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diff --git a/old/pthfn10.txt b/old/pthfn10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c8856bd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/pthfn10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,22034 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext The Pathfinder, by James Fenimore Cooper +#2 in our series by James Fenimore Cooper + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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The idea of associating seamen and savages in +incidents that might be supposed characteristic of the +Great Lakes having been mentioned to a Publisher, the +latter obtained something like a pledge from the Author +to carry out the design at some future day, which pledge +is now tardily and imperfectly redeemed. + +The reader may recognize an old friend under new cir- +cumstances in the principal character of this legend. If +the exhibition made of this old acquaintance, in the novel +circumstances in which he now appears, should be found +not to lessen his favor with the Public, it will be a source +of extreme gratification to the writer, since he has an in- +terest in the individual in question that falls little short +of reality. It is not an easy task, however, to introduce +the same character in four separate works, and to maintain +the peculiatrities that are indispensable to identity, withont +incurring a risk of fatiguing the reader with sameness; +and the present experiment has been so long delayed quite +as much from doubts of its success as from any other cause. +In this, as in every other undertaking, it must be the +"end" that will "crown the work." + +The Indian character has so little variety, that it has +been my object to avoid dwelling on it too much on the +present occasion; its association with the sailor, too, it is +feared, will be found to have more novelty than interest. + +It may strike the novice as an anachronism to place +vessels on the Ontario in the middle of the eighteenth century; +but in this particular facts will fully bear out all the li- +cense of the fiction. Although the precise vessels men- +tioned in these pages may never have existed on that water +or anywhere else, others so nearly resembling them are +known to have navigated that inland sea, even at a period +much earlier than the one just mentioned, as to form a +sufficient authority for their introduction into a work of +fiction. It is a fact not generally remembered, however +well known it may be, that there are isolated spots along +the line of the great lakes that date as settlements as far +back as many of the older American towns, and which were +the seats of a species of civilization long before the greater +portion of even the older States was rescued from the wil- +derness. + +Ontario in our own times has been the scene of important +naval evolutions. Fleets have manoeuvered on those waters, +which, half a century ago, were as deserted as waters well +can be; and the day is not distant when the whole of that +vast range of lakes will become the seat of empire, and +fraught with all the interests of human society. A pass- +ing glimpse, even though it be in a work of fiction, of +what that vast region so lately was, may help to make up +the sum of knowledge by which alone a just appreciation +can be formed of the wonderful means by which Provi- +dence is clearing the way for the advancement of civiliza- +tion across the whole American continent. + + + +THE PATHFINDER. + +CHAPTER I. + +The turf shall be my fragrant shrine; +My temple, Lord ! that arch of thine; +My censer's breath the mountain airs, +And silent thoughts my only prayers. +MOORE + + +The sublimity connected with vastness is familiar to +every eye. The most abstruse, the most far-reaching, +perhaps the most chastened of the poet's thoughts, crowd +on the imagination as he gazes into the depths of the +illimitable void. The expanse of the ocean is seldom seen +by the novice with indifference; and the mind, even in +the obscurity of night, finds a parallel to that grandeur, +which seems inseparable from images that the senses can- +not compass. With feelings akin to this admiration and +awe -- the offspring of sublimity -- were the different char- +acters with which the action of this tale must open, gazing +on the scene before them. Four persons in all, -- two of +each sex, -- they had managed to ascend a pile of trees, that +had been uptorn by a tempest, to catch a view of the objects +that surrounded them. It is still the practice of the coun- +try to call these spots wind-rows. By letting in the light +of heaven upon the dark and damp recesses of the wood, +they form a sort of oases in the solemn obscurity of the +virgin forests of America. The particular wind-row of +which we are writing lay on the brow of a gentle accliv- +ity; and, though small, it had opened the way for an ex- +tensive view to those who might occupy its upper margin, +a rare occurrence to the traveller in the woods. Philosophy +has not yet determined the nature of the power that so +often lays desolate spots of this description; some ascrib- +ing it to the whirlwinds which produce waterspouts on the +ocean, while others again impute it to sudden and violent +passages of streams of the electric fluid; but the effects in +the woods are familiar to all. On the upper margin of the +opening, the viewless influence had piled tree on tree, in +such a manner as had not only enabled the two males of +the party to ascend to an elevation of some thirty feet +above the level of the earth, but, with a little care and +encouragement, to induce their more timid companions to +accompany them. The vast trunks which had been broken +and driven by the force of the gust lay blended like jack- +straws; while their branches, still exhaling the fragrance +of withering leaves, were interlaced in a manner to afford +sufficient support to the hands. One tree had been com- +pletely uprooted, and its lower end, filled with earth, had +been cast uppermost, in a way to supply a sort of staging +for the four adventurers, when they had gained the de- +sired distance from the ground. + +The reader is to anticipate none of the appliances of +people of condition in the description of the personal ap- +pearances of the group in question. They were all way- +farers in the wilderness; and had they not been, neither +their previous habits, nor their actual social positions, +would have accustomed them to many of the luxuries of +rank. Two of the party, indeed, a male and female, be- +longed to the native owners of the soil, being Indians of +the well-known tribe of the Tuscaroras; while their com- +panions were -- a man, who bore about him the peculiarities +of one who had passed his days on the ocean, and was, too, +in a station little, if any, above that of a common mariner; +and his female associate, who was a maiden of a class in +no great degree superior to his own; though her youth, +sweetness and countenance, and a modest, but spirited mien, +lent that character of intellect and refinement which adds +so much to the charm of beauty in the sex. On the present +occasion, her full blue eye reflected the feeling of sublimity +that the scene excited, and her pleasant face was beaming +with the pensive expression with which all deep emotions, +even though they bring the most grateful pleasure, shadow +the countenances of the ingenuous and thoughful. + +And truly the scene was of a nature deeply to impress the +imagination of the beholder. Towards the west, in which +direction the faces of the party were turned, the eye ranged +over an ocean of leaves, glorious and rich in the varied +and lively verdure of a generous vegetation, and shaded +by the luxuriant tints which belong to the forty-second +degree of latitude. The elm wifh its graceful and weep- +ing top, the rich varieties of the maple, most of the noble +oaks of the American forest, with the broad-leaved linden +known in the parlance of the conutry as the basswood, +mingled their uppermost branches, forming one broad and +seemingly interminable carpet of foliage which stretched +away towards the setting sun, until it bounded the hori- +zon, by blending with the clouds, as the waves and the sky +meet at the base of the vault of heaven. Here and there, +by some accident of the tempests, or by a caprice of nature, +a trifling opening among these giant members of the forest +permitted an inferior tree to struggle upward toward the +light, and to lift its modest head nearly to a level with +the surrounding surface of verdure. Of this class were the +birch, a tree of some account in regions less favored, the +quivering aspen, various generous nut-woods, and divers +others which resembled the ignoble and vulgar, thrown by +circumstances into the presence of the stately and great. +Here and there, too, the tall straight trunk of the pine +pierced the vast field, rising high above it, like some grand +monument reared by art on a plain of leaves. + +It was the vastness of the view, the nearly unbroken +surface of verdure, that contained the principle of grandeur. +The beauty was to be traced in the delicate tints, relieved +by graduations of light and shade; while the solemn repose +induced the feeling allied to awe. + +"Uncle," said the wondering, but pleased girl, address- +ing her male companion, whose arm she rather touched +than leaned on, to steady her own light but firm footing, +"this is like a view of the ocean you so much love!" + +"So much for ignorance, and a girl's fancy, Magnet," - +a term of affection the sailor often used in allusion to his +niece's personal attractions; "no one but a child would +think of likening this handful of leaves to a look at the +real Atlantic. You might seize all these tree-tops to +Neptune's jacket, and they would make no more than a +nosegay for his bosom." + +"More fanciful than true, I think, uncle. Look thither; +it must be miles on miles, and yet we see nothing but +leaves! what could one behold, if looking at the +ocean?" + +"More!" returned the uncle, giving an impatient +gesture with the elbow the other touched, for his arms +were crossed, and the hands were thrust into the bosom of +a vest of red cloth, a fashion of the times, -- "more, Mag- +net! say, rather, what less? Where are your combing seas, +your blue water, your rollers, your breakers, your whales, +or your waterspouts, and your endless motion, in this bit +of a forest, child?" + +"And where are your tree-tops, your solemn silence, +your fragrant leaves, and your beautiful green, uncle, on +the ocean?" + +"Tut, Magnet! if your understood the thing, you would +know that green water is a sailor's bane. He scarcely +relishes a greenhorn less." + +"But green trees are a different thing. Hist! that +sound is the air breathing among the leaves!" + +"You should hear a nor-wester breathe, girl, if you +fancy wind aloft. Now, where are your gales, and hurri- +canes, and trades, and levanters, and such like incidents, +in this bit of a forest? and what fishes have you swim- +ming beneath yonder tame surface?" + +"That there have been tempests here, these signs around +us plainly show; and beasts, if not fishes, are beneath those +leaves." + +"I do not know that," returned the uncle, with a sailor's +dogmatism. "They told us many stories at Albany of the +wild animals we should fall in with, and yet we have seen +nothing to frighten a seal. I doubt if any of your inland +animals will compare with a low latitude shark." + +"See!" exclaimed the niece, who was more occupied +with the sublimity and beauty of the "boundless wood" +than with her uncle's arguments; "yonder is a smoke +curling over the tops of the trees -- can it come from a +house?" + +"Ay, ay; there is a look of humanity in that smoke," +returned the old seaman, "which is worth a thousand trees. +I must show it to Arrowhead, who may be running past +a port without knowing it. It is probable there is a +caboose where there is a smoke." + +As he concluded, the uncle drew a hand from his bosom, +touched the male Indian, who was standing near him, +lightly on the shoulder, and pointed out at thin line of +vapor which was stealing slowly out of the wilderness of +leaves, at a distance of about a mile, and was diffusing +itself in almost imperceptible threads of humidity in the +quivering atmosphere. The Tuscarora was one of those +noble-looking warriors oftener met with among the abo- +rigines of this continent a century since than to-day; and, +while he had mingled sufficiently with the colonists to be +familiar with their habits and even with their language, +he had lost little, if any, of the wild grandeur and simple +dignity of a chief. Between him and the old seaman the +intercourse had been friendly, but distant; for the Indian +had been too much accustomed to mingle with the officers +of the different military posts he had frequented not to +understand that his present companion was only a subor- +dinate. So imposing, indeed, had been the quiet superior- +ity of the Tuscarora's reserve, that Charles Cap, for so was +the seaman named, in his most dogmatical or facetious +moments, had not ventured on familiarity in an inter- +course which had now lasted more than a week. The sight +of the curling smoke, however, had struck the latter like +the sudden appearance of a sail at sea; and, for the first +time since they met, he ventured to touch the warrior, as +has been related. + +The quick eye of the Tuscarora instantly caught a sight +of the smoke; and for full a minute he stood, slightly +raised on tiptoe, with distended nostrils, like the buck that +scents a taint in the air, and a gaze as riveted as that of +the trained pointer while he waits his master's aim. Then, +falling back on his feet, a low exclamation, in the soft +tones that form so singular a contrast to its harsher cries +in the Indian warrior's voice, was barely audible; other- +wise, he was undisturbed. His countenance was calm, and +his quick, dark, eagle eye moved over the leafy panorama, +as if to take in at a glance every circumstance that might +enlighten his mind. That the long journey they had at- +tempted to make through a broad belt of wilderness was +necessarily attended with danger, both uncle and niece +well knew; though neither could at once determine +whether the sign that others were in their vicinity was the +harbinger of good or evil. + +"There must be Oneidas or Tuscaroras near us, Arrow- +head," said Cap, addressing his Indian companion by his +conventional English name; "will it not be well to join +company with them, and get a comfortable berth for the +night in their wigwam?" + +"No wigwam there," Arrowhead answered in his un- +moved manner -- "too much tree." + +"But Indians must be there; perhaps some old mess- +mates of your own, Master Arrowhead." + +"No Tuscarora -- no Oneida -- no Mohawk -- pale-face +fire." + +"The devil it is? Well, Magnet, this surpasses a seaman's +philosophy: we old sea-dogs can tell a lubber's nest from +a mate's hammock; but I do not think the oldest admiral +in his Majesty's fleet can tell a king's smoke from a +collier's." + +The idea that human beings were in their vicinity, in +that ocean of wilderness, had deepened the flush on the +blooming cheek and brightened the eye of the fair crea- +ture at his side; but she soon turned with a look of sur- +prise to her relative, and said hesitatingly, for both had +often admired the Tuscarora's knowledge, or, we might +almost say, instinct, -- + +"A pale-face's fire! Surely, uncle, he cannot know _that_?" + +"Ten days since, child, I would have sworn to it; but +now I hardly know what to believe. May I take the lib- +erty of asking, Arrowhead, why you fancy that smoke, +now, a pale-face's smoke, and not a red-skin's?" + +"Wet wood," returned the warrior, with the calmness +with which the pedagogue might point out an arithmetical +demonstration to his puzzled pupil. "Much wet -- much +smoke; much water -- black smoke." + +"But, begging your pardon, Master Arrowhead, the +smoke is not black, nor is there much of it. To my eye, +now, it is as light and fanciful a smoke as ever rose from +a captain's tea-kettle, when nothing was left to make the +fire but a few chips from the dunnage." + +"Too much water," returned Arrowhead, with a slight +nod of the head; "Tuscarora too cunning to make fire +with water! pale-face too much book, and burn anything; +much book, little know." + +"Well, that's reasonable, I allow," said Cap, who was no +devotee of learning: "he means that as a hit at your read- +ing, Magnet; for the chief has sensible notions of things +in his own way. How far, now, Arrowhead, do you make +us, by your calculation, from the bit of a pond that you +call the Great Lake, and towards which we have been so +many days shaping our course?" + +The Tuscarora looked at the seaman with quiet superi- +ority as he answered, "Ontario, like heaven; one sun, and +the great traveller will know it." + +"Well, I have been a great traveller, I cannot deny; +but of all my v'y'ges this has been the longest, the least +profitable, and the farthest inland. If this body of fresh +water is so nigh, Arrowhead, and so large, one might think +a pair of good eyes would find it out; for apparently every- +thing within thirty miles is to be seen from this look- +out." + +"Look," said Arrowhead, stretching an arm before him +with quiet grace; "Ontario!" + +"Uncle, you are accustomed to cry 'Land ho!' but not +'Water ho!' and you do not see it," cried the niece, laugh- +ing, as girls will laugh at their own idle conceits. + +"How now, Magnet! dost suppose that I shouldn't know +my native element if it were in sight?" + +"But Ontario is not your native element, dear uncle; +for you come from the salt water, while this is fresh." + +"That might make some difference to your young mar- +iner, but none to the old one. I should know water, child, +were I to see it in China." + +"Ontario," repeated Arrowhead, with emphasis, again +stretching his hand towards the north-west. + +Cap looked at the Tuscarora, for the first time since +their acquaintance, with something like an air of contempt, +though he did not fail to follow the direction of the chief's +eye and arm, both of which were directed towards a vacant +point in the heavens, a short distance above the plain of +leaves. + +"Ay, ay; this is much as I expected, when I left the +coast in search of a fresh-water pond," resumed Cap, +shrugging his shoulders like one whose mind was made up, +and who thought no more need be said. "Ontario may be +there, or, for that matter, it may be in my pocket. Well, +I suppose there will be room enough, when we reach it, +to work our canoe. But Arrowhead, if there be pale-faces +in our neighborhood, I confess I should like to get within +hail of them." + +The Tuscarora now gave a quiet inclination of his head, +and the whole party descended from the roots of the up- +torn tree in silence. When they reached the ground, +Arrowhead intimated his intention to go towards the fire, +and ascertain who had lighted it; while he advised his +wife and the two others to return to a canoe, which they +had left in the adjacent stream, and await his return. + +"Why, chief, this might do on soundings, and in an +offing where one knew the channel," returned old Cap; +"but in an unknown region like this I think it unsafe to +trust the pilot alone too far from the ship: so, with your +leave, we will not part company." + +"What my brother want?" asked the Indian gravely, +though without taking offence at a distrust that was suffi- +ciently plain. + +"Your company, Master Arrowhead, and no more. I will +go with you and speak these strangers." + +The Tuscarora assented without difficulty, and again +he directed his patient and submissive little wife, who +seldom turned her full rich black eye on him but to ex- +press equally her respect, her dread, and her love, to pro- +ceed to the boat. But here Magnet raised a difficulty. +Although spirited, and of unusual energy under circum- +stances of trial, she was but woman; and the idea of being +entirely deserted by her two male protectors, in the midst +of a wilderness that her senses had just told her was seem- +ingly illimitable, became so keenly painful, that she ex- +pressed a wish to accompany her uncle. + +"The exercise will be a relief, dear sir, after sitting so +long in the canoe," she added, as the rich blood slowly re- +turned to a cheek that had paled in spite of her efforts to +be calm; "and there may be females with the strangers." + +"Come, then, child; it is but a cable's length, and we +shall return an hour before the sun sets." + +With this permission, the girl, whose real name was +Mabel Dunham, prepared to be of the party; while the +Dew-of-June, as the wife of Arrowhead was called, pas- +sively went her way towards thie canoe, too much accus- +tomed to obedience, solitude, and the gloom of the forest +to feel apprehension. + +The three who remained in the wind-row now picked +their way around its tangled maze, and gained the margin +of the woods. A few glances of the eye sufficed for Arrow- +head; but old Cap deliberately set the smoke by a pocket- +compass, before he trusted himself within the shadows of +the trees. + +"This steering by the nose, Magnet, may do well enough +for an Indian, but your thoroughbred knows the virtue of +the needle," said the uncle, as he trudged at the heels of +the light-stepping Tuscarora. "America would never have +been discovered, take my word for it, if Columbus had +been nothing but nostrils. Friend Arrowhead, didst ever +see a machine like this?" + +The Indian turned, cast at glance at the compass, which +Cap held in a way to direct his course, and gravely an- +swered, "A pale-face eye. The Tuscarora see in his head. +The Salt-water (for so the Indian styled his companion) +all eye now; no tongue." + +"He means, uncle, that we had needs be silent, perhaps +he distrusts the persons we are about to meet." + +"Ay, 'tis an Indian's fashion of going to quarters. You +perceive he has examined the priming of his rifle, and it +may be as well if I look to that of my own pistols." + +Without betraying alarm at these preparations, to which +she had become accustomed by her long journey in the +wilderness, Mabel followed with a step as elastic as that of +the Indian, keeping close in the rear of her companions. +For the first half mile no other caution beyond a rigid +silence was observed; but as the party drew nearer to the +spot where the fire was known to be, much greater care +became necessary. + +The forest, as usual, had little to intercept the view +below the branches but the tall straight trunks of trees. +Everything belonging to vegetation had struggled towards +the light, and beneath the leafy canopy one walked, as it +might be, through a vast natural vault, upheld by myriads +of rustic columns. These columns or trees, however, often +served to conceal the adventurer, the hunter, or the foe; +and, as Arrowhead swiftly approached the spot where his +practised and unerrimig senses told him the strangers ought +to be, his footstep gradually became lighter, his eye more +vigilant, and his person was more carefully concealed. + +"See, Saltwater," said he exulting, pointing through +the vista of trees; "pale-face fire!" + +"By the Lord, the fellow is right!" muttered Cap; +"there they are, sure enough, and eating their grub as +quietly as if they were in the cabin of a three-decker." + +"Arrowhead is but half right!" whispered Mabel, "for +there are two Indians and only one white man." + +"Pale-faces," said the Tuscarora, holding up two fingers; +"red man," holding up one. + +"Well," rejoined Cap, "it is hard to say which is right +and which is wrong. One is entirely white, and a fine +comely lad he is, with an air of respectability about him; +one is a red-skin as plain as paint and nature can make +him; but the third chap is half-rigged, being neither brig +nor schooner." + +"Pale-faces," repeated Arrowhead, again raising two +fingers, "red man," showing but one. + +"He must be right, uncle; for his eye seems never to +fail. But it is now urgent to know whether we meet as +friends or foes. They may be French." + +"One hail will soon satisfy us on that head," returned +Cap. "Stand you behind the tree, Magnet, lest the knaves +take it into their heads to fire a broadside without a parley, +and I will soon learn what colors they sail under." + +The uncle had placed his two hands to his mouth to +form a trumpet, and was about to give the promised hail, +when a rapid movement from the hand of Arrowhead de- +feated the intention by deranging the instrument. + +"Red man, Mohican," said the Tuscarora; "good; pale- +faces, Yengeese." + +"These are heavenly tidings," murmured Mabel, who +little relished the prospect of a deadly fray in that remote +wilderness. "Let us approach at once, dear uncle, and +proclaim ourselves friends." + +"Good," said the Tuscarora "red man cool, and know; +pale-face hurried, and fire. Let the squaw go." + +"What!" said Cap in astonishment; "send little Mag- +net ahead as a lookout, while two lubbers, like you and +me, lie-to to see what sort of a land-fall she will make! +If I do, I -- " + +"It is wisest, uncle," interrupted the generous girl, +"and I have no fear. No Christian, seeing a woman ap- +proach alone, would fire upon her; and my presence will +be a pledge of peace. Let me go forward, as Arrowhead +wishes, and all will be well. We are, as yet, unseen, and +the surprise of the strangers will not partake of alarm." + +"Good," returned Arrowhead, who did not conceal his +approbation of Mabel's spirit. + +"It has an unseaman-like look," answered Cap; "but, +being in the woods, no one will know it. If you think, +Mabel -- " + +"Uncle, I know. There is no cause to fear for me; and +you are always nigh to protect me." + +"Well, take one of the pistols, then -- " + +"Nay, I had better rely on my youth and feebleness," +said the girl, smiling, while her color heightened under +her feelings. "Among Christian men, a woman's best +guard is her claim to their protection. I know nothing of +arms, and wish to live in ignorance of them." + +The uncle desisted; and, after receiving a few cautious +instructions from the Tuscarora, Mabel rallied all her +spirit, and advanced alone towards the group seated near +the fire. Although the heart of the girl beat quick, her +step was firm, and her movements, seemingly, were with- +out reluctance. A death-like silence reigned in the forest, +for they towards whom she approached were too much oc- +cupied in appeasing their hunger to avert their looks for +an instant from the important business in which they +were all engaged. When Mabel, however, had got within +a hundred feet of the fire, she trod upon a dried stick, and +the trifling noise produced by her light footstep caused +the Mohican, as Arrowhead had pronounced the Indian +to be, and his companion, whose character had been +thought so equivocal, to rise to their feet, as quick as +thought. Both glanced at the rifles that leaned against a +tree; and then each stood without stretching out an arm, +as his eyes fell on the form of the girl. The Indian uttered +a few words to his companion, and resumed his seat and +his meal as calmly as if no interruption had occurred. On +the contrary, the white man left the fire, and came forward +to meet Mabel. + +The latter saw, as the stranger approached that she was +about to be addressed by one of her own color, though his +dress was so strange a mixture of the habits of the two +races, that it required a near look to be certain of the fact. +He was of middle age; but there was an open honesty, a +total absence of guile, in his face, which otherwise would +not have been thought handsome, that at once assured +Magnet she was in no danger. Still she paused. + +"Fear nothing, young woman," said the hunter, for +such his attire would indicate him to be; "you have met +Christian men in the wilderness, and such as know how to +treat all kindly who are disposed to peace and justice. I +am a man well known in all these parts, and perhaps one +of my names may have reached your ears. By the +Frenchers and the red-skins on the other side of the Big +Lakes, I am called La Longue Carabine; by the Mohicans, +a just-minded and upright tribe, what is left of them, +Hawk Eye; while the troops and rangers along this side of +the water call me Pathfinder, inasmuch as I have never +been known to miss one end of the trail, when there was a +Mingo, or a friend who stood in need of me, at the other." + +This was not uttered boastfully, but with the honest +confidence of one who well knew that by whatever name +others might have heard of him, ho had no reason to blush +at the reports. The effect on Mabel was instantaneous. +The moment she heard the last _sobriquet_ she clasped her +hands eagerly and repeated the word "Pathfinder!" + +"So they call me, young woman, and many a great lord +has got a title that he did not half so well merit; though, +if truth be said, I rather pride myself in finding my way +where there is no path, than in finding it where there is. +But the regular troops are by no means particular, and +half the time they don't know the difference between a +trail and a path, though one is a matter for the eye, while +the other is little more than scent." + +"Then you are the friend my father promised to send +to meet us?" + +"If you are Sergeant Dunham's daughter, the great +Prophet of the Delawares never uttered more truth." + +"I am Mabel; and yonder, hid by the trees, are my +uncle, whose name is Cap, and a Tuscarora called Arrow- +head. We did not hope to meet you until we had nearly +reached the shores of the lake." + +"I wish a juster-minded Indian had been your guide," +said Pathfinder; "for I am no lover of the Tuscaroras, who +have travelled too far from the graves of their fathers +always to remember the Great Spirit; and Arrowhead is +an ambitious chief. Is the Dew-of-June with him?" + +"His wife accompanies us, and a humble and mild crea- +ture she is." + +"Ay, and true-hearted; which is more than any who +know him will say of Arrowhead. Well, we must take +the fare that Providence bestows, while we follow the trail +of life. I suppose worse guides might have been found +than the Tuscarora; though he has too much Mingo blood +for one who consorts altogether with the Delawares." + +"It is, then, perhaps, fortunate we have met," said +Mabel. + +"It is not misfortunate, at any rate; for I promised the +Sergeant I would see his child safe to the garrison, though +I died for it. We expected to meet you before you reached +the Falls, where we have left our own canoe; while we +thought it might do no harm to come up a few miles, in +order to be of service if wanted. It is lucky we did, for I +doubt if Arrowhead be the man to shoot the current." + +"Here come my uncle and the Tuscarora, and our parties +can now join." As Mabel concluded, Cap and Arrowhead, +who saw that the conference was amicable, drew nigh; and +a few words sufficed to let them know as much as the girl +herself had learned from the strangers. As soon as this +was done, the party proceeded towards the two who still +remained near the fire. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +Yea! long as Nature's humblest child +Hath kept her temple undefiled + By simple sacrifice, +Earth's fairest scenes are all his own, +He is a monarch and his throne + Is built amid the skies! +WILSON. + + +The Mohican continued to eat, though the second white +man rose, and courteously took off his cap to Mabel Dun- +ham. He was young, healthful, and manly in appearance; +and he wore a dress which, while it was less rigidly pro- +fessional than that of the uncle, also denoted one accus- +tomed to the water. In that age, real seamen were a class +entirely apart from the rest of mankind, their ideas, or- +dinary language, and attire being as strongly indicative of +their calling as the opinions, speech, and dress of a Turk +denote a Mussulman. Although the Pathfinder was +scarcely in the prime of life, Mabel had met him with a +steadiness that may have been the consequence of having +braced her nerves for the interview; but when her eyes +encountered those of the young man at the fire, they fell +before the gaze of admiration with which she saw, or +fancied she saw, he greeted her. Each, in truth, felt that +interest in the other which similarity of age, condition, +mutual comeliness, and their novel situation would be +likely to inspire in the young and ingenuous. + +"Here," said Pathfinder, with an honest smile bestowed +on Mabel, "are the friends your worthy father has sent to +meet you. This is a great Delaware; and one who has had +honors as well as troubles in his day. He has an Indian +name fit for a chief, but, as the language is not always easy +for the inexperienced to pronounce we naturally turn it +into English, and call him the Big Sarpent. You are not +to suppose, however, that by this name we wish to say that +he is treacherous, beyond what is lawful in a red-skin; but +that he is wise, and has the cunning which becomes a war- +nor. Arrowhead, there, knows what I mean." + +While the Pathfinder was delivering this address, the +two Indians gazed on each other steadily, and the Tus- +carora advanced and spoke to the other in an apparently +friendly manner. + +"I like to see this," continued Pathfinder; "the salutes +of two red-skins in the woods, Master Cap, are like the +hailing of friendly vessels on the ocean. But speaking of +water, it reminds me of my young friend, Jasper Western +here, who can claim to know something of these matters, +seeing that he has passed his days on Ontario." + +"I am glad to see you, friend," said Cap, giving the +young fresh-water sailor a cordial grip; "though you must +have something still to learn, considering the school to +which you have been sent. This is my niece Mabel; I call +her Magnet, for a reason she never dreams of, though you +may possibly have education enough to guess at it, having +some pretentions to understand the compass, I suppose." + +"The reason is easily comprehended," said the young +man, involuntarily fastening his keen dark eye, at the +same time, on the suffused face of the girl; "and I feel +sure that the sailor who steers by your Magnet will never +make a bad land-fall." + +"Ha! you do make use of some of the terms, I find, and +that with propriety; though, on the whole, I fear you have +seen more green than blue water." + +"It is not surprising that we should get some of the +phrases which belong to the land; for we are seldom out +of sight of it twenty-four hours at a time." + +"More's the pity, boy, more's the pity! A very little +land ought to go a great way with a seafaring man. Now, +if the truth were known, Master Western, I suppose there +is more or less land all round your lake." + +"And, uncle, is there not more or less land around the +ocean?" said Magnet quickly; for she dreaded a prema- +ture display of the old seaman's peculiar dogmatism, not +to say pedantry. + +"No, child, there is more or less ocean all round the +land; that's what I tell the people ashore, youngster. +They are living, as it might be, in the midst of the sea, +without knowihg it; by sufferance, as it were, the water +being so much the more powerful and the largest. But +there is no end to conceit in this world: for a fellow who +never saw salt water often fancies he knows more than +one who has gone round the Horn. No, no, this earth is +pretty much an island; and all that can be truly said not +to be so is water." + +Young Western had a profound deference for a mariner +of the ocean, oh which he had often pined to sail; but he +had also a natural regard for the broad sheet on which he +had passed his life, and which was not without its beauties +in his eyes. + +"What you say, sir," he answered modestly, "may be +true as to the Atlantic; but we have a respect for the land +up here on Ontario." + +"That is because you are always land-locked," returned +Cap, laughing heartily; "but yonder is the the Pathfinder, as +they call him, with some smoking platters, inviting us to +share in his mess; and I will confess that one gets no +venison at sea. Master Western, civility to girls, at your +time of life, comes as easy as taking in the slack of the +ensign halyards; and if you will just keep an eye to her +kid and can, while I join the mess of the Pathfinder and +our Indian friends, I make no doubt she will remember it." + +Master Cap uttered more than he was aware of at the +time. Jasper Western did attend to the wants of Mabel, +and she long remembered the kind, manly attention of the +young sailor at this their first interview. He placed the +end of a log for a seat, obtained for her a delicious morsel +of the venison, gave her a draught of pure water from the +spring, and as he sat near her, fast won his way to her +esteem by his gentle but frank manner of manifesting his +care; homage that woman always wishes to receive, but +which is never so flattering or so agreeable as when it +comes from the young to those of their own age -- from the +manly to the gentle. Like most of those who pass their +time excluded from the society of the softer sex, young +Western was earnest, sincere, and kind in his attentions, +which, though they wanted a conventional refinement, +which, perhaps, Mabel never missed, had those winning +qualities that prove very sufficient as substitutes. Leav- +ing these two unsophisticated young people to become ac- +quainted through their feelings, rather than their expressed +thoughts, we will turn to the group in which the uncle +had already become a principal actor. + +The party had taken their places around a platter of +venison steaks, which served for the common use, and the +discourse naturally partook of the characters of the differ- +ent individuals which composed it. The Indians were +silent and industrious the appetite of the aboriginal +American for venison being seemingly inappeasable, while +the two white men were communicative, each of the latter +being garrulous and opinionated in his way. But, as the +dialogue will put the reader in possession of certain facts +that may render the succeeding narrative more clear, it +will be well to record it. + +"There must be satisfaction in this life of yours, no +doubt Mr. Pathfinder," continued Cap, when the hunger +of the travellers was so far appeased that they began to +pick and choose among the savory morsels; "it has some +of the chances and luck that we seamen like; and if ours +is all water, yours is all land." + +"Nay, we have water too, in our journeyings and +marches," returned his white companion; "we border- +men handle the paddle and the spear almost as much as +the rifle and the hunting-knife." + +"Ay; but do you handle the brace and the bow-line, the +wheel and the lead-line, the reef-point and the top-rope? +The paddle is a good thing, out of doubt, in a canoe; but +of what use is it in the ship?" + +"Nay, I respect all men in their callings, and I can be- +lieve the things you mention have their uses. One who +has lived, like myself, in company with many tribes, un- +derstands differences in usages. The paint of a Mingo is +not the paint of a Delaware; and he who should expect to +see a warrior in the dress of a squaw might be disappointed. +I am not yet very old, but I have lived in the woods, and +have some acquaintance with human natur'. I never be- +lieve much in the learning of them that dwell in towns, +for I never yet met with one that had an eye for a rifle or +a trail." + +"That's my manner of reasoning, Master Pathfinder, to +a yarn. Walking about streets, going to church of Sun- +days, and hearing sermons, never yet made a man of a +human being. Send the boy out upon the broad ocean, if +you wish to open his eyes, and let him look upon foreign +nations, or what I call the face of nature, if you wish him +to understand his own character. Now, there is my +brother-in-law, the Sergeant: he is as good a fellow as +ever broke a biscuit, in his way; but what is he, after all? +Why, nothing but a soldier. A sergeant, to be sure, but +that is a sort of a soldier, you know. When he wished to +marry poor Bridget, my sister, I told the girl what he was, +as in duty bound, and what she might expect from such a +husband; but you know how it is with girls when their +minds are jammed by an inclination. It is true, the Ser- +geant has risen in his calling, and they say he is an im- +portant man at the fort; but his poor wife has not lived +to see it all, for she has now been dead these fourteen +years." + +"A soldier's calling is honorable, provided he has fi't +only on the side of right," returned the Pathfinder; "and +as the Frenchers are always wrong, and his sacred Majesty +and these colonies are always right, I take it the Sergeant +has a quiet conscience as well as a good character. I have +never slept more sweetly than when I have fi't the Mingos, +though it is the law with me to fight always like a white +man and never like an Indian. The Sarpent, here, has +his fashions, and I have mine; and yet have we fi't side +by side these many years; without either thinking a hard +thought consarning the other's ways. I tell him there is +but one heaven and one hell, notwithstanding his tradi- +tions, though there are many paths to both." + +"That is rational; and he is bound to believe you, +though, I fancy, most of the roads to the last are on dry +land. The sea is what my poor sister Bridget used to call +a 'purifying place,' and one is out of the way of tempta- +tion when out of sight of land. I doubt if as much can +be said in favor of your lakes up hereaway." + +"That towns and settlements lead to sin, I will allow; +but our lakes are bordered by the forests, and one is every +day called upon to worship God in such a temple. That +men are not always the same, even in the wilderness, I +must admit for the difference between a Mingo and a +Delaware is as plain to be seen as the difference between +the sun and the moon. I am glad, friend Cap, that we +have met, however, if it be only that you may tell the Big +Sarpent here that there are lakes in which the water is +salt. We have been pretty much of one mind since our +acquaintance began, and if the Mohican has only half the +faith in me that I have in him, he believes all that I have +told him touching the white men's ways and natur's laws; +but it has always seemed to me that none of the red-skins +have given as free a belief as an honest man likes to the +accounts of the Big Salt Lakes, and to that of their being +rivers that flow up stream." + +"This comes of getting things wrong end foremost," +answered Cap, with a condescending nod. "You have +thought of your lakes and rifts as the ship; and of the +ocean and the tides as the boat. Neither Arrowhoad nor +the Serpent need doubt what you have said concerning +both, though I confess myself to some difficulty in swal- +lowing the tale about there being inland seas at all, and +still more that there is any sea of fresh water. I have +come this long journey as much to satisfy my own eyes +concerning these facts, as to oblige the Sergeant and Mag- +net, though the first was my sister's husband, and I love +the last like a child." + +"You are wrong, friend Cap, very wrong, to distrust, +the power of God in any thing," returned Pathfinder +earnestly. "They that live in the settlements and the +towns have confined and unjust opinions consarning the +might of His hand; but we, who pass our time in His very +presence, as it might be, see things differently -- I mean, +such of us as have white natur's. A red-skin has his +notions, and it is right that it should be so; and if they +are not exactly the same as a Christian white man's, there +is no harm in it. Still, there are matters which belong +altogether to the ordering of God's providence; and these +salt and fresh-water lakes are some of them. I do not +pretend to account for these things, but I think it the +duty of all to believe in them." + +"Hold on there, Master Pathfinder," interrupted Cap, +not without some heat; "in the way of a proper and manly +faith, I will turn my back on no one, when afloat. Al- +though more accustomed to make all snug aloft, and to +show the proper canvas, than to pray when the hurricane +comes, I know that we are but helpless mortals at times, +and I hope I pay reverence where reverence is due. All I +mean to say is this: that, being accustomed to see water +in large bodies salt, I should like to taste it before I can +believe it to be fresh." + +"God has given the salt lick to the deer; and He has +given to man, red-skin and white, the delicious spring at +which to slake his thirst. It is unreasonable to think that +He may not have given lakes of pure water to the west, +and lakes of impure water to the east." + +Cap was awed, in spite of his overweening dogmatism, +by the earnest simplicity of the Pathfinder, though he did +not relish the idea of believing a fact which, for many +years, he had pertinaciously insisted could not be true. +Unwilling to give up the point and, at the same time, un- +able to maintain it against a reasoning to which he was un- +accustomed, and which possessed equally the force of +truth, faith, and probability, he was glad to get rid of the +subject by evasion. + +"Well, well, friend Pathfinder," said he, "we will leave +the argument where it is; and we can try the water when +we once reach it. Only mark my words -- I do not say +that it may not be fresh on the surface; the Atlantic is +sometimes fresh on the surface, near the mouths of great +rivers; but, rely on it, I shall show you a way of tasting +the water many fathoms deep, of which you never dreamed; +and then we shall know more about it." + +The guide seemed content to let the matter rest, and +the conversation changed. + +"We are not over-conceited consarning our gifts," ob- +served the Pathfinder, after a short pause, "and well know +that such as live in the towns, and near the sea -- " + +"On the sea," interrupted Cap. + +"On the sea, if you wish it, friend -- have opportunities +which do not befall us of the wilderness. Still, we know +our own callings, and they are what I consider natural +callings, and are not parvarted by vanity and wantonness. +Now, my gifts are with the rifle, and on a trail, and in the +way of game and scouting; for, though I can use the spear +and the paddle, I pride not myself on either. The youth +Jasper, there, who is discoursing with the Sergeant's +daughter, is a different cratur'; for he may be said to +breathe the water, as it might be, like a fish. The Indians +and Frenchers of the north shore call him Eau-douce, on +account of his gifts in this particular. He is better at the +oar, and the rope too, than in making fires on a trail." + +"There must be something about these gifts of which +you speak, after all," said Cap. "Now this fire, I will ac- +knowledge, has overlaid all my seamanship. Arrowhead, +there, said the smoke came from a pale-face's fire, and +that is a piece of philosophy which I hold to be equal to +steering in a dark night by the edges of the sand." + +"It's no great secret," returned Pathfinder, laughing +with great inward glee, though habitual caution prevented +the emission of any noise. "Nothing is easier to us who +pass our time in the great school of Providence than to +larn its lessons. We should be as useless on a trail, or in +carrying tidings through the wilderness, as so many wood- +chucks, did we not soon come to a knowledge of these +niceties. Eau-douce, as we call him, is so fond of the +water, that he gathered a damp stick or two for our fire; +and wet will bring dark smoke, as I suppose even you fol- +lowers of the sea must know. It's no great secret, though +all is mystery to such as doesn't study the Lord and His +mighty ways with humility and thankfulness." + +"That must be a keen eye of Arrowhead's to see so slight +a difference." + +"He would be but a poor Indian if he didn't. No, no; +it is war-time, and no red-skin is outlying without using +his senses. Every skin has its own natur', and every +natur' has its own laws, as well as its own skin. It was +many years before I could master all these higher branches +of a forest education; for red-skin knowledge doesn't +come as easy to white-skin natur', as what I suppose is in- +tended to be white-skin knowledge; though I have but +little of the latter, having passed most of my time in the +wilderness." + +"You have been a ready scholar, Master Pathfinder, as +is seen by your understanding these things so well. I +suppose it would be no great matter for a man regularly +brought up to the sea to catch these trifles, if he could +only bring his mind fairly to bear upon them." + +"I don't know that. The white man has his difficulties +in getting red-skin habits, quite as much as the Indian in +getting white-skin ways. As for the real natur', it is my +opinion that neither can actually get that of the other." + +"And yet we sailors, who run about the world so much, +say there is but one nature, whether it be in the China- +man or a Dutchman. For my own part, I am much of +that way of thinking too; for I have generally found that +all nations like gold and silver, and most men relish to- +bacco." + +"Then you seafaring men know little of the red-skins. +Have you ever known any of your Chinamen who could +sing their death-songs, with their flesh torn with splinters +and cut with knives, the fire raging around their naked +bodies, and death staring them in the face? Until you +can find me a Chinaman, or a Christian man, that can do +all this, you cannot find a man with a red-skin natur', let +him look ever so valiant, or know how to read all the books +that were ever printed." + +"It is the savages only that play each other such hellish +tricks," said Master Cap, glancing his eyes about him un- +easily at the apparently endless arches of the forest. "No +white man is ever condemned to undergo these trials." + +"Nay, therein you are again mistaken," returned the +Pathfinder, coolly selecting a delicate morsel of the veni- +son as his _bonne bouche_; "for thongh these torments belong +only to the red-skin natur', in the way of bearing them like +braves, white-skin natur' may be, and often has been, +agonized by them." + +"Happily," said Cap, with an effort to clear his throat, +"none of his Majesty's allies will be likely to attempt such +damnable cruelties on any of his Majesty's loyal subjects. +I have not served much in the royal navy, it is true; but I +have served, and that is something; and, in the way of +privateering and worrying the enemy in his ships and +cargoes, I've done my full share. But I trust there are no +French savages on this side the lake, and I think you said +that Ontario is a broad sheet of water?" + +"Nay, it is broad in our eyes," returned Pathfinder, not +caring to conceal the smile which lighted a face which had +been burnt by exposure to a bright red; "though I mis- +trust that some may think it narrow; and narrow it is, if +you wish it to keep off the foe. Ontario has two ends, +and the enemy that is afraid to cross it will be certain to +come round it." + +"Ah! that comes of your d----d fresh-water ponds!" +growled Cap, hemming so loudly as to cause him instantly +to repent the indiscretion. "No man, now, ever heard of +a pirate or a ship getting round one end of the Atlantic!" + +"Mayhap the ocean has no ends?" + +"That it hasn't; nor sides, nor bottom. The nation +which is snugly moored on one of its coasts need fear +nothing from the one anchored abeam, let it be ever so +savage, unless it possesses the art of ship building. No, +no! the people who live on the shores of the Atlantic need +fear but little for their skins or their scalps. A man may +lie down at night in those regions, in the hope of finding +the hair on his head in the morning, unless he wears a +wig." + +"It isn't so here. I don't wish to flurry the young +woman, and therefore I will be in no way particular, +though she seems pretty much listening to Eau-douce, as +we call him; but without the edication I have received, I +should think it at this very moment, a risky journey to +go over the very ground that lies between us and the gar- +rison, in the present state of this frontier. There are about +as many Iroquois on this side of Ontario as there are on +the other. It is for this very reason, friend Cap, that the +Sergeant has engaged us to come out and show you the +path." + +"What! do the knaves dare to cruise so near the guns +of one of his Majesty's works?" + +"Do not the ravens resort near the carcass of the deer, +though the fowler is at hand? They come this-a-way, as +it might be, naturally. There are more or less whites +passing between the forts and the settlements, and they +are sure to be on their trails. The Sarpent has come up +one side of the river, and I have come up the other, in +order to scout for the outlying rascals, while Jasper brought +up the canoe, like a bold-hearted sailor as he is. The +Sergeant told him, with tears in his eyes, all about his child, +and how his heart yearned for her, and how gentle and +obedient she was, until I think the lad would have dashed +into a Mingo camp single-handed, rather than not a-come." + +"We thank him, and shall think the better of him for +his readiness; though I suppose the boy has run no great +risk, after all." + +"Only the risk of being shot from a cover, as he forced +the canoe up a swift rift, or turned an elbow in the stream, +with his eyes fastened on the eddies. Of all the risky +journeys, that on an ambushed river is the most risky, in +my judgment, and that risk has Jasper run." + +"And why the devil has the Sergeant sent for me to +travel a hundred and fifty miles in this outlandish man- +ner? Give me an offing, and the enemy in sight, and I'll +play with him in his own fashion, as long as he pleases, +long bows or close quarters; but to be shot like a turtle +asleep is not to my humor. If it were not for little Mag- +net there, I would tack ship this instant, make the best of +my way back to York, and let Ontario take care of itself, +salt water or fresh water." + +"That wouldn't mend the matter much, friend mariner, +as the road to return is much longer, and almost as bad as +the road to go on. Trust to us, and we will carry you +through safely, or lose our scalps." + +Cap wore a tight solid queue, done up in eelskin, while +the top of his head was nearly bald; and he mechanically +passed his hand over both as if to make certain that each +was in its right place. He was at the bottom, however, a +brave man, and had often faced death with coolness, +though never in the frightful forms in which it presented +itself under the brief but graphic picture of his com- +panion. It was too late to retreat; and he determined to +put the best face on the matter, though he could not avoid +muttering inwardly a few curses on the indiscretion with +which his brother-in-law, the Sergeant, had led him into +his present dilemma. + +"I make no doubt, Master Pathfinder," he answered, +when these thoughts had found time to glance through +his mind, "that we shall reach port in safety. What dis- +tance may we now be from the fort?" + +"Little more than fifteen miles; and swift miles too, as +the river runs, if the Mingos let us go clear." + +"And I suppose the woods wilL stretch along starboard +and larboard, as heretofore?" + +"Anan?" + +"I mean that we shall have to pick our way through +these damned trees." + +"Nay, nay, you will go in the canoe, and the Oswego +has been cleared of its flood-wood by the troops. It will +be floating down stream, and that, too, with a swift cur- +rent." + +"And what the devil is to prevent these minks of which +you speak from shooting us as we double a headland, or +are busy in steering clear of the rocks?" + +"The Lord! -- He who has so often helped others in +greater difficulties. Many and many is the time that my +head would have been stripped of hair, skin, and all, hadn't +the Lord fi't of my side. I never go into a skrimmage, +friend mariner, without thinking of this great ally, who +can do more in battle than all the battalions of the 60th, +were they brought into a single line." + +"Ay, ay, this may do well enough for a scouter; but we +seamen like our offing, and to go into action with nothing +in our minds but the business before us -- plain broadside +and broadside work, and no trees or rocks to thicken the +water." + +"And no Lord too, I dare to say, if the truth were +known. Take my word for it, Master Cap, that no battle +is the worse fi't for having the Lord on your side. Look +at the head of the Big Sarpent, there; you can see the +mark of a knife all along by his left ear: now nothing but +a bullet from this log rifle of mine saved his scalp that +day; for it had fairly started, and half a minute more +would have left him without the war-lock. When the +Mohican squeezes my hand, and intermates that I be- +friended him in that matter, I tell him no; it was the Lord +who led me to the only spot where execution could be +done, or his necessity be made known, on account of the +smoke. Sartain, when I got the right position, I finished +the affair of my own accord. For a friend under the +tomahawk is apt to make a man think quick and act at +once, as was my case, or the Sarpent's spirit would be +hunting in the happy land of his people at this very mo- +ment." + +"Come, come, Pathfinder, this palaver is worse than +being skinned from stem to stem; we have but a few hours +of sun, and had better be drifting down this said current +of yours while we may. Magnet dear, are you not ready +to get under way?" + +Magnet started, blushed brightly, and made her prep- +arations for immediate departure. Not a syllable of the +discourse just related had she heard; for Eau-douce, as +young Jasper was oftener called than anything else, had +been filling her ears with a description of the yet distant +part towards which she was journeying, with accounts of +her father, whom she had not seen since a child, and with +the manner of life of those who lived in the frontier gar- +risons. Unconsciously she had become deeply interested, +and her thoughts had been too intently directed to these +matters to allow any of the less agreeable subjects dis- +cussed by those so near to reach her ears. The bustle of +departure put an end to the conversation, and, the bag- +gage of the scouts or guides being trifling, in a few minutes +the whole party was ready to proceed. As they were about +to quit the spot, however, to the surprise of even his +fellow-guides, Pathfinder collected a quantity of branches +and threw them upon the embers of the fire, taking care +even to see that some of the wood was damp, in order to +raise as dark and dense a smoke as possible. + +"When you can hide your trail, Jasper," said he, "a +smoke at leaving an encampment may do good instead of +harm. If there are a dozen Mingos within ten miles of +us, some on 'em are on the heights, or in the trees, look- +ing out for smokes; let them see this, and much good may +it do them. They are welcome to our leavings." + +"But may they not strike and follow on our trail?" +asked the youth, whose interest in the hazard of his situa- +tion had much increased since the meeting with Magnet. +"We shall leave a broad path to the river." + +"The broader the better; when there, it will surpass +Mingo cunning, even, to say which way the canoe has gone +- up stream or down. Water is the only thing in natur' +that will thoroughly wash out a trail, and even water will +not always do it when the scent is strong. Do you not see, +Eau-douce, that if any Mingos have seen our path below +the falls, they will strike off towards this smoke, and that +they will naturally conclude that they who began by going +up stream will end by going up stream. If they know +anything, they now know a party is out from the fort, and +it will exceed even Mingo wit to fancy that we have come +up here just for the pleasure of going back again, and +that, too, the same day, and at the risk of our scalps." + +"Certainly," added Jasper, who was talking apart with +the Pathfinder, as they moved towards the wind-row, +"they cannot know anything about the Sergeant's daugh- +ter, for the greatest secrecy has been observed on her ac- +count." + +"And they will learn nothing here," returned Path- +finder, causing his companion to see that he trod with the +utmost care on the impression left on the leaves by the +little foot of Mabel; "unless this old salt-water fish has +been taking his niece about in the wind-row, like a fa'n +playing by the side of the old doe." + +"Buck, you mean, Pathfinder." + +"Isn't he a queerity? Now I can consort with such a +sailor as yourself, Eau-douce, and find nothing very con- +trary in our gifts, though yours belong to the lakes and +mine to the woods. Hark'e, Jasper," continued the scout, +laughing in his noiseless manner; "suppose we try the +temper of his blade and run him over the falls?" + +"And what would be done with the pretty niece in the +meanwhile?" + +"Nay, nay, no harm shall come to her; she must walk +round the portage, at any rate; but you and I can try this +Atlantic oceaner, and then all parties will become better +acquainted. We shall find out whether his flint will strike +fire; and he may come to know something of frontier +tricks." + +Young Jasper smiled, for he was not averse to fun, and +had been a little touched by Cap's superciliousness; but +Mabel's fair face, light, agile form, and winning smiles, +stood like a shield between her uncle and the intended +experiment. + +"Perhaps the Sergeant's daughter will be frightened," +said he. + +"Not she, if she has any of the Sergeant's spirit in her. +She doesn't look like a skeary thing, at all. Leave it to +me, then, Eau-douce, and I will manage the affair alone." + +"Not you, Pathfinder; you would only drown both. If +the canoe goes over, I must go in it." + +"Well, have it so, then: shall we smoke the pipe of +agreement on the bargain?" + +Jasper laughed, nodded his head by way of consent, and +then the subject was dropped, as the party had reached +the canoe so often mentioned, and fewer words had de- +termined much greater things between the parties. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +Before these fields were shorn and till'd, + Full to the brim our rivers flow'd; +The melody of waters fill'd + The fresh and boundless wood; +And torrents dash'd, and rivulets play'd, +And fountains spouted in the shade. +BRYANT. + + +It is generally known that the waters which flow into +the southern side of Ontario are, in general, narrow, slug- +gish, and deep. There are some exceptions to this rule, +for many of the rivers have rapids, or, as they are termed +in the language of the region, "rifts," and some have falls. +Among the latter was the particular stream on which our +adventurers were now journeying. The Oswego is formed +by the junction of the Oneida and the Onondaga, both of +wbich flow from lakes; and it pursues its way, through a +gently undulating country, some eight or ten miles, until +it reaches the margin of a sort of natural terrace, down +which it tumbles some ten or fifteen feet, to another level, +across which it glides with the silent, stealthy progress of +deep water, until it throws its tribute into the broad re- +ceptacle of the Ontario. The canoe in which Cap and his +party had travelled from Fort Stanwix, the last military +station of the Mohawk, lay by the side of this river, and +into it the whole party now entered, with the exception of +Pathfinder, who remained on the land, in order to shove +the light vessel off. + +"Let her starn drift down stream, Jasper," said the +man of the woods to the young mariner of the lake, who +had dispossessed Arrowhead of his paddle and taken his +own station as steersman; "let it go down with the cur- +rent. Should any of these infarnals, the Mingos, strike +our trail, or follow it to this point they will not fail to +look for the signs in the mud; and if they discover +that we have left the shore with the nose of the canoe +up stream, it is a natural belief to think we went up +stream." + +This direction was followed; and, giving a vigorous +shove, the Pathfinder, who was in the flower of his strength +and activity, made a leap, landing lightly, and without +disturbing its equilibrium, in the bow of the canoe. As +soon as it had reached the centre of the river or the +strength of the current, the boat was turned, and it began +to glide noiselessly down the stream. + +The vessel in which Cap and his niece had embarked for +their long and adventurous journey was one of the canoes +of bark which the Indians are in the habit of constructing, +and which, by their exceeding lightness and the ease with +which they are propelled, are admirably adapted to a +navigation in which shoals, flood-wood, and other similar +obstructions so often occur. The two men who composed +its original crew had several times carried it, when emptied +of its luggage, many hundred yards; and it would not have +exceeded the strength of a single man to lift its weight. +Still it was long, and, for a canoe, wide; a want of steadi- +ness being its principal defect in the eyes of the unin- +itiated. A few hours practice, however, in a great measure +remedied this evil, and both Mabel and her uncle had +learned so far to humor its movements, that they now +maintained their places with perfect composure; nor did +the additional weight of the three guides tax its power in +any particular degree, the breath of the rounded bottom +allowing the necessary quantity of water to be displaced +without bringing the gunwale very sensibly nearer to the +surface of the stream. Its workmanship was neat; the +timbers were small, and secured by thongs; and the whole +fabric, though it was so slight to the eye, was probably +capable of conveying double the number of persons which +it now contained. + +Cap was seated on a low thwart, in the centre of the +canoe; the Big Serpent knelt near him. Arrowhead and +his wife occupied places forward of both, the former hav- +ing relinquished his post aft. Mabel was half reclining +behind her uncle, while the Pathfinder and Eau-douce +stood erect, the one in the bow, and the other in the stern, +each using a paddle, with a long, steady, noiseless sweep. +The conversation was carried on in low tones, all the party +beginning to feel the necessity of prudence, as they drew +nearer to the outskirts of the fort, and had no longer the +cover of the woods. + +The Oswego, just at that place, was a deep dark stream +of no great width, its still, gloomy-looking current wind- +ing its way among overhanging trees, which, in particular +spots, almost shut out the light of the heavens. Here and +there some half-fallen giant of the forest lay nearly across +its surface, rendering care necessary to avoid the limbs; +and most of the distance, the lower branches and leaves of +the trees of smaller growth were laved by its waters. The +picture so beautifully described by our own admirable +poet, and which we have placed at the head of this chapter, +was here realized; the earth fattened by the decayed +vegetation of centuries, and black with loam, the stream +that filled the banks nearly to overflowing, and the "fresh +and boundless wood," being all as visible to the eye as the +pen of Bryant has elsewhere vividly presented them to the +imagination. In short, the entire scene was one of a rich +and benevolent nature, before it had been subjected to the +uses and desires of man; luxuriant, wild, full of promiSe, +and not without the charm of the picturesque, even in its +rudest state. It will be remembered that this was in the +year 175-, or long before even speculation had brought any +portion of western New York within the bounds of civili- +zation. At that distant day there were two great channels +of military communication between the inhabited por- +tion of the colony of New York and the frontiers which +lay adjacent to the Canadas, -- that by Lakes Champlain +and George, and that by means of the Mohawk, Wood +Creek, the Oneida, and the rivers we have been describ- +ing. Along both these lines of communication military +posts had been established, though there existed a blank +space of a hundred miles between the last fort at the head +of the Mohawk and the outlet of the Oswego, which em- +braced most of the distance that Cap and Mabel had jour- +neyed under the protection of Arrowhead. + +"I sometimes wish for peace again," said the Pathfinder, +"when one can range the forest without searching for any +other enemy than the beasts and fishes. Ah's me! many +is the day that the Sarpent, there, and I have passed hap- +pily among the streams, living on venison, salmon, and +trout without thought of a Mingo or a scalp! I some- +times wish that them blessed days might come back, for +it is not my real gift to slay my own kind. I'm sartain +the Sergeant's daughter don't think me a wretch that takes +pleasure in preying on human natur'?" + +As this remark, a sort of half interrogatory, was made, +Pathfinder looked behind him; and, though the most +partial friend could scarcely term his sunburnt and hard +features handsome, even Mabel thought his smile attrac- +tive, by its simple ingenuousness and the uprightness that +beamed in every lineament of his honest countenance. + +"I do not think my father would have sent one like +those you mention to see his daughter through the wilder- +ness," the young woman answered, returning the smile as +frankly as it was given, but much more sweetly. + +"That he wouldn't; the Sergeant is a man of feeling, and +many is the march and the fight that we have had -- stood +shoulder to shoulder in, as _he_ would call it -- though I always +keep my limbs free when near a Frencher or a Mingo." + +"You are, then, the young friend of whom my father +has spoken so often in his letters?" + +"His _young_ friend -- the Sergeant has the advantage of +me by thirty years; yes, he is thirty years my senior, and +as many my better." + +"Not in the eyes of the daughter, perhaps, friend Path- +finder;" put in Cap, whose spirits began to revive when he +found the water once more flowing around him. "The +thirty years that you mention are not often thought to be +an advantage in the eyes of girls of nineteen." + +Mabel colored; and, in turning aside her face to avoid +the looks of those in the bow of the canoe, she encountered +the admiring gaze of the young man in the stern. As a +last resource, her spirited but soft blue eyes sought refuge +in the water. Just at this moment a dull, heavy sound +swept up the avenue formed by the trees, borne along by a +light air that hardly produced a ripple on the water. + +"That sounds pleasantly," said Cap, pricking up his +ears like a dog that hears a distant baying; "it is the surf +on the shores of your lake, I suppose?" + +"Not so -- not so," answered the Pathfinder; "it is +merely this river tumbling over some rocks half a mile +below us." + +"Is there a fall in the stream?" demanded Mabel, a still +brighter flush glowing in her face. + +"The devil! Master Pathfinder, or you, Mr. Eau-douce" +(for so Cap began to style Jasper), "had you not better +give the canoe a sheer, and get nearer to the shore? These +waterfalls have generally rapids above them, and one might +as well get into the Maelstrom at once as to run into their +suction." + +"Trust to us, friend Cap," answered Pathfinder; "we +are but fresh-water sailors, it is true, and I cannot boast +of being much even of that; but we understand rifts and +rapids and cataracts; and in going down these we shall do +our endeavors not to disgrace our edication." + +"In going down!" exclaimed Cap. "The devil, man! +you do not dream of going down a waterfall in this egg +shell of bark!" + +"Sartain; the path lies over the falls, and it is much +easier to shoot them than to unload the canoe and to carry +that and all it contains around a portage of a mile by +hand." + +Mabel turned her pallid countenance towards the young +man in the stern of the canoe; for, just at that moment, +a fresh roar of the fall was borne to her ears by a new +current of the air, and it really sounded terrific, now tlnat +the cause was understood. + +"We thought that, by landing the females and the two +Indians," Jasper quietly observed, "we three white men, +all of whom are used to the water, might carry the canoe +over in safety, for we often shoot these falls." + +"And we counted on you, friend mariner, as a main- +stay," said Pathfinder, winking to Jasper over his shoulder; +"for you are accustomed to see waves tumbling about; and +without some one to steady the cargo, all the finery of the +Sergeant's daughter might be washed into the river and +be lost." + +Cap was puzzled. The idea of going over a waterfall +was, perhaps, more serious in his eyes than it would have +been in those of one totally ignorant of all that pertained +to boats; for he understood the power of the element, and +the total feebleness of man when exposed to its fury. Still +his pride revolted at the thought of deserting the boat, +while others not only steadily, but coolly, proposed to con- +tinue in it. Notwithstanding the latter feeling, and his +innate as well as acquired steadiness in danger, he would +probably have deserted his post; had not the images of +Indians tearing scalps from the human head taken so +strong hold of his fancy as to induce him to imagine the +canoe a sort of sanctuary. + +"What is to be done with Magnet?" he demanded, af- +fection for his niece raising another qualm in his con- +science. "We cannot allow Magnet to land if there are +enemy's Indians near?" + +"Nay, no Mingo will be near the portage, for that is a +spot too public for their devilries," answered the Path- +finder confidently. "Natur' is natur', and it is an Indian's +natur' to be found where he is least expected. No fear +of him on a beaten path; for he wishes to come upon you +when unprepared to meet him, and the fiery villains make +it a point to deceive you, one way or another. Sheer in, +Eau-douce, and we will land the Sergeant's daughter on +the end of that log, where she can reach the shore with a +dry foot." + +The injunction was obeyed, and in a few minutes the +whole party had left the canoe, with the exception of +Pathfinder and the two sailors. Notwithstanding his pro- +fessional pride, Cap would have gladly followed; but he +did not like to exhibit so unequivocal a weakness in the +presence of a fresh-water sailor. + +"I call all hands to witness," said he, as those who had +landed moved away, "that I do not look on this affair as +anything more than canoeing in the woods. There is no +seamanship in tumbling over a waterfall, which is a feat +the greatest lubber can perform as well as the oldest +mariner." + +"Nay, nay, you needn't despise the Oswego Falls, +neither," put in Pathfinder; "for, thought they may not be +Niagara, nor the Genessee, nor the Cahoos, nor Glenn's, +nor those on the Canada, they are narvous enough for a +new beginner. Let the Sergeant's daughter stand on +yonder rock, and she will see the manner in which we ig- +norant backwoodsmen get over a difficulty that we can't +get under. Now, Eau-douce, a steady hand and a true eye, +for all rests on you, seeing that we can count Master Cap +for no more than a passenger." + +The canoe was leaving the shore as he concluded, while +Mabel went hurriedly and trembling to the rock that had +been pointed out, talking to her companion of the danger +her uncle so unnecessarily ran, while her eyes were riveted +on the agile and vigorous form of Eau-douce, as he stood +erect in the stern of the light boat, governing its move- +ments. As soon, however, as she reached a point where +she got a view of the fall, she gave an involuntary but +suppressed scream, and covered her eyes. At the next +instant, the latter were again free, and the entranced girl +stood immovable as a statue, a scarcely breathing observer +of all that passed. The two Indians seated themselves +passively on a log, hardly looking towards the stream, +while the wife of Arrowhead came near Mabel, and ap- +reared to watch the motions of the canoe with some such +interest as a child regards the leaps of a tumbler. + +As soon as the boat was in the stream, Pathfinder sank +on his knees, continuing to use the paddle, though it was +slowly, and in a manner not to interfere with the efforts +of his companion. The latter still stood erect; and, as +he kept his eye on some object beyond the fall, it was evi- +dent that he was carefully looking for the spot proper for +their passage. + +"Farther west, boy; farther west," muttered Pathfinder; +"there where you see the water foam. Bring the top of +the dead oak in a line with the stem of the blasted hem- +lock." + +Eau-douce made no answer; for the canoe was in the +centre of the stream, with its head pointed towards the +fall, and it had already begun to quicken its motion by the +increased force of the current. At that moment Cap +would cheerfully have renounced every claim to glory that +could possibly be acquired by the feat, to have been safe +again on shore. He heard the roar of the water, thunder- +ing, as it might be, behind a screen, but becoming more +and more distinct, louder and louder, and before him he +saw its line cutting the forest below, along which the +green and angry element seemed stretched and shining, as +if the particles were about to lose their principle of cohe- +sion. + +"Down with your helm, down with your helm, man!" +he exclaimed, unable any longer to suppress his anxiety, +as the canoe glided towards the edge of the fall. + +"Ay, ay, down it is sure enough," answered Pathfinder, +looking behind him for a single instant, with his silent, +joyous laugh, -- "down we go, of a sartinty! Heave her +starn up, boy; farther up with her starn!" + +The rest was like the passage of the viewless wind. Eau- +douce gave the required sweep with his paddle, the canoe +glanced into the channel, and for a few seconds it seemed +to Cap that he was tossing in a caldron. He felt the bow +of the canoe tip, saw the raging, foaming water careering +madly by his side, was sensible that the light fabric in +which he floated was tossed about like an egg-shell, and +then, not less to his great joy than to his surprise, he dis- +covered that it was gliding across the basin of still water +below the fall, under the steady impulse of Jasper's +paddle. + +The Pathfinder continued to laugh; but he arose from +his knees, and, searching for a tin pot and a horn spoon, +he began deliberately to measure the water that had been +taken in the passage. + +"Fourteen spoonfuls, Eau-douce; fourteen fairly meas- +ured spoonfuls. I have, you must acknowledge, known +you to go down with only ten." + +"Master Cap leaned so hard up stream," returned Jasper +seriously, "that I had difficulty in trimming the canoe." + +"It may be so; no doubt it _was_ so, since you say it; but +I have known you go over with only ten." + +Cap now gave a tremendous hem, felt for his queue as +if to ascertain its safety, and then looked back in order to +examine the danger he had gone through. His safety is +easily explained. Most of the river fell perpendicularly +ten or twelve feet; but near its centre the force of the +current had so far worn away the rock as to permit the +water to shoot through a narrow passage, at an angle of +about forty or forty five degrees. Down this ticklish de- +scent the canoe had glanced, amid fragments of broken +rock, whirlpools, foam, and furious tossings of the ele- +ment, which an uninstructed eye would believe menaced +inevitable destruction to an object so fragile. But the +very lightness of the canoe had favored its descent; for, +borne on the crest of the waves, and directed by a steady +eye and an arm full of muscle, it had passed like a feather +from one pile of foam to another, scarcely permitting its +glossy side to be wetted. There were a few rocks to be +avoided, the proper direction was to be rigidly observed, +and the fierce current did the rest. (1) + +(1) Lest the reader suppose we are dealing purely in fiction, the +writer will add that he has known a long thirty-two pounder car- +ried over these same falls in perfect safety. + +To say that Cap was astonished would not be expressing +half his feelings; he felt awed: for the profound dread of +rocks which most seamen entertain came in aid of his ad- +miration of the boldness of the exploit. Still he was in- +disposed to express all he felt, lest it might be conceding +too much in favor of fresh water and inland navigation; +and no sooner had he cleared his throat with the afore- +said hem, than he loosened his tongue in the usual strain +of superiority. + +"I do not gainsay your knowledge of the channel, Master +Eau-douce, and, after all, to know the channel in such a +place is the main point. I have had cockswains with me +who could come down that shoot too, if they only knew +the channel." + +"It isn't enough to know the channel," said Pathfinder; +"it needs narves and skill to keep the canoe straight, and +to keep her clear of the rocks too. There isn't another +boatman in all this region that can shoot the Oswego, but +Eau-douce there, with any sartainty; though, now and +then, one has blundered through. I can't do it myself +unless by means of Providence, and it needs Jasper's hand +and eye to make sure of a dry passage. Fourteen spoon- +fuls, after all, are no great matter, though I wish it had +been but ten, seeing that the Sergeant's daughter was a +looker-on." + +"And yet you conned the canoe; you told him how to +head and how to sheer." + +"Human frailty, master mariner; that was a little of +white-skin natur'. Now, had the Sarpent, yonder, been in +the boat, not a word would he have spoken or thought would +he have given to the public. An Indian knows how to +hold his tongue; but we white folk fancy we are always +wiser than our fellows. I'm curing myself fast of the +weakness, but it needs time to root up the tree that has +been growing more than thirty years." + +"I think little of this affair, sir; nothing at all to speak +my mind freely. It's a mere wash of spray to shooting +London Bridge which is done every day by hundreds of +persons, and often by the most delicate ladies in the land. +The king's majesty has shot the bridge in his royal person." + +"Well, I want no delicate ladies or king's majesties +(God bless 'em!) in the canoe, in going over these falls; +for a boat's breath, either way, may make a drowning mat- +ter of it. Eau-douce, we shall have to carry the Sergeant's +brother over Niagara yet, to show him what may be done +in a frontier." + +"The devil! Master Pathfinder, you must be joking +now! Surely it is not possible for a bark canoe to go over +that mighty cataract?" + +"You never were more mistaken, Master Cap, in your +life. Nothing is easier and many is the canoe I have seen +go over it with my own eyes; and if we both live I hope +to satisfy you that the feat can be done. For my part, I +think the largest ship that ever sailed on the ocean might +be carried over, could she once get into the rapids." + +Cap did not perceive the wink which Pathfinder ex- +changed with Eau-douce, and he remained silent for some +time; for, sooth to say, he had never suspected the possi- +bility of going down Niagara, feasible as the thing must +appear to every one on a second thought, the real diffi- +culty existing in going up it. + +By this time the party had reached the place where +Jasper had left his own canoe, concealed in the bushes, +and they all re-embarked; Cap, Jasper, and his niece in +one boat and Pathfinder, Arrowhead, and the wife of the +latter in the other. The Mohican had already passed down +the banks of the river by land, looking cautiously and with +the skill of his people for the signs of an enemy. + +The cheek of Mabel did not recover all its bloom until +the canoe was again in the current, down which it floated +swiftly, occasionally impelled by the paddle of Jasper. +She witnessed the descent of the falls with a degree of +terror which had rendered her mute; but her fright had +not been so great as to prevent admiration of the steadi- +ness of the youth who directed the movement from blend- +ing with the passing terror. In truth, one much less +sensitive might have had her feelings awakened by the +cool and gallant air with which Eau-douce had accom- +plished this clever exploit. He had stood firmly erect, +notwithstanding the plunge; and to those on the shore it +was evident that, by a timely application of his skill and +strength, the canoe had received a sheer which alone car- +ried it clear of a rock over which the boiling water was +leaping in _jets d'eau_, -- now leaving the brown stone visi- +tie, and now covering it with a limpid sheet, as if ma- +chinery controlled the play of the element. The tongue +cannot always express what the eyes view; but Mabel saw +enough, even in that moment of fear, to blend for ever in +her mind the pictures presented by the plunging canoe +and the unmoved steersman. She admitted that insidious +feeling which binds woman so strongly to man, by feeling +additional security in finding herself under his care; and, +for the first time since leaving Fort Stanwix, she was en- +tirely at her ease in the frail bark in which she travelled. +As the other canoe kept quite near her own, however, and +the Pathfinder, by floating at her side, was most in view, +the conversation was principally maintained with that +person; Jasper seldom speaking unless addressed, and +constantly exhibiting a weariness in the management of +his own boat, which might have been remarked by one +accustomed to his ordinarily confident, careless manner. + +"We know too well a woman's gifts to think of carrying +the Sergeant's daughter over the falls," said Pathfinder, +looking at Mabel, while he addressed her uncle; "though +I've been acquainted with some of her sex that would +think but little of doing the thing." + +"Mabel is faint-hearted, like her mother," returned +Cap; "and you did well, friend, to humor her weakness. +You will remember the child has never been at sea." + +"No, no, it was easy to discover that; by your own fear- +lessness, any one might have seen how little you cared +about the matter. I went over once with a raw hand, and +he jumped out of the canoe just as it tipped, and you many +judge what a time he had of it." + +"What became of the poor fellow?" asked Cap, scarcely +knowing how to take the other's manner, which was so +dry, while it was so simple, that a less obtuse subject than +the old sailor might well have suspected its sincerity. +"One who has passed the place knows how to feel for +him." + +"He was a _poor_ fellow, as you say; and a poor frontier +man too, though he came out to show his skill among us +ignoranters. What became of him? Why, he went down +the falls topsy-turvey like, as would have happened to a +court-house or a fort." + +"If it should jump out of at canoe," interrupted Jasper, +smiling, thought he was evidently more disposed than his +friend to let the passage of the falls be forgotten. + +"The boy is right," rejoined Pathfinder, laughing in +Mabel's face, the canoes being now so near that they almost +touched; "he is sartainly right. But you have not told +us what you think of the leap we took?" + +"It was perilous and bold," said Mabel; "while looking +at it, I could have wished that it had not been attempted, +though, now it is over, I can admire its boldness and the +steadiness with which it was made." + +"Now, do not think that we did this thing to set our +selves off in female eyes. It may be pleasant to the young +to win each other's good opinions by doing things which +may seem praiseworthy and bold; but neither Eau-douce +nor myself is of that race. My natur' has few turns in it, +and is a straight natur'; nor would it be likely to lead me +into a vanity of this sort while out on duty. As for Jasper, +he would sooner go over the Oswego Falls, without a looker- +on, than do it before a hundred pair of eyes. I know the +lad well from much consorting, and I am sure he is not +boastful or vain-glorious." + +Mabel rewarded the scout with a smile, which served to +keep the canoes together for some time longer; for the +sight of youth and beauty was so rare on that remote +frontier, that even the rebuked and self-mortified feelings +of this wanderer of the forest were sensibly touched by the +blooming loveliness of the girl. + +"We did it for the best," Pathfinder continued; "'twas +all for the best. Had we waited to carry the canoe across +the portage, time would have been lost, and nothinig is so +precious as time when you are mistrustful of Mingos." + +"But we have little to fear now. The canoes move +swiftly, and two hours, you have said, will carry us down +to the fort." + +"It shall be a cunning Iroquois who hurts a hair of your +head, pretty one; for all here are bound to the Sergeant, +and most, I think, to yourself, to see you safe from harm. +Ha, Eau-douce! what is that in the river, at the lower +turn, yonder, beneath the bushes, -- I mean standing on +the rock?" + +"'Tis the Big Serpent, Pathfinder; he is making signs +to us in a way I don't understand." + +"'Tis the Sarpent, as sure as I'm a white man, and +he wishes us to drop in nearer to his shore. Mischief is +brewing, or one of his deliberation and steadiness would +never take this trouble. Courage, all! we are men, and +must meet devilry as becomes our color and our callings. +Ah, I never knew good come of boasting! and here, just +as I was vaunting of our safety, comes danger to give me +the lie." + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Art, stryving to compare +With nature, did an arber greene dispred, +Fram'd of wanton yvie flowing fayre, +Through which the fragrant eglantines did spred. +SPENSER. + + +The Oswego, below the falls, is a more rapid, unequal +stream than it is above them. There are places where the +river flows in the quiet stillness of deep water, but many +shoals and rapids occur; and at that distant day, when +everything was in its natural state, some of the passes were +not altogether without hazard. Very little exertion was +required on the part of those who managed the canoes, +except in those places where the swiftness of the current +and the presence of the rocks required care; then, indeed, +not only vigilance, but great coolness, readiness, and +strength of arm became necessary, in order to avoid the +dangers. Of all this the Mohican was aware, and he had +judiciously selected a spot where the river flowed tran- +quilly to intercept the canoes, in order to make his +communication without hazard to those he wished to +speak. + +The Pathfinder had no sooner recognized the form of his +red friend, than, with a strong sweep of his paddle, he +threw the head of his own canoe towards the shore, mo- +tioning for Jasper to follow. In a minute both boats were +silently drifting down the stream, within reach of the +bushes that overhung the water, all observing a profound +silence; some from alarm, and others from habitual cau- +tion. As the travellers drew nearer the Indian, he made a +sign for them to stop; and then he and Pathfinder had +a short but earnest conference. + +"The Chief is not apt to see enemies in a dead log," ob- +served the white man to his red associate; "why does he +tell us to stop?" + +"Mingos are in the woods." + +"That we have believed these two days: does the chief +know it?" + +The Mohican quietly held up the head of a pipe formed +of stone. + +"It lay on a fresh trail that led towards the garrison," +- for so it was the usage of that frontier to term a mili- +tary work, whether it was occupied or not. + +"That may be the bowl of a pipe belonging to a soldier. +Many use the red-skin pipes." + +"See," said the Big Serpent, again holding the thing he +had found up to the view of his friend. + +The bowl of the pipe was of soap-stone, and was carved +with great care and with a very respectable degree of skill; +in its centre was a small Latin cross, made with an accuracy +which permitted no doubt of its meaning. + +"That does foretell devilry and wickedness," said the +Pathfinder, who had all the provincial horror of the holy +symbol in question which then pervaded the country, and +which became so incorporated with its prejudices, by con- +founding men with tings, as to have left its traces strong +enough on the mroal feeling of the community to be dis- +covered even at the present hour; "no Indian who had +not been parvarted by the cunning priests of the Canadas +would dream of carving a thing like that on his pipe. I'll +warrant ye, the knave prays to the image every time he +wishes to sarcumvent the innocent, and work his fearful +wickedness. It looks fresh, too, Chingachgook?" + +"The tobacco was burning when I found it." + +"That is close work, chief. Where was the trail?" + +The Mohican pointed to a spot not a hundred yards +from that where they stood. + +The matter now began to look very serious, and the two +principal guides conferred apart for several minutes, when +both ascended the bank, approached the indicated spot, +and examined the trail with the utmost care. After this +investigation had lasted a quarter of an hour, the white +man returned alone, his red friend having disappeared in +the forest. + +The ordinary expression of the countenance of the +Pathfinder was that of simplicity, integrity, and sincerity, +blended in an air of self-reliance which usually gave great +confidence to those who found themselves under his care; +but now a look of concern cast a shade over his honest +face, that struck the whole party. + +"What cheer, Master Pathfinder?" demanded Cap, per- +mitting a voice that was usually deep, loud, and confident +to sink into the cautious tones that better suited the dan- +gers of the wilderness. "Has the enemy got between us +and our port?" + +"Anan?" + +"Have any of these painted scaramouches anchored off +the harbor towards which we are running, with the hope +of cutting us off in entering?" + +"It may be all as you say, friend Cap, but I am none +the wiser for your words; and in ticklish times the plainer +a man makes his English the easier he is understood. I +know nothing of ports and anchors; but there is a direful +Mingo trail within a hundred yards of this very spot, and +as fresh as venison without salt. If one of the fiery devils +has passed, so have a dozen; and, what is worse, they have +gone down towards the garrison, and not a soul crosses +the clearing around it that some of their piercing eyes will +not discover, when sartain bullets will follow." + +"Cannot this said fort deliver a broadside, and clear +everything within the sweep of its hawse?" + +"Nay, the forts this-a-way are not like forts in the set- +tlements, and two or three light cannon are all they have +down at the mouth of the river; and then, broadsides fired +at a dozen outlying Mingoes, lying behind logs and in a +forest, would be powder spent in vain. We have but one +course, and that is a very nice one. We are judgmatically +placed here, both canoes being hid by the high bank and +the bushes, from all eyes, except those of any lurker di- +rectly opposite. Here, then, we may stay without much +present fear; but how to get the bloodthirsty devils up +the stream again? Ha! I have it, I have it! if it does no +good, it can do no harm. Do you see the wide-topped +chestnut here, Jasper, at the last turn in the river -- on our +own side of the stream, I mean?" + +"That near the fallen pine?" + +"The very same. Take the flint and tinder-box, creep +along the bank, and light a fire at that spot; maybe the +smoke will draw them above us. In the meanwhile, we +will drop the canoes carefully down beyond the point +below, and find another shelter. Bushes are plenty, and +covers are easily to be had in this region, as witness the +many ambushments." + +"I will do it, Pathfinder," said Jasper, springing to the +shore. "In ten minutes the fire shall be lighted." + +"And, Eau-douce, use plenty of damp wood this time," +half whispered the other, laughing heartily, in his own +peculiar manner; "when smoke is wanted, water helps to +thicken it." + +The young man was soon off, making his way rapidly +towards the desired point. A slight attempt of Mabel to +object to the risk was disregarded, and the party imme- +diately prepared to change its position, as it could be seen +from the place where Jasper intended to light his fire. +The movement did not require haste, and it was made +leisurely and with care. The canoes were got clear of the +bushes, then suffered to drop down with the stream until +they reached the spot where the chestnut, at the foot of +which Jasper was to light the fire, was almost shut out +from view, when they stopped, and every eye was turned +in the direction of the adventurer. + +"There goes the smoke!" exclaimed the Pathfinder, as +a current of air whirled a little column of the vapor from +the land, allowing it to rise spirally above the bed of the +river. "A good flint, a small bit of steel, and plenty of +dry leaves makes a quick fire. I hope Eau-douce will have +the wit to bethink him of the damp wood now when it +may serve us all a good turn." + +"Too much smoke -- too much cunning," said Arrowhead +sententiously. + +"That is gospel truth, Tuscarora, if the Mingoes didn't +know that they are near soldiers; but soldiers commonly +think more of their dinner at a halt than of their wisdom +and danger. No, no; let the boy pile on his logs, and +smoke them well too; it will all be laid to the stupidity of +some Scotch or Irish blunderer, who is thinking more of +his oatmeal or his potatoes than of Indian sarcumventions +or Indian rifles." + +"And yet I should think, from all we have heard in the +towns, that the soldiers on this frontier are used to the +artifices of their enemies," said Mabel, "and become +almost as wily as the red men themselves." + +"Not they. Experience makes them but little wiser; +and they wheel, and platoon, and battalion it about, here +in the forest, just as they did in their parks at home, of +which they are all so fond of talking. One red-skin has +more cunning in his natur' than a whole regiment from +the other side of the water; that is, what I call cunning +of the woods. But there is smoke enough, of all con- +science, and we had better drop into another cover. The +lad has thrown the river on his fire, and there is danger +that the Mingoes will believe a whole regiment is out." + +While speaking, the Pathfinder permitted his canoe to +drift away from the bush by which it had been retained, +and in a couple of minutes the bend in the river concealed +the smoke and the tree. Fortunately a small indentation +in the shore presented itself, within a few yards of the +point they had just passed; and the two canoes glided into +it, under the impulsion of the paddles. + +A better spot could not have been found for the pur- +pose. The bushes were thick, and overhung the water, +forming a complete canopy of leaves. There was a small +gravelly strand at the bottom of the little bay, where most +of the party landed to be more at their ease, and the only +position from which they could possibly be seen was a +point on the river directly opposite. There was little +danger, however, of discovery from that quarter, as the +thicket there was even denser than common, and the land +beyond it was so wet and marshy as to render it difficult +to be trodden. + +"This is a safe cover," said the Pathfinder, after he had +taken a scrutinizing survey of his position; "but it may +be necessary to make it safer. Master Cap, I ask nothing +of you but silence, and a quieting of such gifts as you may +have got at sea, while the Tuscarora and I make provision +for the evil hour." + +The guide then went a short distance into the bushes, +accompanied by the Indian, where the two cut off the +larger stems of several alders and other bushes, using the +utmost care not to make a noise. The ends of these little +trees were forced into the mud, outside of the canoes, the +depth of the water being very trifling; and in the course +of ten minutes a very effectual screen was interposed be- +tween them and the principal point of danger. Much in- +genuity and readiness were manifested in making this +simple arrangement, in which the two workmen were es- +sentially favored by the natural formation of the bank, +the indentation in the shore, the shallowness of the water, +and the manner in which the tangled bushes dipped into +the stream. The Pathfinder had the address to look for +bushes which had curved stems, things easily found in such +a place; and by cutting them some distance beneath the +bend, and permitting the latter to touch the water, the +artificial little thicket had not the appearance of growing +in the stream, which might have excited suspicion; but +one passing it would have thought that the bushes shot +out horizontally from the bank before they inclined up- +wards towards the light. In short, none but an unusually +distrustful eye would have been turned for an instant +towards the spot in quest of a hiding-place. + +"This is the best cover I ever yet got into," said the +Pathfinder, with his quiet laugh, after having been on the +outside to reconnoitre; "the leaves of our new trees fairly +touch those of the bushes over our heads. Hist! -- yonder +comes Eau-douce, wading, like a sensible boy, as he is, to +leave his trail in the water; and we shall soon see whether +our cover is good for anything or not." + +Jasper had indeed returned from his duty above; and +missing the canoes, he at once inferred that they had +dropped round the next bend in the river, in order to get +out of sight of the fire. His habits of caution immediately +suggested the expediency of stepping into the water, in +order that there might exist no visible communication +between the marks left on the shore by the party and the +place where he believed them to have taken refuge below. +Should the Canadian Indians return on their own trail, +and discover that made by the Pathfinder and the Serpent +in their ascent from and descent to the river, the clue to +their movements would cease at the shore, water leaving +no prints of footsteps. The young man had therefore +waded, knee-deep, as far as the point, and was now seen +making his way slowly down the margin of the stream, +searching curiously for the spot in which the canoes were +hid. + +It was in the power of those behind the bushes, by plac- +ing their eyes near the leaves, to find many places to look +through while one at a little distance lost this advantage. +To those who watched his motions from behind their +cover, and they were all in the canoes, it was evident that +Jasper was totally at a loss to imagine where the Pathfinder +had secreted himself. When fairly round the curvature in +the shore, and out of sight of the fire he had lighted above, +the young man stopped and began examining the bank de- +liberately and with great care. Occasionally he advanced +eight or ten paces, and then halted again, to renew the +search. The water being much shallower than common, +he stepped aside, in order to walk with greater ease to +himself and came so near the artificial plantation that he +might have touched it with his hand. Still he detected +nothing, and was actually passing the spot when Path- +finder made an opening beneath the branches, and called +to him in a low voice to enter. + +"This is pretty well," said the Pathfinder, laughing; +"though pale-face eyes and red-skin eyes are as different +as human spy-glasses. I would wager, with the Sergeant's +daughter here, a horn of powder against a wampum-belt +for her girdle, that her father's rijiment should march by +this embankment of ours and never find out the fraud! +But if the Mingoes actually get down into the bed of the +river where Jasper passed, I should tremble for the planta- +tion. It will do for their eyes, even across the stream, +however, and will not be without its use." + +"Don't you think, Master Pathfinder, that it would be +wisest, after all," said Cap, "to get under way at once, and +carry sail hard down stream, as soon as we are satisfied +that these rascals are fairly astern of us? We seamen call +a stern chase a long chase." + +"I wouldn't move from this spot until we hear from the +Sarpent with the Sergeant's pretty daughter here in our +company, for all the powder in the magazine of the fort +below. Sartain captivity or sartain death would follow. +If a tender fa'n, such as the maiden we have in charge, +could thread the forest like old deer, it might, indeed, do +to quit the canoes; for by making a circuit we could reach +the garrison before morning." + +"Then let it be done," said Mabel, springing to her feet +under the sudden impulse of awakened energy. "I am +young, active, used to exercise, and could easily out-walk +my dear uncle. Let no one think me a hindrance. I +cannot bear that all your lives should be exposed on my +account." + +"No, no, pretty one; we think you anything but a hin- +drance or anything that is unbecoming, and would will- +ingly run twice this risk to do you and the honest Ser- +geant a service. Do I not speak your mind, Eau- +donce?" + +"To do _her_ a service!" said Jasper with emphasis. +"Nothing shall tempt me to desert Mabel Dunham until +she is safe in her father's arms." + +"Well said, lad; bravely and honestly said, too; and I +join in it, heart and hand. No, no! you are not the first +of your sex I have led through the wilderness, and never +but once did any harm befall any of them: -- that was a sad +day, certainly but its like may never come again." + +Mabel looked from one of her protectors to the other, +and her fine eyes swam in tears. Frankly placing a hand +in that of each, she answered them, though at first her +voice was choked, "I have no right to expose you on my +account. My dear father will thank you, I thank you, God +will reward you; but let there be no unnecessary risk. I +can walk far, and have often gone miles on some girlish +fancy; why not now exert myself for my life? -- nay, for +your precious lives?" + +"She is a true dove, Jasper" said the Pathfinder, neither +relinquishing the hand he held until the girl herself, in +native modesty, saw fit to withdraw it, "and wonderfully +winning! We get to be rough, and sometimes even hard- +hearted, in the woods, Mabel; but the sight of one like +you brings us back again to our young feelings, and does +us good for the remainder of our days. I daresay Jasper +here will tell you the same; for, like me in the forest, the +lad sees but few such as yourself on Ontario, to soften his +heart and remind him of love for his kind. Speak out +now, Jasper, and say if it is not so?" + +"I question if many like Mabel Dunham are to be found +anywhere," returned the young man gallantly, an honest +sincerity glowing in his face that spoke more eloquently +than his tongue; "you need not mention the woods and lakes +to challenge her equals, but I would go into settle- +ments and towns." + +"We had better leave the canoes," Mabel hurriedly re- +joined; "for I feel it is no longer safe to be here." + +"You can never do it; you can never do it. It would +be a march of more than twenty miles, and that, too, of +tramping over brush and roots, and through swamps, in +the dark; the trail of such a party would be wide, and we +might have to fight our way into the garrison after all. +We will wait for the Mohican." + +Such appearing to be the decision of him to whom all, +in their present strait, looked up for counsel, no more was +said on tbe subject. The whole party now broke up into +groups: Arrowhead and his wife sitting apart under the +bushes, conversing in a low tone, though the man spoke +sternly, and the woman answered with the subdued mild- +ness that marks the degraded condition of a savage's wife. +Pathfinder and Cap occupied one canoe, chatting of their +different adventures by sea and land; while Jasper and +Mabel sat in the other, making greater progress in in- +timacy in a single hour than might have been effected +under other circumstances in a twelvemonth. Notwith- +standing their situation as regards the enemy, the time +flew by swiftly, and the young people, in particular, were +astonished when Cap informed them how long they had +been thus occupied. + +"If one could smoke, Master Pathfinder," observed the +old sailor, "this berth would be snug enough; for, to give +the devil his due, you have got the canoes handsomely land- +locked, and into moorings that would defy a monsoon. +The only hardship is the denial of the pipe." + +"The scent of the tobacco would betray us; and where +is the use of taking all these precautions against the +Mingo's eyes, if we are to tell him where the cover is to be +found through the nose? No, no; deny your appetites; +and learn one virtue from a red-skin, who will pass a week +without eating even, to get a single scalp. Did you hear +nothing, Jasper?" + +"The Serpent is coming." + +"Then let us see if Mohican eyes are better than them +of a lad who follows the water." + +The Mohican had indeed made his appearance in the +same direction as that by which Jasper had rejoined his +friends. Instead of coming directly on, however, no sooner +did he pass the bend, where he was concealed from any +who might be higher up stream, than he moved close +under the bank; and, using the utmost caution, got a +position where he could look back, with his person suffi- +ciently concealed by the bushes to prevent its being seen +by any in that quarter. + +"The Sarpent sees the knaves!" whispered Pathfinder. +"As I'm a Christian white man, they have bit at the bait, +and have ambushed the smoke!" + +Here a hearty but silent laugh interrupted his words, +and nudging Cap with his elbow, they all continued to +watch the movements of Chingachgook in profound still- +ness. The Mohican remained stationary as the rock on +which he stood full ten minutes; and then it was apparent +that something of interest had occurred within his view, +for he drew back with a hurried manner, looked anxiously +and keenly along the margin of the stream, and moved +quickly down it, taking care to lose his trail in the shallow +water. He was evidently in a hurry and concerned, now +looking behind him, and then casting eager glances towards +every spot on the shore where he thought a canoe might +be concealed. + +"Call him in," whispered Jasper, scarcely able to re- +strain his impatience, -- "call him in, or it will be too late! +See! he is actually passing us." + +"Not so, not so, lad; nothing presses, depend on it;" +returned his companion, "or the Sarpent would begin to +creep. The Lord help us and teach us wisdom! I _do_ be- +lieve even Chingachgook, whose sight is as faithful as the +hound's scent, overlooks us, and will not find out the am- +bushment we have made!" + +This exultation was untimely; for the words were no +sooner spoken than the Indian, who had actually got sev- +eral feet lower down the stream than the artificial cover, +suddenly stopped; fastened a keen-riveted glance among +the transplanted bushes; made a few hasty steps back- +ward; and, bending his body and carefully separating the +branches, he appeared among them. + +"The accursed Mingos!" said Pathfinder, as soon as his +friend was near enough to be addressed with prudence. + +"Iroquois," returned the sententious Indian. + +"No matter, no matter; Iroquois, devil, Mingo, Meng- +wes, or furies -- all are pretty much the same. I call all +rascals Mingos. Come hither, chief, and let us convarse +rationally." + +When their private communication was over, Pathfinder +rejoined the rest, and made them acquainted with all he +had learned. + +The Mohican had followed the trail of their enemies +some distance towards the fort, until the latter caught a +sight of the smoke of Jasper's fire, when they instantly +retraced their steps. It now became necessary for Chin- +gachgook, who ran the greatest risk of detection, to find a +cover where he could secrete bimself until the party might +pass. It was perhaps fortunate for him that the savages +were so intent on this recent discovery, that they did not +bestow the ordinary attention on the signs of the forest. +At all events, they passed him swiftly, fifteen in number, +treading lightly in each other's footsteps; and he was en- +abled again to get into their rear. After proceeding to +the place where the footsteps of Pathfinder and the Mohi- +can had joined the principal trail, the Iroquois had struck +off to the river, which they reached just as Jasper had dis- +appeared behind the bend below. The smoke being now +in plain view, the savages plunged into the woods and +endeavored to approach the fire unseen. Chingachgook +profited by this occasion to descend to the water, and to +gain the bend in the river also, which he thought had been +effected undiscovered. Here he paused, as has been stated, +until he saw his enemies at the fire, where their stay, how- +ever, was very short. + +Of the motives of the Iroquois the Mohican could judge +only by their acts. He thought they had detected the +artifice of the fire, and were aware that it had been kindled +with a view to mislead them; for, after a hasty examina- +tion of the spot, they had separated, some plunging again +into the woods, while six or eight had followed the foot- +steps of Jasper along the shore, and come down the stream +towards the place where the canoes had landed. What +course they might take on reaching that spot was only to +be conjectured; for the Serpent had felt the emergency +to be too pressing to delay looking for his friends any +longer. From some indications that were to be gathered +from their gestures, however, he thought it probable that +their enemies might follow down in the margin of the +stream, but could not be certain. + +As the Patlifilider related these facts to his companions, +the professional feelings of the two other white men came +uppermost, and; both naturally reverted to their habits, in +quest of the means of escape. + +"Let us run out the canoes at once," said Jasper eagerly; +"the current is strong, and by using the paddles vigorously +we shall soon be beyond the reach of these scoundrels!" + +"And this poor flower, that first blossomed in the clear- +ings -- shall it wither in the forest?" objected his friend, +with a poetry which he had unconsciously imbibed by his +long association with the Delawares. + +"We must all die first," answered the youth, a generous +color mounting to his temples; "Mabel and Arrowhead's +wife may lie down in the canoes, while we do our duty, +like men, on our feet." + +"Ay, you are active at the paddle and the oar, Eau-douce, +I will allow, but an accursed Mingo is more active at his +mischief; the canoes are swift, but a rifle bullet is swifter." + +"It is the business of men, engaged as we have been by +a confiding father, to run this risk -- " + +"But it is not their business to overlook prudence." + +"Prudence! a man may carry his prudence so far as to +forget his courage." + +The group was standing on the narrow strand, the Path- +finder leaning on his rifle, the butt of which rested on the +gravelly beach, while both his hands clasped the barrel +at the height of his own shoulders. As Jasper threw out +this severe and unmerited imputation, the deep red of his +comrade's face maintained its hue unchanged, though the +young man perceived that the fingers grasped the iron of +the gun with the tenacity of a vice. Here all betrayal of +emotion ceased. + +"You are young and hot-headed," returned Pathfinder, +with a dignity that impressed his listeners with a keen +sense of his moral superiority; "but my life has been +passed among dangers of this sort, and my experience and +gifts are not to be mastered by the impatience of a boy. +As for courage, Jasper, I will not send back an angry and +unmeaning word to meet an angry and an unmeaning word; +for I know that you are true in your station and according +to your knowledge; but take the advice of one who faced the +Mingos when you were a child, and know that their cun- +ning is easier sarcumvented by prudence than outwitted by +foolishness." + +"I ask your pardon, Pathfinder," said the repentant +Jasper, eagerly grasping the hand that the other permitted +him to seize; "I ask your pardon, humbly and sincerely. +'Twas a foolish, as well as wicked thing to hint of a man +whose heart, in a good cause, is known to be as firm as the +rocks on the lake shore." + +For the first time the color deepened on the cheek of +the Pathfinder, and the solemn dignity which he had as- +sumed, under a purely natural impulse, disappeared in the +expression of the earnest simplicity inherent in all his +feelings. He met the grasp of his young friend with a +squeeze as cordial as if no chord had jarred between them, +and a slight sternness that had gathered about his eye +disappeared in a look of natural kindness. + +"'Tis well, Jasper," he answered, laughing; "I bear +no ill-will, nor shall any one on my behalf. My natur' is +that of a white man, and that is to bear no malice. It +might have been ticklish work to have said half as much +to the Sarpent here, though he is a Delaware, for color will +have its way -- " + +A touch on his shoulder caused the speaker to cease. +Mabel was standing erect in the canoe, her light, but swell- +ing form bent forward in an attitude of graceful earnest- +ness, her finger on her lips, her head averted, her spirited +eyes riveted on an opening in the bushes, and one arm ex- +tended with a fishing-rod, the end of which had touched +the Pathfinder. The latter bowed his head to a level with +a look-out near which he had intentionally kept himself +and then whispered to Jasper, -- + +"The accursed Mingos! Stand to your arms, my men, +but lay quiet as the corpses of dead trees!" + +Jasper advanced rapidly, but noiselessly, to the canoe, +and with a gentle violence induced Mabel to place herself +in such an attitude as concealed her entire body, though +it would have probably exceeded his means to induce the +girl so far to lower her head that she could not keep her +gaze fastened on their enemies. He then took his own post +near her, with his rifle cocked and poised, in readiness to +fire. Arrowhead and Chingachgook crawled to the cover, +and lay in wait like snakes, with their arms prepared for +service, while the wife of the former bowed her head be- +tween her knees, covered it with her calico robe, and re- +mained passive and immovable. Cap loosened both his +pistols in their belt, but seemed quite at a loss what +course to pursue. The Pathfinder did not stir. He had +originally got a position where he might aim with deadly +effect through the leaves, and where he could watch the +movements of his enemies; and he was far too steady to +be disconcerted at a moment so critical. + +It was truly an alarming instant. Just as Mabel touched +the shoulder of her guide, three of the Iroquois had ap- +eared in the water, at the bend of the river, within a +hundred yards of the cover, and halted to examine the +stream below. They were all naked to the waist, armed +for an expedition against their foes, and in their war- +paint. It was apparent that they were undecided as to the +course they ought to pursue in order to find the fugitives. +One pointed down the river, a second up the stream, and +the third towards the opposite bank. They evidently +doubted. + + + +CHAPTER V + +Death is here and death is there, +Death is busy everywhere. +SHELLEY + + +It was a breathless moment. The only clue the fugitives +possessed to the intentions of their pursuers was in their +gestures and the indications which escaped them in the +fury of disappointment. That a party had returned +already, on their own footsteps, by land, was pretty certain; +and all the benefit expected from the artifice of the fire +was necessarily lost. But that consideration became of +little moment just then; for the party was menaced with +an immediate discovery by those who had kept on a level +with the river. All the facts presented themselves clearly, +and as it might be by intuition, to the mind of Pathfinder, +who perceived the necessity of immediate decision and of +being in readiness to act in concert. Without making any +noise, therefore, he managed to get the two Indians and +Jasper near him, when he opened his communications in +a whisper. + +"We must be ready, we must be ready," he said. "There +are but three of the scalping devils, and we are five, four +of whom may be set down as manful warriors for such a +skrimmage. Eau-douce, do you take the fellow that is +painted like death; Chingachgook, I give you the chief; +and Arrowhead must keep his eye on the young one. There +must be no mistake, for two bullets in the same body would +be sinful waste, with one like the Sergeant's daughter in +danger. I shall hold myself in resarve against accident, +lest a fourth reptile appear, for one of your hands may +prove unsteady. By no means fire until I give the word; +we must not let the crack of the rifle be heard except in +the last resort, since all the rest of the miscreants are still +within hearing. Jasper, boy, in case of any movement +behind us on the bank, I trust to you to run out the canoe +with the Sergeant's daughter, and to pull for the garrison, +by God's leave." + +The Pathfinder had no sooner given these directions +than the near approach of their enemies rendered profound +silence necessary. The Iroquois in the river were slowly +descending the stream; keeping of necessity near the +bushes which overhung the water, while the rustling of +leaves and the snapping of twigs soon gave fearful evidence +that another party was moving along the bank, at an +equally graduated pace; and directly abreast of them. In +consequence of the distance between the bushes planted +by the fugitives and the true shore, the two parties became +visible to each other when opposite that precise point. +Both stopped, and a conversation ensued, that may be said +to have passed directly over the heads of those who were +concealed. Indeed, nothing sheltered the travellers but +the branches and leaves of plants, so pliant that they +yielded to every current of air, and which a puff of wind a +little stronger than common would have blown away. +Fortunately the line of sight carried the eyes of the two +parties of savages, whether they stood in the water or on +the land, above the bushes, and the leaves appeared blended +in a way to excite no suspicion. Perhaps the very bold- +ness of the expedient alone prevented an immediate ex- +posure. The conversation which took place was conducted +earnestly, but in guarded tones, as if those who spoke +wished to defeat the intentions of any listeners. It was in +a dialect that both the Indian warriors beneath, as well as +the Pathfinder, understood. Even Jasper comprehended +a portion of what was said. + +"The trail is washed away by the water!" said one from +below, who stood so near the artificial cover of the fugi- +tives, that he might have been struck by the salmon-spear +that lay in the bottom of Jasper's canoe. "Water has +washed it so clear that a Yengeese hound could not follow." + +"The pale-faces have left the shore in their canoes," +answered the speaker on the bank. + +"It cannot be. The rifles of our warriors below are +certain." + +The Pathfinder gave a significant glance at Jasper, and +he clinched his teeth in order to suppress the sound of his +own breathing. + +"Let my young men look as if their eyes were eagles'," +said the eldest warrior among those who were wading in +the river. "We have been a whole moon on the war-path, +and have found but one scalp. There is a maiden among +them, and some of our braves want wives." + +Happily these words were lost on Mabel; but Jasper's +frown became deeper, and his face fiercely flushed. + +The savages now ceased speaking, and the party which +was concealed heard the slow and guarded movements of +those who were on the bank, as they pushed the bushes +aside in their wary progress. It was soon evident that +the latter had passed the cover; but the group in the water +still remained, scanning the shore with eyes that glared +through their war-paint like coals of living fire. After a +pause of two or three minutes, these three began also to +descend the stream, though it was step by step, as men +move who look for an object that has been lost. In this +manner they passed the artificial screen, and Pathfinder +opened his mouth in that hearty but noiseless laugh that +nature and habit had contributed to render a peculiarity +of the man. His triumph, however, was premature; for +the last of the retiring party, just at this moment casting +a look behind him, suddenly stopped; and his fixed atti- +tude and steady gaze at once betrayed the appalling fact +that some neglected bush had awakened his suspicions. + +It was perhaps fortunate for the concealed that the +warrior who manifested these fearful signs of distrust was +young, and had still a reputation to acquire. He knew +the importance of discretion and modesty in one of his +years, and most of all did he dread the ridicule and con- +tempt that would certainly follow a false alarm. Without +recalling any of his companions, therefore, he turned on +his own footsteps; and, while the others continued to de- +scend the river, he cautiously approached the bushes, on +which his looks were still fastened, as by a charm. Some +of the leaves which were exposed to the sun had drooped +a little, and this slight departure from the usual natural +laws had caught the quick eyes of the Indian; for so prac- +tised and acute do the senses of the savage become, more +especially when he is on the war-path, that trifles appar- +ently of the most insignificant sort often prove to be clues +to lead him to his object. + +The trifling nature of the change which had aroused the +suspicion of this youth was an additional motive for not +acquainting his companions with his discovery. Should +he really detect anything, his glory would be the greater +for being unshared; and should he not, he might hope to +escape that derision which the young Indian so much +dreads. Then there were the dangers of an ambush and +a surprise, to which every warrior of the woods is keenly +alive, to render his approach slow and cautious. In con- +sequence of the delay that proceeded from these combined +causes, the two parties had descended some fifty or sixty +yards before the young savage was again near enough to +the bushes of the Pathfinder to touch them with his hand. + +Notwithstanding their critical situation, the whole party +behind the cover had their eyes fastened on the working +countenance of the young Iroquois, who was agitated by +conflicting feelings. First came the eager hope of obtain- +ing success where some of the most experienced of his tribe +had failed, and with it a degree of glory that had seldom +fallen to the share of one of his years or a brave on his +first war-path; then followed doubts, as the drooping +leaves seemed to rise again and to revive in the currents +of air; and distrust of hidden danger lent its exciting +feeling to keep the eloquent features in play. So very +slight, however, had been the alteration produced by the +heat on the bushes of which the stems were in the water, +that when the Iroquois actually laid his hand on the +leaves, he fancied that he had been deceived. As no man +ever distrusts strongly without using all convenient means +of satisfying his doubts, however, the young warrior cau- +tiously pushed aside the branches and advanced a step +within the hiding-place, when the forms of the concealed +party met his gaze, resembling so many breathless statues. +The low exclamation, the slight start, and the glaring eye, +were hardly seen and heard, before the arm of Chingach- +gook was raised, and the tomahawk of the Delaware de- +scended on the shaven head of his foe. The Iroquois +raised his hands frantically, bounded backward, and fell +into the water, at a spot where the current swept the body +away, the struggling limbs still tossing and writhing in +the agony of death. The Delaware made a vigorous but +unsuccessful attempt to seize an arm, with the hope of +securing the scalp; but the bloodstained waters whirled +down the current, carrying with them their quivering +burthen. + +All this passed in less than a minute, and the events +were so sudden and unexpected, that men less accustomed +than the Pathfinder and his associates to forest warfare +would have been at a loss how to act. + +"There is not a moment to lose," said Jasper, tearing +aside the bushes, as he spoke earnestly, but in a suppressed +voice. "Do as I do, Master Cap, if you would save your +niece; and you, Mabel, lie at your length in the canoe." + +The words were scarcely uttered when, seizing the bow +of the light boat he dragged it along the shore, wading +himself, while Cap aided behind, keeping so near the bank +as to avoid being seen by the savages below, and striving +to gain the turn in the river above him which would ef- +fectually conceal the party from the enemy. The Path- +finder's canoe lay nearest to the bank, and was necessarily +the last to quit the shore. The Delaware leaped on the nar- +row strand and plunged into the forest, it being his assigned +duty to watch the foe in that quarter, while Arrowhead +motioned to his white companion to seize the bow of the +boat and to follow Jasper. All this was the work of an +instant; but when the Pathfinder reached the current that +was sweeping round the turn, he felt a sudden change in +the weight he was dragging, and, looking back, he found +that both the Tuscarora and his wife had deserted him. +The thought of treachery flashed upon his mind, but there +was no time to pause, for the wailing shout that arose from +the party below proclaimed that the body of the young +Iroquois had floated as low as the spot reached by his +friends. The report of a rifle followed; and then the +guide saw that Jasper, having doubled the bend in the +river, was crossing the stream, standing erect in the stern +of the canoe, while Cap was seated forward, both propel- +ling the light boat with vigorous strokes of the paddles. +A glance, a thought, and an expedient followed each other +quickly in one so trained in the vicissitudes of the frontier +warfare. Springing into the stern of his own canoe, he +urged it by a vigorous shove into the current, and com- +menced crossing the stream himself, at a point so much +lower than that of his companions as to offer his own +person for a target to the enemy, well knowing that their +keen desire to secure a scalp would control all other feelings. + +"Keep well up the current, Jasper," shouted the gallant +guide, as he swept the water with long, steady, vigorous +strokes of the paddle; "keep well up the current, and pull +for the alder bushes opposite. Presarve the Sergeant's +daughter before all things, and leave these Mingo knaves +to the Sarpent and me." + +Jasper flourished his paddle as a signal of understand- +ing, while shot succeeded shot in quick succession, all now +being aimed at the solitary man in the nearest canoe. + +"Ay, empty your rifles like simpletons as you are," said +the Pathfinder, who had acquired a habit of speaking when +alone, from passing so much of his time in the solitude of +the forest; "empty your rifles with an unsteady aim, and +give me time to put yard upon yard of river between us. +I will not revile you like a Delaware or a Mohican; for my +gifts are a white man's gifts, and not an Indian's; and +boasting in battle is no part of a Christian warrior; but I +may say here, all alone by myself, that you are little better +than so many men from the town shooting at robins in +the orchards. That was well meant," throwing back his +head, as a rifle bullet cut a lock of hair from his temple; +"but the lead that misses by an inch is as useless as the +lead that never quits the barrel. Bravely done, Jasper! +the Sergeant's sweet child must be saved, even if we go in +without our own scalps." + +By this time the Pathfinder was in the centre of the +river, and almost abreast of his enemies, while the other +canoe, impelled by the vigorous arms of Cap and Jasper, +had nearly gained the opposite shore at the precise spot +that had been pointed out to them. The old mariner now +played his part manfully; for he was on his proper ele- +ment, loved his niece sincerely, had a proper regard for +his own person, and was not unused to fire, though his +experience certainly lay in a very different species of +warfare. A few strokes of the paddles were given, and +the canoe shot into the bushes, Mabel was hurried to land +by Jasper, and for the present all three of the fugitives +were safe. + +Not so with the Pathfinder: his hardy self-devotion +had brought him into a situation of unusual exposure, the +hazards of which were much increased by the fact that, +just as he drifted nearest to the enemy the party on the +shore rushed down the bank and joined their friends who +still stood in the water. The Oswego was about a cable's +length in width at this point, and, the canoe being in the +centre, the object was only a hundred yards from the rifles +that were constantly discharged at it; or, at the usual +target distance for that weapon. + +In this extremity the steadiness and skill of the Path- +finder did him good service. He knew that his safety de- +pended altogether on keeping in motion; for a stationary +object at that distance, would have been hit nearly every +shot. Nor was motion of itself sufficient; for, accustomed +to kill the bounding deer, his enemies probably knew how +to vary the line of aim so as to strike him, should he con- +tinue to move in any one direction. He was consequently +compelled to change the course of the canoe, -- at one mo- +ment shooting down with the current, with the swiftness +of an arrow; and at the next checking its progress in that +direction, to glance athwart the stream. Luckily the +Iroquois could not reload their pieces in the water, and the +bushes that everywhere fringed the shore rendered it diffi- +cult to keep the fugitive in view when on the land. Aided +by these circumstances, and having received the fire of all +his foes, the Pathfinder was gaining fast in distance, both +downwards and across the current, when a new danger +suddenly, if not unexpectedly, presented itself, by the ap- +pearance of the party that had been left in ambush below +with a view to watch the river. + +These were the savages alluded to in the short dialogue +already related. They were no less than ten in number; +and, understanding all the advantages of their bloody oc- +cupation, they had posted themselves at a spot where the +water dashed among rocks and over shallows, in a way to +form a rapid which, in the language of the country, is +called a rift. The Pathfinder saw that, if he entered this +rift, he should be compelled to approach a point where the +Iroquois had posted themselves, for the current was irre- +sistible, and the rocks allowed no other safe passage, while +death or captivity would be the probable result of the +attempt. All his efforts, therefore, were turned toward +reaching the western shore, the foe being all on the eastern +side of the river; but the exploit surpassed human power, +and to attempt to stem the stream would at once have so +far diminished the motion of the canoe as to render aim +certain. In this exigency the guide came to a decision +with his usual cool promptitude, making his preparations +accordingly. Instead of endeavoring to gain the channel, +he steered towards the shallowest part of the stream, on +reaching which he seized his rifle and pack, leaped into +the water, and began to wade from rock to rock, taking +the direction of the western shore. The canoe whirled +about in the furious current, now rolling over some slip- +pery stone, now filling, and then emptying itself, until it +lodged on the shore, within a few yards of the spot where +the Iroquois had posted themselves. + +In the meanwhile the Pathfinder was far from being out +of danger; for the first minute, admiration of his prompti- +tude and daring, which are so high virtues in the mind of +an Indian, kept his enemies motionless; but the desire of +revenge, and the cravings for the much-prized trophy, +soon overcame this transient feeling, and aroused them +from their stupor. Rifle flashed after rifle, and the bullets +whistled around the head of the fugitive, amid the roar +of the waters. Still he proceeded like one who bore a +charmed life; for, while his rude frontier garments were +more than once cut, his skin was not razed. + +As the Pathfinder, in several instances, was compelled +to wade in water which rose nearly to his arms, while he +kept his rifle and ammunition elevated above the raging +current, the toil soon fatigued him, and he was glad to +stop at a large stone, or a small rock, which rose so high +above the river that its upper surface was dry. On this +stone he placed his powder-horn, getting behind it him- +self, so as to have the advantage of a partial cover for his +body. The western shore was only fifty feet distant, but +the quiet, swift, dark current that glanced through the +interval sufficiently showed that here he would be com- +pelled to swim. + +A short cessation in the firing now took place on the +part of the Indians, who gathered about the canoe, and, +having found the paddles, were preparing to cross the river. + +"Pathfinder," called a voice from among the bushes, at +the point nearest to the person addressed, on the western +shore. + +"What would you have, Jasper?" + +"Be of good heart -- friends are at hand, and not a single +Mingo shall cross without suffering for his boldness. Had +you not better leave the rifle on the rock, and swim to us +before the rascals can get afloat?" + +"A true woodsman never quits his piece while he has +any powder in his horn or a bullet in his pouch. I have +not drawn a trigger this day, Eau-douce, and shouldn't +relish the idea of parting with those reptiles without caus- +ing them to remember my name. A little water will not +harm my legs; and I see that blackguard, Arrowhead, +among the scamps, and wish to send him the wages he has +so faithfully earned. You have not brought the Sergeant's +daughter down here in a range with their bullets, I hope, +Jasper?" + +"She is safe for the present at least; though all depends +on our keeping tne river between us and the enemy. They +must know our weakness now; and, should they cross, no +doubt some of their party will be left on the other side." + +"This canoeing touches your gifts rather than mine, +boy, though I will handle a paddle with the best Mingo +that ever struck a salmon. If they cross below the rift, +why can't we cross in the still water above, and keep play- +ing at dodge and turn with the wolves?" + +"Because, as I have said, they will leave a party on the +other shore; and then, Pathfinder, would you expose Mabel, +to the rifles of the Iroquois?" + +"The Sergeant's daughter must be saved," returned the +guide, with calm energy. "You are right, Jasper; she +has no gift to authorize her in offering her sweet face and +tender body to a Mingo rifle. What can be done, then? +They must be kept from crossing for an hour or two, if +possible, when we must do our best in the darkness." + +"I agree with you, Pathfinder, if it can be effected; but +are we strong enough for such a purpose?" + +"The Lord is with us, boy, the Lord is with us; and it +is unreasonable to suppose that one like the Sergeant's +daughter will be altogether abandoned by Providence in +such a strait. There is not a boat between the falls and +the garrison, except these two canoes, to my sartain knowl- +edge; and I think it will go beyond red-skin gifts to cross +in the face of two rifles like these of yourn and mine. I +will not vaunt, Jasper; but it is well known on all this +frontier that Killdeer seldom fails." + +"Your skill is admitted by all, far and near, Pathfinder; +but a rifle takes time to be loaded; nor are you on the +land, aided by a good cover, where you can work to the +advantage you are used to. If you had our canoe, might +you not pass to the shore with a dry rifle?" + +"Can an eagle fly, Jasper?" returned the other, laugh- +ing in his usual manner, and looking back as he spoke. +But it would be unwise to expose yourself on the water; +for them miscreants are beginning to bethink them again +of powder and bullets." + +"It can be done without any such chances. Master Cap +has gone up to the canoe, and will cast the branch of a +tree into the river to try the current, which sets from the +point above in the direction of your rock. See, there it +comes already; if it float fairly, you must raise your arm, +when the canoe will follow. At all events, if the boat +should pass you, the eddy below will bring it up, and I can +recover it." + +While Jasper was still speaking, the floating branch +came in sight; and, quickening its progress with the in- +creasing velocity of the current, it swept swiftly down +towards the Pathfinder, who seized it as it was passing, +and held it in the air as a sign of success. Cap understood +the signal, and presently the canoe was launched into the +stream, with a caution and an intelligence that the habits +of the mariner had fitted him to observe. It floated in +the same direction as the branch, and in a minute was ar- +rested by the Pathfinder. + +"This has been done with a frontier man's judgment +Jasper," said the guide, laughing; "but you have your +gifts, which incline most to the water, as mine incline to +the woods. Now let them Mingo knaves cock their rifles +and get rests, for this is the last chance they are likely to +have at a man without a cover." + +"Nay, shove the canoe towards the shore, quartering the +current, and throw yourself into it as it goes off," said +Jasper eagerly. "There is little use in running any risk." + +"I love to stand up face to face with my enemies like a +man, while they set me the example," returned the Path- +finder proudly. "I am not a red-skin born, and it is more +a white man's gifts to fight openly than to lie in ambush- +ment." + +"And Mabel?" + +"True, boy, true; the Sergeant's daughter must be saved; +and, as you say, foolish risks only become boys. Think you +that you can catch the canoe where you stand?" + +"There can be no doubt, if you give a vigorous push." + +Pathfinder made the necessary effort; the light bark +shot across the intervening space, and Jasper seized it as +it came to land. To secure the canoe, and to take proper +positions in the cover, occupied the friends but a moment, +when they shook hands cordially, like those who had met +after a long separation. + +"Now, Jasper, we shall see if a Mingo of them all dares +cross the Oswego in the teeth of Kildeer! You are handier +with the oar and the paddle and the sail than with the +rifle, perhaps; but you have a stout heart and a steady +hand, and them are things that count in a fight." + +"Mabel will find me between her and her enemies," said +Jasper calmly. + +"Yes, yes, the Sergeant's daughter must be protected. +I like you, boy, on your own account; but I like you all +the better that you think of one so feeble at a moment +when there is need of all your manhood. See, Jasper! three +of the knaves are actually getting into the canoe! They +must believe we have fled, or they would not surely ven- +ture so much, directly in the very face of Killdeer." + +Sure enough the Iroquois did appear bent on venturing +across the stream; for, as the Pathfinder and his friends +now kept their persons strictly concealed, their enemies +began to think that the latter had taken to flight. Such +a course was that which most white men would have fol- +lowed; but Mabel was under the care of those who were +much too well skilled in forest warfare to neglect to de- +fend the only pass that, in truth, now offered even a +probable chance for protection. + +As the Pathfinder had said, three warriors were in the +canoe, two holding their rifles at a poise, as they knelt in +readiness to aim the deadly weapons, and the other stand- +ing erect in the stern to wield the paddle. In this man- +ner they left the shore, having had the precaution to haul +the canoe, previously to entering it, so far up the stream as +to have got into the comparatively still water above the rift. +It was apparent at a glance that the savage who guided +the boat was skilled in the art; for the long steady sweep of +his paddle sent the light bark over the glassy surface of +the tranquil river as if it were a feather floating in air. + +"Shall I fire?" demanded Jasper in a whisper, trem- +bling with eagerness to engage. + +"Not yet, boy, not yet. There are but three of them, +and if Master Cap yonder knows how to use the popguns +he carries in his belt, we may even let them land, and then +we shall recover the canoe." + +"But Mabel -- ?" + +"No fear for the Sergeant's daughter. She is safe in +the hollow stump, you say, with the opening judgmatically +hid by the brambles. If what you tell me of the manner +in which you concealed the trail be true, the sweet one +might lie there a month and laugh at the Mingos." + +"We are never certain. I wish we had brought her +nearer to our own cover!" + +"What for, Eau-douce? To place her pretty little head +and leaping heart among flying bullets? No, no: she is +better where she is, because she is safer." + +"We are never certain. We thought ourselves safe be- +hind the bushes, and yet you saw that we were discovered." + +"And the Mingo imp paid for his curiosity, as these +knaves are about to do." + +The, Pathfinder ceased speaking; for at that instant the +sharp report of a rifle was heard, when the Indian in the +stern of the canoe leaped high into the air, and fell into +the water, holding the paddle in his hand. A small +wreath of smoke floated out from among the bushes of the +eastern shore, and was soon absorbed by the atmosphere. + +"That is the Sarpent hissing!" exclaimed the Path- +finder exultingly. "A bolder or a truer heart never beat in +the breast of a Delaware. I am sorry that he interfered; +but he could not have known our condition." + +The canoe had no sooner lost its guide than it floated +with the stream, and was soon sucked into the rapids of the +rift. Perfectly helpless, the two remaining savages gazed +wildly about them, but could offer no resistance to the +power of the element. It was perhaps fortunate for +Chingachgook that the attention of most of the Iroquois +was intently given to the situation of those in the boat, +else would his escape have been to the last degree difficult, +if not totally impracticable. But not a foe moved, except +to conceal his person behind some cover; and every eye +was riveted on the two remaining adventurers. In less +time than has been necessary to record these occurrences, +the canoe was whirling and tossing in the rift, while both +the savages had stretched themselves in its bottom, as the +only means of preserving the equilibrium. This natural +expedient soon failed them; for, striking a rock, the light +draft rolled over, and the two warriors were thrown into +the river. The water is seldom deep on a rift, except in +particular places where it may have worn channels; and +there was little to be apprehended from drowning, though +their arms were lost; and the two savages were fain to +make the best of their way to the friendly shore, swim- +ming and wading as circumstances required. The canoe +itself lodged on a rock in the centre of the stream, where +for the moment it became useless to both parties. + +"Now is our time, Pathfinder," cried Jasper, as the two +Iroquois exposed most of their persons while wading in +the shallowest part of the rapids: "the fellow up stream +is mine, and you can take the lower." + +So excited had the young man become by all the inci- +dents of the stirring scene, that the bullet sped from his +rifle as he spoke, but uselessly, as it would seem, for both +the fugitives tossed their arms in disdain. The Path- +finder did not fire. + +"No, no, Eau-douce," he answered; "I do not seek +blood without a cause; and my bullet is well leathered +and carefully driven down, for the time of need. I love +no Mingo, as is just, seeing how much I have consorted +with the Delawares, who are their mortal and natural +enemies; but I never pull trigger on one of the miscreants +unless it be plain that his death will lead to some good +end. The deer never leaped that fell by my hand wan- +tonly. By living much alone with God in the wilderness +a man gets to feel the justice of such opinions. One life +is sufficient for our present wants; and there may yet be +occasion to use Killdeer in behalf of the Sarpent, who has +done an untimorsome thing to let them rampant devils so +plainly know that he is in their neighborhood. As I'm a +wicked sinner, there is one of them prowling along the +bank this very moment, like one of the boys of the garrison +skulking behind a fallen tree to get a shot at a squirrel!" + +As the Pathfinder pointed with his finger while speak- +ing, the quick eye of Jasper soon caught the object towards +which it was directed. One of the young warriors of the +enemy, burning with a desire to distinguish himself, had +stolen from his party towards the cover in which Chin- +gachgook had concealed himself; and as the latter was +deceived by the apparent apathy of his foes, as well as en- +gaged in some further preparations of his own, he had +evidently obtained a position where he got a sight of the +Delaware. This circumstance was apparent by the ar- +rangements the Iroquois was making to fire, for Chingach- +gook himself was not visible from the western side of the +river. The rift was at a bend in the Oswego, and the sweep +of the eastern shore formed a curve so wide that Chingach- +gook was quite near to his enemies in a straight direction, +though separated by several hundred feet on the land, ow- +ing to which fact air lines brought both parties nearly +equidistant from the Pathfinder and Jasper. The general +width of the river being a little less than two hundred +yards, such necessarily was about the distance between his +two observers and the skulking Iroquois. + +"The Sarpent must be thereabouts," observed Path- +finder, who never turned his eye for an instant from the +young warrior; "and yet he must be strangely off his +guard to allow a Mingo devil to get his stand so near, with +manifest signs of bloodshed in his heart." + +"See!" interrupted Jasper -- "there is the body of the +Indian the Delaware shot! It has drifted on a rock, and +the current has forced the head and face above the water." + +"Quite likely, boy, quite likely. Human natur' is little +better than a log of driftwood, when the life that was +breathed into its nostrils is departed. That Iroquois will +never harm any one more; but yonder skulking savage is +bent on taking the scalp of my best and most tried friend." + +The Pathfinder suddenly interrupted himself by raising +his rifle, a weapon of unusual length, with admirable pre- +cision, and firing the instant it had got its level. The +Iroquois on the opposite shore was in the act of aiming +when the fatal messenger from Killdeer arrived. His rifle +was discharged, it is true, but it was with the muzzle in +the air, while the man himself plunged into the bushes, +quite evidently hurt, if not slain. + +"The skulking reptyle brought it on himself," muttered +Pathfinder sternly, as, dropping the butt of his rifle, he +carefully commenced reloading it. "Chingachgook and I +have consorted together since we were boys, and have fi't +in company on the Horican, the Mohawk, the Ontario, +and all the other bloody passes between the country of +the Frenchers and our own; and did the foolish knave +believe that I would stand by and see my best friend cut +off in an ambushment?" + +"We have served the Sarpent as good a turn as he +served us. Those rascals are troubled, Pathfinder, and are +falling back into their covers, since they find we can reach +them across the river." + +"The shot is no great matter, Jasper, no great matter. +Ask any of the 60th, and they can tell you what Killdeer +can do, and has done, and that, too, when the bullets were +flying about our heads like hailstones. No, no! this is no +great matter, and the unthoughtful vagabond drew it down +on himself." + +"Is that a dog, or a deer, swimming towards this shore?" +Pathfinder started, for sure enough an object was cross- +ing the stream, above the rift, towards which, however, it +was gradually setting by the force of the current. A +second look satisfied both the observers that it was a man, +and an Indian, though so concealed as at first to render it +doubtful. Some stratagem was apprehended, and the +closest attention was given to the movements of the +stranger. + +"He is pushing something before him as he swims, and +his head resembles a drifting bush," said Jasper. + +"'Tis Indian devilry, boy; but Christian honesty shall +circumvent their arts." + +As the man slowly approached, the observers began to +doubt the accuracy of their first impressions, and it was +only when two-thirds of the stream were passed that the +truth was really known. + +"The Big Sarpent, as I live!" exclaimed Pathfinder, +looking at his companion, and laughing until the tears +came into his eyes with pure delight at the success of the +artifice. "He has tied bushes to his head, so as to hide it, +put the horn on top, lashed the rifle to that bit of log he +is pushing before him, and has come over to join his +friends. Ah's me! The times and times that he and I +have cut such pranks, right in the teeth of Mingos raging +for our blood, in the great thoroughfare round and about +Ty!" + +"It may not be the Serpent after all, Pathfinder; I can +see no feature that I remember." + +"Feature! Who looks for features in an Indian? No, +no, boy; 'tis the paint that speaks, and none but a Dela- +ware would wear that paint: them are his colors, Jasper, +just as your craft on the lake wears St. George's Cross, +and the Frenchers set their tablecloths to fluttering in the +wind, with all the stains of fish-bones and venison steaks +upon them. Now, you see the eye, lad, and it is the eye +of a chief. But, Eau-douce, fierce as it is in battle, and +glassy as it looks from among the leaves," -- here the Path- +finder laid his fingers lightly but impressively on his com- +panion's arm, -- "I have seen it shed tears like rain. There +is a soul and a heart under that red skin, rely on it; al- +though they are a soul and a heart with gifts different +from our own." + +"No one who is acquainted with the chief ever doubted +that." + +"I _know_ it," returned the other proudly, "for I have +consorted with him in sorrow and in joy: in one I have +found him a man, however stricken; in the other, a chief +who knows that the women of his tribe are the most seemly +in light merriment. But hist! It is too much like the +people of the settlements to pour soft speeches into an- +other's ear; and the Sarpent has keen senses. He knows +I love him, and that I speak well of him behind his back; +but a Delaware has modesty in his inmost natur', though +he will brag like a sinner when tied to a stake." + +The Serpent now reached the shore, directly in the front +of his two comrades, with whose precise position he must +have been acquainted before leaving the eastern side of +the river, and rising from the water he shook himself like +a dog, and made the usual exclamation -- "Hugh!" + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +These, as they change, Almighty Father, these, +Are but the varied God. +THOMSON. + + +As the chief landed he was met by the Pathfinder, who +addressed him in the language of the warrior's people: +"Was it well done, Chingachgook," said he reproachfully, +"to ambush a dozen Mingos alone? Killdeer seldom fails +me, it is true; but the Oswego makes a distant mark, and +that miscreant showed little more than his head and +shoulders above the bushes, and an onpractysed hand and +eye might have failed. You should have thought of this, +chief -- you should have thought of this!" + +"The Great Serpent is a Mohican warrior -- he sees only +his enemies when he is on the war-path, and his fathers +have struck the Mingos from behind, since the waters +began to run." + +"I know your gifts, I know your gifts, and respect them +too. No man shall hear me complain that a red-skin ob- +sarved red-skin natur'. But prudence as much becomes a +warrior as valor; and had not the Iroquois devils been +looking after their friends who were in the water, a hot +trail they would have made of yourn." + +"What is the Delaware about to do?" exclaimed Jasper, +who observed at that moment that the chief had suddenly +left the Pathfinder and advanced to the water's edge, ap- +parently with an intention of again entering the river. +"He will not be so mad as to return to the other shore for +any trifle he may have forgotten?" + +"Not he, not he;he is as prudent as he is brave, in the +main, though so forgetful of himself in the late ambush- +ment. Hark'e, Jasper," leading the other a little aside, +just as they heard the Indian's plunge into the water, -- +"hark'e, lad; Chingachgook is not a Christian white man, +like ourselves, but a Mohican chief, who has his gifts and +traditions to tell him what he ought to do; and he who +consorts with them that are not strictly and altogether of +his own kind had better leave natur' and use to govern his +comrades. A king's soldier will swear and he will drink, +and it is of little use to try to prevent him; a gentleman +likes his delicacies, and a lady her feathers and it does +not avail much to struggle against either; whereas an In- +dian's natur' and gifts are much stronger than these, and +no doubt were bestowed by the Lord for wise ends, though +neither you nor me can follow them in all their windings." + +"What does this mean? See, the Delaware is swimming +towards the body that is lodged on the rock? Why does +he risk this?" + +"For honor and glory and renown, as great gentlemen +quit their quiet homes beyond seas -- where, as they tell +me, heart has nothing left to wish for; that is, such hearts +as can be satisfied in a clearing -- to come hither to live on +game and fight the Frenchers." + +"I understand you -- your friend has gone to secure the +scalp." + +"'Tis his gift, and let him enjoy it. We are white men, +and cannot mangle a dead enemy; but it is honor in the +eyes of a red-skin to do so. It may seem singular to you, +Eau-douce, but I've known white men of great name and +character manifest as remarkable idees consarning their +honor, I have." + +"A savage will be a savage, Pathfinder, let him keep +what company he may." + +"It is well for us to say so, lad; but, as I tell you, white +honor will not always conform to reason or to the will of +God. I have passed days thinking of these matters, out +in the silent woods, and I have come to the opinion, boy, +that, as Providence rules all things, no gift is bestowed +without some wise and reasonable end." + +"The Serpent greatly exposes himself to the enemy, in +order to get his scalp! This may lose us the day." + +"Not in his mind, Jasper. That one scalp has more +honor in it, according to the Sarpent's notions of warfare, +than a held covered with slain, that kept the hair on their +heads. Now, there was the fine young captain of the 60th +that threw away his life in trying to bring off a three- +pounder from among the Frenchers in the last skrimmage +we had; he thought he was sarving honor; and I have +known a young ensign wrap himself up in his colors, and +go to sleep in his blood, fancying that he was lying on +something softer even than buffalo-skins." + +"Yes, yes; one can understand the merit of not hauling +down an ensign." + +"And these are Chingachgook's colors -- he will keep +them to show his children's children -- " Here the Path- +finder interrupted himself, shook his head in melancholy, +and slowly added, "Ah's me! no shoot of the old Mohican +stem remains! He has no children to delight with his +trophies; no tribe to honor by his deeds; he is a lone man +in this world, and yet he stands true to his training and +his gifts! There is something honest and respectable in +these, you must allow, Jasper." + +Here a great outcry from the Iroquois was succeeded by +the quick reports of their rifles, and so eager did the enemy +become, in the desire to drive the Delaware back from his +victim, that a dozen rushed into the river, several of whom +even advanced near a hundred feet into the foaming cur- +rent, as if they actually meditated a serious sortie. But +Chingachgook continued unmoved, as he remained unhurt +by the missiles, accomplishing his task with the dexterity +of long habit. Flourishing his reeking trophy, he gave +the war-whoop in its most frightful intonations, and for a +minute the arches of the silent woods and the deep vista +formed by the course of the river echoed with cries so +terrific that Mabel bowed her head in irrepressible fear, +while her uncle for a single instant actually meditated +flight. + +"This surpasses all I have heard from the wretches," +Jasper exclaimed, stopping his ears, equally in horror and +disgust. + +"'Tis their music, boy; their drum and fife; their +trumpets and clarions. No doubt they love those sounds; +for they stir up in them fierce feelings, and a desire for +blood," returned the Pathfinder, totally unmoved. "I +thought them rather frightful when a mere youngster; +but they have become like the whistle of the whip-poor- +will or the song of the cat-bird in my ear now. All the +screeching reptyles that could stand between the falls and +the garrison would have no effect on my narves at this +time of day. I say it not in boasting, Jasper; for the man +that lets in cowardice through the ears must have but a +weak heart at the best; sounds and outcries being more +intended to alarm women and children than such as scout +the forest and face the foe. I hope the Sarpent is now +satisfied, for here he comes with the scalp at his belt." + +Jasper turned away his head as the Delaware rose from +the water, in pure disgust at his late errand; but the +Pathfinder regarded his friend with the philosophical in- +difference of one who had made up his mind to be indif- +ferent to things he deemed immaterial. As the Delaware +passed deeper into the bushes with a view to wring his +trifling calico dress and to prepare his rifle for service, he +gave one glance of triumph at his companions, and then all +emotion connected with the recent exploit seemed to cease. + +"Jasper," resumed the guide, "step down to the station +of Master Cap, and ask him to join us: we have little time +for a council, and yet our plans must be laid quickly, for +it will not be long before them Mingos will be plotting our +ruin." + +The young man complied; and in a few minutes the +four were assembled near the shore, completely concealed +from the view of their enemies, while they kept a vigilant +watch over the proceedings of the latter, in order to con- +sult on their own future movements. + +By this time the day had so far advanced as to leave but +a few minutes between the passing light and an obscurity +that promised to be even deeper than common. The sun +had already set and the twilight of a low latitude would +soon pass into the darkness of deep night. Most of the +hopes of the party rested on this favorable circumstance, +though it was not without its dangers also, as the very ob- +scurity which would favor their escape would be as likely +to conceal the movements of their wily enemies. + +"The moment has come, men," Pathfinder commenced, +"when our plans must be coolly laid, in order that we may +act together, and with a right understanding of our errand +and gifts. In an hour's time these woods will be as dark +as midnight; and if we are ever to gain the garrison, it +must be done under favor of this advantage. What say +you, Master Cap? for, though none of the most experi- +enced in combats and retreats in the woods, your years +entitle you to speak first in a matter like this and in a +council." + +"Well, in my judgment, all we have to do is to go on +board the canoe when it gets to be so dark the enemy's +look-outs can't see us, and run for the haven, as wind and +tide will allow." + +"That is easily said, but not so easily done," returned +the guide. "We shall be more exposed in the river than +by following the woods; and then there is the Oswego rift +below us, and I am far from sartain that Jasper himself +can carry a boat safely through it in the dark. What say +you, lad, as to your own skill and judgment?" + +"I am of Master Cap's opinion about using the canoe. +Mabel is too tender to walk through swamps and among +roots of trees in such a night as this promises to be, and +then I always feel myself stouter of heart and truer of eye +when afloat than when ashore." + +"Stout of heart you always be, lad, and I think tolerably +true of eye for one who has lived so much in broad sun- +shine and so little in the woods. Ah's me! the Ontario +has no trees, or it would be a plain to delight a hunter's +heart! As to your opinion, friends, there is much for +and much against it. For it, it may be said water leaves +no trail -- " + +"What do you call the wake?" interrupted the pertina- +cious and dogmatical Cap. + +"Anan?" + +"Go on," said Jasper; "Master Cap thinks he is on the +ocean -- water leaves no trail -- " + +"It leaves none, Eau-douce, hereaway, though I do not +pretend to say what it may leave on the sea. Then a +canoe is both swift and easy when it floats with the cur- +rent, and the tender limbs of the Sergeant's daughter will +be favored by its motion. But, on the other hand, the +river will have no cover but the clouds in the heavens; +the rift is a ticklish thing for boats to venture into, even +by daylight; and it is six fairly measured miles, by water, +from this spot to the garrison. Then a trail on land is +not easy to be found in the dark. I am troubled, Jasper, +to say which way we ought to counsel and advise." + +"If the Serpent and myself could swim into the river +and bring off the other canoe," the young sailor replied, +"it would seem to me that our safest course would be the +water." + +"If, indeed! and yet it might easily be done, as soon as +it is a little darker. Well, well, I am not sartain it will +not be the best. Though, were we only a party of men, +it would be like a hunt to the lusty and brave to play at +hide-and-seek with yonder miscreants on the other shore. +Jasper," continued the guide, into whose character there +entered no ingredient which belonged to vain display or +theatrical effect, "will you undertake to bring in the +canoe?" + +"I will undertake anything that will serve and protect +Mabel, Pathfinder." + +"That is an upright feeling, and I suppose it is natur'. +The Sarpent, who is nearly naked already, can help you; +and this will be cutting off one of the means of them devils +to work their harm." + +This material point being settled, the different members +of the party prepared themselves to put the project in +execution. The shades of evening fell fast upon the forest; +and by the time all was ready for the attempt, it was found +impossible to discern objects on the opposite shore. Time +now pressed; for Indian cunning could devise so many +expedients for passing so narrow a stream, that the Path- +finder was getting impatient to quit the spot. While +Jasper and his companion entered the river, armed with +nothing but their knives and the Delaware's tomahawk, +observing the greatest caution not to betray their move- +ments, the guide brought Mabel from her place of conceal- +ment, and, bidding her and Cap proceed along the shore +to the foot of the rapids, he got into the canoe that +remained in his possession, in order to carry it to the same +place. + +This was easily effected. The canoe was laid against +the bank, and Mabel and her uncle entered it, taking +their seats as usual; while the Pathfinder, erect in the +stern, held by a bush, in order to prevent the swift stream +from sweeping them down its current. Several minutes +of intense and breathless expectation followed, while they +awaited the results of the bold attempt of their comrades. + +It will be understood that the two adventurers were +compelled to swim across a deep and rapid channel before +they could reach a part of the rift that admitted of wad- +ing. This portion of the enterprise was soon effected; +and Jasper and the Serpent struck the bottom side by +side at the same instant. Having secured firm footing, +they took hold of each other's hands, and waded slowly +and with extreme caution in the supposed direction of the +canoe. But the darkness was already so deep that they +soon ascertained they were to be but little aided by the +sense of sight, and that their search must be conducted +on that species of instinct which enables the woodsman to +find his way when the sun is hid, no stars appear, and all +would seem chaos to one less accustomed to the mazes of +the forest. Under these circumstances, Jasper submitted +to be guided by the Delaware, whose habits best fitted him +to take the lead. Still it was no easy matter to wade amid +the roaring element at that hour, and retain a clear recol- +lection of the localities. By the time they believed them- +selves to be in the centre of the stream, the two shores +were discernible merely by masses of obscurity denser than +common, the outlines against the clouds being barely dis- +tinguishable by the ragged tops of the trees. Once or +twice the wanderers altered their course, in consequence +of unexpectedly stepping into deep water; for they knew +that the boat had lodged on the shallowest part of the rift. +In short, with this fact for their compass, Jasper and his +companion wandered about in the water for nearly a quar- +ter of an hour; and at the end of that period, which began +to appear interminable to the young man, they found +themselves apparently no nearer the object of their search +than they had been at its commencement. Just as the +Delaware was about to stop, in order to inform his associate +that they would do well to return to the land, in order to +take a fresh departure, he saw the form of a man moving +about in the water, almost within reach of his arm. Jas- +per was at his side, and he at once understood that the +Iroquois were engaged on the same errand as he was himself. + +"Mingo!" he uttered in Jasper's ear. "The Serpent +will show his brother how to be cunning." + +The young sailor caught a glimpse of the figure at that +instant, and the startling truth also flashed on his mind. +Understanding the necessity of trusting all to the Dela- +ware chief, he kept back, while his friend moved cautiously +in the direction in which the strange form had vanished. +In another moment it was seen again, evidently moving +towards themselves. The waters made such an uproar +that little was to be apprehended from ordinary sounds, +and the Indian, turning his bead, hastily said, "Leave it +to the cunning of the Great Serpent." + +"Hugh!" exclaimed the strange savage, adding, in the +language of his people, "The canoe is found, but there +were none to help me. Come, let us raise it from the +rock." + +"Willingly," answered Chingachgook, who understood +the dialect. "Lead; we will follow." + +The stranger, unable to distinguish between voices and +accents amid the raging of the rapid, led the way in the +necessary direction; and, the two others keeping close at +his heels, all three speedily reached the canoe. The Iro- +quois laid hold of one end, Chingacbgook placed himself +in the centre, and Jasper went to the opposite extremity, +as it was important that the stranger should not detect +the presence of a pale-face, a discovery that might be made +by the parts of the dress the young man still wore, as well +as by the general appearance of his head. + +"Lift," said the Iroquois in the sententious manner of +his race; and by a trifling effort the canoe was raised from +the rock, held a moment in the air to empty it, and then +placed carefully on the water in its proper position. All +three held it firmly, lest it should escape from their hands +under the pressure of the violent current, while the Iro- +quois, who led, of course, being at the upper end of the +boat, took the direction of the eastern shore, or towards +the spot where his friends waited his return. + +As the Delaware and Jasper well knew there must be +several more of the Iroquois on the rift, from; the circum- +stance that their own appearance had occasioned no sur- +prise in the individual they had met, both felt the neces- +sity of extreme caution. Men less bold and determined +would have thought that they were incurring too great a +risk by thus venturing into the midst of their enemies; +but these hardy borderers were unacquainted with fear, +were accustomed to hazards, and so well understood the +necessity of at least preventing their foes from getting the +boat, that they would have cheerfully encountered even +greater risks to secure their object. So all-important to +the safety of Mabel, indeed, did Jasper deem the posses- +sion or the destruction of this canoe, that he had drawn +his knife, and stood ready to rip up the bark, in order to +render the boat temporarily unserviceable, should any- +thing occur to compel the Delaware and himself to aban- +don their prize. + +In the meantime, the Iroquois, who led the way, pro- +ceeded slowly through the water in the direction of his +own party, still grasping the canoe, and dragging his re- +luctant followers in his train. Once Chingachgook raised +his tomahawk, and was about to bury it in the brain of his +confiding and unsuspicious neighbor; but the probability +that the death-cry or the floating body might give the +alarm induced that wary chief to change his purpose. At +the next moment he regretted this indecision, for the +three who clung to the canoe suddenly found themselves +in the ceutre of a party of no less than four others who +were in quest of it. + +After the usual brief characteristic exclamations of sat- +isfaction, the savages eagerly laid hold of the canoe, for +all seemed impressed with the necessity of securing this +important boat, the one side in order to assail their foes, +and the other to secure their retreat. The addition to the +party, however, was so unlooked-for, and so completely +gave the enemy the superiority, that for a few moments +the ingenuity and address of even the Delaware were at +fault. The five Iroquois, who seemed perfectly to under- +stand their errand, pressed forward towards their own +shore, without pausing to converse; their object being in +truth to obtain the paddles, which they had previously +secured, and to embark three or four warriors, with all +their rifles and powder-horns, the want of which had alone +prevented their crossing the river by swimming as soon as +it was dark. + +In this manner, the body of friends and foes united +reached the margin of the eastern channel, where, as in +the case of the western, the river was too deep to be waded. +Here a short pause succeeded, it being necessary to deter- +mine the manner in which the canoe was to be carried +across. One of the four who had just reached the boat +was a chief; and the habitual deference which the Ameri- +can Indian pays to merit, experience, and station kept the +others silent until this individual had spoken. + +The halt greatly added to the danger of discovering the +presence of Jasper, in particular, who, however, had the +precaution to throw the cap he wore into the bottom of +the canoe. Being without his jacket and shirt, the outline +of his figure, in the obscurity, would now be less likely to +attract observation. His position, too, at the stern of the +canoe a little favored his concealment, the Iroquois natur- +ally keeping their looks directed the other way. Not so +with Chingachgook. This warrior was literally in the +midst of his most deadly foes, and he could scarcely move +without touching one of them. Yet he was apparently +unmoved, though he kept all his senses on the alert, in +readiness to escape, or to strike a blow at the proper mo- +ment. By carefully abstaining from looking towards those +behind him, he lessened the chances of discovery, and +waited with the indomitable patience of an Indian for the +instant when he should be required to act. + +"Let all my young men but two, one at each end of the +canoe, cross and get their arms," said the Iroquois chief. +"Let the two push over the boat." + +The Indians quietly obeyed, leaving Jasper at the stern, +and the Iroquois who had found the canoe at the bow of +the light craft, Chingachgook burying himself so deep in +the river as to be passed by the others without detection. +The splashing in the water, the tossing arms, and the calls +of one to another, soon announced that the four who had +last joined the party were already swimming. As soon as +this fact was certain, the Delaware rose, resumed his former +station, and began to think the moment for action was come. + +One less habitually under self-restraint than this war- +rior would probably have now aimed his meditated blow; +but Chingachgook knew there were more Iroquois behind +him on the rift, and he was a warrior much too trained +and experienced to risk anything unnecessarily. He suf- +fered the Indian at the bow of the canoe to push off into +the deep water, and then all three were swimming in the +direction of the eastern shore. Instead, however, of help- +ing the canoe across the swift current, no sooner did the +Delaware and Jasper find themselves within the influence +of its greatest force than both began to swim in a way to +check their farther progress across the stream. Nor was +this done suddenly, or in the incautious manner in which +a civilized man would have been apt to attempt the artifice, +but warily, and so gradually that the Iroquois at the bow +fancied at first he was merely struggling against the +strength of the current. Of course, while acted on by +these opposing efforts, the canoe drifted down stream, and +in about a minute it was floating in still deeper water at +the foot of the rift. Here, however, the Iroquois was not +slow in finding that something unusual retarded their ad- +vance, and, looking back; he first learned that he was re- +sisted by the efforts of his companions. + +That second nature which grows up through habit in- +stantly told the young Iroquois that he was alone with +enemies. Dashing the water aside, he sprang at the throat +of Chingachgook, and the two Indians, relinquishing their +hold of the canoe, seized each other like tigers. In the +midst of the darkness of that gloomy night, and floating +in an element so dangerous to man when engaged in deadly +strife, they appeared to forget everything but their fell +animosity and their mutual desire to conquer. + +Jasper had now complete command of the canoe, which +flew off like a feather impelled by the breath under the vio- +lent reaction of the struggles of the two combatants. The +first impulse of the youth was to swim to the aid of the +Delaware, but the importance of securing the boat presented +itself with tenfold force, while he listened to the heavy +breathings of the warriors as they throttled each other, +and he proceeded as fast as possible towards the western +shore. This he soon reached; and after a short search he +succeeded in discovering the remainder of the party and +in procuring his clothes. A few words sufficed to explain +the situation in which he had left the Delaware and the +manner in which the canoe had been obtained. + +When those who had been left behind had heard the +explanations of Jasper, a profound stillness reigned among +them, each listening intently in the vain hope of catching +some clue to the result of the fearful struggle that had +just taken place, if it were not still going on in the water. +Nothing was audible beyond the steady roar of the rush- +ing river; it being a part of the policy of their enemies on +the opposite shore to observe the most deathlike stillness. + +"Take this paddle, Jasper," said Pathfinder calmly, +though the listeners thought his voice sounded more mel- +ancholy than usual, "and follow with your own canoe. It +is unsafe for us to remain here longer." + +"But the Serpent?" + +"The Great Sarpent is in the hands of his own Deity, +and will live or die, according to the intentions of Provi- +dence. We can do him no good, and may risk too much +by remaining here in idleness, like women talking over +their distresses. This darkness is very precious." + +A loud, long, piercing yell came from the shore, and cut +short the words of the guide. + +"What is the meaning of that uproar, Master Path- +finder?" demanded Cap. "It sounds more like the out- +cries of devils than anything that can come from the +throats of Christians and men." + +"Christians they are not, and do not pretend to be, and +do not wish to be; and in calling them devils you have +scarcely misnamed them. That yell is one of rejoicing, +and it is as conquerors they have given it. The body of +tbe Sarpent, no doubt, dead or alive, is in their power. + +"And we!" exclaimed Jasper, who felt a pang of gen- +erous regret, as the idea that he might have averted the +calamity presented itself to his mind, had he not deserted +his comrade. + +"We can do the chief no good, lad, and must quit this +spot as fast as possible." + +"Without one attempt to rescue him? -- without even +knowing whether he be dead or living?" + +"Jasper is right," said Mabel, who could speak, though +her voice sounded huskily and smothered; "I have no +fears, uncle, and will stay here until we know what has +become of our friend." + +"This seems reasonable, Pathfinder," put in Cap. "Your +true seaman cannot well desert a messmate; and I am +glad to find that motives so correct exist among those +fresh-water people." + +"Tut! tut!" returned the impatient guide, forcing the +canoe into the stream as he spoke; "ye know nothing and +ye fear nothing. If ye value your lives, think of reaching +the garrison, and leave the Delaware in the hands of +Providence. Ah's me! the deer that goes too often to the +lick meets the hunter at last!" + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +And is this -- Yarrow? -- this the stream + Of which my fancy cherish'd +So faithfully a waking dream? + An image that hath perish'd? +Oh that some minstrel's harp were near, + To utter notes of gladness, +And chase this silence from the air, + That fills my heart with sadness. +WORDSWORTH. + + +THE scene was not without its sublimity, and the ardent, +generous-minded Mabel felt her blood thrill in her veins +and her cheeks flush, as the canoe shot into the strength +of the stream, to quit the spot. The darkness of the night +had lessened, by the dispersion of the clouds; but the +overhanging woods rendered the shore so obscure, that the +boats floated down the current in a belt of gloom that ef- +fectually secured them from detection. Still, there was +necessarily a strong feeling of insecurity in all on board +them; and even Jasper, who by this time began to tremble, +in behalf of the girl, at every unusual sound that arose +from the forest, kept casting uneasy glances around him +as he drifted on in company. The paddle was used lightly, +and only with exceeding care; for the slightest sound in +the breathing stillness of that hour and place might ap- +prise the watchful ears of the Iroquois of their position. + +All these accessories added to the impressive grandeur +of her situation, and contributed to render the moment +much the most exciting which had ever occurred in the +brief existence of Mabel Dunham. Spirited, accustomed +to self-reliance, and sustained by the pride of considering +herself a soldier's daughter, she could hardly be said to be +under the influence of fear, yet her heart often beat quicker +than common, her fine blue eye lighted with an exhibition +of a resolution that was wasted in the darkness, and her +quickened feelings came in aid of the real sublimity that +belonged to the scene and to the incidents of the night. + +"Mabel!" said the suppressed voice of Jasper, as the +two canoes floated so near each other that the hand of the +young man held them together, "you have no dread? you +trust freely to our care and willingness to protect you?" + +"I am a soldier's daughter, as you know, Jasper Western, +and ought to be ashamed to confess fear." + +"Rely on me -- on us all. Your uncle, Pathfinder, the +Delaware, were the poor fellow here, I myself, will risk +everything rather than harm should reach you." + +"I believe you, Jasper," returned the girl, her hand un- +consciously playing in the water. "I know that my uncle +loves me, and will never think of himself until he has first +thought of me; and I believe you are all my father's +friends, and would willingly assist his child. But I am +not so feeble and weak-minded as you may think; for, +though only a girl from the towns, and, like most of that +class, a little disposed to see danger where there is none, I +promise you, Jasper, no foolish fears of mine shall stand +in the way of your doing your duty." + +"The Sergeant's daughter is right, and she is worthy of +being honest Thomas Dunham's child," put in the Path- +finder. "Ah's me, pretty one! many is the time that your +father and I have scouted and marched together on the +flanks and rear of the enemy, in nights darker than this, +and that, too, when we did not know but the next momemt +would lead us into a bloody ambushment. I was at his +side when he got the wound in his shoulder; and the +honest fellow will tell you, when you meet, the manner in +which we contrived to cross the river which lay in our rear, +in order to save his scalp." + +"He has told me," said Mabel, with more energy perhaps +than her situation rendered prudent. "I have his letters, +in which he has mentioned all that, and I thank you from +the bottom of my heart for the service. God will remem- +ber it, Pathfinder; and there is no gratitude that you can +ask of the daughter which she will not cheerfully repay +for her father's life." + +"Ay, that is the way with all your gentle and pure- +hearted creatures. I have seen some of you before, and +have heard of others. The Sergeant himself has talked to +me of his own young days, and of your mother, and of the +manner in which he courted her, and of all the crossings +and disappointments, until he succeeded at last." + +"My mother did not live long to repay him for what +he did to win her," said Mabel, with a trembling lip. + +"So he tells me. The honest Sergeant has kept nothing +back; for, being so many years my senior, he has looked +on me, in our many scoutings together, as a sort of son." + +"Perhaps, Pathfinder," observed Jasper, with a huski- +ness in his voice that defeated the attempt at pleasantry, +"he would be glad to have you for one in reality." + +"And if he did, Eau-douce, where would be the sin of +it? He knows what I am on a trail or a scout, and he has +seen me often face to face with the Frenchers. I have +sometimes thought, lad, that we all ought to seek for +wives; for the man that lives altogether in the woods, and +in company with his enemies or his prey, gets to lose some +of the feeling of kind in the end. It is not easy to dwell +always in the presence of God and not feel the power of +His goodness. I have attended church-sarvice in the gar- +risons, and tried hard, as becomes a true soldier, to join in +the prayers; for, though no enlisted sarvant of the king, +I fight his battles and sarve his cause, and so I have en- +deavored to worship garrison-fashion, but never could +raise within me the solemn feelings and true affection that +I feel when alone with God in the forest. There I seem +to stand face to face with my Master; all around me is +fresh and beautiful, as it came from His hand; and there +is no nicety or doctrine to chill the feelings. No no; the +woods are the true temple after all, for there the thoughts +are free to mount higher even than the clouds." + +"You speak the truth, Master Pathfinder," said Cap, +"and a truth that all who live much in solitude know. +What, for instance, is the reason that seafaring men in +general are so religious and conscientious in all they do, +but the fact that they are so often alone with Providence, +and have so little to do with the wickedness of the land. +Many and many is the time that I have stood my watch, +under the equator perhaps, or in the Southern Ocean, +when the nights are lighted up with the fires of heaven; +and that is the time, I can tell you, my hearties, to bring +a man to his bearings in the way of his sins. I have rattled +down mine again and again under such circumstances, +until the shrouds and lanyards of conscience have fairly +creaked with the strain. I agree with you, Master Path- +finder, therefore, in saying, if you want a truly religious +man, go to sea, or go into the woods." + +"Uncle, I thought seamen had little credit generally for +their respect for religion?" + +"All d----d slander, girl; for all the essentials of Chris- +tianity the seaman beats the landsman hand-over-hand." + +"I will not answer for all this, Master Cap," returned +Pathfinder; "but I daresay some of it may be true. I +want no thunder and lightning to remind me of my God, +nor am I as apt to bethink on most of all His goodness in +trouble and tribulations as on a calm, solemn, quiet day +in a forest, when His voice is heard in the creaking of a +dead branch or in the song of a bird, as much in my ears +at least as it is ever heard in uproar and gales. How is it +with you, Eau-douce? you face the tempests as well as +Master Cap, and ought to know something of the feelings +of storms." + +"I fear that I am too young and too inexperienced to +be able to say much on such a subject," modestly answered +Jasper. + +"But you have your feelings!" said Mabel quickly. "You +cannot -- no one can live among such scenes without feel- +ing how much they ought to trust in God!" + +"I shall not belie my training so much as to say I do +not sometimes think of these things, but I fear it is not so +often or so much as I ought." + +"Fresh water," resumed Cap pithily; "you are not to +expect too much of the young man, Mabel. I think they +call you sometimes by a name which would insinuate all +this: Eau-de-vie, is it not?" + +"Eau-douce," quietly replied Jasper, who from sailing +on the lake had acquired a knowledge of French, as well +as of several of the Indian dialects. "It is a name the Iro- +quois have given me to distinguish me from some of my +companions who once sailed upon the sea, and are fond +of filling the ears of the natives with stories of their great +salt-water lakes." + +"And why shouldn't they? I daresay they do the sav- +ages no harm. Ay, ay, Eau-deuce; that must mean the +white brandy, which may well enough be called the deuce, +for deuced stuff it is!" + +"The signification of Eau-douce is sweet-water, and it +is the manner in which the French express fresh-water," +rejoined Jasper, a little nettled. + +"And how the devil do they make water out of Eau-in- +deuce, when it means brandy in Eau-de-vie? Besides, +among seamen, Eau always means brandy; and Eau-de- +vie, brandy of a high proof. I think nothing of your ig- +norance, young man; for it is natural to your situation, +and cannot be helped. If you will return with me, and +make a v'y'ge or two on the Atlantic, it will serve you a +good turn the remainder of your days; and Mabel there, +and all the other young women near the coast, will think +all the better of you should you live to be as old as one of +the trees in this forest." + +"Nay, nay," interrupted the single-hearted and generous +guide; "Jasper wants not for friends in this region, I can +assure you; and though seeing the world, according to his +habits, may do him good as well as another, we shall think +none the worse of him if he never quits us. Eau-douce or +Eau-de-vie, he is a brave, true-hearted youth, and I always +sleep as soundly when he is on the watch as if I was up and +stirring myself; ay, and for that matter, sounder too. +The Sergeant's daughter here doesn't believe it necessary +for the lad to go to sea in order to make a man of him, +or one who is worthy to be respected and esteemed." + +Mabel made no reply to this appeal, and she even looked +towards the western shore, although the darkness rendered +the natural movements unnecessary to conceal her face. +But Jasper felt that there was a necessity for his saying +something, the pride of youth and manhood revolting at the +idea of his being in a condition not to command the re- +spect of his fellows or the smiles of his equals of the other +sex. Still he was unwilling to utter aught that might be +considered harsh to the uncle of Mabel; and his self- +command was perhaps more creditable than his modesty +and spirit. + +"I pretend not to things I don't possess," he said, "and +lay no claim to any knowledge of the ocean or of naviga- +tion. We steer by the stars and the compass on these +lakes, running from headland to headland; and having +little need of figures and calculations, make no use of +them. But we have our claims notwithstanding, as I have +often heard from those who have passed years on the +ocean. In the first place, we have always the land aboard, +and much of the time on a lee-shore, and that I have fre- +quently heard makes hardy sailors. Our gales are sudden +and severe, and we are compelled to run for our ports at +all hours." + +"You have your leads," interrupted Cap. + +"They are of little use, and are seldom cast." + +"The deep-seas." + +"I have heard of such things, but confess I never saw +one." + +"Oh! deuce, with a vengeance. A trader, and no deep- +sea! Why, boy, you cannot pretend to be anything of a +mariner. Who the devil ever heard of a seaman without +his deep-sea?" + +"I do not pretend to any particular skill, Master Cap." + +"Except in shooting falls, Jasper, except in shooting +falls and rifts," said Pathfinder, coming to the rescue; +"in which business even you, Master Cap, must allow he +has some handiness. In my judgment, every man is to be +esteemed or condemned according to his gifts; and if +Master Cap is useless in running the Oswego Falls, I try +to remember that he is useful when out of sight of land; +and if Jasper be useless when out of sight of land, I do +not forget that he has a true eye and steady hand when +running the falls." + +"But Jasper is not useless -- would not be useless when +out of sight of land," said Mabel, with a spirit and energy +that caused her clear sweet voice to be startling amid the +solemn stillness of that extraordinary scene. "No one +can be useless there who can do so much here, is what I +mean; though, I daresay, he is not as well acquainted with +ships as my uncle." + +"Ay, bolster each other up in your ignorance," returned +Cap with a sneer. "We seamen are so much out- +numbered when ashore that it is seldom we get our dues; +but when you want to be defended, or trade is to be carried +on, there is outcry enough for us." + +"But, uncle, landsmen do not come to attack our coasts; +so that seamen only meet seamen." + +"So much for ignorance! Where are all the enemies +that have landed in this country, French and English, let +me inquire, niece?" + +"Sure enough, where are they?" ejaculated Pathfinder. +"None can tell better than we who dwell in the woods, +Master Cap. I have often followed their line of march by +bones bleaching in the rain, and have found their trail by +graves, years after they and their pride had vanished to- +gether. Generals and privates, they lay scattered through- +out the land, so many proofs of what men are when led +on by their love of great names and the wish to be more +than their fellows." + +"I must say, Master Pathfinder, that you sometimes +utter opinions that are a little remarkable for a man who +lives by the rifle; seldom snuffing the air but he smells +gunpowder, or turning out of his berth but to bear down +on an enemy." + +"If you think I pass my days in warfare against my +kind, you know neither me nor my history. The man +that lives in the woods and on the frontiers must take the +chances of the things among which he dwells. For this I +am not accountable, being but an humble and powerless +hunter and scout and guide. My real calling is to hunt +for the army, on its marches and in times of peace; al- +though I am more especially engaged in the service of one +officer, who is now absent in the settlements, where I never +follow him. No, no; bloodshed and warfare are not my +real gifts, but peace and mercy. Still, I must face the +enemy as well as another; and as for a Mingo, I look upon +him as man looks on a snake, a creatur' to be put beneath +the heel whenever a fitting occasion offers." + +"Well, well; I have mistaken your calling, which I had +thought as regularly warlike as that of a ship's gunner. +There is my brother-in-law, now; he has been a soldier +since he was sixteen, and he looks upon his trade as every +way as respectable as that of a seafaring man, a point I +hardly think it worth while to dispute with him." + +"My father has been taught to believe that it is honor- +able to carry arms," said Mabel, "for his father was a +soldier before him." + +"Yes, yes," resumed the guide; "most of the Sergeant's +gifts are martial, and he looks at most things in this world +over the barrel of his musket. One of his notions, now, +is to prefer a king's piece to a regular, double-sighted, +long-barrelled rifle. Such conceits will come over men +from long habit; and prejudice is, perhaps, the commonest +failing of human natur'." + +While the desultory conversation just related had been +carried on in subdued voices, the canoes were dropping +slowly down with the current within the deep shadows of +the western shore, the paddles being used merely to pre- +serve the desired direction and proper positions. The +strength of the stream varied materially, the water being +seemingly still in places, while in other reaches it flowed +at a rate exceeding two or even three miles in the hour. +On the rifts it even dashed forward with a velocity that +was appalling to the unpractised eye. Jasper was of +opinion that they might drift down with the current to +the mouth of the river in two hours from the time they +left the shore, and he and the Pathfinder had agreed on +the expediency of suffering the canoes to float of them- +selves for a time, or at least until they had passed the first +dangers of their new movement. The dialogue had been +carried on in voices, too, guardedly low; for though the +quiet of deep solitude reigned in that vast and nearly +boundless forest, nature was speaking with her thousand +tongues in the eloquent language of night in a wilderness. +The air sighed through ten thousand trees, the water +rippled, and at places even roared along the shores; and +now and then was heard the creaking of a branch or a +trunk, as it rubbed against some object similar to itself, +under the vibrations of a nicely balanced body. All living +sounds had ceased. Once, it is true, the Pathfinder fancied +he heard the howl of a distant wolf, of which a few prowled +through these woods; but it was a transient and doubtful +cry, that might possibly have been attributed to the imag- +ination. When he desired his companions, however, to +cease talking, his vigilant ear had caught the peculiar +sound which is made by the parting of a dried branch of +a tree and which, if his senses did not deceive him, came +from the western shore. All who are accustomed to that +particular sound will understand how reaily the ear re- +ceives it, and how easy it is to distinguish the tread which +breaks the branch from every other noise of the forest. + +"There is the footstep of a man on the bank," said +Pathfinder to Jasper, speaking in neither a whisper nor +yet in a voice loud enough to be heard at any distance. +"Can the accursed Iroquois have crossed the river already, +with their arms, and without a boat?" + +"It may be the Delaware. He would follow us, of +course down this bank, and would know where to look for +us. Let me draw closer into the shore, and reconnoitre." + +"Go boy but be light with the paddle, and on no ac- +count venture ashore on an onsartainty." + +"Is this prudent?" demanded Mabel, with an impetu- +osity that rendered her incautious in modulating her sweet +voice. + +"Very imprudent, if you speak so loud, fair one. I like +your voice, which is soft and pleasing, after the listening so +long to the tones of men; but it must not be heard too +much, or too freely, just now. Your father, the honest +Sergeant, will tell you, when you meet him, that silence is +a double virtue on a trail. Go, Jasper, and do justice to +your own character for prudence." + +Ten anxious minutes succeeded the disappearance of +the canoe of Jasper, which glided away from that of the +Pathfinder so noiselessly, that it had been swallowed up in +the gloom before Mabel allowed herself to believe the +young man would really venture alone on a service which +struck her imagination as singularly dangerous. During +this time, the party continued to float with the current, +no one speaking, and, it might almost be said, no one +breathing, so strong was the general desire to catch the +minutest sound that should come from the shore. But +the same solemn, we might, indeed, say sublime, quiet +reigned as before; the washing of the water, as it piled up +against some slight obstruction, and the sighing of the +trees, alone interrupting the slumbers of the forest. At +the end of the period mentioned, the snapping of dried +branches was again faintly heard, and the Pathfinder fan- +cied that the sound of smothered voices reached him. + +"I may be mistaken," he said, "for the thoughts often +fancy what the heart wishes; but these were notes like +the low tones of the Delaware." + +"Do the dead of the savages ever walk?" demanded Cap. +"Ay, and run too, in their happy hunting-grounds, but +nowhere else. A red-skin finishes with the 'arth, after +the breath quits the body. It is not one of his gifts to +linger around his wigwam when his hour has passed." + +"I see some object on the water," whispered Mabel, +whose eye had not ceased to dwell on the body of gloom, +with close intensity, since the disappearance of Jasper. + +"It is the canoe," returned the guide, greatly relieved. +"All must be safe, or we should have heard from the lad." + +In another minute the two canoes, which became visible +to those they carried only as they drew near each other, +again floated side by side, and the form of Jasper was +recognized at the stern of his own boat. The figure of a +second man was seated in the bow; and, as the young +sailor so wielded his paddle as to bring the face of his +companion near the eyes of the Pathfinder and Mabel, +they both recognized the person of the Delaware. + +"Chingachgook -- my brother!" said the guide in the +dialect of the other's people, a tremor shaking his voice +that betrayed the strength of his feelings. "Chief of the +Mohicans! my heart is very glad. Often have we passed +through blood and strife together, but I was afraid it was +never to be so again." + +"Hugh! The Mingos are squaws! Three of their scalps +hang at my girdle. They do not know how to strike the +Great Serpent of the Delawares. Their hearts have no +blood; and their thoughts are on their return path, across +the waters of the Great Lake." + +"Have you been among them, chief? and what has be- +come of the warrior who was in the river?" + +"He has turned into a fish, and lies at the bottom with +the eels! Let his brothers bait their hooks for him. +Pathfinder, I have counted the enemy, and have touched +their rifles." + +"Ah, I thought he would be venturesome!" exclaimed +the guide in English. "The risky fellow has been in the +midst of them, and has brought us back their whole his- +tory. Speak, Chingachgook, and I will make our friends +as knowing as ourselves." + +The Delaware now related in a low earnest manner the +substance of all his discoveries, since he was last seen +struggling with his foe in the river. Of the fate of his +antagonist he said no more, it not being usual for a warrior +to boast in his more direct and useful narratives. As soon +as he had conquered in that fearful strife, however, he +swam to the eastern shore, landed with caution, and wound +his way in amongst the Iroquois, concealed by the dark- +ness, undetected, and, in the main, even unsuspected. +Once, indeed, he had been questioned; but answering that +he was Arrowhead, no further inquiries were made. By +the passing remarks, he soon ascertained that the party was +out expressly to intercept Mabel and her uncle, concerning +whose rank, however, they had evidently been deceived. +He also ascertained enough to justify the suspicion that +Arrowhead had betrayed them to their enemies, for some +motive that it was not now easy to reach, as he had not +yet received the reward of his services. + +Pathfinder communicated no more of this intelligence +to his companions than he thought might relieve their ap- +prehensions, intimating, at the same time, that now was +the moment for exertion, the Iroquois not having yet en- +tirely recovered from the confusion created by their +losses. + +"We shall find them at the rift, I make no manner of +doubt," continued he; "and there it will be our fate to +pass them, or to fall into their hands. The distance to +the garrison will then be so short, that I have been think- +ing of a plan of landing with Mabel myself, that I may +take her in, by some of the by-ways, and leave the canoes +to their chances in the rapids." + +"It will never succeed, Pathfinder," eagerly interrupted +Jasper. "Mabel is not strong enough to tramp the woods +in a night like this. Put her in my skiff, and I will lose +my life, or carry her through the rift safely, dark as it is." + +"No doubt you will, lad; no one doubts your willingness +to do anything to serve the Sergeant's daughter; but it +must be the eye of Providence, and not your own, that +will take you safely through the Oswego rift in a night +like this." + +"And who will lead her safely to the garrison if she +land? Is not the night as dark on shore as on the water? +or do you think I know less of my calling than you know +of yours?" + +"Spiritedly said, lad; but if I should lose my way in +the dark -- and I believe no man can say truly that such a +thing ever yet happened to me -- but, if I _should_ lose my +way, no other harm would come of it than to pass a night +in the forest; whereas a false turn of the paddle, or a +broad sheer of the canoe, would put you and the young +woman into the river, out of which it is more than proba- +ble the Sergeant's daughter would never come alive." + +"I will leave it to Mabel herself; I am certain that she +will feel more secure in the canoe." + +"I have great confidence in you both," answered the +girl; "and have no doubts that either will do all he can +to prove to my father how much he values him; but I +confess I should not like to quit the canoe, with the cer- +tainty we have of there being enemies like those we have +seen in the forest. But my uncle can decide for me in +this matter." + +"I have no liking for the woods," said Cap, "while one +has a clear drift like this on the river. Besides, Master +Pathfinder, to say nothing of the savages, you overlook +the sharks." + +"Sharks! who ever heard of sharks in the wilderness?" + +"Ay! sharks, or bears, or wolves -- no matter what you +call a thing, so it has the mind and power to bite." + +"Lord, lord, man! do you dread any creatur' that is to +be found in the American forest? A catamount is a +skeary animal, I will allow, but then it is nothing in the +hands of a practysed hunter. Talk of the Mingos and +their devilries if you will; but do not raise a false alarm +about bears and wolves." + +"Ay, ay, Master Pathfinder, this is all well enough for +you, who probably know the name of every creature you +would meet. Use is everything, and it makes a man bold +when he might otherwise be bashful. I have known sea- +men in the low latitudes swim for hours at a time among +sharks fifteen or twenty feet long." + +"This is extraordinary!" exclaimed Jasper, who had +not yet acquired that material part of his trade, the ability +to spin a yarn. "I have always heard that it was certain +death to venture in the water among sharks." + +"I forgot to say, that the lads always took capstan-bars, +or gunners' handspikes, or crows with them, to rap the +beasts over the noses if they got to be troublesome. No, +no, I have no liking for bears and wolves, though a whale, +in my eye, is very much the same sort of fish as a red +herring after it is dried and salted. Mabel and I had +better stick to the canoe." + +"Mabel would do well to change canoes," added Jasper. +"This of mine is empty, and even Pathfinder will allow +that my eye is surer than his own on the water." + +"That I will, cheerfully, boy. The water belongs to +your gifts, and no one will deny that you have improved +them to the utmost. You are right enough in believing +that the Sergeant's daughter will be safer in your canoe +than in this; and though I would gladly keep her near +myself, I have her welfare too much at heart not to give +her honest advice. Bring your canoe close alongside, Jas- +per, and I will give you what you must consider as a +precious treasure." + +"I do so consider it," returned the youth, not losing a +moment in complying with the request; when Mabel +passed from one canoe to the other taking her seat on the +effects which had hitherto composed its sole cargo. + +As soon as this arrangement was made, the canoes sepa- +rated a short distance, and the paddles were used, though +with great care to avoid making any noise. The conversa- +tion gradually ceased; and as the dreaded rift was ap- +proached, all became impressed with the gravity of the +moment. That their enemies would endeavor to reach +this point before them was almost certain; and it seemed +so little probable any one should attempt to pass it, in the +profound obscurity which reigned, that Pathfinder was +confident parties were on both sides of the river, in the +hope of intercepting them when they might land. He +would not have made the proposal he did had he not felr +sure of his own ability to convert this very anticipation of +success into a means of defeating the plans of the Iroquois. +As the arrangement now stood, however, everything de- +pended on the skill of those who guided the canoes; for +should either hit a rock, if not split asunder, it would +almost certainly be upset, and then would come not only +all the hazards of the river itself, but, for Mabel, the cer- +tainty of falling into the hands of her persuers. The +utmost circumspection consequently became necessary, +and each one was too much engrossed with his own +thoughts to feel a disposition to utter more than was called +for by the exigencies of the case. + +At the canoes stole silently along, the roar of the rift +became audible, and it required all the fortitude of Cap to +keep his seat, while these boding sounds were approached, +amid a darkness which scarcely permitted a view of the +outlines of the wooded shore and of the gloomy vault +above his head. He retained a vivid impression of the +falls, and his imagination was not now idle in swelling the +dangers of the rift to a level with those of the headlong +descent he had that day made, and even to increase them, +under the influence of doubt and uncertainty. In this, +however, the old mariner was mistaken, for the Oswego +Rift and the Oswego Falls are very different in their char- +acters and violence; the former being no more than a +rapid, that glances among shallows and rocks, while the +latter really deserved the name it bore, as has been already +shown. + +Mabel certainly felt distrust and apprehension; but her +entire situation was so novel, and her reliance on her guide +so great, that she retained a self-command which might +not have existed had she clearer perceptions of the truth, +or been better acquainted with the helplessness of men +when placed in opposition to the power and majesty of +Nature. + +"Is that the spot you have mentioned?" she said to +Jasper, when the roar of the rift first came distinctly on +her ears. + +"It is; and I beg you to have confidence in me. We are +not old acquaintances, Mabel; but we live many days in +one, in this wilderness. I think, already, that I have +known you years!" + +"And I do not feel as if you were a stranger to me, +Jasper. I have every reliance on your skill, as well as on +your disposition to serve me." + +"We shall see, we shall see. Pathfinder is striking the +rapids too near the centre of the river; the bed of the water +is closer to the eastern shore; but I cannot make him hear +me now. Hold firmly to the canoe, Mabel, and fear +nothing." + +At the next moment the swift current had sucked them +into the rift, and for three or four minutes the awe-struck, +rather than the alarmed, girl saw nothing around her but +sheets of glancing foam, heard nothing but the roar of +waters. Twenty times did the canoe appear about to dash +against some curling and bright wave that showed itself +even amid that obscurity; and as often did it glide away +again unharmed, impelled by the vigorous arm of him +who governed its movements. Once, and once only, did +Jasper seem to lose command of his frail bark, during +which brief space it fairly whirled entirely round; but by +a desperate effort he brought it again under control, re- +covered the lost channel, and was soon rewarded for all +his anxiety by finding himself floating quietly in the deep +water below the rapids, secure from every danger, and +without having taken in enough of the element to serve +for a draught. + +"All is over, Mabel," the young man cried cheerfully. +"The danger is past, and you may now indeed hope to +meet your father this very night." + +"God be praised! Jasper, we shall owe this great hap- +piness to you." + +"The Pathfinder may claim a full share in the merit; +but what has become of the other canoe?" + +"I see something near us on the water; is it not the +boat of our friends?" + +A few strokes of the paddle brought Jasper to the side +of the object in question: it was the other canoe, empty +and bottom upwards. No sooner did the young man as- +certain this fact, than he began to search for the swimmers, +and, to his great joy, Cap was soon discovered drifting down +with the current; the old seaman preferring the chances +of drowning to those of landing among savages. He was +hauled into the canoe, though not without difficulty, and +then the search ended; for Jasper was persuaded that the +Pathfinder, would wade to the shore, the water being shal- +low in preference to abandoning his beloved rifle. + +The remainder of the passage was short, though made +amid darkness and doubt. After a short pause, a dull +roaring sound was heard, which at times resembled the +mutterings of distant thunder, and then again brought +with it the washing of waters. Jasper announced to his +companions that they now heard the surf of the lake. +Low curved spits of land lay before them, into the bay +formed by one of which the canoe glided, and then it shot +up noiselessly upon a gravelly beach. The transition that +followed was so hurried and great, that Mabel scarcely +knew what passed. In the course of a few minutes, how- +ever sentinels had been passed, a gate was opened, and +the agitated girl found herself in the arms of a parent +who was almost a stranger to her. