seemed to leave the whole being immersed and absorbed in the ceaseless rush and roar of the ”Thunder of Waters”--the majesty of whose motion appeared to be, itself, repose.

This feeling deepened as they advanced nearer to the edge of the Horse-shoe Falls. They paused on Table Rock, so much less prominent than it used to be years ago. At every turn they paused, lost in the grandeur of the present impression. It was Kate who first roused them to a sense of the pa.s.sage of time, and gave the order to proceed, for the afternoon was swiftly gliding by.

”Well!” said Hugh, ”I never felt as if I had got so near the state of self-annihilation, the '_Nirvana_' we read about. I don't wonder at suicides here, under the fascinating influence of these rus.h.i.+ng waters!”

”Really, Hugh,” exclaimed his sister, ”I should scarcely have expected to hear _you_ rhapsodizing at such a rate! We shall have to look after him, Kate.” Hugh replied only by a half smile, but May noticed his heightened color and the absorbed expression of his dark blue eyes, and began to feel much less shy of him. She had much the same feeling herself, though too reserved to say it out.

Kate hurried them on, until they had reached the very edge of the great Horse-shoe Fall. Here they stopped and sat down on a long black beam of timber that lay on the side of the quivering torrent, there seeming almost stationary, as if pausing in awe of the mighty leap before it. Just inside the old beam lay a quiet pool, reflecting the sky, in which a child might bathe its feet without the slightest danger, while, on the outside, swept the great resistless flood of white-breasted rapids, moving down the steep incline with a majesty only less inspiring than that of the cataract itself.

”Well! don't you think Niagara deserves its name, which means 'Thunder of Waters'?” asked Kate, after a long silence.

”It scarcely could have one that better describes the impression it makes,” said Hugh Macnab, in a low, meditative tone.

”Are _you_ tired yet, Hugh?” asked Kate; ”shall we walk on--it's a good mile--or take a carriage?”

”Walk, by all means,” said Hugh, ”if the rest of you are not tired.”