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A land of love, and a land of light, +Withouten sun, or moon, or night: +Where the river swa'd a living stream, +And the light a pure celestial beam: +The land of vision, it would seem +A still, an everlasting dream. +_Queen's Wake._ + + +The rest that succeeds fatigue, and which attends a +newly awakened sense of security, is generally sweet and +deep. Such was the fact with Mabel, who did not rise +from her humble pallet -- such a bed as a sergeant's +daughter might claim in a remote frontier post -- until +long after the garrison had obeyed the usual summons of +the drums, and had assembled at the morning parade. +Sergeant Dunham, on whose shoulders fell the task of +attending to these ordinary and daily duties, had got +through all his morning avocations, and was beginning to +think of his breakfast, before his child left her room, and +came into the fresh air, equally bewildered, delighted, and +grateful, at the novelty and security of her new situation. + +At the time of which we are writing, Oswego was one of +the extreme frontier posts of the British possessions on this +continent. It had not been long occupied, and was garri- +soned by a battalion of a regiment which had been origin- +ally Scotch, but into which many Americans had been re- +ceived since its arrival in this country; all innovation that +had led the way to Mabel's father filling the humble but +responsible situation of the oldest sergeant. A few young +officers also, who were natives of the colonies, were to be +found in the corps. The fort itself, like most works of +that character, was better adapted to resist an attack of +savages than to withstand a regular siege; but the great +difficulty of transporting heavy artillery and other neces- +saries rendered the occurrence of the latter a probability +so remote as scarcely to enter into the estimate of the en- +gineers who had planned the defences. There were bas- +tions of earth and logs, a dry ditch, a stockade, a parade +of considerable extent, and barracks of logs, that answered +the double purpose of dwellings and fortifications. A few +light fleld-pieces stood in the area of the fort, ready to be +conveyed to any point where they might be wanted, and +one or two heavy iron guns looked out from the summits +of the advanced angles, as so many admonitions to the +audacious to respect their power. + +When Mabel, quitting the convenient, but compara- +tively retired hut where her father had been permitted to +place her, issued into the pure air of the morning, she +found herself at the foot of a bastion, which lay invitingly +before her, with a promise of giving a _coup d'oeil_ of all +that had been concealed in the darkness of the preceding +night. Tripping up the grassy ascent, the light-hearted +as well as light-footed girl found herself at once on a point +where the sight, at a few varying glances, could take in all +the external novelties of her new situation. + +To the southward lay the forest, through which she had +been journeying so many weary days, and which had proved +so full of dangers. It was separated from the stockade by +a belt of open land, that had been principally cleared of +its woods to form the martial constructions around her. +This glacis, for such in fact was its military uses, might +have covered a hundred acres; but with it every sign of +civilization ceased. All beyond was forest; that dense, +interminable forest which Mabel could now picture to +herself, through her recollections, with its hidden glassy +lakes, its dark rolling stream, and its world of nature. + +Turning from this view, our heroine felt her cheek +fanned by a fresh and grateful breeze, such as she had not +experienced since quitting the far distant coast. Here a +new scene presented itself: although expected, it was not +without a start, and a low exclamation indicative of pleas- +ure, that the eager eyes of the girl drank in its beauties. To +the north, and east, and west, in every direction, in short, +over one entire half of the novel panorama, lay a field of +rolling waters. The element was neither of that glassy +green which distinguishes the American waters in general, +nor yet of the deep blue of the ocean, the color being of a +slightly amber hue, which scarcely affected its limpidity. +No land was to be seen, with the exception of the adjacent +coast, which stretched to the right and left in an unbroken +outline of forest with wide bays and low headlands or +points; still, much of the shore was rocky, and into its +caverns the sluggish waters occasionally rolled, producing +a hollow sound, which resembled the concussions of a dis- +tant gun. No sail whitened the surface, no whale or other +fish gambolled on its bosom, no sign of use or service re- +warded the longest and most minute gaze at its boundless +expanse. It was a scene, on one side, of apparently end- +less forests, while a waste of seemingly interminable water +spread itself on the other. Nature appeared to have de- +lighted in producing grand effects, by setting two of her +principal agents in bold relief to each other, neglecting de- +tails; the eye turning from the broad carpet of leaves to +the still broader field of fluid, from the endless but +gentle heavings of the lake to the holy calm and poetical +solitude of the forest, with wonder and delight. + +Mabel Dunham, though unsophisticated, like most of +her countrywomen of that period, and ingenuous and +frank as any warm-hearted and sincere-minded girl well +could be, was not altogether without a feeling for the +poetry of this beautiful earth of ours. Although she could +scarcely be said to be educated at all, for few of her sex +at that day and in this country received much more than +the rudiments of plain English instruction, still she had +been taught much more than was usual for young women +in her own station in life; and, in one sense certainly, she +did credit to her teaching. The widow of a field-officer, +who formerly belonged to the same regiment as her father, +had taken the child in charge at the death of its mother; +and under the care of this lady Mabel had acquired some +tastes and many ideas which otherwise might always have +remained strangers to her. Her situation in the family +had been less that of a domestic than of a humble com- +panion, and the results were quite apparent in her attire, +her language, her sentiments, and even in her feelings, +though neither, perhaps, rose to the level of those which +would properly characterize a lady. She had lost the less +refined habits and manners of one in her original position, +without having quite reached a point that disqualified her +for the situation in life that the accidents of birth and +fortune would probably compel her to fill. All else that +was distinctive and peculiar in her belonged to natural +character. + +With such antecedents it will occasion the reader no +wonder if he learns that Mabel viewed the novel scene +before her with a pleasure far superior to that produced +by vulgar surprise. She felt its ordinary beauties as most +would have felt them, but she had also a feeling for its +sublimity -- for that softened solitude, that calm grandeur, +and eloquent repose, which ever pervades broad views of +natural objects yet undisturbed by the labors and strug- +gles of man. + +"How beautiful!" she exclaimed, unconscious of speak- +ing, as she stood on the solitary bastion, facing the air +from the lake, and experiencing the genial influence of +its freshness pervading both her body and her mind. +"How very beautiful! and yet how singular!" + +The words, and the train of her ideas, were interrupted +by a touch of a finger on her shoulder, and turning, in the +expectation of seeing her father, Mabel found Pathfinder +at her side. He was leaning quietly on his long rifle, and +laughing in his quiet manner, while, with an outstretched +arm, he swept over the whole panorama of land and water. + +"Here you have both our domains," said he, -- "Jasper's +and mine. The lake is for him, and the woods are for +me. The lad sometimes boasts of the breadth of his +dominions; but I tell him my trees make as broad a +plain on the face of this 'arth as all his water. Well, +Mabel, you are fit for either; for I do not see that fear of +the Mingos, or night-marches, can destroy your pretty +looks." + +"It is a new character for the Pathfinder to appear in, +to compliment a silly girl." + +"Not silly, Mabel; no, not in the least silly. The Ser- +geant's daughter would do discredit to her worthy father, +were she to do or say anything that could be called silly." + +"Then she must take care and not put too much faith in +treacherous, flattering words. But, Pathfinder, I rejoice to +see you among us again; for, though Jasper did not seem +to feel much uneasiness, I was afraid some accident might +have happened to you and your friend on that frightful +rift." + +"The lad knows us both, and was sartain that we +should not drown, which is scarcely one of my gifts. It +would have been hard swimming of a sartainty, with a +long-barrelled rifle in the hand; and what between the +game, and the savages and the French, Killdeer and I +have gone through too much in company to part very +easily. No, no; we waded ashore, the rift being shallow +enough for that with small exceptions, and we landed with +our arms in our hands. We had to take our time for it, +on account of the Iroquois, I will own; but, as soon as the +skulking vagabonds saw the lights that the Sergeant sent +down to your canoe, we well understood they would +decamp, since a visit might have been expected from some +of the garrison. So it was only sitting patiently on the +stones for an hour, and all the danger was over. Patience +is the greatest of virtues in a woodsman." + +"I rejoice to hear this, for fatigue itself could scarcely +make me sleep, for thinking of what might befall you." + +"Lord bless your tender little heart, Mabel! but this is +the way with all you gentle ones. I must say, on my part, +however, that I was right glad to see the lanterns come +down to the waterside, which I knew to be a sure sign of +_your_ safety. We hunters and guides are rude beings; but +we have our feelings and our idees, as well as any general +in the army. Both Jasper and I would have died before +you should have come to harm -- we would." + +"I thank you for all you did for me, Pathfinder; from +the bottom of my heart, I thank you; and, depend on it, +my father shall know it. I have already told him much, +but have still a duty to perform on this subject." + +"Tush, Mabel! The Sergeant knows what the woods +be, and what men -- true red men -- be, too. There is lit- +tle need to tell him anything about it. Well, now you +have met your father, do you find the honest old soldier +the sort of person you expected to find ?" + +"He is my own dear father, and received me as a soldier +and a father should receive a child. Have you known him +long, Pathfinder?" + +"That is as people count time. I was just twelve when +the Sergeant took me on my first scouting, and that is +now more than twenty years ago. We had a tramping time +of it; and, as it was before your day, you would have had +no father, had not the rifle been one of my natural gifts." + +"Explain yourself." + +"It is too simple for many words. We were ambushed, +and the Sergeant got a bad hurt, and would have lost his +scalp, but for a sort of inbred turn I took to the weapon. +We brought him off, however, and a handsomer head of +hair, for his time of life, is not to be found in the rijiment +than the Sergeant carries about with him this blessed day." + +"You saved my father's life, Pathfinder!" exclaimed +Mabel, unconsciously, though warmly, taking one of his +hard, sinewy hands into both her own. "God bless you +for this, too, among your other good acts!" + +"Nay, I did not say that much, though I believe I did +save his scalp. A man might live without a scalp, and so +I cannot say I saved his life. Jasper may say that much +consarning you; for without his eye and arm the canoe +would never have passed the rift in safety on a night like +the last. The gifts of the lad are for the water, while +mine are for the hunt and the trail. He is yonder, in the +cove there, looking after the canoes, and keeping his eye +on his beloved little craft. To my eye, there is no likelier +youth in these parts than Jasper Western." + +For the first time since she had left her room, Mabel +now turned her eyes beneath her, and got a view of what +might be called the foreground of the remarkable picture +she had been studying with so much pleasure. The +Oswego threw its dark waters into the lake, between banks +of some height; that on its eastern side being bolder and +projecting farther north than that on its western. The +fort was on the latter, and immediately beneath it were a +few huts of logs, which, as they could not interfere with +the defence of the place, had been erected along the strand +for the purpose of receiving and containing such stores as +were landed, or were intended to be embarked, in the +communications between the different ports on the shores +of Ontario. Two low, curved, gravelly points had been +formed with surprising regularity by the counteracting +forces of the northerly winds and the swift current, and, +inclining from the storms of the lake, formed two coves +within the river: that on the western side was the most +deeply indented; and, as it also had the most water, it +formed a sort of picturesque little port for the post. It +was along the narrow strand that lay between the low +height of the fort and the water of this cove, that the rude +buildings just mentioned had been erected. + +Several skiffs, bateaux, and canoes were hauled up on +the shore, and in the cove itself lay the little craft from +which Jasper obtained his claim to be considered a sailor. +She was cutter-rigged, might have been of forty tons bur- +then, was so neatly constructed and painted as to have +something of the air of a vessel of war, though entirely +without quarters, and rigged and sparred with so scrupu- +lous a regard to proportions and beauty, as well as fitness +and judgment, as to give her an appearance that even +Mabel at once distinguished to be gallant and trim. Her +mould was admirable, for a wright of great skill had sent +her drafts from England, at the express request of the +officer who had caused her to be constructed; her paint +dark, warlike, and neat; and the long coach-whip pennant +that she wore at once proclaimed her to be the property +of the king. Her name was the _Scud_. + +"That, then, is the vessel of Jasper!" said Mabel, who +associated the master of the little craft very naturally with +the cutter itself. "Are there many others on this lake?" + +"The Frenchers have three: one of which, they tell me, +is a real ship, such as are used on the ocean; another a +brig; and a third is a cutter, like the _Scud_ here, which +they call the _Squirrel_, in their own tongue, however; and +which seems to have a natural hatred of our own pretty +boat, for Jasper seldom goes out that the _Squirrel_ is not +at his heels." + +"And is Jasper one to run from a Frenchman, though +he appears in the shape of a squirrel, and that, too, on the +water?" + +"Of what use would valor be without the means of +turning it to account? Jasper is a brave boy, as all on this +frontier know; but he has no gun except a little howitzer, +and then his crew consists only of two men besides him- +self, and a boy. I was with him in one of his trampooses, +and the youngster was risky enough, for he brought us +so near the enemy that rifles began to talk; but the +Frenchers carry cannon and ports, and never show their +faces outside of Frontenac, without having some twenty +men, besides their _Squirrel_, in their cutter. No, no; this +_Scud_ was built for flying, and the major says he will not +put her in a fighting humor by giving her men and arms, +lest she should take him at his word, and get her wings +clipped. I know little of these things, for my gifts are +not at all in that way; but I see the reason of the thing -- +I see its reason, though Jasper does not." + +"Ah! here is my uncle, none the worse for his swim, +coming to look at this inland sea." + +Sure enough, Cap, who had announced his approach by +a couple of lusty hems, now made his appearance on the +bastion, where, after nodding to his neice and her com- +panion, he made a deliberate survey of the expanse of +water before him. In order to effect this at his ease, the +mariner mounted on one of the old iron guns, folded his +arms across his breast, and balanced his body, as if he felt +the motion of a vessel. To complete the picture, he had +a short pipe in his mouth. + +"Well, Master Cap," asked the Pathfinder innocently, for +he did not detect the expression of contempt that was +gradually settling on the features of the other; "is it not +a beautiful sheet, and fit to be named a sea?" + +"This, then, is what you call your lake?" demanded +Cap, sweeping the northern horizon with his pipe. "I +say, is this really your lake?" + +"Sartain; and, if the judgment of one who has lived on +the shores of many others can be taken, a very good lake +it is." + +"Just as I expected. A pond in dimensions, and a +scuttle-butt in taste. It is all in vain to travel inland, in +the hope of seeing anything either full-grown or useful. +I knew it would turn out just in this way." + +"What is the matter-with Ontario, Master Cap? It is +large, and fair to look at, and pleasant enough to drink, +for those who can't get at the water of the springs." + +"Do you call this large?" asked Cap, again sweeping +the air with the pipe. "I will just ask you what there is +large about it? Didn't Jasper himself confess that it was +only some twenty leagues from shore to shore?" + +"But, uncle," interposed Mabel, "no land is to be seen, +except here on our own coast. To me it koks exactly like +the ocean." + +"This bit of a pond look like the ocean! Well, Magnet, +that from a girl who has had real seamen in her family is +downright nonsense. What is there about it, pray, that +has even the outline of a sea on it?" + +"Why, there is water -- water -- water -- nothing but +water, for miles on miles -- far as the eye can see." + +"And isn't there water -- water -- water -- nothing but +water for miles on miles in your rivers, that you have been +canoeing through, too? -- ay, and 'as far as the eye can see,' +in the bargain?" + +"Yes, uncle, but the rivers have their banks, and there +are trees along them, and they are narrow." + +"And isn't this a bank where we stand? don't these +soldiers call this the bank of the lake? and aren't there +trees in thousands? and aren't twenty leagues narrow +enough of all conscience? Who the devil ever heard of +the banks of the ocean, unless it might be the banks that +are under water?" + +"But, uncle, we cannot see across this lake, as we can +see across a river." + +"There you are out, Magnet. Aren't the Amazon and +Oronoco and La Plata rivers, and can you see across them? +Hark'e Pathfinder, I very much doubt if this stripe of +water here be even a lake; for to me it appears to be only +a river. You are by no means particular about your +geography, I find, up here in the woods." + +"There _you_ are out, Master Cap. There is a river, and +a noble one too, at each end of it; but this is old Ontario +before you; and, though it is not my gift to live on a lake, +to my judgment there are few better than this." + +"And, uncle, if we stood on the beach at Rockaway, +what more should we see than we now behold? There is +a shore on one side, or banks there, and trees too, as well +as those which are here." + +"This is perverseness, Magnet, and young girls should +steer clear of anything like obstinacy. In the first place, +the ocean has coasts, but no banks, except the Grand +Banks, as I tell you, which are out of sight of land; and +you will not pretend that this bank is out of sight of +land, or even under water?" + +As Mabel could not very plausibly set up this extrava- +gant opinion, Cap pursued the subject, his countenance +beginning to discover the triumph of a successful dis- +putant. + +"And then them trees bear no comparison to these +trees. The coasts of the ocean have farms and cities and +country-seats, and, in some parts of the world, castles and +monasteries and lighthouses -- ay, ay -- lighthouses, in +particular, on them; not one of all which things is to be +seen here. No, no, Master Pathfinder; I never heard of +an ocean that hadn't more or less lighthouses on it; +whereas, hereaway there is not even a beacon." + +"There is what is better, there is what is better; a forest +and noble trees, a fit temple of God." + +"Ay, your forest may do for a lake; but of what use +would an ocean be if the earth all around it were forest? +Ships would be unnecessary, as timber might be floated in +rafts, and there would be an end of trade, and what would +a world be without trade? I am of that philosopher's +opinion who says human nature was invented for the pur- +poses of trade. Magnet, I am astonished that you should +think this water even looks like sea-water! Now, I dare- +say that there isn't such a thing as a whale in all your +lake, Master Pathfinder?" + +"I never heard of one, I will confess; but I am no judge +of animals that live in the water, unless it be the fishes of +the rivers and the brooks." + +"Nor a grampus, nor a porpoise even? not so much as +a poor devil of a shark?" + +"I will not take it on myself to say there is either. My +gifts are not in that way, I tell you, Master Cap." + +"Nor herring, nor albatross, nor flying-fish?" continued +Cap, who kept his eye fastened on the guide, in order to +see how far he might venture. "No such thing as a fish +that can fly, I daresay?" + +"A fish that can fly! Master Cap, Master Cap, do not +think, because we are mere borderers, that we have no +idees of natur', and what she has been pleased to do. I +know there are squirrels that can fly -- " + +"A squirrel fly! -- the devil, Master Pathfinder! Do you +suppose that you have got a boy on his first v'y'ge up here +among you?" + +"I know nothing of your v'y'ges, Master Cap, though I +suppose them to have been many; for as for what belongs +to natur' in the woods, what I have seen I may tell, and +not fear the face of man." + +"And do you wish me to understand that you have seen +a squirrel fly?" + +"If you wish to understand the power of God, Master +Cap, you will do well to believe that, and many other +things of a like natur', for you may be quite sartain it is +true." + +"And yet, Pathfinder," said Mabel, looking so prettily +and sweetly even while she played with the guide's in- +firmity, that he forgave her in his heart, "you, who speak +so reverently of the power of the Deity, appear to doubt +that a fish can fly." + +"I have not said it, I have not said it; and if Master +Cap is ready to testify to the fact, unlikely as it seems, I +am willing to try to think it true. I think it every man's +duty to believe in the power of God, however difficult it +may be." + +"And why isn't my fish as likely to have wings as your +squirrel?" demanded Cap, with more logic than was his +wont. "That fishes do and can fly is as true as it is rea- +sonable." + +"Nay, that is the only difficulty in believing the story," +rejoined the guide. "It seems unreasonable to give an +animal that lives in the water wings, which seemingly can +be of no use to it." + +"And do you suppose that the fishes are such asses as to +fly about under water, when they are once fairly fitted out +with wings?" + +"Nay, I know nothing of the matter; but that fish +should fly in the air seems more contrary to natur' still, +than that the'y should fly in their own element -- that in +which they were born and brought up, as one might say." + +"So much for contracted ideas, Magnet. The fish fly +out of water to run away from their enemies in the water; +and there you see not only the fact, but the reason for it." + +"Then I suppose it must be true," said the guide quietly. +"How long are their flights?" + +"Not quite as far as those of pigeons, perhaps; but far +enough to make an offing. As for those squirrels of yours, +we'll say no more about them, friend Pathfinder, as I sup- +pose they were mentioned just as a make-weight to the +fish, in favor of the woods. But what is this thing an- +chored here under the hill?" + +"That is the cutter of Jasper, uncle," said Mabel hur- +riedly; "and a very pretty vessel I think it is. Its name, +too, is the _Scud_." + +"Ay, it will do well enough for a lake, perhaps, but it's +no great affair. The lad has got a standing bowsprit, and +who ever saw a cutter with a standing bowsprit before?" + +"But may there not be some good reason for it, on a +lake like this, uncle?" + +"Sure enough -- I must remember this is not the ocean, +though it does look so much like it." + +"Ah, uncle! then Ontario does look like the ocean, after +all?" + +"In your eyes, I mean, and those of Pathfinder; not in +the least in mine, Magnet. Now you might set me down +out yonder, in the middle of this bit of a pond, and that, +too, in the darkest night that ever fell from the heavens, +and in the smallest canoe, and I could tell you it was only +a lake. For that matter, the _Dorothy_" (the name of his +vessel) "would find it out as quick as I could myself. I +do not believe that brig would make more than a couple +of short stretches, at the most, before she would perceive +the difference between Ontario and the old Atlantic. I +once took her down into one of the large South American +bays, and she behaved herself as awkwardly as a booby +would in a church with the congregation in a hurry. And +Jasper sails that boat? I must have a cruise with the lad, +Magnet, before I quit you, just for the name of the thing. +It would never do to say I got in sight of this pond, and +went away without taking a trip on it." + +"Well well, you needn't wait long for that," returned +Pathfinder; "for the Sergeant is about to embark with a +party to relieve a post among the Thousand Islands; and +as I heard him say he intended that Mabel should go along, +you can join the company too." + +"Is this true, Magnet?" + +"I believe it is," returned the girl, a flush so imper- +ceptible as to escape the observation of her companions +glowing on her cheeks; "though I have had so little op- +portunity to talk with my dear father that I am not quite +certain. Here he comes, however, and you can inquire of +himself." + +Notwithstanding his humble rank, there was something +in the mien and character of Sergeant Dunham that com- +manded respect: of a tall, imposing figure, grave and +saturnine disposition, and accurate and precise in his acts +and manner of thinking, even Cap, dogmatical and super- +cilious as he usually was with landsmen, did not presume +to take the same liberties with the old soldier as he did +with his other friends. It was often remarked that Ser- +geant Dunham received more true respect from Duncan +of Lundie, the Scotch laird who commanded the post, than +most of the subalterns; for experience and tried services +were of quite as much value in the eyes of the veteran +major as birth and money. While the Sergeant never even +hoped to rise any higher, he so far respected himself and +his present station as always to act in a way to command +attention; and the habit of mixing so much with inferiors, +whose passions and dispositions he felt it necessary to re- +strain by distance and dignity, had so far colored his whole +deportment, that few were altogether free from its influ- +ence. While the captains treated him kindly and as an +old comrade, the lieutenants seldom ventured to dissent +from his military opinions; and the ensigns, it was remarked, +actually manifested a species of respect that amounted to +something very like deference. It is no wonder, then, +that the announcement of Mabel put a sudden termina- +tion to the singular dialogue we have just related, though +it had been often observed that the Pathfinder was the +only man on that frontier, beneath the condition of a +gentleman, who presumed to treat the Sergeant at all as +an equal, or even with the cordial familiarity of a friend. + +"Good morrow, brother Cap," said the Sergeant giving +the military salute, as he walked, in a grave, stately man- +ner, on the bastion. "My morning duty has made me +seem forgetful of you and Mabel; but we have now an +hour or two to spare, and to get acquainted. Do you not +perceive, brother, a strong likeness on the girl to her we +have so long lost?" + +"Mabel is the image of her mother, Sergeant, as I have +always said, with a little of your firmer figure; though, +for that matter, the Caps were never wanting in spring +and activity." + +Mabel cast a timid glance at the stern, rigid countenance +of her father, of whom she had ever thought, as the warm- +hearted dwell on the affection of their absent parents; +and, as she saw that the muscles of his face were working, +notwithstanding the stiffness and method of his manner, +her very heart yearned to throw herself on his bosom and +to weep at will. But he was so much colder in externals, +so much more formal and distant than she had expected to +find him, that she would not have dared to hazard the +freedom, even had they been alone. + +"You have taken a long and troublesome journey, +brother, on my account; and we will try to make you com- +fortable while you stay among us." + +"I hear you are likely to receive orders to lift your an- +chor, Sergeant, and to shift your berth into a part of the +world where they say there are a thousand islands." + +"Pathfinder, this is some of your forgetfulness?" + +"Nay, nay, Sergeant, I forgot nothing; but it did not +seem to me necessary to hide your intentions so very +closely from your own flesh and blood." + +"All military movements ought to be made with as +little conversation as possible," returned the Sergeant, +tapping the guide's shoulder in a friendly, but reproachful +manner. "You have passed too much of your life in +front of the French not to know the value of silence. But +no matter; the thing must soon be known, and there is no +great use in trying now to conceal it. We shall embark a +relief party shortly for a post on the lake, though I do not +say it is for the Thousand Islands, and I may have to go +with it; in which case I intend to take Mabel to make my +broth for me; and I hope, brother, you will not despise a +soldier's fare for a month or so." + +"That will depend on the manner of marching. I have +no love for woods and swamps." + +"We shall sail in the _Scud_; and, indeed, the whole +service, which is no stranger to us, is likely enough to +please one accustomed to the water." + +"Ay, to salt-water if you will, but not to lake-water. If +you have no person to handle that bit of a cutter for you, +I have no objection to ship for the v'y'ge, notwithstanding; +though I shall look on the whole affair as so much time +thrown away for I consider it an imposition to call sailing +about this pond going to sea." + +"Jasper is every way able to manage the _Scud_, brother +Cap; and in that light I cannot say that we have need of +your services, though we shall be glad of your company. +You cannot return to the settlement until a party is sent +in, and that is not likely to happen until after my return. +Well, Pathfinder, this is the first time I ever knew men on +the trail of the Mingos and you not at their head." + +"To be honest with you, Sergeant," returned the guide, +not without a little awkwardness of manner, and a per- +ceptible difference in the hue of a face that had become so +uniformly red by exposure, "I have not felt that it was my +gift this morning. In the first place, I very well know +that the soldiers of the 55th are not the lads to overtake +Iroquois in the woods; and the knaves did not wait to be +surrounded when they knew that Jasper had reached the +garrison. Then a man may take a little rest after a sum- +mer of hard work, and no impeachment of his good-will. +Besides, the Sarpent is out with them; and if the mis- +creants are to be found at all, you may trust to his inmity +and sight: the first being stronger, and the last nearly, if +not quite as good as my own. He loves the skulking +vagabonds as little as myself; and, for that matter, I may +say that my own feelings towards a Mingo are not much +more than the gifts of a Delaware grafted on a Christian +stock. No, no, I thought I would leave the honor this +time, if honor there is to be, to the young ensign that +commands, who, if he don't lose his scalp, may boast of +his campaign in his letters to his mother when he gets in. +I thought I would play idler once in my life." + +"And no one has a better right, if long and faithful +service entitles a man to a furlough," returned the Ser- +geant kindly. "Mabel will think none the worse of you +for preferring her company to the trail of the savages; +and, I daresay, will be happy to give you a part of her +breakfast if you are inclined to eat. You must not think, +girl, however, that the Pathfinder is in the habit of letting +prowlers around the fort beat a retreat without hearing +the crack of his rifle." + +"If I thought she did, Sergeant, though not much given +to showy and parade evolutions, I would shoulder Killdeer +and quit the garrison before her pretty eyes had time to +frown. No, no; Mabel knows me better, though we are +but new acquaintances, for there has been no want of +Mingos to enliven the short march we have already made +in company." + +"It would need a great deal of testimony, Pathfinder, to +make me think ill of you in any way, and more than all in +the way you mention," returned Mabel, coloring with the +sincere earnestness with which she endeavored to remove +any suspicion to the contrary from his mind. "Both father +and daughter, I believe, owe you their lives, and believe +me, that neither will ever forget it." + +"Thank you, Mabel, thank you with all my heart. But +I will not take advantage of your ignorance neither, girl, +and therefore shall say, I do not think the Mingos would +have hurt a hair of your head, had they succeeded by their +devilries and contrivances in getting you into their hands. +My scalp, and Jasper's, and Master Cap's there, and the +Sarpent's too, would sartainly have been smoked; but as +for the Sergeant's daughter, I do not think they would +have hurt a hair of her head." + +"And why should I suppose that enemies, known to +spare neither women nor children, would have shown more +mercy to me than to another? I feel, Pathfinder, that I +owe you my life." + +"I say nay, Mabel; they wouldn't have had the heart to +hurt you. No, not even a fiery Mingo devil would have +had the heart to hurt a hair of your head. Bad as I sus- +pect the vampires to be, I do not suspect them of anything +so wicked as that. They might have wished you, nay, +forced you to become the wife of one of their chiefs, and +that would be torment enough to a Christian young +woman; but beyond that I do not think even the Mingos +themselves would have gone." + +"Well, then, I shall owe my escape from this great mis- +fortue to you," said Mabel, taking his hard hand into her +own frankly and cordially, and certainly in a way to de- +light the honest guide. "To me it would be a lighter evil +to be killed than to become the wife of an Indian." + +"That is her gift, Sergeant," exclaimed Pathfinder, +turning to his old comrade with gratification writton on +every lineament of his honest countenance, "and it will +have its way. I tell the Sarpent that no Christianizing +will ever make even a Delaware a white man; nor any +whooping and yelling convert a pale-face into a red-skin. +That is the gift of a young woman born of Christian +parents, and it ought to be maintained." + +"You are right, Pathfinder; and so far as Mabel Dun- +ham is concerned, it _shall_ be maintained. But it is time +to break your fasts; and if you will follow me, brother +Cap, I will show you how we poor soldiers live here on a +distant frontier." + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +Now, my co-mates and partners in exile, +Hath not old custom made this life more sweet +Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods +More free from peril than the envious court? +Here feel we but the penalty of Adam. +_As You Like It._ + + +Sergeant Dunham made no empty vaunt when he +gave the promise conveyed in the closing words of the last +chapter. Notwithstandrng the remote frontier postion +of the post they who lived at it enjoyed a table that, in +many respects, kings and princes might have envied. At +the Period of our tale, and, indeed, for half a century later, +the whole of that vast region which has been called the +West, or the new countries since the war of the revolution, +lay a comparatively unpeoped desert, teeming with all the +living productions of nature that properly belonged to the +climate, man and the domestic animals excepted. The few +Indians that roamed its forests then could produce no +visible effects on the abundance of the game; and the +scattered garrisons, or occasional hunters, that here and +there were to be met with on that vast surface, had no +other influence than the bee on the buckwheat field, or the +humming-bird on the flower. + +The marvels that have descended to our own times, in +the way of tradition, concerning the quantities of beasts, +birds, and fishes that were then to be met with, on the +shores of the great lakes in particular, are known to be +sustained by the experience of living men, else might we +hesitate about relating them; but having been eye- +witnesses of some of these prodigies, our office shall be +discharged with the confidence that certainty can impart. +Oswego was particularly well placed to keep the larder of +an epicure amply supplied. Fish of various sorts abounded +in its river, and the sportsman had only to cast his line to +haul in a bass or some other member of the finny tribe, +which then peopled the waters, as the air above the swamps +of this fruitful latitude are known to be filled with insects. +Among others was the salmon of the lakes, a variety of +that well-known species, that is scarcely inferior to the +delicious salmon of northern Europe. Of the different +migratory birds that frequent forests and waters, there +was the same affluence, hundreds of acres of geese and +ducks being often seen at a time in the great bays that +indent the shores of the lake. Deer, bears, rabbits, and +squirrels, with divers other quadrupeds, among which was +sometimes included the elk, or moose, helped to complete +the sum of the natural supplies on which all the posts de- +pended, more or less, to relieve the unavoidable privations +of their remote frontier positions. + +In a place where viands that would elsewhere be deemed +great luxuries were so abundant, no one was excluded +from their enjoyment. The meanest individual at Oswego +habitually feasted on game that would have formed the +boast of a Parisian table; and it was no more than a +healthful commentary on the caprices of taste, and of the +waywardness of human desires, that the very diet which +in other scenes would have been deemed the subject of +envy and repinings got to pall on the appetite. The +coarse and regular food of the army, which it became +necessary to husband on account of the difficulty of trans- +portation, rose in the estimation of the common soldier; +and at any time he would cheerfully desert his venison, +and ducks, and pigeons, and salmon, to banquet on the +sweets of pickled pork, stringy turnips, and half-cooked +cabbage. + +The table of Sergeant Dunham, as a matter of course, +partook of the abundance and luxuries of the frontier, as +well as of its privations. A delicious broiled salmon +smoked on a homely platter, hot venison steaks sent up +their appetizing odors, and several dishes of cold meats, +all of which were composed of game, had been set before +the guests, in honor of the newly arrived visitors, and in +vindication of the old soldier's hospitality. + +"You do not seem to be on short allowance in this +quarter of the world, Sergeant," said Cap, after he had got +fairly initiated into the mysteries of the different dishes; +"your salmon might satisfy a Scotsman." + +"It fails to do it, notwithstanding, brother Cap; for +among two or three hundred of the fellows that we have +in this garrison there are not half a dozen who will not +swear that the fish is unfit to be eaten. Even some of the +lads, who never tasted venison except as poachers at home, +turn up their noses at the fattest haunches that we get +here." + +"Ay, that is Christian natur'," put in Pathfinder; "and +I must say it is none to its credit. Now, a red-skin never +repines, but is always thankful for the food he gets, +whether it be fat or lean, venison or bear, wild turkey's +breast or wild goose's wing. To the shame of us white +men be it said, that we look upon blessings without satis- +faction, and consider trifling evils as matters of great ac- +count." + +"It is so with the 55th, as I can answer, though I cannot +say as much for their Christianity," returned the Sergeant. +"Even the major himself, old Duncan of Lundie, will +sometimes swear that an oatmeal cake is better fare than +the Oswego bass, and sigh for a swallow of Highland water, +when, if so minded, he has the whole of Ontario to quench +his thirst in." + +"Has Major Duncan a wife and children?" asked Mabel, +whose thoughts naturally turned towards her own sex in +her new situation. + +"Not he, girl; though they do say that he has a be- +trothed at home. The lady, it seems, is willing to wait, +rather than suffer the hardships of service in this wild +region; all of which, brother Cap, is not according to my +notions of a woman's duties. Your sister thought differ- +ently." + +"I hope, Sergeant, you do not think of Mabel for a sol- +dier's wife," returned Cap gravely. "Our family has done +its share in that way already, and it's high time that the +sea was again remembered." + +"I do not think of finding a husband for the girl in the +55th, or any other regiment, I can promise you, brother; +though I do think it getting to be time that the child were +respectably married." + +"Father!" + +"'Tis not their gifts, Sergeant, to talk of these matters +in so open a manner," said the guide; "for I've seen it +verified by experience, that he who would follow the trail +of a virgin's good-will must not go shouting out his +thoughts behind her. So, if you please, we will talk of +something else." + +"Well, then, brother Cap, I hope that bit of a cold +roasted pig is to your mind; you seem to fancy the food." + +"Ay, ay; give me civilized grub if I must eat," returned +the pertinacious seaman. "Venison is well enough for +your inland sailors, but we of the ocean like a little of that +which we understand." + +Here Pathfinder laid down his knife and fork, and in- +dulged in a hearty laugh, though in his always silent man- +ner; then he asked, with a little curiosity in his manner, -- + +"Don't, you miss the skin, Master Cap? don't you miss +the skin? + +"It would have been better for its jacket, I think my- +self, Pathfinder; but I suppose it is a fashion of the woods +to serve up shoats in this style." + +"Well, well, a man may go round the 'arth and not +know everything. If you had had the skinning of that +pig, Master Cap, it would have left you sore hands. The +cratur' is a hedgehog!" + +"Blast me, if I thought it wholesome natural pork +either!" returned Cap. "But then I believed even a pig +might lose some of its good qualities up hereaway in the +woods." + +"If the skinning of it, brother, does not fall to my +duty. Pathfinder, I hope you didn't find Mabel disobedi- +ent on the march?" + +"Not she, not she. If Mabel is only half as well satisfied +with Jasper and Pathfinder as the Pathfinder and Jasper +are satisfied with her, Sergeant, we shall be friends for the +remainder of our days." + +As the guide spoke, he turned his eyes towards the +blushing girl, with a sort of innocent desire to know her +opinion; and then, with an inborn delicacy, which proved +he was far superior to the vulgar desire to invade the +sanctity of feminine feeling, he looked at his plate, and +seemed to regret his own boldness. + +"Well, well, we must remember that women are not +men, my friend," resumed the Sergeant, "and make proper +allowances for nature and education. A recruit is not a +veteran. Any man knows that it takes longer to make +a good soldier than it takes to make anything else." + +"This is new doctrine, Sergeant," said Cap with some +spirit. "We old seamen are apt to think that six soldiers, +ay, and capital soldiers too, might be made while one sailor +is getting his education." + +"Ay, brother Cap, I've seen something of the opinions +which seafaring men have of themselves," returned the +brother-in-law, with a smile as bland as comported with +his saturnine features; "for I was many years one of the +garrison in a seaport. You and I have conversed on the +subject before and I'm afraid we shall never agree. But +if you wish to know what the difference is between a real +soldier and man in what I should call a state of nature, +you have only to look at a battalion of the 55th on parade +this afternoon, and then, when you get back to York, ex- +amine one of the militia regiments making its greatest +efforts." + +"Well, to my eye, Sergeant, there is very little difference, +not more than you'll find between a brig and a snow. To +me they seem alike: all scarlet, and feathers, and powder, +and pipeclay." + +"So much, sir, for the judgment of a sailor," returned +the Sergeant with dignity; "but perhaps you are not aware +that it requires a year to teach a true soldier how to eat?" + +"So much the worse for him. The militia know how +to eat at starting; for I have often heard that, on their +marches, they commonly eat all before them, even if they +do nothing else." + +"They have their gifts, I suppose, like other men," ob- +served Pathfinder, with a view to preserve the peace, which +was evidently in some danger of being broken by the ob- +stinate predilection of each of the disputants in favor of +his own calling; "and when a man has his gift from +Providence, it is commonly idle to endeavor to bear up +against it. The 55th, Sergeant, is a judicous regiment in +the way of eating, as I know from having been so long in +its company though I daeesay militia corps could be found +that would outdo them in feats of that natur' too." + +"Uncle;" said Mabel, "if you have breakfasted, I will +thank you to go out upon the bastion with me again. +We have neither of us half seen the lake, and it would be +hardly seemly for a young woman to be walking about the +fort, the first day of her arrival, quite alone." + +Cap understood the motive of Mabel; and having, at +the bottom, a hearty friendship for his brother-in-law, he +was willing enough to defer the argument until they had +been longer together, for the idea of abandoning it alto- +gether never crossed the mind of one so dogmatical and +obstinate. He accordingly accompanied his niece, leaving +Sergeant Dunham and his friend, the Pathfinder, alone +together. As soon as his adversary had beat a retreat, the +Sergeant, who did not quite so well understand the +manoeuvre of his daughter, turned to his companion, +and, with a smile which was not without triumph, he re- +marked, -- + +"The army, Pathfinder, has never yet done itself justice +in the way of asserting its rights; and though modesty +becomes a man, whether he is in a red coat or a black one, +or, for that matter, in his shirt-sleeves, I don't like to let +a good opportunity slip of saying a word in its behalf. +Well, my friend," laying his own hand on one of the Path- +finder's, and giving it a hearty squeeze, "how do you like +the girl?" + +"You have reason to be proud of her, Sergeant. I have +seen many of her sex, and some that were great and beau- +tiful; but never before did I meet with one in whom I +thought Providence had so well balanced the different +gifts." + +"And the good opinion, I can tell you, Pathfinder, is +mutual. She told me last night all about your coolness, +and spirit, and kindness, -- particularly the last, for kind- +ness counts for more than half with females, my friend, -- +and the first inspection seems to give satisfaction on both +sides. Brush up the uniform, and pay a little more atten- +tion to the outside, Pathfinder, and you will have the girl +heart and hand." + +"Nay, nay, Sergeant, I've forgotten nothing that you +have told me, and grudge no reasonable pains to make +myself as pleasant in the eyes of Mabel as she is getting to +be in mine. I cleaned and brightened up Killdeer this +morning as soon as the sun rose; and, in my judgment, +the piece never looked better than it does at this very +moment." + +"That is according to your hunting notions, Pathfinder; +but firearms should sparkle and glitter in the sun, and I +never yet could see any beauty in a clouded barrel." + +"Lord Howe thought otherwise, Sergeant; and he was +accounted a good soldier." + +"Very true; his lordship had all the barrels of his regi- +ment darkened, and what good came of it? You can see +his 'scutcheon hanging in the English church at Albany. +No, no, my worthy friend, a soldier should be a soldier, +and at no time ought he to be ashamed or afraid to carry +about him the signs and symbols of his honorable trade. +Had you much discourse with Mabel, Pathfinder, as you +came along in the canoe?" + +"There was not much opportunity, Sergeant, and then +I found myself so much beneath her in idees, that I was +afraid to speak of much beyond what belonged to my own +gifts." + +"Therein you are partly right and partly wrong, my +friend. Women love trifling discourse, though they like +to have most of it to themselves. Now you know I'm a +man that do not loosen my tongue at every giddy thought; +and yet there were days when I could see that Mabel's +mother thought none the worse of me because I descended +a little from my manhood. It is true, I was twenty-two +years younger then than I am to-day; and, moreover, +instead of being the oldest sergeant in the regiment, I was +the youngest. Dignity is commanding and useful, and +there is no getting on without it, as respects the men; but +if you would be thoroughly esteemed by a woman, it is +necessary to condescend a little on occasions." + +"Ah's me, Sergeant, I sometimes fear it will never do." + +"Why do you think so discouragingly of a matter on +which I thought both our minds were made up?" + +"We did agree, if Mabel should prove what you told me +she was, and if the girl could fancy a rude hunter and +guide, that I should quit some of my wandering ways, and +try to humanize my mind down to a wife and children. +But since I have seen the girl, I will own that many mis- +givings have come over me." + +"How's this?" interrupted the Sergeant sternly; "did +I not understand you to say that you were pleased? -- and +is Mabel a young woman to disappoint expectation?" + +"Ah, Sergeant, it is not Mabel that I distrust, but my- +self. I am but a poor ignorant woodsman, after all; and +perhaps I'm not, in trutb, as good as even you and I may +think me." + +"If you doubt your own judgment of yourself, Path- +finder, I beg you will not doubt mine. Am I not accus- +tomed to judge men's character? and am I often deceived? +Ask Major Duncan, sir, if you desire any assurances in this +particular." + +"But, Sergeant, we have long been friends; have fi't +side by side a dozen times, and have done each other many +services. When this is the case, men are apt to think over +kindly of each other; and I fear me that the daughter may +not be so likely to view a plain ignorant hunter as favor- +ably as the father does." + +"Tut, tut, Pathfinder! you don't know yourself, man, +and may put all faith in my judgment. In the first place +you have experience; and, as all girls must want that, no +prudent young woman would overlook such a qualification. +Then you are not one of the coxcombs that strut about +when they first join a regiment; but a man who has seen +service, and who carries the marks of it on his person and +countenance. I daresay you have been under fire some +thirty or forty times, counting all the skirmishes and am- +bushes that you've seen." + +"All of that, Sergeant, all of that; but what will it +avail in gaining the good-will of a tender-hearted young +female?" + +"It will gain the day. Experience in the field is as +good in love as in war. But you are as honest-hearted +and as loyal a subject as the king can boast of -- God bless +him!" + +"That may be too; but I'm afeared I'm too rude and +too old and too wild like to suit the fancy of such a young +and delicate girl as Mabel, who has been unused to our +wilderness ways, and may think the settlements better +suited to her gifts and inclinations." + +"These are new misgivings for you, my friend; and I +wonder they were never paraded before." + +"Because I never knew my own worthlessness, perhaps, +until I saw Mabel. I have travelled with some as fair, +and have guided them through the forest, and seen them +in their perils and in their gladness; but they were always +too much above me to make me think of them as more +than so many feeble ones I was bound to protect and de- +fend. The case is now different. Mabel and I are so +nearly alike, that I feel weighed down with a load that is +hard to bear, at finding us so unlike. I do wish, Sergeant, +that I was ten years younger, more comely to look at, and +better suited to please a handsome young woman's fancy." + +"Cheer up, my brave friend, and trust to a father's knowl- +edge of womankind. Mabel half loves you already, and +a fortnight's intercourse and kindness, down among the +islands yonder will close ranks with the other half. The +girl as much as told me this herself last night." + +"Can this be so, Sergeant?" said the guide, whose meek +and modest nature shrank from viewing himself in colors +so favorable. "Can this be truly so? I am but a poor +hunter and Mabel, I see, is fit to be an officer's lady. Do +you think the girl will consent to quit all her beloved set- +tlement usages, and her visitings and church-goings, to +dwell with a plain guide and hunter up hereaway in the +woods? Will she not in the end, crave her old ways, and +a better man?" + +"A better man, Pathfinder, would be hard to find," re- +turned the father. "As for town usages, they are soon +forgotten in the freedom of the forest, and Mabel has just +spirit enough to dwell on a frontier. I've not planned +this marriage, my friend, without thinking it over, as a +general does his campaign. At first, I thought of bringing +you into the regiment, that you might succeed me when I +retire, which must be sooner or later; but on reflection, +Pathfinder I think you are scarcely fitted for the office. +Still, if not a soldier in all the meanings of the word, you +are a soldier in its best meaning, and I know that you have +the good-will of every officer in the corps. As long as I +live, Mabel can dwell with me, and you will always have a +home when you return from your scoutings and marches." + +"This is very pleasant to think of, Sergeant, if the girl +can only come into our wishes with good-will. But, ah's +me! it does not seem that one like myself can ever be agree- +able in her handsome eyes. If I were younger, and more +comely, now, as Jasper Western is, for instance, there might +be a chance -- yes, then, indeed, there might be some +chance." + +"That for Jasper Eau-douce, and every younker of them +in or about the fort!" returned the Sergeant, snapping his +fingers. "If not actually a younger, you are a younger-look- +ing, ay, and a better-looking man than the _Scud's_ master +- " + +"Anan?" said Pathfinder, looking up at his companion +with an expression of doubt, as if he did not understand +his meaning. + +"I say if not actually younger in days and years, you +look more hardy and like whipcord than Jasper, or any of +them; and there will be more of you, thirty years hence, +than of all of them put together. A good conscience will +keep one like you a mere boy all his life." + +"Jasper has as clear a conscience as any youth I know, +Sergeant, and is as likely to wear on that account as any +in the colony." + +"Then you are my friend," squeezing the other's hand, +- "my tried, sworn, and +constant friend." + +"Yes, we have been friends, Sergeant, near twenty years +before Mabel was born." + +"True enough; before Mabel was born, we were well- +tried friends; and the hussy would never dream of refus- +ing to marry a man who was her father's friend before she +was born." + +"We don't know, Sergeant, we don't know. Like loves +like. The young prefer the young for companions, and +the old the old." + +"Not for wives, Pathfinder; I never knew an old man, +now, who had an objection to a young wife. Then you +are respected and esteemed by every officer in the fort, as +I have said already, and it will please her fancy to like a +man that every one else likes." + +"I hope I have no enemies but the Mingos," returned +the guide, stroking down his hair meekly and speaking +thoughtfully. "I've tried to do right, and that ought to +make friends, though it sometimes fails." + +"And you may be said to keep the best company; for +even old Duncan of Lundie is glad to see you, and you pass +hours in his society. Of all the guides, he confides most +in you." + +"Ay, even greater than he is have marched by my side +for days, and have conversed with me as if I were their +brother; but, Sergeant, I have never been puffed up by +their company, for I know that the woods often bring +men to a level who would not be so in the settlements." + +"And you are known to be the greatest rifle shot that +ever pulled trigger in all this region." + +"If Mabel could fancy a man for that, I might have no +great reason to despair; and yet, Sergeant, I sometimes +think that it is all as much owing to Killdeer as to any skill +of my own. It is sartainly a wonderful piece, and might +do as much in the hands of another." + +"That is your own humble opinion of yourself, Path- +finder; but we have seen too many fail with the same +weapon, and you succeed too often with the rifles of other +men, to allow me to agree with you. We will get up a +shooting match in a day or two, when you call show your +skill, and when Mabel will form some judgment concern- +ing your true character." + +"Will that be fair, Sergeant? Everybody knows that +Killdeer seldom misses; and ought we to make a trial of +this sort when we all know what must be the result?" + +"Tut, tut, man! I foresee I must do half this courting +for you. For one who is always inside of the smoke in a +skirmish, you are the faintest-hearted suitor I ever met +with. Remember, Mabel comes of a bold stock; and the +girl will be as likely to admire a man as her mother was +before her." + +Here the Sergeant arose, and proceeded to attend to his +never-ceasing duties, without apology; the terms on which +the guide stood with all in the garrison rendering this +freedom quite a matter of course. + +The reader will have gathered from the conversation +just related, one of the plans that Sergeant Dunham had +in view in causing his daughter to be brought to the +frontier. Although necessarily much weaned from the +caresses and blandishments that had rendered his child so +dear to him during the first year or two of his widowerhood, +he had still a strong but somewhat latent love for her. +Accustomed to command and to obey, without being ques- +tioned himself or questioning others, concerning the rea- +sonableness of the mandates, he was perhaps too much +disposed to believe that his daughter would marry the man +he might select, while he was far from being disposed to +do violence to her wishes. The fact was; few knew the +Pathfinder intimately without secretly believing him to +be one of extraordinary qualities. Ever the same, simple- +minded, faithful, utterly without fear, and yet prudent, +foremost in all warrantable enterprises, or what the opinion +of the day considered as such, and never engaged in any- +thing to call a blush to his cheek or censure on his acts, it +was not possible to live much with this being and not feel +respect and admiration for him which had no reference +to his position in life. The most surprising peculiarity +about the man himself was the entire indifference with +which he regarded all distinctions which did not depend +on personal merit. He was respectful to his superiors +from habit; but had often been known to correct their +mistakes and to reprove their vices with a fearlessness that +proved how essentially he regarded the more material +points, and with a natural discrimination that appeared to +set education at defiance. In short, a disbeliever in the +ability of man to distinguish between good and evil with- +out the aid of instruction, would have been staggered by +the character of this extraordinary inhabitant of the fron- +tier. His feelings appeared to possess the freshness and +nature of the forest in which he passed so much of his +time; and no casuist could have made clearer decisions in +matters relating to right and wrong; and yet he was not +without his prejudices, which, though few, and colored by +the character and usages of the individual, were deep- +rooted, and almost formed a part of his nature. But the +most striking feature about the moral organization of +Pathfinder was his beautiful and unerring sense of justice. +This noble trait -- and without it no man can be truly great, +with it no man other than respectable -- probably had its +unseen influence on all who associated with him; for the +common and unprincipled brawler of the camp had been +known to return from an expedition made in his company +rebuked by his sentiments, softened by his language, and +improved by his example. As might have been expected, +with so elevated a quality his fidelity was like the immov- +able rock; treachery in him was classed among the things +which are impossible; and as he seldom retired before his +enemies, so was he never known, under any circumstances +that admitted of an alternative, to abandon a friend. The +affinities of such a character were, as a matter of course, +those of like for like. His associates and intimates, though +more or less determined by chance, were generally of the +highest order as to moral propensities; for he appeared to +possess a species of instinctive discrimination, which led +him, insensibly to himself, most probably, to cling closest +to those whose characters would best reward his friend- +ship. In short, it was said of the Pathfinder, by one ac- +customed to study his fellows, that he was a fair example +of what a just-minded and pure man might be, while un- +tempted by unruly or ambitious desires, and left to follow +the bias of his feelings, amid the solitary grandeur and +ennobling influences of a sublime nature; neither led aside +by the inducements which influence all to do evil amid the +incentives of civilization, nor forgetful of the Almighty +Being whose spirit pervades the wilderness as well as the +towns. + +Such was the man whom Sergeant Dunham had selected +as the husband of Mabel. In making this choice, he had +not been as much governed by a clear and judicious view +of the merits of the individual, perhaps, as by his own +likings; still no one knew the Pathfinder so intimately as +himself without always conceding to the honest guide a +high place in his esteem on account of these very virtues. +That his daughter could find any serious objections to the +match the old soldier did not apprehend; while, on the +other hand, he saw many advantages to himself in dim +perspective, connected with the decline of his days, and +an evening of life passed among descendants who were +equally dear to him through both parents. He had first +made the proposition to his friend, who had listened to it +kindly, but who, the Sergeant was now pleased to find, +already betrayed a willingness to come into his own views +that was proportioned to the doubts and misgivings pro- +ceeding from his humble distrust of himself. + + + +CHAPTER X. + +Think not I love him, though I ask for him; +'Tis but a peevish boy: -- yet he talks well -- +But what care I for words? + + +A week passed in the usual routine of a garrison. Mabel +was becoming used to a situation that, at first she had +found not only novel, but a little irksome; and the officers +and men in their turn, gradually familiarized to the presence +of a young and blooming girl, whose attire and carriage +had that air of modest gentility about them which she had +obtained in the family of her patroness, annoyed her less +by their ill-concealed admiration, while they gratified her +by the respect which, she was fain to think, they paid her +on account of her father; but which, in truth, was more +to be attributed to her own modest but spirited deport- +ment, than to any deference for the worthy Sergeant. + +Acquaintances made in a forest, or in any circumstances +of unusual excitement, soon attain their limits. Mabel +found one week's residence at Oswego sufficient to deter- +mine her as to those with whom she might be intimate +and those whom she ought to avoid. The sort of neutral +position occupied by her father, who was not an officer, +while he was so much more than a common soldier, by +keeping her aloof from the two great classes of military +life, lessened the number of those whom she was com- +pelled to know, and made the duty of decision compara- +tively easy. Still she soon discovered that there were a +few, even among those that could aspire to a seat at the +Commandant's table, who were disposed to overlook the +halbert for the novelty of a well-turned figure and of a +pretty, winning face; and by the end of the first two or +three days she had admirers even among the gentlemen. +The Quartermaster, in particular, a middle-aged soldier, +who had more than once tried the blessings of matrimony +already, but was now a widower, was evidently disposed to +increase his intimacy with the Sergeant, though their +duties often brought them together; and the youngsters +among his messmates did not fail to note that this man of +method, who was a Scotsman of the name of Muir, was +much more frequent in his visits to the quarters of his +subordinate than had formerly been his wont. A laugh, +or a joke, in honor of the "Sergeant's daughter," how- +ever, limited their strictures; though "Mabel Dunham" +was soon a toast that even the ensign, or the lieutenant, +did not disdain to give. + +At the end of the week, Duncan of Lundie sent for +Sergeant Dunham, after evening roll-call, on business of a +nature that, it was understood, required a personal con- +ference. The old veteran dwelt in a movable hut, which, +being placed on trucks, he could order to be wheeled about +at pleasure, sometimes living in one part of the area within +the fort, and sometimes in another. On the present occa- +sion, he had made a halt near the centre; and there he +was found by his subordinate, who was admitted to his +presence without any delay or dancing attendance in an +ante-chamber. In point of fact, there was very little dif- +ference in the quality of the accommodations allowed to +the officers and those allowed to the men, the former being +merely granted the most room. + +"Walk in, Sergeant, walk in, my good friend," said old +Lundie heartily, as his inferior stood in a respectful atti- +tude at the door of a sort of library and bedroom into +which he had been ushered; -- "walk in, and take a seat on +that stool. I have sent for you, man; to discuss anything +but rosters and pay-rolls this evening. It is now many +years since we have been comrades, and 'auld lang syne' +should count for something, even between a major and his +orderly, a Scot and a Yankee. Sit ye down, man, and just +put yourself at your ease. It has been a fine day, Sergeant." + +"It has indeed, Major Duncan," returned the other, +who, though he complied so far as to take the seat, was +much too practised not to understand the degree of respect +it was necessary to maintain in his manner; "a very fine +day, sir, it has been and we may look for more of them at +this season." + +"I hope so with all my heart. The crops look well as +it is man and you'll be finding that the 55th make almost +as good farmers as soldiers. I never saw better potatoes +in Scotland than we are likely to have in that new patch +of ours." + +"They promise a good yield, Major Duncan; and, in that +light, a more comfortable winter than the last." + +"Life is progressive, Sergeant, in its comforts as well as +in its need of them. We grow old, and I begin to think +it time to retire and settle in life. I feel that my working +days are nearly over." + +"The king, God bless him! sir, has much good service +in your honor yet." + +"It may be so, Sergeant Dunham, especially if he should +happen to have a spare lieutenant-colonelcy left." + +"The 55th will be honored the day that commission is +given to Duncan of Lundie, sir." + +"And Duncan of Lundie will be honored the day he re- +ceives it. But, Sergeant, if you have never had a lieutenant- +colonelcy, you have had a good wife, and that is the next +thing to rank in making a man happy." + +"I have been married, Major Duncan; but it is now a +long time since I have had no drawback on the love I bear +his majesty and my duty." + +"What, man! not even the love you bear that active +little round-limbed, rosy-cheeked daughter that I have +seen in the fort these last few days! Out upon you, Ser- +geant! old fellow as I am, I could almost love that little +lassie myself, and send the lieuteuant-colonelcy to the +devil." + +"We all know where Major Duncan's heart is, and that +is in Scotland, where a beautiful lady is ready and willing +to make him happy, as soon as his own sense of duty shall +permit." + +"Ay, hope is ever a far-off thing, Sergeant," returned +the superior, a shade of melancholy passing over his hard +Scottish features as he spoke; "and bonnie Scotland is a +far-off country. Well, if we have no heather and oatmeal +in this region, we have venison for the killing of it and +salmon as plenty as at Berwick-upon-Tweed. Is it true, +Sergeant that the men complain of having been over- +venisoned and over-pigeoned of late?" + +"Not for some weeks, Major Duncan, for neither deer +nor birds are so plenty at this season as they have been. +They begin to throw their remarks about concerning the +salmon, but I trust we shall get through the summer +without any serious disturbance on the score of food. The +Scotch in the battalion do, indeed, talk more than is pru- +dent of their want of oatmeal, grumbling occasionally of +our wheaten bread." + +"Ah, that is human nature, Sergeant! pure, unadul- +terated Scotch human nature. A cake, man, to say the +truth, is an agreeable morsel, and I often see the time +when I pine for a bite myself." + +"If the feeling gets to be troublesome, Major Duncan, -- +in the men, I mean, sir, for I would not think of saying so +disrespectful a thing to your honor, -- but if the men ever +pine seriously for their natural food, I would humbly +recommend that some oatmeal be imported, or prepared in +this country for them, and I think we shall hear no more +of it. A very little would answer for a cure, sir." + +"You are a wag, Sergeant; but hang me if I am sure +you are not right. There may be sweeter things in this +world, after all, than oatmeal. You have a sweet daughter, +Dunham, for one." + +"The girl is like her mother, Major Duncan, and will +pass inspection," said the Sergeant proudly. "Neither +was brought up on anything better than good American +flour. The girl will pass inspection, sir." + +"That would she, I'll answer for it. Well, I may as well +come to the point at once, man, and bring up my reserve +into the front of the battle. Here is Davy Muir, the +quartermaster, disposed to make your daughter his wife, +and he has just got me to open the matter to you, being +fearful of compromising his own dignity; and I may as +well add that half the youngsters in the fort toast her, and +talk of her from morning till night." + +"She is much honored, sir," returned the father stiffly; +"but I trust the gentlemen will find something more +worthy of them to talk about ere long. I hope to see her +the wife of an honest man before many weeks, sir." + +"Yes, Davy is an honest man, and that is more than can +be said for all in the quartermaster's department, I'm +thinking, Sergeant," returned Lundie, with a slight smile. +"Well, then may I tell the Cupid-stricken youth that the +matter is as good as settled?" + +"I thank your honor; but Mabel is betrothed to an- +other." + +"The devil she is! That will produce a stir in the fort; +though I'm not sorry to hear it either, for, to be frank +with you, Sergeant, I'm no great admirer of unequal +matches." + +"I think with your honor, and have no desire to see my +daughter an officer's lady. If she can get as high as her +mother was before her, it ought to satisfy any reasonable +woman." + +"And may I ask, Sergeant, who is the lucky man that +you intend to call son-in-law ?" + +"The Pathfinder, your honor." + +"Pathfinder!" + +"The same, Major Duncan; and in naming him to you, +I give you his whole history. No one is better known on +this frontier than my honest, brave, true-hearted friend." + +"All that is true enough; but is he, after all, the sort of +person to make a girl of twenty happy?" + +"Why not, your honor? The man is at the head of his +calling. There is no other guide or scout connected with +the army who has half the reputation of Pathfinder, or +who deserves to have it half as well." + +"Very true, Sergeant; but is the reputation of a scout +exactly the sort of renown to captivate a girl's fancy?" + +"Talking of girls' fancies, sir, is in my humble opinion +much like talking of a recruit's judgment. If we were to +take the movements of the awkward squad, sir, as a guide, +we should never form a decent line in battalion, Major +Duncan." + +"But your daughter has nothing awkward about her: +for a genteeler girl of her class could not be found in old +Albion itself. Is she of your way of thinking in this +matter? -- though I suppose she must be, as you say she is +betrothed." + +"We have not yet conversed on the subject, your honor; +but I consider her mind as good as made up, from several +little circumstances which might be named." + +"And what are these circumstances, Sergeant?" asked +the Major, who began to take more interest than he had +at first felt on the subject. "I confess a little curiosity to +know something about a woman's mind, being, as you +know, a bachelor myself." + +"Why, your honor, when I speak of the Pathfinder to +the girl, she always looks me full in the face; chimes in +with everything I say in his favor, and has a frank open +way with her, which says as much as if she half considered +him already as a husband." + +"Hum! and these signs, you think, Dunham, are faith- +ful tokens of your daughter's feelings?" + +"I do, your honor, for they strike me as natural. When +I find a man, sir, who looks me full in the face, while he +praises an officer, -- for, begging your honor's pardon, the +men will sometimes pass their strictures on their betters, +- and when I find a man looking me in the eyes as he +praises his captain, I always set it down that the fellow is +honest, and means what he says." + +"Is there not some material difference in the age of the +intended bridegroom and that of his pretty bride, Ser- +geant?" + +"You are quite right, sir; Pathfinder is well advanced +towards forty, and Mabel has every prospect of happiness +that a young woman can derive from the certainty of pos- +sessing an experienced husband. I was quite forty myself, +your honor, when I married her mother." + +"But will your daughter be as likely to admire a green +hunting-shirt, such as that our worthy guide wears, with a +fox-skin cap, as the smart uniform of the 55th?" + +"Perhaps not, sir; and therefore she will have the merit +of self-denial, which always makes a young woman wiser +and better." + +"And are you not afraid that she may be left a widow +while still a young woman? what between wild beasts, and +wilder savages, Pathfinder may be said to carry his life in +his hand." + +"'Every bullet has its billet,' Lundie," for so the Major +was fond of being called in his moments of condescension, +and when not engaged in military affairs; "and no man in +the 55th can call himself beyond or above the chances of +sudden death. In that particular, Mabel would gain nothing +by a change. Besides, sir, if I may speak freely on such a +subject, I much doubt if ever Pathfinder dies in battle, or +by any of the sudden chances of the wilderness." + +"And why so, Sergeant?" asked the Major. "He is a +soldier, so far as danger is concerned, and one that is much +more than usually exposed; and, being free of his person, +why should he expect to escape when others do not?" + +"I do not believe, your honor, that the Pathfinder con- +siders his own chances better than any one's else, but the +man will never die by a bullet. I have seen him so often +handling his rifle with as much composure as if it were a +shepherd's crook, in the midst of the heaviest showers of +bullets, and under so many extraordinary circumstances, +that I do not think Providence means he should ever fall +in that manner. And yet, if there be a man in his Majesty's +dominions who really deserves such a death, it is Path- +finder." + +"We never know, Sergeant," returned Lundie, with a +countenance grave with thought; "and the less we say +about it, perhaps, the better. But will your daughter -- +Mabel, I think, you call her -- will Mabel be as willing to +accept one who, after all, is a mere hanger-on of the army, +as to take one from the service itself? There is no hope +of promotion for the guide, Sergeant." + +"He is at the head of his corps already, your honor. In +short, Mabel has made up her mind on this subject; and, +as your honor has had the condescension to speak to me +about Mr. Muir, I trust you will be kind enough to say +that the girl is as good as billeted for life." + +"Well, well, this is your own matter, and, now -- Ser- +geant Dunham!" + +"Your honor," said the other, rising, and giving the +customary salute. + +"You have been told it is my intention to send you +down among the Thousand Islands for the next month. +All the old subalterns have had their tours of duty in that +quarter -- all that I like to trust at least; and it has at +length come to your turn. Lieutenant Muir, it is true, +claims his right; but, being quartermaster, I do not like +to break up well-established arrangements. Are the men +drafted?" + +"Everything is ready, your honor. The draft is made, +and I understood that the canoe which got in last night +brought a message to say that the party already below is +looking out for the relief." + +"It did; and you must sail the day after to-morrow, if +not to-morrow night. It will be wise, perhaps, to sail in +the dark." + +"So Jasper thinks, Major Duncan; and I know no one +more to be depended on in such an affair than young +Jasper Western." + +"Young Jasper Eau-douce!" said Lundie, a slight smile +gathering around his usually stern mouth. "Will that +lad be of your party, Sergeant?" + +"Your honor will remember that the _Scud_ never quits +port without him." + +"True; but all general rules have their exceptions. +Have I not seen a seafaring person about the fort within +the last few days?" + +"No doubt, your honor; it is Master Cap, a brother-in- +law of mine, who brought my daughter from below." + +"Why not put him in the _Scud_ for this cruise, Sergeant, +and leave Jasper behind? Your brother-in-law would like +the variety of a fresh-water cruise, and you would enjoy +more of his company." + +"I intended to ask your honor's permission to take him +along; but he must go as a volunteer. Jasper is too brave +a lad to be turned out of his command without a reason, +Major Duncan; and I'm afraid brother Cap despises fresh +water too much to do duty on it." + +"Quite right, Sergeant, and I leave all this to your own +discretion. Eau-douce must retain his command, on sec- +ond thoughts. You intend that Pathfinder shall also be +of the party?" + +"If your honor approves of it. There will be service +for both the guides, the Indian as well as the white man." + +"I think you are right. Well, Sergeant, I wish you +good luck in the enterprise; and remember the post is to +be destroyed and abandoned when your command is with- +drawn. It will have done its work by that time, or we +shall have failed entirely, and it is too ticklish a position +to be maintained unnecessarily. You can retire." + +Sergeant Dunham gave the customary salute, turned on +his heels as if they bad been pivots, and had got the door +nearly drawn to after him, when he was suddenly recalled. + +"I had forgotten, Sergeant, the younger officers have +begged for a shooting match, and to-morrow has been +named for the day. All competitors will be admitted, and +the prizes will be a silver-mounted powder horn, a leathern +flask ditto," reading from a piece of paper, "as I see by +the professional jargon of this bill, and a silk calash for a +lady. The latter is to enable the victor to show his gal- +lantry by making an offering of it to her he best loves." + +"All very agreeable, your honor, at least to him that +succeeds. Is the Pathfinder to be permitted to enter?" + +"I do not well see how he can be excluded, if he choose +to come forward. Latterly, I have observed that he takes +no share in these sports, probably from a conviction of his +own unequalled skill." + +"That's it, Major Duncan; the honest fellow knows +there is not a man on the frontier who can equal him, and +he does not wish to spoil the pleasure of others. I think +we may trust to his delicacy in anything, sir. Perhaps it +may be as well to let him have his own way?" + +"In this instance we must, Sergeant. Whether he will +be as successful in all others remains to be seen. I wish +you good evening, Dunham." + +The Sergeant now withdrew, leaving Duncan of Lundie +to his own thoughts: that they were not altogether disa- +greeable was to be inferred from the smiles which occa- +sionally covered a countenance hard and martial in its +usual expression, though there were moments in which all +its severe sobriety prevailed. Half an hour might have +passed, when a tap at the door was answered by a direc- +tion to enter. A middle-aged man, in the dress of an offi- +cer, but whose uniform wanted the usual smartness of the +profession, made his appearance, and was saluted as "Mr. +Muir." + +"I have come sir, at your bidding, to know my for- +tune," said the Quartermaster, in a strong Scotch accent, +as soon as he had taken the seat which was proffered to +him. "To say the truth to you, Major Duncan, this girl +is making as much havoc in the garrison as the French +did before Ty: I never witnessed so general a rout in so +short a time!" + +"Surely, Davy, you don't mean to persuade me that your +young and unsophisticated heart is in such a flame, after +one week's ignition? Why, man, this is worse than the +affair in Sootland, where it was said the heat within was so +intense that it just burnt a hole through your own pre- +cious body, and left a place for all the lassies to peer in at, +to see what the combustible material was worth." + +"Ye'll have your own way, Major Duncan; and your +father and mother would have theirs before ye, even if +the enemy were in the camp. I see nothing so extraordi- +nar' in young people following the bent of their inclina- +tions and wishes." + +"But you've followed yours so often, Davy, that I should +think by this time it had lost the edge of novelty. In- +cluding that informal affair in Scotland, when you were a +lad, you've been married four times already." + +"Only three, Major, as I hope to get another wife. I've +not yet had my number: no, no; only three." + +"I'm thinking, Davy, you don't include the first affair +I mentioned; that in which there was no parson." + +"And why should I Major? The courts decided that +it was no marriage; and what more could a man want? +The woman took advantage of a slight amorous propensity +that may be a weakness in my disposition, perhaps, and +inveigled me into a contract which was found to be illegal." + +"If I remember right, Muir, there were thought to be +two sides to that question, in the time of it?" + +"It would be but an indifferent question, my dear +Major, that hadn't two sides to it; and I've known many +that had three. But the poor woman's dead, and there +was no issue; so nothing came of it after all. Then, I was +particularly unfortunate with my second wife; I say sec- +ond, Major, out of deference to you, and on the mere sup- +position that the first was a marriage at all; but first or +second, I was particularly unfortunate with Jeannie +Graham, who died in the first lustrum, leaving neither +chick nor chiel behind her. I do think, if Jeannie had +survived, I never should have turned my thoughts towards +another wife." + +"But as she did not, you married twice after her death; +and are desirous of doing so a third time." + +"The truth can never justly be gainsaid, Major Duncan, +and I am always ready to avow it. I'm thinking, Lundie, +you are melancholar this fine evening?" + +"No, Muir, not melancholy absolutely; but a little +thoughtful, I confess. I was looking back to my boyish +days, when I, the laird's son, and you, the parson's, roamed +about our native hills, happy and careless boys, taking lit- +tle heed to the future; and then have followed some +thoughts, that may be a little painful, concerning that +future as it has turned out to be." + +"Surely, Lundie, ye do not complain of yer portion of +it. You've risen to be a major, and will soon be a lieute- +nant-colonel, if letters tell the truth; while I am just one +step higher than when your honored father gave me my +first commission, and a poor deevil of a quartermaster." + +"And the four wives?" + +"Three, Lundie; three only that were legal, even under +our own liberal and sanctified laws." + +"Well, then, let it be three. Ye know, Davy," said +Major Duncan, insensibly dropping into the pronunciation +and dialect of his youth, as is much the practice with +educated Scotchmen as they warm with a subject that +comes near the heart, -- "ye know, Davy, that my own +choice has long been made, and in how anxious and hope- +wearied a manner I've waited for that happy hour when I +can call the woman I've so long loved a wife; and here +have you, without fortune, name, birth, or merit -- I mean +particular merit -- " + +"Na, na; dinna say that, Lundie. The Muirs are of +gude bluid." + +"Well, then, without aught but bluid, ye've wived four +times -- " + +"I tall ye but thrice, Lundie. Ye'll weaken auld +friendship if ye call it four." + +"Put it at yer own number, Davy; and it's far more +than yer share. Our lives have been very different, on +the score of matrimony, at least; you must allow that, my +old friend." + +"And which do you think has been the gainer, Major, +speaking as frankly thegither as we did when lads?" + +"Nay, I've nothing to conceal. My days have passed in +hope deferred, while yours have passed in -- " + +"Not in hope realized, I give you mine honor, Major +Duncan," interrupted the Quartermaster. "Each new ex- +periment I have thought might prove an advantage; but +disappointment seems the lot of man. Ah! this is a vain +world of ours, Lundie, it must be owned; and in nothing +vainer than in matrimony." + +"And yet you are ready to put your neck into the noose +for the fifth time?" + +"I desire to say, it will be but the fourth, Major Dun- +can," said the Quartermaster positively; then, instantly +changing the expression of his face to one of boyish rap- +ture, he added, "But this Mabel Dunham is a _rara avis!_ +Our Scotch lassies are fair and pleasant; but it must be +owned these colonials are of surpassing comeliness." + +"You will do well to recollect your commission and +blood, Davy. I believe all four of your wives -- " + +"I wish my dear Lundie, ye'd be more accurate in yer +arithmetic. Three times one make three." + +"All three, then, were what might be termed gentle- +women?" + +"That's just it, Major. Three were gentlewomen, as you +say, and the connections were suitable." + +"And the fourth being the daughter of my father's gar- +dener, the connection was unsuitable. But have you no +fear that marrying the child of a non-commissioned offi- +cer, who is in the same corps with yourself, will have the +effect to lessen your consequence in the regiment?" + +"That's just been my weakness through life, Major +Duncan; for I've always married without regard to conse- +quences. Every man has his besetting sin, and matri- +mony, I fear, is mine. And now that we have discussed +what may be called the principles of the connection, I will +just ask if you did me the favor to speak to the Sergeant +on the trifling affair?" + +"I did, David; and am sorry to say, for your hopes, that +I see no great chance of your succeeding." + +"Not succeeding! An officer, and a quartermaster in +the bargain, and not succeed with a sergeant's daugh- +ter!" + +"It's just that, Davy." + +"And why not, Lundie? Will ye have the goodness to +answer just that?" + +"The girl is betrothed. Hand plighted, word passed, +love pledged, -- no, hang me if I believe that either; but +she is betrothed." + +"Well, that's an obstacle, it must be avowed, Major, +though it counts for little if the heart is free." + +"Quite true; and I think it probable the heart is free +in this case; for the intended husband appears to be the +choice of the father rather than of the daughter." + +"And who may it be, Major?" asked the Quartermas- +ter, who viewed the whole matter with the philosophy and +coolness acquired by use. "I do not recollect any plausi- +ble suitor that is likely to stand in my way." + +"No, you are the only _plausible_ suitor on the frontier, +Davy. The happy man is Pathfinder." + +"Pathfinder, Major Duncan!" + +"No more, nor any less, David Muir. Pathfinder is the +man; but it may relieve your jealousy a little to know +that, in my judgment at least, it is a match of the father's +rather than of the daughter's seeking." + +"I thought as much!" exclaimed the Quartermaster, +drawing a long breath, like one who felt relieved; "it's +quite impossible that with my experience in human nature +- " + +"Particularly hu-woman's nature, David." + +"Ye will have yer joke, Lundie, let who will suffer. +But I did not think it possible I could be deceived as to +the young woman's inclinations, which I think I may +boldly pronounce to be altogether above the condition of +Pathfinder. As for the individual himself -- why, time will +show." + +"Now, tell me frankly, Davy Muir," said Lundie, step- +ping short in his walk, and looking the other earnestly in +the face with a comical expression of surprise, that ren- +dered the veteran's countenance ridiculously earnest, -- +"do you really suppose a girl like the daughter of Ser- +geant Dunham can take a serious fancy to a man of your +years and appearance, and experience, I might add?" + +"Hout, awa', Lundie! ye dinna know the sax, and that's +the reason yer unmarried in yer forty-fifth year. It's a +fearfu' time ye've been a bachelor, Major!" + +"And what may be your age, Lieutenant Muir, if I may +presume to ask so delicate a question?" + +"Forty-seven; I'll no' deny it, Lundie; and if I get +Mabel, there'll be just a wife for every twa lustrums. But +I didna think Sergeant Dunham would be so humble +minded as to dream of giving that sweet lass of his to one +like the Pathfinder." + +"There's no dream about it, Davy; the man is as seri- +ous as a soldier about to be flogged." + +"Well, well, Major, we are auld friends," -- both ran +into the Scotch or avoided it, as they approached or drew +away from their younger days, in the dialogue, -- "and +ought to know how to take and give a joke, off duty. It +is possible the worthy man has not understood my hints, +or he never would have thought of such a thing. The +difference between an officer's consort and a guide's woman +is as vast as that between the antiquity of Scotland and +the antiquity of America. I'm auld blood, too, Lundie." + +"Take my word for it Davy, your antiquity will do you +no good in this affair; and as for your blood, it is not +older than your bones. Well, well, man, ye know the +Sergeant's answer; and so ye perceive that my influence, +on which ye counted so much, can do nought for ye. Let +us take a glass thegither, Davy, for auld acquaintance +sake; and then ye'll be doing well to remember the party +that marches the morrow, and to forget Mabel Dunham as +fast as ever you can." + +"Ah, Major! I have always found it easier to forget a +wife than to forget a sweetheart. When a couple are +fairly married, all is settled but the death, as one may say, +which must finally part us all; and it seems to me awfu' +irreverent to disturb the departed; whereas there is so +much anxiety and hope and felicity in expectation like, +with the lassie, that it keeps thought alive." + +"That is just my idea of your situation, Davy; for I +never supposed you expected any more felicity with either +of your wives. Now, I've heard of fellows who were so +stupid as to look forward to happiness with their wives +even beyond the grave. I drink to your success, or to +your speedy recovery from this attack, Lieutenant; and I +admonish you to be more cautious in future, as some of +these violent cases may yet carry you off." + +"Many thanks, dear Major; and a speedy termination +to an old courtship, of which I know something. This is +real mountain dew, Lundie, and it warms the heart like a +gleam of bonnie Scotland. As for the men you've just +mentioned, they could have had but one wife a piece; for +where there are several, the deeds of the women them- +selves may carry them different ways. I think a reasona- +ble husband ought to be satisfied with passing his allotted +time with any particular wife in this world, and not to go +about moping for things unattainable. I'm infinitely +obliged to you, Major Duncan, for this and all your other +acts of friendship; and if you could but add another, I +should think you had not altogether forgotten the play- +fellow of your boyhood." + +"Well, Davy, if the request be reasonable, and such as a +superior ought to grant, out with it, man." + +"If ye could only contrive a little service for me, down +among the Thousand Isles, for a fortnight or so, I think +this matter might be settled to the satisfaction of all par- +ties. Just remember, Lundie, the lassie is the only mar- +riageable white female on this frontier." + +"There is always duty for one in your line at a post, +however small; but this below can be done by the Ser- +geant as well as by the Quartermaster-general, and better +too." + +"But not better than by a regimental officer. There is +great waste, in common, among the orderlies." + +"I'll think of it, Muir," said the Major, laughing, "and +you shall have my answer in the morning. Here will be a +fine occasion, man, the morrow, to show yourself off be- +fore the lady; you are expert with the rifle, and prizes are +to be won. Make up your mind to display your skill, and +who knows what may yet happen before the _Scud_ sails." + +"I'm thinking most of the young men will try their +hands in this sport, Major!" + +"That will they, and some of the old ones too, if you +appear. To keep you in countenance, I'll try a shot or +two myself, Davy; and you know I have some name that +way." + +"It might, indeed, do good. The female heart, Major +Duncan, is susceptible in many different modes, and +sometimes in a way that the rules of philosophy might +reject. Some require a suitor to sit down before them, as +it might be, in a regular siege, and only capitulate when +the place can hold out no longer; others, again, like to be +carried by storm; while there are hussies who can only be +caught by leading them into an ambush. The first is the +most creditable and officer-like process, perhaps; but I +must say I think the last the most pleasing." + +"An opinion formed from experience, out of all question. +And what of the storming parties?" + +"They may do for younger men, Lundie," returned the +Quartermaster, rising and winking, a liberty that he often +took with his commanding officer on the score of a long +intimacy; "every period of life has its necessities, and at +forty-seven it's just as well to trust a little to the head. I +wish you a very good even, Major Duncan, and freedom +from gout, with a sweet and refreshing sleep." + +"The same to yourself, Mr. Muir, with many thanks. +Remember the passage of arms for the morrow." + +The Quartermaster withdrew, leaving Lundie in his +library to reflect on what had just passed. Use had so +accustomed Major Duncan to Lieutenant Muir and all his +traits and humors, that the conduct of the latter did not +strike the former with the same force as it will probably +the reader. In truth, while all men act under one com- +mon law that is termed nature, the varieties in their dis- +positions, modes of judging, feelings, and selfishness are +infinite. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Compel the hawke to sit that is unmann'd, +Or make the hound, untaught, to draw the deere, +Or bring the free against his will in band, +Or move the sad a pleasant tale to heere, +Your time is lost, and you no whit the neere! +So love ne learnes, of force the heart to knit: +She serves but those that feel sweet fancies' fit. +_Mirror for Magistrates._ + + +It is not often that hope is rewarded by fruition so +completely as the wishes of the young men of the garrison +were met by the state of the weather on the succeeding +day. The heats of summer were little felt at Oswego at +the period of which we are writing; for the shade of the +forest, added to the refreshing breezes from the lake, so +far reduced the influence of the sun as to render the +nights always cool and the days seldom oppressive. + +It was now September, a month in which the strong +gales of the coast often appear to force themselves across +the country as far as the great lakes, where the inland +sailor sometimes feels that genial influence which charac- +terizes the winds of the ocean invigorating his frame, +cheering his spirits, and arousing his moral force. Such a +day was that on which the garrison of Oswego assembled +to witness what its commander had jocularly called a +"passage of arms." Lundie was a scholar in military +matters at least, and it was one of his sources of honest +pride to direct the reading and thoughts of the young men +under his orders to the more intellectual parts of their +profession. For one in his situation, his library was both +good and extensive, and its books were freely lent to all +who desired to use them. Among other whims that had +found their way into the garrison through these means, +was a relish for the sort of amusement in which it was now +about to indulge; and around which some chronicles of +the days of chivalry had induced them to throw a parade +and romance not unsuited to the characters and habits of +soldiers, or to the insulated and wild post occupied by this +particular garrison. While so earnestly bent on pleasure, +however, they on whom that duty devolved did not neglect +the safety of the garrison. One standing on the ramparts +of the fort, and gazing on the waste of glittering water +that bounded the view all along the northern horizon, and +on the slumbering and seemingly boundless forest which +filled the other half of the panorama, would have fancied the +spot the very abode of peacefulness and security; but +Duncan of Lundie too well knew that the woods might, at +any moment, give up their hundreds, bent on the destruc- +tion of the fort and all it contained; and that even the +treacherous lake offered a highway of easy approach by +which his more civilized and scarcely less wily foes, the +French, could come upon him at an unguarded moment. +Parties were sent out under old and vigilant officers, men +who cared little for the sports of the day, to scour the for- +est; and one entire company held the fort, under arms, +with orders to maintain a vigilance as strict as if an +enemy of superior force was known to be near. With +these precautions, the remainder of the officers and men +abandoned themselves, without apprehension, to the busi- +ness of the morning. + +The spot selected for the sports was a sort of esplanade, +a little west of the fort, and on the immediate bank of the +lake. It had been cleared of its trees and stumps, that it +might answer the purpose of a parade-ground, as it pos- +sessed the advantages of having its rear protected by the +water, and one of its flanks by the works. Men drilling +on it could be attacked, consequently, on two sides only; +and as the cleared space beyond it, in the direction of the +west and south, was large, any assailants would be com- +pelled to quit the cover of the woods before they could +make an approach sufficiently near to render them dan- +gerous. + +Although the regular arms of the regiment were mus- +kets, some fifty rifles were produced on the present occa- +sion. Every officer had one as a part of his private provi- +sion for amusement; many belonged to the scouts and +friendly Indians, of whom more or less were always hang- +ing about the fort; and there was a public provision of +them for the use of those who followed the game with the +express object of obtaining supplies. Among those who +carried the weapon were some five or six, who had reputa- +tion for knowing how to use it particularly well -- so well, +indeed, as to have given them a celebrity on the frontier; +twice that number who were believed to be much better +than common; and many who would have been thought ex- +pert in almost any situation but the precise one in which +they now happened to be placed. + +The distance was a hundred yards, and the weapon was +to be used without a rest; the target, a board, with the +customary circular lines in white paint, having the bull's- +eye in the centre. The first trials in skill commenced +with challenges among the more ignoble of the competi- +tors to display their steadiness and dexterity in idle com- +petition. None but the common men engaged in this +strife, which had little to interest the spectators, among +whom no officer had yet appeared. + +Most of the soldiers were Scotch, the regiment having +been raised at Stirling and its vicinity not many years +before, though, as in the case of Sergeant Dunham, many +Americans had joined it since its arrival in the colonies. +As a matter of course, the provincials were generally the +most expert marksmen; and after a desultory trial of half +an hour it was necessarily conceded that a youth who had +been born in the colony of New York, and who coming of +Dutch extraction, was the most expert of all who had yet +tried their skill. It was just as this opinion prevailed +that the oldest captain, accompanied by most of the gen- +tlemen and ladies of the fort, appeared on the parade. A +train of some twenty females of humbler condition fol- +lowed, among whom was seen the well-turned form, in- +telligent, blooming, animated countenance, and neat, be- +coming attire of Mabel Dunham. + +Of females who were officially recognized as belonging +to the class of ladies, there were but three in the fort, all +of whom were officers' wives; Mabel being strictly, as had +been stated by the Quartermaster, the only real candidate +for matrimony among her sex. + +Some little preparation had been made for the proper +reception of the females, who were placed on a low staging +of planks near the immediate bank of the lake. In this +vicinity the prizes were suspended from a post. Great +care was taken to reserve the front seat of the stage for +the three ladies and their children; while Mabel and those +who belouged to the non-commissioned officers of the regi- +ment, occupied the second. The wives and daughters of +the privates were huddled together in the rear, some stand- +ing and some sitting, as they could find room. Mabel, +who had already been admitted to the society of the +officers' wives, on the footing of a humble companion, was +a good deal noticed by the ladies in front, who had a +proper appreciation of modest self-respect and gentle re- +finement, though they were all fully aware of the value of +rank, more particularly in a garrison. + +As soon as this important portion of the spectators had +got into their places, Lundie gave orders for the trial of skill +to proceed in the manner that had been prescribed in his +previous orders. Some eight or ten of the best marksmen +of the garrison now took possession of the stand, and began +to fire in succession. Among them were officers and men +indiscriminately placed, nor were the casual visitors in the +fort excluded from the competition. + +As might have been expected of men whose amusements +and comfortable subsistence equally depended on skill in +the use of their weapons, it was soon found that they were +all sufficiently expert to hit the bull's-eye, or the white +spot in the centre of the target. Others who succeeded +them, it is true, were less sure, their bullets striking in the +different circles that surrounded the centre of the target +without touching it. + +According to the rules of the day, none could proceed +to the second trial who had failed in the first, and the ad- +jutant of the place, who acted as master of the ceremonies, +or marshal of the day, called upon the successful adven- +turers by name to get ready for the next effort, while he +gave notice that those who failed to present themselves for +the shot at the bull's-eye would necessarily be excluded +from all the higher trials. Just at this moment Lundie, +the Quartermaster, and Jasper Eau-douce appeared in the +group at the stand, while the Pathfinder walked leisurely +on the ground without his beloved rifle, for him a measure +so unusual, as to be understood by all present as a proof +that he did not consider himself a competitor for the +honors of the day. All made way for Major Duncan, who, +as he approached the stand in a good-humored way, took +his station, levelled his rifle carelessly, and fired. The +bullet missed the required mark by several inches. + +"Major Duncan is excluded from the other trials!" +proclaimed the Adjutant, in a voice so stroug and confi- +dent that all the elder officers and the sergeants well un- +derstood that this failure was preconcerted, while all the +younger gentlemen and the privates felt new encourage- +ment to proceed on account of the evident impartiality +with which the laws of the sports were administered. + +"Now, Master Eau-douce, comes your turn," said Muir; +"and if you do not beat the Major, I shall say that your +hand is better skilled with the oar than with the rifle." + +Jasper's handsome face flushed, he stepped upon the +stand, cast a hasty glance at Mabel, whose pretty form he +ascertained was bending eagerly forward as if to note the +result, dropped the barrel of his rifle with but little ap- +parent care into the palm of his left hand, raised the muzzle +for a single instant with exceeding steadiness, and fired. +The bullet passed directly through the centre of the bull's- +eye, much the best shot of the morning, since the others +had merely touched the paint. + +"Well performed, Master Jasper," said Muir, as soon as +the result was declared; "and a shot that might have +done credit to an older head and a more experienced eye. +I'm thinking, notwithstanding, there was some of a young- +ster's luck in it; for ye were no' partic'lar in the aim ye +took. Ye may be quick, Eau-douce, in the movement, +but yer not philosophic nor scientific in yer management +of the weepon. Now, Sergeant Dunham, I'll thank you +to request the ladies to give a closer attention than com- +mon; for I'm about to make that use of the rifle which +may be called the intellectual. Jasper would have killed, +I allow; but then there would not have been half the sat- +isfaction in receiving such a shot as in receiving one that +is discharged scientifically." + +All this time the Quartermaster was preparing himself +for the scientific trial; but he delayed his aim until he saw +that the eye of Mabel, in common with those of her com- +panions, was fastened on him in curiosity. As the others +left him room, out of respect to his rank, no one stood +near the competitor but his commanding officer, to whom +he now said in his familiar manner, -- + +"Ye see, Lundie, that something is to be gained by ex- +citing a female's curiosity. It's an active sentiment is +curiosity, and properly improved may lead to gentler in- +novations in the end." + +"Very true, Davy; but ye keep us all waiting while ye +make your preparations; and here is Pathfinder drawing +near to catch a lesson from your greater experience." + +"Well Pathfinder, and so _you_ have come to get an idea +too, concerning the philosophy of shooting? I do not wish +to hide my light under a bushel, and yer welcome to all +ye'll learn. Do ye no' mean to try a shot yersel', man?" + +"Why should I, Quartermaster, why should I? I want +none of the prizes; and as for honor, I have had enough +of that, if it's any honor to shoot better than yourself. +I'm not a woman to wear a calash." + +"Very true; but ye might find a woman that is precious +in your eyes to wear it for ye, as -- -- " + +"Come, Davy," interrupted the Major, "your shot or a +retreat. The Adjutant is getting impatient." + +"The Quartermaster's department and the Adjutant's +department are seldom compliable, Lundie; but I m ready. +Stand a little aside, Pathfinder, and give the ladies an op- +portunity." + +Lieutenant Muir now took his attitude with a good deal +of studied elegance, raised his rifle slowly, lowered it, raised +it again, repeated the manmuvres, and fired. + +"Missed the target altogether!" shouted the man whose +duty it was to mark the bullets, and who had little relish +for the Quartermaster's tedious science. "Missed the +target!" + +"It cannot be!" cried Muir, his face flushing equally +with indignation and shame; "it cannot be, Adjutant; for +I never did so awkward a thing in my life. I appeal to +the ladies for a juster judgment." + +"The ladies shut their eyes when you fired!" exclaimed +the regimental wags. "Your preparations alarmed them." + +"I will na believe such calumny of the leddies, nor sic' +a reproach on my own skill," returned the Quartermaster, +growing more and more Scotch as he warmed with his +feelings; "it's a conspiracy to rob a meritorious man of +his dues." + +"It's a dead miss, Muir," said the laughing Lundie; +"and ye'll jist sit down quietly with the disgrace." + +"No, no, Major," Pathfinder at length observed; "the +Quartermaster _is_ a good shot for a slow one and a measured +distance, though nothing extr'ornary for real service. He +has covered Jasper's bullet, as will be seen, if any one will +take the trouble to examine the target." + +The respect for Pathfinder's skill and for his quickness +and accuracy of sight was so profound and general, that, +the instant he made this declaration, the spectators began +to distrust their own opinions, and a dozen rushed to the +target in order to ascertain the fact. There, sure enough, +it was found that the Quartermaster's bullet had gone +through the hole made by Jasper's, and that, too, so ac- +curately as to require a minute examination to be certain +of the circumstance; which, however, was soon clearly +established, by discovering one bullet over the other in the +stump against which the target was placed. + +"I told ye, ladies, ye were about to witness the influence +of science on gunnery," said the Quartermaster, advancing +towards the staging occupied by the females. "Major +Duncan derides the idea of mathematics entering into +target-shooting; but I tell him philosophy colors, and en- +larges, and improves, and dilates, and explains everything +that belongs to human life, whether it be a shooting-match +or a sermon. In a word, philosophy is philosophy, and +that is saying all that the subject requires." + +"I trust you exclude love from the catalogue," observed +the wife of a captain who knew the history of the Quarter- +master's marriages, and who had a woman's malice against +the monopolizer of her sex; "it seems that philosophy has +little in common with love." + +"You wouldn't say that, madam, if your heart had ex- +perienced many trials. It's the man or the woman that +has had many occasions to improve the affections that can +best speak of such matters; and, believe me, of all love, +philosophical is the most lasting, as it is the most rational." + +"You would then recommend experience as an improve- +ment on the passion?" + +"Your quick mind has conceived the idea at a glance. +The happiest marriages are those in which youth and +beauty and confidence on one side, rely on the sagacity, +moderation, and prudence of years-middle age, I mean, +madam, for I'll no' deny that there is such a thing as a +husband's being too old for a wife. Here is Sergeant +Dunham's charming daughter, now, to approve of such +sentiments, I'm certain; her character for discretion being +already well established in the garrison, short as has been +her residence among us." + +"Sergeant Dunham's daughter is scarcely a fitting in- +terlocutor in a discourse between you and me, Lieutenant +Muir," rejoined the captain's lady, with careful respect for +her own dignity; "and yonder is the Pathfinder about to +take his chance, by way of changing the subject." + +"I protest, Major Duncan, I protest," cried Muir hur- +rying back towards the stand, with both arms elevated by +way of enforcing his words, -- "I protest in the strongest +terms, gentlemen, against Pathfinder's being admitted into +these sports with Killdeer, which is a piece, to say nothing +of long habit that is altogether out of proportion for a +trial of skill against Government rifles." + +"Killdeer is taking its rest, Quartermaster," returned +Pathfinder calmly, "and no one here thinks of disturbing +it. I did not think, myself, of pulling a trigger to-day; +but Sergeant Dunham has been persuading me that I shall +not do proper honor to his handsome daughter, who came +in under my care, if I am backward on such an occasion. +I'm using Jasper's rifle, Quartermaster, as you may see, +and that is no better than your own." + +Lieutenant Muir was now obliged to acquiesce, and every +eye turned towards the Pathfinder, as he took the required +station. The air and attitude of this celebrated guide and +hunter were extremely fine, as he raised his tall form and +levelled the piece, showing perfect self-command, and a +through knowledge of the power of the human frame as +well as of the weapon. Pathfinder was not what is usually +termed a handsome man, though his appearance excited so +much confidence and commanded respect. Tall, and even +muscular, his frame might have been esteemed nearly per- +fect, were it not for the total absence of everything like +flesh. Whipcord was scarcely more rigid than his arms +and legs, or, at need, more pliable; but the outlines of his +person were rather too angular for the proportion that the +eye most approves. Still, his motions, being natural, were +graceful, and, being calm and regulated, they gave him an +air and dignity that associated well with the idea, which +was so prevalent, of his services and peculiar merits. His +honest, open features were burnt to a bright red, that +comported well with the notion of exposure and hardships, +while his sinewy hands denoted force, and a species of use +removed from the stiffening and deforming effects of +labor. Although no one perceived any of those gentler or +more insinuating qualities which are apt to win upon a +woman's affections, as he raised his rifle not a female eye +was fastened on him without a silent approbation of the +freedom of his movements and the manliness of his air. +Thought was scarcely quicker than his aim; and, as the +smoke floated above his head, the butt-end of the rifle was +seen on the ground, the hand of the Pathfinder was lean- +ing on the barrel, and his honest countenance was illu- +minated by his usual silent, hearty laugh. + +"If one dared to hint at such a thing," cried Major +Duncan, "I should say that the Pathfinder had also missed +the target." + +"No, no, Major," returned the guide confidently; "that +_would_ be a risky declaration. I didn't load the piece, and +can't say what was in it; but if it was lead, you will find +the bullet driving down those of the Quartermaster and +Jasper, else is not my name Pathfinder." + +A shout from the target announced the truth of this +assertion. + +"That's not all, that's not all, boys," called out the +guide, who was now slowly advancing towards the stage +occupied by the females; "if you find the target touched +at all, I'll own to a miss. The Quartermaster cut the wood, +but you'll find no wood cut by that last messenger." + +"Very true, Pathfinder, very true," answered Muir, who +was lingering near Mabel, though ashamed to address her +particularly in the presence of the officers' wives. "The +Quartermaster did cut the wood, and by that means he +opened a passage for your bullet, which went through the +hole he had made." + +"Well, Quartermaster, there goes the nail and we'll see +who can drive it closer, you or I; for, though I did not +think of showing what a rifle can do to-day, now my hand +is in, I'll turn my back to no man that carries King +George's commission. Chingachgook is outlying, or he +might force me into some of the niceties of the art; but, +as for you, Quartermaster, if the nail don't stop you, the +potato will." + +"You're over boastful this morning, Pathfinder; but +you'll find you've no green boy fresh from the settlements +and the towns to deal with, I will assure ye!" + +"I know that well, Quartermaster; I know that well, +and shall not deny your experience. You've lived many +years on the frontiers, and I've heard of you in the col- +onies, and among the Indians, too, quite a human life ago." + +"Na, na," interrupted Muir in his broadest Scotch, +"this is injustice, man. I've no' lived so very long, +neither." + +"I'll do you justice, Lieutenant, even if you get the best +in the potato trial. I say you've passed a good human life, +for a soldier, in places where the rifle is daily used, and I +know you are a creditable and ingenious marksman; but +then you are not a true rifle-shooter. As for boasting, I +hope I'm not a vain talker about my own exploits; but a +man's gifts are his gifts, and it's flying in the face of Prov- +idence to deny them. The Sergeant's daughter, here, +shall judge between us, if you have the stomach to submit +to so pretty a judge." + +The Pathfinder had named Mabel as the arbiter because +he admired her, and because, in his eyes, rank had little or +no value; but Lieutenant Muir shrank at such a reference +in the presence of the wives of the officers. He would +gladly keep himself constantly before the eyes and the +imagination of the object of his wishes; but he was still +too much under the influence of old prejudices, and per- +haps too wary, to appear openly as her suitor, unless he +saw something very like a certainty of success. On the +discretion of Major Duncan he had a full reliance, and he +apprehended no betrayal from that quarter; but he was +quite aware, should it ever get abroad that he had been +refused by the child of a non-commissioned officer, he +would find great difficulty in making his approaches to any +other woman of a condition to which he might reasonably +aspire. Notwithstanding these doubts and misgivings, +Mabel looked so prettily, blushed so charmingly, smiled so +sweetly, and altogether presented so winning a picture of +youth, spirit, modesty, and beauty, that he found it ex- +ceedingly tempting to be kept so prominently before her +imagination, and to be able to address her freely. + +"You shall have it your own way, Pathfinder," he an- +swered, as soon as his doubts had settled down into de- +termination; "let the, Sergeant's daughter -- his charming +daughter, I should have termed her -- be the umpire then; +and to her we will both dedicate the prize, that one or the +other must certainly win. Pathfinder must be humored, +ladies, as you perceive, else, no doubt, we should have had +the honor to submit ourselves to one of your charming +society." + +A call for the competitors now drew the Quartermaster +and his adversary away, and in a few moments the second +trial of skill commenced. A common wrought nail was +driven lightly into the target, its head having been first +touched with paint, and the marksman was required to hit +it, or he lost his chances in the succeeding trials. No one +was permitted to enter, on this occasion, who had already +failed in the essay against the bull's-eye. + +There might have been half a dozen aspirants for the +honors of this trial; one or two, who had barely succeeded +in touching the spot of paint in the previous strife, pre- +ferring to rest their reputations there, feeling certain that +they could not succeed in the greater effort that was now +exacted of them. The first three adventurers failed, all +coming very near the mark, but neither touching it. +The fourth person whb presented himself was the Quarter- +master, who, after going through his usual attitudes, so far +succeeded as to carry away a small portion of the head of +the nail, planting his bullet by the side of its point. This +was not considered an extraordinary shot, though it +brought the adventurer within the category. + +"You've saved your bacon, Quartermaster, as they say +in the settlements of their creaturs," cried Pathfinder, +laughing; "but it would take a long time to build a house +with a hammer no better than yours. Jasper, here, will +show you how a nail is to be started, or the lad has lost +some of his steadiness of hand and sartainty of eye. You +would have done better yourself, Lieutenant, had you not +been so much bent on soldierizing your figure. Shooting +is a natural gift, and is to be exercised in a natural way." + +"We shall see, Pathfinder; I call that a pretty attempt +at a nail; and I doubt if the 55th has another hammer, as +you call it, that can do just the same thing over again." + +"Jasper is not in the 55th, but there goes his rap." + +As the Pathfinder spoke, the bullet of Eau-douce hit the +nail square, and drove it into the target, within an inch of +the head. + +"Be all ready to clench it, boys!" cried out Pathfinder, +stepping into his friend's tracks the instant they were +vacant. "Never mind a new nail; I can see that, though +the paint is gone, and what I can see I can hit, at a hun- +dred yards, though it were only a mosquito's eye. Be +ready to clench!" + +The rifle cracked, the bullet sped its way, and the head +of the nail was buried in the wood, covered by the piece +of flattened lead. + +"Well, Jasper, lad," continued Pathfinder, dropping the +butt-end of his rifle to the ground, and resuming the dis- +course, as if he thought nothing of his own exploit, "you +improve daily. A few more tramps on land in my com- +pany, and the best marksman on the frontiers will have +occasion to look keenly when he takes his stand ag'in you. +The Quartermaster is respectable, but he will never get any +farther; whereas you, Jasper, have the gift, and may one +day defy any who pull trigger." + +"Hoot, hoot!" exclaimed Muir; "do you call hitting +the head of the nail respectable only, when it's the per- +fection of the art? Any one the least refined and elevated +in sentiment knows that the delicate touches denote the +master; whereas your sledge-hammer blows come from the +rude and uninstructed. If 'a miss is as good as a mile,' a +hit ought to be better, Pathfinder, whether it wound or +kill." + +"The surest way of settling this rivalry will be to make +another trial," observed Lundie, "and that will be of the +potato. You're Scotch, Mr. Muir, and might fare better +were it a cake or a thistle; but frontier law has declared +for the American fruit, and the potato it shall be." + +As Major Duncan manifested some impatience of man- +ner, Muir had too much tact to delay the sports any longer +with his discursive remarks, but judiciously prepared him- +self for the next appeal. To say the truth, the Quarter- +master had little or no faith in his own success in the +trial of skill that was to follow, nor would he have been so +free in presenting himself as a competitor at all had he an- +ticipated it would have been made; but Major Duncan, +who was somewhat of a humorist in his own quiet Scotch +way, had secretly ordered it to be introduced expressly to +mortify him; for, a laird himself, Lundie did not relish +the notion that one who might claim to be a gentleman +should bring discredit on his caste by forming an unequal +alliance. As soon as everything was prepared, Muir was +summoned to the stand, and the potato was held in readi- +ness to be thrown. As the sort of feat we are about to +offer to the reader, however, may be new to him, a word in +explanation will render the matter more clear. A potato +of large size was selected, and given to one who stood at +the distance of twenty yards from the stand. At the word +"heave!" which was given by the marksman, the vegetable +was thrown with a gentle toss into the air, and it was the +business of the adventurer to cause a ball to pass through +it before it reached the ground. + +The Quartermaster, in a hundred experiments, had once +succeeded in accomplishing this difficult feat; but he now +essayed to perform it again, with a sort of blind hope that +was fated to be disappointed. The potato was thrown in +the usual manner, the rifle was discharged, but the flying +target was untouched. + +"To the right-about, and fall out, Quartermaster," said +Lundie, smiling at the success of the artifice. "The honor +of the silken calash will lie between Jasper Eau-douce and +Pathfinder." + +"And how is the trial to end, Major?" inquired the +latter. "Are we to have the two-potato trial, or is it to be +settled by centre and skin?" + +"By centre and skin, if there is any perceptible differ- +ence; otherwise the double shot must follow." + +"This is an awful moment to me, Pathfinder," observed +Jasper, as he moved towards the stand, his face actually +losing its color in intensity of feeling. + +Pathfinder gazed earnestly at the young man; and then, +begging Major Duncan to have patience for a moment, he +led his friend out of the hearing of all near him before he +spoke. + +"You seem to take this matter to heart, Jasper?" the +hunter remarked, keeping his eyes fastened on those of +the youth. + +"I must own, Pathfinder, that my feelings were never +before so much bound up in success." + +"And do you so much crave to outdo me, an old and +tried friend? -- and that, as it might be, in my own way? +Shooting is my gift, boy, and no common hand can equal +mine." + +"I know it -- I know it, Pathfinder; but yet -- " + +"But what, Jasper, boy? -- speak freely; you talk to a +friend." + +The young man compressed his lips, dashed a hand +across his eye, and flushed and paled alternately, like a +girl confessing her love. Then, squeezing the other's +hand, he said calmly, like one whose manhood has over- +come all other sensations, "I would lose an arm, Path- +finder, to be able to make an offering of that calash to +Mabel Dunham." + +The hunter dropped his eyes to the ground, and as he +walked slowly back towards the stand, he seemed to ponder +deeply on what he had just heard. + +"You never could succeed in the double trial, Jasper!" +he suddenly remarked. + +"Of that I am certain, and it troubles me." + +"What a creature is mortal man! he pines for things +which are not of his gift and treats the bounties of Provi- +dence lightly. No matter, no matter. Take your station, +Jasper, for the Major is waiting; and harke, lad, -- I must +touch the skin, for I could not show my face in the garri- +son with less than that." + +"I suppose I must submit to my fate," returned Jasper, +flushing and losing his color as before; "but I will make +the effort, if I die." + +"What a thing is mortal man!" repeated Pathfinder, +falling back to allow his friend room to take his arm; "he +overlooks his own gifts, and craves those of another!" + +The potato was thrown, Jasper fired, and the shout that +followed preceded the announcement of the fact that he +had driven his bullet through its centre, or so nearly so as +to merit that award. + +"Here is a competitor worthy of you, Pathfinder," cried +Major Duncan with delight, as the former took his station; +"and we may look to some fine shooting in the double +trial." + +"What a thing is mortal man!" repeated the hunter, +scarcely seeming to notice what was passing around him, +so much were his thoughts absorbed in his own reflections. +"Toss!" + +The potato was tossed, the rifle cracked, -- it was re- +marked just as the little black ball seemed stationary in +the air, for the marksman evidently took unusual heed to +his aim, -- and then a look of disappointment and wonder +succeeded among those who caught the falling target. + +"Two holes in one?" called out the Major. + +"The skin, the skin!" was the answer; "only the skin!" + +"How's this, Pathfinder? Is Jasper Eau-douce to carry +off the honors of the day?" + +"The calash is his," returned the other, shaking his +head and walking quietly away from the stand. "What a +creature is mortal man! never satisfied with his own gifts, +but for ever craving that which Providence denies!" + +As Pathfinder had not buried his bullet in the potato, +but had cut through the skin, the prize was immediately +adjudged to Jasper. The calash was in the hands of the +latter when the Quartermaster approached, and with a +polite air of cordiality he wished his successful rival joy of +his victory. + +"But now you've got the calash, lad, it's of no use to +you," he added; "it will never make a sail, nor even an +ensign. I'm thinking, Eau-douce, you'd no' be sorry to +see its value in good siller of the king?" + +"Money cannot buy it, Lieutenant," returned Jasper, +whose eye lighted with all the fire of success and joy. "I +would rather have won this calash than have obtained fifty +new suits of sails for the _Scud!_" + +"Hoot, hoot, lad! you are going mad like all the rest of +them. I'd even venture to offer half a guinea for the trifle +rather than it should lie kicking about in the cabin of +your cutter, and in the end become an ornament for the +head of a squaw." + +Although Jasper did not know that the wary Quarter- +master had not offered half the actual cost of the prize, he +heard the proposition with indifference. Shaking his head +in the negative, he advanced towards the stage, where his +approach excited a little commotion, the officers' ladies, +one and all, having determined to accept the present, +should the gallantry of the young sailor induce him to +offer it. But Jasper's diffidence, no less than admiration +for another, would have prevented him from aspiring to +the honor of complimenting any whom he thought so +much his superiors. + +"Mabel," said he, "this prize is for you, unless -- " + +"Unless what, Jasper?" answered the girl, losing her +own bashfulness in the natural and generous wish to re- +lieve his embarrassment, though both reddened in a way +to betray strong feeling. + +"Unless you may think too indifferently of it, because +it is offered by one who may have no right to believe his +gift will be accepted." + +"I do accept it, Jasper; and it shall be a sign of the +danger I have passed in your company, and of the grati- +tude I feel for your care of me -- your care, and that of the +Pathfinder." + +"Never mind me, never mind me!" exclaimed the latter; +"this is Jasper's luck, and Jasper's gift: give him full +credit for both. My turn may come another day; mine +and the Quartermaster's, who seems to grudge the boy the +calash; though what _he_ can want of it I cannot under- +stand, for he has no wife." + +"And has Jasper Eau-douce a wife? or have you a wife +yoursel', Pathfinder? I may want it to help to get a +wife, or as a memorial that I have had a wife, or as proof +how much I admire the sex, or because it is a female gar- +ment, or for some other equally respectable motive. It's +not the unreflecting that are the most prized by the +thoughtful, and there is no surer sign that a man made a +good husband to his first consort, let me tell you all, than +to see him speedily looking round for a competent suc- +cessor. The affections are good gifts from Providence, +and they that have loved one faithfully prove how much +of this bounty has been lavished upon them by loving an- +other as soon as possible." + +"It may be so, it may be so. I am no practitioner in +such things, and cannot gainsay it. But Mabel here, the +Sergeant's daughter, will give you full credit for the words. +Come, Jasper, although our hands are out, let us see what +the other lads can do with the rifle." + +Pathfinder and his companions retired, for the sports +were about to proceed. The ladies, however, were not so +much engrossed with rifle-shooting as to neglect the calash. +It passed from hand to hand; the silk was felt, the fashion +criticized, and the work examined, and divers opinions +were privately ventured concerning the fitness of so hand- +some a thing passing into the possession of a non-commis- +sioned officer's child. + +"Perhaps you will be disposed to sell that calash, Mabel, +when it has been a short time in your possession?" in- +quired the captain's lady. "Wear it, I should think, you +never can." + +"I may not wear it, madam," returned our heroine +modestly; "but I should not like to part with it either." + +"I daresay Sergeant Dunham keeps you above the ne- +cessity of selling your clothes, child; but, at the same time, +it is money thrown away to keep an article of dress you +can never wear." + +"I should be unwilling to part with the gift of a friend." + +"But the young man himself will think all the better +of you for your prudence after the triumph of the day is +forgotten. It is a pretty and a becoming calash, and ought +not to be thrown away." + +"I've no intention to throw it away, ma'am; and, if +you please, would rather keep it." + +"As you will, child; girls of your age often overlook +the real advantages. Remember, however, if you do de- +termine to dispose of the thing, that it is bespoke, and that +I will not take it if you ever even put it on your own head." + +"Yes, ma'am," said Mabel, in the meekest voice imagin- +able, though her eyes looked like diamonds, and her cheeks +reddened to the tints of two roses, as she placed the for- +bidden garment over her well-turned shoulders, where she +kept it a minute, as if to try its fitness, and then quietly +removed it again. + +The remainder of the sports offered nothing of interest. +The shooting was reasonably good; but the trials were all +of a scale lower than those related, and the competitors +were soon left to themselves. The ladies and most of the +officers withdrew, and the remainder of the females soon +followed their example. Mabel was returning along the +low flat rocks that line the shore of the lake, dangling her +pretty calash from a prettier finger, when Pathfinder met +her. He carried the rifle which he had used that day; but +his manner had less of the frank ease of the hunter about +it than usual, while his eye seemed roving and uneasy. +After a few unmeaning words concerning the noble sheet +of water before them, he turned towards his companion +with strong interest in his countenance, and said, -- + +"Jasper earned that calash for you, Mabel, without much +trial of his gifts." + +"It was fairly done, Pathfinder." + +"No doubt, no doubt. The bullet passed neatly through +the potato, and no man could have done more; though +others might have done as much." + +"But no one did as much!" exclaimed Mabel, with an +animation that she instantly regretted; for she saw by the +pained look of the guide that he was mortified equally by +the remark and by the feeling with which it was uttered. + +"It is true, it is true, Mabel, no one did as much then; +but -- yet there is no reason I should deny my gifts which +come from Providence -- yes, yes; no one did as much +there, but you shall know what _can_ be done here. Do you +observe the gulls that are flying over our heads?" + +"Certainly, Pathfinder; there are too many to escape +notice." + +"Here, where they cross each other in sailing about," +he added, cocking and raising his rifle; "the two -- the two. +Now look!" + +The piece was presented quick as thought, as two of the +birds came in a line, though distant from each other many +yards; the report followed, and the bullet passed through +the bodies of both victims. No sooner had the gulls +fallen into the lake, than Pathfinder dropped the butt-end +of the rifle, and laughed in his own peculiar manner, every +shade of dissatisfaction and mortified pride having left his +honest face. + +"That is something, Mabel, that is something; although +I have no calash to give you! But ask Jasper himself; I'll +leave it all to Jasper, for a truer tongue and heart are not +in America." + +"Then it was not Jasper's fault that he gained the +prize?" + +"Not it. He did his best, and he did well. For one +that has water gifts, rather than land gifts, Jasper is un- +commonly expert, and a better backer no one need wish, +ashore or afloat. But it was my fault, Mabel, that he got +the calash; though it makes no difference -- it makes no +difference, for the thing has gone to the right person." + +"I believe I understand you, Pathfinder," said Mabel, +blushing in spite of herself, "and I look upon the calash +as the joint gift of yourself and Jasper." + +"That would not be doing justice to the lad, neither. +He won the garment, and had a right to give it away. The +most you may think, Mabel, is to believe that, had I won +it, it would have gone to the same person." + +"I will remember that, Pathfinder, and take care that +others know your skill, as it has been proved upon the +poor gulls in my presence." + +"Lord bless you, Mabel! there is no more need of your +talking in favor of my shooting on this frontier, than of +your talking about the water in the lake or the sun in the +heavens. Everybody knows what I can do in that way, +and your words would be thrown away, as much as French +would be thrown away on an American bear." + +"Then you think that Jasper knew you were giving +him this advantage, of which he had so unhandsomely +availed himself?" said Mabel, the color +which had im- +parted so much lustre to her eyes gradually leaving her +face, which became grave and thoughtful. + +"I do not say that, but very far from it. We all forget +things that we have known, when eager after our wishes. +Jasper is satisfied that I can pass one bullet through two +potatoes, as I sent my bullet through the gulls; and he +knows no other man on the frontier can do the same thing. +But with the calash before his eyes, and the hope of giving +it to you, the lad was inclined to think better of himself, +just at that moment, perhaps, than he ought. No, no, +there's nothing mean or distrustful about Jasper Eau- +douce, though it is a gift natural to all young men to wish +to appear well in the eyes of handsome young women." + +"I'll try to forget all, but the kindness you've both +shown to a poor motherless girl," said Mabel, struggling +to keep down emotions she scarcely knew how to account +for herself. "Believe me, Pathfinder, I can never forget +all you have already done for me -- you and Jasper; and +this new proof of your regard is not thrown away. Here, +here is a brooch that is of silver, and I offer it as a token +that I owe you life or liberty." + +"What shall I do with this, Mabel?" asked the bewil- +dered hunter, holding the simple trinket in his hand. "I +have neither buckle nor button about me, for I wear +nothing but leathern strings, and them of good deer-skins. +It's pretty to the eye, but it is prettier far on the spot it +came from than it can be about me." + +"Nay, put it in your hunting-shirt; it will become it +well. Remember, Pathfinder, that it is a token of friend- +ship between us, and a sign that I can never forget you or +your services." + +Mabel then smiled an adieu; and, bounding up the +bank, she was soon lost to view behind the mound of the +fort. + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +Lo! dusky masses steal in dubious sight, + Along the leaguer'd wall, and bristling bank, +Of the arm'd river; while with straggling light, + The stars peep through the vapor, dim and dank. +BYRON. + + +A few hours later Mabel Dunham was on the bastion +that overlooked the river and the lake, seemingly in deep +thought. The evening was calm and soft, and the ques- +tion had arisen whether the party for the Thousand Islands +would be able to get out that night or not, on account of +the total absence of wind. The stores, arms, and ammuni- +tion were already shipped, and even Mabel's effects were +on board; but the small draft of men that was to go was +still ashore, there being no apparent prospect of the cutter's +getting under way. Jasper had warped the _Scud_ out of +the cove, and so far up the stream as to enable him to pass +through the outlet of the river whenever he chose; but +there he still lay, riding at single anchor. The drafted +men were lounging about the shore of the cove, undecided +whether or not to pull off. + +The sports of the morning had left a quiet in the garri- +son which was in harmony with the whole of the beautiful +scene, and Mabel felt its influence on her feelings, though +probably too little accustomed to speculate on such sensa- +tions to be aware of the cause. Everything near appeared +lovely and soothing, while the solemn grandeur of the +silent forest and placid expanse of the lake lent a sub- +limity that other scenes might have wanted. For the first +time, Mabel felt the hold that the towns and civilization +had gained on her habits sensibly weakened; and the +warm-hearted girl began to think that a life passed amid +objects such as those around her might be happy. How +far the experience of the last days came in aid of the calm +and holy eventide, and contributed towards producing that +young conviction, may be suspected, rather than affirmed, +in this early portion of our legend. + +"A charming sunset, Mabel!" said the hearty voice of +her uncle, so close to the ear of our heroine as to cause her +to start, -- "a charming sunset, girl, for a fresh-water con- +cern, though we should think but little of it at sea." + +"And is not nature the same on shore or at sea -- on a +lake like this or on the ocean? Does not the sun shine on +all alike, dear uncle; and can we not feel gratitude for the +blessings of Providence as strongly on this remote frontier +as in our own Manhattan?" + +"The girl has fallen in with some of her mother's books. +Is not nature the same, indeed! Now, Mabel, do you +imagine that the nature of a soldier is the same as that of +a seafaring man? You've relations in both callings, and +ought to be able to answer." + +"But uncle, I mean human nature." + +"So do I, girl; the human nature of a seaman, and the +human nature of one of these fellows of the 55th, not +even excepting your own father. Here have they had a +shooting-match -- target-firing I should call it -- this day, +and what a different thing has it been from a target-firing +afloat! There we should have sprung our broadside, +sported with round shot, at an object half a mile off, at +the very nearest; and the potatoes, if there happened to +be any on board, as very likely would not have been the +case, would have been left in the cook's coppers. It may +be an honorable calling, that of a soldier, Mabel; but an +experienced hand sees many follies and weaknesses in one +of these forts. As for that bit of a lake, you know my +opinion of it already, and I wish to disparage nothing. No +real seafarer disparages anything; but, d--- me, if I regard +this here Ontario, as they call it, as more than so much +water in a ship's scuttle-butt. Now, look you here, Mabel, +if you wish to understand the difference between the ocean +and a lake, I can make you comprehend it with a single +look: this is what one may call a calm, seeing that there +is no wind; though, to own the truth, I do not think the +calms are as calm as them we get outside -- " + +"Uncle, there is not a breath of air. I do not think it +possible for the leaves to be more immovably still than +those of the entire forest are at this very moment." + +"Leaves! what are leaves, child? there are no leaves at +sea. If you wish to know whether it is a dead calm or +not, try a mould candle, -- your dips flaring too much, -- +and then you may be certain whether there is or is not any +wind. If you were in a latitude where the air was so still +that you found a difficulty in stirring it to draw it in in +breathing, you might fancy it a calm. People are often +on a short allowance of air in the calm latitudes. Here, +again, look at that water! It is like milk in a pan, with +no more motion now than there is in a full hogshead before +the bung is started. On the ocean the water is never still, +let the air be as quiet as it may." + +"The water of the ocean never still, Uncle Cap? not +even in a calm?" + +"Bless your heart, no, child! The ocean breathes like +a living being, and its bosom is always heaving, as the +poetizers call it, though there be no more air than is to be +found in a siphon. No man ever saw the ocean still like +this lake; but it heaves and sets as if it had lungs." + +"And this lake is not absolutely still, for you perceive +there is a little ripple on the shore, and you may even hear +the surf plunging at moments against the rocks." + +"All d----d poetry! Lake Ontario is no more the Atlantic +than a Powles Hook periagila is a first-rate. That Jasper, +notwithstanding, is a fine lad, and wants instruction only +to make a man of him." + +"Do you think him ignorant, uncle?" answered Mabel, +prettily adjusting her hair, in order to do which she was +obliged, or fancied she was obliged, to turn away her face. +"To me Jasper Eau-douce appears to know more than +most of the young men of his class. He has read but +little, for books are not plenty in this part of the world; +but he has thought much, as least so it seems to me, for +one so young." + +"He is ignorant, as all must be who navigate an inland +water like this. No, no, Mabel; we both owe something +to Jasper and the Pathfinder, and I have been thinking +how I can best serve them, for I hold ingratitude to be +the vice of a hog; for treat the animal to your own dinner, +and he would eat you for the dessert." + +"Very true, dear uncle; we ought indeed to do all we +can to express our proper sense of the services of both these +brave men." + +"Spoken like your mother's daughter, girl, and in a way +to do credit to the Cap family. Now, I've hit upon a +traverse that will just suit all parties; and, as soon as we +get back from this little expedition down the lake among +them there Thousand Islands, and I am ready to return, it +is my intention to propose it." + +"Dearest uncle! this is so considerate in you, and will +be so just! May I ask what your intentions are?" + +"I see no reason for keeping them a secret from you, +Mabel, though nothing need be said to your father about +them; for the Sergeant has his prejudices, and might +throw difficulties in the way. Neither Jasper nor his +friend Pathfinder can ever make anything hereabouts, and +I propose to take both with me down to the coast, and get +them fairly afloat. Jasper would find his sea-legs in a fort- +night, and a twelvemonth's v'y'ge would make him a man. +Although Pathfinder might take more time, or never get +to be rated able, yet one could make something of him +too, particularly as a look-out, for he has unusually good +eyes." + +"Uncle, do you think either would consent to this?" +said Mabel smiling. + +"Do I suppose them simpletons? what rational being +would neglect his own advancement? Let Jasper alone to +push his way, and the lad may yet die the master of some +square-rigged craft." + +"And would he be any the happier for it, dear uncle? +How much better is it to be the master of a square-rigged +craft than to be master of a round-rigged craft?" + +"Pooh, pooh, Magnet! you are just fit to read lectures +about ships before some hysterical society; you don't know +what you are talking about; leave these things to me, and +they'll be properly managed. Ah! here is the Pathfinder +himself, and I may just as well drop him a hint of my +benevolent intentions as regards himself. Hope is a great +encourager of our exertions." + +Cap nodded his head, and then ceased to speak, while +the hunter approached, not with his usual frank and easy +manner, but in a way to show that he was slightly em- +barrassed, if not distrustful of his reception. + +"Uncle and niece make a family party," said Pathfinder, +when near the two, "and a stranger may not prove a wel- +come companion?" + +"You are no stranger, Master Pathfinder," returned +Cap, "and no one can be more welcome than yourself. +We were talking of you but a moment ago, and when +friends speak of an absent man, he can guess what they +have said." + +"I ask no secrets. Every man has his enemies, and I +have mine, though I count neither you, Master Cap, nor +pretty Mabel here among the number. As for the Mingos, +I will say nothing, though they have no just cause to hate +me." + +"That I'll answer for, Pathfinder! for you strike my +fancy as being well-disposed and upright. There is a +method, however, of getting away from the enmity of even +these Mingos; and if you choose to take it, no one will +more willingly point it out than myself, without a charge +for my advice either." + +"I wish no enemies, Saltwater," for so the Pathfinder +had begun to call Cap, having, insensibly to himself, +adopted the term, by translating the name given him by +the Indians in and about the fort, -- "I wish no enemies. +I'm as ready to bury the hatchet with the Mingos as with +the French, though you know that it depends on One +greater than either of us so to turn the heart as to leave a +man without enemies." + +"By lifting your anchor, and accompanying me down +to the coast, friend Pathfinder, when we get back from this +short cruise on which we are bound, you will find yourself +beyond the sound of the war-whoop, and safe enough from +any Indian bullet." + +"And what should I do on the salt water? Hunt in +your towns? Follow the trails of people going and com- +ing from market, and ambush dogs and poultry? You +are no friend to my happiness, Master Cap, if you would +lead me out of the shades of the woods to put me in the +sun of the clearings." + +"I did not propose to leave you in the settlements, +Pathfinder, but to carry you out to sea, where a man can +only be said to breathe freely. Mabel will tell you that +such was my intention, before a word was said on the +subject." + +"And what does Mabel think would come of such a +change? She knows that a man has his gifts, and that it +is as useless to pretend to others as to withstand them that +come from Providence. I am a hunter, and a scout, or a +guide, Saltwater, and it is not in me to fly so much in the +face of Heaven as to try to become anything else. Am I +right, Mabel, or are you so much a woman as to wish to +see a natur' altered?" + +"I would wish to see no change in you, Pathfinder," +Mabel answered, with a cordial sincerity and frankness +that went directly to the hunter's heart; "and much as +my uncle admires the sea, and great as is all the good that +he thinks may come of it, I could not wish to see the best +and noblest hunter of the woods transformed into an ad- +miral. Remain what you are, my brave friend, and you +need fear nothing short of the anger of God." + +"Do you hear this, Saltwater? do you hear what the +Sergeant's daughter is saying, and she is much too upright, +and fair-minded, and pretty, not to think what she says. +So long as she is satisfied with me as I am, I shall not fly +in the face of the gifts of Provideuce, by striving to become +anything else. I may seem useless here in a garrison; but +when we get down among the Thousand Islands, there may +be an opportunity to prove that a sure rifle is sometimes a +Godsend." + +"You are then to be of our party?" said Mabel, smiling +so frankly and so sweetly on the guide that he would have +followed her to the end of the earth. "I shall be the only +female, with the exception of one soldier's wife, and shall +feel none the less secure, Pathfinder, because you will be +among our protectors." + +"The Sergeant would do that, Mabel, though you were +not of his kin. No one will overlook you. I should think +your uncle here would like an expedition of this sort, +where we shall go with sails, and have a look at an inland +sea?" + +"Your inland sea is no great matter, Master Pathfinder, +and I expect nothing from it. I confess, however, I should +like to know the object of the cruise; for one does not +wish to be idle, and my brother-in-law, the Sergeant, is as +close-mouthed as a freemason. Do you know, Mabel, what +all this means?" + +"Not in the least, uncle. I dare not ask my father any +questions about his duty, for he thinks it is not a woman's +business; and all I can say is, that we are to sail as soon +as the wind will permit, and that we are to be absent a +month." + +"Perhaps Master Pathfinder can give me a useful hint; +for a v'y'ge without an object is never pleasant to an old +sailor." + +"There is no great secret, Saltwater, concerning our +port and object, though it is forbidden to talk much about +either in the garrison. I am no soldier, however, and can +use my tongue as I please, though as little given as another +to idle conversation, I hope; still, as we sail so soon, and +you are both to be of the party, you may as well be told +where you are to be carried. You know that there are +such things as the Thousand Islands, I suppose, Master +Cap?" + +"Ay, what are so called hereaway, though I take it for +granted that they are not real islauds, such as we fall in +with on the ocean; and that the thousand means some +such matter as two or three." + +"My eyes are good, and yet have I often been foiled in +trying to count them very islands." + +"Ay, ay, I've known people who couldn't count beyond +a certain number. Your real land-birds never know their +own roosts, even in a land-fall at sea. How many times +have I seen the beach, and houses, and churches, when the +passengers have not been able to see anything but water! +I have no idea that a man can get fairly out of sight of +land on fresh water. The thing appears to me to be irra- +tional and impossible." + +"You don't know the lakes, Master Cap, or you would +not say that. Before we get to the Thousand Islands, you +will have other notions of what natur' has done in this +wilderness." + +"I have my doubts whether you have such a thing as a +real island in all this region." + +"We'll show you hundreds of them; not exactly a thou- +sand, perhaps, but so many that eye cannot see them all, +nor tongue count them." + +"I'll engage, when the truth comes to be known, they'll +turn out to be nothing but peninsulas, or promontories; or +continents; though these are matters, I daresay, of which +you know little or nothing. But, islands or no islands, +what is the object of the cruise, Master Pathfinder?" + +"There can be no harm in giving you some idea of what +we are going to do. Being so old a sailor, Master Cap, +you've heard, no doubt, of such a port as Frontenac?" + +"Who hasn't? I will not say I've ever been inside the +harbor, but I've frequently been off the place." + +"Then you are about to go upon ground with which +you are acquainted. These great lakes, you must know, +make a chain, the water passing out of one into the other, +until it reaches Erie, which is a sheet off here to the west- +ward, as large as Ontario itself. Well, out of Erie the water +comes, until it reaches a low mountain like, over the edge +of which it passes." + +"I should like to know how the devil it can do that?" + +"Why, easy enough, Master Cap," returned Pathfinder, +laughing, "seeing that it has only to fall down hill. Had +I said the water went _up_ the mountain, there would have +been natur' ag'in it; but we hold it no great matter for +water to run down hill -- that is, _fresh_ water." + +"Ay, ay, but you speak of the water of a lake's coming +down the side of a mountain; it's in the teeth of reason, +if reason has any teeth." + +"Well, well, we will not dispute the point; but what +I've seen I've seen. After getting into Ontario, all the +water of _all_ the lakes passes down into the sea by a river; +and in the narrow part of the sheet, where it is neither +river nor lake, lie the islands spoken of. Now Frontenac +is a post of the Frenchers above these same islands; and, +as they hold the garrison below, their stores and ammuni- +tion are sent up the river to Frontenac, to be forwarded +along the shores of this and the other lakes, in order to +enable the enemy to play his devilries among the savages, +and to take Christian scalps." + +"And will our presence prevent these horrible acts?" +demanded Mabel, with interest. + +"It may or it may not, as Providence wills. Lundie, as +they call him, he who commands this garrison, sent a party +down to take a station among the islands, to cut off some +of the French boats; and this expedition of ours will be +the second relief. As yet they've not done much, though +two bateaux loaded with Indian goods have been taken; +but a runner came in last week, and brought such tidings +that the Major is about to make a last effort to circumvent +the knaves. Jasper knows the way, and we shall be in +good hands, for the Sergeant is prudent, and of the first +quality at an ambushment; yes, he is both prudent and +alert." + +"Is this all?" said Cap contemptuously; "by the prep- +arations and equipments, I had thought there was a forced +trade in the wind, and that an honest penny might be +turned by taking an adventure. I suppose there are no +shares in your fresh-water prize-money?" + +"Anan?" + +"I take it for granted the king gets all in these soldier- +ing parties, and ambushments, as you call them." + +"I know nothing about that, Master Cap. I take my +share of the lead and powder if any falls into our hands, +and say nothing to the king about it. If any one fares +better, it is not I; though it is time I did begin to think +of a house and furniture and a home." + +Although the Pathfinder did not dare to look at Mabel +while he made this direct allusion to his change of life, he +would have given the world to know whether she was lis- +tening, and what was the expression of her countenance. +Mabel little suspected the nature of the allusion, however; +and her countenance was perfectly unembarrassed as she +turned her eyes towards the river, where the appearance +of some movement on board the _Scud_ began to be visible. + +"Jasper is bringing the cutter out," observed the guide, +whose look was drawn in the same direction by the fall of +some heavy article on the deck. "The lad sees the signs +of wind, no doubt, and wishes to be ready for it." + +"Ay, now we shall have an opportunity of learning +seamanship," returned Cap, with a sneer. "There is a +nicety in getting a craft under her canvas that shows the +thoroughbred mariner as much as anything else. It's like +a soldier buttoning his coat, and one can see whether he +begins at the top or the bottom." + +"I will not say that Jasper is equal to your seafarers +below," observed Pathfinder, across whose upright mind +an unworthy feeling of envy or of jealousy never passed; +"but he is a bold boy, and manages his cutter as skillfully +as any man can desire, on this lake at least. You didn't +find him backwards at the Oswego Falls, Master Cap, +where fresh water contrives to tumble down hill with little +difficulty." + +Cap made no other answer than a dissatisfied ejaculation, +and then a general silence followed, all on the bastion +studying the movements of the cutter with the interest +that was natural to their own future connection with the +vessel. It was still a dead calm, the surface of the lake +literally glittering with the last rays of the sun. The +_Scud_ had been warped up to a kedge that lay a hundred +yards above the points of the outlet, where she had room +to manoeuvre in the river which then formed the harbor of +Oswego. But the total want of air prevented any such at- +tempt, and it was soon evident that the light vessel was to +be taken through the passage under her sweeps. Not a sail +was loosened; but as soon as the kedge was tripped, the +heavy fall of the sweeps was heard, when the cutter, with +her head up stream, began to sheer towards the centre of +the current; on reaching which, the efforts of the men +ceased, and she drifted towards the outlet. In the narrow +pass itself her movement was rapid, and in less than five +minutes the _Scud_ was floating outside of the two low +gravelly points which intercepted the waves of the lake. +No anchor was let go, but the vessel continued to set off +from the land, until her dark hull was seen resting on the +glossy surface of the lake, full a quarter of a mile beyond +the low bluff which formed the eastern extremity of what +might be called the outer harbor or roadstead. Here the +influence of the river current ceased, and she became, vir- +tually, stationary. + +"She seems very beautiful to me, uncle," said Mabel, +whose gaze had not been averted from the cutter for a +single moment while it had thus been changing its posi- +tion; "I daresay you can find faults in her appearance, +and in the way she is managed; but to my ignorance both +are perfect." + +"Ay, ay; she drops down with a current well enough, +girl, and so would a chip. But when you come to niceties, +all old tar like myself has no need of spectacles to find +fault." + +"Well, Master Cap," put in the guide, who seldom heard +anything to Jasper's prejudice without manifesting a dis- +position to interfere, "I've heard old and experienced salt- +water mariners confess that the _Scud_ is as pretty a craft +as floats. I know nothing of such matters myself; but +one may have his own notions about a ship, even though +they be wrong notions; and it would take more than one +witness to persuade me Jasper does not keep his boat in +good order." + +"I do not say that the cutter is downright lubberly, +Master Pathfinder; but she has faults, and great faults." + +"And what are they, uncle? If he knew them, Jasper +would be glad to mend them." + +"What are they? Why, fifty; ay, for that matter a +hundred. Very material and manifest faults." + +"Do name them, sir, and Pathfinder will mention them +to his friend." + +"Name them! it is no easy matter to call off the stars, +for the simple reason that they are so numerous. Name +them, indeed! Why, my pretty niece, Miss Magnet, what +do you think of that main-boom now? To my ignorant +eyes, it is topped at least a foot too high; and then the +pennant is foul; and -- and -- ay, d--- me, if there isn't a +topsail gasket adrift; and it wouldn't surprise me at all if +there should be a round turn in that hawser, if the kedge +were to be let go this instant. Faults indeed! No seaman +could look at her a moment without seeing that she is as +full of faults as a servant who has asked for his discharge." + +"This may be very true, uncle, though I much question +if Jasper knows of them. I do not think he would suffer +these things, Pathfinder, if they were once pointed out +to him." + +"Let Jasper manage his own cutter, Mabel. His gift +lies that-a-way, and I'll answer for it, no one can teach +him how to keep the _Scud_ out of the hands of the Fron- +tenackers or their devilish Mingo friends. Who cares for +round turns in kedges, and for hawsers that are topped +too high, Master Cap, so long as the craft sails well, and +keeps clear of the Frenchers? I will trust Jasper against +all the seafarers of the coast, up here on the lakes; but I +do not say he has any gift for the ocean, for there he has +never been tried." + +Cap smiled condescendingly, but he did not think it +necessary to push his critisms any further just as that +moment. By this time the cutter had begun to drift at +the mercy of the currents of the lake, her head turning in +all directions, though slowly, and not in a way to attract +particular attention. Just at this moment the jib was +loosened and hoisted, and presently the canvas swelled +towards the land, though no evidences of air were yet to +be seen on the surface of the water. Slight, however, as +was the impulsion, the light hull yielded; and in another +minute the _Scud_ was seen standing across the current of +the river with a movement so easy and moderate as to be +scarcely perceptible. When out of the stream, she struck +an eddy and shot up towards the land, under the emi- +nence where the fort stood, when Jasper dropped his kedge. + +"Not lubberly done," muttered Cap in a sort of solilo- +quy, -- "not over lubberly, though he should have put his +helm a-starboard instead of a-port; for a vessel ought +always to come-to with her head off shore, whether she is +a league from the land or only a cable's length, since it +has a careful look, and looks are something in this world." + +"Jasper is a handy lad," suddenly observed Sergeant +Dunham at his brother-in-law's elbow; "and we place +great reliance on his skill in our expeditions. But come, +one and all, we have but half an hour more of daylight to +embark in, and the boats will be ready for us by the time +we are ready for them." + +On this intimation the whole party separated, each to +find those trifles which had not been shipped already. A +few taps of the drum gave the necessary signal to the +soldiers, and in a minute all were in motion. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +The goblin now the fool alarms, +Hags meet to mumble o'er their charms, +The night-mare rides the dreaming ass, +And fairies trip it on the grass. +COTTON. + + +The embarkation of so small a party was a matter of +no great delay or embarrassment. The whole force con- +fided to the care of Sergeant Dunham consisted of but ten +privates and two non-commissioned officers, though it was +soon positively known that Mr. Muir was to accompany the +expedition. The Quartermaster, however, went as a vol- +unteer, while some duty connected with his own depart- +ment, as had been arranged between him and his com- +mander, was the avowed object. To these must be added +the Pathfinder and Cap, with Jasper and his subordinates, +one of whom was a boy. The party, consequently, con- +sisted of less than twenty men, and a lad of fourteen. +Mabel and the wife of a common soldier were the only +females. + +Sergeant Dunham carried off his command in a large +bateau, and then returned for his final orders, and to see +that his brother-in-law and daughter were properly at- +tended to. Having pointed out to Cap the boat that he +and Mabel were to use, he ascended the hill to seek his +last interview with Lundie. + +It was nearly dark when Mabel found herself in the boat +that was to carry her off to the cutter. So very smooth +was the surface of the lake, that it was not found necessary +to bring the bateaux into the river to receive their freights; +but the beach outside being totally without surf, and the +water as tranquil as that of a pond, everybody embarked +there. When the boat left the land, Mabel would not +have known that she was afloat on so broad a sheet of +water by any movement which is usual to such circum- +stances. The oars had barely time to give a dozen strokes, +when the boat lay at the cutter's side. + +Jasper was in readiness to receive his passengers; and, +as the deck of the _Scud_ was but two or three feet above +the water, no difficulty was experienced in getting on +board of her. As soon as this was effected, the young man +pointed out to Mabel and her companion the accommoda- +tions prepared for their reception. The little vessel con- +tained four apartments below, all between decks having +been expressly constructed with a view to the transporta- +tion of officers and men, with their wives and families. +First in rank was what was called the after-cabin, a small +apartment that contained four berths, and which enjoyed +the advantage of possessing small windows, for the ad- +mission of air and light. This was uniformly devoted to +females whenever any were on board; and as Mabel and +her companion were alone, they had ample accommoda- +tion. The main cabin was larger, and lighted from above. +It was now appropriated to the Quartermaster, the Ser- +geant, Cap, and Jasper; the Pathfinder roaming through +any part of the cutter he pleased, the female apartment +excepted. The corporals and common soldiers occupied +the space beneath the main hatch, which had a deck for +such a purpose, while the crew were berthed, as usual, in the +forecastle. Although the cutter did not measure quite +fifty tons, the draft of officers and men was so light, that +there was ample room for all on board, there being space +enough to accommodate treble the number, if necessary. + +As soon as Mabel had taken possession of her own really +comfortable cabin, in doing which she could not abstain +from indulging in the pleasant reflection that some of +Jasper's favor had been especially manifested in her be- +half, she went on deck again. Here all was momentarily +in motion; the men were roving to and fro, in quest of +their knapsacks and other effects; but method and habit +soon reduced things to order, when the stillness on board +became even imposing, for it was connected with the idea +of future adventure and ominous preparation. + +Darkness was now beginning to render objects on shore +indistinct, the whole of the land forming one shapeless +black outline of even forest summits, to be distinguished +from the impending heavens only by the greater light of +the sky. The stars, however, soon began to appear in the +latter, one after another, in their usual mild, placid lustre, +bringing with them that sense of quiet which ordinarily +accompanies night. There was something soothing, as +well as exciting, in such a scene; and Mabel, who was +seated on the quarter-deck, sensibly felt both influences. +The Pathfinder was standing near her, leaning, as usual, +on his long rifle, and she fancied that, through the grow- +ing darkness of the hour, she could trace even stronger +lines of thought than usual in his rugged countenance. + +"To you, Pathfinder, expeditions like this can be no +great novelty," said she; "though I am surprised to find +how silent and thoughtful the men appear to be." + +"We learn this by making war ag'in Indians. Your +militia are great talkers and little doers in general; but +the soldier who has often met the Mingos learns to know +the value of a prudent tongue. A silent army, in the +woods, is doubly strong; and a noisy one, doubly weak. +If tongues made soldiers, the, women of a camp would +generally carry the day." + +"But we are neither an army, nor in the woods. There +can be no danger of Mingos in the _Scud_." + +"No one is safe from a Mingo, who does not understand +his very natur'; and even then he must act up to his own +knowledge, and that closely. Ask Jasper how he got com- +mand of this very cutter." + +"And how _did_ he get command?" inquired Mabel, with +an earnestness and interest that quite delighted her simple- +minded and true-hearted companion, who was never better +pleased than when he had an opportunity of saying aught +in favor of a friend. "It is honorable to him that he has +reached this station while yet so young." + +"That is it; but he deserved it all, and more. A frigate +wouldn't have been too much to pay for so much spirit +and coolness, had there been such a thing on Ontario, as +there is not, hows'ever, or likely to be." + +"But Jasper -- you have not yet told me how he got the +command of the schooner." + +"It is a long story, Mabel, and one your father, the Ser- +geant, can tell much better than I; for he was present, +while I was off on a distant scouting. Jasper is not good +at a story, I will own that; I have heard him questioned +about this affair, and he never made a good tale of it, al- +though every body knows it was a good thing. The _Scud_ +had near fallen into the hands of the French and the +Mingos, when Jasper saved her, in a way which none but +a quick-witted mind and a bold heart would have at- +tempted. The Sergeant will tell the tale better than I +can, and I wish you to question him some day, when +nothing better offers." + +Mabel determined to ask her father to repeat the inci- +dents of the affair that very night; for it struck her young +fancy that nothing better could well offer than to listen to +the praises of one who was a bad historian of his own ex- +ploits. + +"Will the _Scud_ remain with us when we reach the +island?" she asked, after a little hesitation about the +propriety of the question; "or shall we be left to our- +selves?" + +"That's as may be: Jasper does not often keep the +cutter idle when anything is to be done; and we may +expect activity on his part. My gifts, however, run so +little towards the water and vessels generally, unless it be +among rapids and falls and in canoes, that I pretend to +know nothing about it. We shall have all right under +Jasper, I make no doubt, who can find a trail on Ontario +as well as a Delaware can find one on the land." + +"And our own Delaware, Pathfinder -- the Big Serpent -- +why is he not with us to-night?" + +"Your question would have been more natural had you +said, Why are _you_ here, Pathfinder? The Sarpent is in +his place, while I am not in mine. He is out, with two or +three more, scouting the lake shores, and will join us down +among the islands, with the tidings he may gather. The +Sergeant is too good a soldier to forget his rear while he +is facing the enemy in front. It's a thousand pities, +Mabel, your father wasn't born a general, as some of the +English are who come among us; for I feel sartain he +wouldn't leave a Frencher in the Canadas a week, could +he have his own way with them." + +"Shall we have enemies to face in front?" asked Mabel, +smiling, and for the first time feeling a slight apprehen- +sion about the dangers of the expedition. "Are we likely +to have an engagement?" + +"If we have, Mabel, there will be men enough ready +and willing to stand between you and harm. But you are +a soldier's daughter, and, we all know, have the spirit of +one. Don't let the fear of a battle keep your pretty eyes +from sleeping." + +"I do feel braver out here in the woods, Pathfinder, +than I ever felt before amid the weaknesses of the towns, +although I have always tried to remember what I owe to +my dear father." + +"Ay, your mother was so before you. 'You will find +Mabel, like her mother, no screamer, or a faint-hearted +girl, to trouble a man in his need; but one who would en- +courage her mate, and help to keep his heart up when +sorest prest by danger,' said the Sergeant to me, before I +ever laid eyes on that sweet countenance of yours, -- he +did!" + +"And why should my father have told you this, Path- +finder?" the girl demanded a little earnestly. "Perhaps +he fancied you would think the better of me if you did +not believe me a silly coward, as so many of my sex love to +make themselves appear." + +Deception, unless it were at the expense of his enemies +in the field, -- nay, concealment of even a thought, -- was +so little in accordance with the Pathfinder's very nature, +that he was not a little embarrassed by this simple ques- +tion. In such a strait he involuntarily took refuge in a, +middle course, not revealing that which he fancied ought +not to be told, nor yet absolutely concealing it. + +"You must know, Mabel," said he, "that the Sergeant +and I are old friends, and have stood side by side -- or, if +not actually side by side, I a little in advance, as became a +scout, and your father with his own men, as better suited +a soldier of the king -- on many a hard fi't and bloody day. +It's the way of us skirmishers to think little of the fight +when the rifle has done cracking; and at night, around +our fires, or on our marches, we talk of the things we love, +just as you young women convarse about your fancies and +opinions when you get together to laugh over your idees. +Now it was natural that the Sergeant, having such a +daughter as you, should love her better than anything else, +and that he should talk of her oftener than of anything +else, -- while I, having neither daughter, nor sister, nor +mother, nor kith, nor kin, nor anything but the Delawares +to love, I naturally chimed in, as it were, and got to love +you, Mabel, before I ever saw you -- yes, I did -- just by talk- +ing about you so much." + +"And now you _have_ seen me," returned the smiling girl, +whose unmoved and natural manner proved how little she +was thinking of anything more than parental or fraternal +regard, "you are beginning to see the folly of forming +friendships for people before you know anything about +them, except by hearsay." + +"It wasn't friendship -- it isn't friendship, Mabel, that +I feel for you. I am the friend of the Delawares, and +have been so from boyhood; but my feelings for them, or +for the best of them, are not the same as those I got from +the Sergeant for you; and, especially, now that I begin to +know you better. I'm sometimes afeared it isn't whole- +some for one who is much occupied in a very manly call- +ing, like that of a guide or scout, or a soldier even, to form +friendships for women, -- young women in particular, -- as +they seem to me to lessen the love of enterprise, and to +turn the feelings away from their gifts and natural occu- +pations." + +"You surely do not mean, Pathfinder, that a friendship +for a girl like me would make you less bold, and more un- +willing to meet the French than you were before?" + +"Not so, not so. With you in danger, for instance, I +fear I might become foolhardy; but before we became so +intimate, as I may say, I loved to think of my scoutings, +and of my marches, and outlyings, and fights, and other +adventures: but now my mind cares less about them; I +think more of the barracks, and of evenings passed in dis- +course, of feelings in which there are no wranglings and +bloodshed, and of young women, and of their laughs and +their cheerful, soft voices, their pleasant looks and their +winning ways. I sometimes tell the Sergeant that he and +his daughter will be the spoiling of one of the best and +most experienced scouts on the lines." + +"Not they, Pathfinder; they will try to make that which +is already so excellent, perfect. You do not know us, if +you think that either wishes to see you in the least changed. +Remain as at present, the same honest, upright, conscien- +tious, fearless, intelligent, trustworthy guide that you are, +and neither my dear father nor myself can ever think of +you differently from what we now do." + +It was too dark for Mabel to note the workings of the +countenance of her listener; but her own sweet face was +turned towards him, as she spoke with an energy equal to +her frankness, in a way to show how little embarrassed +were her thoughts, and how sincere were her words. Her +countenance was a little flushed, it is true; but it was with +earnestness and truth of feeling, though no nerve thrilled, +no limb trembled, no pulsation quickened. In short, her +manner and appearance were those of a sincere-minded +and frank girl, making such a declaration of good-will and +regard for one of the other sex as she felt that his services +and good qualities merited, without any of the emotion +that invariably accompanies the consciousness of an in- +clination which might lead to softer disclosures. + +The Pathfinder was too unpractised, however, to enter +into distinctions of this kind, and his humble nature was +encouraged by the directness and strength of the words +he had just heard. Unwilling, if not unable, to say any +more, he walked away, and stood leaning on his rifle and +looking up at the stars for full ten minutes in profound +silence. + +In the meanwhile the interview on the bastion, to which +we have already alluded, took place between Lundie and +the Sergeant. + +"Have the men's knapsacks been examined?" demanded +Major Duncan, after he had cast his eye at a written report, +handed to him by the Sergeant, but which it was too dark +to read. + +"All, your honor; and all are right." + +"The ammunition -- arms?" + +"All in order, Major Duncan, and fit for any service." + +"You have the men named in my own draft, Dunham?" + +"Without an exception, sir. Better men could not be +found in the regiment." + +"You have need of the best of our men, Sergeant. This +experiment has now been tried three times; always under +one of the ensigns, who have flattered me with success, +but have as often failed. After so much preparation and +expense, I do not like to abandon the project entirely; +but this will be the last effort; and the result will mainly +depend on you and on the Pathfinder." + +"You may count on us both, Major Duncan. The duty +you have given us is not above our habits and experience, +and I think it will be well done. I know that the Path- +finder will not be wanting." + +"On that, indeed, it will be safe to rely. He is a most +extraordinary man, Dunham -- one who long puzzled me; +but who, now that I understand him, commands as much +of my respect as any general in his majesty's service." + +"I was in hopes, sir, that you would come to look at the +proposed marriage with Mabel as a thing I ought to wish +and forward." + +"As for that, Sergeant, time will show," returned +Lundie, smiling; though here, too, the obscurity concealed +tbe nicer shades of expression; "one woman is sometimes +more difficult to manage than a whole regiment of men. +By the way, you know that your would-be son-in-law, the +Quartermaster, will be of the party; and I trust you will +at least give him an equal chance in the trial for your +daughter's smiles." + +"If respect for his rank, sir, did not cause me to do +this, your honor's wish would be sufficient." + +"I thank you, Sergeant. We have served much together, +and ought to value each other in our several stations. +Understand me, however, I ask no more for Davy Muir +than a clear field and no favor. In love, as in war, each +man must gain his own victories. Are you certain that +the rations have been properly calculated?" + +"I'll answer for it, Major Duncan; but if they were not, +we cannot suffer with two such hunters as Pathfinder and +the Serpent in company." + +"That will never do, Dunham," interrupted Lundie +sharply; "and it comes of your American birth and +American training. No thorough soldier ever relies on +anything but his commissary for supplies; and I beg that +no part of my regiment may be the first to set an example +to the contrary." + +"You have only to command, Major Duncan, to be +obeyed; and yet, if I might presume, sir -- " + +"Speak freely, Sergeant; you are talking with a friend." + +"I was merely about to say that I find even the Scotch +soldiers like venison and birds quite as well as pork, when +they are difficult to be had." + +"That may be very true; but likes and dislikes have +nothing to do with system. An army can rely on nothing +but its commissaries. The irregularity of the provincials +has played the devil with the king's service too often to be +winked at any longer." + +"General Braddock, your honor, might have been ad- +vised by Colonel Washington." + +"Out upon your Washington! You're all provincials +together, man, and uphold each other as if you were of a +sworn confederacy." + +"I believe his majesty has no more loyal subjects than +the Americans, your honor." + +"In that, Dunham, I'm thinking you're right; and I +have been a little too warm, perhaps. I do not consider +_you_ a provincial, however, Sergeant; for though born in +America, a better soldier never shouldered a musket." + +"And Colonel Washington, your honor?" + +"Well! -- and Colonel Washington may be a useful subject +too. He is the American prodigy; and I suppose I may as +well give him all the credit you ask. You have no doubt +of the skill of this Jasper Eau-douce?" + +"The boy has been tried, sir, and found equal to all that +can be required of him." + +"He has a French name, and has passed much of his +boyhood in the French colonies; has he French blood in +his veins, Sergeant?" + +"Not a drop, your honor. Jasper's father was an old +comrade of my own, and his mother came of an honest +and loyal family in this very province." + +"How came he then so much among the French, and +whence his name? He speaks the language of the Canadas, +too, I find." + +"That is easily explained, Major Duncan. The boy was +left under the care of one of our mariners in the old war, +and he took to the water like a duck. Your honor knows +that we have no ports on Ontario that can be named as +such, and he naturally passed most of his time on the +other side of the lake, where the French have had a few +vessels these fifty years. He learned to speak their lan- +guage, as a matter of course, and got his name from the +Indians and Canadians, who are fond of calling men by +their qualities, as it might be." + +"A French master is but a poor instructor for a British +sailor, notwithstanding." + +"I beg your pardon, sir: Jasper Eau-douce was brought +up under a real English seaman, one that had sailed under +the king's pennant, and may be called a thorough-bred; +that is to say, a subject born in the colonies, but none the +worse at his trade, I hope, Major Duncan, for that." + +"Perhaps not, Sergeant, perhaps not; nor any better. +This Jasper behaved well, too, when I gave him the com- +mand of the _Scud_; no lad could have conducted himself +more loyally or better." + +"Or more bravely, Major Duncan. I am sorry to see, +sir, that you have doubts as to the fidelity of Jasper." + +"It is the duty of the soldier who is entrusted with the +care of a distant and important post like this, Dunham, +never to relax in his vigilance. We have two of the most +artful enemies that the world has ever produced, in their +several ways, to contend with, -- the Indians and the +French, -- and nothing should be overlooked that can lead +to injury." + +"I hope your honor considers me fit to be entrusted +with any particular reason that may exist for doubting +Jasper, since you have seen fit to entrust me with this +command." + +"It is not that I doubt you, Dunham, that I hesitate to +reveal all I may happen to know; but from a strong re- +luctance to circulate an evil report concerning one of +whom I have hitherto thought well. You must think +well of the Pathfinder, or you would not wish to give him +your daughter?" + +"For the Pathfinder's honesty I will answer with my +life, sir," returned the Sergeant firmly, and not without a +dignity of manner that struck his superior. "Such a man +doesn't know how to be false." + +"I believe you are right, Dunham; and yet this last in- +formation has unsettled all my old opinions. I have re- +ceived an anonymous communication, Sergeant, advising +me to be on my guard against Jasper Western, or Jasper +Eau-douce, as he is called, who, it alleges, has been bought +by the enemy, and giving me reason to expect that further +and more precise information will soon be sent." + +"Letters without signatures to them, sir, are scarcely to +be regarded in war." + +"Or in peace, Dunham. No one can entertain a lower +opinion of the writer of an anonymous letter, in ordinary +matters, than myself; the very act denotes cowardice, +meanness, and baseness; and it usually is a token of false- +hood, as well as of other vices. But in matters of war it +is not exactly the same thing. Besides, several suspicious +circumstances have been pointed out to me." + +"Such as is fit for an orderly to hear, your honor?" + +"Certainly, one in whom I confide as much as in your- +self Dunham. It is said, for instance, that your daughter +and her party were permitted to escape the Iroquois, when +they came in, merely to give Jasper credit with me. I am +told that the gentry at Frontenac will care more for the +capture of the _Scud_, with Sergeant Dunham and a party +of men, together with the defeat of our favorite plan, than +for the capture of a girl and the scalp of her uncle." + +"I understand the hint, sir, but I do not give it credit. +Jasper can hardly be true, and Pathfinder false; and,as +for the last, I would as soon distrust your honor as distrust +him." + +"It would seem so, Sergeant; it would indeed seem so. +But Jasper is not the Pathfinder, after all; and I will own, +Dunham, I should put more faith in the lad if he didn't +speak French." + +"It's no recommendation in my eyes, I assure your +honor; but the boy learned it by compulsion, as it were, +and ought not to be condemned too hastily for the cir- +cumstance, by your honor's leave." + +"It's a d----d lingo, and never did any one good -- at least +no British subject; for I suppose the French themselves +must talk together in some language or other. I should +have much more faith in this Jasper, did he know nothing +of their language. This letter has made me uneasy; and, +were there another to whom I could trust the cutter, I +would devise some means to detain him here. I have +spoken to you already of a brother-in-law, who goes with +you, Sergeant, and who is a sailor?" + +"A real seafaring man, your honor, and somewhat preju- +diced against fresh water. I doubt if he could be induced +to risk his character on a lake, and I'm certain he never +could find the station." + +"The last is probably true, and then, the man cannot +know enough of this treacherous lake to be fit for the em- +ployment. You will have to be doubly vigilant, Dunham. +I give you full powers; and should you detect this Jasper +in any treachery, make him a sacrifice at once to offended +justice." + +"Being in the service of the crown, your honor, he is +amenable to martial law." + +"Very true; then iron him, from his head to his heels, +and send him up here in his own cutter. That brother- +in-law of yours must be able to find the way back, after +he has once travelled the road." + +"I make no doubt, Major Duncan, we shall be able to +do all that will be necessary should Jasper turn out as you +seem to anticipate; though I think I would risk my life +on his truth." + +"I like your confidence -- it speaks well for the fellow; +but that infernal letter! there is such an air of truth +about it; nay, there is so much truth in it, touching other +matters." + +"I think your honor said it wanted the name at the +bottom; a great omission for an honest man to make." + +"Quite right, Dunham, and no one but a rascal, and a +cowardly rascal in the bargain, would write an anonymous +letter on private affairs. It is different, however, in war; +despatches are feigned, and artifice is generally allowed to +be justifiable." + +"Military manly artifices, sir, if you will; such as am- +bushes, surprises, feints, false attacks, and even spies; but +I never heard of a true soldier who could wish to under- +mine the character of an honest young man by such means +as these." + +"I have met with many strange events, and some +stranger people, in the course of my experience. But fare +you well, Sergeant; I must detain you no longer. You +are now on your guard, and I recommend to you untiring +vigilance. I think Muir means shortly to retire; and, +should you fully succeed in this enterprise, my influence +will not be wanting in endeavoring to put you in the +vacancy, to which you have many claims." + +"I humbly thank your honor," coolly returned the Ser- +geant, who had been encouraged in this manner any time +for the twenty preceding years, "and hope I shall never +disgrace my station, whatever it may be. I am what nature +and Providence have made me, and hope I'm satisfied." + +"You have not forgotten the howitzer?" + +"Jasper took it on board this morning, sir." + +"Be wary, and do not trust that man unnecessarily. +Make a confidant of Pathfinder at once; he may be of +service in detecting any villainy that may be stirring. His +simple honesty will favor his observation by concealing it. +He _must_ be true." + +"For him, sir, my own head shall answer, or even my +rank in the regiment. I have seen him too often tried to +doubt him." + +"Of all wretched sensations, Dunham, distrust, where +one is compelled to confide, is the most painful. You +have bethought you of the spare flints?" + +"A sergeant is a safe commander for all such details, +your honor." + +"Well, then, give me your hand, Dunham. God bless +you! and may you be successful! Muir means to retire, -- +by the way, let the man have an equal chance with your +daughter, for it may facilitate future operations about the +promotion. One would retire more cheerfully with such +a companion as Mabel, than in cheerless widowhood, and +with nothing but oneself to love, -- and such a self, too, as +Davy's!" + +"I hope, sir, my child will make a prudent choice, and +I think her mind is already pretty much made up in favor +of Pathfinder. Still she shall have fair play, though dis- +obedience is the next crime to mutiny." + +"Have all the ammunition carefully examined and dried +as soon as you arrive; the damp of the lake may affect it. +And now, once more, farewell, Sergeant. Beware of that +Jasper, and consult with Muir in any difficulty. I shall +expect you to return, triumphant, this day month." + +"God bless your honor! If anything should happen to +me, I trust to you, Major Duncan, to care for an old sol- +dier's character." + +"Rely on me, Dunham -- you will rely on a friend. Be +vigilant: remember you will be in the very jaws of the +lion; -- pshaw! of no lion neither; but of treacherous tigers: +in their very jaws, and beyond support. Have the flints +counted and examined in the morning -- and -- farewell, +Dunham, farewell!" + +The Sergeant took the extended hand of his superior +with proper respect, and they finally parted; Lundie has- +tening into his own movable abode, while the other left +the fort, descended to the beach, and got into a boat. + +It is not to be supposed that Sergeant Dunham, after +he had parted from his commanding officer, was likely to +forget the injunctions he had received. He thought highly +of Jasper in general; but distrust had been insinuated be- +tween his former confidence and the obligations of duty; +and, as he now felt that everything depended on his own +vigilance, by the time the boat reached the side of the _Scud_ +he was in a proper humor to let no suspicious circumstance +go unheeded, or any unusual movement in the young sailor +pass without its comment. As a matter of course, he +viewed things in the light suited to his peculiar mood; +and his precautions, as well as his distrust, partook of the +habits, opinions, and education of the man. + +The _Scud's_ kedge was lifted as soon as the boat with the +Sergeant, who was the last person expected, was seen to +quit the shore, and the head of the cutter was cast to the +eastward by means of the sweeps. A few vigorous strokes +of the latter, in which the soldiers aided, now sent the +light craft into the line or the current that flowed from +the river, when she was suffered to drift into the offing +again. As yet there was no wind, the light and almost +imperceptible air from the lake, that had existed previ- +ously to the setting of the sun, having entirely failed. + +All this time an unusual quiet prevailed in the cutter. +It appeared as if those on board of her felt that they were +entering upon an uncertain enterprise, in the obscurity of +night; and that their duty, the hour, and the manner of +their departure lent a solemnity to their movements. Dis- +cipline also came in aid of these feelings. Most were silent; +and those who did speak spoke seldom and in low voices. +In this manner the cutter set slowly out into the lake, until +she had got as far as the river current would carry her, +when she became stationary, waiting for the usual land- +breeze. An interval of half an hour followed, during the +whole of which time the _Scud_ lay as motionless as a log, +floating on the water. While the little changes just men- +tioned were occurring in the situation of the vessel, not- +withstanding the general quiet that prevailed, all conversa- +tion had not been repressed; for Sergeant Dunham, having +first ascertained that both his daughter and her female +companion were on the quarter-deck, led the Pathfinder to +the after-cabin, where, closing the door with great caution, +and otherwise making certain that he was beyond the reach +of eavesdroppers, he commenced as follows: -- + +"It is now many years, my friend, since you began to +experience the hardships and dangers of the woods in my +company." + +"It is, Sergeant; yes it is. I sometimes fear I am too +old for Mabel, who was not born until you and I had fought +the Frenchers as comrades." + +"No fear on that account, Pathfinder. I was near your +age before I prevailed on the mind of her mother; and +Mabel is a steady, thoughtful girl, one that will regard +character more than anything else. A lad like Jasper +Eau-douce, for instance, will have no chance with her, +though he is both young and comely." + +"Does Jasper think of marrying?" inquired the guide, +simply but earnestly. + +"I should hope not -- at least, not until he has satisfied +every one of his fitness to possess a wife." + +"Jasper is a gallant boy, and one of great gifts in his +way; he may claim a wife as well as another." + +"To be frank with you, Pathfinder, I brought you here +to talk about this very youngster. Major Duncan has re- +ceived some information which has led him to suspect that +Eau-douce is false, and in the pay of the enemy; I wish to +hear your opinion on the subject." + +"Anan?" + +"I say, the Major suspects Jasper of being a traitor -- a +French spy -- or, what is worse, of being bought to betray +us. He has received a letter to this effect, and has been +charging me to keep an eye on the boy's movements; for +he fears we shall meet with enemies when we least suspect +it, and by his means." + +"Duncan of Lundie has told you this, Sergeant Dun- +ham?" + +"He has indeed, Pathfinder; and, though I have been +loath to believe anything to the injury of Jasper, I have a +feeling which tells me I ought to distrust him. Do you +believe in presentiments, my friend? + +"In what, Sergeant?" + +"Presentiments, -- a sort of secret foreknowledge of +events that are about to happen. The Scotch of our regi- +ment are great sticklers for such things; and my opinion +of Jasper is changing so fast, that I begin to fear there +must be some truth in their doctrines." + +"But you've been talking with Duncan of Lundie con- +cerning Jasper, and his words have raised misgivings." + +"Not it, not so in the least; for, while conversing with +the Major, my feelings were altogether the other way; and +I endeavored to convince him all I could that he did the +boy injustice. But there is no use in holding out against +a presentiment, I find; and I fear there is something in +the suspicion after all." + +"I know nothing of presentiments, Sergeant; but I have +known Jasper Eau-douce since he was a boy, and I have +as much faith in his honesty as I have in my own, or that +of the Sarpent himself." + +"But the Serpent, Pathfinder, has his tricks and am- +bushes in war as well as another." + +"Ay, them are his nat'ral gifts, and are such as belong +to his people. Neither red-skin nor pale-face can deny +natur'; but Chingachgook is not a man to feel a pre- +sentiment against." + +"That I believe; nor should I have thought ill of Jasper +this very morning. It seems to me, Pathfinder, since I've +taken up this presentiment, that the lad does not bustle +about his deck naturally, as he used to do; but that he is +silent and moody and thoughtful, like a man who has a +load on his conscience." + +"Jasper is never noisy; and he tells me noisy ships are +generally ill-worked ships. Master Cap agrees in this too. +No, no; I will believe naught against Jasper until I see it. +Send for your brother, Sergeant, and let us question him +in this matter; for to sleep with distrust of one's friend +in the heart is like sleeping with lead there. I have no +faith in your presentiments." + +The Sergeant, although he scarcely knew himself with +what object, complied, and Cap was summoned to join in +the consultation. As Pathfinder was more collected than +his companion, and felt so strong a conviction of the good +faith of the party accused, he assumed the office of spokes- +man. + +"We have asked you to come down, Master Cap," he +commenced, "in order to inquire if you have remarked +anything out of the common way in the movements of +Eau-douce this evening." + +"His movements are common enough, I daresay, for +fresh water, Master Pathfinder, though we should think +most of his proceedings irregular down on the coast." + +"Yes, yes; we know you will never agree with the lad +about the manner the cutter ought to be managed; but it +is on another point we wish your opinion." + +The Pathfinder then explained to Cap the nature of the +suspicions which the Sergeant entertained, and the reasons +why they had been excited, so far as the latter had been +communicated by Major Duncan. + +"The youngster talks French, does he?" said Cap. + +"They say he speaks it better than common," returned +the Sergeant gravely. "Pathfinder knows this to be true." + +"I'll not gainsay it," answered the guide; "at least, they +tell me such is the fact. But this would prove nothing +ag'in a Mississagua, and, least of all, ag'in one like Jasper. +I speak the Mingo dialect myself, having learnt it while a +prisoner among the reptyles; but who will say I am their +friend? Not that I am an enemy, either, according to In- +dian notions; though I am their enemy, I will admit, agree- +able to Christianity." + +"Ay Pathfinder; but Jasper did not get his French as a +prisoner: he took it in his boyhood, when the mind is easily +impressed, and gets its permanent notions; when nature +has a presentiment, as it were, which way the character is +likely to incline." + +"A very just remark," added Cap, "for that is the time +of life when we all learn the catechism, and other moral +improvements. The Sergeant's observation shows that he +understands human nature, and I agree with him per- +fectly; it _is_ a damnable thing for a youngster, up here, on +this bit of fresh water, to talk French. If it were down +on the Atlantic, now, where a seafaring man has occasion +sometimes to converse with a pilot, or a linguister, in that +language, I should not think so much of it, -- though we +always look with suspicion, even there, at a shipmate who +knows too much of the tongue; but up here, on Ontario, +I hold it to be a most suspicious circumstance." + +"But Jasper must talk in French to the people on the +other shore," said Pathfinder, "or hold his tongue, as there +are none but French to speak to." + +"You don't mean to tell me, Pathfinder, that France +lies hereaway, on the opposite coast?" cried Cap, jerking +a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the Canadas; +"that one side of this bit of fresh water is York, and the +other France?" + +"I mean to tell you this is York, and that is Upper +Canada; and that English and Dutch and Indian are +spoken in the first, and French and Indian in the last. +Even the Mingos have got many of the French words in +their dialect, and it is no improvement, neither." + +"Very true: and what sort of people are the Mingos, my +friend?" inquired the Sergeant, touching the other on his +shoulder, by way of enforcing a remark, the inherent truth +of which sensibly increased its value in the eyes of the +speaker: "no one knows them better than yourself, and I +ask you what sort of a tribe are they?" + +"Jasper is no Mingo, Sergeant." + +"He speaks French, and he might as well be, in that +particular. Brother Cap, can you recollect no movement +of this unfortunate young man, in the way of his calling, +that would seem to denote treachery?" + +"Not distinctly, Sergeant, though he has gone to work +wrong-end foremost half his time. It is true that one of +his hands coiled a rope against the sun, and he called it +_querling_ a rope, too, when I asked him what he was about; +but I am not certain that anything was meant by it; +though, I daresay, the French coil half their running rig- +ging the wrong way, and may call it 'querling it down,' +too, for that matter. Then Jasper himself belayed the end +of the jib-halyards to a stretcher in the rigging, instead of +bringing in to the mast, where they belong, at least among +British sailors." + +"I daresay Jasper may have got some Canada notions +about working his craft, from being so much on the other +side," Pathfinder interposed; "but catching an idee, or a +word, isn't treachery and bad faith. I sometimes get an +idee from the Mingos themselves; but my heart has always +been with the Delawares. No, no, Jasper is true; and the +king might trust him with his crown, just as he would +trust his eldest son, who, as he is to wear it one day, ought +to be the last man to wish to steal it." + +"Fine talking, fine talking!" said Cap; "all fine talk- +ing, Master Pathfinder, but d----d little logic. In the first +place, the king's majesty cannot lend his crown, it being +contrary to the laws of the realm, which require him to +wear it at all times, in order that his sacred person may +be known, just as the silver oar is necessary to a sheriff's +officer afloat. In the next place, it's high treason, by law, +for the eldest son of his majesty ever to covet the crown, +or to have a child, except in lawful wedlock, as either +would derange the succession. Thus you see, friend Path- +finder that in order to reason truly, one must get under +way, as it might be, on the right tack. Law is reason, and +reason is philosophy, and philosophy is a steady drag; +whence it follows that crowns are regulated by law, reason, +and philosophy." + +"I know little of all this; Master Cap; but nothing short +of seeing and feeling will make me think Jasper Western +a traitor." + +"There you are wrong again, Pathfinder; for there is a +way of proving a thing much more conclusively than +either seeing or feeling, or by both together; and that is +by a circumstance." + +"It may be so in the settlements; but it is not so here +on the lines." + +"It is so in nature, which is monarch over all. There +was a circumstance, just after we came on board this even- +ing, that is extremely suspicious, and which may be set +down at once as a makeweight against this lad. Jasper +bent on the king's ensign with his own hands; and, while +he pretended to be looking at Mabel and the soldier's wife, +giving directions about showing them below here, and a +that, he got the flag union down!" + +"That might have been accident," returned the Ser- +geant, "for such a thing has happened to myself; besides, +the halyards lead to a pulley, and the flag would have +come right, or not, according to the manner in which the +lad hoisted it." + +"A pulley!" exclaimed Cap, with strong disgust; "I +wish, Sergeant Dunham, I could prevail on you to use +proper terms. An ensign-halyard-block is no more a pul- +ley than your halbert is a boarding-pike. It is true that +by hoisting on one part, another part would go uppermost; +but I look upon that affair of the ensign, now you have +mentioned your suspicions, as a circumstance, and shall +bear it in mind. I trust supper is not to be overlooked, +however, even if we have a hold full of traitors." + +"It will be duly attended to, brother Cap; but I shall +count on you for aid in managing the _Scud_, should any- +thing occur to induce me to arrest Jasper." + +"I'll not fail you, Sergeant; and in such an event you'll +probably learn what this cutter can really perform; for, as +yet, I fancy it is pretty much matter of guesswork." + +"Well, for my part," said Pathfinder, drawing a heavy +sigh, "I shall cling to the hope of Jasper's innocence, and +recommend plain dealing, by asking the lad himself, with- +out further delay, whether he is or is not a traitor. I'll +put Jasper Western against all the presentiments and cir- +cumstances in the colony." + +"That will never do," rejoined the Sergeant. "The re- +sponsibility of this affair rests with me, and I request and +enjoin that nothing be said to any one without my knowl- +edge. We will all keep watchful eyes about us, and take +proper note of circumstances." + +"Ay, ay! circumstances are the things after all," re- +turned Cap. "One circumstance is worth fifty facts. That +I know to be the law of the realm. Many a man has been +hanged on circumstances." + +The conversation now ceased, and, after a short delay, +the whole party returned to the deck, each individual dis- +posed to view the conduct of the suspected Jasper in the +manner most suited to his own habits and character. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless, +So dull, so dead in look, so woe-begone, +Drew Priam's Curtain in the dead of night, +And would have told him, half his Troy was burned. +SHAKESPEARE. + + +All this time matters were elsewhere passing in their +usual train. Jasper, like the weather and his vessel, seemed +to be waiting for the land-breeze; while the soldiers, ac- +customed to early rising, had, to a man, sought their pallets +in the main hold. None remained on deck but the people +of the cutter, Mr. Muir, and the two females. The Quar- +termaster was endeavoring to render himself agreeable to +Mabel, while our heroine herself, little affected by his as- +siduities, which she ascribed partly to the habitual gallantry +of a soldier, and partly, perhaps, to her own pretty face, +was enjoying the peculiarities of a scene and situation +which, to her, were full of the charms of novelty. + +The sails had been hoisted, but as yet not a breath of +air was in motion; and so still and placid was the lake, +that not the smallest motion was perceptible in the cutter. +She had drifted in the river-current to a distance a little +exceeding a quarter of a mile from the land, and there she +lay, beautiful in her symmetry and form, but like a fix- +ture. Young Jasper was on the quarter-deck, near enough +to hear occasionally the conversation which passed; but +too diffident of his own claim, and too intent on his duties, +to attempt to mingle in it. The fine blue eyes of Mabel +followed his motions in curious expectation, and more than +once the Quartermaster had to repeat his compliments +before she heard them, so intent was she on the little oc- +currences of the vessel, and, we might add, so indifferent +to the eloquence of her companion. At length, even Mr. +Muir became silent, and there was a deep stillness on the +water. Presently an oar-blade fell in a boat beneath the +fort, and the sound reached the cutter as distinctly as if it +had been produced on her deck. Then came a murmur, +like a sigh of the night, a fluttering of the canvas, the +creaking of the boom, and the flap of the jib. These well- +known sounds were followed by a slight heel in the cutter, +and by the bellying of all the sails. + +"Here's the wind, Anderson," called out Jasper to the +oldest of his sailors; "take the helm." + +This brief order was obeyed; the helm was put up, the +cutter's bows fell off, and in a few minutes the water was +heard murmuring under her head, as the _Scud_ glanced +through the lake at the rate of five miles in the hour. All +this passed in profound silence, when Jasper again gave +the order to "ease off the sheets a little and keep her +along the land." + +It was at this instant that the party from the after-cabin +reappeared on the quarter-deck. + +"You've no inclination, Jasper lad, to trust yourself too +near our neighbours the French," observed Muir, who took +that occasion to recommence the discourse. "Well, well, +your prudence will never be questioned by me, for I like +the Canadas as little as you can possibly like them yourself." + +"I hug this shore, Mr. Muir, on account of the wind. +The land-breeze is always freshest close in, provided you +are not so near as to make a lee of the trees. We have +Mexico Bay to cross; and that, on the present course, will +give us quite offing enough." + +"I'm right glad it's not the Bay of Mexico," put in Cap, +"which is a part of the world I would rather not visit in +one of your inland craft. Does your cutter bear a weather +helm, master Eau-douce?" + +"She is easy on her rudder, master Cap; but likes look- +ing up at the breeze as well as another, when in lively +motion." + +"I suppose you have such things as reefs, though you +can hardly have occasion to use them?" + +Mabel's bright eye detected the smile that gleamed for +an instant on Jasper's handsome face; but no one else saw +that momentary exhibition of surprise and contempt. + +"We have reefs, and often have occasion to use them," +quietly returned the young man. "Before we get in, Mas- +ter Cap, an opportunity may offer to show you the manner +in which we do so; for there is easterly weather brewing, +and the wind cannot chop, even on the ocean itself, more +readily than it flies round on Lake Ontario." + +"So much for knowing no better! I have seen the wind +in the Atlantic fly round like a coach-wheel, in a way to +keep your sails shaking for an hour, and the ship would +become perfectly motionless from not knowing which way +to turn." + +"We have no such sudden changes here, certainly," +Jasper mildly answered; "though we think ourselves liable +to unexpected shifts of wind. I hope, however, to carry +this land-breeze as far as the first islands; after which +there will be less danger of our being seen and followed by +any of the look-out boats from Frontenac." + +"Do you thiuk the French keep spies out on the broad +lake, Jasper?" inquired the Pathfinder. + +"We know they do; one was off Oswego during the +night of Monday last. A bark canoe came close in with +the eastern point, and landed an Indian and an officer. +Had you been outlying that night, as usual, we should have +secured one, if not both of them." + +It was too dark to betray the color that deepened on the +weather-burnt features of the guide; for he felt the con- +sciousness of having lingered in the fort that night, listen- +ing to the sweet tones of Mabel's voice as she sang ballads +to her father, and gazing at the countenance which, to +him, was radiant with charms. Probity in thought and +deed being the distinguishing quality of this extraordinary +man's mind, while he felt that a sort of disgrace ought to +attach to his idleness on the occasion mentioned, the last +thought that could occur would be to attempt to palliate +or deny his negligence. + +"I confess it, Jasper, I confess it," said he humbly. +"Had I been out that night, -- and I now recollect no suffi- +cient reason why I was not, -- it might, indeed, have turned +out as you say." + +"It was the evening you passed with us, Pathfinder," +Mabel innocently remarked; "surely one who lives so much +of his time in the forest, in front of the enemy, may be +excused for giving a few hours of his time to an old friend +and his daughter." + +"Nay, nay, I've done little else but idle since we reached +the garrison," returned the other, sighing; "and it is well +that the lad should tell me of it: the idler needs a rebuke +- yes, he needs a rebuke." + +"Rebuke, Pathfinder! I never dreamt of saying any- +thing disagreeable, and least of all would I think of re- +buking you, because a solitary spy and an Indian or two +have escaped us. Now I know where you were, I think +your absence the most natural thing in the world." + +"I think nothing of what you said, Jasper, since it was +deserved. We are all human, and all do wrong." + +"This is unkind, Pathfinder." + +"Give me your hand, lad, give me your hand. It wasn't +you that gave the lesson; it was conscience." + +"Well, well," interrupted Cap; "now this latter matter +is settled to the satisfaction of all parties, perhaps you will +tell us how it happened to be known that there were spies +near us so lately. This looks amazingly like a circum- +stance." + +As the mariner uttered the last sentence, he pressed a +foot slily on that of the Sergeant, and nudged the guide +with his elbow, winking at the same time, though this sign +was lost in the obscurity. + +"It is known, because their trail was found next day by +the Serpent, and it was that of a military boot and a moc- +cassin. One of our hunters, moreover, saw the canoe cross- +ing towards Frontenac next morning." + +"Did the trail lead near the garrison, Jasper?" Path- +finder asked in a manner so meek and subdued that it re- +sembled the tone of a rebuked schoolboy. "Did the trail +lead near the garrison, lad?" + +"We thought not; though, of course, it did not cross +the river. It was followed down to the eastern point, at +the river's mouth, where what was doing in port, might be +seen; but it did not cross, as we could discover." + +"And why didn't you get under weigh, Master Jasper," +Cap demanded, "and give chase? On Tuesday morning +it blew a good breeze; one in which this cutter might have +run nine knots." + +"That may do on the ocean, Master Cap," put in Path- +finder, "but it would not do here. Water leaves no trail, +and a Mingo and a Frenchman are a match for the devil +in a pursuit." + +"Who wants a trail when the chase can be seen from +the deck, as Jasper here said was the case with this canoe? +and it mattered nothing if there were twenty of your Mingos +and Frenchmen, with a good British-built bottom in their +wake. I'll engage, Master Eau-douce, had you given me a +call that said Tuesday morning, that we should have over- +hauled the blackguards." + +"I daresay, Master Cap, that the advice of as old a sea- +man as you might have done no harm to as young a sailor +as myself, but it is a long and a hopeless chase that has a +bark canoe in it." + +"You would have had only to press it hard, to drive it +ashore." + +"Ashore, master Cap! You do not understand our lake +navigation at all, if you suppose it an easy matter to force +a bark canoe ashore. As soon as they find themselves +pressed, these bubbles paddle right into the wind's eye, and +before you know it, you find yourself a mile or two dead +under their lee." + +"You don't wish me to believe, Master Jasper, that any +one is so heedless of drowning as to put off into this lake +in one of them eggshells when there is any wind?" + +"I have often crossed Ontario in a bark canoe, even +when there has been a good deal of sea on. Well managed, +they are the driest boats of which we have any knowl- +edge." + +Cap now led his brother-in-law and Pathfinder aside, +when he assured him that the admission of Jasper con- +cerning the spies was "a circumstance," and "a strong cir- +cumstance," and as such it deserved his deliberate investiga- +tion; while his account of the canoes was so improbable +as to wear the appearance of brow-beating the listeners. +Jasper spoke confidently of the character of the two indi- +viduals who had landed, and this Cap deemed pretty strong +proof that he knew more about them than was to be gath- +ered from a mere trail. As for mocassins, he said that +they were worn in that part of the world by white men as +well as by Indians; he had purchased a pair himself; and +boots, it was notorious, did not particularly make a soldier. +Although much of this logic was thrown away on the Ser- +geant, still it produced some effect. He thought it a little +singular himself, that there should have been spies detected +so near the fort and he know nothing of it; nor did he +believe that this was a branch of knowledge that fell par- +ticularly within the sphere of Jasper. It was true that +the _Scud_ had, once or twice, been sent across the lake to +land men of this character, or to bring them off; but then +the part played by Jasper, to his own certain knowledge, +was very secondary, the master of the cutter remaining as +ignorant as any one else of the purport of the visits of +those whom he had carried to and fro; nor did he see why +he alone, of all present, should know anything of the late +visit. Pathfinder viewed the matter differently. With his +habitual diffidence, he reproached himself with a neglect +of duty, and that knowledge, of which the want struck +him as a fault in one whose business it was to possess it, +appeared a merit in the young man. He saw nothing ex- +traordinary in Jasper's knowing the facts he had related; +while he did feel it was unusual, not to say disgraceful, +that he himself now heard of them for the first time. + +"As for mocassins, Master Cap," said he, when a short +pause invited him to speak, "they may be worn by pale- +faces as well as by red-skins, it is true, though they never +leave the same trail on the foot of one as on the foot of +the other. Any one who is used to the woods can tell the +footstep of an Indian from the footstep of a white man, +whether it be made by a boot or a moccassin. It will need +better evidence than this to persuade me into the belief +that Jasper is false." + +"You will allow, Pathfinder, that there are such things +in the world as traitors?" put in Cap logically. + +"I never knew an honest-minded Mingo, -- one that you +could put faith in, if he had a temptation to deceive you. +Cheating seems to be their gift, and I sometimes think +they ought to be pitied for it, rather than persecuted." + +"Then why not believe that this Jasper may have the +same weakness? A man is a man, and human nature is +sometimes but a poor concern, as I know by experience." + +This was the opening of another long and desultory +conversation, in which the probability of Jasper's guilt or +innocence was argued _pro_ and _con._, until both the Sergeant +and his brother-in-law had nearly reasoned themselves into +settled convictions in favor of the first, while their corn- +panion grew sturdier and sturdier in his defence of the +accused, and still more fixed in his opinion of his being +unjustly charged with treachery. In this there was nothing +out of the common course of things; for there is no more +certain way of arriving at any particular notion, than by +undertaking to defend it; and among the most obstinate +of our opinions may be classed those which are derived +from discussions in which we affect to search for truth, +while in reality we are only fortifying prejudice. + +By this time the Sergeant had reached a state of mind +that disposed him to view every act of the young sailor +with distrust, and he soon got to coincide with his relative +in deeming the peculiar knowledge of Jasper, in reference +to the spies, a branch of information that certainly did +not come within the circle of his regular duties, as "a cir- +cumstance." + +While this matter was thus discussed near the taffrail, +Mabel sat silently by the companion-way, Mr. Muir having +gone below to look after his personal comforts, and Jasper +standing a little aloof, with his arms crossed, and his eyes +wandering from the sails to the clouds, from the clouds to +the dusky outline of the shore, from the shore to the lake, +and from the lake back again to the sails. Our heroine, +too, began to commune with her own thoughts. The ex- +citement of the late journey, the incidents which marked +the day of her arrival at the fort, the meeting with a father +who was virtually a stranger to her, the novelty of her late +situation in the garrison, and her present voyage, formed +a vista for the mind's eye to look back through, which +seemed lengthened into months. She could with difficulty +believe that she had so recently left the town, with all the +usages of civilized life; and she wondered in particular that +the incidents which had occurred during the descent of +the Oswego had made so little impression on her mind. +Too inexperienced to know that events, when crowded, +have the effect of time, or that the quick succession of +novelties that pass before us in travelling elevates objects, +in a measure, to the dignity of events, she drew upon her +memory for days and dates, in order to make certain that +she had known Jasper, and the Pathfinder, and her own +father, but little more than a fortnight. Mabel was a girl +of heart rather than of imagination, though by no means +deficient in the last, and she could not easily account for +the strength of her feelings in connection with those who +were so lately strangers to her; for she was not sufficiently +accustomed to analyze her sensations to understand the +nature of the influences that have just been mentioned. +As yet, however, her pure mind was free from the blight +of distrust, and she had no suspicion of the views of either +of her suitors; and one of the last thoughts that could +have voluntarily disturbed her confidence would have been +to suppose it possible either of her companions was a +traitor to his king and country. + +America, at the time of which we are writing, was re- +markable for its attachment to the German family that +then sat on the British throne; for, as is the fact with all +provinces, the virtues and qualities that are proclaimed +near the centre of power, as incense and policy, get to be +a part of political faith with the credulous and ignorant at +a distance. This truth is just as apparent to-day, in con- +nection with the prodigies of the republic, as it then was +in connection with those distant rulers, whose merits it +was always safe to applaud, and whose demerits it was +treason to reveal. It is a consequence of this mental de- +pendence, that public opinion is so much placed at the +mercy of the designing; and the world, in the midst of its +idle boasts of knowledge and improvement, is left to re- +ceive its truths, on all such points as touch the interests of +the powerful and managing, through such a medium, and +such a medium only, as may serve the particular views +of those who pull the wires. Pressed upon by the subjects +of France, who were then encircling the British colonies +with a belt of forts ind settlements that completely secured +the savages for allies, it would have been difficult to say +whether the Americans loved the English more than +they hated the French; and those who then lived probably +would have considered the alliance which took place be- +tween the cis-Atlantic subjects and the ancient rivals of +the British crown, some twenty years later, as an event +entirely without the circle of probabilities. Disaffection +was a rare offence; and, most of all, would treason, that +should favor France or Frenchmen, have been odious in +the eyes of the provincials. The last thing that Mabel +would suspect of Jasper was the very crime with which he +now stood secretly charged; and if others near her en- +dured the pains of distrust, she, at least, was filled with +the generous confidence of a woman. As yet no whisper +had reached her ear to disturb the feeling of reliance with +which she had early regarded the young sailor, and her +own mind would have been the last to suggest such a +thought of itself. The pictures of the past and of the +present, therefore, that exhibited themselves so rapidly to +her active imagination, were unclouded with a shade that +might affect any in whom she felt an interest; and ere +she had mused, in the manner related, a quarter of an hour, +the whole scene around her was filled with unalloyed satis- +faction. + +The season and the night, to represent them truly, +were of a nature to stimulate the sensations which youth, +health, and happiness are wont to associate with novelty. +The weather was warm, as is not always the case in that +region even in summer, while the air that came off the +land, in breathing currents, brought with it the coolness +and fragrance of the forest. The wind was far from being +fresh, though there was enough of it to drive the _Scud_ +merrily ahead, and, perhaps, to keep attention alive, in +the uncertainty that more or less accompanies darkness. +Jasper, however, appeared to regard it with complacency, +as was apparent by what he said in a short dialogue that +now occurred between him and Mabel. + +"At this rate, Eau-douce," -- for so Mabel had already +learned to style the young sailor, -- said our heroine, "we +cannot be long in reaching our place of destination." + +"Has your father then told you what that is, Mabel?" + +"He has told me nothing; my father is too much of a +soldier, and too little used to have a family around him, to +talk of such matters. Is it forbidden to say whither we +are bound?" + +"It cannot be far, while we steer in this direction, for +sixty or seventy miles will take us into the St. Lawrence, +which the French might make too hot for us; and no +voyage on this lake can be very long." + +"So says my uncle Cap; but to me, Jasper, Ontario and +the ocean appear very much the same." + +"You have then been on the ocean; while I, who pre- +tend to be a sailor, have never yet seen salt water. You +must have a great contempt for such a mariner as myself, +in your heart, Mabel Dunham?" + +"Then I have no such thing in my heart, Jasper Eau- +douce. What right have I, a girl without experience or +knowledge, to despise any, much less one like you, who +are trusted by the Major, and who command a vessel like +this? I have never been on the ocean, though I have seen +it; and, I repeat, I see no difference between this lake and +the Atlantic." + +"Nor in them that sail on both? I was afraid, Mabel, +your uncle had said so much against us fresh-water sailors, +that you had begun to look upon us as little better than +pretenders?" + +"Give yourself no uneasiness on that account, Jasper; +for I know my uncle, and he says as many things against +those who live ashore, when at York, as he now says against +those who sail on fresh water. No, no, neither my father +nor myself think anything of such opinions. My uncle +Cap, if he spoke openly, would be found to have even a worse +notion of a soldier than of a sailor who never saw the sea." + +"But your father, Mabel, has a better opinion of soldiers +than of any one else? he wishes you to be the wife of a +soldier?" + +"Jasper Eau-douce! -- I the wife of a soldier! My father +wishes it! Why should he wish any such thing? What +soldier is there in the garrison that I could marry -- that +he could _wish me_ to marry?" + +"One may love a calling so well as to fancy it will cover +a thousand imperfections." + +"But one is not likely to love his own calling so well as +to cause him to overlook everything else. You say my +father wishes me to marry a soldier; and yet there is no +soldier at Oswego that he would be likely to give me to. +I am in an awkward position; for while I am not good +enough to be the wife of one of the gentlemen of the garri- +son, I think even you will admit, Jasper, I am too good to +be the wife of one of the common soldiers." + +As Mabel spoke thus frankly she blushed, she knew not +why, though the obscurity concealed the fact from her +companion; and she laughed faintly, like one who felt +that the subject, however embarrassing it might be, de- +served to be treated fairly. Jasper, it would seem, viewed +her position differently from herself. + +"It is true Mabel," said he, "you are not what is cafle~ +a lady, in the common meaning of the word." + +"Not in any meaning, Jasper," the generous girl eagerly +interrupted: "on that head, I have no vanities, I hope. +Providence has made me the daughter of a sergeant, and I +am content to remain in the station in which I was born." + +"But all do not remain in the stations in which they +were born, Mabel; for some rise above them, and some fall +below them. Many sergeants have become officers -- even +generals; and why may not sergeants' daughters become +officers' ladies?" + +"In the case of Sergeant Dunham's daughter, I know +no better reason than the fact that no officer is likely to +wish to make her his wife," returned Mabel, laughing. + +"_You_ may think so; but there are some in the 55th that +know better. There is certainly one officer in that regi- +ment, Mabel, who does wish to make you his wife." + +Quick as the flashing lightning, the rapid thoughts of +Mabel Dunham glanced over the five or six subalterns of +the corps, who, by age and inclinations, would be the most +likely to form such a wish; and we should do injustice to +her habits, perhaps, were we not to say that a lively sensa- +tion of pleasure rose momentarily in her bosom, at the +thought of being raised above a station which, whatever +might be her professions of contentment, she felt that she +had been too well educated to fill with perfect satisfaction. +But this emotion was as transient as it was sudden; for +Mabel Dunham was a girl of too much pure and womanly +feeling to view the marriage tie through anything so +worldly as the mere advantages of station. The passing +emotion was a thrill produced by factitious habits, while +the more settled opinion which remained was the offspring +of nature and principles. + +"I know no officer in the 55th, or any other regiment, +who would be likely to do so foolish a thing; nor do I +think I myself would do so foolish a thing as to marry an +officer." + +"Foolish, Mabel!" + +"Yes, foolish, Jasper. You know, as well as I can know, +what the world would think of such matters; and I should +be sorry, very sorry, to find that my husband ever regretted +that he had so far yielded to a fancy for a face or a figure +as to have married the daughter of one so much his in- +ferior as a sergeant." + +"_Your_ husband, Mabel, will not be so likely to think of +the father as to think of the daughter." + +The girl was talking with spirit, though feeling evidently +entered into her part of the discourse; but she paused for +nearly a minute after Jasper had made the last observa- +tion before she uttered another word. Then she con- +tinued, in a manner less playful, and one critically atten- +tive might have fancied in a manner slightly melan- +choly, -- + +"Parent and child ought so to live as not to have two +hearts, or two modes of feeling and thinking. A common +interest in all things I should think as necessary to happi- +ness in man and wife, as between the other members of +the same family. Most of all, ought neither the man nor +the woman to have any unusual cause for unhappiness, the +world furnishing so many of itself." + +"Am I to understand, then, Mabel, you would refuse to +marry an officer, merely because he was an officer?" + +"Have you a right to ask such a question, Jasper?" said +Mabel smiling. + +"No other right than what a strong desire to see you +happy can give, which, after all, may be very little. My +anxiety has been increased, from happening to know that +it is your father's intention to persuade you to marry +Lieutenant Muir." + +"My dear, dear father can entertain no notion so ridicu- +lous -- no notion so cruel!" + +"Would it, then, be cruel to wish you the wife of a +quarter-master?" + +"I have told you what I think on that subject, and can- +not make my words stronger. Having answered you so +frankly, Jasper, I have a right to ask how you know that +my father thinks of any such thing?" + +"That he has chosen a husband for you, I know from +his own mouth; for he has told me this much during our +frequent conversations while he has been superintending +the shipment of the stores; and that Mr. Muir is to offer +for you, I know from the officer himself, who has told me +as much. By putting the two things together, I have +come to the opinion mentioned." + +"May not my dear father, Jasper," -- Mabel's face glowed +like fire while she spoke, though her words escaped her +slowly, and by a sort of involuntary impulse, -- "may not +my dear father have been thinking of another? It does +not follow, from what you say, that Mr. Muir was in his +mind." + +"Is it not probable, Mabel, from all that has passed? +What brings the Quartermaster here? He has never found +it necessary before to accompany the parties that have gone +below. He thinks of you for his wife; and your father +has made up his own mind that you shall be so. You +must see, Mabel, that Mr. Muir follows _you?_" + +Mabel made no answer. Her feminine instinct had, +indeed, told her that she was an object of admiration with +the Quartermaster; though she had hardly supposed to the +extent that Jasper believed; and she, too, had even gathered +from the discourse of her father that he thought seriously +of having her disposed of in marriage; but by no process +of reasoning could she ever have arrived at the inference +that Mr. Muir was to be the man. She did not believe it +now, though she was far from suspecting the truth. In- +deed, it was her own opinion that these casual remarks of +her father, which had struck her, had proceeded from a +general wish to have her settled, rather than from any +desire to see her united to any particular individual. These +thoughts, however, she kept secret; for self-respect and +feminine reserve showed her the impropriety of making +them the subject of discussion with her present companion. +By way of changing the conversation, therefore, after the +pause had lasted long enough to be embarrassing to both +parties, she said, "Of one thing you may be certain, Jasper, +- and that is all I wish to say on the subject, -- Lieutenant +Muir, though he were a colonel, will never be the husband +of Mabel Dunham. And now, tell me of your voyage; -- +when will it end?" + +"That is uncertain. Once afloat, we are at the mercy +of the winds and waves. Pathfinder will tell you that he +who begins to chase the deer in the morning cannot tell +where he will sleep at night." + +"But we are not chasing a deer, nor is it morning: so +Pathfinder's moral is thrown away." + +"Although we are not chasing a deer, we are after that +which may be as hard to catch. I can tell you no more +than I have said already; for it is our duty to be close- +mouthed, whether anything depends on it or not. I am +afraid, however, I shall not keep you long enough in the +_Scud_ to show you what she can do at need." + +"I think a woman unwise who ever marries a sailor," +said Mabel abruptly, and almost involuntarily. + +"This is a strange opinion; why do you hold it?" + +"Because a sailor's wife is certain to have a rival in his +vessel. My uncle Cap, too, says that a sailor should never +marry." + +"He means salt-water sailors," returned Jasper, laugh- +ing. "If he thinks wives not good enough for those who +sail on the ocean, he will fancy them just suited to those +who sail on the lakes. I hope, Mabel, you do not take +your opinions of us fresh-water mariners from all that +Master Cap says." + +"Sail, ho!" exclaimed the very individual of whom they +were conversing; "or boat, ho! would be nearer the truth." + +Jasper ran forward; and, sure enough, a small object +was discernible about a hundred yards ahead of the cutter, +and nearly on her lee bow. At the first glance, he saw it +was a bark canoe; for, though the darkness prevented hues +from being distinguished, the eye that had become accus- +tomed to the night might discern forms at some little dis- +tance; and the eye which, like Jasper's, had long been +familiar with things aquatic, could not be at a loss in dis- +covering the outlines necessary to come to the conclusion +he did. + +"This may be an enemy," the young man remarked; +"and it may be well to overhaul him." + +"He is paddling with all his might, lad," observed the +Pathfinder, "and means to cross your bows and get to +windward, when you might as well chase a full-grown buck +on snow-shoes!" + +"Let her luff," cried Jasper to the man at the helm. +"Luff up, till she shakes. There, steady, and hold all that." + +The helmsman complied; and, as the _Scud_ was now +dashing the water aside merrily, a minute or two put the +canoe so far to leeward as to render escape impracticable. +Jasper now sprang to the helm himself and, by judicious +and careful handling, he got so near his chase that it was +secured by a boat-hook. On receiving an order, the two +persons who were in the canoe left it, and no sooner had +they reached the deck of the cutter than they were found +to be Arrowhead and his wife. + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +What pearl is it that rich men cannot buy, +That learning is too proud to gather up; +But which the poor and the despised of all +Seek and obtain, and often find unsought? +Tell me -- and I will tell thee what is truth. +COWPER. + + +The meeting with the Indian and his wife excited no +surprise in the majority of those who witnessed the occur- +rence; but Mabel, and all who knew of the manner in +which this chief had been separated from the party of Cap, +simultaneously entertained suspicions, which it was far +easier to feel than to follow out by any plausible clue to +certainty. Pathfinder, who alone could converse freely +with the prisoners, for such they might now be considered, +took Arrowhead aside, and held a long conversation with +him, concerning the reasons of the latter for having de- +serted his charge and the manner in which he had been +since employed. + +The Tuscarora met these inquiries, and he gave his an- +swers with the stoicism of an Indian. As respects the sep- +aration, his excuses were very simply made, and they seemed +to be sufficiently plausible. When he found that the party +was discovered in its place of concealment, he naturally +sought his own safety, which he secured by plunging into +the woods. In a word, he had run away in order to save +his life. + +"This is well," returned Pathfinder, affecting to believe +the other's apologies; "my brother did very wisely; but +his woman followed?" + +"Do not the pale-faces' women follow their husbands? +Would not Pathfinder have looked back to see if one he +loved was coming?" + +This appeal was made to the guide while he was in a +most fortunate frame of mind to admit its force; for +Mabel and her blandishments and constancy were becom- +ing images familiar to his thoughts. The Tuscarora, +though he could not trace the reason, saw that his excuse +was admitted, and he stood with quiet dignity awaiting +the next inquiry. + +"This is reasonable and natural," returned Pathfinder; +"this is natural, and may be so. A woman would be likely +to follow the man to whom she had plighted faith, and +husband and wife are one flesh. Your words are honest, +Tuscarora," changing the language to the dialect of the +other. "Your words are honest, and very pleasant and +just. But why has my brother been so long from the fort? +His friends have thought of him often, but have never +seen him." + +"If the doe follows the buck, ought not the buck to fol- +low the doe?" answered the Tuscarora, smiling, as he laid +a finger significantly on the shoulder of his interrogator. +"Arrowhead's wife followed Arrowhead; it was right in +Arrowhead to follow his wife. She lost her way, and they +made her cook in a strange wigwam." + +"I understand you, Tuscarora. The woman fell into +the hands of the Mingos, and you kept upon their trail." + +"Pathfinder can see a reason as easily as he can see the +moss on the trees. It is so." + +"And how long have you got the woman back, and in +what manner has it been done?" + +"Two suns. The Dew-of-June was not long in coming +when her husband whispered to her the path." + +"Well, well, all this seems natural, and according to +matrimony. But, Tuscarora, how did you get that canoe, +and why are you paddling towards the St. Lawrence in- +stead of the garrison?" + +"Arrowhead can tell his own from that of another. +This canoe is mine; I found it on the shore near the fort." + +"That sounds reasonable, too, for the canoe does belong +to the man, and an Indian would make few words about +taking it. Still, it is extraordinary that we saw nothing +of the fellow and his wife, for the canoe must have left +the river before we did ourselves." + +This idea, which passed rapidly through the mind of +the guide, was now put to the Indian in the shape of a +question. + +"Pathfinder knows that a warrior can have shame. The +father would have asked me for his daughter, and I could +not give her to him. I sent the Dew-of-June for the canoe, +and no one spoke to the woman. A Tuscarora woman +would not be free in speaking to strange men." + +All this, too, was plausible, and in conformity with In- +dian character and customs. As was usual, Arrowhead +had received one half of his compensation previously to +quitting the Mohawk; and his refraining to demand the +residue was a proof of that conscientious consideration of +mutual rights that quite as often distinguishes the moral- +ity of a savage as that of a Christian. To one as upright +as Pathfinder, Arrowhead had conducted himself with +delicacy and propriety, though it would have been more +in accordance with his own frank nature to have met the +father, and abided by the simple truth. Still, accustomed +to the ways of Indians, he saw nothing out of the ordinary +track of things in the course the other had taken. + +"This runs like water flowing down hill, Arrowhead," +he answered, after a little reflection, "and truth obliges me +to own it. It was the gift of a red-skin to act in this way, +though I do not think it was the gift of a pale-face. You +would not look upon the grief of the girl's father?" + +Arrowhead made a quiet inclination of the body as if +to assent. + +"One thing more my brother will tell me," continued +PaLhfinder, "and there will be no cloud between his wig- +wam and the strong-house of the Yengeese. If he can +blow away this bit of fog with his breath, his friends will +look at him as he sits by his own fire, and he can look at +them as they lay aside their arms, and forget that they are +warriors. Why was the head of Arrowhead's canoe looking +towards the St. Lawrence, where there are none but ene- +mies to be found?" + +"Why were the Pathfinder and his friends looking the +same way?" asked the Tuscarora calmly. "A Tuscarora +may look in the same direction as a Yengeese." + +"Why, to own the truth, Arrowhead, we are out scouting +like; that is, sailing -- in other words, we are on the king's +business, and we have a right to be here, though we may +not have a right to say _why_ we are here." + +"Arrowhead saw the big canoe, and he loves to look on +the face of Eau-douce. He was going towards the sun at +evening in order to seek his wigwam; but, finding that +the young sailor was going the other way, he turned that +he might look in the same direction. Eau-douce and +Arrowhead were together on the last trail." + +"This may all be true, Tuscarora, and you are welcome. +You shall eat of our venison, and then we must separate. +The setting sun is behind us, and both of us move quick: +my brother will get too far from that which he seeks, +unless he turns round." + +Pathfinder now returned to the others, and repeated +the result of his examination. He appeared himself to +believe that the account of Arrowhead might be true, +though he admitted that caution would be prudent with +one he disliked; but his auditors, Jasper excepted, seemed +less disposed to put faith in the explanations. + +"This chap must be ironed at once, brother Dunham," +said Cap, as soon as Pathfinder finished his narration; +"he must be turned over to the master-at-arms, if there +is any such officer on fresh water, and a court-martial +ought to be ordered as soon as we reach port." + +"I think it wisest to detain the fellow," the Sergeant +answered; "but irons are unnecessary so long as he re- +mains in the cutter. In the morning the matter shall be +inquired into." + +Arrowhead was now summoned and told the decision. +The Indian listened gravely, and made no objections. On +the contrary, he submitted with the calm and reserved +dignity with which the American aborigines are known to +yield to fate; and he stood apart, an attentive but calm +observer of what was passing. Jasper caused the cutter's +sails to be filled, and the _Scud_ resumed her course. + +It was now getting near the hour to set the watch, and +when it was usual to retire for the night. Most of the +party went below, leaving no one on deck but Cap, the +Sergeant, Jasper, and two of the crew. Arrowhead and +his wife also remained, the former standing aloof in proud +reserve, and the latter exhibiting, by her attitude and pas- +siveness, the meek humility that characterizes an Indian +woman. + +"You will find a place for your wife below, Arrowhead, +where my daughter will attend to her wants," said the +Sergeant kindly, who was himself on the point of quitting +the deck; "yonder is a sail where you may sleep yourself." + +"I thank my father. The Tuscaroras are not poor. The +woman will look for my blankets in the canoe." + +"As you wish, my friend. We think it necessary to de- +tain you; but not necessary to confine or to maltreat you. +Send your squaw into the canoe for the blankets and you +may follow her yourself, and hand us up the paddles. As +there may be some sleepy heads in the _Scud_, Eau-douce," +added the Sergeant in a lower tone, "it may be well to +secure the paddles." + +Jasper assented, and Arrowhead and his wife, with +whom resistance appeared to be out of the question, silently +complied with the directions. A few expressions of sharp +rebuke passed from the Indian to his wife, while both +were employed in the canoe, which the latter received with +submissive quiet, immediately repairing an error she had +made by laying aside the blanket she had taken and search- +ing for another that was more to her tyrant's mind. + +"Come, bear a hand, Arrowhead," said the Sergeant, who +stood on the gunwale overlooking the movements of the +two, which were proceeding too slowly for the impatience +of a drowsy man; "it is getting late; and we soldiers have +such a thing as reveille -- early to bed and early to rise." + +"Arrowhead is coming," was the answer, as the Tusca- +rora stepped towards the head of his canoe. + +One blow of his keen knife severed the rope which held +the boat, and then the cutter glanced ahead, leaving the +light bubble of bark, which instantly lost its way, almost +stationary. So suddenly and dexterously was this manoeu- +vre performed, that the canoe was on the lee quarter of +the _Scud_ before the Sergeant was aware of the artifice, and +quite in her wake ere he had time to announce it to his +companions. + +"Hard-a-lee!" shouted Jasper, letting fly the jib-sheet +with his own hands, when the cutter came swiftly up to +the breeze, with all her canvas flapping, or was running +into the wind's eye, as seamen term it, until the light craft +was a hundred feet to windward of her former position. +Quick and dexterous as was this movement, and ready as +had been the expedient, it was not quicker or more ready +than that of the Tuscarora. With an intelligence that +denoted some familiarity with vessels, he had seized his +paddle and was already skimming the water, aided by the +efforts of his wife. The direction he took was south- +westerly, or on a line that led him equally towards the +wind and the shore, while it also kept him so far aloof +from the cutter as to avoid the danger of the latter falling +on board of him when she filled on the other tack. Swiftly +as the _Scud_ had shot into the wind, and far as she had +forced ahead, Jasper knew it was necessary to cast her ere +she had lost all her way; and it was not two minutes from +the time the helm had been put down before the lively +little craft was aback forward, and rapidly falling off, in +order to allow her sails to fill on the opposite tack. + +"He will escape!" said Jasper the instant he caught a +glimpse of the relative bearings of the cutter and the +canoe. "The cunning knave is paddling dead to wind- +ward, and the _Scud_ can never overtake him!" + +"You have a canoe!" exclaimed the Sergeant, mani- +festing the eagerness of a boy to join in the pursuit; "let +us launch it, and give chase!" + +"It will be useless. If Pathfinder had been on deck, +there might have been a chance; but there is none now. +To launch the canoe would have taken three or four min- +utes, and the time lost would be sufficient for the purposes +of Arrowhead." + +Both Cap and the Sergeant saw the truth of this, which +would have been nearly self-evident even to one unaccus- +tomed to vessels. The shore was distant less than half a +mile, and the canoe was already glancing into its shadows, +at a rate to show that it would reach the land before its +pursuers could probably get half the distance. The helm +of the _Scud_ was reluctantly put up again, and the cutter +wore short round on her heel, coming up to her course on +the other tack, as if acting on an instinct. All this was +done by Jasper in profound silence, his assistants under- +standing what was necessary, and lending their aid in a +sort of mechanical imitation. While these manoeuvres +were in the course of execution, Cap took the Sergeant by +a button, and led him towards the cabin-door, where he +was out of ear-shot, and began to unlock his stores of +thought. + +"Hark'e, brother Dunham," said he, with an ominous +face, "this is a matter that requires mature thought and +much circumspection." + +"The life of a soldier, brother Cap, is one of constant +thought and circumspection. On this frontier, were we +to overlook either, our scalps might be taken from our +heads in the first nap." + +"But I consider this capture of Arrowhead as a circum- +stance; and I might add his escape as another. This Jas- +per Freshwater must look to it." + +"They are both circumstances truly, brother; but they +tell different ways. If it is a circumstance against the +lad that the Indian has escaped, it is a circumstance in +his favor that he was first taken." + +"Ay, ay, but two circumstances do not contradict each +other like two negatives. If you will follow the advice of +an old seaman, Sergeant, not a moment is to be lost in +taking the steps necessary for the security of the vessel and +all on board of her. The cutter is now slipping through +the water at the rate of six knots, and as the distances are +so short on this bit of a pond, we may all find ourselves in +a French port before morning, and in a French prison +before night." + +"This may be true enough. What would you advise +me to do, brother?" + +"In my opinion you should put this Master Freshwater +under arrest on the spot; send him below under the +charge of a sentinel, and transfer the command of the +cutter to me. All this you have power to perform, the +craft belonging to the army, and you being the command- +ing officer of the troops present." + +Sergeant Dunham deliberated more than an hour on +the propriety of this proposal; for, though sufficiently +prompt when his mind was really made up, he was habit- +ually thoughtful and wary. The habit of superintending +the personal police of the garrison had made him ac- +quainted with character, and he had long been disposed to +think well of Jasper. Still that subtle poison, suspicion, +had entered his soul; and so much were the artifices and +intrigues of the French dreaded, that, especially warned +as he had been by his commander, it is not to be wondered +that the recollection of years of good conduct should van- +ish under the influence of a distrust so keen, and seemingly +so plausible. In this embarrassment the Sergeant consulted +the Quartermaster, whose opinion, as his superior, he felt +bound to respect, though at the moment independent of +his control. It is an unfortunate occurrence for one who +is in a dilemma to ask advice of another who is desirous +of standing well in his favor, the party consulted being +almost certain to try to think in the manner which will be +the most agreeable to the party consulting. In the present +instance it was equally unfortunate, as respects a candid +consideration of the subject, that Cap, instead of the Ser- +geant himself, made the statement of the case; for the +earnest old sailor was not backward in letting his listener +perceive to which side he was desirous that the Quarter- +master should lean. Lieutenant Muir was much too pol- +itic to offend the uncle and father of the woman he hoped +and expected to win, had he really thought the case ad- +mitted of doubt; but, in the manner in which the facts +were submitted to him, he was seriously inclined to think +that it would be well to put the control of the _Scud_ tem- +porarily into the managoment of Cap, as a precaution +against treachery. This opinion then decided the Ser- +geant, who forthwith set about the execution of the neces- +sary measures. + +Without entering into any explanations, Sergeant Dun- +ham simply informed Jasper that he felt it to be his duty +to deprive him temporarily of the command of the cutter, +and to confer it on his own brother-in-law. A natural and +involuntary burst of surprise, which escaped the young +man, was met by a quiet remark, reminding him that mili- +tary service was often of a nature that required conceal- +ment, and a declaration that the present duty was of such +a character that this particular arrangement had become +indispensable. Although Jasper's astonishment remained +undiminished, -- the Sergeant cautiously abstaining from +making any allusion to his suspicions, -- the young man +was accustomed to obey with military submission; and he +quietly acquiesced, with his own mouth directing the little +crew to receive their further orders from Cap until another +change should be effected. When, however, he was told +the case required that not only he himself, but his princi- +pal assistant, who, on account of his long acquaintance +with the lake, was usually termed the pilot, were to remain +below, there was an alteration in his countenance and +manner that denoted strong feeling, though it was so well +mastered as to leave even the distrustful Cap in doubt as +to its meaning. As a matter of course, however, when dis- +trust exists, it was not long before the worst construction +was put upon it. + +As soon as Jasper and the pilot were below, the sentinel +at the hatch received private orders to pay particular at- +tention to both; to allow neither to come on deck again +without giving instant notice to the person who might +then be in charge of the cutter, and to insist on his return +below as soon as possible. This precaution, however, was +uncalled for; Jasper and his assistant both throwing them- +selves silently on their pallets, which neither quitted again +that night. + +"And now, Sergeant," said Cap, as soon as he found +himself master of the deck, "you will just have the good- +ness to give me the courses and distance, that I may see +the boat keeps her head the right way." + +"I know nothing of either, brother Cap," returned Dun- +ham, not a little embarrassed at the question. "We must +make the best of our way to the station among the Thou- +sand Islands, where 'we shall land, relieve the party that is +already out, and get information for our future govern- +ment.' That's it, nearly word for word, as it stands in the +written orders." + +"But you can muster a chart -- something in the way of +bearings and distances, that I may see the road?" + +"I do not think Jasper ever had anything of the sort to +go by." + +"No chart, Sergeant Dunham!" + +"Not a scrap of a pen even. Our sailors navigate this +lake without any aid from maps." + +"The devil they do! They must be regular Yahoos. +And do you suppose, Sergeant Dunham, that I can find +one island out of a thousand without knowing its name or +its position, without even a course or a distance?" + +"As for the _name_, brother Cap, you need not be particu- +lar, for not one of the whole thousand _has_ a name, and so +a mistake can never be made on that score. As for the +position, never having been there myself, I can tell you +nothing about it, nor do I think its position of any par- +ticular consequence, provided we find the spot. Perhaps +one of the hands on deck can tell us the way." + +"Hold on, Sergeant -- hold on a moment, if you please, +Sergeant Dunham. If I am to command this craft, it +must be done, if you please, without holding any councils +of war with the cook and cabin-boy. A ship-master is a +ship-master, and he must have an opinion of his own, even +if it be a wrong one. I suppose you know service well +enough to understand that it is better in a commander to +go wrong than to go nowhere. At all events, the Lord +High Admiral couldn't command a yawl with dignity, if +he consulted the cockswain every time he wished to go +ashore. No sir, if I sink, I sink! but, d--- me, I'll go down +ship-shape and with dignity." + +"But, brother Cap, I have no wish to go down anywhere, +unless it be to the station among the Thousand Islands +whither we are bound." + +"Well, well, Sergeant, rather than ask advice -- that is, +direct, barefaced advice -- of a foremast hand, or any other +than a quarter-deck officer, I would go round to the whole +thousand, and examine tbem one by one until we got the +right haven. But there is such a thing as coming at an +opinion without manifesting ignorance, and I will manage +to rouse all there is out of these hands, and make them +think all the while that I am cramming them with my own +experience! We are sometimes obliged to use the glass at +sea when there is nothing in sight, or to heave the lead +long before we strike soundings. When a youngster, +sailed two v'y'ges with a man who navigated his ship pretty +much by the latter sort of information, which sometimes +answers." + +"I know we are steering in the right direction at pres- +ent," returned the Sergeant; "but in the course of a few +hours we shall be up with a headland, where we must feel +our way with more caution." + +"Leave me to pump the man at the wheel, brother, and +you shall see that I will make him suck in a very few +minutes." + +Cap and the Sergeant now walked aft, until they stood +by the sailor who was at the helm, Cap maintaining an air +of security and tranquillity, like one who was entirely con- +fident of his own powers. + +"This is a wholesome air, my lad," Cap observed, in the +manner that a superior on board a vessel sometimes conde- +scends to use to a favored inferior. "Of course you have +it in this fashion off the land every night?" + +"At this season of the year, sir," the man returned, +touching his hat, out of respect, to his new commander +and Sergeant Dunham's connection. + +"The same thing, I take it, among the Thousand Is- +lands? The wind will stand, of course, though we shall +then have land on every side of us." + +"When we get farther east, sir, the wind will probably +shift, for there can then be no particular land-breeze. + +"Ay,ay; so much for your fresh water! It has always +some trick that is opposed to nature. Now, down among +the West India Islands, one is just as certain of having a +land-breeze as he is of having a sea-breeze. In that respect +there is no difference, though it's quite in rule it should +be different up here on this bit of fresh water. Of course, +my lad, you know all about these said Thousand Islands?" + +"Lord bless you, Master Cap, nobody knows all about +them or anything about them. They are a puzzle to the +oldest sailor on the lake, and we don't pretend to know +even their names. For that matter, most of them have +no more names than a child that dies before it is chris- +tened." + +"Are you a Roman Catholic?" demanded the Sergeant +sharply. + +"No, sir, nor anything else. I'm a generalizer about +religion, never troubling that which don't trouble me." + +"Hum! a generalizer; that is, no doubt, one of the new +sects that afflict the country," muttered Mr. Dunham, +whose grandfather had been a New Jersey Quaker, his +father a Presbyterian, and who had joined the Church of +England himself after he entered the army. + +"I take it, John -- " resumed Cap. "Your name is Jack, +I believe?" + +"No, sir; I am called Robert." + +"Ay, Robert, it's very much the same thing, Jack or +Bob; we use the two indifferently. I say, Bob, it's good +holding ground, is it, down at this same station for which +we are bound?" + +"Bless you, sir! I know no more about it than one of the +Mohawks, or a soldier of the 55th." + +"Did you never anchor there?" + +"Never, sir. Master Eau-douce always makes fast to +the shore." + +"But in running in for the town, you kept the lead +going, out of question, and must have tallowed as usual." + +"Tallow! -- and town, too! Bless your heart, Master +Cap! there is no more town than there is on your chin, +and not half as much tallow!" + +The Sergeant smiled grimly, but his brother-in-law did +not detect this proof of humor. + +"No church tower, nor light, nor fort, ha? There is a +garrison, as you call it hereaway, at least?" + +"Ask Sergeant Dunham, sir, if you wish to know that. +All the garrison is on board the _Scud_." + +"But in running in, Bob, which of the channels do you +think the best? the one you went last, or -- or -- or -- ay, or +the other?" + +"I can't say, sir; I know nothing of either." + +"You didn't go to sleep, fellow, at the wheel, did you?" + +"Not at the wheel, sir, but down in the fore-peak in my +berth. Eau-douce sent us below, soldiers and all, with the +exception of the pilot, and we know no more of the road +than if we had never been over it. This he has always +done in going in and coming out; and, for the life of me, +I could tell you nothing of the channel, or the course, after +we are once fairly up with the islands. No one knows +anything of either but Jasper and the pilot." + +"Here is a circumstance for you, Sergeant," said Cap, +leading his brother-in-law a little aside; "there is no one +on board to pump, for they all suck from ignorance at the +first stroke of the brake. How the devil am I to find the +way to this station for which we are bound?" + +"Sure enough, brother Cap, your question is more easily +put than answered. Is there no such thing as figuring it +out by navigation? I thought you salt-water mariners +were able to do as small a thing as that. I have often +read of their discovering islands, surely." + +"That you have, brother, that you have; and this dis- +covery would be the greatest of them all; for it would not +only be discovering one island, but one island out of a +thousand." + +"Still, the sailors of the lake have a method of finding +the places they wish to go to." + +"If I have understood you, Sergeant, this station or +block-house is particularly private." + +"It is, indeed, the utmost care having been taken to +prevent a knowledge of its position from reaching the +enemy." + +"And you expect me, a stranger on your lake, to find +this place without chart, course, distance, latitude, longi- +tude, or soundings, -- ay, d--- me, or tallow! Allow me to +ask if you think a mariner runs by his nose, like one of +Pathfinder's hounds?" + +"Well, brother, you may yet learn something by ques- +tioning the young man at the helm; I can hardly think +that he is as ignorant as he pretends to be." + +"Hum! -- this looks like another circumstance. For +that matter, the case is getting to be so full of circum- +stances that one hardly knows how to foot up the evidence. +But we will soon see how much the lad knows." + +Cap and the Sergeant now returned to their station near +the helm, and the former renewed his inquiries. + +"Do you happen to know what may be the latitude and +longitude of this said island, my lad?" he asked. + +"The what, sir?" + +"Why, the latitude or longitude -- one or both; I'm not +particular which, as I merely inquire in order to see how +they bring up young men on this bit of fresh water." + +"I'm not particular about either myself, sir, and so I do +not happen to know what you mean." + +"Not what I mean! You know what latitude is?" + +"Not I, sir!" returned the man, hesitating. "Though +I believe it is French for the upper lakes." + +"Whe-e-e-w-!" whistled Cap, drawing out his +breath like the broken stop of an organ; "latitude, French +for upper lakes! Hark'e, young man, do you know what +longitude means?" + +"I believe I do, sir; that is, five feet six, the regulation +height for soldiers in the king's service." + +"There's the longitude found out for you, Sergeant, in +the rattling of a brace-block! You have some notion +about a degree, and minutes and seconds, I hope?" + +"Yes, sir; degree means my betters; and minutes and +seconds are for the short or long log-lines. We all know +these things as well as the salt-water people." + +"D--- me, brother Dunham, if I think even Faith can +get along on this lake, much as they say it can do with +mountains. Well, my lad, you understand the azimuth, +and measuring distances, and how to box the compass." + +"As for the first, sir, I can't say I do. The distances we +all know, as we measure them from point to point; and +as for boxing the compass, I will turn my back to no ad- +miral in his Majesty's fleet. Nothe, nothe and by east, +nothe, nothe-east, nothe-east and by nothe, nothe-east, +nothe-east and by east, east-nothe-east, east and by nothe- +east -- " + +"That will do, that will do. You'll bring about a shift +of wind if you go on in this manner. I see very plainly, +Sergeant," walking away again, and dropping his voice, +"we've nothing to hope for from that chap. I'll stand +on two hours longer on this tack, when we'll heave-to and +get the soundings, after which we will be governed by +circumstances." + +To this the Sergeant made no objections; and as the +wind grew lighter, as usual with the advance of night, and +there were no immediate obstacles to the navigation, he +made a bed of a sail on deck, and was soon lost in the +sound sleep of a soldier. Cap continued to walk the deck, +for he was one whose iron frame set fatigue at defiance, +and not once that night did he close his eyes. + +It was broad daylight when Sergeant Dunham awoke, +and the exclamation of surprise that escaped him, as he +rose to his feet and began to look about him, was stronger +than it was usual for one so drilled to suffer to be heard. +He found the weather entirely changed, the view bounded +by driving mist that limited the visible horizon to a circle +of about a mile in diameter, the lake raging and covered +with foam, and the _Scud_ lying-to. A brief conversation +with his brother-in-law let him into the secrets of all these +sudden changes. + +According to the account of Master Cap, the wind had +died away to a calm about midnight, or just as he was +thinking of heaving-to, to sound, for islands ahead were +beginning to be seen. At one A.M. it began to blow from +the north-east, accompanied by a drizzle, and he stood off +to the northward and westward, knowing that the coast of +New York lay in the opposite direction. At half-past +one he stowed the flying-jib, reefed the mainsail, and took +the bonnet off the jib. At two he was compelled to get a +second reef aft; and by half-past two he had put a bal- +ance-reef in the sail, and was lying-to. + +"I can't say but the boat behaves well, Sergeant," the +old sailor added, "but it blows forty-two pounders. I had +no idea there were any such currents of air up here on +this bit of fresh water, though I care not the knotting of +a yarn for it, as your lake has now somewhat of a natural +look; and if this d----d water had a savor of salt about it, +one might be comfortable." + +"How long have you been heading in this direction, +brother Cap?" inquired the prudent soldier; "and at +what rate may we be going through the water?" + +"Why, two or three hours, mayhap, and she went like a +horse for the first pair of them. Oh, we've a fine offing +now! for, to own the truth, little relishing the neighbor- +hood of them said islands, although they are to windward, +I took the helm myself, and run her off free for some +league or two. We are well to leeward of them, I'll engage +- I say to leeward; for though one might wish to be well +to windward of one island, or even half a dozen, when it +comes to a thousand, the better way is to give it up at +once, and to slide down under their lee as fast as possible. +No, no; there they are up yonder in the dingle; and there +they may stay, for anything Charles Cap cares." + +"As the north shore lies only some five or six leagues +from us, brother, and I know there is a large bay in that +quarter, might it not be well to consult some of the crew +concerning our position, if, indeed, we do not call up Jas- +per Eau-douce, and tell him to carry us back to Oswego? +For it is quite impossible we should ever reach the station +with this wind directly in our teeth." + +"There are several serious professional reasons, Sergeant, +against all your propositions. In the first place, an ad- +mission of ignorance on the part of a commander would +destroy discipline. No matter, brother; I understand +your shake of the head, but nothing capsizes discipline so +much as to confess ignorance. I once knew a master of a +vessel who went a week on a wrong course rather than +allow he had made a mistake; and it was surprising how +much he rose in the opinions of his people, just because +they could not understand him." + +"That may do on salt water, brother Cap, but it will +hardly do on fresh. Rather than wreck my command on +the Canada shore, I shall feel it a duty to take Jasper out +of arrest." + +"And make a haven in Frontenac. No, Sergeant; the +_Scud_ is in good hands, and will now learn something of +seamanship. We have a fine offing, and no one but a mad- +man would think of going upon a coast in a gale like this. +I shall ware every watch, and then we shall be safe against +all dangers but those of the drift, which, in a light low +craft like this, without top-hamper, will be next to noth- +ing. Leave it all to me, Sergeant, and I pledge you the +character of Charles Cap that all will go well." + +Sergeant Dunham was fain to yield. He had great con- +fidence in his connection's professional skill, and hoped +that he would take such care of the cutter as would amply +justify his opinion of him. On the other hand, as dis- +trust, like care, grows by what it feeds on, he entertained +so much apprehension of treachery, that he was quite will- +ing any one but Jasper should just then have the control +of the fate of the whole party. Truth, moreover, compels +us to admit another motive. The particular duty on which +he was now sent of right should have been confided to a +commissioned officer; and Major Duncan had excited a +good deal of discontent among the subalterns of the gar- +rison, by having confided it to one of the Sergeant's hum- +ble station. To return without having even reached the +point of destination, therefore, the latter felt would be a +failure from which he was not likely soon to recover, and +the measure would at once be the means of placing a supe- +rior in his shoes. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form +Glasses itself in tempests; in all time, +Calm or convulsed -- in breeze, or gale, or storm, +Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime +Dark-heaving; -- boundless, endless, and sublime -- +The image of eternity; the throne +Of the Invisible; even from out thy slime +The monsters of the deep are made; each zone +Obeys thee; thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, alone. +BYRON. + + +As the day advanced, that portion of the inmates of the +vessel which had the liberty of doing so appeared on deck. +As yet the sea was not very high, from which it was inferred +that the cutter was still under the lee of the islands; but +it was apparent to all who understood the lake that they +were about to experience one of the heavy autumnal gales +of that region. Land was nowhere visible; and the hori- +zon on every side exhibited that gloomy void, which lends +to all views on vast bodies of water the sublimity of mys- +tery. The swells, or, as landsmen term them, the waves, +were short and curling, breaking of necessity sooner than +the longer seas of the ocean; while the element itself, in- +stead of presenting that beautiful hue which rivals the deep +tint of the southern sky, looked green and angry, though +wanting in the lustre that is derived from the rays of the +sun. + +The soldiers were soon satisfied with the prospect, and +one by one they disappeared, until none were left on deck +but the crew, the Sergeant, Cap, Pathfinder, the Quarter- +master, and Mabel. There was a shade on the brow of the +last, who had been made acquainted with the real state of +things, and who had fruitlessly ventured an appeal in favor +of Jasper's restoration to the command. A night's rest +and a night's reflection appeared also to have confirmed +the Pathfinder in his opinion of the young man's inno- +cence; and he, too, had made a warm appeal on behalf of +his friend, though with the same want of success. + +Several hours passed away, the wind gradually getting +heavier and the sea rising, until the motion of the cutter +compelled Mabel and the Quartermaster to retreat also. +Cap wore several times; and it was now evideut that the +_Scud_ was drifting into the broader and deeper parts of the +lake, the seas raging down upon her in a way that none +but a vessel of superior mould and build could have long +ridden and withstood. All this, however, gave Cap no +uneasiness; but, like the hunter that pricks his ears at the +sound of the horn, or the war-horse that paws and snorts +with pleasure at the roll of the drum, the whole scene +awakened all that was man within him; and instead of the +captious, supercilious, and dogmatic critic, quarrelling with +trifles and exaggerating immaterial things, he began to +exhibit the qualities of the hardy and experienced seaman +which he truly was. The hands soon imbibed a respect +for his skill; and, though they wondered at the disappear- +ance of their old commander and the pilot, for which no +reason had been publicly given, they soon yielded an im- +plicit and cheerful obedience to the new one. + +"This bit of fresh water, after all, brother Dunham, has +some spirit, I find," cried Cap about noon, rubbing his +hands in pure satisfaction at finding himself once more +wrestling with the elements. "The wind seems to be an +honest old-fashioned gale, and the seas have a fanciful re- +semblance to those of the Gulf Stream. I like this, Ser- +geant, I like this, and shall get to respect your lake, if it +hold out twenty-four hours longer in the fashion in which +it has begun." + +"Land, ho!" shouted the man who was stationed on the +forecastle. + +Cap hurried forward; and there, sure enough, the land +was visible through the drizzle, at the distance of about +half a mile, the cutter heading directly towards it. The +first impulse of the old seaman was to give an order to +"stand by, to ware off shore;" but the cool-headed soldier +restrained him. + +"By going a little nearer," said the Sergeant, "some of +us may recognize the place. Most of us know the Ameri- +can shore in this part of the lake; and it will be something +gained to learn our position." + +"Very true, very true; if, indeed, there is any chance of +that we will hold on. What is this off here, a little on +our weather-bow? It looks like a low headland." + +"The garrison, by Jove!" exclaimed the other, whose +trained eye sooner recognized the military outlines than +the less instructed senses of his connection. + +The Sergeant was not mistaken. There was the fort, +sure enough, though it looked dim and indistinct through +the fine rain, as if it were seen in the dusk of evening or +the haze of morning. The low, sodded, and verdant ram- +parts, the sombre palisdes, now darker than ever with +water, the roof of a house or two, the tall, solitary flagstaff, +with its halyards blown steadily out into a curve that ap- +peared traced in immovable lines in the air, were all soon +to be seen though no sign of animated life could be dis- +covered. Even the sentinel was housed; and at first it +was believed that no eye would detect the presence of their +own vessel. But the unceasing vigilance of a border gar- +rison did not slumber: one of the look-outs probably made +the interesting discovery; a man or two were seen on some +elevated stands, and then the entire ramparts next the lake +were dotted with human beings. + +The whole scene was one in which sublimity was singu- +larly relieved by the picturesque. The raging of the tem- +pest had a character of duration that rendered it easy to +imagine it might be a permanent feature of the spot. The +roar of the wind was without intermission, and the raging +water answered to its dull but grand strains with hissing +spray, a menacing wash, and sullen surges. The drizzle +made a medium for the eye which closely resembled that +of a thin mist, softening and rendering mysterious the im- +ages it revealed, while the genial feeling that is apt to ac- +company a gale of wind on water contributed to aid the +milder influences of the moment. The dark interminable +forest hove up out of the obscurity, grand, sombre, and +impressive, while the solitary, peculiar, and picturesque +glimpses of life that were caught in and about the fort, +formed a refuge for the eye to retreat to when oppressed +with the more imposing objects of nature. + +"They see us," said the Sergeant, "and think we have +returned on account of the gale, and have fallen to leeward +of the port. Yes, there is Major Duncan himself on the +north-eastern bastion; I know him by his height, and by +the officers around him." + +"Sergeant, it would be worth standing a little jeering, if +we could fetch into the river, and come safely to an anchor. +In that case, too, we might land this Master Eau-douce, +and purify the boat." + +"It would indeed; but, as poor a sailor as I am, I well +know it cannot be done. Nothing that sails the lake can +turn to windward against this gale; and there is no an- +chorage outside in weather like this." + +"I know it, I see it, Sergeant; and pleasant as is that +sight to you landsmen, we must leave it. For myself, I +am never so happy in heavy weather as when I am certain +that the land is behind me." + +The _Scud_ had now forged so near in, that it became in- +dispensable to lay her head off shore again, and the neces- +sary orders were given. The storm-staysail was set forward, +the gaff lowered, the helm put up, and the light craft, that +seemed to sport with the elements like a duck, fell off a +little, drew ahead swiftly, obeyed her rudder, and was soon +flying away on the top of the surges, dead before the gale. +While making this rapid flight, though the land still re- +mained in view on her larboard beam, the fort and the +groups of anxious spectators on its rampart were swallowed +up in the mist. Then followed the evolutions necessary +to bring the head of the cutter up to the wind, when she +again began to wallow her weary way towards the north +shore. + +Hours now passed before any further change was made, +the wind increasing in force, until even the dogmatical +Cap fairly admitted it was blowing a thorough gale of +wind. About sunset the _Scud_ wore again to keep her off +the north shore during the hours of darkness; and at mid- +night her temporary master, who, by questioning the crew +in an indirect manner, had obtained some general knowl- +edge of the size and shape of the lake, believed himself to +be about midway between the two shores. The height and +length of the seas aided this impression; and it must be +added that Cap by this time began to feel a respect for +fresh water which twenty-four hours earlier he would have +derided as impossible. Just as the night turned, the fury +of the wind became so great that he found it impossible to +bear up against it, the water falling on the deck of the lit- +tle craft in such masses as to cause it to shake to the cen- +tre, and, though a vessel of singularly lively qualities, to +threaten to bury it beneath its weight. The people of the +_Scud_ averred that never before had they been out in such +a tempest, which was true; for, possessing a perfect knowl- +edge of all the rivers and headlands and havens, Jasper +would have carried the cutter in shore long ere this, and +placed her in safety in some secure anchorage. But Cap +still disdained to consult the young master, who continued +below, determining to act like a mariner of the broad +ocean. + +It was one in the morning when the storm-staysail was +again got on the _Scud_, the head of the mainsail lowered, +and the cutter put before the wind. Although the canvas +now exposed was merely a rag in surface, the little craft +nobly justified the use of the name she bore. For eight +hours did she scud in truth; and it was almost with the +velocity of the gulls that wheeled wildly over her in the +tempest, apparently afraid to alight in the boiling caldron +of the lake. The dawn of day brought little change; for +no other horizon became visible than the little circle of +drizzling sky and water already described, in which it +seemed as if the elements were rioting in a sort of chaotic +confusion. During this time the crew and passengers of +the cutter were of necessity passive. Jasper and the pilot +remained below; but, the motion of the vessel having be- +come easier, nearly all the rest were on deck. The morn- +ing meal had been taken in silence, and eye met eye, as if +their owners asked each other, in dumb show, what was to +be the end of this strife in the elements. Cap, however, +was perfectly composed, and his face brightened, his step +grew firmer, and his whole air more assured, as the storm +increased, making larger demands on his professional skill +and personal spirit. He stood on the forecastle, his arms +crossed, balancing his body with a seaman's instinct, while +his eyes watched the caps of the seas, as they broke and +glanced past the reeling cutter, itself in such swift motion, +as if they were the scud flying athwart the sky. At this +sublime instant one of the hands gave the unexpected cry +of "A sail!" + +There was so much of the wild and solitary character of +the wilderness about Ontario, that one scarcely expected +to meet with a vessel on its waters. The _Scud_ herself, to +those who were in her, resembled a man threading the +forest alone, and the meeting was like that of two solitary +hunters beneath the broad canopy of leaves that then cov- +ered so many millions of acres on the continent of America. +The peculiar state of the weather served to increase the +romantic, almost supernatural appearance of the passage. +Cap alone regarded it with practised eyes, and even he felt +his iron nerves thrill under the sensations that were awak- +ened by the wild features of the scene. + +The strange vessel was about two cables' length ahead of +the _Scud_, standing by the wind athwart her bows, and +steering a course to render it probable that the latter would +pass within a few yards of her. She was a full-rigged ship; +and, seen through the misty medium of the tempest, the +most experienced eye could detect no imperfection in her +gear or construction. The only canvas she had set was a +close-reefed main-topsail, and two small storm-staysails, +one forward and the other aft. Still the power of the +wind pressed so hard upon her as to bear her down nearly +to her beam-ends, whenever the hull was not righted by +the buoyancy of some wave under her lee. Her spars were +all in their places, and by her motion through the water, +which might have equalled four knots in the hour, it was +apparent that she steered a little free. + +"The fellow must know his position well," said Cap, as +the cutter flew down towards the ship with a velocity +almost equalling that of the gale, "for he is standing boldly +to the southward, where he expects to find anchorage or a +haven. No man in his senses would run off free in that +fashion, that was not driven to scudding, like ourselves, +who did not perfectly understand where he was going." + +"We have made an awful run, captain," returned the +man to whom this remark had been addressed. "That is +the French king's ship, Lee-my-calm (_Le Montcalm_), and +she is standing in for the Niagara, where her owner has a +garrison and a port. We've made an awful run of it!" + +"Ay, bad luck to him! Frenchman-like, he skulks into +port the moment he sees an English bottom." + +"It might be well for us if we could follow him," re- +turned the man, shaking his head despondingly, "for we +are getting into the end of a bay up here at the head of +the lake, and it is uncertain whether we ever get out of it +again!" + +"Pooh, man, pooh! We have plenty of sea room, and a +good English hull beneath us. We are no Johnny Crapauds +to hide ourselves behind a point or a fort on account of a +puff of wind. Mind your helm, sir!" + +The order was given on account of the menacing appear- +ance of the approaching passage. The _Scud_ was now head- +ing directly for the fore-foot of the Frenchman; and, the +distance between the two vessels having diminished to a +hundred yards, it was momentarily questionable if there +was room to pass. + +"Port, sir, port," shouted Cap. "Port your helm and +pass astern!" + +The crew of the Frenchman were seen assembling to +windward, and a few muskets were pointed, as if to order +the people of the _Scud_ to keep off. Gesticulations were +observed, but the sea was too wild and menacing to admit +of the ordinary expedients of war. The water was drip- +ping from the muzzles of two or three light guns on board +the ship, but no one thought of loosening them for service +in such a tempest. Her black sides, as they emerged from +a wave, glistened and seemed to frown; but the wind +howled through her rigging, whistling the thousand notes +of a ship; and the hails and cries that escape a Frenchman +with so much readiness were inaudible. + +"Let him halloo himself hoarse!" growled Cap. "This +is no weather to whisper secrets in. Port, sir, port!" + +The man at the helm obeyed, and the next send of the +sea drove the _Scud_ down upon the quarter of the ship, so +near her that the old mariner himself recoiled a step, in a +vague expectation that, at the next surge ahead, she would +drive bows foremost directly into the planks of the other +vessel. But this was not to be: rising from the crouching +posture she had taken, like a panther about to leap, the +cutter dashed onward, and at the next instant she was +glancing past the stern of her enemy, just clearing the end +of her spanker-boom with her own lower yard. + +The young Frenchman who commanded the _Montcalm_ +leaped on the taffrail; and, with that high-toned courtesy +which relieves even the worst acts of his countrymen, he +raised his cap and smiled a salutation as the _Scud_ shot +past. There were _bonhomie_ and good taste in this act of +courtesy, when circumstances allowed of no other commu- +nications; but they were lost on Cap, who, with an instinct +quite as true to his race, shook his fist menacingly, and +muttered to himself, -- + +"Ay, ay, it's d----d lucky for you I've no armament on +board here, or I'd send you in to get new cabin-windows +fitted. Sergeant, he's a humbug." + +"'Twas civil, brother Cap," returned the other, lowering +his hand from the military salute which his pride as a sol- +dier had induced him to return, -- "'twas civil, and that's +as much as you can expect from a Frenchman. What he +really meant by it no one can say." + +"He is not heading up to this sea without an object, +neither. Well, let him run in, if he can get there, we will +keep the lake, like hearty English mariners." + +This sounded gloriously, but Cap eyed with envy the +glittering black mass of the _Montcalm's_ hull, her waving +topsail, and the misty tracery of her spars, as she grew less +and less distinct, and finally disappeared in the drizzle, in +a form as shadowy as that of some unreal image. Gladly +would he have followed in her wake had he dared; for, to +own the truth, the prospect of another stormy night in the +midst of the wild waters that were raging around him +brought little consolation. Still he had too much profes- +sional pride to betray his uneasiness, and those under his +care relied on his knowledge and resources, with the im- +plicit and blind confidence that the ignorant are apt to feel. + +A few hours succeeded, and darkness came again to +increase the perils of the _Scud_. A lull in the gale, how- +ever, had induced Cap to come by the wind once more, and +throughout the night the cutter was lying-to as before, +head-reaching as a matter of course, and occasionally war- +ing to keep off the land. It is unnecessary to dwell on the +incidents of this night, which resembled those of any other +gale of wind. There were the pitching of the vessel, the +hissing of the waters, the dashing of spray, the shocks +that menaced annihilation to the little craft as she plunged +into the seas, the undying howl of the wind, and the fear- +ful drift. The last was the most serious danger; for, +though exceedingly weatherly under her canvas, and to- +tally without top-hamper, the _Scud_ was so light, that the +combing of the swells would seem at times to wash her +down to leeward with a velocity as great as that of the +surges themselves. + +During this night Cap slept soundly, and for several +hours. The day was just dawning when he felt himself +shaken by the shoulder; and arousing himself, he found +the Pathfinder standing at his side. During the gale the +guide had appeared little on deck, for his natural modesty +told him that seamen alone should interfere with the man- +agement of the vessel; and he was willing to show the +same reliance on those who had charge of the _Scud_, as he +expected those who followed through the forest to mani- +fest in his own skill; but he now thought himself justified +in interfering, which he did in his own unsophisticated +and peculiar manner. + +"Sleep is sweet, Master Cap," said he, as soon as the eyes +of the latter were fairly open, and his consciousness had +sufficiently returned, -- "sleep is sweet, as I know from ex- +perience, but life is sweeter still. Look about you, and say +if this is exactly the moment for a commander to be off +his feet." + +"How now? how now, Master Pathfinder?" growled +Cap, in the first moments of his awakened faculties. "Are +you, too, getting on the side of the grumblers? When +ashore I admired your sagacity in running through the +worst shoals without a compass; and since we have been +afloat, your meekness and submission have been as pleas- +ant as your confidence on your own ground. I little ex- +pected such a summons from you." + +"As for myself, Master Cap, I feel I have my gifts, and +I believe they'll interfere with those of no other man; but +the case may be different with Mabel Dunham. She has +her gifts, too, it is true; but they are not rude like ours, +but gentle and womanish, as they ought to be. It's on +her account that I speak, and not on my own." + +"Ay, ay, I begin to understand. The girl is a good girl, +my worthy friend; but she is a soldier's daughter and a +sailor's niece, and ought not to be too tame or too tender +in a gale. Does she show any fear?" + +"Not she! not she! Mabel is a woman, but she is rea- +sonable and silent. Not a word have I heard from her +concerning our doings; though I do think, Master Cap, +she would like it better if Jasper Eau-douce were put into +his proper place, and things were restored to their old sit- +uation, like. This is human natur'." + +"I'll warrant it -- girl-like, and Dunham-like, too. Any- +thing is better than an old uncle, and everybody knows +more than an old seaman. _This_ is human natur', Master +Pathfinder, and d--- me if I'm the man to sheer a fathom, +starboard or port, for all the human natur' that can be +found in a minx of twenty -- ay, or" (lowering his voice a +little) "for all that can be paraded in his Majesty's 55th +regiment of foot. I've not been at sea forty years, to come +up on this bit of fresh water to be taught human natur'. +How this gale holds out! It blows as hard at this moment +as if Boreas had just clapped his hand upon the bellows. +And what is all this to leeward?" (rubbing his eyes) -- +"land! as sure as my name is Cap -- and high land, too." + +The Pathfinder made no immediate answer; but, shak- +ing his head, he watched the expression of his companion's +face, with a look of strong anxiety in his own. + +"Land, as certain as this is the _Scud!_" repeated Cap; +"a lee shore, and that, too, within a league of us, with as +pretty a line of breakers as one could find on the beach of +all Long Island!" + +"And is that encouraging? or is it disheartening?" in- +quired the Pathfinder. + +"Ha! encouraging -- disheartening! -- why, neither. No, +no, there is nothing encouraging about it; and as for dis- +heartening, nothing ought to dishearten a seaman. You +never get disheartened or afraid in the woods, my friend?" + +"I'll not say that, I'll not say that. When the danger is +great, it is my gift to see it, and know it, and to try to +avoid it; else would my scalp long since have been drying +in a Mingo wigwam. On this lake, however, I can see no +trail, and I feel it my duty to submit; though I think we +ought to remember there is such a person as Mabel Dun- +ham on board. But here comes her father, and he will +naturally feel for his own child." + +"We are seriously situated, I believe, brother Cap," said +the Sergeant, when he had reached the spot, "by what I +can gather from the two hands on the forecastle? They +tell me the cutter cannot carry any more sail, and her drift +is so great we shall go ashore in an hour or two. I hope +their fears have deceived them?" + +Cap made no reply; but he gazed at the land with a rue- +ful face, and then looked to windward with an expression +of ferocity, as if he would gladly have quarrelled with the +weather. + +"It may be well, brother," the Sergeant continued, "to +send for Jasper and consult him as to what is to be done. +There are no French here to dread; and, under all circum- +stances, the boy will save us from drowning if possible." + +"Ay, ay, 'tis these cursed circumstances that have done +all the mischief. But let the fellow come; let him come; +a few well-managed questions will bring the truth out of +him, I'll warrant you." + +This acquiescence on the part of the dogmatical Cap was +no sooner obtained, than Jasper was sent for. The young +man instantly made his appearance, his whole air, counte- +nance, and mien expressive of mortification, humility, and, +as his observers fancied, rebuked deception. When he first +stepped on deck, Jasper cast one hurried, anxious glance +around, as if curious to know the situation of the cutter; +and that glance sufficed, it would seem, to let him into the +secret of all her perils. At first he looked to windward, +as is usual with every seaman; then he turned round the +horizon, until his eye caught a view of the high lands to +leeward, when the whole truth burst upon him at once. + +"I've sent for you, Master Jasper," said Cap, folding his +arms, and balancing his body with the dignity of the fore- +castle, "in order to learn something about the haven to +leeward. We take it for granted you do not bear malice so +hard as to wish to drown us all, especially the women; and +I suppose you will be man enough to help us run the cut- +ter into some safe berth until this bit of a gale has done +blowing!" + +"I would die myself rather than harm should come to +Mabel Dunham," the young man earnestly answered. + +"I knew it! I knew it!" cried the Pathfinder, clapping +his hand kindly on Jasper's shoulder. "The lad is as true +as the best compass that ever ran a boundary, or brought +a man off from a blind trail. It is a mortal sin to believe +otherwise." + +"Humph!" ejaculated Cap; "especially the women! +As if _they_ were in any particular danger. Never mind, +young man; we shall understand each other by talking +like two plain seamen. Do you know of any port under +our lee?" + +"None. There is a large bay at this end of the lake; but +it is unknown to us all, and not easy of entrance." + +"And this coast to leeward -- it has nothing particular to +recommend it, I suppose?" + +"It is a wilderness until you reach the mouth of the Ni- +agara in one direction, and Frontenac in the other. North +and west, they tell me, there is nothing but forest and +prairies for a thousand miles." + +"Thank God! then, there can be no French. Are there +many savages, hereaway, on the land?" + +"The Indians are to be found in all directions; though +they are nowhere very numerous. By accident, we might +find a party at any point on the shore; or we might pass +months there without seeing one." + +"We must take our chauce, then, as to the blackguards; +but, to be frank with you, Master Western, if this little +unpleasant matter about the French had not come to pass, +what would you now do with the cutter?" + +"I am a much younger sailor than yourself, Master Cap," +said Jasper modestly, "and am hardly fitted to advise you." + +"Ay, ay, we all know that. In a common case, perhaps +not. But this is an uncommon case, and a circumstance; +and on this bit of fresh water it has what may be called its +peculiarities; and so, everything considered, you may be +fitted to advise even your own father. At all events, you +can speak, and I can judge of your opinions, agreeably to +my own experience." + +"I think, sir, before two hours are over, the cutter will +have to anchor." + +"Anchor! -- not out here in the lake?" + +"No, sir; but in yonder, near the land." + +"You do not mean to say, Master Eau-douce, you would +anchor on a lee shore in a gale of wind?" + +"If I would save my vessel, that is exactly what I would +do, Master Cap." + +"Whe-e-e-w! -- this is fresh water, with a vengeance! +Hark'e, young man, I've been a seafaring animal, boy and +man, forty-one years, and I never yet heard of such a +thing. I'd throw my ground-tackle overboard before I +would be guilty of so lubberly an act!" + +"That is what we do on this lake," modestly replied +Jasper, "when we are hard pressed. I daresay we might +do better, had we been better taught." + +"That you might, indeed! No; no man induces me to +commit such a sin against my own bringing up. I should +never dare show my face inside of Sandy Hook again, had +I committed so know-nothing an exploit. Why, Path- +finder, here, has more seamanship in him than that comes +to. You can go below again, Master Eau-douce." + +Jasper quietly bowed and withdrew; still, as he passed +down the ladder, the spectators observed that he cast a +lingering anxious look at the horizon to windward and the +land to leeward, and then disappeared with concern strongly +expressed in every lineament of his face. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +His still refuted quirks he still repeats; +New-raised objections with new quibbles meets, +Till sinking in the quicksand he defends, +He dies disputing, and the contest ends. +COWPER. + + +As the soldier's wife was sick in her berth, Mabel Dun- +ham was the only person in the outer cabin when Jasper +returned to it; for, by an act of grace in the Sergeant, he +had been permitted to resume his proper place in this part +of the vessel. We should be ascribing too much simplicity +of character to our heroine, if we said that she had felt +no distrust of the young man in consequence of his arrest; +but we should also be doing injustice to her warmth of +feeling and generosity of disposition, if we did not add, +that this distrust was insignificant and transient. As he +now took his seat near her, his whole countenance clouded +with the uneasiness he felt concerning the situation of the +cutter, everything like suspicion was banished from her +mind, and she saw in him only an injured man. + +"You let this affair weigh too heavily on your mind, +Jasper," said she eagerly, or with that forgetfuluess of self +with which the youthful of her sex are wont to betray +their feelings when a strong and generous interest has +attained the ascendency; "no one who knows you can, or +does, believe you guilty. Pathfinder says he will pledge +his life for you." + +"Then you, Mabel," returned the youth, his eyes flashing +fire, "do not look upon me as the traitor your father +seems to believe me to be?" + +"My dear father is a soldier, and is obliged to act as one. +My father's daughter is not, and will think of you as she +ought to think of a man who has done so much to serve +her already." + +"Mabel, I'm not used to talking with one like you, or +saying all I think and feel with any. I never had a sister, +and my mother died when I was a child, so that I know +little what your sex most likes to hear -- " + +Mabel would have given the world to know what lay be- +hind the teeming word at which Jasper hesitated; but the +indefinable and controlliug sense of womanly diffidence +made her suppress her curiosity. She waited in silence +for him to explain his own meaning. + +"I wish to say, Mabel," the young man continued, after +a pause which he found sufficiently embarrassing, "that +I am unused to the ways and opinions of one like you, and +that you must imagine all I would add." + +Mabel had imagination enough to fancy anything, but +there are ideas and feelings that her sex prefer to have ex- +pressed before they yield them all their own sympathies, +and she had a vague consciousness that these of Jasper +might properly be enumerated in the class. With a readi- +ness that belonged to her sex, therefore, she preferred +changing the discourse to permitting it to proceed any +further in a manner so awkward and so unsatisfactory. + +"Tell me one thing, Jasper, and I shall be content," said +she, speaking now with a firinness which denoted confi- +dence, not only in herself, but in her companion: "you do +not deserve this cruel suspicion which rests upon you?" + +"I do not, Mabel!" answered Jasper, looking into her +full blue eyes with an openness and simplicity that might +have shaken stronger distrust. "As I hope for mercy +hereafter, I do not!" + +"I knew it -- I could have sworn it!" returned the girl +warmly. "And yet my father means well; -- but do not let +this matter disturb you, Jasper." + +"There is so much more to apprehend from another +quarter just now, that I scarcely think of it." + +"Jasper!" + +"I do not wish to alarm you, Mabel; but if your uncle +could be persuaded to change his notions about handling +the _Scud_: and yet he is so much more experienced than +I am, that he ought, perhaps, to place more reliance on his +own judgment than on mine." + +"Do you think the cutter in any danger?" demanded +Mabel, quick as thought. + +"I fear so; at least she would have been thought in great +danger by us of the lake; perhaps an old seaman of the +ocean may have means of his own to take care of her." + +"Jasper, all agree in giving you credit for skill in man- +aging the _Scud_. You know the lake, you know the cut- +ter; you _must_ be the best judge of our real situation." + +"My concern for you, Mabel, may make me more cow- +ardly than common; but, to be frank, I see but one method +of keeping the cutter from being wrecked in the course of +the next two or three hours, and that your uncle refuses to +take. After all, this may be my ignorance; for, as he says, +Ontario is merely fresh water." + +"You cannot believe this will make any difference. +Think of my dear father, Jasper! Think of yourself; of +all the lives that depend on a timely word from you to save +them." + +"I think of you, Mabel, and that is more, much more, +than all the rest put together!" returned the young man, +with a strength of expression and an earnestness of look +that uttered infinitely more than the words themselves. + +Mabel's heart beat quickly, and a gleam of grateful sat- +isfaction shot across her blushing features; but the alarm +was too vivid and too serious to admit of much relief from +happier thoughts. She did not attempt to repress a look +of gratitude, and then she returned to the feeling which +was naturally uppermost. + +"My uncle's obstinacy must not be permitted to occa- +sion this disaster. Go once more on deck, Jasper; and +ask my father to come into the cabin." + +While the young man was complying with this request, +Mabel sat listening to the howling of the storm and the +dashing of the water against the cutter, in a dread to which +she had hitherto been a stranger. Constitutionally an ex- +cellent sailor, as the term is used among passengers, she +had not hitherto bethought her of any danger, and had +passed her time since the commencemeut of the gale in +such womanly employments as her situation allowed; but +now that alarm was seriously awakened, she did not fail to +perceive that never before had she been on the water in +such a tempest. The minute or two which elapsed before +the Sergeant came appeared an hour, and she scarcely +breathed when she saw him and Jasper descending the +ladder in company. Quick as language could express her +meaning, she acquainted her father with Jasper's opinion +of their situation; and entreated him, if he loved her, or +had any regard for his own life, or for those of his men, +to interfere with her uncle, and to induce him to yield the +control of the cutter again to its proper commander. + +"Jasper is true, father," added she earnestly; "and if +false, he could have no motive in wrecking us in this dis- +tant part of the lake at the risk of all our lives, his own +included. I will pledge my own life for his truth." + +"Ay, this is well enough for a young woman who is +frightened," answered the more phlegmatic parent; "but +it might not be so excusable in one in command of an ex- +pedition. Jasper may think the chance of drowning in +getting ashore fully repaid by the chance of escaping as +soon as he reaches the land." + +"Sergeant Dunham!" + +"Father!" + +These exclamations were made simultaneously, but they +were uttered in tones expressive of different feelings. In +Jasper, surprise was the emotion uppermost; in Mabel +reproach. The old soldier, however, was too much accus- +tomed to deal frankly with subordinates to heed either; +and after a moment's thought, he continued as if neither +had spoken. "Nor is brother Cap a man likely to submit +to be taught his duty on board a vessel." + +"But, father, when all our lives are in the utmost jeop- +ardy!" + +"So much the worse. The fair-weather commander is +no great matter; it is when things go wrong that the best +officer shows himself in his true colors. Charles Cap will +not be likely to quit the helm because the ship is in dan- +ger. Besides, Jasper Eau-douce, he says your proposal in +itself has a suspicious air about it, and sounds more like +treachery than reason." + +"He may think so; but let him send for the pilot and +hear his opinion. It is well known that I have not seen +the man since yesterday evening." + +"This does sound reasonably, and the experiment shall +be tried. Follow me on deck then, that all may be hon- +est and above-aboard." + +Jasper obeyed, and so keen was the interest of Mabel, +that she too ventured as far as the companion-way, where +her garments were sufficiently protected against the vio- +lence of the wind and her person from the spray. Here +maiden modesty induced her to remain, though an absorbed +witness of what was passing. + +The pilot soon appeared, and there was no mistaking the +look of concern that he cast around at the scene as soon as +he was in the open air. Some rumors of the situation of +the _Scud_ had found their way below, it is true; but in this +instance rumor had lessened instead of magnifying the +danger. He was allowed a few minutes to look about him, +and then the question was put as to the course which he +thought it prudent to follow. + +"I see no means of saving the cutter but to anchor," he +answered simply, and without hesitation. + +"What! out here in the lake?" inquired Cap, as he had +previously done of Jasper. + +"No: but closer in; just at the outer line of the +breakers." + +The effect of this communication was to leave no doubt +in the mind of Cap that there was a secret arrangement +between her commander and the pilot to cast away the +_Scud_; most probably with the hope of effecting their es- +cape. He consequently treated the opinion of the latter +with the indifference he had manifested towards that of +the former. + +"I tell you, brother Dunham," said he, in answer to the +remonstrances of the Sergeant against his turning a deaf +ear to this double represeutation, "that no seaman would +give such an opinion honestly. To anchor on a lee shore +in a gale of wind would be an act of madness that I could +never excuse to the underwriters, under any circumstances, +so long as a rag can be set; but to anchor close to breakers +would be insanity." + +"His Majesty underwrites the _Scud_, brother, and I am +responsible for the lives of my command. These men are +better acquainted with Lake Ontario than we can possibly +be, and I do think their telling the same tale entitles them +to some credit." + +"Uncle!" said Mabel earnestly; but a gesture from Jas- +per induced the girl to restrain her feelings. + +"We are drifting down upon the breakers so rapidly," +said the young man, "that little need be said on the dub- +ject. Half an hour must settle the matter, one way or the +other; but I warn Master Cap that the surest-footed man +among us will not be able to keep his feet an instant on +the deck of this low craft, should she fairly get within +them. Indeed I make little doubt that we shall fill and +founder before the second line of rollers is passed." + +"And how would anchoring help the matter?" de- +manded Cap furiously, as if he felt that Jasper was re- +sponsible for the effects of the gale, as well as for the +opinion he had just given. + +"It would at least do no harm," Eau-douce mildly re- +plied. "By bringing the cutter head to sea we should les- +sen her drift; and even if we dragged through the break- +ers, it would be with the least possible danger. I hope, +Master Cap, you will allow the pilot and myself to _prepare_ +for anchoring, since the precaution may do good, and can +do no harm." + +"Overhaul your ranges, if you will, and get your anchors +clear, with all my heart. We are now in a situation that +cannot be much affected by anything of that sort. Ser- +geant, a word with you aft here, if you please." + +Cap led his brother-in-law out of ear-shot; and then, +with more of human feeling in his voice and manner than +he was apt to exhibit, he opened his heart on the subject +of their real situation. + +"This is a melancholy affair for poor Mabel," said he, +blowing his nose, and speaking with a slight tremor. +"You and I, Sergeant, are old fellows, and used to being +near death, if not to actually dying; our trades fit us for +such scenes; but poor Mabel! -- she is an affectionate and +kind-hearted girl, and I had hoped to see her comfortably +settled, and a mother, before my time came. Well, well! +we must take the bad with the good in every v'y'ge; and +the only serious objection that an old seafaring man can +with propriety make to such an event is, that it should +happen on this bit of d----d fresh water." + +Sergeant Dunham was a brave man, and had shown his +spirit in scenes that looked much more appalling than +this; but on all such occasions he had been able to act his +I part against his foes, while here he was pressed upon by +an enemy whom he had no means of resisting. For him- +self he cared far less than for his daughter, feeling some of +that self-reliance which seldom deserts a man of firmness +who is in vigorous health, and who has been accustomed to +personal exertions in moments of jeopardy; but as respects +Mabel he saw no means of escape, and, with a father's +fondness, he at once determined that, if either was doomed +to perish, he and his daughter must perish together. + +"Do you think this must come to pass?" he asked of +Cap firmly, but with strong feeling. + +"Twenty minutes will carry us into the breakers; and +look for yourself, Sergeant: what chance will even the +stoutest man among us have in that caldron to leeward?" + +The prospect was, indeed, little calculated to encourage +hope. By this time the _Scud_ was within a mile of the +shore, on which the gale was blowing at right angles, with +a violence that forbade the idea of showing any additional +canvas with a view to claw off. The small portion of the +mainsail actually set, and which merely served to keep the +head of the _Scud_ so near the wind as to prevent the waves +from breaking over her, quivered under the gusts, as if at +each moment the stout threads which held the complicated +fabric together were about to be torn asunder. The driz- +zle had ceased; but the air, for a hundred, feet above the +surface of the lake, was filled with dazzling spray, which +had an appearance not unlike that of a brilliant mist, +while above all the sun was shining gloriously in a cloud- +less sky. Jasper had noted the omen, and had foretold +that it announced a speedy termination to the gale, though +the next hour or two must decide their fate. Between the +cutter and the shore the view was still more wild and ap- +palling. The breakers extended nearly half a mile; while +the water within their line was white with foam, the air +above them was so far filled with vapor and spray as to +render the land beyond hazy and indistinct. Still it could +be seen that the latter was high, -- not a usual thing for +the shores of Ontario, -- and that it was covered with the +verdant mantle of the interminable forest. + +While the Sergeant and Cap were gazing at this scene +in silence, Jasper and his people were actively engaged on +the forecastle. No sooner had the young man received +permission to resume his old employment, than, appealing +to some of the soldiers for aid, he mustered five or six as- +sistants, and set about in earnest the performance of a duty +which had been too long delayed. On these narrow waters +anchors are never stowed in-board, or cables that are in- +tended for service unbent, and Jasper was saved much of +the labor that would have been necessary in a vessel at sea. +The two bowers were soon ready to be let go, ranges of the +cables were overhauled, and then the party paused to look +about them. No changes for the better had occurred, but +the cutter was falling slowly in, and each instant rendered +it more certain that she could not gain an inch to wind- +ward. + +One long, earnest survey of the lake ended, Jasper gave +new orders in a similar manner to prove how much he +thought that the time pressed. Two kedges were got on +deck, and hawsers were bent to them; the inner ends of +the hawsers were bent, in their turns, to the crowns of the +anchors, and everything was got ready to throw them over- +board at the proper moment. These preparations com- +pleted, Jasper's manner changed from the excitement of +exertion to a look of calm but settled concern. He quitted +the forecastle, where the seas were dashing in-board at +every plunge of the vessel, the duty just mentioned having +been executed with the bodies of the crew frequently buried +in the water, and walked to a drier part of the deck, aft. +Here he was met by the Pathfinder, who was standing near +Mabel and the Quartermaster. Most of those on board, +with the exception of the individuals who have already +been particularly mentioned, were below, some seeking re- +lief from physical suffering on their pallets, and others +tardily bethinking them of their sins. For the first time, +most probably, since her keel had dipped into the limpid +waters of Ontario, the voice of prayer was, heard on board +the _Scud_. + +"Jasper," commenced his friend, the guide, "I have been +of no use this morning, for my gifts are of little account, +as you know, in a vessel like this; but, should it please +God to let the Sergeant's daughter reach the shore alive, +my acquaintance with the forest may still carry her through +in safety to the garrison." + +"'Tis a fearful distance thither, Pathfinder!" Mabel re- +joined, the party being so near together that all which was +said by one was overheard by the others. "I am afraid +none of us could live to reach the fort." + +"It would be a risky path, Mabel, and a crooked one; +though some of your sex have undergone even more than +that in this wilderness. But, Jasper, either you or I, or +both of us, must man this bark canoe; Mabel's only ohance +will lie in getting through the breakers in that." + +"I would willingly man anything to save Mabel," an- +swered Jasper, with a melancholy smile; "but no human +hand, Pathfinder, could carry that canoe through yonder +breakers in a gale like this. I have hopes from anchoring, +after all; for once before have we saved the _Scud_ in an +extremity nearly as great as this." + +"If we are to anchor, Jasper," the Sergeant inquired, +"why not do it at once? Every foot we lose in drifting +now would come into the distance we shall probably drag +when the anchors are let go." + +Jasper drew nearer to the Sergeant, and took his hand, +pressing it earnestly, and in a way to denote strong, almost +uncontrollable feelings. + +"Sergeant Dunham," said he solemnly, "you are a good +man, though you have treated me harshly in this business. +You love your daughter?" + +"That you canuot doubt, Eau-douce," returned the Ser- +geant huskily. + +"Will you give her -- give us all -- the only chance for life +that is left?" + +"What would you have me do, boy, what would you have +me do? I have acted according to my judgment hitherto, +- what would you have me do?" + +"Support me against Master Cap for five minutes, and +all that man can do towards saving the _Scud_ shall be done." + +The Sergeant hesitated, for he was too much of a dis- +ciplinarian to fly in the face of regular orders. He dis- +liked the appearance of vacillation, too; and then he had +a profound respect for his kinsman's seamanship. While +he was deliberating, Cap came from the post he had some +time occupied, which was at the side of the man at the +helm, and drew nigh the group. + +"Master Eau-douce," said he, as soon as near enough to +be heard, "I have come to inquire if you know any spot +near by where this cutter can be beached? The moment +has arrived when we are driven to this hard alternative." + +That instant of indecision on the part of Cap secured +the triumph of Jasper. Looking at the Sergeant, the +young man received a nod that assured him of all he asked, +and he lost not one of those moments that were getting +to be so very precious. + +"Shall I take the helm," he inquired of Cap, "and see +if we can reach a creek that lies to leeward?" + +"Do so, do so," said the other, hemming to clear his +throat; for he felt oppressed by a responsibility that +weighed all the heavier on his shoulders on account of his +ignorance. "Do so, Eau-douce, since, to be frank with +you, I can see nothing better to be done. We must beach +or swamp." + +Jasper required no more; springing aft, he soon had the +tiller in his own hands. The pilot was prepared for what +was to follow; and, at a sign from his young commander, +the rag of sail that had so long been set was taken in. At +that moment, Jasper, watching his time, put the helm up; +the head of a staysail was loosened forward, and the light +cutter, as if conscious she was now under the control of +familiar hands, fell off, and was soon in the trough of the +sea. This perilous instant was passed in safety, and at the +next moment the little vessel appeared flying down toward +the breakers at a rate that threatened instant destruction. +The distances had become so short, that five or six minutes +sufficed for all that Jasper wished, and he put the helm +down again, when the bows of the _Scud_ came up to the +wind, notwithstanding the turbulence of the waters, as +gracefully as the duck varies its line of direction on the +glassy pond. A sign from Jasper set all in motion on the +forecastle, and a kedge was thrown from each bow. The +fearful nature of the drift was now apparent even to Mabel's +eyes, for the two hawsers ran out like tow-lines. As soon +as they straightened to a slight strain, both anchors were +let go, and cable was given to each, nearly to the better- +ends. It was not a difficult task to snub so light a craft +with ground-tackle of a quality better than common; and +in less than ten minutes from the moment when Jasper +went to the helm, the _Scud_ was riding, head to sea, with +the two cables stretched ahead in lines that resembled bars +of iron. + +"This is not well done, Master Jasper!" angrily ex- +claimed Cap, as soon as he perceived the trick which had +been played him; "this is not well done, sir. I order you +to cut, and to beach the cutter without a moment's delay." + +No one, however, seemed disposed to comply with this +order; for so long as Eau-douce saw fit to command, his +own people were disposed to obey. Finding that the men +remained passive, Cap, who believed they were in the ut- +most peril, turned fiercely to Jasper, and renewed his re- +monstrances. + +"You did not head for your pretended creek," added +he, after dealing in some objurgatory remarks that we do +not deem it necessary to record, "but steered for that bluff, +where every soul on board would have been drowned, had +we gone ashore." + +"And you wish to cut, and put every soul ashore at that +very spot!" Jasper retorted, a little drily. + +"Throw a lead-line overboard, and ascertain the drift!" +Cap now roared to the people forward. A sign from Jas- +per sustaining this order, it was instantly obeyed. All on +deck watched, with nearly breathless interest, the result +of the experiment. The lead was no sooner on the bottom, +than the line tended forward, and in about two minutes +it was seen that the cutter had drifted her length dead in +towards the bluff. Jasper looked gravely, for he well knew +nothing would hold the vessel did she get within the vor- +tex of the breakers, the first line of which was appearing +and disappearing about a cable's length directly under their +stern. + +"Traitor!" exclaimed Cap, shaking a finger at the young +commander, though passion choked the rest. "You must +answer for this with your life!" he added after a short +pause. "If I were at the head of this expedition, Sergeant, +I would hang him at the end of the main-boom, lest he +escape drowning." + +"Moderate your feelings, brother; be more moderate, I +bcseech you; Jasper appears to have done all for the best, +and matters may not be so bad as you believe them." + +"Why did he not run for the creek he mentioned? -- why +has he brought us here, dead to windward of that bluff, +and to a spot where even the breakers are only of half the +ordinary width, as if in a hurry to drown all on board?" + +"I headed for the bluff, for the precise reason that the +breakers are so narrow at this spot," answered Jasper +mildly, though his gorge had risen at the language the +other held. + +"Do you mean to tell an old seaman like me that this +cutter could live in those breakers?" + +"I do not, sir. I think she would fill and swamp if +driven into the first line of them; I am certain she would +never reach the shore on her bottom, if fairly entered. I +hope to keep her clear of them altogether." + +"With a drift of her length in a minute?" + +"The backing of the anchors does not yet fairly tell, nor +do I even hope that _they_ will entirely bring her up." + +"On what, then, do you rely? To moor a craft, head and +stern, by faith, hope, and charity?" + +"No, sir, I trust to the under-tow. I headed for the +bluff because I knew that it was stronger at that point than +at any other, and because we could get nearer in with the +land without entering the breakers." + +This was said with spirit, though without any particular +show of resentment. Its effect on Cap was marked, the +feeling that was uppermost being evidently that of surprise. + +"Under-tow!" he repeated; "who the devil ever heard +of saving a vessel from going ashore by the under-tow?" + +"This may never happen on the ocean, sir," Jasper an- +swered modestly; "but we have known it to happen here." + +"The lad is right, brother," put in the Sergeant; "for, +though I do not well understand it, I have often heard the +sailors of the lake speak of such a thing. We shall do +well to trust to Jasper in this strait." + +Cap grumbled and swore; but, as there was no remedy, +he was compelled to acquiesce. Jasper, being now called +on to explain what he meant by the under-tow, gave this +account of the matter. The water that was driven up on +the shore by the gale was necessarily compelled to find its +level by returning to the lake by some secret channels. +This could not be done on the surface, where both wind +and waves were constantly urging it towards the land, and +it necessarily formed a sort of lower eddy, by means of +which it flowed back again to its ancient and proper bed. +This inferior current had received the name of the under- +tow, and, as it would necessarily act on the bottom of a +vessel which drew as much water as the _Scud_, Jasper +trusted to the aid of this reaction to keep his cables from +parting. In short, the upper and lower currents would, +in a manner, counteract each other. + +Simple and ingenious as was this theory, however, as yet +there was little evidence of its being reduced to practice. +The drift continued; though, as the kedges and hawsers +with which the anchors were backed took the strains, it +became sensibly less. At length the man at the lead an- +nounced the joyful intelligence that the anchors had ceased +to drag, and that the vessel had brought up! At this pre- +cise moment the first line of breakers was about a hundred +feet astern of the _Scud_, even appearing to approach much +nearer as the foam vanished and returned on the raging +surges. Jasper sprang forward, and, casting a glance over +the bows, he smiled in triumph, as he pointed exultingly +to the cables. Instead of resembling bars of iron in rigid- +ity, as before, they were curving downwards, and to a sea- +man's senses it was evident that the cutter rose and fell +on the seas as they came in with the ease of a ship in a +tides-way, when the power of the wind is relieved by the +counteracting pressure of the water. + +"'Tis the undertow!" he exclaimed with delight, fairly +bounding along the deck to steady the helm, in order that +the cutter might ride still easier. "Providence has placed +us directly in its current, and there is no longer any dan- +ger." + +"Ay, ay, Providence is a good seaman," growled Cap, +"and often helps lubbers out of difficulty. Under-tow or +upper-tow, the gale has abated; and, fortunately for us all, +the anchors have met with good holding-ground. Then +this d----d fresh water has an unnatural way with it." + +Men are seldom inclined to quarrel with good fortune, +but it is in distress that they grow clamorous and critical. +Most on board were disposed to believe that they had been +saved from shipwreck by the skill and knowledge of Jas- +per, without regarding the opinions of Cap, whose remarks +were now little heeded. + +There was half an hour of uncertainty and doubt, it is +true, during which period the lead was anxiously watched; +and then a feeling of security came over all, and the weary +slept without dreaming of instant death. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +It is to be all made of sighs and tears; +It is to be all made of faith and service; +It is to be all made of phantasy; +All made of passion, and all made of wishes; +All adoration, duty, and observance; +All humbleness, all patience, and impatience; +All purity, all trial, all observance. +SHAKESPEARE. + + +It was near noon when the gale broke; and then its force +abated as suddenly as its violence had arisen. In less than +two hours after the wind fell, the surface of the lake, +though still agitated, was no longer glittering with foam; +and in double that time, the entire sheet presented the or- +dinary scene of disturbed water, that was unbroken by the +violence of a tempest. Still the waves came rolling inces- +santly towards the shore, and the lines of breakers re- +mained, though the spray had ceased to fly; the combing +of the swells was more moderate, and all that there was of +violence proceeded from the impulsion of wind which had +abated. + +As it was impossible to make head against the sea that +was still up, with the light opposing air that blew from +the eastward, all thoughts of getting under way that after +noon were abandoned. Jasper, who had now quietly re- +sumed the command of the _Scud_, busied himself, however, +in heaving-up the anchors, which were lifted in succession; +the kedges that backed them were weighed, and everything +was got in readiness for a prompt departure, as soon as the +state of the weather would allow. In the meantime, they +who had no concern with these duties sought such means +of amusement as their peculiar circumstances allowed. + +As is common with those who are unused to the confine- +ment of a vessel, Mabel cast wistful eyes towards the shore; +nor was it long before she expressed a wish that it were +possible to land. The Pathfinder was near her at the time, +and he assured her that nothing would be easier, as they +had a bark canoe on deck, which was the best possible mode +of conveyance to go through a surf. After the usual +doubts and misgivings, the Sergeant was appealed to; his +opinion proved to be favorable, and preparations to carry +the whim into effect were immediately made. + +The party which was to land consisted of Sergeant +Dunham, his daughter, and the Pathfinder. Accustomed +to the canoe, Mabel took her seat in the centre with great +steadiness, her father was placed in the bows, while the +guide assumed the office of conductor, by steering in the +stern. There was little need of impelling the canoe by +means of the paddle, for the rollers sent it forward at mo- +ments with a violence that set every effort to govern its +movements at defiance. More than once, before the shore +was reached, Mabel repented of her temerity, but Path- +finder encouraged her, and really manifested so much self- +possession, coolness, and strength of arm himself, that even +a female might have hesitated about owning all her ap- +prehensions. Our heroine was no coward; and while she +felt the novelty of her situation, in landing through a surf, +she also experienced a fair proportion of its wild delight. +At moments, indeed, her heart was in her mouth, as the +bubble of a boat floated on the very crest of a foaming +breaker, appearing to skim the water like a swallow, and +then she flushed and laughed, as, left by the glancing ele- +ment, they appeared to linger behind as if ashamed of hav- +ing been outdone in the headlong race. A few minutes +sufficed for this excitement; for though the distance be- +tween the cutter and the land considerably exceeded a +quarter of a mile, the intermediate space was passed in a +very few minutes. + +On landing, the Sergeant kissed his daughter kindly, for +he was so much of a soldier as always to feel more at home +on _terra firma_ than when afloat; and, taking his gun, he +announced his intention to pass an hour in quest of game. + +"Pathfinder will remain near you, girl, and no doubt he +will tell you some of the traditions of this part of the world, +or some of his own experiences with the Mingos." + +The guide laughed, promised to have a care of Mabel, +and in a few minutes the father had ascended a steep ac- +clivity and disappeared in the forest. The others took an- +other direction, which, after a few minutes of a sharp as- +cent also, brought them to a small naked point on the +promontory, where the eye overlooked an extensive and +very peculiar panorama. Here Mabel seated herself on a +fragment of fallen rock to recover her breath and strength, +while her companion, on whose sinews no personal exertion +seemed to make any impression, stood at her side, leaning +in his own and not ungraceful manner on his long rifle. +Several minutes passed, and neither spoke; Mabel, in par- +ticular, being lost in admiration of the view. + +The position the two had obtained was sufficiently ele- +vated to command a wide reach of the lake, which stretched +away towards the north-east in a boundless sheet, glitter- +ing beneath the rays of an afternoon's sun, and yet betray- +ing the remains of that agitation which it had endured +while tossed by the late tempest. The land set bounds to +its limits in a huge crescent, disappearing in distance to- +wards the south-east and the north. Far as the eye could +reach, nothing but forest was visible, not even a solitary +sign of civilization breaking in upon the uniform and +grand magnificence of nature. The gale had driven the +_Scud_ beyond the line of those forts with which the French +were then endeavoring to gird the English North Ameri- +can possessions; for, following the channels of communi- +cation between the great lakes, their posts were on the +banks of the Niagara, while our adventurers had reached +a point many leagues westward of that celebrated strait. +The cutter rode at single anchor, without the breakers, re- +sembling some well-imagined and accurately-executed toy, +intended rather for a glass case than for struggles with +the elements which she had so lately gone through, while +the canoe lay on the narrow beach, just out of reach of +the waves that came booming upon the land, a speck upon +the shingles. + +"We are very far here from human habitations!" ex- +claimed Mabel, when, after a long survey of the scene, its +principal peculiarities forced themselves on her active and +ever brilliant imagination; "this is indeed being on a +frontier." + +"Have they more sightly scenes than this nearer the sea +and around their large towns?" demanded Pathfinder, with +an interest he was apt to discover in such a subject. + +"I will not say that: there is more to remind one of his +fellow-beings there than here; less, perhaps, to remind one +of God." + +"Ay, Mabel, that is what my own feelings say. I am but +a poor hunter, I know, untaught and unlarned; but God +is as near me, in this my home, as he is near the king in +his royal palace." + +"Who can doubt it?" returned Mabel, looking from the +view up into the hard-featured but honest face of her com- +panion, though not without surprise at the energy of his +manner. "One feels nearer to God in such a spot, I think, +than when the mind is distracted by the objects of the +towns." + +"You say all I wish to say myself, Mabel, but in so much +plainer speech, that you make me ashamed of wishing to +let others know what I feel on such matters. I have coasted +this lake in search of skins afore the war, and have been +here already; not at this very spot, for we landed yonder, +where you may see the blasted oak that stands above the +cluster of hemlocks -- " + +"How, Pathfinder, can you remember all these trifles so +accurately?" + +"These are our streets and houses, our churches and +palaces. Remember them, indeed! I once made an ap- +pointment with the Big Sarpent, to meet at twelve o'clock +at noon, near the foot of a certain pine, at the end of six +months, when neither of us was within three hundred miles +of the spot. The tree stood, and stands still, unless the +judgment of Providence has lighted on that too, in the +midst of the forest, fifty miles from any settlement, but in +a most extraordinary neighborhood for beaver." + +"And did you meet at that very spot and hour?" + +"Does the sun rise and set? When I reached the tree, +I found the Sarpent leaning against its trunk with torn +leggings and muddied moecassins. The Delaware had got +into a swamp, and it worried him not a little to find his +way out of it; but as the sun which comes over the eastern +hills in the morning goes down behind the western at +night, so was he true to time and place. No fear of Chin- +gachgook when there is either a friend or an enemy in the +case. He is equally sartain with each." + +"And where is the Delaware now? why is he not with +us to-day?" + +"He is scouting on the Mingo trail, where I ought to +have been too, but for a great human infirmity." + +"You seem above, beyond, superior to all infirmity, Path- +finder; I never yet met with a man who appeared to be so +little liable to the weaknesses of nature." + +"If you mean in the way of health and strength, Mabel, +Providence has been kind to me; though I fancy the open +air, long hunts, active scoutings, forest fare, and the sleep +of a good conscience, may always keep the doctors at a dis- +tance. But I am human after all; yes, I find I'm very +human in some of my feelings." + +Mabel looked surprised, and it would be no more than +delineating the character of her sex, if we added that her +sweet countenance expressed a good deal of curiosity, too, +though her tongue was more discreet. + +"There is something bewitching in this wild life of +yours, Pathfinder," she exclaimed, a tinge of enthusiasm +mantling her cheeks. "I find I'm fast getting to be a +frontier girl, and am coming to love all this grand silence +of the woods. The towns seem tame to me; and, as my +father will probably pass the remainder of his days here, +where he has already lived so long, I begin to feel that I +should be happy to continue with him, and not to return +to the sea-shore." + +"The woods are never silent, Mabel, to such as under- +stand their meaning. Days at a time have I travelled +them alone, without feeling the want of company; and, +as for conversation, for such as can comprehend their lan- +guage, there is no want of rational and instructive dis- +course." + +"I believe you are happier when alone, Pathfinder, than +when mingling with your fellow-creatures." + +"I will not say that, I will not say exactly that. I have +seen the time when I have thought that God was sufficient +for me in the forest, and that I have craved no more than +His bounty and His care. But other feelings have got +uppermost, and I suppose natur' will have its way. All +other creaturs mate, Mabel, and it was intended man should +do so too." + +"And have you never bethought you of seeking a wife, +Pathfinder, to share your fortunes?" inquired the girl, +with the directness and simplicity that the pure of heart +and the undesigning are the most apt to manifest, and with +that feeling of affection which is inbred in her sex. "To +me it seems you only want a home to return to from your +wanderings to render your life completely happy. Were +I a man, it would be my delight to roam through these +forests at will, or to sail over this beautiful lake." + +"I understand you, Mabel; and God bless you for think- +ing of the welfare of men as humble as we are. We have +our pleasures, it is true, as well as our gifts, but we might +be happier; yes, I do think we might be happier." + +"Happier! in what way, Pathfinder? In this pure air, +with these cool and shaded forests to wander through, this +lovely lake to gaze at and sail upon, with clear consciences, +and abundance for all their real wants, men ought to be +nothing less than as perfectly happy as their infirmities +will allow." + +"Every creatur' has its gifts, Mabel, and men have +theirs," answered the guide, looking stealthily at his beau- +tiful companion, whose cheeks had flushed and eyes bright- +ened under the ardor of feelings excited by the novelty of +her striking situation; "and all must obey them. Do you +see yonder pigeon that is just alightin' on the beach -- +here in a line with the fallen chestnut?" + +"Certainly; it is the only thing stirring with life in it, +besides ourselves, that is to be seen in this vast solitude." + +"Not so, Mabel, not so; Providence makes nothing that +lives to live quite alone. Here is its mate, just rising on +the wing; it has been feeding near the other beach, but it +will not long be separated from its companion." + +"I understand you, Pathfinder," returned Mabel, smiling +sweetly, though as calmly as if the discourse was with her +father. "But a hunter may find a mate, even in this wild +region. The Indian girls are affectionate and true, I know; +for such was the wife of Arrowhead, to a husband who +oftener frowned than smiled." + +"That would never do, Mabel, and good would never +come of it. Kind must cling to kind, and country to coun- +try, if one would find happiness. If, indeed, I could meet +with one like you, who would consent to be a hunter's wife, +and who would not scorn my ignorance and rudeness, then, +indeed, would all the toil of the past appear like the sport- +ing of the young deer, and all the future like sunshine." + +"One like me! A girl of my years and indiscretion +would hardly make a fit companion for the boldest scout +and surest hunter on the lines." + +"Ah, Mabel! I fear me that I have been improving a red- +skin's gifts with a pale-face's natur'? Such a character +would insure a wife in an Indian village." + +"Surely, surely, Pathfinder, you would not think of +choosing one so ignorant, so frivolous, so vain, and so in- +experienced as I for your wife?" Mabel would have added, +"and as young;" but an instinctive feeling of delicacy re- +pressed the words. + +"And why not, Mabel? If you are ignorant of frontier +usages, you know more than all of us of pleasant anecdotes +and town customs: as for frivolous, I know not what it +means; but if it signifies beauty, ah's me! I fear it is no +fault in my eyes. Vain you are not, as is seen by the kind +manner in which you listen to all my idle tales about +scoutings and trails; and as for experielice, that will come +with years. Besides, Mabel, I fear men think little of these +matters when they are about to take wives: I do." + +"Pathfinder, your words, -- your looks: -- surely all this +is meant in trifling; you speak in pleasantry?" + +"To me it is always agreeable to be near you, Mabel; and +I should sleep sounder this blessed night than I have done +for a week past, could I think that you find such discourse +as pleasant as I do." + +We shall not say that Mabel Dunham had not believed +herself a favorite with the guide. This her quick femi- +nine sagacity had early discovered; and perhaps she had +occasionally thought there had mingled with his regard +and friendship some of that manly tenderness which the +ruder sex must be coarse, indeed, not to show on occasions +to the gentler; but the idea that he seriously sought her +for his wife had never before crossed the mind of the spir- +ited and ingenuous girl. Now, however, a gleam of some- +thing like the truth broke in upon her imagination, less +induced by the words of her companion, perhaps, than by +his manner. Looking earnestly into the rugged, honest +countenance of the scout, Mabel's own features became +concerned and grave; and when she spoke again, it was +with a gentleness of manner that attracted him to her even +more powerfully than the words themselves were calculated +to repel. + +"You and I should understand each other, Pathfinder," +said she with an earnest sincerity; "nor should there be +any cloud between us. You are too upright and frank to +meet with anything but sincerity and frankness in return. +Surely, surely, all this means nothing, -- has no other con- +nection with your feelings than such a friendship as one +of your wisdom and character would naturally feel for a +girl like me?" + +"I believe it's all nat'ral, Mabel yes; I do: the Sergeant +tells me he had such feelings towards your own mother, +and I think I've seen something like it in the young people +I have from time to time guided through the wilderness. +Yes, yes, I daresay it's all nat'ral enough, and that makes +it come so easy, and is a great comfort to me." + +"Pathfinder, your words make me uneasy. Speak plainer, +or change the subject for ever. You do not, cannot mean +that -- you cannot wish me to understand" -- even the +tongue of the spirited Mabel faltered, and she shrank, with +maiden shame, from adding what she wished so earnestly +to say. Rallying her courage, however, and determined to +know all as soon and as plainly as possible, after a mo- +ment's hesitation, she continued, -- "I mean, Pathfinder, +that you do not wish me to understand that you seriously +think of me as a wife?" + +"I do, Mabel; that's it, that's just it; and you have put the +matter in a much better point of view than I with my for- +est gifts and frontier ways would ever be able to do. The +Sergeant and I have concluded on the matter, if it is agree- +able to you, as he thinks is likely to be the case; though I +doubt my own power to please one who deserves the best +husband America can produce." + +Mabel's countenance changed from uneasiness to sur- +prise; and then, by a transition still quicker, from surprise +to pain. + +"My father!" she exclaimed, -- "my dear father has +thought of my becoming your wife, Pathfinder?" + +"Yes, he has, Mabel, he has, indeed. He has even +thought such a thing might be agreeable to you, and has +almost encouraged me to fancy it might be true." + +"But you yourself, -- you certainly can care nothing +whether this singular expectation shall ever be realized or +not?" + +"Anan?" + +"I mean, Pathfinder, that you have talked of this match +more to oblige my father than anything else; that your feel- +ings are no way concerned, let my answer be what it may?" + +The scout looked earnestly into the beautiful face of +Mabel, which had flushed with the ardor and novelty of +her sensations, and it was not possible to mistake the in- +tense admiration that betrayed itself in every lineament of +his ingenuous countenance. + +"I have often thought myself happy, Mabel, when rang- +ing the woods on a successful hunt, breathing the pure air +of the hills, and filled with vigor and health; but I now +know that it has all been idleness and vanity compared +with the delight it would give me to know that you thought +better of me than you think of most others." + +"Better of you! -- I do, indeed, think better of you, Path- +finder, than of most others: I am not certain that I do not +think better of you than of any other; for your truth, hon- +esty, simplicity, justice, and courage are scarcely equalled +by any of earth." + +"Ah, Mabel, these are sweet and encouraging words from +you! and the Sergeant, after all, was not so near wrong as +I feared." + +"Nay, Pathfinder, in the name of all that is sacred and +jsut, do not let us misunderstand each other in a matter +of so much importance. While I esteem, respect, nay, +reverence you, almost as much as I reverence my own dear +father, it is impossible that I should ever become your +wife -- that I -- " + +The change in her companion's countenance was so sud- +den and so great, that the moment the effect of what she +had uttered became visible in the face of the Pathfinder, +Mabel arrested her own words, notwithstanding her strong +desire to be explicit, the reluctance with which she could +at any time cause painn being sufficient of itself to induce +the pause. Neither spoke for some time, the shade of dis- +appointment that crossed the rugged lineaments of the +hunter amounting so nearly to anguish as to frighten his +companion, while the sensation of choking became so strong +in the Pathfinder that he fairly griped his throat, like one +who sought physical relief for physical suffering. The +convulsive manner in which his fingers worked actually +struck the alarmed girl with a feeling of awe. + +"Nay, Pathfinder," Mabel eagerly added, the instant she +could command her voice, -- "I may have said more than I +mean; for all things of this nature are possible, and +women, they say, are never sure of their own minds. What +I wish you to understand is, that it is not likely that you +and I should ever think of each other as man and wife +ought to think of each other." + +"I do not -- I shall never think in that way again, Mabel," +gasped forth the Pathfinder, who appeared to utter his +words like one just raised above the pressure of some suffo- +cating substance. "No, no, I shall never think of you, or +any one else, again in that way." + +"Pathfinder, dear Pathfinder, understand me; do not +attach more meaning to my words than I do myself: a +match like that would be unwise, unnatural, perhaps." + +"Yes, unnat'ral -- ag'in natur'; and so I told the Ser- +geant, but he _would_ have it otherwise." + +"Pathfinder! oh, this is worse than I could have im- +agined! Take my hand, excellent Pathfinder, and let me +see that you do not hate me. For God's sake, smile upon +me again." + +"Hate you, Mabel! Smile upon you! Ah's me!" + +"Nay, give me your hand; your hardy, true, and manly +hand -- both, both, Pathfinder! for I shall not be easy until +I feel certain that we are friends again, and that all this +has been a mistake." + +"Mabel!" said the guide, looking wistfully into the face +of the generous and impetuous girl, as she held his two +hard and sunburnt hands in her own pretty and delicate +fingers, and laughing in his own silent and peculiar man- +ner, while anguish gleamed over lineaments which seemed +incapable of deception, even while agitated with emotions +so conflicting, -- "Mabel! the Sergeant was wrong." + +The pent-up feeliugs could endure no more, and the +tears rolled down the cheeks of the scout like rain. His +fingers again worked convulsively at his throat; and his +breast heaved, as if it possessed a tenant of which it would +be rid, by any effort, however desperate. + +"Pathfinder! Pathfinder!" Mabel almost shrieked; +"anything but this, anything but this! Speak to me, +Pathfinder! Smile again, say one kind word, anything to +prove you can forgive me." + +"The Sergeant was wrong!" exclaimed the guide, laugh- +ing amid his agony, in a way to terrify his companion by +the unnatural mixture of anguish and light-heartedness. +"I knew it, I knew it, and said it; yes, the Sergeant was +wrong after all." + +"We can be friends, though we cannot be man and wife," +continued Mabel, almost as much disturbed as her compan- +ion, scarcely knowing what she said; "we can always be +friends, and always will." + +"I thought the Sergeant was mistaken," resumed the +Pathfinder, when a great effort had enabled him to com- +mand himself, "for I did not think my gifts were such as +would please the fancy of a town-bred girl. It would have +been better, Mabel, had he not over-presuaded me into a +different notion; and it might have been better, too, had +you not been so pleasant and confiding like; yes, it would." + +"If I thought any error of mine had raised false expec- +tations in you, Pathfinder, however unintentionally on my +part, I should never forgive myself; for, believe me, I +would rather endure pain in my own feelings than you +should suffer." + +"That's just it, Mabel, that's just it. These speeches +aud opinions, spoken in so soft a voice, and in a way I'm so +unused to in the woods, have done the mischief. But I +now see plainly, and begin to understand the difference +between us better, and will strive to keep down thought, +and to go abroad again as I used to do, looking for the +game and the inimy. Ah's me, Mabel! I have indeed +been on a false trail since we met." + +"In a little while you will forget all this, and think of +me as a friend, who owes you her life." + +"This may be the way in the towns, but I doubt if it's +nat'ral to the woods. With us, when the eye sees a lovely +sight, it is apt to keep it long in view, or when the mind +takes in an upright and proper feeling, it is loath to part +with it." + +"You will forget it all, when you come seriously to recol- +lect that I am altogether unsuited to be your wife." + +"So I told the Sergeant; but he would have it otherwise. +I knew you was too young and beautiful for one of middle +age, like myself, and who never was comely to look at even +in youth; and then your ways have not been my ways; nor +would a hunter's cabin be a fitting place for one who was +edicated among chiefs, as it were. If I were younger and +comelier though, like Jasper Eau-douce -- " + +"Never mind Jasper Eau-douce," interrupted Mabel im- +patiently; "we can talk of something else." + +"Jasper is a worthy lad, Mabel; ay, and a comely," re- +turned the guileless guide, looking earnestly at the girl, as +if he distrusted her judgment in speaking slightingly of +his friend. "Were I only half as comely as Jasper Wes- +tern, my misgivings in this affair would not have been so +great, and they might not have been so true." + +"We will not talk of Jasper Western," repeated Mabel, +the color mounting to her temples; "he may be good +enough in a gale, or on the lake, but he is not good enough +to talk of here." + +"I fear me, Mabel, he is better than the man who is +likely to be your husband, though the Sergeant says that +never can take place. But the Sergeant was wrong once, +and he may be wrong twice." + +"And who is likely to be my husband, Pathfinder! This is +scarcely less strange than what has just passed between us." + +"I know it is nat'ral for like to seek like, and for them +that have consorted much with officers' ladies to wish to +be officers' ladies themselves. But, Mabel; I may speak +plainly to you, I know; and I hope my words will not give +you pain; for, now I understand what it is to be disap- +pointed in such feelings, I wouldn't wish to cause even a +Mingo sorrow on this head. But happiness is not always +to be found in a marquee, any more than in a tent; and +though the officers' quarters may look more tempting than +the rest of the barracks, there is often great misery between +husband and wife inside of their doors." + +"I do not doubt it in the least, Pathfinder; and, did it +rest with me to decide, I would sooner follow you to some +cabin in the woods, and share your fortune, whether it +might be better or worse, than go inside the door of any +officer I know, with an intention of remaining there as its +master's wife." + +"Mabel, this is not what Lundie hopes, or Lundie +thinks." + +"And what,care I for Lundie? He is major of the 55th, +and may command his men to wheel and march about as +he pleases; but he cannot compel me to wed the greatest +or the meanest of his mess. Besides, what can you know +of Lundie's wishes on such a subject?" + +"From Lundie's own mouth. The Sergeant had told +him that he wished me for a son-in-law; and the Major, +being an old and a true friend, conversed with me on the +subject. He put it to me plainly, whether it would not +be more ginerous in me to let an officer succeed, than to +strive to make you share a hunter's fortune. I owned the +truth, I did; and that was, that I thought it might; but +when he told me that the Quartermaster would be his +choice, I would not abide by the conditions. No, no, +Mabel; I know Davy Muir well, and though he may make +you a lady, be can never make you a happy woman, or +himself a gentleman." + +"My father has been very wrong if he has said or done +aught to cause you sorrow, Pathfinder; and so great is my +respect for you, so sincere my friendship, that were it not +for one -- I mean that no person need fear Lieutenant +Muir's influence with me -- I would rather remain as I am +to my dying day than become a lady at the cost of being +his wife." + +"I do not think you would say that which you do not +feel, Mabel," returned Pathfinder earnestly. + +"Not at such a moment, on such a subject, and least of +all to you. No; Lieutenant Muir may find wives where +he can -- my name shall never be on his catalogue." + +"Thank you, thank you for that, Mabel, for, though +there is no longer any hope for me, I could never be happy +were you to take to the Quartermaster. I feared the com- +mission might count for something, I did; and I know +the man. It is not jealousy that makes me speak in this +manner, but truth, for I know the man. Now, were you +to fancy a desarving youth, one like Jasper Western, for +instance -- " + +"Why always mention Jasper Eau-douce, Pathfinder? +he can have no concern with our friendship; let us talk of +yourself, and of the manner in which you intend to pass +the winter." + +"Ah's me! -- I'm little worth at the best, Mabel, unless +it may be on a trail or with the rifle; and less worth now +that I have discovered the Sergeant's mistake. There is +no need, therefore, of talking of me. It has been very +pleasant to me to be near you so long, and even to fancy that +the Sergeant was right; but that is all over now. I shall +go down the lake with Jasper, and then there will be +business to occupy us, and that will keep useless thoughts +out of the mind." + +"And you will forget this -- forget me -- no, not forget +me, either, Pathfinder; but you will resume your old pur- +suits, and cease to think a girl of sufficient importance to +disturb your peace?" + +"I never knowed it afore, Mabel; but girls are of more +account in this life than I could have believed. Now, +afore I knowed you, the new-born babe did not sleep more +sweetly than I used; my head was no sooner on the root, +or the stone, or mayhap on the skin, than all was lost to +the senses, unless it might be to go over in the night the +business of the day in a dream like; and there I lay till +the moment came to be stirring, and the swallows were +not more certain to be on the wing with the light, than I +to be afoot at the moment I wished to be. All this seemed +a gift, and might be calculated on even in the midst of a +Mingo camp; for I've been outlying in my time, in the +very villages of the vagabonds." + +"And all this will return to you, Pathfinder, for one +so upright and sincere will never waste his happiness +on a mere fancy. You will dream again of your hunts, +of the deer you have slain, and of the beaver you have +taken." + +"Ah's me, Mabel, I wish never to dream again! Before +we met, I had a sort of pleasure in following up the hounds, +in fancy, as it might be; and even in striking a trail of the +Iroquois -- nay, I've been in skrimmages aud ambushments, +in thought like, and found satisfaction in it, according to +my gifts; but all those things have lost their charms since +I've made acquaintance with you. Now, I think no longer +of anything rude in my dreams; but the very last night +we stayed in the garrison I imagined I had a cabin in a +grove of sugar maples, and at the root of every tree was a +Mabel Dunham, while the birds among the branches sang +ballads instead of the notes that natur' gave, and even the +deer stopped to listen. I tried to shoot a fa'n, but Kill- +deer missed fire, and the creatur' laughed in my face, as +pleasantly as a young girl laughs in her merriment, and +then it bounded away, looking back as if expecting me +follow." + +"No more of this, Pathfinder; we'll talk no more of +these things," said Mabel, dashing the tears from her eyes: +for the simple, earnest manner in which this hardy woods- +man betrayed the deep hold she had taken of his feelings +nearly proved too much for her own generous heart. +"Now, let us look for my father; he cannot be distant, as +I heard his gun quite near." + +"The Sergeant was wrong -- yes, he was wrong, and it's +of no avail to attempt to make the dove consort with the +wolf." + +"Here comes my dear father," interrupted Mabel. "Let +us look cheerful and happy, Pathfinder, as such good +friends ought to look, and keep each other's secrets." + +A pause succeeded; the Sergeant's foot was heard crush- +ing the dried twigs hard by, and then his form appeared +shoving aside the bushes of a copse just near. As he issued +into the open ground, the old soldier scrutinized his +daughter and her companion, and speaking good-naturedly, +he said, "Mabel, child, you are young aud light of foot -- +look for a bird that I've shot that fell just beyond the +thicket of young hemlocks on the shore; and, as Jasper is +showing signs of an intention of getting under way, you +need not take the trouble to clamber up this hill again, +but we will meet you on the beach in a few minutes." + +Mabel obeyed, bounding down the hill with the elastic +step of youth and health. But, notwithstanding the light- +ness of her steps, the heart of the girl was heavy, and no +sooner was she hid from observation by the thicket, than +she threw herself on the root of a tree and wept as if her +heart would break. The Sergeant watched her until she +disappeared, with a father's pride, and then turned to his +companion with a smile as kind and as familiar as his +habits would allow him to use towards any. + +"She has her mother's lightness and activity, my friend, +with somewhat of her father's force," said he. "Her +mother was not quite so handsome, I think myself; but +the Dunhams were always thought comely, whether men +or women. Well, Pathfinder, I take it for granted you've +not overlooked the opportunity, but have spoken plainly +to the girl? women like frankness in matters of this sort." + +"I believe Mabel and I understand each other at last, +Sergeant," returned the other, looking another way to +avoid the soldier's face. + +"So much the better. Some people fancy that a little +doubt and uncertainty makes love all the livelier; but I +am one of those who think the plainer the tongue speaks +the easier the mind will comprehend. Was Mabel sur- +prised?" + +"I fear she was, Sergeant; I fear she was taken quite by +surprise -- yes, I do." + +"Well, well, surprises in love are like an ambush in war, +and quite as lawful; though it is not so easy to tell when +a woman is surprised, as to tell when it happens to an en- +emy. Mabel did not run away, my worthy friend, did she?" + +"No, Sergeant, Mabel did not try to escape; _that_ I can +say with a clear conscience." + +"I hope the girl was too willing, neither! Her +mother was shy and coy for a month, at least; but frank- +ness, after all, is a recommendation in a man or woman." + +"That it is, that it is; and judgment, too." + +"You are not to look for too much judgment in a young +creature of twenty, Pathfinder, but it will come with ex- +perience. A mistake in you or me, for instance, might not +be so easily overlooked; but in a girl of Mabel's years, one +is not to strain at a gnat lest they swallow a camel." + +The reader will remember that Sergeant Dunham was +not a Hebrew scholar. + +The muscles of the listener's face twitched as the Ser- +geant was thus delivering his sentiments, though the for- +mer had now recovered a portion of that stoicism which +formed so large a part of his character, and which he had +probably imbibed from long association with the Indians. +His eyes rose and fell, and once a gleam shot athwart his +hard features as if he were about to indulge in his peculiar +laugh; but the joyous feeling, if it really existed, was as +quickly lost in a look allied to anguish. It was this un- +usual mixture of wild and keen mental agony with native, +simple joyousness, which had most struck Mabel, who, in +the interview just related, had a dozen times been on the +point of believing that her suitor's heart was only lightly +touched, as images of happiness and humor gleamed over +a mind that was almost infantine in its simplicity and +nature; an impression, however, which was soon driven +away by the discovery of emotions so painful and so deep, +that they seemed to harrow the very soul. + +"You say true, Sergeant," Pathfinder answered; "a mis- +take in one like you is a more serious matter." + +"You will find Mabel sincere and honest in the end; +give her but a little time." + +"Ah's me, Sergeant!" + +"A man of your merits would make an impression on a +rock, give him time, Pathfinder." + +"Sergeant Dunham, we are old fellow-campaigners -- +that is, as campaigns are carried on here in the wilderness; +and we have done so many kind acts to each other that +we can afford to be candid -- what has caused you to believe +that a girl like Mabel could ever fancy one so rude as I +am?" + +"What? -- why, a variety of reasons, and good reasons +too, my friend. Those same acts of kindness, perhaps, and +the campaigns you mention; moreover, you are my sworn +and tried comrade." + +"All this sounds well, so far as you and I are consarned; +but they do not touch the case of your pretty daughter. +She may think these very campaigns have destroyed the +little comeliness I may once have had; and I am not quite +sartain that being an old friend of her father would lead +any young maiden's mind into a particular affection for a +suitor. Like loves like, I tell you, Sergeant; and my gifts +are not altogether the gifts of Mabel Dunham." + +"These are some of your old modest qualms, Pathfinder, +and will do you no credit with the girl. Women distrust +men who distrust themselves, and take to men who dis- +trust nothing. Modesty is a capital thing in a recruit, I +grant you; or in a young subaltern who has just joined, +for it prevents his railing at the non-commissioned officers +before he knows what to rail at; I'm not sure it is out of +place in a commissary or a parson, but it's the devil and +all when it gets possession of a real soldier or a lover. +Have as little to do with it as possible, if you would win a +woman's heart. As for your doctrine that like loves like, +it is as wrong as possible in matters of this sort. If like +loved like, women would love one another, and men also. +No, no, like loves dislike," -- the Sergeant was merely a +scholar of the camp, -- "and you have nothing to fear from +Mabel on that score. Look at Lieutenant Muir; the man +has had five wives already, they tell me, and there is no +more modesty in him than there is in a cat-o'-nine-tails." + +"Lieutenant Muir will never be the husband of Mabel +Dunham, let him ruffle his feathers as much as he may." + +"That is a sensible remark of yours, Pathfinder; for my +mind is made up that you shall be my son-in-law. If I +were an officer myself, Mr. Muir might have some chance; +but time has placed one door between my child and myself, +and I don't intend there shall be that of a marquee also." + +"Sergeant, we must let Mabel follow her own fancy; she +is young and light of heart, and God forbid that any wish +of mine should lay the weight of a feather on a mind that +is all gaiety now, or take one note of happiness from her +laughter!" + +"Have you conversed freely with the girl?" the Sergeant +demanded quickly, and with some asperity of manner. + +Pathfinder was too honest to deny a truth plain as that +which the answer required, and yet too honorable to betray +Mabel, and expose her to the resentment of one whom he +well knew to be stern in his anger. + +"We have laid open our minds," he said; "and though +Mabel's is one that any man might love to look at, I find +little there, Sergeant, to make me think any better of my- +self." + +"The girl has not dared to refuse you -- to refuse her +father's best friend?" + +Pathfinder turned his face away to conceal the look of +anguish that consciousness told him was passing athwart +it, but he continued the discourse in his own quiet, manly +tones. + +"Mabel is too kind to refuse anything, or to utter harsh +words to a dog. I have not put the question in a way to +be downright refused, Sergeant." + +"And did you expect my daughter to jump into your +arms before you asked her? She would not have been her +mother's child had she done any such thing, nor do I think +she would have been mine. The Dunhams like plain +dealing as well as the king's majesty; but they are no +jumpers. Leave me to manage this matter for you, Path- +finder, and there shall be no unnecessary delay. I'll speak +to Mabel myself this very evening, using your name as +principal in the affair." + +"I'd rather not, I'd rather not, Sergeant. Leave the +matter to Mabel and me, and I think all will come right in +the ind. Young girls are like timorsome birds; they do +not over-relish being hurried or spoken harshly to nither. +Leave the matter to Mabel and me." + +"On one condition I will, my friend; and that is, that +you will promise me, on the honor of a scout, that you will +put the matter plainly to Mabel the first suitable oppor- +tunity, and no mincing of words." + +"I will ask her, Sergeant, on condition that you promise +not to meddle in the affair -- yes, I will promise to ask +Mabel whether she will marry me, even though she laugh +in my face at my doing so, on that condition." + +Sergeant Dunham gave the desired promise very cheer- +fully; for he had completely wrought himself up into the +belief that the man he so much esteemed himself must be +acceptable to his daughter. He had married a woman +much younger than himself, and he saw no unfitness in the +respective years of the intended couple. Mabel was edu- +cated so much above him, too, that he was not aware of +the difference which actually existed between the parent +and child in this respect. It followed that Sergeant Dun- +ham was not altogether qualified to appreciate his daugh- +ter's tastes, or to form a very probable conjecture what +would be the direction taken by those feelings which +oftener depend on impulses and passion than on reason. +Still, the worthy soldier was not so wrong in his estimate +of the Pathfinder's chances as might at first appear. Know- +ing all the sterling qualities of the man, his truth, integ- +rity of purpose, courage, self-devotion, disinterestedness, +it was far from unreasonable to suppose that qualities like +these would produce a deep impression on any female heart; +and the father erred principally in fancying that the +daughter might know as it might be by intuition what he +himself had acquired by years of intercourse and adventure. + +As Pathfinder and his military friend descended the hill +to the shore of the lake, the discourse did not flag. The +latter continued to persuade the former that his diffidence +alone prevented complete success with Mabel, and that he +had only to persevere in order to prevail. Pathfinder was +much too modest by nature, and had been too plainly, +though so delicately, discouraged in the recent interview +to believe all he heard; still the father used so many argu- +inents which seemed plausible, and it was so grateful to +fancy that the daughter might yet be his, that the reader +is not to be surprised when he is told that this unsophis- +ticated being did not view Mabel's recent conduct in pre- +cisely the light in which he may be inclined to view it +himself. He did not credit all that the Sergeant told him, +it is true; but he began to think virgin coyness and igno- +rance of her own feelings might have induced Mabel to +use the language she had. + +"The Quartermaster is no favorite," said Pathfinder in +answer to one of his companion's remarks. "Mabel will +never look on him as more than one who has had four or +five wives already." + +"Which is more than his share. A man may marry +twice without offence to good morals and decency, I allow! +but four times is an aggravation." + +"I should think even marrying once what Master Cap +calls a circumstance," put in Pathfinder, laughing in his +quiet way, for by this time his spirits had recovered some +of their buoyancy. + +"It is, indeed, my friend, and a most solemn circum- +stance too. If it were not that Mabel is to be your wife, +I would advise you to remain single. But here is the girl +herself, and discretion is the word." + +"Ah's me, Sergeant, I fear you are mistaken!" + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +Thus was this place +A happy rural seat of various view. +MILTON. + + +Mabel was in waiting on the beach, and the canoe was +soon launched. Pathfinder carried the party out through +the surf in the same skillful manner that he had brought +it in; and though Mabel's color heightened with excite- +ment, and her heart seemed often ready to leap out of her +mouth again, they reached the side of the _Scud_ without +having received even a drop of spray. + +Ontario is like a quick-tempered man, sudden to be an- +gered, and as soon appeased. The sea had already fallen; +and though the breakers bounded the shore, far as the eye +could reach, it was merely in lines of brightness, that ap- +peared and vanished like the returning waves produced by +a stone which had been dropped into a pool. The cable +of the _Scud_ was scarcely seen above the water, and Jasper +had already hoisted his sails, in readiness to depart as soon +as the expected breeze from the shore should fill the can- +vas. + +It was just sunset as the cutter's mainsail flapped and +its stem began to sever the water. The air was light and +southerly, and the head of the vessel was kept looking up +along the south shore, it being the intention to get to the +eastward again as fast as possible. The night that suc- +ceeded was quiet; and the rest of those who slept deep and +tranquil. + +Some difficulty occurred concerning the command of +the vessel, but the matter had been finally settled by an +amicable compromise. As the distrust of Jasper was far +from being appeased, Cap retained a supervisory power, +while the young man was allowed to work the craft, sub- +ject, at all times, to the control and interference of the old +seaman. To this Jasper consented, in preference to ex- +posing Mabel any longer to tbe dangers of their present +situation; for, now that the violence of the elements had +ceased, he well knew that the _Montcalm_ would be in search +of them. He had the discretion, however, not to reveal +his apprehensions on this head; for it happened that the +very means he deemed the best to escape the enemy were +those which would be most likely to awaken new suspi- +cions of his honesty in the minds of those who held the +power to defeat his intentions. In other words, Jasper +believed that the gallant young Frenchman, who com- +manded the ship of the enemy, would quit his anchorage +under the fort at Niagara, and stand up the lake, as soon +as the wind abated, in order to ascertain the fate of the +_Scud_, keeping midway between the two shores as the best +means of commanding a broad view; and that, on his part, +it would be expedient to hug one coast or the other, not +only to avoid a meeting, but as affording a chance of pass- +ing without detection by blending his sails and spars with +objects on the land. He preferred the south because it +was the weather shore, and because he thought it was that +which the enemy would the least expect him to take, +though it necessarily led near his settlements, and in front +of one of the strongest posts he held in that part of the +world. + +Of all this, however, Cap was happily ignorant, and the +Sergeant's mind was too much occupied with the details +of his military trust to enter into these niceties, which so +properly belonged to another profession. No opposition +was made, therefore, and before morning Jasper had ap- +parently dropped quietly into all his former authority, is- +suing his orders freely, and meeting with obedience with- +out hesitation or cavil. + +The appearance of day brought all on board on deck +again; and, as is usual with adventurers on the water, the +opening horizon was curiously examined, as objects started +out of the obscurity, and the panorama brightened under +the growing light. East, west, and north nothing was visi- +ble but water glittering in the rising sun; but southward +stretched the endless belt of woods that then held Ontario +in a setting of forest verdure. Suddenly an opening ap- +peared ahead, and then the massive walls of a chateau-look- +ing house, with outworks, bastions, blockhouses, and pali- +sadoes, frowned on a headland that bordered the outlet of +a broad stream. Just as the fort became visible, a little +cloud rose over it, and the white ensign of France was seen +fluttering from a lofty flagstaff. + +Cap gave an ejaculation as he witnessed this ungrateful +exhibition, and he cast a quick suspicious glance at his +brother-in-law. + +The dirty tablecloth hung up to air, as my name is +Charles Cap!" he muttered; "and we hugging this d----d +shore as if it were our wife and children met on the return +from an India v'y'ge! Hark'e, Jasper, are you in search +of a cargo of frogs, that you keep so near in to this New +France?" + +"I hug the land, sir, in the hope of passing the enemy's +ship without being seen, for I think she must be some- +where down here to leeward." + +"Ay, ay, this sounds well, and I hope it may turn out as +you say. I trust there is no under-tow here?" + +"We are on a weather shore, now," said Jasper, smiling; +"and I think you will admit, Master Cap, that a strong +under-tow makes an easy cable: we owe all our lives to the +under-tow of this very lake." + +"French flummery!" growled Cap, though he did not +care to be heard by Jasper. "Give me a fair, honest, +English-Yankee-American tow, above board, and above +water too, if I must have a tow at all, and none of your +sneaking drift that is below the surface, where one can +neither see nor feel. I daresay, if the truth could be come +at, that this late escape of ours was all a contrived affair." + +"We have now a good opportunity, at least, to recon- +noitre the enemy's post at Niagara, brother, for such I take +this fort to be," put in the Sergeant. "Let us be all eyes +in passing, and remember that we are almost in face of +the enemy." + +This advice of the Sergeant needed nothing to enforce +it; for the interest and novelty of passing a spot occupied +by human beings were of themselves sufficient to attract +deep attention in that scene of a vast but deserted nature. +The wind was now fresh enough to urge the _Scud_ through +the water with considerable velocity, and Jasper eased her +helm as she opened the river, and luffed nearly into the +mouth of that noble strait, or river, as it is termed. A +dull, distant, heavy roar came down through the opening +in the banks, swelling on the currents of the air, like the +deeper notes of some immense organ, and occasionally +seeming to cause the earth itself to tremble. + +"That sounds like surf on some long unbroken coast!" +exclaimed Cap, as a swell, deeper than common, came to his +ears. + +"Ay, that is such surf as we have in this quarter of the +world," Pathfinder answered. "There is no under-tow +there, Master Cap; but all the water that strikes the rocks +stays there, so far as going back again is consarned. That +is old Niagara that you hear, or this noble stream tum- +bling down a mountain." + +"No one will have the impudence to pretend that this +fine broad river falls over yonder hills?" + +"It does, Master Cap, it does; and all for the want of +stairs, or a road to come down by. This is natur', as we +have it up hereaway, though I daresay you beat us down +on the ocean. Ah's me, Mabel! a pleasant hour it would +be if we could walk on the shore some ten or fifteen miles +up this stream, and gaze on all that God has done there." + +"You have, then, seen these renowned falls, Path- +finder?" the girl eagerly inquired. + +"I have -- yes, I have; and an awful sight I witnessed at +that same time. The Sarpent and I were out scouting +about the garrison there, when he told me that the tradi- +tions of his people gave an account of a mighty cataract in +this neighborhood, and he asked me to vary from the line +of march a little to look at the wonder. I had heard some +marvels consarning the spot from the soldiers of the 60th, +which is my nat'ral corps like, and not the 55th, with +which I have sojourned so much of late; but there are so +many terrible liars in all rijiments that I hardly believed +half they had told me. Well, we went; and though we +expected to be led by our ears, and to hear some of that +awful roaring that we hear to-day, we were disappointed, +for natur' was not then speaking in thunder, as she is this +morning. Thus it is in the forest, Master Cap; there +being moments when God seems to be walking abroad in +power, and then; again, there is a calm over all, as if His +spirit lay in quiet along the 'arth. Well, we came sud- +denly upon the stream, a short distance above the fall, and +a young Delaware, who was in our company, found a bark +canoe, and he would push into the current to reach an +island that lies in the very centre of the confusion and +strife. We told him of his folly, we did; and we reasoned +with him on the wickedness of tempting Providence by +seeking danger that led to no ind; but the youth among +the Delawares are very much the same as the youth among +the soldiers, risky and vain. All we could say did not +change his mind, and the lad had his way. To me it seems, +Mabel, that whenever a thing is really grand and potent, +it has a quiet majesty about it, altogether unlike the frothy +and flustering manner of smaller matters, and so it was +with them rapids. The canoe was no sooner fairly in +them, than down it went, as it might be, as one sails +through the air on the 'arth, and no skill of the young +Delaware could resist the stream. And yet he struggled +manfully for life, using the paddle to the last, like the deer +that is swimming to cast the hounds. At first he shot +across the current so swiftly, that we thought he would +prevail; but he had miscalculated his distance, and when +the truth really struck him, he turned the head up-stream, +and struggled in a way that was fearful to look at. I could +have pitied him even had he been a Mingo. For a few +moments his efforts were so frantic that he actually pre- +vailed over the power of the cataract; but natur' has its +limits, and one faltering stroke of the paddle set him back, +and then he lost ground, foot by foot, inch by inch, until +he got near the spot where the river looked even and +green, and as if it were made of millions of threads of +water, all bent over some huge rock, when he shot back- +wards like an arrow and disappeared, the bow of the canoe +tipping just enough to let us see what had become of him. +I met a Mohawk some years later who had witnessed the +whole affair from the bed of the stream below, and he told +me that the Delaware continued to paddle in the air until +he was lost in the mists of the falls." + +"And what became of the poor wretch?" demanded +Mabel, who had been strongly interested by the natural +eloquence of the speaker. + +"He went to the happy hunting-grounds of his people, +no doubt; for though he was risky and vain, he was also +just and brave. Yes, he died foolishly, but the Manitou +of the red-skins has compassion on his creaturs as well as +the God of a Christian." + +A gun at this moment was discharged from a blockhouse +near the fort; and the shot, one of light weight, came +whistling over the cutter's mast, an admonition to ap- +proach no nearer. Jasper was at the helm, and he kept +away, smiling at the same time as if he felt no anger at +the rudeness of the salutation. The _Scud_ was now in the +current, and her outward set soon carried her far enough +to leeward to avoid the danger of a repetition of the shot, +and then she quietly continued her course along the land. +As soon as the river was fairly opened, Jasper ascertained +that the _Montcalm_ was not at anchor in it; and a man +sent aloft came down with the report that the horizon +showed no sail. The hope was now strong that the artifice +of Jasper had succeeded, and that the French commander +had missed them by keeping the middle of the lake as he +steered towards its head. + +All that day the wind hung to the southward, and the +cutter continued her course about a league from the land, +running six or eight knots the hour in perfectly smooth +water. Although the scene had one feature of monotony, +the outline of unbroken forest, it was not without its in- +terest and pleasures. Various headlands presented them- +selves, and the cutter, in running from one to another, +stretched across bays so deep as almost to deserve the +name of gulfs. But nowhere did the eye meet with the +evidences of civilization; rivers occasionally poured their +tribute into the great reservoir of the lake, but their banks +could be traced inland for miles by the same outlines of +trees; and even large bays, that lay embosomed in woods, +communicating with Ontario only by narrow outlets, ap- +peared and disappeared, without bringing with them a sin- +gle trace of a human habitation. + +Of all on board, the Pathfinder viewed the scene with +the most unmingled delight. His eyes feasted on the end- +less line of forest, and more than once that day, notwith- +standing he found it so grateful to be near Mabel, listen- +ing to her pleasant voice, and echoing, in feelings at least, +her joyous laugh, did his soul pine to be wandering be- +neath the high arches of the maples, oaks, and lindens, +where his habits had induced him to fancy lasting and +true joys were only to be found. Cap viewed the prospect +differently; more than once he expressed his disgust at +there being no lighthouses, church-towers, beacons, or road- +steads with their shipping. Such another coast, he pro- +tested, the world did not contain; and, taking the Ser- +geant aside, he gravely assured him that the region could +never come to anything, as the havens were neglected, the +rivers had a deserted and useless look, and that even the +breeze had a smell of the forest about it, which spoke ill +of its properties. + +But the humors of the different individuals in her did +not stay the speed of the _Scud:_ when the sun was setting, +she was already a hundred miles on her route towards +Oswego, into which river Sergeant Dunham now thought +it his duty to go, in order to receive any communications +that Major Duncan might please to make. With a view +to effect this purpose, Jasper continued to hug the shore +all night; and though the wind began to fail him towards +morning, it lasted long enough to carry the cutter up to a +point that was known to be but a league or two from the +fort. Here the breeze came out light at the northward, +and the cutter hauled a little from the land, in order to +obtain a safe offing should it come on to blow, or should +the weather again get to be easterly. + +When the day dawned, the cutter had the mouth of the +Oswego well under the lee, distant about two miles; and +just as the morning gun from the fort was fired, Jasper +gave the order to ease off the sheets, and to bear up for +his port. At that moment a cry from the forecastle drew +all eyes towards the point on the eastern side of the outlet, +and there, just without the range of shot from the light +guns of the works, with her canvas reduced to barely +enough to keep her stationary, lay the _Montcalm_, evidently +in waiting for their appearance. + +To pass her was impossible, for by filling her sails the +French ship could have intercepted them in a few min- +utes; and the circumstances called for a prompt decision. +After a short consultation, the Sergeant again changed his +plan, determining to make the best of his way towards the +station for which he had been originally destined, trusting +to the speed of the _Scud_ to throw the enemy so far astern +as to leave no clue to her movements. + +The cutter accordingly hauled upon a wind with the +least possible delay, with everything set that would draw. +Guns were fired from the fort, ensigns shown, and the +ramparts were again crowded. But sympathy was all the +aid that Lundie could lend to his party; and the _Mont- +calm_, also firing four or five guns of defiance, and throwing +abroad several of the banners of France, was soon in chase +under a cloud of canvas. + +For several hours the two vessels were pressing through +the water as fast as possible, making short stretches to +windward, apparently with a view to keep the port under +their lee, the one to enter it if possible, and the other to +intercept it in the attempt. + +At meridian the French ship was hull down, dead to +leeward, the disparity of sailing on a wind being very +great, and some islands were near by, behind which Jas- +per said it would be possible for the cutter to conceal her +future movements. Although Cap and the Sergeant, and +particularly Lieutenant Muir, to judge by his language, +still felt a good deal of distrust of the young man, and +Frontenac was not distant, this advice was followed; for +time pressed, and the Quartermaster discreetly observed +that Jasper could not well betray them without running +openly into the enemy's harbor, a step they could at any +time prevent, since the only cruiser of force the French +possessed at the moment was under their lee and not in a +situation to do them any immediate injury. + +Left to himself, Jasper Western soon proved how much +was really in him. He weathered upon the islands, passed +them, and on coming out to the eastward, kept broad +away, with nothing in sight in his wake or to leeward. +By sunset again the cutter was up with the first of the +islands that lie in the outlet of the lake; and ere it was +dark she was running through the narrow channels on her +way to the long-sought station. At nine o'clock, however, +Cap insisted that they should anchor; for the maze of +islands became so complicated and obscure, that he feared, +at every opening, the party would find themselves under +the guns of a French fort. Jasper consented cheerfully, +it being a part of his standing instructions to approach the +station under such circumstances as would prevent the +men from obtaining any very accurate notions of its posi- +tion, lest a deserter might betray the little garrison to the +enemy. + +The _Scud_ was brought to in a small retired bay, where +it would have been difficult to find her by daylight, and +where she was perfectly concealed at night, when all but a +solitary sentinel on deck sought their rest. Cap had been +so harassed during the previous eight-and-forty hours, +that his slumbers were long and deep; nor did he awake +from his first nap until the day was just beginning to +dawn. His eyes were scarcely open, however, when his +nautical instinct told him that the cutter was under way. +Springing up, he found the _Scud_ threading the islands +again, with no one on deck but Jasper and the pilot, un- +less the sentinel be excepted, who had not in the least +interfered with movements that he had every reason to +believe were as regular as they were necessary. + +"How's this, Master Western?" demanded Cap, with +sufficient fierceness for the occasion; "are you running us +into Frontenac at last, and we all asleep below, like so +many mariners waiting for the 'sentry go'?" + +"This is according to orders, Master Cap, Major Duncan +having commanded me never to approach the station un- +less at a moment when the people were below; for he does +not wish there should be more pilots in those waters than +the king has need of." + +"Whe-e-e-w! a pretty job I should have made of +running down among these bushes and rocks with no one +on deck! Why, a regular York branch could make noth- +ing of such a channel." + +"I always thought, sir," said Jasper, smiling, "you would +have done better had you left the cutter in my hands until +she had safely reached her place of destination." + +"We should have done it, Jasper, we should have done +it, had it not been for a circumstance; these circumstances +are serious matters, and no prudent man will overlook +them." + +"Well, sir, I hope there is now an end of them. We +shall arrive in less than an hour if the wind holds, and +then you'll be safe from any circumstances that I can +contrive." + +"Humph!" + +Cap was obliged to acquiesce; and, as everything around +him had the appearance of Jasper's being sincere, there +was not much difficulty in making up his mind to submit. +It would not have been easy indeed for a person the most +sensitive on the subject of circumstances to fancy that the +_Scud_ was anywhere in the vicinity of a port so long es- +tablished and so well known on the frontiers as Fronte- +nac. The islands might not have been literally a thousand +in number, but they were so numerous and small as to +baffle calculation, though occasionally one of larger size +than common was passed. Jasper had quitted what might +have been termed the main channel, and was winding his +way, with a good stiff breeze and a favorable current, +through passes that were sometimes so narrow that there +appeared to be barely room sufficient for the _Scud's_ spars +to clear the trees, while at other moments he shot across +little bays, and buried the cutter again amid rocks, forests, +and bushes. The water was so transparent that there +was no occasion for the lead, and being of very equal +depth, little risk was actually run, though Cap, with his +maritime habits, was in a constant fever lest they should +strike. + +"I give it up, I give it up, Pathfinder!" the old seaman +at length exclaimed, when the little vessel emerged in +safety from the twentieth of these narrow inlets through +which she had been so boldly carried; "this is defying the +very nature of seamanship, and sending all its laws and +rules to the d---l!" + +"Nay, nay, Saltwater, 'tis the perfection of the art. You +perceive that Jasper never falters, but, like a hound with +a true nose, he runs with his head high as if he had a +strong scent. My life on it, the lad brings us out right in +the ind, as he would have done in the beginning had we +given him leave." + +"No pilot, no lead, no beacons, buoys, or lighthouses, +no -- " + +"Trail," interrupted Pathfinder; "for that to me is the +most mysterious part of the business. Water leaves no +trail, as every one knows; and yet here is Jasper moving +ahead as boldly as if he had before his eyes the prints of +the moccassins on leaves as plainly as we can see the sun +in the heaven." + +"D--- me, if I believe there is even any compass!" + +"Stand by to haul down the jib," called out Jasper, +who merely smiled at the remarks of his companion. +"Haul down -- starboard your helm -- starboard hard -- so +- meet her -- gently there with the helm -- touch her lightly +- now jump ashore with the fast, lad -- no, heave; there +are some of our people ready to take it." + +All this passed so quickly as barely to allow the spectator +time to note the different evolutions, ere the _Scud_ had been +thrown into the wind until her mainsail shivered, next +cast a little by the use of the rudder only, and then she set +bodily alongside of a natural rocky quay, where she was +immediately secured by good fasts run to the shore. In +a word, the station was reached, and the men of the 55th +were greeted by their expecting comrades, with the satis- +faction which a relief usually brings. + +Mabel sprang up on the shore with a delight which she +did not care to express; and her father led his men after +her with an alacrity which proved how wearied he had be- +come of the cutter. The station, as the place was fami- +liarly termed by the soldiers of the 55th, was indeed a spot +to raise expectations of enjoyment among those who had +been cooped up so long in a vessel of the dimensions of +the _Scud_. None of the islands were high, though all lay +at a sufficient elevation above the water to render them +perfectly healthy and secure. Each had more or less of +wood; and the greater number at that distant day were +clothed with the virgin forest. The one selected by the +troops for their purpose was small, containing about twenty +acres of land, and by some of the accidents of the wilder- +ness it had been partly stripped of its trees, probably cen- +turies before the period of which we are writing, and a +little grassy glade covered nearly half its surface. + +The shores of Station Island were completely fringed +with bushes, and great care had been taken to preserve +them, as they answered as a screen to conceal the persons +and things collected within their circle. Favored by this +shelter, as well as by that of several thickets of trees and +different copses, some six or eight low huts bad been erected +to be used as quarters for the officer and his men, to con- +tain stores, and to serve the purposes of kitchen, hospital, +etc. These huts were built of logs in the usual manner, +had been roofed by bark brought from a distance, lest the +signs of labor should attract attention, and, as they had +now been inhabited some months, were as comfortable as +dwellings of that description usually ever get to be. + +At the eastern extremity of the island, however, was a +small, densely-wooded peninsula, with a thicket of under- +brush so closely matted as nearly to prevent the possibility +of seeing across it, so long as the leaves remained on the +branches. Near the narrow neck that connected this acre +with the rest of the island, a small blockhouse had been +erected, with some attention to its means of resistance. +The logs were bullet-proof, squared and jointed with a +care to leave no defenceless points; the windows were loop- +holes, the door massive and small, and the roof, like the +rest of the structure, was framed of hewn timber, covered +properly with bark to exclude the rain. The lower apart- +ment as usual contained stores and provisions; here indeed +the party kept all their supplies; the second story was in- +tended for a dwelling, as well as for the citadel, and a low +garret was subdivided into two or three rooms, and could +hold the pallets of some ten or fifteen persons. All the +arrangements were exceedingly simple and cheap, but they +were sufficient to protect the soldiers against the effects of +a surprise. As the whole building was considerably less +than forty feet high, its summit was concealed by the tops +of the trees, except from the eyes of those who had reached +the interior of the island. On that side the view was open +from the upper loops, though bushes even there, more or +less, concealed the base of the wooden tower. + +The object being purely defence, care had been taken to +place the blockhouse so near an opening in the limestone +rock that formed the base of the island as to admit of a +bucket being dropped into the water, in order to obtain +that great essential in the event of a siege. In order to +facilitate this operation, and to enfilade the base of the +building, the upper stories projected several feet beyond +the lower in the manner usual to blockhouses, and pieces +of wood filled the apertures cut in the log flooring, which +were intended as loops and traps. The communications +between the different stories were by means of ladders. If +we add that these blockhouses were intended as citadels +for garrisons or settlements to retreat to, in the cases of +attacks, the general reader will obtain a sufficiently correct +idea of the arrangements it is our wish to explain. + +But the situation of the island itself formed its principal +merit as a military position. Lying in the midst of twenty +others, it was not an easy matter to find it; since boats +might pass quite near, and, by glimpses caught through +the openings, this particular island would be taken for a +part of some other. Indeed, the channels between the +islands which lay around the one we have been describing +were so narrow that it was even difficult to say which por- +tions of the land were connected, or which separated, even +as one stood in the centre, with the express desire of ascer- +taining the truth. The little bay in particular, which +Jasper used as a harbor, was so embowered with bushes +and shut in with islands, that, the sails of the cutter being +lowered, her own people on one occasion had searched for +hours before they could find the _Scud_, in their return from +a short excursion among the adjacent channels in quest of +fish. In short, the place was admirably adapted to its +present objects, and its natural advantages had been as in- +geniously improved as economy and the limited means of +a frontier post would very well allow. + +The hour which succeeded the arrival of the _Scud_ was +one of hurried excitement. The party in possession had +done nothing worthy of being mentioned, and, wearied +with their seclusion, they were all eager to return to Os- +wego. The Sergeant and the officer he came to relieve had +no sooner gone through the little ceremonies of transfer- +ring the command, than the latter hurried on board the +_Scud_ with his whole party; and Jasper, who would gladly +have passed the day on the island, was required to get +under way forthwith, the wind promising a quick passage +up the river and across the lake. Before separating, how- +ever, Lieutenant Muir, Cap, and the Sergeant had a private +conference with the ensign who had been relieved, in +which the last was made acquainted with the suspicions +that existed against the fidelity of the young sailor. +Promising due caution, the officer embarked, and in less +than three hours from the time when she had arrived the +cutter was again in motion. + +Mabel had taken possession of a hut; and with female +readiness and skill she made all the simple little domestic +arrangements of which the circumstances would admit, not +only for her own comfort, but for that of her father. To +save labor, a mess-table was prepared in a hut set apart +for that purpose, where all the heads of the detachment +were to eat, the soldier's wife performing the necessary +labor. The hut of the Sergeant, which was the best on +the island, being thus freed from any of the vulgar offices +of a household, admitted of such a display of womanly +taste, that, for the first time since her arrival on the fron- +tier, Mabel felt proud of her home. As soon as these im- +portant duties were discharged, she strolled out on the +island, taking a path which led through the pretty glade, +and which conducted to the only point not covered with +bushes. Here she stood gazing at the limpid water, which +lay with scarcely a ruffle on it at her feet, musing on the +novel situation in which she was placed, and permitting a +pleasing and deep excitement to steal over her feelings, +as she remembered the scenes through which she had so +lately passed, and conjectured those which still lay veiled +in the future. + +"You're a beautiful fixture, in a beautiful spot, Mistress +Mabel," said David Muir, suddenly appearing at her el- +bow; "and I'll no' engage you're not just the handsomest +of the two." + +"I will not say, Mr. Muir, that compliments on my per- +son are altogether unwelcome, for I should not gain credit +for speaking the truth, perhaps," answered Mabel with +spirit; "but I will say that if you would condescend to +address to me some remarks of a different nature, I may +be led to believe you think I have sufficient faculties to +understand them." + +"Hoot! your mind, beautiful Mabel, is polished just like +the barrel of a soldier's musket, and your conversation is +only too discreet and wise for a poor d---l who has been +chewing birch up here these four years on the lines, instead +of receiving it in an application that has the virtue of +imparting knowledge. But you are no' sorry, I take it, +young lady, that you've got your pretty foot on _terra firma_ +once more." + +"I thought so two hours since, Mr. Muir; but the _Scud_ +looks so beautiful as she sails through these vistas of trees, +that I almost regret I am no longer one of her passengers." + +As Mabel ceased speaking, she waved, her handkerchief +in return to a salutation from Jasper, who kept his eyes +fastened on her form until the white sails of the cutter +had swept round a point, and were nearly lost behind its +green fringe of leaves. + +"There they go, and I'll no' say 'joy go with them;' but +may they have the luck to return safely, for without them +we shall be in danger of passing the winter on this island; +unless, indeed, we have the alternative of the castle at +Quebec. Yon Jasper Eau-douce is a vagrant sort of a lad, +and they have reports of him in the garrison that it pains +my very heart to hear. Your worthy father, and almost +as worthy uncle, have none of the best opinion of him." + +"I am sorry to hear it, Mr. Muir; I doubt not that time +will remove all their distrust." + +"If time would only remove mine, pretty Mabel," re- +joined the Quartermaster in a wheedling tone, "I should +feel no envy of the commander-in-chief. I think if I were +in a condition to retire, the Sergeant would just step into +my shoes." + +"If my dear father is worthy to step into your shoes, Mr. +Muir," returned the girl, with malicious pleasure, "I'm +sure that the qualification is mutual, and that you are every +way worthy to step into his." + +"The deuce is in the child! you would not reduce me +to the rank of a non-commissioned officer, Mabel?" + +"No, indeed, sir; I was not thinking of the army at all +as you spoke of retiring. My thoughts were more egotis- +tical, and I was thinking how much you reminded me of +my dear father, by your experience, wisdom, ana suitable- +ness to take his place as the head of a family." + +"As its bridegroom, pretty Mabel, but not as its parent +or natural chief. I see how it is with you, loving your re- +partee, and brilliant with wit. Well, I like spirit in a +young woman, so it be not the spirit of a scold. This +Pathfinder is all extraordinair, Mabel, if truth may be said +of the man." + +"Truth should be said of him or nothing. Pathfinder +is my friend -- my very particular friend, Mr. Muir, and no +evil can be said of him in my presence that I shall not +deny." + +"I shall say nothing evil of him, I can assure you, Ma- +bel; but, at the same time, I doubt if much good can be +said in his favor." + +"He is at least expert with the rifle," returned Mabel, +smiling. "That you cannot deny." + +"Let him have all the credit of his exploits in that way +if you please; but he is as illiterate as a Mohawk." + +"He may not understand Latin, but his knowledge of +Iroquois is greater than that of most men, and it is the +more useful language of the two in this part of the world." + +"If Lundie himself were to call on me for an opinion +which I admire more, your person or your wit, beautiful +and caustic Mabel, I should be at a loss to answer. My +admiration is so nearly divided between them, that I often +fancy this is the one that bears off the palm, and then the +other! Ah! the late Mrs. Muir was a paragon in that +way also." + +"The latest Mrs. Muir, did you say, sir?" asked Mabel, +looking up innocently at her companion. + +"Hoot, hoot! That is some of Pathfinder's scandal. +Now I daresay that the fellow has been trying to persuade +you, Mabel, that I have had more than one wife already." + +"In that case his time would have been thrown away, sir, +as everybody knows that you have been so unfortunate as +to have had four." + +"Only three, as sure as my name is David Muir. The +fourth is pure scandal -- or rather, pretty Mabel, she is yet +_in petto_, as they say at Rome; and that means, in matters +of love, in the heart, my dear." + +"Well, I'm glad I'm not that fourth person, _in petto_, or +in anything else, as I should not like to be a scandal." + +"No fear of that, charming Mabel; for were you the +fourth, all the others would be forgotten, and your won- +derful beauty and merit would at once elevate you to be +the first. No fear of your being the fourth in any +thing." + +There is consolation in that assurance, Mr. Muir," said +Mabel, laughing, "whatever there may be in your other +assurance; for I confess I should prefer being even a +fourth-rate beauty to being a fourth wife." + +So saying she tripped away, leaving the Quartermaster +to meditate on his success. Mabel had been induced to +use her female means of defence thus freely, partly be- +cause her suitor had of late been so pointed as to stand in +need of a pretty strong repulse, and partly on account of +his innuendoes against Jasper and the Pathfinder. +Though full of spirit and quick of intellect, she was not +naturally pert; but on the present occasion she thought +circumstances called for more than usual decision. When +she left her companion, therefore, she believed she was now +finally released from attentions which she thought as ill- +bestowed as they were certainly disagreeable. Not so, +however, with David Muir; accustomed to rebuffs, and +familiar with the virtue of perseverance, he saw no reason +to despair, though the half-menacing, half-self-satisfied +manner in which he shook his head towards the retreating +girl might have betrayed designs as sinister as they were +determined. While he was thus occupied, the Pathfinder +approached, and got within a few feet of him unseen. + +"'Twill never do, Quartermaster, 'twill never do," com- +menced the latter, laughing in his noiseless way; "she is +young and active, and none but a quick foot can overtake +her. They tell me you are her suitor, if you are not her +follower." + +"And I hear the same of yourself, man, though the pre- +sumption would be so great that I scarcely can think it +true." + +"I fear you're right, I do; yes, I fear you're right; -- +when I consider myself, what I am, how little I know, and +how rude my life has been, I altogether distrust my claim, +even to think a moment of one so tutored, and gay, and +light of heart, and delicate -- " + +"You forget handsome," coarsely interrupted Muir. + +"And handsome, too, I fear," returned the meek and +self-abased guide; "I might have said handsome at once, +among her other qualities; for the young fa'n, just as it +learns to bound, is not more pleasant to the eye of the hun- +ter than Mabel is lovely in mine. I do indeed fear that +all the thoughts I have harbored about her are vain and +presumptuous." + +"If you think this, my friend, of your own accord and +natural modesty, as it might be, my duty to you as an old +fellow-campaigner compels me to say -- " + +"Quartermaster," interrupted the other, regarding his +companion keenly, "you and I have lived together much +behind the ramparts of forts, but very little in the open +woods or in front of the enemy." + +"Garrison or tent, it all passes for part of the same cam- +paign, you know, Pathfinder; and then my duty keeps me +much within sight of the storehouses, greatly contrary to +my inclinations, as ye may well suppose, having yourself +the ardor of battle in your temperament. But had ye heard +what Mabel had just been saying of you, ye'd no think +another minute of making yourself agreeable to the saucy +and uncompromising hussy." + +Pathfinder looked earnestly at the lieutenant, for it was +impossible he should not feel an interest in what might be +Mabel's opinion; but he had too much of the innate and +true feeling of a gentleman to ask to hear what another had +said of him. Muir, however, was not to be foiled by this +self-denial and self-respect; for, believing he had a man +of great truth and simplicity to deal with, he determined +to practise on his credulity, as one means of getting rid of +his rivalry. He therefore pursued the subject, as soon as +he perceived that his companion's self-denial was stronger +than his curiosity. + +"You ought to know her opinion, Pathfinder," he con- +tinued; "and I think every man ought to hear what his +friends and acquaintances say of him: and so, by way of +proving my own regard for your character and feelings, +I'll just tell you in as few words as possible. You know +that Mabel has a wicked, malicious way with them eyes of +her own, when she has a mind to be hard upon one's feel- +ings." + +"To me her eyes, Lieutenant Muir, have always seemed +winning and soft, though I will acknowledge that they +sometimes laugh; yes, I have known them to laugh, and +that right heartily, and with downright goodwill." + +"Well, it was just that then; her eyes were laughing +with all their might, as it were; and in the midst of all +her fun, she broke out with an exclamation to this effect: +- I hope 'twill no' hurt your sensibility, Pathfinder?" + +"I will not say Quartermaster, I will not say. Mabel's +opinion of me is of no more account than that of most others." + +"Then I'll no' tell ye, but just keep discretion on the +subject; and why should a man be telling another what +his friends say of him, especially when they happen to say +that which may not be pleasant to hear? I'll not add an- +other word to this present communication." + +"I cannot make you speak, Quartermaster, if you are +not so minded, and perhaps it is better for me not to know +Mabel's opinion, as you seem to think it is not in my favor. +Ah's me! if we could be what we wish to be, instead of +being only what we are, there would be a great difference +in our characters and knowledge and appearance. One +may be rude and coarse and ignorant, and yet happy, if he +does not know it; but it is hard to see our own failings in +the strongest light, just as we wish to hear the least about +them." + +"That's just the _rationale_, as the French say, of the +matter; and so I was telling Mabel, when she ran away +and left me. You noticed the manner in which she +skipped off as you approached?" + +"It was very observable," answered Pathfinder, drawing +a long breath and clenching the barrel of his rifle as if the +fingers would bury themselves in the iron. + +"It was more than observable -- it was flagrant; that's +just the word, and the dictionary wouldn't supply a bet- +ter, after an hour's search. Well, you must know, Path- +finder, -- for I cannot reasonably deny you the gratification +of hearing this, -- so you must know the minx bounded off +in that manner in preference to hearing what I had to say +in your justification." + +"And what could you find to say in my behalf, Quarter- +master?" + +"Why, d'ye understand, my friend, I was ruled by cir- +cumstances, and no' ventured indiscreetly into generalities, +but was preparing to meet particulars, as it might be, with +particulars. If you were thought wild, half-savage, or of +a frontier formation, I could tell her, ye know, that it came +of the frontier, wild and half-savage life ye'd led; and all +her objections must cease at once, or there would be a sort +of a misunderstanding with Providence." + +"And did you tell her this, Quartermaster?" + +"I'll no' swear to the exact words, but the idea was prev- +alent in my mind, ye'll understand. The girl was impa- +tient, and would not hear the half I had to say; but away +she skipped, as ye saw with your own eyes, Pathfinder, as +if her opinion were fully made up, and she cared to listen +no longer. I fear her mind may be said to have come to +its conclusion?" + +"I fear it has indeed, Quartermaster, and her father, +after all, is mistaken. Yes, yes; the Sergeant has fallen +into a grievous error." + +"Well, man, why need ye lament, and undo all the grand +reputation ye've been so many weary years making? +Shoulder the rifle that ye use so well, and off into the +woods with ye, for there's not the female breathing that is +worth a heavy heart for a minute, as I know from experi- +ence. Tak' the word of one who knows the sax, and has +had two wives, that women, after all, are very much the +sort of creatures we do not imagine them to be. Now, if +you would really mortify Mabel, here is as glorious an +occasion as any rejected lover could desire." + +"The last wish I have, Lieutenant, would be to mortify +Mabel." + +"Well, ye'll come to that in the end, notwithstanding; +for it's human nature to desire to give unpleasant feelings +to them that give unpleasant feelings to us. But a better +occasion never offered to make your friends love you, than +is to be had at this very moment, and that is the certain +means of causing one's enemies to envy us." + +"Quartermaster, Mabel is not my inimy; and if she was, +the last thing I could desire would be to give her an uneasy +moment." + +"Ye say so, Pathfinder, ye say so, and I daresay ye think +so; but reason and nature are both against you, as ye'll +find in the end. Ye've heard the saying 'love me, love +my dog:' well, now, that means, read backwards, 'don't +love me, don't love my dog.' Now, listen to what is in +your power to do. You know we occupy an exceedingly +precarious and uncertain postion here, almost in the jaws +of the lion, as it were?" + +"Do you mean the Frenchers by the lion, and this island +as his jaws, Lieutenant?" + +"Metaphorically only, my friend, for the French are no +lions, and this island is not a jaw -- unless, indeed, it may +prove to be, what I greatly fear may come true, the jaw- +bone of an ass." + +Here the Quartermaster indulged in a sneering laugh, +that proclaimed anything but respect and admiration for +his friend Lundie's sagacity in selecting that particular +spot for his operations. + +"The post is as well chosen as any I ever put foot in," +said Pathfinder, looking around him as one surveys a pic- +ture. + +"I'll no' deny it, I'll no' deny it. Lundie is a great sol- +dier, in a small way; and his father was a great laird, with +the same qualification. I was born on the estate, and have +followed the Major so long that I've got to reverence all +he says and does: that's just my weakness, ye'll know, +Pathfinder. Well, this post may be the post of an ass, or +of a Solomon, as men fancy; but it's most critically placed, +as is apparent by all Lundie's precautions and injunctions. +There are savages out scouting through these Thousand +Islands and over the forest, searching for this very spot, as +is known to Lundie himself, on certain information; and +the greatest service you can render the 55th is to discover +their trails and lead them off on a false scent. Unhappily +Sergeant Dunham has taken up the notion that the danger +is to be apprehended from up-stream, because Frontenac +lies above us; whereas all experience tells us that Indians +come on the side which is most contrary to reason, and, +consequently, are to be expected from below. Take your +canoe, therefore, and go down-stream among the islands, +that we may have notice if any danger approaches from +that quarter." + +"The Big Sarpent is on the look-out in that quarter; +and as he knows the station well, no doubt he will give us +timely notice, should any wish to sarcumvent us in that +direction." + +"He is but an Indian, after all, Pathfinder; and this is +an affair that calls for the knowledge of a white man. +Lundie will be eternally grateful to the man who shall +help this little enterprise to come off with flying colors. +To tell you the truth, my friend, he is conscious it should +never have been attempted; but he has too much of the +old laird's obstinacy about him to own an error, though it +be as manifest as the morning star." + +The Quartermaster then continued to reason with his +companion, in order to induce him to quit the island with- +out delay, using such arguments as first suggested them- +selves, sometimes contradicting himself, and not unfre- +quently urging at one moment a motive that at the next +was directly opposed by another. The Pathfinder, simple +as he was, detected these flaws in the Lieutenant's philos- +ophy, though he was far from suspecting that they pro- +ceeded from a desire to clear the coast of Mabel's suitor. +He did not exactly suspect the secret objects of Muir, but +he was far from being blind to his sophistry. The result +was that the two parted, after a long dialogue, unconvinced, +and distrustful of each other's motives, though the distrust +of the guide, like all that was connected with the man, +partook of his own upright, disinterested, and ingenuous +nature. + +A conference that took place soon after between Sergeant +Dunham and the Lieutenant led to more consequences. +When it was ended, secret orders were issued to the men, +the blockhouse was taken possession of, the huts were oc- +cupied, and one accustomed to the movements of soldiers +might have detected that an expedition was in the wind. +In fact, just as the sun was setting, the Sergeant, who had +been much occupied at what was called the harbor, came +into his own hut, followed by Pathfinder and Cap; and as +he took his seat at the neat table which Mabel had pre- +pared for him, he opened the budget of his intelligence. + +"You are likely to be of some use here, my child," the +old soldier commenced, "as this tidy and well-ordered +supper can testify; and I trust, when the proper moment +arrives, you will show yourself to be the descendant of +those who know how to face their enemies." + +"You do not expect me, dear father, to play Joan of Arc, +and to lead the men to battle?" + +"Play whom, child? Did you ever hear of the person +Mabel mentions, Pathfinder?" + +"Not I, Sergeant; but what of that? I am ignorant +and unedicated, and it is too great a pleasure to me to +listen to her voice, and take in her words, to be particular +about persons." + +"I know her," said Cap decidedly; "she sailed a priva- +teer out of Morlaix in the last war; and good cruises she +made of them." + +Mabel blushed at having inadvertently made an allusion +that went beyond her father's reading, to say nothing of +her uncle's dogmatism, and, perhaps, a little at the Path- +finder's simple, ingenuous earnestness; but she did not +forbear the less to smile. + +"Why, father, I am not expected to fall in with the +men, and to help defend the island?" + +"And yet women have often done such things in this +quarter of the world, girl, as our friend, the Pathfinder +here, will tell you. But lest you should be surprised at +not seeing us when you awake in the morning, it is proper +that I now tell you we intend to march in the course of +this very night." + +"_We_, father! and leave me and Jennie on this island +alone?" + +"No, my daughter; not qnite as unmilitary as that. We +shall leave Lieutenant Muir, brother Cap, Corporal M'Nab, +and three men to compose the garrison during our ab- +sence. Jennie will remain with you in this hut, and +brother Cap will occupy my place." + +"And Mr. Muir?" said Mabel, half unconscious of what +she uttered, though she foresaw a great deal of unpleasant +persecution in the arrangement. + +"Why, he can make love to you, if you like it, girl; for +he is an amorous youth, and, having already disposed of +four wives, is impatient to show how much he honors their +memories by taking a fifth." + +"The Quartermaster tells me," said Pathfinder inno- +cently, "that when a man's feelings have been harassed by +so many losses, there is no wiser way to soothe them than +by ploughing up the soil anew, in such a manner as to +leave no traces of what have gone over it before." + +"Ay, that is just the difference between ploughing and +harrowing," returned the Sergeant, with a grim smile. +"But let him tell Mabel his mind, and there will be an end +of his suit. I very well know that _my_ daughter will never +be the wife of Lieutenant Muir." + +This was said in a way that was tanatmount to declaring +that no daughter of his ever _should_ become the wife of the +person in question. Mabel had colored, trembled, half +laughed, and looked uneasy; but, rallying her spirit, she +said, in a voice so cheerful as completely to conceal her +agitation, "But, father, we might better wait until Mr. +Muir manifests a wish that your daughter would have him, +or rather a wish to have your daughter, lest we get the +fable of sour grapes thrown into our faces." + +"And what is that fable, Mabel?" eagerly demanded +Pathfinder, who was anything but learned in the ordinary +lore of white men. "Tell it to us, in your own pretty +way; I daresay the Sergeant never heard it." + +Mabel repeated the well-known fable, and, as her suitor +had desired, in her own pretty way, which was a way to +keep his eyes riveted on her face, and the whole of his +honest countenance covered with a smile. + +"That was like a fox!" cried Pathfinder, when she had +ceased; "ay, and like a Mingo, too, cunning and cruel; +that is the way with both the riptyles. As to grapes, they +are sour enough in this part of the country, even to them +that can get at them, though I daresay there are seasons +and times and places where they are sourer to them that +can't. I should judge, now, my scalp is very sour in Mingo +eyes." + +"The sour grapes will be the other way, child, and it is +Mr. Muir who will make the complaint. You would never +marry that man, Mabel?" + +"Not she," put in Cap; "a fellow who is only half a +soldier after all. The story of them there grapes is quite +a circumstance." + +"I think little of marrying any one, dear father and +dear uncle, and would rather talk about it less, if you +please. But, did I think of marrying at all, I do be- +lieve a man whose affections have already been tried by +three or four wives would scarcely be my choice." + +The Sergeant nodded at the guide, as much as to say, +You see how the land lies; and then he had sufficient con- +sideration for his daughter's feelings to change the sub- +ject. + +"Neither you nor Mabel, brother Cap," he resumed, +"can have any legal authority with the little garrison I +leave behind on the island; but you may counsel and in- +fluence. Strictly speaking, Corporal M'Nab will be the +commanding officer, and I have endeavored to impress him +with a sense of his dignity, lest he might give way too +much to the superior rank of Lieutenant Muir, who, being +a volunteer, can have no right to interfere with the duty. +I wish you to sustain the Corporal, brother Cap; for +should the Quartermaster once break through the regula- +tions of the expedition, he may pretend to command me, +as well as M'Nab." + +"More particularly, should Mabel really cut him adrift +while you are absent. Of course, Sergeant, you'll leave +everything that is afloat under my care? The most d----ble +confusion has grown out of misunderstandings between +commanders-in-chief, ashore and afloat." + +"In one sense, brother, though in a general way, the +Corporal is commander-in-chief. The Corporal must com- +mand; but you can counsel freely, particularly in all mat- +ters relating to the boats, of which I shall leave one behind +to secure your retreat, should there be occasion. I know +the Corporal well; he is a brave man and a good soldier; +and one that may be relied on, if the Santa Cruz can be +kept from him. But then he is a Scotchman, and will be +liable to the Quartermaster's influence, against which I de- +sire both you and Mabel to be on your guard." + +"But why leave us behind, dear father? I have come +thus far to be a comfort to you, and why not go farther?" + +"You are a good girl, Mabel, and very like the Dunhams. +But you must halt here. We shall leave the island to- +morrow, before the day dawns, in order not to be seen by +any prying eyes coming from our cover, and we shall take +the two largest boats, leaving you the other and one bark +canoe. We are about to go into the channel used by the +French, where we shall lie in wait, perhaps a week, to in- +tercept their supply-boats, which are about to pass up on +their way to Frontenac, loaded, in particular, with a heavy +amount of Indian goods." + +"Have you looked well to your papers, brother?" Cap +anxiously demanded. "Of course you know a capture on +the high seas is piracy, unless your boat is regularly com- +missioned, either as a public or a private armed cruiser." + +"I have the honor to hold the Colonel's appointment as +sergeant-major of the 55th," returned the other, drawing +himself up with dignity, "and that will be sufficient even +for the French king. If not, I have Major Duncan's writ- +ten orders." + +"No papers, then, for a warlike cruiser?" + +"They must suffice, brother, as I have no other. It is +of vast importance to his Majesty's interests, in this part +of the world, that the boats in question should be captured +and carried into Oswego. They contain the blankets, trink- +ets, rifles, ammunition, in short, all the stores with which the +French bribe their accursed savage allies to commit their +unholy acts, setting at nought our holy religion and its +precepts, the laws of humanity, and all that is sacred and +dear among men. By cutting off these supplies we shall +derange their plans, and gain time on them; for the arti- +cles cannot be sent across the ocean again this autumn." + +"But, father, does not his Majesty employ Indians also?" +asked Mabel, with some curiosity. + +"Certainly, girl, and he has a right to employ them -- +God bless him! It's a very different thing whether an Eng- +lish man or a Frenchman employs a savage, as everybody +can understand." + +"But, father, I cannot see that this alters the case. If +it be wrong in a Frenchman to hire savages to fight his +enemies, it would seem to be equally wrong in an Eng- +lishman. _You_ will admit this, Pathfinder?" + +"It's reasonable, it's reasonable; and I have never been +one of them that has raised a cry ag'in the Frenchers for +doing the very thing we do ourselves. Still it is worse to +consort with a Mingo than to consort with a Delaware. +If any of that just tribe were left, I should think it no sin +to send them out ag'in the foe." + +"And yet they scalp and slay young and old, women and +children!" + +"They have their gifts, Mabel, and are not to be blamed +for following them; natur' is natur', though the different +tribes have different ways of showing it. For my part I +am white, and endeavor to maintain white feelings." + +"This is all unintelligible to me," answered Mabel. +"What is right in King George, it would seem, ought to +be right in King Louis." + +As all parties, Mabel excepted, seemed satisfied with the +course the discussion had taken, no one appeared to think +it necessary to pursue the subject. Supper was no sooner +ended than the Sergeant dismissed his guests, and then +held a long and confidential dialogue with his daughter. +He was little addicted to giving way to the gentler emo- +tions, but the novelty of his present situation awakened +feelings that he was unused to experience. The soldier or +the sailor, so long as he acts under the immediate super- +vision of a superior, thinks little of the risks he runs, but +the moment he feels the responsibility of command, all the +hazards of his undertaking begin to associate themselves +in his mind: with the chances of success or failure. While +he dwells less on his own personal danger, perhaps, than +when that is the principal consideration, he has more lively +general perceptions of all the risks, and submits more to +the influence of the feelings which doubt creates. Such +was now the case with Sergeant Dunham, who, instead +of looking forward to victory as certain, according to his +usual habits, began to feel the possibility that he might +be parting with his child for ever. + +Never before had Mabel struck him as so beautiful as +she appeared that night. Possibly she never had displayed +so many engaging qualities to her father; for concern on +his account had begun to be active in her breast; and then +her sympathies met with unusual encouragement through +those which had been stirred up in the sterner bosom of +the veteran. She had never been entirely at her ease with +her parent, the great superiority of her education creating +a sort of chasm, which had been widened by the military +severity of manner he had acquired by dealing so long +with beings who could only be kept in subjection by an +unremitted discipline. On the present occasion, however, +the conversation between the father and daughter became +more confidential than usual, until Mabel rejoiced to fiud +that it was gradually becoming endearing, a state of feel- +ing that the warm-hearted girl had silently pined for in +vain ever since her arrival. + +"Then mother was about my height?" Mabel said, as +she held one of her father's hands in both her own, looking +up into his face with humid eyes. "I had thought her +taller." + +"That is the way with most children who get a habit of +thinking of their parents with respect, until they fancy +them larger and more commanding than they actually are. +Your mother, Mabel, was as near your height as one woman +could be to another." + +"And her eyes, father?" + +"Her eyes were like thine, child, too; blue and soft, and +inviting like, though hardly so laughing." + +"Mine will never laugh again, dearest father, if you do +not take care of yourself in this expedition." + +"Thank you, Mabel -- hem -- thank you, child; but I +must do my duty. I wish I had seen you comfortably +married before we left Oswego; my mind would be easier." + +"Married! -- to whom, father?" + +"You know the man I wish you to love. You may meet +with many gayer, and many dressed in finer clother; but +with none with so true a heart and just a mind." + +"None father?" + +"I know of none; in these particulars Pathfinder has few +equals at least." + +"But I need not marry at all. You are single, and I +can remain to take care of you." + +"God bless you, Mabel! I know you would, and I do +not say that the feeling is not right, for I suppose it is; +and yet I believe there is another that is more so." + +"What can be more right than to honor one's parents?" + +"It is just as right to honor one's husband, my dear +child." + +"But I have no husband, father." + +"Then take one as soon as possible, that you may have +a husband to honor. I cannot live for ever, Mabel, but +must drop off in the course of nature ere long, if I am not +carried off in the course of war. You are young, and may +yet live long; and it is proper that you should have a male +protector, who can see you safe through life, and take care +of you in age, as you now wish to take care of me." + +"And do you think, father," said Mabel, playing with +his sinewy fingers with her own little hands, and looking +down at them, as if they were subjects of intense interest, +though her lips curled in a slight smile as the words came +from them, -- "and do you think, father, that Pathfinder +is just the man to do this? Is he not, within ten or twelve +years, as old as yourself?" + +"What of that? His life has been one of moderation +and exercise, and years are less to be counted, girl, than +constitution. Do you know another more likely to be your +protector?" + +Mabel did not; at least another who had expressed a +desire to that effect, whatever might have been her hopes +and her wishes. + +"Nay, father, we are not talking of anotber, but of the +Pathfinder," she answered evasively. "If he were younger, +I think it would be more natural for me to think of him +for a husband." + +"'Tis all in the constitution, I tell you, child; Pathfinder +is a younger man than half our subalterns." + +"He is certainly younger than one, sir -- Lieutenant +Muir." + +Mabel's laugh was joyous and light-hearted, as if just +then she felt no care. + +"That he is -- young enough to be his grandson; he is +younger in years, too. God forbid, Mabel, that you should +ever become an officer's lady, at least until you are an +officer's daughter!" + +"There will be little fear of that, father, if I marry +Pathfinder," returned the girl, looking up archly in the +Sergeant's face again. + +"Not by the king's commission, perhaps, though the +man is even now the friend and companion of generals. +I think I could die happy, Mabel, if you were his wife." + +"Father!" + +"'Tis a sad thing to go into battle with the weight of an +unprotected daughter laid upon the heart." + +"I would give the world to lighten yours of its load, my +dear sir." + +"It might be done," said the Sergeant, looking fondly +at his child; "though I could not wish to put a burthen +on yours in order to do so." + +The voice was deep and tremulous, and never before +had Mabel witnessed such a show of affection in her parent. +The habitual sternness of the man lent an interest to his +emotions which they might otherwise have wanted, and +the daughter's heart yearned to relieve the father's mind. + +"Father, speak plainly!" she cried, almost convulsively. + +"Nay, Mabel, it might not be right; your wishes and +mine may be very different." + +"I have no wishes -- know nothing of what you mean. +Would you speak of my future marriage?" + +"If I could see you promised to Pathfinder -- know that +you were pledged to become his wife, let my own fate be +what it might, I think I could die happy. But I will ask +no pledge of you, my child; I will not force you to do +what you might repent. Kiss me, Mabel, and go to your +bed." + +Had Sergeant Dunham exacted of Mabel the pledge that +he really so much desired, he would have encountered a +resistance that he might have found it difficult to over- +come; but, by letting nature have its course, he enlisted a +powerful ally on his side, and the warm-hearted, generous- +minded Mabel was ready to concede to her affections much +more than she would ever have yielded to menace. At +that touching moment she thought only of her parent, +who was about to quit her, perhaps for ever; and all of +that ardent love for him, which had possibly been as much +fed by the imagination as by anything else, but which had +received a little check by the restrained intercourse of the +last fortnight, now returned with a force that was increased +by pure and intense feeling. Her father seemed all in all +to her, and to render him happy there was no proper sac- +rifice which she was not ready to make. One painful, rapid, +almost wild gleam of thought shot across the brain of the +girl, and her resolution wavered; but endeavoring to trace +the foundation of the pleasing hope on which it was based, +she found nothing positive to support it. Trained like a +woman to subdue her most ardent feelings, her thoughts +reverted to her father, and to the blessings that awaited +the child who yielded to a parent's wishes. + +"Father," she said quietly, almost with a holy calm, +"God blesses the dutiful daughter." + +"He will, Mabel; we have the Good Book for that." + +"I will marry whomever you desire." + +"Nay, nay, Mabel, you may have a choice of your +own -- " + +"I have no choice; that is, none have asked me to have +a choice, but Pathfinder and Mr. Muir; and between _them_, +neither of us would hesitate. No, father; I will marry +whomever you may choose." + +"Thou knowest my choice, beloved child; none other +can make thee as happy as the noble-hearted guide." + +"Well, then, if he wish it, if he ask me again -- for, +father, you would not have me offer myself, or that any +one should do that office for me," and the blood stole across +the pallid cheeks of Mabel as she spoke, for high and gen- +erous resolutions had driven back the stream of life to her +heart; "no one must speak to him of it; but if he seek +me again, and, knowing all that a true girl ought to tell +the man she marries, he then wishes to make me his wife, +I will be his." + +"Bless you, my Mabel! God in heaven bless you, and re- +ward you as a pious daughter deserves to be rewarded!" + +"Yes, father, put your mind at peace; go on this expe- +dition with a light heart, and trust in God. For me you +will have now no care. In the spring -- I must have a lit- +tle time, father -- but in the spring I will marry Pathfinder, +if that noble-hearted hunter shall then desire it." + +"Mabel, he loves you as I loved your mother. I have +seen him weep like a child when speaking of his feelings +towards you." + +"Yes, I believe it; I've seen enough to satisfy me that +he thinks better of me than I deserve; and certainly the +man is not living for whom I have more respect than for +Pathfinder; not even for you, dear father." + +"That is as it should be, child, and the union will be +blessed. May I not tell Pathfinder this?" + +"I would rather you would not, father. Let it come of +itself, come naturally." The smile that illuminated Mabel's +handsome face was angelic, as even her parent thought, +though one better practised in detecting the passing emo- +tions, as they betray themselves in the countenance, might +have traced something wild and unnatural in it. "No, no, +_we_ must let things take their course; father, you have my +solemn promise." + +"That will do, that will do, Mabel, now kiss me. God +bless and protect you, girl! you are a good daughter." + +Mabel threw herself into her father's arms -- it was the +first time in her life -- and sobbed on his bosom like an in- +fant. The stern soldier's heart was melted, and the tears +of the two mingled; but Sergeant Dunham soon started, as +if ashamed of himself, and, gently forcing his daughter from +him, he bade her good-night, and sought his pallet. Mabel +went sobbing to the rude corner that had been prepared +for her reception; and in a few minutes the hut was un- +disturbed by any sound, save the heavy breathing of the +veteran. + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +Wandering, I found on my ruinous walk, + By the dial stone, aged and green, +One rose of the wilderness, left on its stalk, + To mark where a garden had been. +CAMPBELL. + + +It was not only broad daylight when Mabel awoke, but +the sun had actually been up some time. Her sleep had +beeu tranquil, for she rested on an approving conscience, +and fatigue contributed to render it sweet; and no sound +of those who had been so early in motion had interfered +with her rest. Springing to her feet and rapidly dressing +herself, the girl was soon breathing the fragrance of the +morning in the open air. For the first time she was sen- +sibly struck with the singular beauties, as well as with the +profound retirement, of her present situation. The day +proved to be one of those of the autumnal glory, so com- +mon to a climate that is more abused than appreciated, +and its influence was every way inspiriting and genial. +Mabel was benefitted by this circumstance; for, as she +fancied, her heart was heavy on account of the dangers to +which a father, whom she now began to love as women love +when confidence is created, was exposed. + +But the island seemed absolutely deserted. The previ- +ous night, the bustle of the arrival had given the spot an +appearance of life which was now entirely gone; and our +heroine had turned her eyes nearly around on every object +in sight, before she caught a view of a single human being +to remove the sense of utter solitude. Then, indeed, she +beheld all who were left behind, collected in a group +around a fire which might be said to belong to the camp. +The person of her uncle, to whom she was so much accus- +tomed, reassured Mabel; and she examined the remainder +with a curiosity natural to her situation. Besides Cap and +the Quartermaster, there were the Corporal, the three sol- +diers, and the woman who was cooking. The huts were +silent and empty; and the low but tower-like summit of +the blockhouse rose above the bushes, by which it was half +concealed, in picturesque beauty. The sun was just cast- +ing its brightness into the open places of the glade, and +the vault over her head was impending in the soft sub- +limity of the blue void. Not a cloud was visible, and she +secretly fancied the circumstance might be taken as a har- +binger of peace and security. + +Perceiving that all the others were occupied with that +great concern of human nature, a breakfast, Mabel walked, +unobserved, towards an end of the island where she was +completely shut out of view by the trees and bushes. Here +she got a stand on the very edge of the water, by forcing +aside the low branches, and stood watching the barely +perceptible flow and re-flow of the miniature waves which +laved the shore; a sort of physical echo to the agitation +that prevailed on the lake fifty miles above her. The +glimpses of natural scenery that offered were very soft and +pleasing; and our heroine, who had a quick eye for all +that was lovely in nature, was not slow in selecting the +most striking bits of landscape. She gazed through the +different vistas formed by the openings between the +islands, and thought she had never looked on aught more +lovely. + +While thus occupied, Mabel was suddenly alarmed by +fancying that she caught a glimpse of a human form among +the bushes that lined the shore of the island which lay +directly before her. The distance across the water was +not a hundred yards; and, though she might be mistaken, +and her fancy was wandering when the form passed be- +fore her sight, still she did not think she could be deceived. +Aware that her sex would be no protection against a rifle +bullet, should an Iroquois get a view of her, the girl in- +stinctively drew back, taking care to conceal person as +much as possible by the leaves, while she kept her own look +riveted on the opposite shore, vainly waiting for some +time in the expectation of the stranger. She was about +to quit her post in the bushes and hasten to her uncle, in +order to acquaint him of her suspicions, when she saw the +branch of an alder thrust beyond the fringe of bushes on +the other island, and waved towards her significantly, and +as she fancied in token of amity. This was a breathless +and a trying moment to one as inexperienced in frontier +warfare as our heroine and yet she felt the great necessity +that existed for preserving her recollection, and of acting +with steadiness and discretion. + +It was one of the peculiarities of the exposure to which +those who dwelt on the frontiers of America were liable, +to bring out the moral qualities of the women to a degree +which they must themselves, under other circumstances, +have believed they were incapable of manifesting; and +Mabel well knew that the borderers loved to dwell in their +legends on the presence of mind, fortitude, and spirit that +their wives and sisters had displayed under circumstances +the most trying. Her emulation had been awakened by +what she had heard on such subjects; and it at once struck +her that now was the moment for her to show that she +was truly Sergeant Dunham's child. The motion of the +branch was such as she believed indicated amity; and, +after a moment's hesitation, she broke off a twig, fastened +it to a stick and, thrusting it through an opening, waved +it in return, imitating as closely as possible the manner of +the other. + +This dumb show lasted two or three minutes on both +sides, when Mabel perceived that the bushes opposite were +cautiously pushid aside, and a human face appeared at an +opening. A glance sufficed to let Mabel see that it was the +countenance of a red-skin, as well as that of a woman. A +second and a better look satisfied her that it was the face +of the Dew-of-June, the wife of Arrowhead. During the +time she had travelled in company with this woman, +Mabel had been won by the gentleness of manner, the +meek simplicity, and the mingled awe and affection with +which she regarded her husband. Once or twice in the +course of the journey she fancied the Tuscarora had mani- +fested towards herself an unpleasant degree of attention; +and on those occoasions it had struck her that his wife +exhibited sorrow and mortification. As Mabel, however, +had more than compensated for any pain she might in +this way unintentionally have caused her companion, by +her own kindness of manner and attentions, the woman +had shown much attachment to her, and they had parted, +with a deep conviction on the mind of our heroine that in +the Dew-of-June she had lost a friend. + +It is useless to attempt to analyze all the ways by which +the human heart is led into confidence. Such a feeling, +however, had the young Tuscarora woman awakened in +the breast of our heroine; and the latter, under the im- +pression that this extraordinary visit was intended for her +own good, felt every disposition to have a closer commu- +nication. She no longer hesitated about showing herself +clear of the bushes, and was not sorry to see the Dew-of- +June imitate her confidence, by stepping fearlessly out of +her own cover. The two girls, for the Tuscarora, though +married, was even younger than Mabel, now openly ex- +changed signs of friendship, and the latter beckoned to +her friend to approach, though she knew not the manner +herself in which this object could be effected. But the +Dew-of-June was not slow in letting it be seen that it was +in her power; for, disappearing in a moment, she soon +showed herself again in the end of a bark canoe, the bows +of which she had drawn to the edge of the bushes, and of +which the body still lay in a sort of covered creek. Mabel +was about to invite her to cross, when her own name was +called aloud in the stentorian voice of her uncle. Making +a hurried gesture for the Tuscarora girl to conceal herself, +Mabel sprang from the bushes and tripped up the glade +towards the sound, and perceived that the whole party had +just seated themselves at breakfast; Cap having barely put +his appetite under sufficient restraint to summon her to +join them. That this was the most favorable instant for +the interview flashed on the mind of Mabel; and, excusing +herself on the plea of not being prepared for the meal, +she bounded back to the thicket, and soon renewed her +communications with the young Indian woman. + +Dew-of-June was quick of comprehension; and with +half a dozen noiseless strokes of the paddles, her canoe was +concealed in the bushes of Station Island. In another +minute, Mabel held her hand, and was leading her through +the grove towards her own hut. Fortunately the latter +was so placed as to be completely hid from the sight of +those at the fire, and they both entered it unseen. Hastily +explaining to her guest, in the best manner she could, the +necessity of quitting her for a short time, Mabel, first plac- +ing the Dew-of-June in her own room, with a full certainty +that she would not quit it until told to do so, went to the +fire and took her seat among the rest, with all the com- +posure it was in her power to command. + +"Late come, late served, Mabel," said her uncle, be- +tween mouthfuls of broiled salmon; for though the cook- +ery might be very unsophisticated on that remote frontier, +the viands were generally delicious, -- "late come, late +served; it is a good rule, and keeps laggards up to their +work." + +"I am no laggard, uncle; for I have been stirring nearly +an hour, and exploring our island." + +"It's little you'll make o' that, Mistress Mabel," put in +Muir; "that's little by nature. Lundie -- or it might be +better to style him Major Duncan in this presence" (this +was said in consideration of the corporal and the common +men, though they were taking their meal a little apart) -- +"has not added an empire to his Majesty's dominions in +getting possession of this island, which is likely to equal +that of the celebrated Sancho in revenues and profits -- +Sancho, of whom, doubtless, Master Cap, you'll often have +been reading in your leisure hours, more especially in +calms and moments of inactivity." + +"I know the spot you mean, Quartermaster; Sancho's +Island -- coral rock, of new formation, and as bad a land- +fall, in a dark night and blowing weather, as a sinner +could wish to keep clear of. It's a famous place for cocoa- +nuts and bitter water, that Sancho's Island." + +"It's no' very famous for dinners," returned Muir, re- +pressing the smile which was struggling to his lips out of +respect to Mabel; "nor do I think there'll be much to +choose between its revenue and that of this spot. In my +judgment, Master Cap, this is a very unmilitary position, +and I look to some calamity befalling it, sooner or later." + +"It is to be hoped not until our turn of duty is over," +observed Mabel. "I have no wish to study the French +language." + +"We might think ourselves happy, did it not prove to +be the Iroquois. I have reasoned with Major Duncan on +the occupation of this position, but 'a wilfu' man maun +ha' his way.' My first object in accompanying this party +was to endeavor to make myself acceptable and useful to +your beautiful niece, Master Cap; and the second was to +take such an account of the stores that belong to my par- +ticular department as shall leave no question open to con- +troversy, concerning the manner of expenditure, when they +shall have disappeared by means of the enemy." + +"Do you look upon matters as so serious?" demanded +Cap, actually suspending his mastication of a bit of veni- +son -- for he passed alternately from fish to flesh and back +again -- in the interest he took in the answer. "Is the +danger pressing?" + +"I'll no' say just that; and I'll no' say just the contrary. +There is always danger in war, and there is more of it +at the advanced posts than at the main encampment. It +ought, therefore, to occasion no surprise were we to be +visited by the French at any moment." + +"And what the devil is to be done in that case? Six +men and two women would make but a poor job in defend- +ing such a place as this, should the enemy invade us; as, +no doubt, Frenchman-like, they would take very good care +to come strong-handed." + +"That we may depend on -- some very formidable force +at the very lowest. A military disposition might be made +in defence of the island, out of all question, and accord- +ing to the art of war, though we would probably fail in +the force necessary to carry out the design in any very +creditable manner. In the first place, a detachment should +be sent off to the shore, with orders to annoy the enemy +in landing; a strong party ought instantly to be thrown +into the blockhouse, as the citadel, for on that all the dif- +ferent detachments would naturally fall back for support, +as the French advanced; and an entrenched camp might +be laid out around the stronghold, as it would be very un- +military indeed to let the foe get near enough to the foot +of the walls to mine them. Chevaux-de-frise would keep +the cavalry in check; and as for the artillery, redoubts +should be thrown up under cover of yon woods. Strong +skirmishing parties, moreover, would be exceedingly ser- +viceable in retarding the march of the enemy; and these +different huts, if properly piqueted and ditched, would be +converted into very eligible positions for that object." + +"Whe-e-e-w-, Quartermaster! And who the d---l +is to find all the men to carry out such a plan?" + +"The king, out of all question, Master Cap. It is his +quarrel, and it's just he should bear the burthen o' it." + +"And we are only six! This is fine talking, with a +vengeance. You could be sent down to the shore to op- +pose the landing, Mabel might skirmish with her tongue +at least, the soldier's wife might act chevaux-de-frise to +entangle the cavalry, the corporal should command the +entrenched camp, his three men could occupy the five +huts, and I would take the blockhouse. Whe-e-e-w! +you describe well, Lieutenant; and should have been a +limner instead of a soldier." + +"Na, I've been very literal and upright in my exposition +of matters. That there is no greater force here to carry +out the plan is a fault of his Majesty's ministers, and none +of mine." + +"But should our enemy really appear," asked Mabel, +with more interest than she might have shown, had she +not remembered the guest in the hut, "what course ought +we to pursue?" + +"My advice would be to attempt to achieve that, pretty +Mabel, which rendered Xenophon so justly celebrated." + +"I think you mean a retreat, though I half guess at your +allusion." + +"You've imagined my meaning from the possession of +a strong native sense, young lady. I am aware that your +worthy father has pointed out to the Corporal certain +modes and methods by which he fancies this island could +be held, in case the French should discover its position; +but the excellent Sergeant, though your father, and as good +a man in his duties as ever wielded a spontoon, is not the +great Lord Stair, or even the Duke of Marlborough. I'll +not deny the Sergeant's merits in his particular sphere; +though I cannot exaggerate qualities, however excellent, +into those of men who may be in some trifling degree his +superiors. Sergeant Dunham has taken counsel of his +heart, instead of his head, in resolving to issue such orders; +but, if the fort fall, the blame will lie on him that ordered +it to be occupied, and not on him whose duty it was to +defend it. Whatever may be the determination of the +latter, should the French and their allies land, a good +commander never neglects the preparations necessary to +effect a retreat; and I would advise Master Cap, who is +the admiral of our navy, to have a boat in readiness to +evacuate the island, if need comes to need. The largest +boat that we have left carries a very ample sail; and by +hauling it round here, and mooring it under those bushes, +there will be a convenient place for a hurried embarka- +tion; and then you'll perceive, pretty Mabel, that it is +scarcely fifty yards before we shall be in a channel between +two other islands, and hid from the sight of those who +may happen to be on this." + +"All that you say is very true, Mr. Muir; but may not +the French come from that quarter themselves? If it is +so good for a retreat, it is equally good for an advance." + +"They'll no' have the sense to do so discreet a thing," +returned Muir, looking furtively and a little uneasily +around him; "they'll no' have sufficient discretion. Your +French are a head-over-heels nation, and usually come +forward in a random way; so we may look for them, if +they come at all, on the other side of the island." + +The discourse now became exceedingly desultory, touch- +ing principally, however, on the probabilities of an inva- +sion, and the best means of meeting it. + +To most of this Mabel paid but little attention; though +she felt some surprise that Lieutenant Muir, an officer +whose character for courage stood well, should openly +recommend an abandonment of what appeared to her to +be doubly a duty, her father's character being connected +with the defence of the island. Her mind, however, was +so much occupied with her guest, that, seizing the first +favorable moment, she left the table, and was soon in her +own hut again. Carefully fastening the door, and seeing +that the simple curtain was drawn before the single little +window, Mabel next led the Dew-of-June, or June, as she +was familiarly termed by those who spoke to her in Eng- +lish, into the outer room, making signs of affection and +confidence. + +"I am glad to see you, June," said Mabel, with one of +her sweetest smiles, and in her own winning voice, -- "very +glad to see you. What has brought you hither, and how +did you discover the island?" + +"Speak slow," said June, returning smile for smile, and +pressing the little hand she held with one of her own that +was scarcely larger, though it had been hardened by labor; +"more slow -- too quick." + +Mabel repeated her questions, endeavoring to repress the +impetuosity of her feelings; and she succeeded in speak- +ing so distinctly as to be understood. + +"June, friend," returned the Indian woman. + +"I believe you, June -- from my soul I believe you; what +has this to do with your visit?" + +"Friend come to see friend," answered June, again +smiling openly in the other's face. + +"There is some other reason, June, else would you never +run this risk, and alone. You are alone, June?" + +"June wid you, no one else. June come alone, paddle +canoe." + +"I hope so, I think so -- nay, I know so. You would not +be treacherous with me, June?" + +"What treacherous?" + +"You would not betray me, would not give me to the +French, to the Iroquois, to Arrowhead?" + +June shook her head earnestly. + +"You would not sell my scalp?" + +Here June passed her arm fondly around the slender +waist of Mabel and pressed her to her heart with a tender- +ness and affection that brought tears into the eyes of our +heroine. It was done in the fond caressing manner of a +woman, and it was scarcely possible that it should not ob- +tain credit for sincerity with a young and ingenuous per- +son of the same sex. Mabel returned the pressure, and +then held the other off at the length of her arm, looked +her steadily in the face, and continued her inquiries. + +"If June has something to tell her friend, let her speak +plainly," she said. "My ears are open." + +"June 'fraid Arrowhead kill her." + +"But Arrowhead will never know it." Mabel's blood +mounted to her temples as she said this; for she felt that +she was urging a wife to be treacherous to her husband. +"That is, Mabel will not tell him." + +"He bury tomahawk in June's head." + +"That must never be, dear June; I would rather you +should say no more than run this risk." + +"Blockhouse good place to sleep, good place to stay." + +"Do you mean that I may save my life by keeping in the +blockhouse, June? Surely, surely, Arrowhead will not +hurt you for telling me that. He cannot wish me any +great harm, for I never injured him." + +"Arrowhead wish no harm to handsome pale-face," re- +turned June, averting her face; and, though she always +spoke ih the soft, gentle voice of an Indian girl, now per- +mitting its notes to fall so low as to cause them to sound +melancholy and timid. "Arrowhead love pale-face girl." + +Mabel blushed, she knew not why, and for a moment +her questions were repressed by a feeling of inherent deli- +cacy. But it was necessary to know more, for her appre- +hensions had been keenly awakened, and she resumed her +inquiries. + +"Arrowhead can have no reason to love or to hate _me_," +she said. "Is he near you?" + +"Husband always near wife, here," said June, laying her +hand on her heart. + +"Excellent creature! But tell me, June, ought I to +keep in the blockhouse to-day -- this morning -- now?" + +"Blockhouse very good; good for women. Blockhouse +got no scalp." + +"I fear I understand you only too well, June. Do you +wish to see my father?" + +"No here; gone away." + +"You cannot know that, June; you see the island is full +of his soldiers." + +"No full; gone away," -- here June held up four of her +fingers, -- "so many red-coats." + +"And Pathfinder? would you not like to see the Path- +finder? He can talk to you in the Iroquois tongue." + +"Tongue gone wid him," said June, laughing; "keep +tongue in his mout'." + +There was something so sweet and contagious in the in- +fantine laugh of an Indian girl, that Mabel could not re- +frain from joining in it, much as her fears were aroused +by all that had passed. + +"You appear to know, or to think you know, all about +us, June. But if Pathfinder be gone, Eau-douce can speak +French too. You know Eau-douce; shall I run and bring +him to talk with you?" + +"Eau-douce gone too, all but heart; that there." As +June said this, she laughed again; looked in different di- +rections, as if unwilling to confuse the other, and laid her +hand on Mabel's bosom. + +Our heroine had often heard of the wonderful sagacity +of the Indians, and of the surprising manner in which +they noted all things, while they appeared to regard none; +but she was scarcely prepared for the direction the dis- +course had so singularly taken. Willing to change it, and +at the same time truly anxious to learn how great the +danger that impended over them might really be, she rose +from the camp-stool on which she had been seated; and, +by assuming an attitude of less affectionate confidence, +she hoped to hear more of that she really desired to learn, +and to avoid allusions to that which she found so embar- +rassing. + +"You know how much or how little you ought to tell +me, June," she said; "and I hope you love me well enough +to give me the information I ought to hear. My dear +uncle, too, is on the island, and you are, or ought to be, his +friend as well as mine; and both of us will remember your +conduct when we get back to Oswego." + +"Maybe, never get back; who know?" This was said +doubtingly, or as one who lays down an uncertain propo- +sition, and not with a taunt, or a desire to alarm. + +"No one knows what will happen but God. Our lives +are in His hands. Still, I think you are to be His instru- +ment in saving us." + +This passed June's comprehension, and she only looked +her ignorance; for it was evident she wished to be of use. + +"Blockhouse very good," she repeated, as soon as her +countenance ceased to express uncertainty, laying strong +emphasis on the last two words. + +"Well, I understand this, June, and will sleep in it to- +night. Of course I am to tell my uncle what you have +said?" + +The Dew-of-June started, and she discovered a very +manifest uneasiness at the interrogatory. + +"No, no, no, no!" she answered, with a volubility and +vehemence that was imitated from the French of the Can- +adas; "no good to tell Saltwater. He much talk and long +tongue. Thinks woods all water, understand not'ing. +Tell Arrowhead, and June die." + +"You do my dear uncle injustice, for he would be as +little likely to betray you as any one." + +"No understand. Saltwater got tongue, but no eyes, no +ears, no nose -- not'ing but tongue, tongue, tongue!" + +Although Mabel did not exactly coincide in this opinion, +she saw that Cap had not the confidence of the young In- +dian woman, and that it was idle to expect she would con- +sent to his being admitted to their interview. + +"You appear to think you know our situation pretty +well, June," Mabel continued; "have you been on the +island before this visit?" + +"Just come." + +"How then do you know that what you say is true? +my father, the Pathfinder, and Eau-douce may all be here +within sound of my voice, if I choose to call them." + +"All gone," said June positively, smiling good-humoredly +at the same time. + +"Nay, this is more than you can say certainly, not hav- +ing been over the island to examine it." + +"Got good eyes; see boat with men go away -- see ship +with Eau-douce." + +"Then you have been some time watching us: I think, +however, you have not counted them that remain." + +June laughed, held up her four fingers again, and then +pointed to her two thumbs; passing a finger over the first, +she repeated the words "red-coats;" and touching the last, +she added, "Saltwater," "Quartermaster." All this was +being very accurate, and Mabel began to entertain serious +doubts as to the propriety of her permitting her visitor to +depart without her becoming more explicit. Still it was +so repugnant to her feelings to abuse the confidence this +gentle and affectionate creature had evidently reposed in +her, that Mabel had no sooner admitted the thought of +summoning her uncle, than she rejected it as unworthy of +herself and unjust to her friend. To aid this good reso- +lution, too, there was the certainty that June would reveal +nothing, but take refuge in a stubborn silence, if any at- +tempt were made to coerce her. + +"You think, then, June," Mabel continued, as soon as +these thoughts had passed through her mind, "that I had +better live in the blockhouse?" + +"Good place for woman. Blockhouse got no scalp. +Logs t'ick." + +"You speak confidently, June; as if you had been in it, +and had measured its walls." + +June laughed; and she looked knowing, though she +said nothing. + +"Does any one but yourself know how to find this +island? have any of the Iroquois seen it?" + +June looked sad, and she cast her eyes warily about her, +as if distrusting a listener. + +"Tuscarora, everywhere -- Oswego, here, Frontenac, Mo- +hawk -- everywhere. If he see June, kill her." + +"But we thought that no one knew of this island, and +that we had no reason to fear our encmies while on it." + +"Much eye, Iroquois." + +"Eyes will not always do, June, This spot is hid from +ordinary sight, and few of even our own people know how +to find it." + +"One man can tell; some Yengeese talk French." + +Mabel felt a chill at her heart. All the suspicions against +Jasper, which she had hitherto disdained entertaining, +crowded in a body on her thoughts; and the sensation that +they brought was so sickening, that for an instant she im- +agined she was about to faint. Arousing herself, and re- +membering her promise to her father, she arose and walked +up and down the hut for a minute, fancying that Jasper's +delinquencies were naught to her, though her inmost heart +yearned with the desire to think him innocent. + +"I understand your meaning, June," she then said; +"you wish me to know that some one has treacherousy +told your people where and how to find the island?" + +June laughed, for in her eyes artifice in war was oftener +a merit than a crime; but she was too true to her tribe +herself to say more than the occasion required. Her object +was to save Mabel, and Mabel only; and she saw no suffi- +cient reason for "travelling out of the record," as the law +yers express it, in order to do anything else. + +"Pale-face know now," she added. "Blockhouse good +for girl, no matter for men and warriors." + +"But it is much matter with me, June; for one of those +men is my uncle, whom I love, and the others are my +countrymen and friends. I must tell them what has +passed." + +"Then June be kill," returned the young Indian quietly, +though she evidently spoke with concern. + +"No; they shall not know that you have been here. +Still, they must be on their guard, and we can all go into +the blockhouse." + +"Arrowhead know, see everything, and June be kill. +June come to tell young pale-face friend, not to tell men. +Every warrior watch his own scalp. June woman, and +tell woman; no tell men." + +Mabel was greatly distressed at this declaration of her +wild friend, for it was now evident the young creature +understood that her communication was to go no further. +She was ignorant how far these people consider the point +of honor interested in her keeping the secret; and most +of all was she unable to say how far any indiscretion of her +own might actually commit June and endanger her life. +All these considerations flashed on her mind, and reflection +only rendered their influence more painful. June, too, +manifestly viewed the matter gravely; for she began to +gather up the different little articles she had dropped in +taking Mabel's hand, and was preparing to depart. To +attempt detaining her was out of the question; and to part +from her, after all she had hazarded to serve her, was re- +pugnant to all the just and kind feelings of our heroine's +nature. + +"June," said she eagerly, folding her arms round the +gentle but uneducated being, "we are friends. From me +you have nothing to fear, for no one shall know of your +visit. If you could give me some signal just before the +danger comes, some sign by which to know when to go +into the blockhouse, how to take care of myself." + +June paused, for she had been in earnest in her intention +to depart; and then she said quietly, "Bring June pigeon." + +"A pigeon! Where shall I find a pigeon to bring you?" + +"Next hut; bring old one; June go to canoe." + +"I think I understand you, June; but had I not better +lead you back to the bushes, lest you meet some of the +men?" + +"Go out first; count men, one, two, t'ree, four, five, six" +- here June held up her fingers, and laughed -- "all out of +the way -- good; all but one, call him one side. Then sing, +and fetch pigeon." + +Mabel smiled at the readiness and ingenuity of the girl, +and prepared to execute her requests. At the door, how- +ever, she stopped, and looked back entreatingly at the In- +dian woman. "Is there no hope of your telling me more, +June?" she said. + +"Know all now, blockhouse good, pigeon tell, Arrow- +head kill." + +The last words sufficed; for Mabel could not urge further +communications, when her companion herself told her that +the penalty of her revelations might be death by the hand +of her husband. Throwing open the door, she made a sign +of adieu to June, and went out of the hut. Mabel resorted +to the simple expedient of the young Indian girl to ascer- +tain the situation of the different individuals on the island. +Instead of looking about her with the intention of recog- +nizing faces and dresses, she merely counted them; and +found that three still remained at the fire, while two had +gone to the boat, one of whom was Mr. Muir. The sixth +man was her uncle; and he was coolly arranging some fish- +ing-tackle at no great distance from the fire. The woman +was just entering her own hut; and this accounted for the +whole party. Mabel now, affecting to have dropped some- +thing, returned nearly to the hut she had left, warbling an +air, stooped as if to pick up some object from the ground, +and hurried towards the hut June had mentioned. This +was a dilapidated structure, and it had been converted by +the soldiers of the last detachment into a sort of store- +house for their live stock. Among other things, it con- +tained a few dozen pigeons, which were regaling on a pile +of wheat that had been brought off from one of the farms +plundered on the Canada shore. Mabel had not much +difficulty in catching one of these pigeons, although they +fluttered and flew about the hut with a noise like that of +drums; and, concealing it in her dress, she stole back +towards her own hut with the prize. It was empty; and, +without doing more than cast a glance in at the door, the +eager girl hurried down to the shore. She had no diffi- +culty in escaping observation, for the trees and bushes made +a complete cover to her person. At the canoe she found +June, who took the pigeon, placed it in a basket of her +own manufacturing, and, repeating the words, "blockhouse +good," she glided out of the bushes and across the narrow +passage, as noiselessly as she had come. Mabel waited some +time to catch a signal of leave-taking or amity after her +friend had landed, but none was given. The adjacent +islands, without exception, were as quiet as if no one had +ever disturbed the sublime repose of nature, and nowhere +could any sign or symptom be discovered, as Mabel then +thought, that might denote the proximity of the sort of +danger of which June had given notice. + +On returning, however, from the shore, Mabel was struck +with a little circumstance, that, in an ordinary situation, +would have attracted no attention, but which, now that +her suspicions had been aroused, did not pass before her +uneasy eye unnoticed. A small piece of red bunting, such +as is used in the ensigns of ships, was fluttering at the +lower branch of a small tree, fastened in a way to permit +it to blow out, or to droop like a vessel's pennant. + +Now that Mabel's fears were awakened, June herself +could not have manifested greater quickness in analyzing +facts that she believed might affect the safety of the party. +She saw at a glance that this bit of cloth could be ob- +served from an adjacent island; that it lay so near the line +between her own hut and the canoe as to leave no doubt +that June had passed near it, if not directly under it; and +that it might be a signal to communicate some important +fact connected with the mode of attack to those who were +probably lying in ambush near them. Tearing the little +strip of bunting from the tree, Mabel hastened on, scarcely +knowing what her duty next required of her. June might +be false to her, but her manner, her looks, her affection, +and her disposition as Mabel had known it in the journey, +forbade the idea. Then came the allusion to Arrowhead's +admiration of the pale-face beauties, some dim recollections +of the looks of the Tuscarora, and a painful consciousness +that few wives could view with kindness one who had es- +tranged a husband's affections. None of these images were +distinct and clear, but they rather gleamed over the mind +of our heroine than rested in it, and they quickened her +pulses, as they did her step, without bringing with them the +prompt and clear decisions that usually followed her reflec- +tions. She had hurried onwards towards the hut occupied +by the soldier's wife, intending to remove at once to the +blockhouse with the woman, though she could persuade +no other to follow, when her impatient walk was interrupted +by the voice of Muir. + +"Whither so fast, pretty Mabel?" he cried; "and why +so given to solitude? The worthy Sergeant will deride my +breeding, if he hear that his daughter passes the morn- +ings alone and unattended to, though he well knows it is +my ardent wish to be her slave and companion from the +beginning of the year to its end." + +"Surely, Mr. Muir, you must have some authority here?" +Mabel suddenly arrested her steps to say. "One of your +rank would be listened to, at least, by a corporal?" + +"I don't know that, I don't know that," interrupted +Muir, with an impatience and appearance of alarm that +might have excited Mabel's attention at another moment. +"Command is command; discipline, discipline; and au- +thority, authority. Your good father would be sore grieved +did he find me interfering to sully or carry off the laurels +he is about to win; and I cannot command the Corporal +without equally commanding the Sergeant. The wisest +way will be for me to remain in the obscurity of a private +individual in this enterprise; and it is so that all parties, +from Lundie down, understand the transaction." + +"This I know, and it may be well, nor would I give my +dear father any cause of complaint; but you may influence +the Corporal to his own good." + +"I'll no' say that," returned Muir in his sly Scotch way; +"it would be far safer to promise to influence him to his +injury. Mankind, pretty Mabel, have their peculiarities; +and to influence a fellow-being to his own good is one of +the most difficult tasks of human nature, while the oppo- +site is just the easiest. You'll no' forget this, my dear, +but bear it in mind for your edification and government. +But what is that you're twisting round your slender finger +as you may be said to twist hearts?" + +"It is nothing but a bit of cloth -- a sort of flag -- a trifle +that is hardly worth our attention at this grave moment. +If -- " + +"A trifle! It's no' so trifling as ye may imagine, Mis- +tress Mabel," taking the bit of bunting from her, and +stretching it at full length with both his arms extended, +while his face grew grave and his eye watchful. "Ye'll no' +ha' been finding this, Mabel Dunham, in the breakfast?" + +Mabel simply acquainted him with the spot where and +the manner in which she had found the bit of cloth. +While she was speaking, the eye of the Quartermaster was +not quiet for a moment, glancing from the rag to the face +of our heroine, then back again to the rag. That his sus- +picions were awakened was easy to be seen, nor was he long +in letting it be known what direction they had taken. + +"We are not in a part of the world where our ensigns +and gauds ought to be spread abroad to the wind, Mabel +Dunham!" he said, with an ominous shake of the head. + +"I thought as much myself, Mr. Muir, and brought away +the little flag lest it might be the means of betraying our +presence here to the enemy, even though nothing is in- +tended by its display. Ought not my uncle to be made +acquainted with the circumstance?" + +"I no' see the necessity for that, pretty Mabel; for, as +you justly say, it is a circumstance, and circumstances +sometimes worry the worthy mariner. But this flag, if flag +it can be called, belongs to a seaman's craft. You may +perceive that it is made of what is called bunting, and that +is a description of cloth used only by vessels for such pur- +poses, _our_ colors being of silk, as you may understand, or +painted canvas. It's surprisingly like the fly of the _Scud's_ +ensign. And now I recollect me to have observed that a +piece had been cut from that very flag." + +Mabel felt her heart sink, but she had sufficient self- +command not to attempt an answer. + +"It must be looked to," Muir continued, "and, after all, +I think it may be well to hold a short consultation with +Master Cap, than whom a more loyal subject does not ex- +ist in the British empire." + +"I have thought the warning so serious," Mabel rejoined, +"that I am about to remove to the blockhouse, and to take +the woman with me." + +"I do not see the prudence of that, Mabel. The block- +house will be the first spot assailed should there really be +an attack; and it's no' well provided for a siege, that must +be allowed. If I might advise in so delicate a contin- +gency, I would recommend your taking refuge in the boat, +which, as you may now perceive, is most favorably placed +to retreat by that channel opposite, where all in it would +be hid by the islands in one or two minutes. Water leaves +no trail, as Pathfinder well expresses it; and there appears +to be so many different passages in that quarter that escape +would be more than probable. I've always been of opin- +ion that Lundie hazarded too much in occupying a post so +far advanced and so much exposed as this." + +"It's too late to regret it now, Mr. Muir, and we have +only to consult our own security." + +"And the king's honor, pretty Mabel. Yes, his Majesty's +arms and his glorious name are not to be overlooked on +any occasion." + +"Then I think it might be better if we all turned our +eyes towards the place that has been built to maintain +them instead of the boat," said Mabel, smiling; "and so, +Mr. Muir, I am for the blockhouse, intending to await +there the return of my father and his party. He would be +sadly grieved at finding we had fled when he got back suc- +cessful himself, and filled with the confidence of our having +been as faithful to our duties as he has been to his own." + +"Nay, nay, for heaven's sake, do not misunderstand me, +Mabel!" Muir interrupted, with some alarm of manner; +"I am far from intimating that any but you females ought +to take refuge in the boat. The duty of us men is suffi- +ciently plain, no doubt, and my resolution has been formed +from the first to stand or fall by the blockhouse." + +"And did you imagine, Mr. Muir, that two females could +row that heavy boat in a way to escape the bark canoe of +an Indian?" + +"Ah, my pretty Mabel, love is seldom logical, and its +fears and misgivings are apt to warp the faculties. I only +saw your sweet person in the possession of the means of +safety, and overlooked the want of ability to use them; +but you'll not be so cruel, lovely creature, as to impute to +me as a fault my intense anxiety on your own account." + +Mabel had heard enough: her mind was too much oc- +cupied with what had passed that morning, and with her +fears, to wish to linger longer to listen to love speeches, +which in her most joyous and buoyant moments she would +have found unpleasant. She took a hasty leave of her +companion, and was about to trip away towards the hilt of +the other woman, when Muir arrested the movement by +laying a hand on her arm. + +"One word, Mabel," said he, "before you leave me. This +little flag may, or it may not, have a particular meaning; +if it has, now that we are aware of its being shown, may it +not be better to put it back again, while we watch vigilantly +for some answer that may betray the conspiracy; and if it +mean nothing, why, nothing will follow." + +"This may be all right, Mr. Muir, though, if the whole +is accidental, the flag might be the occasion of the fort's +being discovered. + +Mabel stayed to utter no more; but she was soon out of +sight, running into the hut towards which she had been first +proceeding. The Quartermaster remained on the very spot +and in the precise attitude in which she had left him for +quite a minute, first looking at the bounding figure of the +girl and then at the bit of bunting, which he still held be- +fore him in a way to denote indecision. His irresolution +lasted but for this minute, however; for he was soon be- +neath the tree, where he fastened the mimic flag to a branch +again, though, from his ignorance of the precise spot from +which it had been taken by Mabel, he left it fluttering +from a part of the oak where it was still more exposed than +before to the eyes of any passenger on the river, though +less in view from the island itself. + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +Each one has had his supping mess, +The cheese is put into the press, +The pans and bowls, clean scalded all, +Reared up against the milk-house wall. +COTTON. + + +It seemed strange to Mabel Dunham, as she passed along +on her way to find her female companion, that others +should be so composed, while she herself felt as if the re- +sponsibilities of life and death rested on her shoulders. It +is true that distrust of June's motives mingled with her +forebodings; but when she came to recall the affectionate +and natural manner of the young Indian girl, and all the +evidences of good faith and sincerity she had seen in her +conduct during the familiar intercourse of their journey, +she rejected the idea with the unwillingness of a generous +disposition to believe ill of others. She saw, however, that +she could not put her companions properly on their guard +without letting them into the secret of her conference with +June; and she found herself compelled to act cautiously +and with a forethought to which she was unaccustomed, +more especially in a matter of so much moment. + +The soldier's wife was told to transport the necessaries +into the blockhouse, and admonished not to be far from it +at any time during the day. Mabel did not explain her +reasons. She merely stated that she had detected some +signs in walking about the island, which induced her to +apprehend that the enemy had more knowledge of its po- +sition than had been previously believed, and that they +two at least, would do well to be in readiness to seek a +refuge at the shortest notice. It was not difficult to arouse +the apprehension of this person, who, though a stout- +hearted Scotchwoman, was ready enough to listen to any- +thing that confirmed her dread of Indian cruelties. As +soon as Mabel believed that her companion was sufficiently +frightened to make her wary, she threw out some hints +touching the inexpediency of letting the soldiers know the +extent of their own fears. This was done with a view to +prevent discussions and inquiries that might embarrass +our heroine: she determining to render her uncle, the Cor- +poral, and his men more cautious, by adopting a different +course. Unfortunately, the British army could not have +furnished a worse person for the particular duty that he +was now required to discharge than Corporal M'Nab, the +individual who had been left in command during the ab- +sence of Sergeant Dunham. On the one hand, he was res- +olute, prompt, familiar with all the details of a soldier's +life, and used to war; on the other, he was supercilious as +regards the provincials, opinionated on every subject con- +nected with the narrow limits of his professional practice, +much disposed to fancy the British empire the centre of +all that is excellent in the world, and Scotland the focus +of, at least, all moral excellence in that empire. In short, +he was an epitome, though on a scale suited to his rank, +of those very qualities which were so peculiar to the serv- +ants of the Crown that were sent into the colonies, as these +servants estimated themselves in comparison with the na- +tives of the country; or, in other words, he considered the +American as an animal inferior to the parent stock, and +viewed all his notions of military service, in particular, as +undigested and absurd. A more impracticable subject, +therefore, could not well have offered for the purpose of +Mabel, and yet she felt obliged to lose no time in putting +her plan in execution. + +"My father has left you a responsible command, Corpo- +ral," she said, as soon as she could catch M'Nab a little +apart; "for should the island fall into the hands of the +enemy, not only should we be captured, but the party that +is now out would in all probability become their prisoners +also." + +"It needs no journey from Scotland to this place to +know the facts needful to be o' that way of thinking." re- +turned M'Nab drily. + +"I do not doubt your understanding it as well as myelf, +Mr. M'Nab, but I'm fearful that you veterans, accustomed +as you are to dangers and battles, are a little apt to overlook +some of the precautions that may be necessary in a situa- +tion as peculiar as ours." + +"They say Scotland is no conquered country, young +woman, but I'm thinking there must be some mistak' in +the matter, as we, her children, are so drowsy-headed and +apt to be o'ertaken when we least expect it." + +"Nay, my good friend, you mistake my meaning. In +the first place, I'm not thinking of Scotland at all, but of +this island; and then I am far from doubting your vigi- +lance when you think it necessary to practise it; but my +great fear is that there may be danger to whicb your cour- +age will make you indifferent." + +"My courage, Mistress Dunham, is doubtless of a very +pool quality, being nothing but Scottish courage; your +father's is Yankee, and were he here amang us we should +see different preparations, beyond a doubt. Well, times +are getting wrang, when foreigners hold commissions and +carry halberds in Scottish corps; and I no wonder that +battles are lost, and campaigns go wrang end foremost." + +Mabel was almost in despair; but the quiet warning of +June was still too vividly impressed on her mind to allow +her to yield the matter. She changed her mode of operat- +ing, therefore, still clinging to the hope of getting the +whole party within the blockhouse, without being corn- +pelled to betray the source whence she obtained her notices +of the necessity of vigilance. + +"I daresay you are right, Corporal M'Nab," she ob- +served; "for I've often heard of tbe heroes of your coun- +try, who have been among the first of tbe civilized world, +if what they tell me of them is true." + +"Have you read the history of Scotland, Mistress Dun- +ham?" demanded the Corporal, looking up at his pretty +companion, for the first time with something like a smile +on his hard, repulsive countenance. + +"I have read a little of it, Corporal, but I've heard much +more. The lady who brought me up had Scottish blood +in her veins, and was fond of the subject." + +"I'll warrant ye, the Sergeant no' troubled himself to +expatiate on the renown of the country where his regiment +was raised?" + +"My father has other things to think of, and the little +I know was got from the lady I have mentioned." + +"She'll no' be forgetting to tall ye o' Wallace?" + +"Of him I've even read a good deal." + +"And o' Bruce, and the affair of Bannockburn?" + +"Of that too, as well as of Culloden Muir." + +The last of these battles was then a recent event, it hav- +ing actually been fought within the recollection of our +heroine, whose notions of it, however, were so confused +that she scarcely appreciated the effect her allusion might +produce on her companion. She knew it had been a vic- +tory, and had often heard the guests of her patroness men- +tion it with triumph; and she fancied their feelings would +find a sympathetic chord in those of every British soldier. +Unfortunately, M'Nab had fought throughout that luckless +day on the side of the Pretender; and a deep scar that +garnished his face had been left there by the sabre of a +German soldier in the service of the House of Hanover. +He fancied that his wound bled afresh at Mabel's allusion; +and it is certain that the blood rushed to his face in a tor- +rent, as if it would pour out of his skin at the cicatrix. + +"Hoot! hoot awa'!" he fairly shouted, "with your Cul- +loden and Sherriff muirs, young woman; ye'll no' be un- +derstanding the subject at all, and will manifest not only +wisdom but modesty in speaking o' your ain country and +its many failings. King George has some loyal subjects +in the colonies, na doubt, but 'twill be a lang time before +he sees or hears any guid of them." + +Mabel was surprised at the Corporal's heat, for she had +not the smallest idea where the shoe pinched; but she +was determined not to give up the point. + +"I've always heard that the Scotch had two of the good +qualities of soldiers," she said, "courage and circumspec- +tion; and I feel persuaded that Corporal M'Nab will sus- +tain the national renown." + +"Ask yer own father, Mistress Dunham; he is acquaint' +with Corporal M'Nab, and will no' be backward to point +out his demerits. We have been in battle thegither, and +he is my superior officer, and has a sort o' official right to +give the characters of his subordinates." + +"My father thinks well of you, M'Nab, or he would not +have left you in charge of this island and all it contains, +his own daughter included. Among other things, I well +know that he calculates largely on your prudence. He +expects the blockhouse in particular to be strictly attended +to." + +"If he wishes to defend the honor of the 55th behind +logs, he ought to have remained in command himsel'; for, +to speak frankly, it goes against a Scotchman's bluid and +opinions to be beaten out of the field even before he is at- +tacked. We are broadsword men, and love to stand foot +to foot with the foe. This American mode of fighting, +that is getting into so much favor, will destroy the repu- +tation of his Majesty's army, if it no' destroy its spirit." + +"No true soldier despises caution. Even Major Duncan +himself, than whom there is none braver, is celebrated for +his care of his men." + +"Lundie has his weakness, and is fast forgetting the +broadsword and open heaths in his tree and rifle practice. +But, Mistress Dunham, tak' the word of an old soldier, +who has seen his fifty-fifth year, when he talls ye that there +is no surer method to encourage your enemy than to seem +to fear him; and that there is no danger in this Indian +warfare that the fancies and imaginations of your Ameri- +cans have not enlarged upon, until they see a savage in +every bush. We Scots come from a naked region, and have +no need and less relish for covers, and so ye'll be seeing, +Mistress Dunham -- " + +The Corporal gave a spring into the air, fell forward on +his face, and rolled over on his back, the whole passing so +suddenly that Mabel had scarcely heard the sharp crack +of the rifle that had sent a bullet through his body. Our +heroine did not shriek -- did not even tremble; for the +occurrence was too sudden, too awful, and too unexpected +for that exhibition of weakness; on the contrary, she +stepped hastily forward, with a natural impulse to aid her +companion. There was just enough of life left in M'Nab +to betray his entire consciousness of all that had passed. +His countenance had the wild look of one who had been +overtaken by death by surprise; and Mabel, in her cooler +moments, fancied that it showed the tardy repentance of +a willful and obstinate sinner. + +"Ye'll be getting into the blockhouse as fast as possible," +M'Nab whispered, as Mabel leaned over him to catch his +dying words. + +Then came over our heroine the full consciousness of +her situation and of the necessity of exertion. She cast a +rapid glance at the body at her feet, saw that it had ceased +to breathe, and fled. It was but a few minutes' run to +the blockhouse, the door of which Mabel had barely gained +when it was closed violently in her face by Jennie, the sol- +dier's wife, who in blind terror thought only of her own +safety. The reports of five or six rifles were heard while +Mabel was calling out for admittance; and the additional +terror they produced prevented the woman within from +undoing quickly the very fastenings she had been so expert +in applying. After a minute's delay, however, Mabel +found the door reluctantly yielding to her constant pres- +sure, and she forced her slender body through the opening +the instant it was large enough to allow of its passage. By +this time Mabel's heart ceased to beat tulmultuously and +she gained sufficient self-command to act collectedly. In +stead of yielding to the almost convulsive efforts of her +companion to close the door again, she held it open long +enough to ascertain that none of her own party was in +sight, or likely on the instant to endeavor to gain admis- +sion: then she allowed the opening to be shut. Her orders +and proceedings now became more calm and rational. +But a single bar was crossed, and Jennie was directed to +stand in readiness to remove even that at any application +from a friend. She then ascended the ladder to the room +above, where by means of a loophole she was enabled to +get as good a view of the island as the surrounding bushes +would allow. Admonishing her associate below to be firm +and steady, she made as careful an examination of the en- +virons as her situation permitted. + +To her great surprise, Mabel could not at first see a liv- +ing soul on the island, friend or enemy. Neither French- +man nor Indian was visible, though a small straggling +white cloud that was floating before the wind told her in +which quarter she ought to look for them. The rifles had +been discharged from the direction of the island whence +June had come, though whether the enemy were on that +island, or had actually landed on her own, Mabel could +not say. Going to the loop that commanded a view of the +spot where M'Nab lay, her blood curdled at perceiving all +three of his soldiers lying apparently lifeless at his side. +These men had rushed to a common centre +at the first +alarm, and had been shot down almost simultaneously by +the invisible foe whom the Corporal had affected to despise. + +Neither Cap nor Lieutenant Muir was to be seen. With +a beating heart, Mabel examined every opening through +the trees, and ascended even to the upper story or garret of +the blockhouse, where she got a full view of the whole +island, so far as its covers would allow, but with no better +success. She had expected to see the body of her uncle +lying on the grass like those of the soldiers, but it was +nowhere visible. Turning towards the spot where the boat +lay, Mabel saw that it was still fastened to the shore; and +then she supposed that by some accident Muir had been +prevented from effecting his retreat in that quarter. In +short, the island lay in the quiet of the grave, the bodies +of the soldiers rendering the scone as fearful as it was ex- +traordinary. + +"For God's holy sake, Mistress Mabel," called out the +woman from below; for, though her fear had become too +ungovernable to allow her to keep silence, our heroine's +superior refinement, more than the regimental station of +her father, still controlled her mode of address, -- "Mistress +Mabel, tell me if any of our friends are living! I think I +hear groans that grow fainter and fainter, and fear that +they will all be tomahawked!" + +Mabel now remembered that one of the soldiers was this +woman's husband, and she trembled at what might be the +immediate effect of her sorrow, should his death become +suddenly known to her. The groans, too, gave a little +hope, though she feared they might come from her uncle, +who lay out of view. + +"We are in His holy keeping, Jennie," she answered. +"We must trust in Providence, while we neglect none +of its benevolent means of protecting ourselves. Be care- +ful with the door; on no account open it without my di- +rections." + +"Oh, tell me, Mistress Mabel, if you can anywhere see +Sandy! If I could only let him know that I'm in safety, +the guid man would be easier in his mind, whether free or +a prisoner." + +Sandy was Jennie's husband, and he lay dead in plain +view of the loop from which our heroine was then looking. + +"You no' tell me if you're seeing of Sandy," the woman +repeated from below, impatient at Mabel's silence. + +"There are some of our people gathered about the body +of M'Nab, was the answer; for it seemed sacrilegious in +her eyes to tell a direct untruth under the awful circum- +stances in which she was placed. + +"Is Sandy amang them?" demanded the woman, in a +voice that sounded appalling by its hoarseness and energy. + +"He may be certainly; for I see one, two, three, four, +and all in the scarlet coats of the regiment." + +"Sandy!" called out the woman frantically; "why d'ye +no' care for yoursal', Sandy? Come hither the instant, +man, and share your wife's fortunes in weal or woe. It's +no' a moment for your silly discipline and vain-glorious +notions of honor! Sandy! Sandy!" + +Mabel heard the bar turn, and then the door creaked on +its hinges. Expectation, not to say terror, held her in sus- +pense at the loop, and she soon beheld Jennie rushing +through the bushes in the direction of the cluster of the +dead. It took the woman but an instant to reach the +fatal spot. So sudden and unexpected had been the blow, +that she in her terror did not appear to comprehend its +weight. Some wild and half-frantic notion of a deception +troubled her fancy, and she imagined that the men were +trifling with her fears. She took her husband's hand, and +it was still warm, while she thought a covert smile was +struggling on his lip. + +"Why will ye fool life away, Sandy?" she cried, pulling +at the arm. "Ye'll all be murdered by these accursed +Indians, and you no' takin' to the block like trusty sol- +diers! Awa'! awa'! and no' be losing the precious mo- +ments." + +In her desperate efforts, the woman pulled the body of +her husband in a way to cause the head to turn completely +over, when tbe small hole in the temple, caused by the en- +trance of a rifle bullet, and a few drops of blood trickling +over the skin, revealed the meaning of her husband's si- +lence. As the horrid truth flashed in its full extent on +her mind, the woman clasped her hands, gave a shriek +that pierced the glades of every island near, and fell at +length on the dead body of the soldier. Thrilling, heart- +reaching, appalling as was that shriek, it was melody to +the cry that followed it so quickly as to blend the sounds. +The terrific war-whoop arose out of the covers of the +island, and some twenty savages, horrible in their paint +and the other devices of Indian ingenuity, rushed forward, +eager to secure the coveted scalps. Arrowhead was fore- +most, and it was his tomahawk that brained the insensible +Jennie; and her reeking hair was hanging at his girdle as +a trophy in less than two minutes after she had quitted +the blockhouse. His companions were equally active, and +M'Nab and his soldiers no longer presented the quiet as- +pect of men who slumbered. They were left in their gore, +unequivocally butchered co rpses. + +All this passed in much less time than has been required +to relate it, and all this did Mabel witness. She had stood +riveted to the spot, gazing on the whole horrible scene, as +if enchained by some charm, nor did the idea of self or of +her own danger once obtrude itself on her thoughts. But +no sooner did she perceive the place where the men had +fallen covered with savages, exulting in the success of their +surprise, than it occurred to her that Jennie had left the +blockhouse door unbarred. Her heart beat violently, for +that defence alone stood between her and immediate death, +and she sprang toward the ladder with the intention of +descending to make sure of it. Her foot had not yet +reached the floor of the second story, however, when she +heard the door grating on its hinges, and she gave herself +up for lost. Sinking on her knees, the terrified but cour- +ageous girl endeavored to prepare herself for death, and +to raise her thoughts to God. The instinct of life, how- +ever, was too strong for prayer, and while her lips moved, +the jealous senses watched every sound beneath. When +her ears heard the bars, which went on pivots secured to +the centre of the door, turning into their fastenings, not +one, as she herself had directed, with a view to admit her +uncle should he apply, but all three, she started again to +her feet, all spiritual contemplations vanishing in her +actual temporal condition, and it seemed as if all her fac- +ulties were absorbed in the sense of hearing. + +The thoughts are active in a moment so fearful. At +first Mabel fancied that her uncle had entered the block- +house, and she was about to descend the ladder and throw +herself into his arms; then the idea that it might be an +Indian, who had barred the door to shut out intruders +while he plundered at leisure, arrested the movement. The +profound stillness below was unlike the bold, restless move- +ments of Cap, and it seemed to savor more of the artifices +of an enemy. If a friend at all, it could only be her uncle +or the Quartermaster; for the horrible conviction now pre- +sented itself to our heroine that to these two and herself +were the whole party suddenly reduced, if, indeed, the two +latter survived. This consideration held Mabel in check, +and for full two minutes more a breathless silence reigned +in the building. During this time the girl stood at the +foot of the upper ladder, the trap which led to the lower +opening on the opposite side of the floor; the eyes of +Mabel were riveted on this spot, for she now began to ex- +pect to see at each instant the horrible sight of a savage +face at the hole. This apprehension soon became so in- +tense, that she looked about her for a place of conceal- +ment. The procrastination of the catastrophe she now +fully expected, though it were only for a moment, afforded +a relief. The room contained several barrels; and behind +two of these Mabel crouched, placing her eyes at an open- +ing by which she could still watch the trap. She made +another effort to pray; but the moment was too horrible +for that relief. She thought, too, that she heard a low +rustling, as if one were ascending the lower ladder with an +effort at caution so great as to betray itself by its own ex- +cess; then followed a creaking that she was certain came +from one of the steps of the ladder, which had made the +same noise under her own light weight as she ascended. +This was one of those instants into which are compressed +the sensations of years of ordinary existence. Life, death, +eternity, and extreme bodily pain were all standing out in +bold relief from the plane of every-day occurrences; and +she might have been taken at that moment for a beautiful +pallid representation of herself, equally without motion +and without vitality. But while such was the outward +appearance of the form, never had there been a time in +her brief career when Mabel heard more acutely, saw more +clearly, or felt more vividly. As yet, nothing was visible +at the trap, but her ears, rendered exquisitely sensitive by +intense feeling, distinctly acquainted her that some one +was within a few inches of the opening in the floor. Next +followed the evidence of her eyes, which beheld the dark +hair of an Indian rising so slowly through the passage that +the movements of the head might be likened to that of the +minute-hand of a clock; then came the dark skin and wild +features, until the whole of the swarthy face had risen +above the floor. The human countenance seldom appears +to advantage when partially concealed; and Mabel imagined +many additional horrors as she first saw the black, roving +eyes and the expression of wildness as the savage counte- +nance was revealed, as it might be, inch by inch; but when +the entire head was raised above the floor, a second and a +better look assured our heroine that she saw the gentle, +anxious, and even handsome face of June. + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +Spectre though I be, +I am not sent to scare thee or deceive; +But in reward of thy fidelity. +WORDSWORTH. + + +It would be difficult to say which evinced the most sat- +isfaction, when Mabel sprang to her feet and appeared in +the centre of the room, our heroine, on finding that her +visitor was the wife of Arrowhead, and not Arrowhead +himself, or June, at discovering that her advice had been +followed, and that the blockhouse contained the person +she had so anxiously and almost hopelessly sought. They +embraced each other, and the unsophisticated Tuscarora +woman laughed in her sweet accents as she held her friend +at arm's length, and made certain of her presence. + +"Blockhouse good," said the young Indian; "got no +scalp." + +"It is indeed good, June," Mabel answered, with a shud- +der, veiling her eyes at the same time, as if to shut out a +view of the horrors she had so lately witnessed. "Tell me, +for God's sake, if you know what has become of my dear +uncle! I have looked in all directions without being able +to see him." + +"No here in blockhouse?" June asked, with some curi- +osity. + +"Indeed he is not: I am quite alone in this place; Jen- +nie, the woman who was with me, having rushed out to +join her husband, and perishing for her imprudence." + +"June know, June see; very bad, Arrowhead no feel for +any wife; no feel for his own." + +"Ah, June, your life, at least, is safe!" + +"Don't know; Arrowhead kill me, if he know all." + +"God bless and protect you, June! He _will_ bless and +protect you for this humanity. Tell me what is to be +done, and if my poor uncle is still living?" + +"Don't know. Saltwater has boat; maybe he go on +river." + +"The boat is still on the shore, but neither my uncle nor +the Quartermaster is anywhere to be seen." + +"No kill, or June would see. Hide away! Red man +hide; no shame for pale-face." + +"It is not the shame that I fear for them, but the op- +portunity. Your attack was awfully sudden, June!" + +"Tuscarora!" returned the other, smiling with exultation +at the dexterity of her husband. "Arrowhead great war- +rior!" + +"You are too good and gentle for this sort of life, June; +you cannot be happy in such scenes?" + +June's countenance grew clouded, and Mabel fancied +there was some of the savage fire of a chief in her frown +as she answered, -- + +"Yengeese too greedy, take away all hunting-grounds; +chase Six Nation from morning to night; wicked king, +wicked people. Pale-face very bad." + +Mabel knew that, even in that distant day, there was +much truth in this opinion, though she was too well in- +structed not to understand that the monarch, in this, as +in a thousand other cases, was blamed for acts of which he +was most probably ignorant. She felt the justice of the +rebuke, therefore, too much to attempt an answer, and +her thoughts naturally reverted to her own situation. + +"And what am I to do, June?" she demanded. "It +cannot be long before your people will assault this build- +ing." + +"Blockhouse good -- got no scalp. + +"But they will soon discover that it has got no garrison +too, if they do not know it already. You yourself told +me the number of people that were on the island, and +doubtless you learned it from Arrowhead." + +"Arrowhead know," answered June, holding up six fin- +gers, to indicate the number of the men. "All red men +know. Four lose scalp already; two got 'em yet." + +"Do not speak of it, June; the horrid thought curdles +my blood. Your people cannot know that I am alone in +the blockhouse, but may fancy my uncle and the Quarter- +master with me, and may set fire to the building, in order +to dislodge them. They tell me that fire is the great dan- +ger to such places." + +"No burn blockhouse," said June quietly; + +"You cannot know that, my good June, and I have no +means to keep them off." + +"No burn blockhouse. Blockhouse good; got no scalp." + +"But tell me why, June; I fear they will burn it." + +"Blockhouse wet -- much rain -- logs green -- no burn easy. +Red man know it -- fine t'ing -- then no burn it to tell +Yengeese that Iroquois been here. Fader come back, +miss blockhouse, no found. No, no; Indian too much +cunning; no touch anything." + +"I understand you, June, and hope your prediction may +be true; for, as regards my dear father, should he escape -- +perhaps he is already dead or captured, June ?" + +"No touch fader -- don't know where he gone -- water got +no trail -- red man can't follow. No burn blockhouse -- +blockhouse good; got no scalp." + +"Do you think it possible for me to remain here safely +until my father returns?" + +"Don't know; daughter tell best when fader come back." +Mabel felt uneasy at the glance of June's dark eye as +she uttered this; for the unpleasant surmise arose that her +companion was endeavoring to discover a fact that might +be useful to her own people, while it would lead to the +destruction of her parent and his party. She was about to +make an evasive answer, when a heavy push at the outer +door suddenly drew all her thoughts to the immediate +danger. + +"They come!" she exclaimed. "Perhaps, June, it is +my uncle or the Quartermaster. I cannot keep out even +Mr. Muir at a moment like this." + +"Why no look? plenty loophole, made purpose." + +Mabel took the hint, and, going to one of the downward +loops, that had been cut through the logs in the part that +overhung the basement, she cautiously raised the little +block that ordinarily filled the small hole, and caught a +glance at what was passing at the door. The start and +changing countenance told her companion that some of her +own people were below. + +"Red man," said June, lifting a finger in admonition to +be prudent. + +"Four; and horrible in their paint and bloody trophies. +Arrowhead is among them." + +June had moved to a corner, where several spare rifles +had been deposited, and had already taken one into her +hand, when the name of her husband appeared to arrest +her movements. It was but for an instant, however, for she +immediately went to the loop, and was about to thrust the +muzzle of the piece through it, when a feeling of natural +aversion induced Mabel to seize her arm. + +"No, no, no, June!" said the latter; "not against your +own husband, though my life be the penalty." + +"No hurt Arrowhead," returned June, with a slight +shudder, "no hurt red man at all. No fire at 'em; only +scare." + +Mabel now comprehended the intention of June, and +no longer opposed it. The latter thrust the muzzle of the +rifle through the loophole; and, taking care to make noise +enough to attract attraction, she pulled the trigger. The +piece had no sooner been discharged than Mabel reproached +her friend for the very act that was intended to serve her. + +"You declared it was not your intention to fire," she +said, "and you may have destroyed your own husband." + +"All run away before I fire," returned June, laughing, +and going to another loop to watch the movements of her +friends, laughing still heartier. "See! get cover -- every +warrior. Think Saltwater and Quartermaster here. Take +good care now." + +"Heaven be praised! And now, June, I may hope for a +little time to compose my thoughts to prayer, that I may +not die like Jennie, thinking only of life and the things +of the world." + +June laid aside the rifle, and came and seated herself +near the box on which Mabel had sunk, under that physi- +cal reaction which accompanies joy as well as sorrow. She +looked steadily in our heroine's face, and the latter thought +that her countenance had an expression of severity mingled +with its concern. + +"Arrowhead great warrior," said the Tuscarora's wife. +"All the girls of tribe look at him much. The pale-face +beauty has eyes too?" + +"June! -- what do these words -- that look -- imply? what +would you say?" + +"Why you so 'fraid June shoot Arrowhead?" + +"Would it not have been horrible to see a wife destroy +her own husband? No, June, rather would I have died +myself." + +"Very sure, dat all?" + +"That was all, June, as God is my judge! -- and surely +that was enough. No, no! there have been sufficient hor- +rors to-day, without increasing them by an act like this. +What other motive can you suspect?" + +"Don't know. Poor Tuscarora girl very foolish. Arrow- +head great chief, and look all round him. Talk of pale- +face beauty in his sleep. Great chief like many wives." + +"Can a chief possess more than one wife, June, among +your people?" + +"Have as many as he can keep. Great hunter marry +often. Arrowhead got only June now; but he look too +much, see too much, talk too much of pale-face girl." + +Mabel was conscious of this fact, which had distressed +her not a little, in the course of their journey; but it +shocked her to hear this allusion, coming, as it did, from +the mouth of the wife herself. She knew that habit and +opinions made great differences in such matters; but, in +addition to the pain and mortification she experienced at +being the unwilling rival of a wife, she felt an apprehension +that jealousy would be but an equivocal guarantee for +her personal safety in her present situation. A closer look +at June, however, reassured her; for, while it was easy to +trace in the unpractised features of this unsophisticated +being the pain of blighted affections, no distrust could +have tortured the earnest expression of her honest counte- +nance into that of treachery or hate. + +"You will not betray me, June?" Mabel said, pressing +the other's hand, and yielding to an impulse of generous +confidence. "You will not give up one of your own sex +to the tomahawk?" + +"No tomahawk touch you. Arrowhead no let 'em. If +June must have sister-wife, love to have you." + +"No, June; my religion, my feelings, both forbid it; +and, if I could be the wife of an Indian at all, I would +never take the place that is yours in a wigwam." + +June made no answer, but she looked gratified, and even +grateful. She knew that few, perhaps no Indian girl +within the circle of Arrowhead's acquaintance, could com- +pare with herself in personal attractions; and, though it +might suit her husband to marry a dozen wives, she knew +of no one, beside Mabel, whose influence she could really +dread. So keen an interest, however, had she taken in the +beauty, winning manners, kindness, and feminine gentle- +ness of our heroine, that when jealousy came to chill these +feelings, it had rather lent strength to that interest; and, +under its wayward influence, had actually been one of the +strongest of the incentives that had induced her to risk so +much in order to save her imaginary rival from the conse- +quences of the attack that she so well knew was about to +take place. In a word, June, with a wife's keenness of +perception, had detected Arrowhead's admiration of Mabel; +and, instead of feeling that harrowing jealousy that might +have rendered her rival hateful, as would have been apt +to be the case with a woman unaccustomed to defer to the +superior rights of the lordly sex, she had studied the looks +and character of the pale-face beauty, until, meeting with +nothing to repel her own feelings, but everything to en- +courage them, she had got to entertain an admiration and +love for her, which, though certainly very different, was +scarcely less strong than that of her husband's. Arrow- +head himself had sent her to warn Mabel of the coming +danger, though he was ignorant that she had stolen upon +the island in the rear of the assailants, and was now in- +trenched in the citadel along with the object of their joint +care. On the contrary, he supposed, as his wife had said, +that Cap and Muir were in the blockhouse with Mabel, and +that the attempt to repel him and his companions had +been made by the men. + +"June sorry the Lily" -- for so the Indian, in her poeti- +cal language, had named our heroine -- "June sorry the +Lily no marry Arrowhead. His wigwam big, and a great +chief must get wives enough to fill it." + +"I thank you, June, for this preference, which is not +according to the notion of us white women," returned +Mabel, smiling in spite of the fearful situation in which +she was placed; "but I may not, probably never shall, +marry at all." + +"Must have good husband," said June; "marry Eau- +douce, if don't like Arrowhead." + +"June! this is not a fit subject for a girl who scarcely +knows if she is to live another hour or not. I would obtain +some signs of my dear uncle's being alive and safe, if pos- +sible." + +"June go see." + +"Can you? -- will you? -- would it be safe for you to be +seen on the island? is your presence known to the warriors, +and would they be pleased to find a woman on the war- +path with them?" + +All this Mabel asked in rapid connection, fearing that +the answer might not be as she wished. She had thought +it extraordinary that June should be of the party, and, im- +probable as it seemed, she had fancied that the woman +had covertly followed the Iroquois in her own canoe, and +had got in their advance, merely to give her the notice +which had probably saved her life. But in all this she +was mistaken, as June, in her imperfect manner, now +found means to let her know. + +Arrowhead, though a chief, was in disgrace with his own +people, and was acting with the Iroquois temporarily, +though with a perfect understanding. He had a wigwam, +it is true, but was seldom in it; feigning friendship for +the English, he had passed the summer ostensibly in their +service, while he was, in truth, acting for the French, and +his wife journeyed with him in his many migrations, most +of the distances being passed over in canoes. In a word, +her presence was no secret, her husband seldom moving +without her. Enough of this to embolden Mabel to wish +that her friend might go out, to ascertain the fate of her +uncle, did June succeed in letting the other know; and +it was soon settled between them that the Indian woman +should quit the blockhouse with that object the moment a +favorable opportunity offered. + +They first examined the island, as thoroughly as their +position would allow, from the different loops, and found +that its conquerors were preparing for a feast, having seized +upon the provisions of the English and rifled the huts. +Most of the stores were in the blockhouse; but enough +were found outside to reward the Indians for an attack +that had been attended by so little risk. A party had +already removed the dead bodies, and Mabel saw that their +arms were collected in a pile near the spot chosen for the +banquet. June suggested that, by some signs which she +understood, the dead themselves were carried into a thicket +and either buried or concealed from view. None of the +more prominent objects on the island, however, were dis- +turbed, it being the desire of the conquerors to lure the +party of the Sergeant into an ambush on its return. June +made her companion observe a man in a tree, a look-out, +as she said, to give timely notice of the approach of any +boat, although, the departure of the expedition being so +recent, nothing but some unexpected event would be likely +to bring it back so soon. There did not appear to be any +intention to attack the blockhouse immediately; but every +indication, as understood by June, rather showed that it +was the intention of the Indians to keep it besieged until +the return of the Sergeant's party, lest, the signs of an as- +sault should give a warning to eyes as practised as those +of Pathfinder. The boat, however, had been secured, and +was removed to the spot where the canoes of the Indians +were hid in the bushes. + +June now announced her intention to join her friends, +the moment being particularly favorable for her to quit +the blockhouse. Mabel felt some distrust as they de- +scended the ladder; but at the next instant she was +ashamed of the feeling, as unjust to her companion and +unworthy of herself, and by the time they both stood on +the ground her confidence was restored. The process of +unbarring the door was conducted with the utmost cau- +tion, and when the last bar was ready to be turned June +took her station near the spot where the opening must +necessarily be. The bar was just turned free of the +brackets, the door was opened merely wide enongh to allow +her body to pass, and June glided through the space. +Mabel closed the door again, with a convulsive movement; +and as the bar turned into its place, her heart beat audibly. +She then felt secure; and the two other bars were turned +down in a more deliberate manner. When all was fast +again, she ascended to the first floor, where alone she could +get a glimpse of what was going on without. + +Long and painfully melancholy hours passed, during +which Mabel had no intelligence from June. She heard +the yells of the savages, for liquor had carried them be- +yond the bounds of precaution; and occasionally caught +glimpses of their mad orgies through the loops; and at all +times was conscious of their fearful presence by sounds +and sights that would have chilled the blood of one who +had not so lately witnessed scenes so much more terrible. +Toward the middle of the day, she fancied she saw a white +man on the island, though his dress and wild appearance +at first made her take him for a newly-arrived savage. A +view of his face, although it was swarthy naturally, and +much darkened by exposure, left no doubt that her con- +jecture was true; and she felt as if there was now one of +a species more like her own present, and one to whom she +might appeal for succor in the last emergency. Mabel lit- +tle knew, alas! how ,small was the influence exercised by +the whites over their savage allies, when the latter had +begun to taste of blood; or how slight, indeed, was the +disposition to divert them from their cruelties. + +The day seemed a month by Mabel's computation, and +the only part of it that did not drag were the minutes +spent in prayer. She had recourse to this relief from time +to time; and at each effort she found her spirit firmer, her +mind more tranquil, and her resignation more confirmed. +She understood the reasoning of June, and believed it +highly probable that the blockhouse would be left unmo- +lested until the return of her father, in order to entice him +into an ambuscade, and she felt much less apprehension of +immediate danger in consequence; but the future offered +little ground of hope, and her thoughts had already begun +to calculate the chances of her captivity. At such mo- +ments, Arrowhead and his offensive admiration filled a +prominent place in the background: for our heroine well +knew that the Indians usually carried off to their villages, +for the purposes of adoption, such captives as they did not +slay; and that many instances had occurred in which in- +dividuals of her sex had passed the remainder of their +lives in the wigwams of their conquerors. Such thoughts +as these invariably drove her to her knees and to her +prayers. + +While the light lasted the situation of our heroine was +sufficiently alarming; but as the shades of evening grad- +ually gathered over the island, it became fearfully appal- +ling. By this time the savages had wrought themselves +up to the point of fury, for they had possessed themselves +of all the liquor of the English; and their outcries and +gesticulations were those of men truly possessed by evil +spirits. All the efforts of their French leader to restrain +them were entirely fruitless, and he had wisely withdrawn +to an adjacent island, where he had a sort of bivouac, that +he might keep at a safe distance from friends so apt to +run into excesses. Before quitting the spot, however, this +officer, at great risk to his own life, had succeeded in ex- +tinguishing the fire, and in securing the ordinary means +to relight it. This precaution he took lest the Indians +should burn the blockhouse, the preservation of which was +necessary to the success of his future plans. He would +gladly have removed all the arms also, but this he found +impracticable, the warriors clinging to their knives and +tomahawks with the tenacity of men who regarded a point +of honor as long as a faculty was left; and to carry off the +rifles, and leave behind him the very weapons that were +generally used on such occasions, would have been an idle +expedient. The extinguishing of the fire proved to be the +most prudent measure; for no sooner was the officer's back +turned than one of the warriors in fact proposed to fire +the blockhouse. Arrowhead had also withdrawn from the +group of drunkards as soon as he found that they were +losing their senses, and had taken possession of a hut, +where he had thrown himself on the straw, and sought the +rest that two wakeful and watchful nights had rendered +necessary. It followed that no one was left among the +Indians to care for Mabel, if, indeed, any knew of her ex- +istence at all; and the proposal of the drunkard was re- +ceived with yells of delight by eight or ten more as much +intoxicated and habitually as brutal as himself. + +This was the fearful moment for Mabel. The Indians, +in their present condition, were reckless of any rifles that +the blockhouse might hold, though they did retain dim +recollections of its containing living beings, an additional +incentive to their enterprise; and they approached its +base whooping and leaping like demons. As yet they +were excited, not overcome by the liquor they had drunk. +The first attempt was made at the door, against which +they ran in a body; but the solid structure, which was +built entirely of logs, defied their efforts. The rush of a +hundred men with the same object would have been use- +less. This Mabel, however, did not know; and her heart +seemed to leap into her mouth as she heard the heavy shock +at each renewed effort. At length when, she found that +the door resisted these assaults as if it were of stone, +neither trembling nor yielding, and only betraying its not +being a part of the wall by rattling a little on its heavy +hinges, her courage revived, and she seized the first mo- +ment of a cessation to look down through the loop, in +order, if possible, to learn the extent of her danger. A +silence, for which it was not easy to account, stimulated +her curiosity; for nothing is so alarming to those who are +conscious of the presence of imminent danger, as to be +unable to trace its approach. + +Mabel found that two or three of the Iroquois had been +raking the embers, where they had found a few small coals, +and with these they were endeavoring to light a fire. The +interest with which they labored, the hope of destroying, +and the force of habit, enabled them to act intelligently +and in unison, so long as their fell object was kept in +view. A white man would have abandoned the attempt +to light a fire in despair, with coals that came out of the +ashes resembling sparks; but these children of the forest +had many expedients that were unknown to civilization. +By the aid of a few dry leaves, which they alone knew +where to seek, a blaze was finally kindled, and then the +addition of a few light sticks made sure of the advantage +that had been obtained. When Mabel stooped down over +the loop, the Indians were making a pile of brush against +the door, and as she remained gazing at their proceedings, +she saw the twigs ignite, the flame dart from branch to +branch, until the whole pile was cracking and snapping +under a bright blaze. The Indians now gave a yell of +triumph, and returned to their companions, well assured +that the work of destruction was commenced. Mabel re- +mained looking down, scarcely able to tear herself away +from the spot, so intense and engrossing was the interest +she felt in the progress of the fire. As the pile kindled +throughout, however, the flames mounted, until they +flashed so near her eyes as to compel her to retreat. Just +as she reached the opposite side of the room, to which she +had retired in her alarm, a forked stream shot up through +the loophole, the lid of which she had left open, and illu- +minated the rude apartment, with Mabel and her desola- +tion. Our heroine now naturally enough supposed that her +hour was come; for the door, the only means of retreat, +had been blocked up by the brush aud fire, with hellish in- +genuity, and she addressed herself, as she believed, for the +last time to her Maker in prayer. Her eyes were closed, +and for more than a minute her spirit was abstracted; but +the interests of the world too strongly divided her feelings +to be altogether suppressed; and when they involuntarily +opened again, she perceived that the streak of flame was +no longer flaring in the room, though the wood around +the little aperture had kindled, and the blaze was slowly +mounting under the impulsion of a current of air that +sucked inward. A barrel of water stood in a corner; and +Mabel, acting more by instinct than by reason, caught up +a vessel, filled it, and, pouring it on the wood with a +trembling hand, succeeded in extinguishing the fire at that +particular spot. The smoke prevented her from looking +down again for a couple of minutes; but when she did +her heart beat high with delight and hope at finding that +the pile of blazing brush had been overturned and scat- +tered, and that water had been thrown on the logs of the +door, which were still smoking though no longer burn- +ing. + +"Who is there?" said Mabel, with her mouth at the +loop. "What friendly hand has a merciful Providence +sent to my succor?" + +A light footstep was audible below, and one of those +gentle pushes at the door was heard, which just moved the +massive beams on the hinges. + +"Who wishes to enter? Is it you, dear, dear uncle?" + +"Saltwater no here. St. Lawrence sweet water," was +the answer. "Open quick; want to come in." + +The step of Mabel was never lighter, or her movements +more quick and natural, than while she was descending +the ladder and turniug the bars, for all her motions were +earnest and active. This time she thought only of her +escape, and she opened the door with a rapidity which did +not admit of caution. Her first impulse was to rush into +the open air, in the blind hope of quitting the blockhouse; +but June repulsed the attempt, and entering, she coolly +barred the door again before she would notice Mabel's +eager efforts to embrace her. + +"Bless you! bless you, June!" cried our heroine most +fervently; "you are sent by Providence to be my guardian +angel!" + +"No hug so tight," answered the Tuscarora woman. +"Paleface woman all cry, or all laugh. Let June fasten +door." + +Mabel became more rational, and in a few minutes the +two were again in the upper room, seated as before, hand in +hand, all feeling of distrust between them being banished. + +"Now tell me, June," Mabel commenced as soon as she +had given and received one warm embrace, "have you seen +or heard aught of my poor uncle?" + +"Don't know. No one see him; no one hear him; no +one know anyt'ing. Saltwater run into river, I t'ink, for +I no find him. Quartermaster gone too. I look, and +look, and look; but no see' em, one, t'other, nowhere." + +"Blessed be God! They must have escaped, though the +means are not known to us. I thought I saw a French- +man on the island, June." + +"Yes: French captain come, but he go away too. +Plenty of Indian on island." + +"Oh, June, June, are there no means to prevent my be- +loved father from falling into the hands of his enemies?" + +"Don't know; t'ink dat warriors wait in ambush, and +Yengeese must lose scalp." + +"Surely, surely, June, you, who have done so much for +the daughter, will not refuse to help the father?" + +"Don't know fader, don't love fader. June help her +own people help Arrowhead -- husband love scalp." + +"June, this is not yourself. I cannot, will not believe +that you wish to see our men murdered!" + +June turned her dark eyes quietly on Mabel; and for a +moment her look was stern, though it was soon changed +into one of melancholy compassion. + +"Lily, Yengeese girl?" she said, as one asks a question. + +"Certainly, and as a Yengeese girl I would save my +countrymen from slaughter." + +"Very good, if can. June no Yengeese, June Tusca- +rora -- got Tuscarora husband -- Tuscarora heart -- Tuscarora +feeling -- all over Tuscarora. Lily wouldn't run and tell +French that her fader was coming to gain victory?" + +"Perhaps not," returned Mabel, pressing a hand on a +brain that felt bewildered, -- "perhaps not; but you serve +me, aid me -- have saved me, June! Why have you done +this, if you only feel as a Tuscarora?" + +"Don't only feel as Tuscarora; feel as girl, feel as squaw. +Love pretty Lily, and put it in my bosom." + +Mabel melted into tears, and she pressed the affectionate +creature to her heart. It was near a minute before she +could renew the discourse, but then she succeeded in +speaking more calmly and with greater coherence. + +"Let me know the worst, June," said she. "To-night +your people are feasting; what do they intend to do to- +morrow?" + +"Don't know; afraid to see Arrowhead, afraid to ask +question; t'ink hide away till Yengeese come back." + +"Will they not attempt anything against the block- +house? You have seen what they can threaten if they +will." + +"Too much rum. Arrowhead sleep, or no dare; French +captain gone away, or no dare. All go to sleep now." + +"And you think I am safe for this night, at least?" + +"Too much rum. If Lily like June, might do much +for her people." + +"I am like you, June, if a wish to serve my countrymen +can make a resemblance with one as courageous as your- +self." + +"No, no, no!" muttered June in a low voice; "no got +heart, and June no let you, if had. June's moder pris- +oner once, and warriors got drunk; moder tomahawked +'em all. Such de way red skin women do when people in +danger and want scalp." + +"You say what is true," returned Mabel, shuddering, +and unconsciously dropping June's hand. "I cannot do +that. I have neither the strength, the courage, nor the +will to dip my hands in blood." + +"T'ink that too; then stay where you be -- blockhouse +good -- got no scalp." + +"You believe, then, that I am safe here, at least until +my father and his people return?" + +"Know so. No dare touch blockhouse in morning. +Hark! all still now -- drink rum till head fall down, and +sleep like log." + +"Might I not escape? Are there not several canoes on +the island? Might I not get one, and go and give my +father notice of what has happened?" + +"Know how to paddle?" demanded June, glancing her +eye furtively at her companion. + +"Not so well as yourself, perhaps; but enough to get +out of sight before morning." + +"What do then? -- couldn't paddle six -- ten -- eight +mile!" + +"I do not know; I would do much to warn my father, +and the excellent Pathfinder, and all the rest, of the dan- +ger they are in." + +"Like Pathfinder?" + +"All like him who know him -- you would like him, nay, +love him, if you only knew his heart!" + +"No like him at all. Too good rifle -- too good eye -- +too much shoot Iroquois and June's people. Must get his +scalp if can." + +"And I must save it if I can, June. In this respect, +then, we are opposed to each other. I will go and find a +canoe the instant they are all asleep, and quit the island." + +"No can -- June won't let you. Call Arrowhead." + +"June! you would not betray me -- you could not give +me up after all you have done for me?" + +"Just so," returned June, making a backward gesture +with her hand, and speaking with a warmth and earnest- +ness Mabel had never witnessed in her before. "Call +Arrowhead in loud voice. One call from wife wake a war- +rior up. June no let Lily help enemy -- no let Indian hurt +Lily." + +"I understand you, June, and feel the nature and jus- +tice of your sentiments; and, after all, it were better that +I should remain here, for I have most probably overrated +my strength. But tell me one thing: if my uncle comes +in the night, and asks to be admitted, you will let me open +the door of the blockhouse that he may enter?" + +"Sartain -- he prisoner here, and June like prisoner bet- +ter than scalp; scalp good for honor, prisoner good for +feeling. But Saltwater hide so close, he don't know where +he be himself." + +Here June laughed in her girlish, mirthful way, for to +her scenes of violence were too familiar to leave impres- +sions sufficiently deep to change her natural character. A +long and discursive dialogue now followed, in which Mabel +endeavored to obtain clearer notions of her actual situa- +tion, under a faint hope that she might possibly be enabled +to turn some of the facts she thus learned to advantage. +June answered all her interrogatories simply, but with a +caution which showed she fully distinguished between +that which was immaterial and that which might endanger +the safety or embarrass the future operations of her +friends. The substance of the information she gave may +be summed up as follows. + +Arrowhead had long been in communication with the +French, though this was the first occasion on which he +had entirely thrown aside the mask. He no longer in- +tended to trust himself among the English, for he had +discovered traces of distrust, particularly in Pathfinder; +and, with Indian bravado, he now rather wished to blazon +than to conceal his treachery. He had led the party of +warriors in the attack on the island, subject, however, to +the supervision of the Frenchman who has been men- +tioned, though June declined saying whether he had been +the means of discovering the position of a place which had +been thought to be so concealed from the enemy or not. +On this point she would say nothing; but she admitted +that she and her husband had been watching the depar- +ture of the _Scud_ at the time they were overtaken and cap- +tured by the cutter. The French had obtained their in- +formation of the precise position of the station but very +recently; and Mabel felt a pang when she thought that +there were covert allusions of the Indian woman which +would convey the meaning that the intelligence had come +from a pale-face in the employment of Duncan of Lundie. +This was intimated, however, rather than said; and when +Mabel had time to reflect on her companion's words, she +found room to hope that she had misunderstood her, and +that Jasper Western would yet come out of the affair freed +from every injurious imputation. + +June did not hesitate to confess that she had been sent +to the island to ascertain the precise number and the oc- +cupations of those who had been left on it, though she also +betrayed in her _naive_ way that the wish to serve Mabel +had induced her principally to consent to come. In con- +sequence of her report, and information otherwise ob- +tained, the enemy was aware of precisely the force that +could be brought against them. They also knew the +number of men who had gone with Sergeant Dunham, and +were acquainted with the object he had in view, though +they were ignorant of the spot where he expected to meet +the French boats. It would have been a pleasant sight to +witness the eager desire of each of these two sincere +females to ascertain all that might be of consequence to +their respective friends; and yet the native delicacy with +which each refrained from pressing the other to make +revelations which would have been improper, as well as +the sensitive, almost intuitive, feeling with which each +avoided saying aught that might prove injurious to her +own nation. As respects each other, there was perfect +confidence; as regarded their respective people, entire +fidelity. June was quite as anxious as Mabel could be on +any other point to know where the Sergeant had gone +and when he was expected to return; but she abstained +from putting the question, with a delicacy that would have +done honor to the highest civilization; nor did she once +frame any other inquiry in a way to lead indirectly to a +betrayal of the much-desired information on that particu- +lar point: though when Mabel of her own accord touched +on any matter that might by possibility throw a light on +the subject, she listened with an intentness which almost +suspended respiration. + +In this manner the hours passed away unheeded, for +both were too much interested to think of rest. Nature +asserted her rights, however, towards morning; and Mabel +was persuaded to lie down on one of the straw beds pro- +vided for the soldiers, where she soon fell into a deep sleep. +June lay near her and a quiet reigned on the whole island +as profound as if the dominion of the forest had never +been invaded by man. + +When Mabel awoke the light of the sun was streaming +in through the loopholes, and she found that the day was +considerably advanced. June still lay near her, sleeping +as tranquilly as if she reposed on -- we will not say +"down," for the superior civilization of our own times re- +pudiates the simile -- but on a French mattress, and as pro- +foundly as if she had never experienced concern. The +movements of Mabel, notwithstanding, soon awakened one +so accustomed to vigilance; and then the two took a sur- +vey of what was passing around them by means of the +friendly apertures. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +What had the Eternall Maker need of thee, +The world in his continuall course to keepe, +That doest all things deface? ne lettest see +The beautie of his worke? Indeede in sleepe, +The slouth full body that doth love to steepe +His lustlesse limbs, and drowne his baser mind, +Doth praise thee oft, and oft from Stygian deepe, +Calles thee his goddesse, in his errour blind, +And great dame Nature's hand-maide, chearing every kinde. +_Faerie Queene._ + + +The tranquillity of the previous night was not contra- +dicted by the movements of the day. Although Mabel +and June went to every loophole, not a sign of the pres- +ence of a living being on the island was at first to be seen, +themselves excepted. There was a smothered fire on the +spot where M'Nab and his comrades had cooked, as if the +smoke which curled upwards from it was intended as a +lure to the absent; and all around the huts had been re- +stored to former order and arrangement. Mabel started +involuntarily when her eye at length fell on a group of +three men, dressed in the scarlet of the 55th, seated on the +grass in lounging attitudes, as if they chatted in listless +security; and her blood curdled as, on a second look, she +traced the bloodless faces and glassy eyes of the dead. +They were very near the blockhouse, so near indeed as to +have been overlooked at the first eager inquiry, and there +was a mocking levity in their postures and gestures, for +their limbs were stiffening in different attitudes, intended +to resemble life, at which the soul revolted. Still, horri- +ble as these objects were to those near enough to discover +the frightful discrepancy between their assumed and their +real characters, the arrangement had been made with so +much art that it would have deceived a negligent observer +at the distance of a hundred yards. After carefully ex- +amining the shores of the island, June pointed out to her +companion the fourth soldier, seated, with his feet hang- +ing over the water, his back fastened to a sapling, and +holding a fishing-rod in his hand. The scalpless heads +were covered with the caps, and all appearance of blood +had been carefufly washed from each countenance. + +Mabel sickened at this sight, which not only did so +much violence to all her notions of propriety, but which +was in itself so revolting and so opposed to natural feeling. +She withdrew to a seat, and hid her face in her apron for +several minutes, until a low call from June again drew her to +a loophole. The latter then pointed out the body of Jen- +nie seemingly standing in the door of a hut, leaning for- +ward as if to look at the group of men, her cap fluttering +in the wind, and her hand grasping a broom. The dis- +tance was too great to distinguish the features very accu- +rately; but Mabel fancied that the jaw had been depressed, +as if to distort the mouth into a sort of horrible laugh. + +"June! June!" she exclaimed; "this exceeds all I have +ever heard, or imagined as possible, in the treachery and +artifices of your people." + +"Tuscarora very cunning," said June, in a way to show +that she rather approved of than condemned the uses to +which the dead bodies had been applied. "Do soldier no +harm now; do Iroquois good; got the scalp first; now +make bodies work. By and by, burn 'em. + +This speech told Mabel how far she was separated from +her friend in character; and it was several minutes before +she could again address her. But this temporary aversion +was lost on June, who set about preparing their simple +breakfast, in a way to show how insensible she was to feel- +ings in others which her own habits taught her to discard. +Mabel ate sparingly, and her companion as if nothing had +happened. Then they had leisure again for their thoughts, +and for further surveys of the island. Our heroine, +though devoured with a feverish desire to be always at the +loops, seldom went that she did not immediately quit them +in disgust, though compelled by her apprehensions to re- +turn again in a few minutes, called by the rustling of +leaves, or the sighing of the wind. It was, indeed, a +solemn thing to look out upon that deserted spot, peopled +by the dead in the panoply of the living, and thrown into +the attitudes and acts of careless merriment and rude en- +joyment. The effect on our heroine was much as if she +had found herself an observer of the revelries of demons. + +Throughout the livelong day not an Indian nor a +Frenchman was to be seen, and night closed over the +frightful but silent masquerade, with the steady and unal- +terable progress with which the earth obeys her laws, in- +different to the petty actors and petty scenes that are in +daily bustle and daily occurrence on her bosom. The +night was far more quiet than that which had preceded it, +and Mabel slept with an increasing confidence; for she +now felt satisfied that her own fate would not be decided +until the return of her father. The following day he was +expected, however, and when our heroine awoke, she ran +eagerly to the loops in order to ascertain the state of the +weather and the aspect of the skies, as well as the condi- +tion of the island. There lounged the fearful group on +the grass; the fisherman still hung over the water, seem- +ingly intent on his sport; and the distorted countenance +of Jennie glared from out the hut in horrible contortions. +But the weather had changed; the wind blew fresh from +the southward, and though the air was bland, it was filled +with the elements of storm. + +"This grows more and more difficult to bear, June," +Mabel said, when she left the window. "I could even +prefer to see the enemy than to look any longer on this +fearful array of the dead." + +"Hush! here they come. June thought hear a cry like +a warrior's shout when he take a scalp." + +"What mean you? There is no more butchery! -- there +can be no more." + +"Saltwater!" exclaimed June, laughing, as she stood +peeping through a loophole. + +"My dear uncle! Thank God! he then lives! Oh, +June, June, _you_ will not let them harm _him?_" + +"June, poor squaw. What warrior t'ink of what she +say? Arrowhead bring him here." + +By this time Mabel was at a loop; and, sure enough, +there were Cap and the Quartermaster in the hands of the +Indians, eight or ten of whom were conducting them to +the foot of the block, for, by this capture, the enemy now +well knew that there could be no man in the building. +Mabel scarcely breathed until the whole party stood ranged +directly before the door, when she was rejoiced to see that +the French officer was among them. A low conversation +followed, in which both the white leader and Arrowhead +spoke earnestly to their captives, when the Quartermaster +called out to her in a voice loud enough to be heard. + +"Pretty Mabel! pretty Mabel!" said he; "look out of +one of the loopholes, and pity our condition. We are +threatened with instant death uniess you open the door to +the conquerors. Relent, then or we'll no' be wearing our +scalps half an hour from this blessed moment." + +Mabel thought there were mockery and levity in this +appeal, and its manner rather fortified than weakened her +resolution to hold the place as long as possible. + +"Speak to me, uncle," said she, with her mouth at a +loop, "and tell me what I ought to do." + +"Thank God! thank God!" ejaculated Cap; "the +sound of your sweet voice, Magnet, lightens my heart of a +heavy load, for I feared you had shared the fate of poor +Jennie. My breast has felt the last four-and-twenty hours +as if a ton of kentledge had been stowed in it. You ask +me what you ought to do, child, and I do not know how +to advise you, though you are my own sister's daughter! +The most I can say just now, my poor girl, is most heartily +to curse the day you or I ever saw this bit of fresh water." + +"But, uncle, is your life in danger -- do _you_ think I +ought to; open the door?" + +"A round turn and two half-hitches make a fast belay; +and I would counsel no one who is out of the hands of +these devils to unbar or unfasten anything in order to fall +into them. As to the Quartermhaster and myself, we are +both elderly men, and not of much account to mankind in +general, as honest Pathfinder would say; and it can make +no great odds to him whether he balances the purser's +books this year or the next; and as for myself, why, if I +were on the seaboard, I should know what to do, but up +here, in this watery wilderness, I can only say, that if I +were behind that bit of a bulwark, it would take a good +deal of Indian logic to rouse me out of it." + +"You'll no' be minding all your uncle says, pretty +Mabel," put in Muir, "for distress is obviously fast unset- +tling his faculties, and he is far from calculating all the +necessities of the emergency. We are in the hands here +of very considerate and gentlemanly pairsons, it must be +acknowledged, and one has little occasion to apprehend +disagreeable violence. The casualties that have occurred +are the common incidents of war, and can no' change our +sentiments of the enemy, for they are far from indicating +that any injustice will be done the prisoners. I'm sure +that neither Master Cap nor myself has any cause of com- +plaint since we have given ourselves up to Master Arrow- +head, who reminds me of a Roman or a Spartan by his +virtues and moderation; but ye'll be remembering that +usages differ, and that our scalps may be lawful sacrifices +to appease the manes of fallen foes, unless you save them +by capitulation." + +"I shall do wiser to keep within the blockhouse until +the fate of the island is settled," returned Mabel. "Our +enemies can feel no concern on account of one like me, +knowing that I can do them no harm, and I greatly prefer +to remain here as more befitting my sex and years." + +"If nothing but your convenience were concerned, +Mabel, we should all cheerfully acquiesce in your wishes, +but these gentlemen fancy that the work will aid their +operations, and they have a strong desire to possess it. +To be frank with you, finding myself and your uncle in a +very peculiar situation, I acknowledge that, to avert con- +sequences, I have assumed the power that belongs to his +Majesty's commission, and entered into a verbal capitula- +tion, by which I have engaged to give up the blockhouse +and the whole island. It is the fortune of war, and must +be submitted to; so open the door, pretty Mabel, forth- +with, and confide yourself to the care of those who know +how to treat beauty and virtue in distress. There's no +courtier in Scotland more complaisant than this chief, or +who is more familiar with the laws of decorum." + +"No leave blockhouse," muttered June, who stood at +Mabel's side, attentive to all that passed. "Blockhouse +good -- got no scalp." + +Our heroine might have yielded but for this appeal; for +it began to appear to her that the wisest course would be +to conciliate the enemy by concessions instead of exasper- +ating them by resistance. They must know that Muir and +her uncle were in their power; that there was no man in +the building, and she fancied they might proceed to batter +down the door, or cut their way through the logs with +axes, if she obstinately refused to give them peaceable ad- +mission, since there was no longer any reason to dread the +rifle. But the words of June induced her to hesitate, and +the earnest pressure of the hand and entreating looks of +her companion strengthened a resolution that was falter- +ing. + +"No prisoner yet," whispered June; "let 'em make +prisoner before 'ey take prisoner -- talk big; June manage +'em." + +Mabel now began to parley more resolutely with Muir, +for her uncle seemed disposed to quiet his conscience by +holding his tongue, and she plainly intimated that it was +not her intention to yield the building. + +"You forget the capitulation, Mistress Mabel," said +Muir; "the honor of one of his Majesty's servants is con- +cerned, and the honor of his Majesty through his servant. +You will remeinber the finesse and delicacy that belong to +military honor?" + +"I know enough, Mr. Muir, to understand that you have +no command in this expedition, and therefore can have no +right to yield the blockhouse; and I remember, moreover, +to have heard my dear father say that a prisoner loses all +his authority for the time being." + +"Rank sophistry, pretty Mabel, and treason to the king, +as well as dishonoring his commission and discrediting +his name. You'll no' be persevering in your intentions, +when your better judgment has had leisure to reflect and +to make conclusions on matters and circumstances." + +"Ay," put in Cap, "this is a circumstance, and be d----d +to it!" + +"No mind what'e uncle say," ejaculated June, who was +occupied in a far corner of the room. "Blockhouse good +- got no scalp." + +"I shall remain as I am, Mr. Muir, until I get some tid- +ings of my father. He will return in the course of the +next ten days." + +"Ah, Mabel, this artifice will no' deceive the enemy, +who, by means that would be unintelligible, did not our +suspicions rest on an unhappy young man with too much +plausibility, are familiar with all our doings and plans, and +well know that the sun will not set before the worthy Ser- +geant and his companions will be in their power. Aweel! +Submission to Providence is truly a Christian virtue!" + +"Mr. Muir, you appear to be deceived in the strength +of this work, and to fancy it weaker than it is. Do you +desire to see what I can do in the way of defence, if so +disposed?" + +"I dinna mind if I do," answered the Quartermaster, +who always grew Scotch as he grew interested. + +"What do you think of that, then? Look at the loop +of the upper story?" + +As soon as Mabel had spoken, all eyes were turned up- +ward, and beheld the muzzle of a rifle cautiously thrust +through a hole, June having resorted again to a _ruse_ which +had already proved so successful. The result did not dis- +appoint expectation. No sooner did the Indians catch a +sight of the fatal weapon than they leaped aside, and in +less than a minute every man among them had sought a +cover. The French officer kept his eye on the barrel of +the piece in order to ascertain that it was not pointed in +his particular direction, and he coolly took a pinch of +snuff. As neither Muir nor Cap had anything to appre- +hend from the quarter in which the others were menaced, +they kept their ground. + +"Be wise, my pretty Mabel, be wise!" exclaimed the +former; "and no' be provoking useless contention. In the +name of all the kings of Albin, who have ye closeted with +you in that wooden tower that seemeth so bloody-minded? +There is necromancy about this matter, and all our char- +acters may be involved in the explanation." + +"What do you think of the Pathfinder, Master Muir, +for a garrison to so strong a post?" cried Mabel, resorting +to an equivocation which the circumstances rendered very +excusable. "What will your French and Indian compan- +ions think of the aim of the Pathfinder's rifle?" + +"Bear gently on the unfortunate, pretty Mabel, and do +not confound the king's servants -- may Heaven bless him +and all his royal lineage! -- with the king's enemies. If +Pathfinder be indeed in the blockhouse, let him speak, and +we will hold our negotiations directly with him. He +knows us as friends, and we fear no evil at his hands, and +least of all to myself; for a generous mind is apt to render +rivalry in a certain interest a sure ground of respect and +amity, since admiration of the same woman proves a com- +munity of feeling and tastes." + +The reliance on Pathfinder's friendship did not extend +beyond the Quartermaster and Cap, however, for even the +French officer, who had hitherto stood his ground so well, +shrank back at the sound of the terrible name. So unwil- +ling, indeed, did this individual, a man of iron nerves, and +one long accustomed to the dangers of the peculiar war- +fare in which he was engaged, appear to remain exposed +to the assaults of Killdeer, whose reputation throughout +all that frontier was as well established as that of Marl- +borough in Europe, that he did not disdain to seek a cover, +insisting that his two prisoners should follow him. Mabel +was too glad to be rid of her enemies to lament the depar- +ture of her friends, though she kissed her hand to Cap +through the loop, and called out to him in terms of affec- +tion as he moved slowly and unwillingly away. + +The enemy now seemed disposed to abandon all attempts +on the blockhouse for the present; and June, who had +ascended to a trap in the roof, whence the best view was +to be obtained, reported that the whole party had assem- +bled to eat, on a distant and sheltered part of the island, +where Muir and Cap were quietly sharing in the good +things which were going, as if they had no concern on +their minds. This information greatly relieved Mabel, +and she began to turn her thoughts again to the means of +effecting her own escape, or at least of letting her father +know of the danger that awaited him. The Sergeant was +expected to return that afternoon, and she knew that a +moment gained or lost might decide his fate. + +Three or four hours flew by. The island was again +buried in a profound quiet, the day was wearing away, and +yet Mabel had decided on nothing. June was in the base- +ment, preparing their frugal meal, and Mabel herself had +ascended to the roof, which was provided with a trap that +allowed her to go out on the top of the building, whence +she commanded the best view of surrounding objects that +the island possessed; still it was limited, and much ob- +structed by the tops of trees. The anxious girl did not +dare to trust her person in sight, knowing well that the +unrestrained passions of some savage might induce him to +send a bullet through her brain. She merely kept her +head out of the trap, therefore, whence, in the course of +the afternoon, she made as many surveys of the different +channels about the island as "Anne, sister Anne," took of +the environs of the castle of Blue Beard. + +The sun had actually set; no intelligence had been re- +ceived from the boats, and Mabel ascended to the roof to +take a last look, hoping that the party would arrive in the +darkness; which would at least prevent the Indians from +rendering their ambuscade so fatal as it might otherwise +prove, and which possibly might enable her to give some +more intelligible signal, by means of fire, than it would +otherwise be in her power to do. Her eye had turned +carefully round the whole horizon, and she was just on the +point of drawing in her person, when an object that struck +her as new caught her attention. The islands lay grouped +so closely, that six or eight different channels or passages +between them were in view; and in one of the most cov- +ered, concealed in a great measure by the bushes of the +shore, lay what a second look assured her was a bark +canoe. It contained a human being beyond a question. +Confident that if an enemy her signal could do no harm, +and; if a friend, that it might do good, the eager girl +waved a little flag towards the stranger, which she had +prepared for her father, taking care that it should not be +seen from the island. + +Mabel had repeated her signal eight or ten times in +vain, and she began to despair of its being noticed, when a +sign was given in return by the wave of a paddle, and the +man so far discovered himself as to let her see it was +Chingachgook. Here, then, at last, was a friend; one, too, +who was able, and she doubted not would be willing to aid +her. From that instant her courage and her spirits re- +vived. The Mohican had seen her; must have recognized +her, as he knew that she was of the party; and no doubt, +as soon as it was sufficiently dark, he would take the steps +necessary to release her. That he was aware of the pres- +ence of the enemy was apparent by the great caution he +observed, and she had every reliance on his prudence and +address. The principal difficulty now existed with June; +for Mabel had seen too much of her fidelity to her own +people, relieved as it was by sympathy for herself, to believe +she would consent to a hostile Indian's entering the +blockhouse, or indeed to her leaving it, with a view to +defeat Arrowhead's plans. The half-hour which succeeded +the discovery of the presence of the Great Serpent was the +most painful of Mabel Dunham's life. She saw the means +of effecting all she wished, as it might be within reach of +her hand, and yet it eluded her grasp. She knew June's +decision and coolness, notwithstanding all her gentleness +and womanly feeling; and at last she came reluctantly to +the conclusion that there was no other way of attaining +her end than by deceiving her tried companion and pro- +tector. It was revolting to one so sincere and natural, so +pure of heart, and so much disposed to ingenuousness as +Mabel Dunham, to practise deception on a friend like +June; but her own father's life was at stake, her compan- +ion would receive no positive injury, and she had feelings +and interests directly touching herself which would have +removed greater scruples. + +As soon as it was dark, Mabel's heart began to beat with +increased violence; and she adopted and changed her plan +of proceeding at least a dozen times in a single hour. +June was always the source of her greatest embarrassment; +for she did not well see, first, how she was to ascertain +when Chingachgook was at the door, where she doubted +not he would soon appear; and, secondly, how she was to +admit him, without giving the alarm to her watchful com- +panion. Time pressed, however; for the Mohican might +come and go away again, unless she was ready to receive +him. It would be too hazardous to the Delaware to re- +main long on the island; and it became absolutely neces- +sary to determine on some course, even at the risk of +choosing one that was indiscreet. After running over +various projects in her mind, therefore, Mabel came to her +companion, and said, with as much calmness as she could +assume, -- + +"Are you not afraid, June, now your people believe +Pathfinder is in the blockhouse, that they will come and +try to set it on fire?" + +"No t'ink such t'ing. No burn blockhouse. Block- +house good; got no scalp." + +"June, we cannot know. They hid because they be- +lieved what I told them of Pathfinder's being with us." + +"Believe fear. Fear come quick, go quick. Fear make +run away; wit make come back. Fear make warrior fool, +as well as young girl." + +Here June laughed, as her sex is apt to laugh when any- +thing particularly ludicrous crosses their youthful fancies. + +"I feel uneasy, June; and wish you yourself would go +up again to the roof and look out upon the island, to +make certain that nothing is plotting against us; you +know the signs of what your people intend to do better +than I." + +"June go, Lily wish; but very well know that Indian +sleep; wait for 'e fader. Warrior eat, drink, sleep, all +time, when don't fight and go on war-trail. Den never +sleep, eat, drink -- never feel. Warrior sleep now." + +"God send it may be so! but go up, dear June, and look +well about you. Danger may come when we least expect +it." + +June arose, and prepared to ascend to the roof; but she +paused, with her foot on the first round of the ladder. +Mabel's heart beat so violently that she was fearful its +throbs would be heard; and she fancied that some gleam- +ings of her real intentions had crossed the mind of her +friend. She was right in part, the Indian woman having +actually stopped to consider whether there was any indis- +cretion in what she was about to do. At first the suspic- +ion that Mabel intended to escape flashed across her mind; +then she rejected it, on the ground that the pale-face had +no means of getting off the island, and that the block- +house was much the most secure place she could find. +The next thought was, that Mabel had detected some sign +of the near approach of her father. This idea, too, lasted +but an instant; for June entertained some such opinion of +her companion's ability to understand symptoms of this +sort -- symptoms that had escaped her own sagacity -- as a +woman of high fashion entertains of the accomplishments +of her maid. Nothing else in the same way offering, she +began slowly to mount the ladder. + +Just as she reached the upper floor, a lucky thought +suggested itself to our heroine; and, by expressing it in a +hurried but natural manner, she gained a great advantage +in executing her projected scheme. + +"I will go down," she said, "and listen by the door, +June, while you are on the roof; and we will thus be on +our guard, at the same time, above and below." + +Though June thought this savored of unnecessary cau- +tion, well knowing that no one could enter the building +unless aided from within, nor any serious danger menace +them from the exterior without giving sufficient warning, +she attributed the proposition to Mabel's ignorance and +alarm; and, as it was made apparently with frankness, it +was received without distrust. By these means our hero- +ine was enabled to descend to the door, as her friend as- +cended to the roof. The distance between the two was +now too great to admit of conversation; and for three or +four minutes one was occupied in looking about her as +well as the darkness would allow, and the other in listen- +ing at the door with as much intentness as if all her senses +were absorbed in the single faculty of hearing. + +June discovered nothing from her elevated stand; the +obscurity indeed almost forbade the hope of such a result; +but it would not be easy to describe the sensation with +which Mabel thought she perceived a slight and guarded +push against the door. Fearful that all might not be as +she wished, and anxious to let Chingachgook know that +she was near, she began, though in tremulous and low +notes, to sing. So profound was the stillness of the +moment that the sound of the unsteady warbling ascended +to the roof and in a minute June began to descend. A +slight tap at the door was heard immediately after. Mabel +was bewildered, for there was no time to lose. Hope +proved stronger than fear; and with unsteady hands she +commenced unbarring the door. The moccassin of June +was heard on the floor above her when only a single bar +was turned. The second was released as her form reached +half-way down the lower ladder. + +"What you do?" exclaimed June angrily. "Run away +- mad -- leave blockhouse; blockhouse good." The hands +of both were on the last bar, and it would have been +cleared from the fastenings but for a vigorous shove from +without, which jammed the wood. A short struggle +ensued, though both were disinclined to violence. June +would probably have prevailed, had not another and a +more vigorous push from without forced the bar past the +trifling impediment that held it, when the door opened. +The form of a man was seen to enter; and both the +females rushed up the ladder, as if equally afraid of the +consequences. The stranger secured the door; and, first +examining the lower room with great care, he cautiously +ascended the ladder. June, as soon as it became dark, +had closed the loops of the principal floor, and lighted a +candle. By means of this dim taper, then, the two +females stood in expectation, waiting to ascertain the per- +son of their visitor, whose wary ascent of the ladder was +distinctly audible, though sufficiently deliberate. It would +not be easy to say which was the more astonished on find- +ing, when the stranger had got through the trap, that +Pathfinder stood before them. + +"God be praised!" Mabel exclaimed, for the idea that +the blockhouse would be impregnable with such a garrison +at once crossed her mind. "O Pathfinder! what has be- +come of my father?" + +"The Sergeant is safe as yet, and victorious; though it +is not in the gift of man to say what will be the ind of it. +Is not that the wife of Arrowhead skulking in the corner +there?" + +"Speak not of her reproachfully, Pathfinder; I owe her +my life, my present security. Tell me what has happened +to my father's party -- why you are here; and I will relate +all the horrible events that have passed upon this island." + +"Few words will do the last, Mabel; for one used to +Indian devilries needs but little explanations on such a +subject. Everything turned out as we had hoped with +the expedition; for the Sarpent was on the look-out, and +he met us with all the information heart could desire. +We ambushed three boats, druv' the Frenchers out of +them, got possession and sunk them, according to orders, +in the deepest part of the channel; and the savages of +Upper Canada will fare badly for Indian goods this win- +ter. Both powder and ball, too, will be scarcer among +them than keen hunters and active warriors may relish. +We did not lose a man or have even a skin barked; nor do +I think the inimy suffered to speak of. In short, Mabel, +it has been just such an expedition as Lundie likes; much +harm to the foe, and little harm to ourselves." + +"Ah, Pathfinder, I fear, when Major Duncan comes to +hear the whole of the sad tale, he will find reason to regret +he ever undertook the affair." + +"I know what you mean, I know what you mean; but +by telling my story straight you will understand it better. +As soon as the Sergeant found himself successful, he sent +me and the Sarpent off in canoes to tell you how matters +had turned out, and he is following with the two boats, +which, being so much heavier, cannot arrive before morn- +ing. I parted from Chingachgook this forenoon, it being +agreed that he should come up one set of channels, and I +another, to see that the path was clear. I've not seen the +chief since." + +Mabel now explained the manner in which she had dis- +covered the Mohican, and her expectation that he would +yet come to the blockhouse. + +"Not he, not he! A regular scout will never get behind +walls or logs so long as he can keep the open air and find +useful employment. I should not have come myself, +Mabel, but I promised the Sergeant to comfort you and to +look after your safety. Ah's me! I reconnoitred the +island with a heavy heart this forenoon; and there was a +bitter hour when I fancied you might be among the slain." + +"By what lucky accident were you prevented from pad- +dling up boldly to the island and from falling into the +hands of the enemy?" + +"By such an accident, Mabel, as Providence employs to +tell the hound where to find the deer and the deer how to +throw off the hound. No, no! these artifices and devil- +ries with dead bodies may deceive the soldiers of the 55th +and the king's officers; but they are all lost upon men +who have passed their days in the forest. I came down +the channel in face of the pretended fisherman; and, +though the riptyles have set up the poor wretch with art, +it was not ingenious enough to take in a practysed eye. +The rod was held too high, for the 55th have learned to +fish at Oswego, if they never knew how before; and then +the man was too quiet for one who got neither prey nor +bite. But we never come in upon a post blindly; and I +have lain outside a garrison a whole night, because they +had changed their sentries and their mode of standing +guard. Neither the Sarpent nor myself would be likely to +be taken in by these clumsy contrivances, which were most +probably intended for the Scotch, who are cunning enough +in some particulars, though anything but witches when +Indian sarcumventions are in the wind." + +"Do you think my father and his men may yet be de- +ceived?" said Mabel quickly. + +"Not if I can prevent it, Mabel. You say the Sarpent +is on the look-out too; so there is a double chance of our +succeeding in letting him know his danger; though it is +by no means sartain by which channel the party may +come." + +"Pathfinder," said our heroine solemnly, for the fright- +ful scenes she had witnessed had clothed death with un- +usual horrors, -- "Pathfinder, you have professed love for +me, a wish to make me your wife?" + +"I did ventur' to speak on that subject, Mabel, and the +Sergeant has even lately said that you are kindly disposed; +but I am not a man to persecute the thing I love." + +"Hear me, Pathfinder, I respect you, honor you, revere +you; save my father from this dreadful death, and I can +worship you. Here is my hand, as a solemn pledge for +my faith, when you come to claim it." + +"Bless you, bless you, Mabel; this is more than I desarve +- more, I fear, than I shall know how to profit by as I +ought. It was not wanting, however, to make me sarve +the Sergeant. We are old comrades, and owe each other +a life; though I fear me, Mabel, being a father's comrade +is not always the best recommendation with a daughter." + +"You want no other recommendation than your own +acts -- your courage, your fidelity. All that you do and +say, Pathfinder, my reason approves, and the heart will, +nay, it _shall_ follow." + +"This is a happiness I little expected this night; but +we are in God's hands, and He will protect us in His own +way. These are sweet words, Mabel; but they were not +wanting to make me do all that man can do in the present +circumstances; they will not lessen my endeavors, +neither." + +"Now we understand each other, Pathfinder," Mabel +added hoarsely, "let us not lose one of the precious mo- +ments, which may be of incalculable value. Can we not +get into your canoe and go and meet my father?" + +"That is not the course I advise. I don't know by +which channel the Sergeant will come, and there are +twenty; rely on it, the Sarpent will be winding his way +through them all. No, no! my advice is to remain here. +The logs of this blockhouse are still green, and it will not +be easy to set them on fire; and I can make good the +place, bating a burning, ag'in a tribe. The Iroquois nation +cannot dislodge me from this fortress, so long as we can +keep the flames off it. The Sergeant is now 'camped on +some island, and will not come in until morning. If we +hold the block, we can give him timely warning, by firing +rifles, for instance; and should he determine to attack the +savages, as a man of his temper will be very likely to do, +the possession of this building will be of great account in +the affair. No, no! my judgment says remain, if the ob- +ject be to sarve the Sergeant, though escape for our two +selves will be no very difficult matter." + +"Stay," murmured Mabel, "stay, for God's sake, Path- +finder! Anything, everything to save my father!" + +"Yes, that is natur'. I am glad to hear you say this, +Mabel, for I own a wish to see the Sergeant fairly sup- +ported. As the matter now stands, he has gained himself +credit; and, could he once drive off these miscreants, and +make an honorable retreat, laying the huts and block in +ashes, no doubt, Lundie would remember it and sarve him +accordingly. Yes, yes, Mabel, we must not only save the +Sergeant's life, but we must save his reputation." + +"No blame can rest on my father on account of the sur- +prise of this island." + +"There's no telling, there's no telling; military glory is +a most unsartain thing. I've seen the Delawares routed, +when they desarved more credit than at other times when +they've carried the day. A man is wrong to set his head +on success of any sort, and worst of all on success in war. +I know little of the settlements, or of the notions that +men hold in them; but up hereaway even the Indians rate +a warrior's character according to his luck. The principal +thing with a soldier is never to be whipt; nor do I think +mankind stops long to consider how the day was won or +lost. For my part, Mabel, I make it a rule when facing +the inimy to give him as good as I can send, and to try to +be moderate after a defeat, little need be said on that +score, as a flogging is one of the most humbling things in +natur'. The parsons preach about humility in the garri- +son; but if humility would make Christians, the king's +troops ought to be saints, for they've done little as yet this +war but take lessons from the French, beginning at Fort +du Quesne and ending at Ty." + +"My father could not have suspected that the position +of the island was known to the enemy," resumed Mabel, +whose thoughts were running on the probable effect of the +recent events on the Sergeant. + +"That is true; nor do I well see how the Frenchers +found it out. The spot is well chosen, and it is not an +easy matter, even for one who has travelled the road to +and from it, to find it again. There has been treachery, I +fear; yes, yes, there must have been treachery." + +"Oh, Pathfinder! can this be?" + +"Nothing is easier, Mabel, for treachery comes as nat'ral +to some men as eating. Now when I find a man all fair +words I look close to his deeds; for when the heart is right, +and really intends to do good, it is generally satisfied to let +the conduct speak instead of the tongue." + +"Jasper Western is not one of these," said Mabel impet- +uously. "No youth can be more sincere in his manner, or +less apt to make the tongue act for the head." + +"Jasper Western! tongue and heart are both right with +that lad, depend on it, Mabel; and the notion taken up by +Lundie, and the Quartermaster, and the Sergeant, and +your uncle too, is as wrong as it would be to think that +the sun shone by night and the stars shone by day. No, +no; I'll answer for Eau-douce's honesty with my own +scalp, or, at need, with my own rifle." + +"Bless you, bless you, Pathfinder!" exclaimed Mabel, +extending her own hand and pressing the iron fingers of +her companion, under a state of feeling that far sur- +passed her own consciousness of its strength. "You are +all that is generous, all that is noble! God will reward you +for it." + +"Ah, Mabel, I fear me, if this be true, I should not covet +such a wife as yourself; but would leave you to be sued +for by some gentleman of the garrison, as your desarts +require." + +"We will not talk of this any more to-night," Mabel +answered in a voice so smothered as to seem nearly choked. +"We must think less of ourselves just now, Pathfinder, +and more of our friends. But I rejoice from my soul that +you believe Jasper innocent. Now let us talk of other +things -- ought we not to release June?" + +"I've been thinking about the woman; for it will not +be safe to shut our eyes and leave hers open, on this side +of the blockhouse door. If we put her in the upper room, +and take away the ladder, she'll be a prisoner at least." + +"I cannot treat one thus who has saved my life. It +would be better to let her depart, for I think she is too +much my friend to do anything to harm me." + +"You do not know the race, Mabel, you do not know +the race. It's true she's not a full-blooded Mingo, but she +consorts with the vagabonds, and must have larned some +of their tricks. What is that?" + +"It sounds like oars; some boat is passing through the +channel." + +Pathfinder closed the trap that led to the lower room, +to prevent June from escaping, extinguished the candle, +and went hastily to a loop, Mabel looking over his shoulder +in breathless curiosity. These several movements con- +sumed a minute or two; and by the time the eye of the +scout had got a dim view of things without, two boats had +swept past and shot up to the shore, at a spot some fifty +yards beyond the block, where there was a regular landing. +The obscurity prevented more from being seen; and Path- +finder whispered to Mabel that the new-comers were as +likely to be foes as friends, for he did not think her father +could possibly have arrived so soon. A number of men +were now seen to quit the boats, and then followed three +hearty English cheers, leaving no further doubts of the +character of the party. Pathfinder sprang to the trap, +raised it, glided down the ladder, and began to unbar the +door, with an earnestness that proved how critical he +deemed the moment. Mabel had followed, but she rather +impeded than aided his exertions, and but a single bar +was turned when a heavy discharge of rifles was heard. +They were still standing in breathless suspense, as the +war-whoop rang in all the surrounding thickets. The +door now opened, and both Pathfinder and Mabel rushed +into the open air. All human sounds had ceased. After +listening half a minute, however, Pathfinder thought he +heard a few stifled groans near the boats; but the wind +blew so fresh, and the rustling of the leaves mingled so +much with the murmurs of the passing air, that he was far +from certain. But Mabel was borne away by her feel- +ings, and she rushed by him, taking the way towards the +boats. + +"This will not do, Mabel," said the scout in an earnest +but low voice, seizing her by an arm; "this will never do. +Sartain death would follow, and that without sarving any +one. We must return to the block." + +"Father! my poor, dear, murdered father!" said the +girl wildly, though habitual caution, even at that trying +moment, induced her to speak low. "Pathfinder, if you +love me, let me go to my dear father." + +"This will not do, Mabel. It is singular that no one +speaks; no one returns the fire from the boats; and I have +left Killdeer in the block! But of what use would a rifle +be when no one is to be seen?" + +At that moment the quick eye of Pathfinder, which, +whiel he held Mabel firmly in his grasp, had never ceased +to roam over the dim scene, caught an indistinct view of +five or six dark crouching forms, endeavoring to steal past +him, doubtless with the intention of intercepting the re- +treat to the blockhouse. Catching up Mabel, and putting +her under an arm, as if she were an infant, the sinewy +frame of the woodsman was exerted to the utmost, and he +succeeded in entering the building. The tramp of his +pursuers seemed immediately at his heels. Dropping his +burden, he turned, closed the door, and had fastened one +bar, as a rush against the solid mass threatened to force it +from the hinges. To secure the other bars was the work +of an instant. + +Mabel now ascended to the first floor, while Pathfinder +remained as a sentinel below. Our heroine was in that +state in which the body exerts itself, apparently without +the control of the mind. She relighted the candle me- +chanically, as her companion had desired, and returned +with it below, where he was waiting her reappearance. No +sooner was Pathfinder in possession of the light than he +examined the place carefully, to make certain no one was +concealed in the fortress, ascending to each floor in suc- +cession, after assuring himself that he left no enemy in his +rear. The result was the conviction that the blockhouse +now contained no one but Mabel and himself, June having +escaped. When perfectly convinced on this material point, +Pathfinder rejoined our heroine in the principal apart- +ment, setting down the light and examining the priming +of Killdeer before he seated himself. + +"Our worst fears are realized!" said Mabel, to whom +the hurry and excitement of the last five minutes appeared +to contain the emotions of a life. "My beloved father and +all his party are slain or captured!" + +"We don't know that -- morning will tell us all. I do +not think the affair so settled as that, or we should hear +the vagabond Mingos yelling out their triumph around +the blockhouse. Of one thing we may be sartain; if the +inimy has really got the better, he will not be long in call- +ing upon us to surrender. The squaw will let him into +the secret of our situation; and, as they well know the +place cannot be fired by daylight, so long as Killdeer con- +tinues to desarve his reputation, you may depend on it that +they will not be backward in making their attempt while +darkness helps them." + +"Surely I hear a groan!" + +"'Tis fancy, Mabel; when the mind gets to be skeary, +especially a woman's mind, she often concaits things that +have no reality. I've known them that imagined there was +truth in dreams." + +"Nay, I am _not_ deceived; there is surely one below, and +in pain." + +Pathfinder was compelled to own that the quick senses +of Mabel had not deceived her. He cautioned her, how- +ever, to repress her feelings; and reminded her that the +savages were in the practice of resorting to every artifice +to attain their ends, and that nothing was more likely than +that the groans were feigned with a view to lure them from +the blockhouse, or, at least, to induce them to open the +door. + +"No, no, no!" said Mabel hurriedly; "there is no arti- +fice in those sounds, and they come from anguish of body, +if not of spirit. They are fearfully natural." + +"Well, we shall soon know whether a friend is there or +not. Hide the light again, Mabel, and I will speak the +person from a loop." + +Not a little precaution was necessary, according to Path- +finder's judgment and experience, in performing even this +simple act; for he had known the careless slain by their +want of proper attention to what might have seemed to +the ignorant supererogatory means of, safety. He did not +place his mouth to the loop itself, but so near it that he +could be heard without raising his voice, and the same +precaution was observed as regards his ear. + +"Who is below?" Pathfinder demanded, when his ar- +rangements were made to his mind. "Is any one in suf- +fering? If a friend, speak boldly, and depend on our aid." + +"Pathfinder!" answered a voice that both Mabel and +the person addressed at once knew to be the Sergeant's, -- +"Pathfinder, in the name of God, tell me what has become +of my daughter." + +"Father, I am here, unhurt, safe! and oh that I could +think the same of you!" + +The ejaculation of thanksgiving that followed was dis- +tinctly audible to the two, but it was clearly mingled with, +a groan of pain. + +"My worst forebodings are realized!" said Mabel with +a sort of desperate calmness. "Pathfinder, my father must +be brought within the block, though we hazard everything +to do it." + +"This is natur', and it is the law of God. But, Mabel, +be calm, and endivor to be cool. All that can be effected +for the Sergeant by human invention shall be done. I +only ask you to be cool." + +"I am, I am, Pathfinder. Never in my life was I more +calm, more collected, than at this moment. But remem- +ber how perilous may be every instant; for Heaven's sake, +what we do, let us do without delay." + +Pathfinder was struck with the firmnesss of Mabel's +tones, and perhaps he was a little deceived by the forced +tranquillity and self-possession she had assumed. At all +events, he did not deem any further explanations neces- +sary, but descended forthwith, and began to unbar the +door. This delicate process was conducted with the usual +caution, but, as he warily permitted the mass of timber to +swing back on the hinges, he felt a pressure against it, that +had nearly induced him to close it again. But, catching a +glimpse of the cause through the crack, the door was per- +mitted to swing back, when the body of Sergeant Dunham, +which was propped against it, fell partly within the block. +To draw in the legs and secure the fastenings occupied the +Pathfinder but a moment. Then there existed no obstacle +to their giving their undivided care to the wounded man. + +Mabel, in this trying scene, conducted herself with the +sort of unnatural energy that her sex, when aroused, is apt +to manifest. She got the light, administered water to the +parched lips of her father, and assisted Pathfinder in form- +ing a bed of straw for his body and a pillow of clothes for +his head. All this was done earnestly, and almost without +speaking; nor did Mabel shed a tear, until she heard the +blessings of her father murmured on her head for this +tenderness and care. All this time Mabel had merely con- +jectured the condition of her parent. Pathfinder, how- +ever, had shown greater attention to the physical danger +of the Sergeant. He had ascertained that a rifle-ball had +passed through the body of the wounded man; and he was +sufficiently familiar with injuries of this nature to be cer- +tain that the chances of his surviving the hurt were very +trifling, if any. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +Then drink my tears, while yet they fall -- +Would that my bosom's blood were balm; +And -- well thou knowest -- I'd shed it all, +To give thy brow one minute's calm. +MOORE. + + +The eyes of Sergeant Dunham had not ceased to follow +the form of his beautiful daughter from the moment that +the light appeared. He next examined the door of the +block, to ascertain its security; for he was left on the +ground below, there being no available means of raising +him to the upper floor. Then he sought the face of Mabel; +for as life wanes fast the affections resume their force, and +we begin to value that most which we feel we are about to +lose for ever. + +"God be praised, my child! you, at least, have escaped +their murderous rifles," he said; for he spoke with +strength, and seemingly with no additional pain. "Give +me the history of this sad business, Pathfinder." + +"Ah's me, Sergeant! it _has_ been sad, as you say. That +there has been treachery, and the position of the island +has been betrayed, is now as sartain, in my judgment, as +that we still hold the block. But -- " + +"Major Duncan was right," interrupted Dunham, laying +a hand on the other's arm. + +"Not in the sense you mean, Sergeant -- no, not in that +p'int of view; never! At least, not in my opinion. I +know that natur' is weak -- human natur', I mean -- and +that we should none of us vaunt of our gifts, whether red +or white; but I do not think a truer-hearted lad lives on +the lines than Jasper Western." + +"Bless you! bless you for that, Pathfinder!" burst forth +from Mabel's very soul, while a flood of tears gave vent to +emotions that were so varied while they were so violent. +"Oh, bless you, Pathfinder, bless you! The brave should +never desert the brave -- the honest should sustain the +honest." + +The father's eyes were fastened anxiously on the face +of his daughter, until the latter hid her countenance in +her apron to conceal her tears; and then they turned with +inquiry to the hard features of the guide. The latter +merely wore their usual expression of frankness, sincerity, +and uprightness; and the Sergeant motioned to him to +proceed. + +"You know the spot where the Sarpent and I left you, +Sergeant," Pathfinder resumed; "and I need say nothing +of all that happened afore. It is now too late to regret +what is gone and passed; but I do think if I had stayed +with the boats this would not have come to pass. Other +men may be as good guides -- I make no doubt they are; +but then natur' bestows its gifts, and some must be better +than other some. I daresay poor Gilbert, who took my +place, has suffered for his mistake." + +"He fell at my elbow," the Sergeant answered in a low +melancholy tone. "We have, indeed, all suffered for our +mistakes." + +"No, no, Sergeant, I meant no condemnation on you; +for men were never better commanded than yourn, in this +very expedition. I never beheld a prettier flanking; and +the way in which you carried your own boat up ag'in their +howitzer might have teached Lundie himself a lesson." + +The eyes of the Sergeant brightened, and his face even +wore an expression of military triumph, though it was of +a degree that suited the humble sphere in which he had +been an actor. + +"'Twas not badly done, my friend," said he; "and we +carried their log breastwork by storm." + +"'Twas nobly done, Sergeant; though, I fear, when all +the truth comes to be known, it will be found that these +vagabonds have got their howitzer back ag'in. Well, well, +put a stout heart upon it, and try to forget all that is dis- +agreeable, and to remember only the pleasant part of the +matter. That is your truest philosophy; ay, and truest +religion too. If the inimy has got the howitzer ag'in, +they've only got what belonged to them afore, and what +we couldn't help. They haven't got the blockhouse yet, +nor are they likely to get it, unless they fire it in the dark. +Well, Sergeant, the Sarpent and I separated about ten +miles down the river; for we thought it wisest not to come +upon even a friendly camp without the usual caution. +What has become of Chingachgook I cannot say; though +Mabel tells me he is not far off, and I make no question +the noble-hearted Delaware is doing his duty, although he +is not now visible to our eyes. Mark my word, Sergeant, +before this matter is over we shall hear of him at some +critical time and that in a discreet and creditable manner. +Ah, the Sarpent is indeed a wise and virtuous chief! and +any white man might covet his gifts, though his rifle is +not quite as sure as Killdeer, it must be owned. Well, as +I came near the island I missed the smoke, and that put +me on my guard; for I knew that the men of the 55th +were not cunning enough to conceal that sign, notwith- +standing all that has been told them of its danger. This +made me more careful, until I came in sight of this mock- +fisherman, as I've just told Mabel; and then the whole of +their infernal arts was as plain before me as if I saw it on +a map. I need not tell you, Sergeant, that my first +thoughts were of Mabel; and that, finding she was in the +block, I came here, in order to live or die in her company." + +The father turned a gratified look upon his child; and +Mabel felt a sinking of the heart that at such a moment +she could not have thought possible, when she wished to +believe all her concern centred in the situation of her +parent. As the latter held out his hand, she took it in her +own and kissed it. Then, kneeling at his side, she wept +as if her heart would break. + +"Mabel," said he steadily, "the will of God must be +done. It is useless to attempt deceiving either you or my- +self; my time has come, and it is a consolation to me to +die like a soldier. Lundie will do me justice; for our good +friend Pathfinder will tell him what has been done, and +how all came to pass. You do not forget our last con- +versation?" + +"Nay, father, my time has probably come too," exclaimed +Mabel, who felt just then as if it would be a relief to die. +"I cannot hope to escape; and Pathfinder would do well +to leave us, and return to the garrison with the sad news +while he can." + +"Mabel Dunham," said Pathfinder reproachfully, though +he took her hand with kindness, "I have not desarved this. +I know I am wild, and uncouth, and ungainly -- " + +"Pathfinder!" + +"Well, well, we'll forget it; you did not mean it, you +could not think it. It is useless now to talk of escaping, +for the Sergeant cannot be moved; and the blockhouse +must be defended, cost what it will. Maybe Lundie will +get the tidings of our disaster, and send a party to raise +the siege." + +"Pathfinder -- Mabel!" said the Sergeant, who had been +writhing with pain until the cold sweat stood on his fore- +head; "come both to my side. You understand each +other, I hope?" + +"Father, say nothing of that; it is all as you wish." + +"Thank God! Give me your hand, Mabel -- here, Path- +finder, take it. I can do no more than give you the girl +in this way. I know you will make her a kind husband. +Do not wait on account of my death; but there will be a +chaplain in the fort before the season closes, and let him +marry you at once. My brother, if living, will wish.to go +back to his vessel, and then the child will have no pro- +tector. Mabel, your husband will have been my friend, +and that will be some consolation to you, I hope." + +"Trust this matter to me, Sergeant," put in Pathfinder; +"leave it all in my hands as your dying request; and, de- +pend on it, all will go as it should." + +"I do, I do put all confidence in you, my trusty friend, +and empower you to act as I could act myself in every +particular. Mabel, child, -- hand me the water, -- you will +never repent this night. Bless you, my daughter! God +bless, and have you in His holy keeping!" + +This tenderness was inexpressibly touching to one of +Mabel's feelings; and she felt at that moment as if her +feuture union with Pathfinder had received a solemnization +that no ceremony of the Church could render more holy. +Still, a weight, as that of a mountain, lay upon her heart, +and she thought it would be happiness to die. Then fol- +lowed a short pause, when the Sergeant, in broken sen- +tences, briefly related what had passed since he parted +with Pathfinder and the Delaware. The wind had come +more favorable; and, instead of encamping on an island +agreeably to the original intention, he had determined to +continue, and reach the station that night. Their approach +would have been unseen, and a portion of the calamity +avoided, he thought, had they not grounded on the point +of a neighboring island, where, no doubt, the noise made +by the men in getting off the boat gave notice of their ap- +proach, and enabled the enemy to be in readiness to receive +them. They had landed without the slightest suspicion of +danger, though surprised at not finding a sentinel, and had +actually left their arms in the boat, with the intention of +first securing their knapsacks and provisions. The fire +had been so close, that, notwithstanding the obscurity, it +was very deadly. Every man had fallen, though two or +three subsequently arose and disappeared. Four or five of +the soldiers had been killed, or so nearly so as to survive +but a few minutes; though, for some unknown reason, the +enemy did not make the usual rush for the scalps. Ser- +geant Dunham fell with the others; and he had heard the +voice of Mabel, as she rushed from the blockhouse. This +frantic appeal aroused all his parental feelings, and had +enabled him to crawl as far as the door of the building, +where he had raised himself against the logs in the manner +already mentioned. + +After this simple explanation was made, the Sergeant +was so weak as to need repose, and his companions, while +they ministered to his wants, suffered some time to pass in +silence. Pathfinder took the occasion to reconnoitre from +the loops and the roof, and he examined the condition of +the rifles, of which there were a dozen kept in the build- +ing, the soldiers having used their regimental muskets in +the expedition. But Mabel never left her father's side for +an instant; and when, by his breathing, she fancied he +slept, she bent her knees and prayed. + +The half-hour that succeeded was awfully solemn and +still. The moccasin of Pathfinder was barely heard over- +head, and occasionally the sound of the breech of a rifle +fell upon the floor, for he was busied in examining the +pieces, with a view to ascertain the state of their charges +and their primings. Beyond this, nothing was so loud as +the breathing of the wounded man. Mabel's heart yearned +to be in communication with the father she was so soon to +lose, and yet she would not disturb his apparent repose. +But Dunham slept not; he was in that state when the +world suddenly loses its attractious, its illusions, and its +power; and the unknown future fills the mind with its +conjectures, its revelations, and its immensity. He had +been a moral man for one of his mode of life, but he had +thought little of this all-important moment. Had the din +of battle been ringing in his ears, his martial ardor might +have endured to the end; but there, in the silence of that +nearly untenanted blockhouse, with no sound to enliven +him, no appeal to keep alive factitious sentiment, no hope +of victory to impel, things began to appear in their true +colors, and this state of being to be estimated at its just +value. He would have given treasures for religious con- +solation, and yet he knew not where to turn to seek it. +He thought of Pathfinder, but he distrusted his knowl- +edge. He thought of Mabel, but for the parent to appeal +to the child for such succor appeared like reversing the +order of nature. Then it was that he felt the full re- +sponsibility of the parental character, and had some clear +glimpse of the manner in which he himself had discharged +the trust towards an orphan child. While thoughts like +these were rising in his mind, Mabel, who watched the +slightest change in his breathing, heard a guarded knock +at the door. Supposing it might be Chingachgook, she +rose, undid two of the bars, and held the third in her hand, +as she asked who was there. The answer was in her uncle's +voice, and he implored her to give him instant admission. +Without an instant of hesitation, she turned the bar, and +Cap entered. He had barely passed the opening, when +Mabel closed the door again, and secured it as before, for +practice had rendered her expert in this portion of her +duties. + +The sturdy seaman, when he had made sure of the state +of his brother-in-law, and that Mabel, as well as himself, +was safe, was softened nearly to tears. His own appear- +ance he explained by saying that he had been carelessly +guarded, under the impression that he and the Quarter- +master were sleeping under the fumes of liquor with which +they had been plied with a view to keep them quiet in the +expected engagement. Muir had been left asleep, or seem- +ing to sleep; but Cap had run into the bushes on the +alarm of the attack, and having found Pathfinder's canoe, +had only succeeded, at that moment, in getting to the +blockhouse, whither he had come with the kind intent of +escaping with his niece by water. It is scarcely necessary +to say that he changed his plan when he ascertained the +state of the Sergeant, and the apparent security of his +present quarters. + +"If the worst comes to the worst, Master Pathfinder," +said he, "we must strike, and that will entitle us to re- +ceive quarter. We owe it to our manhood to hold out a +reasonable time, and to ourselves to haul down the ensign +in season to make saving conditions. I wished Master +Muir to do the same thing when we were captured by these +chaps you call vagabonds -- and rightly are they named, for +viler vagabonds do not walk the earth -- " + +"You've found out their characters?" interrupted +Pathfinder, who was always as ready to chime in with +abuse of the Mingos as with the praises of his friends. +"Now, had you fallen into the hands of the Delawares, +you would have learned the difference." + +"Well, to me they seem much of a muchness; black- +guards fore and aft, always excepting our friend the Ser- +pent, who is a gentleman for an Indian. But, when these +savages made the assault on us, killing Corporal M'Nab +and his men as if they had been so many rabbits, Lieuten- +ant Muir and myself took refuge in one of the holes of +this here island, of which there are so many among the +rocks, and there we remained stowed away like two leaguers +in a ship's hold, until we gave out for want of grub. A +man may say that grub is the foundation of human nature. +I desired the Quartermaster to make terms, for we could +have defended ourselves for an hour or two in the place, +bad as it was; but he declined, on the ground that the +knaves wouldn't keep faith if any of them were hurt, and +so there was no use in asking them to. I consented to +strike, on two principles; one, that we might be said to +have struck already, for running below is generally thought +to be giving up the ship; and the other, that we had an +enemy in our stomachs that was more formidable in his +attacks than the enemy on deck. Hunger is a d----ble +circumstance, as any man who has lived on it eight-and- +forty hours will acknowledge." + +"Uncle," said Mabel in a mournful voice and with an +expostulatory manner, "my poor father is sadly, sadly +hurt!" + +"True, Magnet, true; I will sit by him, and do my best +at consolation. Are the bars well fastened, girl? for on +such an occasion the mind should be tranquil and undis- +turbed." + +"We are safe, I believe, from all but this heavy blow of +Providence." + +"Well, then, Magnet, do you go up to the floor above +and try to compose yourself, while Pathfinder runs aloft +and takes a look-out from the cross-trees. Your father +may wish to say something to me in private, and it may be +well to leave us alone. These are solemn scenes, and in- +experienced people, like myself, do not always wish what +they say to be overheard." + +Although the idea of her uncle's affording religious con- +solation by the side of a death-bed certainly never ob- +truded itself on the imagination of Mabel, she thought +there might be a propriety in the request with which she +was unacquainted, and she complied accordingly. Path- +finder had already ascended to the roof to make his sur- +vey, and the brothers-in-law were left alone. Cap took a +seat by the side of the Sergeant, and bethought him seri- +ously of the grave duty he had before him. A silence of +several minutes succeeded, during which brief space the +mariner was digesting the substance of his intended dis- +course. + +"I must say, Sergeant Dunham," Cap at length com- +menced in his peculiar manner, "that there has been mis- +management somewhere in this unhappy expedition; and, +the present being an occasion when truth ought to be +spoken, and nothing but the truth, I feel it my duty to be +say as much in plain language. In short, Sergeant, on +this point there cannot well be two opinions; for, seaman +as I am, and no soldier, I can see several errors myself, +that it needs no great education to detect." + +"What would you have, brother Cap?" returned the +other in a feeble voice; "what is done is done; and it is +now too late to remedy it." + +"Very true, brother Dunham, but not to repent of it; +the Good Book tells us it is never too late to repent; and +I've, always neard that this is the precious moment. If +you've anything on your mind, Sergeant, hoist it out freely; +for, you know, you trust it to a friend. You were my own +sister's husband, and poor little Magnet is my own sister's +daughter; and, living or dead, I shall always look upon +you as a brother. It's a thousand pities that you didn't +lie off and on with the boats, and send a canoe ahead to +reconnoitre; in which case your command would have +been saved, and this disaster would not have befallen us +all. Well, Sergeant, we are _all_ mortal; that is some con- +solation, I make no doubt; and if you go before a little, +why, we must follow. Yes, that _must_ give you consola- +tion." + +"I know all this, brother Cap; and hope I'm prepared +to meet a soldier's fate -- there is poor Mabel -- " + +"Ay, ay, that's a heavy drag, I know; but you wouldn't +take her with you if you could, Sergeant; and so the better +way is to make as light of the separation as you can. +Mabel is a good girl, and so was her mother before her; +she was my sister, and it shall be my care to see that her +daughter gets a good husband, if our lives and scalps are +spared; for I suppose no one would care about entering +into a family that has no scalps." + +"Brother, my child is betrothed; she will become the +wife of Pathfinder." + +"Well, brother Dunham, every man has his opinions +and his manner of viewing things; and, to my notion, this +match will be anything but agreeable to Mabel. I have +no objection to the age of the man; I'm not one of them +that thinks it necessary to be a boy to make a girl happy, +but, on the whole, I prefer a man of about fifty for a hus- +band; still there ought not to be any circumstance be- +tween the parties to make them unhappy. Circumstances +play the devil with matrimony, and I set it down as one +that Pathfinder don't know as much as my niece. You've +seen but little of the girl, Sergeant, and have not got the +run of her knowledge; but let her pay it out freely, as she +will do when she gets to be thoroughly acquainted, and +you'll fall in with but few schoolmasters that can keep +their luffs in her company." + +"She's a good child -- a dear, good child," muttered the +Sergeant, his eyes filling with tears; "and it is my mis- +fortune that I have seen so little of her." + +"She is indeed a good girl, and knows altogether too +much for poor Pathfinder, who is a reasonable man and an +experienced man in his own way; but who has no more +idea of the main chance than you have of spherical trigo- +nometry, Sergeant." + +"Ah, brother Cap, had Pathfinder been with us in the +boats this sad affair might not have happened!" + +"That is quite likely; for his worst enemy will allow +that the man is a good guide; but then, Sergeant, if the +truth must be spoken, you have managed this expedition +in a loose way altogether. You should have hove-to off +your haven, and sent in a boat to reconnoitre, as I told +you before. That is a matter to be repented of? and I +tell it to you, because truth, in such a case, ought to be +spoken." + +"My errors are dearly paid for, brother; and poor Mabel, +I fear, will be the sufferer. I think, however, that the +calamity would not have happened had there not been +treason. I fear me, brother, that Jasper Eau-douce has +played us false." + +"That is just my notion; for this fresh-water life must +sooner or later undermine any man's morals. Lieutenant +Muir and myself talked this matter over while we lay in a +bit of a hole out here, on this island; and we both came +to the conclusion that nothing short of Jasper's treachery +could have brought us all into this infernal scrape. Well, +Sergeant, you had better compose your mind, and think +of other matters; for, when a vessel is about to enter a +strange port, it is more prudent to think of the anchorage +inside than to be under-running all the events that have +turned up during the v'y'ge. There's the log-book ex- +pressly to note all these matters in; and what stands there +must form the column of figures that's to be posted up for +or against us. How now, Pathfinder! is there anything in +the wind, that you come down the ladder like an Indian +in the wake of a scalp?" + +The guide raised a finger for silence and then beckoned +to Cap to ascend the first ladder, and to allow Mabel to +take his place at the side of the Sergeant. + +"We must be prudent, and we must be bold too," said +he in a low voice. "The riptyles are in earnest in their +intention to fire the block; for they know there is now +nothing to be gained by letting it stand. I hear the voice +of that vagabond Arrowhead among them, and he is urg- +ing them to set about their devilry this very night. We +must be stirring, Saltwater, and doing too. Luckily there +are four or five barrels of water in the block, and these are +something towards a siege. My reckoning is wrong, too, +or we shall yet reap some advantage from that honest fel- +low's, the Sarpent, being at liberty." + +Cap did not wait for a second invitation; but, stealing +away, he was soon in the upper room with Pathfinder, +while Mabel took his post at the side of her father's humble +bed. Pathfinder had opened a loop, having so far con- +cealed the light that it would not expose him to a treacher- +ous shot; and, expecting a summons, he stood with his +face near the hole, ready to answer. The stillness that +succeeded was at length broken by the voice of Muir. + +"Master Pathfinder," called out the Scotchman, "a +friend summons you to a parley. Come freely to one of +the loops; for you've nothing to fear so long as you are +in converse with an officer of the 55th." + +"What is your will, Quartermaster? what is your will? +I know the 55th, and believe it to be a brave regiment; +though I rather incline to the 60th as my favorite, and to +the Delawares more than to either; but what would you +have, Quartermaster? It must be a pressing errand that +brings you under the loops of a blockhouse at this hour of +the night, with the sartainty of Killdeer being inside of it." + +"Oh, you'll no' harm a friend, Pathfinder, I'm certain; +and that's my security. You're a man of judgment, and +have gained too great a name on this frontier for bravery +to feel the necessity of foolhardiness to obtain a character. +You'll very well understand, my good friend, there is as +much credit to be gained by submitting gracefully, when +resistance becomes impossible, as by obstinately holding +out contrary to the rules of war. The enemy is too strong +for us, my brave comrade, and I come to counsel you to +give up the block, on condition of being treated as a pris- +oner of war." + +"I thank you for this advice, Quartermaster, which is +the more acceptable as it costs nothing; but I do not +think it belongs to my gifts to yield a place like this while +food and water last." + +"Well, I'd be the last, Pathfinder, to recommend any- +thing against so brave a resolution, did I see the means of +maintaining it. But ye'll remember that Master Cap has +fallen." + +"Not he, not he!" roared the individual in question +through another loop; "and so far from that, Lieutenant, +he has risen to the height of this here fortification, and +has no mind to put his head of hair into the hands of such +barbers again, so long as he can help it. I look upon this +blockhouse as a circumstance, and have no mind to throw +it away." + +"If that is a living voice," returned Muir, "I am glad +to hear it; for we all thought the man had fallen in the +late fearful confusion. But, Master Pathfinder, although +ye're enjoying the society of our friend Cap, -- and a great +pleasure do I know it to be, by the experience of two days +and a night passed in a hole in the earth, -- we've lost that +of Sergeant Dunham, who has fallen, with all the brave +men he led in the late expedition. Lundie would have it +so, though it would have been more discreet and becoming +to send a commissioned officer in command. Dunham was +a brave man, notwithstanding, and shall have justice done +his memory. In short, we have all acted for the best, and +that is as much as could be said in favor of Prince Eugene, +the Duke of Marlborough, or the great Earl of Stair him- +self." + +"You're wrong ag'in, Quartermaster, you're wrong +ag'in," answered Pathfinder, resorting to a ruse to magnify +his force. "The Sergeant is safe in the block too, where +one might say the whole family is collected." + +"Well I rejoice to hear it, for we had certainly counted +the Sergeant among the slain. If pretty Mabel is in the +block still, let her not delay an instant, for heaven's sake, +in quitting it, for the enemy is about to put it to the trial +by fire. Ye know the potency of that dread element, and +will be acting more like the discreet and experienced war- +rior ye're universally allowed to be, in yielding a place you +canna' defend, than in drawing down ruin on yourself and +companions." + +"I know the potency of fire, as you call it, Quarter- +master; and am not to be told, at this late hour, that it +can be used for something else besides cooking a dinner. +But I make no doubt you've heard of the potency of Kill- +deer, and the man who attempts to lay a pile of brush +against these logs will get a taste of his power. As for +arrows, it is not in their gift to set this building on fire, +for we've no shingles on our roof, but good solid logs and +green bark, and plenty of water besides. The roof is so +flat, too, as you know yourself, Quartermaster, that we can +walk on it, and so no danger on that score while water +lasts. I'm peaceable enough if let alone; but he who en- +divors to burn this block over my head will find the fire +squinched in his own blood." + +"This is idle and romantic talk, Pathfinder, and ye'll +no maintain it yourself when ye come to meditate on the +realities. I hope ye'll no' gainsay the loyalty or the cour- +age of the 55th, and I feel convinced that a council of war +would decide on the propriety of a surrender forthwith. +Na, na, Pathfinder, foolhardiness is na mair like the brav- +ery o' Wallace or Bruce than Albany on the Hudson is like +the old town of Edinbro'." + +"As each of us seems to have made up his mind, Quar- +termaster, more words are useless. If the riptyles near +you are disposed to set about their hellish job, let them +begin at once. They can burn wood, and I'll burn pow- +der. If I were an Indian at the stake, I suppose I could +brag as well as the rest of them; but, my gifts and natur' +being both white, my turn is rather for doing than talk- +ing. You've said quite enough, considering you carry the +king's commission; and should we all be consumed, none +of us will bear you any malice." + +"Pathfinder, ye'll no' be exposing Mabel, pretty Mabel +Dunham, to sic' a calamity!" + +"Mabel Dunham is by the side of her wounded father, +and God will care for the safety of a pious child. Not a +hair, of her head shall fall, while my arm and sight remain +true; and though _you_ may trust the Mingos, Master Muir, +I put no faith in them. You've a knavish Tuscarora in +your company there, who has art and malice enough to +spoil the character of any tribe with which he consorts, +though he found the Mingos ready ruined to his hands, I +fear. But enough said; now let each party go to the use +of his means and his gifts." + +Throughout this dialogue Pathfinder had kept his body +covered, lest a treacherous shot should be aimed at the +loop; and he now directed Cap to ascend to the roof in +order to be in readiness to meet the first assault. Al- +though the latter used sufficient diligence, he found no +less than ten blazing arrows sticking to the bark, while +the air was filled with the yells and whoops of the enemy. +A rapid discharge of rifles followed, and the bullets came +pattering against the logs, in a way to show that the strug- +gle had indeed seriously commenced. + +These were sounds, however, that appalled neither Path- +finder nor Cap, while Mabel was too much absorbed in her +affliction to feel alarm. She had good sense enough, too, +to understand the nature of the defences, and fully to ap- +preciate their importance. As for her father, the familiar +noises revived him; and it pained his child, at such a +moment, to see that his glassy eye began to kindle, and +that the blood returned to a cheek it had deserted, as he +listened to the uproar. It was now Mabel first perceived +that his reason began slightly to wander. + +"Order up the light companies," he muttered, "and let +the grenadiers charge! Do they dare to attack us in our +fort? Why does not the artillery open on them?" + +At that instant the heavy report of a gun burst on the +night; and the crashing of rending wood was heard, as a +heavy shot tore the logs in the room above, and the whole +block shook with the force of a shell that lodged in the +work. The Pathfinder narrowly escaped the passage of +this formidable missile as it entered; but when it exploded, +Mabel could not suppress a shriek, for she supposed all +over her head, whether animate or inanimate, destroyed. +To increase her horror, her father shouted in a frantic +voice to "charge!" + +"Mabel," said Pathfinder, with his head at the trap, +"this is true Mingo work -- more noise than injury. The +vagabonds have got the howitzer we took from the French, +and have discharged it ag'in the block; but fortunately +they have fired off the only shell we had, and there is an +ind of its use for the present. There is some confusion +among the stores up in this loft, but no one is hurt. Your +uncle is still on the roof; and, as for myself, I've run the +gauntlet of too many rifles to be skeary about such a thing +as a howitzer, and that in Indian hands." + +Mabel murmured her thanks, and tried to give all her +attention to her father, whose efforts to rise were only +counteracted by his debility. During the fearful minutes +that succeeded, she was so much occupied with the care of +the invalid that she scarcely heeded the clamor that +reigned around her. Indeed, the uproar was so great, +that, had not her thoughts been otherwise employed, con- +fusion of faculties rather than alarm would probably have +been the consequence. + +Cap preserved his coolness admirably. He had a pro- +found and increasing respect for the power of the savages, +and even for the majesty of fresh water, it is true; but his +apprehensions of the former proceeded more from his +dread of being scalped and tortured than from any un- +manly fear of death; and, as he was now on the deck of a +house, if not on the deck of a ship, and knew that there +was little danger of boarders, he moved about with a fear- +lessness and a rash exposure of his person that Pathfinder, +had he been aware of the fact, would have been the first to +condemn. Instead of keeping his body covered, agreeably +to the usages of Indian warfare, he was seen on every part +of the roof, dashing the water right and left, with the ap- +parent steadiness and unconcern he would have manifested +had he been a sail trimmer exercising his art in a battle +afloat. His appearance was one of the causes of the ex- +traordinary clamor among the assailants; who, unused to +see their enemies so reckless, opened upon him with their +tongues, like a pack that has the fox in view. Still he ap- +peared to possess a charmed life; for, though the bullets +whistled around him on every side, and his clothes were +several times torn, nothing cut his skin. When the shell +passed through the logs below, the old sailor dropped his +bucket, waved his hat, and gave three cheers; in which +heroic act he was employed as the dangerous missile ex- +ploded. This characteristic feat probably saved his life; +for from that instant the Indians ceased to fire at him, +and even to shoot their flaming arrows at the block, hav- +ing taken up the notion simultaneously, and by common +consent, that the "Saltwater" was mad; and it was a +singular effect of their magnanimity never to lift a hand +against those whom they imagined devoid of reason. + +The conduct of Pathfinder was very different. Every- +thing he did was regulated by the most exact calculation, +the result of long experience and habitual thoughtfulness. +His person was kept carefully out of a line with the loops, +and the spot that he selected for his look-out was one quite +removed from danger. This celebrated guide had often +been known to lead forlorn hopes: he had once stood at +the stake, suffering under the cruelties and taunts of savage +ingenuity and savage ferocity without quailing; and legends +of his exploits, coolness, and daring were to be heard all +along that extensive frontier, or wherever men dwelt and +men contended. But on this occasion, one who did not +know his history and character might have thought his +exceeding care and studied attention to self-preservation +proceeded from an unworthy motive. But such a judge +would not have understood his subject; the Pathfinder +bethought him of Mabel, and of what might possibly be the +consequences to that poor girl should any casualty befall +himself. But the recollection rather quickened his intel- +lect than changed his customary prudence. He was, in +fact, one of those who was so unaccustomed to fear, that +he never bethought him of the constructions others might +put upon his conduct. But while in moments of danger +he acted with the wisdom of the serpent, it was also with +the simplicity of a child. + +For the first ten minutes of the assault, Pathfinder never +raised the breech of his rifle from the floor, except when +he changed his own position, for he well knew that the +bullets of the enemy were thrown away upon the massive +logs of the work; and as he had been at the capture of +the howitzer he felt certain that the savages had no other +shell than the one found in it when the piece was taken. +There existed no reason, therefore, to dread the fire of the +assailants, except as a casual bullet might find a passage +through a loophole. One or two of these accidents did +occur, but the balls entered at an angle that deprived them +of all chance of doing any injury so long as the Indians +kept near the block; and if discharged from a distance, +there was scarcely the possibility of one in a hundred's +striking the apertures. But when Pathfinder heard the +sound of mocassined feet and the rustling of brush at the +foot of the building, he knew that the attempt to build a +fire against the logs was about to be renewed. He now +summoned Cap from the roof, where, indeed, all the danger +had ceased, and directed him to stand in readiness with +his water at a hole immediately over the spot assailed. + +One less trained than our hero would have been in a +hurry to repel this dangerous attempt also, and might have +resorted to his means prematurely; not so with Pathfinder. +His aim was not only to extinguish the fire, about which +he felt little apprehension, but to give the enemy a lesson +that would render him wary during the remainder of the +night. In order to effect the latter purpose, it became +necessary to wait until the light of the intended conflagra- +tion should direct his aim, when he well knew that a very +slight effort of his skill would suffice. The Iroquois were +permitted to collect their heap of dried brush, to pile it +against the block, to light it, and to return to their covers +without molestation. All that Pathfinder would suffer +Cap to do, was to roll a barrel filled with water to the hole +immediately over the spot, in readiness to be used at the +proper instant. That moment, however, did not arrive, in +his judgment, until the blaze illuminated the surrounding +bushes, and there had been time for his quick and practised +eye to detect the forms of three or four lurking savages, +who were watching the progress of the flames, with the +cool indifference of men accustomed to look on human +misery with apathy. Then, indeed, he spoke. + +"Are you ready, friend Cap?" he asked. "The heat +begins to strike through the crevices; and although these +green logs are not of the fiery natur' of an ill-tempered +man, they may be kindled into a blaze if one provokes them +too much. Are you ready with the barrel? See that it +has the right cut, and that none of the water is wasted." + +"All ready!" answered Cap, in the manner in which a +seaman replies to such a demand. + +"Then wait for the word. Never be over-impatient in +a critical time, nor fool-risky in a battle. Wait for the +word." + +While the Pathfinder was giving these directions, he was +also making his own preparations; for he saw it was time +to act. Killdeer was deliberately raised, pointed, and dis- +charged. The whole process occupied about half a minute, +and as the rifle was drawn in the eye of the marksman was +applied to the hole. + +"There is one riptyle the less," Pathfinder muttered to +himself; "I've seen that vagabond afore, and know him to +be a marciless devil. Well, well! the man acted accord- +ing to his gifts, and he has been rewarded according to his +gifts. One more of the knaves, and that will sarve the +turn for to-night. When daylight appears, we may have +hotter work." + +All this time another rifle was being got ready; and as +Pathfinder ceased, a second savage fell. This indeed +sufficed; for, indisposed to wait for a third visitation from +the same hand, the whole band, which had been crouching +in the bushes around the block, ignorant of who was and +who was not exposed to view, leaped from their covers and +fled to different places for safety. + +"Now, pour away, Master Cap," said Pathfinder; "I've +made my mark on the blackguards; and we shall have no +more fires lighted to-night." + +"Scaldings!" cried Cap, upsetting the barrel, with a +care that at once and completely extinguished the flames. + +This ended the singular conflict; and the remainder of +the night passed in peace. Pathfinder and Cap watched +alternately, though neither can be said to have slept. +Sleep indeed scarcely seemed necessary to them, for both +were accustomed to protracted watchings; and there were +seasons and times when the former appeared to be literally +insensible to the demands of hunger and thirst and callous +to the effects of fatigue. + +Mabel watched by her father's pallet, and began to feel +how much our happiness in this world depends even on +things that are imaginary. Hitherto she had virtually +lived without a father, the connection with her remaining +parent being ideal rather than positive; but now that she +was about to lose him, she thought for the moment that +the world would be a void after his death, and that she +could never be acquainted with happiness again. + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +There was a roaring in the wind all night; +The rain came heavily, and fell in floods; +But now the sun is rising calm and bright; +The birds are singing in the distant woods. +WORDSWORTH. + + +As the light returned, Pathfinder and Cap ascended +again to the roof, with a view to reconnoitre the state of +things once more on the island. This part of the block- +house had a low battlement around it, which afforded a +considerable protection to those who stood in its centre; +the intention having been to enable marksmen to lie be- +hind it and to fire over its top. By making proper use, +therefore, of these slight defences, -- slight as to height, +though abundantly ample as far as they went, -- the two +look-outs commanded a pretty good view of the island, its +covers excepted, and of most of the channels that led to +the spot. + +The gale was still blowing very fresh at south; and there +were places in the river where its surface looked green and +angry, though the wind had hardly sweep enough to raise +the water into foam. The shape of the little island was +nearly oval, and its greater length was from east to west. +By keeping in the channels that washed it, in consequence +of their several courses and of the direction of the gale, it +would have been possible for a vessel to range past the +island on either of its principal sides, and always to keep +the wind very nearly abeam. These were the facts first +noticed by Cap, and explained to his companion; for the +hopes of both now rested on the chances of relief sent from +Oswego. At this instant, while they stood gazing anxiously +about them, Cap cried out, in his lusty, hearty manner, + +"Sail, ho!" + +Pathfinder turned quickly in the direction of his com- +panion's face; and there, sure enough, was just visible the +object of the old sailor's exclamation. The elevation en- +abled the two to overlook the low land of several of the +adjacent islands; and the canvas of a vessel was seen +through the bushes that fringed the shore of one that lay +to the southward and westward. The stranger was under +what seamen call low sail; but so great was the power of +the wind, that her white outlines were seen flying past the +openings of the verdure with the velocity of a fast-travelling +horse -- resembling a cloud driving in the heavens. + +"That cannot be Jasper," said Pathfinder in disappoint- +ment; for be did not recognize the cutter of his friend in +the swift-passing object. "No, no, the lad is behind the +hour; and that is some craft which the Frenchers have +sent to aid their friends, the accursed Mingos." + +"This time you are out in your reckoning, friend Path- +finder, if you never were before," returned Cap in a man- +ner that had lost none of its dogmatism by the critical cir- +cumstances in which they were placed. "Fresh water or +salt, that is the head of the _Scud's_ mainsail, for it is cut +with a smaller gore than common; and then you can see +that the gaff has been fished -- quite neatly done, I admit, +but fished." + +"I can see none of this, I confess," answered Pathfinder, +to whom even the terms of his companion were Greek. + +"No! Well, I own that surprises me, for I thought +your eyes could see anything! Now to me nothing is +plainer than that gore and that fish; and I must say, my +honest friend, that in your place I should apprehend that +my sight was beginning to fail." + +"If Jasper is truly coming, I shall apprehend but little. +We can make good the block against the whole Mingo na- +tion for the next eight or ten hours; and with Eau-douce +to cover the retreat, I shall despair of nothing. God send +that the lad may not run alongside of the bank, and fall +into an ambushment, as befell the Sergeant!" + +"Ay, there's the danger. There ought to have been sig- +nals concerted, and an anchorage-ground buoyed out, and +even a quarantine station or a lazaretto would have been +useful, could we have made these Minks-ho respect the +laws. If the lad fetches up, as you say, anywhere in the +neighborhood of this island, we may look upon the cutter +as lost. And, after all, Master Pathfinder, ought we not +to set down this same Jasper as a secret ally of the French, +rather than as a friend of our own? I know the Sergeant +views the matter in that light; and I must say this whole +affair looks like treason." + +"We shall soon know, we shall soon know, Master Cap; +for there, indeed, comes the cutter clear of the other island, +and five minutes must settle the matter. It would be no +more than fair, however, if we could give the boy some +sign in the way of warning. It is not right that he should +fall into the trap without a notice that it has been laid." + +Anxiety and suspense, notwithstanding, prevented either +from attempting to make any signal. It was not easy, +truly, to see how it could be done; for the _Scud_ came +foaming through the channel, on the weather side of the +island, at a rate that scarcely admitted of the necessary +time. Nor was any one visible on her deck to make signs +to; even her helm seemed deserted, though her course was +as steady as her progress was rapid. + +Cap stood in silent admiration of a spectacle so unusual. +But, as the _Scud_ drew nearer, his practised eye detected +the helm in play by means of tiller-ropes, though the per- +son who steered was concealed. As the cutter had weather- +boards of some little height, the mystery was explained, +no doubt remaining that her people lay behind the latter, +in order to be protected from the rifles of the enemy. As +this fact showed that no force beyond that of the small +crew could be on board, Pathfinder received his compan- +ion's explanation with an ominous shake of the head. + +"This proves that the Sarpent has not reached Oswego," +said he, "and that we are not to expect succor from the +garrison. I hope Lundie has not taken it into his head +to displace the lad, for Jasper Western would be a host of +himself in such a strait. We three, Master Cap, ought to +make a manful warfare: you, as a seaman, to keep up the +intercourse with the cutter; Jasper, as a laker who knows +all that is necessary to be done on the water; and I, with +gifts that are as good as any among the Mingos, let me be +what I may in other particulars. I say we ought to make +a manful fight in Mabel's behalf." + +"That we ought, and that we will," answered Cap hear- +tily; for he began to have more confidence in the security +of his scalp now that he saw the sun again. "I set down +the arival of the _Scud_ as one circumstance, and the chances +of Oh-deuce's honesty as another. This Jasper is a young +man of prudence, you find; for he keeps a good offing, and +seems determined to know how matters stand on the island +before he ventures to bring up." + +"I have it! I have it!" exclaimed Pathfinder, with ex- +ultation. "There lies the canoe of the Sarpent on the cut- +ter's deck; and the chief has got on board, and no doubt +has given a true account of our condition; for, unlike a +Mingo, a Delaware is sartain to get a story right, or to +hold his tongue." + +"That canoe may not belong to the cutter," said the +captious seaman. "Oh-deuce had one on board when he +sailed." + +"Very true, friend Cap; but if you know your sails and +masts by your gores and fishes, I know my canoes and my +paths by frontier knowledge. If you can see new cloth in +a sail, I can see new bark in a canoe. That is the boat of +the Sarpent, and the noble fellow has struck off for the +garrison as soon as he found the block beseiged, has fallen +in with the _Scud_, and, after telling his story, has brought +the cutter down here to see what can be done. The Lord +grant that Jasper Western be still on board her!" + +"Yes, yes; it might not be amiss; for, traitor or loyal, +the lad has a handy way with him in a gale, it must be +owned." + +"And in coming over waterfalls!" said Pathfinder, nudg- +ing the ribs of his companion with an elbow, and laughing +in his silent but hearty manner. "We will give the boy +his due, though he scalps us all with his own hand." + +The _Scud_ was now so near, that Cap made no reply. +The scene, just at that instant, was so peculiar, that it +merits a particular description, which may also aid the +reader in forming a more accurate nature of the picture +we wish to draw. + +The gale was still blowing violently. Many of the smaller +trees bowed their tops, as if ready to descend to the earth, +while the rushing of the wind through the branches of the +groves resembled the roar of distant chariots. + +The air was filled with leaves, which, at that late season, +were readily driven from their stems, and flew from island +to island like flights of birds. With this exception, the spot +seemed silent as the grave. That the savages still remained, +was to be inferred from the fact that their canoes, together +with the boats of the 55th, lay in a group in the little cove +that had been selected as a harbor. Otherwise, not a sign +of their presence was to be detected. Though taken en- +tirely by surprise by the cutter, the sudden return of which +was altogether unlooked-for, so uniform aud inbred were +their habits of caution while on the war-path, that the in- +stant an alarm was given every man had taken to his cover +with the instinct and cunning of a fox seeking his hole. +The same stillness reigned in the blockhouse; for though +Pathfinder and Cap could command a view of the chan- +nel, they took the precaution necessary to lie concealed. +The unusual absence of anything like animal life on board +the _Scud_, too, was still more remarkable. As the Indians +witnessed her apparently undirected movements, a feeling +of awe gained a footing among them, and some of the bold- +est of their party began to distrust the issue of an expedi- +tion that had commenced so prosperotisly. Even Arrow- +head, accustomed as he was to intercourse with the whites +on both sides of the lakes, fancied there was something +ominous in the appearance of this unmanned vessel, and +he would gladly at that moment have been landed again +on the main. + +In the meantime the progress of the cutter was steady +and rapid. She held her way mid-channel, now inclining +to the gusts, and now rising again, like the philosopher +that bends to the calamities of life to resume his erect at- +titude as they pass away, but always piling the water be- +neath her bows in foam. Although she was under so very +short canvas, her velocity was great, and there could not +have elapsed ten minutes between the time when her sails +were first seen glancing past the trees and bushes in the +distance and the moment when she was abreast of the +blockhouse. Cap and Pathfinder leaned forward, as the cut- +ter came beneath their eyrie, eager to get a better view of +her deck, when, to the delight of both, Jasper Eau-douce +sprang upon his feet and gave three hearty cheers. Re- +gardless of all risk, Cap leaped upon the rampart of logs +and returned the greeting, cheer for cheer. Happily, the +policy of the enemy saved the latter; for they still lay +quiet, not a rifle being discharged. On the other hand, +Pathfinder kept in view the useful, utterly disregarding +the mere dramatic part of warfare. The moment he be- +held his friend Jasper, he called out to him with stentorian +lungs, -- + +"Stand by us, lad, and the day's our own! Give 'em a +grist in yonder bushes, and you'll put 'em up like part- +ridges." + +Part of this reached Jasper's ears, but most was borne +off to leeward on the wings of the wind. By the time +this was said, the _Scud_ had driven past, and in the next +moment she was hid from view by the grove in which the +blockhouse was partially concealed. + +Two anxious minutes succeeded; but, at the expiration +of that brief space, the sails were again gleaming through +the trees, Jasper having wore, jibed, and hauled up under +the lee of the island on the other tack. The wind was +free enough, as has been already explained, to admit of +this manoeuvre; and the cutter, catching the current under +her lee bow, was breasted up to her course in a way that +showed she would come out to windward of the island +again without any difficulty. This whole evolution was +made with the greatest facility, not a sheet being touched, +the sails trimming themselves, the rudder alone controlling +the admirable machine. The object appeared to be a re- +connoissance. When, however, the _Scud_ had made the cir- +cuit of the entire island, and had again got her weatherly +position in the channel by which she had first approached, +her helm was put down, and she tacked. The noise of the +mainsail flapping when it filled, lose-reefed as it was, +sounded like the report of a gun, and Cap trembled lest +the seams should open. + +"His Majesty gives good canvas, it must be owned," +muttered the old seaman; "and it must be owned, too, +that boy handles his boat as if he were thoroughly bred! +D--- me, Master Pathfinder, if I believe, after all that has +been reported in the matter, that this Mister Oh-deuce got +his trade on this bit of fresh water." + +"He did; yes, he did. He never saw the ocean, and has +come by his calling altogether up here on Ontario. I have +often thought he has a nat'ral gift in the way of schooners +and sloops, and have respected him accordingly. As for +treason and lying and black-hearted vices, friend Cap, +Jasper Western is as free as the most virtuousest of the +Delaware warriors; and if you crave to see a truly honest +man, you must go among that tribe to discover him." + +"There he comes round!" exclaimed the delighted Cap, +the _Scud_ at this moment filling on her original tack; "and +now we shall see what the boy would be at; he cannot mean +to keep running up and down these passages, like a girl +footing it through a country-dance." + +The _Scud_ now kept so much away, that for a moment +the two observers on the blockhouse feared Jasper meant +to come-to; and the savages, in their lairs, gleamed out +upon her with the sort of exultation that the crouching +tiger may be supposed to feel as he sees his unconscious +victim approach his bed. But Jasper had no such inten- +tion: familiar with the shore, and acquainted with the +depth of water on every part of the island, he well knew +that the _Scud_ might be run against the bank with impu- +nity, and he ventured fearlessly so near, that, as he passed +through the little cove, he swept the two boats of the sol- +diers from their fastenings and forced them out into the +channel, towing them with the cutter. As all the canoes +were fastened to the two Dunham boats, by this bold and +successful attempt the savages were at once deprived of +the means of quitting the island, unless by swimming, and +they appeared to be instantly aware of the very important +fact. Rising in a body, they filled the air with yells, and +poured in a harmless fire. While up in this unguarded +manner, two rifles were discharged by their adversaries. +One came from the summit of the block, and an Iroquois +fell dead in his tracks, shot through the brain. The other +came from the _Scud_. The last was the piece of the Dela- +ware, but, less true than that of his friend, it only maimed +an enemy for life. The people of the _Scud_ shouted, and +the savages sank again, to a man, as if it might be into the +earth. + +"That was the Sarpent's voice," said Pathfinder, as soon +as the second piece was discharged. "I know the crack of +his rifle as well as I do that of Killdeer. 'Tis a good bar- +rel, though not sartain death. Well, well, with Chingach- +gook and Jasper on the water, and you and I in the block, +friend Cap, it will be hard if we don't teach these Mingo +scamps the rationality of a fight." + +All this time the _Scud_ was in motion. As soon as he +had reached the end of the island, Jasper sent his prizes +adrift; and they went down before the wind until they +stranded on a point half a mile to leeward. He then wore, +and came stemming the current again, through the other +passage. Those on the summit of the block could now +perceive that something was in agitation on the deck of +the _Scud_; and, to their great delight, just as the cutter +came abreast of the principal cove, on the spot where most +of the enemy lay, the howitzer which composed her sole +armament was unmasked, and a shower of case-shot was +sent hissing into the bushes. A bevy of quail would not +have risen quicker than this unexpected discharge of iron +hail put up the Iroquois; when a second savage fell by a +messenger sent from Killdeer, and another went limping +away by a visit from the rifle of Chingachgook. New +covers were immediately found, however; and each party +seemed to prepare for the renewal of the strife in another +form. But the appearance of June, bearing a white flag, +and accompanied by the French officer and Muir, stayed +the hands of all, and was the forerunner of another parley. +The negotiation that followed was held beneath the +blockhouse; and so near it as at once to put those who +were uncovered completely at the mercy of Pathfinder's +unerring aim. Jasper anchored directly abeam; and the +howitzer, too, was kept trained upon the negotiators: so +that the beseiged and their friends, with the exception of +the man who held the match, had no hesitation about ex- +posing their persons. Chingachgook alone lay in ambush; +more, however, from habit than distrust. + +"You've triumphed, Pathfinder," called out the Quarter- +master, "and Captain Sanglier has come himself to offer +terms. You'll no' be denying a brave enemy honorable +retreat, when he has fought ye fairly, and done all the +credit he could to king and country. Ye are too loyal a +subject yourself to visit loyalty and fidelity with a heavy +judgment. I am authorized to offer, on the part of the +enemy, an evacuation of the island, a mutual exchange of +prisoners, and a restoration of scalps. In the absence of +baggage and artillery, little more can be done." + +As the conversation was necessarily carried on in a high +key, both on account of the wind and of the distance, all +that was said was heard equally by those in the block and +those in the cutter. + +"What do you say to that, Jasper?" called out Path- +finder. "You hear the proposal. Shall we let the vaga- +bonds go? or shall we mark them, as they mark their +sheep in the settlements, that we may know them again?" + +"What has befallen Mabel Dunham?" demanded the +young man, with a frown on his handsome face, that was +visible even to those on the block. "If a hair of her +head has been touched, it will go hard with the whole Iro- +quois tribe." + +"Nay, nay, she is safe below, nursing a dying parent, as +becomes her sex. We owe no grudge on account of the +Sergeant's hurt, which comes of lawful warfare; and as +for Mabel -- " + +"She is here!" exclaimed the girl herself, who had +mounted to the roof the moment she found the direction +things were taking, -- "she is here! and, in the name of our +holy religion, and of that God whom we profess to wor- +ship in common, let there be no more bloodshed! Enough +has been spilt already; and if these men will go away, +Pathfinder -- if they will depart peaceably, Jasper -- oh, do +not detain one of them! My poor father is approaching +his end, and it were better that he should draw his last +breath in peace with the world. Go, go, Frenchmen and +Indians! we are no longer your enemies, and will harm +none of you." + +"Tut, tut, Magnet!" put in Cap; "this sounds religious, +perhaps, or like a book of poetry; but it does not sound +like common sense. The enemy is just ready to strike; +Jasper is anchored with his broadside to bear, and, no +doubt, with springs on his cables; Pathfinder's eye and +hand are as true as the needle; and we shall get prize- +money, head-money, and honor in the bargain, if you will +not interfere for the next half-hour." + +"Well," said Pathfinder, "I incline to Mabel's way of +thinking. There _has_ been enough blood shed to answer +our purpose and to sarve the king; and as for honor, in +that meaning, it will do better for young ensigns and re- +cruits than for cool-headed, obsarvant Christian men. +There is honor in doing what's right, and unhonor in doing +what's wrong; and I think it wrong to take the life even +of a Mingo, without a useful end in view, I do; and nght +to hear reason at all times. So, Lieutenant Muir, let us +know what your friends the Frenchers and Indians have +to say for themselves." + +"My friends!" said Muir, starting; "you'll no' be calling +the king's enemies my friends, Pathfinder, because the +fortune of war has thrown me into their hands? Some of +the greatest warriors, both of ancient aud modern times, +have been prisoners of war; and yon is Master Cap, who +can testify whether we did not do all that men could de- +vise to escape the calamity." + +"Ay, ay," drily answered Cap; "escape is the proper +word. We ran below aud hid ourselves, and so discreetly, +that we might have remained in the hole to this hour, had +it not been for the necessity of re-stowing the bread lockers. +You burrowed on that occasion, Quartermaster, as handily +as a fox; and how the d---l you knew so well where to +find the spot is a matter of wonder to me. A regular skulk +on board ship does not trail aft more readily when the jib +is to be stowed, than you went into that same hole." + +"And did ye no' follow? There are moments in a man's +life when reason ascends to instinct -- " + +"And men descend into holes," interrupted Cap, laugh- +ing in his boisterous way, while Pathfinder chimed in, in +his peculiar manner. Even Jasper, though still filled with +concern for Mabel, was obliged to smile. "They say the +d---l wouldn't make a sailor if he didn't look aloft; and +now it seems he'll not make a soldier if he doesn't look +below!" + +This burst of merriment, though it was anything but +agreeable to Muir, contributed largely towards keeping +the peace. Cap fancied he had said a thing much better +than common; and that disposed him to yield his own +opinion on the main point, so long as he got the good opin- +ion of his companions on his novel claim to be a wit. +After a short discussion, all the savages on the island were +collected in a body, without arms, at the distance of a hun- +dred yards from the block, and under the gun of the _Scud_; +while Pathfinder descended to the door of the blockhouse +and settled the terms on which the island was to be finally +evacuated by the enemy. Considering all the circum- +stances, the conditions were not very discreditable to either +party. The Indians were compelled to give up all their +arms, even to their knives and tomahawks, as a measure of +precaution, their force being still quadruple that of their +foes. The French officer, Monsieur Sanglier, as he was +usually styled, and chose to call himself, remonstrated +against this act as one likely to reflect more discredit on +his command than any other part of the affair; but Path- +finder, who had witnessed one or two Indian massacres, +and knew how valueless pledges became when put in op- +position to interest where a savage was concerned, was ob- +durate. The second stipulation was of nearly the same +importance. It compelled Captain Sanglier to give up all +his prisoners, who had been kept well guarded in the very +hole or cave in which Cap and Muir had taken refuge. +When these men were produced, four of them were found +to be unhurt; they had fallen merely to save their lives, a +common artifice in that species of warfare; and of the re- +mainder, two were so slightly injured as not to be unfit for +service. As they brought their muskets with them, this +addition to his force immediately put Pathfinder at his +ease; for, having collected all the arms of the enemy in the +blockhouse, he directed these men to take possession of +the building, stationing a regular sentinel at the door. The +remainder of the soldiers were dead, the badly wounded +having been instantly despatched in order to obtain the +much-coveted scalps. + +As soon as Jasper was made acquainted with the terms, +and the preliminaries had been so far observed as to ren- +der it safe for him to be absent, he got the _Scud_ under +weigh; and, running down to the point where the boats +had stranded, he took them in tow again, and, making a +few stretches, brought them into the leeward passage. +Here all the savages instantly embarked, when Jasper took +the boats in tow a third time, and, running off before the +wind, he soon set them adrift full a mile to leeward of the +island. The Indians were furnished with but a single oar +in each boat to steer with, the young sailor well knowing +that by keeping before the wind they would land on the +shores of Canada in the course of the morning. + +Captain Sanglier, Arrowhead, and June alone remained, +when this disposition had been made of the rest of the +party: the former having certain papers to draw up and +sign with Lieutenant Muir, who in his eyes possessed the +virtues which are attached to a commission; and the lat- +ter preferring, for reasons of his own, not to depart in com- +pany with his late friends, the Iroquis. Canoes were de- +tained for the departure of these three, when the proper +moment should arrive. + +In the meantime, or while the _Scud_ was running down +with the boats in tow, Pathfinder and Cap, aided by proper +assistants, busied themselves with preparing a breakfast; +most of the party not having eaten for four-and-twenty +hours. The brief space that passed in this manner before +the _Scud_ came-to again was little interrupted by discourse, +though Pathfinder found leisure to pay a visit to the Ser- +geant, to say a few friendly words to Mabel, and to give +such directions as he thought might smooth the passage of +the dying man. As for Mabel herself, he insisted on her +taking some light refreshment; and, there no longer ex- +isting any motive for keeping it there, he had the guard +removed from the block, in order that the daughter might +have no impediment to her attentions to her father. These +little arrangements completed, our hero returned to the +fire, around which he found all the remainder of the party +assembled, including Jasper. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +You saw but sorrow in its waning form; +A working sea remaining from a storm, +Where now the weary waves roll o'er the deep, +And faintly murmur ere they fall asleep. +DRYDEN. + + +Men accustomed to a warfare like that we have been de- +scribing are not apt to be much under the influence of the +tender feelings while still in the field. Notwithstanding +their habits, however, more than one heart was with Mabel +in the block, while the incidents we are about to relate +were in the course of occurrence; and even the indispen- +sable meal was less relished by the hardiest of the soldiers +than it might have been had not the Sergeant been so near +his end. + +As Pathfinder returned from the block, he was met by +Muir, who led him aside in order to hold a private discourse. +The manner of the Quartermaster had that air of supere- +rogatory courtesy about it which almost invariably denotes +artifice; for, while physiognomy and phrenology are but lame +sciences at the best, and perhaps lead to as many false as +right conclusions, we hold that there is no more infallible +evidence of insincerity of purpose, short of overt acts, than +a face that smiles when there is no occasion, and the tongue +that is out of measure smooth. Muir had much of this +manner in common, mingled with an apparent frankness +that his Scottish intonation of voice, Scottish accent, and +Scottish modes of expression were singularly adapted to +sustain. He owed his preferment, indeed, to a long-exer- +cised deference to Lundie and his family; for, while the +Major himself was much too acute to be the dupe of one +so much his inferior in real talents and attainments, most +persons are accustomed to make liberal concessions to the +flatterer, even while they distrust his truth and are per- +fectly aware of his motives. On the present occasion, the +contest in skill was between two men as completely the +opposites of each other in all the leading essentials of char- +acter as very well could be. Pathfinder was as simple as +the Quartermaster was practised; he was as sincere as the +other was false, and as direct as the last was tortuous. +Both were cool and calculating, and both were brave, +though in different modes and degrees; Muir never expos- +ing his person except for effect, while the guide included +fear among the rational passions, or as a sensation to be +deferred to only when good might come of it. + +"My dearest friend," Muir commenced, -- "for ye'll be +dearer to us all, by seventy and sevenfold, after your late +conduct than ever ye were, -- ye've just established yourself +in this late transaction. It's true that they'll not be mak- +ing ye a commissioned officer, for that species of prefair- +ment is not much in your line, nor much in your wishes, +I'm thinking; but as a guide, and a counsellor, and a loyal +subject, and an expert marksman, yer renown may be said +to be full. I doubt if the commander-in-chief will carry +away with him from America as much credit as will fall to +yer share, and ye ought just to set down in content and +enjoy yoursal' for the remainder of yer days. Get mar- +ried, man, without delay, and look to your precious happi- +ness; for ye've no occasion to look any longer to your +glory. Take Mabel Dunham, for Heaven's sake, to your +bosom, and ye'll have both a bonnie bride and a bonnie +reputation." + +"Why, Quartermaster, this is a new piece of advice to +come from your mouth. They've told me I had a rival in +you." + +"And ye had, man, and a formidible one, too, I can tell +you, -- one that has never yet courted in vain, and yet one +that has courted five times. Lundie twits me with four, +and I deny the charge; but he little thinks the truth would +outdo even his arithmetic. Yes, yes, ye had a rival, Path- +finder; but ye've one no longer in me. Ye've my hearty +wishes for yer success with Mabel; and were the honest +Sergeant likely to survive, ye might rely on my good word +with him, too, for a certainty." + +"I feel your friendship, Quartermaster, I feel your +friendship, though I have no great need of any favor with +Sergeant Dunham, who has long been my friend. I be- +lieve we may look upon the matter to be as sartain as most +things in war-time; for, Mabel and her father consenting, +the whole 55th couldn't very well put a stop to it. Ah's +me! the poor father will scarcely live to see what his heart +has so long been set upon." + +"But he'll have the consolation of knowing it will come +to pass, in dying. Oh, it's a great relief, Pathfinder, for +the parting spirit to feel certain that the beloved ones left +behind will be well provided for after its departure. All +the Mistress Muirs have duly expressed that sentiment +with their dying breaths." + +"All your wives, Quartermaster, have been likely to feel +this consolation." + +"Out upon ye, man! I'd no' thought ye such a wag. +Well, well; pleasant words make no heart-burnings be- +tween auld fri'nds. If I cannot espouse Mabel, ye'll no +object to my esteeming her, and speaking well of her, and +of yoursal', too, on all suitable occasions and in all com- +panies. But, Pathfinder, ye'll easily understan' that a poor +deevil who loses sucha bride will probably stand in need +of some consolation?" + +"Quite likely, quite likely, Quartermaster," returned +the simple-minded guide; "I know the loss of Mabel would +be found heavy to be borne by myself. It may bear hard +on your feelings to see us married; but the death of the +Sergeant will be likely to put it off, and you'll have time +to think more manfully of it, you will." + +"I'll bear up against it; yes, I'll bear up against it, +though my heart-strings crack! and ye might help me, +man, by giving me something to do. Ye'll understand +that this expedition has been of a very peculiar nature; +for here am I, bearing the king's commission, just a volun- +teer, as it might be; while a mere orderly has had the +command. I've submitted for various reasons, though my +blood has boiled to be in authority, while ye war' battling,, +for the honor of the country and his Majesty's rights -- " + +"Quartermaster," interrupted the guide, "you fell so +early into the enemy's hands that your conscience ought +to be easily satisfied on that score; so take my advice, and +say nothing about it." + +"That's just my opinion, Pathfinder; we'll all say noth- +ing about it. Sergeant Dunham is _hors de combat_ -- " + +"Anan?" said the guide. + +"Why, the Sergeant can command no longer, and it will +hardly do to leave a corporal at the head of a victorious +party like this; for flowers that will bloom in a garden +will die on a heath; and I was just thinking I would claim +the authority that belongs to one who holds a lieutenant's +commission. As for the men, they'll no dare to raise any +objaction; and as for yoursal', my dear friend, now that +ye've so much honor, and Mabel, and the consciousness of +having done yer duty, which is more precious than all, I +expect to find an ally rather than one to oppose the +plan." + +"As for commanding the soldiers of the 55th, Lieuten- +ant, it is your right, I suppose, and no one here will be +likely to gainsay it; though you've been a prisoner of war, +and there are men who might stand out ag'in giving up +their authority to a prisoner released by their own deeds. +Still no one here will be likely to say anything hostile to +your wishes." + +"That's just it, Pathfinder; and when I come to draw +up the report of our success against the boats, and the de- +fence of the block, together with the general operations, +including the capitulation, ye'll no' find any omission of +your claims and merits." + +"Tut for my claims and merits, Quartermaster! Lundie +knows what I am in the forest and what I am in the fort; +and the General knows better than he. No fear of me; +tell your own story, only taking care to do justice by +Mabel's father, who, in one sense, is the commanding officer +at this very moment." + +Muir expressed his entire satisfaction with this arrange- +ment, as well as his determination to do justice by all, when +the two went to the group assembled round the fire. Here +the Quartermaster began, for the first time since leaving +Oswego, to assume some of the authority that might prop- +erly be supposed to belong to his rank. Taking the re- +maining corporal aside, he distinctly told that functionary +that he must in future be regarded as one holding the +king's commission, and directed him to acquaint his sub- +ordinates with the new state of things. This change in +the dynasty was effected without any of the usual symp- +toms of a revolution; for, as all well understood the Lieu- +tenant's legal claims to command, no one felt disposed to +dispute his orders. For reasons best known to themselves, +Lundie and the Quartermaster had originally made a differ- +ent disposition; and now, for reasons of his own, the latter +had seen fit to change it. This was reasoning enough for +soldiers, though the hurt received by Sergeant Dunham +would have sufficiently explained the circumstance had an +explanation been required. + +All this time Captain Sanglier was looking after his own +breakfast with the resignation of a philosopher, the cool- +ness of a veteran, the ingenuity and science of a French- +man, and the voracity of an ostrich. This person had now +been in the colony some thirty years, having left France +in some such situation in his own army as Muir filled in +the 55th. An iron constitution, perfect obduracy of feel- +ing, a certain address well suited to manage savages, and +an indomitable courage, had early pointed him out to the +commander-in-chief as a suitable agent to be employed in +directing the military operations of his Indian allies. In +this capacity, then, he had risen to the titular rank of cap- +tain; and with his promotion had acquired a portion of +the habits and opinions of his associates with a facility and +an adaptation of self which are thought in America to be +peculiar to his countrymen. He had often led parties of +the Iroquois in their predatory expeditions; and his con- +duct on such occasions exhibited the contradictory results +of both alleviating the misery produced by this species of +warfare, and of augmenting it by the broader views and +greater resources of civilization. In other words, he +planned enterprises that, in their importance and conse- +quences, much exceeded the usual policy of the Indians, +and then stepped in to lessen some of the evils of his own +creating. In short, he was an adventurer whom cir- +cumstances had thrown into a situation where the callous +qualities of men of his class might readily show themselves +for good or for evil; and he was not of a character to baffle +fortune by any ill-timed squeamishness on the score of +early impressions, or to trifle with her liberality by unnec- +essarily provoking her frowns through wanton cruelty. +Still, as his name was unavoidably connected with many +of the excesses committed by his parties, he was generally +oonsidered in the American provinces a wretch who de- +lighted in bloodshed, and who found his greatest happiness +in tormenting the helpless and the innocent; and the name +of Sanglier, which was a sobriquet of his own adopting, or +of Flint Heart, as he was usually termed on the borders, +had got to be as terrible to the women and children of that +part of the country as those of Butler and Brandt became +at a later day. + +The meeting between Pathfinder and Sanglier bore some +resemblance to that celebrated interview between Welling- +ton and Blucher which has been so often and graphically +told. It took place at the fire; and the parties stood ear- +nestly regarding each other for more than a minute with- +out speaking. Each felt that in the other he saw a formi- +dable foe; and each felt, while he ought to treat the other +with the manly liberality due to a warrior, that there was +little in common between them in the way of character as +well as of interests. One served for money and prefer- +ment; the other, because his life had been cast in the wil- +derness, and the land of his birth needed his arm and ex- +perience. The desire of rising above his present situation +never disturbed the tranquillity of Pathfinder; nor had he +ever known an ambitious thought, as ambition usually +betrays itself, until he became acquainted with Mabel. +Since then, indeed, distrust of himself, reverence for her, +and the wish to place her in a situation above that which +he then filled, had caused him some uneasy moments; but +the directness and simplicity of his character had early +afforded the required relief; and he soon came to feel that +the woman who would not hesitate to accept him for her +husband would not scruple to share his fortunes, however +humble. He respected Sanglier as a brave warrior; and +he had far too much of that liberality which is the result +of practical knowledge to believe half of what he had heard +to his prejudice, for the most bigoted and illiberal on every +subject are usually those who know nothing about it; but +he could not approve of his selfishness, cold-blooded calcu- +lations, and least of all of the manner in which he forgot +his "white gifts," to adopt those that were purely "red." +On the other hand, Pathfinder was a riddle to Captain +Sanglier. The latter could not comprehend the other's +motives; he had often heard of his disinterestedness, jus- +tice, and truth; and in several instances they had led him +into grave errors, on that principle by which a frank and +open-mouthed diplomatist is said to keep his secrets better +than one that is close-mouthed and wily. + +After the two heroes had gazed at each other in the man- +ner mentioned, Monsieur Sanglier touched his cap; for +the rudeness of a border life had not entirely destroyed the +courtesy of manner he had acquired in youth, nor extin- +guished that appearance of _bonhomie_ which seems inbred +in a Frenchman. + +"Monsieur le Pathfinder," said he, with a very decided +accent, though with a friendly smile, "_un militaire_ honor +_le courage, et la loyaute_. You speak Iroquois?" + +"Ay, I understand the language of the riptyles, and can +get along with it if there's occasion," returned the literal +and truth-telling guide; "but it's neither a tongue nor a +tribe to my taste. Wherever you find the Mingo blood, in +my opinion, Master Flinty-heart, you find a knave. Well, +I've seen you often, though it was in battle; and I must +say it was always in the van. You must know most of our +bullets by sight?" + +"Nevvair, sair, your own; _une balle_ from your honorable +hand be sairtaine deat'. You kill my best warrior on some +island." + +"That may be, that may be; though I daresay, if the +truth was known, they would turn out to be great rascals. +No offence to you, Master Flinty-heart, but you keep des- +perate evil company." + +"Yes, sair," returned the Frenchman, who, bent on say- +ing that which was courteous himself, and comprehending +with difficulty, was disposed to think he received a com- +pliment, "you too good. But _un brave_ always _comme ca_. +What that mean? ha! what that _jeune homme_ do?" + +The hand and eye of Captain Sanglier directed the look +of Pathfinder to the opposite side of the fire, where Jasper, +just at that moment, had been rudely seized by two of the +soldiers, who were binding his arms under the direction of +Muir. + +"What does that mean, indeed?" cried the guide, step- +ping forward and shoving the two subordinates away with +a power of muscle that would not be denied. "Who has +the heart to do this to Jasper Eau-douce? and who has +the boldness to do it before my eyes?" + +"It is by my orders, Pathfinder," answered the Quarter- +master, "and I command it on my own responsibility. +Ye'll no' tak' on yourself to disrute the legality of orders +given by one who bears the king's commission to the +king's soldiers?" + +"I'd dispute the king's words, if they came from the +king's own mouth, did he say that Jasper desarves this. +Has not the lad just saved all our scalps, taken us from +defeat, and given us victory? No, no, Lieutenant; if this +is the first use that you make of your authority, I, for +one, will not respect it." + +"This savors a little of insubordination," answered Muir; +"but we can bear much from Pathfinder. It is true this +Jasper has _seemed_ to serve us in this affair, but we ought +not to overlook past transactions. Did not Major Duncan +himself denounce him to Sergeant Dunham before we +left the post? Have we not seen sufficient with our own +eyes to make sure of having been betrayed? and is it not +natural, and almost necessary, to believe that this young +man has been the traitor? Ah, Pathfinder! ye'll no' be +making yourself a great statesman or a great captain if +you put too much faith in appearances. Lord bless me! +Lord bless me! if I do not believe, could the truth be +come at, as you often say yourself, Pathfinder, that hypoc- +risy is a more common vice than even envy, and that's +the bane of human nature." + +Captain Sanglier shrugged his shoulders; then he looked +earnestly from Jasper towards the Quartermaster, and +from the Quartermaster towards Jasper. + +"I care not for your envy, or your hypocrisy, or even for +your human natur'," returned Pathfinder. "Jasper Eau- +douce is my friend; Jasper Eau-douce is a brave lad, and +an honest lad, and a loyal lad; and no man of the 55th +shall lay hands on him, short of Lundie's own orders, +while I'm in the way to prevent it. You may have au- +thority over your soldiers; but you have none over Jasper +and me, Master Muir." + +"_Bon!_" ejaculated Sanglier, the sound partaking equally +of the energies of the throat and of the nose. + +"Will ye no' hearken to reason, Pathfinder? Ye'll no' +be forgetting our suspicions and judgments; and here is +another circumstance to augment and aggravate them all. +Ye can see this little bit of bunting; well, where should +it be found but by Mabel Dunham, on the branch of a tree +on this very island, just an hour or so before the attack +of the enemy; and if ye'll be at the trouble to look at the +fly of the _Scud's_ ensign, ye'll just say that the cloth has +been cut from out it. Circumstantial evidence was never +stronger." + +"_Ma foi, c'est un peu fort, ceci,_" growled Sanglier be- +tween his teeth. + +"Talk to me of no ensigns and signals when I know the +heart," continued the Pathfinder. "Jasper has the gift +of honesty; and it is too rare a gift to be trifled with, like +a Mingo's conscience. No, no; off hands, or we shall see +which can make the stoutest battle; you and your men of +the 55th, or the Sarpent here, and Killdeer, with Jasper +and his crew. You overrate your force, Lieutenant Muir, +as much as you underrate Eau-douce's truth." + +"_Tres bon!_" + +"Well, if I must speak plainly, Pathfinder, I e'en must. +Captain Sanglier here and Arrowhead, this brave Tusca- +rora, have both informed me that this unfortunate boy is +the traitor. After such testimony you can no longer op- +pose my right to correct him, as well as the necessity of +the act." + +"_Scelerat,_" muttered the Frenchman. + +"Captain Sanglier is a brave soldier, and will not gain- +say the conduct of an honest sailor," put in Jasper. "Is +there any traitor here, Captain Flinty-heart?" + +"Ay," added Muir, "let him speak out then, since ye +wish it, unhappy youth! that the truth may be known. I +only hope that ye may escape the last punishment when a +court will be sitting on your misdeeds. How is it, Cap- +tain; do ye, or do ye not, see a traitor amang us?" + +"_Oui_ -- yes, sair -- _bien sur_." + +"Too much lie!" said Arrowhead in a voice of thunder, +striking the breast of Muir with the back of his own hand +in a sort of ungovernable gesture; "where my warriors? +- where Yengeese scalp? Too much lie!" + +Muir wanted not for personal courage, nor for a certain +sense of personal honor. The violence which had been in- +tended only for a gesture he mistook for a blow; for con- +science was suddenly aroused within him, and he stepped +back a pace, extending his hand towards a gun. His face +was livid with rage, and his countenance expressed the +fell intention of his heart. But Arrowhead was too quick +for him; with a wild glance of the eye the Tuscarora looked +about him; then thrust a hand beneath his own girdle, +drew forth a concealed knife, and, in the twinkling of an +eye, buried it in the body of the Quartermaster to the +handle. As the latter fell at his feet, gazing into his face +with the vacant stare of one surprised by death, Sanglier +took a pinch of snuff, and said in a calm voice, -- + +"_Voila l'affaire finie; mais,_" shrugging his shoulders, +"_ce n'est qu'un scelerat de moins._" + +The act was too sudden to be prevented; and when Ar- +rowhead, uttering a yell, bounded into the bushes, the +white men were too confounded to follow. Chingach- +gook, however, was more collected; and the bushes had +scarcely closed on the passing body of the Tuscarora than +they were again opened by that of the Delaware in full +pursuit. + +Jasper Western spoke French fluently, and the words +and manner of Sanglier struck him. + +"Speak, Monsieur," said he in English; "_am_ I the +traitor?" + +"_Le voila_," answered the cool Frenchman, "dat is our +_espion_ -- our _agent_ -- our friend -- _ma foi_ -- _c'etait un grand +scelerat_ -- _voici_." + +While speaking, Sanglier bent over the dead body, and +thrust his hand into a pocket of the Quartermaster, out of +which he drew a purse. Emptying the contents on the +ground, several double-louis rolled towards the soldiers, +who were not slow in picking them up. Casting the purse +from him in contempt, the soldier of fortune turned +towards the soup he had been preparing with so much +care, and, finding it to his liking, he began to break his +fast with an air of indifference that the most stoical In- +dian warrior might have envied. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +The only amaranthian flower on earth +Is virtue; the only lasting treasure, truth. +COWPER. + + +The reader must imagine some of the occurrences that +followed the sudden death of Muir. While his body was +in the hands of his soldiers, who laid it decently aside, and +covered it with a greatcoat, Chingachgook silently resumed +his place at the fire, and both Sanglier and Pathfinder re- +marked that he carried a fresh and bleeding scalp at his +girdle. No one asked any questions; and the former, +although perfectly satisfied that Arrowhead had fallen, +manifested neither curiosity nor feeling. He continued +calmly eating his soup, as if the meal had been tranquil as +usual. There was something of pride and of an assumed +indifference to fate, imitated from the indians, in all this; +but there was more that really resulted from practice, habi- +tual self-command, and constitutional hardihood. With +Pathfinder the case was a little different in feeling, though +much the same in appearance. He disliked Muir, whose +smooth-tongued courtesy was little in accordance with his +own frank and ingenuous nature; but he had been shocked +at his unexpected and violent death, though accustomed +to similar scenes, and he had been surprised at the expos- +ure of his treachery. With a view to ascertain the extent +of the latter, as soon as the body was removed, he began +to question the Captain on the subject. The latter, hav- +ing no particular motive for secrecy now that his agent +was dead, in the course of the breakfast revealed the fol- +lowing circumstances, which will serve to clear up some of +the minor incidents of our tale. + +Soon after the 55th appeared on the frontiers, Muir had +volunteered his services to the enemy. In making his +offers, he boasted of his intimacy with Lundie, and of the +means it afforded of furnishing more accurate and impor- +tant information than usual. His terms had been ac- +cepted, and Monsieur Sanglier had several interviews with +him in the vicinity of the fort at Oswego, and had actu- +ally passed one entire night secreted in the garrison. Ar- +rowhead, however, was the usual channel of communica- +tion; and the anonymous letter to Major Duncan had been +originally written by Muir, transmitted to Frontenac, +copied, and sent back by the Tuscarora, who was return- +ing from that errand when captured by the _Scud_. It is +scarcely necessary to add that Jasper was to be sacrificed +in order to conceal the Quartermaster's treason, and that +the position of the island had been betrayed to the enemy +by the latter. An extraordinary compensation -- that which +was found in his purse -- had induced him to accompany +the party under Sergeant Dunham, in order to give the +signals that were to bring on the attack. The disposition +of Muir towards the sex was a natural weakness, and he +would have married Mabel, or any one else who would ac- +cept his hand; but his admiration of her was in a great +degree feigned, in order that he might have an excuse for +accompanying the party without sharing in the responsi- +bility of its defeat, or incurring the risk of having no +other strong and seemingly sufficient motive. Much of +this was known to Captain Sanglier, particularly the part +in connection with Mabel, and he did not fail to let his +auditors into the whole secret, frequently laughing in a +sarcastic manner, as he revealed the different expedients +of the luckless Quartermaster. + +"_Touchez-la_," said the cold-blooded partisan, holding +out his sinewy hand to Pathfinder, when he ended his ex- +planations; "you be _honnete_, and dat is _beaucoup_. We +tak' de spy as we tak' _la medicine_, for de good; _mais, je les +deteste! Touchez-la._" + +"I'll shake your hand, Captain, I will; for you're a law- +ful and nat'ral inimy," returned Pathfinder, "and a man- +ful one; but the body of the Quartermaster shall never +disgrace English ground. I did intend to carry it back to +Lundie that he might play his bagpipes over it, but now +it shall lie here on the spot where he acted his villainy, and +have his own treason for a headstone. Captain Flintyheart, +I suppose this consorting with traitors is a part of a sol- +dier's regular business; but, I tell you honestly, it is not +to my liking, and I'd rather it should be you than I who +had this affair on his conscience. What an awful sinner! +To plot, right and left, ag'in country, friends, and the +Lord! Jasper, boy, a word with you aside, for a single +minute." + +Pathfinder now led the young man apart; and, squeez- +ing his hand, with the tears in his own eyes, he continued: + +"You know me, Eau-douce, and I know you," said he, +"and this news has not changed my opinion of you in any +manner. I never believed their tales, though it looked +solemn at one minute, I will own; yes, it did look solemn, +and it made me feel solemn too. I never suspected you +for a minute, for I know your gifts don't lie that-a-way; +but, I must own, I didn't suspect the Quartermaster +neither." + +"And he holding his Majesty's commission, Pathfinder!" + +"It isn't so much that, Jasper Western, it isn't so much +that. He held a commission from God to act right, and to +deal fairly with his fellow-creaturs, and he has failed +awfully in his duty." + +"To think of his pretending love for one like Mabel, +too, when he felt none." + +"That was bad, sartainly; the fellow must have had +Mingo blood in his veins. The man that deals unfairly +by a woman can be but a mongrel, lad; for the Lord has +made them helpless on purpose that we may gain their +love by kindness and sarvices. Here is the Sergeant, poor +man, on his dying bed; he has given me his daughter for +a wife, and Mabel, dear girl, she has consented to it; and +it makes me feel that I have two welfares to look after, two +naturs to care for, and two hearts to gladden. Ah's me, +Jasper! I sometimes feel that I'm not good enough for +that sweet child!" + +Eau-douce had nearly gasped for breath when he first +heard this intelligence; and, though he succeeded in sup- +pressing any other outward signs of agitation, his cheek +was blanched nearly to the paleness of death. Still he +found means to answer not only with firmness, but with +energy, -- + +"Say not so, Pathfinder; you are good enough for a +queen." + +"Ay, ay, boy, according to your idees of my goodness; +that is to say, I can kill a deer, or even a Mingo at need, +with any man on the lines; or I can follow a forest-path +with as true an eye, or read the stars, when others do not +understand them. No doubt, no doubt, Mabel will have +venison enough, and fish enough, and pigeons enough; +but will she have knowledge enough, and will she have +idees enough, and pleasant conversation enough, when life +comes to drag a little, and each of us begins to pass for our +true value?" + +"If you pass for your value, Pathfinder, the greatest lady +in the land would be happy with you. On that head you +have no reason to feel afraid." + +"Now, Jasper, I dare to say _you_ think so, nay, I _know_ +you do; for it is nat'ral, and according to friendship, for +people to look over-favorably at them they love. Yes, yes; +if I had to marry you, boy, I should give myself no con- +sarn about my being well looked upon, for you have always +shown a disposition to see me and all I do with friendly +eyes. But a young gal, after all, must wish to marry a +man that is nearer to her own age and fancies, than to +have one old enough to be her father, and rude enough to +frighten her. I wonder, Jasper, that Mabel never took a +fancy to you, now, rather than setting her mind on me." + +"Take, a fancy to me, Pathfinder!" returned the young +man, endeavoring to clear his voice without betraying +himself; "what is there about me to please such a girl as +Mabel Dunham? I have all that you find fault with in +yourself, with none of that excellence that makes even the +generals respect you." + +"Well, well, it's all chance, say what we will about it. +Here have I journeyed and guided through the woods fe- +male after female, and consorted with them in the garri- +sons, and never have I even felt an inclination for any, +until I saw Mabel Dunham. It's true the poor Sergeant +first set me to thinking about his daughter; but after we +got a little acquainted like, I'd no need of being spoken +to, to think of her night and day. I'm tough, Jasper; yes, +I'm very tough; and I'm risolute enough, as you all know; +and yet I do think it would quite break me down, now, to +lose Mabel Dunham!" + +"We will talk no more of it, Pathfinder," said Jasper, +returning his friend's squeeze of the hand, and moving +back towards the fire, though slowly, and in the manner +of one who cared little where he went; "we will talk no +more of it. You are worthy of Mabel, and Mabel is worthy +of you -- you like Mabel, and Mabel likes you -- her father +has chosen you for her husband, and no one has a right to +interfere. As for the Quartermaster, his feigning love for +Mabel is worse even than his treason to the king." + +By this time they were so near the fire that it was neces- +sary to change the conversation. Luckily, at that instant, +Cap, who had been in the block in company with his dy- +ing brother-in-law, and who knew nothing of what had +passed since the capitulation, now appeared, walking with +a meditative and melancholy air towards the group. Much +of that hearty dogmatism, that imparted even to his ordi- +nary air and demeanor an appearance of something like +contempt for all around him, had disappeared, and he +seemed thoughtful, if not meek. + +"This death, gentlemen," said he, when ho had got suffi- +ciently near, "is a melancholy business, make the best of +it. Now, here is Sergeant Dunham, a very good soldier, I +make no question, about to slip his cable; and yet he holds +on to the better end of it, as if he was determined it should +never run out of the hawse-hole; and all because he loves +his daughter, it seems to me. For my part, when a friend +is really under the necessity of making a long journey, I +always wish him well and happily off." + +"You wouldn't kill the Sergeant before his time?" Path- +finder reproachfully answered. "Life is sweet, even to the +aged; and, for that matter, I've known some that seemed +to set much store by it when it got to be of the least value." + +Nothing had been further from Cap's real thoughts than +the wish to hasten his brother-in-law's end. He had found +himself embarrassed with the duties of smoothing a death- +bed, and all he had meant was to express a sincere desire +that the Sergeant were happily rid of doubt and suffering. +A little shocked, therefore, at the interpretation that had +been put on his words, he rejoined with some of the asper- +ity of the man, though rebuked by a consciousness of not +having done his own wishes justice. "You are too old and +too sensible a person, Pathfinder," said be, "to fetch a man +up with a surge, when he is paying out his ideas in dis- +tress, as it might be. Sergeant Dunham is both my +brother-in-law and my friend, -- that is to say, as intimate +a friend as a soldier well can be with a seafaring man, -- and +I respect and honor him accordingly. I make no doubt, +moreover, that he has lived such a life as becomes a man, +and there can be no great harm, after all, in wishing any +one well berthed in heaven. Well! we are mortal, the best +of us, that you'll not deny; and it ought to be a lesson +not to feel pride in our strength and beauty. Where is +the Quartermaster, Pathfinder? It is proper he should +come and have a parting word with the poor Sergeant, who +is only going a little before us." + +"You have spoken more truth, Master Cap, than you've +been knowing to, all this time. You might have gone +further, notwithstanding, and said that we are mortal, the +_worst_ of us; which is quite as true, and a good deal more +wholesome, than saying that we are mortal, the _best_ of us. +As for the Quartermaster's coming to speak a parting +word to the Sergeant, it is quite out of the question, seeing +that he has gone ahead, and that too with little parting +notice to himself, or to any one else." + +"You are not quite so clear as common in your language, +Pathfinder. I know that we ought all to have solemn +thoughts on these occasions, but I see no use in speaking +in parables." + +"If my words are not plain, the idee is. In short, Mas- +ter Cap, while Sergeant Dunham has been preparing him- +self for a long journey, like a conscientious and honest +man as he is, deliberately, the Quartermaster has started, +in a hurry, before him; and, although it is a matter on +which it does not become me to be very positive, I give it +as my opinion that they travel such different roads that +they will never meet." + +"Explain yourself, my friend," said the bewildered sea- +man, looking around him in search of Muir, whose absence +began to excite his distrust. "I see nothing of the Quar- +termaster; but I think him too much of a man to run +away, now that the victory is gained. If the fight were +ahead instead of in our wake, the case would be altered." + +"There lies all that is left of him, beneath that great- +coat," returned the guide, who then briefly related the +manner of the Lieutenant's death. "The Tuscarora was +as venemous in his blow as a rattler, though he failed to +give the warning," continued Pathfinder. "I've seen +many a desperate fight, and several of these sudden out- +breaks of savage temper; but never before did I see a hu- +man soul quit the body more unexpectedly, or at a worse +moment for the hopes of the dying man. His breath was +stopped with the lie on his lips, and the spirit might be +said to have passed away in the very ardor of wickedness." + +Cap listened with a gaping mouth; and he gave two or +three violent hems, as the other concluded, like one who +distrusted his own respiration. + +"This is an uncertain and uncomfortable life of yours, +Master Pathfinder, what between the fresh water and the +savages," said he; "and the sooner I get quit of it, the +higher will be my opinion of myself. Now you mention +it, I will say that the man ran for that berth in the rocks, +when the enemy first bore down upon us, with a sort of +instinct that I thought surprising in an officer; but I was +in too great a hurry to follow, to log the whole matter ac- +curately. God bless me! God bless me! -- a traitor, do you +say, and ready to sell his country, and to a rascally French- +man too?" + +"To sell anything; country, soul, body, Mabel, and all +our scalps; and no ways particular, I'll engage, as to the +purchaser. The countrymen of Captain Flinty-heart here +were the paymasters this time." + +"Just like 'em; ever ready to buy when they can't +thrash, and to run when they can do neither." + +Monsieur Sanglier lifted his cap with ironical gravity, +and acknowledged the compliment with an expression of +polite contempt that was altogether lost on its insensible +subject. But Pathfinder had too much native courtesy, +and was far too just-minded, to allow the attack to go un- +noticed. + +"Well, well," he interposed, "to my mind there is no +great difference 'atween an Englishman and a Frenchman, +after all. They talk different tongues, and live under +different kings, I will allow; but both are human, and +feel like human beings, when there is occasion for it." + +Captain Flinty-heart, as Pathfinder called him, made +another obeisance; but this time the smile was friendly, +and not ironical; for he felt that the intention was good, +whatever might have been the mode of expressing it. Too +philosophical, however, to heed what a man like Cap +might say or think, he finished his breakfast, without al- +lowing his attention to be again diverted from that im- +portant pursuit. + +"My business here was principally with the Quarter- +master," Cap continued, as soon as he had done regarding +the prisoner's pantomime. "The Sergeant must be near +his end, and I have thought he might wish to say some- +thing to his successor in authority before he finally de- +parted. It is too late, it would seem; and, as you say, +Pathfinder, the Lieutenant has truly gone before." + +"That he has, though on a different path. As for au- +thority, I suppose the Corporal has now a right to com- +mand what's left of the 55th; though a small and worried, +not to say frightened, party it is. But, if anything needs +to be done, the chances are greatly in favor of my being +called on to do it. I suppose, however, we have only to +bury our dead; set fire to the block and the huts, for they +stand in the inimy's territory by position, if not by law, +and must not be left for their convenience. Our using +them again is out of the question; for, now the Frenchers +know where the island is to be found, it would be like +thrusting the hand into a wolf-trap with our eyes wide +open. This part of the work the Sarpent and I will see +to, for we are as practysed in retreats as in advances." + +"All that is very well, my good friend. And now for +my poor brother-in-law: though he is a soldier, we cannot +let him slip without a word of consolation and a leave- +taking, in my judgment. This has been an unlucky affair +on every tack; though I suppose it is what one had a right +to expect, considering the state of the times and the na- +ture of the navigation. We must make the best of it, and +try to help the worthy man to unmoor, without straining +his messengers. Death is a circumstance, after all, Master +Pathfinder, and one of a very general character too, seeing +that we must all submit to it, sooner or later." + +"You say truth, you say truth; and for that reason I +hold it to be wise to be always ready. I've often thought, +Saltwater, that he is the happiest who has the least to leave +behind him when the summons comes. Now, here am I, +a hunter and a scout and a guide, although I do not own a +foot of land on 'arth, yet do I enjoy and possess more than +the great Albany Patroon. With the heavens over my head +to keep me in mind of the last great hunt, and the dried +leaves beneath my feet, I tramp over the ground as freely +as if I was its lord and owner; and what more need heart +desire? I do not say that I love nothing that belongs to +'arth; for I do, though not much, unless it might be Mabel +Dunham, that I can't carry with me. I have some pups +at the higher fort that I vally considerable, though they +are too noisy for warfare, and so we are compelled to live +separate for awhile; and then I think it would grieve me +to part with Killdeer; but I see no reason why we should +not be buried in the same grave, for we are as near as can +be of the same length -- six feet to a hair's breadth; but, +bating these, and a pipe that the Sarpent gave me, and a +few tokens received from travellers, all of which might be +put in a pouch and laid under my head, when the order +comes to march I shall be ready at a minute's warning; +and, let me tell you, Master Cap, that's what I call a cir- +cumstance too." + +"'Tis just so with me," answered the sailor, as the two +walked towards the block, too much occupied with their +respective morality to remember at the moment the mel- +ancholy errand they were on; "that's just my way of feel- +ing and reasoning. How often have I felt, when near +shipwreck, the relief of not owning the craft! 'If she +goes,' I have said to myself, 'why, my life goes with her, +but not my property, and there's great comfort in that.' +I've discovered, in the course of boxing about the world +from the Horn to Cape North, not to speak of this run on +a bit of fresh water, that if a man has a few dollars, and +puts them in a chest under lock and key, he is pretty cer- +tain to fasten up his heart in the same till; and so I carry +pretty much all I own in a belt round my body, in order, +as I say, to keep the vitals in the right place. D--- me, +Pathfinder, if I think a man without a heart any better +than a fish with a hole in his air-bag." + +"I don't know how that may be, Master Cap; but a man +without a conscience is but a poor creatur', take my word +for it, as any one will discover who has to do with a Mingo. +I trouble myself but little with dollars or half-joes, for +these are the favoryte coin in this part of the world; but +I can easily believe, by what I've seen of mankind, that if +a man _has_ a chest filled with either, he may be said to lock +up his heart in the same box. I once hunted for two sum- +mers, during the last peace, and I collected so much peltry +that I found my right feelings giving way to a craving +after property; and if I have consarn in marrying Mabel, +it is that I may get to love such things too well, in order +to make her comfortable." + +"You're a philosopher, that's clear, Pathfinder; and I +don't know but you're a Christian." + +"I should be out of humor with the man that gainsayed +the last, Master Cap. I have not been Christianized by +the Moravians, like so many of the Delawares, it is true; +but I hold to Christianity and white gifts. With me, it is +as on-creditable for a white man not to be a Christian as +it is for a red-skin not to believe in his happy hunting- +grounds; indeed, after allowing for difference in traditions, +and in some variations about the manner in which the +spirit will be occupied after death, I hold that a good Dela- +ware is a good Christian, though he never saw a Moravian; +and a good Christian a good Delaware, so far as natur 'is +consarned. The Sarpent and I talk these matters over +often, for he has a hankerin' after Christianity -- " + +"The d---l he has!" interrupted Cap. "And what does +he intend to do in a church with all the scalps he takes?" + +"Don't run away with a false idee, friend Cap, don't run +away with a false idee. These things are only skin-deep, +and all depend on edication and nat'ral gifts. Look +around you at mankind, and tell me why you see a red +warrior here, a black one there, and white armies in an- +other place? All this, and a great deal more of the same +kind that I could point out, has been ordered for some +special purpose; and it is not for us to fly in the face of +facts and deny their truth. No, no; each color has its +gifts, and its laws, and its traditions; and one is not to +condemn another because he does not exactly comprehend +it." + +"You must have read a great deal, Pathfinder, to see +things so clear as this," returned Cap, not a little mystified +by his companion's simple creed. "It's all as plain as day +to me now, though I must say I never fell in with these +opinions before. What denomination do you belong to, +my friend?" + +"Anan?" + +"What sect do you hold out for? What particular +church do you fetch up in?" + +"Look about you, and judge for yourself. I'm in church +now; I eat in church, drink in church, sleep in church. +The 'arth is the temple of the Lord, and I wait on Him +hourly, daily, without ceasing, I humbly hope. No, no, +I'll not deny my blood and color; but am Christian born, +and shall die in the same faith. The Moravians tried me +hard; and one of the King's chaplains has had his say too, +though that's a class no ways strenuous on such matters; +and a missionary sent from Rome talked much with me, +as I guided him through the forest, during the last peace; +but I've had one answer for them all -- I'm a Christian al- +ready, and want to be neither Moravian, nor Churchman, +nor Papist. No, no, I'll not deny my birth and blood." + +"I think a word from you might lighten the Sergeant +over the shoals of death, Master Pathfinder. He has no +one with him but poor Mabel; and she, you know, besides +being his daughter, is but a girl and a child after all." + +"Mabel is feeble in body, friend Cap; but in matters of +this natur' I dou bt if she may not be stronger than most +men. But Sergeant Dunham is my friend, and he is your +brother-in-law; so, now the press of fighting and main- +taining our rights is over, it is fitting we should both go +and witness his departure. I've stood by many a dying +man, Master Cap," continued Pathfinder, who had a be- +setting propensity to enlarge on his experience, stopping +and holding his companion by a button, -- "I've stood by +many a dying man's side, and seen his last gasp, and heard +his last breath; for, when the hurry and tumult of the +battle is over, it is good to bethink us of the misfortunate, +and it is remarkable to witness how differently human +natur' feels at such solemn moments. Some go their way +as stupid and ignorant as if God had never given them +reason and an accountable state; while others quit us re- +joicing, like men who leave heavy burthens behind them. +I think that the mind sees clearly at such moments, my +friend, and that past deeds stand thick before the recollec- +tion." + +"I'll engage they do, Pathfinder. I have witnessed +something of this myself, and hope I'm the better man +for it. I remember once that I thought my own time had +come, and the log was overhauled with a diligence I did +not think myself capable of until that moment. I've not +been a very great sinner, friend Pathfinder; that is to say, +never on a large scale; though I daresay, if the truth were +spoken, a considerable amount of small matters might be +raked up against me, as well as against another man; but +then, I've never committed piracy, nor high treason, nor +arson, nor any of them sort of things. As to smuggling, +and the like of that, why, I'm a seafaring man, and I sup- +pose all callings have their weak spots. I daresay your +trade is not altogether without blemish, honorable and use- +ful as it seems to be?" + +"Many of the scouts and guides are desperate knaves; +and, like the Quartermaster here, some of them take pay +of both sides. I hope I'm not one of them, though all oc- +cupations lead to temptations. Thrice have I been sorely +tried in my life, and once I yielded a little, though I hope +it was not in a matter to disturb a man's conscience in his +last moments. The first time was when I found in the +woods a pack of skins that I knowed belonged to a Frencher +who was hunting on our side of the lines, where he had +no business to be; twenty-six as handsome beavers as ever +gladdened human eyes. Well, that was a sore tempta- +tion; for I thought the law would have been almost with +me, although it was in peace times. But then, I remem- +bered that such laws wasn't made for us hunters, and be- +thought me that the poor man might have built great +expectations for the next winter on the sale of his skins; +and I left them where they lay. Most of our people said +I did wrong; but the manner in which I slept that night +convinced me that I had done right. The next trial was +when I found the rifle that is sartainly the only one in this +part of the world that can be calculated on as surely as +Killdeer, and knowed that by taking it, or even hiding it, +I might at once rise to be the first shot in all these parts. +I was then young, and by no means so expart as I have +since got to be, and youth is ambitious and striving; but, +God be praised! I mastered that feeling; and, friend Cap, +what is almost as good, I mastered my rival in as fair a +shooting-match as was ever witnessed in a garrison; he +with his piece, and I with Killdeer, and before the Gene- +ral in person too!" Here Pathfinder stopped to laugh, his +triumph still glittering in his eyes and glowing on his sun- +burnt and browned cheek. "Well, the next conflict with +the devil was the hardest of them all; and that was when +I came suddenly upon a camp of six Mingos asleep in the +woods, with their guns and horns piled in away that en- +abled me to get possession of them without waking a mis- +creant of them all. What an opportunity that would have +been for the Sarpent, who would have despatched them, +one after another, with his knife, and had their six scalps +at his girdle, in about the time it takes me to tell you the +story. Oh, he's a valiant warrior, that Chingachgook, and +as honest as he's brave, and as good as he's honest!" + +"And what may _you_ have done in this matter, Master +Pathfinder?" demanded Cap, who began to be interested +in the result; "it seems to me you had made either a very +lucky, or a very unlucky landfall." + +"'Twas lucky, and 'twas unlucky, if you can understand +that. 'Twas unlucky, for it proved a desperate trial; and +yet 'twas lucky, all things considered, in the ind. I did +not touch a hair of their heads, for a white man has no +nat'ral gifts to take scalps; nor did I even make sure of +one of their rifles. I distrusted myself, knowing that a +Mingo is no favorite in my own eyes." + +"As for the scalps, I think you were right enough, my +worthy friend; but as for the armament and the stores, +they would have been condemned by any prize-court in +Christendom." + +"That they would, that they would; but then the Mingos +would have gone clear, seeing that a white man can no +more attack an unarmed than a sleeping inimy. No, no, +I did myself, and my color, and my religion too, greater +justice. I waited till their nap was over, and they well on +their war-path again; and, by ambushing them here and +flanking them there, I peppered the blackguards intrinsi- +cally like" (Pathfinder occasionally caught a fine word +from his associates, and used it a little vaguely), "that only +one ever got back to his village, and he came into his wig- +wam limping. Luckily, as it turned out, the great Dela- +ware had only halted to jerk some venison, and was follow- +ing on my trail; and when he got up he had five of the +scoundrels' scalps hanging where they ought to be; so, you +see, nothing was lost by doing right, either in the way of +honor or in that of profit." + +Cap grunted an assent, though the distinctions in his +companion's morality, it must be owned, were not exactly +clear to his understanding. The two had occasionally +moved towards the block as they conversed, and then +stopped again as some matter of more interest than com- +mon brought them to a halt. They were now so near the +building, however, that neither thought of pursuing the +subject any further; but each prepared himself for the final +scene with Sergeant Dunham. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +Thou barraine ground, whom winter's wrath hath wasted, + Art made a mirror to behold my plight: +Whilome thy fresh spring flower'd: and after hasted + Thy summer proude, with daffodillies dight; +And now is come thy winter's stormy state, +Thy mantle mar'd wherein thou maskedst late. +SPENSER. + + +Although the soldier may regard danger and even +death with indifference in the tumult of battle, when the +passage of the soul is delayed to moments of tranquillity +and reflection the change commonly brings with it the +usual train of solemn reflections; of regrets for the past, +and of doubts and anticipations for the future. Many a +man has died with a heroic expression on his lips, but with +heaviness and distrust at his heart; for, whatever may be +the varieties of our religious creeds, let us depend on the +mediation of Christ, the dogmas of Mahomet, or the elab- +orated allegories of the East, there is a conviction, common +to all men, that death is but the stepping-stone between +this and a more elevated state of being. Sergeant Dun- +ham was a brave man; but he was departing for a country +in which resolution could avail him nothing; and as he +felt himself gradually loosened from the grasp of the world, +his thoughts and feelings took the natural direction; for +if it be true that death is the great leveller, in nothing is +it more true than that it reduces all to the same views of +the vanity of life. + +Pathfinder, though a man of peculiar habits and opin- +ions, was always thoughtful, and disposed to view the +things around him with a shade of philosophy, as well as +with seriousness. In him, therefore, the scene in the +blockhouse awakened no very novel feelings. But the +case was different with Cap: rude, opinionated, dogmati- +cal, and boisterous, the old sailor was little accustomed to +view even death with any approach to the gravity which +its importance demands; and notwithstanding all that had +passed, and his real regard for his brother-in-law, he now +entered the room of the dying man with much of that +callous unconcern which was the fruit of long training in +a school that, while it gives so many lessons in the sublim- +est truths, generally wastes its admonitions on scholars +who are little disposed to profit by them. + +The first proof that Cap gave of his not entering so fully +as those around him into the solemnity of the moment, +was by commencing a narration of the events which had +just led to the deaths of Muir and Arrowhead. "Both +tripped their anchors in a hurry, brother Dunham," he +concluded; "and you have the consolation of knowing +that others have gone before you in the great journey, and +they, too, men whom you've no particular reason to love; +which to me, were I placed in your situation, would be a +source of very great satisfaction. My mother always said, +Master Pathfinder, that dying people's spirits should not +be damped, but that they ought to be encouraged by all +proper and prudent means; and this news will give the +poor fellow a great lift, if he feels towards them savages +any way as I feel myself." + +June arose at this intelligence, and stole from the block- +house with a noiseless step. Dunham listened with a va- +cant stare, for life had already lost so many of its ties that +he had really forgotten Arrowhead, and cared nothing for +Muir; but he inquired, in a feeble voice, for Eau-douce. +The young man was immediately summoned, and soon +made his appearance. The Sergeant gazed at him kindly, +and the expression of his eyes was that of regret for the +injury he had done him in thought. The party in the +blockhouse now consisted of Pathfinder, Cap, Mabel, Jas- +por, and the dying man. With the exception of the daugh- +ter, all stood around the Sergeant's pallet, in attendance +in his last moments. Mabel kneeled at his side, now press- +ing a clammy hand to her head, now applying moisture to +the parched lips of her father. + +"Your case will shortly be ourn, Sergeant," said Path- +finder, who could hardly be said to be awestruck by the +scene, for he had witnessed the approach and victories of +death too often for that; but who felt the full difference +between his triumphs in the excitement of battle and in +the quiet of the domestic circle; "and I make no question +we shall meet ag'in hereafter. Arrowhead has gone his +way, 'tis true; but it can never be the way of a just In- +dian. You've seen the last of him, for his path cannot be +the path of the just. Reason is ag'in the thought in his +case, as it is also, in my judgment, ag'in it too in the case +of Lieutenant Muir. You have done your duty in life; +and when a man does that, he may start on the longest +journey with a light heart and an actyve foot." + +"I hope so, my friend: I've tried to do my duty." + +"Ay, ay," put in Cap; "intention is half the battle; and +though you would have done better had you hove-to in +the offing and sent a craft in to feel how the land lay, things +might have turned out differently: no one here doubts +that you meant all for the best, and no one anywhere else, +I should think, from what I've seen of this world and read +of t'other." + +"I did; yes. I meant all for the best." + +"Father! Oh, my beloved father!" + +"Magnet is taken aback by this blow, Master Pathfinder, +and can say or do but little to carry her father over the +shoals; so we must try all the harder to serve him a +friendly turn ourselves." + +"Did you speak, Mabel?" Dunham asked, turning his +eyes in the direction of his daughter, for he was already +too feeble to turn his body. + +"Yes, father; rely on nothing you have done yourself +for mercy and salvation; trust altogether in the blessed +mediation of the Son of God!" + +"The chaplain has told us something like this, brother. +The dear child may be right." + +"Ay, ay, that's doctrine, out of question. He will be +our Judge, and keeps the log-book of our acts, and will +foot them all up at the last day, and then say who has +done well and who has done ill. I do believe Mabel is +right; but then you need not be concerned, as no doubt +the account has been fairly kept." + +"Uncle! -- dearest father! this is a vain illusion! Oh, place +all your trust in the mediation of our Holy Redeemer! +Have you not often felt your own insufficiency to effect +your own wishes in the commonest things? and how can +you imagine yourself, by your own acts, equal to raise up +a frail and sinful nature sufficiently to be received into the +presence of perfect purity? There is no hope for any but +in the mediation of Christ!" + +"This is what the Moravians used to tell us," said Path- +finder to Cap in a low voice; "rely on it, Mabel is right." + +"Right enough, friend Pathfinder, in the distances, but +wrong in the course. I'm afraid the child will get the +Sergeant adrift, at the very moment when we had him in +the best of the water and in the plainest part of the chan- +nel." + +"Leave it to Mabel, leave it to Mabel; she knows better +than any of us, and can do no harm." + +"I have heard this before," Dunham at length replied. +"Ah, Mabel! it is strange for the parent to lean on the +child at a moment like this!" + +"Put your trust in God, father; lean on His holy and +compassionate Son. Pray, dearest, dearest father; pray +for His omnipotent support." + +"I am not used to prayer. Brother, Pathfinder -- Jasper, +can you help me to words?" + +Cap scarcely knew what prayer meant, and he had no +answer to give. Pathfinder prayed often, daily, if not +hourly; but it was mentally, in his own simple modes of +thinking, and without the aid of words at all. In this +strait, therefore, he was as useless as the mariner, and had +no reply to make. As for Jasper Eau-douce, though he +would gladly have endeavored to move a mountain to re- +lieve Mabel, this was asking assistance it exceeded his +power to give; and he shrank back with the shame that is +only too apt to overcome the young and vigorous, when +called on to perform an act that tacitly confesses their +real weakness and dependence on a superior power. + +"Father," said Mabel, wiping her eyes, and endeavoring +to compose features that were pallid, and actually quiver- +ing with emotion, "I will pray with you, for you, for _my- +self_; for us _all_. The petition of the feeblest and humblest +is never unheeded." + +There was something sublime, as well as much that was +supremely touching, in this act of filial piety. The quiet +but earnest manner in which this young creature prepared +herself to perform the duty; the self-abandonment with +which she forgot her sex's timidity and sex's shame, in +order to sustain her parent at that trying moment; the +loftiness of purpose with which she directed all her powers +to the immense object before her, with a woman's devotion +and a woman's superiority to trifles, when her affections +make the appeal; and the holy calm into which her grief +was compressed, rendered her, for the moment, an object +of something very like awe and veneration to her compan- +ions. + +Mabel had been religiously educated; equally without +exaggeration and without self-sufficiency. Her reliance on +God was cheerful and full of hope, while it was of the +humblest and most dependent nature. She had been ac- +customed from childhood to address herself to the Deity +in prayer; taking example from the Divine mandate of +Christ Himself, who commanded His followers to abstain +from vain repetitions, and who has left behind Him a pe- +tition which is unequalled for sublimity, as if expressly to +rebuke the disposition of man to set up his own loose and +random thoughts as the most acceptable sacrifice. The +sect in which she had been reared has furnished to its fol- +lowers some of the most beautiful compositions in the lan- +guage, as a suitable vehicle for its devotion and solicitations. +Accustomed to this mode of public and even private +prayer, the mind of our heroine had naturally fallen into +its train of lofty thought; her task had become improved +by its study, and her language elevated and enriched by +its phrases. When she kneeled at the bedside of her +father, the very reverence of her attitude and manner pre- +pared the spectators for what was to come; and as her +affectionate heart prompted her tongue, and memory came +in aid of both, the petition and praises that she offered up +were of a character which might have worthily led the +spirits of angels. Although the words were not slavishly +borrowed, the expressions partook of the simple dignity of +the liturgy to which she had been accustomed, and was +probably as worthy of the Being to whom they were ad- +dressed as they could well be made by human powers. +They produced their full impression on the hearers; for it +is worthy of remark, that, notwithstanding the pernicious +effects of a false taste when long submitted to, real sub- +limity and beauty are so closely allied to nature that they +generally find an echo in every heart. + +But when our heroine came to touch upon the situation +of the dying man, she became the most truly persuasive; +for then she was the most truly zealous and natural. The +beauty of the language was preserved, but it was sustained +by the simple power of love; and her words were warmed +by a holy zeal, that approached to the grandeur of true elo- +quence. We might record some of her expressions, but +doubt the propriety of subjecting such sacred themes to a +too familiar analysis, and refrain. + +The effect of this singular but solemn scene was differ- +ent on the different individuals present. Dunham himself +was soon lost in the subject of the prayer; and he felt +some such relief as one who finds himself staggering on +the edge of a precipice, under a burthen difficult to be +borne, might be supposed to experience when he unex- +pectedly feels the weight removed, in order to be placed on +the shoulders of another better able to sustain it. Cap +was surprised, as well as awed; though the effects on his +mind were not very deep or very lasting. He wondered a +little at his own sensations, and had his doubts whether +they were so manly and heroic as they ought to be; but he +was far too sensible of the influence of truth, humility, re- +ligious submission, and human dependency, to think of +interposing with any of his crude objections. Jasper +knelt opposite to Mabel, covered his face, and followed her +words, with an earnest wish to aid her prayers with his +own; though it may be questioned if his thoughts did not +dwell quite as much on the soft, gentle accents of the pe- +titioner as on the subject of her petition. + +The effect on Pathfinder was striking and visible: visi- +ble, because he stood erect, also opposite to Mabel; and +the workings of his countenance, as usual, betrayed the +workings of the spirit within. He leaned on his rifle, and +at moments the sinewy fingers grasped the barrel with a +force that seemed to compress the weapon; while, once or +twice, as Mabel's language rose in intimate association +with her thoughts, he lifted his eyes to the floor above +him, as if he expected to find some visible evidence of the +presence of the dread Being to whom the words were ad- +dressed. Then again his feelings reverted to the fair crea- +ture who was thus pouring out her spirit, in fervent but +calm petitions, in behalf of a dying parent; for Mabel's +cheek was no longer pallid, but was flushed with a holy +enthusiasm, while her blue eyes were upturned in the +light, in a way to resemble a picture by Guido. At these +moments all the honest and manly attachment of Path- +finder glowed in his ingenuous features, and his gaze at +our heroine was such as the fondest parent might fasten +on the child of his love. + +Sergeant Dunham laid his hand feebly on the head of +Mabel as she ceased praying, and buried her face in his +blanket. + +"Bless you, my beloved child! bless you!" he rather +whispered than uttered aloud; "this is truly consolation: +would that I too could pray!" + +"Father, you know the Lord's Prayer; you taught it to +me yourself while I was yet an infant." + +The Sergeant's face gleamed with a smile, for he _did_ +remember to have discharged that portion at least of the +paternal duty, and the consciousness of it gave him incon- +ceivable gratification at that solemn moment. He was +then silent for several minutes, and all present believed +that he was communing with God. + +"Mabel, my child!" he at length uttered, in a voice +which seemed to be reviving, -- "Mabel, I'm quitting you." +The spirit at its great and final passage appears ever to +consider the body as nothing. "I'm quitting you, my +child; where is your hand?" + +"Here, dearest father -- here are both -- oh, take both!" + +"Pathfinder," added the Sergeant, feeling on the oppo- +site side of the bed, where Jasper still knelt, and getting +one of the hands of the young man by mistake, "take it +- I leave you as her father -- as you and she may please -- +bless you -- bless you both!" + +At that awful instant, no one would rudely apprise the +Sergeant of his mistake; and he died a minute or two +later, holding Jasper's and Mabel's hands covered by both +his own. Our heroine was ignorant of the fact until an +exclamation of Cap's announced the death of her father; +when, raising her face, she saw the eyes of Jasper riveted +on her own, and felt the warm pressure of his hand. But +a single feeling was predominant at that instant, and +Mabel withdrew to weep, scarcely conscious of what had +occurred. The Pathfinder took the arm of Eau-douce, and +he left the block. + +The two friends walked in silence past the fire, along +the glade, and nearly reached the opposite shore of the +island in profound silence. Here they stopped, and Path- +finder spoke. + +"'Tis all over, Jasper," said he, -- "'tis all over. Ah's me! +Poor Sergeant Dunham has finished his march, and that, +too, by the hand of a venomous Mingo. Well, we never +know what is to happen, and his luck may be yourn or +mine to-morrow or next day!" + +"And Mabel? What is to become of Mabel, Pathfinder?" + +"You heard the Sergeant's dying words; he has left his +child in my care, Jasper; and it is a most solemn trust, it +is; yes, -- it is a most solemn trust." + +"It's a trust, Pathfinder, of which any man would be +glad to relieve you," returned the youth, with a bitter smile. + +"I've often thought it has fallen into wrong hands. +I'm not consaited, Jasper; I'm not consaited, I do think +I'm not; but if Mabel Dunham is willing to overlook all +my imperfections and ignorances like, I should be wrong +to gainsay it, on account of any sartainty I may have my- +self about my own want of merit." + +"No one will blame you, Pathfinder, for marrying Mabel +Dunham, any more than they will blame you for wearing +a precious jewel in your bosom that a friend had freely +given you." + +"Do you think they'll blame Mabel, lad? I've had my +misgivings about that, too; for all persons may not be so +disposed to look at me with the same eyes as you and the +Sergeant's daughter." + +Jasper Eau-douce started as a man flinches at sudden +bodily pain; but he otherwise maintained his self-com- +mand. "And mankind is envious and ill-natured, more +particularly in and about the garrisons. I sometimes wish, +Jasper, that Mabel could have taken a fancy to you, -- I +do; and that you had taken a fancy to her; for it often +seems to me that one like you, after all, might make her +happier than I ever can." + +"We will not talk about this, Pathfinder," interrupted +Jasper hoarsely and impatiently; "you will be Mabel's +husband, and it is not right to speak of any one else in +that character. As for me, I shall take Master Cap's advice, +and try and make a man of myself by seeing what is to be +done on the salt water." + +"You, Jasper Western! -- you quit the lakes, the forests, +and the lines; and this, too, for the towns and wasty ways +of the settlements, and a little difference in the taste of +the water. Haven't we the salt-licks, if salt is necessary +to you? and oughtn't man to be satisfied with what con- +tents the other creaturs of God? I counted on you, Jas- +per, I counted on you, I did; and thought, now that Mabel +and I intend to dwell in a cabin of our own, that some day +you might be tempted to choose a companion too, and +come and settle in our neighborhood. There is a beauti- +ful spot, about fifty miles west of the garrison, that I had +chosen in my mind for my own place of abode; and there +is an excellent harbor about ten leagues this side of it +where you could run in and out with the cutter at any +leisure minute; and I'd even fancied you and your wife in +possession of the one place, and Mabel and I in possession +of t'other. We should be just a healthy hunt apart; and +if the Lord ever intends any of His creaturs to be happy +on 'arth, none could be happier than we four." + +"You forget, my friend," answered Jasper, taking the +guide's hand and forcing a friendly smile, "that I have +no fourth person to love and cherish; and I much doubt +if I ever shall love any other as I love you and Mabel." + +"Thank'e, boy; I thank you with all my heart; but +what you call love for Mabel is only friendship like, and a +very different thing from what I feel. Now, instead of +sleeping as sound as natur' at midnight, as I used to could, +I dream nightly of Mabel Dunham. The young does sport +before me; and when I raise Killdeer, in order to take a +little venison, the animals look back, and it seems as if +they all had Mabel's sweet countenance, laughing in my +face, and looking as if they said, 'Shoot me if you dare!' +Then I hear her soft voice calling out among the birds as +they sing; and no later than the last nap I took, I be- +thought me, in fancy, of going over the Niagara, holding +Mabel in my arms, rather than part from her. The bit- +terest moments I've ever known were them in which the +devil, or some Mingo conjuror, perhaps, has just put into +my head to fancy in dreams that Mabel is lost to me by +some unaccountable calamity -- either by changefulness or +by violence." + +"Oh, Pathfinder! if you think this so bitter in a dream, +what must it be to one who feels its reality, and knows it +all to be true, true, true? So true as to leave no hope; to +leave nothing but despair!" + +These words burst from Jasper as a fluid pours from the +vessel that has been suddenly broken. They were uttered +involuntarily, almost unconsciously, but with a truth and +feeling that carried with them the instant conviction of +their deep sincerity. Pathfinder started, gazed at his friend +for full a minute like one bewildered, and then it was that, +in despite of all his simplicity, the truth gleamed upon +him. All know how corroborating proofs crowd upon the +mind as soon as it catches a direct clue to any hitherto +unsuspected fact; how rapidly the thoughts flow and pre- +mises tend to their just conclusions under such circum- +stances. Our hero was so confiding by nature, so just, and +so much disposed to imagine that all his friends wished +him the same happiness as he wished them, that, until this +unfortunate moment, a suspicion of Jasper's attachment +for Mabel had never been awakened in his bosom. He +was, however, now too experienced in the emotions which +characterize the passion; and the burst of feeling in his +companion was too violent and too natural to leave any +further doubt on the subject. The feeling that first fol- +lowed this change of opinion was one of deep humility and +exquisite pain. He bethought him of Jasper's youth, his +higher claims to personal appearance, and all the general +probabilities that such a suitor would be more agreeable to +Mabel than he could possibly be himself. Then the noble +rectitude of mind, for which the man was so distinguished, +asserted its power; it was sustained by his rebuked man- +ner of thinking of himself, and all that habitual deference +for the rights and feelings of others which appeared to be +inbred in his very nature. Taking the arm of Jasper, he +led him to a log, where he compelled the young man to +seat himself by a sort of irresistible exercise of his iron +muscles, and where he placed himself at his side. + +The instant his feelings had found vent, Eau-douce was +both alarmed at, and ashamed of, their violence. He +would have given all he possessed on earth could the last +three minutes be recalled; but he was too frank by dispo- +sition and too much accustomed to deal ingenuously by +his friend to think a moment of attempting further con- +cealment, or of any evasion of the explanation that he +knew was about to be demanded. Even while he trembled +in anticipation of what was about to follow, he never con- +templated equivocation. + +"Jasper," Pathfinder commenced, in a tone so solemn +as to thrill on every nerve in his listener's body, "this _has_ +surprised me! You have kinder feelings towards Mabel +than I had thought; and, unless my own mistaken vanity +and consait have cruelly deceived me, I pity you, boy, from +my soul I do! Yes, I think I know how to pity any one who +has set his heart on a creature like Mabel, unless he sees +a prospect of her regarding him as he regards her. This +matter must be cleared up, Eau-douce, as the Delawares +say, until there shall not be a cloud 'atween us." + +"What clearing up can it want, Pathfinder? I love +Mabel Dunham, and Mabel Dunham does not love me; +she prefers you for a husband; and the wisest thing I can +do is to go off at once to the salt water, and try to forget +you both." + +"Forget me, Jasper! that would be a punishment I +don't desarve. But how do you know that Mabel prefars +_me_? how do you know it, lad? To me it seems impossible +like!" + +"Is she not to marry you, and would Mabel marry a +man she does not love?" + +"She has been hard urged by the Sergeant, she has; +and a dutiful child may have found it difficult to with- +stand the wishes of a dying parent. Have you ever told +Mabel that you prefarred her, Jasper -- that you bore her +these feelings?" + +"Never, Pathfinder. I would not do you that wrong." + +"I believe you, lad, I do believe you; and I think you +would now go off to the salt water, and let the scent die +with you. But this must not be. Mabel shall hear all, +and she shall have her own way, if my heart breaks in +the trial, she shall. No words have ever passed 'atween +you, then, Jasper?" + +"Nothing of account, nothing direct. Still, I will own +all my foolishness, Pathfinder; for I ought to own it to a +generous friend like you, and there will be an end of it. +You know how young people understand each other, or +think they understand each other, without always speak- +ing out in plain speech, and get to know each other's +thoughts, or to think they know them, by means of a hun- +dred little ways." + +"Not I, Jasper, not I," truly answered the guide; for, +sooth to say, his advances had never been met with any of +that sweet and precious encouragement which silently +marks the course of sympathy united to passion. "Not +I, Jasper; I know nothing of all this. Mabel has always +treated me fairly, and said what she has had to say in +speech as plain as tongue could tell it." + +"You have had the pleasure of hearing her say that she +loved you, Pathfinder?" + +"Why, no, Jasper, not just that in words. She has told +me that we never could, never ought to be married; that +_she_ was not good enough for _me_, though she _did_ say that +she honored me and respected me. But then the Sergeant +said it was always so with the youthful and timid; that +her mother did so and said so afore her; and that I ought +to be satisfied if she would consent on any terms to marry +me, and therefore I have concluded that all was right, I +have." + +In spite of all his friendship for the successful wooer, in +spite of all his honest, sincere wished for his happiness, +we should be unfaithful chroniclers did we not own that +Jasper felt his heart bound with an uncontrollable feeling +of delight at this admission. It was not that he saw or +felt any hope connected with the circumstance; but it was +grateful to the jealous covetousness of unlimited love thus +to learn that no other ears had heard the sweet confessions +that were denied its own. + +"Tell me more of this manner of talking without the +use of the tongue," continued Pathfinder, whose counte- +nance was becoming grave, and who now questioned his +companion like one who seemed to anticipate evil in the +reply. "I can and have conversed with Chingachgook, +and with his son Uncas too, in that mode, afore the latter +fell; but I didn't know that young girls practysed this +art, and, least of all, Mabel Dunham." + +"'Tis nothing, Pathfinder. I mean only a look, or a +smile, or a glance of the eye, or the trembling of an arm +or a hand when the young woman has had occasion to +touch me; and because I have been weak enough to trem- +ble even at Mabel's breath, or her brushing me with her +clothes, my vain thoughts have misled me. I never spoke +plainly to Mabel myself, and now there is no use for it, +since there is clearly no hope." + +"Jasper," returned Pathfinder simply, but with a dig- +nity that precluded further remarks at the moment, "we +will talk of the Sergeant's funeral and of our own depar- +ture from this island. After these things are disposed of, +it will be time enough to say more of the Sergeant's +daughter. This matter must be looked into, for the father +left me the care of his child." + +Jasper was glad enough to change the subject, and the +friends separated, each charged with the duty most pecu- +liar to his own station and habits. + +That afternoon all the dead were interred, the grave of +Sergeant Dunham being dug in the centre of the glade, +beneath the shade of a huge elm. Mabel wept bitterly at +the ceremony, and she found relief in thus disburthening +her sorrow. The night passed tranquilly, as did the whole +of the following day, Jasper declaring that the gale was +too severe to venture on the lake. This circumstance de- +tained Captain Sanglier also, who did not quit the island +until the morning of the third day after the death of Dun- +ham, when the weather had moderated, and the wind had +become fair. Then, indeed, he departed, after taking +leave of the Pathfinder, in the manner of one who believed +he was in company of a distinguished character for the +last time. The two separated like those who respect one +another, while each felt that the other was all enigma to +himself. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +Playful she turn'd that he might see + The passing smile her cheek put on; +But when she marked how mournfully + His eyes met hers, that smile was gone. +_Lalla Rookh._ + + +The occurrences of the last few days had been too ex- +citing, and had made too many demands on the fortitude +of our heroine, to leave her in the helplessness of grief. +She mourned for her father, and she occasionally shud- +dered as she recalled the sudden death of Jennie, and all +the horrible scenes she had witnessed; but on the whole +she had aroused herself, and was no longer in the deep +depression which usually accompanies grief. Perhaps the +overwhelming, almost stupefying sorrow that crushed poor +June, and left her for nearly twenty-four hours in a state +of stupor, assisted Mabel in conquering her own feelings, +for she had felt called on to administer consolation to the +young Indian woman. This she had done in the quiet, +soothing, insinuating way in which her sex usually exerts +its influence on such occasions. + +The morning of the third day was set for that on which +the _Scud_ was to sail. Jasper had made all his prepara- +tions; the different effects were embarked, and Mabel had +taken leave of June, a painful and affectionate parting. In +a word, all was ready, and every soul had left the island +but the Indian woman, Pathfinder, Jasper, and our hero- +ine. The former had gone into a thicket to weep, and the +three last were approaching the spot where three canoes +lay, one of which was the property of June, and the other +two were in waiting to carry the others off to the _Scud_. +Pathfinder led the way, but, when he drew near the shore, +instead of taking the direction to the boats, he motioned +to his companions to follow, and proceeded to a fallen tree +which lay on the margin of the glade and out of view of +those in the cutter. Seating himself on the trunk, he +signed to Mabel to take her place on one side of him and +to Jasper to occupy the other. + +"Sit down here Mabel; sit down there, Eau-douce," he +commenced, as soon as he had taken his own seat. "I've +something that lies heavy on my mind, and now is the +time to take it off, if it's ever to be done. Sit down, Mabel, +and let me lighten my heart, if not my conscience, while +I've the strength to do it." + +The pause that succeeded lasted two or three minutes, and +both the young people wondered what was to come next; +the idea that Pathfinder could have any weight on his con- +science seeming equally improbable to each. + +"Mabel," our hero at length resumed, "we must talk +plainly to each other afore we join your uncle in the cut- +ter, where the Saltwater has slept every night since the +last rally, for he says it's the only place in which a man +can be sure of keeping the hair on his head, he does. Ah's +me! what have I to do with these follies and sayings now? +I try to be pleasant, and to feel light-hearted, but the power +of man can't make water run up stream. Mabel, you know +that the Sergeant, afore he left us, had settled it 'atween +us two that we were to become man and wife, and that we +were to live together and to love one another as long as +the Lord was pleased to keep us both on 'arth; yes, and +afterwards too?" + +Mabel's cheeks had regained a little of their ancient +bloom in the fresh air of the morning; but at this un- +looked-for address they blanched again, nearly to the pal- +lid hue which grief had imprinted there. Still, she looked +kindly, though seriously, at Pathfinder and even endeav- +ored to force a smile. + +"Very true, my excellent friend," she answered; "this +was my poor father's wish, and I feel certain that a whole +life devoted to your welfare and comforts could scarcely +repay you for all you have done for us." + +"I fear me, Mabel, that man and wife needs be bound +together by a stronger tie than such feelings, I do. You +have done nothing for me, or nothing of any account, and +yet my very heart yearns towards you, it does; and there- +fore it seems likely that these feelings come from some- +thing besides saving scalps and guiding through woods." + +Mabel's cheek had begun to glow again; and though she +struggled hard to smile, her voice trembled a little as she +answered. + +"Had we not better postpone this conversation, Path- +finder?" she said; "we are not alone; and nothing is so +unpleasant to a listener, they say, as family matters in +which he feels no interest." + +"It's because we are not alone, Mabel, or rather because +Jasper is with us, that I wish to talk of this matter. The +Sergeant believed I might make a suitable companion for +you, and, though I had misgivings about it, -- yes, I had +many misgivings, -- he finally persuaded me into the idee, +and things came round 'atween us, as you know. But, +when you promised your father to marry me, Mabel, and +gave me your hand so modestly, but so prettily, there was +one circumstance, as your uncle called it, that you didn't +know; and I've thought it right to tell you what it is, +before matters are finally settled. I've often taken a poor +deer for my dinner when good venison was not to be +found; but it's as nat'ral not to take up with the worst +when the best may be had." + +"You speak in a way, Pathfinder, that is difficult to be +understood. If this conversation is really necessary, I +trust you will be more plain." + +"Well then, Mabel, I've been thinking it was quite +likely, when you gave in to the Sergeant's wishes, that you +did not know the natur' of Jasper Western's feelings +towards you?" + +"Pathfinder!" and Mabel's cheek now paled to the livid +hue of death; then it flushed to the tint of crimson; and +her whole frame shuddered. Pathfinder, however, was too +intent on his own object to notice this agitation; and Eau- +douce had hidden his face in his hands in time to shut out +its view. + +"I've been talking with the lad; and, on comparing his +dreams with my dreams, his feelings with my feelings, and +his wishes with my wishes, I fear we think too much alike +consarning you for both of us to be very happy." + +"Pathfinder, you forget; you should remember that we +are betrothed!" said Mabel hastily, and in a voice so low +that it required acute attention in the listeners to catch +the syllables. Indeed the last word was not quite intel- +ligible to the guide, and he confessed his ignorance by the +usual, -- + +"Anan?" + +"You forget that we are to be married; and such allu- +sions are improper as well as painful." + +"Everything is proper that is right, Mabel; and every- +thing is right that leads to justice and fair dealing; though +it _is painful_ enough, as you say, as I find on trial, I do. +Now, Mabel, had you known that Eau-douce thinks of you +in this way, maybe you never would have consented to be +married to one as old and as uncomely as I am." + +"Why this cruel trial, Pathfinder? To what can all this +lead? Jasper Western thinks no such thing: he says +nothing he feels nothing." + +"Mabel!" burst from out of the young man's lips, in a +way to betray the uncontrollable nature of his emotions, +though he uttered not another syllable. + +Mabel buried her face in both her hands; and the two +sat like a pair of guilty beings, suddenly detected in the +commission of some crime which involved the happiness +of a common patron. At that instant, perhaps, Jasper +himself was inclined to deny his passion, through an ex- +treme unwillingness to grieve his friend; while Mabel, on +whom this positive announcement of a fact that she had +rather unconsciously hoped than believed, came so unex- +pectedly, felt her mind momentarily bewildered; and she +scarcely knew whether to weep or to rejoice. Still she was +the first to speak; since Eau-douce could utter naught that +would be disingenuous, or that would pain his friend. + +"Pathfinder," said she, "you talk wildly. Why mention +this at all?" + +"Well, Mabel, if I talk wildly, I _am_ half wild, you know, +by natur', I fear, as well as by habit." As he said this, he +endeavored to laugh in his usual noiseless way, but the +effect produced a strange and discordant sound; and it +appeared nearly to choke him. "Yes, I _must_ be wild; I'll +not attempt to deny it." + +"Dearest Pathfinder! my best, almost my only friend! +you _cannot, do not_ think I intended to say that!" inter- +rupted Mabel, almost breathless in her haste to relieve his +mortification. "If courage, truth, nobleness of soul and +conduct, unyielding principles, and a hundred other excel- +lent qualities can render any man respectable, esteemed, +or beloved, your claims are inferior to those of no other +human being." + +"What tender and bewitching voices they have, Jasper!" +resumed the guide, now laughing freely and naturally. +"Yes, natur' seems to have made them on purpose to sing +in our ears, when the music of the woods is silent. But +we must come to a right understanding, we must. I ask +you again, Mabel, if you had known that Jasper Western +loves you as well as I do, or better perhaps, though that is +scarcely possible; that in his dreams he sees your face in +the water of the lake; that he talks to you, and of you, in +his sleep; fancies all that is beautiful like Mabel Dunham, +and all that is good and virtuous; believes he never knowed +happiness until he knowed you; could kiss the ground on +which you have trod, and forgets all the joys of his call- +ing to think of you and the delight of gazing at your +beauty and in listening to your voice, would you then have +consented to marry me?" + +Mabel could not have answered this question if she +would; but, though her face was buried in her hands, the +tint of the rushing blood was visible between the open- +ings, and the suffusion seemed to impart itself to her very +fingers. Still nature asserted her power, for there was a +single instant when the astonished, almost terrified girl +stole a glance at Jasper, as if distrusting Pathfinder's his- +tory of his feelings, read the truth of all he said in that +furtive look, and instantly concealed her face again, as if +she would hide it from observation for ever. + +"Take time to think, Mabel," the guide continued, "for +it is a solemn thing to accept one man for a husband while +the thoughts and wishes lead to another. Jasper and I +have talked this matter over, freely and like old friends, +and, though I always knowed that we viewed most things +pretty much alike, I couldn't have thought that we re- +garded any particular object with the very same eyes, as +it might be, until we opened our minds to each other about +you. Now Jasper owns that the very first time he beheld +you, he thought you the sweetest and winningestest crea- +tur' he had ever met; that your voice sounded like mur- +muring water in his ears; that he fancied his sails were your +garments fluttering in the wind; that your laugh haunted +him in his sleep; and that ag'in and ag'in has he started +up affrighted, because he has fancied some one wanted to +force you out of the _Scud_, where he imagined you had +taken up your abode. Nay, the lad has even acknowledged +that he often weeps at the thought that you are likely to +spend your days with another, and not with him." + +"Jasper!" + +"It's solemn truth, Mabel, and it's right you should know +it. Now stand up, and choose 'atween us. I do believe +Eau-douce loves you as well as I do myself; he has tried +to persuade me that he loves you better, but that I will +not allow, for I do not think it possible; but I will own +the boy loves you, heart and soul, and he has a good right +to be heard. The Sergeant left me your protector, and +not your tyrant. I told him that I would be a father to +you as well as a husband, and it seems to me no feeling +father would deny his child this small privilege. Stand +up, Mabel, therefore, and speak your thoughts as freely as +if I were the Sergeant himself, seeking your good, and +nothing else." + +Mabel dropped her hands, arose, and stood face to face +with her two suitors, though the flush that was on her +cheeks was feverish, the evidence of excitement rather +than of shame. + +"What would you have, Pathfinder?" she asked; "have +I not already promised my poor father to do all you de- +sire?" + +"Then I desire this. Here I stand, a man of the forest +and of little larning, though I fear with an ambition be- +yond my desarts, and I'll do my endivors to do justice to +both sides. In the first place, it is allowed that, so far as +feelings in your behalf are consarned, we love you just the +same; Jasper thinks his feelings _must_ be the strongest, +but this I cannot say in honesty, for it doesn't seem to me +that it _can_ be true, else I would frankly and freely confess it, +I would. So in this particular, Mabel, we are here before +you on equal tarms. As for myself, being the oldest, I'll +first say what little can be produced in my favor, as well +as ag'in it. As a hunter, I do think there is no man near +the lines that can outdo me. If venison, or bear's meat, +or even birds and fish, should ever be scarce in our cabin, +it would be more likely to be owing to natur' and Provi- +dence than to any fault of mine. In short, it does seem +to me that the woman who depended on me would never +be likely to want for food. But I'm fearful ignorant! It's +true I speak several tongues, such as they be, while I'm +very far from being expart at my own. Then, my years +are greater than your own, Mabel; and the circumstance that +I was so long the Sergeant's comrade can be no great merit +in your eyes. I wish, too, I was more comely, I do; but +we are all as natur' made us, and the last thing that a man +ought to lament, except on very special occasions, is his +looks. When all is remembered, age, looks, learning, and +habits, Mabel, conscience tells me I ought to confess that +I'm altogether unfit for you, if not downright unworthy; +and I would give up the hope this minute, I would, if I +didn't feel something pulling at my heart-strings which +seems hard to undo." + +"Pathfinder! noble, generous Pathfinder!" cried our +heroine, seizing his hand and kissing it with a species of +holy reverence; "you do yourself injustice -- you forget my +poor father and your promise -- you do not know _me_!" + +"Now, here's Jasper," continued the guide, without al- +lowing the girl's caresses to win him from his purpose, +"with _him_ the case is different. In the way of providing, +as in that of loving, there's not much to choose 'atween +us; for the lad is frugal, industrious, and careful. Then +he is quite a scholar, knows the tongue of the Frenchers, +reads many books, and some, I know, that you like to read +yourself, can understand you at all times, which, perhaps, +is more than I can say for myself." + +"What of all this?" interrupted Mabal impatiently; +"why speak of it now -- why speak of it at all?" + +"Then the lad has a manner of letting his thoughts be +known, that I fear I can never equal. If there's anything +on 'arth that would make my tongue bold and persuading, +Mabel, I do think it's yourself; and yet in our late conver- +sations Jasper has outdone me, even on this point, in a +way to make me ashamed of myself. He has told me how +simple you were, and how true-hearted, and kind-hearted; +and how you looked down upon vanities, for though you +might be the wife of more than one officer, as he thinks, +that you cling to feeling, and would rather be true to +yourself and natur' than a colonel's lady. He fairly made +my blood warm, he did, when he spoke of your having +beauty without seeming ever to have looked upon it, and +the manner in which you moved about like a young fa'n, +so nat'ral and graceful like, without knowing it; and the +truth and justice of your idees, and the warmth and gener- +osity of your heart -- " + +"Jasper!" interrupted Mabel, giving way to feelings +that had gathered an ungovernable force by being so long +pent, and falling into the young man's willing arms, weep- +ing like a child, and almost as helpless. "Jasper! Jasper! +why have you kept this from me?" + +The answer of Eau-douce was not very intelligible, nor +was the murmured dialogue that followed remarkable for +coherency. But the language of affection is easily under- +stood. The hour that succeeded passed like a very few +minutes of ordinary life, so far as a computation of time +was concerned; and when Mabel recollected herself, and +bethought her of the existence of others, her uncle was pac- +ing the cutter's deck in great impatience, and wondering +why Jasper should be losing so much of a favorable wind. +Her first thought was of him, who was so likely to feel the +recent betrayal of her real emotions. + +"Oh, Jasper," she exclaimed, like one suddenly self- +convicted, "the Pathfinder!" + +Eau-douce fairly trembled, not with unmanly apprehen- +sion, but with the painful conviction of the pang he had +given his friend; and he looked in all directions in the +expectation of seeing his person. But Pathfinder had +withdrawn, with a tact and a delicacy that might have +done credit to the sensibility and breeding of a courtier. +For several minutes the two lovers sat, silently waiting his +return, uncertain what propriety required of them under +circumstances so marked and so peculiar. At length they +beheld their friend advancing slowly towards them, with +a thoughtful and even pensive air. + +"I now understand what you meant, Jasper, by speaking +without a tongue and hearing without an ear," he said +when close enough to the tree to be heard. "Yes, I un- +derstand it now, I do; and a very pleasant sort of discourse +it is, when one can hold it with Mabel Dunham. Ah's me! +I told the Sergeant I wasn't fit for her; that I was too +old, too ignorant, and too wild like; but he _would_ have it +otherwise." + +Jasper and Mabel sat, resembling Milton's picture of +our first parents, when the consciousness of sin first laid +its leaden weight on their souls. Neither spoke, neither +even moved; though both at that moment fancied they +could part with their new-found happiness in order to re- +store their friend to his peace of mind. Jasper was pale +as death, but, in Mabel, maiden modesty had caused the +blood to mantle on her cheeks, until their bloom was +heightened to a richness that was scarcely equalled in her +hours of light-hearted buoyancy and joy. As the feeling +which, in her sex, always accompanies the security of love +returned, threw its softness and tenderness over her coun- +tenance, she was singularly beautiful. Pathfinder gazed +at her with an intentness he did not endeavor to conceal, +and then he fairly laughed in his own way, and with a sort +of wild exultation, as men that are untutored are wont to +express their delight. This momentary indulgence, how- +ever, was expiated by the pang which followed the sudden +consciousness that this glorious young creature was lost to +him for ever. It required a full minute for this simple- +minded being to recover from the shock of this conviction; +and then he recovered his dignity of manner, speaking +with gravity, almost with solemnity. + +"I have always known, Mabel Dunham, that men have +their gifts," said he; "but I'd forgotten that it did not +belong to mine to please the young, the beautiful, and +l'arned. I hope the mistake has been no very heavy sin; +and if it was, I've been heavily punished for it, I have. +Nay, Mabel, I know what you'd say, but it's unnecessary; +I _feel_ it all, and that is as good as if I _heard_ it all. I've +had a bitter hour, Mabel. I've had a very bitter hour, +lad." + +"Hour!" echoed Mabel, as the other first used the +word; the tell-tale blood, which had begun to ebb towards +her heart, rushing again tumultuously to her very tem- +ples; "surely not an hour, Pathfinder?" + +"Hour!" exclaimed Jasper at the same instant; "no, +no, my worthy friend, it is not ten minutes since you left +us!" + +"Well, it may be so; though to me it has seemed to be +day. I begin to think, however, that the happy count +time by minutes, and the miserable count it by months. +But we will talk no more of this; it is all over now, and +many words about it will make you no happier, while they +will only tell me what I've lost; and quite likely how much +I desarved to lose her. No, no, Mabel, 'tis useless to in- +terrupt me; I admit it all, and your gainsaying it, though +it be so well meant, cannot change my mind. Well, Jas- +per, she is yours; and, though it's hard to think it, I do +believe you'll make her happier than I could, for your gifts +are better suited to do so, though I would have strived +hard to do as much, if I know myself, I would. I ought +to have known better than to believe the Sergeant; and I +ought to have put faith in what Mabel told me at the head +of the lake, for reason and judgment might have shown +me its truth; but it is so pleasant to think what we wish, +and mankind so easily over-persuade us, when we over-per- +suade ourselves. But what's the use in talking of it, as I +said afore? It's true, Mabel seemed to be consenting, +though it all came from a wish to please her father, and +from being skeary about the savages -- " + +"Pathfinder!" + +"I understand you, Mabel, and have no hard feelings, I +haven't. I sometimes think I should like to live in your +neighborhood, that I might look at your happiness; but, +on the whole, it's better I should quit the 55th altogether, +and go back to the 60th, which is my natyve rigiment, as +it might be. It would have been better, perhaps, had I +never left it, though my sarvices were much wanted in +this quarter, and I'd been with some of the 55th years +agone; Sergeant Dunham, for instance, when he was in +another corps. Still, Jasper, I do not regret that I've +known you -- " + +"And me, Pathfinder!" impetuously interrupted Mabel; +"do you regret having known _me_? Could I think so, I +should never be at peace with myself." + +"You, Mabel!" returned the guide, taking the hand of +our heroine and looking up into her countenance with +guileless simplicity, but earnest affection; "how could I +be sorry that a ray of the sun came across the gloom of a +cheerless day -- that light has broken in upon darkness, +though it remained so short a time? I do not flatter +myself with being able to march quite so light-hearted +as I once used to could, or to sleep as sound, for some time +to come; but I shall always remember how near I was to +being undeservedly happy, I shall. So far from blaming +you, Mabel, I only blame myself for being so vain as to +think it possible I could please such a creatur'; for sar- +tainly you told me how it was, when we talked it over on +the mountain, and I ought to have believed you then; for +I do suppose it's nat'ral that young women should know +their own minds better than their fathers. Ah's me! It's +settled now, and nothing remains but for me to take leave +of you, that you may depart; I feel that Master Cap must +be impatient, and there is danger of his coming on shore +to look for us all." + +"To take leave!" exclaimed Mabel. + +"Leave!" echoed Jasper; "you do not mean to quit us, +my friend?" + +"'Tis best, Mabel, 'tis altogether best, Eau-douce; and +it's wisest. I could live and die in your company, if I only +followed feeling; but, if I follow reason, I shall quit you +here. You will go back to Oswego, and become man and +wife as soon as you arrive, -- for all that is determined with +Master Cap, who hankers after the sea again, and who +knows what is to happen, -- while I shall return to the wil- +derness and my Maker. Come, Mabel," continued Path- +finder, rising and drawing nearer to our heroine, with grave +decorum, "kiss me; Jasper will not grudge me one kiss; +then we'll part." + +"Oh, Pathfinder!" exclaimed Mabel, falling into the +arms of the guide, and kissing his cheeks again and again, +with a freedom and warmth she had been far from mani- +festing while held to the bosom of Jasper; "God bless you, +dearest Pathfinder! You'll come to us hereafter. We +shall see you again. When old, you will come to our +dwelling, and let me be a daughter to you?" + +"Yes, that's it," returned the guide, almost gasping for +breath; "I'll try to think of it in that way. You're more +befitting to be my daughter than to be my wife, you are. +Farewell, Jasper. Now we'll go to the canoe; it's time +you were on board." + +The manner in which Pathfinder led the way to the +shore was solemn and calm. As soon as he reached the +canoe, he again took Mabel by the hands, held her at the +length of his own arms, and gazed wistfully into her face, +until the unbidden tears rolled out of the fountains of +feeling and trickled down his rugged cheeks in streams. + +"Bless me, Pathfinder," said Mabel, kneeling reverently +at his feet. "Oh, at least bless me before we part!" + +That untutored but noble-minded being did as she de- +sired; and, aiding her to enter the canoe, seemed to tear +himself away as one snaps a strong and obstinate cord. +Before he retired, however, he took Jasper by the arm and +led him a little aside, when he spoke as follows: -- + +"You're kind of heart and gentle by natur', Jasper; but +we are both rough and wild in comparison with that dear +creatur'. Be careful of her, and never show the roughness +of man's natur' to her soft disposition. You'll get to un- +derstand her in time; and the Lord, who governs the lake +and the forest alike, who looks upon virtue with a smile +and upon vice with a frown, keep you happy and worthy +to be so!" + +Pathfinder made a sign for his friend to depart, and he +stood leaning on his rifle until the canoe had reached the +side of the _Scud_. Mabel wept as if her heart would break; +nor did her eyes once turn from the open spot in the glade, +where the form of the Pathfinder was to be seen, until the +cutter had passed a point that completely shut out the +island. When last in view, the sinewy frame of this extra- +ordinary man was as motionless as if it were a statue set +up in that solitary place to commemorate the scenes of +which it had so lately been the witness. + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +Oh! let me only breathe the air, + The blessed air that's breath'd by thee; +And, whether on its wings it bear + Healing or death, 'tis sweet to me! +MOORE. + + +Pathfinder was accustomed to solitude; but, when +the _Scud_ had actually disappeared, he was almost overcome +with a sense of his loneliness. Never before had he been +conscious of his isolated condition in the world; for his +feelings had gradually been accustoming themselves to the +blandishments and wants of social life; particularly as the +last were connected with the domestic affections. Now, all +had vanished, as it might be, in one moment; and he was +left equally without companions and without hope. Even +Chingachgook had left him, though it was but temporarily; +still his presence was missed at the precise instant which +might be termed the most critical in our hero's life. + +Pathfinder stood leaning on his rifle, in the attitude +described in the last chapter, a long time after the _Scud_ +had disappeared. The rigidity of his limbs seemed per- +manent; and none but a man accustomed to put his mus- +cles to the severest proof could have maintained that pos- +ture, with its marble-like inflexibility, for so great a length +of time. At length he moved away from the spot; the +motion of the body being preceded by a sigh that seemed +to heave up from the very depths of his bosom. + +It was a peculiarity of this extraordinary being that his +senses and his limbs, for all practical purposes, were never +at fault, let the mind be preoccupied with other interests as +much as it might. On the present occasion neither of +these great auxiliaries failed him; but, though his thoughts +were exclusively occupied with Mabel, her beauty, her pref- +erence of Jasper, her tears, and her departure, he moved +in a direct line to the spot where June still remained, +which was the grave of her husband. The conversation +that followed passed in the language of the Tuscaroras, +which Pathfinder spoke fluently; but, as that tongue is +understood only by the extremely learned, we shall trans- +late it freely into the English; preserving, as far as possi- +ble, the tone of thought of each interlocutor, as well as the +peculiarities of manner. June had suffered her hair to fall +about her face, had taken a seat on a stone which had been +dug from the excavation made by the grave, and was hang- +ing over the spot which contained the body of Arrowhead, +unconscious of the presence of any other. She believed, +indeed, that all had left the island but herself, and the +tread of the guide's moccassined foot was too noiseless +rudely to undeceive her. + +Pathfinder stood gazing at the woman for several min- +utes in mute attention. The contemplation of her grief, +the recollection of her irreparable loss, and the view of her +desolation produced a healthful influence on his own feel- +ings; his reason telling him how much deeper lay the +sources of grief in a young wife, who was suddenly and +violently deprived of her husband, than in himself. + +"Dew-of-June," he said solemnly, but with an earnest- +ness which denoted the strength of his sympathy, "you +are not alone in your sorrow. Turn, and let your eyes look +upon a friend." + +"June has no longer any friend!" the woman answered. +"Arrowhead has gone to the happy hunting-grounds, and +there is no one left to care for June. The Tuscaroras +would chase her from their wigwams; the Iroquois are +hateful in her eyes, and she could not look at them. No! +leave June to starve over the grave of her husband." + +"This will never do -- this will never do. 'Tis ag'in rea- +son and right. You believe in the Manitou, June?" + +"He has hid his face from June because he is angry. +He has left her alone to die." + +"Listen to one who has had a long acquaintance with +red natur', though he has a white birth and white gifts. +When the Manitou of a pale-face wishes to produce good +in a pale-face heart He strikes it with grief; for it is in +our sorrows, June, that we look with the truest eyes into +ourselves, and with the farthest-sighted eyes too, as re- +spects right. The Great Spirit wishes you well, and He +has taken away the chief, lest you should be led astray by +his wily tongue, and get to be a Mingo in your disposition, +as you were already in your company." + +"Arrowhead was a great chief," returned the woman +proudly. + +"He had his merits, he had; and he had his demerits, +too. But June you are not desarted, nor will you be soon. +Let you; grief out -- let it out, accordiug to natur', and +when the proper time comes I shall have more to say to +you." + +Pathfinder now went to his own canoe, and he left the +island. In the course of the day June heard the crack of +his rifle once or twice; and as the sun was setting he re- +appeared, bringing her birds ready cooked, and of a deli- +cacy and flavor that might have tempted the appitite of +an epicure. This species of intercourse lasted a month, +June obstinately refusing to abandon the grave of her hus- +band all that time, though she still accepted the friendly +offerings of her protector. Occasionally they met and con- +versed, Pathfinder sounding the state of the woman's feel- +ings; but the interviews were short, and far from frequent. +June slept in one of the huts, and she laid down her head +in security, for she was conscious of the protection of a +friend, though Pathfinder invariably retired at night to an +adjacent island, where he had built himself a hut. + +At the end of the month, however, the season was getting +to be too far advanced to render her situation pleasant to +June. The trees had lost their leaves, and the nights were +becoming cold and wintry. It was time to depart. + +At this moment Chingachgook reappeared. He had a +long and confidential interview on the island with his +friend. June witnessed their movements, and she saw that +her guardian was distressed. Stealing to his side, she en- +deavored to soothe his sorrow with a woman's gentleness +and with a woman's instinct. + +"Thank you, June, thank you!" he said; "'tis well +meant, though it's useless. But it is time to quit this +place. To-morrow we shall depart. You will go with us, +for now you've got to feel reason." + +June assented in the meek manner of an Indian woman, +and she withdrew to pass the remainder of her time near +the grave of Arrowhead. Regardless of the hour and the +season, the young widow did not pillow her head during +the whole of that autumnal night. She sat near the spot +that held the remains of her husband, and prayed, in the +manner of her people, for his success on the endless path +on which he had so lately gone, and for their reunion in +the land of the just. Humble and degraded as she would +have seemed in the eyes of the sophisticated and unreflect- +ing, the image of God was on her soul, and it vindicated +its divine origin by aspirations and feelings that would +have surprised those who, feigning more, feel less. + +In the morning the three departed, Pathfinder earnest +and intelligent in all he did, the Great Serpent silent and +imitative, and June meek, resigned, but sorrowful. They +went in two canoes, that of the woman being abandoned: +Chingachgook led the way, and Pathfinder followed, the +course being up stream. Two days they paddled westward, +and as many nights they encamped on islands. Fortu- +nately the weather became mild, and when they reached +the lake it was found smooth and glassy as a pond. It was +the Indian summer, and the calms, and almost the bland- +ness of June, slept in the hazy atmosphere. + +On the morning of the third day they passed the mouth +of the Oswego, where the fort and the sleeping ensign in- +vited them in vain to enter. Without casting a look aside, +Chingachgook paddled past the dark waters of the river, +and Pathfinder still followed in silent industry. The +ramparts were crowded with spectators; but Lundie, who +knew the persons of his old friends, refused to allow them +to be even hailed. + +It was noon when Chingachgook entered a little bay +where the _Scud_ lay at anchor, in a sort of roadstead. A +small ancient clearing was on the shore; and near the +margin of the lake was a log dwelling, recently and com- +pletely, though rudely fitted up. There was an air of fron- +tier comfort and of frontier abundance around the place, +though it was necessarily wild and solitary. Jasper stood +on the shore; and when Pathfinder landed, he was the +first to take him by the hand. The meeting was simple, +but very cordial. No questions were asked, it being ap- +parent that Chingachgook had made the necessary expla- +nantions. Pathfinder never squeezed his friend's hand +more cordially than in this interview; and he even laughed +cordially in his face as he told him how happy and well he +appeared. + +"Where is she, Jasper? where is she?" the guide at +length whispered, for at first he had seemed to be afraid +to trust himself with the question. + +"She is waiting for us in the house, my dear friend, +where you see that June has already hastened before us." + +"June may use a lighter step to meet Mabel, but she can- +not carry a lighter heart. And so, lad, you found the chap- +lain at the garrison, and all was soon settled?" + +"We were married within a week after we left you, and +Master Cap departed next day. You have forgotten to in- +quire about your friend Saltwater." + +"Not I, not I; the Sarpent has told me all that: and +then I love to hear so much of Mabel and her happiness, +I do. Did the child smile or did she weep when the cere- +mony was over?" + +"She did both, my friend; but -- " + +"Yes, that's their natur', tearful and cheerful. Ah's +me! they are very pleasant to us of the woods; and I do +believe I should think all right, whatever Mabel might do. +And do you think, Jasper, that she thought of me at all +on that joyful occasion?" + +"I know she did, Pathfinder; and she thinks of you and +talks of you daily, almost hourly. None love you as we +do." + +"I know few love me better than yourself, Jasper: +Chingachgook is perhaps, now, the only creatur' of whom +I can say that. Well, there's no use in putting it off any +longer; it must be done, and may as well be done at once; +so, Jasper, lead the way, and I'll endivor to look upon her +sweet countenance once more." + +Jasper did lead the way, and they were soon in the pres- +ence of Mabel. The latter met her late suitor with a bright +blush, and her limbs trembled so, she could hardly stand; +still her manner was affectionate and frank. During the +hour of Pathfinder's visit (for it lasted no longer, though +he ate in the dwelling of his friends), one who was expert +in tracing the working of the human mind might have seen +a faithful index to the feelings of Mabel in her manner to +Pathfinder and her husband. With the latter she still had +a little of the reserve that usually accompanies young wed- +lock; but the tones of her voice were kinder even than +common; the glance of her eye was tender, and she sel- +dom looked at him without the glow that tinged her cheeks +betraying the existence of feelings that habit and time had +not yet soothed into absolute tranquillity. With Path- +finder, all was earnest, sincere, even anxious; but the tones +never trembled, the eye never fell; and if the cheek flushed, +it was with the emotions that are connected with concern. + +At length the moment came when Pathfinder must go +his way. Chingachgook had already abandoned the canoes, +and was posted on the margin of the woods, where a path +led into the forest. Here he calmly waited to be joined +by his friend. As soon as the latter was aware of this fact, +he rose in a solemn manner and took his leave. + +"I've sometimes thought that my own fate has been a +little hard," he said; "but that of this woman, Mabel, has +shamed me into reason." + +"June remains, and lives with me," eagerly interrupted +our heroine. + +"So I comprehend it. If anybody can bring her back +from her grief, and make her wish to live, you can do it, +Mabel; though I've misgivings about even your success. +The poor creatur' is without a tribe, as well as without a +husband, and it's not easy to reconcile the feelings to both +losses. Ah's me! -- what have I to do with other people's +miseries and marriages, as if I hadn't affliction enough of +my own? Don't speak to me, Mabel, -- don't speak to me, +Jasper, -- let me go my way in peace, and like a man. I've +seen your happiness, and that is a great deal, and I shall +be able to bear my own sorrow all the better for it. No, +- I'll never kiss you ag'in, Mabel, I'll never kiss you ag'in. +Here's my hand, Jasper, -- squeeze it, boy, squeeze it; no +fear of its giving way, for it's the hand of a man; -- and +now, Mabel, do you take it, -- nay, you must not do this," +- preventing Mabel from kissing it and bathing it in her +tears, -- "you must not do this -- " + +"Pathfinder," asked Mabel, "when shall we see you +again?" + +"I've thought of that, too; yes, I've thought of that, I +have. If the time should ever come when I can look upon +you altogether as a sister, Mabel, or a child, -- it might be +better to say a child, since you're young enough to be my +daughter, -- depend on it I'll come back; for it would +lighten my very heart to witness your gladness. But if I +cannot, -- farewell -- farewell, -- the Sergeant was wrong, -- +yes, the Sergeant was wrong!" + +This was the last the Pathfinder ever uttered to the ears +of Jasper Western and Mabel Dunham. He turned away, +as if the words choked him, and was quickly at the side +of his friend. As soon as the latter saw him approach, he +shouldered his own burthen, and glided in among the +trees, without waiting to be spoken to. Mabel, her hus- +band, and June all watched the form of the Pathfinder, in +the hope of receiving a parting gesture, or a stolen glance +of the eye; but he did not look back. Once or twice they +thought they saw his head shake, as one trembles in bitter- +ness of spirit; and a toss of the hand was given, as if he +knew that he was watched; but a tread, whose vigor no +sorrow could enfeeble, soon bore him out of view, and +was lost in the depths of the forest. + +Neither Jasper nor his wife ever beheld the Pathfinder +again. They remained for another year on the banks of +Ontario; and then the pressing solicitations of Cap in- +duced them to join him in New York, where Jasper even- +tually became a successful and respected merchant. Thrice +Mabel received valuable presents of furs at intervals of +years; and her feelings told her whence they came, though +no name accompanied the gift. Later in life still, when +the mother of several youths, she had occasion to visit +the interior; and found herself on the banks of the Mo- +hawk, accompanied by her sons, the eldest of whom was +capable of being her protector. On that occasion she ob- +served a man in a singular guise, watching her in the dis- +tance, with an intentness that induced her to inquire into +his pursuits and character. She was told he was the most +renowned hunter of that portion of the State, -- it was after +the Revolution, -- a being of great purity of character and +of as marked peculiarities; and tbat he was known in that +region of country by the name of the Leather-stocking. +Further than this Mrs. Western could not ascertain; +though the distant glimpse and singular deportment of +this unknown hunter gave her a sleepless night, and cast a +shade of melancholy over her still lovely face, that lasted +many a day. + +As for June, the double loss of husband and tribe pro- +duced the effect that Pathfinder had foreseen. She died +in the cottage of Mabel, on the shores of the lake; and +Jasper conveyed her body to the island, where he interred +it by the side of that of Arrowhead. + +Lundie lived to mary his ancient love, and retired a +war-worn and battered veteran; but his name has been +rendered illustrious in our own time by the deeds of a +younger brother, who succeeded to his territorial title, +which, however, was shortly after merged in one earned +by his valor on the ocean. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext The Pathfinder, by James Fenimore Cooper + diff --git a/old/pthfn10.zip b/old/pthfn10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..27323a3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/pthfn10.zip diff --git a/old/pthfn11.txt b/old/pthfn11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..35671d8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/pthfn11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19707 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Pathfinder, by James Fenimore Cooper +(#2 in our series by James Fenimore Cooper) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. 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We need your donations. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541 +Find out about how to make a donation at the bottom of this file. + + +Title: The Pathfinder + +Author: James Fenimore Cooper + +Release Date: Sep, 1999 [Etext #1880] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on February 25, 2002] +[Most recently updated: August 22, 2003] + +Edition: 11 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Pathfinder, by James Fenimore Cooper +******This file should be named pthfn11.txt or pthfn11.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, pthfn12.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, pthfn11a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +The "legal small print" and other information about this book +may now be found at the end of this file. Please read this +important information, as it gives you specific rights and +tells you about restrictions in how the file may be used. + +*** + + + + + +This etext was prepared by Nigel Lacey, Leicestershire, UK. + + + + + + +The Pathfinder +or +The Inland Sea + +By James Fenimore Cooper + + + +PREFACE. + +The plan of this tale suggested itself to the writer many years +since, though the details are altogether of recent invention. The +idea of associating seamen and savages in incidents that might be +supposed characteristic of the Great Lakes having been mentioned +to a Publisher, the latter obtained something like a pledge from +the Author to carry out the design at some future day, which pledge +is now tardily and imperfectly redeemed. + +The reader may recognize an old friend under new circumstances in +the principal character of this legend. If the exhibition made of +this old acquaintance, in the novel circumstances in which he now +appears, should be found not to lessen his favor with the Public, +it will be a source of extreme gratification to the writer, since +he has an interest in the individual in question that falls little +short of reality. It is not an easy task, however, to introduce +the same character in four separate works, and to maintain the +peculiarities that are indispensable to identity, without incurring +a risk of fatiguing the reader with sameness; and the present +experiment has been so long delayed quite as much from doubts of +its success as from any other cause. In this, as in every other +undertaking, it must be the "end" that will "crown the work." + +The Indian character has so little variety, that it has been my +object to avoid dwelling on it too much on the present occasion; +its association with the sailor, too, it is feared, will be found +to have more novelty than interest. + +It may strike the novice as an anachronism to place vessels on +the Ontario in the middle of the eighteenth century; but in this +particular facts will fully bear out all the license of the fiction. +Although the precise vessels mentioned in these pages may never +have existed on that water or anywhere else, others so nearly +resembling them are known to have navigated that inland sea, even +at a period much earlier than the one just mentioned, as to form a +sufficient authority for their introduction into a work of fiction. +It is a fact not generally remembered, however well known it may +be, that there are isolated spots along the line of the great lakes +that date as settlements as far back as many of the older American +towns, and which were the seats of a species of civilization long +before the greater portion of even the older States was rescued +from the wilderness. + +Ontario in our own times has been the scene of important naval +evolutions. Fleets have manoeuvered on those waters, which, half +a century ago, were as deserted as waters well can be; and the +day is not distant when the whole of that vast range of lakes will +become the seat of empire, and fraught with all the interests of +human society. A passing glimpse, even though it be in a work of +fiction, of what that vast region so lately was, may help to make +up the sum of knowledge by which alone a just appreciation can be +formed of the wonderful means by which Providence is clearing the +way for the advancement of civilization across the whole American +continent. + + + +THE PATHFINDER. + +CHAPTER I. + +The turf shall be my fragrant shrine; +My temple, Lord! that arch of thine; +My censer's breath the mountain airs, +And silent thoughts my only prayers. +MOORE + + +The sublimity connected with vastness is familiar to every eye. The +most abstruse, the most far-reaching, perhaps the most chastened +of the poet's thoughts, crowd on the imagination as he gazes into +the depths of the illimitable void. The expanse of the ocean is +seldom seen by the novice with indifference; and the mind, even in +the obscurity of night, finds a parallel to that grandeur, which +seems inseparable from images that the senses cannot compass. +With feelings akin to this admiration and awe -- the offspring of +sublimity -- were the different characters with which the action +of this tale must open, gazing on the scene before them. Four +persons in all, -- two of each sex, -- they had managed to ascend a +pile of trees, that had been uptorn by a tempest, to catch a view +of the objects that surrounded them. It is still the practice +of the country to call these spots wind-rows. By letting in the +light of heaven upon the dark and damp recesses of the wood, they +form a sort of oases in the solemn obscurity of the virgin forests +of America. The particular wind-row of which we are writing lay +on the brow of a gentle acclivity; and, though small, it had opened +the way for an extensive view to those who might occupy its upper +margin, a rare occurrence to the traveller in the woods. Philosophy +has not yet determined the nature of the power that so often +lays desolate spots of this description; some ascribing it to the +whirlwinds which produce waterspouts on the ocean, while others +again impute it to sudden and violent passages of streams of the +electric fluid; but the effects in the woods are familiar to all. +On the upper margin of the opening, the viewless influence had +piled tree on tree, in such a manner as had not only enabled the +two males of the party to ascend to an elevation of some thirty +feet above the level of the earth, but, with a little care and +encouragement, to induce their more timid companions to accompany +them. The vast trunks which had been broken and driven by the force +of the gust lay blended like jack-straws; while their branches, +still exhaling the fragrance of withering leaves, were interlaced +in a manner to afford sufficient support to the hands. One tree +had been completely uprooted, and its lower end, filled with earth, +had been cast uppermost, in a way to supply a sort of staging for +the four adventurers, when they had gained the desired distance +from the ground. + +The reader is to anticipate none of the appliances of people of +condition in the description of the personal appearances of the +group in question. They were all wayfarers in the wilderness; and +had they not been, neither their previous habits, nor their actual +social positions, would have accustomed them to many of the luxuries +of rank. Two of the party, indeed, a male and female, belonged +to the native owners of the soil, being Indians of the well-known +tribe of the Tuscaroras; while their companions were -- a man, who +bore about him the peculiarities of one who had passed his days +on the ocean, and was, too, in a station little, if any, above that +of a common mariner; and his female associate, who was a maiden of +a class in no great degree superior to his own; though her youth, +sweetness and countenance, and a modest, but spirited mien, lent +that character of intellect and refinement which adds so much to +the charm of beauty in the sex. On the present occasion, her full +blue eye reflected the feeling of sublimity that the scene excited, +and her pleasant face was beaming with the pensive expression with +which all deep emotions, even though they bring the most grateful +pleasure, shadow the countenances of the ingenuous and thoughtful. + +And truly the scene was of a nature deeply to impress the imagination +of the beholder. Towards the west, in which direction the faces +of the party were turned, the eye ranged over an ocean of leaves, +glorious and rich in the varied and lively verdure of a generous +vegetation, and shaded by the luxuriant tints which belong to the +forty-second degree of latitude. The elm with its graceful and +weeping top, the rich varieties of the maple, most of the noble +oaks of the American forest, with the broad-leaved linden known in +the parlance of the country as the basswood, mingled their uppermost +branches, forming one broad and seemingly interminable carpet +of foliage which stretched away towards the setting sun, until it +bounded the horizon, by blending with the clouds, as the waves and +the sky meet at the base of the vault of heaven. Here and there, +by some accident of the tempests, or by a caprice of nature, a +trifling opening among these giant members of the forest permitted +an inferior tree to struggle upward toward the light, and to lift +its modest head nearly to a level with the surrounding surface of +verdure. Of this class were the birch, a tree of some account in +regions less favored, the quivering aspen, various generous nut-woods, +and divers others which resembled the ignoble and vulgar, thrown +by circumstances into the presence of the stately and great. Here +and there, too, the tall straight trunk of the pine pierced the +vast field, rising high above it, like some grand monument reared +by art on a plain of leaves. + +It was the vastness of the view, the nearly unbroken surface +of verdure, that contained the principle of grandeur. The beauty +was to be traced in the delicate tints, relieved by graduations of +light and shade; while the solemn repose induced the feeling allied +to awe. + +"Uncle," said the wondering, but pleased girl, addressing her male +companion, whose arm she rather touched than leaned on, to steady +her own light but firm footing, "this is like a view of the ocean +you so much love!" + +"So much for ignorance, and a girl's fancy, Magnet," --a term of +affection the sailor often used in allusion to his niece's personal +attractions; "no one but a child would think of likening this +handful of leaves to a look at the real Atlantic. You might seize +all these tree-tops to Neptune's jacket, and they would make no +more than a nosegay for his bosom." + +"More fanciful than true, I think, uncle. Look thither; it must +be miles on miles, and yet we see nothing but leaves! what could +one behold, if looking at the ocean?" + +"More!" returned the uncle, giving an impatient gesture with the +elbow the other touched, for his arms were crossed, and the hands +were thrust into the bosom of a vest of red cloth, a fashion of +the times, -- "more, Magnet! say, rather, what less? Where are +your combing seas, your blue water, your rollers, your breakers, +your whales, or your waterspouts, and your endless motion, in this +bit of a forest, child?" + +"And where are your tree-tops, your solemn silence, your fragrant +leaves, and your beautiful green, uncle, on the ocean?" + +"Tut, Magnet! if you understood the thing, you would know that +green water is a sailor's bane. He scarcely relishes a greenhorn +less." + +"But green trees are a different thing. Hist! that sound is the +air breathing among the leaves!" + +"You should hear a nor-wester breathe, girl, if you fancy wind +aloft. Now, where are your gales, and hurricanes, and trades, and +levanters, and such like incidents, in this bit of a forest? And +what fishes have you swimming beneath yonder tame surface?" + +"That there have been tempests here, these signs around us plainly +show; and beasts, if not fishes, are beneath those leaves." + +"I do not know that," returned the uncle, with a sailor's dogmatism. +"They told us many stories at Albany of the wild animals we should +fall in with, and yet we have seen nothing to frighten a seal. I +doubt if any of your inland animals will compare with a low latitude +shark." + +"See!" exclaimed the niece, who was more occupied with the sublimity +and beauty of the "boundless wood" than with her uncle's arguments; +"yonder is a smoke curling over the tops of the trees -- can it +come from a house?" + +"Ay, ay; there is a look of humanity in that smoke," returned the +old seaman, "which is worth a thousand trees. I must show it to +Arrowhead, who may be running past a port without knowing it. It +is probable there is a caboose where there is a smoke." + +As he concluded, the uncle drew a hand from his bosom, touched the +male Indian, who was standing near him, lightly on the shoulder, +and pointed out a thin line of vapor which was stealing slowly out +of the wilderness of leaves, at a distance of about a mile, and +was diffusing itself in almost imperceptible threads of humidity +in the quivering atmosphere. The Tuscarora was one of those +noble-looking warriors oftener met with among the aborigines of this +continent a century since than to-day; and, while he had mingled +sufficiently with the colonists to be familiar with their habits +and even with their language, he had lost little, if any, of the +wild grandeur and simple dignity of a chief. Between him and the +old seaman the intercourse had been friendly, but distant; for the +Indian had been too much accustomed to mingle with the officers of +the different military posts he had frequented not to understand +that his present companion was only a subordinate. So imposing, +indeed, had been the quiet superiority of the Tuscarora's +reserve, that Charles Cap, for so was the seaman named, in his most +dogmatical or facetious moments, had not ventured on familiarity +in an intercourse which had now lasted more than a week. The +sight of the curling smoke, however, had struck the latter like the +sudden appearance of a sail at sea; and, for the first time since +they met, he ventured to touch the warrior, as has been related. + +The quick eye of the Tuscarora instantly caught a sight of the +smoke; and for full a minute he stood, slightly raised on tiptoe, +with distended nostrils, like the buck that scents a taint in the +air, and a gaze as riveted as that of the trained pointer while +he waits his master's aim. Then, falling back on his feet, a low +exclamation, in the soft tones that form so singular a contrast to +its harsher cries in the Indian warrior's voice, was barely audible; +otherwise, he was undisturbed. His countenance was calm, and his +quick, dark, eagle eye moved over the leafy panorama, as if to take +in at a glance every circumstance that might enlighten his mind. +That the long journey they had attempted to make through a broad +belt of wilderness was necessarily attended with danger, both +uncle and niece well knew; though neither could at once determine +whether the sign that others were in their vicinity was the harbinger +of good or evil. + +"There must be Oneidas or Tuscaroras near us, Arrowhead," said +Cap, addressing his Indian companion by his conventional English +name; "will it not be well to join company with them, and get a +comfortable berth for the night in their wigwam?" + +"No wigwam there," Arrowhead answered in his unmoved manner -- "too +much tree." + +"But Indians must be there; perhaps some old mess-mates of your +own, Master Arrowhead." + +"No Tuscarora -- no Oneida -- no Mohawk -- pale-face fire." + +"The devil it is? Well, Magnet, this surpasses a seaman's philosophy: +we old sea-dogs can tell a lubber's nest from a mate's hammock; but +I do not think the oldest admiral in his Majesty's fleet can tell +a king's smoke from a collier's." + +The idea that human beings were in their vicinity, in that ocean +of wilderness, had deepened the flush on the blooming cheek and +brightened the eye of the fair creature at his side; but she soon +turned with a look of surprise to her relative, and said hesitatingly, +for both had often admired the Tuscarora's knowledge, or, we might +almost say, instinct, -- + +"A pale-face's fire! Surely, uncle, he cannot know _that_?" + +"Ten days since, child, I would have sworn to it; but now I hardly +know what to believe. May I take the liberty of asking, Arrowhead, +why you fancy that smoke, now, a pale-face's smoke, and not a +red-skin's?" + +"Wet wood," returned the warrior, with the calmness with which +the pedagogue might point out an arithmetical demonstration to his +puzzled pupil. "Much wet -- much smoke; much water -- black smoke." + +"But, begging your pardon, Master Arrowhead, the smoke is not +black, nor is there much of it. To my eye, now, it is as light +and fanciful a smoke as ever rose from a captain's tea-kettle, when +nothing was left to make the fire but a few chips from the dunnage." + +"Too much water," returned Arrowhead, with a slight nod of the +head; "Tuscarora too cunning to make fire with water! Pale-face +too much book, and burn anything; much book, little know." + +"Well, that's reasonable, I allow," said Cap, who was no devotee +of learning: "he means that as a hit at your reading, Magnet; for +the chief has sensible notions of things in his own way. How far, +now, Arrowhead, do you make us, by your calculation, from the bit +of a pond that you call the Great Lake, and towards which we have +been so many days shaping our course?" + +The Tuscarora looked at the seaman with quiet superiority as he +answered, "Ontario, like heaven; one sun, and the great traveller +will know it." + +"Well, I have been a great traveller, I cannot deny; but of all my +v'y'ges this has been the longest, the least profitable, and the +farthest inland. If this body of fresh water is so nigh, Arrowhead, +and so large, one might think a pair of good eyes would find it +out; for apparently everything within thirty miles is to be seen +from this lookout." + +"Look," said Arrowhead, stretching an arm before him with quiet +grace; "Ontario!" + +"Uncle, you are accustomed to cry 'Land ho!' but not 'Water ho!' +and you do not see it," cried the niece, laughing, as girls will +laugh at their own idle conceits. + +"How now, Magnet! dost suppose that I shouldn't know my native +element if it were in sight?" + +"But Ontario is not your native element, dear uncle; for you come +from the salt water, while this is fresh." + +"That might make some difference to your young mariner, but none +to the old one. I should know water, child, were I to see it in +China." + +"Ontario," repeated Arrowhead, with emphasis, again stretching his +hand towards the north-west. + +Cap looked at the Tuscarora, for the first time since their +acquaintance, with something like an air of contempt, though he did +not fail to follow the direction of the chief's eye and arm, both +of which were directed towards a vacant point in the heavens, a +short distance above the plain of leaves. + +"Ay, ay; this is much as I expected, when I left the coast in search +of a fresh-water pond," resumed Cap, shrugging his shoulders like +one whose mind was made up, and who thought no more need be said. +"Ontario may be there, or, for that matter, it may be in my +pocket. Well, I suppose there will be room enough, when we reach +it, to work our canoe. But Arrowhead, if there be pale-faces in +our neighborhood, I confess I should like to get within hail of +them." + +The Tuscarora now gave a quiet inclination of his head, and the +whole party descended from the roots of the up-torn tree in silence. +When they reached the ground, Arrowhead intimated his intention to +go towards the fire, and ascertain who had lighted it; while he +advised his wife and the two others to return to a canoe, which +they had left in the adjacent stream, and await his return. + +"Why, chief, this might do on soundings, and in an offing where +one knew the channel," returned old Cap; "but in an unknown region +like this I think it unsafe to trust the pilot alone too far from +the ship: so, with your leave, we will not part company." + +"What my brother want?" asked the Indian gravely, though without +taking offence at a distrust that was sufficiently plain. + +"Your company, Master Arrowhead, and no more. I will go with you +and speak these strangers." + +The Tuscarora assented without difficulty, and again he directed +his patient and submissive little wife, who seldom turned her full +rich black eye on him but to express equally her respect, her dread, +and her love, to proceed to the boat. But here Magnet raised +a difficulty. Although spirited, and of unusual energy under +circumstances of trial, she was but woman; and the idea of being +entirely deserted by her two male protectors, in the midst of a +wilderness that her senses had just told her was seemingly illimitable, +became so keenly painful, that she expressed a wish to accompany +her uncle. + +"The exercise will be a relief, dear sir, after sitting so long in +the canoe," she added, as the rich blood slowly returned to a cheek +that had paled in spite of her efforts to be calm; "and there may +be females with the strangers." + +"Come, then, child; it is but a cable's length, and we shall return +an hour before the sun sets." + +With this permission, the girl, whose real name was Mabel Dunham, +prepared to be of the party; while the Dew-of-June, as the wife of +Arrowhead was called, passively went her way towards the canoe, +too much accustomed to obedience, solitude, and the gloom of the +forest to feel apprehension. + +The three who remained in the wind-row now picked their way around +its tangled maze, and gained the margin of the woods. A few glances +of the eye sufficed for Arrowhead; but old Cap deliberately set +the smoke by a pocket-compass, before he trusted himself within +the shadows of the trees. + +"This steering by the nose, Magnet, may do well enough for an Indian, +but your thoroughbred knows the virtue of the needle," said the +uncle, as he trudged at the heels of the light-stepping Tuscarora. +"America would never have been discovered, take my word for it, if +Columbus had been nothing but nostrils. Friend Arrowhead, didst +ever see a machine like this?" + +The Indian turned, cast a glance at the compass, which Cap held +in a way to direct his course, and gravely answered, "A pale-face +eye. The Tuscarora see in his head. The Salt-water (for so the +Indian styled his companion) all eye now; no tongue." + +"He means, uncle, that we had needs be silent, perhaps he distrusts +the persons we are about to meet." + +"Ay, 'tis an Indian's fashion of going to quarters. You perceive +he has examined the priming of his rifle, and it may be as well if +I look to that of my own pistols." + +Without betraying alarm at these preparations, to which she had +become accustomed by her long journey in the wilderness, Mabel +followed with a step as elastic as that of the Indian, keeping close +in the rear of her companions. For the first half mile no other +caution beyond a rigid silence was observed; but as the party drew +nearer to the spot where the fire was known to be, much greater +care became necessary. + +The forest, as usual, had little to intercept the view below the +branches but the tall straight trunks of trees. Everything belonging +to vegetation had struggled towards the light, and beneath the leafy +canopy one walked, as it might be, through a vast natural vault, +upheld by myriads of rustic columns. These columns or trees, +however, often served to conceal the adventurer, the hunter, or +the foe; and, as Arrowhead swiftly approached the spot where his +practised and unerring senses told him the strangers ought to be, +his footstep gradually became lighter, his eye more vigilant, and +his person was more carefully concealed. + +"See, Saltwater," said he exulting, pointing through the vista of +trees; "pale-face fire!" + +"By the Lord, the fellow is right!" muttered Cap; "there they are, +sure enough, and eating their grub as quietly as if they were in +the cabin of a three-decker." + +"Arrowhead is but half right!" whispered Mabel, "for there are two +Indians and only one white man." + +"Pale-faces," said the Tuscarora, holding up two fingers; "red +man," holding up one. + +"Well," rejoined Cap, "it is hard to say which is right and which +is wrong. One is entirely white, and a fine comely lad he is, with +an air of respectability about him; one is a red-skin as plain as +paint and nature can make him; but the third chap is half-rigged, +being neither brig nor schooner." + +"Pale-faces," repeated Arrowhead, again raising two fingers, "red +man," showing but one. + +"He must be right, uncle; for his eye seems never to fail. But +it is now urgent to know whether we meet as friends or foes. They +may be French." + +"One hail will soon satisfy us on that head," returned Cap. "Stand +you behind the tree, Magnet, lest the knaves take it into their +heads to fire a broadside without a parley, and I will soon learn +what colors they sail under." + +The uncle had placed his two hands to his mouth to form a trumpet, +and was about to give the promised hail, when a rapid movement +from the hand of Arrowhead defeated the intention by deranging the +instrument. + +"Red man, Mohican," said the Tuscarora; "good; pale-faces, Yengeese." + +"These are heavenly tidings," murmured Mabel, who little relished +the prospect of a deadly fray in that remote wilderness. "Let us +approach at once, dear uncle, and proclaim ourselves friends." + +"Good," said the Tuscarora "red man cool, and know; pale-face +hurried, and fire. Let the squaw go." + +"What!" said Cap in astonishment; "send little Magnet ahead as +a lookout, while two lubbers, like you and me, lie-to to +see what sort of a landfall she will make! If I do, I -- " + +"It is wisest, uncle," interrupted the generous girl, "and I have +no fear. No Christian, seeing a woman approach alone, would fire +upon her; and my presence will be a pledge of peace. Let me go +forward, as Arrowhead wishes, and all will be well. We are, as +yet, unseen, and the surprise of the strangers will not partake of +alarm." + +"Good," returned Arrowhead, who did not conceal his approbation of +Mabel's spirit. + +"It has an unseaman-like look," answered Cap; "but, being +in the woods, no one will know it. If you think, Mabel -- " + +"Uncle, I know. There is no cause to fear for me; and you are +always nigh to protect me." + +"Well, take one of the pistols, then -- " + +"Nay, I had better rely on my youth and feebleness," said the girl, +smiling, while her color heightened under her feelings. "Among +Christian men, a woman's best guard is her claim to their protection. +I know nothing of arms, and wish to live in ignorance of them." + +The uncle desisted; and, after receiving a few cautious instructions +from the Tuscarora, Mabel rallied all her spirit, and advanced +alone towards the group seated near the fire. Although the heart +of the girl beat quick, her step was firm, and her movements, +seemingly, were without reluctance. A death-like silence reigned +in the forest, for they towards whom she approached were too much +occupied in appeasing their hunger to avert their looks for an +instant from the important business in which they were all engaged. +When Mabel, however, had got within a hundred feet of the fire, +she trod upon a dried stick, and the trifling noise produced by +her light footstep caused the Mohican, as Arrowhead had pronounced +the Indian to be, and his companion, whose character had been +thought so equivocal, to rise to their feet, as quick as thought. +Both glanced at the rifles that leaned against a tree; and then +each stood without stretching out an arm, as his eyes fell on the +form of the girl. The Indian uttered a few words to his companion, +and resumed his seat and his meal as calmly as if no interruption +had occurred. On the contrary, the white man left the fire, and +came forward to meet Mabel. + +The latter saw, as the stranger approached that she was about to be +addressed by one of her own color, though his dress was so strange +a mixture of the habits of the two races, that it required a near +look to be certain of the fact. He was of middle age; but there +was an open honesty, a total absence of guile, in his face, which +otherwise would not have been thought handsome, that at once assured +Magnet she was in no danger. Still she paused. + +"Fear nothing, young woman," said the hunter, for such his attire +would indicate him to be; "you have met Christian men in the wilderness, +and such as know how to treat all kindly who are disposed to peace +and justice. I am a man well known in all these parts, and perhaps +one of my names may have reached your ears. By the Frenchers and +the red-skins on the other side of the Big Lakes, I am called La +Longue Carabine; by the Mohicans, a just-minded and upright tribe, +what is left of them, Hawk Eye; while the troops and rangers along +this side of the water call me Pathfinder, inasmuch as I have never +been known to miss one end of the trail, when there was a Mingo, +or a friend who stood in need of me, at the other." + +This was not uttered boastfully, but with the honest confidence +of one who well knew that by whatever name others might have heard +of him, who had no reason to blush at the reports. The effect on +Mabel was instantaneous. The moment she heard the last _sobriquet_ +she clasped her hands eagerly and repeated the word "Pathfinder!" + +"So they call me, young woman, and many a great lord has got a +title that he did not half so well merit; though, if truth be said, +I rather pride myself in finding my way where there is no path, +than in finding it where there is. But the regular troops are by +no means particular, and half the time they don't know the difference +between a trail and a path, though one is a matter for the eye, +while the other is little more than scent." + +"Then you are the friend my father promised to send to meet us?" + +"If you are Sergeant Dunham's daughter, the great Prophet of the +Delawares never uttered more truth." + +"I am Mabel; and yonder, hid by the trees, are my uncle, whose name +is Cap, and a Tuscarora called Arrowhead. We did not hope to meet +you until we had nearly reached the shores of the lake." + +"I wish a juster-minded Indian had been your guide," said Pathfinder; +"for I am no lover of the Tuscaroras, who have travelled too +far from the graves of their fathers always to remember the Great +Spirit; and Arrowhead is an ambitious chief. Is the Dew-of-June +with him?" + +"His wife accompanies us, and a humble and mild creature she is." + +"Ay, and true-hearted; which is more than any who know him will say +of Arrowhead. Well, we must take the fare that Providence bestows, +while we follow the trail of life. I suppose worse guides might +have been found than the Tuscarora; though he has too much Mingo +blood for one who consorts altogether with the Delawares." + +"It is, then, perhaps, fortunate we have met," said Mabel. + +"It is not misfortunate, at any rate; for I promised the Sergeant +I would see his child safe to the garrison, though I died for it. +We expected to meet you before you reached the Falls, where we have +left our own canoe; while we thought it might do no harm to come +up a few miles, in order to be of service if wanted. It is lucky +we did, for I doubt if Arrowhead be the man to shoot the current." + +"Here come my uncle and the Tuscarora, and our parties can now join." +As Mabel concluded, Cap and Arrowhead, who saw that the conference +was amicable, drew nigh; and a few words sufficed to let them know +as much as the girl herself had learned from the strangers. As +soon as this was done, the party proceeded towards the two who +still remained near the fire. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +Yea! long as Nature's humblest child +Hath kept her temple undefiled + By simple sacrifice, +Earth's fairest scenes are all his own, +He is a monarch and his throne + Is built amid the skies! +WILSON. + + +The Mohican continued to eat, though the second white man rose, +and courteously took off his cap to Mabel Dunham. He was young, +healthful, and manly in appearance; and he wore a dress which, +while it was less rigidly professional than that of the uncle, also +denoted one accustomed to the water. In that age, real seamen +were a class entirely apart from the rest of mankind, their ideas, +ordinary language, and attire being as strongly indicative of +their calling as the opinions, speech, and dress of a Turk denote +a Mussulman. Although the Pathfinder was scarcely in the prime of +life, Mabel had met him with a steadiness that may have been the +consequence of having braced her nerves for the interview; but when +her eyes encountered those of the young man at the fire, they fell +before the gaze of admiration with which she saw, or fancied she +saw, he greeted her. Each, in truth, felt that interest in the +other which similarity of age, condition, mutual comeliness, and +their novel situation would be likely to inspire in the young and +ingenuous. + +"Here," said Pathfinder, with an honest smile bestowed on Mabel, +"are the friends your worthy father has sent to meet you. This is +a great Delaware; and one who has had honors as well as troubles +in his day. He has an Indian name fit for a chief, but, as the +language is not always easy for the inexperienced to pronounce we +naturally turn it into English, and call him the Big Sarpent. You +are not to suppose, however, that by this name we wish to say that +he is treacherous, beyond what is lawful in a red-skin; but that he +is wise, and has the cunning which becomes a warrior. Arrowhead, +there, knows what I mean." + +While the Pathfinder was delivering this address, the two Indians +gazed on each other steadily, and the Tuscarora advanced and spoke +to the other in an apparently friendly manner. + +"I like to see this," continued Pathfinder; "the salutes of two +red-skins in the woods, Master Cap, are like the hailing of friendly +vessels on the ocean. But speaking of water, it reminds me of my +young friend, Jasper Western here, who can claim to know something +of these matters, seeing that he has passed his days on Ontario." + +"I am glad to see you, friend," said Cap, giving the young fresh-water +sailor a cordial grip; "though you must have something still to +learn, considering the school to which you have been sent. This +is my niece Mabel; I call her Magnet, for a reason she never dreams +of, though you may possibly have education enough to guess at it, +having some pretentions to understand the compass, I suppose." + +"The reason is easily comprehended," said the young man, involuntarily +fastening his keen dark eye, at the same time, on the suffused face +of the girl; "and I feel sure that the sailor who steers by your +Magnet will never make a bad landfall." + +"Ha! you do make use of some of the terms, I find, and that with +propriety; though, on the whole, I fear you have seen more green +than blue water." + +"It is not surprising that we should get some of the phrases which +belong to the land; for we are seldom out of sight of it twenty-four +hours at a time." + +"More's the pity, boy, more's the pity! A very little land ought +to go a great way with a seafaring man. Now, if the truth were +known, Master Western, I suppose there is more or less land all +round your lake." + +"And, uncle, is there not more or less land around the ocean?" +said Magnet quickly; for she dreaded a premature display of the +old seaman's peculiar dogmatism, not to say pedantry. + +"No, child, there is more or less ocean all round the land; +that's what I tell the people ashore, youngster. They are living, +as it might be, in the midst of the sea, without knowing it; by +sufferance, as it were, the water being so much the more powerful +and the largest. But there is no end to conceit in this world: +for a fellow who never saw salt water often fancies he knows more +than one who has gone round the Horn. No, no, this earth is pretty +much an island; and all that can be truly said not to be so is +water." + +Young Western had a profound deference for a mariner of the ocean, +on which he had often pined to sail; but he had also a natural +regard for the broad sheet on which he had passed his life, and +which was not without its beauties in his eyes. + +"What you say, sir," he answered modestly, "may be true as to the +Atlantic; but we have a respect for the land up here on Ontario." + +"That is because you are always land-locked," returned Cap, laughing +heartily; "but yonder is the Pathfinder, as they call him, with +some smoking platters, inviting us to share in his mess; and I will +confess that one gets no venison at sea. Master Western, civility +to girls, at your time of life, comes as easy as taking in the +slack of the ensign halyards; and if you will just keep an eye to +her kid and can, while I join the mess of the Pathfinder and our +Indian friends, I make no doubt she will remember it." + +Master Cap uttered more than he was aware of at the time. Jasper +Western did attend to the wants of Mabel, and she long remembered +the kind, manly attention of the young sailor at this their first +interview. He placed the end of a log for a seat, obtained for +her a delicious morsel of the venison, gave her a draught of pure +water from the spring, and as he sat near her, fast won his way to +her esteem by his gentle but frank manner of manifesting his care; +homage that woman always wishes to receive, but which is never so +flattering or so agreeable as when it comes from the young to those +of their own age -- from the manly to the gentle. Like most of +those who pass their time excluded from the society of the softer +sex, young Western was earnest, sincere, and kind in his attentions, +which, though they wanted a conventional refinement, which, perhaps, +Mabel never missed, had those winning qualities that prove very +sufficient as substitutes. Leaving these two unsophisticated young +people to become acquainted through their feelings, rather than +their expressed thoughts, we will turn to the group in which the +uncle had already become a principal actor. + +The party had taken their places around a platter of venison steaks, +which served for the common use, and the discourse naturally partook +of the characters of the different individuals which composed +it. The Indians were silent and industrious the appetite of the +aboriginal American for venison being seemingly inappeasable, while +the two white men were communicative, each of the latter being +garrulous and opinionated in his way. But, as the dialogue will +put the reader in possession of certain facts that may render the +succeeding narrative more clear, it will be well to record it. + +"There must be satisfaction in this life of yours, no doubt, Mr. +Pathfinder," continued Cap, when the hunger of the travellers was +so far appeased that they began to pick and choose among the savory +morsels; "it has some of the chances and luck that we seamen like; +and if ours is all water, yours is all land." + +"Nay, we have water too, in our journeyings and marches," returned +his white companion; "we bordermen handle the paddle and the spear +almost as much as the rifle and the hunting-knife." + +"Ay; but do you handle the brace and the bow-line, the wheel and +the lead-line, the reef-point and the top-rope? The paddle is a +good thing, out of doubt, in a canoe; but of what use is it in the +ship?" + +"Nay, I respect all men in their callings, and I can believe the +things you mention have their uses. One who has lived, like myself, +in company with many tribes, understands differences in usages. +The paint of a Mingo is not the paint of a Delaware; and he who +should expect to see a warrior in the dress of a squaw might be +disappointed. I am not yet very old, but I have lived in the woods, +and have some acquaintance with human natur'. I never believe much +in the learning of them that dwell in towns, for I never yet met +with one that had an eye for a rifle or a trail." + +"That's my manner of reasoning, Master Pathfinder, to a yarn. +Walking about streets, going to church of Sundays, and hearing +sermons, never yet made a man of a human being. Send the boy out +upon the broad ocean, if you wish to open his eyes, and let him +look upon foreign nations, or what I call the face of nature, if +you wish him to understand his own character. Now, there is my +brother-in-law, the Sergeant: he is as good a fellow as ever broke +a biscuit, in his way; but what is he, after all? Why, nothing +but a soldier. A sergeant, to be sure, but that is a sort of a +soldier, you know. When he wished to marry poor Bridget, my sister, +I told the girl what he was, as in duty bound, and what she might +expect from such a husband; but you know how it is with girls when +their minds are jammed by an inclination. It is true, the Sergeant +has risen in his calling, and they say he is an important man at +the fort; but his poor wife has not lived to see it all, for she +has now been dead these fourteen years." + +"A soldier's calling is honorable, provided he has fi't only on +the side of right," returned the Pathfinder; "and as the Frenchers +are always wrong, and his sacred Majesty and these colonies are +always right, I take it the Sergeant has a quiet conscience as well +as a good character. I have never slept more sweetly than when I +have fi't the Mingos, though it is the law with me to fight always +like a white man and never like an Indian. The Sarpent, here, has +his fashions, and I have mine; and yet have we fi't side by side +these many years; without either thinking a hard thought consarning +the other's ways. I tell him there is but one heaven and one hell, +notwithstanding his traditions, though there are many paths to +both." + +"That is rational; and he is bound to believe you, though, I fancy, +most of the roads to the last are on dry land. The sea is what my +poor sister Bridget used to call a 'purifying place,' and one is +out of the way of temptation when out of sight of land. I doubt +if as much can be said in favor of your lakes up hereaway." + +"That towns and settlements lead to sin, I will allow; but our lakes +are bordered by the forests, and one is every day called upon to +worship God in such a temple. That men are not always the same, +even in the wilderness, I must admit for the difference between +a Mingo and a Delaware is as plain to be seen as the difference +between the sun and the moon. I am glad, friend Cap, that we have +met, however, if it be only that you may tell the Big Sarpent here +that there are lakes in which the water is salt. We have been +pretty much of one mind since our acquaintance began, and if the +Mohican has only half the faith in me that I have in him, he believes +all that I have told him touching the white men's ways and natur's +laws; but it has always seemed to me that none of the red-skins +have given as free a belief as an honest man likes to the accounts +of the Big Salt Lakes, and to that of their being rivers that flow +up stream." + +"This comes of getting things wrong end foremost," answered Cap, +with a condescending nod. "You have thought of your lakes and rifts +as the ship; and of the ocean and the tides as the boat. Neither +Arrowhead nor the Serpent need doubt what you have said concerning +both, though I confess myself to some difficulty in swallowing the +tale about there being inland seas at all, and still more that +there is any sea of fresh water. I have come this long journey as +much to satisfy my own eyes concerning these facts, as to oblige +the Sergeant and Magnet, though the first was my sister's husband, +and I love the last like a child." + +"You are wrong, friend Cap, very wrong, to distrust the power of +God in any thing," returned Pathfinder earnestly. "They that live +in the settlements and the towns have confined and unjust opinions +consarning the might of His hand; but we, who pass our time in His +very presence, as it might be, see things differently -- I mean, +such of us as have white natur's. A red-skin has his notions, and +it is right that it should be so; and if they are not exactly the +same as a Christian white man's, there is no harm in it. Still, +there are matters which belong altogether to the ordering of God's +providence; and these salt and fresh-water lakes are some of them. +I do not pretend to account for these things, but I think it the +duty of all to believe in them." + +"Hold on there, Master Pathfinder," interrupted Cap, not without +some heat; "in the way of a proper and manly faith, I will turn +my back on no one, when afloat. Although more accustomed to make +all snug aloft, and to show the proper canvas, than to pray when +the hurricane comes, I know that we are but helpless mortals at +times, and I hope I pay reverence where reverence is due. All I +mean to say is this: that, being accustomed to see water in large +bodies salt, I should like to taste it before I can believe it to +be fresh." + +"God has given the salt lick to the deer; and He has given to man, +red-skin and white, the delicious spring at which to slake his +thirst. It is unreasonable to think that He may not have given +lakes of pure water to the west, and lakes of impure water to the +east." + +Cap was awed, in spite of his overweening dogmatism, by the earnest +simplicity of the Pathfinder, though he did not relish the idea +of believing a fact which, for many years, he had pertinaciously +insisted could not be true. Unwilling to give up the point and, +at the same time, unable to maintain it against a reasoning to +which he was unaccustomed, and which possessed equally the force +of truth, faith, and probability, he was glad to get rid of the +subject by evasion. + +"Well, well, friend Pathfinder," said he, "we will leave the +argument where it is; and we can try the water when we once reach +it. Only mark my words -- I do not say that it may not be fresh on +the surface; the Atlantic is sometimes fresh on the surface, near +the mouths of great rivers; but, rely on it, I shall show you a way +of tasting the water many fathoms deep, of which you never dreamed; +and then we shall know more about it." + +The guide seemed content to let the matter rest, and the conversation +changed. + +"We are not over-conceited consarning our gifts," observed the +Pathfinder, after a short pause, "and well know that such +as live in the towns, and near the sea -- " + +"On the sea," interrupted Cap. + +"On the sea, if you wish it, friend -- have opportunities which do +not befall us of the wilderness. Still, we know our own callings, +and they are what I consider natural callings, and are not parvarted +by vanity and wantonness. Now, my gifts are with the rifle, and +on a trail, and in the way of game and scouting; for, though I can +use the spear and the paddle, I pride not myself on either. The +youth Jasper, there, who is discoursing with the Sergeant's daughter, +is a different cratur'; for he may be said to breathe the water, as +it might be, like a fish. The Indians and Frenchers of the north +shore call him Eau-douce, on account of his gifts in this particular. +He is better at the oar, and the rope too, than in making fires on +a trail." + +"There must be something about these gifts of which you speak, after +all," said Cap. "Now this fire, I will acknowledge, has overlaid +all my seamanship. Arrowhead, there, said the smoke came from a +pale-face's fire, and that is a piece of philosophy which I hold +to be equal to steering in a dark night by the edges of the sand." + +"It's no great secret," returned Pathfinder, laughing with great +inward glee, though habitual caution prevented the emission of any +noise. "Nothing is easier to us who pass our time in the great +school of Providence than to larn its lessons. We should be as +useless on a trail, or in carrying tidings through the wilderness, +as so many woodchucks, did we not soon come to a knowledge of these +niceties. Eau-douce, as we call him, is so fond of the water, that +he gathered a damp stick or two for our fire; and wet will bring +dark smoke, as I suppose even you followers of the sea must know. +It's no great secret, though all is mystery to such as doesn't +study the Lord and His mighty ways with humility and thankfulness." + +"That must be a keen eye of Arrowhead's to see so slight a difference." + +"He would be but a poor Indian if he didn't. No, no; it is war-time, +and no red-skin is outlying without using his senses. Every skin +has its own natur', and every natur' has its own laws, as well as +its own skin. It was many years before I could master all these +higher branches of a forest education; for red-skin knowledge +doesn't come as easy to white-skin natur', as what I suppose is +intended to be white-skin knowledge; though I have but little of +the latter, having passed most of my time in the wilderness." + +"You have been a ready scholar, Master Pathfinder, as is seen by +your understanding these things so well. I suppose it would be +no great matter for a man regularly brought up to the sea to catch +these trifles, if he could only bring his mind fairly to bear upon +them." + +"I don't know that. The white man has his difficulties in getting +red-skin habits, quite as much as the Indian in getting white-skin +ways. As for the real natur', it is my opinion that neither can +actually get that of the other." + +"And yet we sailors, who run about the world so much, say there is +but one nature, whether it be in the Chinaman or a Dutchman. For +my own part, I am much of that way of thinking too; for I have +generally found that all nations like gold and silver, and most +men relish tobacco." + +"Then you seafaring men know little of the red-skins. Have you +ever known any of your Chinamen who could sing their death-songs, +with their flesh torn with splinters and cut with knives, the fire +raging around their naked bodies, and death staring them in the +face? Until you can find me a Chinaman, or a Christian man, that +can do all this, you cannot find a man with a red-skin natur', let +him look ever so valiant, or know how to read all the books that +were ever printed." + +"It is the savages only that play each other such hellish tricks," +said Master Cap, glancing his eyes about him uneasily at the +apparently endless arches of the forest. "No white man is ever +condemned to undergo these trials." + +"Nay, therein you are again mistaken," returned the Pathfinder, +coolly selecting a delicate morsel of the venison as his _bonne +bouche_; "for though these torments belong only to the red-skin +natur', in the way of bearing them like braves, white-skin natur' +may be, and often has been, agonized by them." + +"Happily," said Cap, with an effort to clear his throat, "none +of his Majesty's allies will be likely to attempt such damnable +cruelties on any of his Majesty's loyal subjects. I have not +served much in the royal navy, it is true; but I have served, and +that is something; and, in the way of privateering and worrying +the enemy in his ships and cargoes, I've done my full share. But +I trust there are no French savages on this side the lake, and I +think you said that Ontario is a broad sheet of water?" + +"Nay, it is broad in our eyes," returned Pathfinder, not caring +to conceal the smile which lighted a face which had been burnt by +exposure to a bright red; "though I mistrust that some may think +it narrow; and narrow it is, if you wish it to keep off the foe. +Ontario has two ends, and the enemy that is afraid to cross it will +be certain to come round it." + +"Ah! that comes of your d----d fresh-water ponds!" growled Cap, +hemming so loudly as to cause him instantly to repent the indiscretion. +"No man, now, ever heard of a pirate or a ship getting round one +end of the Atlantic!" + +"Mayhap the ocean has no ends?" + +"That it hasn't; nor sides, nor bottom. The nation which is snugly +moored on one of its coasts need fear nothing from the one anchored +abeam, let it be ever so savage, unless it possesses the art of +ship building. No, no! the people who live on the shores of the +Atlantic need fear but little for their skins or their scalps. A +man may lie down at night in those regions, in the hope of finding +the hair on his head in the morning, unless he wears a wig." + +"It isn't so here. I don't wish to flurry the young woman, and +therefore I will be in no way particular, though she seems pretty +much listening to Eau-douce, as we call him; but without the +edication I have received, I should think it at this very moment, +a risky journey to go over the very ground that lies between us +and the garrison, in the present state of this frontier. There +are about as many Iroquois on this side of Ontario as there are +on the other. It is for this very reason, friend Cap, that the +Sergeant has engaged us to come out and show you the path." + +"What! do the knaves dare to cruise so near the guns of one of his +Majesty's works?" + +"Do not the ravens resort near the carcass of the deer, though the +fowler is at hand? They come this-a-way, as it might be, naturally. +There are more or less whites passing between the forts and the +settlements, and they are sure to be on their trails. The Sarpent +has come up one side of the river, and I have come up the other, +in order to scout for the outlying rascals, while Jasper brought +up the canoe, like a bold-hearted sailor as he is. The Sergeant +told him, with tears in his eyes, all about his child, and how his +heart yearned for her, and how gentle and obedient she was, until +I think the lad would have dashed into a Mingo camp single-handed, +rather than not a-come." + +"We thank him, and shall think the better of him for his readiness; +though I suppose the boy has run no great risk, after all." + +"Only the risk of being shot from a cover, as he forced the canoe +up a swift rift, or turned an elbow in the stream, with his eyes +fastened on the eddies. Of all the risky journeys, that on an +ambushed river is the most risky, in my judgment, and that risk +has Jasper run." + +"And why the devil has the Sergeant sent for me to travel a hundred +and fifty miles in this outlandish manner? Give me an offing, and +the enemy in sight, and I'll play with him in his own fashion, as +long as he pleases, long bows or close quarters; but to be shot +like a turtle asleep is not to my humor. If it were not for little +Magnet there, I would tack ship this instant, make the best of my +way back to York, and let Ontario take care of itself, salt water +or fresh water." + +"That wouldn't mend the matter much, friend mariner, as the road +to return is much longer, and almost as bad as the road to go on. +Trust to us, and we will carry you through safely, or lose our +scalps." + +Cap wore a tight solid queue, done up in eelskin, while the top +of his head was nearly bald; and he mechanically passed his hand +over both as if to make certain that each was in its right place. +He was at the bottom, however, a brave man, and had often faced +death with coolness, though never in the frightful forms in which +it presented itself under the brief but graphic picture of his +companion. It was too late to retreat; and he determined to put +the best face on the matter, though he could not avoid muttering +inwardly a few curses on the indiscretion with which his brother-in-law, +the Sergeant, had led him into his present dilemma. + +"I make no doubt, Master Pathfinder," he answered, when these +thoughts had found time to glance through his mind, "that we shall +reach port in safety. What distance may we now be from the fort?" + +"Little more than fifteen miles; and swift miles too, as the river +runs, if the Mingos let us go clear." + +"And I suppose the woods will stretch along starboard and larboard, +as heretofore?" + +"Anan?" + +"I mean that we shall have to pick our way through these damned +trees." + +"Nay, nay, you will go in the canoe, and the Oswego has been cleared +of its flood-wood by the troops. It will be floating down stream, +and that, too, with a swift current." + +"And what the devil is to prevent these minks of which you speak +from shooting us as we double a headland, or are busy in steering +clear of the rocks?" + +"The Lord! -- He who has so often helped others in greater +difficulties. Many and many is the time that my head would have +been stripped of hair, skin, and all, hadn't the Lord fi't of my +side. I never go into a skrimmage, friend mariner, without thinking +of this great ally, who can do more in battle than all the battalions +of the 60th, were they brought into a single line." + +"Ay, ay, this may do well enough for a scouter; but we seamen like +our offing, and to go into action with nothing in our minds but +the business before us -- plain broadside and broadside work, and +no trees or rocks to thicken the water." + +"And no Lord too, I dare to say, if the truth were known. Take +my word for it, Master Cap, that no battle is the worse fi't for +having the Lord on your side. Look at the head of the Big Sarpent, +there; you can see the mark of a knife all along by his left ear: +now nothing but a bullet from this long rifle of mine saved his scalp +that day; for it had fairly started, and half a minute more would +have left him without the war-lock. When the Mohican squeezes my +hand, and intermates that I befriended him in that matter, I tell +him no; it was the Lord who led me to the only spot where execution +could be done, or his necessity be made known, on account of the +smoke. Sartain, when I got the right position, I finished the +affair of my own accord. For a friend under the tomahawk is apt +to make a man think quick and act at once, as was my case, or the +Sarpent's spirit would be hunting in the happy land of his people +at this very moment." + +"Come, come, Pathfinder, this palaver is worse than being skinned +from stem to stem; we have but a few hours of sun, and had better +be drifting down this said current of yours while we may. Magnet +dear, are you not ready to get under way?" + +Magnet started, blushed brightly, and made her preparations for +immediate departure. Not a syllable of the discourse just related +had she heard; for Eau-douce, as young Jasper was oftener called +than anything else, had been filling her ears with a description +of the yet distant part towards which she was journeying, with +accounts of her father, whom she had not seen since a child, and +with the manner of life of those who lived in the frontier garrisons. +Unconsciously she had become deeply interested, and her thoughts +had been too intently directed to these matters to allow any of +the less agreeable subjects discussed by those so near to reach +her ears. The bustle of departure put an end to the conversation, +and, the baggage of the scouts or guides being trifling, in a few +minutes the whole party was ready to proceed. As they were about +to quit the spot, however, to the surprise of even his fellow-guides, +Pathfinder collected a quantity of branches and threw them upon the +embers of the fire, taking care even to see that some of the wood +was damp, in order to raise as dark and dense a smoke as possible. + +"When you can hide your trail, Jasper," said he, "a smoke at leaving +an encampment may do good instead of harm. If there are a dozen +Mingos within ten miles of us, some of 'em are on the heights, or +in the trees, looking out for smokes; let them see this, and much +good may it do them. They are welcome to our leavings." + +"But may they not strike and follow on our trail?" asked the youth, +whose interest in the hazard of his situation had much increased +since the meeting with Magnet. "We shall leave a broad path to +the river." + +"The broader the better; when there, it will surpass Mingo cunning, +even, to say which way the canoe has gone - up stream or down. +Water is the only thing in natur' that will thoroughly wash out +a trail, and even water will not always do it when the scent is +strong. Do you not see, Eau-douce, that if any Mingos have seen +our path below the falls, they will strike off towards this smoke, +and that they will naturally conclude that they who began by going +up stream will end by going up stream. If they know anything, +they now know a party is out from the fort, and it will exceed even +Mingo wit to fancy that we have come up here just for the pleasure +of going back again, and that, too, the same day, and at the risk +of our scalps." + +"Certainly," added Jasper, who was talking apart with the Pathfinder, +as they moved towards the wind-row, "they cannot know anything +about the Sergeant's daughter, for the greatest secrecy has been +observed on her account." + +"And they will learn nothing here," returned Pathfinder, causing +his companion to see that he trod with the utmost care on the +impression left on the leaves by the little foot of Mabel; "unless +this old salt-water fish has been taking his niece about in the +wind-row, like a fa'n playing by the side of the old doe." + +"Buck, you mean, Pathfinder." + +"Isn't he a queerity? Now I can consort with such a sailor as +yourself, Eau-douce, and find nothing very contrary in our gifts, +though yours belong to the lakes and mine to the woods. Hark'e, +Jasper," continued the scout, laughing in his noiseless manner; +"suppose we try the temper of his blade and run him over the falls?" + +"And what would be done with the pretty niece in the meanwhile?" + +"Nay, nay, no harm shall come to her; she must walk round the +portage, at any rate; but you and I can try this Atlantic oceaner, +and then all parties will become better acquainted. We shall find +out whether his flint will strike fire; and he may come to know +something of frontier tricks." + +Young Jasper smiled, for he was not averse to fun, and had been a +little touched by Cap's superciliousness; but Mabel's fair face, +light, agile form, and winning smiles, stood like a shield between +her uncle and the intended experiment. + +"Perhaps the Sergeant's daughter will be frightened," said he. + +"Not she, if she has any of the Sergeant's spirit in her. She +doesn't look like a skeary thing, at all. Leave it to me, then, +Eau-douce, and I will manage the affair alone." + +"Not you, Pathfinder; you would only drown both. If the canoe goes +over, I must go in it." + +"Well, have it so, then: shall we smoke the pipe of agreement on +the bargain?" + +Jasper laughed, nodded his head by way of consent, and then the +subject was dropped, as the party had reached the canoe so often +mentioned, and fewer words had determined much greater things +between the parties. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +Before these fields were shorn and till'd, + Full to the brim our rivers flow'd; +The melody of waters fill'd + The fresh and boundless wood; +And torrents dash'd, and rivulets play'd, +And fountains spouted in the shade. +BRYANT. + + +It is generally known that the waters which flow into the southern +side of Ontario are, in general, narrow, sluggish, and deep. +There are some exceptions to this rule, for many of the rivers +have rapids, or, as they are termed in the language of the region, +"rifts," and some have falls. Among the latter was the particular +stream on which our adventurers were now journeying. The Oswego +is formed by the junction of the Oneida and the Onondaga, both of +which flow from lakes; and it pursues its way, through a gently +undulating country, some eight or ten miles, until it reaches the +margin of a sort of natural terrace, down which it tumbles some +ten or fifteen feet, to another level, across which it glides with +the silent, stealthy progress of deep water, until it throws its +tribute into the broad receptacle of the Ontario. The canoe in +which Cap and his party had travelled from Fort Stanwix, the last +military station of the Mohawk, lay by the side of this river, +and into it the whole party now entered, with the exception of +Pathfinder, who remained on the land, in order to shove the light +vessel off. + +"Let her starn drift down stream, Jasper," said the man of the woods +to the young mariner of the lake, who had dispossessed Arrowhead +of his paddle and taken his own station as steersman; "let it go +down with the current. Should any of these infarnals, the Mingos, +strike our trail, or follow it to this point they will not fail to +look for the signs in the mud; and if they discover that we have +left the shore with the nose of the canoe up stream, it is a natural +belief to think we went up stream." + +This direction was followed; and, giving a vigorous shove, the +Pathfinder, who was in the flower of his strength and activity, made +a leap, landing lightly, and without disturbing its equilibrium, +in the bow of the canoe. As soon as it had reached the centre of +the river or the strength of the current, the boat was turned, and +it began to glide noiselessly down the stream. + +The vessel in which Cap and his niece had embarked for their +long and adventurous journey was one of the canoes of bark which +the Indians are in the habit of constructing, and which, by their +exceeding lightness and the ease with which they are propelled, +are admirably adapted to a navigation in which shoals, flood-wood, +and other similar obstructions so often occur. The two men +who composed its original crew had several times carried it, when +emptied of its luggage, many hundred yards; and it would not have +exceeded the strength of a single man to lift its weight. Still +it was long, and, for a canoe, wide; a want of steadiness being +its principal defect in the eyes of the uninitiated. A few hours +practice, however, in a great measure remedied this evil, and both +Mabel and her uncle had learned so far to humor its movements, +that they now maintained their places with perfect composure; nor +did the additional weight of the three guides tax its power in any +particular degree, the breath of the rounded bottom allowing the +necessary quantity of water to be displaced without bringing the +gunwale very sensibly nearer to the surface of the stream. Its +workmanship was neat; the timbers were small, and secured by +thongs; and the whole fabric, though it was so slight to the eye, +was probably capable of conveying double the number of persons +which it now contained. + +Cap was seated on a low thwart, in the centre of the canoe; the +Big Serpent knelt near him. Arrowhead and his wife occupied places +forward of both, the former having relinquished his post aft. Mabel +was half reclining behind her uncle, while the Pathfinder and +Eau-douce stood erect, the one in the bow, and the other in the +stern, each using a paddle, with a long, steady, noiseless sweep. The +conversation was carried on in low tones, all the party beginning +to feel the necessity of prudence, as they drew nearer to the +outskirts of the fort, and had no longer the cover of the woods. + +The Oswego, just at that place, was a deep dark stream of no great +width, its still, gloomy-looking current winding its way among +overhanging trees, which, in particular spots, almost shut out +the light of the heavens. Here and there some half-fallen giant of +the forest lay nearly across its surface, rendering care necessary +to avoid the limbs; and most of the distance, the lower branches +and leaves of the trees of smaller growth were laved by its waters. +The picture so beautifully described by our own admirable poet, +and which we have placed at the head of this chapter, was here +realized; the earth fattened by the decayed vegetation of centuries, +and black with loam, the stream that filled the banks nearly to +overflowing, and the "fresh and boundless wood," being all as visible +to the eye as the pen of Bryant has elsewhere vividly presented them +to the imagination. In short, the entire scene was one of a rich +and benevolent nature, before it had been subjected to the uses and +desires of man; luxuriant, wild, full of promise, and not without +the charm of the picturesque, even in its rudest state. It will +be remembered that this was in the year 175-, or long before even +speculation had brought any portion of western New York within the +bounds of civilization. At that distant day there were two great +channels of military communication between the inhabited portion +of the colony of New York and the frontiers which lay adjacent +to the Canadas, -- that by Lakes Champlain and George, and that by +means of the Mohawk, Wood Creek, the Oneida, and the rivers we have +been describing. Along both these lines of communication military +posts had been established, though there existed a blank space of +a hundred miles between the last fort at the head of the Mohawk +and the outlet of the Oswego, which embraced most of the distance +that Cap and Mabel had journeyed under the protection of Arrowhead. + +"I sometimes wish for peace again," said the Pathfinder, "when one +can range the forest without searching for any other enemy than +the beasts and fishes. Ah's me! many is the day that the Sarpent, +there, and I have passed happily among the streams, living on +venison, salmon, and trout without thought of a Mingo or a scalp! +I sometimes wish that them blessed days might come back, for it is +not my real gift to slay my own kind. I'm sartain the Sergeant's +daughter don't think me a wretch that takes pleasure in preying on +human natur'?" + +As this remark, a sort of half interrogatory, was made, Pathfinder +looked behind him; and, though the most partial friend could +scarcely term his sunburnt and hard features handsome, even Mabel +thought his smile attractive, by its simple ingenuousness and the +uprightness that beamed in every lineament of his honest countenance. + +"I do not think my father would have sent one like those you +mention to see his daughter through the wilderness," the young +woman answered, returning the smile as frankly as it was given, +but much more sweetly. + +"That he wouldn't; the Sergeant is a man of feeling, and many is the +march and the fight that we have had -- stood shoulder to shoulder +in, as _he_ would call it -- though I always keep my limbs free +when near a Frencher or a Mingo." + +"You are, then, the young friend of whom my father has spoken so +often in his letters?" + +"His _young_ friend -- the Sergeant has the advantage of me by thirty +years; yes, he is thirty years my senior, and as many my better." + +"Not in the eyes of the daughter, perhaps, friend Pathfinder;" +put in Cap, whose spirits began to revive when he found the water +once more flowing around him. "The thirty years that you mention +are not often thought to be an advantage in the eyes of girls of +nineteen." + +Mabel colored; and, in turning aside her face to avoid the looks +of those in the bow of the canoe, she encountered the admiring gaze +of the young man in the stern. As a last resource, her spirited +but soft blue eyes sought refuge in the water. Just at this moment +a dull, heavy sound swept up the avenue formed by the trees, borne +along by a light air that hardly produced a ripple on the water. + +"That sounds pleasantly," said Cap, pricking up his ears like a +dog that hears a distant baying; "it is the surf on the shores of +your lake, I suppose?" + +"Not so -- not so," answered the Pathfinder; "it is merely this +river tumbling over some rocks half a mile below us." + +"Is there a fall in the stream?" demanded Mabel, a still brighter +flush glowing in her face. + +"The devil! Master Pathfinder, or you, Mr. Eau-douce" (for so Cap +began to style Jasper), "had you not better give the canoe a sheer, +and get nearer to the shore? These waterfalls have generally rapids +above them, and one might as well get into the Maelstrom at once +as to run into their suction." + +"Trust to us, friend Cap," answered Pathfinder; "we are but +fresh-water sailors, it is true, and I cannot boast of being much +even of that; but we understand rifts and rapids and cataracts; +and in going down these we shall do our endeavors not to disgrace +our edication." + +"In going down!" exclaimed Cap. "The devil, man! you do not dream +of going down a waterfall in this egg shell of bark!" + +"Sartain; the path lies over the falls, and it is much easier to +shoot them than to unload the canoe and to carry that and all it +contains around a portage of a mile by hand." + +Mabel turned her pallid countenance towards the young man in the +stern of the canoe; for, just at that moment, a fresh roar of the +fall was borne to her ears by a new current of the air, and it +really sounded terrific, now that the cause was understood. + +"We thought that, by landing the females and the two Indians," +Jasper quietly observed, "we three white men, all of whom are used +to the water, might carry the canoe over in safety, for we often +shoot these falls." + +"And we counted on you, friend mariner, as a mainstay," said +Pathfinder, winking to Jasper over his shoulder; "for you are +accustomed to see waves tumbling about; and without some one to +steady the cargo, all the finery of the Sergeant's daughter might +be washed into the river and be lost." + +Cap was puzzled. The idea of going over a waterfall was, perhaps, +more serious in his eyes than it would have been in those of one +totally ignorant of all that pertained to boats; for he understood +the power of the element, and the total feebleness of man when +exposed to its fury. Still his pride revolted at the thought of +deserting the boat, while others not only steadily, but coolly, +proposed to continue in it. Notwithstanding the latter feeling, +and his innate as well as acquired steadiness in danger, he would +probably have deserted his post; had not the images of Indians +tearing scalps from the human head taken so strong hold of his +fancy as to induce him to imagine the canoe a sort of sanctuary. + +"What is to be done with Magnet?" he demanded, affection for his +niece raising another qualm in his conscience. "We cannot allow +Magnet to land if there are enemy's Indians near?" + +"Nay, no Mingo will be near the portage, for that is a spot too +public for their devilries," answered the Pathfinder confidently. +"Natur' is natur', and it is an Indian's natur' to be found where +he is least expected. No fear of him on a beaten path; for he +wishes to come upon you when unprepared to meet him, and the fiery +villains make it a point to deceive you, one way or another. Sheer +in, Eau-douce, and we will land the Sergeant's daughter on the end +of that log, where she can reach the shore with a dry foot." + +The injunction was obeyed, and in a few minutes the whole party +had left the canoe, with the exception of Pathfinder and the two +sailors. Notwithstanding his professional pride, Cap would have +gladly followed; but he did not like to exhibit so unequivocal a +weakness in the presence of a fresh-water sailor. + +"I call all hands to witness," said he, as those who had landed +moved away, "that I do not look on this affair as anything more than +canoeing in the woods. There is no seamanship in tumbling over a +waterfall, which is a feat the greatest lubber can perform as well +as the oldest mariner." + +"Nay, nay, you needn't despise the Oswego Falls, neither," put in +Pathfinder; "for, thought they may not be Niagara, nor the Genessee, +nor the Cahoos, nor Glenn's, nor those on the Canada, they are +narvous enough for a new beginner. Let the Sergeant's daughter stand +on yonder rock, and she will see the manner in which we ignorant +backwoodsmen get over a difficulty that we can't get under. Now, +Eau-douce, a steady hand and a true eye, for all rests on you, +seeing that we can count Master Cap for no more than a passenger." + +The canoe was leaving the shore as he concluded, while Mabel went +hurriedly and trembling to the rock that had been pointed out, +talking to her companion of the danger her uncle so unnecessarily +ran, while her eyes were riveted on the agile and vigorous form +of Eau-douce, as he stood erect in the stern of the light boat, +governing its movements. As soon, however, as she reached a point +where she got a view of the fall, she gave an involuntary but +suppressed scream, and covered her eyes. At the next instant, the +latter were again free, and the entranced girl stood immovable as +a statue, a scarcely breathing observer of all that passed. The +two Indians seated themselves passively on a log, hardly looking +towards the stream, while the wife of Arrowhead came near Mabel, +and appeared to watch the motions of the canoe with some such +interest as a child regards the leaps of a tumbler. + +As soon as the boat was in the stream, Pathfinder sank on his +knees, continuing to use the paddle, though it was slowly, and in +a manner not to interfere with the efforts of his companion. The +latter still stood erect; and, as he kept his eye on some object +beyond the fall, it was evident that he was carefully looking for +the spot proper for their passage. + +"Farther west, boy; farther west," muttered Pathfinder; "there +where you see the water foam. Bring the top of the dead oak in a +line with the stem of the blasted hemlock." + +Eau-douce made no answer; for the canoe was in the centre of the +stream, with its head pointed towards the fall, and it had already +begun to quicken its motion by the increased force of the current. +At that moment Cap would cheerfully have renounced every claim to +glory that could possibly be acquired by the feat, to have been +safe again on shore. He heard the roar of the water, thundering, +as it might be, behind a screen, but becoming more and more +distinct, louder and louder, and before him he saw its line cutting +the forest below, along which the green and angry element seemed +stretched and shining, as if the particles were about to lose their +principle of cohesion. + +"Down with your helm, down with your helm, man!" he exclaimed, +unable any longer to suppress his anxiety, as the canoe glided +towards the edge of the fall. + +"Ay, ay, down it is sure enough," answered Pathfinder, looking +behind him for a single instant, with his silent, joyous laugh, -- +"down we go, of a sartinty! Heave her starn up, boy; farther up +with her starn!" + +The rest was like the passage of the viewless wind. Eau-douce +gave the required sweep with his paddle, the canoe glanced into +the channel, and for a few seconds it seemed to Cap that he was +tossing in a caldron. He felt the bow of the canoe tip, saw the +raging, foaming water careering madly by his side, was sensible +that the light fabric in which he floated was tossed about like an +egg-shell, and then, not less to his great joy than to his surprise, +he discovered that it was gliding across the basin of still water +below the fall, under the steady impulse of Jasper's paddle. + +The Pathfinder continued to laugh; but he arose from his knees, and, +searching for a tin pot and a horn spoon, he began deliberately to +measure the water that had been taken in the passage. + +"Fourteen spoonfuls, Eau-douce; fourteen fairly measured spoonfuls. +I have, you must acknowledge, known you to go down with only ten." + +"Master Cap leaned so hard up stream," returned Jasper seriously, +"that I had difficulty in trimming the canoe." + +"It may be so; no doubt it _was_ so, since you say it; but I have +known you go over with only ten." + +Cap now gave a tremendous hem, felt for his queue as if to ascertain +its safety, and then looked back in order to examine the danger +he had gone through. His safety is easily explained. Most of the +river fell perpendicularly ten or twelve feet; but near its centre +the force of the current had so far worn away the rock as to permit +the water to shoot through a narrow passage, at an angle of about +forty or forty five degrees. Down this ticklish descent the canoe +had glanced, amid fragments of broken rock, whirlpools, foam, and +furious tossings of the element, which an uninstructed eye would +believe menaced inevitable destruction to an object so fragile. +But the very lightness of the canoe had favored its descent; for, +borne on the crest of the waves, and directed by a steady eye and +an arm full of muscle, it had passed like a feather from one pile +of foam to another, scarcely permitting its glossy side to be wetted. +There were a few rocks to be avoided, the proper direction was to +be rigidly observed, and the fierce current did the rest. (1) + +(1) Lest the reader suppose we are dealing purely in fiction, the +writer will add that he has known a long thirty-two pounder carried +over these same falls in perfect safety. + +To say that Cap was astonished would not be expressing half his +feelings; he felt awed: for the profound dread of rocks which most +seamen entertain came in aid of his admiration of the boldness of +the exploit. Still he was indisposed to express all he felt, lest +it might be conceding too much in favor of fresh water and inland +navigation; and no sooner had he cleared his throat with the +afore-said hem, than he loosened his tongue in the usual strain +of superiority. + +"I do not gainsay your knowledge of the channel, Master Eau-douce, +and, after all, to know the channel in such a place is the main +point. I have had cockswains with me who could come down that +shoot too, if they only knew the channel." + +"It isn't enough to know the channel," said Pathfinder; "it needs +narves and skill to keep the canoe straight, and to keep her clear +of the rocks too. There isn't another boatman in all this region +that can shoot the Oswego, but Eau-douce there, with any sartainty; +though, now and then, one has blundered through. I can't do it +myself unless by means of Providence, and it needs Jasper's hand +and eye to make sure of a dry passage. Fourteen spoonfuls, after +all, are no great matter, though I wish it had been but ten, seeing +that the Sergeant's daughter was a looker-on." + +"And yet you conned the canoe; you told him how to head and how to +sheer." + +"Human frailty, master mariner; that was a little of white-skin +natur'. Now, had the Sarpent, yonder, been in the boat, not a word +would he have spoken or thought would he have given to the public. +An Indian knows how to hold his tongue; but we white folk fancy +we are always wiser than our fellows. I'm curing myself fast of +the weakness, but it needs time to root up the tree that has been +growing more than thirty years." + +"I think little of this affair, sir; nothing at all to speak my +mind freely. It's a mere wash of spray to shooting London Bridge +which is done every day by hundreds of persons, and often by the +most delicate ladies in the land. The king's majesty has shot the +bridge in his royal person." + +"Well, I want no delicate ladies or king's majesties (God bless +'em!) in the canoe, in going over these falls; for a boat's breadth, +either way, may make a drowning matter of it. Eau-douce, we shall +have to carry the Sergeant's brother over Niagara yet, to show +him what may be done in a frontier." + +"The devil! Master Pathfinder, you must be joking now! Surely it +is not possible for a bark canoe to go over that mighty cataract?" + +"You never were more mistaken, Master Cap, in your life. Nothing +is easier and many is the canoe I have seen go over it with my own +eyes; and if we both live I hope to satisfy you that the feat can +be done. For my part, I think the largest ship that ever sailed on +the ocean might be carried over, could she once get into the rapids." + +Cap did not perceive the wink which Pathfinder exchanged with +Eau-douce, and he remained silent for some time; for, sooth to +say, he had never suspected the possibility of going down Niagara, +feasible as the thing must appear to every one on a second thought, +the real difficulty existing in going up it. + +By this time the party had reached the place where Jasper had left +his own canoe, concealed in the bushes, and they all re-embarked; +Cap, Jasper, and his niece in one boat and Pathfinder, Arrowhead, +and the wife of the latter in the other. The Mohican had already +passed down the banks of the river by land, looking cautiously and +with the skill of his people for the signs of an enemy. + +The cheek of Mabel did not recover all its bloom until the canoe was +again in the current, down which it floated swiftly, occasionally +impelled by the paddle of Jasper. She witnessed the descent of +the falls with a degree of terror which had rendered her mute; but +her fright had not been so great as to prevent admiration of the +steadiness of the youth who directed the movement from blending +with the passing terror. In truth, one much less sensitive might +have had her feelings awakened by the cool and gallant air with +which Eau-douce had accomplished this clever exploit. He had +stood firmly erect, notwithstanding the plunge; and to those on +the shore it was evident that, by a timely application of his skill +and strength, the canoe had received a sheer which alone carried it +clear of a rock over which the boiling water was leaping in _jets +d'eau_, -- now leaving the brown stone visible, and now covering +it with a limpid sheet, as if machinery controlled the play of +the element. The tongue cannot always express what the eyes view; +but Mabel saw enough, even in that moment of fear, to blend for +ever in her mind the pictures presented by the plunging canoe and +the unmoved steersman. She admitted that insidious feeling which +binds woman so strongly to man, by feeling additional security +in finding herself under his care; and, for the first time since +leaving Fort Stanwix, she was entirely at her ease in the frail +bark in which she travelled. As the other canoe kept quite near +her own, however, and the Pathfinder, by floating at her side, was +most in view, the conversation was principally maintained with that +person; Jasper seldom speaking unless addressed, and constantly +exhibiting a wariness in the management of his own boat, which might +have been remarked by one accustomed to his ordinarily confident, +careless manner. + +"We know too well a woman's gifts to think of carrying the Sergeant's +daughter over the falls," said Pathfinder, looking at Mabel, while +he addressed her uncle; "though I've been acquainted with some of +her sex that would think but little of doing the thing." + +"Mabel is faint-hearted, like her mother," returned Cap; "and you +did well, friend, to humor her weakness. You will remember the +child has never been at sea." + +"No, no, it was easy to discover that; by your own fearlessness, +any one might have seen how little you cared about the matter. +I went over once with a raw hand, and he jumped out of the canoe +just as it tipped, and you many judge what a time he had of it." + +"What became of the poor fellow?" asked Cap, scarcely knowing +how to take the other's manner, which was so dry, while it was so +simple, that a less obtuse subject than the old sailor might well +have suspected its sincerity. "One who has passed the place knows +how to feel for him." + +"He was a _poor_ fellow, as you say; and a poor frontierman too, +though he came out to show his skill among us ignoranters. What +became of him? Why, he went down the falls topsy-turvey like, as +would have happened to a court-house or a fort." + +"If it should jump out of at canoe," interrupted Jasper, smiling, +thought he was evidently more disposed than his friend to let the +passage of the falls be forgotten. + +"The boy is right," rejoined Pathfinder, laughing in Mabel's face, +the canoes being now so near that they almost touched; "he is +sartainly right. But you have not told us what you think of the +leap we took?" + +"It was perilous and bold," said Mabel; "while looking at it, I +could have wished that it had not been attempted, though, now it +is over, I can admire its boldness and the steadiness with which +it was made." + +"Now, do not think that we did this thing to set ourselves off in +female eyes. It may be pleasant to the young to win each other's +good opinions by doing things which may seem praiseworthy and bold; +but neither Eau-douce nor myself is of that race. My natur' has +few turns in it, and is a straight natur'; nor would it be likely +to lead me into a vanity of this sort while out on duty. As +for Jasper, he would sooner go over the Oswego Falls, without a +looker-on, than do it before a hundred pair of eyes. I know the +lad well from much consorting, and I am sure he is not boastful or +vainglorious." + +Mabel rewarded the scout with a smile, which served to keep the +canoes together for some time longer; for the sight of youth and +beauty was so rare on that remote frontier, that even the rebuked +and self-mortified feelings of this wanderer of the forest were +sensibly touched by the blooming loveliness of the girl. + +"We did it for the best," Pathfinder continued; "'twas all for the +best. Had we waited to carry the canoe across the portage, time +would have been lost, and nothing is so precious as time when you +are mistrustful of Mingos." + +"But we have little to fear now. The canoes move swiftly, and two +hours, you have said, will carry us down to the fort." + +"It shall be a cunning Iroquois who hurts a hair of your head, pretty +one; for all here are bound to the Sergeant, and most, I think, to +yourself, to see you safe from harm. Ha, Eau-douce! what is that +in the river, at the lower turn, yonder, beneath the bushes, -- I +mean standing on the rock?" + +"'Tis the Big Serpent, Pathfinder; he is making signs to us in a +way I don't understand." + +"'Tis the Sarpent, as sure as I'm a white man, and he wishes us to +drop in nearer to his shore. Mischief is brewing, or one of his +deliberation and steadiness would never take this trouble. Courage, +all! We are men, and must meet devilry as becomes our color and +our callings. Ah, I never knew good come of boasting! And here, +just as I was vaunting of our safety, comes danger to give me the +lie." + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Art, stryving to compare +With nature, did an arber greene dispred, +Fram'd of wanton yvie flowing fayre, +Through which the fragrant eglantines did spred. +SPENSER. + + +The Oswego, below the falls, is a more rapid, unequal stream than +it is above them. There are places where the river flows in the +quiet stillness of deep water, but many shoals and rapids occur; +and at that distant day, when everything was in its natural state, +some of the passes were not altogether without hazard. Very little +exertion was required on the part of those who managed the canoes, +except in those places where the swiftness of the current and the +presence of the rocks required care; then, indeed, not only vigilance, +but great coolness, readiness, and strength of arm became necessary, +in order to avoid the dangers. Of all this the Mohican was aware, +and he had judiciously selected a spot where the river flowed +tranquilly to intercept the canoes, in order to make his communication +without hazard to those he wished to speak. + +The Pathfinder had no sooner recognized the form of his red friend, +than, with a strong sweep of his paddle, he threw the head of his +own canoe towards the shore, motioning for Jasper to follow. In a +minute both boats were silently drifting down the stream, within +reach of the bushes that overhung the water, all observing a profound +silence; some from alarm, and others from habitual caution. As +the travellers drew nearer the Indian, he made a sign for them to +stop; and then he and Pathfinder had a short but earnest conference. + +"The Chief is not apt to see enemies in a dead log," observed the +white man to his red associate; "why does he tell us to stop?" + +"Mingos are in the woods." + +"That we have believed these two days: does the chief know it?" + +The Mohican quietly held up the head of a pipe formed of stone. + +"It lay on a fresh trail that led towards the garrison," - for so +it was the usage of that frontier to term a military work, whether +it was occupied or not. + +"That may be the bowl of a pipe belonging to a soldier. Many use +the red-skin pipes." + +"See," said the Big Serpent, again holding the thing he had found +up to the view of his friend. + +The bowl of the pipe was of soap-stone, and was carved with great +care and with a very respectable degree of skill; in its centre +was a small Latin cross, made with an accuracy which permitted no +doubt of its meaning. + +"That does foretell devilry and wickedness," said the Pathfinder, +who had all the provincial horror of the holy symbol in question +which then pervaded the country, and which became so incorporated +with its prejudices, by confounding men with things, as to have +left its traces strong enough on the moral feeling of the community +to be discovered even at the present hour; "no Indian who had not +been parvarted by the cunning priests of the Canadas would dream +of carving a thing like that on his pipe. I'll warrant ye, the +knave prays to the image every time he wishes to sarcumvent the +innocent, and work his fearful wickedness. It looks fresh, too, +Chingachgook?" + +"The tobacco was burning when I found it." + +"That is close work, chief. Where was the trail?" + +The Mohican pointed to a spot not a hundred yards from that where +they stood. + +The matter now began to look very serious, and the two principal +guides conferred apart for several minutes, when both ascended the +bank, approached the indicated spot, and examined the trail with +the utmost care. After this investigation had lasted a quarter +of an hour, the white man returned alone, his red friend having +disappeared in the forest. + +The ordinary expression of the countenance of the Pathfinder was +that of simplicity, integrity, and sincerity, blended in an air +of self-reliance which usually gave great confidence to those who +found themselves under his care; but now a look of concern cast a +shade over his honest face, that struck the whole party. + +"What cheer, Master Pathfinder?" demanded Cap, permitting a voice +that was usually deep, loud, and confident to sink into the cautious +tones that better suited the dangers of the wilderness. "Has the +enemy got between us and our port?" + +"Anan?" + +"Have any of these painted scaramouches anchored off the harbor +towards which we are running, with the hope of cutting us off in +entering?" + +"It may be all as you say, friend Cap, but I am none the wiser +for your words; and in ticklish times the plainer a man makes his +English the easier he is understood. I know nothing of ports and +anchors; but there is a direful Mingo trail within a hundred yards +of this very spot, and as fresh as venison without salt. If one of +the fiery devils has passed, so have a dozen; and, what is worse, +they have gone down towards the garrison, and not a soul crosses +the clearing around it that some of their piercing eyes will not +discover, when sartain bullets will follow." + +"Cannot this said fort deliver a broadside, and clear everything +within the sweep of its hawse?" + +"Nay, the forts this-a-way are not like forts in the settlements, +and two or three light cannon are all they have down at the mouth +of the river; and then, broadsides fired at a dozen outlying Mingoes, +lying behind logs and in a forest, would be powder spent in vain. +We have but one course, and that is a very nice one. We are +judgmatically placed here, both canoes being hid by the high bank +and the bushes, from all eyes, except those of any lurker directly +opposite. Here, then, we may stay without much present fear; but +how to get the bloodthirsty devils up the stream again? Ha! I +have it, I have it! if it does no good, it can do no harm. Do you +see the wide-topped chestnut here, Jasper, at the last turn in the +river -- on our own side of the stream, I mean?" + +"That near the fallen pine?" + +"The very same. Take the flint and tinderbox, creep along the bank, +and light a fire at that spot; maybe the smoke will draw them above +us. In the meanwhile, we will drop the canoes carefully down beyond +the point below, and find another shelter. Bushes are plenty, and +covers are easily to be had in this region, as witness the many +ambushments." + +"I will do it, Pathfinder," said Jasper, springing to the shore. +"In ten minutes the fire shall be lighted." + +"And, Eau-douce, use plenty of damp wood this time," half whispered +the other, laughing heartily, in his own peculiar manner; "when +smoke is wanted, water helps to thicken it." + +The young man was soon off, making his way rapidly towards the +desired point. A slight attempt of Mabel to object to the risk +was disregarded, and the party immediately prepared to change its +position, as it could be seen from the place where Jasper intended +to light his fire. The movement did not require haste, and it +was made leisurely and with care. The canoes were got clear of +the bushes, then suffered to drop down with the stream until they +reached the spot where the chestnut, at the foot of which Jasper +was to light the fire, was almost shut out from view, when they +stopped, and every eye was turned in the direction of the adventurer. + +"There goes the smoke!" exclaimed the Pathfinder, as a current of +air whirled a little column of the vapor from the land, allowing +it to rise spirally above the bed of the river. "A good flint, a +small bit of steel, and plenty of dry leaves makes a quick fire. +I hope Eau-douce will have the wit to bethink him of the damp wood +now when it may serve us all a good turn." + +"Too much smoke -- too much cunning," said Arrowhead sententiously. + +"That is gospel truth, Tuscarora, if the Mingoes didn't know that +they are near soldiers; but soldiers commonly think more of their +dinner at a halt than of their wisdom and danger. No, no; let the +boy pile on his logs, and smoke them well too; it will all be laid +to the stupidity of some Scotch or Irish blunderer, who is thinking +more of his oatmeal or his potatoes than of Indian sarcumventions +or Indian rifles." + +"And yet I should think, from all we have heard in the towns, that +the soldiers on this frontier are used to the artifices of their +enemies," said Mabel, "and become almost as wily as the red men +themselves." + +"Not they. Experience makes them but little wiser; and they wheel, +and platoon, and battalion it about, here in the forest, just as +they did in their parks at home, of which they are all so fond of +talking. One red-skin has more cunning in his natur' than a whole +regiment from the other side of the water; that is, what I call +cunning of the woods. But there is smoke enough, of all conscience, +and we had better drop into another cover. The lad has thrown +the river on his fire, and there is danger that the Mingoes will +believe a whole regiment is out." + +While speaking, the Pathfinder permitted his canoe to drift away +from the bush by which it had been retained, and in a couple of +minutes the bend in the river concealed the smoke and the tree. +Fortunately a small indentation in the shore presented itself, +within a few yards of the point they had just passed; and the two +canoes glided into it, under the impulsion of the paddles. + +A better spot could not have been found for the purpose. The bushes +were thick, and overhung the water, forming a complete canopy of +leaves. There was a small gravelly strand at the bottom of the +little bay, where most of the party landed to be more at their ease, +and the only position from which they could possibly be seen was +a point on the river directly opposite. There was little danger, +however, of discovery from that quarter, as the thicket there was +even denser than common, and the land beyond it was so wet and +marshy as to render it difficult to be trodden. + +"This is a safe cover," said the Pathfinder, after he had taken a +scrutinizing survey of his position; "but it may be necessary to +make it safer. Master Cap, I ask nothing of you but silence, and +a quieting of such gifts as you may have got at sea, while the +Tuscarora and I make provision for the evil hour." + +The guide then went a short distance into the bushes, accompanied +by the Indian, where the two cut off the larger stems of several +alders and other bushes, using the utmost care not to make a noise. +The ends of these little trees were forced into the mud, outside +of the canoes, the depth of the water being very trifling; and in +the course of ten minutes a very effectual screen was interposed +between them and the principal point of danger. Much ingenuity +and readiness were manifested in making this simple arrangement, +in which the two workmen were essentially favored by the natural +formation of the bank, the indentation in the shore, the shallowness +of the water, and the manner in which the tangled bushes dipped +into the stream. The Pathfinder had the address to look for bushes +which had curved stems, things easily found in such a place; and +by cutting them some distance beneath the bend, and permitting the +latter to touch the water, the artificial little thicket had not +the appearance of growing in the stream, which might have excited +suspicion; but one passing it would have thought that the bushes +shot out horizontally from the bank before they inclined upwards +towards the light. In short, none but an unusually distrustful +eye would have been turned for an instant towards the spot in quest +of a hiding-place. + +"This is the best cover I ever yet got into," said the Pathfinder, +with his quiet laugh, after having been on the outside to reconnoitre; +"the leaves of our new trees fairly touch those of the bushes over +our heads. Hist! -- yonder comes Eau-douce, wading, like a sensible +boy, as he is, to leave his trail in the water; and we shall soon +see whether our cover is good for anything or not." + +Jasper had indeed returned from his duty above; and missing the +canoes, he at once inferred that they had dropped round the next +bend in the river, in order to get out of sight of the fire. His +habits of caution immediately suggested the expediency of stepping +into the water, in order that there might exist no visible +communication between the marks left on the shore by the party +and the place where he believed them to have taken refuge below. +Should the Canadian Indians return on their own trail, and discover +that made by the Pathfinder and the Serpent in their ascent from +and descent to the river, the clue to their movements would cease +at the shore, water leaving no prints of footsteps. The young man +had therefore waded, knee-deep, as far as the point, and was now +seen making his way slowly down the margin of the stream, searching +curiously for the spot in which the canoes were hid. + +It was in the power of those behind the bushes, by placing their +eyes near the leaves, to find many places to look through while one +at a little distance lost this advantage. To those who watched his +motions from behind their cover, and they were all in the canoes, +it was evident that Jasper was totally at a loss to imagine where +the Pathfinder had secreted himself. When fairly round the curvature +in the shore, and out of sight of the fire he had lighted above, +the young man stopped and began examining the bank deliberately +and with great care. Occasionally he advanced eight or ten paces, +and then halted again, to renew the search. The water being much +shallower than common, he stepped aside, in order to walk with +greater ease to himself and came so near the artificial plantation +that he might have touched it with his hand. Still he detected +nothing, and was actually passing the spot when Pathfinder made an +opening beneath the branches, and called to him in a low voice to +enter. + +"This is pretty well," said the Pathfinder, laughing; "though pale-face +eyes and red-skin eyes are as different as human spy-glasses. I +would wager, with the Sergeant's daughter here, a horn of powder +against a wampum-belt for her girdle, that her father's rijiment +should march by this embankment of ours and never find out the +fraud! But if the Mingoes actually get down into the bed of the +river where Jasper passed, I should tremble for the plantation. +It will do for their eyes, even across the stream, however, and +will not be without its use." + +"Don't you think, Master Pathfinder, that it would be wisest, after +all," said Cap, "to get under way at once, and carry sail hard down +stream, as soon as we are satisfied that these rascals are fairly +astern of us? We seamen call a stern chase a long chase." + +"I wouldn't move from this spot until we hear from the Sarpent +with the Sergeant's pretty daughter here in our company, for all +the powder in the magazine of the fort below. Sartain captivity or +sartain death would follow. If a tender fa'n, such as the maiden +we have in charge, could thread the forest like old deer, it might, +indeed, do to quit the canoes; for by making a circuit we could +reach the garrison before morning." + +"Then let it be done," said Mabel, springing to her feet under +the sudden impulse of awakened energy. "I am young, active, used +to exercise, and could easily out-walk my dear uncle. Let no one +think me a hindrance. I cannot bear that all your lives should be +exposed on my account." + +"No, no, pretty one; we think you anything but a hindrance or +anything that is unbecoming, and would willingly run twice this +risk to do you and the honest Sergeant a service. Do I not speak +your mind, Eau-douce?" + +"To do _her_ a service!" said Jasper with emphasis. "Nothing shall +tempt me to desert Mabel Dunham until she is safe in her father's +arms." + +"Well said, lad; bravely and honestly said, too; and I join in it, +heart and hand. No, no! you are not the first of your sex I have +led through the wilderness, and never but once did any harm befall +any of them: -- that was a sad day, certainly, but its like may +never come again." + +Mabel looked from one of her protectors to the other, and her fine +eyes swam in tears. Frankly placing a hand in that of each, she +answered them, though at first her voice was choked, "I have no +right to expose you on my account. My dear father will thank you, +I thank you, God will reward you; but let there be no unnecessary +risk. I can walk far, and have often gone miles on some girlish +fancy; why not now exert myself for my life? -- nay, for your +precious lives?" + +"She is a true dove, Jasper" said the Pathfinder, neither relinquishing +the hand he held until the girl herself, in native modesty, saw +fit to withdraw it, "and wonderfully winning! We get to be rough, +and sometimes even hard-hearted, in the woods, Mabel; but the sight +of one like you brings us back again to our young feelings, and +does us good for the remainder of our days. I daresay Jasper here +will tell you the same; for, like me in the forest, the lad sees +but few such as yourself on Ontario, to soften his heart and remind +him of love for his kind. Speak out now, Jasper, and say if it is +not so?" + +"I question if many like Mabel Dunham are to be found anywhere," +returned the young man gallantly, an honest sincerity glowing in +his face that spoke more eloquently than his tongue; "you need not +mention the woods and lakes to challenge her equals, but I would +go into settlements and towns." + +"We had better leave the canoes," Mabel hurriedly rejoined; "for +I feel it is no longer safe to be here." + +"You can never do it; you can never do it. It would be a march of +more than twenty miles, and that, too, of tramping over brush and +roots, and through swamps, in the dark; the trail of such a party +would be wide, and we might have to fight our way into the garrison +after all. We will wait for the Mohican." + +Such appearing to be the decision of him to whom all, in their +present strait, looked up for counsel, no more was said on the +subject. The whole party now broke up into groups: Arrowhead and +his wife sitting apart under the bushes, conversing in a low tone, +though the man spoke sternly, and the woman answered with the +subdued mildness that marks the degraded condition of a savage's +wife. Pathfinder and Cap occupied one canoe, chatting of their +different adventures by sea and land; while Jasper and Mabel +sat in the other, making greater progress in intimacy in a single +hour than might have been effected under other circumstances in a +twelvemonth. Notwithstanding their situation as regards the enemy, +the time flew by swiftly, and the young people, in particular, +were astonished when Cap informed them how long they had been thus +occupied. + +"If one could smoke, Master Pathfinder," observed the old sailor, +"this berth would be snug enough; for, to give the devil his due, +you have got the canoes handsomely landlocked, and into moorings +that would defy a monsoon. The only hardship is the denial of +the pipe." + +"The scent of the tobacco would betray us; and where is the use of +taking all these precautions against the Mingo's eyes, if we are +to tell him where the cover is to be found through the nose? No, +no; deny your appetites; and learn one virtue from a red-skin, who +will pass a week without eating even, to get a single scalp. Did +you hear nothing, Jasper?" + +"The Serpent is coming." + +"Then let us see if Mohican eyes are better than them of a lad who +follows the water." + +The Mohican had indeed made his appearance in the same direction as +that by which Jasper had rejoined his friends. Instead of coming +directly on, however, no sooner did he pass the bend, where he was +concealed from any who might be higher up stream, than he moved +close under the bank; and, using the utmost caution, got a position +where he could look back, with his person sufficiently concealed +by the bushes to prevent its being seen by any in that quarter. + +"The Sarpent sees the knaves!" whispered Pathfinder. "As I'm a +Christian white man, they have bit at the bait, and have ambushed +the smoke!" + +Here a hearty but silent laugh interrupted his words, and nudging +Cap with his elbow, they all continued to watch the movements of +Chingachgook in profound stillness. The Mohican remained stationary +as the rock on which he stood full ten minutes; and then it was +apparent that something of interest had occurred within his view, +for he drew back with a hurried manner, looked anxiously and keenly +along the margin of the stream, and moved quickly down it, taking +care to lose his trail in the shallow water. He was evidently in +a hurry and concerned, now looking behind him, and then casting +eager glances towards every spot on the shore where he thought a +canoe might be concealed. + +"Call him in," whispered Jasper, scarcely able to restrain his +impatience, -- "call him in, or it will be too late! See! he is +actually passing us." + +"Not so, not so, lad; nothing presses, depend on it;" returned his +companion, "or the Sarpent would begin to creep. The Lord help +us and teach us wisdom! I _do_ believe even Chingachgook, whose +sight is as faithful as the hound's scent, overlooks us, and will +not find out the ambushment we have made!" + +This exultation was untimely; for the words were no sooner spoken +than the Indian, who had actually got several feet lower down the +stream than the artificial cover, suddenly stopped; fastened a +keen-riveted glance among the transplanted bushes; made a few hasty +steps backward; and, bending his body and carefully separating +the branches, he appeared among them. + +"The accursed Mingos!" said Pathfinder, as soon as his friend was +near enough to be addressed with prudence. + +"Iroquois," returned the sententious Indian. + +"No matter, no matter; Iroquois, devil, Mingo, Mengwes, or furies +-- all are pretty much the same. I call all rascals Mingos. Come +hither, chief, and let us convarse rationally." + +When their private communication was over, Pathfinder rejoined the +rest, and made them acquainted with all he had learned. + +The Mohican had followed the trail of their enemies some distance +towards the fort, until the latter caught a sight of the smoke of +Jasper's fire, when they instantly retraced their steps. It now +became necessary for Chingachgook, who ran the greatest risk of +detection, to find a cover where he could secrete himself until +the party might pass. It was perhaps fortunate for him that the +savages were so intent on this recent discovery, that they did not +bestow the ordinary attention on the signs of the forest. At all +events, they passed him swiftly, fifteen in number, treading lightly +in each other's footsteps; and he was enabled again to get into +their rear. After proceeding to the place where the footsteps +of Pathfinder and the Mohican had joined the principal trail, the +Iroquois had struck off to the river, which they reached just as +Jasper had disappeared behind the bend below. The smoke being now +in plain view, the savages plunged into the woods and endeavored to +approach the fire unseen. Chingachgook profited by this occasion +to descend to the water, and to gain the bend in the river also, +which he thought had been effected undiscovered. Here he paused, +as has been stated, until he saw his enemies at the fire, where +their stay, however, was very short. + +Of the motives of the Iroquois the Mohican could judge only by their +acts. He thought they had detected the artifice of the fire, and +were aware that it had been kindled with a view to mislead them; +for, after a hasty examination of the spot, they had separated, +some plunging again into the woods, while six or eight had followed +the footsteps of Jasper along the shore, and come down the stream +towards the place where the canoes had landed. What course they +might take on reaching that spot was only to be conjectured; for +the Serpent had felt the emergency to be too pressing to delay +looking for his friends any longer. From some indications that +were to be gathered from their gestures, however, he thought it +probable that their enemies might follow down in the margin of the +stream, but could not be certain. + +As the Pathfinder related these facts to his companions, the +professional feelings of the two other white men came uppermost, +and both naturally reverted to their habits, in quest of the means +of escape. + +"Let us run out the canoes at once," said Jasper eagerly; "the +current is strong, and by using the paddles vigorously we shall +soon be beyond the reach of these scoundrels!" + +"And this poor flower, that first blossomed in the clearings -- +shall it wither in the forest?" objected his friend, with a poetry +which he had unconsciously imbibed by his long association with +the Delawares. + +"We must all die first," answered the youth, a generous color +mounting to his temples; "Mabel and Arrowhead's wife may lie down +in the canoes, while we do our duty, like men, on our feet." + +"Ay, you are active at the paddle and the oar, Eau-douce, I will +allow, but an accursed Mingo is more active at his mischief; the +canoes are swift, but a rifle bullet is swifter." + +"It is the business of men, engaged as we have been by +a confiding father, to run this risk -- " + +"But it is not their business to overlook prudence." + +"Prudence! a man may carry his prudence so far as to forget his +courage." + +The group was standing on the narrow strand, the Pathfinder leaning +on his rifle, the butt of which rested on the gravelly beach, +while both his hands clasped the barrel at the height of his own +shoulders. As Jasper threw out this severe and unmerited imputation, +the deep red of his comrade's face maintained its hue unchanged, +though the young man perceived that the fingers grasped the iron of +the gun with the tenacity of a vice. Here all betrayal of emotion +ceased. + +"You are young and hot-headed," returned Pathfinder, with a +dignity that impressed his listeners with a keen sense of his moral +superiority; "but my life has been passed among dangers of this +sort, and my experience and gifts are not to be mastered by the +impatience of a boy. As for courage, Jasper, I will not send back +an angry and unmeaning word to meet an angry and an unmeaning word; +for I know that you are true in your station and according to your +knowledge; but take the advice of one who faced the Mingos when you +were a child, and know that their cunning is easier sarcumvented +by prudence than outwitted by foolishness." + +"I ask your pardon, Pathfinder," said the repentant Jasper, eagerly +grasping the hand that the other permitted him to seize; "I ask your +pardon, humbly and sincerely. 'Twas a foolish, as well as wicked +thing to hint of a man whose heart, in a good cause, is known to +be as firm as the rocks on the lake shore." + +For the first time the color deepened on the cheek of the Pathfinder, +and the solemn dignity which he had assumed, under a purely natural +impulse, disappeared in the expression of the earnest simplicity +inherent in all his feelings. He met the grasp of his young friend +with a squeeze as cordial as if no chord had jarred between them, +and a slight sternness that had gathered about his eye disappeared +in a look of natural kindness. + +"'Tis well, Jasper," he answered, laughing; "I bear no ill-will, nor +shall any one on my behalf. My natur' is that of a white man, and +that is to bear no malice. It might have been ticklish work to have +said half as much to the Sarpent here, though he is a Delaware, +for color will have its way -- " + +A touch on his shoulder caused the speaker to cease. Mabel was +standing erect in the canoe, her light, but swelling form bent +forward in an attitude of graceful earnestness, her finger on her +lips, her head averted, her spirited eyes riveted on an opening +in the bushes, and one arm extended with a fishing-rod, the end of +which had touched the Pathfinder. The latter bowed his head to a +level with a look-out near which he had intentionally kept himself +and then whispered to Jasper, -- + +"The accursed Mingos! Stand to your arms, my men, but lay quiet +as the corpses of dead trees!" + +Jasper advanced rapidly, but noiselessly, to the canoe, and with a +gentle violence induced Mabel to place herself in such an attitude +as concealed her entire body, though it would have probably exceeded +his means to induce the girl so far to lower her head that she could +not keep her gaze fastened on their enemies. He then took his own +post near her, with his rifle cocked and poised, in readiness to +fire. Arrowhead and Chingachgook crawled to the cover, and lay in +wait like snakes, with their arms prepared for service, while the +wife of the former bowed her head between her knees, covered it +with her calico robe, and remained passive and immovable. Cap +loosened both his pistols in their belt, but seemed quite at a +loss what course to pursue. The Pathfinder did not stir. He had +originally got a position where he might aim with deadly effect +through the leaves, and where he could watch the movements of his +enemies; and he was far too steady to be disconcerted at a moment +so critical. + +It was truly an alarming instant. Just as Mabel touched the shoulder +of her guide, three of the Iroquois had appeared in the water, at +the bend of the river, within a hundred yards of the cover, and +halted to examine the stream below. They were all naked to the +waist, armed for an expedition against their foes, and in their +warpaint. It was apparent that they were undecided as to the +course they ought to pursue in order to find the fugitives. One +pointed down the river, a second up the stream, and the third +towards the opposite bank. They evidently doubted. + + + +CHAPTER V + +Death is here and death is there, +Death is busy everywhere. +SHELLEY + + +It was a breathless moment. The only clue the fugitives possessed +to the intentions of their pursuers was in their gestures and the +indications which escaped them in the fury of disappointment. That +a party had returned already, on their own footsteps, by land, was +pretty certain; and all the benefit expected from the artifice of +the fire was necessarily lost. But that consideration became of +little moment just then; for the party was menaced with an immediate +discovery by those who had kept on a level with the river. All the +facts presented themselves clearly, and as it might be by intuition, +to the mind of Pathfinder, who perceived the necessity of immediate +decision and of being in readiness to act in concert. Without +making any noise, therefore, he managed to get the two Indians and +Jasper near him, when he opened his communications in a whisper. + +"We must be ready, we must be ready," he said. "There are but +three of the scalping devils, and we are five, four of whom may be +set down as manful warriors for such a skrimmage. Eau-douce, do +you take the fellow that is painted like death; Chingachgook, I +give you the chief; and Arrowhead must keep his eye on the young +one. There must be no mistake, for two bullets in the same body +would be sinful waste, with one like the Sergeant's daughter in +danger. I shall hold myself in resarve against accident, lest a +fourth reptile appear, for one of your hands may prove unsteady. +By no means fire until I give the word; we must not let the crack +of the rifle be heard except in the last resort, since all the rest +of the miscreants are still within hearing. Jasper, boy, in case +of any movement behind us on the bank, I trust to you to run out the +canoe with the Sergeant's daughter, and to pull for the garrison, +by God's leave." + +The Pathfinder had no sooner given these directions than the near +approach of their enemies rendered profound silence necessary. The +Iroquois in the river were slowly descending the stream; keeping +of necessity near the bushes which overhung the water, while the +rustling of leaves and the snapping of twigs soon gave fearful +evidence that another party was moving along the bank, at an equally +graduated pace; and directly abreast of them. In consequence of the +distance between the bushes planted by the fugitives and the true +shore, the two parties became visible to each other when opposite +that precise point. Both stopped, and a conversation ensued, that +may be said to have passed directly over the heads of those who +were concealed. Indeed, nothing sheltered the travellers but the +branches and leaves of plants, so pliant that they yielded to every +current of air, and which a puff of wind a little stronger than +common would have blown away. Fortunately the line of sight carried +the eyes of the two parties of savages, whether they stood in the +water or on the land, above the bushes, and the leaves appeared +blended in a way to excite no suspicion. Perhaps the very boldness +of the expedient alone prevented an immediate exposure. The +conversation which took place was conducted earnestly, but in guarded +tones, as if those who spoke wished to defeat the intentions of +any listeners. It was in a dialect that both the Indian warriors +beneath, as well as the Pathfinder, understood. Even Jasper +comprehended a portion of what was said. + +"The trail is washed away by the water!" said one from below, +who stood so near the artificial cover of the fugitives, that he +might have been struck by the salmon-spear that lay in the bottom +of Jasper's canoe. "Water has washed it so clear that a Yengeese +hound could not follow." + +"The pale-faces have left the shore in their canoes," answered the +speaker on the bank. + +"It cannot be. The rifles of our warriors below are certain." + +The Pathfinder gave a significant glance at Jasper, and he clinched +his teeth in order to suppress the sound of his own breathing. + +"Let my young men look as if their eyes were eagles'," said the +eldest warrior among those who were wading in the river. "We have +been a whole moon on the war-path, and have found but one scalp. +There is a maiden among them, and some of our braves want wives." + +Happily these words were lost on Mabel; but Jasper's frown became +deeper, and his face fiercely flushed. + +The savages now ceased speaking, and the party which was concealed +heard the slow and guarded movements of those who were on the +bank, as they pushed the bushes aside in their wary progress. It +was soon evident that the latter had passed the cover; but the +group in the water still remained, scanning the shore with eyes that +glared through their war-paint like coals of living fire. After +a pause of two or three minutes, these three began also to descend +the stream, though it was step by step, as men move who look +for an object that has been lost. In this manner they passed the +artificial screen, and Pathfinder opened his mouth in that hearty +but noiseless laugh that nature and habit had contributed to render +a peculiarity of the man. His triumph, however, was premature; +for the last of the retiring party, just at this moment casting a +look behind him, suddenly stopped; and his fixed attitude and steady +gaze at once betrayed the appalling fact that some neglected bush +had awakened his suspicions. + +It was perhaps fortunate for the concealed that the warrior who +manifested these fearful signs of distrust was young, and had still +a reputation to acquire. He knew the importance of discretion +and modesty in one of his years, and most of all did he dread the +ridicule and contempt that would certainly follow a false alarm. +Without recalling any of his companions, therefore, he turned on +his own footsteps; and, while the others continued to descend the +river, he cautiously approached the bushes, on which his looks +were still fastened, as by a charm. Some of the leaves which were +exposed to the sun had drooped a little, and this slight departure +from the usual natural laws had caught the quick eyes of the Indian; +for so practised and acute do the senses of the savage become, more +especially when he is on the war-path, that trifles apparently of +the most insignificant sort often prove to be clues to lead him +to his object. + +The trifling nature of the change which had aroused the suspicion +of this youth was an additional motive for not acquainting his +companions with his discovery. Should he really detect anything, +his glory would be the greater for being unshared; and should he +not, he might hope to escape that derision which the young Indian +so much dreads. Then there were the dangers of an ambush and +a surprise, to which every warrior of the woods is keenly alive, +to render his approach slow and cautious. In consequence of the +delay that proceeded from these combined causes, the two parties +had descended some fifty or sixty yards before the young savage +was again near enough to the bushes of the Pathfinder to touch them +with his hand. + +Notwithstanding their critical situation, the whole party behind +the cover had their eyes fastened on the working countenance of the +young Iroquois, who was agitated by conflicting feelings. First +came the eager hope of obtaining success where some of the most +experienced of his tribe had failed, and with it a degree of +glory that had seldom fallen to the share of one of his years or a +brave on his first war-path; then followed doubts, as the drooping +leaves seemed to rise again and to revive in the currents of air; +and distrust of hidden danger lent its exciting feeling to keep +the eloquent features in play. So very slight, however, had been +the alteration produced by the heat on the bushes of which the +stems were in the water, that when the Iroquois actually laid his +hand on the leaves, he fancied that he had been deceived. As no +man ever distrusts strongly without using all convenient means of +satisfying his doubts, however, the young warrior cautiously pushed +aside the branches and advanced a step within the hiding-place, +when the forms of the concealed party met his gaze, resembling so +many breathless statues. The low exclamation, the slight start, +and the glaring eye, were hardly seen and heard, before the +arm of Chingachgook was raised, and the tomahawk of the Delaware +descended on the shaven head of his foe. The Iroquois raised his +hands frantically, bounded backward, and fell into the water, at +a spot where the current swept the body away, the struggling limbs +still tossing and writhing in the agony of death. The Delaware +made a vigorous but unsuccessful attempt to seize an arm, with the +hope of securing the scalp; but the bloodstained waters whirled +down the current, carrying with them their quivering burden. + +All this passed in less than a minute, and the events were so sudden +and unexpected, that men less accustomed than the Pathfinder and +his associates to forest warfare would have been at a loss how to +act. + +"There is not a moment to lose," said Jasper, tearing aside the +bushes, as he spoke earnestly, but in a suppressed voice. "Do as +I do, Master Cap, if you would save your niece; and you, Mabel, +lie at your length in the canoe." + +The words were scarcely uttered when, seizing the bow of the light +boat he dragged it along the shore, wading himself, while Cap +aided behind, keeping so near the bank as to avoid being seen by +the savages below, and striving to gain the turn in the river above +him which would effectually conceal the party from the enemy. The +Pathfinder's canoe lay nearest to the bank, and was necessarily the +last to quit the shore. The Delaware leaped on the narrow strand +and plunged into the forest, it being his assigned duty to watch +the foe in that quarter, while Arrowhead motioned to his white +companion to seize the bow of the boat and to follow Jasper. All +this was the work of an instant; but when the Pathfinder reached the +current that was sweeping round the turn, he felt a sudden change +in the weight he was dragging, and, looking back, he found that +both the Tuscarora and his wife had deserted him. The thought of +treachery flashed upon his mind, but there was no time to pause, +for the wailing shout that arose from the party below proclaimed +that the body of the young Iroquois had floated as low as the spot +reached by his friends. The report of a rifle followed; and then +the guide saw that Jasper, having doubled the bend in the river, +was crossing the stream, standing erect in the stern of the canoe, +while Cap was seated forward, both propelling the light boat +with vigorous strokes of the paddles. A glance, a thought, and +an expedient followed each other quickly in one so trained in the +vicissitudes of the frontier warfare. Springing into the stern of +his own canoe, he urged it by a vigorous shove into the current, +and commenced crossing the stream himself, at a point so much +lower than that of his companions as to offer his own person for a +target to the enemy, well knowing that their keen desire to secure +a scalp would control all other feelings. + +"Keep well up the current, Jasper," shouted the gallant guide, +as he swept the water with long, steady, vigorous strokes of the +paddle; "keep well up the current, and pull for the alder bushes +opposite. Presarve the Sergeant's daughter before all things, and +leave these Mingo knaves to the Sarpent and me." + +Jasper flourished his paddle as a signal of understanding, while +shot succeeded shot in quick succession, all now being aimed at +the solitary man in the nearest canoe. + +"Ay, empty your rifles like simpletons as you are," said the +Pathfinder, who had acquired a habit of speaking when alone, from +passing so much of his time in the solitude of the forest; "empty +your rifles with an unsteady aim, and give me time to put yard upon +yard of river between us. I will not revile you like a Delaware +or a Mohican; for my gifts are a white man's gifts, and not an +Indian's; and boasting in battle is no part of a Christian warrior; +but I may say here, all alone by myself, that you are little better +than so many men from the town shooting at robins in the orchards. +That was well meant," throwing back his head, as a rifle bullet cut +a lock of hair from his temple; "but the lead that misses by an +inch is as useless as the lead that never quits the barrel. Bravely +done, Jasper! the Sergeant's sweet child must be saved, even if +we go in without our own scalps." + +By this time the Pathfinder was in the centre of the river, and +almost abreast of his enemies, while the other canoe, impelled by +the vigorous arms of Cap and Jasper, had nearly gained the opposite +shore at the precise spot that had been pointed out to them. The +old mariner now played his part manfully; for he was on his proper +element, loved his niece sincerely, had a proper regard for +his own person, and was not unused to fire, though his experience +certainly lay in a very different species of warfare. A few strokes +of the paddles were given, and the canoe shot into the bushes, +Mabel was hurried to land by Jasper, and for the present all three +of the fugitives were safe. + +Not so with the Pathfinder: his hardy self-devotion had brought him +into a situation of unusual exposure, the hazards of which were +much increased by the fact that, just as he drifted nearest to +the enemy the party on the shore rushed down the bank and joined +their friends who still stood in the water. The Oswego was about +a cable's length in width at this point, and, the canoe being in +the centre, the object was only a hundred yards from the rifles that +were constantly discharged at it; or, at the usual target distance +for that weapon. + +In this extremity the steadiness and skill of the Pathfinder did +him good service. He knew that his safety depended altogether +on keeping in motion; for a stationary object at that distance, +would have been hit nearly every shot. Nor was motion of itself +sufficient; for, accustomed to kill the bounding deer, his enemies +probably knew how to vary the line of aim so as to strike him, should +he continue to move in any one direction. He was consequently +compelled to change the course of the canoe, -- at one moment +shooting down with the current, with the swiftness of an arrow; +and at the next checking its progress in that direction, to glance +athwart the stream. Luckily the Iroquois could not reload their +pieces in the water, and the bushes that everywhere fringed the +shore rendered it difficult to keep the fugitive in view when on +the land. Aided by these circumstances, and having received the +fire of all his foes, the Pathfinder was gaining fast in distance, +both downwards and across the current, when a new danger suddenly, +if not unexpectedly, presented itself, by the appearance of the +party that had been left in ambush below with a view to watch the +river. + +These were the savages alluded to in the short dialogue already +related. They were no less than ten in number; and, understanding +all the advantages of their bloody occupation, they had posted +themselves at a spot where the water dashed among rocks and over +shallows, in a way to form a rapid which, in the language of the +country, is called a rift. The Pathfinder saw that, if he entered +this rift, he should be compelled to approach a point where the +Iroquois had posted themselves, for the current was irresistible, +and the rocks allowed no other safe passage, while death or +captivity would be the probable result of the attempt. All his +efforts, therefore, were turned toward reaching the western shore, +the foe being all on the eastern side of the river; but the exploit +surpassed human power, and to attempt to stem the stream would at +once have so far diminished the motion of the canoe as to render +aim certain. In this exigency the guide came to a decision with +his usual cool promptitude, making his preparations accordingly. +Instead of endeavoring to gain the channel, he steered towards +the shallowest part of the stream, on reaching which he seized his +rifle and pack, leaped into the water, and began to wade from rock +to rock, taking the direction of the western shore. The canoe +whirled about in the furious current, now rolling over some slippery +stone, now filling, and then emptying itself, until it lodged on +the shore, within a few yards of the spot where the Iroquois had +posted themselves. + +In the meanwhile the Pathfinder was far from being out of danger; +for the first minute, admiration of his promptitude and daring, +which are so high virtues in the mind of an Indian, kept his +enemies motionless; but the desire of revenge, and the cravings +for the much-prized trophy, soon overcame this transient feeling, +and aroused them from their stupor. Rifle flashed after rifle, +and the bullets whistled around the head of the fugitive, amid the +roar of the waters. Still he proceeded like one who bore a charmed +life; for, while his rude frontier garments were more than once +cut, his skin was not razed. + +As the Pathfinder, in several instances, was compelled to wade in +water which rose nearly to his arms, while he kept his rifle and +ammunition elevated above the raging current, the toil soon fatigued +him, and he was glad to stop at a large stone, or a small rock, +which rose so high above the river that its upper surface was dry. +On this stone he placed his powder-horn, getting behind it himself, +so as to have the advantage of a partial cover for his body. The +western shore was only fifty feet distant, but the quiet, swift, +dark current that glanced through the interval sufficiently showed +that here he would be compelled to swim. + +A short cessation in the firing now took place on the part of the +Indians, who gathered about the canoe, and, having found the paddles, +were preparing to cross the river. + +"Pathfinder," called a voice from among the bushes, at the point +nearest to the person addressed, on the western shore. + +"What would you have, Jasper?" + +"Be of good heart -- friends are at hand, and not a single Mingo +shall cross without suffering for his boldness. Had you not better +leave the rifle on the rock, and swim to us before the rascals can +get afloat?" + +"A true woodsman never quits his piece while he has any powder +in his horn or a bullet in his pouch. I have not drawn a trigger +this day, Eau-douce, and shouldn't relish the idea of parting with +those reptiles without causing them to remember my name. A little +water will not harm my legs; and I see that blackguard, Arrowhead, +among the scamps, and wish to send him the wages he has so faithfully +earned. You have not brought the Sergeant's daughter down here in +a range with their bullets, I hope, Jasper?" + +"She is safe for the present at least; though all depends on our +keeping the river between us and the enemy. They must know our +weakness now; and, should they cross, no doubt some of their party +will be left on the other side." + +"This canoeing touches your gifts rather than mine, boy, though I +will handle a paddle with the best Mingo that ever struck a salmon. +If they cross below the rift, why can't we cross in the still water +above, and keep playing at dodge and turn with the wolves?" + +"Because, as I have said, they will leave a party on the other +shore; and then, Pathfinder, would you expose Mabel, to the rifles +of the Iroquois?" + +"The Sergeant's daughter must be saved," returned the guide, with +calm energy. "You are right, Jasper; she has no gift to authorize +her in offering her sweet face and tender body to a Mingo rifle. +What can be done, then? They must be kept from crossing for an +hour or two, if possible, when we must do our best in the darkness." + +"I agree with you, Pathfinder, if it can be effected; but are we +strong enough for such a purpose?" + +"The Lord is with us, boy, the Lord is with us; and it is unreasonable +to suppose that one like the Sergeant's daughter will be altogether +abandoned by Providence in such a strait. There is not a boat +between the falls and the garrison, except these two canoes, to +my sartain knowledge; and I think it will go beyond red-skin gifts +to cross in the face of two rifles like these of yourn and mine. I +will not vaunt, Jasper; but it is well known on all this frontier +that Killdeer seldom fails." + +"Your skill is admitted by all, far and near, Pathfinder; but a +rifle takes time to be loaded; nor are you on the land, aided by +a good cover, where you can work to the advantage you are used to. +If you had our canoe, might you not pass to the shore with a dry +rifle?" + +"Can an eagle fly, Jasper?" returned the other, laughing in his +usual manner, and looking back as he spoke. But it would be unwise +to expose yourself on the water; for them miscreants are beginning +to bethink them again of powder and bullets." + +"It can be done without any such chances. Master Cap has gone up +to the canoe, and will cast the branch of a tree into the river to +try the current, which sets from the point above in the direction +of your rock. See, there it comes already; if it float fairly, you +must raise your arm, when the canoe will follow. At all events, +if the boat should pass you, the eddy below will bring it up, and +I can recover it." + +While Jasper was still speaking, the floating branch came in sight; +and, quickening its progress with the increasing velocity of the +current, it swept swiftly down towards the Pathfinder, who seized +it as it was passing, and held it in the air as a sign of success. +Cap understood the signal, and presently the canoe was launched into +the stream, with a caution and an intelligence that the habits of +the mariner had fitted him to observe. It floated in the same direction +as the branch, and in a minute was arrested by the Pathfinder. + +"This has been done with a frontier man's judgment Jasper," said +the guide, laughing; "but you have your gifts, which incline most +to the water, as mine incline to the woods. Now let them Mingo +knaves cock their rifles and get rests, for this is the last chance +they are likely to have at a man without a cover." + +"Nay, shove the canoe towards the shore, quartering the current, +and throw yourself into it as it goes off," said Jasper eagerly. +"There is little use in running any risk." + +"I love to stand up face to face with my enemies like a man, while +they set me the example," returned the Pathfinder proudly. "I am +not a red-skin born, and it is more a white man's gifts to fight +openly than to lie in ambushment." + +"And Mabel?" + +"True, boy, true; the Sergeant's daughter must be saved; and, as +you say, foolish risks only become boys. Think you that you can +catch the canoe where you stand?" + +"There can be no doubt, if you give a vigorous push." + +Pathfinder made the necessary effort; the light bark shot across +the intervening space, and Jasper seized it as it came to land. +To secure the canoe, and to take proper positions in the cover, +occupied the friends but a moment, when they shook hands cordially, +like those who had met after a long separation. + +"Now, Jasper, we shall see if a Mingo of them all dares cross the +Oswego in the teeth of Killdeer! You are handier with the oar and +the paddle and the sail than with the rifle, perhaps; but you have +a stout heart and a steady hand, and them are things that count in +a fight." + +"Mabel will find me between her and her enemies," said Jasper +calmly. + +"Yes, yes, the Sergeant's daughter must be protected. I like you, +boy, on your own account; but I like you all the better that you +think of one so feeble at a moment when there is need of all your +manhood. See, Jasper! Three of the knaves are actually getting +into the canoe! They must believe we have fled, or they would not +surely venture so much, directly in the very face of Killdeer." + +Sure enough the Iroquois did appear bent on venturing across +the stream; for, as the Pathfinder and his friends now kept their +persons strictly concealed, their enemies began to think that the +latter had taken to flight. Such a course was that which most white +men would have followed; but Mabel was under the care of those who +were much too well skilled in forest warfare to neglect to defend +the only pass that, in truth, now offered even a probable chance +for protection. + +As the Pathfinder had said, three warriors were in the canoe, two +holding their rifles at a poise, as they knelt in readiness to aim +the deadly weapons, and the other standing erect in the stern to +wield the paddle. In this manner they left the shore, having had +the precaution to haul the canoe, previously to entering it, so +far up the stream as to have got into the comparatively still water +above the rift. It was apparent at a glance that the savage who +guided the boat was skilled in the art; for the long steady sweep +of his paddle sent the light bark over the glassy surface of the +tranquil river as if it were a feather floating in air. + +"Shall I fire?" demanded Jasper in a whisper, trembling with +eagerness to engage. + +"Not yet, boy, not yet. There are but three of them, and if Master +Cap yonder knows how to use the popguns he carries in his belt, we +may even let them land, and then we shall recover the canoe." + +"But Mabel -- ?" + +"No fear for the Sergeant's daughter. She is safe in the hollow +stump, you say, with the opening judgmatically hid by the brambles. +If what you tell me of the manner in which you concealed the trail +be true, the sweet one might lie there a month and laugh at the +Mingos." + +"We are never certain. I wish we had brought her nearer to our +own cover!" + +"What for, Eau-douce? To place her pretty little head and leaping +heart among flying bullets? No, no: she is better where she is, +because she is safer." + +"We are never certain. We thought ourselves safe behind the bushes, +and yet you saw that we were discovered." + +"And the Mingo imp paid for his curiosity, as these knaves are +about to do." + +The, Pathfinder ceased speaking; for at that instant the sharp +report of a rifle was heard, when the Indian in the stern of the +canoe leaped high into the air, and fell into the water, holding +the paddle in his hand. A small wreath of smoke floated out from +among the bushes of the eastern shore, and was soon absorbed by +the atmosphere. + +"That is the Sarpent hissing!" exclaimed the Pathfinder exultingly. +"A bolder or a truer heart never beat in the breast of a Delaware. +I am sorry that he interfered; but he could not have known our +condition." + +The canoe had no sooner lost its guide than it floated with the +stream, and was soon sucked into the rapids of the rift. Perfectly +helpless, the two remaining savages gazed wildly about them, but +could offer no resistance to the power of the element. It was +perhaps fortunate for Chingachgook that the attention of most of +the Iroquois was intently given to the situation of those in the +boat, else would his escape have been to the last degree difficult, +if not totally impracticable. But not a foe moved, except to +conceal his person behind some cover; and every eye was riveted on +the two remaining adventurers. In less time than has been necessary +to record these occurrences, the canoe was whirling and tossing +in the rift, while both the savages had stretched themselves in +its bottom, as the only means of preserving the equilibrium. This +natural expedient soon failed them; for, striking a rock, the +light draft rolled over, and the two warriors were thrown into the +river. The water is seldom deep on a rift, except in particular +places where it may have worn channels; and there was little to +be apprehended from drowning, though their arms were lost; and the +two savages were fain to make the best of their way to the friendly +shore, swimming and wading as circumstances required. The canoe +itself lodged on a rock in the centre of the stream, where for the +moment it became useless to both parties. + +"Now is our time, Pathfinder," cried Jasper, as the two Iroquois +exposed most of their persons while wading in the shallowest part +of the rapids: "the fellow up stream is mine, and you can take the +lower." + +So excited had the young man become by all the incidents of the +stirring scene, that the bullet sped from his rifle as he spoke, +but uselessly, as it would seem, for both the fugitives tossed +their arms in disdain. The Pathfinder did not fire. + +"No, no, Eau-douce," he answered; "I do not seek blood without a +cause; and my bullet is well leathered and carefully driven down, +for the time of need. I love no Mingo, as is just, seeing how +much I have consorted with the Delawares, who are their mortal and +natural enemies; but I never pull trigger on one of the miscreants +unless it be plain that his death will lead to some good end. The +deer never leaped that fell by my hand wantonly. By living much +alone with God in the wilderness a man gets to feel the justice +of such opinions. One life is sufficient for our present wants; +and there may yet be occasion to use Killdeer in behalf of the +Sarpent, who has done an untimorsome thing to let them rampant +devils so plainly know that he is in their neighborhood. As I'm +a wicked sinner, there is one of them prowling along the bank this +very moment, like one of the boys of the garrison skulking behind +a fallen tree to get a shot at a squirrel!" + +As the Pathfinder pointed with his finger while speaking, the +quick eye of Jasper soon caught the object towards which it was +directed. One of the young warriors of the enemy, burning with a +desire to distinguish himself, had stolen from his party towards +the cover in which Chingachgook had concealed himself; and as the +latter was deceived by the apparent apathy of his foes, as well as +engaged in some further preparations of his own, he had evidently +obtained a position where he got a sight of the Delaware. This +circumstance was apparent by the arrangements the Iroquois was +making to fire, for Chingachgook himself was not visible from the +western side of the river. The rift was at a bend in the Oswego, +and the sweep of the eastern shore formed a curve so wide that +Chingachgook was quite near to his enemies in a straight direction, +though separated by several hundred feet on the land, owing to +which fact air lines brought both parties nearly equidistant from +the Pathfinder and Jasper. The general width of the river being +a little less than two hundred yards, such necessarily was about +the distance between his two observers and the skulking Iroquois. + +"The Sarpent must be thereabouts," observed Pathfinder, who never +turned his eye for an instant from the young warrior; "and yet he +must be strangely off his guard to allow a Mingo devil to get his +stand so near, with manifest signs of bloodshed in his heart." + +"See!" interrupted Jasper -- "there is the body of the Indian the +Delaware shot! It has drifted on a rock, and the current has forced +the head and face above the water." + +"Quite likely, boy, quite likely. Human natur' is little better +than a log of driftwood, when the life that was breathed into its +nostrils is departed. That Iroquois will never harm any one more; +but yonder skulking savage is bent on taking the scalp of my best +and most tried friend." + +The Pathfinder suddenly interrupted himself by raising his rifle, +a weapon of unusual length, with admirable precision, and firing +the instant it had got its level. The Iroquois on the opposite +shore was in the act of aiming when the fatal messenger from Killdeer +arrived. His rifle was discharged, it is true, but it was with the +muzzle in the air, while the man himself plunged into the bushes, +quite evidently hurt, if not slain. + +"The skulking reptyle brought it on himself," muttered Pathfinder +sternly, as, dropping the butt of his rifle, he carefully commenced +reloading it. "Chingachgook and I have consorted together since +we were boys, and have fi't in company on the Horican, the Mohawk, +the Ontario, and all the other bloody passes between the country of +the Frenchers and our own; and did the foolish knave believe that +I would stand by and see my best friend cut off in an ambushment?" + +"We have served the Sarpent as good a turn as he served us. Those +rascals are troubled, Pathfinder, and are falling back into their +covers, since they find we can reach them across the river." + +"The shot is no great matter, Jasper, no great matter. Ask any +of the 60th, and they can tell you what Killdeer can do, and has +done, and that, too, when the bullets were flying about our heads +like hailstones. No, no! this is no great matter, and the unthoughtful +vagabond drew it down on himself." + +"Is that a dog, or a deer, swimming towards this shore?" Pathfinder +started, for sure enough an object was crossing the stream, above +the rift, towards which, however, it was gradually setting by the +force of the current. A second look satisfied both the observers +that it was a man, and an Indian, though so concealed as at first +to render it doubtful. Some stratagem was apprehended, and the +closest attention was given to the movements of the stranger. + +"He is pushing something before him as he swims, and his head +resembles a drifting bush," said Jasper. + +"'Tis Indian devilry, boy; but Christian honesty shall circumvent +their arts." + +As the man slowly approached, the observers began to doubt the +accuracy of their first impressions, and it was only when two-thirds +of the stream were passed that the truth was really known. + +"The Big Sarpent, as I live!" exclaimed Pathfinder, looking at his +companion, and laughing until the tears came into his eyes with +pure delight at the success of the artifice. "He has tied bushes +to his head, so as to hide it, put the horn on top, lashed the +rifle to that bit of log he is pushing before him, and has come +over to join his friends. Ah's me! The times and times that he +and I have cut such pranks, right in the teeth of Mingos raging +for our blood, in the great thoroughfare round and about Ty!" + +"It may not be the Serpent after all, Pathfinder; I can see no +feature that I remember." + +"Feature! Who looks for features in an Indian? No, no, boy; 'tis +the paint that speaks, and none but a Delaware would wear that +paint: them are his colors, Jasper, just as your craft on the lake +wears St. George's Cross, and the Frenchers set their tablecloths +to fluttering in the wind, with all the stains of fish-bones and +venison steaks upon them. Now, you see the eye, lad, and it is +the eye of a chief. But, Eau-douce, fierce as it is in battle, and +glassy as it looks from among the leaves," -- here the Pathfinder +laid his fingers lightly but impressively on his companion's +arm, -- "I have seen it shed tears like rain. There is a soul and +a heart under that red skin, rely on it; although they are a soul +and a heart with gifts different from our own." + +"No one who is acquainted with the chief ever doubted that." + +"I _know_ it," returned the other proudly, "for I have consorted +with him in sorrow and in joy: in one I have found him a man, +however stricken; in the other, a chief who knows that the women +of his tribe are the most seemly in light merriment. But hist! +It is too much like the people of the settlements to pour soft +speeches into another's ear; and the Sarpent has keen senses. He +knows I love him, and that I speak well of him behind his back; but +a Delaware has modesty in his inmost natur', though he will brag +like a sinner when tied to a stake." + +The Serpent now reached the shore, directly in the front of his two +comrades, with whose precise position he must have been acquainted +before leaving the eastern side of the river, and rising from the +water he shook himself like a dog, and made the usual exclamation +-- "Hugh!" + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +These, as they change, Almighty Father, these, +Are but the varied God. +THOMSON. + + +As the chief landed he was met by the Pathfinder, who addressed +him in the language of the warrior's people: "Was it well done, +Chingachgook," said he reproachfully, "to ambush a dozen Mingos +alone? Killdeer seldom fails me, it is true; but the Oswego makes a +distant mark, and that miscreant showed little more than his head +and shoulders above the bushes, and an onpractysed hand and eye +might have failed. You should have thought of this, chief -- you +should have thought of this!" + +"The Great Serpent is a Mohican warrior -- he sees only his enemies +when he is on the war-path, and his fathers have struck the Mingos +from behind, since the waters began to run." + +"I know your gifts, I know your gifts, and respect them too. No +man shall hear me complain that a red-skin obsarved red-skin natur'. +But prudence as much becomes a warrior as valor; and had not the +Iroquois devils been looking after their friends who were in the +water, a hot trail they would have made of yourn." + +"What is the Delaware about to do?" exclaimed Jasper, who observed +at that moment that the chief had suddenly left the Pathfinder +and advanced to the water's edge, apparently with an intention of +again entering the river. "He will not be so mad as to return to +the other shore for any trifle he may have forgotten?" + +"Not he, not he; he is as prudent as he is brave, in the main, though +so forgetful of himself in the late ambushment. Hark'e, Jasper," +leading the other a little aside, just as they heard the Indian's +plunge into the water, --"hark'e, lad; Chingachgook is not a +Christian white man, like ourselves, but a Mohican chief, who has +his gifts and traditions to tell him what he ought to do; and he +who consorts with them that are not strictly and altogether of his +own kind had better leave natur' and use to govern his comrades. +A king's soldier will swear and he will drink, and it is of little +use to try to prevent him; a gentleman likes his delicacies, and +a lady her feathers and it does not avail much to struggle against +either; whereas an Indian's natur' and gifts are much stronger +than these, and no doubt were bestowed by the Lord for wise ends, +though neither you nor me can follow them in all their windings." + +"What does this mean? See, the Delaware is swimming towards the +body that is lodged on the rock? Why does he risk this?" + +"For honor and glory and renown, as great gentlemen quit their quiet +homes beyond seas -- where, as they tell me, heart has nothing left +to wish for; that is, such hearts as can be satisfied in a clearing +-- to come hither to live on game and fight the Frenchers." + +"I understand you -- your friend has gone to secure the scalp." + +"'Tis his gift, and let him enjoy it. We are white men, and cannot +mangle a dead enemy; but it is honor in the eyes of a red-skin +to do so. It may seem singular to you, Eau-douce, but I've known +white men of great name and character manifest as remarkable idees +consarning their honor, I have." + +"A savage will be a savage, Pathfinder, let him keep what company +he may." + +"It is well for us to say so, lad; but, as I tell you, white honor +will not always conform to reason or to the will of God. I have +passed days thinking of these matters, out in the silent woods, +and I have come to the opinion, boy, that, as Providence rules all +things, no gift is bestowed without some wise and reasonable end." + +"The Serpent greatly exposes himself to the enemy, in order to get +his scalp! This may lose us the day." + +"Not in his mind, Jasper. That one scalp has more honor in it, +according to the Sarpent's notions of warfare, than a field covered +with slain, that kept the hair on their heads. Now, there was the +fine young captain of the 60th that threw away his life in trying +to bring off a three-pounder from among the Frenchers in the last +skrimmage we had; he thought he was sarving honor; and I have known +a young ensign wrap himself up in his colors, and go to sleep in +his blood, fancying that he was lying on something softer even than +buffalo-skins." + +"Yes, yes; one can understand the merit of not hauling down an +ensign." + +"And these are Chingachgook's colors -- he will keep them to show +his children's children -- " Here the Pathfinder interrupted +himself, shook his head in melancholy, and slowly added, "Ah's +me! no shoot of the old Mohican stem remains! He has no children +to delight with his trophies; no tribe to honor by his deeds; he +is a lone man in this world, and yet he stands true to his training +and his gifts! There is something honest and respectable in these, +you must allow, Jasper." + +Here a great outcry from the Iroquois was succeeded by the quick +reports of their rifles, and so eager did the enemy become, in the +desire to drive the Delaware back from his victim, that a dozen +rushed into the river, several of whom even advanced near a hundred +feet into the foaming current, as if they actually meditated a +serious sortie. But Chingachgook continued unmoved, as he remained +unhurt by the missiles, accomplishing his task with the dexterity +of long habit. Flourishing his reeking trophy, he gave the war-whoop +in its most frightful intonations, and for a minute the arches of +the silent woods and the deep vista formed by the course of the +river echoed with cries so terrific that Mabel bowed her head in +irrepressible fear, while her uncle for a single instant actually +meditated flight. + +"This surpasses all I have heard from the wretches," Jasper exclaimed, +stopping his ears, equally in horror and disgust. + +"'Tis their music, boy; their drum and fife; their trumpets and +clarions. No doubt they love those sounds; for they stir up in them +fierce feelings, and a desire for blood," returned the Pathfinder, +totally unmoved. "I thought them rather frightful when a mere +youngster; but they have become like the whistle of the whippoorwill +or the song of the cat-bird in my ear now. All the screeching +reptyles that could stand between the falls and the garrison would +have no effect on my narves at this time of day. I say it not in +boasting, Jasper; for the man that lets in cowardice through the +ears must have but a weak heart at the best; sounds and outcries +being more intended to alarm women and children than such as scout +the forest and face the foe. I hope the Sarpent is now satisfied, +for here he comes with the scalp at his belt." + +Jasper turned away his head as the Delaware rose from the water, +in pure disgust at his late errand; but the Pathfinder regarded his +friend with the philosophical indifference of one who had made up +his mind to be indifferent to things he deemed immaterial. As +the Delaware passed deeper into the bushes with a view to wring +his trifling calico dress and to prepare his rifle for service, he +gave one glance of triumph at his companions, and then all emotion +connected with the recent exploit seemed to cease. + +"Jasper," resumed the guide, "step down to the station of Master +Cap, and ask him to join us: we have little time for a council, and +yet our plans must be laid quickly, for it will not be long before +them Mingos will be plotting our ruin." + +The young man complied; and in a few minutes the four were assembled +near the shore, completely concealed from the view of their +enemies, while they kept a vigilant watch over the proceedings of +the latter, in order to consult on their own future movements. + +By this time the day had so far advanced as to leave but a few +minutes between the passing light and an obscurity that promised +to be even deeper than common. The sun had already set and the +twilight of a low latitude would soon pass into the darkness of +deep night. Most of the hopes of the party rested on this favorable +circumstance, though it was not without its dangers also, as the +very obscurity which would favor their escape would be as likely +to conceal the movements of their wily enemies. + +"The moment has come, men," Pathfinder commenced, "when our plans +must be coolly laid, in order that we may act together, and with +a right understanding of our errand and gifts. In an hour's time +these woods will be as dark as midnight; and if we are ever to +gain the garrison, it must be done under favor of this advantage. +What say you, Master Cap? for, though none of the most experienced +in combats and retreats in the woods, your years entitle you to +speak first in a matter like this and in a council." + +"Well, in my judgment, all we have to do is to go on board the canoe +when it gets to be so dark the enemy's lookouts can't see us, and +run for the haven, as wind and tide will allow." + +"That is easily said, but not so easily done," returned the guide. +"We shall be more exposed in the river than by following the woods; +and then there is the Oswego rift below us, and I am far from +sartain that Jasper himself can carry a boat safely through it in +the dark. What say you, lad, as to your own skill and judgment?" + +"I am of Master Cap's opinion about using the canoe. Mabel is too +tender to walk through swamps and among roots of trees in such a +night as this promises to be, and then I always feel myself stouter +of heart and truer of eye when afloat than when ashore." + +"Stout of heart you always be, lad, and I think tolerably true of +eye for one who has lived so much in broad sunshine and so little +in the woods. Ah's me! The Ontario has no trees, or it would be +a plain to delight a hunter's heart! As to your opinion, friends, +there is much for and much against it. For it, it may be +said water leaves no trail -- " + +"What do you call the wake?" interrupted the pertinacious and +dogmatical Cap. + +"Anan?" + +"Go on," said Jasper; "Master Cap thinks he is on the ocean +-- water leaves no trail -- " + +"It leaves none, Eau-douce, hereaway, though I do not pretend to +say what it may leave on the sea. Then a canoe is both swift and +easy when it floats with the current, and the tender limbs of the +Sergeant's daughter will be favored by its motion. But, on the +other hand, the river will have no cover but the clouds in the +heavens; the rift is a ticklish thing for boats to venture into, +even by daylight; and it is six fairly measured miles, by water, +from this spot to the garrison. Then a trail on land is not easy +to be found in the dark. I am troubled, Jasper, to say which way +we ought to counsel and advise." + +"If the Serpent and myself could swim into the river and bring off +the other canoe," the young sailor replied, "it would seem to me +that our safest course would be the water." + +"If, indeed! and yet it might easily be done, as soon as it is +a little darker. Well, well, I am not sartain it will not be the +best. Though, were we only a party of men, it would be like a +hunt to the lusty and brave to play at hide-and-seek with yonder +miscreants on the other shore, Jasper," continued the guide, into +whose character there entered no ingredient which belonged to vain +display or theatrical effect, "will you undertake to bring in the +canoe?" + +"I will undertake anything that will serve and protect Mabel, +Pathfinder." + +"That is an upright feeling, and I suppose it is natur'. The +Sarpent, who is nearly naked already, can help you; and this will +be cutting off one of the means of them devils to work their harm." + +This material point being settled, the different members of the +party prepared themselves to put the project in execution. The +shades of evening fell fast upon the forest; and by the time all was +ready for the attempt, it was found impossible to discern objects +on the opposite shore. Time now pressed; for Indian cunning could +devise so many expedients for passing so narrow a stream, that the +Pathfinder was getting impatient to quit the spot. While Jasper +and his companion entered the river, armed with nothing but their +knives and the Delaware's tomahawk, observing the greatest caution +not to betray their movements, the guide brought Mabel from her +place of concealment, and, bidding her and Cap proceed along the +shore to the foot of the rapids, he got into the canoe that remained +in his possession, in order to carry it to the same place. + +This was easily effected. The canoe was laid against the bank, +and Mabel and her uncle entered it, taking their seats as usual; +while the Pathfinder, erect in the stern, held by a bush, in order +to prevent the swift stream from sweeping them down its current. +Several minutes of intense and breathless expectation followed, +while they awaited the results of the bold attempt of their comrades. + +It will be understood that the two adventurers were compelled to +swim across a deep and rapid channel before they could reach a part +of the rift that admitted of wading. This portion of the enterprise +was soon effected; and Jasper and the Serpent struck the bottom +side by side at the same instant. Having secured firm footing, +they took hold of each other's hands, and waded slowly and with +extreme caution in the supposed direction of the canoe. But the +darkness was already so deep that they soon ascertained they were +to be but little aided by the sense of sight, and that their search +must be conducted on that species of instinct which enables the +woodsman to find his way when the sun is hid, no stars appear, and +all would seem chaos to one less accustomed to the mazes of the +forest. Under these circumstances, Jasper submitted to be guided +by the Delaware, whose habits best fitted him to take the lead. +Still it was no easy matter to wade amid the roaring element at +that hour, and retain a clear recollection of the localities. By +the time they believed themselves to be in the centre of the +stream, the two shores were discernible merely by masses of obscurity +denser than common, the outlines against the clouds being barely +distinguishable by the ragged tops of the trees. Once or twice +the wanderers altered their course, in consequence of unexpectedly +stepping into deep water; for they knew that the boat had lodged +on the shallowest part of the rift. In short, with this fact for +their compass, Jasper and his companion wandered about in the water +for nearly a quarter of an hour; and at the end of that period, +which began to appear interminable to the young man, they found +themselves apparently no nearer the object of their search than +they had been at its commencement. Just as the Delaware was about +to stop, in order to inform his associate that they would do well +to return to the land, in order to take a fresh departure, he saw +the form of a man moving about in the water, almost within reach +of his arm. Jasper was at his side, and he at once understood that +the Iroquois were engaged on the same errand as he was himself. + +"Mingo!" he uttered in Jasper's ear. "The Serpent will show his +brother how to be cunning." + +The young sailor caught a glimpse of the figure at that instant, +and the startling truth also flashed on his mind. Understanding +the necessity of trusting all to the Delaware chief, he kept back, +while his friend moved cautiously in the direction in which the +strange form had vanished. In another moment it was seen again, +evidently moving towards themselves. The waters made such an uproar +that little was to be apprehended from ordinary sounds, and the +Indian, turning his head, hastily said, "Leave it to the cunning +of the Great Serpent." + +"Hugh!" exclaimed the strange savage, adding, in the language of +his people, "The canoe is found, but there were none to help me. +Come, let us raise it from the rock." + +"Willingly," answered Chingachgook, who understood the dialect. +"Lead; we will follow." + +The stranger, unable to distinguish between voices and accents amid +the raging of the rapid, led the way in the necessary direction; +and, the two others keeping close at his heels, all three speedily +reached the canoe. The Iroquois laid hold of one end, Chingachgook +placed himself in the centre, and Jasper went to the opposite +extremity, as it was important that the stranger should not detect +the presence of a pale-face, a discovery that might be made by +the parts of the dress the young man still wore, as well as by the +general appearance of his head. + +"Lift," said the Iroquois in the sententious manner of his race; +and by a trifling effort the canoe was raised from the rock, held +a moment in the air to empty it, and then placed carefully on the +water in its proper position. All three held it firmly, lest it +should escape from their hands under the pressure of the violent +current, while the Iroquois, who led, of course, being at the +upper end of the boat, took the direction of the eastern shore, +or towards the spot where his friends waited his return. + +As the Delaware and Jasper well knew there must be several more +of the Iroquois on the rift, from the circumstance that their own +appearance had occasioned no surprise in the individual they had +met, both felt the necessity of extreme caution. Men less bold and +determined would have thought that they were incurring too great a +risk by thus venturing into the midst of their enemies; but these +hardy borderers were unacquainted with fear, were accustomed to +hazards, and so well understood the necessity of at least preventing +their foes from getting the boat, that they would have cheerfully +encountered even greater risks to secure their object. So +all-important to the safety of Mabel, indeed, did Jasper deem the +possession or the destruction of this canoe, that he had drawn +his knife, and stood ready to rip up the bark, in order to render +the boat temporarily unserviceable, should anything occur to compel +the Delaware and himself to abandon their prize. + +In the meantime, the Iroquois, who led the way, proceeded slowly +through the water in the direction of his own party, still grasping +the canoe, and dragging his reluctant followers in his train. +Once Chingachgook raised his tomahawk, and was about to bury it +in the brain of his confiding and unsuspicious neighbor; but the +probability that the death-cry or the floating body might give the +alarm induced that wary chief to change his purpose. At the next +moment he regretted this indecision, for the three who clung to +the canoe suddenly found themselves in the centre of a party of no +less than four others who were in quest of it. + +After the usual brief characteristic exclamations of satisfaction, the +savages eagerly laid hold of the canoe, for all seemed impressed +with the necessity of securing this important boat, the one side in +order to assail their foes, and the other to secure their retreat. +The addition to the party, however, was so unlooked-for, and so +completely gave the enemy the superiority, that for a few moments +the ingenuity and address of even the Delaware were at fault. The +five Iroquois, who seemed perfectly to understand their errand, +pressed forward towards their own shore, without pausing to converse; +their object being in truth to obtain the paddles, which they had +previously secured, and to embark three or four warriors, with all +their rifles and powder-horns, the want of which had alone prevented +their crossing the river by swimming as soon as it was dark. + +In this manner, the body of friends and foes united reached the +margin of the eastern channel, where, as in the case of the western, +the river was too deep to be waded. Here a short pause succeeded, +it being necessary to determine the manner in which the canoe was +to be carried across. One of the four who had just reached the +boat was a chief; and the habitual deference which the American +Indian pays to merit, experience, and station kept the others +silent until this individual had spoken. + +The halt greatly added to the danger of discovering the presence +of Jasper, in particular, who, however, had the precaution to throw +the cap he wore into the bottom of the canoe. Being without his +jacket and shirt, the outline of his figure, in the obscurity, would +now be less likely to attract observation. His position, too, at +the stern of the canoe a little favored his concealment, the Iroquois +naturally keeping their looks directed the other way. Not so with +Chingachgook. This warrior was literally in the midst of his most +deadly foes, and he could scarcely move without touching one of +them. Yet he was apparently unmoved, though he kept all his senses +on the alert, in readiness to escape, or to strike a blow at the +proper moment. By carefully abstaining from looking towards those +behind him, he lessened the chances of discovery, and waited with +the indomitable patience of an Indian for the instant when he should +be required to act. + +"Let all my young men but two, one at each end of the canoe, cross +and get their arms," said the Iroquois chief. "Let the two push +over the boat." + +The Indians quietly obeyed, leaving Jasper at the stern, and the +Iroquois who had found the canoe at the bow of the light craft, +Chingachgook burying himself so deep in the river as to be passed +by the others without detection. The splashing in the water, the +tossing arms, and the calls of one to another, soon announced that +the four who had last joined the party were already swimming. As +soon as this fact was certain, the Delaware rose, resumed his former +station, and began to think the moment for action was come. + +One less habitually under self-restraint than this warrior would +probably have now aimed his meditated blow; but Chingachgook knew +there were more Iroquois behind him on the rift, and he was a warrior +much too trained and experienced to risk anything unnecessarily. +He suffered the Indian at the bow of the canoe to push off into +the deep water, and then all three were swimming in the direction of +the eastern shore. Instead, however, of helping the canoe across +the swift current, no sooner did the Delaware and Jasper find +themselves within the influence of its greatest force than both +began to swim in a way to check their farther progress across the +stream. Nor was this done suddenly, or in the incautious manner in +which a civilized man would have been apt to attempt the artifice, +but warily, and so gradually that the Iroquois at the bow fancied +at first he was merely struggling against the strength of the +current. Of course, while acted on by these opposing efforts, the +canoe drifted down stream, and in about a minute it was floating +in still deeper water at the foot of the rift. Here, however, the +Iroquois was not slow in finding that something unusual retarded +their advance, and, looking back; he first learned that he was +resisted by the efforts of his companions. + +That second nature which grows up through habit instantly told +the young Iroquois that he was alone with enemies. Dashing the +water aside, he sprang at the throat of Chingachgook, and the two +Indians, relinquishing their hold of the canoe, seized each other +like tigers. In the midst of the darkness of that gloomy night, and +floating in an element so dangerous to man when engaged in deadly +strife, they appeared to forget everything but their fell animosity +and their mutual desire to conquer. + +Jasper had now complete command of the canoe, which flew off like +a feather impelled by the breath under the violent reaction of the +struggles of the two combatants. The first impulse of the youth +was to swim to the aid of the Delaware, but the importance of +securing the boat presented itself with tenfold force, while he +listened to the heavy breathings of the warriors as they throttled +each other, and he proceeded as fast as possible towards the +western shore. This he soon reached; and after a short search he +succeeded in discovering the remainder of the party and in procuring +his clothes. A few words sufficed to explain the situation in +which he had left the Delaware and the manner in which the canoe +had been obtained. + +When those who had been left behind had heard the explanations of +Jasper, a profound stillness reigned among them, each listening +intently in the vain hope of catching some clue to the result +of the fearful struggle that had just taken place, if it were not +still going on in the water. Nothing was audible beyond the steady +roar of the rushing river; it being a part of the policy of their +enemies on the opposite shore to observe the most deathlike stillness. + +"Take this paddle, Jasper," said Pathfinder calmly, though the +listeners thought his voice sounded more melancholy than usual, +"and follow with your own canoe. It is unsafe for us to remain +here longer." + +"But the Serpent?" + +"The Great Sarpent is in the hands of his own Deity, and will live +or die, according to the intentions of Providence. We can do him +no good, and may risk too much by remaining here in idleness, like +women talking over their distresses. This darkness is very precious." + +A loud, long, piercing yell came from the shore, and cut short the +words of the guide. + +"What is the meaning of that uproar, Master Pathfinder?" demanded +Cap. "It sounds more like the outcries of devils than anything +that can come from the throats of Christians and men." + +"Christians they are not, and do not pretend to be, and do not +wish to be; and in calling them devils you have scarcely misnamed +them. That yell is one of rejoicing, and it is as conquerors they +have given it. The body of the Sarpent, no doubt, dead or alive, +is in their power. + +"And we!" exclaimed Jasper, who felt a pang of generous regret, as +the idea that he might have averted the calamity presented itself +to his mind, had he not deserted his comrade. + +"We can do the chief no good, lad, and must quit this spot as fast +as possible." + +"Without one attempt to rescue him? -- without even knowing whether +he be dead or living?" + +"Jasper is right," said Mabel, who could speak, though her voice +sounded huskily and smothered; "I have no fears, uncle, and will +stay here until we know what has become of our friend." + +"This seems reasonable, Pathfinder," put in Cap. "Your true seaman +cannot well desert a messmate; and I am glad to find that motives +so correct exist among those fresh-water people." + +"Tut! tut!" returned the impatient guide, forcing the canoe into +the stream as he spoke; "ye know nothing and ye fear nothing. If +ye value your lives, think of reaching the garrison, and leave the +Delaware in the hands of Providence. Ah's me! the deer that goes +too often to the lick meets the hunter at last!" + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +And is this -- Yarrow? -- this the stream + Of which my fancy cherish'd +So faithfully a waking dream? + An image that hath perish'd? +Oh that some minstrel's harp were near, + To utter notes of gladness, +And chase this silence from the air, + That fills my heart with sadness. +WORDSWORTH. + + +THE scene was not without its sublimity, and the ardent, generous-minded +Mabel felt her blood thrill in her veins and her cheeks flush, as +the canoe shot into the strength of the stream, to quit the spot. +The darkness of the night had lessened, by the dispersion of the +clouds; but the overhanging woods rendered the shore so obscure, +that the boats floated down the current in a belt of gloom +that effectually secured them from detection. Still, there was +necessarily a strong feeling of insecurity in all on board them; +and even Jasper, who by this time began to tremble, in behalf of +the girl, at every unusual sound that arose from the forest, kept +casting uneasy glances around him as he drifted on in company. +The paddle was used lightly, and only with exceeding care; for the +slightest sound in the breathing stillness of that hour and place +might apprise the watchful ears of the Iroquois of their position. + +All these accessories added to the impressive grandeur of +her situation, and contributed to render the moment much the most +exciting which had ever occurred in the brief existence of Mabel +Dunham. Spirited, accustomed to self-reliance, and sustained by +the pride of considering herself a soldier's daughter, she could +hardly be said to be under the influence of fear, yet her heart +often beat quicker than common, her fine blue eye lighted with an +exhibition of a resolution that was wasted in the darkness, and her +quickened feelings came in aid of the real sublimity that belonged +to the scene and to the incidents of the night. + +"Mabel!" said the suppressed voice of Jasper, as the two canoes +floated so near each other that the hand of the young man held +them together, "you have no dread? You trust freely to our care +and willingness to protect you?" + +"I am a soldier's daughter, as you know, Jasper Western, and ought +to be ashamed to confess fear." + +"Rely on me -- on us all. Your uncle, Pathfinder, the Delaware, +were the poor fellow here, I myself, will risk everything rather +than harm should reach you." + +"I believe you, Jasper," returned the girl, her hand unconsciously +playing in the water. "I know that my uncle loves me, and +will never think of himself until he has first thought of me; and +I believe you are all my father's friends, and would willingly +assist his child. But I am not so feeble and weak-minded as you +may think; for, though only a girl from the towns, and, like most +of that class, a little disposed to see danger where there is none, +I promise you, Jasper, no foolish fears of mine shall stand in the +way of your doing your duty." + +"The Sergeant's daughter is right, and she is worthy of being honest +Thomas Dunham's child," put in the Pathfinder. "Ah's me, pretty +one! many is the time that your father and I have scouted and +marched together on the flanks and rear of the enemy, in nights +darker than this, and that, too, when we did not know but the next +moment would lead us into a bloody ambushment. I was at his side +when he got the wound in his shoulder; and the honest fellow will +tell you, when you meet, the manner in which we contrived to cross +the river which lay in our rear, in order to save his scalp." + +"He has told me," said Mabel, with more energy perhaps than her +situation rendered prudent. "I have his letters, in which he has +mentioned all that, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart +for the service. God will remember it, Pathfinder; and there is +no gratitude that you can ask of the daughter which she will not +cheerfully repay for her father's life." + +"Ay, that is the way with all your gentle and pure-hearted creatures. +I have seen some of you before, and have heard of others. The +Sergeant himself has talked to me of his own young days, and of +your mother, and of the manner in which he courted her, and of all +the crossings and disappointments, until he succeeded at last." + +"My mother did not live long to repay him for what he did to win +her," said Mabel, with a trembling lip. + +"So he tells me. The honest Sergeant has kept nothing back; for, +being so many years my senior, he has looked on me, in our many +scoutings together, as a sort of son." + +"Perhaps, Pathfinder," observed Jasper, with a huskiness in his +voice that defeated the attempt at pleasantry, "he would be glad +to have you for one in reality." + +"And if he did, Eau-douce, where would be the sin of it? He knows +what I am on a trail or a scout, and he has seen me often face to +face with the Frenchers. I have sometimes thought, lad, that we +all ought to seek for wives; for the man that lives altogether in +the woods, and in company with his enemies or his prey, gets to +lose some of the feeling of kind in the end. It is not easy to +dwell always in the presence of God and not feel the power of His +goodness. I have attended church-sarvice in the garrisons, and +tried hard, as becomes a true soldier, to join in the prayers; +for, though no enlisted sarvant of the king, I fight his battles and +sarve his cause, and so I have endeavored to worship garrison-fashion, +but never could raise within me the solemn feelings and true +affection that I feel when alone with God in the forest. There I +seem to stand face to face with my Master; all around me is fresh +and beautiful, as it came from His hand; and there is no nicety +or doctrine to chill the feelings. No no; the woods are the true +temple after all, for there the thoughts are free to mount higher +even than the clouds." + +"You speak the truth, Master Pathfinder," said Cap, "and a truth +that all who live much in solitude know. What, for instance, +is the reason that seafaring men in general are so religious and +conscientious in all they do, but the fact that they are so often +alone with Providence, and have so little to do with the wickedness +of the land. Many and many is the time that I have stood my watch, +under the equator perhaps, or in the Southern Ocean, when the nights +are lighted up with the fires of heaven; and that is the time, I +can tell you, my hearties, to bring a man to his bearings in the +way of his sins. I have rattled down mine again and again under +such circumstances, until the shrouds and lanyards of conscience +have fairly creaked with the strain. I agree with you, Master +Pathfinder, therefore, in saying, if you want a truly religious +man, go to sea, or go into the woods." + +"Uncle, I thought seamen had little credit generally for their +respect for religion?" + +"All d----d slander, girl; for all the essentials of Christianity +the seaman beats the landsman hand-over-hand." + +"I will not answer for all this, Master Cap," returned Pathfinder; +"but I daresay some of it may be true. I want no thunder and +lightning to remind me of my God, nor am I as apt to bethink on +most of all His goodness in trouble and tribulations as on a calm, +solemn, quiet day in a forest, when His voice is heard in the +creaking of a dead branch or in the song of a bird, as much in my +ears at least as it is ever heard in uproar and gales. How is it +with you, Eau-douce? you face the tempests as well as Master Cap, +and ought to know something of the feelings of storms." + +"I fear that I am too young and too inexperienced to be able to +say much on such a subject," modestly answered Jasper. + +"But you have your feelings!" said Mabel quickly. "You cannot -- +no one can live among such scenes without feeling how much they +ought to trust in God!" + +"I shall not belie my training so much as to say I do not sometimes +think of these things, but I fear it is not so often or so much as +I ought." + +"Fresh water," resumed Cap pithily; "you are not to expect too +much of the young man, Mabel. I think they call you sometimes by +a name which would insinuate all this: Eau-de-vie, is it not?" + +"Eau-douce," quietly replied Jasper, who from sailing on the +lake had acquired a knowledge of French, as well as of several of +the Indian dialects. "It is a name the Iroquois have given me to +distinguish me from some of my companions who once sailed upon the +sea, and are fond of filling the ears of the natives with stories +of their great salt-water lakes." + +"And why shouldn't they? I daresay they do the savages no harm. +Ay, ay, Eau-deuce; that must mean the white brandy, which may well +enough be called the deuce, for deuced stuff it is!" + +"The signification of Eau-douce is sweet-water, and it is the +manner in which the French express fresh-water," rejoined Jasper, +a little nettled. + +"And how the devil do they make water out of Eau-in-deuce, when +it means brandy in Eau-de-vie? Besides, among seamen, Eau always +means brandy; and Eau-de-vie, brandy of a high proof. I think +nothing of your ignorance, young man; for it is natural to your +situation, and cannot be helped. If you will return with me, and +make a v'y'ge or two on the Atlantic, it will serve you a good +turn the remainder of your days; and Mabel there, and all the other +young women near the coast, will think all the better of you should +you live to be as old as one of the trees in this forest." + +"Nay, nay," interrupted the single-hearted and generous guide; +"Jasper wants not for friends in this region, I can assure you; and +though seeing the world, according to his habits, may do him good +as well as another, we shall think none the worse of him if he never +quits us. Eau-douce or Eau-de-vie, he is a brave, true-hearted +youth, and I always sleep as soundly when he is on the watch as +if I was up and stirring myself; ay, and for that matter, sounder +too. The Sergeant's daughter here doesn't believe it necessary for +the lad to go to sea in order to make a man of him, or one who is +worthy to be respected and esteemed." + +Mabel made no reply to this appeal, and she even looked towards the +western shore, although the darkness rendered the natural movements +unnecessary to conceal her face. But Jasper felt that there was a +necessity for his saying something, the pride of youth and manhood +revolting at the idea of his being in a condition not to command the +respect of his fellows or the smiles of his equals of the other +sex. Still he was unwilling to utter aught that might be considered +harsh to the uncle of Mabel; and his self-command was perhaps more +creditable than his modesty and spirit. + +"I pretend not to things I don't possess," he said, "and lay no +claim to any knowledge of the ocean or of navigation. We steer by +the stars and the compass on these lakes, running from headland +to headland; and having little need of figures and calculations, +make no use of them. But we have our claims notwithstanding, as +I have often heard from those who have passed years on the ocean. +In the first place, we have always the land aboard, and much of the +time on a lee-shore, and that I have frequently heard makes hardy +sailors. Our gales are sudden and severe, and we are compelled +to run for our ports at all hours." + +"You have your leads," interrupted Cap. + +"They are of little use, and are seldom cast." + +"The deep-seas." + +"I have heard of such things, but confess I never saw one." + +"Oh! deuce, with a vengeance. A trader, and no deep-sea! Why, +boy, you cannot pretend to be anything of a mariner. Who the +devil ever heard of a seaman without his deep-sea?" + +"I do not pretend to any particular skill, Master Cap." + +"Except in shooting falls, Jasper, except in shooting falls and +rifts," said Pathfinder, coming to the rescue; "in which business +even you, Master Cap, must allow he has some handiness. In my +judgment, every man is to be esteemed or condemned according to his +gifts; and if Master Cap is useless in running the Oswego Falls, +I try to remember that he is useful when out of sight of land; and +if Jasper be useless when out of sight of land, I do not forget +that he has a true eye and steady hand when running the falls." + +"But Jasper is not useless -- would not be useless when out of +sight of land," said Mabel, with a spirit and energy that caused +her clear sweet voice to be startling amid the solemn stillness of +that extraordinary scene. "No one can be useless there who can do +so much here, is what I mean; though, I daresay, he is not as well +acquainted with ships as my uncle." + +"Ay, bolster each other up in your ignorance," returned Cap with +a sneer. "We seamen are so much out-numbered when ashore that it +is seldom we get our dues; but when you want to be defended, or +trade is to be carried on, there is outcry enough for us." + +"But, uncle, landsmen do not come to attack our coasts; so that +seamen only meet seamen." + +"So much for ignorance! Where are all the enemies that have landed +in this country, French and English, let me inquire, niece?" + +"Sure enough, where are they?" ejaculated Pathfinder. "None can +tell better than we who dwell in the woods, Master Cap. I have +often followed their line of march by bones bleaching in the rain, +and have found their trail by graves, years after they and their +pride had vanished together. Generals and privates, they lay +scattered throughout the land, so many proofs of what men are when +led on by their love of great names and the wish to be more than +their fellows." + +"I must say, Master Pathfinder, that you sometimes utter opinions +that are a little remarkable for a man who lives by the rifle; +seldom snuffing the air but he smells gunpowder, or turning out of +his berth but to bear down on an enemy." + +"If you think I pass my days in warfare against my kind, you know +neither me nor my history. The man that lives in the woods and on +the frontiers must take the chances of the things among which he +dwells. For this I am not accountable, being but an humble and +powerless hunter and scout and guide. My real calling is to hunt +for the army, on its marches and in times of peace; although I +am more especially engaged in the service of one officer, who is +now absent in the settlements, where I never follow him. No, no; +bloodshed and warfare are not my real gifts, but peace and mercy. +Still, I must face the enemy as well as another; and as for a +Mingo, I look upon him as man looks on a snake, a creatur' to be +put beneath the heel whenever a fitting occasion offers." + +"Well, well; I have mistaken your calling, which I had thought +as regularly warlike as that of a ship's gunner. There is my +brother-in-law, now; he has been a soldier since he was sixteen, +and he looks upon his trade as every way as respectable as that of +a seafaring man, a point I hardly think it worth while to dispute +with him." + +"My father has been taught to believe that it is honorable to carry +arms," said Mabel, "for his father was a soldier before him." + +"Yes, yes," resumed the guide; "most of the Sergeant's gifts are +martial, and he looks at most things in this world over the barrel +of his musket. One of his notions, now, is to prefer a king's piece +to a regular, double-sighted, long-barrelled rifle. Such conceits +will come over men from long habit; and prejudice is, perhaps, the +commonest failing of human natur'." + +While the desultory conversation just related had been carried on +in subdued voices, the canoes were dropping slowly down with the +current within the deep shadows of the western shore, the paddles +being used merely to preserve the desired direction and proper +positions. The strength of the stream varied materially, the water +being seemingly still in places, while in other reaches it flowed +at a rate exceeding two or even three miles in the hour. On the +rifts it even dashed forward with a velocity that was appalling to +the unpractised eye. Jasper was of opinion that they might drift +down with the current to the mouth of the river in two hours from +the time they left the shore, and he and the Pathfinder had agreed +on the expediency of suffering the canoes to float of themselves +for a time, or at least until they had passed the first dangers +of their new movement. The dialogue had been carried on in voices, +too, guardedly low; for though the quiet of deep solitude reigned +in that vast and nearly boundless forest, nature was speaking +with her thousand tongues in the eloquent language of night in a +wilderness. The air sighed through ten thousand trees, the water +rippled, and at places even roared along the shores; and now and +then was heard the creaking of a branch or a trunk, as it rubbed +against some object similar to itself, under the vibrations of a +nicely balanced body. All living sounds had ceased. Once, it is +true, the Pathfinder fancied he heard the howl of a distant wolf, +of which a few prowled through these woods; but it was a transient +and doubtful cry, that might possibly have been attributed to the +imagination. When he desired his companions, however, to cease +talking, his vigilant ear had caught the peculiar sound which is +made by the parting of a dried branch of a tree and which, if his +senses did not deceive him, came from the western shore. All who +are accustomed to that particular sound will understand how readily +the ear receives it, and how easy it is to distinguish the tread +which breaks the branch from every other noise of the forest. + +"There is the footstep of a man on the bank," said Pathfinder +to Jasper, speaking in neither a whisper nor yet in a voice loud +enough to be heard at any distance. "Can the accursed Iroquois have +crossed the river already, with their arms, and without a boat?" + +"It may be the Delaware. He would follow us, of course down this +bank, and would know where to look for us. Let me draw closer into +the shore, and reconnoitre." + +"Go boy but be light with the paddle, and on no account venture +ashore on an onsartainty." + +"Is this prudent?" demanded Mabel, with an impetuosity that rendered +her incautious in modulating her sweet voice. + +"Very imprudent, if you speak so loud, fair one. I like your +voice, which is soft and pleasing, after the listening so long to +the tones of men; but it must not be heard too much, or too freely, +just now. Your father, the honest Sergeant, will tell you, when +you meet him, that silence is a double virtue on a trail. Go, +Jasper, and do justice to your own character for prudence." + +Ten anxious minutes succeeded the disappearance of the canoe of +Jasper, which glided away from that of the Pathfinder so noiselessly, +that it had been swallowed up in the gloom before Mabel allowed +herself to believe the young man would really venture alone on +a service which struck her imagination as singularly dangerous. +During this time, the party continued to float with the current, +no one speaking, and, it might almost be said, no one breathing, +so strong was the general desire to catch the minutest sound that +should come from the shore. But the same solemn, we might, indeed, +say sublime, quiet reigned as before; the washing of the water, +as it piled up against some slight obstruction, and the sighing of +the trees, alone interrupting the slumbers of the forest. At the +end of the period mentioned, the snapping of dried branches was +again faintly heard, and the Pathfinder fancied that the sound of +smothered voices reached him. + +"I may be mistaken," he said, "for the thoughts often fancy what +the heart wishes; but these were notes like the low tones of the +Delaware." + +"Do the dead of the savages ever walk?" demanded Cap. + +"Ay, and run too, in their happy hunting-grounds, but nowhere +else. A red-skin finishes with the 'arth, after the breath quits +the body. It is not one of his gifts to linger around his wigwam +when his hour has passed." + +"I see some object on the water," whispered Mabel, whose eye had +not ceased to dwell on the body of gloom, with close intensity, +since the disappearance of Jasper. + +"It is the canoe," returned the guide, greatly relieved. "All must +be safe, or we should have heard from the lad." + +In another minute the two canoes, which became visible to those +they carried only as they drew near each other, again floated side +by side, and the form of Jasper was recognized at the stern of his +own boat. The figure of a second man was seated in the bow; and, +as the young sailor so wielded his paddle as to bring the face of +his companion near the eyes of the Pathfinder and Mabel, they both +recognized the person of the Delaware. + +"Chingachgook -- my brother!" said the guide in the dialect of +the other's people, a tremor shaking his voice that betrayed the +strength of his feelings. "Chief of the Mohicans! My heart is very +glad. Often have we passed through blood and strife together, but +I was afraid it was never to be so again." + +"Hugh! The Mingos are squaws! Three of their scalps hang at my +girdle. They do not know how to strike the Great Serpent of the +Delawares. Their hearts have no blood; and their thoughts are on +their return path, across the waters of the Great Lake." + +"Have you been among them, chief? and what has become of the warrior +who was in the river?" + +"He has turned into a fish, and lies at the bottom with the eels! +Let his brothers bait their hooks for him. Pathfinder, I have +counted the enemy, and have touched their rifles." + +"Ah, I thought he would be venturesome!" exclaimed the guide in +English. "The risky fellow has been in the midst of them, and has +brought us back their whole history. Speak, Chingachgook, and I +will make our friends as knowing as ourselves." + +The Delaware now related in a low earnest manner the substance of +all his discoveries, since he was last seen struggling with his +foe in the river. Of the fate of his antagonist he said no more, +it not being usual for a warrior to boast in his more direct and +useful narratives. As soon as he had conquered in that fearful +strife, however, he swam to the eastern shore, landed with caution, +and wound his way in amongst the Iroquois, concealed by the darkness, +undetected, and, in the main, even unsuspected. Once, indeed, he +had been questioned; but answering that he was Arrowhead, no further +inquiries were made. By the passing remarks, he soon ascertained +that the party was out expressly to intercept Mabel and her uncle, +concerning whose rank, however, they had evidently been deceived. +He also ascertained enough to justify the suspicion that Arrowhead +had betrayed them to their enemies, for some motive that it was +not now easy to reach, as he had not yet received the reward of +his services. + +Pathfinder communicated no more of this intelligence to his companions +than he thought might relieve their apprehensions, intimating, at +the same time, that now was the moment for exertion, the Iroquois +not having yet entirely recovered from the confusion created by +their losses. + +"We shall find them at the rift, I make no manner of doubt," +continued he; "and there it will be our fate to pass them, or to +fall into their hands. The distance to the garrison will then be +so short, that I have been thinking of a plan of landing with Mabel +myself, that I may take her in, by some of the by-ways, and leave +the canoes to their chances in the rapids." + +"It will never succeed, Pathfinder," eagerly interrupted Jasper. +"Mabel is not strong enough to tramp the woods in a night like +this. Put her in my skiff, and I will lose my life, or carry her +through the rift safely, dark as it is." + +"No doubt you will, lad; no one doubts your willingness to do +anything to serve the Sergeant's daughter; but it must be the eye +of Providence, and not your own, that will take you safely through +the Oswego rift in a night like this." + +"And who will lead her safely to the garrison if she land? Is not +the night as dark on shore as on the water? or do you think I know +less of my calling than you know of yours?" + +"Spiritedly said, lad; but if I should lose my way in the dark +-- and I believe no man can say truly that such a thing ever yet +happened to me -- but, if I _should_ lose my way, no other harm +would come of it than to pass a night in the forest; whereas a +false turn of the paddle, or a broad sheer of the canoe, would put +you and the young woman into the river, out of which it is more +than probable the Sergeant's daughter would never come alive." + +"I will leave it to Mabel herself; I am certain that she will feel +more secure in the canoe." + +"I have great confidence in you both," answered the girl; "and have +no doubts that either will do all he can to prove to my father how +much he values him; but I confess I should not like to quit the +canoe, with the certainty we have of there being enemies like those +we have seen in the forest. But my uncle can decide for me in +this matter." + +"I have no liking for the woods," said Cap, "while one has a clear +drift like this on the river. Besides, Master Pathfinder, to say +nothing of the savages, you overlook the sharks." + +"Sharks! Who ever heard of sharks in the wilderness?" + +"Ay! Sharks, or bears, or wolves -- no matter what you call a +thing, so it has the mind and power to bite." + +"Lord, lord, man! Do you dread any creatur' that is to be found +in the American forest? A catamount is a skeary animal, I will +allow, but then it is nothing in the hands of a practysed hunter. +Talk of the Mingos and their devilries if you will; but do not +raise a false alarm about bears and wolves." + +"Ay, ay, Master Pathfinder, this is all well enough for you, +who probably know the name of every creature you would meet. Use +is everything, and it makes a man bold when he might otherwise be +bashful. I have known seamen in the low latitudes swim for hours +at a time among sharks fifteen or twenty feet long." + +"This is extraordinary!" exclaimed Jasper, who had not yet acquired +that material part of his trade, the ability to spin a yarn. "I +have always heard that it was certain death to venture in the water +among sharks." + +"I forgot to say, that the lads always took capstan-bars, or gunners' +handspikes, or crows with them, to rap the beasts over the noses +if they got to be troublesome. No, no, I have no liking for bears +and wolves, though a whale, in my eye, is very much the same sort +of fish as a red herring after it is dried and salted. Mabel and +I had better stick to the canoe." + +"Mabel would do well to change canoes," added Jasper. "This of +mine is empty, and even Pathfinder will allow that my eye is surer +than his own on the water." + +"That I will, cheerfully, boy. The water belongs to your gifts, +and no one will deny that you have improved them to the utmost. +You are right enough in believing that the Sergeant's daughter will +be safer in your canoe than in this; and though I would gladly keep +her near myself, I have her welfare too much at heart not to give +her honest advice. Bring your canoe close alongside, Jasper, and +I will give you what you must consider as a precious treasure." + +"I do so consider it," returned the youth, not losing a moment in +complying with the request; when Mabel passed from one canoe to the +other taking her seat on the effects which had hitherto composed +its sole cargo. + +As soon as this arrangement was made, the canoes separated a short +distance, and the paddles were used, though with great care to +avoid making any noise. The conversation gradually ceased; and +as the dreaded rift was approached, all became impressed with the +gravity of the moment. That their enemies would endeavor to reach +this point before them was almost certain; and it seemed so little +probable any one should attempt to pass it, in the profound obscurity +which reigned, that Pathfinder was confident parties were on both +sides of the river, in the hope of intercepting them when they +might land. He would not have made the proposal he did had he not +felt sure of his own ability to convert this very anticipation of +success into a means of defeating the plans of the Iroquois. As +the arrangement now stood, however, everything depended on the skill +of those who guided the canoes; for should either hit a rock, if +not split asunder, it would almost certainly be upset, and then +would come not only all the hazards of the river itself, but, for +Mabel, the certainty of falling into the hands of her pursuers. +The utmost circumspection consequently became necessary, and each +one was too much engrossed with his own thoughts to feel a disposition +to utter more than was called for by the exigencies of the case. + +At the canoes stole silently along, the roar of the rift became +audible, and it required all the fortitude of Cap to keep his seat, +while these boding sounds were approached, amid a darkness which +scarcely permitted a view of the outlines of the wooded shore and +of the gloomy vault above his head. He retained a vivid impression +of the falls, and his imagination was not now idle in swelling the +dangers of the rift to a level with those of the headlong descent +he had that day made, and even to increase them, under the influence +of doubt and uncertainty. In this, however, the old mariner was +mistaken, for the Oswego Rift and the Oswego Falls are very different +in their characters and violence; the former being no more than +a rapid, that glances among shallows and rocks, while the latter +really deserved the name it bore, as has been already shown. + +Mabel certainly felt distrust and apprehension; but her entire +situation was so novel, and her reliance on her guide so great, +that she retained a self-command which might not have existed had +she clearer perceptions of the truth, or been better acquainted +with the helplessness of men when placed in opposition to the power +and majesty of Nature. + +"Is that the spot you have mentioned?" she said to + +Jasper, when the roar of the rift first came distinctly on her +ears. + +"It is; and I beg you to have confidence in me. We are not +old acquaintances, Mabel; but we live many days in one, in this +wilderness. I think, already, that I have known you years!" + +"And I do not feel as if you were a stranger to me, Jasper. I +have every reliance on your skill, as well as on your disposition +to serve me." + +"We shall see, we shall see. Pathfinder is striking the rapids +too near the centre of the river; the bed of the water is closer to +the eastern shore; but I cannot make him hear me now. Hold firmly +to the canoe, Mabel, and fear nothing." + +At the next moment the swift current had sucked them into the +rift, and for three or four minutes the awe-struck, rather than the +alarmed, girl saw nothing around her but sheets of glancing foam, +heard nothing but the roar of waters. Twenty times did the canoe +appear about to dash against some curling and bright wave that +showed itself even amid that obscurity; and as often did it glide +away again unharmed, impelled by the vigorous arm of him who +governed its movements. Once, and once only, did Jasper seem to +lose command of his frail bark, during which brief space it fairly +whirled entirely round; but by a desperate effort he brought it again +under control, recovered the lost channel, and was soon rewarded +for all his anxiety by finding himself floating quietly in the +deep water below the rapids, secure from every danger, and without +having taken in enough of the element to serve for a draught. + +"All is over, Mabel," the young man cried cheerfully. "The danger +is past, and you may now indeed hope to meet your father this very +night." + +"God be praised! Jasper, we shall owe this great happiness to +you." + +"The Pathfinder may claim a full share in the merit; but what has +become of the other canoe?" + +"I see something near us on the water; is it not the boat of our +friends?" + +A few strokes of the paddle brought Jasper to the side of the object +in question: it was the other canoe, empty and bottom upwards. No +sooner did the young man ascertain this fact, than he began to search +for the swimmers, and, to his great joy, Cap was soon discovered +drifting down with the current; the old seaman preferring the +chances of drowning to those of landing among savages. He was +hauled into the canoe, though not without difficulty, and then the +search ended; for Jasper was persuaded that the Pathfinder would wade +to the shore, the water being shallow, in preference to abandoning +his beloved rifle. + +The remainder of the passage was short, though made amid darkness +and doubt. After a short pause, a dull roaring sound was heard, +which at times resembled the mutterings of distant thunder, and then +again brought with it the washing of waters. Jasper announced to +his companions that they now heard the surf of the lake. Low curved +spits of land lay before them, into the bay formed by one of which +the canoe glided, and then it shot up noiselessly upon a gravelly +beach. The transition that followed was so hurried and great, that +Mabel scarcely knew what passed. In the course of a few minutes, +however, sentinels had been passed, a gate was opened, and the +agitated girl found herself in the arms of a parent who was almost +a stranger to her. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A land of love, and a land of light, +Withouten sun, or moon, or night: +Where the river swa'd a living stream, +And the light a pure celestial beam: +The land of vision, it would seem +A still, an everlasting dream. +_Queen's Wake._ + + +The rest that succeeds fatigue, and which attends a newly awakened +sense of security, is generally sweet and deep. Such was the fact +with Mabel, who did not rise from her humble pallet -- such a bed +as a sergeant's daughter might claim in a remote frontier post -- +until long after the garrison had obeyed the usual summons of the +drums, and had assembled at the morning parade. Sergeant Dunham, +on whose shoulders fell the task of attending to these ordinary +and daily duties, had got through all his morning avocations, and +was beginning to think of his breakfast, before his child left her +room, and came into the fresh air, equally bewildered, delighted, +and grateful, at the novelty and security of her new situation. + +At the time of which we are writing, Oswego was one of the extreme +frontier posts of the British possessions on this continent. It +had not been long occupied, and was garrisoned by a battalion of +a regiment which had been originally Scotch, but into which many +Americans had been received since its arrival in this country; all +innovation that had led the way to Mabel's father filling the humble +but responsible situation of the oldest sergeant. A few young +officers also, who were natives of the colonies, were to be found +in the corps. The fort itself, like most works of that character, +was better adapted to resist an attack of savages than to withstand +a regular siege; but the great difficulty of transporting heavy +artillery and other necessaries rendered the occurrence of the latter +a probability so remote as scarcely to enter into the estimate of +the engineers who had planned the defences. There were bastions +of earth and logs, a dry ditch, a stockade, a parade of considerable +extent, and barracks of logs, that answered the double purpose of +dwellings and fortifications. A few light field-pieces stood in +the area of the fort, ready to be conveyed to any point where they +might be wanted, and one or two heavy iron guns looked out from +the summits of the advanced angles, as so many admonitions to the +audacious to respect their power. + +When Mabel, quitting the convenient, but comparatively retired hut +where her father had been permitted to place her, issued into the +pure air of the morning, she found herself at the foot of a bastion, +which lay invitingly before her, with a promise of giving a _coup +d'oeil_ of all that had been concealed in the darkness of the +preceding night. Tripping up the grassy ascent, the light-hearted +as well as light-footed girl found herself at once on a point where +the sight, at a few varying glances, could take in all the external +novelties of her new situation. + +To the southward lay the forest, through which she had been journeying +so many weary days, and which had proved so full of dangers. It was +separated from the stockade by a belt of open land, that had been +principally cleared of its woods to form the martial constructions +around her. This glacis, for such in fact was its military uses, +might have covered a hundred acres; but with it every sign of civilization +ceased. All beyond was forest; that dense, interminable forest +which Mabel could now picture to herself, through her recollections, +with its hidden glassy lakes, its dark rolling stream, and its +world of nature. + +Turning from this view, our heroine felt her cheek fanned by a +fresh and grateful breeze, such as she had not experienced since +quitting the far distant coast. Here a new scene presented itself: +although expected, it was not without a start, and a low exclamation +indicative of pleasure, that the eager eyes of the girl drank in its +beauties. To the north, and east, and west, in every direction, +in short, over one entire half of the novel panorama, lay a field +of rolling waters. The element was neither of that glassy green +which distinguishes the American waters in general, nor yet of the +deep blue of the ocean, the color being of a slightly amber hue, +which scarcely affected its limpidity. No land was to be seen, +with the exception of the adjacent coast, which stretched to the +right and left in an unbroken outline of forest with wide bays and +low headlands or points; still, much of the shore was rocky, and +into its caverns the sluggish waters occasionally rolled, producing +a hollow sound, which resembled the concussions of a distant gun. +No sail whitened the surface, no whale or other fish gambolled on +its bosom, no sign of use or service rewarded the longest and most +minute gaze at its boundless expanse. It was a scene, on one +side, of apparently endless forests, while a waste of seemingly +interminable water spread itself on the other. Nature appeared to +have delighted in producing grand effects, by setting two of her +principal agents in bold relief to each other, neglecting details; +the eye turning from the broad carpet of leaves to the still broader +field of fluid, from the endless but gentle heavings of the lake +to the holy calm and poetical solitude of the forest, with wonder +and delight. + +Mabel Dunham, though unsophisticated, like most of her countrywomen +of that period, and ingenuous and frank as any warm-hearted and +sincere-minded girl well could be, was not altogether without a +feeling for the poetry of this beautiful earth of ours. Although +she could scarcely be said to be educated at all, for few of her +sex at that day and in this country received much more than the +rudiments of plain English instruction, still she had been taught +much more than was usual for young women in her own station in life; +and, in one sense certainly, she did credit to her teaching. The +widow of a field-officer, who formerly belonged to the same regiment +as her father, had taken the child in charge at the death of its +mother; and under the care of this lady Mabel had acquired some +tastes and many ideas which otherwise might always have remained +strangers to her. Her situation in the family had been less that +of a domestic than of a humble companion, and the results were +quite apparent in her attire, her language, her sentiments, and +even in her feelings, though neither, perhaps, rose to the level +of those which would properly characterize a lady. She had lost +the less refined habits and manners of one in her original position, +without having quite reached a point that disqualified her for the +situation in life that the accidents of birth and fortune would +probably compel her to fill. All else that was distinctive and +peculiar in her belonged to natural character. + +With such antecedents it will occasion the reader no wonder if he +learns that Mabel viewed the novel scene before her with a pleasure +far superior to that produced by vulgar surprise. She felt its +ordinary beauties as most would have felt them, but she had also a +feeling for its sublimity -- for that softened solitude, that calm +grandeur, and eloquent repose, which ever pervades broad views of +natural objects yet undisturbed by the labors and struggles of man. + +"How beautiful!" she exclaimed, unconscious of speaking, as she +stood on the solitary bastion, facing the air from the lake, and +experiencing the genial influence of its freshness pervading both +her body and her mind. "How very beautiful! and yet how singular!" + +The words, and the train of her ideas, were interrupted by a +touch of a finger on her shoulder, and turning, in the expectation +of seeing her father, Mabel found Pathfinder at her side. He was +leaning quietly on his long rifle, and laughing in his quiet manner, +while, with an outstretched arm, he swept over the whole panorama +of land and water. + +"Here you have both our domains," said he, -- "Jasper's and mine. +The lake is for him, and the woods are for me. The lad sometimes +boasts of the breadth of his dominions; but I tell him my trees +make as broad a plain on the face of this 'arth as all his water. +Well, Mabel, you are fit for either; for I do not see that fear of +the Mingos, or night-marches, can destroy your pretty looks." + +"It is a new character for the Pathfinder to appear in, to compliment +a silly girl." + +"Not silly, Mabel; no, not in the least silly. The Sergeant's +daughter would do discredit to her worthy father, were she to do +or say anything that could be called silly." + +"Then she must take care and not put too much faith in treacherous, +flattering words. But, Pathfinder, I rejoice to see you among us +again; for, though Jasper did not seem to feel much uneasiness, I +was afraid some accident might have happened to you and your friend +on that frightful rift." + +"The lad knows us both, and was sartain that we should not drown, +which is scarcely one of my gifts. It would have been hard swimming +of a sartainty, with a long-barrelled rifle in the hand; and what +between the game, and the savages and the French, Killdeer and +I have gone through too much in company to part very easily. No, +no; we waded ashore, the rift being shallow enough for that with +small exceptions, and we landed with our arms in our hands. We had +to take our time for it, on account of the Iroquois, I will own; +but, as soon as the skulking vagabonds saw the lights that the +Sergeant sent down to your canoe, we well understood they would +decamp, since a visit might have been expected from some of the +garrison. So it was only sitting patiently on the stones for an +hour, and all the danger was over. Patience is the greatest of +virtues in a woodsman." + +"I rejoice to hear this, for fatigue itself could scarcely make me +sleep, for thinking of what might befall you." + +"Lord bless your tender little heart, Mabel! but this is the way +with all you gentle ones. I must say, on my part, however, that +I was right glad to see the lanterns come down to the waterside, +which I knew to be a sure sign of _your_ safety. We hunters and +guides are rude beings; but we have our feelings and our idees, +as well as any general in the army. Both Jasper and I would have +died before you should have come to harm -- we would." + +"I thank you for all you did for me, Pathfinder; from the bottom +of my heart, I thank you; and, depend on it, my father shall know +it. I have already told him much, but have still a duty to perform +on this subject." + +"Tush, Mabel! The Sergeant knows what the woods be, and what +men -- true red men -- be, too. There is little need to tell him +anything about it. Well, now you have met your father, do you find +the honest old soldier the sort of person you expected to find ?" + +"He is my own dear father, and received me as a soldier and a father +should receive a child. Have you known him long, Pathfinder?" + +"That is as people count time. I was just twelve when the Sergeant +took me on my first scouting, and that is now more than twenty +years ago. We had a tramping time of it; and, as it was before +your day, you would have had no father, had not the rifle been one +of my natural gifts." + +"Explain yourself." + +"It is too simple for many words. We were ambushed, and the Sergeant +got a bad hurt, and would have lost his scalp, but for a sort of +inbred turn I took to the weapon. We brought him off, however, +and a handsomer head of hair, for his time of life, is not to be +found in the rijiment than the Sergeant carries about with him this +blessed day." + +"You saved my father's life, Pathfinder!" exclaimed Mabel, +unconsciously, though warmly, taking one of his hard, sinewy hands +into both her own. "God bless you for this, too, among your other +good acts!" + +"Nay, I did not say that much, though I believe I did save his scalp. +A man might live without a scalp, and so I cannot say I saved his +life. Jasper may say that much consarning you; for without his eye +and arm the canoe would never have passed the rift in safety on a +night like the last. The gifts of the lad are for the water, while +mine are for the hunt and the trail. He is yonder, in the cove +there, looking after the canoes, and keeping his eye on his beloved +little craft. To my eye, there is no likelier youth in these parts +than Jasper Western." + +For the first time since she had left her room, Mabel now turned +her eyes beneath her, and got a view of what might be called the +foreground of the remarkable picture she had been studying with +so much pleasure. The Oswego threw its dark waters into the lake, +between banks of some height; that on its eastern side being bolder +and projecting farther north than that on its western. The fort +was on the latter, and immediately beneath it were a few huts of +logs, which, as they could not interfere with the defence of the +place, had been erected along the strand for the purpose of receiving +and containing such stores as were landed, or were intended to +be embarked, in the communications between the different ports on +the shores of Ontario. Two low, curved, gravelly points had been +formed with surprising regularity by the counteracting forces of +the northerly winds and the swift current, and, inclining from the +storms of the lake, formed two coves within the river: that on +the western side was the most deeply indented; and, as it also had +the most water, it formed a sort of picturesque little port for +the post. It was along the narrow strand that lay between the +low height of the fort and the water of this cove, that the rude +buildings just mentioned had been erected. + +Several skiffs, bateaux, and canoes were hauled up on the shore, and +in the cove itself lay the little craft from which Jasper obtained +his claim to be considered a sailor. She was cutter-rigged, might +have been of forty tons burthen, was so neatly constructed and +painted as to have something of the air of a vessel of war, though +entirely without quarters, and rigged and sparred with so scrupulous +a regard to proportions and beauty, as well as fitness and judgment, +as to give her an appearance that even Mabel at once distinguished +to be gallant and trim. Her mould was admirable, for a wright +of great skill had sent her drafts from England, at the express +request of the officer who had caused her to be constructed; her +paint dark, warlike, and neat; and the long coach-whip pennant that +she wore at once proclaimed her to be the property of the king. +Her name was the _Scud_. + +"That, then, is the vessel of Jasper!" said Mabel, who associated +the master of the little craft very naturally with the cutter +itself. "Are there many others on this lake?" + +"The Frenchers have three: one of which, they tell me, is a real +ship, such as are used on the ocean; another a brig; and a third +is a cutter, like the _Scud_ here, which they call the _Squirrel_, +in their own tongue, however; and which seems to have a natural +hatred of our own pretty boat, for Jasper seldom goes out that the +_Squirrel_ is not at his heels." + +"And is Jasper one to run from a Frenchman, though he appears in +the shape of a squirrel, and that, too, on the water?" + +"Of what use would valor be without the means of turning it to +account? Jasper is a brave boy, as all on this frontier know; but +he has no gun except a little howitzer, and then his crew consists +only of two men besides himself, and a boy. I was with him in +one of his trampooses, and the youngster was risky enough, for +he brought us so near the enemy that rifles began to talk; but +the Frenchers carry cannon and ports, and never show their faces +outside of Frontenac, without having some twenty men, besides +their _Squirrel_, in their cutter. No, no; this _Scud_ was built +for flying, and the major says he will not put her in a fighting +humor by giving her men and arms, lest she should take him at his +word, and get her wings clipped. I know little of these things, +for my gifts are not at all in that way; but I see the reason of +the thing --I see its reason, though Jasper does not." + +"Ah! Here is my uncle, none the worse for his swim, coming to look +at this inland sea." + +Sure enough, Cap, who had announced his approach by a couple of +lusty hems, now made his appearance on the bastion, where, after +nodding to his niece and her companion, he made a deliberate survey +of the expanse of water before him. In order to effect this at +his ease, the mariner mounted on one of the old iron guns, folded +his arms across his breast, and balanced his body, as if he felt +the motion of a vessel. To complete the picture, he had a short +pipe in his mouth. + +"Well, Master Cap," asked the Pathfinder innocently, for he did +not detect the expression of contempt that was gradually settling +on the features of the other; "is it not a beautiful sheet, and +fit to be named a sea?" + +"This, then, is what you call your lake?" demanded Cap, sweeping +the northern horizon with his pipe. "I say, is this really your +lake?" + +"Sartain; and, if the judgment of one who has lived on the shores +of many others can be taken, a very good lake it is." + +"Just as I expected. A pond in dimensions, and a scuttle-butt in +taste. It is all in vain to travel inland, in the hope of seeing +anything either full-grown or useful. I knew it would turn out +just in this way." + +"What is the matter with Ontario, Master Cap? It is large, and +fair to look at, and pleasant enough to drink, for those who can't +get at the water of the springs." + +"Do you call this large?" asked Cap, again sweeping the air with the +pipe. "I will just ask you what there is large about it? Didn't +Jasper himself confess that it was only some twenty leagues from +shore to shore?" + +"But, uncle," interposed Mabel, "no land is to be seen, except here +on our own coast. To me it looks exactly like the ocean." + +"This bit of a pond look like the ocean! Well, Magnet, that from +a girl who has had real seamen in her family is downright nonsense. +What is there about it, pray, that has even the outline of a sea +on it?" + +"Why, there is water -- water -- water -- nothing but water, for +miles on miles -- far as the eye can see." + +"And isn't there water -- water -- water -- nothing but water for +miles on miles in your rivers, that you have been canoeing through, +too? -- Ay, and 'as far as the eye can see,' in the bargain?" + +"Yes, uncle, but the rivers have their banks, and there are trees +along them, and they are narrow." + +"And isn't this a bank where we stand? Don't these soldiers call +this the bank of the lake? And aren't there trees in thousands? +And aren't twenty leagues narrow enough of all conscience? Who +the devil ever heard of the banks of the ocean, unless it might be +the banks that are under water?" + +"But, uncle, we cannot see across this lake, as we can see across +a river." + +"There you are out, Magnet. Aren't the Amazon and Oronoco and La +Plata rivers, and can you see across them? Hark'e Pathfinder, I +very much doubt if this stripe of water here be even a lake; for to +me it appears to be only a river. You are by no means particular +about your geography, I find, up here in the woods." + +"There _you_ are out, Master Cap. There is a river, and a noble +one too, at each end of it; but this is old Ontario before you; +and, though it is not my gift to live on a lake, to my judgment +there are few better than this." + +"And, uncle, if we stood on the beach at Rockaway, what more should +we see than we now behold? There is a shore on one side, or banks +there, and trees too, as well as those which are here." + +"This is perverseness, Magnet, and young girls should steer clear +of anything like obstinacy. In the first place, the ocean has +coasts, but no banks, except the Grand Banks, as I tell you, which +are out of sight of land; and you will not pretend that this bank +is out of sight of land, or even under water?" + +As Mabel could not very plausibly set up this extravagant opinion, +Cap pursued the subject, his countenance beginning to discover +the triumph of a successful disputant. + +"And then them trees bear no comparison to these trees. The coasts +of the ocean have farms and cities and country-seats, and, in some +parts of the world, castles and monasteries and lighthouses -- ay, +ay -- lighthouses, in particular, on them; not one of all which +things is to be seen here. No, no, Master Pathfinder; I never heard +of an ocean that hadn't more or less lighthouses on it; whereas, +hereaway there is not even a beacon." + +"There is what is better, there is what is better; a forest and +noble trees, a fit temple of God." + +"Ay, your forest may do for a lake; but of what use would an +ocean be if the earth all around it were forest? Ships would be +unnecessary, as timber might be floated in rafts, and there would +be an end of trade, and what would a world be without trade? I am +of that philosopher's opinion who says human nature was invented +for the purposes of trade. Magnet, I am astonished that you should +think this water even looks like sea-water! Now, I daresay that +there isn't such a thing as a whale in all your lake, Master +Pathfinder?" + +"I never heard of one, I will confess; but I am no judge of animals +that live in the water, unless it be the fishes of the rivers and +the brooks." + +"Nor a grampus, nor a porpoise even? not so much as a poor devil +of a shark?" + +"I will not take it on myself to say there is either. My gifts +are not in that way, I tell you, Master Cap." + +"Nor herring, nor albatross, nor flying-fish?" continued Cap, who +kept his eye fastened on the guide, in order to see how far he +might venture. "No such thing as a fish that can fly, I daresay?" + +"A fish that can fly! Master Cap, Master Cap, do not think, because +we are mere borderers, that we have no idees of natur', and what she +has been pleased to do. I know there are squirrels that can fly -- " + +"A squirrel fly! -- The devil, Master Pathfinder! Do you suppose +that you have got a boy on his first v'y'ge up here among you?" + +"I know nothing of your v'y'ges, Master Cap, though I suppose them +to have been many; for as for what belongs to natur' in the woods, +what I have seen I may tell, and not fear the face of man." + +"And do you wish me to understand that you have seen a squirrel +fly?" + +"If you wish to understand the power of God, Master Cap, you will +do well to believe that, and many other things of a like natur', +for you may be quite sartain it is true." + +"And yet, Pathfinder," said Mabel, looking so prettily and sweetly +even while she played with the guide's infirmity, that he forgave +her in his heart, "you, who speak so reverently of the power of +the Deity, appear to doubt that a fish can fly." + +"I have not said it, I have not said it; and if Master Cap is ready +to testify to the fact, unlikely as it seems, I am willing to try +to think it true. I think it every man's duty to believe in the +power of God, however difficult it may be." + +"And why isn't my fish as likely to have wings as your squirrel?" +demanded Cap, with more logic than was his wont. "That fishes do +and can fly is as true as it is reasonable." + +"Nay, that is the only difficulty in believing the story," rejoined +the guide. "It seems unreasonable to give an animal that lives in +the water wings, which seemingly can be of no use to it." + +"And do you suppose that the fishes are such asses as to fly about +under water, when they are once fairly fitted out with wings?" + +"Nay, I know nothing of the matter; but that fish should fly in +the air seems more contrary to natur' still, than that they should +fly in their own element -- that in which they were born and brought +up, as one might say." + +"So much for contracted ideas, Magnet. The fish fly out of water +to run away from their enemies in the water; and there you see not +only the fact, but the reason for it." + +"Then I suppose it must be true," said the guide quietly. "How +long are their flights?" + +"Not quite as far as those of pigeons, perhaps; but far enough to +make an offing. As for those squirrels of yours, we'll say no more +about them, friend Pathfinder, as I suppose they were mentioned +just as a make-weight to the fish, in favor of the woods. But +what is this thing anchored here under the hill?" + +"That is the cutter of Jasper, uncle," said Mabel hurriedly; "and +a very pretty vessel I think it is. Its name, too, is the _Scud_." + +"Ay, it will do well enough for a lake, perhaps, but it's no great +affair. The lad has got a standing bowsprit, and who ever saw a +cutter with a standing bowsprit before?" + +"But may there not be some good reason for it, on a lake like this, +uncle?" + +"Sure enough -- I must remember this is not the ocean, though it +does look so much like it." + +"Ah, uncle! Then Ontario does look like the ocean, after all?" + +"In your eyes, I mean, and those of Pathfinder; not in the least in +mine, Magnet. Now you might set me down out yonder, in the middle +of this bit of a pond, and that, too, in the darkest night that +ever fell from the heavens, and in the smallest canoe, and I could +tell you it was only a lake. For that matter, the _Dorothy_" (the +name of his vessel) "would find it out as quick as I could myself. +I do not believe that brig would make more than a couple of short +stretches, at the most, before she would perceive the difference +between Ontario and the old Atlantic. I once took her down into +one of the large South American bays, and she behaved herself as +awkwardly as a booby would in a church with the congregation in a +hurry. And Jasper sails that boat? I must have a cruise with the +lad, Magnet, before I quit you, just for the name of the thing. It +would never do to say I got in sight of this pond, and went away +without taking a trip on it." + +"Well well, you needn't wait long for that," returned Pathfinder; +"for the Sergeant is about to embark with a party to relieve a post +among the Thousand Islands; and as I heard him say he intended that +Mabel should go along, you can join the company too." + +"Is this true, Magnet?" + +"I believe it is," returned the girl, a flush so imperceptible as +to escape the observation of her companions glowing on her cheeks; +"though I have had so little opportunity to talk with my dear +father that I am not quite certain. Here he comes, however, and +you can inquire of himself." + +Notwithstanding his humble rank, there was something in the mien +and character of Sergeant Dunham that commanded respect: of a tall, +imposing figure, grave and saturnine disposition, and accurate and +precise in his acts and manner of thinking, even Cap, dogmatical +and supercilious as he usually was with landsmen, did not presume +to take the same liberties with the old soldier as he did with his +other friends. It was often remarked that Sergeant Dunham received +more true respect from Duncan of Lundie, the Scotch laird who +commanded the post, than most of the subalterns; for experience +and tried services were of quite as much value in the eyes of the +veteran major as birth and money. While the Sergeant never even +hoped to rise any higher, he so far respected himself and his +present station as always to act in a way to command attention; +and the habit of mixing so much with inferiors, whose passions +and dispositions he felt it necessary to restrain by distance and +dignity, had so far colored his whole deportment, that few were +altogether free from its influence. While the captains treated him +kindly and as an old comrade, the lieutenants seldom ventured to +dissent from his military opinions; and the ensigns, it was remarked, +actually manifested a species of respect that amounted to something +very like deference. It is no wonder, then, that the announcement +of Mabel put a sudden termination to the singular dialogue we have +just related, though it had been often observed that the Pathfinder +was the only man on that frontier, beneath the condition of a +gentleman, who presumed to treat the Sergeant at all as an equal, +or even with the cordial familiarity of a friend. + +"Good morrow, brother Cap," said the Sergeant giving the military +salute, as he walked, in a grave, stately manner, on the bastion. +"My morning duty has made me seem forgetful of you and Mabel; but +we have now an hour or two to spare, and to get acquainted. Do +you not perceive, brother, a strong likeness on the girl to her we +have so long lost?" + +"Mabel is the image of her mother, Sergeant, as I have always said, +with a little of your firmer figure; though, for that matter, the +Caps were never wanting in spring and activity." + +Mabel cast a timid glance at the stern, rigid countenance of her +father, of whom she had ever thought, as the warm-hearted dwell on +the affection of their absent parents; and, as she saw that the +muscles of his face were working, notwithstanding the stiffness +and method of his manner, her very heart yearned to throw herself +on his bosom and to weep at will. But he was so much colder in +externals, so much more formal and distant than she had expected +to find him, that she would not have dared to hazard the freedom, +even had they been alone. + +"You have taken a long and troublesome journey, brother, on my +account; and we will try to make you comfortable while you stay +among us." + +"I hear you are likely to receive orders to lift your anchor, +Sergeant, and to shift your berth into a part of the world where +they say there are a thousand islands." + +"Pathfinder, this is some of your forgetfulness?" + +"Nay, nay, Sergeant, I forgot nothing; but it did not seem to me +necessary to hide your intentions so very closely from your own +flesh and blood." + +"All military movements ought to be made with as little conversation +as possible," returned the Sergeant, tapping the guide's shoulder +in a friendly, but reproachful manner. "You have passed too much +of your life in front of the French not to know the value of silence. +But no matter; the thing must soon be known, and there is no great +use in trying now to conceal it. We shall embark a relief party +shortly for a post on the lake, though I do not say it is for the +Thousand Islands, and I may have to go with it; in which case I +intend to take Mabel to make my broth for me; and I hope, brother, +you will not despise a soldier's fare for a month or so." + +"That will depend on the manner of marching. I have no love for +woods and swamps." + +"We shall sail in the _Scud_; and, indeed, the whole service, which +is no stranger to us, is likely enough to please one accustomed to +the water." + +"Ay, to salt-water if you will, but not to lake-water. If you +have no person to handle that bit of a cutter for you, I have no +objection to ship for the v'y'ge, notwithstanding; though I shall +look on the whole affair as so much time thrown away, for I consider +it an imposition to call sailing about this pond going to sea." + +"Jasper is every way able to manage the _Scud_, brother Cap; and in +that light I cannot say that we have need of your services, though +we shall be glad of your company. You cannot return to the settlement +until a party is sent in, and that is not likely to happen until +after my return. Well, Pathfinder, this is the first time I ever +knew men on the trail of the Mingos and you not at their head." + +"To be honest with you, Sergeant," returned the guide, not without +a little awkwardness of manner, and a perceptible difference in +the hue of a face that had become so uniformly red by exposure, +"I have not felt that it was my gift this morning. In the first +place, I very well know that the soldiers of the 55th are not the +lads to overtake Iroquois in the woods; and the knaves did not +wait to be surrounded when they knew that Jasper had reached the +garrison. Then a man may take a little rest after a summer of hard +work, and no impeachment of his goodwill. Besides, the Sarpent +is out with them; and if the miscreants are to be found at all, +you may trust to his inmity and sight: the first being stronger, +and the last nearly, if not quite as good as my own. He loves +the skulking vagabonds as little as myself; and, for that matter, +I may say that my own feelings towards a Mingo are not much more +than the gifts of a Delaware grafted on a Christian stock. No, no, +I thought I would leave the honor this time, if honor there is to +be, to the young ensign that commands, who, if he don't lose his +scalp, may boast of his campaign in his letters to his mother when +he gets in. I thought I would play idler once in my life." + +"And no one has a better right, if long and faithful service entitles +a man to a furlough," returned the Sergeant kindly. "Mabel will +think none the worse of you for preferring her company to the trail +of the savages; and, I daresay, will be happy to give you a part +of her breakfast if you are inclined to eat. You must not think, +girl, however, that the Pathfinder is in the habit of letting +prowlers around the fort beat a retreat without hearing the crack +of his rifle." + +"If I thought she did, Sergeant, though not much given to showy and +parade evolutions, I would shoulder Killdeer and quit the garrison +before her pretty eyes had time to frown. No, no; Mabel knows me +better, though we are but new acquaintances, for there has been no +want of Mingos to enliven the short march we have already made in +company." + +"It would need a great deal of testimony, Pathfinder, to make +me think ill of you in any way, and more than all in the way you +mention," returned Mabel, coloring with the sincere earnestness +with which she endeavored to remove any suspicion to the contrary +from his mind. "Both father and daughter, I believe, owe you their +lives, and believe me, that neither will ever forget it." + +"Thank you, Mabel, thank you with all my heart. But I will not +take advantage of your ignorance neither, girl, and therefore shall +say, I do not think the Mingos would have hurt a hair of your head, +had they succeeded by their devilries and contrivances in getting +you into their hands. My scalp, and Jasper's, and Master Cap's +there, and the Sarpent's too, would sartainly have been smoked; +but as for the Sergeant's daughter, I do not think they would have +hurt a hair of her head." + +"And why should I suppose that enemies, known to spare neither women +nor children, would have shown more mercy to me than to another? +I feel, Pathfinder, that I owe you my life." + +"I say nay, Mabel; they wouldn't have had the heart to hurt you. +No, not even a fiery Mingo devil would have had the heart to hurt +a hair of your head. Bad as I suspect the vampires to be, I do +not suspect them of anything so wicked as that. They might have +wished you, nay, forced you to become the wife of one of their chiefs, +and that would be torment enough to a Christian young woman; but +beyond that I do not think even the Mingos themselves would have +gone." + +"Well, then, I shall owe my escape from this great misfortune to +you," said Mabel, taking his hard hand into her own frankly and +cordially, and certainly in a way to delight the honest guide. +"To me it would be a lighter evil to be killed than to become the +wife of an Indian." + +"That is her gift, Sergeant," exclaimed Pathfinder, turning to his +old comrade with gratification written on every lineament of his +honest countenance, "and it will have its way. I tell the Sarpent +that no Christianizing will ever make even a Delaware a white man; +nor any whooping and yelling convert a pale-face into a red-skin. +That is the gift of a young woman born of Christian parents, and +it ought to be maintained." + +"You are right, Pathfinder; and so far as Mabel Dunham is concerned, +it _shall_ be maintained. But it is time to break your fasts; and +if you will follow me, brother Cap, I will show you how we poor +soldiers live here on a distant frontier." + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +Now, my co-mates and partners in exile, +Hath not old custom made this life more sweet +Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods +More free from peril than the envious court? +Here feel we but the penalty of Adam. +_As You Like It._ + + +Sergeant Dunham made no empty vaunt when he gave the promise +conveyed in the closing words of the last chapter. Notwithstanding +the remote frontier position of the post they who lived at it +enjoyed a table that, in many respects, kings and princes might +have envied. At the Period of our tale, and, indeed, for half a +century later, the whole of that vast region which has been called +the West, or the new countries since the war of the revolution, +lay a comparatively unpeopled desert, teeming with all the living +productions of nature that properly belonged to the climate, man +and the domestic animals excepted. The few Indians that roamed +its forests then could produce no visible effects on the abundance +of the game; and the scattered garrisons, or occasional hunters, +that here and there were to be met with on that vast surface, had +no other influence than the bee on the buckwheat field, or the +humming-bird on the flower. + +The marvels that have descended to our own times, in the way of +tradition, concerning the quantities of beasts, birds, and fishes +that were then to be met with, on the shores of the great lakes in +particular, are known to be sustained by the experience of living +men, else might we hesitate about relating them; but having been +eye-witnesses of some of these prodigies, our office shall be +discharged with the confidence that certainty can impart. Oswego +was particularly well placed to keep the larder of an epicure +amply supplied. Fish of various sorts abounded in its river, and +the sportsman had only to cast his line to haul in a bass or some +other member of the finny tribe, which then peopled the waters, as +the air above the swamps of this fruitful latitude are known to be +filled with insects. Among others was the salmon of the lakes, a +variety of that well-known species, that is scarcely inferior to +the delicious salmon of northern Europe. Of the different migratory +birds that frequent forests and waters, there was the same affluence, +hundreds of acres of geese and ducks being often seen at a time in +the great bays that indent the shores of the lake. Deer, bears, +rabbits, and squirrels, with divers other quadrupeds, among which +was sometimes included the elk, or moose, helped to complete the +sum of the natural supplies on which all the posts depended, more +or less, to relieve the unavoidable privations of their remote +frontier positions. + +In a place where viands that would elsewhere be deemed great luxuries +were so abundant, no one was excluded from their enjoyment. The +meanest individual at Oswego habitually feasted on game that would +have formed the boast of a Parisian table; and it was no more +than a healthful commentary on the caprices of taste, and of the +waywardness of human desires, that the very diet which in other +scenes would have been deemed the subject of envy and repinings got +to pall on the appetite. The coarse and regular food of the army, +which it became necessary to husband on account of the difficulty +of transportation, rose in the estimation of the common soldier; +and at any time he would cheerfully desert his venison, and ducks, +and pigeons, and salmon, to banquet on the sweets of pickled pork, +stringy turnips, and half-cooked cabbage. + +The table of Sergeant Dunham, as a matter of course, partook +of the abundance and luxuries of the frontier, as well as of its +privations. A delicious broiled salmon smoked on a homely platter, +hot venison steaks sent up their appetizing odors, and several +dishes of cold meats, all of which were composed of game, had been +set before the guests, in honor of the newly arrived visitors, and +in vindication of the old soldier's hospitality. + +"You do not seem to be on short allowance in this quarter of the +world, Sergeant," said Cap, after he had got fairly initiated into +the mysteries of the different dishes; "your salmon might satisfy +a Scotsman." + +"It fails to do it, notwithstanding, brother Cap; for among two or +three hundred of the fellows that we have in this garrison there +are not half a dozen who will not swear that the fish is unfit to +be eaten. Even some of the lads, who never tasted venison except +as poachers at home, turn up their noses at the fattest haunches +that we get here." + +"Ay, that is Christian natur'," put in Pathfinder; "and I must say +it is none to its credit. Now, a red-skin never repines, but is +always thankful for the food he gets, whether it be fat or lean, +venison or bear, wild turkey's breast or wild goose's wing. To +the shame of us white men be it said, that we look upon blessings +without satisfaction, and consider trifling evils as matters of +great account." + +"It is so with the 55th, as I can answer, though I cannot say as +much for their Christianity," returned the Sergeant. "Even the +major himself, old Duncan of Lundie, will sometimes swear that an +oatmeal cake is better fare than the Oswego bass, and sigh for a +swallow of Highland water, when, if so minded, he has the whole of +Ontario to quench his thirst in." + +"Has Major Duncan a wife and children?" asked Mabel, whose thoughts +naturally turned towards her own sex in her new situation. + +"Not he, girl; though they do say that he has a betrothed at home. +The lady, it seems, is willing to wait, rather than suffer the +hardships of service in this wild region; all of which, brother Cap, +is not according to my notions of a woman's duties. Your sister +thought differently." + +"I hope, Sergeant, you do not think of Mabel for a soldier's wife," +returned Cap gravely. "Our family has done its share in that way +already, and it's high time that the sea was again remembered." + +"I do not think of finding a husband for the girl in the 55th, or +any other regiment, I can promise you, brother; though I do think +it getting to be time that the child were respectably married." + +"Father!" + +"'Tis not their gifts, Sergeant, to talk of these matters in so open +a manner," said the guide; "for I've seen it verified by experience, +that he who would follow the trail of a virgin's good-will must +not go shouting out his thoughts behind her. So, if you please, +we will talk of something else." + +"Well, then, brother Cap, I hope that bit of a cold roasted pig is +to your mind; you seem to fancy the food." + +"Ay, ay; give me civilized grub if I must eat," returned +the pertinacious seaman. "Venison is well enough for your inland +sailors, but we of the ocean like a little of that which we +understand." + +Here Pathfinder laid down his knife and fork, and indulged in a +hearty laugh, though in his always silent manner; then he asked, +with a little curiosity in his manner, -- + +"Don't, you miss the skin, Master Cap? don't you miss the skin?" + +"It would have been better for its jacket, I think myself, Pathfinder; +but I suppose it is a fashion of the woods to serve up shoats in +this style." + +"Well, well, a man may go round the 'arth and not know everything. +If you had had the skinning of that pig, Master Cap, it would have +left you sore hands. The cratur' is a hedgehog!" + +"Blast me, if I thought it wholesome natural pork either!" returned +Cap. "But then I believed even a pig might lose some of its good +qualities up hereaway in the woods." + +"If the skinning of it, brother, does not fall to my duty. Pathfinder, +I hope you didn't find Mabel disobedient on the march?" + +"Not she, not she. If Mabel is only half as well satisfied with +Jasper and Pathfinder as the Pathfinder and Jasper are satisfied +with her, Sergeant, we shall be friends for the remainder of our +days." + +As the guide spoke, he turned his eyes towards the blushing girl, +with a sort of innocent desire to know her opinion; and then, with +an inborn delicacy, which proved he was far superior to the vulgar +desire to invade the sanctity of feminine feeling, he looked at +his plate, and seemed to regret his own boldness. + +"Well, well, we must remember that women are not men, my friend," +resumed the Sergeant, "and make proper allowances for nature and +education. A recruit is not a veteran. Any man knows that it takes +longer to make a good soldier than it takes to make anything else." + +"This is new doctrine, Sergeant," said Cap with some spirit. +"We old seamen are apt to think that six soldiers, ay, and capital +soldiers too, might be made while one sailor is getting his +education." + +"Ay, brother Cap, I've seen something of the opinions which seafaring +men have of themselves," returned the brother-in-law, with a smile +as bland as comported with his saturnine features; "for I was many +years one of the garrison in a seaport. You and I have conversed +on the subject before and I'm afraid we shall never agree. But +if you wish to know what the difference is between a real soldier +and man in what I should call a state of nature, you have only to +look at a battalion of the 55th on parade this afternoon, and then, +when you get back to York, examine one of the militia regiments +making its greatest efforts." + +"Well, to my eye, Sergeant, there is very little difference, not +more than you'll find between a brig and a snow. To me they seem +alike: all scarlet, and feathers, and powder, and pipeclay." + +"So much, sir, for the judgment of a sailor," returned the Sergeant +with dignity; "but perhaps you are not aware that it requires a +year to teach a true soldier how to eat?" + +"So much the worse for him. The militia know how to eat at starting; +for I have often heard that, on their marches, they commonly eat +all before them, even if they do nothing else." + +"They have their gifts, I suppose, like other men," observed +Pathfinder, with a view to preserve the peace, which was evidently +in some danger of being broken by the obstinate predilection of +each of the disputants in favor of his own calling; "and when a +man has his gift from Providence, it is commonly idle to endeavor +to bear up against it. The 55th, Sergeant, is a judicous regiment +in the way of eating, as I know from having been so long in its +company, though I daresay militia corps could be found that would +outdo them in feats of that natur' too." + +"Uncle;" said Mabel, "if you have breakfasted, I will thank you to +go out upon the bastion with me again. We have neither of us half +seen the lake, and it would be hardly seemly for a young woman +to be walking about the fort, the first day of her arrival, quite +alone." + +Cap understood the motive of Mabel; and having, at the bottom, +a hearty friendship for his brother-in-law, he was willing enough +to defer the argument until they had been longer together, for the +idea of abandoning it altogether never crossed the mind of one so +dogmatical and obstinate. He accordingly accompanied his niece, +leaving Sergeant Dunham and his friend, the Pathfinder, alone together. +As soon as his adversary had beat a retreat, the Sergeant, who did +not quite so well understand the manoeuvre of his daughter, turned +to his companion, and, with a smile which was not without triumph, +he remarked, -- + +"The army, Pathfinder, has never yet done itself justice in the way +of asserting its rights; and though modesty becomes a man, whether +he is in a red coat or a black one, or, for that matter, in his +shirt-sleeves, I don't like to let a good opportunity slip of saying +a word in its behalf. Well, my friend," laying his own hand on one +of the Pathfinder's, and giving it a hearty squeeze, "how do you +like the girl?" + +"You have reason to be proud of her, Sergeant. I have seen many of +her sex, and some that were great and beautiful; but never before +did I meet with one in whom I thought Providence had so well +balanced the different gifts." + +"And the good opinion, I can tell you, Pathfinder, is mutual. She +told me last night all about your coolness, and spirit, and kindness, +-- particularly the last, for kindness counts for more than half +with females, my friend, --and the first inspection seems to give +satisfaction on both sides. Brush up the uniform, and pay a little +more attention to the outside, Pathfinder, and you will have the +girl heart and hand." + +"Nay, nay, Sergeant, I've forgotten nothing that you have told +me, and grudge no reasonable pains to make myself as pleasant in +the eyes of Mabel as she is getting to be in mine. I cleaned and +brightened up Killdeer this morning as soon as the sun rose; and, +in my judgment, the piece never looked better than it does at this +very moment." + +"That is according to your hunting notions, Pathfinder; but firearms +should sparkle and glitter in the sun, and I never yet could see +any beauty in a clouded barrel." + +"Lord Howe thought otherwise, Sergeant; and he was accounted a good +soldier." + +"Very true; his lordship had all the barrels of his regiment darkened, +and what good came of it? You can see his 'scutcheon hanging in +the English church at Albany. No, no, my worthy friend, a soldier +should be a soldier, and at no time ought he to be ashamed or afraid +to carry about him the signs and symbols of his honorable trade. +Had you much discourse with Mabel, Pathfinder, as you came along +in the canoe?" + +"There was not much opportunity, Sergeant, and then I found myself +so much beneath her in idees, that I was afraid to speak of much +beyond what belonged to my own gifts." + +"Therein you are partly right and partly wrong, my friend. Women +love trifling discourse, though they like to have most of it to +themselves. Now you know I'm a man that do not loosen my tongue at +every giddy thought; and yet there were days when I could see that +Mabel's mother thought none the worse of me because I descended a +little from my manhood. It is true, I was twenty-two years younger +then than I am to-day; and, moreover, instead of being the oldest +sergeant in the regiment, I was the youngest. Dignity is commanding +and useful, and there is no getting on without it, as respects +the men; but if you would be thoroughly esteemed by a woman, it is +necessary to condescend a little on occasions." + +"Ah's me, Sergeant, I sometimes fear it will never do." + +"Why do you think so discouragingly of a matter on which I thought +both our minds were made up?" + +"We did agree, if Mabel should prove what you told me she was, and +if the girl could fancy a rude hunter and guide, that I should quit +some of my wandering ways, and try to humanize my mind down to a +wife and children. But since I have seen the girl, I will own that +many misgivings have come over me." + +"How's this?" interrupted the Sergeant sternly; "did I not understand +you to say that you were pleased? -- and is Mabel a young woman to +disappoint expectation?" + +"Ah, Sergeant, it is not Mabel that I distrust, but myself. I am +but a poor ignorant woodsman, after all; and perhaps I'm not, in +truth, as good as even you and I may think me." + +"If you doubt your own judgment of yourself, Pathfinder, I beg you +will not doubt mine. Am I not accustomed to judge men's character? +and am I often deceived? Ask Major Duncan, sir, if you desire any +assurances in this particular." + +"But, Sergeant, we have long been friends; have fi't side by side +a dozen times, and have done each other many services. When this +is the case, men are apt to think over kindly of each other; and +I fear me that the daughter may not be so likely to view a plain +ignorant hunter as favorably as the father does." + +"Tut, tut, Pathfinder! You don't know yourself, man, and may put +all faith in my judgment. In the first place you have experience; +and, as all girls must want that, no prudent young woman would +overlook such a qualification. Then you are not one of the coxcombs +that strut about when they first join a regiment; but a man who +has seen service, and who carries the marks of it on his person +and countenance. I daresay you have been under fire some thirty or +forty times, counting all the skirmishes and ambushes that you've +seen." + +"All of that, Sergeant, all of that; but what will it avail in +gaining the good-will of a tender-hearted young female?" + +"It will gain the day. Experience in the field is as good in love +as in war. But you are as honest-hearted and as loyal a subject +as the king can boast of -- God bless him!" + +"That may be too; but I'm afeared I'm too rude and too old and too +wild like to suit the fancy of such a young and delicate girl as +Mabel, who has been unused to our wilderness ways, and may think +the settlements better suited to her gifts and inclinations." + +"These are new misgivings for you, my friend; and I wonder they +were never paraded before." + +"Because I never knew my own worthlessness, perhaps, until I saw +Mabel. I have travelled with some as fair, and have guided them +through the forest, and seen them in their perils and in their +gladness; but they were always too much above me to make me think +of them as more than so many feeble ones I was bound to protect +and defend. The case is now different. Mabel and I are so nearly +alike, that I feel weighed down with a load that is hard to bear, +at finding us so unlike. I do wish, Sergeant, that I was ten +years younger, more comely to look at, and better suited to please +a handsome young woman's fancy." + +"Cheer up, my brave friend, and trust to a father's knowledge +of womankind. Mabel half loves you already, and a fortnight's +intercourse and kindness, down among the islands yonder will close +ranks with the other half. The girl as much as told me this herself +last night." + +"Can this be so, Sergeant?" said the guide, whose meek and modest +nature shrank from viewing himself in colors so favorable. "Can +this be truly so? I am but a poor hunter and Mabel, I see, is +fit to be an officer's lady. Do you think the girl will consent +to quit all her beloved settlement usages, and her visitings and +church-goings, to dwell with a plain guide and hunter up hereaway +in the woods? Will she not in the end, crave her old ways, and a +better man?" + +"A better man, Pathfinder, would be hard to find," returned +the father. "As for town usages, they are soon forgotten in the +freedom of the forest, and Mabel has just spirit enough to dwell +on a frontier. I've not planned this marriage, my friend, without +thinking it over, as a general does his campaign. At first, I +thought of bringing you into the regiment, that you might succeed +me when I retire, which must be sooner or later; but on reflection, +Pathfinder, I think you are scarcely fitted for the office. Still, +if not a soldier in all the meanings of the word, you are a soldier +in its best meaning, and I know that you have the good-will of every +officer in the corps. As long as I live, Mabel can dwell with me, +and you will always have a home when you return from your scoutings +and marches." + +"This is very pleasant to think of, Sergeant, if the girl can only +come into our wishes with good-will. But, ah's me! It does not +seem that one like myself can ever be agreeable in her handsome +eyes. If I were younger, and more comely, now, as Jasper Western +is, for instance, there might be a chance -- yes, then, indeed, +there might be some chance." + +"That for Jasper Eau-douce, and every younker of them in or +about the fort!" returned the Sergeant, snapping his fingers. "If +not actually a younger, you are a younger-looking, ay, and +a better-looking man than the _Scud's_ master - " + +"Anan?" said Pathfinder, looking up at his companion with an +expression of doubt, as if he did not understand his meaning. + +"I say if not actually younger in days and years, you look more +hardy and like whipcord than Jasper, or any of them; and there +will be more of you, thirty years hence, than of all of them put +together. A good conscience will keep one like you a mere boy all +his life." + +"Jasper has as clear a conscience as any youth I know, Sergeant, +and is as likely to wear on that account as any in the colony." + +"Then you are my friend," squeezing the other's hand, "my tried, +sworn, and constant friend." + +"Yes, we have been friends, Sergeant, near twenty years before +Mabel was born." + +"True enough; before Mabel was born, we were well-tried friends; +and the hussy would never dream of refusing to marry a man who +was her father's friend before she was born." + +"We don't know, Sergeant, we don't know. Like loves like. The +young prefer the young for companions, and the old the old." + +"Not for wives, Pathfinder; I never knew an old man, now, who had +an objection to a young wife. Then you are respected and esteemed +by every officer in the fort, as I have said already, and it will +please her fancy to like a man that every one else likes." + +"I hope I have no enemies but the Mingos," returned the guide, +stroking down his hair meekly and speaking thoughtfully. "I've tried +to do right, and that ought to make friends, though it sometimes +fails." + +"And you may be said to keep the best company; for even old Duncan +of Lundie is glad to see you, and you pass hours in his society. +Of all the guides, he confides most in you." + +"Ay, even greater than he is have marched by my side for days, and +have conversed with me as if I were their brother; but, Sergeant, +I have never been puffed up by their company, for I know that +the woods often bring men to a level who would not be so in the +settlements." + +"And you are known to be the greatest rifle shot that ever pulled +trigger in all this region." + +"If Mabel could fancy a man for that, I might have no great reason +to despair; and yet, Sergeant, I sometimes think that it is all as +much owing to Killdeer as to any skill of my own. It is sartainly +a wonderful piece, and might do as much in the hands of another." + +"That is your own humble opinion of yourself, Pathfinder; but we +have seen too many fail with the same weapon, and you succeed too +often with the rifles of other men, to allow me to agree with you. +We will get up a shooting match in a day or two, when you can show +your skill, and when Mabel will form some judgment concerning your +true character." + +"Will that be fair, Sergeant? Everybody knows that Killdeer seldom +misses; and ought we to make a trial of this sort when we all know +what must be the result?" + +"Tut, tut, man! I foresee I must do half this courting for you. +For one who is always inside of the smoke in a skirmish, you are +the faintest-hearted suitor I ever met with. Remember, Mabel comes +of a bold stock; and the girl will be as likely to admire a man as +her mother was before her." + +Here the Sergeant arose, and proceeded to attend to his never-ceasing +duties, without apology; the terms on which the guide stood with +all in the garrison rendering this freedom quite a matter of course. + +The reader will have gathered from the conversation just related, +one of the plans that Sergeant Dunham had in view in causing his +daughter to be brought to the frontier. Although necessarily much +weaned from the caresses and blandishments that had rendered his +child so dear to him during the first year or two of his widowerhood, +he had still a strong but somewhat latent love for her. Accustomed +to command and to obey, without being questioned himself or +questioning others, concerning the reasonableness of the mandates, +he was perhaps too much disposed to believe that his daughter would +marry the man he might select, while he was far from being disposed +to do violence to her wishes. The fact was; few knew the Pathfinder +intimately without secretly believing him to be one of extraordinary +qualities. Ever the same, simple-minded, faithful, utterly without +fear, and yet prudent, foremost in all warrantable enterprises, or +what the opinion of the day considered as such, and never engaged +in anything to call a blush to his cheek or censure on his acts, +it was not possible to live much with this being and not feel respect +and admiration for him which had no reference to his position in +life. The most surprising peculiarity about the man himself was +the entire indifference with which he regarded all distinctions +which did not depend on personal merit. He was respectful to his +superiors from habit; but had often been known to correct their +mistakes and to reprove their vices with a fearlessness that proved +how essentially he regarded the more material points, and with a +natural discrimination that appeared to set education at defiance. In +short, a disbeliever in the ability of man to distinguish between +good and evil without the aid of instruction, would have been +staggered by the character of this extraordinary inhabitant of +the frontier. His feelings appeared to possess the freshness and +nature of the forest in which he passed so much of his time; and +no casuist could have made clearer decisions in matters relating to +right and wrong; and yet he was not without his prejudices, which, +though few, and colored by the character and usages of the individual, +were deep-rooted, and almost formed a part of his nature. But the +most striking feature about the moral organization of Pathfinder +was his beautiful and unerring sense of justice. This noble trait +-- and without it no man can be truly great, with it no man other +than respectable -- probably had its unseen influence on all who +associated with him; for the common and unprincipled brawler of the +camp had been known to return from an expedition made in his company +rebuked by his sentiments, softened by his language, and improved +by his example. As might have been expected, with so elevated +a quality his fidelity was like the immovable rock; treachery in +him was classed among the things which are impossible; and as he +seldom retired before his enemies, so was he never known, under any +circumstances that admitted of an alternative, to abandon a friend. +The affinities of such a character were, as a matter of course, +those of like for like. His associates and intimates, though more +or less determined by chance, were generally of the highest order +as to moral propensities; for he appeared to possess a species of +instinctive discrimination, which led him, insensibly to himself, +most probably, to cling closest to those whose characters would best +reward his friendship. In short, it was said of the Pathfinder, +by one accustomed to study his fellows, that he was a fair example +of what a just-minded and pure man might be, while untempted by +unruly or ambitious desires, and left to follow the bias of his +feelings, amid the solitary grandeur and ennobling influences of a +sublime nature; neither led aside by the inducements which influence +all to do evil amid the incentives of civilization, nor forgetful +of the Almighty Being whose spirit pervades the wilderness as well +as the towns. + +Such was the man whom Sergeant Dunham had selected as the husband +of Mabel. In making this choice, he had not been as much governed +by a clear and judicious view of the merits of the individual, +perhaps, as by his own likings; still no one knew the Pathfinder +so intimately as himself without always conceding to the honest +guide a high place in his esteem on account of these very virtues. +That his daughter could find any serious objections to the match +the old soldier did not apprehend; while, on the other hand, he saw +many advantages to himself in dim perspective, connected with the +decline of his days, and an evening of life passed among descendants +who were equally dear to him through both parents. He had first +made the proposition to his friend, who had listened to it kindly, +but who, the Sergeant was now pleased to find, already betrayed +a willingness to come into his own views that was proportioned to +the doubts and misgivings proceeding from his humble distrust of +himself. + + + +CHAPTER X. + +Think not I love him, though I ask for him; +'Tis but a peevish boy: -- yet he talks well -- +But what care I for words? + + +A week passed in the usual routine of a garrison. Mabel was becoming +used to a situation that, at first she had found not only novel, +but a little irksome; and the officers and men in their turn, +gradually familiarized to the presence of a young and blooming +girl, whose attire and carriage had that air of modest gentility +about them which she had obtained in the family of her patroness, +annoyed her less by their ill-concealed admiration, while they +gratified her by the respect which, she was fain to think, they +paid her on account of her father; but which, in truth, was more +to be attributed to her own modest but spirited deportment, than +to any deference for the worthy Sergeant. + +Acquaintances made in a forest, or in any circumstances of unusual +excitement, soon attain their limits. Mabel found one week's +residence at Oswego sufficient to determine her as to those with +whom she might be intimate and those whom she ought to avoid. The +sort of neutral position occupied by her father, who was not an +officer, while he was so much more than a common soldier, by keeping +her aloof from the two great classes of military life, lessened the +number of those whom she was compelled to know, and made the duty +of decision comparatively easy. Still she soon discovered that +there were a few, even among those that could aspire to a seat at +the Commandant's table, who were disposed to overlook the halbert +for the novelty of a well-turned figure and of a pretty, winning +face; and by the end of the first two or three days she had admirers +even among the gentlemen. The Quartermaster, in particular, a +middle-aged soldier, who had more than once tried the blessings of +matrimony already, but was now a widower, was evidently disposed +to increase his intimacy with the Sergeant, though their duties +often brought them together; and the youngsters among his messmates +did not fail to note that this man of method, who was a Scotsman +of the name of Muir, was much more frequent in his visits to the +quarters of his subordinate than had formerly been his wont. A +laugh, or a joke, in honor of the "Sergeant's daughter," however, +limited their strictures; though "Mabel Dunham" was soon a toast +that even the ensign, or the lieutenant, did not disdain to give. + +At the end of the week, Duncan of Lundie sent for Sergeant Dunham, +after evening roll-call, on business of a nature that, it was +understood, required a personal conference. The old veteran dwelt +in a movable hut, which, being placed on trucks, he could order +to be wheeled about at pleasure, sometimes living in one part of +the area within the fort, and sometimes in another. On the present +occasion, he had made a halt near the centre; and there he was +found by his subordinate, who was admitted to his presence without +any delay or dancing attendance in an ante-chamber. In point +of fact, there was very little difference in the quality of the +accommodations allowed to the officers and those allowed to the +men, the former being merely granted the most room. + +"Walk in, Sergeant, walk in, my good friend," said old Lundie +heartily, as his inferior stood in a respectful attitude at the door +of a sort of library and bedroom into which he had been ushered; +-- "walk in, and take a seat on that stool. I have sent for you, +man; to discuss anything but rosters and pay-rolls this evening. It +is now many years since we have been comrades, and 'auld lang syne' +should count for something, even between a major and his orderly, +a Scot and a Yankee. Sit ye down, man, and just put yourself at +your ease. It has been a fine day, Sergeant." + +"It has indeed, Major Duncan," returned the other, who, though he +complied so far as to take the seat, was much too practised not to +understand the degree of respect it was necessary to maintain in +his manner; "a very fine day, sir, it has been and we may look for +more of them at this season." + +"I hope so with all my heart. The crops look well as it is, man, +and you'll be finding that the 55th make almost as good farmers +as soldiers. I never saw better potatoes in Scotland than we are +likely to have in that new patch of ours." + +"They promise a good yield, Major Duncan; and, in that light, a +more comfortable winter than the last." + +"Life is progressive, Sergeant, in its comforts as well as in its +need of them. We grow old, and I begin to think it time to retire +and settle in life. I feel that my working days are nearly over." + +"The king, God bless him! sir, has much good service in your honor +yet." + +"It may be so, Sergeant Dunham, especially if he should happen to +have a spare lieutenant-colonelcy left." + +"The 55th will be honored the day that commission is given to Duncan +of Lundie, sir." + +"And Duncan of Lundie will be honored the day he receives it. But, +Sergeant, if you have never had a lieutenant-colonelcy, you have +had a good wife, and that is the next thing to rank in making a +man happy." + +"I have been married, Major Duncan; but it is now a long time since +I have had no drawback on the love I bear his majesty and my duty." + +"What, man! not even the love you bear that active little round-limbed, +rosy-cheeked daughter that I have seen in the fort these last few +days! Out upon you, Sergeant! old fellow as I am, I could almost +love that little lassie myself, and send the lieutenant-colonelcy +to the devil." + +"We all know where Major Duncan's heart is, and that is in Scotland, +where a beautiful lady is ready and willing to make him happy, as +soon as his own sense of duty shall permit." + +"Ay, hope is ever a far-off thing, Sergeant," returned the superior, +a shade of melancholy passing over his hard Scottish features as +he spoke; "and bonnie Scotland is a far-off country. Well, if we +have no heather and oatmeal in this region, we have venison for +the killing of it and salmon as plenty as at Berwick-upon-Tweed. +Is it true, Sergeant, that the men complain of having been +over-venisoned and over-pigeoned of late?" + + +"Not for some weeks, Major Duncan, for neither deer nor birds are +so plenty at this season as they have been. They begin to throw +their remarks about concerning the salmon, but I trust we shall get +through the summer without any serious disturbance on the score of +food. The Scotch in the battalion do, indeed, talk more than is +prudent of their want of oatmeal, grumbling occasionally of our +wheaten bread." + +"Ah, that is human nature, Sergeant! pure, unadulterated Scotch +human nature. A cake, man, to say the truth, is an agreeable +morsel, and I often see the time when I pine for a bite myself." + +"If the feeling gets to be troublesome, Major Duncan, --in the +men, I mean, sir, for I would not think of saying so disrespectful +a thing to your honor, -- but if the men ever pine seriously for +their natural food, I would humbly recommend that some oatmeal +be imported, or prepared in this country for them, and I think we +shall hear no more of it. A very little would answer for a cure, +sir." + +"You are a wag, Sergeant; but hang me if I am sure you are not +right. There may be sweeter things in this world, after all, than +oatmeal. You have a sweet daughter, Dunham, for one." + +"The girl is like her mother, Major Duncan, and will pass inspection," +said the Sergeant proudly. "Neither was brought up on anything +better than good American flour. The girl will pass inspection, +sir." + +"That would she, I'll answer for it. Well, I may as well come to +the point at once, man, and bring up my reserve into the front of +the battle. Here is Davy Muir, the quartermaster, disposed to make +your daughter his wife, and he has just got me to open the matter +to you, being fearful of compromising his own dignity; and I may as +well add that half the youngsters in the fort toast her, and talk +of her from morning till night." + +"She is much honored, sir," returned the father stiffly; "but +I trust the gentlemen will find something more worthy of them to +talk about ere long. I hope to see her the wife of an honest man +before many weeks, sir." + +"Yes, Davy is an honest man, and that is more than can be said for +all in the quartermaster's department, I'm thinking, Sergeant," +returned Lundie, with a slight smile. "Well, then may I tell the +Cupid-stricken youth that the matter is as good as settled?" + +"I thank your honor; but Mabel is betrothed to another." + +"The devil she is! That will produce a stir in the fort; though I'm +not sorry to hear it either, for, to be frank with you, Sergeant, +I'm no great admirer of unequal matches." + +"I think with your honor, and have no desire to see my daughter an +officer's lady. If she can get as high as her mother was before +her, it ought to satisfy any reasonable woman." + +"And may I ask, Sergeant, who is the lucky man that you intend to +call son-in-law?" + +"The Pathfinder, your honor." + +"Pathfinder!" + +"The same, Major Duncan; and in naming him to you, I give you his +whole history. No one is better known on this frontier than my +honest, brave, true-hearted friend." + +"All that is true enough; but is he, after all, the sort of person +to make a girl of twenty happy?" + +"Why not, your honor? The man is at the head of his calling. +There is no other guide or scout connected with the army who has +half the reputation of Pathfinder, or who deserves to have it half +as well." + +"Very true, Sergeant; but is the reputation of a scout exactly the +sort of renown to captivate a girl's fancy?" + +"Talking of girls' fancies, sir, is in my humble opinion much like +talking of a recruit's judgment. If we were to take the movements +of the awkward squad, sir, as a guide, we should never form a decent +line in battalion, Major Duncan." + +"But your daughter has nothing awkward about her: for a genteeler +girl of her class could not be found in old Albion itself. Is she +of your way of thinking in this matter? -- though I suppose she +must be, as you say she is betrothed." + +"We have not yet conversed on the subject, your honor; but I consider +her mind as good as made up, from several little circumstances +which might be named." + +"And what are these circumstances, Sergeant?" asked the Major, +who began to take more interest than he had at first felt on the +subject. "I confess a little curiosity to know something about a +woman's mind, being, as you know, a bachelor myself." + +"Why, your honor, when I speak of the Pathfinder to the girl, she +always looks me full in the face; chimes in with everything I say +in his favor, and has a frank open way with her, which says as much +as if she half considered him already as a husband." + +"Hum! and these signs, you think, Dunham, are faithful tokens of +your daughter's feelings?" + +"I do, your honor, for they strike me as natural. When I find a +man, sir, who looks me full in the face, while he praises an officer, +-- for, begging your honor's pardon, the men will sometimes pass +their strictures on their betters, - and when I find a man looking +me in the eyes as he praises his captain, I always set it down that +the fellow is honest, and means what he says." + +"Is there not some material difference in the age of the intended +bridegroom and that of his pretty bride, Sergeant?" + +"You are quite right, sir; Pathfinder is well advanced towards +forty, and Mabel has every prospect of happiness that a young woman +can derive from the certainty of possessing an experienced husband. +I was quite forty myself, your honor, when I married her mother." + +"But will your daughter be as likely to admire a green hunting-shirt, +such as that our worthy guide wears, with a fox-skin cap, as the +smart uniform of the 55th?" + +"Perhaps not, sir; and therefore she will have the merit of +self-denial, which always makes a young woman wiser and better." + +"And are you not afraid that she may be left a widow while still a +young woman? what between wild beasts, and wilder savages, Pathfinder +may be said to carry his life in his hand." + +"'Every bullet has its billet,' Lundie," for so the Major was +fond of being called in his moments of condescension, and when +not engaged in military affairs; "and no man in the 55th can call +himself beyond or above the chances of sudden death. In that +particular, Mabel would gain nothing by a change. Besides, sir, +if I may speak freely on such a subject, I much doubt if ever +Pathfinder dies in battle, or by any of the sudden chances of the +wilderness." + +"And why so, Sergeant?" asked the Major. "He is a soldier, so +far as danger is concerned, and one that is much more than usually +exposed; and, being free of his person, why should he expect to +escape when others do not?" + +"I do not believe, your honor, that the Pathfinder considers his +own chances better than any one's else, but the man will never die +by a bullet. I have seen him so often handling his rifle with as +much composure as if it were a shepherd's crook, in the midst of +the heaviest showers of bullets, and under so many extraordinary +circumstances, that I do not think Providence means he should ever +fall in that manner. And yet, if there be a man in his Majesty's +dominions who really deserves such a death, it is Pathfinder." + +"We never know, Sergeant," returned Lundie, with a countenance grave +with thought; "and the less we say about it, perhaps, the better. +But will your daughter --Mabel, I think, you call her -- will Mabel +be as willing to accept one who, after all, is a mere hanger-on +of the army, as to take one from the service itself? There is no +hope of promotion for the guide, Sergeant." + +"He is at the head of his corps already, your honor. In short, +Mabel has made up her mind on this subject; and, as your honor has +had the condescension to speak to me about Mr. Muir, I trust you +will be kind enough to say that the girl is as good as billeted +for life." + +"Well, well, this is your own matter, and, now -- Sergeant Dunham!" + +"Your honor," said the other, rising, and giving the customary +salute. + +"You have been told it is my intention to send you down among the +Thousand Islands for the next month. All the old subalterns have +had their tours of duty in that quarter -- all that I like to +trust at least; and it has at length come to your turn. Lieutenant +Muir, it is true, claims his right; but, being quartermaster, I do +not like to break up well-established arrangements. Are the men +drafted?" + +"Everything is ready, your honor. The draft is made, and I understood +that the canoe which got in last night brought a message to say +that the party already below is looking out for the relief." + +"It did; and you must sail the day after to-morrow, if not to-morrow +night. It will be wise, perhaps, to sail in the dark." + +"So Jasper thinks, Major Duncan; and I know no one more to be +depended on in such an affair than young Jasper Western." + +"Young Jasper Eau-douce!" said Lundie, a slight smile gathering +around his usually stern mouth. "Will that lad be of your party, +Sergeant?" + +"Your honor will remember that the _Scud_ never quits port without +him." + +"True; but all general rules have their exceptions. Have I not +seen a seafaring person about the fort within the last few days?" + +"No doubt, your honor; it is Master Cap, a brother-in-law of mine, +who brought my daughter from below." + +"Why not put him in the _Scud_ for this cruise, Sergeant, and leave +Jasper behind? Your brother-in-law would like the variety of a +fresh-water cruise, and you would enjoy more of his company." + +"I intended to ask your honor's permission to take him along; but +he must go as a volunteer. Jasper is too brave a lad to be turned +out of his command without a reason, Major Duncan; and I'm afraid +brother Cap despises fresh water too much to do duty on it." + +"Quite right, Sergeant, and I leave all this to your own discretion. +Eau-douce must retain his command, on second thoughts. You intend +that Pathfinder shall also be of the party?" + +"If your honor approves of it. There will be service for both the +guides, the Indian as well as the white man." + +"I think you are right. Well, Sergeant, I wish you good luck in the +enterprise; and remember the post is to be destroyed and abandoned +when your command is withdrawn. It will have done its work by that +time, or we shall have failed entirely, and it is too ticklish a +position to be maintained unnecessarily. You can retire." + +Sergeant Dunham gave the customary salute, turned on his heels as +if they had been pivots, and had got the door nearly drawn to after +him, when he was suddenly recalled. + +"I had forgotten, Sergeant, the younger officers have begged for +a shooting match, and to-morrow has been named for the day. All +competitors will be admitted, and the prizes will be a silver-mounted +powder horn, a leathern flask ditto," reading from a piece of +paper, "as I see by the professional jargon of this bill, and a +silk calash for a lady. The latter is to enable the victor to show +his gallantry by making an offering of it to her he best loves." + +"All very agreeable, your honor, at least to him that succeeds. +Is the Pathfinder to be permitted to enter?" + +"I do not well see how he can be excluded, if he choose to come +forward. Latterly, I have observed that he takes no share in these +sports, probably from a conviction of his own unequalled skill." + +"That's it, Major Duncan; the honest fellow knows there is not +a man on the frontier who can equal him, and he does not wish to +spoil the pleasure of others. I think we may trust to his delicacy +in anything, sir. Perhaps it may be as well to let him have his +own way?" + +"In this instance we must, Sergeant. Whether he will be as successful +in all others remains to be seen. I wish you good evening, Dunham." + +The Sergeant now withdrew, leaving Duncan of Lundie to his own +thoughts: that they were not altogether disagreeable was to be +inferred from the smiles which occasionally covered a countenance +hard and martial in its usual expression, though there were moments +in which all its severe sobriety prevailed. Half an hour might +have passed, when a tap at the door was answered by a direction to +enter. A middle-aged man, in the dress of an officer, but whose +uniform wanted the usual smartness of the profession, made his +appearance, and was saluted as "Mr. Muir." + +"I have come sir, at your bidding, to know my fortune," said the +Quartermaster, in a strong Scotch accent, as soon as he had taken +the seat which was proffered to him. "To say the truth to you, +Major Duncan, this girl is making as much havoc in the garrison as +the French did before Ty: I never witnessed so general a rout in +so short a time!" + +"Surely, Davy, you don't mean to persuade me that your young and +unsophisticated heart is in such a flame, after one week's ignition? +Why, man, this is worse than the affair in Scotland, where it +was said the heat within was so intense that it just burnt a hole +through your own precious body, and left a place for all the lassies +to peer in at, to see what the combustible material was worth." + +"Ye'll have your own way, Major Duncan; and your father and mother +would have theirs before ye, even if the enemy were in the camp. +I see nothing so extraordinar' in young people following the bent +of their inclinations and wishes." + +"But you've followed yours so often, Davy, that I should think by +this time it had lost the edge of novelty. Including that informal +affair in Scotland, when you were a lad, you've been married four +times already." + +"Only three, Major, as I hope to get another wife. I've not yet +had my number: no, no; only three." + +"I'm thinking, Davy, you don't include the first affair I mentioned; +that in which there was no parson." + +"And why should I Major? The courts decided that it was no marriage; +and what more could a man want? The woman took advantage of a +slight amorous propensity that may be a weakness in my disposition, +perhaps, and inveigled me into a contract which was found to be +illegal." + +"If I remember right, Muir, there were thought to be two sides to +that question, in the time of it?" + +"It would be but an indifferent question, my dear Major, that hadn't +two sides to it; and I've known many that had three. But the poor +woman's dead, and there was no issue; so nothing came of it after +all. Then, I was particularly unfortunate with my second wife; +I say second, Major, out of deference to you, and on the mere +supposition that the first was a marriage at all; but first or +second, I was particularly unfortunate with Jeannie Graham, who +died in the first lustrum, leaving neither chick nor chiel behind +her. I do think, if Jeannie had survived, I never should have +turned my thoughts towards another wife." + +"But as she did not, you married twice after her death; and are +desirous of doing so a third time." + +"The truth can never justly be gainsaid, Major Duncan, and I am +always ready to avow it. I'm thinking, Lundie, you are melancholar +this fine evening?" + +"No, Muir, not melancholy absolutely; but a little thoughtful, I +confess. I was looking back to my boyish days, when I, the laird's +son, and you, the parson's, roamed about our native hills, happy +and careless boys, taking little heed to the future; and then have +followed some thoughts, that may be a little painful, concerning +that future as it has turned out to be." + +"Surely, Lundie, ye do not complain of yer portion of it. You've +risen to be a major, and will soon be a lieutenant-colonel, if +letters tell the truth; while I am just one step higher than when +your honored father gave me my first commission, and a poor deevil +of a quartermaster." + +"And the four wives?" + +"Three, Lundie; three only that were legal, even under our own +liberal and sanctified laws." + +"Well, then, let it be three. Ye know, Davy," said Major Duncan, +insensibly dropping into the pronunciation and dialect of his youth, +as is much the practice with educated Scotchmen as they warm with +a subject that comes near the heart, -- "ye know, Davy, that my +own choice has long been made, and in how anxious and hope-wearied +a manner I've waited for that happy hour when I can call the woman +I've so long loved a wife; and here have you, without fortune, +name, birth, or merit -- I mean particular merit -- " + +"Na, na; dinna say that, Lundie. The Muirs are of gude bluid." + +"Well, then, without aught but bluid, ye've wived four times -- " + +"I tall ye but thrice, Lundie. Ye'll weaken auld friendship if ye +call it four." + +"Put it at yer own number, Davy; and it's far more than yer share. +Our lives have been very different, on the score of matrimony, at +least; you must allow that, my old friend." + +"And which do you think has been the gainer, Major, speaking as +frankly thegither as we did when lads?" + +"Nay, I've nothing to conceal. My days have passed in +hope deferred, while yours have passed in -- " + +"Not in hope realized, I give you mine honor, Major Duncan," +interrupted the Quartermaster. "Each new experiment I have thought +might prove an advantage; but disappointment seems the lot of +man. Ah! this is a vain world of ours, Lundie, it must be owned; +and in nothing vainer than in matrimony." + +"And yet you are ready to put your neck into the noose for the +fifth time?" + +"I desire to say, it will be but the fourth, Major Duncan," said the +Quartermaster positively; then, instantly changing the expression +of his face to one of boyish rapture, he added, "But this Mabel +Dunham is a _rara avis!_ Our Scotch lassies are fair and pleasant; +but it must be owned these colonials are of surpassing comeliness." + +"You will do well to recollect your commission and blood, +Davy. I believe all four of your wives -- " + +"I wish my dear Lundie, ye'd be more accurate in yer arithmetic. +Three times one make three." + +"All three, then, were what might be termed gentlewomen?" + +"That's just it, Major. Three were gentlewomen, as you say, and +the connections were suitable." + +"And the fourth being the daughter of my father's gardener, the +connection was unsuitable. But have you no fear that marrying +the child of a non-commissioned officer, who is in the same corps +with yourself, will have the effect to lessen your consequence in +the regiment?" + +"That's just been my weakness through life, Major Duncan; for I've +always married without regard to consequences. Every man has his +besetting sin, and matrimony, I fear, is mine. And now that we +have discussed what may be called the principles of the connection, +I will just ask if you did me the favor to speak to the Sergeant +on the trifling affair?" + +"I did, David; and am sorry to say, for your hopes, that I see no +great chance of your succeeding." + +"Not succeeding! An officer, and a quartermaster in the bargain, +and not succeed with a sergeant's daughter!" + +"It's just that, Davy." + +"And why not, Lundie? Will ye have the goodness to answer just +that?" + +"The girl is betrothed. Hand plighted, word passed, love pledged, +-- no, hang me if I believe that either; but she is betrothed." + +"Well, that's an obstacle, it must be avowed, Major, though it +counts for little if the heart is free." + +"Quite true; and I think it probable the heart is free in this case; +for the intended husband appears to be the choice of the father +rather than of the daughter." + +"And who may it be, Major?" asked the Quartermaster, who viewed +the whole matter with the philosophy and coolness acquired by use. +"I do not recollect any plausible suitor that is likely to stand +in my way." + +"No, you are the only _plausible_ suitor on the frontier, Davy. +The happy man is Pathfinder." + +"Pathfinder, Major Duncan!" + +"No more, nor any less, David Muir. Pathfinder is the man; but it +may relieve your jealousy a little to know that, in my judgment at +least, it is a match of the father's rather than of the daughter's +seeking." + +"I thought as much!" exclaimed the Quartermaster, drawing a +long breath, like one who felt relieved; "it's quite impossible +that with my experience in human nature - " + +"Particularly hu-woman's nature, David." + +"Ye will have yer joke, Lundie, let who will suffer. But I did +not think it possible I could be deceived as to the young woman's +inclinations, which I think I may boldly pronounce to be altogether +above the condition of Pathfinder. As for the individual himself +-- why, time will show." + +"Now, tell me frankly, Davy Muir," said Lundie, stepping short in +his walk, and looking the other earnestly in the face with a comical +expression of surprise, that rendered the veteran's countenance +ridiculously earnest, --"do you really suppose a girl like the +daughter of Sergeant Dunham can take a serious fancy to a man of +your years and appearance, and experience, I might add?" + +"Hout, awa', Lundie! ye dinna know the sax, and that's the reason +yer unmarried in yer forty-fifth year. It's a fearfu' time ye've +been a bachelor, Major!" + +"And what may be your age, Lieutenant Muir, if I may presume to +ask so delicate a question?" + +"Forty-seven; I'll no' deny it, Lundie; and if I get Mabel, there'll +be just a wife for every twa lustrums. But I didna think Sergeant +Dunham would be so humble minded as to dream of giving that sweet +lass of his to one like the Pathfinder." + +"There's no dream about it, Davy; the man is as serious as a soldier +about to be flogged." + +"Well, well, Major, we are auld friends," -- both ran into the +Scotch or avoided it, as they approached or drew away from their +younger days, in the dialogue, -- "and ought to know how to take +and give a joke, off duty. It is possible the worthy man has +not understood my hints, or he never would have thought of such a +thing. The difference between an officer's consort and a guide's +woman is as vast as that between the antiquity of Scotland and the +antiquity of America. I'm auld blood, too, Lundie." + +"Take my word for it Davy, your antiquity will do you no good in +this affair; and as for your blood, it is not older than your bones. +Well, well, man, ye know the Sergeant's answer; and so ye perceive +that my influence, on which ye counted so much, can do nought for +ye. Let us take a glass thegither, Davy, for auld acquaintance +sake; and then ye'll be doing well to remember the party that marches +the morrow, and to forget Mabel Dunham as fast as ever you can." + +"Ah, Major! I have always found it easier to forget a wife than +to forget a sweetheart. When a couple are fairly married, all is +settled but the death, as one may say, which must finally part us +all; and it seems to me awfu' irreverent to disturb the departed; +whereas there is so much anxiety and hope and felicity in expectation +like, with the lassie, that it keeps thought alive." + +"That is just my idea of your situation, Davy; for I never supposed +you expected any more felicity with either of your wives. Now, +I've heard of fellows who were so stupid as to look forward to +happiness with their wives even beyond the grave. I drink to your +success, or to your speedy recovery from this attack, Lieutenant; +and I admonish you to be more cautious in future, as some of these +violent cases may yet carry you off." + +"Many thanks, dear Major; and a speedy termination to an old +courtship, of which I know something. This is real mountain dew, +Lundie, and it warms the heart like a gleam of bonnie Scotland. +As for the men you've just mentioned, they could have had but one +wife a piece; for where there are several, the deeds of the women +themselves may carry them different ways. I think a reasonable +husband ought to be satisfied with passing his allotted time with +any particular wife in this world, and not to go about moping for +things unattainable. I'm infinitely obliged to you, Major Duncan, +for this and all your other acts of friendship; and if you could +but add another, I should think you had not altogether forgotten +the play-fellow of your boyhood." + +"Well, Davy, if the request be reasonable, and such as a superior +ought to grant, out with it, man." + +"If ye could only contrive a little service for me, down among the +Thousand Isles, for a fortnight or so, I think this matter might +be settled to the satisfaction of all parties. Just remember, +Lundie, the lassie is the only marriageable white female on this +frontier." + +"There is always duty for one in your line at a post, however +small; but this below can be done by the Sergeant as well as by +the Quartermaster-general, and better too." + +"But not better than by a regimental officer. There is great waste, +in common, among the orderlies." + +"I'll think of it, Muir," said the Major, laughing, "and you shall +have my answer in the morning. Here will be a fine occasion, man, +the morrow, to show yourself off before the lady; you are expert +with the rifle, and prizes are to be won. Make up your mind to +display your skill, and who knows what may yet happen before the +_Scud_ sails." + +"I'm thinking most of the young men will try their hands in this +sport, Major!" + +"That will they, and some of the old ones too, if you appear. To +keep you in countenance, I'll try a shot or two myself, Davy; and +you know I have some name that way." + +"It might, indeed, do good. The female heart, Major Duncan, is +susceptible in many different modes, and sometimes in a way that +the rules of philosophy might reject. Some require a suitor to +sit down before them, as it might be, in a regular siege, and only +capitulate when the place can hold out no longer; others, again, +like to be carried by storm; while there are hussies who can only +be caught by leading them into an ambush. The first is the most +creditable and officer-like process, perhaps; but I must say I +think the last the most pleasing." + +"An opinion formed from experience, out of all question. And what +of the storming parties?" + +"They may do for younger men, Lundie," returned the Quartermaster, +rising and winking, a liberty that he often took with his commanding +officer on the score of a long intimacy; "every period of life +has its necessities, and at forty-seven it's just as well to trust +a little to the head. I wish you a very good even, Major Duncan, +and freedom from gout, with a sweet and refreshing sleep." + +"The same to yourself, Mr. Muir, with many thanks. Remember the +passage of arms for the morrow." + +The Quartermaster withdrew, leaving Lundie in his library to reflect +on what had just passed. Use had so accustomed Major Duncan to +Lieutenant Muir and all his traits and humors, that the conduct +of the latter did not strike the former with the same force as it +will probably the reader. In truth, while all men act under one +common law that is termed nature, the varieties in their dispositions, +modes of judging, feelings, and selfishness are infinite. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Compel the hawke to sit that is unmann'd, +Or make the hound, untaught, to draw the deere, +Or bring the free against his will in band, +Or move the sad a pleasant tale to heere, +Your time is lost, and you no whit the neere! +So love ne learnes, of force the heart to knit: +She serves but those that feel sweet fancies' fit. +_Mirror for Magistrates._ + + +It is not often that hope is rewarded by fruition so completely as +the wishes of the young men of the garrison were met by the state +of the weather on the succeeding day. The heats of summer were +little felt at Oswego at the period of which we are writing; for +the shade of the forest, added to the refreshing breezes from the +lake, so far reduced the influence of the sun as to render the +nights always cool and the days seldom oppressive. + +It was now September, a month in which the strong gales of the coast +often appear to force themselves across the country as far as the +great lakes, where the inland sailor sometimes feels that genial +influence which characterizes the winds of the ocean invigorating +his frame, cheering his spirits, and arousing his moral force. +Such a day was that on which the garrison of Oswego assembled to +witness what its commander had jocularly called a "passage of arms." +Lundie was a scholar in military matters at least, and it was one +of his sources of honest pride to direct the reading and thoughts +of the young men under his orders to the more intellectual parts of +their profession. For one in his situation, his library was both +good and extensive, and its books were freely lent to all who +desired to use them. Among other whims that had found their way +into the garrison through these means, was a relish for the sort +of amusement in which it was now about to indulge; and around which +some chronicles of the days of chivalry had induced them to throw +a parade and romance not unsuited to the characters and habits +of soldiers, or to the insulated and wild post occupied by this +particular garrison. While so earnestly bent on pleasure, however, +they on whom that duty devolved did not neglect the safety of the +garrison. One standing on the ramparts of the fort, and gazing on +the waste of glittering water that bounded the view all along the +northern horizon, and on the slumbering and seemingly boundless +forest which filled the other half of the panorama, would have +fancied the spot the very abode of peacefulness and security; but +Duncan of Lundie too well knew that the woods might, at any moment, +give up their hundreds, bent on the destruction of the fort and +all it contained; and that even the treacherous lake offered a +highway of easy approach by which his more civilized and scarcely +less wily foes, the French, could come upon him at an unguarded +moment. Parties were sent out under old and vigilant officers, men +who cared little for the sports of the day, to scour the forest; +and one entire company held the fort, under arms, with orders to +maintain a vigilance as strict as if an enemy of superior force +was known to be near. With these precautions, the remainder of +the officers and men abandoned themselves, without apprehension, +to the business of the morning. + +The spot selected for the sports was a sort of esplanade, a little +west of the fort, and on the immediate bank of the lake. It had been +cleared of its trees and stumps, that it might answer the purpose +of a parade-ground, as it possessed the advantages of having its +rear protected by the water, and one of its flanks by the works. +Men drilling on it could be attacked, consequently, on two sides +only; and as the cleared space beyond it, in the direction of the +west and south, was large, any assailants would be compelled to +quit the cover of the woods before they could make an approach +sufficiently near to render them dangerous. + +Although the regular arms of the regiment were muskets, some fifty +rifles were produced on the present occasion. Every officer had +one as a part of his private provision for amusement; many belonged +to the scouts and friendly Indians, of whom more or less were +always hanging about the fort; and there was a public provision +of them for the use of those who followed the game with the express +object of obtaining supplies. Among those who carried the weapon +were some five or six, who had reputation for knowing how to use +it particularly well -- so well, indeed, as to have given them a +celebrity on the frontier; twice that number who were believed to +be much better than common; and many who would have been thought +expert in almost any situation but the precise one in which they +now happened to be placed. + +The distance was a hundred yards, and the weapon was to be used +without a rest; the target, a board, with the customary circular +lines in white paint, having the bull's-eye in the centre. The +first trials in skill commenced with challenges among the more +ignoble of the competitors to display their steadiness and dexterity +in idle competition. None but the common men engaged in this +strife, which had little to interest the spectators, among whom no +officer had yet appeared. + +Most of the soldiers were Scotch, the regiment having been raised +at Stirling and its vicinity not many years before, though, as in +the case of Sergeant Dunham, many Americans had joined it since its +arrival in the colonies. As a matter of course, the provincials +were generally the most expert marksmen; and after a desultory +trial of half an hour it was necessarily conceded that a youth who +had been born in the colony of New York, and who coming of Dutch +extraction, was the most expert of all who had yet tried their +skill. It was just as this opinion prevailed that the oldest +captain, accompanied by most of the gentlemen and ladies of the +fort, appeared on the parade. A train of some twenty females of +humbler condition followed, among whom was seen the well-turned +form, intelligent, blooming, animated countenance, and neat, +becoming attire of Mabel Dunham. + +Of females who were officially recognized as belonging to the class +of ladies, there were but three in the fort, all of whom were +officers' wives; Mabel being strictly, as had been stated by the +Quartermaster, the only real candidate for matrimony among her sex. + +Some little preparation had been made for the proper reception +of the females, who were placed on a low staging of planks near +the immediate bank of the lake. In this vicinity the prizes were +suspended from a post. Great care was taken to reserve the front +seat of the stage for the three ladies and their children; while +Mabel and those who belonged to the non-commissioned officers of +the regiment, occupied the second. The wives and daughters of +the privates were huddled together in the rear, some standing and +some sitting, as they could find room. Mabel, who had already been +admitted to the society of the officers' wives, on the footing of +a humble companion, was a good deal noticed by the ladies in front, +who had a proper appreciation of modest self-respect and gentle +refinement, though they were all fully aware of the value of rank, +more particularly in a garrison. + +As soon as this important portion of the spectators had got into +their places, Lundie gave orders for the trial of skill to proceed +in the manner that had been prescribed in his previous orders. +Some eight or ten of the best marksmen of the garrison now took +possession of the stand, and began to fire in succession. Among +them were officers and men indiscriminately placed, nor were the +casual visitors in the fort excluded from the competition. + +As might have been expected of men whose amusements and comfortable +subsistence equally depended on skill in the use of their weapons, +it was soon found that they were all sufficiently expert to hit the +bull's-eye, or the white spot in the centre of the target. Others +who succeeded them, it is true, were less sure, their bullets striking +in the different circles that surrounded the centre of the target +without touching it. + +According to the rules of the day, none could proceed to the second +trial who had failed in the first, and the adjutant of the place, +who acted as master of the ceremonies, or marshal of the day, called +upon the successful adventurers by name to get ready for the next +effort, while he gave notice that those who failed to present +themselves for the shot at the bull's-eye would necessarily be +excluded from all the higher trials. Just at this moment Lundie, +the Quartermaster, and Jasper Eau-douce appeared in the group +at the stand, while the Pathfinder walked leisurely on the ground +without his beloved rifle, for him a measure so unusual, as to +be understood by all present as a proof that he did not consider +himself a competitor for the honors of the day. All made way for +Major Duncan, who, as he approached the stand in a good-humored +way, took his station, levelled his rifle carelessly, and fired. +The bullet missed the required mark by several inches. + +"Major Duncan is excluded from the other trials!" proclaimed the +Adjutant, in a voice so strong and confident that all the elder +officers and the sergeants well understood that this failure was +preconcerted, while all the younger gentlemen and the privates felt +new encouragement to proceed on account of the evident impartiality +with which the laws of the sports were administered. + +"Now, Master Eau-douce, comes your turn," said Muir; "and if you +do not beat the Major, I shall say that your hand is better skilled +with the oar than with the rifle." + +Jasper's handsome face flushed, he stepped upon the stand, cast a +hasty glance at Mabel, whose pretty form he ascertained was bending +eagerly forward as if to note the result, dropped the barrel of his +rifle with but little apparent care into the palm of his left hand, +raised the muzzle for a single instant with exceeding steadiness, +and fired. The bullet passed directly through the centre of the +bull's-eye, much the best shot of the morning, since the others +had merely touched the paint. + +"Well performed, Master Jasper," said Muir, as soon as the result +was declared; "and a shot that might have done credit to an older +head and a more experienced eye. I'm thinking, notwithstanding, +there was some of a youngster's luck in it; for ye were no' partic'lar +in the aim ye took. Ye may be quick, Eau-douce, in the movement, +but yer not philosophic nor scientific in yer management of the +weepon. Now, Sergeant Dunham, I'll thank you to request the ladies +to give a closer attention than common; for I'm about to make that +use of the rifle which may be called the intellectual. Jasper would +have killed, I allow; but then there would not have been half the +satisfaction in receiving such a shot as in receiving one that is +discharged scientifically." + +All this time the Quartermaster was preparing himself for the +scientific trial; but he delayed his aim until he saw that the eye +of Mabel, in common with those of her companions, was fastened on +him in curiosity. As the others left him room, out of respect +to his rank, no one stood near the competitor but his commanding +officer, to whom he now said in his familiar manner, -- + +"Ye see, Lundie, that something is to be gained by exciting +a female's curiosity. It's an active sentiment is curiosity, and +properly improved may lead to gentler innovations in the end." + +"Very true, Davy; but ye keep us all waiting while ye make your +preparations; and here is Pathfinder drawing near to catch a lesson +from your greater experience." + +"Well Pathfinder, and so _you_ have come to get an idea too, +concerning the philosophy of shooting? I do not wish to hide my +light under a bushel, and yer welcome to all ye'll learn. Do ye +no' mean to try a shot yersel', man?" + +"Why should I, Quartermaster, why should I? I want none of the +prizes; and as for honor, I have had enough of that, if it's any +honor to shoot better than yourself. I'm not a woman to wear a +calash." + +"Very true; but ye might find a woman that is precious +in your eyes to wear it for ye, as -- -- " + +"Come, Davy," interrupted the Major, "your shot or a retreat. The +Adjutant is getting impatient." + +"The Quartermaster's department and the Adjutant's department are +seldom compliable, Lundie; but I'm ready. Stand a little aside, +Pathfinder, and give the ladies an opportunity." + +Lieutenant Muir now took his attitude with a good deal of studied +elegance, raised his rifle slowly, lowered it, raised it again, +repeated the manoeuvres, and fired. + +"Missed the target altogether!" shouted the man whose duty it was +to mark the bullets, and who had little relish for the Quartermaster's +tedious science. "Missed the target!" + +"It cannot be!" cried Muir, his face flushing equally with indignation +and shame; "it cannot be, Adjutant; for I never did so awkward a +thing in my life. I appeal to the ladies for a juster judgment." + +"The ladies shut their eyes when you fired!" exclaimed the regimental +wags. "Your preparations alarmed them." + +"I will na believe such calumny of the leddies, nor sic' a reproach +on my own skill," returned the Quartermaster, growing more and +more Scotch as he warmed with his feelings; "it's a conspiracy to +rob a meritorious man of his dues." + +"It's a dead miss, Muir," said the laughing Lundie; "and ye'll jist +sit down quietly with the disgrace." + +"No, no, Major," Pathfinder at length observed; "the Quartermaster +_is_ a good shot for a slow one and a measured distance, though +nothing extr'ornary for real service. He has covered Jasper's +bullet, as will be seen, if any one will take the trouble to examine +the target." + +The respect for Pathfinder's skill and for his quickness and +accuracy of sight was so profound and general, that, the instant +he made this declaration, the spectators began to distrust their +own opinions, and a dozen rushed to the target in order to ascertain +the fact. There, sure enough, it was found that the Quartermaster's +bullet had gone through the hole made by Jasper's, and that, too, +so accurately as to require a minute examination to be certain of +the circumstance; which, however, was soon clearly established, by +discovering one bullet over the other in the stump against which +the target was placed. + +"I told ye, ladies, ye were about to witness the influence of +science on gunnery," said the Quartermaster, advancing towards the +staging occupied by the females. "Major Duncan derides the idea of +mathematics entering into target-shooting; but I tell him philosophy +colors, and enlarges, and improves, and dilates, and explains +everything that belongs to human life, whether it be a shooting-match +or a sermon. In a word, philosophy is philosophy, and that is +saying all that the subject requires." + +"I trust you exclude love from the catalogue," observed the wife +of a captain who knew the history of the Quartermaster's marriages, +and who had a woman's malice against the monopolizer of her sex; +"it seems that philosophy has little in common with love." + +"You wouldn't say that, madam, if your heart had experienced many +trials. It's the man or the woman that has had many occasions to +improve the affections that can best speak of such matters; and, +believe me, of all love, philosophical is the most lasting, as it +is the most rational." + +"You would then recommend experience as an improvement on the +passion?" + +"Your quick mind has conceived the idea at a glance. The happiest +marriages are those in which youth and beauty and confidence on +one side, rely on the sagacity, moderation, and prudence of years +-- middle age, I mean, madam, for I'll no' deny that there is such +a thing as a husband's being too old for a wife. Here is Sergeant +Dunham's charming daughter, now, to approve of such sentiments, I'm +certain; her character for discretion being already well established +in the garrison, short as has been her residence among us." + +"Sergeant Dunham's daughter is scarcely a fitting interlocutor in +a discourse between you and me, Lieutenant Muir," rejoined the +captain's lady, with careful respect for her own dignity; "and yonder +is the Pathfinder about to take his chance, by way of changing the +subject." + +"I protest, Major Duncan, I protest," cried Muir hurrying back +towards the stand, with both arms elevated by way of enforcing +his words, -- "I protest in the strongest terms, gentlemen, against +Pathfinder's being admitted into these sports with Killdeer, which +is a piece, to say nothing of long habit that is altogether out of +proportion for a trial of skill against Government rifles." + +"Killdeer is taking its rest, Quartermaster," returned Pathfinder +calmly, "and no one here thinks of disturbing it. I did not think, +myself, of pulling a trigger to-day; but Sergeant Dunham has been +persuading me that I shall not do proper honor to his handsome +daughter, who came in under my care, if I am backward on such an +occasion. I'm using Jasper's rifle, Quartermaster, as you may see, +and that is no better than your own." + +Lieutenant Muir was now obliged to acquiesce, and every eye turned +towards the Pathfinder, as he took the required station. The air +and attitude of this celebrated guide and hunter were extremely +fine, as he raised his tall form and levelled the piece, showing +perfect self-command, and a through knowledge of the power of the +human frame as well as of the weapon. Pathfinder was not what is +usually termed a handsome man, though his appearance excited so +much confidence and commanded respect. Tall, and even muscular, +his frame might have been esteemed nearly perfect, were it not for +the total absence of everything like flesh. Whipcord was scarcely +more rigid than his arms and legs, or, at need, more pliable; but the +outlines of his person were rather too angular for the proportion +that the eye most approves. Still, his motions, being natural, were +graceful, and, being calm and regulated, they gave him an air and +dignity that associated well with the idea, which was so prevalent, +of his services and peculiar merits. His honest, open features +were burnt to a bright red, that comported well with the notion of +exposure and hardships, while his sinewy hands denoted force, and +a species of use removed from the stiffening and deforming effects +of labor. Although no one perceived any of those gentler or more +insinuating qualities which are apt to win upon a woman's affections, as +he raised his rifle not a female eye was fastened on him without a +silent approbation of the freedom of his movements and the manliness +of his air. Thought was scarcely quicker than his aim; and, as +the smoke floated above his head, the butt-end of the rifle was +seen on the ground, the hand of the Pathfinder was leaning on the +barrel, and his honest countenance was illuminated by his usual +silent, hearty laugh. + +"If one dared to hint at such a thing," cried Major Duncan, "I +should say that the Pathfinder had also missed the target." + +"No, no, Major," returned the guide confidently; "that _would_ be +a risky declaration. I didn't load the piece, and can't say what +was in it; but if it was lead, you will find the bullet driving down +those of the Quartermaster and Jasper, else is not my name Pathfinder." + +A shout from the target announced the truth of this assertion. + +"That's not all, that's not all, boys," called out the guide, who +was now slowly advancing towards the stage occupied by the females; +"if you find the target touched at all, I'll own to a miss. The +Quartermaster cut the wood, but you'll find no wood cut by that +last messenger." + +"Very true, Pathfinder, very true," answered Muir, who was lingering +near Mabel, though ashamed to address her particularly in the +presence of the officers' wives. "The Quartermaster did cut the +wood, and by that means he opened a passage for your bullet, which +went through the hole he had made." + +"Well, Quartermaster, there goes the nail and we'll see who can +drive it closer, you or I; for, though I did not think of showing +what a rifle can do to-day, now my hand is in, I'll turn my back +to no man that carries King George's commission. Chingachgook is +outlying, or he might force me into some of the niceties of the +art; but, as for you, Quartermaster, if the nail don't stop you, +the potato will." + +"You're over boastful this morning, Pathfinder; but you'll find +you've no green boy fresh from the settlements and the towns to +deal with, I will assure ye!" + +"I know that well, Quartermaster; I know that well, and shall not +deny your experience. You've lived many years on the frontiers, +and I've heard of you in the colonies, and among the Indians, too, +quite a human life ago." + +"Na, na," interrupted Muir in his broadest Scotch, "this is injustice, +man. I've no' lived so very long, neither." + +"I'll do you justice, Lieutenant, even if you get the best in +the potato trial. I say you've passed a good human life, for a +soldier, in places where the rifle is daily used, and I know you +are a creditable and ingenious marksman; but then you are not a +true rifle-shooter. As for boasting, I hope I'm not a vain talker +about my own exploits; but a man's gifts are his gifts, and it's +flying in the face of Providence to deny them. The Sergeant's +daughter, here, shall judge between us, if you have the stomach +to submit to so pretty a judge." + +The Pathfinder had named Mabel as the arbiter because he admired +her, and because, in his eyes, rank had little or no value; but +Lieutenant Muir shrank at such a reference in the presence of the +wives of the officers. He would gladly keep himself constantly +before the eyes and the imagination of the object of his wishes; +but he was still too much under the influence of old prejudices, +and perhaps too wary, to appear openly as her suitor, unless he +saw something very like a certainty of success. On the discretion +of Major Duncan he had a full reliance, and he apprehended no +betrayal from that quarter; but he was quite aware, should it ever +get abroad that he had been refused by the child of a non-commissioned +officer, he would find great difficulty in making his approaches +to any other woman of a condition to which he might reasonably +aspire. Notwithstanding these doubts and misgivings, Mabel looked +so prettily, blushed so charmingly, smiled so sweetly, and altogether +presented so winning a picture of youth, spirit, modesty, and beauty, +that he found it exceedingly tempting to be kept so prominently +before her imagination, and to be able to address her freely. + +"You shall have it your own way, Pathfinder," he answered, as +soon as his doubts had settled down into determination; "let the, +Sergeant's daughter -- his charming daughter, I should have termed +her -- be the umpire then; and to her we will both dedicate the +prize, that one or the other must certainly win. Pathfinder must +be humored, ladies, as you perceive, else, no doubt, we should have +had the honor to submit ourselves to one of your charming society." + +A call for the competitors now drew the Quartermaster and his +adversary away, and in a few moments the second trial of skill +commenced. A common wrought nail was driven lightly into the target, +its head having been first touched with paint, and the marksman +was required to hit it, or he lost his chances in the succeeding +trials. No one was permitted to enter, on this occasion, who had +already failed in the essay against the bull's-eye. + +There might have been half a dozen aspirants for the honors of +this trial; one or two, who had barely succeeded in touching the +spot of paint in the previous strife, preferring to rest their +reputations there, feeling certain that they could not succeed in +the greater effort that was now exacted of them. The first three +adventurers failed, all coming very near the mark, but neither +touching it. The fourth person who presented himself was the +Quartermaster, who, after going through his usual attitudes, so +far succeeded as to carry away a small portion of the head of the +nail, planting his bullet by the side of its point. This was not +considered an extraordinary shot, though it brought the adventurer +within the category. + +"You've saved your bacon, Quartermaster, as they say in the +settlements of their creaturs," cried Pathfinder, laughing; "but +it would take a long time to build a house with a hammer no better +than yours. Jasper, here, will show you how a nail is to be started, +or the lad has lost some of his steadiness of hand and sartainty +of eye. You would have done better yourself, Lieutenant, had you +not been so much bent on soldierizing your figure. Shooting is a +natural gift, and is to be exercised in a natural way." + +"We shall see, Pathfinder; I call that a pretty attempt at a nail; +and I doubt if the 55th has another hammer, as you call it, that +can do just the same thing over again." + +"Jasper is not in the 55th, but there goes his rap." + +As the Pathfinder spoke, the bullet of Eau-douce hit the nail +square, and drove it into the target, within an inch of the head. + +"Be all ready to clench it, boys!" cried out Pathfinder, stepping +into his friend's tracks the instant they were vacant. "Never mind +a new nail; I can see that, though the paint is gone, and what I can +see I can hit, at a hundred yards, though it were only a mosquito's +eye. Be ready to clench!" + +The rifle cracked, the bullet sped its way, and the head of the nail +was buried in the wood, covered by the piece of flattened lead. + +"Well, Jasper, lad," continued Pathfinder, dropping the butt-end +of his rifle to the ground, and resuming the discourse, as if he +thought nothing of his own exploit, "you improve daily. A few +more tramps on land in my company, and the best marksman on the +frontiers will have occasion to look keenly when he takes his +stand ag'in you. The Quartermaster is respectable, but he will +never get any farther; whereas you, Jasper, have the gift, and may +one day defy any who pull trigger." + +"Hoot, hoot!" exclaimed Muir; "do you call hitting the head of the +nail respectable only, when it's the perfection of the art? Any +one the least refined and elevated in sentiment knows that the +delicate touches denote the master; whereas your sledge-hammer +blows come from the rude and uninstructed. If 'a miss is as good +as a mile,' a hit ought to be better, Pathfinder, whether it wound +or kill." + +"The surest way of settling this rivalry will be to make another +trial," observed Lundie, "and that will be of the potato. You're +Scotch, Mr. Muir, and might fare better were it a cake or a thistle; +but frontier law has declared for the American fruit, and the potato +it shall be." + +As Major Duncan manifested some impatience of manner, Muir had +too much tact to delay the sports any longer with his discursive +remarks, but judiciously prepared himself for the next appeal. To +say the truth, the Quartermaster had little or no faith in his +own success in the trial of skill that was to follow, nor would +he have been so free in presenting himself as a competitor at all +had he anticipated it would have been made; but Major Duncan, who +was somewhat of a humorist in his own quiet Scotch way, had secretly +ordered it to be introduced expressly to mortify him; for, a laird +himself, Lundie did not relish the notion that one who might claim +to be a gentleman should bring discredit on his caste by forming +an unequal alliance. As soon as everything was prepared, Muir was +summoned to the stand, and the potato was held in readiness to be +thrown. As the sort of feat we are about to offer to the reader, +however, may be new to him, a word in explanation will render the +matter more clear. A potato of large size was selected, and given +to one who stood at the distance of twenty yards from the stand. +At the word "heave!" which was given by the marksman, the vegetable +was thrown with a gentle toss into the air, and it was the business +of the adventurer to cause a ball to pass through it before it +reached the ground. + +The Quartermaster, in a hundred experiments, had once succeeded in +accomplishing this difficult feat; but he now essayed to perform it +again, with a sort of blind hope that was fated to be disappointed. +The potato was thrown in the usual manner, the rifle was discharged, +but the flying target was untouched. + +"To the right-about, and fall out, Quartermaster," said Lundie, +smiling at the success of the artifice. "The honor of the silken +calash will lie between Jasper Eau-douce and Pathfinder." + +"And how is the trial to end, Major?" inquired the latter. "Are +we to have the two-potato trial, or is it to be settled by centre +and skin?" + +"By centre and skin, if there is any perceptible difference; +otherwise the double shot must follow." + +"This is an awful moment to me, Pathfinder," observed Jasper, as +he moved towards the stand, his face actually losing its color in +intensity of feeling. + +Pathfinder gazed earnestly at the young man; and then, begging +Major Duncan to have patience for a moment, he led his friend out +of the hearing of all near him before he spoke. + +"You seem to take this matter to heart, Jasper?" the hunter remarked, +keeping his eyes fastened on those of the youth. + +"I must own, Pathfinder, that my feelings were never before so much +bound up in success." + +"And do you so much crave to outdo me, an old and tried friend? +-- and that, as it might be, in my own way? Shooting is my gift, +boy, and no common hand can equal mine." + +"I know it -- I know it, Pathfinder; but yet -- " + +"But what, Jasper, boy? -- speak freely; you talk to a friend." + +The young man compressed his lips, dashed a hand across his eye, +and flushed and paled alternately, like a girl confessing her love. +Then, squeezing the other's hand, he said calmly, like one whose +manhood has overcome all other sensations, "I would lose an arm, +Pathfinder, to be able to make an offering of that calash to Mabel +Dunham." + +The hunter dropped his eyes to the ground, and as he walked slowly +back towards the stand, he seemed to ponder deeply on what he had +just heard. + +"You never could succeed in the double trial, Jasper!" he suddenly +remarked. + +"Of that I am certain, and it troubles me." + +"What a creature is mortal man! He pines for things which are +not of his gift and treats the bounties of Providence lightly. No +matter, no matter. Take your station, Jasper, for the Major is +waiting; and harken, lad, -- I must touch the skin, for I could +not show my face in the garrison with less than that." + +"I suppose I must submit to my fate," returned Jasper, flushing +and losing his color as before; "but I will make the effort, if I +die." + +"What a thing is mortal man!" repeated Pathfinder, falling back to +allow his friend room to take his arm; "he overlooks his own gifts, +and craves those of another!" + +The potato was thrown, Jasper fired, and the shout that followed +preceded the announcement of the fact that he had driven his bullet +through its centre, or so nearly so as to merit that award. + +"Here is a competitor worthy of you, Pathfinder," cried Major Duncan +with delight, as the former took his station; "and we may look to +some fine shooting in the double trial." + +"What a thing is mortal man!" repeated the hunter, scarcely seeming +to notice what was passing around him, so much were his thoughts +absorbed in his own reflections. "Toss!" + +The potato was tossed, the rifle cracked, -- it was remarked just +as the little black ball seemed stationary in the air, for the +marksman evidently took unusual heed to his aim, -- and then a look +of disappointment and wonder succeeded among those who caught the +falling target. + +"Two holes in one?" called out the Major. + +"The skin, the skin!" was the answer; "only the skin!" + +"How's this, Pathfinder? Is Jasper Eau-douce to carry off the +honors of the day?" + +"The calash is his," returned the other, shaking his head and +walking quietly away from the stand. "What a creature is mortal +man! never satisfied with his own gifts, but for ever craving that +which Providence denies!" + +As Pathfinder had not buried his bullet in the potato, but had cut +through the skin, the prize was immediately adjudged to Jasper. +The calash was in the hands of the latter when the Quartermaster +approached, and with a polite air of cordiality he wished his +successful rival joy of his victory. + +"But now you've got the calash, lad, it's of no use to you," he +added; "it will never make a sail, nor even an ensign. I'm thinking, +Eau-douce, you'd no' be sorry to see its value in good siller of +the king?" + +"Money cannot buy it, Lieutenant," returned Jasper, whose eye +lighted with all the fire of success and joy. "I would rather +have won this calash than have obtained fifty new suits of sails +for the _Scud!_" + +"Hoot, hoot, lad! you are going mad like all the rest of them. I'd +even venture to offer half a guinea for the trifle rather than it +should lie kicking about in the cabin of your cutter, and in the +end become an ornament for the head of a squaw." + +Although Jasper did not know that the wary Quartermaster had not +offered half the actual cost of the prize, he heard the proposition +with indifference. Shaking his head in the negative, he advanced +towards the stage, where his approach excited a little commotion, +the officers' ladies, one and all, having determined to accept the +present, should the gallantry of the young sailor induce him to +offer it. But Jasper's diffidence, no less than admiration for +another, would have prevented him from aspiring to the honor of +complimenting any whom he thought so much his superiors. + +"Mabel," said he, "this prize is for you, unless -- " + +"Unless what, Jasper?" answered the girl, losing her own bashfulness +in the natural and generous wish to relieve his embarrassment, +though both reddened in a way to betray strong feeling. + +"Unless you may think too indifferently of it, because it is offered +by one who may have no right to believe his gift will be accepted." + +"I do accept it, Jasper; and it shall be a sign of the danger I +have passed in your company, and of the gratitude I feel for your +care of me -- your care, and that of the Pathfinder." + +"Never mind me, never mind me!" exclaimed the latter; "this is +Jasper's luck, and Jasper's gift: give him full credit for both. +My turn may come another day; mine and the Quartermaster's, who +seems to grudge the boy the calash; though what _he_ can want of +it I cannot understand, for he has no wife." + +"And has Jasper Eau-douce a wife? Or have you a wife yoursel', +Pathfinder? I may want it to help to get a wife, or as a memorial +that I have had a wife, or as proof how much I admire the sex, or +because it is a female garment, or for some other equally respectable +motive. It's not the unreflecting that are the most prized by +the thoughtful, and there is no surer sign that a man made a good +husband to his first consort, let me tell you all, than to see him +speedily looking round for a competent successor. The affections +are good gifts from Providence, and they that have loved one +faithfully prove how much of this bounty has been lavished upon +them by loving another as soon as possible." + +"It may be so, it may be so. I am no practitioner in such things, +and cannot gainsay it. But Mabel here, the Sergeant's daughter, +will give you full credit for the words. Come, Jasper, although +our hands are out, let us see what the other lads can do with the +rifle." + +Pathfinder and his companions retired, for the sports were about +to proceed. The ladies, however, were not so much engrossed with +rifle-shooting as to neglect the calash. It passed from hand +to hand; the silk was felt, the fashion criticized, and the work +examined, and divers opinions were privately ventured concerning +the fitness of so handsome a thing passing into the possession of +a non-commissioned officer's child. + +"Perhaps you will be disposed to sell that calash, Mabel, when it +has been a short time in your possession?" inquired the captain's +lady. "Wear it, I should think, you never can." + +"I may not wear it, madam," returned our heroine modestly; "but I +should not like to part with it either." + +"I daresay Sergeant Dunham keeps you above the necessity of selling +your clothes, child; but, at the same time, it is money thrown +away to keep an article of dress you can never wear." + +"I should be unwilling to part with the gift of a friend." + +"But the young man himself will think all the better of you for +your prudence after the triumph of the day is forgotten. It is a +pretty and a becoming calash, and ought not to be thrown away." + +"I've no intention to throw it away, ma'am; and, if you please, +would rather keep it." + +"As you will, child; girls of your age often overlook the real +advantages. Remember, however, if you do determine to dispose of +the thing, that it is bespoke, and that I will not take it if you +ever even put it on your own head." + +"Yes, ma'am," said Mabel, in the meekest voice imaginable, though +her eyes looked like diamonds, and her cheeks reddened to the +tints of two roses, as she placed the forbidden garment over her +well-turned shoulders, where she kept it a minute, as if to try +its fitness, and then quietly removed it again. + +The remainder of the sports offered nothing of interest. The +shooting was reasonably good; but the trials were all of a scale +lower than those related, and the competitors were soon left to +themselves. The ladies and most of the officers withdrew, and the +remainder of the females soon followed their example. Mabel was +returning along the low flat rocks that line the shore of the lake, +dangling her pretty calash from a prettier finger, when Pathfinder +met her. He carried the rifle which he had used that day; but +his manner had less of the frank ease of the hunter about it than +usual, while his eye seemed roving and uneasy. After a few unmeaning +words concerning the noble sheet of water before them, he turned +towards his companion with strong interest in his countenance, and +said, -- + +"Jasper earned that calash for you, Mabel, without much trial of +his gifts." + +"It was fairly done, Pathfinder." + +"No doubt, no doubt. The bullet passed neatly through the potato, +and no man could have done more; though others might have done as +much." + +"But no one did as much!" exclaimed Mabel, with an animation that +she instantly regretted; for she saw by the pained look of the guide +that he was mortified equally by the remark and by the feeling with +which it was uttered. + +"It is true, it is true, Mabel, no one did as much then; but -- yet +there is no reason I should deny my gifts which come from Providence +-- yes, yes; no one did as much there, but you shall know what +_can_ be done here. Do you observe the gulls that are flying over +our heads?" + +"Certainly, Pathfinder; there are too many to escape notice." + +"Here, where they cross each other in sailing about," he added, +cocking and raising his rifle; "the two -- the two. Now look!" + +The piece was presented quick as thought, as two of the birds came +in a line, though distant from each other many yards; the report +followed, and the bullet passed through the bodies of both victims. +No sooner had the gulls fallen into the lake, than Pathfinder +dropped the butt-end of the rifle, and laughed in his own peculiar +manner, every shade of dissatisfaction and mortified pride having +left his honest face. + +"That is something, Mabel, that is something; although I have no +calash to give you! But ask Jasper himself; I'll leave it all to +Jasper, for a truer tongue and heart are not in America." + +"Then it was not Jasper's fault that he gained the prize?" + +"Not it. He did his best, and he did well. For one that has water +gifts, rather than land gifts, Jasper is uncommonly expert, and a +better backer no one need wish, ashore or afloat. But it was my +fault, Mabel, that he got the calash; though it makes no difference +-- it makes no difference, for the thing has gone to the right +person." + +"I believe I understand you, Pathfinder," said Mabel, blushing in +spite of herself, "and I look upon the calash as the joint gift of +yourself and Jasper." + +"That would not be doing justice to the lad, neither. He won the +garment, and had a right to give it away. The most you may think, +Mabel, is to believe that, had I won it, it would have gone to the +same person." + +"I will remember that, Pathfinder, and take care that others know +your skill, as it has been proved upon the poor gulls in my presence." + +"Lord bless you, Mabel! there is no more need of your talking in +favor of my shooting on this frontier, than of your talking about +the water in the lake or the sun in the heavens. Everybody knows +what I can do in that way, and your words would be thrown away, as +much as French would be thrown away on an American bear." + +"Then you think that Jasper knew you were giving him this advantage, +of which he had so unhandsomely availed himself?" said Mabel, +the color which had imparted so much lustre to her eyes gradually +leaving her face, which became grave and thoughtful. + +"I do not say that, but very far from it. We all forget things that +we have known, when eager after our wishes. Jasper is satisfied +that I can pass one bullet through two potatoes, as I sent my bullet +through the gulls; and he knows no other man on the frontier can +do the same thing. But with the calash before his eyes, and the +hope of giving it to you, the lad was inclined to think better +of himself, just at that moment, perhaps, than he ought. No, no, +there's nothing mean or distrustful about Jasper Eau-douce, though +it is a gift natural to all young men to wish to appear well in +the eyes of handsome young women." + +"I'll try to forget all, but the kindness you've both shown to a poor +motherless girl," said Mabel, struggling to keep down emotions she +scarcely knew how to account for herself. "Believe me, Pathfinder, +I can never forget all you have already done for me -- you and Jasper; +and this new proof of your regard is not thrown away. Here, here +is a brooch that is of silver, and I offer it as a token that I +owe you life or liberty." + +"What shall I do with this, Mabel?" asked the bewildered hunter, +holding the simple trinket in his hand. "I have neither buckle +nor button about me, for I wear nothing but leathern strings, and +them of good deer-skins. It's pretty to the eye, but it is prettier +far on the spot it came from than it can be about me." + +"Nay, put it in your hunting-shirt; it will become it well. +Remember, Pathfinder, that it is a token of friendship between us, +and a sign that I can never forget you or your services." + +Mabel then smiled an adieu; and, bounding up the bank, she was soon +lost to view behind the mound of the fort. + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +Lo! dusky masses steal in dubious sight, + Along the leaguer'd wall, and bristling bank, +Of the arm'd river; while with straggling light, + The stars peep through the vapor, dim and dank. +BYRON. + + +A few hours later Mabel Dunham was on the bastion that overlooked +the river and the lake, seemingly in deep thought. The evening +was calm and soft, and the question had arisen whether the party +for the Thousand Islands would be able to get out that night or +not, on account of the total absence of wind. The stores, arms, +and ammunition were already shipped, and even Mabel's effects +were on board; but the small draft of men that was to go was still +ashore, there being no apparent prospect of the cutter's getting +under way. Jasper had warped the _Scud_ out of the cove, and so +far up the stream as to enable him to pass through the outlet of the +river whenever he chose; but there he still lay, riding at single +anchor. The drafted men were lounging about the shore of the cove, +undecided whether or not to pull off. + +The sports of the morning had left a quiet in the garrison which +was in harmony with the whole of the beautiful scene, and Mabel +felt its influence on her feelings, though probably too little +accustomed to speculate on such sensations to be aware of the +cause. Everything near appeared lovely and soothing, while the +solemn grandeur of the silent forest and placid expanse of the +lake lent a sublimity that other scenes might have wanted. For the +first time, Mabel felt the hold that the towns and civilization +had gained on her habits sensibly weakened; and the warm-hearted +girl began to think that a life passed amid objects such as those +around her might be happy. How far the experience of the last days +came in aid of the calm and holy eventide, and contributed towards +producing that young conviction, may be suspected, rather than +affirmed, in this early portion of our legend. + +"A charming sunset, Mabel!" said the hearty voice of her uncle, +so close to the ear of our heroine as to cause her to start, -- "a +charming sunset, girl, for a fresh-water concern, though we should +think but little of it at sea." + +"And is not nature the same on shore or at sea -- on a lake like +this or on the ocean? Does not the sun shine on all alike, dear +uncle; and can we not feel gratitude for the blessings of Providence +as strongly on this remote frontier as in our own Manhattan?" + +"The girl has fallen in with some of her mother's books. Is +not nature the same, indeed! Now, Mabel, do you imagine that the +nature of a soldier is the same as that of a seafaring man? You've +relations in both callings, and ought to be able to answer." + +"But uncle, I mean human nature." + +"So do I, girl; the human nature of a seaman, and the human nature +of one of these fellows of the 55th, not even excepting your +own father. Here have they had a shooting-match -- target-firing +I should call it -- this day, and what a different thing has it +been from a target-firing afloat! There we should have sprung our +broadside, sported with round shot, at an object half a mile off, +at the very nearest; and the potatoes, if there happened to be any +on board, as very likely would not have been the case, would have +been left in the cook's coppers. It may be an honorable calling, +that of a soldier, Mabel; but an experienced hand sees many follies +and weaknesses in one of these forts. As for that bit of a lake, +you know my opinion of it already, and I wish to disparage nothing. +No real seafarer disparages anything; but, d--- me, if I regard +this here Ontario, as they call it, as more than so much water in +a ship's scuttle-butt. Now, look you here, Mabel, if you wish to +understand the difference between the ocean and a lake, I can make +you comprehend it with a single look: this is what one may call +a calm, seeing that there is no wind; though, to own the truth, +I do not think the calms are as calm as them we get outside -- " + +"Uncle, there is not a breath of air. I do not think it possible +for the leaves to be more immovably still than those of the entire +forest are at this very moment." + +"Leaves! what are leaves, child? there are no leaves at sea. If +you wish to know whether it is a dead calm or not, try a mould +candle, -- your dips flaring too much, --and then you may be certain +whether there is or is not any wind. If you were in a latitude +where the air was so still that you found a difficulty in stirring +it to draw it in in breathing, you might fancy it a calm. People +are often on a short allowance of air in the calm latitudes. Here, +again, look at that water! It is like milk in a pan, with no more +motion now than there is in a full hogshead before the bung is +started. On the ocean the water is never still, let the air be as +quiet as it may." + +"The water of the ocean never still, Uncle Cap? not even in a calm?" + +"Bless your heart, no, child! The ocean breathes like a living +being, and its bosom is always heaving, as the poetizers call it, +though there be no more air than is to be found in a siphon. No +man ever saw the ocean still like this lake; but it heaves and sets +as if it had lungs." + +"And this lake is not absolutely still, for you perceive there is +a little ripple on the shore, and you may even hear the surf plunging +at moments against the rocks." + +"All d----d poetry! Lake Ontario is no more the Atlantic than a +Powles Hook periagila is a first-rate. That Jasper, notwithstanding, +is a fine lad, and wants instruction only to make a man of him." + +"Do you think him ignorant, uncle?" answered Mabel, prettily adjusting +her hair, in order to do which she was obliged, or fancied she was +obliged, to turn away her face. "To me Jasper Eau-douce appears +to know more than most of the young men of his class. He has read +but little, for books are not plenty in this part of the world; but +he has thought much, as least so it seems to me, for one so young." + +"He is ignorant, as all must be who navigate an inland water like +this. No, no, Mabel; we both owe something to Jasper and the +Pathfinder, and I have been thinking how I can best serve them, for +I hold ingratitude to be the vice of a hog; for treat the animal +to your own dinner, and he would eat you for the dessert." + +"Very true, dear uncle; we ought indeed to do all we can to express +our proper sense of the services of both these brave men." + +"Spoken like your mother's daughter, girl, and in a way to do credit +to the Cap family. Now, I've hit upon a traverse that will just +suit all parties; and, as soon as we get back from this little +expedition down the lake among them there Thousand Islands, and I +am ready to return, it is my intention to propose it." + +"Dearest uncle! this is so considerate in you, and will be so just! +May I ask what your intentions are?" + +"I see no reason for keeping them a secret from you, Mabel, though +nothing need be said to your father about them; for the Sergeant has +his prejudices, and might throw difficulties in the way. Neither +Jasper nor his friend Pathfinder can ever make anything hereabouts, +and I propose to take both with me down to the coast, and get them +fairly afloat. Jasper would find his sea-legs in a fortnight, and +a twelvemonth's v'y'ge would make him a man. Although Pathfinder +might take more time, or never get to be rated able, yet one could +make something of him too, particularly as a look-out, for he has +unusually good eyes." + +"Uncle, do you think either would consent to this?" said Mabel +smiling. + +"Do I suppose them simpletons? What rational being would neglect +his own advancement? Let Jasper alone to push his way, and the +lad may yet die the master of some square-rigged craft." + +"And would he be any the happier for it, dear uncle? How much +better is it to be the master of a square-rigged craft than to be +master of a round-rigged craft?" + +"Pooh, pooh, Magnet! You are just fit to read lectures about +ships before some hysterical society; you don't know what you are +talking about; leave these things to me, and they'll be properly +managed. Ah! Here is the Pathfinder himself, and I may just as +well drop him a hint of my benevolent intentions as regards himself. +Hope is a great encourager of our exertions." + +Cap nodded his head, and then ceased to speak, while the hunter +approached, not with his usual frank and easy manner, but in a way +to show that he was slightly embarrassed, if not distrustful of +his reception. + +"Uncle and niece make a family party," said Pathfinder, when near +the two, "and a stranger may not prove a welcome companion?" + +"You are no stranger, Master Pathfinder," returned Cap, "and no one +can be more welcome than yourself. We were talking of you but a +moment ago, and when friends speak of an absent man, he can guess +what they have said." + +"I ask no secrets. Every man has his enemies, and I have mine, +though I count neither you, Master Cap, nor pretty Mabel here among +the number. As for the Mingos, I will say nothing, though they +have no just cause to hate me." + +"That I'll answer for, Pathfinder! for you strike my fancy as being +well-disposed and upright. There is a method, however, of getting +away from the enmity of even these Mingos; and if you choose to take +it, no one will more willingly point it out than myself, without +a charge for my advice either." + +"I wish no enemies, Saltwater," for so the Pathfinder had begun +to call Cap, having, insensibly to himself, adopted the term, +by translating the name given him by the Indians in and about the +fort, -- "I wish no enemies. I'm as ready to bury the hatchet with +the Mingos as with the French, though you know that it depends on +One greater than either of us so to turn the heart as to leave a +man without enemies." + +"By lifting your anchor, and accompanying me down to the coast, +friend Pathfinder, when we get back from this short cruise on +which we are bound, you will find yourself beyond the sound of the +war-whoop, and safe enough from any Indian bullet." + +"And what should I do on the salt water? Hunt in your towns? Follow +the trails of people going and coming from market, and ambush dogs +and poultry? You are no friend to my happiness, Master Cap, if +you would lead me out of the shades of the woods to put me in the +sun of the clearings." + +"I did not propose to leave you in the settlements, Pathfinder, but +to carry you out to sea, where a man can only be said to breathe +freely. Mabel will tell you that such was my intention, before a +word was said on the subject." + +"And what does Mabel think would come of such a change? She knows +that a man has his gifts, and that it is as useless to pretend +to others as to withstand them that come from Providence. I am +a hunter, and a scout, or a guide, Saltwater, and it is not in me +to fly so much in the face of Heaven as to try to become anything +else. Am I right, Mabel, or are you so much a woman as to wish to +see a natur' altered?" + +"I would wish to see no change in you, Pathfinder," Mabel answered, +with a cordial sincerity and frankness that went directly to the +hunter's heart; "and much as my uncle admires the sea, and great +as is all the good that he thinks may come of it, I could not wish +to see the best and noblest hunter of the woods transformed into +an admiral. Remain what you are, my brave friend, and you need +fear nothing short of the anger of God." + +"Do you hear this, Saltwater? do you hear what the Sergeant's +daughter is saying, and she is much too upright, and fair-minded, +and pretty, not to think what she says. So long as she is satisfied +with me as I am, I shall not fly in the face of the gifts of +Providence, by striving to become anything else. I may seem useless +here in a garrison; but when we get down among the Thousand Islands, +there may be an opportunity to prove that a sure rifle is sometimes +a Godsend." + +"You are then to be of our party?" said Mabel, smiling so frankly +and so sweetly on the guide that he would have followed her to the +end of the earth. "I shall be the only female, with the exception +of one soldier's wife, and shall feel none the less secure, +Pathfinder, because you will be among our protectors." + +"The Sergeant would do that, Mabel, though you were not of his kin. +No one will overlook you. I should think your uncle here would +like an expedition of this sort, where we shall go with sails, and +have a look at an inland sea?" + +"Your inland sea is no great matter, Master Pathfinder, and I +expect nothing from it. I confess, however, I should like to know +the object of the cruise; for one does not wish to be idle, and my +brother-in-law, the Sergeant, is as close-mouthed as a freemason. +Do you know, Mabel, what all this means?" + +"Not in the least, uncle. I dare not ask my father any questions +about his duty, for he thinks it is not a woman's business; and all +I can say is, that we are to sail as soon as the wind will permit, +and that we are to be absent a month." + +"Perhaps Master Pathfinder can give me a useful hint; for a v'y'ge +without an object is never pleasant to an old sailor." + +"There is no great secret, Saltwater, concerning our port and object, +though it is forbidden to talk much about either in the garrison. +I am no soldier, however, and can use my tongue as I please, though +as little given as another to idle conversation, I hope; still, as +we sail so soon, and you are both to be of the party, you may as +well be told where you are to be carried. You know that there are +such things as the Thousand Islands, I suppose, Master Cap?" + +"Ay, what are so called hereaway, though I take it for granted that +they are not real islands, such as we fall in with on the ocean; +and that the thousand means some such matter as two or three." + +"My eyes are good, and yet have I often been foiled in trying to +count them very islands." + +"Ay, ay, I've known people who couldn't count beyond a certain +number. Your real land-birds never know their own roosts, even +in a landfall at sea. How many times have I seen the beach, and +houses, and churches, when the passengers have not been able to +see anything but water! I have no idea that a man can get fairly +out of sight of land on fresh water. The thing appears to me to +be irrational and impossible." + +"You don't know the lakes, Master Cap, or you would not say that. +Before we get to the Thousand Islands, you will have other notions +of what natur' has done in this wilderness." + +"I have my doubts whether you have such a thing as a real island +in all this region." + +"We'll show you hundreds of them; not exactly a thousand, perhaps, +but so many that eye cannot see them all, nor tongue count them." + +"I'll engage, when the truth comes to be known, they'll turn out to +be nothing but peninsulas, or promontories; or continents; though +these are matters, I daresay, of which you know little or nothing. +But, islands or no islands, what is the object of the cruise, Master +Pathfinder?" + +"There can be no harm in giving you some idea of what we are going +to do. Being so old a sailor, Master Cap, you've heard, no doubt, +of such a port as Frontenac?" + +"Who hasn't? I will not say I've ever been inside the harbor, but +I've frequently been off the place." + +"Then you are about to go upon ground with which you are acquainted. +These great lakes, you must know, make a chain, the water passing +out of one into the other, until it reaches Erie, which is a sheet +off here to the westward, as large as Ontario itself. Well, out of +Erie the water comes, until it reaches a low mountain like, over +the edge of which it passes." + +"I should like to know how the devil it can do that?" + +"Why, easy enough, Master Cap," returned Pathfinder, laughing, +"seeing that it has only to fall down hill. Had I said the water +went _up_ the mountain, there would have been natur' ag'in it; but +we hold it no great matter for water to run down hill -- that is, +_fresh_ water." + +"Ay, ay, but you speak of the water of a lake's coming down the +side of a mountain; it's in the teeth of reason, if reason has any +teeth." + +"Well, well, we will not dispute the point; but what I've seen +I've seen. After getting into Ontario, all the water of _all_ the +lakes passes down into the sea by a river; and in the narrow part +of the sheet, where it is neither river nor lake, lie the islands +spoken of. Now Frontenac is a post of the Frenchers above these +same islands; and, as they hold the garrison below, their stores +and ammunition are sent up the river to Frontenac, to be forwarded +along the shores of this and the other lakes, in order to enable +the enemy to play his devilries among the savages, and to take +Christian scalps." + +"And will our presence prevent these horrible acts?" demanded Mabel, +with interest. + +"It may or it may not, as Providence wills. Lundie, as they call +him, he who commands this garrison, sent a party down to take +a station among the islands, to cut off some of the French boats; +and this expedition of ours will be the second relief. As yet +they've not done much, though two bateaux loaded with Indian goods +have been taken; but a runner came in last week, and brought such +tidings that the Major is about to make a last effort to circumvent +the knaves. Jasper knows the way, and we shall be in good hands, +for the Sergeant is prudent, and of the first quality at an +ambushment; yes, he is both prudent and alert." + +"Is this all?" said Cap contemptuously; "by the preparations and +equipments, I had thought there was a forced trade in the wind, +and that an honest penny might be turned by taking an adventure. +I suppose there are no shares in your fresh-water prize-money?" + +"Anan?" + +"I take it for granted the king gets all in these soldiering parties, +and ambushments, as you call them." + +"I know nothing about that, Master Cap. I take my share of the +lead and powder if any falls into our hands, and say nothing to the +king about it. If any one fares better, it is not I; though it is +time I did begin to think of a house and furniture and a home." + +Although the Pathfinder did not dare to look at Mabel while he made +this direct allusion to his change of life, he would have given the +world to know whether she was listening, and what was the expression +of her countenance. Mabel little suspected the nature of the +allusion, however; and her countenance was perfectly unembarrassed +as she turned her eyes towards the river, where the appearance of +some movement on board the _Scud_ began to be visible. + +"Jasper is bringing the cutter out," observed the guide, whose look +was drawn in the same direction by the fall of some heavy article +on the deck. "The lad sees the signs of wind, no doubt, and wishes +to be ready for it." + +"Ay, now we shall have an opportunity of learning seamanship," +returned Cap, with a sneer. "There is a nicety in getting a craft +under her canvas that shows the thoroughbred mariner as much as +anything else. It's like a soldier buttoning his coat, and one +can see whether he begins at the top or the bottom." + +"I will not say that Jasper is equal to your seafarers below," +observed Pathfinder, across whose upright mind an unworthy feeling +of envy or of jealousy never passed; "but he is a bold boy, and +manages his cutter as skillfully as any man can desire, on this +lake at least. You didn't find him backwards at the Oswego Falls, +Master Cap, where fresh water contrives to tumble down hill with +little difficulty." + +Cap made no other answer than a dissatisfied ejaculation, and +then a general silence followed, all on the bastion studying the +movements of the cutter with the interest that was natural to their +own future connection with the vessel. It was still a dead calm, +the surface of the lake literally glittering with the last rays +of the sun. The _Scud_ had been warped up to a kedge that lay a +hundred yards above the points of the outlet, where she had room +to manoeuvre in the river which then formed the harbor of Oswego. +But the total want of air prevented any such attempt, and it was +soon evident that the light vessel was to be taken through the +passage under her sweeps. Not a sail was loosened; but as soon +as the kedge was tripped, the heavy fall of the sweeps was heard, +when the cutter, with her head up stream, began to sheer towards +the centre of the current; on reaching which, the efforts of the +men ceased, and she drifted towards the outlet. In the narrow +pass itself her movement was rapid, and in less than five minutes +the _Scud_ was floating outside of the two low gravelly points which +intercepted the waves of the lake. No anchor was let go, but the +vessel continued to set off from the land, until her dark hull +was seen resting on the glossy surface of the lake, full a quarter +of a mile beyond the low bluff which formed the eastern extremity +of what might be called the outer harbor or roadstead. Here the +influence of the river current ceased, and she became, virtually, +stationary. + +"She seems very beautiful to me, uncle," said Mabel, whose gaze had +not been averted from the cutter for a single moment while it had +thus been changing its position; "I daresay you can find faults in +her appearance, and in the way she is managed; but to my ignorance +both are perfect." + +"Ay, ay; she drops down with a current well enough, girl, and +so would a chip. But when you come to niceties, all old tar like +myself has no need of spectacles to find fault." + +"Well, Master Cap," put in the guide, who seldom heard anything to +Jasper's prejudice without manifesting a disposition to interfere, +"I've heard old and experienced saltwater mariners confess that +the _Scud_ is as pretty a craft as floats. I know nothing of such +matters myself; but one may have his own notions about a ship, +even though they be wrong notions; and it would take more than one +witness to persuade me Jasper does not keep his boat in good order." + +"I do not say that the cutter is downright lubberly, Master +Pathfinder; but she has faults, and great faults." + +"And what are they, uncle? If he knew them, Jasper would be glad +to mend them." + +"What are they? Why, fifty; ay, for that matter a hundred. Very +material and manifest faults." + +"Do name them, sir, and Pathfinder will mention them to his friend." + +"Name them! it is no easy matter to call off the stars, for the +simple reason that they are so numerous. Name them, indeed! Why, +my pretty niece, Miss Magnet, what do you think of that main-boom +now? To my ignorant eyes, it is topped at least a foot too high; +and then the pennant is foul; and -- and -- ay, d--- me, if there +isn't a topsail gasket adrift; and it wouldn't surprise me at all +if there should be a round turn in that hawser, if the kedge were +to be let go this instant. Faults indeed! No seaman could look +at her a moment without seeing that she is as full of faults as a +servant who has asked for his discharge." + +"This may be very true, uncle, though I much question if Jasper knows +of them. I do not think he would suffer these things, Pathfinder, +if they were once pointed out to him." + +"Let Jasper manage his own cutter, Mabel. His gift lies that-a-way, +and I'll answer for it, no one can teach him how to keep the _Scud_ +out of the hands of the Frontenackers or their devilish Mingo +friends. Who cares for round turns in kedges, and for hawsers +that are topped too high, Master Cap, so long as the craft sails +well, and keeps clear of the Frenchers? I will trust Jasper +against all the seafarers of the coast, up here on the lakes; but +I do not say he has any gift for the ocean, for there he has never +been tried." + +Cap smiled condescendingly, but he did not think it necessary to +push his criticisms any further just as that moment. By this time +the cutter had begun to drift at the mercy of the currents of the +lake, her head turning in all directions, though slowly, and not +in a way to attract particular attention. Just at this moment +the jib was loosened and hoisted, and presently the canvas swelled +towards the land, though no evidences of air were yet to be seen on +the surface of the water. Slight, however, as was the impulsion, +the light hull yielded; and in another minute the _Scud_ was seen +standing across the current of the river with a movement so easy +and moderate as to be scarcely perceptible. When out of the stream, +she struck an eddy and shot up towards the land, under the eminence +where the fort stood, when Jasper dropped his kedge. + +"Not lubberly done," muttered Cap in a sort of soliloquy, -- "not +over lubberly, though he should have put his helm a-starboard +instead of a-port; for a vessel ought always to come-to with her +head off shore, whether she is a league from the land or only a +cable's length, since it has a careful look, and looks are something +in this world." + +"Jasper is a handy lad," suddenly observed Sergeant Dunham at his +brother-in-law's elbow; "and we place great reliance on his skill +in our expeditions. But come, one and all, we have but half an hour +more of daylight to embark in, and the boats will be ready for us +by the time we are ready for them." + +On this intimation the whole party separated, each to find those +trifles which had not been shipped already. A few taps of the drum +gave the necessary signal to the soldiers, and in a minute all were +in motion. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +The goblin now the fool alarms, +Hags meet to mumble o'er their charms, +The night-mare rides the dreaming ass, +And fairies trip it on the grass. +COTTON. + + +The embarkation of so small a party was a matter of no great delay +or embarrassment. The whole force confided to the care of Sergeant +Dunham consisted of but ten privates and two non-commissioned +officers, though it was soon positively known that Mr. Muir was +to accompany the expedition. The Quartermaster, however, went as +a volunteer, while some duty connected with his own department, +as had been arranged between him and his commander, was the avowed +object. To these must be added the Pathfinder and Cap, with +Jasper and his subordinates, one of whom was a boy. The party, +consequently, consisted of less than twenty men, and a lad of +fourteen. Mabel and the wife of a common soldier were the only +females. + +Sergeant Dunham carried off his command in a large bateau, and then +returned for his final orders, and to see that his brother-in-law +and daughter were properly attended to. Having pointed out to Cap +the boat that he and Mabel were to use, he ascended the hill to +seek his last interview with Lundie. + +It was nearly dark when Mabel found herself in the boat that was +to carry her off to the cutter. So very smooth was the surface +of the lake, that it was not found necessary to bring the bateaux +into the river to receive their freights; but the beach outside +being totally without surf, and the water as tranquil as that of +a pond, everybody embarked there. When the boat left the land, +Mabel would not have known that she was afloat on so broad a sheet +of water by any movement which is usual to such circumstances. The +oars had barely time to give a dozen strokes, when the boat lay +at the cutter's side. + +Jasper was in readiness to receive his passengers; and, as the +deck of the _Scud_ was but two or three feet above the water, no +difficulty was experienced in getting on board of her. As soon +as this was effected, the young man pointed out to Mabel and her +companion the accommodations prepared for their reception. The +little vessel contained four apartments below, all between decks +having been expressly constructed with a view to the transportation +of officers and men, with their wives and families. First in +rank was what was called the after-cabin, a small apartment that +contained four berths, and which enjoyed the advantage of possessing +small windows, for the admission of air and light. This was +uniformly devoted to females whenever any were on board; and as +Mabel and her companion were alone, they had ample accommodation. +The main cabin was larger, and lighted from above. It was now +appropriated to the Quartermaster, the Sergeant, Cap, and Jasper; +the Pathfinder roaming through any part of the cutter he pleased, +the female apartment excepted. The corporals and common soldiers +occupied the space beneath the main hatch, which had a deck +for such a purpose, while the crew were berthed, as usual, in the +forecastle. Although the cutter did not measure quite fifty tons, +the draft of officers and men was so light, that there was ample +room for all on board, there being space enough to accommodate +treble the number, if necessary. + +As soon as Mabel had taken possession of her own really comfortable +cabin, in doing which she could not abstain from indulging in the +pleasant reflection that some of Jasper's favor had been especially +manifested in her behalf, she went on deck again. Here all was +momentarily in motion; the men were roving to and fro, in quest +of their knapsacks and other effects; but method and habit soon +reduced things to order, when the stillness on board became even +imposing, for it was connected with the idea of future adventure +and ominous preparation. + +Darkness was now beginning to render objects on shore indistinct, +the whole of the land forming one shapeless black outline of even +forest summits, to be distinguished from the impending heavens only +by the greater light of the sky. The stars, however, soon began to +appear in the latter, one after another, in their usual mild, placid +lustre, bringing with them that sense of quiet which ordinarily +accompanies night. There was something soothing, as well as exciting, +in such a scene; and Mabel, who was seated on the quarter-deck, +sensibly felt both influences. The Pathfinder was standing near +her, leaning, as usual, on his long rifle, and she fancied that, +through the growing darkness of the hour, she could trace even +stronger lines of thought than usual in his rugged countenance. + +"To you, Pathfinder, expeditions like this can be no great novelty," +said she; "though I am surprised to find how silent and thoughtful +the men appear to be." + +"We learn this by making war ag'in Indians. Your militia are great +talkers and little doers in general; but the soldier who has often +met the Mingos learns to know the value of a prudent tongue. A +silent army, in the woods, is doubly strong; and a noisy one, +doubly weak. If tongues made soldiers, the, women of a camp would +generally carry the day." + +"But we are neither an army, nor in the woods. There can be no +danger of Mingos in the _Scud_." + +"No one is safe from a Mingo, who does not understand his very +natur'; and even then he must act up to his own knowledge, and that +closely. Ask Jasper how he got command of this very cutter." + +"And how _did_ he get command?" inquired Mabel, with an earnestness +and interest that quite delighted her simple-minded and true-hearted +companion, who was never better pleased than when he had an +opportunity of saying aught in favor of a friend. "It is honorable +to him that he has reached this station while yet so young." + +"That is it; but he deserved it all, and more. A frigate wouldn't +have been too much to pay for so much spirit and coolness, had +there been such a thing on Ontario, as there is not, hows'ever, or +likely to be." + +"But Jasper -- you have not yet told me how he got the command of +the schooner." + +"It is a long story, Mabel, and one your father, the Sergeant, can +tell much better than I; for he was present, while I was off on a +distant scouting. Jasper is not good at a story, I will own that; +I have heard him questioned about this affair, and he never made +a good tale of it, although every body knows it was a good thing. +The _Scud_ had near fallen into the hands of the French and the +Mingos, when Jasper saved her, in a way which none but a quick-witted +mind and a bold heart would have attempted. The Sergeant will tell +the tale better than I can, and I wish you to question him some +day, when nothing better offers." + +Mabel determined to ask her father to repeat the incidents of the +affair that very night; for it struck her young fancy that nothing +better could well offer than to listen to the praises of one who +was a bad historian of his own exploits. + +"Will the _Scud_ remain with us when we reach the island?" she asked, +after a little hesitation about the propriety of the question; "or +shall we be left to ourselves?" + +"That's as may be: Jasper does not often keep the cutter idle when +anything is to be done; and we may expect activity on his part. +My gifts, however, run so little towards the water and vessels +generally, unless it be among rapids and falls and in canoes, that +I pretend to know nothing about it. We shall have all right under +Jasper, I make no doubt, who can find a trail on Ontario as well +as a Delaware can find one on the land." + +"And our own Delaware, Pathfinder -- the Big Serpent --why is he +not with us to-night?" + +"Your question would have been more natural had you said, Why are +_you_ here, Pathfinder? The Sarpent is in his place, while I am +not in mine. He is out, with two or three more, scouting the lake +shores, and will join us down among the islands, with the tidings he +may gather. The Sergeant is too good a soldier to forget his rear +while he is facing the enemy in front. It's a thousand pities, +Mabel, your father wasn't born a general, as some of the English are +who come among us; for I feel sartain he wouldn't leave a Frencher +in the Canadas a week, could he have his own way with them." + +"Shall we have enemies to face in front?" asked Mabel, smiling, and +for the first time feeling a slight apprehension about the dangers +of the expedition. "Are we likely to have an engagement?" + +"If we have, Mabel, there will be men enough ready and willing +to stand between you and harm. But you are a soldier's daughter, +and, we all know, have the spirit of one. Don't let the fear of +a battle keep your pretty eyes from sleeping." + +"I do feel braver out here in the woods, Pathfinder, than I ever +felt before amid the weaknesses of the towns, although I have always +tried to remember what I owe to my dear father." + +"Ay, your mother was so before you. 'You will find Mabel, like her +mother, no screamer, or a faint-hearted girl, to trouble a man in +his need; but one who would encourage her mate, and help to keep +his heart up when sorest prest by danger,' said the Sergeant to +me, before I ever laid eyes on that sweet countenance of yours, -- +he did!" + +"And why should my father have told you this, Pathfinder?" the girl +demanded a little earnestly. "Perhaps he fancied you would think +the better of me if you did not believe me a silly coward, as so +many of my sex love to make themselves appear." + +Deception, unless it were at the expense of his enemies in the +field, -- nay, concealment of even a thought, -- was so little in +accordance with the Pathfinder's very nature, that he was not a +little embarrassed by this simple question. In such a strait he +involuntarily took refuge in a middle course, not revealing that +which he fancied ought not to be told, nor yet absolutely concealing +it. + +"You must know, Mabel," said he, "that the Sergeant and I are old +friends, and have stood side by side -- or, if not actually side +by side, I a little in advance, as became a scout, and your father +with his own men, as better suited a soldier of the king -- on +many a hard fi't and bloody day. It's the way of us skirmishers to +think little of the fight when the rifle has done cracking; and at +night, around our fires, or on our marches, we talk of the things +we love, just as you young women convarse about your fancies and +opinions when you get together to laugh over your idees. Now it +was natural that the Sergeant, having such a daughter as you, should +love her better than anything else, and that he should talk of her +oftener than of anything else, -- while I, having neither daughter, +nor sister, nor mother, nor kith, nor kin, nor anything but the +Delawares to love, I naturally chimed in, as it were, and got to +love you, Mabel, before I ever saw you -- yes, I did -- just by +talking about you so much." + +"And now you _have_ seen me," returned the smiling girl, whose +unmoved and natural manner proved how little she was thinking of +anything more than parental or fraternal regard, "you are beginning +to see the folly of forming friendships for people before you know +anything about them, except by hearsay." + +"It wasn't friendship -- it isn't friendship, Mabel, that I feel +for you. I am the friend of the Delawares, and have been so from +boyhood; but my feelings for them, or for the best of them, are not +the same as those I got from the Sergeant for you; and, especially, +now that I begin to know you better. I'm sometimes afeared it isn't +wholesome for one who is much occupied in a very manly calling, +like that of a guide or scout, or a soldier even, to form friendships +for women, -- young women in particular, -- as they seem to me to +lessen the love of enterprise, and to turn the feelings away from +their gifts and natural occupations." + +"You surely do not mean, Pathfinder, that a friendship for a girl +like me would make you less bold, and more unwilling to meet the +French than you were before?" + +"Not so, not so. With you in danger, for instance, I fear I might +become foolhardy; but before we became so intimate, as I may say, +I loved to think of my scoutings, and of my marches, and outlyings, +and fights, and other adventures: but now my mind cares less +about them; I think more of the barracks, and of evenings passed +in discourse, of feelings in which there are no wranglings +and bloodshed, and of young women, and of their laughs and their +cheerful, soft voices, their pleasant looks and their winning +ways. I sometimes tell the Sergeant that he and his daughter will +be the spoiling of one of the best and most experienced scouts on +the lines." + +"Not they, Pathfinder; they will try to make that which is already +so excellent, perfect. You do not know us, if you think that either +wishes to see you in the least changed. Remain as at present, +the same honest, upright, conscientious, fearless, intelligent, +trustworthy guide that you are, and neither my dear father nor +myself can ever think of you differently from what we now do." + +It was too dark for Mabel to note the workings of the countenance +of her listener; but her own sweet face was turned towards him, as +she spoke with an energy equal to her frankness, in a way to show +how little embarrassed were her thoughts, and how sincere were her +words. Her countenance was a little flushed, it is true; but it +was with earnestness and truth of feeling, though no nerve thrilled, +no limb trembled, no pulsation quickened. In short, her manner and +appearance were those of a sincere-minded and frank girl, making +such a declaration of good-will and regard for one of the other sex +as she felt that his services and good qualities merited, without +any of the emotion that invariably accompanies the consciousness +of an inclination which might lead to softer disclosures. + +The Pathfinder was too unpractised, however, to enter into +distinctions of this kind, and his humble nature was encouraged +by the directness and strength of the words he had just heard. +Unwilling, if not unable, to say any more, he walked away, and +stood leaning on his rifle and looking up at the stars for full +ten minutes in profound silence. + +In the meanwhile the interview on the bastion, to which we have +already alluded, took place between Lundie and the Sergeant. + +"Have the men's knapsacks been examined?" demanded Major Duncan, +after he had cast his eye at a written report, handed to him by +the Sergeant, but which it was too dark to read. + +"All, your honor; and all are right." + +"The ammunition -- arms?" + +"All in order, Major Duncan, and fit for any service." + +"You have the men named in my own draft, Dunham?" + +"Without an exception, sir. Better men could not be found in the +regiment." + +"You have need of the best of our men, Sergeant. This experiment +has now been tried three times; always under one of the ensigns, +who have flattered me with success, but have as often failed. +After so much preparation and expense, I do not like to abandon the +project entirely; but this will be the last effort; and the result +will mainly depend on you and on the Pathfinder." + +"You may count on us both, Major Duncan. The duty you have given +us is not above our habits and experience, and I think it will be +well done. I know that the Pathfinder will not be wanting." + +"On that, indeed, it will be safe to rely. He is a most extraordinary man, +Dunham -- one who long puzzled me; but who, now that I understand +him, commands as much of my respect as any general in his majesty's +service." + +"I was in hopes, sir, that you would come to look at the proposed +marriage with Mabel as a thing I ought to wish and forward." + +"As for that, Sergeant, time will show," returned Lundie, smiling; +though here, too, the obscurity concealed the nicer shades of +expression; "one woman is sometimes more difficult to manage than +a whole regiment of men. By the way, you know that your would-be +son-in-law, the Quartermaster, will be of the party; and I trust +you will at least give him an equal chance in the trial for your +daughter's smiles." + +"If respect for his rank, sir, did not cause me to do this, your +honor's wish would be sufficient." + +"I thank you, Sergeant. We have served much together, and ought to +value each other in our several stations. Understand me, however, +I ask no more for Davy Muir than a clear field and no favor. In +love, as in war, each man must gain his own victories. Are you +certain that the rations have been properly calculated?" + +"I'll answer for it, Major Duncan; but if they were not, we cannot +suffer with two such hunters as Pathfinder and the Serpent in +company." + +"That will never do, Dunham," interrupted Lundie sharply; "and it +comes of your American birth and American training. No thorough +soldier ever relies on anything but his commissary for supplies; +and I beg that no part of my regiment may be the first to set an +example to the contrary." + +"You have only to command, Major Duncan, to be obeyed; +and yet, if I might presume, sir -- " + +"Speak freely, Sergeant; you are talking with a friend." + +"I was merely about to say that I find even the Scotch soldiers like +venison and birds quite as well as pork, when they are difficult +to be had." + +"That may be very true; but likes and dislikes have nothing to do +with system. An army can rely on nothing but its commissaries. +The irregularity of the provincials has played the devil with the +king's service too often to be winked at any longer." + +"General Braddock, your honor, might have been advised by Colonel +Washington." + +"Out upon your Washington! You're all provincials together, man, +and uphold each other as if you were of a sworn confederacy." + +"I believe his majesty has no more loyal subjects than the Americans, +your honor." + +"In that, Dunham, I'm thinking you're right; and I have been a +little too warm, perhaps. I do not consider _you_ a provincial, +however, Sergeant; for though born in America, a better soldier +never shouldered a musket." + +"And Colonel Washington, your honor?" + +"Well! -- and Colonel Washington may be a useful subject too. He +is the American prodigy; and I suppose I may as well give him all +the credit you ask. You have no doubt of the skill of this Jasper +Eau-douce?" + +"The boy has been tried, sir, and found equal to all that can be +required of him." + +"He has a French name, and has passed much of his boyhood in the +French colonies; has he French blood in his veins, Sergeant?" + +"Not a drop, your honor. Jasper's father was an old comrade of +my own, and his mother came of an honest and loyal family in this +very province." + +"How came he then so much among the French, and whence his name? +He speaks the language of the Canadas, too, I find." + +"That is easily explained, Major Duncan. The boy was left under +the care of one of our mariners in the old war, and he took to +the water like a duck. Your honor knows that we have no ports on +Ontario that can be named as such, and he naturally passed most +of his time on the other side of the lake, where the French have +had a few vessels these fifty years. He learned to speak their +language, as a matter of course, and got his name from the Indians +and Canadians, who are fond of calling men by their qualities, as +it might be." + +"A French master is but a poor instructor for a British sailor, +notwithstanding." + +"I beg your pardon, sir: Jasper Eau-douce was brought up under a +real English seaman, one that had sailed under the king's pennant, +and may be called a thorough-bred; that is to say, a subject born +in the colonies, but none the worse at his trade, I hope, Major +Duncan, for that." + +"Perhaps not, Sergeant, perhaps not; nor any better. This Jasper +behaved well, too, when I gave him the command of the _Scud_; no +lad could have conducted himself more loyally or better." + +"Or more bravely, Major Duncan. I am sorry to see, sir, that you +have doubts as to the fidelity of Jasper." + +"It is the duty of the soldier who is entrusted with the care of +a distant and important post like this, Dunham, never to relax in +his vigilance. We have two of the most artful enemies that the +world has ever produced, in their several ways, to contend with, +-- the Indians and the French, -- and nothing should be overlooked +that can lead to injury." + +"I hope your honor considers me fit to be entrusted with any +particular reason that may exist for doubting Jasper, since you +have seen fit to entrust me with this command." + +"It is not that I doubt you, Dunham, that I hesitate to reveal all +I may happen to know; but from a strong reluctance to circulate an +evil report concerning one of whom I have hitherto thought well. +You must think well of the Pathfinder, or you would not wish to +give him your daughter?" + +"For the Pathfinder's honesty I will answer with my life, sir," +returned the Sergeant firmly, and not without a dignity of manner +that struck his superior. "Such a man doesn't know how to be +false." + +"I believe you are right, Dunham; and yet this last information +has unsettled all my old opinions. I have received an anonymous +communication, Sergeant, advising me to be on my guard against Jasper +Western, or Jasper Eau-douce, as he is called, who, it alleges, +has been bought by the enemy, and giving me reason to expect that +further and more precise information will soon be sent." + +"Letters without signatures to them, sir, are scarcely to be regarded +in war." + +"Or in peace, Dunham. No one can entertain a lower opinion of the +writer of an anonymous letter, in ordinary matters, than myself; +the very act denotes cowardice, meanness, and baseness; and it +usually is a token of falsehood, as well as of other vices. But +in matters of war it is not exactly the same thing. Besides, +several suspicious circumstances have been pointed out to me." + +"Such as is fit for an orderly to hear, your honor?" + +"Certainly, one in whom I confide as much as in yourself Dunham. +It is said, for instance, that your daughter and her party were +permitted to escape the Iroquois, when they came in, merely to give +Jasper credit with me. I am told that the gentry at Frontenac will +care more for the capture of the _Scud_, with Sergeant Dunham and +a party of men, together with the defeat of our favorite plan, than +for the capture of a girl and the scalp of her uncle." + +"I understand the hint, sir, but I do not give it credit. Jasper +can hardly be true, and Pathfinder false; and, as for the last, I +would as soon distrust your honor as distrust him." + +"It would seem so, Sergeant; it would indeed seem so. But Jasper +is not the Pathfinder, after all; and I will own, Dunham, I should +put more faith in the lad if he didn't speak French." + +"It's no recommendation in my eyes, I assure your honor; but +the boy learned it by compulsion, as it were, and ought not to be +condemned too hastily for the circumstance, by your honor's leave." + +"It's a d----d lingo, and never did any one good -- at least +no British subject; for I suppose the French themselves must talk +together in some language or other. I should have much more faith +in this Jasper, did he know nothing of their language. This letter +has made me uneasy; and, were there another to whom I could trust +the cutter, I would devise some means to detain him here. I have +spoken to you already of a brother-in-law, who goes with you, +Sergeant, and who is a sailor?" + +"A real seafaring man, your honor, and somewhat prejudiced against +fresh water. I doubt if he could be induced to risk his character +on a lake, and I'm certain he never could find the station." + +"The last is probably true, and then, the man cannot know enough +of this treacherous lake to be fit for the employment. You will +have to be doubly vigilant, Dunham. I give you full powers; and +should you detect this Jasper in any treachery, make him a sacrifice +at once to offended justice." + +"Being in the service of the crown, your honor, he is amenable to +martial law." + +"Very true; then iron him, from his head to his heels, and send +him up here in his own cutter. That brother-in-law of yours must +be able to find the way back, after he has once travelled the +road." + +"I make no doubt, Major Duncan, we shall be able to do all that +will be necessary should Jasper turn out as you seem to anticipate; +though I think I would risk my life on his truth." + +"I like your confidence -- it speaks well for the fellow; but that +infernal letter! there is such an air of truth about it; nay, there +is so much truth in it, touching other matters." + +"I think your honor said it wanted the name at the bottom; a great +omission for an honest man to make." + +"Quite right, Dunham, and no one but a rascal, and a cowardly +rascal in the bargain, would write an anonymous letter on private +affairs. It is different, however, in war; despatches are feigned, +and artifice is generally allowed to be justifiable." + +"Military manly artifices, sir, if you will; such as ambushes, +surprises, feints, false attacks, and even spies; but I never +heard of a true soldier who could wish to undermine the character +of an honest young man by such means as these." + +"I have met with many strange events, and some stranger people, in +the course of my experience. But fare you well, Sergeant; I must +detain you no longer. You are now on your guard, and I recommend +to you untiring vigilance. I think Muir means shortly to retire; +and, should you fully succeed in this enterprise, my influence will +not be wanting in endeavoring to put you in the vacancy, to which +you have many claims." + +"I humbly thank your honor," coolly returned the Sergeant, who had +been encouraged in this manner any time for the twenty preceding +years, "and hope I shall never disgrace my station, whatever it +may be. I am what nature and Providence have made me, and hope +I'm satisfied." + +"You have not forgotten the howitzer?" + +"Jasper took it on board this morning, sir." + +"Be wary, and do not trust that man unnecessarily. Make a confidant of +Pathfinder at once; he may be of service in detecting any villainy +that may be stirring. His simple honesty will favor his observation +by concealing it. He _must_ be true." + +"For him, sir, my own head shall answer, or even my rank in the +regiment. I have seen him too often tried to doubt him." + +"Of all wretched sensations, Dunham, distrust, where one is compelled +to confide, is the most painful. You have bethought you of the +spare flints?" + +"A sergeant is a safe commander for all such details, your honor." + +"Well, then, give me your hand, Dunham. God bless you! and may +you be successful! Muir means to retire, --by the way, let the man +have an equal chance with your daughter, for it may facilitate future +operations about the promotion. One would retire more cheerfully +with such a companion as Mabel, than in cheerless widowhood, and with +nothing but oneself to love, -- and such a self, too, as Davy's!" + +"I hope, sir, my child will make a prudent choice, and I think her +mind is already pretty much made up in favor of Pathfinder. Still +she shall have fair play, though disobedience is the next crime to +mutiny." + +"Have all the ammunition carefully examined and dried as soon +as you arrive; the damp of the lake may affect it. And now, once +more, farewell, Sergeant. Beware of that Jasper, and consult with +Muir in any difficulty. I shall expect you to return, triumphant, +this day month." + +"God bless your honor! If anything should happen to me, I trust +to you, Major Duncan, to care for an old soldier's character." + +"Rely on me, Dunham -- you will rely on a friend. Be vigilant: +remember you will be in the very jaws of the lion; -- pshaw! of no +lion neither; but of treacherous tigers: in their very jaws, and +beyond support. Have the flints counted and examined in the morning +-- and -- farewell, Dunham, farewell!" + +The Sergeant took the extended hand of his superior with proper +respect, and they finally parted; Lundie hastening into his own +movable abode, while the other left the fort, descended to the +beach, and got into a boat. + +It is not to be supposed that Sergeant Dunham, after he had parted +from his commanding officer, was likely to forget the injunctions he +had received. He thought highly of Jasper in general; but distrust +had been insinuated between his former confidence and the obligations +of duty; and, as he now felt that everything depended on his own +vigilance, by the time the boat reached the side of the _Scud_ he +was in a proper humor to let no suspicious circumstance go unheeded, +or any unusual movement in the young sailor pass without its comment. +As a matter of course, he viewed things in the light suited to +his peculiar mood; and his precautions, as well as his distrust, +partook of the habits, opinions, and education of the man. + +The _Scud's_ kedge was lifted as soon as the boat with the Sergeant, +who was the last person expected, was seen to quit the shore, and +the head of the cutter was cast to the eastward by means of the +sweeps. A few vigorous strokes of the latter, in which the soldiers +aided, now sent the light craft into the line or the current +that flowed from the river, when she was suffered to drift into +the offing again. As yet there was no wind, the light and almost +imperceptible air from the lake, that had existed previously to +the setting of the sun, having entirely failed. + +All this time an unusual quiet prevailed in the cutter. It appeared +as if those on board of her felt that they were entering upon an +uncertain enterprise, in the obscurity of night; and that their +duty, the hour, and the manner of their departure lent a solemnity +to their movements. Discipline also came in aid of these feelings. +Most were silent; and those who did speak spoke seldom and in low +voices. In this manner the cutter set slowly out into the lake, +until she had got as far as the river current would carry her, +when she became stationary, waiting for the usual land-breeze. An +interval of half an hour followed, during the whole of which time +the _Scud_ lay as motionless as a log, floating on the water. While +the little changes just mentioned were occurring in the situation +of the vessel, notwithstanding the general quiet that prevailed, +all conversation had not been repressed; for Sergeant Dunham, having +first ascertained that both his daughter and her female companion +were on the quarter-deck, led the Pathfinder to the after-cabin, +where, closing the door with great caution, and otherwise making +certain that he was beyond the reach of eavesdroppers, he commenced +as follows: -- + +"It is now many years, my friend, since you began to experience +the hardships and dangers of the woods in my company." + +"It is, Sergeant; yes it is. I sometimes fear I am too old for +Mabel, who was not born until you and I had fought the Frenchers +as comrades." + +"No fear on that account, Pathfinder. I was near your age before +I prevailed on the mind of her mother; and Mabel is a steady, +thoughtful girl, one that will regard character more than anything +else. A lad like Jasper Eau-douce, for instance, will have no +chance with her, though he is both young and comely." + +"Does Jasper think of marrying?" inquired the guide, simply but +earnestly. + +"I should hope not -- at least, not until he has satisfied every +one of his fitness to possess a wife." + +"Jasper is a gallant boy, and one of great gifts in his way; he +may claim a wife as well as another." + +"To be frank with you, Pathfinder, I brought you here to talk about +this very youngster. Major Duncan has received some information +which has led him to suspect that Eau-douce is false, and in the +pay of the enemy; I wish to hear your opinion on the subject." + +"Anan?" + +"I say, the Major suspects Jasper of being a traitor -- a French +spy -- or, what is worse, of being bought to betray us. He has +received a letter to this effect, and has been charging me to keep +an eye on the boy's movements; for he fears we shall meet with +enemies when we least suspect it, and by his means." + +"Duncan of Lundie has told you this, Sergeant Dunham?" + +"He has indeed, Pathfinder; and, though I have been loath to believe +anything to the injury of Jasper, I have a feeling which tells me I +ought to distrust him. Do you believe in presentiments, my friend? + +"In what, Sergeant?" + +"Presentiments, -- a sort of secret foreknowledge of events that +are about to happen. The Scotch of our regiment are great sticklers +for such things; and my opinion of Jasper is changing so fast, +that I begin to fear there must be some truth in their doctrines." + +"But you've been talking with Duncan of Lundie concerning Jasper, +and his words have raised misgivings." + +"Not it, not so in the least; for, while conversing with the Major, +my feelings were altogether the other way; and I endeavored to +convince him all I could that he did the boy injustice. But there +is no use in holding out against a presentiment, I find; and I fear +there is something in the suspicion after all." + +"I know nothing of presentiments, Sergeant; but I have known +Jasper Eau-douce since he was a boy, and I have as much faith in +his honesty as I have in my own, or that of the Sarpent himself." + +"But the Serpent, Pathfinder, has his tricks and ambushes in war +as well as another." + +"Ay, them are his nat'ral gifts, and are such as belong to his people. +Neither red-skin nor pale-face can deny natur'; but Chingachgook +is not a man to feel a presentiment against." + +"That I believe; nor should I have thought ill of Jasper this very +morning. It seems to me, Pathfinder, since I've taken up this +presentiment, that the lad does not bustle about his deck naturally, +as he used to do; but that he is silent and moody and thoughtful, +like a man who has a load on his conscience." + +"Jasper is never noisy; and he tells me noisy ships are generally +ill-worked ships. Master Cap agrees in this too. No, no; I +will believe naught against Jasper until I see it. Send for your +brother, Sergeant, and let us question him in this matter; for to +sleep with distrust of one's friend in the heart is like sleeping +with lead there. I have no faith in your presentiments." + +The Sergeant, although he scarcely knew himself with what object, +complied, and Cap was summoned to join in the consultation. As +Pathfinder was more collected than his companion, and felt so strong +a conviction of the good faith of the party accused, he assumed +the office of spokesman. + +"We have asked you to come down, Master Cap," he commenced, "in +order to inquire if you have remarked anything out of the common +way in the movements of Eau-douce this evening." + +"His movements are common enough, I daresay, for fresh water, +Master Pathfinder, though we should think most of his proceedings +irregular down on the coast." + +"Yes, yes; we know you will never agree with the lad about the +manner the cutter ought to be managed; but it is on another point +we wish your opinion." + +The Pathfinder then explained to Cap the nature of the suspicions +which the Sergeant entertained, and the reasons why they had been +excited, so far as the latter had been communicated by Major Duncan. + +"The youngster talks French, does he?" said Cap. + +"They say he speaks it better than common," returned the Sergeant +gravely. "Pathfinder knows this to be true." + +"I'll not gainsay it," answered the guide; "at least, they tell me +such is the fact. But this would prove nothing ag'in a Mississauga, +and, least of all, ag'in one like Jasper. I speak the Mingo dialect +myself, having learnt it while a prisoner among the reptyles; but +who will say I am their friend? Not that I am an enemy, either, +according to Indian notions; though I am their enemy, I will admit, +agreeable to Christianity." + +"Ay Pathfinder; but Jasper did not get his French as a prisoner: +he took it in his boyhood, when the mind is easily impressed, and +gets its permanent notions; when nature has a presentiment, as it +were, which way the character is likely to incline." + +"A very just remark," added Cap, "for that is the time of life +when we all learn the catechism, and other moral improvements. The +Sergeant's observation shows that he understands human nature, and +I agree with him perfectly; it _is_ a damnable thing for a youngster, +up here, on this bit of fresh water, to talk French. If it were +down on the Atlantic, now, where a seafaring man has occasion +sometimes to converse with a pilot, or a linguister, in that +language, I should not think so much of it, -- though we always +look with suspicion, even there, at a shipmate who knows too much +of the tongue; but up here, on Ontario, I hold it to be a most +suspicious circumstance." + +"But Jasper must talk in French to the people on the other shore," +said Pathfinder, "or hold his tongue, as there are none but French +to speak to." + +"You don't mean to tell me, Pathfinder, that France lies hereaway, +on the opposite coast?" cried Cap, jerking a thumb over his shoulder +in the direction of the Canadas; "that one side of this bit of +fresh water is York, and the other France?" + +"I mean to tell you this is York, and that is Upper Canada; and that +English and Dutch and Indian are spoken in the first, and French +and Indian in the last. Even the Mingos have got many of the French +words in their dialect, and it is no improvement, neither." + +"Very true: and what sort of people are the Mingos, my friend?" +inquired the Sergeant, touching the other on his shoulder, by way +of enforcing a remark, the inherent truth of which sensibly increased +its value in the eyes of the speaker: "no one knows them better +than yourself, and I ask you what sort of a tribe are they?" + +"Jasper is no Mingo, Sergeant." + +"He speaks French, and he might as well be, in that particular. +Brother Cap, can you recollect no movement of this unfortunate young +man, in the way of his calling, that would seem to denote treachery?" + +"Not distinctly, Sergeant, though he has gone to work wrong-end +foremost half his time. It is true that one of his hands coiled a +rope against the sun, and he called it _querling_ a rope, too, when +I asked him what he was about; but I am not certain that anything +was meant by it; though, I daresay, the French coil half their +running rigging the wrong way, and may call it 'querling it down,' +too, for that matter. Then Jasper himself belayed the end of the +jib-halyards to a stretcher in the rigging, instead of bringing it +to the mast, where they belong, at least among British sailors." + +"I daresay Jasper may have got some Canada notions about working +his craft, from being so much on the other side," Pathfinder +interposed; "but catching an idee, or a word, isn't treachery and +bad faith. I sometimes get an idee from the Mingos themselves; +but my heart has always been with the Delawares. No, no, Jasper +is true; and the king might trust him with his crown, just as he +would trust his eldest son, who, as he is to wear it one day, ought +to be the last man to wish to steal it." + +"Fine talking, fine talking!" said Cap; "all fine talking, Master +Pathfinder, but d----d little logic. In the first place, the king's +majesty cannot lend his crown, it being contrary to the laws of +the realm, which require him to wear it at all times, in order that +his sacred person may be known, just as the silver oar is necessary +to a sheriff's officer afloat. In the next place, it's high treason, +by law, for the eldest son of his majesty ever to covet the crown, +or to have a child, except in lawful wedlock, as either would derange +the succession. Thus you see, friend Pathfinder that in order to +reason truly, one must get under way, as it might be, on the right +tack. Law is reason, and reason is philosophy, and philosophy is +a steady drag; whence it follows that crowns are regulated by law, +reason, and philosophy." + +"I know little of all this; Master Cap; but nothing short of seeing +and feeling will make me think Jasper Western a traitor." + +"There you are wrong again, Pathfinder; for there is a way of proving +a thing much more conclusively than either seeing or feeling, or +by both together; and that is by a circumstance." + +"It may be so in the settlements; but it is not so here on the +lines." + +"It is so in nature, which is monarch over all. There was +a circumstance, just after we came on board this evening, that +is extremely suspicious, and which may be set down at once as a +makeweight against this lad. Jasper bent on the king's ensign with +his own hands; and, while he pretended to be looking at Mabel and +the soldier's wife, giving directions about showing them below +here, and a that, he got the flag union down!" + +"That might have been accident," returned the Sergeant, "for such +a thing has happened to myself; besides, the halyards lead to a +pulley, and the flag would have come right, or not, according to +the manner in which the lad hoisted it." + +"A pulley!" exclaimed Cap, with strong disgust; "I wish, +Sergeant Dunham, I could prevail on you to use proper terms. An +ensign-halyard-block is no more a pulley than your halberd is a +boarding-pike. It is true that by hoisting on one part, another +part would go uppermost; but I look upon that affair of the ensign, +now you have mentioned your suspicions, as a circumstance, and shall +bear it in mind. I trust supper is not to be overlooked, however, +even if we have a hold full of traitors." + +"It will be duly attended to, brother Cap; but I shall count on you +for aid in managing the _Scud_, should anything occur to induce me +to arrest Jasper." + +"I'll not fail you, Sergeant; and in such an event you'll probably +learn what this cutter can really perform; for, as yet, I fancy it +is pretty much matter of guesswork." + +"Well, for my part," said Pathfinder, drawing a heavy sigh, "I +shall cling to the hope of Jasper's innocence, and recommend plain +dealing, by asking the lad himself, without further delay, whether +he is or is not a traitor. I'll put Jasper Western against all +the presentiments and circumstances in the colony." + +"That will never do," rejoined the Sergeant. "The responsibility +of this affair rests with me, and I request and enjoin that nothing +be said to any one without my knowledge. We will all keep watchful +eyes about us, and take proper note of circumstances." + +"Ay, ay! circumstances are the things after all," returned Cap. +"One circumstance is worth fifty facts. That I know to be the law +of the realm. Many a man has been hanged on circumstances." + +The conversation now ceased, and, after a short delay, the whole +party returned to the deck, each individual disposed to view the +conduct of the suspected Jasper in the manner most suited to his +own habits and character. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless, +So dull, so dead in look, so woe-begone, +Drew Priam's Curtain in the dead of night, +And would have told him, half his Troy was burned. +SHAKESPEARE. + + +All this time matters were elsewhere passing in their usual train. +Jasper, like the weather and his vessel, seemed to be waiting for +the land-breeze; while the soldiers, accustomed to early rising, +had, to a man, sought their pallets in the main hold. None +remained on deck but the people of the cutter, Mr. Muir, and the +two females. The Quartermaster was endeavoring to render himself +agreeable to Mabel, while our heroine herself, little affected by +his assiduities, which she ascribed partly to the habitual gallantry +of a soldier, and partly, perhaps, to her own pretty face, was +enjoying the peculiarities of a scene and situation which, to her, +were full of the charms of novelty. + +The sails had been hoisted, but as yet not a breath of air was in +motion; and so still and placid was the lake, that not the smallest +motion was perceptible in the cutter. She had drifted in the +river-current to a distance a little exceeding a quarter of a mile +from the land, and there she lay, beautiful in her symmetry and +form, but like a fixture. Young Jasper was on the quarter-deck, +near enough to hear occasionally the conversation which passed; +but too diffident of his own claim, and too intent on his duties, +to attempt to mingle in it. The fine blue eyes of Mabel followed +his motions in curious expectation, and more than once the +Quartermaster had to repeat his compliments before she heard them, +so intent was she on the little occurrences of the vessel, and, we +might add, so indifferent to the eloquence of her companion. At +length, even Mr. Muir became silent, and there was a deep stillness +on the water. Presently an oar-blade fell in a boat beneath the +fort, and the sound reached the cutter as distinctly as if it had +been produced on her deck. Then came a murmur, like a sigh of the +night, a fluttering of the canvas, the creaking of the boom, and +the flap of the jib. These well-known sounds were followed by a +slight heel in the cutter, and by the bellying of all the sails. + +"Here's the wind, Anderson," called out Jasper to the oldest of +his sailors; "take the helm." + +This brief order was obeyed; the helm was put up, the cutter's +bows fell off, and in a few minutes the water was heard murmuring +under her head, as the _Scud_ glanced through the lake at the rate +of five miles in the hour. All this passed in profound silence, +when Jasper again gave the order to "ease off the sheets a little +and keep her along the land." + +It was at this instant that the party from the after-cabin reappeared +on the quarter-deck. + +"You've no inclination, Jasper lad, to trust yourself too near our +neighbours the French," observed Muir, who took that occasion to +recommence the discourse. "Well, well, your prudence will never +be questioned by me, for I like the Canadas as little as you can +possibly like them yourself." + +"I hug this shore, Mr. Muir, on account of the wind. The land-breeze +is always freshest close in, provided you are not so near as to +make a lee of the trees. We have Mexico Bay to cross; and that, +on the present course, will give us quite offing enough." + +"I'm right glad it's not the Bay of Mexico," put in Cap, "which is +a part of the world I would rather not visit in one of your inland +craft. Does your cutter bear a weather helm, master Eau-douce?" + +"She is easy on her rudder, master Cap; but likes looking up at +the breeze as well as another, when in lively motion." + +"I suppose you have such things as reefs, though you can hardly +have occasion to use them?" + +Mabel's bright eye detected the smile that gleamed for an instant +on Jasper's handsome face; but no one else saw that momentary +exhibition of surprise and contempt. + +"We have reefs, and often have occasion to use them," quietly +returned the young man. "Before we get in, Master Cap, an opportunity +may offer to show you the manner in which we do so; for there is +easterly weather brewing, and the wind cannot chop, even on the +ocean itself, more readily than it flies round on Lake Ontario." + +"So much for knowing no better! I have seen the wind in the Atlantic +fly round like a coach-wheel, in a way to keep your sails shaking +for an hour, and the ship would become perfectly motionless from +not knowing which way to turn." + +"We have no such sudden changes here, certainly," Jasper mildly +answered; "though we think ourselves liable to unexpected shifts +of wind. I hope, however, to carry this land-breeze as far as the +first islands; after which there will be less danger of our being +seen and followed by any of the look-out boats from Frontenac." + +"Do you think the French keep spies out on the broad lake, Jasper?" +inquired the Pathfinder. + +"We know they do; one was off Oswego during the night of Monday +last. A bark canoe came close in with the eastern point, and landed +an Indian and an officer. Had you been outlying that night, as +usual, we should have secured one, if not both of them." + +It was too dark to betray the color that deepened on the weather-burnt +features of the guide; for he felt the consciousness of having +lingered in the fort that night, listening to the sweet tones of +Mabel's voice as she sang ballads to her father, and gazing at the +countenance which, to him, was radiant with charms. Probity in +thought and deed being the distinguishing quality of this extraordinary +man's mind, while he felt that a sort of disgrace ought to attach +to his idleness on the occasion mentioned, the last thought that +could occur would be to attempt to palliate or deny his negligence. + +"I confess it, Jasper, I confess it," said he humbly. "Had I been +out that night, -- and I now recollect no sufficient reason why +I was not, -- it might, indeed, have turned out as you say." + +"It was the evening you passed with us, Pathfinder," Mabel innocently +remarked; "surely one who lives so much of his time in the forest, +in front of the enemy, may be excused for giving a few hours of +his time to an old friend and his daughter." + +"Nay, nay, I've done little else but idle since we reached the +garrison," returned the other, sighing; "and it is well that the +lad should tell me of it: the idler needs a rebuke - yes, he needs +a rebuke." + +"Rebuke, Pathfinder! I never dreamt of saying anything disagreeable, +and least of all would I think of rebuking you, because a solitary +spy and an Indian or two have escaped us. Now I know where you +were, I think your absence the most natural thing in the world." + +"I think nothing of what you said, Jasper, since it was deserved. +We are all human, and all do wrong." + +"This is unkind, Pathfinder." + +"Give me your hand, lad, give me your hand. It wasn't you that +gave the lesson; it was conscience." + +"Well, well," interrupted Cap; "now this latter matter is settled +to the satisfaction of all parties, perhaps you will tell us how +it happened to be known that there were spies near us so lately. +This looks amazingly like a circumstance." + +As the mariner uttered the last sentence, he pressed a foot slily +on that of the Sergeant, and nudged the guide with his elbow, +winking at the same time, though this sign was lost in the obscurity. + +"It is known, because their trail was found next day by the Serpent, +and it was that of a military boot and a moccasin. One of our +hunters, moreover, saw the canoe crossing towards Frontenac next +morning." + +"Did the trail lead near the garrison, Jasper?" Pathfinder asked +in a manner so meek and subdued that it resembled the tone of a +rebuked schoolboy. "Did the trail lead near the garrison, lad?" + +"We thought not; though, of course, it did not cross the river. +It was followed down to the eastern point, at the river's mouth, +where what was doing in port, might be seen; but it did not cross, +as we could discover." + +"And why didn't you get under weigh, Master Jasper," Cap demanded, +"and give chase? On Tuesday morning it blew a good breeze; one in +which this cutter might have run nine knots." + +"That may do on the ocean, Master Cap," put in Pathfinder, "but +it would not do here. Water leaves no trail, and a Mingo and a +Frenchman are a match for the devil in a pursuit." + +"Who wants a trail when the chase can be seen from the deck, as +Jasper here said was the case with this canoe? and it mattered +nothing if there were twenty of your Mingos and Frenchmen, with +a good British-built bottom in their wake. I'll engage, Master +Eau-douce, had you given me a call that said Tuesday morning, that +we should have overhauled the blackguards." + +"I daresay, Master Cap, that the advice of as old a seaman as you +might have done no harm to as young a sailor as myself, but it is +a long and a hopeless chase that has a bark canoe in it." + +"You would have had only to press it hard, to drive it ashore." + +"Ashore, master Cap! You do not understand our lake navigation at +all, if you suppose it an easy matter to force a bark canoe ashore. +As soon as they find themselves pressed, these bubbles paddle right +into the wind's eye, and before you know it, you find yourself a +mile or two dead under their lee." + +"You don't wish me to believe, Master Jasper, that any one is so +heedless of drowning as to put off into this lake in one of them +eggshells when there is any wind?" + +"I have often crossed Ontario in a bark canoe, even when there +has been a good deal of sea on. Well managed, they are the driest +boats of which we have any knowledge." + +Cap now led his brother-in-law and Pathfinder aside, when he +assured him that the admission of Jasper concerning the spies was +"a circumstance," and "a strong circumstance," and as such it +deserved his deliberate investigation; while his account of the +canoes was so improbable as to wear the appearance of brow-beating +the listeners. Jasper spoke confidently of the character of the +two individuals who had landed, and this Cap deemed pretty strong +proof that he knew more about them than was to be gathered from +a mere trail. As for moccasins, he said that they were worn in +that part of the world by white men as well as by Indians; he had +purchased a pair himself; and boots, it was notorious, did not +particularly make a soldier. Although much of this logic was thrown +away on the Sergeant, still it produced some effect. He thought +it a little singular himself, that there should have been spies +detected so near the fort and he know nothing of it; nor did he +believe that this was a branch of knowledge that fell particularly +within the sphere of Jasper. It was true that the _Scud_ had, once +or twice, been sent across the lake to land men of this character, +or to bring them off; but then the part played by Jasper, to his own +certain knowledge, was very secondary, the master of the cutter +remaining as ignorant as any one else of the purport of the visits of +those whom he had carried to and fro; nor did he see why he alone, +of all present, should know anything of the late visit. Pathfinder +viewed the matter differently. With his habitual diffidence, he +reproached himself with a neglect of duty, and that knowledge, of +which the want struck him as a fault in one whose business it was +to possess it, appeared a merit in the young man. He saw nothing +extraordinary in Jasper's knowing the facts he had related; while +he did feel it was unusual, not to say disgraceful, that he himself +now heard of them for the first time. + +"As for moccasins, Master Cap," said he, when a short pause +invited him to speak, "they may be worn by pale-faces as well as +by red-skins, it is true, though they never leave the same trail +on the foot of one as on the foot of the other. Any one who is used +to the woods can tell the footstep of an Indian from the footstep +of a white man, whether it be made by a boot or a moccasin. It +will need better evidence than this to persuade me into the belief +that Jasper is false." + +"You will allow, Pathfinder, that there are such things in the +world as traitors?" put in Cap logically. + +"I never knew an honest-minded Mingo, -- one that you could put +faith in, if he had a temptation to deceive you. Cheating seems +to be their gift, and I sometimes think they ought to be pitied +for it, rather than persecuted." + +"Then why not believe that this Jasper may have the same weakness? +A man is a man, and human nature is sometimes but a poor concern, +as I know by experience." + +This was the opening of another long and desultory conversation, +in which the probability of Jasper's guilt or innocence was argued +_pro_ and _con_, until both the Sergeant and his brother-in-law +had nearly reasoned themselves into settled convictions in favor +of the first, while their companion grew sturdier and sturdier in +his defence of the accused, and still more fixed in his opinion +of his being unjustly charged with treachery. In this there was +nothing out of the common course of things; for there is no more +certain way of arriving at any particular notion, than by undertaking +to defend it; and among the most obstinate of our opinions may +be classed those which are derived from discussions in which we +affect to search for truth, while in reality we are only fortifying +prejudice. + +By this time the Sergeant had reached a state of mind that disposed +him to view every act of the young sailor with distrust, and +he soon got to coincide with his relative in deeming the peculiar +knowledge of Jasper, in reference to the spies, a branch of +information that certainly did not come within the circle of his +regular duties, as "a circumstance." + +While this matter was thus discussed near the taffrail, Mabel sat +silently by the companion-way, Mr. Muir having gone below to look +after his personal comforts, and Jasper standing a little aloof, +with his arms crossed, and his eyes wandering from the sails to +the clouds, from the clouds to the dusky outline of the shore, from +the shore to the lake, and from the lake back again to the sails. +Our heroine, too, began to commune with her own thoughts. The +excitement of the late journey, the incidents which marked the +day of her arrival at the fort, the meeting with a father who was +virtually a stranger to her, the novelty of her late situation in +the garrison, and her present voyage, formed a vista for the mind's +eye to look back through, which seemed lengthened into months. She +could with difficulty believe that she had so recently left the +town, with all the usages of civilized life; and she wondered in +particular that the incidents which had occurred during the descent +of the Oswego had made so little impression on her mind. Too +inexperienced to know that events, when crowded, have the effect +of time, or that the quick succession of novelties that pass before +us in travelling elevates objects, in a measure, to the dignity of +events, she drew upon her memory for days and dates, in order to +make certain that she had known Jasper, and the Pathfinder, and +her own father, but little more than a fortnight. Mabel was a girl +of heart rather than of imagination, though by no means deficient +in the last, and she could not easily account for the strength of +her feelings in connection with those who were so lately strangers +to her; for she was not sufficiently accustomed to analyze her +sensations to understand the nature of the influences that have +just been mentioned. As yet, however, her pure mind was free from +the blight of distrust, and she had no suspicion of the views of +either of her suitors; and one of the last thoughts that could have +voluntarily disturbed her confidence would have been to suppose +it possible either of her companions was a traitor to his king and +country. + +America, at the time of which we are writing, was remarkable for +its attachment to the German family that then sat on the British +throne; for, as is the fact with all provinces, the virtues and +qualities that are proclaimed near the centre of power, as incense +and policy, get to be a part of political faith with the credulous +and ignorant at a distance. This truth is just as apparent to-day, +in connection with the prodigies of the republic, as it then was +in connection with those distant rulers, whose merits it was always +safe to applaud, and whose demerits it was treason to reveal. It +is a consequence of this mental dependence, that public opinion is +so much placed at the mercy of the designing; and the world, in +the midst of its idle boasts of knowledge and improvement, is left +to receive its truths, on all such points as touch the interests +of the powerful and managing, through such a medium, and such a +medium only, as may serve the particular views of those who pull +the wires. Pressed upon by the subjects of France, who were then +encircling the British colonies with a belt of forts and settlements +that completely secured the savages for allies, it would have been +difficult to say whether the Americans loved the English more than +they hated the French; and those who then lived probably would have +considered the alliance which took place between the cis-Atlantic +subjects and the ancient rivals of the British crown, some twenty +years later, as an event entirely without the circle of probabilities. +Disaffection was a rare offence; and, most of all, would treason, +that should favor France or Frenchmen, have been odious in the +eyes of the provincials. The last thing that Mabel would suspect +of Jasper was the very crime with which he now stood secretly +charged; and if others near her endured the pains of distrust, +she, at least, was filled with the generous confidence of a woman. +As yet no whisper had reached her ear to disturb the feeling of +reliance with which she had early regarded the young sailor, and +her own mind would have been the last to suggest such a thought of +itself. The pictures of the past and of the present, therefore, +that exhibited themselves so rapidly to her active imagination, +were unclouded with a shade that might affect any in whom she felt +an interest; and ere she had mused, in the manner related, a quarter +of an hour, the whole scene around her was filled with unalloyed +satisfaction. + +The season and the night, to represent them truly, were of a nature +to stimulate the sensations which youth, health, and happiness are +wont to associate with novelty. The weather was warm, as is not +always the case in that region even in summer, while the air that +came off the land, in breathing currents, brought with it the +coolness and fragrance of the forest. The wind was far from being +fresh, though there was enough of it to drive the _Scud_ merrily +ahead, and, perhaps, to keep attention alive, in the uncertainty +that more or less accompanies darkness. Jasper, however, appeared +to regard it with complacency, as was apparent by what he said in +a short dialogue that now occurred between him and Mabel. + +"At this rate, Eau-douce," -- for so Mabel had already learned to +style the young sailor, -- said our heroine, "we cannot be long in +reaching our place of destination." + +"Has your father then told you what that is, Mabel?" + +"He has told me nothing; my father is too much of a soldier, and too +little used to have a family around him, to talk of such matters. +Is it forbidden to say whither we are bound?" + +"It cannot be far, while we steer in this direction, for sixty or +seventy miles will take us into the St. Lawrence, which the French +might make too hot for us; and no voyage on this lake can be very +long." + +"So says my uncle Cap; but to me, Jasper, Ontario and the ocean +appear very much the same." + +"You have then been on the ocean; while I, who pretend to be +a sailor, have never yet seen salt water. You must have a great +contempt for such a mariner as myself, in your heart, Mabel Dunham?" + +"Then I have no such thing in my heart, Jasper Eau-douce. What +right have I, a girl without experience or knowledge, to despise +any, much less one like you, who are trusted by the Major, and who +command a vessel like this? I have never been on the ocean, though +I have seen it; and, I repeat, I see no difference between this +lake and the Atlantic." + +"Nor in them that sail on both? I was afraid, Mabel, your uncle +had said so much against us fresh-water sailors, that you had begun +to look upon us as little better than pretenders?" + +"Give yourself no uneasiness on that account, Jasper; for I know +my uncle, and he says as many things against those who live ashore, +when at York, as he now says against those who sail on fresh water. +No, no, neither my father nor myself think anything of such opinions. +My uncle Cap, if he spoke openly, would be found to have even a +worse notion of a soldier than of a sailor who never saw the sea." + +"But your father, Mabel, has a better opinion of soldiers than of +any one else? he wishes you to be the wife of a soldier?" + +"Jasper Eau-douce! -- I the wife of a soldier! My father wishes +it! Why should he wish any such thing? What soldier is there +in the garrison that I could marry -- that he could _wish me_ to +marry?" + +"One may love a calling so well as to fancy it will cover a thousand +imperfections." + +"But one is not likely to love his own calling so well as to cause +him to overlook everything else. You say my father wishes me +to marry a soldier; and yet there is no soldier at Oswego that he +would be likely to give me to. I am in an awkward position; for +while I am not good enough to be the wife of one of the gentlemen +of the garrison, I think even you will admit, Jasper, I am too +good to be the wife of one of the common soldiers." + +As Mabel spoke thus frankly she blushed, she knew not why, though +the obscurity concealed the fact from her companion; and she laughed +faintly, like one who felt that the subject, however embarrassing +it might be, deserved to be treated fairly. Jasper, it would seem, +viewed her position differently from herself. + +"It is true Mabel," said he, "you are not what is called a lady, +in the common meaning of the word." + +"Not in any meaning, Jasper," the generous girl eagerly interrupted: +"on that head, I have no vanities, I hope. Providence has made +me the daughter of a sergeant, and I am content to remain in the +station in which I was born." + +"But all do not remain in the stations in which they were born, +Mabel; for some rise above them, and some fall below them. Many +sergeants have become officers -- even generals; and why may not +sergeants' daughters become officers' ladies?" + +"In the case of Sergeant Dunham's daughter, I know no better reason +than the fact that no officer is likely to wish to make her his +wife," returned Mabel, laughing. + +"_You_ may think so; but there are some in the 55th that know +better. There is certainly one officer in that regiment, Mabel, +who does wish to make you his wife." + +Quick as the flashing lightning, the rapid thoughts of Mabel Dunham +glanced over the five or six subalterns of the corps, who, by age +and inclinations, would be the most likely to form such a wish; and +we should do injustice to her habits, perhaps, were we not to say +that a lively sensation of pleasure rose momentarily in her bosom, at +the thought of being raised above a station which, whatever might +be her professions of contentment, she felt that she had been too +well educated to fill with perfect satisfaction. But this emotion +was as transient as it was sudden; for Mabel Dunham was a girl of +too much pure and womanly feeling to view the marriage tie through +anything so worldly as the mere advantages of station. The passing +emotion was a thrill produced by factitious habits, while the more +settled opinion which remained was the offspring of nature and +principles. + +"I know no officer in the 55th, or any other regiment, who would +be likely to do so foolish a thing; nor do I think I myself would +do so foolish a thing as to marry an officer." + +"Foolish, Mabel!" + +"Yes, foolish, Jasper. You know, as well as I can know, what the +world would think of such matters; and I should be sorry, very +sorry, to find that my husband ever regretted that he had so far +yielded to a fancy for a face or a figure as to have married the +daughter of one so much his inferior as a sergeant." + +"_Your_ husband, Mabel, will not be so likely to think of the father +as to think of the daughter." + +The girl was talking with spirit, though feeling evidently entered +into her part of the discourse; but she paused for nearly a minute +after Jasper had made the last observation before she uttered +another word. Then she continued, in a manner less playful, +and one critically attentive might have fancied in a manner +slightly melancholy, -- + +"Parent and child ought so to live as not to have two hearts, or +two modes of feeling and thinking. A common interest in all things +I should think as necessary to happiness in man and wife, as between +the other members of the same family. Most of all, ought neither +the man nor the woman to have any unusual cause for unhappiness, +the world furnishing so many of itself." + +"Am I to understand, then, Mabel, you would refuse to marry an +officer, merely because he was an officer?" + +"Have you a right to ask such a question, Jasper?" said Mabel +smiling. + +"No other right than what a strong desire to see you happy can +give, which, after all, may be very little. My anxiety has been +increased, from happening to know that it is your father's intention +to persuade you to marry Lieutenant Muir." + +"My dear, dear father can entertain no notion so ridiculous -- no +notion so cruel!" + +"Would it, then, be cruel to wish you the wife of a quartermaster?" + +"I have told you what I think on that subject, and cannot make my +words stronger. Having answered you so frankly, Jasper, I have a +right to ask how you know that my father thinks of any such thing?" + +"That he has chosen a husband for you, I know from his own mouth; +for he has told me this much during our frequent conversations +while he has been superintending the shipment of the stores; and +that Mr. Muir is to offer for you, I know from the officer himself, +who has told me as much. By putting the two things together, I +have come to the opinion mentioned." + +"May not my dear father, Jasper," -- Mabel's face glowed like +fire while she spoke, though her words escaped her slowly, and by +a sort of involuntary impulse, -- "may not my dear father have been +thinking of another? It does not follow, from what you say, that +Mr. Muir was in his mind." + +"Is it not probable, Mabel, from all that has passed? What brings +the Quartermaster here? He has never found it necessary before to +accompany the parties that have gone below. He thinks of you for +his wife; and your father has made up his own mind that you shall +be so. You must see, Mabel, that Mr. Muir follows _you?_" + +Mabel made no answer. Her feminine instinct had, indeed, told her +that she was an object of admiration with the Quartermaster; though +she had hardly supposed to the extent that Jasper believed; and +she, too, had even gathered from the discourse of her father that +he thought seriously of having her disposed of in marriage; but by +no process of reasoning could she ever have arrived at the inference +that Mr. Muir was to be the man. She did not believe it now, +though she was far from suspecting the truth. Indeed, it was her +own opinion that these casual remarks of her father, which had +struck her, had proceeded from a general wish to have her settled, +rather than from any desire to see her united to any particular +individual. These thoughts, however, she kept secret; for +self-respect and feminine reserve showed her the impropriety of +making them the subject of discussion with her present companion. +By way of changing the conversation, therefore, after the pause had +lasted long enough to be embarrassing to both parties, she said, +"Of one thing you may be certain, Jasper, -- and that is all I +wish to say on the subject, -- Lieutenant Muir, though he were a +colonel, will never be the husband of Mabel Dunham. And now, tell +me of your voyage; --when will it end?" + +"That is uncertain. Once afloat, we are at the mercy of the winds +and waves. Pathfinder will tell you that he who begins to chase +the deer in the morning cannot tell where he will sleep at night." + +"But we are not chasing a deer, nor is it morning: so Pathfinder's +moral is thrown away." + +"Although we are not chasing a deer, we are after that which may be +as hard to catch. I can tell you no more than I have said already; +for it is our duty to be close-mouthed, whether anything depends on +it or not. I am afraid, however, I shall not keep you long enough +in the _Scud_ to show you what she can do at need." + +"I think a woman unwise who ever marries a sailor," said Mabel +abruptly, and almost involuntarily. + +"This is a strange opinion; why do you hold it?" + +"Because a sailor's wife is certain to have a rival in his vessel. +My uncle Cap, too, says that a sailor should never marry." + +"He means salt-water sailors," returned Jasper, laughing. "If +he thinks wives not good enough for those who sail on the ocean, +he will fancy them just suited to those who sail on the lakes. I +hope, Mabel, you do not take your opinions of us fresh-water mariners +from all that Master Cap says." + +"Sail, ho!" exclaimed the very individual of whom they were +conversing; "or boat, ho! would be nearer the truth." + +Jasper ran forward; and, sure enough, a small object was discernible +about a hundred yards ahead of the cutter, and nearly on her lee +bow. At the first glance, he saw it was a bark canoe; for, though +the darkness prevented hues from being distinguished, the eye that +had become accustomed to the night might discern forms at some +little distance; and the eye which, like Jasper's, had long been +familiar with things aquatic, could not be at a loss in discovering +the outlines necessary to come to the conclusion he did. + +"This may be an enemy," the young man remarked; "and it may be well +to overhaul him." + +"He is paddling with all his might, lad," observed the Pathfinder, +"and means to cross your bows and get to windward, when you might +as well chase a full-grown buck on snow-shoes!" + +"Let her luff," cried Jasper to the man at the helm. "Luff up, +till she shakes. There, steady, and hold all that." + +The helmsman complied; and, as the _Scud_ was now dashing the water +aside merrily, a minute or two put the canoe so far to leeward +as to render escape impracticable. Jasper now sprang to the helm +himself and, by judicious and careful handling, he got so near his +chase that it was secured by a boat-hook. On receiving an order, +the two persons who were in the canoe left it, and no sooner had +they reached the deck of the cutter than they were found to be +Arrowhead and his wife. + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +What pearl is it that rich men cannot buy, +That learning is too proud to gather up; +But which the poor and the despised of all +Seek and obtain, and often find unsought? +Tell me -- and I will tell thee what is truth. +COWPER. + + +The meeting with the Indian and his wife excited no surprise in +the majority of those who witnessed the occurrence; but Mabel, and +all who knew of the manner in which this chief had been separated +from the party of Cap, simultaneously entertained suspicions, which +it was far easier to feel than to follow out by any plausible clue +to certainty. Pathfinder, who alone could converse freely with the +prisoners, for such they might now be considered, took Arrowhead +aside, and held a long conversation with him, concerning the reasons +of the latter for having deserted his charge and the manner in +which he had been since employed. + +The Tuscarora met these inquiries, and he gave his answers with the +stoicism of an Indian. As respects the separation, his excuses +were very simply made, and they seemed to be sufficiently plausible. +When he found that the party was discovered in its place of +concealment, he naturally sought his own safety, which he secured +by plunging into the woods. In a word, he had run away in order +to save his life. + +"This is well," returned Pathfinder, affecting to believe the other's +apologies; "my brother did very wisely; but his woman followed?" + +"Do not the pale-faces' women follow their husbands? Would not +Pathfinder have looked back to see if one he loved was coming?" + +This appeal was made to the guide while he was in a most fortunate +frame of mind to admit its force; for Mabel and her blandishments +and constancy were becoming images familiar to his thoughts. The +Tuscarora, though he could not trace the reason, saw that his +excuse was admitted, and he stood with quiet dignity awaiting the +next inquiry. + +"This is reasonable and natural," returned Pathfinder; "this is +natural, and may be so. A woman would be likely to follow the man +to whom she had plighted faith, and husband and wife are one flesh. +Your words are honest, Tuscarora," changing the language to the +dialect of the other. "Your words are honest, and very pleasant +and just. But why has my brother been so long from the fort? His +friends have thought of him often, but have never seen him." + +"If the doe follows the buck, ought not the buck to follow the doe?" +answered the Tuscarora, smiling, as he laid a finger significantly +on the shoulder of his interrogator. "Arrowhead's wife followed +Arrowhead; it was right in Arrowhead to follow his wife. She lost +her way, and they made her cook in a strange wigwam." + +"I understand you, Tuscarora. The woman fell into the hands of +the Mingos, and you kept upon their trail." + +"Pathfinder can see a reason as easily as he can see the moss on +the trees. It is so." + +"And how long have you got the woman back, and in what manner has +it been done?" + +"Two suns. The Dew-of-June was not long in coming when her husband +whispered to her the path." + +"Well, well, all this seems natural, and according to matrimony. +But, Tuscarora, how did you get that canoe, and why are you paddling +towards the St. Lawrence instead of the garrison?" + +"Arrowhead can tell his own from that of another. This canoe is +mine; I found it on the shore near the fort." + +"That sounds reasonable, too, for the canoe does belong to the man, +and an Indian would make few words about taking it. Still, it is +extraordinary that we saw nothing of the fellow and his wife, for +the canoe must have left the river before we did ourselves." + +This idea, which passed rapidly through the mind of the guide, was +now put to the Indian in the shape of a question. + +"Pathfinder knows that a warrior can have shame. The father would +have asked me for his daughter, and I could not give her to him. I +sent the Dew-of-June for the canoe, and no one spoke to the woman. +A Tuscarora woman would not be free in speaking to strange men." + +All this, too, was plausible, and in conformity with Indian +character and customs. As was usual, Arrowhead had received one +half of his compensation previously to quitting the Mohawk; and his +refraining to demand the residue was a proof of that conscientious +consideration of mutual rights that quite as often distinguishes +the morality of a savage as that of a Christian. To one as upright +as Pathfinder, Arrowhead had conducted himself with delicacy and +propriety, though it would have been more in accordance with his +own frank nature to have met the father, and abided by the simple +truth. Still, accustomed to the ways of Indians, he saw nothing +out of the ordinary track of things in the course the other had +taken. + +"This runs like water flowing down hill, Arrowhead," he answered, +after a little reflection, "and truth obliges me to own it. It was +the gift of a red-skin to act in this way, though I do not think +it was the gift of a pale-face. You would not look upon the grief +of the girl's father?" + +Arrowhead made a quiet inclination of the body as if to assent. + +"One thing more my brother will tell me," continued Pathfinder, "and +there will be no cloud between his wigwam and the strong-house of +the Yengeese. If he can blow away this bit of fog with his breath, +his friends will look at him as he sits by his own fire, and he can +look at them as they lay aside their arms, and forget that they are +warriors. Why was the head of Arrowhead's canoe looking towards +the St. Lawrence, where there are none but enemies to be found?" + +"Why were the Pathfinder and his friends looking the same way?" +asked the Tuscarora calmly. "A Tuscarora may look in the same +direction as a Yengeese." + +"Why, to own the truth, Arrowhead, we are out scouting like; that +is, sailing -- in other words, we are on the king's business, and +we have a right to be here, though we may not have a right to say +_why_ we are here." + +"Arrowhead saw the big canoe, and he loves to look on the face of +Eau-douce. He was going towards the sun at evening in order to +seek his wigwam; but, finding that the young sailor was going the +other way, he turned that he might look in the same direction. +Eau-douce and Arrowhead were together on the last trail." + +"This may all be true, Tuscarora, and you are welcome. You shall +eat of our venison, and then we must separate. The setting sun is +behind us, and both of us move quick: my brother will get too far +from that which he seeks, unless he turns round." + +Pathfinder now returned to the others, and repeated the result of +his examination. He appeared himself to believe that the account +of Arrowhead might be true, though he admitted that caution would +be prudent with one he disliked; but his auditors, Jasper excepted, +seemed less disposed to put faith in the explanations. + +"This chap must be ironed at once, brother Dunham," said Cap, as +soon as Pathfinder finished his narration; "he must be turned over +to the master-at-arms, if there is any such officer on fresh water, +and a court-martial ought to be ordered as soon as we reach port." + +"I think it wisest to detain the fellow," the Sergeant answered; +"but irons are unnecessary so long as he remains in the cutter. +In the morning the matter shall be inquired into." + +Arrowhead was now summoned and told the decision. The Indian +listened gravely, and made no objections. On the contrary, he +submitted with the calm and reserved dignity with which the American +aborigines are known to yield to fate; and he stood apart, an +attentive but calm observer of what was passing. Jasper caused +the cutter's sails to be filled, and the _Scud_ resumed her course. + +It was now getting near the hour to set the watch, and when it +was usual to retire for the night. Most of the party went below, +leaving no one on deck but Cap, the Sergeant, Jasper, and two of +the crew. Arrowhead and his wife also remained, the former standing +aloof in proud reserve, and the latter exhibiting, by her attitude +and passiveness, the meek humility that characterizes an Indian +woman. + +"You will find a place for your wife below, Arrowhead, where my +daughter will attend to her wants," said the Sergeant kindly, who +was himself on the point of quitting the deck; "yonder is a sail +where you may sleep yourself." + +"I thank my father. The Tuscaroras are not poor. The woman will +look for my blankets in the canoe." + +"As you wish, my friend. We think it necessary to detain you; +but not necessary to confine or to maltreat you. Send your squaw +into the canoe for the blankets and you may follow her yourself, +and hand us up the paddles. As there may be some sleepy heads in +the _Scud_, Eau-douce," added the Sergeant in a lower tone, "it +may be well to secure the paddles." + +Jasper assented, and Arrowhead and his wife, with whom resistance +appeared to be out of the question, silently complied with the +directions. A few expressions of sharp rebuke passed from the +Indian to his wife, while both were employed in the canoe, which +the latter received with submissive quiet, immediately repairing +an error she had made by laying aside the blanket she had taken +and searching for another that was more to her tyrant's mind. + +"Come, bear a hand, Arrowhead," said the Sergeant, who stood on the +gunwale overlooking the movements of the two, which were proceeding +too slowly for the impatience of a drowsy man; "it is getting late; +and we soldiers have such a thing as reveille -- early to bed and +early to rise." + +"Arrowhead is coming," was the answer, as the Tuscarora stepped +towards the head of his canoe. + +One blow of his keen knife severed the rope which held the boat, +and then the cutter glanced ahead, leaving the light bubble of bark, +which instantly lost its way, almost stationary. So suddenly and +dexterously was this manoeuvre performed, that the canoe was on +the lee quarter of the _Scud_ before the Sergeant was aware of the +artifice, and quite in her wake ere he had time to announce it to +his companions. + +"Hard-a-lee!" shouted Jasper, letting fly the jib-sheet with his +own hands, when the cutter came swiftly up to the breeze, with all +her canvas flapping, or was running into the wind's eye, as seamen +term it, until the light craft was a hundred feet to windward of +her former position. Quick and dexterous as was this movement, and +ready as had been the expedient, it was not quicker or more ready +than that of the Tuscarora. With an intelligence that denoted some +familiarity with vessels, he had seized his paddle and was already +skimming the water, aided by the efforts of his wife. The direction +he took was south-westerly, or on a line that led him equally towards +the wind and the shore, while it also kept him so far aloof from +the cutter as to avoid the danger of the latter falling on board +of him when she filled on the other tack. Swiftly as the _Scud_ +had shot into the wind, and far as she had forced ahead, Jasper knew +it was necessary to cast her ere she had lost all her way; and it +was not two minutes from the time the helm had been put down before +the lively little craft was aback forward, and rapidly falling off, +in order to allow her sails to fill on the opposite tack. + +"He will escape!" said Jasper the instant he caught a glimpse of +the relative bearings of the cutter and the canoe. "The cunning +knave is paddling dead to windward, and the _Scud_ can never overtake +him!" + +"You have a canoe!" exclaimed the Sergeant, manifesting the eagerness +of a boy to join in the pursuit; "let us launch it, and give chase!" + +"It will be useless. If Pathfinder had been on deck, there might +have been a chance; but there is none now. To launch the canoe +would have taken three or four minutes, and the time lost would be +sufficient for the purposes of Arrowhead." + +Both Cap and the Sergeant saw the truth of this, which would have +been nearly self-evident even to one unaccustomed to vessels. The +shore was distant less than half a mile, and the canoe was already +glancing into its shadows, at a rate to show that it would reach +the land before its pursuers could probably get half the distance. +The helm of the _Scud_ was reluctantly put up again, and the cutter +wore short round on her heel, coming up to her course on the other +tack, as if acting on an instinct. All this was done by Jasper in +profound silence, his assistants understanding what was necessary, +and lending their aid in a sort of mechanical imitation. While +these manoeuvres were in the course of execution, Cap took the +Sergeant by a button, and led him towards the cabin-door, where he +was out of ear-shot, and began to unlock his stores of thought. + +"Hark'e, brother Dunham," said he, with an ominous face, "this is +a matter that requires mature thought and much circumspection." + +"The life of a soldier, brother Cap, is one of constant thought +and circumspection. On this frontier, were we to overlook either, +our scalps might be taken from our heads in the first nap." + +"But I consider this capture of Arrowhead as a circumstance; and +I might add his escape as another. This Jasper Freshwater must +look to it." + +"They are both circumstances truly, brother; but they tell different +ways. If it is a circumstance against the lad that the Indian has +escaped, it is a circumstance in his favor that he was first taken." + +"Ay, ay, but two circumstances do not contradict each other like +two negatives. If you will follow the advice of an old seaman, +Sergeant, not a moment is to be lost in taking the steps necessary +for the security of the vessel and all on board of her. The cutter +is now slipping through the water at the rate of six knots, and as +the distances are so short on this bit of a pond, we may all find +ourselves in a French port before morning, and in a French prison +before night." + +"This may be true enough. What would you advise me to do, brother?" + +"In my opinion you should put this Master Freshwater under arrest +on the spot; send him below under the charge of a sentinel, and +transfer the command of the cutter to me. All this you have power +to perform, the craft belonging to the army, and you being the +commanding officer of the troops present." + +Sergeant Dunham deliberated more than an hour on the propriety of +this proposal; for, though sufficiently prompt when his mind was +really made up, he was habitually thoughtful and wary. The habit +of superintending the personal police of the garrison had made +him acquainted with character, and he had long been disposed to +think well of Jasper. Still that subtle poison, suspicion, had +entered his soul; and so much were the artifices and intrigues of +the French dreaded, that, especially warned as he had been by his +commander, it is not to be wondered that the recollection of years +of good conduct should vanish under the influence of a distrust +so keen, and seemingly so plausible. In this embarrassment the +Sergeant consulted the Quartermaster, whose opinion, as his superior, +he felt bound to respect, though at the moment independent of +his control. It is an unfortunate occurrence for one who is in a +dilemma to ask advice of another who is desirous of standing well +in his favor, the party consulted being almost certain to try to +think in the manner which will be the most agreeable to the party +consulting. In the present instance it was equally unfortunate, as +respects a candid consideration of the subject, that Cap, instead +of the Sergeant himself, made the statement of the case; for the +earnest old sailor was not backward in letting his listener perceive +to which side he was desirous that the Quartermaster should lean. +Lieutenant Muir was much too politic to offend the uncle and father +of the woman he hoped and expected to win, had he really thought +the case admitted of doubt; but, in the manner in which the facts +were submitted to him, he was seriously inclined to think that it +would be well to put the control of the _Scud_ temporarily into +the management of Cap, as a precaution against treachery. This +opinion then decided the Sergeant, who forthwith set about the +execution of the necessary measures. + +Without entering into any explanations, Sergeant Dunham simply +informed Jasper that he felt it to be his duty to deprive him +temporarily of the command of the cutter, and to confer it on his +own brother-in-law. A natural and involuntary burst of surprise, +which escaped the young man, was met by a quiet remark, reminding +him that military service was often of a nature that required +concealment, and a declaration that the present duty was of such a +character that this particular arrangement had become indispensable. +Although Jasper's astonishment remained undiminished, -- the Sergeant +cautiously abstaining from making any allusion to his suspicions, +-- the young man was accustomed to obey with military submission; +and he quietly acquiesced, with his own mouth directing the little +crew to receive their further orders from Cap until another change +should be effected. When, however, he was told the case required +that not only he himself, but his principal assistant, who, on +account of his long acquaintance with the lake, was usually termed +the pilot, were to remain below, there was an alteration in his +countenance and manner that denoted strong feeling, though it was +so well mastered as to leave even the distrustful Cap in doubt +as to its meaning. As a matter of course, however, when distrust +exists, it was not long before the worst construction was put upon +it. + +As soon as Jasper and the pilot were below, the sentinel at the +hatch received private orders to pay particular attention to both; +to allow neither to come on deck again without giving instant +notice to the person who might then be in charge of the cutter, and +to insist on his return below as soon as possible. This precaution, +however, was uncalled for; Jasper and his assistant both throwing +themselves silently on their pallets, which neither quitted again +that night. + +"And now, Sergeant," said Cap, as soon as he found himself master of +the deck, "you will just have the goodness to give me the courses +and distance, that I may see the boat keeps her head the right +way." + +"I know nothing of either, brother Cap," returned Dunham, not +a little embarrassed at the question. "We must make the best of +our way to the station among the Thousand Islands, 'where we shall +land, relieve the party that is already out, and get information +for our future government.' That's it, nearly word for word, as +it stands in the written orders." + +"But you can muster a chart -- something in the way of bearings +and distances, that I may see the road?" + +"I do not think Jasper ever had anything of the sort to go by." + +"No chart, Sergeant Dunham!" + +"Not a scrap of a pen even. Our sailors navigate this lake without +any aid from maps." + +"The devil they do! They must be regular Yahoos. And do +you suppose, Sergeant Dunham, that I can find one island out of a +thousand without knowing its name or its position, without even a +course or a distance?" + +"As for the _name_, brother Cap, you need not be particular, for +not one of the whole thousand _has_ a name, and so a mistake can +never be made on that score. As for the position, never having +been there myself, I can tell you nothing about it, nor do I think +its position of any particular consequence, provided we find the +spot. Perhaps one of the hands on deck can tell us the way." + +"Hold on, Sergeant -- hold on a moment, if you please, Sergeant +Dunham. If I am to command this craft, it must be done, if +you please, without holding any councils of war with the cook and +cabin-boy. A ship-master is a ship-master, and he must have an +opinion of his own, even if it be a wrong one. I suppose you know +service well enough to understand that it is better in a commander +to go wrong than to go nowhere. At all events, the Lord High +Admiral couldn't command a yawl with dignity, if he consulted the +cockswain every time he wished to go ashore. No sir, if I sink, +I sink! but, d--- me, I'll go down ship-shape and with dignity." + +"But, brother Cap, I have no wish to go down anywhere, unless it +be to the station among the Thousand Islands whither we are bound." + +"Well, well, Sergeant, rather than ask advice -- that is, direct, +barefaced advice -- of a foremast hand, or any other than a +quarter-deck officer, I would go round to the whole thousand, and +examine them one by one until we got the right haven. But there is +such a thing as coming at an opinion without manifesting ignorance, +and I will manage to rouse all there is out of these hands, and +make them think all the while that I am cramming them with my own +experience! We are sometimes obliged to use the glass at sea when +there is nothing in sight, or to heave the lead long before we +strike soundings. When a youngster, sailed two v'y'ges with a man +who navigated his ship pretty much by the latter sort of information, +which sometimes answers." + +"I know we are steering in the right direction at present," returned +the Sergeant; "but in the course of a few hours we shall be up with +a headland, where we must feel our way with more caution." + +"Leave me to pump the man at the wheel, brother, and you shall see +that I will make him suck in a very few minutes." + +Cap and the Sergeant now walked aft, until they stood by the +sailor who was at the helm, Cap maintaining an air of security and +tranquillity, like one who was entirely confident of his own powers. + +"This is a wholesome air, my lad," Cap observed, in the manner +that a superior on board a vessel sometimes condescends to use to +a favored inferior. "Of course you have it in this fashion off +the land every night?" + +"At this season of the year, sir," the man returned, touching his +hat, out of respect, to his new commander and Sergeant Dunham's +connection. + +"The same thing, I take it, among the Thousand Islands? The wind +will stand, of course, though we shall then have land on every side +of us." + +"When we get farther east, sir, the wind will probably shift, for +there can then be no particular land-breeze." + +"Ay, ay; so much for your fresh water! It has always some trick +that is opposed to nature. Now, down among the West India Islands, +one is just as certain of having a land-breeze as he is of having +a sea-breeze. In that respect there is no difference, though it's +quite in rule it should be different up here on this bit of fresh +water. Of course, my lad, you know all about these said Thousand +Islands?" + +"Lord bless you, Master Cap, nobody knows all about them or anything +about them. They are a puzzle to the oldest sailor on the lake, +and we don't pretend to know even their names. For that matter, +most of them have no more names than a child that dies before it +is christened." + +"Are you a Roman Catholic?" demanded the Sergeant sharply. + +"No, sir, nor anything else. I'm a generalizer about religion, +never troubling that which don't trouble me." + +"Hum! a generalizer; that is, no doubt, one of the new sects that +afflict the country," muttered Mr. Dunham, whose grandfather had +been a New Jersey Quaker, his father a Presbyterian, and who had +joined the Church of England himself after he entered the army. + +"I take it, John -- " resumed Cap. "Your name is Jack, I believe?" + +"No, sir; I am called Robert." + +"Ay, Robert, it's very much the same thing, Jack or Bob; we use +the two indifferently. I say, Bob, it's good holding ground, is +it, down at this same station for which we are bound?" + +"Bless you, sir! I know no more about it than one of the Mohawks, +or a soldier of the 55th." + +"Did you never anchor there?" + +"Never, sir. Master Eau-douce always makes fast to the shore." + +"But in running in for the town, you kept the lead going, out of +question, and must have tallowed as usual." + +"Tallow! -- and town, too! Bless your heart, Master Cap! there +is no more town than there is on your chin, and not half as much +tallow!" + +The Sergeant smiled grimly, but his brother-in-law did not detect +this proof of humor. + +"No church tower, nor light, nor fort, ha? There is a garrison, +as you call it hereaway, at least?" + +"Ask Sergeant Dunham, sir, if you wish to know that. All the +garrison is on board the _Scud_." + +"But in running in, Bob, which of the channels do you think the +best? the one you went last, or -- or -- or -- ay, or the other?" + +"I can't say, sir; I know nothing of either." + +"You didn't go to sleep, fellow, at the wheel, did you?" + +"Not at the wheel, sir, but down in the fore-peak in my berth. +Eau-douce sent us below, soldiers and all, with the exception of +the pilot, and we know no more of the road than if we had never +been over it. This he has always done in going in and coming out; +and, for the life of me, I could tell you nothing of the channel, +or the course, after we are once fairly up with the islands. No +one knows anything of either but Jasper and the pilot." + +"Here is a circumstance for you, Sergeant," said Cap, leading his +brother-in-law a little aside; "there is no one on board to pump, +for they all suck from ignorance at the first stroke of the brake. +How the devil am I to find the way to this station for which we +are bound?" + +"Sure enough, brother Cap, your question is more easily put than +answered. Is there no such thing as figuring it out by navigation? +I thought you salt-water mariners were able to do as small a thing +as that. I have often read of their discovering islands, surely." + +"That you have, brother, that you have; and this discovery would +be the greatest of them all; for it would not only be discovering +one island, but one island out of a thousand." + +"Still, the sailors of the lake have a method of finding the places +they wish to go to." + +"If I have understood you, Sergeant, this station or blockhouse +is particularly private." + +"It is, indeed, the utmost care having been taken to prevent a +knowledge of its position from reaching the enemy." + +"And you expect me, a stranger on your lake, to find this place +without chart, course, distance, latitude, longitude, or soundings, +-- ay, d--- me, or tallow! Allow me to ask if you think a mariner +runs by his nose, like one of Pathfinder's hounds?" + +"Well, brother, you may yet learn something by questioning the +young man at the helm; I can hardly think that he is as ignorant +as he pretends to be." + +"Hum! -- this looks like another circumstance. For that matter, +the case is getting to be so full of circumstances that one hardly +knows how to foot up the evidence. But we will soon see how much +the lad knows." + +Cap and the Sergeant now returned to their station near the helm, +and the former renewed his inquiries. + +"Do you happen to know what may be the latitude and longitude of +this said island, my lad?" he asked. + +"The what, sir?" + +"Why, the latitude or longitude -- one or both; I'm not particular +which, as I merely inquire in order to see how they bring up young +men on this bit of fresh water." + +"I'm not particular about either myself, sir, and so I do not happen +to know what you mean." + +"Not what I mean! You know what latitude is?" + +"Not I, sir!" returned the man, hesitating. "Though I believe it +is French for the upper lakes." + +"Whe-e-e-w-!" whistled Cap, drawing out his breath like the broken +stop of an organ; "latitude, French for upper lakes! Hark'e, young +man, do you know what longitude means?" + +"I believe I do, sir; that is, five feet six, the regulation height +for soldiers in the king's service." + +"There's the longitude found out for you, Sergeant, in the rattling +of a brace-block! You have some notion about a degree, and minutes +and seconds, I hope?" + +"Yes, sir; degree means my betters; and minutes and seconds are for +the short or long log-lines. We all know these things as well as +the salt-water people." + +"D--- me, brother Dunham, if I think even Faith can get along on +this lake, much as they say it can do with mountains. Well, my +lad, you understand the azimuth, and measuring distances, and how +to box the compass." + +"As for the first, sir, I can't say I do. The distances we all +know, as we measure them from point to point; and as for boxing the +compass, I will turn my back to no admiral in his Majesty's fleet. +Nothe, nothe and by east, nothe, nothe-east, nothe-east and +by nothe, nothe-east, nothe-east and by east, east-nothe-east, +east and by nothe-east -- " + +"That will do, that will do. You'll bring about a shift of wind if +you go on in this manner. I see very plainly, Sergeant," walking +away again, and dropping his voice, "we've nothing to hope for from +that chap. I'll stand on two hours longer on this tack, when we'll +heave-to and get the soundings, after which we will be governed by +circumstances." + +To this the Sergeant made no objections; and as the wind grew lighter, +as usual with the advance of night, and there were no immediate +obstacles to the navigation, he made a bed of a sail on deck, +and was soon lost in the sound sleep of a soldier. Cap continued +to walk the deck, for he was one whose iron frame set fatigue at +defiance, and not once that night did he close his eyes. + +It was broad daylight when Sergeant Dunham awoke, and the exclamation +of surprise that escaped him, as he rose to his feet and began to +look about him, was stronger than it was usual for one so drilled +to suffer to be heard. He found the weather entirely changed, the +view bounded by driving mist that limited the visible horizon to +a circle of about a mile in diameter, the lake raging and covered +with foam, and the _Scud_ lying-to. A brief conversation with his +brother-in-law let him into the secrets of all these sudden changes. + +According to the account of Master Cap, the wind had died away to +a calm about midnight, or just as he was thinking of heaving-to, +to sound, for islands ahead were beginning to be seen. At one A.M. +it began to blow from the north-east, accompanied by a drizzle, +and he stood off to the northward and westward, knowing that the +coast of New York lay in the opposite direction. At half-past one +he stowed the flying-jib, reefed the mainsail, and took the bonnet +off the jib. At two he was compelled to get a second reef aft; +and by half-past two he had put a balance-reef in the sail, and +was lying-to. + +"I can't say but the boat behaves well, Sergeant," the old sailor +added, "but it blows forty-two pounders. I had no idea there +were any such currents of air up here on this bit of fresh water, +though I care not the knotting of a yarn for it, as your lake has +now somewhat of a natural look; and if this d----d water had a +savor of salt about it, one might be comfortable." + +"How long have you been heading in this direction, brother Cap?" +inquired the prudent soldier; "and at what rate may we be going +through the water?" + +"Why, two or three hours, mayhap, and she went like a horse for +the first pair of them. Oh, we've a fine offing now! for, to own +the truth, little relishing the neighborhood of them said islands, +although they are to windward, I took the helm myself, and run her +off free for some league or two. We are well to leeward of them, +I'll engage - I say to leeward; for though one might wish to be well +to windward of one island, or even half a dozen, when it comes to +a thousand, the better way is to give it up at once, and to slide +down under their lee as fast as possible. No, no; there they are +up yonder in the dingle; and there they may stay, for anything +Charles Cap cares." + +"As the north shore lies only some five or six leagues from us, +brother, and I know there is a large bay in that quarter, might it +not be well to consult some of the crew concerning our position, +if, indeed, we do not call up Jasper Eau-douce, and tell him to +carry us back to Oswego? For it is quite impossible we should +ever reach the station with this wind directly in our teeth." + +"There are several serious professional reasons, Sergeant, against +all your propositions. In the first place, an admission of ignorance +on the part of a commander would destroy discipline. No matter, +brother; I understand your shake of the head, but nothing capsizes +discipline so much as to confess ignorance. I once knew a master +of a vessel who went a week on a wrong course rather than allow he +had made a mistake; and it was surprising how much he rose in the +opinions of his people, just because they could not understand +him." + +"That may do on salt water, brother Cap, but it will hardly do on +fresh. Rather than wreck my command on the Canada shore, I shall +feel it a duty to take Jasper out of arrest." + +"And make a haven in Frontenac. No, Sergeant; the _Scud_ is in +good hands, and will now learn something of seamanship. We have +a fine offing, and no one but a madman would think of going upon +a coast in a gale like this. I shall ware every watch, and then +we shall be safe against all dangers but those of the drift, which, +in a light low craft like this, without top-hamper, will be next +to nothing. Leave it all to me, Sergeant, and I pledge you the +character of Charles Cap that all will go well." + +Sergeant Dunham was fain to yield. He had great confidence in his +connection's professional skill, and hoped that he would take such +care of the cutter as would amply justify his opinion of him. On +the other hand, as distrust, like care, grows by what it feeds on, +he entertained so much apprehension of treachery, that he was quite +willing any one but Jasper should just then have the control of +the fate of the whole party. Truth, moreover, compels us to admit +another motive. The particular duty on which he was now sent of +right should have been confided to a commissioned officer; and Major +Duncan had excited a good deal of discontent among the subalterns +of the garrison, by having confided it to one of the Sergeant's +humble station. To return without having even reached the point +of destination, therefore, the latter felt would be a failure from +which he was not likely soon to recover, and the measure would at +once be the means of placing a superior in his shoes. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form +Glasses itself in tempests; in all time, +Calm or convulsed -- in breeze, or gale, or storm, +Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime +Dark-heaving; -- boundless, endless, and sublime -- +The image of eternity; the throne +Of the Invisible; even from out thy slime +The monsters of the deep are made; each zone +Obeys thee; thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, alone. +BYRON. + + +As the day advanced, that portion of the inmates of the vessel +which had the liberty of doing so appeared on deck. As yet the +sea was not very high, from which it was inferred that the cutter +was still under the lee of the islands; but it was apparent to all +who understood the lake that they were about to experience one of +the heavy autumnal gales of that region. Land was nowhere visible; +and the horizon on every side exhibited that gloomy void, which +lends to all views on vast bodies of water the sublimity of mystery. +The swells, or, as landsmen term them, the waves, were short and +curling, breaking of necessity sooner than the longer seas of the +ocean; while the element itself, instead of presenting that beautiful +hue which rivals the deep tint of the southern sky, looked green +and angry, though wanting in the lustre that is derived from the +rays of the sun. + +The soldiers were soon satisfied with the prospect, and one by one +they disappeared, until none were left on deck but the crew, the +Sergeant, Cap, Pathfinder, the Quartermaster, and Mabel. There +was a shade on the brow of the last, who had been made acquainted +with the real state of things, and who had fruitlessly ventured an +appeal in favor of Jasper's restoration to the command. A night's +rest and a night's reflection appeared also to have confirmed the +Pathfinder in his opinion of the young man's innocence; and he, +too, had made a warm appeal on behalf of his friend, though with +the same want of success. + +Several hours passed away, the wind gradually getting heavier and +the sea rising, until the motion of the cutter compelled Mabel and +the Quartermaster to retreat also. Cap wore several times; and it +was now evident that the _Scud_ was drifting into the broader and +deeper parts of the lake, the seas raging down upon her in a way +that none but a vessel of superior mould and build could have long +ridden and withstood. All this, however, gave Cap no uneasiness; +but, like the hunter that pricks his ears at the sound of the horn, +or the war-horse that paws and snorts with pleasure at the roll +of the drum, the whole scene awakened all that was man within him; +and instead of the captious, supercilious, and dogmatic critic, +quarrelling with trifles and exaggerating immaterial things, he +began to exhibit the qualities of the hardy and experienced seaman +which he truly was. The hands soon imbibed a respect for his +skill; and, though they wondered at the disappearance of their old +commander and the pilot, for which no reason had been publicly +given, they soon yielded an implicit and cheerful obedience to the +new one. + +"This bit of fresh water, after all, brother Dunham, has some spirit, +I find," cried Cap about noon, rubbing his hands in pure satisfaction +at finding himself once more wrestling with the elements. "The +wind seems to be an honest old-fashioned gale, and the seas have +a fanciful resemblance to those of the Gulf Stream. I like this, +Sergeant, I like this, and shall get to respect your lake, if it +hold out twenty-four hours longer in the fashion in which it has +begun." + +"Land, ho!" shouted the man who was stationed on the forecastle. + +Cap hurried forward; and there, sure enough, the land was visible +through the drizzle, at the distance of about half a mile, the +cutter heading directly towards it. The first impulse of the old +seaman was to give an order to "stand by, to ware off shore;" but +the cool-headed soldier restrained him. + +"By going a little nearer," said the Sergeant, "some of us may +recognize the place. Most of us know the American shore in this +part of the lake; and it will be something gained to learn our +position." + +"Very true, very true; if, indeed, there is any chance of that we +will hold on. What is this off here, a little on our weather-bow? +It looks like a low headland." + +"The garrison, by Jove!" exclaimed the other, whose trained eye +sooner recognized the military outlines than the less instructed +senses of his connection. + +The Sergeant was not mistaken. There was the fort, sure enough, +though it looked dim and indistinct through the fine rain, as if +it were seen in the dusk of evening or the haze of morning. The +low, sodded, and verdant ramparts, the sombre palisades, now darker +than ever with water, the roof of a house or two, the tall, solitary +flagstaff, with its halyards blown steadily out into a curve that +appeared traced in immovable lines in the air, were all soon to +be seen though no sign of animated life could be discovered. Even +the sentinel was housed; and at first it was believed that no eye +would detect the presence of their own vessel. But the unceasing +vigilance of a border garrison did not slumber: one of the look-outs +probably made the interesting discovery; a man or two were seen on +some elevated stands, and then the entire ramparts next the lake +were dotted with human beings. + +The whole scene was one in which sublimity was singularly relieved +by the picturesque. The raging of the tempest had a character of +duration that rendered it easy to imagine it might be a permanent +feature of the spot. The roar of the wind was without intermission, +and the raging water answered to its dull but grand strains with +hissing spray, a menacing wash, and sullen surges. The drizzle +made a medium for the eye which closely resembled that of a thin +mist, softening and rendering mysterious the images it revealed, +while the genial feeling that is apt to accompany a gale of wind +on water contributed to aid the milder influences of the moment. +The dark interminable forest hove up out of the obscurity, grand, +sombre, and impressive, while the solitary, peculiar, and picturesque +glimpses of life that were caught in and about the fort, formed +a refuge for the eye to retreat to when oppressed with the more +imposing objects of nature. + +"They see us," said the Sergeant, "and think we have returned on +account of the gale, and have fallen to leeward of the port. Yes, +there is Major Duncan himself on the north-eastern bastion; I know +him by his height, and by the officers around him." + +"Sergeant, it would be worth standing a little jeering, if we could +fetch into the river, and come safely to an anchor. In that case, +too, we might land this Master Eau-douce, and purify the boat." + +"It would indeed; but, as poor a sailor as I am, I well know it +cannot be done. Nothing that sails the lake can turn to windward +against this gale; and there is no anchorage outside in weather +like this." + +"I know it, I see it, Sergeant; and pleasant as is that sight to +you landsmen, we must leave it. For myself, I am never so happy +in heavy weather as when I am certain that the land is behind me." + +The _Scud_ had now forged so near in, that it became indispensable +to lay her head off shore again, and the necessary orders were +given. The storm-staysail was set forward, the gaff lowered, the +helm put up, and the light craft, that seemed to sport with the +elements like a duck, fell off a little, drew ahead swiftly, obeyed +her rudder, and was soon flying away on the top of the surges, dead +before the gale. While making this rapid flight, though the land +still remained in view on her larboard beam, the fort and the groups +of anxious spectators on its rampart were swallowed up in the mist. +Then followed the evolutions necessary to bring the head of the +cutter up to the wind, when she again began to wallow her weary +way towards the north shore. + +Hours now passed before any further change was made, the wind +increasing in force, until even the dogmatical Cap fairly admitted +it was blowing a thorough gale of wind. About sunset the _Scud_ +wore again to keep her off the north shore during the hours of +darkness; and at midnight her temporary master, who, by questioning +the crew in an indirect manner, had obtained some general knowledge +of the size and shape of the lake, believed himself to be about +midway between the two shores. The height and length of the seas +aided this impression; and it must be added that Cap by this time +began to feel a respect for fresh water which twenty-four hours +earlier he would have derided as impossible. Just as the night +turned, the fury of the wind became so great that he found it +impossible to bear up against it, the water falling on the deck +of the little craft in such masses as to cause it to shake to the +centre, and, though a vessel of singularly lively qualities, to +threaten to bury it beneath its weight. The people of the _Scud_ +averred that never before had they been out in such a tempest, which +was true; for, possessing a perfect knowledge of all the rivers +and headlands and havens, Jasper would have carried the cutter +in shore long ere this, and placed her in safety in some secure +anchorage. But Cap still disdained to consult the young master, +who continued below, determining to act like a mariner of the broad +ocean. + +It was one in the morning when the storm-staysail was again got on +the _Scud_, the head of the mainsail lowered, and the cutter put +before the wind. Although the canvas now exposed was merely a rag +in surface, the little craft nobly justified the use of the name +she bore. For eight hours did she scud in truth; and it was almost +with the velocity of the gulls that wheeled wildly over her in the +tempest, apparently afraid to alight in the boiling caldron of the +lake. The dawn of day brought little change; for no other horizon +became visible than the little circle of drizzling sky and water +already described, in which it seemed as if the elements were +rioting in a sort of chaotic confusion. During this time the crew +and passengers of the cutter were of necessity passive. Jasper +and the pilot remained below; but, the motion of the vessel having +become easier, nearly all the rest were on deck. The morning +meal had been taken in silence, and eye met eye, as if their owners +asked each other, in dumb show, what was to be the end of this +strife in the elements. Cap, however, was perfectly composed, and +his face brightened, his step grew firmer, and his whole air more +assured, as the storm increased, making larger demands on his +professional skill and personal spirit. He stood on the forecastle, +his arms crossed, balancing his body with a seaman's instinct, while +his eyes watched the caps of the seas, as they broke and glanced +past the reeling cutter, itself in such swift motion, as if they +were the scud flying athwart the sky. At this sublime instant one +of the hands gave the unexpected cry of "A sail!" + +There was so much of the wild and solitary character of the +wilderness about Ontario, that one scarcely expected to meet with +a vessel on its waters. The _Scud_ herself, to those who were in +her, resembled a man threading the forest alone, and the meeting +was like that of two solitary hunters beneath the broad canopy of +leaves that then covered so many millions of acres on the continent +of America. The peculiar state of the weather served to increase +the romantic, almost supernatural appearance of the passage. Cap +alone regarded it with practised eyes, and even he felt his iron +nerves thrill under the sensations that were awakened by the wild +features of the scene. + +The strange vessel was about two cables' length ahead of the _Scud_, +standing by the wind athwart her bows, and steering a course to +render it probable that the latter would pass within a few yards +of her. She was a full-rigged ship; and, seen through the misty +medium of the tempest, the most experienced eye could detect no +imperfection in her gear or construction. The only canvas she had +set was a close-reefed main-topsail, and two small storm-staysails, +one forward and the other aft. Still the power of the wind pressed +so hard upon her as to bear her down nearly to her beam-ends, +whenever the hull was not righted by the buoyancy of some wave under +her lee. Her spars were all in their places, and by her motion +through the water, which might have equalled four knots in the +hour, it was apparent that she steered a little free. + +"The fellow must know his position well," said Cap, as the cutter +flew down towards the ship with a velocity almost equalling that +of the gale, "for he is standing boldly to the southward, where he +expects to find anchorage or a haven. No man in his senses would +run off free in that fashion, that was not driven to scudding, like +ourselves, who did not perfectly understand where he was going." + +"We have made an awful run, captain," returned the man to whom +this remark had been addressed. "That is the French king's ship, +Lee-my-calm (_Le Montcalm_), and she is standing in for the Niagara, +where her owner has a garrison and a port. We've made an awful +run of it!" + +"Ay, bad luck to him! Frenchman-like, he skulks into port the +moment he sees an English bottom." + +"It might be well for us if we could follow him," returned the man, +shaking his head despondingly, "for we are getting into the end of +a bay up here at the head of the lake, and it is uncertain whether +we ever get out of it again!" + +"Pooh, man, pooh! We have plenty of sea room, and a good English +hull beneath us. We are no Johnny Crapauds to hide ourselves +behind a point or a fort on account of a puff of wind. Mind your +helm, sir!" + +The order was given on account of the menacing appearance of the +approaching passage. The _Scud_ was now heading directly for +the fore-foot of the Frenchman; and, the distance between the two +vessels having diminished to a hundred yards, it was momentarily +questionable if there was room to pass. + +"Port, sir, port," shouted Cap. "Port your helm and pass astern!" + +The crew of the Frenchman were seen assembling to windward, and a +few muskets were pointed, as if to order the people of the _Scud_ +to keep off. Gesticulations were observed, but the sea was too +wild and menacing to admit of the ordinary expedients of war. The +water was dripping from the muzzles of two or three light guns on +board the ship, but no one thought of loosening them for service +in such a tempest. Her black sides, as they emerged from a wave, +glistened and seemed to frown; but the wind howled through her +rigging, whistling the thousand notes of a ship; and the hails and +cries that escape a Frenchman with so much readiness were inaudible. + +"Let him halloo himself hoarse!" growled Cap. "This is no weather +to whisper secrets in. Port, sir, port!" + +The man at the helm obeyed, and the next send of the sea drove the +_Scud_ down upon the quarter of the ship, so near her that the old +mariner himself recoiled a step, in a vague expectation that, at +the next surge ahead, she would drive bows foremost directly into +the planks of the other vessel. But this was not to be: rising +from the crouching posture she had taken, like a panther about to +leap, the cutter dashed onward, and at the next instant she was +glancing past the stern of her enemy, just clearing the end of her +spanker-boom with her own lower yard. + +The young Frenchman who commanded the _Montcalm_ leaped on the +taffrail; and, with that high-toned courtesy which relieves even +the worst acts of his countrymen, he raised his cap and smiled +a salutation as the _Scud_ shot past. There were _bonhomie_ and +good taste in this act of courtesy, when circumstances allowed of +no other communications; but they were lost on Cap, who, with an +instinct quite as true to his race, shook his fist menacingly, and +muttered to himself, -- + +"Ay, ay, it's d----d lucky for you I've no armament on board here, +or I'd send you in to get new cabin-windows fitted. Sergeant, he's +a humbug." + +"'Twas civil, brother Cap," returned the other, lowering his hand +from the military salute which his pride as a soldier had induced +him to return, -- "'twas civil, and that's as much as you can expect +from a Frenchman. What he really meant by it no one can say." + +"He is not heading up to this sea without an object, neither. +Well, let him run in, if he can get there, we will keep the lake, +like hearty English mariners." + +This sounded gloriously, but Cap eyed with envy the glittering +black mass of the _Montcalm's_ hull, her waving topsail, and the +misty tracery of her spars, as she grew less and less distinct, and +finally disappeared in the drizzle, in a form as shadowy as that +of some unreal image. Gladly would he have followed in her wake +had he dared; for, to own the truth, the prospect of another stormy +night in the midst of the wild waters that were raging around him +brought little consolation. Still he had too much professional +pride to betray his uneasiness, and those under his care relied on +his knowledge and resources, with the implicit and blind confidence +that the ignorant are apt to feel. + +A few hours succeeded, and darkness came again to increase the +perils of the _Scud_. A lull in the gale, however, had induced +Cap to come by the wind once more, and throughout the night the +cutter was lying-to as before, head-reaching as a matter of course, +and occasionally wearing to keep off the land. It is unnecessary +to dwell on the incidents of this night, which resembled those +of any other gale of wind. There were the pitching of the vessel, +the hissing of the waters, the dashing of spray, the shocks that +menaced annihilation to the little craft as she plunged into the +seas, the undying howl of the wind, and the fearful drift. The +last was the most serious danger; for, though exceedingly weatherly +under her canvas, and totally without top-hamper, the _Scud_ was +so light, that the combing of the swells would seem at times to +wash her down to leeward with a velocity as great as that of the +surges themselves. + +During this night Cap slept soundly, and for several hours. The +day was just dawning when he felt himself shaken by the shoulder; +and arousing himself, he found the Pathfinder standing at his +side. During the gale the guide had appeared little on deck, for +his natural modesty told him that seamen alone should interfere +with the management of the vessel; and he was willing to show the +same reliance on those who had charge of the _Scud_, as he expected +those who followed through the forest to manifest in his own skill; +but he now thought himself justified in interfering, which he did +in his own unsophisticated and peculiar manner. + +"Sleep is sweet, Master Cap," said he, as soon as the eyes of the +latter were fairly open, and his consciousness had sufficiently +returned, -- "sleep is sweet, as I know from experience, but life +is sweeter still. Look about you, and say if this is exactly the +moment for a commander to be off his feet." + +"How now? how now, Master Pathfinder?" growled Cap, in the first +moments of his awakened faculties. "Are you, too, getting on the +side of the grumblers? When ashore I admired your sagacity in +running through the worst shoals without a compass; and since we +have been afloat, your meekness and submission have been as pleasant +as your confidence on your own ground. I little expected such a +summons from you." + +"As for myself, Master Cap, I feel I have my gifts, and I believe +they'll interfere with those of no other man; but the case may be +different with Mabel Dunham. She has her gifts, too, it is true; +but they are not rude like ours, but gentle and womanish, as they +ought to be. It's on her account that I speak, and not on my own." + +"Ay, ay, I begin to understand. The girl is a good girl, my worthy +friend; but she is a soldier's daughter and a sailor's niece, and +ought not to be too tame or too tender in a gale. Does she show +any fear?" + +"Not she! not she! Mabel is a woman, but she is reasonable and +silent. Not a word have I heard from her concerning our doings; +though I do think, Master Cap, she would like it better if Jasper +Eau-douce were put into his proper place, and things were restored +to their old situation, like. This is human natur'." + +"I'll warrant it -- girl-like, and Dunham-like, too. Anything is +better than an old uncle, and everybody knows more than an old +seaman. _This_ is human natur', Master Pathfinder, and d--- me if +I'm the man to sheer a fathom, starboard or port, for all the human +natur' that can be found in a minx of twenty -- ay, or" (lowering +his voice a little) "for all that can be paraded in his Majesty's +55th regiment of foot. I've not been at sea forty years, to come +up on this bit of fresh water to be taught human natur'. How this +gale holds out! It blows as hard at this moment as if Boreas had +just clapped his hand upon the bellows. And what is all this to +leeward?" (rubbing his eyes) -- "land! as sure as my name is Cap +-- and high land, too." + +The Pathfinder made no immediate answer; but, shaking his head, +he watched the expression of his companion's face, with a look of +strong anxiety in his own. + +"Land, as certain as this is the _Scud!_" repeated Cap; "a lee +shore, and that, too, within a league of us, with as pretty a line +of breakers as one could find on the beach of all Long Island!" + +"And is that encouraging? or is it disheartening?" inquired the +Pathfinder. + +"Ha! encouraging -- disheartening! -- why, neither. No, no, there +is nothing encouraging about it; and as for disheartening, nothing +ought to dishearten a seaman. You never get disheartened or afraid +in the woods, my friend?" + +"I'll not say that, I'll not say that. When the danger is great, +it is my gift to see it, and know it, and to try to avoid it; else +would my scalp long since have been drying in a Mingo wigwam. On +this lake, however, I can see no trail, and I feel it my duty to +submit; though I think we ought to remember there is such a person +as Mabel Dunham on board. But here comes her father, and he will +naturally feel for his own child." + +"We are seriously situated, I believe, brother Cap," said the +Sergeant, when he had reached the spot, "by what I can gather from +the two hands on the forecastle? They tell me the cutter cannot +carry any more sail, and her drift is so great we shall go ashore +in an hour or two. I hope their fears have deceived them?" + +Cap made no reply; but he gazed at the land with a rueful face, and +then looked to windward with an expression of ferocity, as if he +would gladly have quarrelled with the weather. + +"It may be well, brother," the Sergeant continued, "to send for +Jasper and consult him as to what is to be done. There are no +French here to dread; and, under all circumstances, the boy will +save us from drowning if possible." + +"Ay, ay, 'tis these cursed circumstances that have done all the +mischief. But let the fellow come; let him come; a few well-managed +questions will bring the truth out of him, I'll warrant you." + +This acquiescence on the part of the dogmatical Cap was no sooner +obtained, than Jasper was sent for. The young man instantly made +his appearance, his whole air, countenance, and mien expressive of +mortification, humility, and, as his observers fancied, rebuked +deception. When he first stepped on deck, Jasper cast one hurried, +anxious glance around, as if curious to know the situation of the +cutter; and that glance sufficed, it would seem, to let him into +the secret of all her perils. At first he looked to windward, as +is usual with every seaman; then he turned round the horizon, until +his eye caught a view of the high lands to leeward, when the whole +truth burst upon him at once. + +"I've sent for you, Master Jasper," said Cap, folding his arms, and +balancing his body with the dignity of the forecastle, "in order +to learn something about the haven to leeward. We take it for +granted you do not bear malice so hard as to wish to drown us all, +especially the women; and I suppose you will be man enough to help +us run the cutter into some safe berth until this bit of a gale +has done blowing!" + +"I would die myself rather than harm should come to Mabel Dunham," +the young man earnestly answered. + +"I knew it! I knew it!" cried the Pathfinder, clapping his hand +kindly on Jasper's shoulder. "The lad is as true as the best compass +that ever ran a boundary, or brought a man off from a blind trail. +It is a mortal sin to believe otherwise." + +"Humph!" ejaculated Cap; "especially the women! As if _they_ were +in any particular danger. Never mind, young man; we shall understand +each other by talking like two plain seamen. Do you know of any +port under our lee?" + +"None. There is a large bay at this end of the lake; but it is +unknown to us all, and not easy of entrance." + +"And this coast to leeward -- it has nothing particular to recommend +it, I suppose?" + +"It is a wilderness until you reach the mouth of the Niagara in +one direction, and Frontenac in the other. North and west, they +tell me, there is nothing but forest and prairies for a thousand +miles." + +"Thank God! then, there can be no French. Are there many savages, +hereaway, on the land?" + +"The Indians are to be found in all directions; though they are +nowhere very numerous. By accident, we might find a party at any +point on the shore; or we might pass months there without seeing +one." + +"We must take our chance, then, as to the blackguards; but, to be +frank with you, Master Western, if this little unpleasant matter +about the French had not come to pass, what would you now do with +the cutter?" + +"I am a much younger sailor than yourself, Master Cap," said Jasper +modestly, "and am hardly fitted to advise you." + +"Ay, ay, we all know that. In a common case, perhaps not. But +this is an uncommon case, and a circumstance; and on this bit of +fresh water it has what may be called its peculiarities; and so, +everything considered, you may be fitted to advise even your own +father. At all events, you can speak, and I can judge of your +opinions, agreeably to my own experience." + +"I think, sir, before two hours are over, the cutter will have to +anchor." + +"Anchor! -- not out here in the lake?" + +"No, sir; but in yonder, near the land." + +"You do not mean to say, Master Eau-douce, you would anchor on a +lee shore in a gale of wind?" + +"If I would save my vessel, that is exactly what I would do, Master +Cap." + +"Whe-e-e-w! -- this is fresh water, with a vengeance! Hark'e, young +man, I've been a seafaring animal, boy and man, forty-one years, +and I never yet heard of such a thing. I'd throw my ground-tackle +overboard before I would be guilty of so lubberly an act!" + +"That is what we do on this lake," modestly replied Jasper, "when +we are hard pressed. I daresay we might do better, had we been +better taught." + +"That you might, indeed! No; no man induces me to commit such a +sin against my own bringing up. I should never dare show my face +inside of Sandy Hook again, had I committed so know-nothing an +exploit. Why, Pathfinder, here, has more seamanship in him than +that comes to. You can go below again, Master Eau-douce." + +Jasper quietly bowed and withdrew; still, as he passed down the +ladder, the spectators observed that he cast a lingering anxious +look at the horizon to windward and the land to leeward, and then +disappeared with concern strongly expressed in every lineament of +his face. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +His still refuted quirks he still repeats; +New-raised objections with new quibbles meets, +Till sinking in the quicksand he defends, +He dies disputing, and the contest ends. +COWPER. + + +As the soldier's wife was sick in her berth, Mabel Dunham was the +only person in the outer cabin when Jasper returned to it; for, by +an act of grace in the Sergeant, he had been permitted to resume +his proper place in this part of the vessel. We should be ascribing +too much simplicity of character to our heroine, if we said that +she had felt no distrust of the young man in consequence of his +arrest; but we should also be doing injustice to her warmth of +feeling and generosity of disposition, if we did not add, that this +distrust was insignificant and transient. As he now took his seat +near her, his whole countenance clouded with the uneasiness he felt +concerning the situation of the cutter, everything like suspicion +was banished from her mind, and she saw in him only an injured man. + +"You let this affair weigh too heavily on your mind, Jasper," +said she eagerly, or with that forgetfulness of self with which +the youthful of her sex are wont to betray their feelings when a +strong and generous interest has attained the ascendency; "no one +who knows you can, or does, believe you guilty. Pathfinder says +he will pledge his life for you." + +"Then you, Mabel," returned the youth, his eyes flashing fire, "do +not look upon me as the traitor your father seems to believe me to +be?" + +"My dear father is a soldier, and is obliged to act as one. My +father's daughter is not, and will think of you as she ought to +think of a man who has done so much to serve her already." + +"Mabel, I'm not used to talking with one like you, or saying all I +think and feel with any. I never had a sister, and my mother died +when I was a child, so that I know little what your sex +most likes to hear -- " + +Mabel would have given the world to know what lay behind the teeming +word at which Jasper hesitated; but the indefinable and controlling +sense of womanly diffidence made her suppress her curiosity. She +waited in silence for him to explain his own meaning. + +"I wish to say, Mabel," the young man continued, after a pause which +he found sufficiently embarrassing, "that I am unused to the ways +and opinions of one like you, and that you must imagine all I would +add." + +Mabel had imagination enough to fancy anything, but there are ideas +and feelings that her sex prefer to have expressed before they yield +them all their own sympathies, and she had a vague consciousness +that these of Jasper might properly be enumerated in the class. +With a readiness that belonged to her sex, therefore, she preferred +changing the discourse to permitting it to proceed any further in +a manner so awkward and so unsatisfactory. + +"Tell me one thing, Jasper, and I shall be content," said she, +speaking now with a firmness which denoted confidence, not only +in herself, but in her companion: "you do not deserve this cruel +suspicion which rests upon you?" + +"I do not, Mabel!" answered Jasper, looking into her full blue eyes +with an openness and simplicity that might have shaken stronger +distrust. "As I hope for mercy hereafter, I do not!" + +"I knew it -- I could have sworn it!" returned the girl warmly. +"And yet my father means well; -- but do not let this matter disturb +you, Jasper." + +"There is so much more to apprehend from another quarter just now, +that I scarcely think of it." + +"Jasper!" + +"I do not wish to alarm you, Mabel; but if your uncle could be +persuaded to change his notions about handling the _Scud_: and yet +he is so much more experienced than I am, that he ought, perhaps, +to place more reliance on his own judgment than on mine." + +"Do you think the cutter in any danger?" demanded Mabel, quick as +thought. + +"I fear so; at least she would have been thought in great danger by +us of the lake; perhaps an old seaman of the ocean may have means +of his own to take care of her." + +"Jasper, all agree in giving you credit for skill in managing the +_Scud_. You know the lake, you know the cutter; you _must_ be +the best judge of our real situation." + +"My concern for you, Mabel, may make me more cowardly than common; +but, to be frank, I see but one method of keeping the cutter from +being wrecked in the course of the next two or three hours, and that +your uncle refuses to take. After all, this may be my ignorance; +for, as he says, Ontario is merely fresh water." + +"You cannot believe this will make any difference. Think of my dear +father, Jasper! Think of yourself; of all the lives that depend +on a timely word from you to save them." + +"I think of you, Mabel, and that is more, much more, than all the +rest put together!" returned the young man, with a strength of +expression and an earnestness of look that uttered infinitely more +than the words themselves. + +Mabel's heart beat quickly, and a gleam of grateful satisfaction +shot across her blushing features; but the alarm was too vivid and +too serious to admit of much relief from happier thoughts. She did +not attempt to repress a look of gratitude, and then she returned +to the feeling which was naturally uppermost. + +"My uncle's obstinacy must not be permitted to occasion this +disaster. Go once more on deck, Jasper; and ask my father to come +into the cabin." + +While the young man was complying with this request, Mabel sat +listening to the howling of the storm and the dashing of the water +against the cutter, in a dread to which she had hitherto been +a stranger. Constitutionally an excellent sailor, as the term is +used among passengers, she had not hitherto bethought her of any +danger, and had passed her time since the commencement of the gale +in such womanly employments as her situation allowed; but now that +alarm was seriously awakened, she did not fail to perceive that never +before had she been on the water in such a tempest. The minute or +two which elapsed before the Sergeant came appeared an hour, and +she scarcely breathed when she saw him and Jasper descending the +ladder in company. Quick as language could express her meaning, +she acquainted her father with Jasper's opinion of their situation; +and entreated him, if he loved her, or had any regard for his own +life, or for those of his men, to interfere with her uncle, and to +induce him to yield the control of the cutter again to its proper +commander. + +"Jasper is true, father," added she earnestly; "and if false, he +could have no motive in wrecking us in this distant part of the lake +at the risk of all our lives, his own included. I will pledge my +own life for his truth." + +"Ay, this is well enough for a young woman who is frightened," answered +the more phlegmatic parent; "but it might not be so excusable in +one in command of an expedition. Jasper may think the chance of +drowning in getting ashore fully repaid by the chance of escaping +as soon as he reaches the land." + +"Sergeant Dunham!" + +"Father!" + +These exclamations were made simultaneously, but they were uttered +in tones expressive of different feelings. In Jasper, surprise +was the emotion uppermost; in Mabel reproach. The old soldier, +however, was too much accustomed to deal frankly with subordinates +to heed either; and after a moment's thought, he continued as if +neither had spoken. "Nor is brother Cap a man likely to submit to +be taught his duty on board a vessel." + +"But, father, when all our lives are in the utmost jeopardy!" + +"So much the worse. The fair-weather commander is no great matter; +it is when things go wrong that the best officer shows himself in +his true colors. Charles Cap will not be likely to quit the helm +because the ship is in danger. Besides, Jasper Eau-douce, he says +your proposal in itself has a suspicious air about it, and sounds +more like treachery than reason." + +"He may think so; but let him send for the pilot and hear +his opinion. It is well known that I have not seen the man since +yesterday evening." + +"This does sound reasonably, and the experiment shall be tried. +Follow me on deck then, that all may be honest and above-board." + +Jasper obeyed, and so keen was the interest of Mabel, that she +too ventured as far as the companion-way, where her garments were +sufficiently protected against the violence of the wind and her +person from the spray. Here maiden modesty induced her to remain, +though an absorbed witness of what was passing. + +The pilot soon appeared, and there was no mistaking the look of +concern that he cast around at the scene as soon as he was in the +open air. Some rumors of the situation of the _Scud_ had found +their way below, it is true; but in this instance rumor had lessened +instead of magnifying the danger. He was allowed a few minutes +to look about him, and then the question was put as to the course +which he thought it prudent to follow. + +"I see no means of saving the cutter but to anchor," he answered +simply, and without hesitation. + +"What! out here in the lake?" inquired Cap, as he had previously +done of Jasper. + +"No: but closer in; just at the outer line of the breakers." + +The effect of this communication was to leave no doubt in the mind +of Cap that there was a secret arrangement between her commander +and the pilot to cast away the _Scud_; most probably with the hope +of effecting their escape. He consequently treated the opinion of +the latter with the indifference he had manifested towards that +of the former. + +"I tell you, brother Dunham," said he, in answer to the +remonstrances of the Sergeant against his turning a deaf ear to this +double representation, "that no seaman would give such an opinion +honestly. To anchor on a lee shore in a gale of wind would be an +act of madness that I could never excuse to the underwriters, under +any circumstances, so long as a rag can be set; but to anchor close +to breakers would be insanity." + +"His Majesty underwrites the _Scud_, brother, and I am responsible +for the lives of my command. These men are better acquainted with +Lake Ontario than we can possibly be, and I do think their telling +the same tale entitles them to some credit." + +"Uncle!" said Mabel earnestly; but a gesture from Jasper induced +the girl to restrain her feelings. + +"We are drifting down upon the breakers so rapidly," said the young +man, "that little need be said on the subject. Half an hour must +settle the matter, one way or the other; but I warn Master Cap +that the surest-footed man among us will not be able to keep his +feet an instant on the deck of this low craft, should she fairly +get within them. Indeed I make little doubt that we shall fill +and founder before the second line of rollers is passed." + +"And how would anchoring help the matter?" demanded Cap furiously, +as if he felt that Jasper was responsible for the effects of the +gale, as well as for the opinion he had just given. + +"It would at least do no harm," Eau-douce mildly replied. "By +bringing the cutter head to sea we should lessen her drift; and +even if we dragged through the breakers, it would be with the least +possible danger. I hope, Master Cap, you will allow the pilot +and myself to _prepare_ for anchoring, since the precaution may do +good, and can do no harm." + +"Overhaul your ranges, if you will, and get your anchors clear, +with all my heart. We are now in a situation that cannot be much +affected by anything of that sort. Sergeant, a word with you aft +here, if you please." + +Cap led his brother-in-law out of ear-shot; and then, with more of +human feeling in his voice and manner than he was apt to exhibit, +he opened his heart on the subject of their real situation. + +"This is a melancholy affair for poor Mabel," said he, blowing his +nose, and speaking with a slight tremor. "You and I, Sergeant, +are old fellows, and used to being near death, if not to actually +dying; our trades fit us for such scenes; but poor Mabel! -- she +is an affectionate and kind-hearted girl, and I had hoped to see +her comfortably settled, and a mother, before my time came. Well, +well! we must take the bad with the good in every v'y'ge; and the +only serious objection that an old seafaring man can with propriety +make to such an event is, that it should happen on this bit of +d----d fresh water." + +Sergeant Dunham was a brave man, and had shown his spirit in scenes +that looked much more appalling than this; but on all such occasions +he had been able to act his part against his foes, while here he +was pressed upon by an enemy whom he had no means of resisting. +For himself he cared far less than for his daughter, feeling some +of that self-reliance which seldom deserts a man of firmness who +is in vigorous health, and who has been accustomed to personal +exertions in moments of jeopardy; but as respects Mabel he saw no +means of escape, and, with a father's fondness, he at once determined +that, if either was doomed to perish, he and his daughter must +perish together. + +"Do you think this must come to pass?" he asked of Cap firmly, but +with strong feeling. + +"Twenty minutes will carry us into the breakers; and look for +yourself, Sergeant: what chance will even the stoutest man among +us have in that caldron to leeward?" + +The prospect was, indeed, little calculated to encourage hope. By +this time the _Scud_ was within a mile of the shore, on which the +gale was blowing at right angles, with a violence that forbade +the idea of showing any additional canvas with a view to claw off. +The small portion of the mainsail actually set, and which merely +served to keep the head of the _Scud_ so near the wind as to prevent +the waves from breaking over her, quivered under the gusts, as if +at each moment the stout threads which held the complicated fabric +together were about to be torn asunder. The drizzle had ceased; +but the air, for a hundred feet above the surface of the lake, +was filled with dazzling spray, which had an appearance not unlike +that of a brilliant mist, while above all the sun was shining +gloriously in a cloudless sky. Jasper had noted the omen, and +had foretold that it announced a speedy termination to the gale, +though the next hour or two must decide their fate. Between the +cutter and the shore the view was still more wild and appalling. +The breakers extended nearly half a mile; while the water within +their line was white with foam, the air above them was so far +filled with vapor and spray as to render the land beyond hazy and +indistinct. Still it could be seen that the latter was high, -- +not a usual thing for the shores of Ontario, -- and that it was +covered with the verdant mantle of the interminable forest. + +While the Sergeant and Cap were gazing at this scene in silence, +Jasper and his people were actively engaged on the forecastle. +No sooner had the young man received permission to resume his +old employment, than, appealing to some of the soldiers for aid, +he mustered five or six assistants, and set about in earnest the +performance of a duty which had been too long delayed. On these +narrow waters anchors are never stowed in-board, or cables that +are intended for service unbent, and Jasper was saved much of the +labor that would have been necessary in a vessel at sea. The two +bowers were soon ready to be let go, ranges of the cables were +overhauled, and then the party paused to look about them. No changes +for the better had occurred, but the cutter was falling slowly in, +and each instant rendered it more certain that she could not gain +an inch to windward. + +One long, earnest survey of the lake ended, Jasper gave new orders +in a similar manner to prove how much he thought that the time +pressed. Two kedges were got on deck, and hawsers were bent to +them; the inner ends of the hawsers were bent, in their turns, to +the crowns of the anchors, and everything was got ready to throw +them overboard at the proper moment. These preparations completed, +Jasper's manner changed from the excitement of exertion to a look +of calm but settled concern. He quitted the forecastle, where the +seas were dashing inboard at every plunge of the vessel, the duty +just mentioned having been executed with the bodies of the crew +frequently buried in the water, and walked to a drier part of the +deck, aft. Here he was met by the Pathfinder, who was standing +near Mabel and the Quartermaster. Most of those on board, with +the exception of the individuals who have already been particularly +mentioned, were below, some seeking relief from physical suffering +on their pallets, and others tardily bethinking them of their sins. +For the first time, most probably, since her keel had dipped into +the limpid waters of Ontario, the voice of prayer was, heard on +board the _Scud_. + +"Jasper," commenced his friend, the guide, "I have been of no use +this morning, for my gifts are of little account, as you know, in +a vessel like this; but, should it please God to let the Sergeant's +daughter reach the shore alive, my acquaintance with the forest +may still carry her through in safety to the garrison." + +"'Tis a fearful distance thither, Pathfinder!" Mabel rejoined, the +party being so near together that all which was said by one was +overheard by the others. "I am afraid none of us could live to +reach the fort." + +"It would be a risky path, Mabel, and a crooked one; though some +of your sex have undergone even more than that in this wilderness. +But, Jasper, either you or I, or both of us, must man this bark +canoe; Mabel's only chance will lie in getting through the breakers +in that." + +"I would willingly man anything to save Mabel," answered Jasper, +with a melancholy smile; "but no human hand, Pathfinder, could +carry that canoe through yonder breakers in a gale like this. I +have hopes from anchoring, after all; for once before have we saved +the _Scud_ in an extremity nearly as great as this." + +"If we are to anchor, Jasper," the Sergeant inquired, "why not do +it at once? Every foot we lose in drifting now would come into +the distance we shall probably drag when the anchors are let go." + +Jasper drew nearer to the Sergeant, and took his hand, pressing +it earnestly, and in a way to denote strong, almost uncontrollable +feelings. + +"Sergeant Dunham," said he solemnly, "you are a good man, though you +have treated me harshly in this business. You love your daughter?" + +"That you cannot doubt, Eau-douce," returned the Sergeant huskily. + +"Will you give her -- give us all -- the only chance for life that +is left?" + +"What would you have me do, boy, what would you have me do? I have +acted according to my judgment hitherto, - what would you have me +do?" + +"Support me against Master Cap for five minutes, and all that man +can do towards saving the _Scud_ shall be done." + +The Sergeant hesitated, for he was too much of a disciplinarian +to fly in the face of regular orders. He disliked the appearance +of vacillation, too; and then he had a profound respect for his +kinsman's seamanship. While he was deliberating, Cap came from +the post he had some time occupied, which was at the side of the +man at the helm, and drew nigh the group. + +"Master Eau-douce," said he, as soon as near enough to be heard, +"I have come to inquire if you know any spot near by where this +cutter can be beached? The moment has arrived when we are driven +to this hard alternative." + +That instant of indecision on the part of Cap secured the triumph +of Jasper. Looking at the Sergeant, the young man received a nod +that assured him of all he asked, and he lost not one of those +moments that were getting to be so very precious. + +"Shall I take the helm," he inquired of Cap, "and see if we can +reach a creek that lies to leeward?" + +"Do so, do so," said the other, hemming to clear his throat; for +he felt oppressed by a responsibility that weighed all the heavier +on his shoulders on account of his ignorance. "Do so, Eau-douce, +since, to be frank with you, I can see nothing better to be done. +We must beach or swamp." + +Jasper required no more; springing aft, he soon had the tiller +in his own hands. The pilot was prepared for what was to follow; +and, at a sign from his young commander, the rag of sail that had +so long been set was taken in. At that moment, Jasper, watching +his time, put the helm up; the head of a staysail was loosened +forward, and the light cutter, as if conscious she was now under the +control of familiar hands, fell off, and was soon in the trough of +the sea. This perilous instant was passed in safety, and at the next +moment the little vessel appeared flying down toward the breakers +at a rate that threatened instant destruction. The distances had +become so short, that five or six minutes sufficed for all that +Jasper wished, and he put the helm down again, when the bows of +the _Scud_ came up to the wind, notwithstanding the turbulence of +the waters, as gracefully as the duck varies its line of direction +on the glassy pond. A sign from Jasper set all in motion on the +forecastle, and a kedge was thrown from each bow. The fearful +nature of the drift was now apparent even to Mabel's eyes, for the +two hawsers ran out like tow-lines. As soon as they straightened +to a slight strain, both anchors were let go, and cable was given +to each, nearly to the better-ends. It was not a difficult task +to snub so light a craft with ground-tackle of a quality better +than common; and in less than ten minutes from the moment when +Jasper went to the helm, the _Scud_ was riding, head to sea, with +the two cables stretched ahead in lines that resembled bars of +iron. + +"This is not well done, Master Jasper!" angrily exclaimed Cap, as +soon as he perceived the trick which had been played him; "this is +not well done, sir. I order you to cut, and to beach the cutter +without a moment's delay." + +No one, however, seemed disposed to comply with this order; for so +long as Eau-douce saw fit to command, his own people were disposed +to obey. Finding that the men remained passive, Cap, who believed +they were in the utmost peril, turned fiercely to Jasper, and +renewed his remonstrances. + +"You did not head for your pretended creek," added he, after +dealing in some objurgatory remarks that we do not deem it necessary +to record, "but steered for that bluff, where every soul on board +would have been drowned, had we gone ashore." + +"And you wish to cut, and put every soul ashore at that very spot!" +Jasper retorted, a little drily. + +"Throw a lead-line overboard, and ascertain the drift!" Cap now +roared to the people forward. A sign from Jasper sustaining this +order, it was instantly obeyed. All on deck watched, with nearly +breathless interest, the result of the experiment. The lead was +no sooner on the bottom, than the line tended forward, and in about +two minutes it was seen that the cutter had drifted her length +dead in towards the bluff. Jasper looked gravely, for he well knew +nothing would hold the vessel did she get within the vortex of the +breakers, the first line of which was appearing and disappearing +about a cable's length directly under their stern. + +"Traitor!" exclaimed Cap, shaking a finger at the young commander, +though passion choked the rest. "You must answer for this with +your life!" he added after a short pause. "If I were at the head +of this expedition, Sergeant, I would hang him at the end of the +main-boom, lest he escape drowning." + +"Moderate your feelings, brother; be more moderate, I beseech you; +Jasper appears to have done all for the best, and matters may not +be so bad as you believe them." + +"Why did he not run for the creek he mentioned? -- why has he brought +us here, dead to windward of that bluff, and to a spot where even +the breakers are only of half the ordinary width, as if in a hurry +to drown all on board?" + +"I headed for the bluff, for the precise reason that the breakers +are so narrow at this spot," answered Jasper mildly, though his +gorge had risen at the language the other held. + +"Do you mean to tell an old seaman like me that this cutter could +live in those breakers?" + +"I do not, sir. I think she would fill and swamp if driven into +the first line of them; I am certain she would never reach the +shore on her bottom, if fairly entered. I hope to keep her clear +of them altogether." + +"With a drift of her length in a minute?" + +"The backing of the anchors does not yet fairly tell, nor do I even +hope that _they_ will entirely bring her up." + +"On what, then, do you rely? To moor a craft, head and stern, by +faith, hope, and charity?" + +"No, sir, I trust to the under-tow. I headed for the bluff because +I knew that it was stronger at that point than at any other, and +because we could get nearer in with the land without entering the +breakers." + +This was said with spirit, though without any particular show of +resentment. Its effect on Cap was marked, the feeling that was +uppermost being evidently that of surprise. + +"Under-tow!" he repeated; "who the devil ever heard of saving a +vessel from going ashore by the under-tow?" + +"This may never happen on the ocean, sir," Jasper answered modestly; +"but we have known it to happen here." + +"The lad is right, brother," put in the Sergeant; "for, though I +do not well understand it, I have often heard the sailors of the +lake speak of such a thing. We shall do well to trust to Jasper +in this strait." + +Cap grumbled and swore; but, as there was no remedy, he was compelled +to acquiesce. Jasper, being now called on to explain what he meant +by the under-tow, gave this account of the matter. The water that +was driven up on the shore by the gale was necessarily compelled +to find its level by returning to the lake by some secret channels. +This could not be done on the surface, where both wind and waves +were constantly urging it towards the land, and it necessarily +formed a sort of lower eddy, by means of which it flowed back again +to its ancient and proper bed. This inferior current had received +the name of the under-tow, and, as it would necessarily act on the +bottom of a vessel which drew as much water as the _Scud_, Jasper +trusted to the aid of this reaction to keep his cables from parting. +In short, the upper and lower currents would, in a manner, counteract +each other. + +Simple and ingenious as was this theory, however, as yet there +was little evidence of its being reduced to practice. The drift +continued; though, as the kedges and hawsers with which the anchors +were backed took the strains, it became sensibly less. At length +the man at the lead announced the joyful intelligence that the +anchors had ceased to drag, and that the vessel had brought up! +At this precise moment the first line of breakers was about a +hundred feet astern of the _Scud_, even appearing to approach much +nearer as the foam vanished and returned on the raging surges. +Jasper sprang forward, and, casting a glance over the bows, he +smiled in triumph, as he pointed exultingly to the cables. Instead +of resembling bars of iron in rigidity, as before, they were curving +downwards, and to a seaman's senses it was evident that the cutter +rose and fell on the seas as they came in with the ease of a ship +in a tides-way, when the power of the wind is relieved by the +counteracting pressure of the water. + +"'Tis the under-tow!" he exclaimed with delight, fairly bounding +along the deck to steady the helm, in order that the cutter might +ride still easier. "Providence has placed us directly in its +current, and there is no longer any danger." + +"Ay, ay, Providence is a good seaman," growled Cap, "and often +helps lubbers out of difficulty. Under-tow or upper-tow, the gale +has abated; and, fortunately for us all, the anchors have met with +good holding-ground. Then this d----d fresh water has an unnatural +way with it." + +Men are seldom inclined to quarrel with good fortune, but it is +in distress that they grow clamorous and critical. Most on board +were disposed to believe that they had been saved from shipwreck by +the skill and knowledge of Jasper, without regarding the opinions +of Cap, whose remarks were now little heeded. + +There was half an hour of uncertainty and doubt, it is true, during +which period the lead was anxiously watched; and then a feeling +of security came over all, and the weary slept without dreaming of +instant death. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +It is to be all made of sighs and tears; +It is to be all made of faith and service; +It is to be all made of phantasy; +All made of passion, and all made of wishes; +All adoration, duty, and observance; +All humbleness, all patience, and impatience; +All purity, all trial, all observance. +SHAKESPEARE. + + +It was near noon when the gale broke; and then its force abated as +suddenly as its violence had arisen. In less than two hours after +the wind fell, the surface of the lake, though still agitated, +was no longer glittering with foam; and in double that time, the +entire sheet presented the ordinary scene of disturbed water, that +was unbroken by the violence of a tempest. Still the waves came +rolling incessantly towards the shore, and the lines of breakers +remained, though the spray had ceased to fly; the combing of +the swells was more moderate, and all that there was of violence +proceeded from the impulsion of wind which had abated. + +As it was impossible to make head against the sea that was still +up, with the light opposing air that blew from the eastward, +all thoughts of getting under way that afternoon were abandoned. +Jasper, who had now quietly resumed the command of the _Scud_, +busied himself, however, in heaving-up the anchors, which were +lifted in succession; the kedges that backed them were weighed, and +everything was got in readiness for a prompt departure, as soon as +the state of the weather would allow. In the meantime, they who +had no concern with these duties sought such means of amusement as +their peculiar circumstances allowed. + +As is common with those who are unused to the confinement of a +vessel, Mabel cast wistful eyes towards the shore; nor was it long +before she expressed a wish that it were possible to land. The +Pathfinder was near her at the time, and he assured her that nothing +would be easier, as they had a bark canoe on deck, which was the +best possible mode of conveyance to go through a surf. After the +usual doubts and misgivings, the Sergeant was appealed to; his +opinion proved to be favorable, and preparations to carry the whim +into effect were immediately made. + +The party which was to land consisted of Sergeant Dunham, his +daughter, and the Pathfinder. Accustomed to the canoe, Mabel took +her seat in the centre with great steadiness, her father was placed +in the bows, while the guide assumed the office of conductor, by +steering in the stern. There was little need of impelling the canoe +by means of the paddle, for the rollers sent it forward at moments +with a violence that set every effort to govern its movements +at defiance. More than once, before the shore was reached, Mabel +repented of her temerity, but Pathfinder encouraged her, and really +manifested so much self-possession, coolness, and strength of arm +himself, that even a female might have hesitated about owning all +her apprehensions. Our heroine was no coward; and while she felt +the novelty of her situation, in landing through a surf, she also +experienced a fair proportion of its wild delight. At moments, +indeed, her heart was in her mouth, as the bubble of a boat floated +on the very crest of a foaming breaker, appearing to skim the water +like a swallow, and then she flushed and laughed, as, left by the +glancing element, they appeared to linger behind as if ashamed of +having been outdone in the headlong race. A few minutes sufficed +for this excitement; for though the distance between the cutter and +the land considerably exceeded a quarter of a mile, the intermediate +space was passed in a very few minutes. + +On landing, the Sergeant kissed his daughter kindly, for he was so +much of a soldier as always to feel more at home on _terra firma_ +than when afloat; and, taking his gun, he announced his intention +to pass an hour in quest of game. + +"Pathfinder will remain near you, girl, and no doubt he will tell +you some of the traditions of this part of the world, or some of +his own experiences with the Mingos." + +The guide laughed, promised to have a care of Mabel, and in a few +minutes the father had ascended a steep acclivity and disappeared +in the forest. The others took another direction, which, after a +few minutes of a sharp ascent also, brought them to a small naked +point on the promontory, where the eye overlooked an extensive and +very peculiar panorama. Here Mabel seated herself on a fragment of +fallen rock to recover her breath and strength, while her companion, +on whose sinews no personal exertion seemed to make any impression, +stood at her side, leaning in his own and not ungraceful manner on +his long rifle. Several minutes passed, and neither spoke; Mabel, +in particular, being lost in admiration of the view. + +The position the two had obtained was sufficiently elevated to +command a wide reach of the lake, which stretched away towards +the north-east in a boundless sheet, glittering beneath the rays +of an afternoon's sun, and yet betraying the remains of that +agitation which it had endured while tossed by the late tempest. +The land set bounds to its limits in a huge crescent, disappearing +in distance towards the south-east and the north. Far as the eye +could reach, nothing but forest was visible, not even a solitary sign +of civilization breaking in upon the uniform and grand magnificence +of nature. The gale had driven the _Scud_ beyond the line of +those forts with which the French were then endeavoring to gird +the English North American possessions; for, following the channels +of communication between the great lakes, their posts were on the +banks of the Niagara, while our adventurers had reached a point +many leagues westward of that celebrated strait. The cutter rode +at single anchor, without the breakers, resembling some well-imagined +and accurately-executed toy, intended rather for a glass case +than for struggles with the elements which she had so lately gone +through, while the canoe lay on the narrow beach, just out of +reach of the waves that came booming upon the land, a speck upon +the shingles. + +"We are very far here from human habitations!" exclaimed Mabel, +when, after a long survey of the scene, its principal peculiarities +forced themselves on her active and ever brilliant imagination; +"this is indeed being on a frontier." + +"Have they more sightly scenes than this nearer the sea and around +their large towns?" demanded Pathfinder, with an interest he was +apt to discover in such a subject. + +"I will not say that: there is more to remind one of his fellow-beings +there than here; less, perhaps, to remind one of God." + +"Ay, Mabel, that is what my own feelings say. I am but a poor +hunter, I know, untaught and unlarned; but God is as near me, in +this my home, as he is near the king in his royal palace." + +"Who can doubt it?" returned Mabel, looking from the view up into +the hard-featured but honest face of her companion, though not +without surprise at the energy of his manner. "One feels nearer +to God in such a spot, I think, than when the mind is distracted +by the objects of the towns." + +"You say all I wish to say myself, Mabel, but in so much plainer +speech, that you make me ashamed of wishing to let others know +what I feel on such matters. I have coasted this lake in search of +skins afore the war, and have been here already; not at this very +spot, for we landed yonder, where you may see the blasted +oak that stands above the cluster of hemlocks -- " + +"How, Pathfinder, can you remember all these trifles so accurately?" + +"These are our streets and houses, our churches and palaces. Remember +them, indeed! I once made an appointment with the Big Sarpent, to +meet at twelve o'clock at noon, near the foot of a certain pine, +at the end of six months, when neither of us was within three hundred +miles of the spot. The tree stood, and stands still, unless the +judgment of Providence has lighted on that too, in the midst of the +forest, fifty miles from any settlement, but in a most extraordinary +neighborhood for beaver." + +"And did you meet at that very spot and hour?" + +"Does the sun rise and set? When I reached the tree, I found the +Sarpent leaning against its trunk with torn leggings and muddied +moecassins. The Delaware had got into a swamp, and it worried him +not a little to find his way out of it; but as the sun which comes +over the eastern hills in the morning goes down behind the western +at night, so was he true to time and place. No fear of Chingachgook +when there is either a friend or an enemy in the case. He is +equally sartain with each." + +"And where is the Delaware now? why is he not with us to-day?" + +"He is scouting on the Mingo trail, where I ought to have been too, +but for a great human infirmity." + +"You seem above, beyond, superior to all infirmity, Pathfinder; I +never yet met with a man who appeared to be so little liable to +the weaknesses of nature." + +"If you mean in the way of health and strength, Mabel, Providence +has been kind to me; though I fancy the open air, long hunts, +active scoutings, forest fare, and the sleep of a good conscience, +may always keep the doctors at a distance. But I am human after +all; yes, I find I'm very human in some of my feelings." + +Mabel looked surprised, and it would be no more than delineating +the character of her sex, if we added that her sweet countenance +expressed a good deal of curiosity, too, though her tongue was more +discreet. + +"There is something bewitching in this wild life of yours, Pathfinder," +she exclaimed, a tinge of enthusiasm mantling her cheeks. "I find +I'm fast getting to be a frontier girl, and am coming to love all +this grand silence of the woods. The towns seem tame to me; and, +as my father will probably pass the remainder of his days here, +where he has already lived so long, I begin to feel that I should +be happy to continue with him, and not to return to the seashore." + +"The woods are never silent, Mabel, to such as understand their +meaning. Days at a time have I travelled them alone, without +feeling the want of company; and, as for conversation, for such +as can comprehend their language, there is no want of rational and +instructive discourse." + +"I believe you are happier when alone, Pathfinder, than when mingling +with your fellow-creatures." + +"I will not say that, I will not say exactly that. I have seen +the time when I have thought that God was sufficient for me in +the forest, and that I have craved no more than His bounty and His +care. But other feelings have got uppermost, and I suppose natur' +will have its way. All other creatur's mate, Mabel, and it was +intended man should do so too." + +"And have you never bethought you of seeking a wife, Pathfinder, +to share your fortunes?" inquired the girl, with the directness +and simplicity that the pure of heart and the undesigning are the +most apt to manifest, and with that feeling of affection which is +inbred in her sex. "To me it seems you only want a home to return +to from your wanderings to render your life completely happy. Were +I a man, it would be my delight to roam through these forests at +will, or to sail over this beautiful lake." + +"I understand you, Mabel; and God bless you for thinking of the +welfare of men as humble as we are. We have our pleasures, it +is true, as well as our gifts, but we might be happier; yes, I do +think we might be happier." + +"Happier! in what way, Pathfinder? In this pure air, with these +cool and shaded forests to wander through, this lovely lake to +gaze at and sail upon, with clear consciences, and abundance for +all their real wants, men ought to be nothing less than as perfectly +happy as their infirmities will allow." + +"Every creatur' has its gifts, Mabel, and men have theirs," answered +the guide, looking stealthily at his beautiful companion, whose +cheeks had flushed and eyes brightened under the ardor of feelings +excited by the novelty of her striking situation; "and all must +obey them. Do you see yonder pigeon that is just alightin' on the +beach --here in a line with the fallen chestnut?" + +"Certainly; it is the only thing stirring with life in it, besides +ourselves, that is to be seen in this vast solitude." + +"Not so, Mabel, not so; Providence makes nothing that lives to live +quite alone. Here is its mate, just rising on the wing; it has +been feeding near the other beach, but it will not long be separated +from its companion." + +"I understand you, Pathfinder," returned Mabel, smiling sweetly, +though as calmly as if the discourse was with her father. "But +a hunter may find a mate, even in this wild region. The Indian +girls are affectionate and true, I know; for such was the wife of +Arrowhead, to a husband who oftener frowned than smiled." + +"That would never do, Mabel, and good would never come of it. +Kind must cling to kind, and country to country, if one would find +happiness. If, indeed, I could meet with one like you, who would +consent to be a hunter's wife, and who would not scorn my ignorance +and rudeness, then, indeed, would all the toil of the past appear +like the sporting of the young deer, and all the future like +sunshine." + +"One like me! A girl of my years and indiscretion would hardly +make a fit companion for the boldest scout and surest hunter on +the lines." + +"Ah, Mabel! I fear me that I have been improving a red-skin's gifts +with a pale-face's natur'? Such a character would insure a wife +in an Indian village." + +"Surely, surely, Pathfinder, you would not think of choosing one so +ignorant, so frivolous, so vain, and so inexperienced as I for your +wife?" Mabel would have added, "and as young;" but an instinctive +feeling of delicacy repressed the words. + +"And why not, Mabel? If you are ignorant of frontier usages, you +know more than all of us of pleasant anecdotes and town customs: +as for frivolous, I know not what it means; but if it signifies +beauty, ah's me! I fear it is no fault in my eyes. Vain you are +not, as is seen by the kind manner in which you listen to all my +idle tales about scoutings and trails; and as for experience, that +will come with years. Besides, Mabel, I fear men think little of +these matters when they are about to take wives: I do." + +"Pathfinder, your words, -- your looks: -- surely all this is meant +in trifling; you speak in pleasantry?" + +"To me it is always agreeable to be near you, Mabel; and I should +sleep sounder this blessed night than I have done for a week past, +could I think that you find such discourse as pleasant as I do." + +We shall not say that Mabel Dunham had not believed herself +a favorite with the guide. This her quick feminine sagacity had +early discovered; and perhaps she had occasionally thought there +had mingled with his regard and friendship some of that manly +tenderness which the ruder sex must be coarse, indeed, not to show +on occasions to the gentler; but the idea that he seriously sought +her for his wife had never before crossed the mind of the spirited +and ingenuous girl. Now, however, a gleam of something like the +truth broke in upon her imagination, less induced by the words of +her companion, perhaps, than by his manner. Looking earnestly into +the rugged, honest countenance of the scout, Mabel's own features +became concerned and grave; and when she spoke again, it was with +a gentleness of manner that attracted him to her even more powerfully +than the words themselves were calculated to repel. + +"You and I should understand each other, Pathfinder," said she with +an earnest sincerity; "nor should there be any cloud between us. +You are too upright and frank to meet with anything but sincerity +and frankness in return. Surely, surely, all this means nothing, +-- has no other connection with your feelings than such a friendship +as one of your wisdom and character would naturally feel for a girl +like me?" + +"I believe it's all nat'ral, Mabel, yes; I do: the Sergeant tells +me he had such feelings towards your own mother, and I think I've +seen something like it in the young people I have from time to +time guided through the wilderness. Yes, yes, I daresay it's all +nat'ral enough, and that makes it come so easy, and is a great +comfort to me." + +"Pathfinder, your words make me uneasy. Speak plainer, or change +the subject for ever. You do not, cannot mean that -- you cannot +wish me to understand" -- even the tongue of the spirited Mabel +faltered, and she shrank, with maiden shame, from adding what she +wished so earnestly to say. Rallying her courage, however, and +determined to know all as soon and as plainly as possible, after a +moment's hesitation, she continued, -- "I mean, Pathfinder, that +you do not wish me to understand that you seriously think of me as +a wife?" + +"I do, Mabel; that's it, that's just it; and you have put the +matter in a much better point of view than I with my forest gifts +and frontier ways would ever be able to do. The Sergeant and +I have concluded on the matter, if it is agreeable to you, as he +thinks is likely to be the case; though I doubt my own power to +please one who deserves the best husband America can produce." + +Mabel's countenance changed from uneasiness to surprise; and then, +by a transition still quicker, from surprise to pain. + +"My father!" she exclaimed, -- "my dear father has thought of my +becoming your wife, Pathfinder?" + +"Yes, he has, Mabel, he has, indeed. He has even thought such a +thing might be agreeable to you, and has almost encouraged me to +fancy it might be true." + +"But you yourself, -- you certainly can care nothing whether this +singular expectation shall ever be realized or not?" + +"Anan?" + +"I mean, Pathfinder, that you have talked of this match more to +oblige my father than anything else; that your feelings are no way +concerned, let my answer be what it may?" + +The scout looked earnestly into the beautiful face of Mabel, which +had flushed with the ardor and novelty of her sensations, and it +was not possible to mistake the intense admiration that betrayed +itself in every lineament of his ingenuous countenance. + +"I have often thought myself happy, Mabel, when ranging the woods +on a successful hunt, breathing the pure air of the hills, and +filled with vigor and health; but I now know that it has all been +idleness and vanity compared with the delight it would give me to +know that you thought better of me than you think of most others." + +"Better of you! -- I do, indeed, think better of you, Pathfinder, +than of most others: I am not certain that I do not think better +of you than of any other; for your truth, honesty, simplicity, +justice, and courage are scarcely equalled by any of earth." + +"Ah, Mabel, these are sweet and encouraging words from you! and +the Sergeant, after all, was not so near wrong as I feared." + +"Nay, Pathfinder, in the name of all that is sacred and just, do not +let us misunderstand each other in a matter of so much importance. +While I esteem, respect, nay, reverence you, almost as much as I +reverence my own dear father, it is impossible that I should +ever become your wife -- that I -- " + +The change in her companion's countenance was so sudden and so +great, that the moment the effect of what she had uttered became +visible in the face of the Pathfinder, Mabel arrested her own words, +notwithstanding her strong desire to be explicit, the reluctance +with which she could at any time cause pain being sufficient of +itself to induce the pause. Neither spoke for some time, the shade +of disappointment that crossed the rugged lineaments of the hunter +amounting so nearly to anguish as to frighten his companion, while +the sensation of choking became so strong in the Pathfinder that +he fairly griped his throat, like one who sought physical relief +for physical suffering. The convulsive manner in which his fingers +worked actually struck the alarmed girl with a feeling of awe. + +"Nay, Pathfinder," Mabel eagerly added, the instant she could +command her voice, -- "I may have said more than I mean; for all +things of this nature are possible, and women, they say, are never +sure of their own minds. What I wish you to understand is, that +it is not likely that you and I should ever think of each other as +man and wife ought to think of each other." + +"I do not -- I shall never think in that way again, Mabel," gasped +forth the Pathfinder, who appeared to utter his words like one just +raised above the pressure of some suffocating substance. "No, no, +I shall never think of you, or any one else, again in that way." + +"Pathfinder, dear Pathfinder, understand me; do not attach more +meaning to my words than I do myself: a match like that would be +unwise, unnatural, perhaps." + +"Yes, unnat'ral -- ag'in natur'; and so I told the Sergeant, but +he _would_ have it otherwise." + +"Pathfinder! oh, this is worse than I could have imagined! Take +my hand, excellent Pathfinder, and let me see that you do not hate +me. For God's sake, smile upon me again." + +"Hate you, Mabel! Smile upon you! Ah's me!" + +"Nay, give me your hand; your hardy, true, and manly hand -- both, +both, Pathfinder! for I shall not be easy until I feel certain that +we are friends again, and that all this has been a mistake." + +"Mabel!" said the guide, looking wistfully into the face of the +generous and impetuous girl, as she held his two hard and sunburnt +hands in her own pretty and delicate fingers, and laughing in his +own silent and peculiar manner, while anguish gleamed over lineaments +which seemed incapable of deception, even while agitated with +emotions so conflicting, -- "Mabel! the Sergeant was wrong." + +The pent-up feelings could endure no more, and the tears rolled +down the cheeks of the scout like rain. His fingers again worked +convulsively at his throat; and his breast heaved, as if it possessed +a tenant of which it would be rid, by any effort, however desperate. + +"Pathfinder! Pathfinder!" Mabel almost shrieked; "anything but +this, anything but this! Speak to me, Pathfinder! Smile again, +say one kind word, anything to prove you can forgive me." + +"The Sergeant was wrong!" exclaimed the guide, laughing amid his +agony, in a way to terrify his companion by the unnatural mixture +of anguish and light-heartedness. "I knew it, I knew it, and said +it; yes, the Sergeant was wrong after all." + +"We can be friends, though we cannot be man and wife," continued +Mabel, almost as much disturbed as her companion, scarcely knowing +what she said; "we can always be friends, and always will." + +"I thought the Sergeant was mistaken," resumed the Pathfinder, when +a great effort had enabled him to command himself, "for I did not +think my gifts were such as would please the fancy of a town-bred +girl. It would have been better, Mabel, had he not over-persuaded +me into a different notion; and it might have been better, too, +had you not been so pleasant and confiding like; yes, it would." + +"If I thought any error of mine had raised false expectations +in you, Pathfinder, however unintentionally on my part, I should +never forgive myself; for, believe me, I would rather endure pain +in my own feelings than you should suffer." + +"That's just it, Mabel, that's just it. These speeches and opinions, +spoken in so soft a voice, and in a way I'm so unused to in the +woods, have done the mischief. But I now see plainly, and begin +to understand the difference between us better, and will strive to +keep down thought, and to go abroad again as I used to do, looking +for the game and the inimy. Ah's me, Mabel! I have indeed been +on a false trail since we met." + +"In a little while you will forget all this, and think of me as a +friend, who owes you her life." + +"This may be the way in the towns, but I doubt if it's nat'ral to +the woods. With us, when the eye sees a lovely sight, it is apt +to keep it long in view, or when the mind takes in an upright and +proper feeling, it is loath to part with it." + +"You will forget it all, when you come seriously to recollect that +I am altogether unsuited to be your wife." + +"So I told the Sergeant; but he would have it otherwise. I knew you +was too young and beautiful for one of middle age, like myself, and +who never was comely to look at even in youth; and then your ways +have not been my ways; nor would a hunter's cabin be a fitting +place for one who was edicated among chiefs, as it were. If +I were younger and comelier though, like Jasper Eau-douce -- " + +"Never mind Jasper Eau-douce," interrupted Mabel impatiently; "we +can talk of something else." + +"Jasper is a worthy lad, Mabel; ay, and a comely," returned the +guileless guide, looking earnestly at the girl, as if he distrusted +her judgment in speaking slightingly of his friend. "Were I only +half as comely as Jasper Western, my misgivings in this affair would +not have been so great, and they might not have been so true." + +"We will not talk of Jasper Western," repeated Mabel, the color +mounting to her temples; "he may be good enough in a gale, or on +the lake, but he is not good enough to talk of here." + +"I fear me, Mabel, he is better than the man who is likely to be +your husband, though the Sergeant says that never can take place. +But the Sergeant was wrong once, and he may be wrong twice." + +"And who is likely to be my husband, Pathfinder! This is scarcely +less strange than what has just passed between us." + +"I know it is nat'ral for like to seek like, and for them that +have consorted much with officers' ladies to wish to be officers' +ladies themselves. But, Mabel; I may speak plainly to you, I know; +and I hope my words will not give you pain; for, now I understand +what it is to be disappointed in such feelings, I wouldn't wish to +cause even a Mingo sorrow on this head. But happiness is not always +to be found in a marquee, any more than in a tent; and though the +officers' quarters may look more tempting than the rest of the +barracks, there is often great misery between husband and wife +inside of their doors." + +"I do not doubt it in the least, Pathfinder; and, did it rest with +me to decide, I would sooner follow you to some cabin in the woods, +and share your fortune, whether it might be better or worse, than +go inside the door of any officer I know, with an intention of +remaining there as its master's wife." + +"Mabel, this is not what Lundie hopes, or Lundie thinks." + +"And what care I for Lundie? He is major of the 55th, and may +command his men to wheel and march about as he pleases; but he +cannot compel me to wed the greatest or the meanest of his mess. +Besides, what can you know of Lundie's wishes on such a subject?" + +"From Lundie's own mouth. The Sergeant had told him that he wished +me for a son-in-law; and the Major, being an old and a true friend, +conversed with me on the subject. He put it to me plainly, whether +it would not be more ginerous in me to let an officer succeed, +than to strive to make you share a hunter's fortune. I owned the +truth, I did; and that was, that I thought it might; but when he +told me that the Quartermaster would be his choice, I would not +abide by the conditions. No, no, Mabel; I know Davy Muir well, +and though he may make you a lady, be can never make you a happy +woman, or himself a gentleman." + +"My father has been very wrong if he has said or done aught to +cause you sorrow, Pathfinder; and so great is my respect for you, +so sincere my friendship, that were it not for one -- I mean that +no person need fear Lieutenant Muir's influence with me -- I would +rather remain as I am to my dying day than become a lady at the +cost of being his wife." + +"I do not think you would say that which you do not feel, Mabel," +returned Pathfinder earnestly. + +"Not at such a moment, on such a subject, and least of all to you. +No; Lieutenant Muir may find wives where he can -- my name shall +never be on his catalogue." + +"Thank you, thank you for that, Mabel, for, though there is no +longer any hope for me, I could never be happy were you to take +to the Quartermaster. I feared the commission might count for +something, I did; and I know the man. It is not jealousy that +makes me speak in this manner, but truth, for I know the man. Now, +were you to fancy a desarving youth, one like Jasper Western, +for instance -- " + +"Why always mention Jasper Eau-douce, Pathfinder? he can have no +concern with our friendship; let us talk of yourself, and of the +manner in which you intend to pass the winter." + +"Ah's me! -- I'm little worth at the best, Mabel, unless it may +be on a trail or with the rifle; and less worth now that I have +discovered the Sergeant's mistake. There is no need, therefore, +of talking of me. It has been very pleasant to me to be near you +so long, and even to fancy that the Sergeant was right; but that +is all over now. I shall go down the lake with Jasper, and then +there will be business to occupy us, and that will keep useless +thoughts out of the mind." + +"And you will forget this -- forget me -- no, not forget me, either, +Pathfinder; but you will resume your old pursuits, and cease to +think a girl of sufficient importance to disturb your peace?" + +"I never knowed it afore, Mabel; but girls are of more account in +this life than I could have believed. Now, afore I knowed you, +the new-born babe did not sleep more sweetly than I used; my head +was no sooner on the root, or the stone, or mayhap on the skin, than +all was lost to the senses, unless it might be to go over in the +night the business of the day in a dream like; and there I lay +till the moment came to be stirring, and the swallows were not +more certain to be on the wing with the light, than I to be afoot +at the moment I wished to be. All this seemed a gift, and might +be calculated on even in the midst of a Mingo camp; for I've been +outlying in my time, in the very villages of the vagabonds." + +"And all this will return to you, Pathfinder, for one so upright +and sincere will never waste his happiness on a mere fancy. You +will dream again of your hunts, of the deer you have slain, and of +the beaver you have taken." + +"Ah's me, Mabel, I wish never to dream again! Before we met, +I had a sort of pleasure in following up the hounds, in fancy, as +it might be; and even in striking a trail of the Iroquois -- nay, +I've been in skrimmages and ambushments, in thought like, and found +satisfaction in it, according to my gifts; but all those things +have lost their charms since I've made acquaintance with you. Now, +I think no longer of anything rude in my dreams; but the very last +night we stayed in the garrison I imagined I had a cabin in a grove +of sugar maples, and at the root of every tree was a Mabel Dunham, +while the birds among the branches sang ballads instead of the notes +that natur' gave, and even the deer stopped to listen. I tried to +shoot a fa'n, but Killdeer missed fire, and the creatur' laughed +in my face, as pleasantly as a young girl laughs in her merriment, +and then it bounded away, looking back as if expecting me to follow." + +"No more of this, Pathfinder; we'll talk no more of these things," +said Mabel, dashing the tears from her eyes: for the simple, earnest +manner in which this hardy woodsman betrayed the deep hold she had +taken of his feelings nearly proved too much for her own generous +heart. "Now, let us look for my father; he cannot be distant, as +I heard his gun quite near." + +"The Sergeant was wrong -- yes, he was wrong, and it's of no avail +to attempt to make the dove consort with the wolf." + +"Here comes my dear father," interrupted Mabel. "Let us look +cheerful and happy, Pathfinder, as such good friends ought to look, +and keep each other's secrets." + +A pause succeeded; the Sergeant's foot was heard crushing the dried +twigs hard by, and then his form appeared shoving aside the bushes +of a copse just near. As he issued into the open ground, the old +soldier scrutinized his daughter and her companion, and speaking +good-naturedly, he said, "Mabel, child, you are young and light +of foot --look for a bird that I've shot that fell just beyond the +thicket of young hemlocks on the shore; and, as Jasper is showing +signs of an intention of getting under way, you need not take the +trouble to clamber up this hill again, but we will meet you on the +beach in a few minutes." + +Mabel obeyed, bounding down the hill with the elastic step of +youth and health. But, notwithstanding the lightness of her steps, +the heart of the girl was heavy, and no sooner was she hid from +observation by the thicket, than she threw herself on the root of +a tree and wept as if her heart would break. The Sergeant watched +her until she disappeared, with a father's pride, and then turned +to his companion with a smile as kind and as familiar as his habits +would allow him to use towards any. + +"She has her mother's lightness and activity, my friend, with +somewhat of her father's force," said he. "Her mother was not quite +so handsome, I think myself; but the Dunhams were always thought +comely, whether men or women. Well, Pathfinder, I take it for granted +you've not overlooked the opportunity, but have spoken plainly to +the girl? women like frankness in matters of this sort." + +"I believe Mabel and I understand each other at last, Sergeant," +returned the other, looking another way to avoid the soldier's +face. + +"So much the better. Some people fancy that a little doubt and +uncertainty makes love all the livelier; but I am one of those +who think the plainer the tongue speaks the easier the mind will +comprehend. Was Mabel surprised?" + +"I fear she was, Sergeant; I fear she was taken quite by surprise +-- yes, I do." + +"Well, well, surprises in love are like an ambush in war, and +quite as lawful; though it is not so easy to tell when a woman is +surprised, as to tell when it happens to an enemy. Mabel did not +run away, my worthy friend, did she?" + +"No, Sergeant, Mabel did not try to escape; _that_ I can say with +a clear conscience." + +"I hope the girl was too willing, neither! Her mother was +shy and coy for a month, at least; but frankness, after all, is a +recommendation in a man or woman." + +"That it is, that it is; and judgment, too." + +"You are not to look for too much judgment in a young creature of +twenty, Pathfinder, but it will come with experience. A mistake +in you or me, for instance, might not be so easily overlooked; +but in a girl of Mabel's years, one is not to strain at a gnat lest +they swallow a camel." + +The reader will remember that Sergeant Dunham was not a Hebrew +scholar. + +The muscles of the listener's face twitched as the Sergeant was +thus delivering his sentiments, though the former had now recovered +a portion of that stoicism which formed so large a part of his +character, and which he had probably imbibed from long association +with the Indians. His eyes rose and fell, and once a gleam shot +athwart his hard features as if he were about to indulge in his +peculiar laugh; but the joyous feeling, if it really existed, was +as quickly lost in a look allied to anguish. It was this unusual +mixture of wild and keen mental agony with native, simple joyousness, +which had most struck Mabel, who, in the interview just related, +had a dozen times been on the point of believing that her suitor's +heart was only lightly touched, as images of happiness and humor +gleamed over a mind that was almost infantile in its simplicity +and nature; an impression, however, which was soon driven away by +the discovery of emotions so painful and so deep, that they seemed +to harrow the very soul. + +"You say true, Sergeant," Pathfinder answered; "a mistake in one +like you is a more serious matter." + +"You will find Mabel sincere and honest in the end; give her but +a little time." + +"Ah's me, Sergeant!" + +"A man of your merits would make an impression on a rock, give him +time, Pathfinder." + +"Sergeant Dunham, we are old fellow-campaigners --that is, as +campaigns are carried on here in the wilderness; and we have done +so many kind acts to each other that we can afford to be candid -- +what has caused you to believe that a girl like Mabel could ever +fancy one so rude as I am?" + +"What? -- why, a variety of reasons, and good reasons too, my +friend. Those same acts of kindness, perhaps, and the campaigns +you mention; moreover, you are my sworn and tried comrade." + +"All this sounds well, so far as you and I are consarned; but they +do not touch the case of your pretty daughter. She may think these +very campaigns have destroyed the little comeliness I may once +have had; and I am not quite sartain that being an old friend of +her father would lead any young maiden's mind into a particular +affection for a suitor. Like loves like, I tell you, Sergeant; +and my gifts are not altogether the gifts of Mabel Dunham." + +"These are some of your old modest qualms, Pathfinder, and will +do you no credit with the girl. Women distrust men who distrust +themselves, and take to men who distrust nothing. Modesty is +a capital thing in a recruit, I grant you; or in a young subaltern +who has just joined, for it prevents his railing at the non-commissioned +officers before he knows what to rail at; I'm not sure it is out +of place in a commissary or a parson, but it's the devil and all +when it gets possession of a real soldier or a lover. Have as little +to do with it as possible, if you would win a woman's heart. As +for your doctrine that like loves like, it is as wrong as possible +in matters of this sort. If like loved like, women would love one +another, and men also. No, no, like loves dislike," -- the Sergeant +was merely a scholar of the camp, -- "and you have nothing to fear +from Mabel on that score. Look at Lieutenant Muir; the man has had +five wives already, they tell me, and there is no more modesty in +him than there is in a cat-o'-nine-tails." + +"Lieutenant Muir will never be the husband of Mabel Dunham, let +him ruffle his feathers as much as he may." + +"That is a sensible remark of yours, Pathfinder; for my mind is made +up that you shall be my son-in-law. If I were an officer myself, +Mr. Muir might have some chance; but time has placed one door between +my child and myself, and I don't intend there shall be that of a +marquee also." + +"Sergeant, we must let Mabel follow her own fancy; she is young +and light of heart, and God forbid that any wish of mine should lay +the weight of a feather on a mind that is all gaiety now, or take +one note of happiness from her laughter!" + +"Have you conversed freely with the girl?" the Sergeant demanded +quickly, and with some asperity of manner. + +Pathfinder was too honest to deny a truth plain as that which the +answer required, and yet too honorable to betray Mabel, and expose +her to the resentment of one whom he well knew to be stern in his +anger. + +"We have laid open our minds," he said; "and though Mabel's is one +that any man might love to look at, I find little there, Sergeant, +to make me think any better of myself." + +"The girl has not dared to refuse you -- to refuse her father's +best friend?" + +Pathfinder turned his face away to conceal the look of anguish that +consciousness told him was passing athwart it, but he continued +the discourse in his own quiet, manly tones. + +"Mabel is too kind to refuse anything, or to utter harsh words to +a dog. I have not put the question in a way to be downright refused, +Sergeant." + +"And did you expect my daughter to jump into your arms before you +asked her? She would not have been her mother's child had she +done any such thing, nor do I think she would have been mine. The +Dunhams like plain dealing as well as the king's majesty; but they +are no jumpers. Leave me to manage this matter for you, Pathfinder, +and there shall be no unnecessary delay. I'll speak to Mabel myself +this very evening, using your name as principal in the affair." + +"I'd rather not, I'd rather not, Sergeant. Leave the matter to +Mabel and me, and I think all will come right in the ind. Young +girls are like timorsome birds; they do not over-relish being hurried +or spoken harshly to nither. Leave the matter to Mabel and me." + +"On one condition I will, my friend; and that is, that you will +promise me, on the honor of a scout, that you will put the matter +plainly to Mabel the first suitable opportunity, and no mincing of +words." + +"I will ask her, Sergeant, on condition that you promise not to +meddle in the affair -- yes, I will promise to ask Mabel whether +she will marry me, even though she laugh in my face at my doing +so, on that condition." + +Sergeant Dunham gave the desired promise very cheerfully; for he +had completely wrought himself up into the belief that the man +he so much esteemed himself must be acceptable to his daughter. +He had married a woman much younger than himself, and he saw no +unfitness in the respective years of the intended couple. Mabel +was educated so much above him, too, that he was not aware of the +difference which actually existed between the parent and child in +this respect. It followed that Sergeant Dunham was not altogether +qualified to appreciate his daughter's tastes, or to form a very +probable conjecture what would be the direction taken by those +feelings which oftener depend on impulses and passion than on reason. +Still, the worthy soldier was not so wrong in his estimate of the +Pathfinder's chances as might at first appear. Knowing all the +sterling qualities of the man, his truth, integrity of purpose, +courage, self-devotion, disinterestedness, it was far from +unreasonable to suppose that qualities like these would produce a +deep impression on any female heart; and the father erred principally +in fancying that the daughter might know as it might be by intuition +what he himself had acquired by years of intercourse and adventure. + +As Pathfinder and his military friend descended the hill to the shore +of the lake, the discourse did not flag. The latter continued to +persuade the former that his diffidence alone prevented complete +success with Mabel, and that he had only to persevere in order to +prevail. Pathfinder was much too modest by nature, and had been too +plainly, though so delicately, discouraged in the recent interview +to believe all he heard; still the father used so many arguments +which seemed plausible, and it was so grateful to fancy that the +daughter might yet be his, that the reader is not to be surprised +when he is told that this unsophisticated being did not view Mabel's +recent conduct in precisely the light in which he may be inclined +to view it himself. He did not credit all that the Sergeant told +him, it is true; but he began to think virgin coyness and ignorance +of her own feelings might have induced Mabel to use the language +she had. + +"The Quartermaster is no favorite," said Pathfinder in answer to +one of his companion's remarks. "Mabel will never look on him as +more than one who has had four or five wives already." + +"Which is more than his share. A man may marry twice without +offence to good morals and decency, I allow! but four times is an +aggravation." + +"I should think even marrying once what Master Cap calls a +circumstance," put in Pathfinder, laughing in his quiet way, for +by this time his spirits had recovered some of their buoyancy. + +"It is, indeed, my friend, and a most solemn circumstance too. If +it were not that Mabel is to be your wife, I would advise you to +remain single. But here is the girl herself, and discretion is +the word." + +"Ah's me, Sergeant, I fear you are mistaken!" + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +Thus was this place +A happy rural seat of various view. +MILTON. + + +Mabel was in waiting on the beach, and the canoe was soon launched. +Pathfinder carried the party out through the surf in the same +skillful manner that he had brought it in; and though Mabel's color +heightened with excitement, and her heart seemed often ready to +leap out of her mouth again, they reached the side of the _Scud_ +without having received even a drop of spray. + +Ontario is like a quick-tempered man, sudden to be angered, and as +soon appeased. The sea had already fallen; and though the breakers +bounded the shore, far as the eye could reach, it was merely in +lines of brightness, that appeared and vanished like the returning +waves produced by a stone which had been dropped into a pool. The +cable of the _Scud_ was scarcely seen above the water, and Jasper +had already hoisted his sails, in readiness to depart as soon as +the expected breeze from the shore should fill the canvas. + +It was just sunset as the cutter's mainsail flapped and its stem +began to sever the water. The air was light and southerly, and +the head of the vessel was kept looking up along the south shore, +it being the intention to get to the eastward again as fast +as possible. The night that succeeded was quiet; and the rest of +those who slept deep and tranquil. + +Some difficulty occurred concerning the command of the vessel, but +the matter had been finally settled by an amicable compromise. As +the distrust of Jasper was far from being appeased, Cap retained +a supervisory power, while the young man was allowed to work the +craft, subject, at all times, to the control and interference of +the old seaman. To this Jasper consented, in preference to exposing +Mabel any longer to the dangers of their present situation; for, +now that the violence of the elements had ceased, he well knew that +the _Montcalm_ would be in search of them. He had the discretion, +however, not to reveal his apprehensions on this head; for it +happened that the very means he deemed the best to escape the enemy +were those which would be most likely to awaken new suspicions of +his honesty in the minds of those who held the power to defeat +his intentions. In other words, Jasper believed that the gallant +young Frenchman, who commanded the ship of the enemy, would quit +his anchorage under the fort at Niagara, and stand up the lake, +as soon as the wind abated, in order to ascertain the fate of the +_Scud_, keeping midway between the two shores as the best means +of commanding a broad view; and that, on his part, it would be +expedient to hug one coast or the other, not only to avoid a meeting, +but as affording a chance of passing without detection by blending +his sails and spars with objects on the land. He preferred the +south because it was the weather shore, and because he thought it +was that which the enemy would the least expect him to take, though +it necessarily led near his settlements, and in front of one of +the strongest posts he held in that part of the world. + +Of all this, however, Cap was happily ignorant, and the Sergeant's +mind was too much occupied with the details of his military trust +to enter into these niceties, which so properly belonged to another +profession. No opposition was made, therefore, and before morning +Jasper had apparently dropped quietly into all his former authority, +issuing his orders freely, and meeting with obedience without +hesitation or cavil. + +The appearance of day brought all on board on deck again; and, +as is usual with adventurers on the water, the opening horizon +was curiously examined, as objects started out of the obscurity, +and the panorama brightened under the growing light. East, west, +and north nothing was visible but water glittering in the rising +sun; but southward stretched the endless belt of woods that then +held Ontario in a setting of forest verdure. Suddenly an opening +appeared ahead, and then the massive walls of a chateau-looking +house, with outworks, bastions, blockhouses, and palisadoes, frowned +on a headland that bordered the outlet of a broad stream. Just +as the fort became visible, a little cloud rose over it, and the +white ensign of France was seen fluttering from a lofty flagstaff. + +Cap gave an ejaculation as he witnessed this ungrateful exhibition, +and he cast a quick suspicious glance at his brother-in-law. + +"The dirty tablecloth hung up to air, as my name is Charles Cap!" +he muttered; "and we hugging this d----d shore as if it were our +wife and children met on the return from an India v'y'ge! Hark'e, +Jasper, are you in search of a cargo of frogs, that you keep so +near in to this New France?" + +"I hug the land, sir, in the hope of passing the enemy's ship without +being seen, for I think she must be somewhere down here to leeward." + +"Ay, ay, this sounds well, and I hope it may turn out as you say. +I trust there is no under-tow here?" + +"We are on a weather shore, now," said Jasper, smiling; "and I think +you will admit, Master Cap, that a strong under-tow makes an easy +cable: we owe all our lives to the under-tow of this very lake." + +"French flummery!" growled Cap, though he did not care to be heard +by Jasper. "Give me a fair, honest, English-Yankee-American tow, +above board, and above water too, if I must have a tow at all, and +none of your sneaking drift that is below the surface, where one +can neither see nor feel. I daresay, if the truth could be come +at, that this late escape of ours was all a contrived affair." + +"We have now a good opportunity, at least, to reconnoitre the enemy's +post at Niagara, brother, for such I take this fort to be," put +in the Sergeant. "Let us be all eyes in passing, and remember that +we are almost in face of the enemy." + +This advice of the Sergeant needed nothing to enforce it; for the +interest and novelty of passing a spot occupied by human beings +were of themselves sufficient to attract deep attention in that +scene of a vast but deserted nature. The wind was now fresh enough +to urge the _Scud_ through the water with considerable velocity, +and Jasper eased her helm as she opened the river, and luffed nearly +into the mouth of that noble strait, or river, as it is termed. +A dull, distant, heavy roar came down through the opening in the +banks, swelling on the currents of the air, like the deeper notes +of some immense organ, and occasionally seeming to cause the earth +itself to tremble. + +"That sounds like surf on some long unbroken coast!" exclaimed Cap, +as a swell, deeper than common, came to his ears. + +"Ay, that is such surf as we have in this quarter of the world," +Pathfinder answered. "There is no under-tow there, Master Cap; but +all the water that strikes the rocks stays there, so far as going +back again is consarned. That is old Niagara that you hear, or +this noble stream tumbling down a mountain." + +"No one will have the impudence to pretend that this fine broad +river falls over yonder hills?" + +"It does, Master Cap, it does; and all for the want of stairs, or +a road to come down by. This is natur', as we have it up hereaway, +though I daresay you beat us down on the ocean. Ah's me, Mabel! +a pleasant hour it would be if we could walk on the shore some ten +or fifteen miles up this stream, and gaze on all that God has done +there." + +"You have, then, seen these renowned falls, Pathfinder?" the girl +eagerly inquired. + +"I have -- yes, I have; and an awful sight I witnessed at that +same time. The Sarpent and I were out scouting about the garrison +there, when he told me that the traditions of his people gave an +account of a mighty cataract in this neighborhood, and he asked +me to vary from the line of march a little to look at the wonder. +I had heard some marvels consarning the spot from the soldiers of +the 60th, which is my nat'ral corps like, and not the 55th, with +which I have sojourned so much of late; but there are so many +terrible liars in all rijiments that I hardly believed half they +had told me. Well, we went; and though we expected to be led by our +ears, and to hear some of that awful roaring that we hear to-day, +we were disappointed, for natur' was not then speaking in thunder, +as she is this morning. Thus it is in the forest, Master Cap; +there being moments when God seems to be walking abroad in power, +and then, again, there is a calm over all, as if His spirit lay in +quiet along the 'arth. Well, we came suddenly upon the stream, a +short distance above the fall, and a young Delaware, who was in +our company, found a bark canoe, and he would push into the current +to reach an island that lies in the very centre of the confusion +and strife. We told him of his folly, we did; and we reasoned +with him on the wickedness of tempting Providence by seeking danger +that led to no ind; but the youth among the Delawares are very much +the same as the youth among the soldiers, risky and vain. All we +could say did not change his mind, and the lad had his way. To me +it seems, Mabel, that whenever a thing is really grand and potent, +it has a quiet majesty about it, altogether unlike the frothy +and flustering manner of smaller matters, and so it was with them +rapids. The canoe was no sooner fairly in them, than down it went, +as it might be, as one sails through the air on the 'arth, and no +skill of the young Delaware could resist the stream. And yet he +struggled manfully for life, using the paddle to the last, like the +deer that is swimming to cast the hounds. At first he shot across +the current so swiftly, that we thought he would prevail; but he +had miscalculated his distance, and when the truth really struck +him, he turned the head upstream, and struggled in a way that +was fearful to look at. I could have pitied him even had he been +a Mingo. For a few moments his efforts were so frantic that he +actually prevailed over the power of the cataract; but natur' has +its limits, and one faltering stroke of the paddle set him back, +and then he lost ground, foot by foot, inch by inch, until he got +near the spot where the river looked even and green, and as if it +were made of millions of threads of water, all bent over some huge +rock, when he shot backwards like an arrow and disappeared, the bow +of the canoe tipping just enough to let us see what had become of +him. I met a Mohawk some years later who had witnessed the whole +affair from the bed of the stream below, and he told me that the +Delaware continued to paddle in the air until he was lost in the +mists of the falls." + +"And what became of the poor wretch?" demanded Mabel, who had been +strongly interested by the natural eloquence of the speaker. + +"He went to the happy hunting-grounds of his people, no doubt; for +though he was risky and vain, he was also just and brave. Yes, he +died foolishly, but the Manitou of the red-skins has compassion on +his creatur's as well as the God of a Christian." + +A gun at this moment was discharged from a blockhouse near the +fort; and the shot, one of light weight, came whistling over the +cutter's mast, an admonition to approach no nearer. Jasper was at +the helm, and he kept away, smiling at the same time as if he felt +no anger at the rudeness of the salutation. The _Scud_ was now +in the current, and her outward set soon carried her far enough to +leeward to avoid the danger of a repetition of the shot, and then +she quietly continued her course along the land. As soon as the +river was fairly opened, Jasper ascertained that the _Montcalm_ +was not at anchor in it; and a man sent aloft came down with the +report that the horizon showed no sail. The hope was now strong +that the artifice of Jasper had succeeded, and that the French +commander had missed them by keeping the middle of the lake as he +steered towards its head. + +All that day the wind hung to the southward, and the cutter continued +her course about a league from the land, running six or eight +knots the hour in perfectly smooth water. Although the scene had +one feature of monotony, the outline of unbroken forest, it was not +without its interest and pleasures. Various headlands presented +themselves, and the cutter, in running from one to another, stretched +across bays so deep as almost to deserve the name of gulfs. But +nowhere did the eye meet with the evidences of civilization; +rivers occasionally poured their tribute into the great reservoir +of the lake, but their banks could be traced inland for miles by +the same outlines of trees; and even large bays, that lay embosomed +in woods, communicating with Ontario only by narrow outlets, appeared +and disappeared, without bringing with them a single trace of a +human habitation. + +Of all on board, the Pathfinder viewed the scene with the most +unmingled delight. His eyes feasted on the endless line of forest, +and more than once that day, notwithstanding he found it so grateful +to be near Mabel, listening to her pleasant voice, and echoing, +in feelings at least, her joyous laugh, did his soul pine to be +wandering beneath the high arches of the maples, oaks, and lindens, +where his habits had induced him to fancy lasting and true joys +were only to be found. Cap viewed the prospect differently; more +than once he expressed his disgust at there being no lighthouses, +church-towers, beacons, or roadsteads with their shipping. Such +another coast, he protested, the world did not contain; and, taking +the Sergeant aside, he gravely assured him that the region could +never come to anything, as the havens were neglected, the rivers +had a deserted and useless look, and that even the breeze had a +smell of the forest about it, which spoke ill of its properties. + +But the humors of the different individuals in her did not stay +the speed of the _Scud_: when the sun was setting, she was already +a hundred miles on her route towards Oswego, into which river +Sergeant Dunham now thought it his duty to go, in order to receive +any communications that Major Duncan might please to make. With +a view to effect this purpose, Jasper continued to hug the shore +all night; and though the wind began to fail him towards morning, +it lasted long enough to carry the cutter up to a point that was +known to be but a league or two from the fort. Here the breeze +came out light at the northward, and the cutter hauled a little +from the land, in order to obtain a safe offing should it come on +to blow, or should the weather again get to be easterly. + +When the day dawned, the cutter had the mouth of the Oswego well +under the lee, distant about two miles; and just as the morning +gun from the fort was fired, Jasper gave the order to ease off the +sheets, and to bear up for his port. At that moment a cry from +the forecastle drew all eyes towards the point on the eastern side +of the outlet, and there, just without the range of shot from the +light guns of the works, with her canvas reduced to barely enough +to keep her stationary, lay the _Montcalm_, evidently in waiting +for their appearance. + +To pass her was impossible, for by filling her sails the French ship +could have intercepted them in a few minutes; and the circumstances +called for a prompt decision. After a short consultation, the +Sergeant again changed his plan, determining to make the best of his +way towards the station for which he had been originally destined, +trusting to the speed of the _Scud_ to throw the enemy so far astern +as to leave no clue to her movements. + +The cutter accordingly hauled upon a wind with the least possible +delay, with everything set that would draw. Guns were fired from +the fort, ensigns shown, and the ramparts were again crowded. But +sympathy was all the aid that Lundie could lend to his party; and +the _Montcalm_, also firing four or five guns of defiance, and +throwing abroad several of the banners of France, was soon in chase +under a cloud of canvas. + +For several hours the two vessels were pressing through the water +as fast as possible, making short stretches to windward, apparently +with a view to keep the port under their lee, the one to enter it +if possible, and the other to intercept it in the attempt. + +At meridian the French ship was hull down, dead to leeward, the +disparity of sailing on a wind being very great, and some islands +were near by, behind which Jasper said it would be possible for +the cutter to conceal her future movements. Although Cap and +the Sergeant, and particularly Lieutenant Muir, to judge by his +language, still felt a good deal of distrust of the young man, +and Frontenac was not distant, this advice was followed; for time +pressed, and the Quartermaster discreetly observed that Jasper +could not well betray them without running openly into the enemy's +harbor, a step they could at any time prevent, since the only +cruiser of force the French possessed at the moment was under their +lee and not in a situation to do them any immediate injury. + +Left to himself, Jasper Western soon proved how much was really +in him. He weathered upon the islands, passed them, and on coming +out to the eastward, kept broad away, with nothing in sight in his +wake or to leeward. By sunset again the cutter was up with the +first of the islands that lie in the outlet of the lake; and ere +it was dark she was running through the narrow channels on her way +to the long-sought station. At nine o'clock, however, Cap insisted +that they should anchor; for the maze of islands became so complicated +and obscure, that he feared, at every opening, the party would +find themselves under the guns of a French fort. Jasper consented +cheerfully, it being a part of his standing instructions to approach +the station under such circumstances as would prevent the men from +obtaining any very accurate notions of its position, lest a deserter +might betray the little garrison to the enemy. + +The _Scud_ was brought to in a small retired bay, where it would +have been difficult to find her by daylight, and where she was +perfectly concealed at night, when all but a solitary sentinel on +deck sought their rest. Cap had been so harassed during the previous +eight-and-forty hours, that his slumbers were long and deep; nor +did he awake from his first nap until the day was just beginning +to dawn. His eyes were scarcely open, however, when his nautical +instinct told him that the cutter was under way. Springing up, he +found the _Scud_ threading the islands again, with no one on deck +but Jasper and the pilot, unless the sentinel be excepted, who had +not in the least interfered with movements that he had every reason +to believe were as regular as they were necessary. + +"How's this, Master Western?" demanded Cap, with sufficient fierceness +for the occasion; "are you running us into Frontenac at last, and +we all asleep below, like so many mariners waiting for the 'sentry +go'?" + +"This is according to orders, Master Cap, Major Duncan having +commanded me never to approach the station unless at a moment when +the people were below; for he does not wish there should be more +pilots in those waters than the king has need of." + +"Whe-e-e-w! a pretty job I should have made of running down among +these bushes and rocks with no one on deck! Why, a regular York +branch could make nothing of such a channel." + +"I always thought, sir," said Jasper, smiling, "you would have done +better had you left the cutter in my hands until she had safely +reached her place of destination." + +"We should have done it, Jasper, we should have done it, had it not +been for a circumstance; these circumstances are serious matters, +and no prudent man will overlook them." + +"Well, sir, I hope there is now an end of them. We shall arrive in +less than an hour if the wind holds, and then you'll be safe from +any circumstances that I can contrive." + +"Humph!" + +Cap was obliged to acquiesce; and, as everything around him had the +appearance of Jasper's being sincere, there was not much difficulty +in making up his mind to submit. It would not have been easy indeed +for a person the most sensitive on the subject of circumstances +to fancy that the _Scud_ was anywhere in the vicinity of a port so +long established and so well known on the frontiers as Frontenac. +The islands might not have been literally a thousand in number, but +they were so numerous and small as to baffle calculation, though +occasionally one of larger size than common was passed. Jasper +had quitted what might have been termed the main channel, and was +winding his way, with a good stiff breeze and a favorable current, +through passes that were sometimes so narrow that there appeared +to be barely room sufficient for the _Scud's_ spars to clear the +trees, while at other moments he shot across little bays, and buried +the cutter again amid rocks, forests, and bushes. The water was +so transparent that there was no occasion for the lead, and being +of very equal depth, little risk was actually run, though Cap, +with his maritime habits, was in a constant fever lest they should +strike. + +"I give it up, I give it up, Pathfinder!" the old seaman at length +exclaimed, when the little vessel emerged in safety from the +twentieth of these narrow inlets through which she had been so +boldly carried; "this is defying the very nature of seamanship, +and sending all its laws and rules to the d---l!" + +"Nay, nay, Saltwater, 'tis the perfection of the art. You perceive +that Jasper never falters, but, like a hound with a true nose, he +runs with his head high as if he had a strong scent. My life on +it, the lad brings us out right in the ind, as he would have done +in the beginning had we given him leave." + +"No pilot, no lead, no beacons, buoys, or lighthouses, no -- " + +"Trail," interrupted Pathfinder; "for that to me is the most +mysterious part of the business. Water leaves no trail, as every +one knows; and yet here is Jasper moving ahead as boldly as if he +had before his eyes the prints of the moccasins on leaves as plainly +as we can see the sun in the heaven." + +"D--- me, if I believe there is even any compass!" + +"Stand by to haul down the jib," called out Jasper, who merely +smiled at the remarks of his companion. "Haul down -- starboard +your helm -- starboard hard -- so - meet her -- gently there with +the helm -- touch her lightly - now jump ashore with the fast, lad +-- no, heave; there are some of our people ready to take it." + +All this passed so quickly as barely to allow the spectator time +to note the different evolutions, ere the _Scud_ had been thrown +into the wind until her mainsail shivered, next cast a little by +the use of the rudder only, and then she set bodily alongside of +a natural rocky quay, where she was immediately secured by good +fasts run to the shore. In a word, the station was reached, and +the men of the 55th were greeted by their expecting comrades, with +the satisfaction which a relief usually brings. + +Mabel sprang up on the shore with a delight which she did not care +to express; and her father led his men after her with an alacrity +which proved how wearied he had become of the cutter. The station, +as the place was familiarly termed by the soldiers of the 55th, +was indeed a spot to raise expectations of enjoyment among those who +had been cooped up so long in a vessel of the dimensions of the +_Scud_. None of the islands were high, though all lay at a sufficient +elevation above the water to render them perfectly healthy and +secure. Each had more or less of wood; and the greater number +at that distant day were clothed with the virgin forest. The one +selected by the troops for their purpose was small, containing +about twenty acres of land, and by some of the accidents of the +wilderness it had been partly stripped of its trees, probably +centuries before the period of which we are writing, and a little +grassy glade covered nearly half its surface. + +The shores of Station Island were completely fringed with bushes, +and great care had been taken to preserve them, as they answered as +a screen to conceal the persons and things collected within their +circle. Favored by this shelter, as well as by that of several +thickets of trees and different copses, some six or eight low huts +had been erected to be used as quarters for the officer and his men, +to contain stores, and to serve the purposes of kitchen, hospital, +etc. These huts were built of logs in the usual manner, had been +roofed by bark brought from a distance, lest the signs of labor +should attract attention, and, as they had now been inhabited +some months, were as comfortable as dwellings of that description +usually ever get to be. + +At the eastern extremity of the island, however, was a small, +densely-wooded peninsula, with a thicket of underbrush so closely +matted as nearly to prevent the possibility of seeing across it, +so long as the leaves remained on the branches. Near the narrow +neck that connected this acre with the rest of the island, a small +blockhouse had been erected, with some attention to its means of +resistance. The logs were bullet-proof, squared and jointed with +a care to leave no defenceless points; the windows were loopholes, +the door massive and small, and the roof, like the rest of the +structure, was framed of hewn timber, covered properly with bark +to exclude the rain. The lower apartment as usual contained stores +and provisions; here indeed the party kept all their supplies; +the second story was intended for a dwelling, as well as for the +citadel, and a low garret was subdivided into two or three rooms, +and could hold the pallets of some ten or fifteen persons. All +the arrangements were exceedingly simple and cheap, but they were +sufficient to protect the soldiers against the effects of a surprise. +As the whole building was considerably less than forty feet high, +its summit was concealed by the tops of the trees, except from the +eyes of those who had reached the interior of the island. On that +side the view was open from the upper loops, though bushes even +there, more or less, concealed the base of the wooden tower. + +The object being purely defence, care had been taken to place the +blockhouse so near an opening in the limestone rock that formed +the base of the island as to admit of a bucket being dropped into +the water, in order to obtain that great essential in the event of +a siege. In order to facilitate this operation, and to enfilade +the base of the building, the upper stories projected several feet +beyond the lower in the manner usual to blockhouses, and pieces of wood +filled the apertures cut in the log flooring, which were intended +as loops and traps. The communications between the different stories +were by means of ladders. If we add that these blockhouses were +intended as citadels for garrisons or settlements to retreat to, in +the cases of attacks, the general reader will obtain a sufficiently +correct idea of the arrangements it is our wish to explain. + +But the situation of the island itself formed its principal merit +as a military position. Lying in the midst of twenty others, it +was not an easy matter to find it; since boats might pass quite +near, and, by glimpses caught through the openings, this particular +island would be taken for a part of some other. Indeed, the +channels between the islands which lay around the one we have been +describing were so narrow that it was even difficult to say which +portions of the land were connected, or which separated, even as +one stood in the centre, with the express desire of ascertaining +the truth. The little bay in particular, which Jasper used as +a harbor, was so embowered with bushes and shut in with islands, +that, the sails of the cutter being lowered, her own people on one +occasion had searched for hours before they could find the _Scud_, +in their return from a short excursion among the adjacent channels +in quest of fish. In short, the place was admirably adapted to its +present objects, and its natural advantages had been as ingeniously +improved as economy and the limited means of a frontier post would +very well allow. + +The hour which succeeded the arrival of the _Scud_ was one of hurried +excitement. The party in possession had done nothing worthy of +being mentioned, and, wearied with their seclusion, they were all +eager to return to Oswego. The Sergeant and the officer he came +to relieve had no sooner gone through the little ceremonies of +transferring the command, than the latter hurried on board the +_Scud_ with his whole party; and Jasper, who would gladly have passed +the day on the island, was required to get under way forthwith, the +wind promising a quick passage up the river and across the lake. +Before separating, however, Lieutenant Muir, Cap, and the Sergeant +had a private conference with the ensign who had been relieved, +in which the last was made acquainted with the suspicions that +existed against the fidelity of the young sailor. Promising due +caution, the officer embarked, and in less than three hours from +the time when she had arrived the cutter was again in motion. + +Mabel had taken possession of a hut; and with female readiness +and skill she made all the simple little domestic arrangements of +which the circumstances would admit, not only for her own comfort, but +for that of her father. To save labor, a mess-table was prepared +in a hut set apart for that purpose, where all the heads of the +detachment were to eat, the soldier's wife performing the necessary +labor. The hut of the Sergeant, which was the best on the island, +being thus freed from any of the vulgar offices of a household, +admitted of such a display of womanly taste, that, for the first +time since her arrival on the frontier, Mabel felt proud of her +home. As soon as these important duties were discharged, she +strolled out on the island, taking a path which led through the +pretty glade, and which conducted to the only point not covered with +bushes. Here she stood gazing at the limpid water, which lay with +scarcely a ruffle on it at her feet, musing on the novel situation +in which she was placed, and permitting a pleasing and deep excitement +to steal over her feelings, as she remembered the scenes through +which she had so lately passed, and conjectured those which still +lay veiled in the future. + +"You're a beautiful fixture, in a beautiful spot, Mistress Mabel," +said David Muir, suddenly appearing at her elbow; "and I'll no' +engage you're not just the handsomest of the two." + +"I will not say, Mr. Muir, that compliments on my person are +altogether unwelcome, for I should not gain credit for speaking +the truth, perhaps," answered Mabel with spirit; "but I will say +that if you would condescend to address to me some remarks of a +different nature, I may be led to believe you think I have sufficient +faculties to understand them." + +"Hoot! your mind, beautiful Mabel, is polished just like the barrel +of a soldier's musket, and your conversation is only too discreet +and wise for a poor d---l who has been chewing birch up here these +four years on the lines, instead of receiving it in an application +that has the virtue of imparting knowledge. But you are no' sorry, +I take it, young lady, that you've got your pretty foot on _terra +firma_ once more." + +"I thought so two hours since, Mr. Muir; but the _Scud_ looks so +beautiful as she sails through these vistas of trees, that I almost +regret I am no longer one of her passengers." + +As Mabel ceased speaking, she waved her handkerchief in return to +a salutation from Jasper, who kept his eyes fastened on her form +until the white sails of the cutter had swept round a point, and +were nearly lost behind its green fringe of leaves. + +"There they go, and I'll no' say 'joy go with them;' but may they +have the luck to return safely, for without them we shall be in +danger of passing the winter on this island; unless, indeed, we +have the alternative of the castle at Quebec. Yon Jasper Eau-douce +is a vagrant sort of a lad, and they have reports of him in the +garrison that it pains my very heart to hear. Your worthy father, +and almost as worthy uncle, have none of the best opinion of him." + +"I am sorry to hear it, Mr. Muir; I doubt not that time will remove +all their distrust." + +"If time would only remove mine, pretty Mabel," rejoined the +Quartermaster in a wheedling tone, "I should feel no envy of the +commander-in-chief. I think if I were in a condition to retire, +the Sergeant would just step into my shoes." + +"If my dear father is worthy to step into your shoes, Mr. Muir," +returned the girl, with malicious pleasure, "I'm sure that the +qualification is mutual, and that you are every way worthy to step +into his." + +"The deuce is in the child! you would not reduce me to the rank of +a non-commissioned officer, Mabel?" + +"No, indeed, sir; I was not thinking of the army at all as you spoke +of retiring. My thoughts were more egotistical, and I was thinking +how much you reminded me of my dear father, by your experience, +wisdom, and suitableness to take his place as the head of a family." + +"As its bridegroom, pretty Mabel, but not as its parent or natural +chief. I see how it is with you, loving your repartee, and brilliant +with wit. Well, I like spirit in a young woman, so it be not the +spirit of a scold. This Pathfinder is all extraordinair, Mabel, +if truth may be said of the man." + +"Truth should be said of him or nothing. Pathfinder is my friend +-- my very particular friend, Mr. Muir, and no evil can be said of +him in my presence that I shall not deny." + +"I shall say nothing evil of him, I can assure you, Mabel; but, at +the same time, I doubt if much good can be said in his favor." + +"He is at least expert with the rifle," returned Mabel, smiling. +"That you cannot deny." + +"Let him have all the credit of his exploits in that way if you +please; but he is as illiterate as a Mohawk." + +"He may not understand Latin, but his knowledge of Iroquois is +greater than that of most men, and it is the more useful language +of the two in this part of the world." + +"If Lundie himself were to call on me for an opinion which I +admire more, your person or your wit, beautiful and caustic Mabel, +I should be at a loss to answer. My admiration is so nearly divided +between them, that I often fancy this is the one that bears off the +palm, and then the other! Ah! the late Mrs. Muir was a paragon +in that way also." + +"The latest Mrs. Muir, did you say, sir?" asked Mabel, looking up +innocently at her companion. + +"Hoot, hoot! That is some of Pathfinder's scandal. Now I daresay +that the fellow has been trying to persuade you, Mabel, that I have +had more than one wife already." + +"In that case his time would have been thrown away, sir, as everybody +knows that you have been so unfortunate as to have had four." + +"Only three, as sure as my name is David Muir. The fourth is pure +scandal -- or rather, pretty Mabel, she is yet _in petto_, as they +say at Rome; and that means, in matters of love, in the heart, my +dear." + +"Well, I'm glad I'm not that fourth person, _in petto_, or in +anything else, as I should not like to be a scandal." + +"No fear of that, charming Mabel; for were you the fourth, all +the others would be forgotten, and your wonderful beauty and merit +would at once elevate you to be the first. No fear of your being +the fourth in any thing." + +"There is consolation in that assurance, Mr. Muir," said Mabel, +laughing, "whatever there may be in your other assurance; for I +confess I should prefer being even a fourth-rate beauty to being +a fourth wife." + +So saying she tripped away, leaving the Quartermaster to meditate +on his success. Mabel had been induced to use her female means of +defence thus freely, partly because her suitor had of late been so +pointed as to stand in need of a pretty strong repulse, and partly +on account of his innuendoes against Jasper and the Pathfinder. +Though full of spirit and quick of intellect, she was not naturally +pert; but on the present occasion she thought circumstances called +for more than usual decision. When she left her companion, therefore, +she believed she was now finally released from attentions which she +thought as ill-bestowed as they were certainly disagreeable. Not +so, however, with David Muir; accustomed to rebuffs, and familiar +with the virtue of perseverance, he saw no reason to despair, though +the half-menacing, half-self-satisfied manner in which he shook +his head towards the retreating girl might have betrayed designs +as sinister as they were determined. While he was thus occupied, +the Pathfinder approached, and got within a few feet of him unseen. + +"'Twill never do, Quartermaster, 'twill never do," commenced the +latter, laughing in his noiseless way; "she is young and active, +and none but a quick foot can overtake her. They tell me you are +her suitor, if you are not her follower." + +"And I hear the same of yourself, man, though the presumption would +be so great that I scarcely can think it true." + +"I fear you're right, I do; yes, I fear you're right; --when I +consider myself, what I am, how little I know, and how rude my life +has been, I altogether distrust my claim, even to think a moment +of one so tutored, and gay, and light of heart, and delicate -- " + +"You forget handsome," coarsely interrupted Muir. + +"And handsome, too, I fear," returned the meek and self-abased guide; +"I might have said handsome at once, among her other qualities; for +the young fa'n, just as it learns to bound, is not more pleasant +to the eye of the hunter than Mabel is lovely in mine. I do indeed +fear that all the thoughts I have harbored about her are vain and +presumptuous." + +"If you think this, my friend, of your own accord and natural +modesty, as it might be, my duty to you as an old fellow-campaigner +compels me to say -- " + +"Quartermaster," interrupted the other, regarding his companion +keenly, "you and I have lived together much behind the ramparts of +forts, but very little in the open woods or in front of the enemy." + +"Garrison or tent, it all passes for part of the same campaign, you +know, Pathfinder; and then my duty keeps me much within sight of +the storehouses, greatly contrary to my inclinations, as ye may well +suppose, having yourself the ardor of battle in your temperament. +But had ye heard what Mabel had just been saying of you, ye'd no +think another minute of making yourself agreeable to the saucy and +uncompromising hussy." + +Pathfinder looked earnestly at the lieutenant, for it was impossible +he should not feel an interest in what might be Mabel's opinion; +but he had too much of the innate and true feeling of a gentleman +to ask to hear what another had said of him. Muir, however, was not +to be foiled by this self-denial and self-respect; for, believing +he had a man of great truth and simplicity to deal with, he determined +to practise on his credulity, as one means of getting rid of his +rivalry. He therefore pursued the subject, as soon as he perceived +that his companion's self-denial was stronger than his curiosity. + +"You ought to know her opinion, Pathfinder," he continued; "and +I think every man ought to hear what his friends and acquaintances +say of him: and so, by way of proving my own regard for your character +and feelings, I'll just tell you in as few words as possible. You +know that Mabel has a wicked, malicious way with them eyes of her +own, when she has a mind to be hard upon one's feelings." + +"To me her eyes, Lieutenant Muir, have always seemed winning and +soft, though I will acknowledge that they sometimes laugh; yes, I +have known them to laugh, and that right heartily, and with downright +goodwill." + +"Well, it was just that then; her eyes were laughing with all their +might, as it were; and in the midst of all her fun, she broke out +with an exclamation to this effect: - I hope 'twill no' hurt your +sensibility, Pathfinder?" + +"I will not say Quartermaster, I will not say. Mabel's opinion of +me is of no more account than that of most others." + +"Then I'll no' tell ye, but just keep discretion on the subject; +and why should a man be telling another what his friends say of him, +especially when they happen to say that which may not be pleasant +to hear? I'll not add another word to this present communication." + +"I cannot make you speak, Quartermaster, if you are not so minded, +and perhaps it is better for me not to know Mabel's opinion, as +you seem to think it is not in my favor. Ah's me! if we could be +what we wish to be, instead of being only what we are, there would +be a great difference in our characters and knowledge and appearance. +One may be rude and coarse and ignorant, and yet happy, if he does +not know it; but it is hard to see our own failings in the strongest +light, just as we wish to hear the least about them." + +"That's just the _rationale_, as the French say, of the matter; +and so I was telling Mabel, when she ran away and left me. You +noticed the manner in which she skipped off as you approached?" + +"It was very observable," answered Pathfinder, drawing a long breath +and clenching the barrel of his rifle as if the fingers would bury +themselves in the iron. + +"It was more than observable -- it was flagrant; that's just the +word, and the dictionary wouldn't supply a better, after an hour's +search. Well, you must know, Pathfinder, -- for I cannot reasonably +deny you the gratification of hearing this, -- so you must know +the minx bounded off in that manner in preference to hearing what +I had to say in your justification." + +"And what could you find to say in my behalf, Quartermaster?" + +"Why, d'ye understand, my friend, I was ruled by circumstances, and +no' ventured indiscreetly into generalities, but was preparing to +meet particulars, as it might be, with particulars. If you were +thought wild, half-savage, or of a frontier formation, I could tell +her, ye know, that it came of the frontier, wild and half-savage +life ye'd led; and all her objections must cease at once, or there +would be a sort of a misunderstanding with Providence." + +"And did you tell her this, Quartermaster?" + +"I'll no' swear to the exact words, but the idea was prevalent in +my mind, ye'll understand. The girl was impatient, and would not +hear the half I had to say; but away she skipped, as ye saw with +your own eyes, Pathfinder, as if her opinion were fully made up, +and she cared to listen no longer. I fear her mind may be said to +have come to its conclusion?" + +"I fear it has indeed, Quartermaster, and her father, after all, is +mistaken. Yes, yes; the Sergeant has fallen into a grievous error." + +"Well, man, why need ye lament, and undo all the grand reputation +ye've been so many weary years making? Shoulder the rifle that ye +use so well, and off into the woods with ye, for there's not the +female breathing that is worth a heavy heart for a minute, as I +know from experience. Tak' the word of one who knows the sax, and +has had two wives, that women, after all, are very much the sort of +creatures we do not imagine them to be. Now, if you would really +mortify Mabel, here is as glorious an occasion as any rejected +lover could desire." + +"The last wish I have, Lieutenant, would be to mortify Mabel." + +"Well, ye'll come to that in the end, notwithstanding; for it's +human nature to desire to give unpleasant feelings to them that give +unpleasant feelings to us. But a better occasion never offered to +make your friends love you, than is to be had at this very moment, +and that is the certain means of causing one's enemies to envy us." + +"Quartermaster, Mabel is not my inimy; and if she was, the last +thing I could desire would be to give her an uneasy moment." + +"Ye say so, Pathfinder, ye say so, and I daresay ye think so; but +reason and nature are both against you, as ye'll find in the end. +Ye've heard the saying 'love me, love my dog:' well, now, that +means, read backwards, 'don't love me, don't love my dog.' Now, +listen to what is in your power to do. You know we occupy an +exceedingly precarious and uncertain position here, almost in the +jaws of the lion, as it were?" + +"Do you mean the Frenchers by the lion, and this island as his +jaws, Lieutenant?" + +"Metaphorically only, my friend, for the French are no lions, and +this island is not a jaw -- unless, indeed, it may prove to be, +what I greatly fear may come true, the jaw-bone of an ass." + +Here the Quartermaster indulged in a sneering laugh, that proclaimed +anything but respect and admiration for his friend Lundie's sagacity +in selecting that particular spot for his operations. + +"The post is as well chosen as any I ever put foot in," said +Pathfinder, looking around him as one surveys a picture. + +"I'll no' deny it, I'll no' deny it. Lundie is a great soldier, +in a small way; and his father was a great laird, with the same +qualification. I was born on the estate, and have followed the +Major so long that I've got to reverence all he says and does: +that's just my weakness, ye'll know, Pathfinder. Well, this post +may be the post of an ass, or of a Solomon, as men fancy; but it's +most critically placed, as is apparent by all Lundie's precautions +and injunctions. There are savages out scouting through these +Thousand Islands and over the forest, searching for this very +spot, as is known to Lundie himself, on certain information; and +the greatest service you can render the 55th is to discover their +trails and lead them off on a false scent. Unhappily Sergeant Dunham +has taken up the notion that the danger is to be apprehended from +up-stream, because Frontenac lies above us; whereas all experience +tells us that Indians come on the side which is most contrary to +reason, and, consequently, are to be expected from below. Take +your canoe, therefore, and go down-stream among the islands, that +we may have notice if any danger approaches from that quarter." + +"The Big Sarpent is on the look-out in that quarter; and as he knows +the station well, no doubt he will give us timely notice, should +any wish to sarcumvent us in that direction." + +"He is but an Indian, after all, Pathfinder; and this is an affair +that calls for the knowledge of a white man. Lundie will be eternally +grateful to the man who shall help this little enterprise to come +off with flying colors. To tell you the truth, my friend, he is +conscious it should never have been attempted; but he has too much +of the old laird's obstinacy about him to own an error, though it +be as manifest as the morning star." + +The Quartermaster then continued to reason with his companion, in +order to induce him to quit the island without delay, using such +arguments as first suggested themselves, sometimes contradicting +himself, and not unfrequently urging at one moment a motive that at +the next was directly opposed by another. The Pathfinder, simple +as he was, detected these flaws in the Lieutenant's philosophy, +though he was far from suspecting that they proceeded from a desire +to clear the coast of Mabel's suitor. He did not exactly suspect +the secret objects of Muir, but he was far from being blind to +his sophistry. The result was that the two parted, after a long +dialogue, unconvinced, and distrustful of each other's motives, +though the distrust of the guide, like all that was connected with +the man, partook of his own upright, disinterested, and ingenuous +nature. + +A conference that took place soon after between Sergeant Dunham +and the Lieutenant led to more consequences. When it was ended, +secret orders were issued to the men, the blockhouse was taken +possession of, the huts were occupied, and one accustomed to the +movements of soldiers might have detected that an expedition was +in the wind. In fact, just as the sun was setting, the Sergeant, +who had been much occupied at what was called the harbor, came +into his own hut, followed by Pathfinder and Cap; and as he took +his seat at the neat table which Mabel had prepared for him, he +opened the budget of his intelligence. + +"You are likely to be of some use here, my child," the old soldier +commenced, "as this tidy and well-ordered supper can testify; and +I trust, when the proper moment arrives, you will show yourself to +be the descendant of those who know how to face their enemies." + +"You do not expect me, dear father, to play Joan of Arc, and to +lead the men to battle?" + +"Play whom, child? Did you ever hear of the person Mabel mentions, +Pathfinder?" + +"Not I, Sergeant; but what of that? I am ignorant and unedicated, +and it is too great a pleasure to me to listen to her voice, and +take in her words, to be particular about persons." + +"I know her," said Cap decidedly; "she sailed a privateer out of +Morlaix in the last war; and good cruises she made of them." + +Mabel blushed at having inadvertently made an allusion that went +beyond her father's reading, to say nothing of her uncle's dogmatism, +and, perhaps, a little at the Pathfinder's simple, ingenuous +earnestness; but she did not forbear the less to smile. + +"Why, father, I am not expected to fall in with the men, and to +help defend the island?" + +"And yet women have often done such things in this quarter of the +world, girl, as our friend, the Pathfinder here, will tell you. +But lest you should be surprised at not seeing us when you awake +in the morning, it is proper that I now tell you we intend to march +in the course of this very night." + +"_We_, father! and leave me and Jennie on this island alone?" + +"No, my daughter; not quite as unmilitary as that. We shall leave +Lieutenant Muir, brother Cap, Corporal M'Nab, and three men to +compose the garrison during our absence. Jennie will remain with +you in this hut, and brother Cap will occupy my place." + +"And Mr. Muir?" said Mabel, half unconscious of what she uttered, +though she foresaw a great deal of unpleasant persecution in the +arrangement. + +"Why, he can make love to you, if you like it, girl; for he is +an amorous youth, and, having already disposed of four wives, is +impatient to show how much he honors their memories by taking a +fifth." + +"The Quartermaster tells me," said Pathfinder innocently, "that +when a man's feelings have been harassed by so many losses, there +is no wiser way to soothe them than by ploughing up the soil anew, +in such a manner as to leave no traces of what have gone over it +before." + +"Ay, that is just the difference between ploughing and harrowing," +returned the Sergeant, with a grim smile. "But let him tell Mabel +his mind, and there will be an end of his suit. I very well know +that _my_ daughter will never be the wife of Lieutenant Muir." + +This was said in a way that was tantamount to declaring that +no daughter of his ever _should_ become the wife of the person in +question. Mabel had colored, trembled, half laughed, and looked +uneasy; but, rallying her spirit, she said, in a voice so cheerful +as completely to conceal her agitation, "But, father, we might +better wait until Mr. Muir manifests a wish that your daughter +would have him, or rather a wish to have your daughter, lest we +get the fable of sour grapes thrown into our faces." + +"And what is that fable, Mabel?" eagerly demanded Pathfinder, who +was anything but learned in the ordinary lore of white men. "Tell +it to us, in your own pretty way; I daresay the Sergeant never +heard it." + +Mabel repeated the well-known fable, and, as her suitor had desired, +in her own pretty way, which was a way to keep his eyes riveted +on her face, and the whole of his honest countenance covered with +a smile. + +"That was like a fox!" cried Pathfinder, when she had ceased; "ay, +and like a Mingo, too, cunning and cruel; that is the way with both +the riptyles. As to grapes, they are sour enough in this part of +the country, even to them that can get at them, though I daresay +there are seasons and times and places where they are sourer to +them that can't. I should judge, now, my scalp is very sour in +Mingo eyes." + +"The sour grapes will be the other way, child, and it is Mr. Muir +who will make the complaint. You would never marry that man, +Mabel?" + +"Not she," put in Cap; "a fellow who is only half a soldier after +all. The story of them there grapes is quite a circumstance." + +"I think little of marrying any one, dear father and dear uncle, +and would rather talk about it less, if you please. But, did I +think of marrying at all, I do believe a man whose affections have +already been tried by three or four wives would scarcely be my +choice." + +The Sergeant nodded at the guide, as much as to say, You see how +the land lies; and then he had sufficient consideration for his +daughter's feelings to change the subject. + +"Neither you nor Mabel, brother Cap," he resumed, "can have any +legal authority with the little garrison I leave behind on the +island; but you may counsel and influence. Strictly speaking, +Corporal M'Nab will be the commanding officer, and I have endeavored +to impress him with a sense of his dignity, lest he might give +way too much to the superior rank of Lieutenant Muir, who, being +a volunteer, can have no right to interfere with the duty. I wish +you to sustain the Corporal, brother Cap; for should the Quartermaster +once break through the regulations of the expedition, he may pretend +to command me, as well as M'Nab." + +"More particularly, should Mabel really cut him adrift while you +are absent. Of course, Sergeant, you'll leave everything that is +afloat under my care? The most d----ble confusion has grown out +of misunderstandings between commanders-in-chief, ashore and afloat." + +"In one sense, brother, though in a general way, the Corporal is +commander-in-chief. The Corporal must command; but you can counsel +freely, particularly in all matters relating to the boats, of which +I shall leave one behind to secure your retreat, should there be +occasion. I know the Corporal well; he is a brave man and a good +soldier; and one that may be relied on, if the Santa Cruz can be +kept from him. But then he is a Scotchman, and will be liable to +the Quartermaster's influence, against which I desire both you and +Mabel to be on your guard." + +"But why leave us behind, dear father? I have come thus far to be +a comfort to you, and why not go farther?" + +"You are a good girl, Mabel, and very like the Dunhams. But you +must halt here. We shall leave the island to-morrow, before the +day dawns, in order not to be seen by any prying eyes coming from +our cover, and we shall take the two largest boats, leaving you +the other and one bark canoe. We are about to go into the channel +used by the French, where we shall lie in wait, perhaps a week, to +intercept their supply-boats, which are about to pass up on their +way to Frontenac, loaded, in particular, with a heavy amount of +Indian goods." + +"Have you looked well to your papers, brother?" Cap anxiously +demanded. "Of course you know a capture on the high seas is piracy, +unless your boat is regularly commissioned, either as a public or +a private armed cruiser." + +"I have the honor to hold the Colonel's appointment as sergeant-major +of the 55th," returned the other, drawing himself up with dignity, +"and that will be sufficient even for the French king. If not, I +have Major Duncan's written orders." + +"No papers, then, for a warlike cruiser?" + +"They must suffice, brother, as I have no other. It is of vast +importance to his Majesty's interests, in this part of the world, +that the boats in question should be captured and carried into +Oswego. They contain the blankets, trinkets, rifles, ammunition, +in short, all the stores with which the French bribe their accursed +savage allies to commit their unholy acts, setting at nought our +holy religion and its precepts, the laws of humanity, and all that +is sacred and dear among men. By cutting off these supplies we +shall derange their plans, and gain time on them; for the articles +cannot be sent across the ocean again this autumn." + +"But, father, does not his Majesty employ Indians also?" asked +Mabel, with some curiosity. + +"Certainly, girl, and he has a right to employ them --God bless him! +It's a very different thing whether an Englishman or a Frenchman +employs a savage, as everybody can understand." + +"But, father, I cannot see that this alters the case. If it be +wrong in a Frenchman to hire savages to fight his enemies, it would +seem to be equally wrong in an Englishman. _You_ will admit this, +Pathfinder?" + +"It's reasonable, it's reasonable; and I have never been one of +them that has raised a cry ag'in the Frenchers for doing the very +thing we do ourselves. Still it is worse to consort with a Mingo +than to consort with a Delaware. If any of that just tribe were +left, I should think it no sin to send them out ag'in the foe." + +"And yet they scalp and slay young and old, women and children!" + +"They have their gifts, Mabel, and are not to be blamed for following +them; natur' is natur', though the different tribes have different +ways of showing it. For my part I am white, and endeavor to maintain +white feelings." + +"This is all unintelligible to me," answered Mabel. "What is right +in King George, it would seem, ought to be right in King Louis." + +As all parties, Mabel excepted, seemed satisfied with the course +the discussion had taken, no one appeared to think it necessary to +pursue the subject. Supper was no sooner ended than the Sergeant +dismissed his guests, and then held a long and confidential +dialogue with his daughter. He was little addicted to giving way +to the gentler emotions, but the novelty of his present situation +awakened feelings that he was unused to experience. The soldier +or the sailor, so long as he acts under the immediate supervision +of a superior, thinks little of the risks he runs, but the moment +he feels the responsibility of command, all the hazards of his +undertaking begin to associate themselves in his mind: with the chances +of success or failure. While he dwells less on his own personal +danger, perhaps, than when that is the principal consideration, he +has more lively general perceptions of all the risks, and submits +more to the influence of the feelings which doubt creates. Such +was now the case with Sergeant Dunham, who, instead of looking +forward to victory as certain, according to his usual habits, began +to feel the possibility that he might be parting with his child +for ever. + +Never before had Mabel struck him as so beautiful as she appeared +that night. Possibly she never had displayed so many engaging +qualities to her father; for concern on his account had begun to +be active in her breast; and then her sympathies met with unusual +encouragement through those which had been stirred up in the +sterner bosom of the veteran. She had never been entirely at her +ease with her parent, the great superiority of her education creating +a sort of chasm, which had been widened by the military severity +of manner he had acquired by dealing so long with beings who could +only be kept in subjection by an unremitted discipline. On the +present occasion, however, the conversation between the father and +daughter became more confidential than usual, until Mabel rejoiced +to find that it was gradually becoming endearing, a state of feeling +that the warm-hearted girl had silently pined for in vain ever +since her arrival. + +"Then mother was about my height?" Mabel said, as she held one of +her father's hands in both her own, looking up into his face with +humid eyes. "I had thought her taller." + +"That is the way with most children who get a habit of thinking of +their parents with respect, until they fancy them larger and more +commanding than they actually are. Your mother, Mabel, was as near +your height as one woman could be to another." + +"And her eyes, father?" + +"Her eyes were like thine, child, too; blue and soft, and inviting +like, though hardly so laughing." + +"Mine will never laugh again, dearest father, if you do not take +care of yourself in this expedition." + +"Thank you, Mabel -- hem -- thank you, child; but I must do my duty. +I wish I had seen you comfortably married before we left Oswego; +my mind would be easier." + +"Married! -- to whom, father?" + +"You know the man I wish you to love. You may meet with many gayer, +and many dressed in finer clother; but with none with so true a +heart and just a mind." + +"None father?" + +"I know of none; in these particulars Pathfinder has few equals at +least." + +"But I need not marry at all. You are single, and I can remain to +take care of you." + +"God bless you, Mabel! I know you would, and I do not say that +the feeling is not right, for I suppose it is; and yet I believe +there is another that is more so." + +"What can be more right than to honor one's parents?" + +"It is just as right to honor one's husband, my dear child." + +"But I have no husband, father." + +"Then take one as soon as possible, that you may have a husband +to honor. I cannot live for ever, Mabel, but must drop off in the +course of nature ere long, if I am not carried off in the course of +war. You are young, and may yet live long; and it is proper that +you should have a male protector, who can see you safe through life, +and take care of you in age, as you now wish to take care of me." + +"And do you think, father," said Mabel, playing with his sinewy +fingers with her own little hands, and looking down at them, as if +they were subjects of intense interest, though her lips curled in +a slight smile as the words came from them, -- "and do you think, +father, that Pathfinder is just the man to do this? Is he not, +within ten or twelve years, as old as yourself?" + +"What of that? His life has been one of moderation and exercise, +and years are less to be counted, girl, than constitution. Do you +know another more likely to be your protector?" + +Mabel did not; at least another who had expressed a desire to that +effect, whatever might have been her hopes and her wishes. + +"Nay, father, we are not talking of another, but of the Pathfinder," +she answered evasively. "If he were younger, I think it would be +more natural for me to think of him for a husband." + +"'Tis all in the constitution, I tell you, child; Pathfinder is a +younger man than half our subalterns." + +"He is certainly younger than one, sir -- Lieutenant Muir." + +Mabel's laugh was joyous and light-hearted, as if just then she +felt no care. + +"That he is -- young enough to be his grandson; he is younger +in years, too. God forbid, Mabel, that you should ever become an +officer's lady, at least until you are an officer's daughter!" + +"There will be little fear of that, father, if I marry Pathfinder," +returned the girl, looking up archly in the Sergeant's face again. + +"Not by the king's commission, perhaps, though the man is even now +the friend and companion of generals. I think I could die happy, +Mabel, if you were his wife." + +"Father!" + +"'Tis a sad thing to go into battle with the weight of an unprotected +daughter laid upon the heart." + +"I would give the world to lighten yours of its load, my dear sir." + +"It might be done," said the Sergeant, looking fondly at his child; +"though I could not wish to put a burthen on yours in order to do +so." + +The voice was deep and tremulous, and never before had Mabel witnessed +such a show of affection in her parent. The habitual sternness of +the man lent an interest to his emotions which they might otherwise +have wanted, and the daughter's heart yearned to relieve the father's +mind. + +"Father, speak plainly!" she cried, almost convulsively. + +"Nay, Mabel, it might not be right; your wishes and mine may be +very different." + +"I have no wishes -- know nothing of what you mean. Would you +speak of my future marriage?" + +"If I could see you promised to Pathfinder -- know that you were +pledged to become his wife, let my own fate be what it might, I +think I could die happy. But I will ask no pledge of you, my child; +I will not force you to do what you might repent. Kiss me, Mabel, +and go to your bed." + +Had Sergeant Dunham exacted of Mabel the pledge that he really so +much desired, he would have encountered a resistance that he might +have found it difficult to overcome; but, by letting nature have +its course, he enlisted a powerful ally on his side, and the +warm-hearted, generous-minded Mabel was ready to concede to her +affections much more than she would ever have yielded to menace. +At that touching moment she thought only of her parent, who was +about to quit her, perhaps for ever; and all of that ardent love +for him, which had possibly been as much fed by the imagination +as by anything else, but which had received a little check by the +restrained intercourse of the last fortnight, now returned with a +force that was increased by pure and intense feeling. Her father +seemed all in all to her, and to render him happy there was no +proper sacrifice which she was not ready to make. One painful, +rapid, almost wild gleam of thought shot across the brain of the +girl, and her resolution wavered; but endeavoring to trace the +foundation of the pleasing hope on which it was based, she found +nothing positive to support it. Trained like a woman to subdue +her most ardent feelings, her thoughts reverted to her father, and +to the blessings that awaited the child who yielded to a parent's +wishes. + +"Father," she said quietly, almost with a holy calm, "God blesses +the dutiful daughter." + +"He will, Mabel; we have the Good Book for that." + +"I will marry whomever you desire." + +"Nay, nay, Mabel, you may have a choice of your own -- " + +"I have no choice; that is, none have asked me to have a choice, +but Pathfinder and Mr. Muir; and between _them_, neither of us +would hesitate. No, father; I will marry whomever you may choose." + +"Thou knowest my choice, beloved child; none other can make thee +as happy as the noble-hearted guide." + +"Well, then, if he wish it, if he ask me again -- for, father, +you would not have me offer myself, or that any one should do that +office for me," and the blood stole across the pallid cheeks of +Mabel as she spoke, for high and generous resolutions had driven +back the stream of life to her heart; "no one must speak to him +of it; but if he seek me again, and, knowing all that a true girl +ought to tell the man she marries, he then wishes to make me his +wife, I will be his." + +"Bless you, my Mabel! God in heaven bless you, and reward you as +a pious daughter deserves to be rewarded!" + +"Yes, father, put your mind at peace; go on this expedition with a +light heart, and trust in God. For me you will have now no care. +In the spring -- I must have a little time, father -- but in the +spring I will marry Pathfinder, if that noble-hearted hunter shall +then desire it." + +"Mabel, he loves you as I loved your mother. I have seen him weep +like a child when speaking of his feelings towards you." + +"Yes, I believe it; I've seen enough to satisfy me that he thinks +better of me than I deserve; and certainly the man is not living +for whom I have more respect than for Pathfinder; not even for you, +dear father." + +"That is as it should be, child, and the union will be blessed. +May I not tell Pathfinder this?" + +"I would rather you would not, father. Let it come of itself, come +naturally." The smile that illuminated Mabel's handsome face was +angelic, as even her parent thought, though one better practised +in detecting the passing emotions, as they betray themselves in +the countenance, might have traced something wild and unnatural +in it. "No, no, _we_ must let things take their course; father, +you have my solemn promise." + +"That will do, that will do, Mabel, now kiss me. God bless and +protect you, girl! you are a good daughter." + +Mabel threw herself into her father's arms -- it was the first time +in her life -- and sobbed on his bosom like an infant. The stern +soldier's heart was melted, and the tears of the two mingled; but +Sergeant Dunham soon started, as if ashamed of himself, and, gently +forcing his daughter from him, he bade her good-night, and sought +his pallet. Mabel went sobbing to the rude corner that had +been prepared for her reception; and in a few minutes the hut was +undisturbed by any sound, save the heavy breathing of the veteran. + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +Wandering, I found on my ruinous walk, + By the dial stone, aged and green, +One rose of the wilderness, left on its stalk, + To mark where a garden had been. +CAMPBELL. + + +It was not only broad daylight when Mabel awoke, but the sun had +actually been up some time. Her sleep had been tranquil, for she +rested on an approving conscience, and fatigue contributed to render +it sweet; and no sound of those who had been so early in motion +had interfered with her rest. Springing to her feet and rapidly +dressing herself, the girl was soon breathing the fragrance of +the morning in the open air. For the first time she was sensibly +struck with the singular beauties, as well as with the profound +retirement, of her present situation. The day proved to be one of +those of the autumnal glory, so common to a climate that is more +abused than appreciated, and its influence was every way inspiriting +and genial. Mabel was benefitted by this circumstance; for, as she +fancied, her heart was heavy on account of the dangers to which a +father, whom she now began to love as women love when confidence +is created, was exposed. + +But the island seemed absolutely deserted. The previous night, +the bustle of the arrival had given the spot an appearance of life +which was now entirely gone; and our heroine had turned her eyes +nearly around on every object in sight, before she caught a view of +a single human being to remove the sense of utter solitude. Then, +indeed, she beheld all who were left behind, collected in a group +around a fire which might be said to belong to the camp. The +person of her uncle, to whom she was so much accustomed, reassured +Mabel; and she examined the remainder with a curiosity natural to +her situation. Besides Cap and the Quartermaster, there were the +Corporal, the three soldiers, and the woman who was cooking. The +huts were silent and empty; and the low but tower-like summit of +the blockhouse rose above the bushes, by which it was half concealed, +in picturesque beauty. The sun was just casting its brightness +into the open places of the glade, and the vault over her head +was impending in the soft sublimity of the blue void. Not a cloud +was visible, and she secretly fancied the circumstance might be +taken as a harbinger of peace and security. + +Perceiving that all the others were occupied with that great concern +of human nature, a breakfast, Mabel walked, unobserved, towards +an end of the island where she was completely shut out of view by +the trees and bushes. Here she got a stand on the very edge of +the water, by forcing aside the low branches, and stood watching +the barely perceptible flow and re-flow of the miniature waves +which laved the shore; a sort of physical echo to the agitation +that prevailed on the lake fifty miles above her. The glimpses of +natural scenery that offered were very soft and pleasing; and our +heroine, who had a quick eye for all that was lovely in nature, +was not slow in selecting the most striking bits of landscape. She +gazed through the different vistas formed by the openings between +the islands, and thought she had never looked on aught more lovely. + +While thus occupied, Mabel was suddenly alarmed by fancying that +she caught a glimpse of a human form among the bushes that lined +the shore of the island which lay directly before her. The distance +across the water was not a hundred yards; and, though she might be +mistaken, and her fancy was wandering when the form passed before +her sight, still she did not think she could be deceived. Aware +that her sex would be no protection against a rifle bullet, should +an Iroquois get a view of her, the girl instinctively drew back, +taking care to conceal her person as much as possible by the leaves, +while she kept her own look riveted on the opposite shore, vainly +waiting for some time in the expectation of the stranger. She was +about to quit her post in the bushes and hasten to her uncle, in +order to acquaint him of her suspicions, when she saw the branch +of an alder thrust beyond the fringe of bushes on the other island, +and waved towards her significantly, and as she fancied in token +of amity. This was a breathless and a trying moment to one as +inexperienced in frontier warfare as our heroine and yet she felt +the great necessity that existed for preserving her recollection, +and of acting with steadiness and discretion. + +It was one of the peculiarities of the exposure to which those who +dwelt on the frontiers of America were liable, to bring out the +moral qualities of the women to a degree which they must themselves, +under other circumstances, have believed they were incapable of +manifesting; and Mabel well knew that the borderers loved to dwell +in their legends on the presence of mind, fortitude, and spirit that +their wives and sisters had displayed under circumstances the most +trying. Her emulation had been awakened by what she had heard on +such subjects; and it at once struck her that now was the moment +for her to show that she was truly Sergeant Dunham's child. The +motion of the branch was such as she believed indicated amity; and, +after a moment's hesitation, she broke off a twig, fastened it to +a stick and, thrusting it through an opening, waved it in return, +imitating as closely as possible the manner of the other. + +This dumb show lasted two or three minutes on both sides, when Mabel +perceived that the bushes opposite were cautiously pushed aside, +and a human face appeared at an opening. A glance sufficed to +let Mabel see that it was the countenance of a red-skin, as well +as that of a woman. A second and a better look satisfied her that +it was the face of the Dew-of-June, the wife of Arrowhead. During +the time she had travelled in company with this woman, Mabel had +been won by the gentleness of manner, the meek simplicity, and +the mingled awe and affection with which she regarded her husband. +Once or twice in the course of the journey she fancied the Tuscarora +had manifested towards herself an unpleasant degree of attention; +and on those occasions it had struck her that his wife exhibited +sorrow and mortification. As Mabel, however, had more than compensated +for any pain she might in this way unintentionally have caused her +companion, by her own kindness of manner and attentions, the woman +had shown much attachment to her, and they had parted, with a deep +conviction on the mind of our heroine that in the Dew-of-June she +had lost a friend. + +It is useless to attempt to analyze all the ways by which the +human heart is led into confidence. Such a feeling, however, had +the young Tuscarora woman awakened in the breast of our heroine; +and the latter, under the impression that this extraordinary visit +was intended for her own good, felt every disposition to have a +closer communication. She no longer hesitated about showing herself +clear of the bushes, and was not sorry to see the Dew-of-June imitate +her confidence, by stepping fearlessly out of her own cover. The +two girls, for the Tuscarora, though married, was even younger than +Mabel, now openly exchanged signs of friendship, and the latter +beckoned to her friend to approach, though she knew not the manner +herself in which this object could be effected. But the Dew-of-June +was not slow in letting it be seen that it was in her power; for, +disappearing in a moment, she soon showed herself again in the end +of a bark canoe, the bows of which she had drawn to the edge of +the bushes, and of which the body still lay in a sort of covered +creek. Mabel was about to invite her to cross, when her own name +was called aloud in the stentorian voice of her uncle. Making a +hurried gesture for the Tuscarora girl to conceal herself, Mabel +sprang from the bushes and tripped up the glade towards the sound, +and perceived that the whole party had just seated themselves +at breakfast; Cap having barely put his appetite under sufficient +restraint to summon her to join them. That this was the most +favorable instant for the interview flashed on the mind of Mabel; +and, excusing herself on the plea of not being prepared for the meal, +she bounded back to the thicket, and soon renewed her communications +with the young Indian woman. + +Dew-of-June was quick of comprehension; and with half a dozen noiseless +strokes of the paddles, her canoe was concealed in the bushes of +Station Island. In another minute, Mabel held her hand, and was +leading her through the grove towards her own hut. Fortunately +the latter was so placed as to be completely hid from the sight +of those at the fire, and they both entered it unseen. Hastily +explaining to her guest, in the best manner she could, the +necessity of quitting her for a short time, Mabel, first placing +the Dew-of-June in her own room, with a full certainty that she +would not quit it until told to do so, went to the fire and took +her seat among the rest, with all the composure it was in her power +to command. + +"Late come, late served, Mabel," said her uncle, between mouthfuls +of broiled salmon; for though the cookery might be very unsophisticated +on that remote frontier, the viands were generally delicious, -- +"late come, late served; it is a good rule, and keeps laggards up +to their work." + +"I am no laggard, Uncle; for I have been stirring nearly an hour, +and exploring our island." + +"It's little you'll make o' that, Mistress Mabel," put in Muir; +"that's little by nature. Lundie -- or it might be better to style +him Major Duncan in this presence" (this was said in consideration +of the corporal and the common men, though they were taking their +meal a little apart) --"has not added an empire to his Majesty's +dominions in getting possession of this island, which is likely +to equal that of the celebrated Sancho in revenues and profits +--Sancho, of whom, doubtless, Master Cap, you'll often have been +reading in your leisure hours, more especially in calms and moments +of inactivity." + +"I know the spot you mean, Quartermaster; Sancho's Island -- coral +rock, of new formation, and as bad a landfall, in a dark night and +blowing weather, as a sinner could wish to keep clear of. It's +a famous place for cocoanuts and bitter water, that Sancho's Island." + +"It's no' very famous for dinners," returned Muir, repressing the +smile which was struggling to his lips out of respect to Mabel; +"nor do I think there'll be much to choose between its revenue +and that of this spot. In my judgment, Master Cap, this is a very +unmilitary position, and I look to some calamity befalling it, +sooner or later." + +"It is to be hoped not until our turn of duty is over," observed +Mabel. "I have no wish to study the French language." + +"We might think ourselves happy, did it not prove to be the +Iroquois. I have reasoned with Major Duncan on the occupation +of this position, but 'a wilfu' man maun ha' his way.' My first +object in accompanying this party was to endeavor to make myself +acceptable and useful to your beautiful niece, Master Cap; and +the second was to take such an account of the stores that belong +to my particular department as shall leave no question open to +controversy, concerning the manner of expenditure, when they shall +have disappeared by means of the enemy." + +"Do you look upon matters as so serious?" demanded Cap, actually +suspending his mastication of a bit of venison -- for he passed +alternately from fish to flesh and back again -- in the interest +he took in the answer. "Is the danger pressing?" + +"I'll no' say just that; and I'll no' say just the contrary. There +is always danger in war, and there is more of it at the advanced +posts than at the main encampment. It ought, therefore, to occasion +no surprise were we to be visited by the French at any moment." + +"And what the devil is to be done in that case? Six men and two +women would make but a poor job in defending such a place as this, +should the enemy invade us; as, no doubt, Frenchman-like, they +would take very good care to come strong-handed." + +"That we may depend on -- some very formidable force at the +very lowest. A military disposition might be made in defence of +the island, out of all question, and according to the art of war, +though we would probably fail in the force necessary to carry out +the design in any very creditable manner. In the first place, a +detachment should be sent off to the shore, with orders to annoy +the enemy in landing; a strong party ought instantly to be thrown +into the blockhouse, as the citadel, for on that all the different +detachments would naturally fall back for support, as the French +advanced; and an entrenched camp might be laid out around the +stronghold, as it would be very unmilitary indeed to let the foe get +near enough to the foot of the walls to mine them. Chevaux-de-frise +would keep the cavalry in check; and as for the artillery, redoubts +should be thrown up under cover of yon woods. Strong skirmishing +parties, moreover, would be exceedingly serviceable in retarding +the march of the enemy; and these different huts, if properly +piqueted and ditched, would be converted into very eligible positions +for that object." + +"Whe-e-e-w-, Quartermaster! And who the d---l is to find all the +men to carry out such a plan?" + +"The king, out of all question, Master Cap. It is his quarrel, +and it's just he should bear the burthen o' it." + +"And we are only six! This is fine talking, with a vengeance. +You could be sent down to the shore to oppose the landing, Mabel +might skirmish with her tongue at least, the soldier's wife might +act chevaux-de-frise to entangle the cavalry, the corporal should +command the entrenched camp, his three men could occupy the five +huts, and I would take the blockhouse. Whe-e-e-w! you describe well, +Lieutenant; and should have been a limner instead of a soldier." + +"Na, I've been very literal and upright in my exposition of matters. +That there is no greater force here to carry out the plan is a +fault of his Majesty's ministers, and none of mine." + +"But should our enemy really appear," asked Mabel, with more interest +than she might have shown, had she not remembered the guest in the +hut, "what course ought we to pursue?" + +"My advice would be to attempt to achieve that, pretty Mabel, which +rendered Xenophon so justly celebrated." + +"I think you mean a retreat, though I half guess at your allusion." + +"You've imagined my meaning from the possession of a strong native +sense, young lady. I am aware that your worthy father has pointed +out to the Corporal certain modes and methods by which he fancies +this island could be held, in case the French should discover its +position; but the excellent Sergeant, though your father, and as +good a man in his duties as ever wielded a spontoon, is not the +great Lord Stair, or even the Duke of Marlborough. I'll not deny +the Sergeant's merits in his particular sphere; though I cannot +exaggerate qualities, however excellent, into those of men who +may be in some trifling degree his superiors. Sergeant Dunham has +taken counsel of his heart, instead of his head, in resolving to +issue such orders; but, if the fort fall, the blame will lie on +him that ordered it to be occupied, and not on him whose duty it +was to defend it. Whatever may be the determination of the latter, +should the French and their allies land, a good commander never +neglects the preparations necessary to effect a retreat; and I would +advise Master Cap, who is the admiral of our navy, to have a boat +in readiness to evacuate the island, if need comes to need. The +largest boat that we have left carries a very ample sail; and by +hauling it round here, and mooring it under those bushes, there will +be a convenient place for a hurried embarkation; and then you'll +perceive, pretty Mabel, that it is scarcely fifty yards before we +shall be in a channel between two other islands, and hid from the +sight of those who may happen to be on this." + +"All that you say is very true, Mr. Muir; but may not the French +come from that quarter themselves? If it is so good for a retreat, +it is equally good for an advance." + +"They'll no' have the sense to do so discreet a thing," returned +Muir, looking furtively and a little uneasily around him; "they'll +no' have sufficient discretion. Your French are a head-over-heels +nation, and usually come forward in a random way; so we may look +for them, if they come at all, on the other side of the island." + +The discourse now became exceedingly desultory, touching principally, +however, on the probabilities of an invasion, and the best means +of meeting it. + +To most of this Mabel paid but little attention; though she felt +some surprise that Lieutenant Muir, an officer whose character for +courage stood well, should openly recommend an abandonment of what +appeared to her to be doubly a duty, her father's character being +connected with the defence of the island. Her mind, however, was +so much occupied with her guest, that, seizing the first favorable +moment, she left the table, and was soon in her own hut again. +Carefully fastening the door, and seeing that the simple curtain +was drawn before the single little window, Mabel next led the +Dew-of-June, or June, as she was familiarly termed by those who spoke +to her in English, into the outer room, making signs of affection +and confidence. + +"I am glad to see you, June," said Mabel, with one of her sweetest +smiles, and in her own winning voice, -- "very glad to see you. +What has brought you hither, and how did you discover the island?" + +"Speak slow," said June, returning smile for smile, and pressing +the little hand she held with one of her own that was scarcely +larger, though it had been hardened by labor; "more slow -- too +quick." + +Mabel repeated her questions, endeavoring to repress the impetuosity +of her feelings; and she succeeded in speaking so distinctly as to +be understood. + +"June, friend," returned the Indian woman. + +"I believe you, June -- from my soul I believe you; what has this +to do with your visit?" + +"Friend come to see friend," answered June, again smiling openly +in the other's face. + +"There is some other reason, June, else would you never run this +risk, and alone. You are alone, June?" + +"June wid you, no one else. June come alone, paddle canoe." + +"I hope so, I think so -- nay, I know so. You would not be +treacherous with me, June?" + +"What treacherous?" + +"You would not betray me, would not give me to the French, to the +Iroquois, to Arrowhead?" + +June shook her head earnestly. + +"You would not sell my scalp?" + +Here June passed her arm fondly around the slender waist of Mabel +and pressed her to her heart with a tenderness and affection that +brought tears into the eyes of our heroine. It was done in the +fond caressing manner of a woman, and it was scarcely possible +that it should not obtain credit for sincerity with a young and +ingenuous person of the same sex. Mabel returned the pressure, +and then held the other off at the length of her arm, looked her +steadily in the face, and continued her inquiries. + +"If June has something to tell her friend, let her speak plainly," +she said. "My ears are open." + +"June 'fraid Arrowhead kill her." + +"But Arrowhead will never know it." Mabel's blood mounted to her +temples as she said this; for she felt that she was urging a wife +to be treacherous to her husband. "That is, Mabel will not tell +him." + +"He bury tomahawk in June's head." + +"That must never be, dear June; I would rather you should say no +more than run this risk." + +"Blockhouse good place to sleep, good place to stay." + +"Do you mean that I may save my life by keeping in the blockhouse, +June? Surely, surely, Arrowhead will not hurt you for telling me +that. He cannot wish me any great harm, for I never injured him." + +"Arrowhead wish no harm to handsome pale-face," returned June, +averting her face; and, though she always spoke in the soft, gentle +voice of an Indian girl, now permitting its notes to fall so low +as to cause them to sound melancholy and timid. "Arrowhead love +pale-face girl." + +Mabel blushed, she knew not why, and for a moment her questions were +repressed by a feeling of inherent delicacy. But it was necessary +to know more, for her apprehensions had been keenly awakened, and +she resumed her inquiries. + +"Arrowhead can have no reason to love or to hate _me_," she said. +"Is he near you?" + +"Husband always near wife, here," said June, laying her hand on +her heart. + +"Excellent creature! But tell me, June, ought I to keep in the +blockhouse to-day -- this morning -- now?" + +"Blockhouse very good; good for women. Blockhouse got no scalp." + +"I fear I understand you only too well, June. Do you wish to see +my father?" + +"No here; gone away." + +"You cannot know that, June; you see the island is full of his +soldiers." + +"No full; gone away," -- here June held up four of her fingers, -- +"so many red-coats." + +"And Pathfinder? would you not like to see the Pathfinder? He can +talk to you in the Iroquois tongue." + +"Tongue gone wid him," said June, laughing; "keep tongue in his +mout'." + +There was something so sweet and contagious in the infantile laugh +of an Indian girl, that Mabel could not refrain from joining in +it, much as her fears were aroused by all that had passed. + +"You appear to know, or to think you know, all about us, June. But +if Pathfinder be gone, Eau-douce can speak French too. You know +Eau-douce; shall I run and bring him to talk with you?" + +"Eau-douce gone too, all but heart; that there." As June said this, +she laughed again; looked in different directions, as if unwilling +to confuse the other, and laid her hand on Mabel's bosom. + +Our heroine had often heard of the wonderful sagacity of the Indians, +and of the surprising manner in which they noted all things, while +they appeared to regard none; but she was scarcely prepared for +the direction the discourse had so singularly taken. Willing to +change it, and at the same time truly anxious to learn how great +the danger that impended over them might really be, she rose from +the camp-stool on which she had been seated; and, by assuming an +attitude of less affectionate confidence, she hoped to hear more +of that she really desired to learn, and to avoid allusions to that +which she found so embarrassing. + +"You know how much or how little you ought to tell me, June," she +said; "and I hope you love me well enough to give me the information +I ought to hear. My dear uncle, too, is on the island, and you +are, or ought to be, his friend as well as mine; and both of us +will remember your conduct when we get back to Oswego." + +"Maybe, never get back; who know?" This was said doubtingly, or as +one who lays down an uncertain proposition, and not with a taunt, +or a desire to alarm. + +"No one knows what will happen but God. Our lives are in His hands. +Still, I think you are to be His instrument in saving us." + +This passed June's comprehension, and she only looked her ignorance; +for it was evident she wished to be of use. + +"Blockhouse very good," she repeated, as soon as her countenance +ceased to express uncertainty, laying strong emphasis on the last +two words. + +"Well, I understand this, June, and will sleep in it to-night. Of +course I am to tell my uncle what you have said?" + +The Dew-of-June started, and she discovered a very manifest uneasiness +at the interrogatory. + +"No, no, no, no!" she answered, with a volubility and vehemence +that was imitated from the French of the Canadas; "no good to tell +Saltwater. He much talk and long tongue. Thinks woods all water, +understand not'ing. Tell Arrowhead, and June die." + +"You do my dear uncle injustice, for he would be as little likely +to betray you as any one." + +"No understand. Saltwater got tongue, but no eyes, no ears, no +nose -- not'ing but tongue, tongue, tongue!" + +Although Mabel did not exactly coincide in this opinion, she saw +that Cap had not the confidence of the young Indian woman, and that +it was idle to expect she would consent to his being admitted to +their interview. + +"You appear to think you know our situation pretty well, June," +Mabel continued; "have you been on the island before this visit?" + +"Just come." + +"How then do you know that what you say is true? My father, the +Pathfinder, and Eau-douce may all be here within sound of my voice, +if I choose to call them." + +"All gone," said June positively, smiling good-humoredly at the +same time. + +"Nay, this is more than you can say certainly, not having been over +the island to examine it." + +"Got good eyes; see boat with men go away -- see ship with Eau-douce." + +"Then you have been some time watching us: I think, however, you +have not counted them that remain." + +June laughed, held up her four fingers again, and then pointed to +her two thumbs; passing a finger over the first, she repeated the +words "red-coats;" and touching the last, she added, "Saltwater," +"Quartermaster." All this was being very accurate, and Mabel began +to entertain serious doubts as to the propriety of her permitting +her visitor to depart without her becoming more explicit. Still +it was so repugnant to her feelings to abuse the confidence this +gentle and affectionate creature had evidently reposed in her, that +Mabel had no sooner admitted the thought of summoning her uncle, +than she rejected it as unworthy of herself and unjust to her +friend. To aid this good resolution, too, there was the certainty +that June would reveal nothing, but take refuge in a stubborn +silence, if any attempt were made to coerce her. + +"You think, then, June," Mabel continued, as soon as these thoughts had +passed through her mind, "that I had better live in the blockhouse?" + +"Good place for woman. Blockhouse got no scalp. Logs t'ick." + +"You speak confidently, June; as if you had been in it, and had +measured its walls." + +June laughed; and she looked knowing, though she said nothing. + +"Does any one but yourself know how to find this island? Have any +of the Iroquois seen it?" + +June looked sad, and she cast her eyes warily about her, as if +distrusting a listener. + +"Tuscarora, everywhere -- Oswego, here, Frontenac, Mohawk -- +everywhere. If he see June, kill her." + +"But we thought that no one knew of this island, and that we had +no reason to fear our enemies while on it." + +"Much eye, Iroquois." + +"Eyes will not always do, June, This spot is hid from ordinary +sight, and few of even our own people know how to find it." + +"One man can tell; some Yengeese talk French." + +Mabel felt a chill at her heart. All the suspicions against +Jasper, which she had hitherto disdained entertaining, crowded in +a body on her thoughts; and the sensation that they brought was so +sickening, that for an instant she imagined she was about to faint. +Arousing herself, and remembering her promise to her father, she +arose and walked up and down the hut for a minute, fancying that +Jasper's delinquencies were naught to her, though her inmost heart +yearned with the desire to think him innocent. + +"I understand your meaning, June," she then said; "you wish me to +know that some one has treacherously told your people where and how +to find the island?" + +June laughed, for in her eyes artifice in war was oftener a merit +than a crime; but she was too true to her tribe herself to say +more than the occasion required. Her object was to save Mabel, +and Mabel only; and she saw no sufficient reason for "travelling +out of the record," as the lawyers express it, in order to do +anything else. + +"Pale-face know now," she added. "Blockhouse good for girl, no +matter for men and warriors." + +"But it is much matter with me, June; for one of those men is my +uncle, whom I love, and the others are my countrymen and friends. +I must tell them what has passed." + +"Then June be kill," returned the young Indian quietly, though she +evidently spoke with concern. + +"No; they shall not know that you have been here. Still, they must +be on their guard, and we can all go into the blockhouse." + +"Arrowhead know, see everything, and June be kill. June come to +tell young pale-face friend, not to tell men. Every warrior watch +his own scalp. June woman, and tell woman; no tell men." + +Mabel was greatly distressed at this declaration of her wild +friend, for it was now evident the young creature understood that +her communication was to go no further. She was ignorant how far +these people consider the point of honor interested in her keeping +the secret; and most of all was she unable to say how far any +indiscretion of her own might actually commit June and endanger her +life. All these considerations flashed on her mind, and reflection +only rendered their influence more painful. June, too, manifestly +viewed the matter gravely; for she began to gather up the +different little articles she had dropped in taking Mabel's hand, +and was preparing to depart. To attempt detaining her was out of +the question; and to part from her, after all she had hazarded to +serve her, was repugnant to all the just and kind feelings of our +heroine's nature. + +"June," said she eagerly, folding her arms round the gentle but +uneducated being, "we are friends. From me you have nothing to +fear, for no one shall know of your visit. If you could give me +some signal just before the danger comes, some sign by which to +know when to go into the blockhouse, how to take care of myself." + +June paused, for she had been in earnest in her intention to depart; +and then she said quietly, "Bring June pigeon." + +"A pigeon! Where shall I find a pigeon to bring you?" + +"Next hut; bring old one; June go to canoe." + +"I think I understand you, June; but had I not better lead you back +to the bushes, lest you meet some of the men?" + +"Go out first; count men, one, two, t'ree, four, five, six" - here +June held up her fingers, and laughed -- "all out of the way -- +good; all but one, call him one side. Then sing, and fetch pigeon." + +Mabel smiled at the readiness and ingenuity of the girl, and prepared +to execute her requests. At the door, however, she stopped, and +looked back entreatingly at the Indian woman. "Is there no hope +of your telling me more, June?" she said. + +"Know all now, blockhouse good, pigeon tell, Arrowhead kill." + +The last words sufficed; for Mabel could not urge further +communications, when her companion herself told her that the penalty +of her revelations might be death by the hand of her husband. +Throwing open the door, she made a sign of adieu to June, and went +out of the hut. Mabel resorted to the simple expedient of the young +Indian girl to ascertain the situation of the different individuals +on the island. Instead of looking about her with the intention +of recognizing faces and dresses, she merely counted them; and +found that three still remained at the fire, while two had gone to +the boat, one of whom was Mr. Muir. The sixth man was her uncle; and +he was coolly arranging some fishing-tackle at no great distance +from the fire. The woman was just entering her own hut; and +this accounted for the whole party. Mabel now, affecting to have +dropped something, returned nearly to the hut she had left, warbling +an air, stooped as if to pick up some object from the ground, and +hurried towards the hut June had mentioned. This was a dilapidated +structure, and it had been converted by the soldiers of the last +detachment into a sort of storehouse for their live stock. Among +other things, it contained a few dozen pigeons, which were regaling +on a pile of wheat that had been brought off from one of the farms +plundered on the Canada shore. Mabel had not much difficulty in +catching one of these pigeons, although they fluttered and flew +about the hut with a noise like that of drums; and, concealing it +in her dress, she stole back towards her own hut with the prize. +It was empty; and, without doing more than cast a glance in at +the door, the eager girl hurried down to the shore. She had no +difficulty in escaping observation, for the trees and bushes made +a complete cover to her person. At the canoe she found June, who +took the pigeon, placed it in a basket of her own manufacturing, +and, repeating the words, "blockhouse good," she glided out of the +bushes and across the narrow passage, as noiselessly as she had +come. Mabel waited some time to catch a signal of leave-taking or +amity after her friend had landed, but none was given. The adjacent +islands, without exception, were as quiet as if no one had ever +disturbed the sublime repose of nature, and nowhere could any sign +or symptom be discovered, as Mabel then thought, that might denote +the proximity of the sort of danger of which June had given notice. + +On returning, however, from the shore, Mabel was struck with +a little circumstance, that, in an ordinary situation, would have +attracted no attention, but which, now that her suspicions had been +aroused, did not pass before her uneasy eye unnoticed. A small +piece of red bunting, such as is used in the ensigns of ships, was +fluttering at the lower branch of a small tree, fastened in a way +to permit it to blow out, or to droop like a vessel's pennant. + +Now that Mabel's fears were awakened, June herself could not have +manifested greater quickness in analyzing facts that she believed +might affect the safety of the party. She saw at a glance that +this bit of cloth could be observed from an adjacent island; that +it lay so near the line between her own hut and the canoe as to +leave no doubt that June had passed near it, if not directly under +it; and that it might be a signal to communicate some important +fact connected with the mode of attack to those who were probably +lying in ambush near them. Tearing the little strip of bunting +from the tree, Mabel hastened on, scarcely knowing what her duty +next required of her. June might be false to her, but her manner, +her looks, her affection, and her disposition as Mabel had known +it in the journey, forbade the idea. Then came the allusion to +Arrowhead's admiration of the pale-face beauties, some dim recollections +of the looks of the Tuscarora, and a painful consciousness that few +wives could view with kindness one who had estranged a husband's +affections. None of these images were distinct and clear, but +they rather gleamed over the mind of our heroine than rested in +it, and they quickened her pulses, as they did her step, without +bringing with them the prompt and clear decisions that usually +followed her reflections. She had hurried onwards towards the hut +occupied by the soldier's wife, intending to remove at once to the +blockhouse with the woman, though she could persuade no other to +follow, when her impatient walk was interrupted by the voice of +Muir. + +"Whither so fast, pretty Mabel?" he cried; "and why so given to +solitude? The worthy Sergeant will deride my breeding, if he hear +that his daughter passes the mornings alone and unattended to, though +he well knows it is my ardent wish to be her slave and companion +from the beginning of the year to its end." + +"Surely, Mr. Muir, you must have some authority here?" Mabel suddenly +arrested her steps to say. "One of your rank would be listened +to, at least, by a corporal?" + +"I don't know that, I don't know that," interrupted Muir, with an +impatience and appearance of alarm that might have excited Mabel's +attention at another moment. "Command is command; discipline, +discipline; and authority, authority. Your good father would +be sore grieved did he find me interfering to sully or carry off +the laurels he is about to win; and I cannot command the Corporal +without equally commanding the Sergeant. The wisest way will +be for me to remain in the obscurity of a private individual in +this enterprise; and it is so that all parties, from Lundie down, +understand the transaction." + +"This I know, and it may be well, nor would I give my dear father +any cause of complaint; but you may influence the Corporal to his +own good." + +"I'll no' say that," returned Muir in his sly Scotch way; "it would +be far safer to promise to influence him to his injury. Mankind, +pretty Mabel, have their peculiarities; and to influence a +fellow-being to his own good is one of the most difficult tasks of +human nature, while the opposite is just the easiest. You'll no' +forget this, my dear, but bear it in mind for your edification and +government. But what is that you're twisting round your slender +finger as you may be said to twist hearts?" + +"It is nothing but a bit of cloth -- a sort of flag -- a trifle +that is hardly worth our attention at this grave moment. If -- " + +"A trifle! It's no' so trifling as ye may imagine, Mistress +Mabel," taking the bit of bunting from her, and stretching it at +full length with both his arms extended, while his face grew grave +and his eye watchful. "Ye'll no' ha' been finding this, Mabel +Dunham, in the breakfast?" + +Mabel simply acquainted him with the spot where and the manner in +which she had found the bit of cloth. While she was speaking, the +eye of the Quartermaster was not quiet for a moment, glancing from +the rag to the face of our heroine, then back again to the rag. +That his suspicions were awakened was easy to be seen, nor was he +long in letting it be known what direction they had taken. + +"We are not in a part of the world where our ensigns and gauds ought +to be spread abroad to the wind, Mabel Dunham!" he said, with an +ominous shake of the head. + +"I thought as much myself, Mr. Muir, and brought away the little +flag lest it might be the means of betraying our presence here to +the enemy, even though nothing is intended by its display. Ought +not my uncle to be made acquainted with the circumstance?" + +"I no' see the necessity for that, pretty Mabel; for, as you justly +say, it is a circumstance, and circumstances sometimes worry the +worthy mariner. But this flag, if flag it can be called, belongs +to a seaman's craft. You may perceive that it is made of what is +called bunting, and that is a description of cloth used only by +vessels for such purposes, _our_ colors being of silk, as you may +understand, or painted canvas. It's surprisingly like the fly of +the _Scud's_ ensign. And now I recollect me to have observed that +a piece had been cut from that very flag." + +Mabel felt her heart sink, but she had sufficient self-command not +to attempt an answer. + +"It must be looked to," Muir continued, "and, after all, I think +it may be well to hold a short consultation with Master Cap, than +whom a more loyal subject does not exist in the British empire." + +"I have thought the warning so serious," Mabel rejoined, "that I +am about to remove to the blockhouse, and to take the woman with +me." + +"I do not see the prudence of that, Mabel. The blockhouse will +be the first spot assailed should there really be an attack; and +it's no' well provided for a siege, that must be allowed. If I +might advise in so delicate a contingency, I would recommend your +taking refuge in the boat, which, as you may now perceive, is most +favorably placed to retreat by that channel opposite, where all in +it would be hid by the islands in one or two minutes. Water leaves +no trail, as Pathfinder well expresses it; and there appears to +be so many different passages in that quarter that escape would +be more than probable. I've always been of opinion that Lundie +hazarded too much in occupying a post so far advanced and so much +exposed as this." + +"It's too late to regret it now, Mr. Muir, and we have only to +consult our own security." + +"And the king's honor, pretty Mabel. Yes, his Majesty's arms and +his glorious name are not to be overlooked on any occasion." + +"Then I think it might be better if we all turned our eyes towards +the place that has been built to maintain them instead of the boat," +said Mabel, smiling; "and so, Mr. Muir, I am for the blockhouse, +intending to await there the return of my father and his party. +He would be sadly grieved at finding we had fled when he got back +successful himself, and filled with the confidence of our having +been as faithful to our duties as he has been to his own." + +"Nay, nay, for heaven's sake, do not misunderstand me, Mabel!" Muir +interrupted, with some alarm of manner; "I am far from intimating +that any but you females ought to take refuge in the boat. The +duty of us men is sufficiently plain, no doubt, and my resolution +has been formed from the first to stand or fall by the blockhouse." + +"And did you imagine, Mr. Muir, that two females could row that +heavy boat in a way to escape the bark canoe of an Indian?" + +"Ah, my pretty Mabel, love is seldom logical, and its fears and +misgivings are apt to warp the faculties. I only saw your sweet +person in the possession of the means of safety, and overlooked +the want of ability to use them; but you'll not be so cruel, lovely +creature, as to impute to me as a fault my intense anxiety on your +own account." + +Mabel had heard enough: her mind was too much occupied with what +had passed that morning, and with her fears, to wish to linger +longer to listen to love speeches, which in her most joyous and +buoyant moments she would have found unpleasant. She took a hasty +leave of her companion, and was about to trip away towards the +hilt of the other woman, when Muir arrested the movement by laying +a hand on her arm. + +"One word, Mabel," said he, "before you leave me. This little +flag may, or it may not, have a particular meaning; if it has, now +that we are aware of its being shown, may it not be better to put +it back again, while we watch vigilantly for some answer that may +betray the conspiracy; and if it mean nothing, why, nothing will +follow." + +"This may be all right, Mr. Muir, though, if the whole is accidental, +the flag might be the occasion of the fort's being discovered." + +Mabel stayed to utter no more; but she was soon out of sight, +running into the hut towards which she had been first proceeding. +The Quartermaster remained on the very spot and in the precise +attitude in which she had left him for quite a minute, first looking +at the bounding figure of the girl and then at the bit of bunting, +which he still held before him in a way to denote indecision. His +irresolution lasted but for this minute, however; for he was soon +beneath the tree, where he fastened the mimic flag to a branch +again, though, from his ignorance of the precise spot from which +it had been taken by Mabel, he left it fluttering from a part of +the oak where it was still more exposed than before to the eyes +of any passenger on the river, though less in view from the island +itself. + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +Each one has had his supping mess, +The cheese is put into the press, +The pans and bowls, clean scalded all, +Reared up against the milk-house wall. +COTTON. + + +It seemed strange to Mabel Dunham, as she passed along on her way +to find her female companion, that others should be so composed, +while she herself felt as if the responsibilities of life and +death rested on her shoulders. It is true that distrust of June's +motives mingled with her forebodings; but when she came to recall +the affectionate and natural manner of the young Indian girl, +and all the evidences of good faith and sincerity she had seen in +her conduct during the familiar intercourse of their journey, she +rejected the idea with the unwillingness of a generous disposition +to believe ill of others. She saw, however, that she could not put +her companions properly on their guard without letting them into +the secret of her conference with June; and she found herself +compelled to act cautiously and with a forethought to which she +was unaccustomed, more especially in a matter of so much moment. + +The soldier's wife was told to transport the necessaries into the +blockhouse, and admonished not to be far from it at any time during +the day. Mabel did not explain her reasons. She merely stated +that she had detected some signs in walking about the island, which +induced her to apprehend that the enemy had more knowledge of its +position than had been previously believed, and that they two at +least, would do well to be in readiness to seek a refuge at the +shortest notice. It was not difficult to arouse the apprehension +of this person, who, though a stout-hearted Scotchwoman, was ready +enough to listen to anything that confirmed her dread of Indian +cruelties. As soon as Mabel believed that her companion was +sufficiently frightened to make her wary, she threw out some hints +touching the inexpediency of letting the soldiers know the extent +of their own fears. This was done with a view to prevent discussions +and inquiries that might embarrass our heroine: she determining +to render her uncle, the Corporal, and his men more cautious, +by adopting a different course. Unfortunately, the British army +could not have furnished a worse person for the particular duty that +he was now required to discharge than Corporal M'Nab, the individual +who had been left in command during the absence of Sergeant Dunham. +On the one hand, he was resolute, prompt, familiar with all the +details of a soldier's life, and used to war; on the other, he +was supercilious as regards the provincials, opinionated on every +subject connected with the narrow limits of his professional practice, +much disposed to fancy the British empire the centre of all that +is excellent in the world, and Scotland the focus of, at least, +all moral excellence in that empire. In short, he was an epitome, +though on a scale suited to his rank, of those very qualities which +were so peculiar to the servants of the Crown that were sent into +the colonies, as these servants estimated themselves in comparison +with the natives of the country; or, in other words, he considered +the American as an animal inferior to the parent stock, and viewed +all his notions of military service, in particular, as undigested +and absurd. A more impracticable subject, therefore, could not well +have offered for the purpose of Mabel, and yet she felt obliged to +lose no time in putting her plan in execution. + +"My father has left you a responsible command, Corporal," she said, +as soon as she could catch M'Nab a little apart; "for should the +island fall into the hands of the enemy, not only should we be +captured, but the party that is now out would in all probability +become their prisoners also." + +"It needs no journey from Scotland to this place to know the facts +needful to be o' that way of thinking." returned M'Nab drily. + +"I do not doubt your understanding it as well as myself, Mr. M'Nab, +but I'm fearful that you veterans, accustomed as you are to dangers +and battles, are a little apt to overlook some of the precautions +that may be necessary in a situation as peculiar as ours." + +"They say Scotland is no conquered country, young woman, but +I'm thinking there must be some mistak' in the matter, as we, her +children, are so drowsy-headed and apt to be o'ertaken when we +least expect it." + +"Nay, my good friend, you mistake my meaning. In the first place, +I'm not thinking of Scotland at all, but of this island; and then +I am far from doubting your vigilance when you think it necessary +to practise it; but my great fear is that there may be danger to +which your courage will make you indifferent." + +"My courage, Mistress Dunham, is doubtless of a very pool quality, +being nothing but Scottish courage; your father's is Yankee, and +were he here among us we should see different preparations, beyond +a doubt. Well, times are getting wrang, when foreigners hold +commissions and carry halberds in Scottish corps; and I no wonder +that battles are lost, and campaigns go wrang end foremost." + +Mabel was almost in despair; but the quiet warning of June was +still too vividly impressed on her mind to allow her to yield the +matter. She changed her mode of operating, therefore, still clinging +to the hope of getting the whole party within the blockhouse, +without being compelled to betray the source whence she obtained +her notices of the necessity of vigilance. + +"I daresay you are right, Corporal M'Nab," she observed; "for I've +often heard of the heroes of your country, who have been among +the first of the civilized world, if what they tell me of them is +true." + +"Have you read the history of Scotland, Mistress Dunham?" demanded +the Corporal, looking up at his pretty companion, for the first +time with something like a smile on his hard, repulsive countenance. + +"I have read a little of it, Corporal, but I've heard much more. +The lady who brought me up had Scottish blood in her veins, and +was fond of the subject." + +"I'll warrant ye, the Sergeant no' troubled himself to expatiate +on the renown of the country where his regiment was raised?" + +"My father has other things to think of, and the little I know was +got from the lady I have mentioned." + +"She'll no' be forgetting to tall ye o' Wallace?" + +"Of him I've even read a good deal." + +"And o' Bruce, and the affair of Bannockburn?" + +"Of that too, as well as of Culloden Muir." + +The last of these battles was then a recent event, it having actually +been fought within the recollection of our heroine, whose notions +of it, however, were so confused that she scarcely appreciated the +effect her allusion might produce on her companion. She knew it +had been a victory, and had often heard the guests of her patroness +mention it with triumph; and she fancied their feelings would find +a sympathetic chord in those of every British soldier. Unfortunately, +M'Nab had fought throughout that luckless day on the side of the +Pretender; and a deep scar that garnished his face had been left +there by the sabre of a German soldier in the service of the House +of Hanover. He fancied that his wound bled afresh at Mabel's +allusion; and it is certain that the blood rushed to his face in +a torrent, as if it would pour out of his skin at the cicatrix. + +"Hoot! hoot awa'!" he fairly shouted, "with your Culloden and +Sherriff muirs, young woman; ye'll no' be understanding the subject +at all, and will manifest not only wisdom but modesty in speaking +o' your ain country and its many failings. King George has some +loyal subjects in the colonies, na doubt, but 'twill be a lang time +before he sees or hears any guid of them." + +Mabel was surprised at the Corporal's heat, for she had not the +smallest idea where the shoe pinched; but she was determined not +to give up the point. + +"I've always heard that the Scotch had two of the good qualities +of soldiers," she said, "courage and circumspection; and I feel +persuaded that Corporal M'Nab will sustain the national renown." + +"Ask yer own father, Mistress Dunham; he is acquaint' with Corporal +M'Nab, and will no' be backward to point out his demerits. We have +been in battle thegither, and he is my superior officer, and has +a sort o' official right to give the characters of his subordinates." + +"My father thinks well of you, M'Nab, or he would not have left +you in charge of this island and all it contains, his own daughter +included. Among other things, I well know that he calculates +largely on your prudence. He expects the blockhouse in particular +to be strictly attended to." + +"If he wishes to defend the honor of the 55th behind logs, he +ought to have remained in command himsel'; for, to speak frankly, +it goes against a Scotchman's bluid and opinions to be beaten out +of the field even before he is attacked. We are broadsword men, +and love to stand foot to foot with the foe. This American mode +of fighting, that is getting into so much favor, will destroy the +reputation of his Majesty's army, if it no' destroy its spirit." + +"No true soldier despises caution. Even Major Duncan himself, than +whom there is none braver, is celebrated for his care of his men." + +"Lundie has his weakness, and is fast forgetting the broadsword and +open heaths in his tree and rifle practice. But, Mistress Dunham, +tak' the word of an old soldier, who has seen his fifty-fifth year, +when he talls ye that there is no surer method to encourage your +enemy than to seem to fear him; and that there is no danger in this +Indian warfare that the fancies and imaginations of your Americans +have not enlarged upon, until they see a savage in every bush. +We Scots come from a naked region, and have no need and less +relish for covers, and so ye'll be seeing, Mistress Dunham -- " + +The Corporal gave a spring into the air, fell forward on his face, +and rolled over on his back, the whole passing so suddenly that +Mabel had scarcely heard the sharp crack of the rifle that had sent +a bullet through his body. Our heroine did not shriek -- did not +even tremble; for the occurrence was too sudden, too awful, and +too unexpected for that exhibition of weakness; on the contrary, +she stepped hastily forward, with a natural impulse to aid her +companion. There was just enough of life left in M'Nab to betray +his entire consciousness of all that had passed. His countenance +had the wild look of one who had been overtaken by death by surprise; +and Mabel, in her cooler moments, fancied that it showed the tardy +repentance of a willful and obstinate sinner. + +"Ye'll be getting into the blockhouse as fast as possible," M'Nab +whispered, as Mabel leaned over him to catch his dying words. + +Then came over our heroine the full consciousness of her situation +and of the necessity of exertion. She cast a rapid glance at the +body at her feet, saw that it had ceased to breathe, and fled. It +was but a few minutes' run to the blockhouse, the door of which +Mabel had barely gained when it was closed violently in her face +by Jennie, the soldier's wife, who in blind terror thought only +of her own safety. The reports of five or six rifles were heard +while Mabel was calling out for admittance; and the additional terror +they produced prevented the woman within from undoing quickly the +very fastenings she had been so expert in applying. After a minute's +delay, however, Mabel found the door reluctantly yielding to her +constant pressure, and she forced her slender body through the +opening the instant it was large enough to allow of its passage. By +this time Mabel's heart ceased to beat tulmultuously and she gained +sufficient self-command to act collectedly. Instead of yielding to +the almost convulsive efforts of her companion to close the door +again, she held it open long enough to ascertain that none of her +own party was in sight, or likely on the instant to endeavor to gain +admission: then she allowed the opening to be shut. Her orders +and proceedings now became more calm and rational. But a single +bar was crossed, and Jennie was directed to stand in readiness +to remove even that at any application from a friend. She then +ascended the ladder to the room above, where by means of a loophole +she was enabled to get as good a view of the island as the surrounding +bushes would allow. Admonishing her associate below to be firm +and steady, she made as careful an examination of the environs as +her situation permitted. + +To her great surprise, Mabel could not at first see a living soul +on the island, friend or enemy. Neither Frenchman nor Indian was +visible, though a small straggling white cloud that was floating +before the wind told her in which quarter she ought to look for +them. The rifles had been discharged from the direction of the +island whence June had come, though whether the enemy were on that +island, or had actually landed on her own, Mabel could not say. +Going to the loop that commanded a view of the spot where M'Nab +lay, her blood curdled at perceiving all three of his soldiers lying +apparently lifeless at his side. These men had rushed to a common +centre at the first alarm, and had been shot down almost simultaneously +by the invisible foe whom the Corporal had affected to despise. + +Neither Cap nor Lieutenant Muir was to be seen. With a beating +heart, Mabel examined every opening through the trees, and ascended +even to the upper story or garret of the blockhouse, where she got +a full view of the whole island, so far as its covers would allow, +but with no better success. She had expected to see the body of +her uncle lying on the grass like those of the soldiers, but it +was nowhere visible. Turning towards the spot where the boat lay, +Mabel saw that it was still fastened to the shore; and then she +supposed that by some accident Muir had been prevented from effecting +his retreat in that quarter. In short, the island lay in the quiet +of the grave, the bodies of the soldiers rendering the scone as +fearful as it was extraordinary. + +"For God's holy sake, Mistress Mabel," called out the woman from +below; for, though her fear had become too ungovernable to allow +her to keep silence, our heroine's superior refinement, more than +the regimental station of her father, still controlled her mode +of address, -- "Mistress Mabel, tell me if any of our friends are +living! I think I hear groans that grow fainter and fainter, and +fear that they will all be tomahawked!" + +Mabel now remembered that one of the soldiers was this woman's +husband, and she trembled at what might be the immediate effect +of her sorrow, should his death become suddenly known to her. The +groans, too, gave a little hope, though she feared they might come +from her uncle, who lay out of view. + +"We are in His holy keeping, Jennie," she answered. "We must trust +in Providence, while we neglect none of its benevolent means of +protecting ourselves. Be careful with the door; on no account open +it without my directions." + +"Oh, tell me, Mistress Mabel, if you can anywhere see Sandy! If I +could only let him know that I'm in safety, the guid man would be +easier in his mind, whether free or a prisoner." + +Sandy was Jennie's husband, and he lay dead in plain view of the +loop from which our heroine was then looking. + +"You no' tell me if you're seeing of Sandy," the woman repeated +from below, impatient at Mabel's silence. + +"There are some of our people gathered about the body of M'Nab," +was the answer; for it seemed sacrilegious in her eyes to tell +a direct untruth under the awful circumstances in which she was +placed. + +"Is Sandy amang them?" demanded the woman, in a voice that sounded +appalling by its hoarseness and energy. + +"He may be certainly; for I see one, two, three, four, and all in +the scarlet coats of the regiment." + +"Sandy!" called out the woman frantically; "why d'ye no' care for +yoursal', Sandy? Come hither the instant, man, and share your +wife's fortunes in weal or woe. It's no' a moment for your silly +discipline and vain-glorious notions of honor! Sandy! Sandy!" + +Mabel heard the bar turn, and then the door creaked on its hinges. +Expectation, not to say terror, held her in suspense at the loop, +and she soon beheld Jennie rushing through the bushes in the +direction of the cluster of the dead. It took the woman but an +instant to reach the fatal spot. So sudden and unexpected had been +the blow, that she in her terror did not appear to comprehend its +weight. Some wild and half-frantic notion of a deception troubled +her fancy, and she imagined that the men were trifling with her +fears. She took her husband's hand, and it was still warm, while +she thought a covert smile was struggling on his lip. + +"Why will ye fool life away, Sandy?" she cried, pulling at the +arm. "Ye'll all be murdered by these accursed Indians, and you no' +takin' to the block like trusty soldiers! Awa'! awa'! and no' be +losing the precious moments." + +In her desperate efforts, the woman pulled the body of her husband +in a way to cause the head to turn completely over, when the small +hole in the temple, caused by the entrance of a rifle bullet, and +a few drops of blood trickling over the skin, revealed the meaning +of her husband's silence. As the horrid truth flashed in its full +extent on her mind, the woman clasped her hands, gave a shriek +that pierced the glades of every island near, and fell at length on +the dead body of the soldier. Thrilling, heartreaching, appalling +as was that shriek, it was melody to the cry that followed it so +quickly as to blend the sounds. The terrific war-whoop arose out +of the covers of the island, and some twenty savages, horrible +in their paint and the other devices of Indian ingenuity, rushed +forward, eager to secure the coveted scalps. Arrowhead was foremost, +and it was his tomahawk that brained the insensible Jennie; and +her reeking hair was hanging at his girdle as a trophy in less than +two minutes after she had quitted the blockhouse. His companions +were equally active, and M'Nab and his soldiers no longer presented +the quiet aspect of men who slumbered. They were left in their +gore, unequivocally butchered corpses. + +All this passed in much less time than has been required to relate +it, and all this did Mabel witness. She had stood riveted to the +spot, gazing on the whole horrible scene, as if enchained by some +charm, nor did the idea of self or of her own danger once obtrude +itself on her thoughts. But no sooner did she perceive the place +where the men had fallen covered with savages, exulting in the +success of their surprise, than it occurred to her that Jennie had +left the blockhouse door unbarred. Her heart beat violently, for +that defence alone stood between her and immediate death, and she +sprang toward the ladder with the intention of descending to make +sure of it. Her foot had not yet reached the floor of the second +story, however, when she heard the door grating on its hinges, and +she gave herself up for lost. Sinking on her knees, the terrified +but courageous girl endeavored to prepare herself for death, and +to raise her thoughts to God. The instinct of life, however, was +too strong for prayer, and while her lips moved, the jealous senses +watched every sound beneath. When her ears heard the bars, which +went on pivots secured to the centre of the door, turning into their +fastenings, not one, as she herself had directed, with a view to +admit her uncle should he apply, but all three, she started again +to her feet, all spiritual contemplations vanishing in her actual +temporal condition, and it seemed as if all her faculties were +absorbed in the sense of hearing. + +The thoughts are active in a moment so fearful. At first Mabel +fancied that her uncle had entered the blockhouse, and she was about +to descend the ladder and throw herself into his arms; then the +idea that it might be an Indian, who had barred the door to shut +out intruders while he plundered at leisure, arrested the movement. +The profound stillness below was unlike the bold, restless movements +of Cap, and it seemed to savor more of the artifices of an enemy. +If a friend at all, it could only be her uncle or the Quartermaster; +for the horrible conviction now presented itself to our heroine that +to these two and herself were the whole party suddenly reduced, if, +indeed, the two latter survived. This consideration held Mabel in +check, and for full two minutes more a breathless silence reigned in +the building. During this time the girl stood at the foot of the +upper ladder, the trap which led to the lower opening on the opposite +side of the floor; the eyes of Mabel were riveted on this spot, for +she now began to expect to see at each instant the horrible sight +of a savage face at the hole. This apprehension soon became so +intense, that she looked about her for a place of concealment. The +procrastination of the catastrophe she now fully expected, though +it were only for a moment, afforded a relief. The room contained +several barrels; and behind two of these Mabel crouched, placing +her eyes at an opening by which she could still watch the trap. +She made another effort to pray; but the moment was too horrible +for that relief. She thought, too, that she heard a low rustling, +as if one were ascending the lower ladder with an effort at caution +so great as to betray itself by its own excess; then followed a +creaking that she was certain came from one of the steps of the +ladder, which had made the same noise under her own light weight +as she ascended. This was one of those instants into which are +compressed the sensations of years of ordinary existence. Life, +death, eternity, and extreme bodily pain were all standing out in +bold relief from the plane of every-day occurrences; and she might +have been taken at that moment for a beautiful pallid representation +of herself, equally without motion and without vitality. But while +such was the outward appearance of the form, never had there been +a time in her brief career when Mabel heard more acutely, saw more +clearly, or felt more vividly. As yet, nothing was visible at +the trap, but her ears, rendered exquisitely sensitive by intense +feeling, distinctly acquainted her that some one was within a few +inches of the opening in the floor. Next followed the evidence of +her eyes, which beheld the dark hair of an Indian rising so slowly +through the passage that the movements of the head might be likened +to that of the minute-hand of a clock; then came the dark skin and +wild features, until the whole of the swarthy face had risen above +the floor. The human countenance seldom appears to advantage when +partially concealed; and Mabel imagined many additional horrors as +she first saw the black, roving eyes and the expression of wildness +as the savage countenance was revealed, as it might be, inch by inch; +but when the entire head was raised above the floor, a second and +a better look assured our heroine that she saw the gentle, anxious, +and even handsome face of June. + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +Spectre though I be, +I am not sent to scare thee or deceive; +But in reward of thy fidelity. +WORDSWORTH. + + +It would be difficult to say which evinced the most satisfaction, +when Mabel sprang to her feet and appeared in the centre of the +room, our heroine, on finding that her visitor was the wife of +Arrowhead, and not Arrowhead himself, or June, at discovering that +her advice had been followed, and that the blockhouse contained the +person she had so anxiously and almost hopelessly sought. They +embraced each other, and the unsophisticated Tuscarora woman laughed +in her sweet accents as she held her friend at arm's length, and +made certain of her presence. + +"Blockhouse good," said the young Indian; "got no scalp." + +"It is indeed good, June," Mabel answered, with a shudder, veiling +her eyes at the same time, as if to shut out a view of the horrors +she had so lately witnessed. "Tell me, for God's sake, if you know +what has become of my dear uncle! I have looked in all directions +without being able to see him." + +"No here in blockhouse?" June asked, with some curiosity. + +"Indeed he is not: I am quite alone in this place; Jennie, the +woman who was with me, having rushed out to join her husband, and +perishing for her imprudence." + +"June know, June see; very bad, Arrowhead no feel for any wife; no +feel for his own." + +"Ah, June, your life, at least, is safe!" + +"Don't know; Arrowhead kill me, if he know all." + +"God bless and protect you, June! He _will_ bless and protect +you for this humanity. Tell me what is to be done, and if my poor +uncle is still living?" + +"Don't know. Saltwater has boat; maybe he go on river." + +"The boat is still on the shore, but neither my uncle nor the +Quartermaster is anywhere to be seen." + +"No kill, or June would see. Hide away! Red man hide; no shame +for pale-face." + +"It is not the shame that I fear for them, but the opportunity. +Your attack was awfully sudden, June!" + +"Tuscarora!" returned the other, smiling with exultation at the +dexterity of her husband. "Arrowhead great warrior!" + +"You are too good and gentle for this sort of life, June; you cannot +be happy in such scenes?" + +June's countenance grew clouded, and Mabel fancied there was some +of the savage fire of a chief in her frown as she answered, -- + +"Yengeese too greedy, take away all hunting-grounds; chase Six Nation +from morning to night; wicked king, wicked people. Pale-face very +bad." + +Mabel knew that, even in that distant day, there was much truth in +this opinion, though she was too well instructed not to understand +that the monarch, in this, as in a thousand other cases, was +blamed for acts of which he was most probably ignorant. She felt +the justice of the rebuke, therefore, too much to attempt an answer, +and her thoughts naturally reverted to her own situation. + +"And what am I to do, June?" she demanded. "It cannot be long +before your people will assault this building." + +"Blockhouse good -- got no scalp." + +"But they will soon discover that it has got no garrison too, if +they do not know it already. You yourself told me the number of +people that were on the island, and doubtless you learned it from +Arrowhead." + +"Arrowhead know," answered June, holding up six fingers, to indicate +the number of the men. "All red men know. Four lose scalp already; +two got 'em yet." + +"Do not speak of it, June; the horrid thought curdles my blood. +Your people cannot know that I am alone in the blockhouse, but may +fancy my uncle and the Quartermaster with me, and may set fire to +the building, in order to dislodge them. They tell me that fire +is the great danger to such places." + +"No burn blockhouse," said June quietly; + +"You cannot know that, my good June, and I have no means to keep +them off." + +"No burn blockhouse. Blockhouse good; got no scalp." + +"But tell me why, June; I fear they will burn it." + +"Blockhouse wet -- much rain -- logs green -- no burn easy. Red +man know it -- fine t'ing -- then no burn it to tell Yengeese that +Iroquois been here. Fader come back, miss blockhouse, no found. +No, no; Indian too much cunning; no touch anything." + +"I understand you, June, and hope your prediction may be true; +for, as regards my dear father, should he escape --perhaps he is +already dead or captured, June ?" + +"No touch fader -- don't know where he gone -- water got no trail +-- red man can't follow. No burn blockhouse --blockhouse good; +got no scalp." + +"Do you think it possible for me to remain here safely until my +father returns?" + +"Don't know; daughter tell best when fader come back." Mabel felt +uneasy at the glance of June's dark eye as she uttered this; for +the unpleasant surmise arose that her companion was endeavoring to +discover a fact that might be useful to her own people, while it +would lead to the destruction of her parent and his party. She +was about to make an evasive answer, when a heavy push at the outer +door suddenly drew all her thoughts to the immediate danger. + +"They come!" she exclaimed. "Perhaps, June, it is my uncle or the +Quartermaster. I cannot keep out even Mr. Muir at a moment like +this." + +"Why no look? plenty loophole, made purpose." + +Mabel took the hint, and, going to one of the downward loops, +that had been cut through the logs in the part that overhung the +basement, she cautiously raised the little block that ordinarily +filled the small hole, and caught a glance at what was passing at +the door. The start and changing countenance told her companion +that some of her own people were below. + +"Red man," said June, lifting a finger in admonition to be prudent. + +"Four; and horrible in their paint and bloody trophies. Arrowhead +is among them." + +June had moved to a corner, where several spare rifles had been +deposited, and had already taken one into her hand, when the name +of her husband appeared to arrest her movements. It was but for +an instant, however, for she immediately went to the loop, and was +about to thrust the muzzle of the piece through it, when a feeling +of natural aversion induced Mabel to seize her arm. + +"No, no, no, June!" said the latter; "not against your own husband, +though my life be the penalty." + +"No hurt Arrowhead," returned June, with a slight shudder, "no hurt +red man at all. No fire at 'em; only scare." + +Mabel now comprehended the intention of June, and no longer opposed +it. The latter thrust the muzzle of the rifle through the loophole; +and, taking care to make noise enough to attract attraction, she +pulled the trigger. The piece had no sooner been discharged than +Mabel reproached her friend for the very act that was intended to +serve her. + +"You declared it was not your intention to fire," she said, "and +you may have destroyed your own husband." + +"All run away before I fire," returned June, laughing, and going +to another loop to watch the movements of her friends, laughing +still heartier. "See! get cover -- every warrior. Think Saltwater +and Quartermaster here. Take good care now." + +"Heaven be praised! And now, June, I may hope for a little time +to compose my thoughts to prayer, that I may not die like Jennie, +thinking only of life and the things of the world." + +June laid aside the rifle, and came and seated herself near the +box on which Mabel had sunk, under that physical reaction which +accompanies joy as well as sorrow. She looked steadily in our +heroine's face, and the latter thought that her countenance had an +expression of severity mingled with its concern. + +"Arrowhead great warrior," said the Tuscarora's wife. "All the +girls of tribe look at him much. The pale-face beauty has eyes +too?" + +"June! -- what do these words -- that look -- imply? what would +you say?" + +"Why you so 'fraid June shoot Arrowhead?" + +"Would it not have been horrible to see a wife destroy her own +husband? No, June, rather would I have died myself." + +"Very sure, dat all?" + +"That was all, June, as God is my judge! -- and surely that was +enough. No, no! there have been sufficient horrors to-day, without +increasing them by an act like this. What other motive can you +suspect?" + +"Don't know. Poor Tuscarora girl very foolish. Arrowhead great +chief, and look all round him. Talk of pale-face beauty in his +sleep. Great chief like many wives." + +"Can a chief possess more than one wife, June, among your people?" + +"Have as many as he can keep. Great hunter marry often. Arrowhead +got only June now; but he look too much, see too much, talk too +much of pale-face girl." + +Mabel was conscious of this fact, which had distressed her not +a little, in the course of their journey; but it shocked her to +hear this allusion, coming, as it did, from the mouth of the wife +herself. She knew that habit and opinions made great differences +in such matters; but, in addition to the pain and mortification +she experienced at being the unwilling rival of a wife, she felt +an apprehension that jealousy would be but an equivocal guarantee +for her personal safety in her present situation. A closer look +at June, however, reassured her; for, while it was easy to trace +in the unpractised features of this unsophisticated being the pain +of blighted affections, no distrust could have tortured the earnest +expression of her honest countenance into that of treachery or +hate. + +"You will not betray me, June?" Mabel said, pressing the other's +hand, and yielding to an impulse of generous confidence. "You will +not give up one of your own sex to the tomahawk?" + +"No tomahawk touch you. Arrowhead no let 'em. If June must have +sister-wife, love to have you." + +"No, June; my religion, my feelings, both forbid it; and, if I could +be the wife of an Indian at all, I would never take the place that +is yours in a wigwam." + +June made no answer, but she looked gratified, and even grateful. +She knew that few, perhaps no Indian girl within the circle of +Arrowhead's acquaintance, could compare with herself in personal +attractions; and, though it might suit her husband to marry a +dozen wives, she knew of no one, beside Mabel, whose influence she +could really dread. So keen an interest, however, had she taken +in the beauty, winning manners, kindness, and feminine gentleness +of our heroine, that when jealousy came to chill these feelings, +it had rather lent strength to that interest; and, under its wayward +influence, had actually been one of the strongest of the incentives +that had induced her to risk so much in order to save her imaginary +rival from the consequences of the attack that she so well knew +was about to take place. In a word, June, with a wife's keenness +of perception, had detected Arrowhead's admiration of Mabel; and, +instead of feeling that harrowing jealousy that might have rendered +her rival hateful, as would have been apt to be the case with a +woman unaccustomed to defer to the superior rights of the lordly +sex, she had studied the looks and character of the pale-face +beauty, until, meeting with nothing to repel her own feelings, but +everything to encourage them, she had got to entertain an admiration +and love for her, which, though certainly very different, was +scarcely less strong than that of her husband's. Arrowhead himself +had sent her to warn Mabel of the coming danger, though he was +ignorant that she had stolen upon the island in the rear of the +assailants, and was now intrenched in the citadel along with the +object of their joint care. On the contrary, he supposed, as his +wife had said, that Cap and Muir were in the blockhouse with Mabel, +and that the attempt to repel him and his companions had been made +by the men. + +"June sorry the Lily" -- for so the Indian, in her poetical language, +had named our heroine -- "June sorry the Lily no marry Arrowhead. +His wigwam big, and a great chief must get wives enough to fill +it." + +"I thank you, June, for this preference, which is not according +to the notion of us white women," returned Mabel, smiling in spite +of the fearful situation in which she was placed; "but I may not, +probably never shall, marry at all." + +"Must have good husband," said June; "marry Eau-douce, if don't +like Arrowhead." + +"June! this is not a fit subject for a girl who scarcely knows if +she is to live another hour or not. I would obtain some signs of +my dear uncle's being alive and safe, if possible." + +"June go see." + +"Can you? -- will you? -- would it be safe for you to be seen on +the island? is your presence known to the warriors, and would they +be pleased to find a woman on the war-path with them?" + +All this Mabel asked in rapid connection, fearing that the answer +might not be as she wished. She had thought it extraordinary that +June should be of the party, and, improbable as it seemed, she had +fancied that the woman had covertly followed the Iroquois in her +own canoe, and had got in their advance, merely to give her the +notice which had probably saved her life. But in all this she was +mistaken, as June, in her imperfect manner, now found means to let +her know. + +Arrowhead, though a chief, was in disgrace with his own people, +and was acting with the Iroquois temporarily, though with a perfect +understanding. He had a wigwam, it is true, but was seldom in +it; feigning friendship for the English, he had passed the summer +ostensibly in their service, while he was, in truth, acting for +the French, and his wife journeyed with him in his many migrations, +most of the distances being passed over in canoes. In a word, +her presence was no secret, her husband seldom moving without her. +Enough of this to embolden Mabel to wish that her friend might +go out, to ascertain the fate of her uncle, did June succeed in +letting the other know; and it was soon settled between them that +the Indian woman should quit the blockhouse with that object the +moment a favorable opportunity offered. + +They first examined the island, as thoroughly as their position +would allow, from the different loops, and found that its conquerors +were preparing for a feast, having seized upon the provisions of +the English and rifled the huts. Most of the stores were in the +blockhouse; but enough were found outside to reward the Indians +for an attack that had been attended by so little risk. A party +had already removed the dead bodies, and Mabel saw that their arms +were collected in a pile near the spot chosen for the banquet. +June suggested that, by some signs which she understood, the dead +themselves were carried into a thicket and either buried or concealed +from view. None of the more prominent objects on the island, +however, were disturbed, it being the desire of the conquerors to +lure the party of the Sergeant into an ambush on its return. June +made her companion observe a man in a tree, a look-out, as she +said, to give timely notice of the approach of any boat, although, +the departure of the expedition being so recent, nothing but some +unexpected event would be likely to bring it back so soon. There +did not appear to be any intention to attack the blockhouse +immediately; but every indication, as understood by June, rather +showed that it was the intention of the Indians to keep it besieged +until the return of the Sergeant's party, lest, the signs of an +assault should give a warning to eyes as practised as those of +Pathfinder. The boat, however, had been secured, and was removed +to the spot where the canoes of the Indians were hid in the bushes. + +June now announced her intention to join her friends, the moment +being particularly favorable for her to quit the blockhouse. Mabel +felt some distrust as they descended the ladder; but at the next +instant she was ashamed of the feeling, as unjust to her companion +and unworthy of herself, and by the time they both stood on the +ground her confidence was restored. The process of unbarring the +door was conducted with the utmost caution, and when the last bar +was ready to be turned June took her station near the spot where +the opening must necessarily be. The bar was just turned free of +the brackets, the door was opened merely wide enough to allow her +body to pass, and June glided through the space. Mabel closed the +door again, with a convulsive movement; and as the bar turned into +its place, her heart beat audibly. She then felt secure; and the +two other bars were turned down in a more deliberate manner. When +all was fast again, she ascended to the first floor, where alone +she could get a glimpse of what was going on without. + +Long and painfully melancholy hours passed, during which Mabel had +no intelligence from June. She heard the yells of the savages, +for liquor had carried them beyond the bounds of precaution; and +occasionally caught glimpses of their mad orgies through the loops; +and at all times was conscious of their fearful presence by sounds +and sights that would have chilled the blood of one who had not so +lately witnessed scenes so much more terrible. Toward the middle +of the day, she fancied she saw a white man on the island, though +his dress and wild appearance at first made her take him for a +newly-arrived savage. A view of his face, although it was swarthy +naturally, and much darkened by exposure, left no doubt that her +conjecture was true; and she felt as if there was now one of a +species more like her own present, and one to whom she might appeal +for succor in the last emergency. Mabel little knew, alas! how +small was the influence exercised by the whites over their savage +allies, when the latter had begun to taste of blood; or how slight, +indeed, was the disposition to divert them from their cruelties. + +The day seemed a month by Mabel's computation, and the only part +of it that did not drag were the minutes spent in prayer. She had +recourse to this relief from time to time; and at each effort she +found her spirit firmer, her mind more tranquil, and her resignation +more confirmed. She understood the reasoning of June, and believed +it highly probable that the blockhouse would be left unmolested +until the return of her father, in order to entice him into an +ambuscade, and she felt much less apprehension of immediate danger +in consequence; but the future offered little ground of hope, and +her thoughts had already begun to calculate the chances of her +captivity. At such moments, Arrowhead and his offensive admiration +filled a prominent place in the background: for our heroine well +knew that the Indians usually carried off to their villages, for +the purposes of adoption, such captives as they did not slay; and +that many instances had occurred in which individuals of her sex +had passed the remainder of their lives in the wigwams of their +conquerors. Such thoughts as these invariably drove her to her +knees and to her prayers. + +While the light lasted the situation of our heroine was sufficiently +alarming; but as the shades of evening gradually gathered over the +island, it became fearfully appalling. By this time the savages +had wrought themselves up to the point of fury, for they had +possessed themselves of all the liquor of the English; and their +outcries and gesticulations were those of men truly possessed by +evil spirits. All the efforts of their French leader to restrain +them were entirely fruitless, and he had wisely withdrawn to +an adjacent island, where he had a sort of bivouac, that he might +keep at a safe distance from friends so apt to run into excesses. +Before quitting the spot, however, this officer, at great risk +to his own life, had succeeded in extinguishing the fire, and in +securing the ordinary means to relight it. This precaution he +took lest the Indians should burn the blockhouse, the preservation +of which was necessary to the success of his future plans. He +would gladly have removed all the arms also, but this he found +impracticable, the warriors clinging to their knives and tomahawks +with the tenacity of men who regarded a point of honor as long as +a faculty was left; and to carry off the rifles, and leave behind +him the very weapons that were generally used on such occasions, +would have been an idle expedient. The extinguishing of the +fire proved to be the most prudent measure; for no sooner was the +officer's back turned than one of the warriors in fact proposed to +fire the blockhouse. Arrowhead had also withdrawn from the group +of drunkards as soon as he found that they were losing their senses, +and had taken possession of a hut, where he had thrown himself on +the straw, and sought the rest that two wakeful and watchful nights +had rendered necessary. It followed that no one was left among the +Indians to care for Mabel, if, indeed, any knew of her existence +at all; and the proposal of the drunkard was received with yells +of delight by eight or ten more as much intoxicated and habitually +as brutal as himself. + +This was the fearful moment for Mabel. The Indians, in their +present condition, were reckless of any rifles that the blockhouse +might hold, though they did retain dim recollections of its containing +living beings, an additional incentive to their enterprise; and +they approached its base whooping and leaping like demons. As yet +they were excited, not overcome by the liquor they had drunk. The +first attempt was made at the door, against which they ran in a +body; but the solid structure, which was built entirely of logs, +defied their efforts. The rush of a hundred men with the same +object would have been useless. This Mabel, however, did not +know; and her heart seemed to leap into her mouth as she heard +the heavy shock at each renewed effort. At length, when she found +that the door resisted these assaults as if it were of stone, +neither trembling nor yielding, and only betraying its not being +a part of the wall by rattling a little on its heavy hinges, her +courage revived, and she seized the first moment of a cessation to +look down through the loop, in order, if possible, to learn the +extent of her danger. A silence, for which it was not easy to +account, stimulated her curiosity; for nothing is so alarming to +those who are conscious of the presence of imminent danger, as to +be unable to trace its approach. + +Mabel found that two or three of the Iroquois had been raking the +embers, where they had found a few small coals, and with these they +were endeavoring to light a fire. The interest with which they +labored, the hope of destroying, and the force of habit, enabled +them to act intelligently and in unison, so long as their fell +object was kept in view. A white man would have abandoned the +attempt to light a fire in despair, with coals that came out of +the ashes resembling sparks; but these children of the forest had +many expedients that were unknown to civilization. By the aid of +a few dry leaves, which they alone knew where to seek, a blaze was +finally kindled, and then the addition of a few light sticks made +sure of the advantage that had been obtained. When Mabel stooped +down over the loop, the Indians were making a pile of brush against +the door, and as she remained gazing at their proceedings, she saw +the twigs ignite, the flame dart from branch to branch, until the +whole pile was cracking and snapping under a bright blaze. The +Indians now gave a yell of triumph, and returned to their companions, +well assured that the work of destruction was commenced. Mabel +remained looking down, scarcely able to tear herself away from +the spot, so intense and engrossing was the interest she felt in +the progress of the fire. As the pile kindled throughout, however, +the flames mounted, until they flashed so near her eyes as to +compel her to retreat. Just as she reached the opposite side of +the room, to which she had retired in her alarm, a forked stream +shot up through the loophole, the lid of which she had left open, +and illuminated the rude apartment, with Mabel and her desolation. +Our heroine now naturally enough supposed that her hour was come; +for the door, the only means of retreat, had been blocked up by the +brush and fire, with hellish ingenuity, and she addressed herself, +as she believed, for the last time to her Maker in prayer. Her eyes +were closed, and for more than a minute her spirit was abstracted; +but the interests of the world too strongly divided her feelings +to be altogether suppressed; and when they involuntarily opened +again, she perceived that the streak of flame was no longer flaring +in the room, though the wood around the little aperture had kindled, +and the blaze was slowly mounting under the impulsion of a current +of air that sucked inward. A barrel of water stood in a corner; and +Mabel, acting more by instinct than by reason, caught up a vessel, +filled it, and, pouring it on the wood with a trembling hand, +succeeded in extinguishing the fire at that particular spot. The +smoke prevented her from looking down again for a couple of minutes; +but when she did her heart beat high with delight and hope at finding +that the pile of blazing brush had been overturned and scattered, +and that water had been thrown on the logs of the door, which were +still smoking though no longer burning. + +"Who is there?" said Mabel, with her mouth at the loop. "What +friendly hand has a merciful Providence sent to my succor?" + +A light footstep was audible below, and one of those gentle pushes +at the door was heard, which just moved the massive beams on the +hinges. + +"Who wishes to enter? Is it you, dear, dear uncle?" + +"Saltwater no here. St. Lawrence sweet water," was the answer. +"Open quick; want to come in." + +The step of Mabel was never lighter, or her movements more quick +and natural, than while she was descending the ladder and turning +the bars, for all her motions were earnest and active. This time +she thought only of her escape, and she opened the door with a +rapidity which did not admit of caution. Her first impulse was to +rush into the open air, in the blind hope of quitting the blockhouse; +but June repulsed the attempt, and entering, she coolly barred the +door again before she would notice Mabel's eager efforts to embrace +her. + +"Bless you! bless you, June!" cried our heroine most fervently; +"you are sent by Providence to be my guardian angel!" + +"No hug so tight," answered the Tuscarora woman. "Pale-face woman +all cry, or all laugh. Let June fasten door." + +Mabel became more rational, and in a few minutes the two were again +in the upper room, seated as before, hand in hand, all feeling of +distrust between them being banished. + +"Now tell me, June," Mabel commenced as soon as she had given and +received one warm embrace, "have you seen or heard aught of my poor +uncle?" + +"Don't know. No one see him; no one hear him; no one know anyt'ing. +Saltwater run into river, I t'ink, for I no find him. Quartermaster +gone too. I look, and look, and look; but no see' em, one, t'other, +nowhere." + +"Blessed be God! They must have escaped, though the means are not +known to us. I thought I saw a Frenchman on the island, June." + +"Yes: French captain come, but he go away too. Plenty of Indian +on island." + +"Oh, June, June, are there no means to prevent my beloved father +from falling into the hands of his enemies?" + +"Don't know; t'ink dat warriors wait in ambush, and Yengeese must +lose scalp." + +"Surely, surely, June, you, who have done so much for the daughter, +will not refuse to help the father?" + +"Don't know fader, don't love fader. June help her own people, +help Arrowhead -- husband love scalp." + +"June, this is not yourself. I cannot, will not believe that you +wish to see our men murdered!" + +June turned her dark eyes quietly on Mabel; and for a moment her +look was stern, though it was soon changed into one of melancholy +compassion. + +"Lily, Yengeese girl?" she said, as one asks a question. + +"Certainly, and as a Yengeese girl I would save my countrymen from +slaughter." + +"Very good, if can. June no Yengeese, June Tuscarora -- got +Tuscarora husband -- Tuscarora heart -- Tuscarora feeling -- all +over Tuscarora. Lily wouldn't run and tell French that her fader +was coming to gain victory?" + +"Perhaps not," returned Mabel, pressing a hand on a brain that felt +bewildered, -- "perhaps not; but you serve me, aid me -- have saved +me, June! Why have you done this, if you only feel as a Tuscarora?" + +"Don't only feel as Tuscarora; feel as girl, feel as squaw. Love +pretty Lily, and put it in my bosom." + +Mabel melted into tears, and she pressed the affectionate creature +to her heart. It was near a minute before she could renew the +discourse, but then she succeeded in speaking more calmly and with +greater coherence. + +"Let me know the worst, June," said she. "To-night your people +are feasting; what do they intend to do to-morrow?" + +"Don't know; afraid to see Arrowhead, afraid to ask question; t'ink +hide away till Yengeese come back." + +"Will they not attempt anything against the blockhouse? You have +seen what they can threaten if they will." + +"Too much rum. Arrowhead sleep, or no dare; French captain gone +away, or no dare. All go to sleep now." + +"And you think I am safe for this night, at least?" + +"Too much rum. If Lily like June, might do much for her people." + +"I am like you, June, if a wish to serve my countrymen can make a +resemblance with one as courageous as yourself." + +"No, no, no!" muttered June in a low voice; "no got heart, and June +no let you, if had. June's moder prisoner once, and warriors got +drunk; moder tomahawked 'em all. Such de way red skin women do +when people in danger and want scalp." + +"You say what is true," returned Mabel, shuddering, and unconsciously +dropping June's hand. "I cannot do that. I have neither the +strength, the courage, nor the will to dip my hands in blood." + +"T'ink that too; then stay where you be -- blockhouse good -- got +no scalp." + +"You believe, then, that I am safe here, at least until my father +and his people return?" + +"Know so. No dare touch blockhouse in morning. Hark! all still +now -- drink rum till head fall down, and sleep like log." + +"Might I not escape? Are there not several canoes on the island? +Might I not get one, and go and give my father notice of what has +happened?" + +"Know how to paddle?" demanded June, glancing her eye furtively at +her companion. + +"Not so well as yourself, perhaps; but enough to get out of sight +before morning." + +"What do then? -- couldn't paddle six -- ten -- eight mile!" + +"I do not know; I would do much to warn my father, and the excellent +Pathfinder, and all the rest, of the danger they are in." + +"Like Pathfinder?" + +"All like him who know him -- you would like him, nay, love him, +if you only knew his heart!" + +"No like him at all. Too good rifle -- too good eye --too much +shoot Iroquois and June's people. Must get his scalp if can." + +"And I must save it if I can, June. In this respect, then, we are +opposed to each other. I will go and find a canoe the instant they +are all asleep, and quit the island." + +"No can -- June won't let you. Call Arrowhead." + +"June! you would not betray me -- you could not give me up after +all you have done for me?" + +"Just so," returned June, making a backward gesture with her hand, +and speaking with a warmth and earnestness Mabel had never witnessed +in her before. "Call Arrowhead in loud voice. One call from wife +wake a warrior up. June no let Lily help enemy -- no let Indian +hurt Lily." + +"I understand you, June, and feel the nature and justice of your +sentiments; and, after all, it were better that I should remain +here, for I have most probably overrated my strength. But tell me +one thing: if my uncle comes in the night, and asks to be admitted, +you will let me open the door of the blockhouse that he may enter?" + +"Sartain -- he prisoner here, and June like prisoner better than +scalp; scalp good for honor, prisoner good for feeling. But +Saltwater hide so close, he don't know where he be himself." + +Here June laughed in her girlish, mirthful way, for to her scenes +of violence were too familiar to leave impressions sufficiently deep +to change her natural character. A long and discursive dialogue +now followed, in which Mabel endeavored to obtain clearer notions +of her actual situation, under a faint hope that she might possibly +be enabled to turn some of the facts she thus learned to advantage. +June answered all her interrogatories simply, but with a caution +which showed she fully distinguished between that which was immaterial +and that which might endanger the safety or embarrass the future +operations of her friends. The substance of the information she +gave may be summed up as follows. + +Arrowhead had long been in communication with the French, though this +was the first occasion on which he had entirely thrown aside the +mask. He no longer intended to trust himself among the English, for +he had discovered traces of distrust, particularly in Pathfinder; +and, with Indian bravado, he now rather wished to blazon than +to conceal his treachery. He had led the party of warriors in +the attack on the island, subject, however, to the supervision of +the Frenchman who has been mentioned, though June declined saying +whether he had been the means of discovering the position of a +place which had been thought to be so concealed from the enemy or +not. On this point she would say nothing; but she admitted that +she and her husband had been watching the departure of the _Scud_ +at the time they were overtaken and captured by the cutter. The +French had obtained their information of the precise position +of the station but very recently; and Mabel felt a pang when she +thought that there were covert allusions of the Indian woman which +would convey the meaning that the intelligence had come from a +pale-face in the employment of Duncan of Lundie. This was intimated, +however, rather than said; and when Mabel had time to reflect on her +companion's words, she found room to hope that she had misunderstood +her, and that Jasper Western would yet come out of the affair freed +from every injurious imputation. + +June did not hesitate to confess that she had been sent to the +island to ascertain the precise number and the occupations of those +who had been left on it, though she also betrayed in her _naive_ +way that the wish to serve Mabel had induced her principally to +consent to come. In consequence of her report, and information +otherwise obtained, the enemy was aware of precisely the force +that could be brought against them. They also knew the number of +men who had gone with Sergeant Dunham, and were acquainted with +the object he had in view, though they were ignorant of the spot +where he expected to meet the French boats. It would have been +a pleasant sight to witness the eager desire of each of these two +sincere females to ascertain all that might be of consequence to +their respective friends; and yet the native delicacy with which each +refrained from pressing the other to make revelations which would +have been improper, as well as the sensitive, almost intuitive, +feeling with which each avoided saying aught that might prove +injurious to her own nation. As respects each other, there was +perfect confidence; as regarded their respective people, entire +fidelity. June was quite as anxious as Mabel could be on any other +point to know where the Sergeant had gone and when he was expected +to return; but she abstained from putting the question, with a +delicacy that would have done honor to the highest civilization; +nor did she once frame any other inquiry in a way to lead indirectly +to a betrayal of the much-desired information on that particular +point: though when Mabel of her own accord touched on any matter +that might by possibility throw a light on the subject, she listened +with an intentness which almost suspended respiration. + +In this manner the hours passed away unheeded, for both were too +much interested to think of rest. Nature asserted her rights, +however, towards morning; and Mabel was persuaded to lie down on +one of the straw beds provided for the soldiers, where she soon +fell into a deep sleep. June lay near her and a quiet reigned on +the whole island as profound as if the dominion of the forest had +never been invaded by man. + +When Mabel awoke the light of the sun was streaming in through the +loopholes, and she found that the day was considerably advanced. +June still lay near her, sleeping as tranquilly as if she reposed +on -- we will not say "down," for the superior civilization of +our own times repudiates the simile -- but on a French mattress, +and as profoundly as if she had never experienced concern. The +movements of Mabel, notwithstanding, soon awakened one so accustomed +to vigilance; and then the two took a survey of what was passing +around them by means of the friendly apertures. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +What had the Eternall Maker need of thee, +The world in his continuall course to keepe, +That doest all things deface? ne lettest see +The beautie of his worke? Indeede in sleepe, +The slouth full body that doth love to steepe +His lustlesse limbs, and drowne his baser mind, +Doth praise thee oft, and oft from Stygian deepe, +Calles thee his goddesse, in his errour blind, +And great dame Nature's hand-maide, chearing every kinde. +_Faerie Queene._ + + +The tranquillity of the previous night was not contradicted by +the movements of the day. Although Mabel and June went to every +loophole, not a sign of the presence of a living being on the +island was at first to be seen, themselves excepted. There was a +smothered fire on the spot where M'Nab and his comrades had cooked, +as if the smoke which curled upwards from it was intended as a lure +to the absent; and all around the huts had been restored to former +order and arrangement. Mabel started involuntarily when her eye +at length fell on a group of three men, dressed in the scarlet of +the 55th, seated on the grass in lounging attitudes, as if they +chatted in listless security; and her blood curdled as, on a second +look, she traced the bloodless faces and glassy eyes of the dead. +They were very near the blockhouse, so near indeed as to have been +overlooked at the first eager inquiry, and there was a mocking levity +in their postures and gestures, for their limbs were stiffening in +different attitudes, intended to resemble life, at which the soul +revolted. Still, horrible as these objects were to those near +enough to discover the frightful discrepancy between their assumed +and their real characters, the arrangement had been made with so +much art that it would have deceived a negligent observer at the +distance of a hundred yards. After carefully examining the shores +of the island, June pointed out to her companion the fourth soldier, +seated, with his feet hanging over the water, his back fastened to +a sapling, and holding a fishing-rod in his hand. The scalpless +heads were covered with the caps, and all appearance of blood had +been carefully washed from each countenance. + +Mabel sickened at this sight, which not only did so much violence +to all her notions of propriety, but which was in itself so revolting +and so opposed to natural feeling. She withdrew to a seat, and hid +her face in her apron for several minutes, until a low call from +June again drew her to a loophole. The latter then pointed out +the body of Jennie seemingly standing in the door of a hut, leaning +forward as if to look at the group of men, her cap fluttering in +the wind, and her hand grasping a broom. The distance was too great +to distinguish the features very accurately; but Mabel fancied +that the jaw had been depressed, as if to distort the mouth into +a sort of horrible laugh. + +"June! June!" she exclaimed; "this exceeds all I have ever heard, +or imagined as possible, in the treachery and artifices of your +people." + +"Tuscarora very cunning," said June, in a way to show that she +rather approved of than condemned the uses to which the dead bodies +had been applied. "Do soldier no harm now; do Iroquois good; got +the scalp first; now make bodies work. By and by, burn 'em." + +This speech told Mabel how far she was separated from her friend in +character; and it was several minutes before she could again address +her. But this temporary aversion was lost on June, who set about +preparing their simple breakfast, in a way to show how insensible +she was to feelings in others which her own habits taught her to +discard. Mabel ate sparingly, and her companion, as if nothing +had happened. Then they had leisure again for their thoughts, and +for further surveys of the island. Our heroine, though devoured +with a feverish desire to be always at the loops, seldom went that +she did not immediately quit them in disgust, though compelled by +her apprehensions to return again in a few minutes, called by the +rustling of leaves, or the sighing of the wind. It was, indeed, +a solemn thing to look out upon that deserted spot, peopled by the +dead in the panoply of the living, and thrown into the attitudes +and acts of careless merriment and rude enjoyment. The effect on +our heroine was much as if she had found herself an observer of +the revelries of demons. + +Throughout the livelong day not an Indian nor a Frenchman was to +be seen, and night closed over the frightful but silent masquerade, +with the steady and unalterable progress with which the earth obeys +her laws, indifferent to the petty actors and petty scenes that +are in daily bustle and daily occurrence on her bosom. The night +was far more quiet than that which had preceded it, and Mabel slept +with an increasing confidence; for she now felt satisfied that her +own fate would not be decided until the return of her father. The +following day he was expected, however, and when our heroine awoke, +she ran eagerly to the loops in order to ascertain the state of +the weather and the aspect of the skies, as well as the condition +of the island. There lounged the fearful group on the grass; the +fisherman still hung over the water, seemingly intent on his sport; +and the distorted countenance of Jennie glared from out the hut in +horrible contortions. But the weather had changed; the wind blew +fresh from the southward, and though the air was bland, it was +filled with the elements of storm. + +"This grows more and more difficult to bear, June," Mabel said, +when she left the window. "I could even prefer to see the enemy +than to look any longer on this fearful array of the dead." + +"Hush! Here they come. June thought hear a cry like a warrior's +shout when he take a scalp." + +"What mean you? There is no more butchery! -- there can be no +more." + +"Saltwater!" exclaimed June, laughing, as she stood peeping through +a loophole. + +"My dear uncle! Thank God! he then lives! Oh, June, June, _you_ +will not let them harm _him?_" + +"June, poor squaw. What warrior t'ink of what she say? Arrowhead +bring him here." + +By this time Mabel was at a loop; and, sure enough, there were Cap +and the Quartermaster in the hands of the Indians, eight or ten of +whom were conducting them to the foot of the block, for, by this +capture, the enemy now well knew that there could be no man in +the building. Mabel scarcely breathed until the whole party stood +ranged directly before the door, when she was rejoiced to see that +the French officer was among them. A low conversation followed, +in which both the white leader and Arrowhead spoke earnestly to +their captives, when the Quartermaster called out to her in a voice +loud enough to be heard. + +"Pretty Mabel! Pretty Mabel!" said he; "Look out of one of the +loopholes, and pity our condition. We are threatened with instant +death unless you open the door to the conquerors. Relent, then +or we'll no' be wearing our scalps half an hour from this blessed +moment." + +Mabel thought there were mockery and levity in this appeal, and +its manner rather fortified than weakened her resolution to hold +the place as long as possible. + +"Speak to me, uncle," said she, with her mouth at a loop, "and tell +me what I ought to do." + +"Thank God! thank God!" ejaculated Cap; "the sound of your sweet +voice, Magnet, lightens my heart of a heavy load, for I feared you +had shared the fate of poor Jennie. My breast has felt the last +four-and-twenty hours as if a ton of kentledge had been stowed in +it. You ask me what you ought to do, child, and I do not know how +to advise you, though you are my own sister's daughter! The most +I can say just now, my poor girl, is most heartily to curse the +day you or I ever saw this bit of fresh water." + +"But, uncle, is your life in danger -- do _you_ think I ought to +open the door?" + +"A round turn and two half-hitches make a fast belay; and I would +counsel no one who is out of the hands of these devils to unbar or +unfasten anything in order to fall into them. As to the Quartermaster +and myself, we are both elderly men, and not of much account to +mankind in general, as honest Pathfinder would say; and it can make +no great odds to him whether he balances the purser's books this +year or the next; and as for myself, why, if I were on the seaboard, +I should know what to do, but up here, in this watery wilderness, +I can only say, that if I were behind that bit of a bulwark, it +would take a good deal of Indian logic to rouse me out of it." + +"You'll no' be minding all your uncle says, pretty Mabel," put in +Muir, "for distress is obviously fast unsettling his faculties, and +he is far from calculating all the necessities of the emergency. +We are in the hands here of very considerate and gentlemanly +pairsons, it must be acknowledged, and one has little occasion to +apprehend disagreeable violence. The casualties that have occurred +are the common incidents of war, and can no' change our sentiments +of the enemy, for they are far from indicating that any injustice +will be done the prisoners. I'm sure that neither Master Cap nor +myself has any cause of complaint since we have given ourselves +up to Master Arrowhead, who reminds me of a Roman or a Spartan by +his virtues and moderation; but ye'll be remembering that usages +differ, and that our scalps may be lawful sacrifices to appease +the manes of fallen foes, unless you save them by capitulation." + +"I shall do wiser to keep within the blockhouse until the fate of +the island is settled," returned Mabel. "Our enemies can feel no +concern on account of one like me, knowing that I can do them no +harm, and I greatly prefer to remain here as more befitting my sex +and years." + +"If nothing but your convenience were concerned, Mabel, we should +all cheerfully acquiesce in your wishes, but these gentlemen fancy +that the work will aid their operations, and they have a strong +desire to possess it. To be frank with you, finding myself and your +uncle in a very peculiar situation, I acknowledge that, to avert +consequences, I have assumed the power that belongs to his Majesty's +commission, and entered into a verbal capitulation, by which I +have engaged to give up the blockhouse and the whole island. It +is the fortune of war, and must be submitted to; so open the door, +pretty Mabel, forthwith, and confide yourself to the care of those +who know how to treat beauty and virtue in distress. There's no +courtier in Scotland more complaisant than this chief, or who is +more familiar with the laws of decorum." + +"No leave blockhouse," muttered June, who stood at Mabel's side, +attentive to all that passed. "Blockhouse good -- got no scalp." + +Our heroine might have yielded but for this appeal; for it began +to appear to her that the wisest course would be to conciliate the +enemy by concessions instead of exasperating them by resistance. +They must know that Muir and her uncle were in their power; that +there was no man in the building, and she fancied they might proceed +to batter down the door, or cut their way through the logs with +axes, if she obstinately refused to give them peaceable admission, +since there was no longer any reason to dread the rifle. But the +words of June induced her to hesitate, and the earnest pressure +of the hand and entreating looks of her companion strengthened a +resolution that was faltering. + +"No prisoner yet," whispered June; "let 'em make prisoner before +'ey take prisoner -- talk big; June manage 'em." + +Mabel now began to parley more resolutely with Muir, for her uncle +seemed disposed to quiet his conscience by holding his tongue, and +she plainly intimated that it was not her intention to yield the +building. + +"You forget the capitulation, Mistress Mabel," said Muir; "the +honor of one of his Majesty's servants is concerned, and the honor +of his Majesty through his servant. You will remember the finesse +and delicacy that belong to military honor?" + +"I know enough, Mr. Muir, to understand that you have no command +in this expedition, and therefore can have no right to yield the +blockhouse; and I remember, moreover, to have heard my dear father +say that a prisoner loses all his authority for the time being." + +"Rank sophistry, pretty Mabel, and treason to the king, as well +as dishonoring his commission and discrediting his name. You'll +no' be persevering in your intentions, when your better judgment +has had leisure to reflect and to make conclusions on matters and +circumstances." + +"Ay," put in Cap, "this is a circumstance, and be d----d to it!" + +"No mind what'e uncle say," ejaculated June, who was occupied in +a far corner of the room. "Blockhouse good - got no scalp." + +"I shall remain as I am, Mr. Muir, until I get some tidings of my +father. He will return in the course of the next ten days." + +"Ah, Mabel, this artifice will no' deceive the enemy, who, by means +that would be unintelligible, did not our suspicions rest on an +unhappy young man with too much plausibility, are familiar with +all our doings and plans, and well know that the sun will not set +before the worthy Sergeant and his companions will be in their power. +Aweel! Submission to Providence is truly a Christian virtue!" + +"Mr. Muir, you appear to be deceived in the strength of this work, +and to fancy it weaker than it is. Do you desire to see what I +can do in the way of defence, if so disposed?" + +"I dinna mind if I do," answered the Quartermaster, who always grew +Scotch as he grew interested. + +"What do you think of that, then? Look at the loop of the upper +story!" + +As soon as Mabel had spoken, all eyes were turned upward, and +beheld the muzzle of a rifle cautiously thrust through a hole, +June having resorted again to a _ruse_ which had already proved so +successful. The result did not disappoint expectation. No sooner +did the Indians catch a sight of the fatal weapon than they leaped +aside, and in less than a minute every man among them had sought a +cover. The French officer kept his eye on the barrel of the piece +in order to ascertain that it was not pointed in his particular +direction, and he coolly took a pinch of snuff. As neither Muir +nor Cap had anything to apprehend from the quarter in which the +others were menaced, they kept their ground. + +"Be wise, my pretty Mabel, be wise!" exclaimed the former; "and +no' be provoking useless contention. In the name of all the kings +of Albin, who have ye closeted with you in that wooden tower that +seemeth so bloody-minded? There is necromancy about this matter, +and all our characters may be involved in the explanation." + +"What do you think of the Pathfinder, Master Muir, for a garrison +to so strong a post?" cried Mabel, resorting to an equivocation +which the circumstances rendered very excusable. "What will your +French and Indian companions think of the aim of the Pathfinder's +rifle?" + +"Bear gently on the unfortunate, pretty Mabel, and do not confound +the king's servants -- may Heaven bless him and all his royal +lineage! -- with the king's enemies. If Pathfinder be indeed in +the blockhouse, let him speak, and we will hold our negotiations +directly with him. He knows us as friends, and we fear no evil at +his hands, and least of all to myself; for a generous mind is apt +to render rivalry in a certain interest a sure ground of respect +and amity, since admiration of the same woman proves a community +of feeling and tastes." + +The reliance on Pathfinder's friendship did not extend beyond the +Quartermaster and Cap, however, for even the French officer, who +had hitherto stood his ground so well, shrank back at the sound of +the terrible name. So unwilling, indeed, did this individual, a +man of iron nerves, and one long accustomed to the dangers of the +peculiar warfare in which he was engaged, appear to remain exposed +to the assaults of Killdeer, whose reputation throughout all that +frontier was as well established as that of Marlborough in Europe, +that he did not disdain to seek a cover, insisting that his two +prisoners should follow him. Mabel was too glad to be rid of her +enemies to lament the departure of her friends, though she kissed +her hand to Cap through the loop, and called out to him in terms +of affection as he moved slowly and unwillingly away. + +The enemy now seemed disposed to abandon all attempts on the +blockhouse for the present; and June, who had ascended to a trap +in the roof, whence the best view was to be obtained, reported that +the whole party had assembled to eat, on a distant and sheltered +part of the island, where Muir and Cap were quietly sharing in the +good things which were going, as if they had no concern on their +minds. This information greatly relieved Mabel, and she began to +turn her thoughts again to the means of effecting her own escape, +or at least of letting her father know of the danger that awaited +him. The Sergeant was expected to return that afternoon, and she +knew that a moment gained or lost might decide his fate. + +Three or four hours flew by. The island was again buried in a +profound quiet, the day was wearing away, and yet Mabel had decided +on nothing. June was in the basement, preparing their frugal meal, +and Mabel herself had ascended to the roof, which was provided +with a trap that allowed her to go out on the top of the building, +whence she commanded the best view of surrounding objects that the +island possessed; still it was limited, and much obstructed by the +tops of trees. The anxious girl did not dare to trust her person +in sight, knowing well that the unrestrained passions of some savage +might induce him to send a bullet through her brain. She merely +kept her head out of the trap, therefore, whence, in the course of +the afternoon, she made as many surveys of the different channels +about the island as "Anne, sister Anne," took of the environs of +the castle of Blue Beard. + +The sun had actually set; no intelligence had been received from +the boats, and Mabel ascended to the roof to take a last look, +hoping that the party would arrive in the darkness; which would at +least prevent the Indians from rendering their ambuscade so fatal +as it might otherwise prove, and which possibly might enable her +to give some more intelligible signal, by means of fire, than it +would otherwise be in her power to do. Her eye had turned carefully +round the whole horizon, and she was just on the point of drawing +in her person, when an object that struck her as new caught her +attention. The islands lay grouped so closely, that six or eight +different channels or passages between them were in view; and in +one of the most covered, concealed in a great measure by the bushes +of the shore, lay what a second look assured her was a bark canoe. +It contained a human being beyond a question. Confident that if an +enemy her signal could do no harm, and; if a friend, that it might +do good, the eager girl waved a little flag towards the stranger, +which she had prepared for her father, taking care that it should +not be seen from the island. + +Mabel had repeated her signal eight or ten times in vain, and +she began to despair of its being noticed, when a sign was given +in return by the wave of a paddle, and the man so far discovered +himself as to let her see it was Chingachgook. Here, then, at last, +was a friend; one, too, who was able, and she doubted not would be +willing to aid her. From that instant her courage and her spirits +revived. The Mohican had seen her; must have recognized her, as +he knew that she was of the party; and no doubt, as soon as it was +sufficiently dark, he would take the steps necessary to release +her. That he was aware of the presence of the enemy was apparent +by the great caution he observed, and she had every reliance on +his prudence and address. The principal difficulty now existed +with June; for Mabel had seen too much of her fidelity to her own +people, relieved as it was by sympathy for herself, to believe she +would consent to a hostile Indian's entering the blockhouse, or +indeed to her leaving it, with a view to defeat Arrowhead's plans. +The half-hour which succeeded the discovery of the presence of the +Great Serpent was the most painful of Mabel Dunham's life. She +saw the means of effecting all she wished, as it might be within +reach of her hand, and yet it eluded her grasp. She knew June's +decision and coolness, notwithstanding all her gentleness and womanly +feeling; and at last she came reluctantly to the conclusion that +there was no other way of attaining her end than by deceiving her +tried companion and protector. It was revolting to one so sincere +and natural, so pure of heart, and so much disposed to ingenuousness +as Mabel Dunham, to practise deception on a friend like June; but +her own father's life was at stake, her companion would receive +no positive injury, and she had feelings and interests directly +touching herself which would have removed greater scruples. + +As soon as it was dark, Mabel's heart began to beat with increased +violence; and she adopted and changed her plan of proceeding at +least a dozen times in a single hour. June was always the source +of her greatest embarrassment; for she did not well see, first, +how she was to ascertain when Chingachgook was at the door, where +she doubted not he would soon appear; and, secondly, how she was +to admit him, without giving the alarm to her watchful companion. +Time pressed, however; for the Mohican might come and go away again, +unless she was ready to receive him. It would be too hazardous to +the Delaware to remain long on the island; and it became absolutely +necessary to determine on some course, even at the risk of choosing +one that was indiscreet. After running over various projects in +her mind, therefore, Mabel came to her companion, and said, with +as much calmness as she could assume, -- + +"Are you not afraid, June, now your people believe Pathfinder is +in the blockhouse, that they will come and try to set it on fire?" + +"No t'ink such t'ing. No burn blockhouse. Blockhouse good; got +no scalp." + +"June, we cannot know. They hid because they believed what I told +them of Pathfinder's being with us." + +"Believe fear. Fear come quick, go quick. Fear make run away; +wit make come back. Fear make warrior fool, as well as young girl." + +Here June laughed, as her sex is apt to laugh when anything +particularly ludicrous crosses their youthful fancies. + +"I feel uneasy, June; and wish you yourself would go up again to +the roof and look out upon the island, to make certain that nothing +is plotting against us; you know the signs of what your people +intend to do better than I." + +"June go, Lily wish; but very well know that Indian sleep; wait for +'e fader. Warrior eat, drink, sleep, all time, when don't fight +and go on war-trail. Den never sleep, eat, drink -- never feel. +Warrior sleep now." + +"God send it may be so! but go up, dear June, and look well about +you. Danger may come when we least expect it." + +June arose, and prepared to ascend to the roof; but she paused, with +her foot on the first round of the ladder. Mabel's heart beat so +violently that she was fearful its throbs would be heard; and she +fancied that some gleamings of her real intentions had crossed +the mind of her friend. She was right in part, the Indian woman +having actually stopped to consider whether there was any indiscretion +in what she was about to do. At first the suspicion that Mabel +intended to escape flashed across her mind; then she rejected it, +on the ground that the pale-face had no means of getting off the +island, and that the blockhouse was much the most secure place she +could find. The next thought was, that Mabel had detected some +sign of the near approach of her father. This idea, too, lasted +but an instant; for June entertained some such opinion of her +companion's ability to understand symptoms of this sort -- symptoms +that had escaped her own sagacity -- as a woman of high fashion +entertains of the accomplishments of her maid. Nothing else in +the same way offering, she began slowly to mount the ladder. + +Just as she reached the upper floor, a lucky thought suggested +itself to our heroine; and, by expressing it in a hurried but natural +manner, she gained a great advantage in executing her projected +scheme. + +"I will go down," she said, "and listen by the door, June, while +you are on the roof; and we will thus be on our guard, at the same +time, above and below." + +Though June thought this savored of unnecessary caution, well knowing +that no one could enter the building unless aided from within, +nor any serious danger menace them from the exterior without giving +sufficient warning, she attributed the proposition to Mabel's +ignorance and alarm; and, as it was made apparently with frankness, +it was received without distrust. By these means our heroine was +enabled to descend to the door, as her friend ascended to the +roof. The distance between the two was now too great to admit +of conversation; and for three or four minutes one was occupied +in looking about her as well as the darkness would allow, and the +other in listening at the door with as much intentness as if all +her senses were absorbed in the single faculty of hearing. + +June discovered nothing from her elevated stand; the obscurity +indeed almost forbade the hope of such a result; but it would not +be easy to describe the sensation with which Mabel thought she +perceived a slight and guarded push against the door. Fearful that +all might not be as she wished, and anxious to let Chingachgook +know that she was near, she began, though in tremulous and low +notes, to sing. So profound was the stillness of the moment that +the sound of the unsteady warbling ascended to the roof and in a +minute June began to descend. A slight tap at the door was heard +immediately after. Mabel was bewildered, for there was no time +to lose. Hope proved stronger than fear; and with unsteady hands +she commenced unbarring the door. The moccasin of June was heard +on the floor above her when only a single bar was turned. The second +was released as her form reached half-way down the lower ladder. + +"What you do?" exclaimed June angrily. "Run away - mad -- leave +blockhouse; blockhouse good." The hands of both were on the last +bar, and it would have been cleared from the fastenings but for +a vigorous shove from without, which jammed the wood. A short +struggle ensued, though both were disinclined to violence. June +would probably have prevailed, had not another and a more vigorous +push from without forced the bar past the trifling impediment that +held it, when the door opened. The form of a man was seen to enter; +and both the females rushed up the ladder, as if equally afraid +of the consequences. The stranger secured the door; and, first +examining the lower room with great care, he cautiously ascended +the ladder. June, as soon as it became dark, had closed the loops +of the principal floor, and lighted a candle. By means of this +dim taper, then, the two females stood in expectation, waiting to +ascertain the person of their visitor, whose wary ascent of the +ladder was distinctly audible, though sufficiently deliberate. It +would not be easy to say which was the more astonished on finding, +when the stranger had got through the trap, that Pathfinder stood +before them. + +"God be praised!" Mabel exclaimed, for the idea that the blockhouse +would be impregnable with such a garrison at once crossed her mind. +"O Pathfinder! what has become of my father?" + +"The Sergeant is safe as yet, and victorious; though it is not in +the gift of man to say what will be the ind of it. Is not that +the wife of Arrowhead skulking in the corner there?" + +"Speak not of her reproachfully, Pathfinder; I owe her my life, my +present security. Tell me what has happened to my father's party +-- why you are here; and I will relate all the horrible events that +have passed upon this island." + +"Few words will do the last, Mabel; for one used to Indian devilries +needs but little explanations on such a subject. Everything turned +out as we had hoped with the expedition; for the Sarpent was on +the look-out, and he met us with all the information heart could +desire. We ambushed three boats, druv' the Frenchers out of them, +got possession and sunk them, according to orders, in the deepest +part of the channel; and the savages of Upper Canada will fare +badly for Indian goods this winter. Both powder and ball, too, +will be scarcer among them than keen hunters and active warriors +may relish. We did not lose a man or have even a skin barked; nor +do I think the inimy suffered to speak of. In short, Mabel, it +has been just such an expedition as Lundie likes; much harm to the +foe, and little harm to ourselves." + +"Ah, Pathfinder, I fear, when Major Duncan comes to hear the whole +of the sad tale, he will find reason to regret he ever undertook +the affair." + +"I know what you mean, I know what you mean; but by telling my story +straight you will understand it better. As soon as the Sergeant +found himself successful, he sent me and the Sarpent off in canoes +to tell you how matters had turned out, and he is following with +the two boats, which, being so much heavier, cannot arrive before +morning. I parted from Chingachgook this forenoon, it being agreed +that he should come up one set of channels, and I another, to see +that the path was clear. I've not seen the chief since." + +Mabel now explained the manner in which she had discovered the Mohican, +and her expectation that he would yet come to the blockhouse. + +"Not he, not he! A regular scout will never get behind walls or +logs so long as he can keep the open air and find useful employment. +I should not have come myself, Mabel, but I promised the Sergeant +to comfort you and to look after your safety. Ah's me! I reconnoitred +the island with a heavy heart this forenoon; and there was a bitter +hour when I fancied you might be among the slain." + +"By what lucky accident were you prevented from paddling up boldly +to the island and from falling into the hands of the enemy?" + +"By such an accident, Mabel, as Providence employs to tell the hound +where to find the deer and the deer how to throw off the hound. +No, no! these artifices and devilries with dead bodies may deceive +the soldiers of the 55th and the king's officers; but they are +all lost upon men who have passed their days in the forest. I came +down the channel in face of the pretended fisherman; and, though +the riptyles have set up the poor wretch with art, it was not +ingenious enough to take in a practysed eye. The rod was held too +high, for the 55th have learned to fish at Oswego, if they never +knew how before; and then the man was too quiet for one who got +neither prey nor bite. But we never come in upon a post blindly; +and I have lain outside a garrison a whole night, because they had +changed their sentries and their mode of standing guard. Neither +the Sarpent nor myself would be likely to be taken in by these +clumsy contrivances, which were most probably intended for the +Scotch, who are cunning enough in some particulars, though anything +but witches when Indian sarcumventions are in the wind." + +"Do you think my father and his men may yet be deceived?" said +Mabel quickly. + +"Not if I can prevent it, Mabel. You say the Sarpent is on the +look-out too; so there is a double chance of our succeeding in +letting him know his danger; though it is by no means sartain by +which channel the party may come." + +"Pathfinder," said our heroine solemnly, for the frightful scenes +she had witnessed had clothed death with unusual horrors, -- +"Pathfinder, you have professed love for me, a wish to make me your +wife?" + +"I did ventur' to speak on that subject, Mabel, and the Sergeant +has even lately said that you are kindly disposed; but I am not a +man to persecute the thing I love." + +"Hear me, Pathfinder, I respect you, honor you, revere you; save +my father from this dreadful death, and I can worship you. Here +is my hand, as a solemn pledge for my faith, when you come to claim +it." + +"Bless you, bless you, Mabel; this is more than I desarve - more, +I fear, than I shall know how to profit by as I ought. It was +not wanting, however, to make me sarve the Sergeant. We are old +comrades, and owe each other a life; though I fear me, Mabel, being +a father's comrade is not always the best recommendation with a +daughter." + +"You want no other recommendation than your own acts -- your +courage, your fidelity. All that you do and say, Pathfinder, my +reason approves, and the heart will, nay, it _shall_ follow." + +"This is a happiness I little expected this night; but we are +in God's hands, and He will protect us in His own way. These are +sweet words, Mabel; but they were not wanting to make me do all +that man can do in the present circumstances; they will not lessen +my endeavors, neither." + +"Now we understand each other, Pathfinder," Mabel added hoarsely, +"let us not lose one of the precious moments, which may be of +incalculable value. Can we not get into your canoe and go and +meet my father?" + +"That is not the course I advise. I don't know by which channel the +Sergeant will come, and there are twenty; rely on it, the Sarpent +will be winding his way through them all. No, no! my advice is +to remain here. The logs of this blockhouse are still green, and +it will not be easy to set them on fire; and I can make good the +place, bating a burning, ag'in a tribe. The Iroquois nation cannot +dislodge me from this fortress, so long as we can keep the flames +off it. The Sergeant is now 'camped on some island, and will not +come in until morning. If we hold the block, we can give him timely +warning, by firing rifles, for instance; and should he determine +to attack the savages, as a man of his temper will be very likely +to do, the possession of this building will be of great account in +the affair. No, no! my judgment says remain, if the object be to +sarve the Sergeant, though escape for our two selves will be no +very difficult matter." + +"Stay," murmured Mabel, "stay, for God's sake, Pathfinder! Anything, +everything to save my father!" + +"Yes, that is natur'. I am glad to hear you say this, Mabel, for +I own a wish to see the Sergeant fairly supported. As the matter +now stands, he has gained himself credit; and, could he once +drive off these miscreants, and make an honorable retreat, laying +the huts and block in ashes, no doubt, Lundie would remember it +and sarve him accordingly. Yes, yes, Mabel, we must not only save +the Sergeant's life, but we must save his reputation." + +"No blame can rest on my father on account of the surprise of this +island." + +"There's no telling, there's no telling; military glory is a most +unsartain thing. I've seen the Delawares routed, when they desarved +more credit than at other times when they've carried the day. A +man is wrong to set his head on success of any sort, and worst of +all on success in war. I know little of the settlements, or of +the notions that men hold in them; but up hereaway even the Indians +rate a warrior's character according to his luck. The principal +thing with a soldier is never to be whipt; nor do I think mankind +stops long to consider how the day was won or lost. For my part, +Mabel, I make it a rule when facing the inimy to give him as good +as I can send, and to try to be moderate after a defeat, little need +be said on that score, as a flogging is one of the most humbling +things in natur'. The parsons preach about humility in the garrison; +but if humility would make Christians, the king's troops ought to +be saints, for they've done little as yet this war but take lessons +from the French, beginning at Fort du Quesne and ending at Ty." + +"My father could not have suspected that the position of the island +was known to the enemy," resumed Mabel, whose thoughts were running +on the probable effect of the recent events on the Sergeant. + +"That is true; nor do I well see how the Frenchers found it out. +The spot is well chosen, and it is not an easy matter, even for +one who has travelled the road to and from it, to find it again. +There has been treachery, I fear; yes, yes, there must have been +treachery." + +"Oh, Pathfinder! can this be?" + +"Nothing is easier, Mabel, for treachery comes as nat'ral to some +men as eating. Now when I find a man all fair words I look close +to his deeds; for when the heart is right, and really intends to +do good, it is generally satisfied to let the conduct speak instead +of the tongue." + +"Jasper Western is not one of these," said Mabel impetuously. "No +youth can be more sincere in his manner, or less apt to make the +tongue act for the head." + +"Jasper Western! tongue and heart are both right with that lad, +depend on it, Mabel; and the notion taken up by Lundie, and the +Quartermaster, and the Sergeant, and your uncle too, is as wrong +as it would be to think that the sun shone by night and the stars +shone by day. No, no; I'll answer for Eau-douce's honesty with my +own scalp, or, at need, with my own rifle." + +"Bless you, bless you, Pathfinder!" exclaimed Mabel, extending her +own hand and pressing the iron fingers of her companion, under a +state of feeling that far surpassed her own consciousness of its +strength. "You are all that is generous, all that is noble! God +will reward you for it." + +"Ah, Mabel, I fear me, if this be true, I should not covet such +a wife as yourself; but would leave you to be sued for by some +gentleman of the garrison, as your desarts require." + +"We will not talk of this any more to-night," Mabel answered in a +voice so smothered as to seem nearly choked. "We must think less +of ourselves just now, Pathfinder, and more of our friends. But +I rejoice from my soul that you believe Jasper innocent. Now let +us talk of other things -- ought we not to release June?" + +"I've been thinking about the woman; for it will not be safe to +shut our eyes and leave hers open, on this side of the blockhouse +door. If we put her in the upper room, and take away the ladder, +she'll be a prisoner at least." + +"I cannot treat one thus who has saved my life. It would be better +to let her depart, for I think she is too much my friend to do +anything to harm me." + +"You do not know the race, Mabel, you do not know the race. It's +true she's not a full-blooded Mingo, but she consorts with the +vagabonds, and must have larned some of their tricks. What is +that?" + +"It sounds like oars; some boat is passing through the channel." + +Pathfinder closed the trap that led to the lower room, to prevent +June from escaping, extinguished the candle, and went hastily to +a loop, Mabel looking over his shoulder in breathless curiosity. +These several movements consumed a minute or two; and by the time +the eye of the scout had got a dim view of things without, two +boats had swept past and shot up to the shore, at a spot some fifty +yards beyond the block, where there was a regular landing. The +obscurity prevented more from being seen; and Pathfinder whispered +to Mabel that the new-comers were as likely to be foes as friends, +for he did not think her father could possibly have arrived so +soon. A number of men were now seen to quit the boats, and then +followed three hearty English cheers, leaving no further doubts of +the character of the party. Pathfinder sprang to the trap, raised +it, glided down the ladder, and began to unbar the door, with an +earnestness that proved how critical he deemed the moment. Mabel +had followed, but she rather impeded than aided his exertions, +and but a single bar was turned when a heavy discharge of rifles +was heard. They were still standing in breathless suspense, as +the war-whoop rang in all the surrounding thickets. The door now +opened, and both Pathfinder and Mabel rushed into the open air. All +human sounds had ceased. After listening half a minute, however, +Pathfinder thought he heard a few stifled groans near the boats; +but the wind blew so fresh, and the rustling of the leaves mingled +so much with the murmurs of the passing air, that he was far from +certain. But Mabel was borne away by her feelings, and she rushed +by him, taking the way towards the boats. + +"This will not do, Mabel," said the scout in an earnest but low +voice, seizing her by an arm; "this will never do. Sartain death +would follow, and that without sarving any one. We must return to +the block." + +"Father! my poor, dear, murdered father!" said the girl wildly, +though habitual caution, even at that trying moment, induced her +to speak low. "Pathfinder, if you love me, let me go to my dear +father." + +"This will not do, Mabel. It is singular that no one speaks; no +one returns the fire from the boats; and I have left Killdeer in +the block! But of what use would a rifle be when no one is to be +seen?" + +At that moment the quick eye of Pathfinder, which, while he held +Mabel firmly in his grasp, had never ceased to roam over the dim +scene, caught an indistinct view of five or six dark crouching +forms, endeavoring to steal past him, doubtless with the intention +of intercepting the retreat to the blockhouse. Catching up Mabel, +and putting her under an arm, as if she were an infant, the sinewy +frame of the woodsman was exerted to the utmost, and he succeeded +in entering the building. The tramp of his pursuers seemed +immediately at his heels. Dropping his burden, he turned, closed +the door, and had fastened one bar, as a rush against the solid +mass threatened to force it from the hinges. To secure the other +bars was the work of an instant. + +Mabel now ascended to the first floor, while Pathfinder remained +as a sentinel below. Our heroine was in that state in which the +body exerts itself, apparently without the control of the mind. She +relighted the candle mechanically, as her companion had desired, +and returned with it below, where he was waiting her reappearance. +No sooner was Pathfinder in possession of the light than he examined +the place carefully, to make certain no one was concealed in the +fortress, ascending to each floor in succession, after assuring +himself that he left no enemy in his rear. The result was the +conviction that the blockhouse now contained no one but Mabel and +himself, June having escaped. When perfectly convinced on this +material point, Pathfinder rejoined our heroine in the principal +apartment, setting down the light and examining the priming of +Killdeer before he seated himself. + +"Our worst fears are realized!" said Mabel, to whom the hurry +and excitement of the last five minutes appeared to contain the +emotions of a life. "My beloved father and all his party are slain +or captured!" + +"We don't know that -- morning will tell us all. I do not think +the affair so settled as that, or we should hear the vagabond Mingos +yelling out their triumph around the blockhouse. Of one thing we +may be sartain; if the inimy has really got the better, he will +not be long in calling upon us to surrender. The squaw will let +him into the secret of our situation; and, as they well know the +place cannot be fired by daylight, so long as Killdeer continues +to desarve his reputation, you may depend on it that they will +not be backward in making their attempt while darkness helps them." + +"Surely I hear a groan!" + +"'Tis fancy, Mabel; when the mind gets to be skeary, especially a +woman's mind, she often concaits things that have no reality. I've +known them that imagined there was truth in dreams." + +"Nay, I am _not_ deceived; there is surely one below, and in pain." + +Pathfinder was compelled to own that the quick senses of Mabel +had not deceived her. He cautioned her, however, to repress her +feelings; and reminded her that the savages were in the practice +of resorting to every artifice to attain their ends, and that +nothing was more likely than that the groans were feigned with a +view to lure them from the blockhouse, or, at least, to induce them +to open the door. + +"No, no, no!" said Mabel hurriedly; "there is no artifice in those +sounds, and they come from anguish of body, if not of spirit. +They are fearfully natural." + +"Well, we shall soon know whether a friend is there or not. Hide +the light again, Mabel, and I will speak the person from a loop." + +Not a little precaution was necessary, according to Pathfinder's +judgment and experience, in performing even this simple act; for +he had known the careless slain by their want of proper attention +to what might have seemed to the ignorant supererogatory means of +safety. He did not place his mouth to the loop itself, but so near +it that he could be heard without raising his voice, and the same +precaution was observed as regards his ear. + +"Who is below?" Pathfinder demanded, when his arrangements were +made to his mind. "Is any one in suffering? If a friend, speak +boldly, and depend on our aid." + +"Pathfinder!" answered a voice that both Mabel and the person +addressed at once knew to be the Sergeant's, --"Pathfinder, in the +name of God, tell me what has become of my daughter." + +"Father, I am here, unhurt, safe! and oh that I could think the +same of you!" + +The ejaculation of thanksgiving that followed was distinctly audible +to the two, but it was clearly mingled with, a groan of pain. + +"My worst forebodings are realized!" said Mabel with a sort of +desperate calmness. "Pathfinder, my father must be brought within +the block, though we hazard everything to do it." + +"This is natur', and it is the law of God. But, Mabel, be calm, +and endivor to be cool. All that can be effected for the Sergeant +by human invention shall be done. I only ask you to be cool." + +"I am, I am, Pathfinder. Never in my life was I more calm, more +collected, than at this moment. But remember how perilous may be +every instant; for Heaven's sake, what we do, let us do without +delay." + +Pathfinder was struck with the firmness of Mabel's tones, and +perhaps he was a little deceived by the forced tranquillity and +self-possession she had assumed. At all events, he did not deem +any further explanations necessary, but descended forthwith, and +began to unbar the door. This delicate process was conducted with +the usual caution, but, as he warily permitted the mass of timber +to swing back on the hinges, he felt a pressure against it, that +had nearly induced him to close it again. But, catching a glimpse +of the cause through the crack, the door was permitted to swing +back, when the body of Sergeant Dunham, which was propped against +it, fell partly within the block. To draw in the legs and secure +the fastenings occupied the Pathfinder but a moment. Then there +existed no obstacle to their giving their undivided care to the +wounded man. + +Mabel, in this trying scene, conducted herself with the sort of +unnatural energy that her sex, when aroused, is apt to manifest. +She got the light, administered water to the parched lips of her +father, and assisted Pathfinder in forming a bed of straw for his +body and a pillow of clothes for his head. All this was done +earnestly, and almost without speaking; nor did Mabel shed a tear, +until she heard the blessings of her father murmured on her head +for this tenderness and care. All this time Mabel had merely +conjectured the condition of her parent. Pathfinder, however, +had shown greater attention to the physical danger of the Sergeant. +He had ascertained that a rifle-ball had passed through the body +of the wounded man; and he was sufficiently familiar with injuries +of this nature to be certain that the chances of his surviving the +hurt were very trifling, if any. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +Then drink my tears, while yet they fall -- +Would that my bosom's blood were balm; +And -- well thou knowest -- I'd shed it all, +To give thy brow one minute's calm. +MOORE. + + +The eyes of Sergeant Dunham had not ceased to follow the form of +his beautiful daughter from the moment that the light appeared. +He next examined the door of the block, to ascertain its security; +for he was left on the ground below, there being no available +means of raising him to the upper floor. Then he sought the face +of Mabel; for as life wanes fast the affections resume their force, +and we begin to value that most which we feel we are about to lose +for ever. + +"God be praised, my child! you, at least, have escaped their murderous +rifles," he said; for he spoke with strength, and seemingly with +no additional pain. "Give me the history of this sad business, +Pathfinder." + +"Ah's me, Sergeant! It _has_ been sad, as you say. That there has +been treachery, and the position of the island has been betrayed, +is now as sartain, in my judgment, as that we still hold +the block. But -- " + +"Major Duncan was right," interrupted Dunham, laying a hand on the +other's arm. + +"Not in the sense you mean, Sergeant -- no, not in that p'int +of view; never! At least, not in my opinion. I know that natur' +is weak -- human natur', I mean -- and that we should none of +us vaunt of our gifts, whether red or white; but I do not think a +truer-hearted lad lives on the lines than Jasper Western." + +"Bless you! bless you for that, Pathfinder!" burst forth from Mabel's +very soul, while a flood of tears gave vent to emotions that were +so varied while they were so violent. "Oh, bless you, Pathfinder, +bless you! The brave should never desert the brave -- the honest +should sustain the honest." + +The father's eyes were fastened anxiously on the face of his daughter, +until the latter hid her countenance in her apron to conceal her +tears; and then they turned with inquiry to the hard features of the +guide. The latter merely wore their usual expression of frankness, +sincerity, and uprightness; and the Sergeant motioned to him to +proceed. + +"You know the spot where the Sarpent and I left you, Sergeant," +Pathfinder resumed; "and I need say nothing of all that happened +afore. It is now too late to regret what is gone and passed; but +I do think if I had stayed with the boats this would not have come +to pass. Other men may be as good guides -- I make no doubt they +are; but then natur' bestows its gifts, and some must be better +than other some. I daresay poor Gilbert, who took my place, has +suffered for his mistake." + +"He fell at my elbow," the Sergeant answered in a low melancholy +tone. "We have, indeed, all suffered for our mistakes." + +"No, no, Sergeant, I meant no condemnation on you; for men were +never better commanded than yourn, in this very expedition. I never +beheld a prettier flanking; and the way in which you carried your +own boat up ag'in their howitzer might have teached Lundie himself +a lesson." + +The eyes of the Sergeant brightened, and his face even wore +an expression of military triumph, though it was of a degree that +suited the humble sphere in which he had been an actor. + +"'Twas not badly done, my friend," said he; "and we carried their +log breastwork by storm." + +"'Twas nobly done, Sergeant; though, I fear, when all the truth +comes to be known, it will be found that these vagabonds have got +their howitzer back ag'in. Well, well, put a stout heart upon it, +and try to forget all that is disagreeable, and to remember only +the pleasant part of the matter. That is your truest philosophy; +ay, and truest religion too. If the inimy has got the howitzer +ag'in, they've only got what belonged to them afore, and what we +couldn't help. They haven't got the blockhouse yet, nor are they +likely to get it, unless they fire it in the dark. Well, Sergeant, +the Sarpent and I separated about ten miles down the river; for +we thought it wisest not to come upon even a friendly camp without +the usual caution. What has become of Chingachgook I cannot say; +though Mabel tells me he is not far off, and I make no question +the noble-hearted Delaware is doing his duty, although he is not +now visible to our eyes. Mark my word, Sergeant, before this matter +is over we shall hear of him at some critical time and that in a +discreet and creditable manner. Ah, the Sarpent is indeed a wise +and virtuous chief! and any white man might covet his gifts, though +his rifle is not quite as sure as Killdeer, it must be owned. Well, +as I came near the island I missed the smoke, and that put me on my +guard; for I knew that the men of the 55th were not cunning enough +to conceal that sign, notwithstanding all that has been told them +of its danger. This made me more careful, until I came in sight +of this mockfisherman, as I've just told Mabel; and then the whole +of their infernal arts was as plain before me as if I saw it on a +map. I need not tell you, Sergeant, that my first thoughts were +of Mabel; and that, finding she was in the block, I came here, in +order to live or die in her company." + +The father turned a gratified look upon his child; and Mabel felt +a sinking of the heart that at such a moment she could not have +thought possible, when she wished to believe all her concern centred +in the situation of her parent. As the latter held out his hand, +she took it in her own and kissed it. Then, kneeling at his side, +she wept as if her heart would break. + +"Mabel," said he steadily, "the will of God must be done. It +is useless to attempt deceiving either you or myself; my time has +come, and it is a consolation to me to die like a soldier. Lundie +will do me justice; for our good friend Pathfinder will tell him +what has been done, and how all came to pass. You do not forget +our last conversation?" + +"Nay, father, my time has probably come too," exclaimed Mabel, who +felt just then as if it would be a relief to die. "I cannot hope +to escape; and Pathfinder would do well to leave us, and return to +the garrison with the sad news while he can." + +"Mabel Dunham," said Pathfinder reproachfully, though he took +her hand with kindness, "I have not desarved this. I know +I am wild, and uncouth, and ungainly -- " + +"Pathfinder!" + +"Well, well, we'll forget it; you did not mean it, you could not +think it. It is useless now to talk of escaping, for the Sergeant +cannot be moved; and the blockhouse must be defended, cost what it +will. Maybe Lundie will get the tidings of our disaster, and send +a party to raise the siege." + +"Pathfinder -- Mabel!" said the Sergeant, who had been writhing +with pain until the cold sweat stood on his forehead; "come both +to my side. You understand each other, I hope?" + +"Father, say nothing of that; it is all as you wish." + +"Thank God! Give me your hand, Mabel -- here, Pathfinder, take it. +I can do no more than give you the girl in this way. I know you +will make her a kind husband. Do not wait on account of my death; +but there will be a chaplain in the fort before the season closes, +and let him marry you at once. My brother, if living, will wish to +go back to his vessel, and then the child will have no protector. +Mabel, your husband will have been my friend, and that will be +some consolation to you, I hope." + +"Trust this matter to me, Sergeant," put in Pathfinder; "leave it +all in my hands as your dying request; and, depend on it, all will +go as it should." + +"I do, I do put all confidence in you, my trusty friend, and empower +you to act as I could act myself in every particular. Mabel, child, +-- hand me the water, -- you will never repent this night. Bless +you, my daughter! God bless, and have you in His holy keeping!" + +This tenderness was inexpressibly touching to one of Mabel's feelings; +and she felt at that moment as if her future union with Pathfinder +had received a solemnization that no ceremony of the Church could +render more holy. Still, a weight, as that of a mountain, lay +upon her heart, and she thought it would be happiness to die. Then +followed a short pause, when the Sergeant, in broken sentences, +briefly related what had passed since he parted with Pathfinder +and the Delaware. The wind had come more favorable; and, instead +of encamping on an island agreeably to the original intention, he +had determined to continue, and reach the station that night. Their +approach would have been unseen, and a portion of the calamity +avoided, he thought, had they not grounded on the point of a +neighboring island, where, no doubt, the noise made by the men in +getting off the boat gave notice of their approach, and enabled +the enemy to be in readiness to receive them. They had landed +without the slightest suspicion of danger, though surprised at not +finding a sentinel, and had actually left their arms in the boat, +with the intention of first securing their knapsacks and provisions. +The fire had been so close, that, notwithstanding the obscurity, +it was very deadly. Every man had fallen, though two or three +subsequently arose and disappeared. Four or five of the soldiers +had been killed, or so nearly so as to survive but a few minutes; +though, for some unknown reason, the enemy did not make the usual +rush for the scalps. Sergeant Dunham fell with the others; and he +had heard the voice of Mabel, as she rushed from the blockhouse. +This frantic appeal aroused all his parental feelings, and had +enabled him to crawl as far as the door of the building, where he +had raised himself against the logs in the manner already mentioned. + +After this simple explanation was made, the Sergeant was so weak +as to need repose, and his companions, while they ministered to +his wants, suffered some time to pass in silence. Pathfinder took +the occasion to reconnoitre from the loops and the roof, and he +examined the condition of the rifles, of which there were a dozen +kept in the building, the soldiers having used their regimental +muskets in the expedition. But Mabel never left her father's side +for an instant; and when, by his breathing, she fancied he slept, +she bent her knees and prayed. + +The half-hour that succeeded was awfully solemn and still. The +moccasin of Pathfinder was barely heard overhead, and occasionally +the sound of the breech of a rifle fell upon the floor, for he +was busied in examining the pieces, with a view to ascertain the +state of their charges and their primings. Beyond this, nothing +was so loud as the breathing of the wounded man. Mabel's heart +yearned to be in communication with the father she was so soon to +lose, and yet she would not disturb his apparent repose. But Dunham +slept not; he was in that state when the world suddenly loses its +attractions, its illusions, and its power; and the unknown future +fills the mind with its conjectures, its revelations, and its +immensity. He had been a moral man for one of his mode of life, +but he had thought little of this all-important moment. Had the +din of battle been ringing in his ears, his martial ardor might +have endured to the end; but there, in the silence of that nearly +untenanted blockhouse, with no sound to enliven him, no appeal to +keep alive factitious sentiment, no hope of victory to impel, things +began to appear in their true colors, and this state of being to +be estimated at its just value. He would have given treasures for +religious consolation, and yet he knew not where to turn to seek +it. He thought of Pathfinder, but he distrusted his knowledge. He +thought of Mabel, but for the parent to appeal to the child for +such succor appeared like reversing the order of nature. Then it +was that he felt the full responsibility of the parental character, +and had some clear glimpse of the manner in which he himself had +discharged the trust towards an orphan child. While thoughts like +these were rising in his mind, Mabel, who watched the slightest change +in his breathing, heard a guarded knock at the door. Supposing it +might be Chingachgook, she rose, undid two of the bars, and held +the third in her hand, as she asked who was there. The answer +was in her uncle's voice, and he implored her to give him instant +admission. Without an instant of hesitation, she turned the bar, +and Cap entered. He had barely passed the opening, when Mabel +closed the door again, and secured it as before, for practice had +rendered her expert in this portion of her duties. + +The sturdy seaman, when he had made sure of the state of +his brother-in-law, and that Mabel, as well as himself, was safe, +was softened nearly to tears. His own appearance he explained by +saying that he had been carelessly guarded, under the impression +that he and the Quartermaster were sleeping under the fumes of liquor +with which they had been plied with a view to keep them quiet in +the expected engagement. Muir had been left asleep, or seeming to +sleep; but Cap had run into the bushes on the alarm of the attack, +and having found Pathfinder's canoe, had only succeeded, at that +moment, in getting to the blockhouse, whither he had come with the +kind intent of escaping with his niece by water. It is scarcely +necessary to say that he changed his plan when he ascertained the +state of the Sergeant, and the apparent security of his present +quarters. + +"If the worst comes to the worst, Master Pathfinder," said he, "we +must strike, and that will entitle us to receive quarter. We owe +it to our manhood to hold out a reasonable time, and to ourselves +to haul down the ensign in season to make saving conditions. I +wished Master Muir to do the same thing when we were captured +by these chaps you call vagabonds -- and rightly are they +named, for viler vagabonds do not walk the earth -- " + +"You've found out their characters?" interrupted Pathfinder, who +was always as ready to chime in with abuse of the Mingos as with +the praises of his friends. "Now, had you fallen into the hands +of the Delawares, you would have learned the difference." + +"Well, to me they seem much of a muchness; blackguards fore and +aft, always excepting our friend the Serpent, who is a gentleman +for an Indian. But, when these savages made the assault on us, +killing Corporal M'Nab and his men as if they had been so many +rabbits, Lieutenant Muir and myself took refuge in one of the holes +of this here island, of which there are so many among the rocks, +and there we remained stowed away like two leaguers in a ship's +hold, until we gave out for want of grub. A man may say that grub +is the foundation of human nature. I desired the Quartermaster to +make terms, for we could have defended ourselves for an hour or +two in the place, bad as it was; but he declined, on the ground +that the knaves wouldn't keep faith if any of them were hurt, and +so there was no use in asking them to. I consented to strike, on +two principles; one, that we might be said to have struck already, +for running below is generally thought to be giving up the ship; +and the other, that we had an enemy in our stomachs that was more +formidable in his attacks than the enemy on deck. Hunger is a +d----ble circumstance, as any man who has lived on it eight-and-forty +hours will acknowledge." + +"Uncle," said Mabel in a mournful voice and with an expostulatory +manner, "my poor father is sadly, sadly hurt!" + +"True, Magnet, true; I will sit by him, and do my best at consolation. +Are the bars well fastened, girl? for on such an occasion the mind +should be tranquil and undisturbed." + +"We are safe, I believe, from all but this heavy blow of Providence." + +"Well, then, Magnet, do you go up to the floor above and try to +compose yourself, while Pathfinder runs aloft and takes a look-out +from the cross-trees. Your father may wish to say something to me +in private, and it may be well to leave us alone. These are solemn +scenes, and inexperienced people, like myself, do not always wish +what they say to be overheard." + +Although the idea of her uncle's affording religious consolation +by the side of a death-bed certainly never obtruded itself on +the imagination of Mabel, she thought there might be a propriety +in the request with which she was unacquainted, and she complied +accordingly. Pathfinder had already ascended to the roof to make +his survey, and the brothers-in-law were left alone. Cap took a +seat by the side of the Sergeant, and bethought him seriously of +the grave duty he had before him. A silence of several minutes +succeeded, during which brief space the mariner was digesting the +substance of his intended discourse. + +"I must say, Sergeant Dunham," Cap at length commenced in his +peculiar manner, "that there has been mismanagement somewhere in +this unhappy expedition; and, the present being an occasion when +truth ought to be spoken, and nothing but the truth, I feel it my +duty to be say as much in plain language. In short, Sergeant, on +this point there cannot well be two opinions; for, seaman as I am, +and no soldier, I can see several errors myself, that it needs no +great education to detect." + +"What would you have, brother Cap?" returned the other in a feeble +voice; "what is done is done; and it is now too late to remedy it." + +"Very true, brother Dunham, but not to repent of it; the Good Book +tells us it is never too late to repent; and I've always heard +that this is the precious moment. If you've anything on your mind, +Sergeant, hoist it out freely; for, you know, you trust it to a +friend. You were my own sister's husband, and poor little Magnet +is my own sister's daughter; and, living or dead, I shall always +look upon you as a brother. It's a thousand pities that you didn't +lie off and on with the boats, and send a canoe ahead to reconnoitre; +in which case your command would have been saved, and this disaster +would not have befallen us all. Well, Sergeant, we are _all_ mortal; +that is some consolation, I make no doubt; and if you go before a +little, why, we must follow. Yes, that _must_ give you consolation." + +"I know all this, brother Cap; and hope I'm prepared to +meet a soldier's fate -- there is poor Mabel -- " + +"Ay, ay, that's a heavy drag, I know; but you wouldn't take her +with you if you could, Sergeant; and so the better way is to make +as light of the separation as you can. Mabel is a good girl, and +so was her mother before her; she was my sister, and it shall be +my care to see that her daughter gets a good husband, if our lives +and scalps are spared; for I suppose no one would care about entering +into a family that has no scalps." + +"Brother, my child is betrothed; she will become the wife of +Pathfinder." + +"Well, brother Dunham, every man has his opinions and his manner +of viewing things; and, to my notion, this match will be anything +but agreeable to Mabel. I have no objection to the age of the man; +I'm not one of them that thinks it necessary to be a boy to make +a girl happy, but, on the whole, I prefer a man of about fifty for +a husband; still there ought not to be any circumstance between +the parties to make them unhappy. Circumstances play the devil with +matrimony, and I set it down as one that Pathfinder don't know as +much as my niece. You've seen but little of the girl, Sergeant, +and have not got the run of her knowledge; but let her pay it out +freely, as she will do when she gets to be thoroughly acquainted, +and you'll fall in with but few schoolmasters that can keep their +luffs in her company." + +"She's a good child -- a dear, good child," muttered the Sergeant, +his eyes filling with tears; "and it is my misfortune that I have +seen so little of her." + +"She is indeed a good girl, and knows altogether too much for poor +Pathfinder, who is a reasonable man and an experienced man in his +own way; but who has no more idea of the main chance than you have +of spherical trigonometry, Sergeant." + +"Ah, brother Cap, had Pathfinder been with us in the boats this +sad affair might not have happened!" + +"That is quite likely; for his worst enemy will allow that the man +is a good guide; but then, Sergeant, if the truth must be spoken, +you have managed this expedition in a loose way altogether. You +should have hove-to off your haven, and sent in a boat to reconnoitre, +as I told you before. That is a matter to be repented of, and I +tell it to you, because truth, in such a case, ought to be spoken." + +"My errors are dearly paid for, brother; and poor Mabel, I fear, +will be the sufferer. I think, however, that the calamity would +not have happened had there not been treason. I fear me, brother, +that Jasper Eau-douce has played us false." + +"That is just my notion; for this fresh-water life must sooner +or later undermine any man's morals. Lieutenant Muir and myself +talked this matter over while we lay in a bit of a hole out here, +on this island; and we both came to the conclusion that nothing +short of Jasper's treachery could have brought us all into this +infernal scrape. Well, Sergeant, you had better compose your mind, +and think of other matters; for, when a vessel is about to enter a +strange port, it is more prudent to think of the anchorage inside +than to be under-running all the events that have turned up during +the v'y'ge. There's the log-book expressly to note all these matters +in; and what stands there must form the column of figures that's +to be posted up for or against us. How now, Pathfinder! is there +anything in the wind, that you come down the ladder like an Indian +in the wake of a scalp?" + +The guide raised a finger for silence and then beckoned to Cap to +ascend the first ladder, and to allow Mabel to take his place at +the side of the Sergeant. + +"We must be prudent, and we must be bold too," said he in a low +voice. "The riptyles are in earnest in their intention to fire the +block; for they know there is now nothing to be gained by letting +it stand. I hear the voice of that vagabond Arrowhead among them, +and he is urging them to set about their devilry this very night. +We must be stirring, Saltwater, and doing too. Luckily there are +four or five barrels of water in the block, and these are something +towards a siege. My reckoning is wrong, too, or we shall yet reap +some advantage from that honest fellow's, the Sarpent, being at +liberty." + +Cap did not wait for a second invitation; but, stealing away, he +was soon in the upper room with Pathfinder, while Mabel took his +post at the side of her father's humble bed. Pathfinder had opened +a loop, having so far concealed the light that it would not expose +him to a treacherous shot; and, expecting a summons, he stood +with his face near the hole, ready to answer. The stillness that +succeeded was at length broken by the voice of Muir. + +"Master Pathfinder," called out the Scotchman, "a friend summons you +to a parley. Come freely to one of the loops; for you've nothing +to fear so long as you are in converse with an officer of the 55th." + +"What is your will, Quartermaster? what is your will? I know +the 55th, and believe it to be a brave regiment; though I rather +incline to the 60th as my favorite, and to the Delawares more than +to either; but what would you have, Quartermaster? It must be a +pressing errand that brings you under the loops of a blockhouse at +this hour of the night, with the sartainty of Killdeer being inside +of it." + +"Oh, you'll no' harm a friend, Pathfinder, I'm certain; and that's +my security. You're a man of judgment, and have gained too great +a name on this frontier for bravery to feel the necessity of +foolhardiness to obtain a character. You'll very well understand, +my good friend, there is as much credit to be gained by submitting +gracefully, when resistance becomes impossible, as by obstinately +holding out contrary to the rules of war. The enemy is too strong +for us, my brave comrade, and I come to counsel you to give up the +block, on condition of being treated as a prisoner of war." + +"I thank you for this advice, Quartermaster, which is the more +acceptable as it costs nothing; but I do not think it belongs to +my gifts to yield a place like this while food and water last." + +"Well, I'd be the last, Pathfinder, to recommend anything against +so brave a resolution, did I see the means of maintaining it. But +ye'll remember that Master Cap has fallen." + +"Not he, not he!" roared the individual in question through another +loop; "and so far from that, Lieutenant, he has risen to the height +of this here fortification, and has no mind to put his head of +hair into the hands of such barbers again, so long as he can help +it. I look upon this blockhouse as a circumstance, and have no +mind to throw it away." + +"If that is a living voice," returned Muir, "I am glad to hear it; +for we all thought the man had fallen in the late fearful confusion. +But, Master Pathfinder, although ye're enjoying the society of +our friend Cap, -- and a great pleasure do I know it to be, by the +experience of two days and a night passed in a hole in the earth, +-- we've lost that of Sergeant Dunham, who has fallen, with all +the brave men he led in the late expedition. Lundie would have +it so, though it would have been more discreet and becoming to +send a commissioned officer in command. Dunham was a brave man, +notwithstanding, and shall have justice done his memory. In short, +we have all acted for the best, and that is as much as could be +said in favor of Prince Eugene, the Duke of Marlborough, or the +great Earl of Stair himself." + +"You're wrong ag'in, Quartermaster, you're wrong ag'in," answered +Pathfinder, resorting to a ruse to magnify his force. "The Sergeant +is safe in the block too, where one might say the whole family is +collected." + +"Well I rejoice to hear it, for we had certainly counted the +Sergeant among the slain. If pretty Mabel is in the block still, +let her not delay an instant, for heaven's sake, in quitting it, +for the enemy is about to put it to the trial by fire. Ye know +the potency of that dread element, and will be acting more like +the discreet and experienced warrior ye're universally allowed to +be, in yielding a place you canna' defend, than in drawing down +ruin on yourself and companions." + +"I know the potency of fire, as you call it, Quartermaster; and am +not to be told, at this late hour, that it can be used for something +else besides cooking a dinner. But I make no doubt you've heard +of the potency of Killdeer, and the man who attempts to lay a pile +of brush against these logs will get a taste of his power. As +for arrows, it is not in their gift to set this building on fire, +for we've no shingles on our roof, but good solid logs and green +bark, and plenty of water besides. The roof is so flat, too, as +you know yourself, Quartermaster, that we can walk on it, and so +no danger on that score while water lasts. I'm peaceable enough +if let alone; but he who endivors to burn this block over my head +will find the fire squinched in his own blood." + +"This is idle and romantic talk, Pathfinder, and ye'll no maintain +it yourself when ye come to meditate on the realities. I hope +ye'll no' gainsay the loyalty or the courage of the 55th, and I feel +convinced that a council of war would decide on the propriety of +a surrender forthwith. Na, na, Pathfinder, foolhardiness is na mair +like the bravery o' Wallace or Bruce than Albany on the Hudson is +like the old town of Edinbro'." + +"As each of us seems to have made up his mind, Quartermaster, more +words are useless. If the riptyles near you are disposed to set +about their hellish job, let them begin at once. They can burn +wood, and I'll burn powder. If I were an Indian at the stake, +I suppose I could brag as well as the rest of them; but, my gifts +and natur' being both white, my turn is rather for doing than +talking. You've said quite enough, considering you carry the +king's commission; and should we all be consumed, none of us will +bear you any malice." + +"Pathfinder, ye'll no' be exposing Mabel, pretty Mabel Dunham, to +sic' a calamity!" + +"Mabel Dunham is by the side of her wounded father, and God will +care for the safety of a pious child. Not a hair of her head +shall fall, while my arm and sight remain true; and though _you_ +may trust the Mingos, Master Muir, I put no faith in them. You've +a knavish Tuscarora in your company there, who has art and malice +enough to spoil the character of any tribe with which he consorts, +though he found the Mingos ready ruined to his hands, I fear. But +enough said; now let each party go to the use of his means and his +gifts." + +Throughout this dialogue Pathfinder had kept his body covered, lest +a treacherous shot should be aimed at the loop; and he now directed +Cap to ascend to the roof in order to be in readiness to meet the +first assault. Although the latter used sufficient diligence, he +found no less than ten blazing arrows sticking to the bark, while +the air was filled with the yells and whoops of the enemy. A +rapid discharge of rifles followed, and the bullets came pattering +against the logs, in a way to show that the struggle had indeed +seriously commenced. + +These were sounds, however, that appalled neither Pathfinder nor +Cap, while Mabel was too much absorbed in her affliction to feel +alarm. She had good sense enough, too, to understand the nature +of the defences, and fully to appreciate their importance. As +for her father, the familiar noises revived him; and it pained +his child, at such a moment, to see that his glassy eye began to +kindle, and that the blood returned to a cheek it had deserted, as +he listened to the uproar. It was now Mabel first perceived that +his reason began slightly to wander. + +"Order up the light companies," he muttered, "and let the grenadiers +charge! Do they dare to attack us in our fort? Why does not the +artillery open on them?" + +At that instant the heavy report of a gun burst on the night; and +the crashing of rending wood was heard, as a heavy shot tore the +logs in the room above, and the whole block shook with the force of +a shell that lodged in the work. The Pathfinder narrowly escaped +the passage of this formidable missile as it entered; but when it +exploded, Mabel could not suppress a shriek, for she supposed all +over her head, whether animate or inanimate, destroyed. To increase +her horror, her father shouted in a frantic voice to "charge!" + +"Mabel," said Pathfinder, with his head at the trap, "this is true +Mingo work -- more noise than injury. The vagabonds have got the +howitzer we took from the French, and have discharged it ag'in the +block; but fortunately they have fired off the only shell we had, +and there is an ind of its use for the present. There is some +confusion among the stores up in this loft, but no one is hurt. +Your uncle is still on the roof; and, as for myself, I've run the +gauntlet of too many rifles to be skeary about such a thing as a +howitzer, and that in Indian hands." + +Mabel murmured her thanks, and tried to give all her attention to +her father, whose efforts to rise were only counteracted by his +debility. During the fearful minutes that succeeded, she was so +much occupied with the care of the invalid that she scarcely heeded +the clamor that reigned around her. Indeed, the uproar was so great, +that, had not her thoughts been otherwise employed, confusion of +faculties rather than alarm would probably have been the consequence. + +Cap preserved his coolness admirably. He had a profound and +increasing respect for the power of the savages, and even for the +majesty of fresh water, it is true; but his apprehensions of the +former proceeded more from his dread of being scalped and tortured +than from any unmanly fear of death; and, as he was now on the deck +of a house, if not on the deck of a ship, and knew that there was +little danger of boarders, he moved about with a fearlessness and +a rash exposure of his person that Pathfinder, had he been aware +of the fact, would have been the first to condemn. Instead of keeping +his body covered, agreeably to the usages of Indian warfare, he was +seen on every part of the roof, dashing the water right and left, +with the apparent steadiness and unconcern he would have manifested +had he been a sail trimmer exercising his art in a battle afloat. +His appearance was one of the causes of the extraordinary clamor +among the assailants; who, unused to see their enemies so reckless, +opened upon him with their tongues, like a pack that has the fox +in view. Still he appeared to possess a charmed life; for, though +the bullets whistled around him on every side, and his clothes were +several times torn, nothing cut his skin. When the shell passed +through the logs below, the old sailor dropped his bucket, waved +his hat, and gave three cheers; in which heroic act he was employed +as the dangerous missile exploded. This characteristic feat probably +saved his life; for from that instant the Indians ceased to fire +at him, and even to shoot their flaming arrows at the block, having +taken up the notion simultaneously, and by common consent, that +the "Saltwater" was mad; and it was a singular effect of their +magnanimity never to lift a hand against those whom they imagined +devoid of reason. + +The conduct of Pathfinder was very different. Everything he did +was regulated by the most exact calculation, the result of long +experience and habitual thoughtfulness. His person was kept carefully +out of a line with the loops, and the spot that he selected for +his look-out was one quite removed from danger. This celebrated +guide had often been known to lead forlorn hopes: he had once stood +at the stake, suffering under the cruelties and taunts of savage +ingenuity and savage ferocity without quailing; and legends of +his exploits, coolness, and daring were to be heard all along that +extensive frontier, or wherever men dwelt and men contended. But +on this occasion, one who did not know his history and character +might have thought his exceeding care and studied attention to +self-preservation proceeded from an unworthy motive. But such a +judge would not have understood his subject; the Pathfinder bethought +him of Mabel, and of what might possibly be the consequences to that +poor girl should any casualty befall himself. But the recollection +rather quickened his intellect than changed his customary prudence. +He was, in fact, one of those who was so unaccustomed to fear, +that he never bethought him of the constructions others might put +upon his conduct. But while in moments of danger he acted with the +wisdom of the serpent, it was also with the simplicity of a child. + +For the first ten minutes of the assault, Pathfinder never raised +the breech of his rifle from the floor, except when he changed his +own position, for he well knew that the bullets of the enemy were +thrown away upon the massive logs of the work; and as he had been +at the capture of the howitzer he felt certain that the savages had +no other shell than the one found in it when the piece was taken. +There existed no reason, therefore, to dread the fire of the +assailants, except as a casual bullet might find a passage through +a loophole. One or two of these accidents did occur, but the balls +entered at an angle that deprived them of all chance of doing any +injury so long as the Indians kept near the block; and if discharged +from a distance, there was scarcely the possibility of one in a +hundred's striking the apertures. But when Pathfinder heard the +sound of mocassined feet and the rustling of brush at the foot of +the building, he knew that the attempt to build a fire against the +logs was about to be renewed. He now summoned Cap from the roof, +where, indeed, all the danger had ceased, and directed him to stand +in readiness with his water at a hole immediately over the spot +assailed. + +One less trained than our hero would have been in a hurry to repel +this dangerous attempt also, and might have resorted to his means +prematurely; not so with Pathfinder. His aim was not only to +extinguish the fire, about which he felt little apprehension, but +to give the enemy a lesson that would render him wary during the +remainder of the night. In order to effect the latter purpose, it +became necessary to wait until the light of the intended conflagration +should direct his aim, when he well knew that a very slight effort +of his skill would suffice. The Iroquois were permitted to collect +their heap of dried brush, to pile it against the block, to light +it, and to return to their covers without molestation. All that +Pathfinder would suffer Cap to do, was to roll a barrel filled with +water to the hole immediately over the spot, in readiness to be +used at the proper instant. That moment, however, did not arrive, +in his judgment, until the blaze illuminated the surrounding bushes, +and there had been time for his quick and practised eye to detect +the forms of three or four lurking savages, who were watching the +progress of the flames, with the cool indifference of men accustomed +to look on human misery with apathy. Then, indeed, he spoke. + +"Are you ready, friend Cap?" he asked. "The heat begins to strike +through the crevices; and although these green logs are not of +the fiery natur' of an ill-tempered man, they may be kindled into +a blaze if one provokes them too much. Are you ready with the +barrel? See that it has the right cut, and that none of the water +is wasted." + +"All ready!" answered Cap, in the manner in which a seaman replies +to such a demand. + +"Then wait for the word. Never be over-impatient in a critical +time, nor fool-risky in a battle. Wait for the word." + +While the Pathfinder was giving these directions, he was also making +his own preparations; for he saw it was time to act. Killdeer was +deliberately raised, pointed, and discharged. The whole process +occupied about half a minute, and as the rifle was drawn in the +eye of the marksman was applied to the hole. + +"There is one riptyle the less," Pathfinder muttered to himself; +"I've seen that vagabond afore, and know him to be a marciless +devil. Well, well! the man acted according to his gifts, and he +has been rewarded according to his gifts. One more of the knaves, +and that will sarve the turn for to-night. When daylight appears, +we may have hotter work." + +All this time another rifle was being got ready; and as Pathfinder +ceased, a second savage fell. This indeed sufficed; for, indisposed +to wait for a third visitation from the same hand, the whole band, +which had been crouching in the bushes around the block, ignorant +of who was and who was not exposed to view, leaped from their covers +and fled to different places for safety. + +"Now, pour away, Master Cap," said Pathfinder; "I've made my mark +on the blackguards; and we shall have no more fires lighted to-night." + +"Scaldings!" cried Cap, upsetting the barrel, with a care that at +once and completely extinguished the flames. + +This ended the singular conflict; and the remainder of the night +passed in peace. Pathfinder and Cap watched alternately, though +neither can be said to have slept. Sleep indeed scarcely seemed +necessary to them, for both were accustomed to protracted watchings; +and there were seasons and times when the former appeared to be +literally insensible to the demands of hunger and thirst and callous +to the effects of fatigue. + +Mabel watched by her father's pallet, and began to feel how much our +happiness in this world depends even on things that are imaginary. +Hitherto she had virtually lived without a father, the connection +with her remaining parent being ideal rather than positive; but now +that she was about to lose him, she thought for the moment that the +world would be a void after his death, and that she could never be +acquainted with happiness again. + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +There was a roaring in the wind all night; +The rain came heavily, and fell in floods; +But now the sun is rising calm and bright; +The birds are singing in the distant woods. +WORDSWORTH. + + +As the light returned, Pathfinder and Cap ascended again to the +roof, with a view to reconnoitre the state of things once more +on the island. This part of the blockhouse had a low battlement +around it, which afforded a considerable protection to those who +stood in its centre; the intention having been to enable marksmen +to lie behind it and to fire over its top. By making proper +use, therefore, of these slight defences, -- slight as to height, +though abundantly ample as far as they went, -- the two look-outs +commanded a pretty good view of the island, its covers excepted, +and of most of the channels that led to the spot. + +The gale was still blowing very fresh at south; and there were places +in the river where its surface looked green and angry, though the +wind had hardly sweep enough to raise the water into foam. The +shape of the little island was nearly oval, and its greater length +was from east to west. By keeping in the channels that washed it, +in consequence of their several courses and of the direction of +the gale, it would have been possible for a vessel to range past +the island on either of its principal sides, and always to keep +the wind very nearly abeam. These were the facts first noticed +by Cap, and explained to his companion; for the hopes of both now +rested on the chances of relief sent from Oswego. At this instant, +while they stood gazing anxiously about them, Cap cried out, in +his lusty, hearty manner, + +"Sail, ho!" + +Pathfinder turned quickly in the direction of his companion's +face; and there, sure enough, was just visible the object of the +old sailor's exclamation. The elevation enabled the two to overlook +the low land of several of the adjacent islands; and the canvas +of a vessel was seen through the bushes that fringed the shore of +one that lay to the southward and westward. The stranger was under +what seamen call low sail; but so great was the power of the wind, +that her white outlines were seen flying past the openings of the +verdure with the velocity of a fast-travelling horse -- resembling +a cloud driving in the heavens. + +"That cannot be Jasper," said Pathfinder in disappointment; for be +did not recognize the cutter of his friend in the swift-passing +object. "No, no, the lad is behind the hour; and that is some craft +which the Frenchers have sent to aid their friends, the accursed +Mingos." + +"This time you are out in your reckoning, friend Pathfinder, if you +never were before," returned Cap in a manner that had lost none +of its dogmatism by the critical circumstances in which they were +placed. "Fresh water or salt, that is the head of the _Scud's_ +mainsail, for it is cut with a smaller gore than common; and then +you can see that the gaff has been fished -- quite neatly done, I +admit, but fished." + +"I can see none of this, I confess," answered Pathfinder, to whom +even the terms of his companion were Greek. + +"No! Well, I own that surprises me, for I thought your eyes could +see anything! Now to me nothing is plainer than that gore and +that fish; and I must say, my honest friend, that in your place I +should apprehend that my sight was beginning to fail." + +"If Jasper is truly coming, I shall apprehend but little. We can +make good the block against the whole Mingo nation for the next +eight or ten hours; and with Eau-douce to cover the retreat, I shall +despair of nothing. God send that the lad may not run alongside +of the bank, and fall into an ambushment, as befell the Sergeant!" + +"Ay, there's the danger. There ought to have been signals concerted, +and an anchorage-ground buoyed out, and even a quarantine station +or a lazaretto would have been useful, could we have made these +Minks-ho respect the laws. If the lad fetches up, as you say, +anywhere in the neighborhood of this island, we may look upon the +cutter as lost. And, after all, Master Pathfinder, ought we not +to set down this same Jasper as a secret ally of the French, rather +than as a friend of our own? I know the Sergeant views the matter +in that light; and I must say this whole affair looks like treason." + +"We shall soon know, we shall soon know, Master Cap; for there, +indeed, comes the cutter clear of the other island, and five minutes +must settle the matter. It would be no more than fair, however, +if we could give the boy some sign in the way of warning. It is +not right that he should fall into the trap without a notice that +it has been laid." + +Anxiety and suspense, notwithstanding, prevented either from +attempting to make any signal. It was not easy, truly, to see how +it could be done; for the _Scud_ came foaming through the channel, +on the weather side of the island, at a rate that scarcely admitted +of the necessary time. Nor was any one visible on her deck to make +signs to; even her helm seemed deserted, though her course was as +steady as her progress was rapid. + +Cap stood in silent admiration of a spectacle so unusual. But, +as the _Scud_ drew nearer, his practised eye detected the helm in +play by means of tiller-ropes, though the person who steered was +concealed. As the cutter had weatherboards of some little height, +the mystery was explained, no doubt remaining that her people lay +behind the latter, in order to be protected from the rifles of +the enemy. As this fact showed that no force beyond that of the +small crew could be on board, Pathfinder received his companion's +explanation with an ominous shake of the head. + +"This proves that the Sarpent has not reached Oswego," said he, +"and that we are not to expect succor from the garrison. I hope +Lundie has not taken it into his head to displace the lad, for +Jasper Western would be a host of himself in such a strait. We +three, Master Cap, ought to make a manful warfare: you, as a seaman, +to keep up the intercourse with the cutter; Jasper, as a laker who +knows all that is necessary to be done on the water; and I, with +gifts that are as good as any among the Mingos, let me be what I +may in other particulars. I say we ought to make a manful fight +in Mabel's behalf." + +"That we ought, and that we will," answered Cap heartily; for he +began to have more confidence in the security of his scalp now +that he saw the sun again. "I set down the arrival of the _Scud_ as +one circumstance, and the chances of Oh-deuce's honesty as another. +This Jasper is a young man of prudence, you find; for he keeps a +good offing, and seems determined to know how matters stand on +the island before he ventures to bring up." + +"I have it! I have it!" exclaimed Pathfinder, with exultation. +"There lies the canoe of the Sarpent on the cutter's deck; and +the chief has got on board, and no doubt has given a true account +of our condition; for, unlike a Mingo, a Delaware is sartain to +get a story right, or to hold his tongue." + +"That canoe may not belong to the cutter," said the captious seaman. +"Oh-deuce had one on board when he sailed." + +"Very true, friend Cap; but if you know your sails and masts by +your gores and fishes, I know my canoes and my paths by frontier +knowledge. If you can see new cloth in a sail, I can see new bark +in a canoe. That is the boat of the Sarpent, and the noble fellow +has struck off for the garrison as soon as he found the block +besieged, has fallen in with the _Scud_, and, after telling his +story, has brought the cutter down here to see what can be done. +The Lord grant that Jasper Western be still on board her!" + +"Yes, yes; it might not be amiss; for, traitor or loyal, the lad +has a handy way with him in a gale, it must be owned." + +"And in coming over waterfalls!" said Pathfinder, nudging the ribs +of his companion with an elbow, and laughing in his silent but +hearty manner. "We will give the boy his due, though he scalps us +all with his own hand." + +The _Scud_ was now so near, that Cap made no reply. The scene, +just at that instant, was so peculiar, that it merits a particular +description, which may also aid the reader in forming a more accurate +nature of the picture we wish to draw. + +The gale was still blowing violently. Many of the smaller trees +bowed their tops, as if ready to descend to the earth, while the +rushing of the wind through the branches of the groves resembled +the roar of distant chariots. + +The air was filled with leaves, which, at that late season, were +readily driven from their stems, and flew from island to island like +flights of birds. With this exception, the spot seemed silent as +the grave. That the savages still remained, was to be inferred +from the fact that their canoes, together with the boats of the +55th, lay in a group in the little cove that had been selected +as a harbor. Otherwise, not a sign of their presence was to be +detected. Though taken entirely by surprise by the cutter, the +sudden return of which was altogether unlooked-for, so uniform +and inbred were their habits of caution while on the war-path, that +the instant an alarm was given every man had taken to his cover +with the instinct and cunning of a fox seeking his hole. The same +stillness reigned in the blockhouse; for though Pathfinder and +Cap could command a view of the channel, they took the precaution +necessary to lie concealed. The unusual absence of anything like +animal life on board the _Scud_, too, was still more remarkable. +As the Indians witnessed her apparently undirected movements, a +feeling of awe gained a footing among them, and some of the boldest +of their party began to distrust the issue of an expedition that had +commenced so prosperously. Even Arrowhead, accustomed as he was +to intercourse with the whites on both sides of the lakes, fancied +there was something ominous in the appearance of this unmanned +vessel, and he would gladly at that moment have been landed again +on the main. + +In the meantime the progress of the cutter was steady and rapid. +She held her way mid-channel, now inclining to the gusts, and now +rising again, like the philosopher that bends to the calamities +of life to resume his erect attitude as they pass away, but always +piling the water beneath her bows in foam. Although she was under +so very short canvas, her velocity was great, and there could not +have elapsed ten minutes between the time when her sails were first +seen glancing past the trees and bushes in the distance and the +moment when she was abreast of the blockhouse. Cap and Pathfinder +leaned forward, as the cutter came beneath their eyrie, eager to get +a better view of her deck, when, to the delight of both, Jasper +Eau-douce sprang upon his feet and gave three hearty cheers. +Regardless of all risk, Cap leaped upon the rampart of logs and +returned the greeting, cheer for cheer. Happily, the policy of +the enemy saved the latter; for they still lay quiet, not a rifle +being discharged. On the other hand, Pathfinder kept in view the +useful, utterly disregarding the mere dramatic part of warfare. +The moment he beheld his friend Jasper, he called out to him +with stentorian lungs, -- + +"Stand by us, lad, and the day's our own! Give 'em a grist in +yonder bushes, and you'll put 'em up like partridges." + +Part of this reached Jasper's ears, but most was borne off to +leeward on the wings of the wind. By the time this was said, the +_Scud_ had driven past, and in the next moment she was hid from +view by the grove in which the blockhouse was partially concealed. + +Two anxious minutes succeeded; but, at the expiration of that brief +space, the sails were again gleaming through the trees, Jasper having +wore, jibed, and hauled up under the lee of the island on the other +tack. The wind was free enough, as has been already explained, +to admit of this manoeuvre; and the cutter, catching the current +under her lee bow, was breasted up to her course in a way that +showed she would come out to windward of the island again without +any difficulty. This whole evolution was made with the greatest +facility, not a sheet being touched, the sails trimming themselves, +the rudder alone controlling the admirable machine. The object +appeared to be a reconnoissance. When, however, the _Scud_ had made +the circuit of the entire island, and had again got her weatherly +position in the channel by which she had first approached, her helm +was put down, and she tacked. The noise of the mainsail flapping +when it filled, loose-reefed as it was, sounded like the report of +a gun, and Cap trembled lest the seams should open. + +"His Majesty gives good canvas, it must be owned," muttered the +old seaman; "and it must be owned, too, that boy handles his boat +as if he were thoroughly bred! D--- me, Master Pathfinder, if I +believe, after all that has been reported in the matter, that this +Mister Oh-deuce got his trade on this bit of fresh water." + +"He did; yes, he did. He never saw the ocean, and has come by his +calling altogether up here on Ontario. I have often thought he +has a nat'ral gift in the way of schooners and sloops, and have +respected him accordingly. As for treason and lying and black-hearted +vices, friend Cap, Jasper Western is as free as the most virtuousest +of the Delaware warriors; and if you crave to see a truly honest +man, you must go among that tribe to discover him." + +"There he comes round!" exclaimed the delighted Cap, the _Scud_ +at this moment filling on her original tack; "and now we shall see +what the boy would be at; he cannot mean to keep running up and +down these passages, like a girl footing it through a country-dance." + +The _Scud_ now kept so much away, that for a moment the two observers +on the blockhouse feared Jasper meant to come-to; and the savages, +in their lairs, gleamed out upon her with the sort of exultation +that the crouching tiger may be supposed to feel as he sees +his unconscious victim approach his bed. But Jasper had no such +intention: familiar with the shore, and acquainted with the depth +of water on every part of the island, he well knew that the _Scud_ +might be run against the bank with impunity, and he ventured +fearlessly so near, that, as he passed through the little cove, +he swept the two boats of the soldiers from their fastenings and +forced them out into the channel, towing them with the cutter. +As all the canoes were fastened to the two Dunham boats, by this +bold and successful attempt the savages were at once deprived +of the means of quitting the island, unless by swimming, and they +appeared to be instantly aware of the very important fact. Rising +in a body, they filled the air with yells, and poured in a harmless +fire. While up in this unguarded manner, two rifles were discharged +by their adversaries. One came from the summit of the block, and +an Iroquois fell dead in his tracks, shot through the brain. The +other came from the _Scud_. The last was the piece of the Delaware, +but, less true than that of his friend, it only maimed an enemy +for life. The people of the _Scud_ shouted, and the savages sank +again, to a man, as if it might be into the earth. + +"That was the Sarpent's voice," said Pathfinder, as soon as the +second piece was discharged. "I know the crack of his rifle as well +as I do that of Killdeer. 'Tis a good barrel, though not sartain +death. Well, well, with Chingachgook and Jasper on the water, +and you and I in the block, friend Cap, it will be hard if we don't +teach these Mingo scamps the rationality of a fight." + +All this time the _Scud_ was in motion. As soon as he had reached +the end of the island, Jasper sent his prizes adrift; and they went +down before the wind until they stranded on a point half a mile +to leeward. He then wore, and came stemming the current again, +through the other passage. Those on the summit of the block could +now perceive that something was in agitation on the deck of the +_Scud_; and, to their great delight, just as the cutter came abreast +of the principal cove, on the spot where most of the enemy lay, +the howitzer which composed her sole armament was unmasked, and a +shower of case-shot was sent hissing into the bushes. A bevy of +quail would not have risen quicker than this unexpected discharge +of iron hail put up the Iroquois; when a second savage fell by a +messenger sent from Killdeer, and another went limping away by a +visit from the rifle of Chingachgook. New covers were immediately +found, however; and each party seemed to prepare for the renewal +of the strife in another form. But the appearance of June, bearing +a white flag, and accompanied by the French officer and Muir, stayed +the hands of all, and was the forerunner of another parley. The +negotiation that followed was held beneath the blockhouse; and so +near it as at once to put those who were uncovered completely at +the mercy of Pathfinder's unerring aim. Jasper anchored directly +abeam; and the howitzer, too, was kept trained upon the negotiators: +so that the besieged and their friends, with the exception of the +man who held the match, had no hesitation about exposing their +persons. Chingachgook alone lay in ambush; more, however, from +habit than distrust. + +"You've triumphed, Pathfinder," called out the Quartermaster, "and +Captain Sanglier has come himself to offer terms. You'll no' +be denying a brave enemy honorable retreat, when he has fought ye +fairly, and done all the credit he could to king and country. Ye +are too loyal a subject yourself to visit loyalty and fidelity with +a heavy judgment. I am authorized to offer, on the part of the +enemy, an evacuation of the island, a mutual exchange of prisoners, +and a restoration of scalps. In the absence of baggage and artillery, +little more can be done." + +As the conversation was necessarily carried on in a high key, both +on account of the wind and of the distance, all that was said was +heard equally by those in the block and those in the cutter. + +"What do you say to that, Jasper?" called out Pathfinder. "You +hear the proposal. Shall we let the vagabonds go? Or shall we +mark them, as they mark their sheep in the settlements, that we +may know them again?" + +"What has befallen Mabel Dunham?" demanded the young man, with a +frown on his handsome face, that was visible even to those on the +block. "If a hair of her head has been touched, it will go hard +with the whole Iroquois tribe." + +"Nay, nay, she is safe below, nursing a dying parent, as +becomes her sex. We owe no grudge on account of the Sergeant's +hurt, which comes of lawful warfare; and as for Mabel -- " + +"She is here!" exclaimed the girl herself, who had mounted to the +roof the moment she found the direction things were taking, -- +"she is here! And, in the name of our holy religion, and of that +God whom we profess to worship in common, let there be no more +bloodshed! Enough has been spilt already; and if these men will +go away, Pathfinder -- if they will depart peaceably, Jasper -- +oh, do not detain one of them! My poor father is approaching his +end, and it were better that he should draw his last breath in peace +with the world. Go, go, Frenchmen and Indians! We are no longer +your enemies, and will harm none of you." + +"Tut, tut, Magnet!" put in Cap; "this sounds religious, perhaps, or +like a book of poetry; but it does not sound like common sense. The +enemy is just ready to strike; Jasper is anchored with his broadside +to bear, and, no doubt, with springs on his cables; Pathfinder's eye +and hand are as true as the needle; and we shall get prize-money, +head-money, and honor in the bargain, if you will not interfere +for the next half-hour." + +"Well," said Pathfinder, "I incline to Mabel's way of thinking. +There _has_ been enough blood shed to answer our purpose and to +sarve the king; and as for honor, in that meaning, it will do better +for young ensigns and recruits than for cool-headed, obsarvant +Christian men. There is honor in doing what's right, and unhonor +in doing what's wrong; and I think it wrong to take the life even +of a Mingo, without a useful end in view, I do; and right to hear +reason at all times. So, Lieutenant Muir, let us know what your +friends the Frenchers and Indians have to say for themselves." + +"My friends!" said Muir, starting; "you'll no' be calling the +king's enemies my friends, Pathfinder, because the fortune of war +has thrown me into their hands? Some of the greatest warriors, +both of ancient and modern times, have been prisoners of war; and +yon is Master Cap, who can testify whether we did not do all that +men could devise to escape the calamity." + +"Ay, ay," drily answered Cap; "escape is the proper word. We ran +below and hid ourselves, and so discreetly, that we might have +remained in the hole to this hour, had it not been for the necessity +of re-stowing the bread lockers. You burrowed on that occasion, +Quartermaster, as handily as a fox; and how the d---l you knew so +well where to find the spot is a matter of wonder to me. A regular +skulk on board ship does not trail aft more readily when the jib +is to be stowed, than you went into that same hole." + +"And did ye no' follow? There are moments in a man's life +when reason ascends to instinct -- " + +"And men descend into holes," interrupted Cap, laughing in +his boisterous way, while Pathfinder chimed in, in his peculiar +manner. Even Jasper, though still filled with concern for Mabel, +was obliged to smile. "They say the d---l wouldn't make a sailor +if he didn't look aloft; and now it seems he'll not make a soldier +if he doesn't look below!" + +This burst of merriment, though it was anything but agreeable to +Muir, contributed largely towards keeping the peace. Cap fancied +he had said a thing much better than common; and that disposed him +to yield his own opinion on the main point, so long as he got the +good opinion of his companions on his novel claim to be a wit. +After a short discussion, all the savages on the island were collected +in a body, without arms, at the distance of a hundred yards from the +block, and under the gun of the _Scud_; while Pathfinder descended +to the door of the blockhouse and settled the terms on which the +island was to be finally evacuated by the enemy. Considering all +the circumstances, the conditions were not very discreditable to +either party. The Indians were compelled to give up all their arms, +even to their knives and tomahawks, as a measure of precaution, +their force being still quadruple that of their foes. The French +officer, Monsieur Sanglier, as he was usually styled, and chose to +call himself, remonstrated against this act as one likely to reflect +more discredit on his command than any other part of the affair; +but Pathfinder, who had witnessed one or two Indian massacres, +and knew how valueless pledges became when put in opposition to +interest where a savage was concerned, was obdurate. The second +stipulation was of nearly the same importance. It compelled +Captain Sanglier to give up all his prisoners, who had been kept +well guarded in the very hole or cave in which Cap and Muir had taken +refuge. When these men were produced, four of them were found to +be unhurt; they had fallen merely to save their lives, a common +artifice in that species of warfare; and of the remainder, two were +so slightly injured as not to be unfit for service. As they brought +their muskets with them, this addition to his force immediately +put Pathfinder at his ease; for, having collected all the arms of +the enemy in the blockhouse, he directed these men to take possession +of the building, stationing a regular sentinel at the door. The +remainder of the soldiers were dead, the badly wounded having been +instantly despatched in order to obtain the much-coveted scalps. + +As soon as Jasper was made acquainted with the terms, and the +preliminaries had been so far observed as to render it safe for him +to be absent, he got the _Scud_ under weigh; and, running down to +the point where the boats had stranded, he took them in tow again, +and, making a few stretches, brought them into the leeward passage. +Here all the savages instantly embarked, when Jasper took the boats +in tow a third time, and, running off before the wind, he soon +set them adrift full a mile to leeward of the island. The Indians +were furnished with but a single oar in each boat to steer with, +the young sailor well knowing that by keeping before the wind they +would land on the shores of Canada in the course of the morning. + +Captain Sanglier, Arrowhead, and June alone remained, when this +disposition had been made of the rest of the party: the former +having certain papers to draw up and sign with Lieutenant Muir, +who in his eyes possessed the virtues which are attached to a +commission; and the latter preferring, for reasons of his own, not +to depart in company with his late friends, the Iroquois. Canoes +were detained for the departure of these three, when the proper +moment should arrive. + +In the meantime, or while the _Scud_ was running down with the +boats in tow, Pathfinder and Cap, aided by proper assistants, busied +themselves with preparing a breakfast; most of the party not having +eaten for four-and-twenty hours. The brief space that passed in +this manner before the _Scud_ came-to again was little interrupted +by discourse, though Pathfinder found leisure to pay a visit to the +Sergeant, to say a few friendly words to Mabel, and to give such +directions as he thought might smooth the passage of the dying +man. As for Mabel herself, he insisted on her taking some light +refreshment; and, there no longer existing any motive for keeping +it there, he had the guard removed from the block, in order that +the daughter might have no impediment to her attentions to her +father. These little arrangements completed, our hero returned +to the fire, around which he found all the remainder of the party +assembled, including Jasper. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +You saw but sorrow in its waning form; +A working sea remaining from a storm, +Where now the weary waves roll o'er the deep, +And faintly murmur ere they fall asleep. +DRYDEN. + + +Men accustomed to a warfare like that we have been describing are +not apt to be much under the influence of the tender feelings +while still in the field. Notwithstanding their habits, however, +more than one heart was with Mabel in the block, while the incidents +we are about to relate were in the course of occurrence; and even +the indispensable meal was less relished by the hardiest of the +soldiers than it might have been had not the Sergeant been so near +his end. + +As Pathfinder returned from the block, he was met by Muir, who +led him aside in order to hold a private discourse. The manner of +the Quartermaster had that air of supererogatory courtesy about it +which almost invariably denotes artifice; for, while physiognomy +and phrenology are but lame sciences at the best, and perhaps lead +to as many false as right conclusions, we hold that there is no +more infallible evidence of insincerity of purpose, short of overt +acts, than a face that smiles when there is no occasion, and the +tongue that is out of measure smooth. Muir had much of this manner +in common, mingled with an apparent frankness that his Scottish +intonation of voice, Scottish accent, and Scottish modes of expression +were singularly adapted to sustain. He owed his preferment, indeed, +to a long-exercised deference to Lundie and his family; for, while +the Major himself was much too acute to be the dupe of one so much +his inferior in real talents and attainments, most persons are +accustomed to make liberal concessions to the flatterer, even while +they distrust his truth and are perfectly aware of his motives. On +the present occasion, the contest in skill was between two men as +completely the opposites of each other in all the leading essentials +of character as very well could be. Pathfinder was as simple as +the Quartermaster was practised; he was as sincere as the other +was false, and as direct as the last was tortuous. Both were cool +and calculating, and both were brave, though in different modes and +degrees; Muir never exposing his person except for effect, while +the guide included fear among the rational passions, or as a +sensation to be deferred to only when good might come of it. + +"My dearest friend," Muir commenced, -- "for ye'll be dearer to us +all, by seventy and sevenfold, after your late conduct than ever ye +were, -- ye've just established yourself in this late transaction. +It's true that they'll not be making ye a commissioned officer, for +that species of prefairment is not much in your line, nor much in +your wishes, I'm thinking; but as a guide, and a counsellor, and +a loyal subject, and an expert marksman, yer renown may be said to +be full. I doubt if the commander-in-chief will carry away with +him from America as much credit as will fall to yer share, and +ye ought just to set down in content and enjoy yoursal' for the +remainder of yer days. Get married, man, without delay, and look +to your precious happiness; for ye've no occasion to look any +longer to your glory. Take Mabel Dunham, for Heaven's sake, to your +bosom, and ye'll have both a bonnie bride and a bonnie reputation." + +"Why, Quartermaster, this is a new piece of advice to come from +your mouth. They've told me I had a rival in you." + +"And ye had, man, and a formidible one, too, I can tell you, -- one +that has never yet courted in vain, and yet one that has courted +five times. Lundie twits me with four, and I deny the charge; but +he little thinks the truth would outdo even his arithmetic. Yes, +yes, ye had a rival, Pathfinder; but ye've one no longer in me. +Ye've my hearty wishes for yer success with Mabel; and were the +honest Sergeant likely to survive, ye might rely on my good word +with him, too, for a certainty." + +"I feel your friendship, Quartermaster, I feel your friendship, +though I have no great need of any favor with Sergeant Dunham, who +has long been my friend. I believe we may look upon the matter +to be as sartain as most things in war-time; for, Mabel and her +father consenting, the whole 55th couldn't very well put a stop to +it. Ah's me! The poor father will scarcely live to see what his +heart has so long been set upon." + +"But he'll have the consolation of knowing it will come to pass, +in dying. Oh, it's a great relief, Pathfinder, for the parting +spirit to feel certain that the beloved ones left behind will be +well provided for after its departure. All the Mistress Muirs have +duly expressed that sentiment with their dying breaths." + +"All your wives, Quartermaster, have been likely to feel this +consolation." + +"Out upon ye, man! I'd no' thought ye such a wag. Well, well; +pleasant words make no heart-burnings between auld fri'nds. If +I cannot espouse Mabel, ye'll no object to my esteeming her, and +speaking well of her, and of yoursal', too, on all suitable occasions +and in all companies. But, Pathfinder, ye'll easily understan' +that a poor deevil who loses such a bride will probably stand in +need of some consolation?" + +"Quite likely, quite likely, Quartermaster," returned the simple-minded +guide; "I know the loss of Mabel would be found heavy to be borne +by myself. It may bear hard on your feelings to see us married; +but the death of the Sergeant will be likely to put it off, and +you'll have time to think more manfully of it, you will." + +"I'll bear up against it; yes, I'll bear up against it, though my +heart-strings crack! And ye might help me, man, by giving me something +to do. Ye'll understand that this expedition has been of a very +peculiar nature; for here am I, bearing the king's commission, +just a volunteer, as it might be; while a mere orderly has had the +command. I've submitted for various reasons, though my blood has +boiled to be in authority, while ye war' battling, for the honor +of the country and his Majesty's rights -- " + +"Quartermaster," interrupted the guide, "you fell so early into the +enemy's hands that your conscience ought to be easily satisfied on +that score; so take my advice, and say nothing about it." + +"That's just my opinion, Pathfinder; we'll all say nothing +about it. Sergeant Dunham is _hors de combat_ -- " + +"Anan?" said the guide. + +"Why, the Sergeant can command no longer, and it will hardly do to +leave a corporal at the head of a victorious party like this; for +flowers that will bloom in a garden will die on a heath; and I was +just thinking I would claim the authority that belongs to one who +holds a lieutenant's commission. As for the men, they'll no dare +to raise any objaction; and as for yoursal', my dear friend, now +that ye've so much honor, and Mabel, and the consciousness of having +done yer duty, which is more precious than all, I expect to find +an ally rather than one to oppose the plan." + +"As for commanding the soldiers of the 55th, Lieutenant, it is your +right, I suppose, and no one here will be likely to gainsay it; +though you've been a prisoner of war, and there are men who might +stand out ag'in giving up their authority to a prisoner released by +their own deeds. Still no one here will be likely to say anything +hostile to your wishes." + +"That's just it, Pathfinder; and when I come to draw up the report +of our success against the boats, and the defence of the block, +together with the general operations, including the capitulation, +ye'll no' find any omission of your claims and merits." + +"Tut for my claims and merits, Quartermaster! Lundie knows what I +am in the forest and what I am in the fort; and the General knows +better than he. No fear of me; tell your own story, only taking +care to do justice by Mabel's father, who, in one sense, is the +commanding officer at this very moment." + +Muir expressed his entire satisfaction with this arrangement, as +well as his determination to do justice by all, when the two went +to the group assembled round the fire. Here the Quartermaster +began, for the first time since leaving Oswego, to assume some +of the authority that might properly be supposed to belong to his +rank. Taking the remaining corporal aside, he distinctly told +that functionary that he must in future be regarded as one holding +the king's commission, and directed him to acquaint his subordinates +with the new state of things. This change in the dynasty was +effected without any of the usual symptoms of a revolution; for, +as all well understood the Lieutenant's legal claims to command, +no one felt disposed to dispute his orders. For reasons best known +to themselves, Lundie and the Quartermaster had originally made a +different disposition; and now, for reasons of his own, the latter +had seen fit to change it. This was reasoning enough for soldiers, +though the hurt received by Sergeant Dunham would have sufficiently +explained the circumstance had an explanation been required. + +All this time Captain Sanglier was looking after his own breakfast +with the resignation of a philosopher, the coolness of a veteran, +the ingenuity and science of a Frenchman, and the voracity of an +ostrich. This person had now been in the colony some thirty years, +having left France in some such situation in his own army as Muir +filled in the 55th. An iron constitution, perfect obduracy of +feeling, a certain address well suited to manage savages, and an +indomitable courage, had early pointed him out to the commander-in-chief +as a suitable agent to be employed in directing the military +operations of his Indian allies. In this capacity, then, he had +risen to the titular rank of captain; and with his promotion had +acquired a portion of the habits and opinions of his associates +with a facility and an adaptation of self which are thought in +America to be peculiar to his countrymen. He had often led parties +of the Iroquois in their predatory expeditions; and his conduct on +such occasions exhibited the contradictory results of both alleviating +the misery produced by this species of warfare, and of augmenting +it by the broader views and greater resources of civilization. In +other words, he planned enterprises that, in their importance and +consequences, much exceeded the usual policy of the Indians, and +then stepped in to lessen some of the evils of his own creating. +In short, he was an adventurer whom circumstances had thrown into +a situation where the callous qualities of men of his class might +readily show themselves for good or for evil; and he was not of a +character to baffle fortune by any ill-timed squeamishness on the +score of early impressions, or to trifle with her liberality by +unnecessarily provoking her frowns through wanton cruelty. Still, +as his name was unavoidably connected with many of the excesses +committed by his parties, he was generally considered in the American +provinces a wretch who delighted in bloodshed, and who found his +greatest happiness in tormenting the helpless and the innocent; +and the name of Sanglier, which was a sobriquet of his own adopting, +or of Flint Heart, as he was usually termed on the borders, had +got to be as terrible to the women and children of that part of +the country as those of Butler and Brandt became at a later day. + +The meeting between Pathfinder and Sanglier bore some resemblance +to that celebrated interview between Wellington and Blucher which +has been so often and graphically told. It took place at the fire; +and the parties stood earnestly regarding each other for more than +a minute without speaking. Each felt that in the other he saw a +formidable foe; and each felt, while he ought to treat the other +with the manly liberality due to a warrior, that there was little +in common between them in the way of character as well as of +interests. One served for money and preferment; the other, because +his life had been cast in the wilderness, and the land of his +birth needed his arm and experience. The desire of rising above his +present situation never disturbed the tranquillity of Pathfinder; +nor had he ever known an ambitious thought, as ambition usually +betrays itself, until he became acquainted with Mabel. Since then, +indeed, distrust of himself, reverence for her, and the wish to +place her in a situation above that which he then filled, had caused +him some uneasy moments; but the directness and simplicity of his +character had early afforded the required relief; and he soon came +to feel that the woman who would not hesitate to accept him for her +husband would not scruple to share his fortunes, however humble. +He respected Sanglier as a brave warrior; and he had far too much +of that liberality which is the result of practical knowledge to +believe half of what he had heard to his prejudice, for the most +bigoted and illiberal on every subject are usually those who know +nothing about it; but he could not approve of his selfishness, +cold-blooded calculations, and least of all of the manner in which +he forgot his "white gifts," to adopt those that were purely "red." +On the other hand, Pathfinder was a riddle to Captain Sanglier. +The latter could not comprehend the other's motives; he had often +heard of his disinterestedness, justice, and truth; and in several +instances they had led him into grave errors, on that principle +by which a frank and open-mouthed diplomatist is said to keep his +secrets better than one that is close-mouthed and wily. + +After the two heroes had gazed at each other in the manner +mentioned, Monsieur Sanglier touched his cap; for the rudeness of +a border life had not entirely destroyed the courtesy of manner he +had acquired in youth, nor extinguished that appearance of _bonhomie_ +which seems inbred in a Frenchman. + +"Monsieur le Pathfinder," said he, with a very decided accent, +though with a friendly smile, "_un militaire_ honor _le courage, +et la loyaute_. You speak Iroquois?" + +"Ay, I understand the language of the riptyles, and can get along +with it if there's occasion," returned the literal and truth-telling +guide; "but it's neither a tongue nor a tribe to my taste. Wherever +you find the Mingo blood, in my opinion, Master Flinty-heart, you +find a knave. Well, I've seen you often, though it was in battle; +and I must say it was always in the van. You must know most of +our bullets by sight?" + +"Nevvair, sair, your own; _une balle_ from your honorable hand be +sairtaine deat'. You kill my best warrior on some island." + +"That may be, that may be; though I daresay, if the truth was known, +they would turn out to be great rascals. No offence to you, Master +Flinty-heart, but you keep desperate evil company." + +"Yes, sair," returned the Frenchman, who, bent on saying that +which was courteous himself, and comprehending with difficulty, +was disposed to think he received a compliment, "you too good. +But _un brave_ always _comme ca_. What that mean? ha! what that +_jeune homme_ do?" + +The hand and eye of Captain Sanglier directed the look of Pathfinder +to the opposite side of the fire, where Jasper, just at that moment, +had been rudely seized by two of the soldiers, who were binding +his arms under the direction of Muir. + +"What does that mean, indeed?" cried the guide, stepping forward +and shoving the two subordinates away with a power of muscle +that would not be denied. "Who has the heart to do this to Jasper +Eau-douce? And who has the boldness to do it before my eyes?" + +"It is by my orders, Pathfinder," answered the Quartermaster, "and +I command it on my own responsibility. Ye'll no' tak' on yourself +to dispute the legality of orders given by one who bears the king's +commission to the king's soldiers?" + +"I'd dispute the king's words, if they came from the king's own +mouth, did he say that Jasper desarves this. Has not the lad just +saved all our scalps, taken us from defeat, and given us victory? +No, no, Lieutenant; if this is the first use that you make of your +authority, I, for one, will not respect it." + +"This savors a little of insubordination," answered Muir; "but we +can bear much from Pathfinder. It is true this Jasper has _seemed_ +to serve us in this affair, but we ought not to overlook past +transactions. Did not Major Duncan himself denounce him to Sergeant +Dunham before we left the post? Have we not seen sufficient with +our own eyes to make sure of having been betrayed? And is it not +natural, and almost necessary, to believe that this young man has +been the traitor? Ah, Pathfinder! Ye'll no' be making yourself +a great statesman or a great captain if you put too much faith in +appearances. Lord bless me! Lord bless me! If I do not believe, +could the truth be come at, as you often say yourself, Pathfinder, +that hypocrisy is a more common vice than even envy, and that's +the bane of human nature." + +Captain Sanglier shrugged his shoulders; then he looked earnestly +from Jasper towards the Quartermaster, and from the Quartermaster +towards Jasper. + +"I care not for your envy, or your hypocrisy, or even for your human +natur'," returned Pathfinder. "Jasper Eau-douce is my friend; Jasper +Eau-douce is a brave lad, and an honest lad, and a loyal lad; and +no man of the 55th shall lay hands on him, short of Lundie's own +orders, while I'm in the way to prevent it. You may have authority +over your soldiers; but you have none over Jasper and me, Master +Muir." + +"_Bon!_" ejaculated Sanglier, the sound partaking equally of the +energies of the throat and of the nose. + +"Will ye no' hearken to reason, Pathfinder? Ye'll no' be forgetting +our suspicions and judgments; and here is another circumstance +to augment and aggravate them all. Ye can see this little bit of +bunting; well, where should it be found but by Mabel Dunham, on +the branch of a tree on this very island, just an hour or so before +the attack of the enemy; and if ye'll be at the trouble to look at +the fly of the _Scud's_ ensign, ye'll just say that the cloth has +been cut from out it. Circumstantial evidence was never stronger." + +"_Ma foi, c'est un peu fort, ceci,_" growled Sanglier between his +teeth. + +"Talk to me of no ensigns and signals when I know the heart," +continued the Pathfinder. "Jasper has the gift of honesty; and it +is too rare a gift to be trifled with, like a Mingo's conscience. +No, no; off hands, or we shall see which can make the stoutest battle; +you and your men of the 55th, or the Sarpent here, and Killdeer, +with Jasper and his crew. You overrate your force, Lieutenant +Muir, as much as you underrate Eau-douce's truth." + +"_Tres bon!_" + +"Well, if I must speak plainly, Pathfinder, I e'en must. Captain +Sanglier here and Arrowhead, this brave Tuscarora, have both +informed me that this unfortunate boy is the traitor. After such +testimony you can no longer oppose my right to correct him, as well +as the necessity of the act." + +"_Scelerat,_" muttered the Frenchman. + +"Captain Sanglier is a brave soldier, and will not gainsay the +conduct of an honest sailor," put in Jasper. "Is there any traitor +here, Captain Flinty-heart?" + +"Ay," added Muir, "let him speak out then, since ye wish it, +unhappy youth! That the truth may be known. I only hope that ye +may escape the last punishment when a court will be sitting on your +misdeeds. How is it, Captain; do ye, or do ye not, see a traitor +amang us?" + +"_Oui_ -- yes, sair -- _bien sur_." + +"Too much lie!" said Arrowhead in a voice of thunder, striking the +breast of Muir with the back of his own hand in a sort of ungovernable +gesture; "where my warriors? - where Yengeese scalp? Too much +lie!" + +Muir wanted not for personal courage, nor for a certain sense of +personal honor. The violence which had been intended only for a +gesture he mistook for a blow; for conscience was suddenly aroused +within him, and he stepped back a pace, extending his hand towards +a gun. His face was livid with rage, and his countenance expressed +the fell intention of his heart. But Arrowhead was too quick for +him; with a wild glance of the eye the Tuscarora looked about him; +then thrust a hand beneath his own girdle, drew forth a concealed +knife, and, in the twinkling of an eye, buried it in the body of +the Quartermaster to the handle. As the latter fell at his feet, +gazing into his face with the vacant stare of one surprised by +death, Sanglier took a pinch of snuff, and said in a calm voice, +-- + +"_Voila l'affaire finie; mais,_" shrugging his shoulders, "_ce +n'est qu'un scelerat de moins._" + +The act was too sudden to be prevented; and when Arrowhead, uttering +a yell, bounded into the bushes, the white men were too confounded +to follow. Chingachgook, however, was more collected; and the +bushes had scarcely closed on the passing body of the Tuscarora +than they were again opened by that of the Delaware in full pursuit. + +Jasper Western spoke French fluently, and the words and manner of +Sanglier struck him. + +"Speak, Monsieur," said he in English; "_am_ I the traitor?" + +"_Le voila_," answered the cool Frenchman, "dat is our _espion_ -- +our _agent_ -- our friend -- _ma foi_ -- _c'etait un grand scelerat_ +-- _voici_." + +While speaking, Sanglier bent over the dead body, and thrust his +hand into a pocket of the Quartermaster, out of which he drew a +purse. Emptying the contents on the ground, several double-louis +rolled towards the soldiers, who were not slow in picking them up. +Casting the purse from him in contempt, the soldier of fortune +turned towards the soup he had been preparing with so much care, +and, finding it to his liking, he began to break his fast with an +air of indifference that the most stoical Indian warrior might have +envied. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +The only amaranthian flower on earth +Is virtue; the only lasting treasure, truth. +COWPER. + + +The reader must imagine some of the occurrences that followed the +sudden death of Muir. While his body was in the hands of his soldiers, +who laid it decently aside, and covered it with a greatcoat, +Chingachgook silently resumed his place at the fire, and both +Sanglier and Pathfinder remarked that he carried a fresh and bleeding +scalp at his girdle. No one asked any questions; and the former, +although perfectly satisfied that Arrowhead had fallen, manifested +neither curiosity nor feeling. He continued calmly eating his soup, +as if the meal had been tranquil as usual. There was something +of pride and of an assumed indifference to fate, imitated from the +Indians, in all this; but there was more that really resulted from +practice, habitual self-command, and constitutional hardihood. +With Pathfinder the case was a little different in feeling, though +much the same in appearance. He disliked Muir, whose smooth-tongued +courtesy was little in accordance with his own frank and ingenuous +nature; but he had been shocked at his unexpected and violent death, +though accustomed to similar scenes, and he had been surprised +at the exposure of his treachery. With a view to ascertain the +extent of the latter, as soon as the body was removed, he began to +question the Captain on the subject. The latter, having no particular +motive for secrecy now that his agent was dead, in the course +of the breakfast revealed the following circumstances, which will +serve to clear up some of the minor incidents of our tale. + +Soon after the 55th appeared on the frontiers, Muir had volunteered +his services to the enemy. In making his offers, he boasted of his +intimacy with Lundie, and of the means it afforded of furnishing +more accurate and important information than usual. His terms had +been accepted, and Monsieur Sanglier had several interviews with +him in the vicinity of the fort at Oswego, and had actually passed +one entire night secreted in the garrison. Arrowhead, however, +was the usual channel of communication; and the anonymous letter to +Major Duncan had been originally written by Muir, transmitted to +Frontenac, copied, and sent back by the Tuscarora, who was returning +from that errand when captured by the _Scud_. It is scarcely +necessary to add that Jasper was to be sacrificed in order to +conceal the Quartermaster's treason, and that the position of the +island had been betrayed to the enemy by the latter. An extraordinary +compensation -- that which was found in his purse -- had induced +him to accompany the party under Sergeant Dunham, in order to give +the signals that were to bring on the attack. The disposition +of Muir towards the sex was a natural weakness, and he would have +married Mabel, or any one else who would accept his hand; but his +admiration of her was in a great degree feigned, in order that he +might have an excuse for accompanying the party without sharing in +the responsibility of its defeat, or incurring the risk of having +no other strong and seemingly sufficient motive. Much of this +was known to Captain Sanglier, particularly the part in connection +with Mabel, and he did not fail to let his auditors into the whole +secret, frequently laughing in a sarcastic manner, as he revealed +the different expedients of the luckless Quartermaster. + +"_Touchez-la_," said the cold-blooded partisan, holding out his +sinewy hand to Pathfinder, when he ended his explanations; "you be +_honnete_, and dat is _beaucoup_. We tak' de spy as we tak' _la +medicine_, for de good; _mais, je les deteste! Touchez-la._" + +"I'll shake your hand, Captain, I will; for you're a lawful and +nat'ral inimy," returned Pathfinder, "and a manful one; but the +body of the Quartermaster shall never disgrace English ground. I +did intend to carry it back to Lundie that he might play his bagpipes +over it, but now it shall lie here on the spot where he acted +his villainy, and have his own treason for a headstone. Captain +Flinty-heart, I suppose this consorting with traitors is a part of +a soldier's regular business; but, I tell you honestly, it is not +to my liking, and I'd rather it should be you than I who had this +affair on his conscience. What an awful sinner! To plot, right +and left, ag'in country, friends, and the Lord! Jasper, boy, a +word with you aside, for a single minute." + +Pathfinder now led the young man apart; and, squeezing his hand, +with the tears in his own eyes, he continued: + +"You know me, Eau-douce, and I know you," said he, "and this news +has not changed my opinion of you in any manner. I never believed their +tales, though it looked solemn at one minute, I will own; yes, it +did look solemn, and it made me feel solemn too. I never suspected +you for a minute, for I know your gifts don't lie that-a-way; but, +I must own, I didn't suspect the Quartermaster neither." + +"And he holding his Majesty's commission, Pathfinder!" + +"It isn't so much that, Jasper Western, it isn't so much that. He +held a commission from God to act right, and to deal fairly with +his fellow-creaturs, and he has failed awfully in his duty." + +"To think of his pretending love for one like Mabel, too, when he +felt none." + +"That was bad, sartainly; the fellow must have had Mingo blood in +his veins. The man that deals unfairly by a woman can be but a +mongrel, lad; for the Lord has made them helpless on purpose that +we may gain their love by kindness and sarvices. Here is the +Sergeant, poor man, on his dying bed; he has given me his daughter +for a wife, and Mabel, dear girl, she has consented to it; and it +makes me feel that I have two welfares to look after, two natur's +to care for, and two hearts to gladden. Ah's me, Jasper! I +sometimes feel that I'm not good enough for that sweet child!" + +Eau-douce had nearly gasped for breath when he first heard this +intelligence; and, though he succeeded in suppressing any other +outward signs of agitation, his cheek was blanched nearly to the +paleness of death. Still he found means to answer not only with +firmness, but with energy, -- + +"Say not so, Pathfinder; you are good enough for a queen." + +"Ay, ay, boy, according to your idees of my goodness; that is to +say, I can kill a deer, or even a Mingo at need, with any man on +the lines; or I can follow a forest-path with as true an eye, or +read the stars, when others do not understand them. No doubt, no +doubt, Mabel will have venison enough, and fish enough, and pigeons +enough; but will she have knowledge enough, and will she have idees +enough, and pleasant conversation enough, when life comes to drag +a little, and each of us begins to pass for our true value?" + +"If you pass for your value, Pathfinder, the greatest lady in the +land would be happy with you. On that head you have no reason to +feel afraid." + +"Now, Jasper, I dare to say _you_ think so, nay, I _know_ you do; +for it is nat'ral, and according to friendship, for people to look +over-favorably at them they love. Yes, yes; if I had to marry you, +boy, I should give myself no consarn about my being well looked +upon, for you have always shown a disposition to see me and all I +do with friendly eyes. But a young gal, after all, must wish to +marry a man that is nearer to her own age and fancies, than to have +one old enough to be her father, and rude enough to frighten her. +I wonder, Jasper, that Mabel never took a fancy to you, now, rather +than setting her mind on me." + +"Take, a fancy to me, Pathfinder!" returned the young man, endeavoring +to clear his voice without betraying himself; "what is there about +me to please such a girl as Mabel Dunham? I have all that you find +fault with in yourself, with none of that excellence that makes +even the generals respect you." + +"Well, well, it's all chance, say what we will about it. Here have +I journeyed and guided through the woods female after female, and +consorted with them in the garrisons, and never have I even felt +an inclination for any, until I saw Mabel Dunham. It's true the +poor Sergeant first set me to thinking about his daughter; but +after we got a little acquainted like, I'd no need of being spoken +to, to think of her night and day. I'm tough, Jasper; yes, I'm +very tough; and I'm risolute enough, as you all know; and yet I do +think it would quite break me down, now, to lose Mabel Dunham!" + +"We will talk no more of it, Pathfinder," said Jasper, returning +his friend's squeeze of the hand, and moving back towards the fire, +though slowly, and in the manner of one who cared little where he +went; "we will talk no more of it. You are worthy of Mabel, and +Mabel is worthy of you -- you like Mabel, and Mabel likes you -- +her father has chosen you for her husband, and no one has a right +to interfere. As for the Quartermaster, his feigning love for +Mabel is worse even than his treason to the king." + +By this time they were so near the fire that it was necessary to +change the conversation. Luckily, at that instant, Cap, who had +been in the block in company with his dying brother-in-law, and +who knew nothing of what had passed since the capitulation, now +appeared, walking with a meditative and melancholy air towards the +group. Much of that hearty dogmatism, that imparted even to his +ordinary air and demeanor an appearance of something like contempt +for all around him, had disappeared, and he seemed thoughtful, if +not meek. + +"This death, gentlemen," said he, when he had got sufficiently +near, "is a melancholy business, make the best of it. Now, here +is Sergeant Dunham, a very good soldier, I make no question, about +to slip his cable; and yet he holds on to the better end of it, +as if he was determined it should never run out of the hawse-hole; +and all because he loves his daughter, it seems to me. For my +part, when a friend is really under the necessity of making a long +journey, I always wish him well and happily off." + +"You wouldn't kill the Sergeant before his time?" Pathfinder +reproachfully answered. "Life is sweet, even to the aged; and, +for that matter, I've known some that seemed to set much store by +it when it got to be of the least value." + +Nothing had been further from Cap's real thoughts than the wish to +hasten his brother-in-law's end. He had found himself embarrassed +with the duties of smoothing a deathbed, and all he had meant +was to express a sincere desire that the Sergeant were happily +rid of doubt and suffering. A little shocked, therefore, at the +interpretation that had been put on his words, he rejoined with some +of the asperity of the man, though rebuked by a consciousness of +not having done his own wishes justice. "You are too old and too +sensible a person, Pathfinder," said he, "to fetch a man up with +a surge, when he is paying out his ideas in distress, as it might +be. Sergeant Dunham is both my brother-in-law and my friend, -- +that is to say, as intimate a friend as a soldier well can be with +a seafaring man, -- and I respect and honor him accordingly. I +make no doubt, moreover, that he has lived such a life as becomes +a man, and there can be no great harm, after all, in wishing any +one well berthed in heaven. Well! we are mortal, the best of us, +that you'll not deny; and it ought to be a lesson not to feel pride +in our strength and beauty. Where is the Quartermaster, Pathfinder? +It is proper he should come and have a parting word with the poor +Sergeant, who is only going a little before us." + +"You have spoken more truth, Master Cap, than you've been knowing +to, all this time. You might have gone further, notwithstanding, +and said that we are mortal, the _worst_ of us; which is quite +as true, and a good deal more wholesome, than saying that we are +mortal, the _best_ of us. As for the Quartermaster's coming to speak +a parting word to the Sergeant, it is quite out of the question, +seeing that he has gone ahead, and that too with little parting +notice to himself, or to any one else." + +"You are not quite so clear as common in your language, Pathfinder. +I know that we ought all to have solemn thoughts on these occasions, +but I see no use in speaking in parables." + +"If my words are not plain, the idee is. In short, Master Cap, +while Sergeant Dunham has been preparing himself for a long journey, +like a conscientious and honest man as he is, deliberately, the +Quartermaster has started, in a hurry, before him; and, although +it is a matter on which it does not become me to be very positive, +I give it as my opinion that they travel such different roads that +they will never meet." + +"Explain yourself, my friend," said the bewildered seaman, looking +around him in search of Muir, whose absence began to excite his +distrust. "I see nothing of the Quartermaster; but I think him too +much of a man to run away, now that the victory is gained. If the +fight were ahead instead of in our wake, the case would be altered." + +"There lies all that is left of him, beneath that greatcoat," returned +the guide, who then briefly related the manner of the Lieutenant's +death. "The Tuscarora was as venemous in his blow as a rattler, +though he failed to give the warning," continued Pathfinder. "I've +seen many a desperate fight, and several of these sudden outbreaks +of savage temper; but never before did I see a human soul quit +the body more unexpectedly, or at a worse moment for the hopes of +the dying man. His breath was stopped with the lie on his lips, +and the spirit might be said to have passed away in the very ardor +of wickedness." + +Cap listened with a gaping mouth; and he gave two or three violent +hems, as the other concluded, like one who distrusted his own +respiration. + +"This is an uncertain and uncomfortable life of yours, Master +Pathfinder, what between the fresh water and the savages," said he; +"and the sooner I get quit of it, the higher will be my opinion of +myself. Now you mention it, I will say that the man ran for that +berth in the rocks, when the enemy first bore down upon us, with a +sort of instinct that I thought surprising in an officer; but I was +in too great a hurry to follow, to log the whole matter accurately. +God bless me! God bless me! -- a traitor, do you say, and ready +to sell his country, and to a rascally Frenchman too?" + +"To sell anything; country, soul, body, Mabel, and all our scalps; +and no ways particular, I'll engage, as to the purchaser. The +countrymen of Captain Flinty-heart here were the paymasters this +time." + +"Just like 'em; ever ready to buy when they can't thrash, and to +run when they can do neither." + +Monsieur Sanglier lifted his cap with ironical gravity, and +acknowledged the compliment with an expression of polite contempt +that was altogether lost on its insensible subject. But Pathfinder +had too much native courtesy, and was far too just-minded, to allow +the attack to go unnoticed. + +"Well, well," he interposed, "to my mind there is no great +difference 'atween an Englishman and a Frenchman, after all. They +talk different tongues, and live under different kings, I will +allow; but both are human, and feel like human beings, when there +is occasion for it." + +Captain Flinty-heart, as Pathfinder called him, made another +obeisance; but this time the smile was friendly, and not ironical; +for he felt that the intention was good, whatever might have been +the mode of expressing it. Too philosophical, however, to heed +what a man like Cap might say or think, he finished his breakfast, +without allowing his attention to be again diverted from that +important pursuit. + +"My business here was principally with the Quartermaster," Cap continued, +as soon as he had done regarding the prisoner's pantomime. "The +Sergeant must be near his end, and I have thought he might wish +to say something to his successor in authority before he finally +departed. It is too late, it would seem; and, as you say, Pathfinder, +the Lieutenant has truly gone before." + +"That he has, though on a different path. As for authority, +I suppose the Corporal has now a right to command what's left of +the 55th; though a small and worried, not to say frightened, party +it is. But, if anything needs to be done, the chances are greatly +in favor of my being called on to do it. I suppose, however, we +have only to bury our dead; set fire to the block and the huts, for +they stand in the inimy's territory by position, if not by law, and +must not be left for their convenience. Our using them again is +out of the question; for, now the Frenchers know where the island +is to be found, it would be like thrusting the hand into a wolf-trap +with our eyes wide open. This part of the work the Sarpent and I +will see to, for we are as practysed in retreats as in advances." + +"All that is very well, my good friend. And now for my poor +brother-in-law: though he is a soldier, we cannot let him slip +without a word of consolation and a leave-taking, in my judgment. +This has been an unlucky affair on every tack; though I suppose +it is what one had a right to expect, considering the state of the +times and the nature of the navigation. We must make the best of +it, and try to help the worthy man to unmoor, without straining his +messengers. Death is a circumstance, after all, Master Pathfinder, +and one of a very general character too, seeing that we must all +submit to it, sooner or later." + +"You say truth, you say truth; and for that reason I hold it to +be wise to be always ready. I've often thought, Saltwater, that +he is the happiest who has the least to leave behind him when the +summons comes. Now, here am I, a hunter and a scout and a guide, +although I do not own a foot of land on 'arth, yet do I enjoy and +possess more than the great Albany Patroon. With the heavens over +my head to keep me in mind of the last great hunt, and the dried +leaves beneath my feet, I tramp over the ground as freely as if I +was its lord and owner; and what more need heart desire? I do not +say that I love nothing that belongs to 'arth; for I do, though +not much, unless it might be Mabel Dunham, that I can't carry with +me. I have some pups at the higher fort that I vally considerable, +though they are too noisy for warfare, and so we are compelled to +live separate for awhile; and then I think it would grieve me to +part with Killdeer; but I see no reason why we should not be buried +in the same grave, for we are as near as can be of the same length +-- six feet to a hair's breadth; but, bating these, and a pipe that +the Sarpent gave me, and a few tokens received from travellers, +all of which might be put in a pouch and laid under my head, when +the order comes to march I shall be ready at a minute's warning; +and, let me tell you, Master Cap, that's what I call a circumstance +too." + +"'Tis just so with me," answered the sailor, as the two walked +towards the block, too much occupied with their respective morality +to remember at the moment the melancholy errand they were on; +"that's just my way of feeling and reasoning. How often have I +felt, when near shipwreck, the relief of not owning the craft! 'If +she goes,' I have said to myself, 'why, my life goes with her, +but not my property, and there's great comfort in that.' I've +discovered, in the course of boxing about the world from the Horn +to Cape North, not to speak of this run on a bit of fresh water, +that if a man has a few dollars, and puts them in a chest under +lock and key, he is pretty certain to fasten up his heart in the +same till; and so I carry pretty much all I own in a belt round +my body, in order, as I say, to keep the vitals in the right place. +D--- me, Pathfinder, if I think a man without a heart any better +than a fish with a hole in his air-bag." + +"I don't know how that may be, Master Cap; but a man without a +conscience is but a poor creatur', take my word for it, as any one +will discover who has to do with a Mingo. I trouble myself but +little with dollars or half-joes, for these are the favoryte coin +in this part of the world; but I can easily believe, by what I've +seen of mankind, that if a man _has_ a chest filled with either, +he may be said to lock up his heart in the same box. I once hunted +for two summers, during the last peace, and I collected so much +peltry that I found my right feelings giving way to a craving after +property; and if I have consarn in marrying Mabel, it is that I may +get to love such things too well, in order to make her comfortable." + +"You're a philosopher, that's clear, Pathfinder; and I don't know +but you're a Christian." + +"I should be out of humor with the man that gainsayed the last, +Master Cap. I have not been Christianized by the Moravians, like +so many of the Delawares, it is true; but I hold to Christianity +and white gifts. With me, it is as on-creditable for a white man +not to be a Christian as it is for a red-skin not to believe in +his happy hunting-grounds; indeed, after allowing for difference +in traditions, and in some variations about the manner in which +the spirit will be occupied after death, I hold that a good Delaware +is a good Christian, though he never saw a Moravian; and a good +Christian a good Delaware, so far as natur 'is consarned. The Sarpent +and I talk these matters over often, for he has a hankerin' +after Christianity -- " + +"The d---l he has!" interrupted Cap. "And what does he intend to +do in a church with all the scalps he takes?" + +"Don't run away with a false idee, friend Cap, don't run away with +a false idee. These things are only skin-deep, and all depend on +edication and nat'ral gifts. Look around you at mankind, and tell +me why you see a red warrior here, a black one there, and white +armies in another place? All this, and a great deal more of the +same kind that I could point out, has been ordered for some special +purpose; and it is not for us to fly in the face of facts and deny +their truth. No, no; each color has its gifts, and its laws, and +its traditions; and one is not to condemn another because he does +not exactly comprehend it." + +"You must have read a great deal, Pathfinder, to see things so clear +as this," returned Cap, not a little mystified by his companion's +simple creed. "It's all as plain as day to me now, though I must +say I never fell in with these opinions before. What denomination +do you belong to, my friend?" + +"Anan?" + +"What sect do you hold out for? What particular church do you +fetch up in?" + +"Look about you, and judge for yourself. I'm in church now; I eat +in church, drink in church, sleep in church. The 'arth is the +temple of the Lord, and I wait on Him hourly, daily, without ceasing, +I humbly hope. No, no, I'll not deny my blood and color; but am +Christian born, and shall die in the same faith. The Moravians +tried me hard; and one of the King's chaplains has had his say +too, though that's a class no ways strenuous on such matters; and +a missionary sent from Rome talked much with me, as I guided him +through the forest, during the last peace; but I've had one answer +for them all -- I'm a Christian already, and want to be neither +Moravian, nor Churchman, nor Papist. No, no, I'll not deny my +birth and blood." + +"I think a word from you might lighten the Sergeant over the shoals +of death, Master Pathfinder. He has no one with him but poor Mabel; +and she, you know, besides being his daughter, is but a girl and +a child after all." + +"Mabel is feeble in body, friend Cap; but in matters of this natur' +I doubt if she may not be stronger than most men. But Sergeant +Dunham is my friend, and he is your brother-in-law; so, now the +press of fighting and maintaining our rights is over, it is fitting +we should both go and witness his departure. I've stood by many +a dying man, Master Cap," continued Pathfinder, who had a besetting +propensity to enlarge on his experience, stopping and holding his +companion by a button, -- "I've stood by many a dying man's side, +and seen his last gasp, and heard his last breath; for, when the +hurry and tumult of the battle is over, it is good to bethink us of +the misfortunate, and it is remarkable to witness how differently +human natur' feels at such solemn moments. Some go their way as +stupid and ignorant as if God had never given them reason and an +accountable state; while others quit us rejoicing, like men who +leave heavy burthens behind them. I think that the mind sees +clearly at such moments, my friend, and that past deeds stand thick +before the recollection." + +"I'll engage they do, Pathfinder. I have witnessed something of +this myself, and hope I'm the better man for it. I remember once +that I thought my own time had come, and the log was overhauled with +a diligence I did not think myself capable of until that moment. +I've not been a very great sinner, friend Pathfinder; that is to +say, never on a large scale; though I daresay, if the truth were +spoken, a considerable amount of small matters might be raked up +against me, as well as against another man; but then, I've never +committed piracy, nor high treason, nor arson, nor any of them +sort of things. As to smuggling, and the like of that, why, I'm +a seafaring man, and I suppose all callings have their weak spots. +I daresay your trade is not altogether without blemish, honorable +and useful as it seems to be?" + +"Many of the scouts and guides are desperate knaves; and, like the +Quartermaster here, some of them take pay of both sides. I hope +I'm not one of them, though all occupations lead to temptations. +Thrice have I been sorely tried in my life, and once I yielded +a little, though I hope it was not in a matter to disturb a man's +conscience in his last moments. The first time was when I found +in the woods a pack of skins that I knowed belonged to a Frencher +who was hunting on our side of the lines, where he had no business +to be; twenty-six as handsome beavers as ever gladdened human eyes. +Well, that was a sore temptation; for I thought the law would have +been almost with me, although it was in peace times. But then, I +remembered that such laws wasn't made for us hunters, and bethought +me that the poor man might have built great expectations for the +next winter on the sale of his skins; and I left them where they +lay. Most of our people said I did wrong; but the manner in which +I slept that night convinced me that I had done right. The next +trial was when I found the rifle that is sartainly the only one +in this part of the world that can be calculated on as surely as +Killdeer, and knowed that by taking it, or even hiding it, I might +at once rise to be the first shot in all these parts. I was then +young, and by no means so expart as I have since got to be, and +youth is ambitious and striving; but, God be praised! I mastered +that feeling; and, friend Cap, what is almost as good, I mastered +my rival in as fair a shooting-match as was ever witnessed in a +garrison; he with his piece, and I with Killdeer, and before the +General in person too!" Here Pathfinder stopped to laugh, his +triumph still glittering in his eyes and glowing on his sunburnt +and browned cheek. "Well, the next conflict with the devil was +the hardest of them all; and that was when I came suddenly upon a +camp of six Mingos asleep in the woods, with their guns and horns +piled in away that enabled me to get possession of them without +waking a miscreant of them all. What an opportunity that would +have been for the Sarpent, who would have despatched them, one after +another, with his knife, and had their six scalps at his girdle, +in about the time it takes me to tell you the story. Oh, he's a +valiant warrior, that Chingachgook, and as honest as he's brave, +and as good as he's honest!" + +"And what may _you_ have done in this matter, Master Pathfinder?" +demanded Cap, who began to be interested in the result; "it seems +to me you had made either a very lucky, or a very unlucky landfall." + +"'Twas lucky, and 'twas unlucky, if you can understand that. 'Twas +unlucky, for it proved a desperate trial; and yet 'twas lucky, all +things considered, in the ind. I did not touch a hair of their +heads, for a white man has no nat'ral gifts to take scalps; nor +did I even make sure of one of their rifles. I distrusted myself, +knowing that a Mingo is no favorite in my own eyes." + +"As for the scalps, I think you were right enough, my worthy +friend; but as for the armament and the stores, they would have +been condemned by any prize-court in Christendom." + +"That they would, that they would; but then the Mingos would have +gone clear, seeing that a white man can no more attack an unarmed +than a sleeping inimy. No, no, I did myself, and my color, and my +religion too, greater justice. I waited till their nap was over, +and they well on their war-path again; and, by ambushing them here +and flanking them there, I peppered the blackguards intrinsically +like" (Pathfinder occasionally caught a fine word from his +associates, and used it a little vaguely), "that only one ever got +back to his village, and he came into his wigwam limping. Luckily, +as it turned out, the great Delaware had only halted to jerk some +venison, and was following on my trail; and when he got up he had +five of the scoundrels' scalps hanging where they ought to be; +so, you see, nothing was lost by doing right, either in the way of +honor or in that of profit." + +Cap grunted an assent, though the distinctions in his companion's +morality, it must be owned, were not exactly clear to his +understanding. The two had occasionally moved towards the block +as they conversed, and then stopped again as some matter of more +interest than common brought them to a halt. They were now so +near the building, however, that neither thought of pursuing the +subject any further; but each prepared himself for the final scene +with Sergeant Dunham. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +Thou barraine ground, whom winter's wrath hath wasted, + Art made a mirror to behold my plight: +Whilome thy fresh spring flower'd: and after hasted + Thy summer prowde, with daffodillies dight; +And now is come thy winter's stormy state, +Thy mantle mar'd wherein thou maskedst late. +SPENSER. + + +Although the soldier may regard danger and even death with +indifference in the tumult of battle, when the passage of the soul +is delayed to moments of tranquillity and reflection the change +commonly brings with it the usual train of solemn reflections; +of regrets for the past, and of doubts and anticipations for the +future. Many a man has died with a heroic expression on his lips, +but with heaviness and distrust at his heart; for, whatever may be +the varieties of our religious creeds, let us depend on the mediation +of Christ, the dogmas of Mahomet, or the elaborated allegories of +the East, there is a conviction, common to all men, that death is +but the stepping-stone between this and a more elevated state of +being. Sergeant Dunham was a brave man; but he was departing for +a country in which resolution could avail him nothing; and as he +felt himself gradually loosened from the grasp of the world, his +thoughts and feelings took the natural direction; for if it be true +that death is the great leveller, in nothing is it more true than +that it reduces all to the same views of the vanity of life. + +Pathfinder, though a man of peculiar habits and opinions, was always +thoughtful, and disposed to view the things around him with a shade +of philosophy, as well as with seriousness. In him, therefore, +the scene in the blockhouse awakened no very novel feelings. But +the case was different with Cap: rude, opinionated, dogmatical, +and boisterous, the old sailor was little accustomed to view even +death with any approach to the gravity which its importance demands; +and notwithstanding all that had passed, and his real regard for +his brother-in-law, he now entered the room of the dying man with +much of that callous unconcern which was the fruit of long training +in a school that, while it gives so many lessons in the sublimest +truths, generally wastes its admonitions on scholars who are little +disposed to profit by them. + +The first proof that Cap gave of his not entering so fully as those +around him into the solemnity of the moment, was by commencing a +narration of the events which had just led to the deaths of Muir +and Arrowhead. "Both tripped their anchors in a hurry, brother +Dunham," he concluded; "and you have the consolation of knowing +that others have gone before you in the great journey, and they, +too, men whom you've no particular reason to love; which to me, +were I placed in your situation, would be a source of very great +satisfaction. My mother always said, Master Pathfinder, that dying +people's spirits should not be damped, but that they ought to be +encouraged by all proper and prudent means; and this news will give +the poor fellow a great lift, if he feels towards them savages any +way as I feel myself." + +June arose at this intelligence, and stole from the blockhouse with +a noiseless step. Dunham listened with a vacant stare, for life +had already lost so many of its ties that he had really forgotten +Arrowhead, and cared nothing for Muir; but he inquired, in a feeble +voice, for Eau-douce. The young man was immediately summoned, and +soon made his appearance. The Sergeant gazed at him kindly, and +the expression of his eyes was that of regret for the injury he +had done him in thought. The party in the blockhouse now consisted +of Pathfinder, Cap, Mabel, Jasper, and the dying man. With the +exception of the daughter, all stood around the Sergeant's pallet, +in attendance in his last moments. Mabel kneeled at his side, now +pressing a clammy hand to her head, now applying moisture to the +parched lips of her father. + +"Your case will shortly be ourn, Sergeant," said Pathfinder, who +could hardly be said to be awestruck by the scene, for he had +witnessed the approach and victories of death too often for that; +but who felt the full difference between his triumphs in the +excitement of battle and in the quiet of the domestic circle; "and +I make no question we shall meet ag'in hereafter. Arrowhead has +gone his way, 'tis true; but it can never be the way of a just +Indian. You've seen the last of him, for his path cannot be the +path of the just. Reason is ag'in the thought in his case, as it +is also, in my judgment, ag'in it too in the case of Lieutenant +Muir. You have done your duty in life; and when a man does that, +he may start on the longest journey with a light heart and an actyve +foot." + +"I hope so, my friend: I've tried to do my duty." + +"Ay, ay," put in Cap; "intention is half the battle; and though +you would have done better had you hove-to in the offing and sent +a craft in to feel how the land lay, things might have turned out +differently: no one here doubts that you meant all for the best, +and no one anywhere else, I should think, from what I've seen of +this world and read of t'other." + +"I did; yes. I meant all for the best." + +"Father! Oh, my beloved father!" + +"Magnet is taken aback by this blow, Master Pathfinder, and can say +or do but little to carry her father over the shoals; so we must +try all the harder to serve him a friendly turn ourselves." + +"Did you speak, Mabel?" Dunham asked, turning his eyes in the +direction of his daughter, for he was already too feeble to turn +his body. + +"Yes, father; rely on nothing you have done yourself for mercy and +salvation; trust altogether in the blessed mediation of the Son of +God!" + +"The chaplain has told us something like this, brother. The dear +child may be right." + +"Ay, ay, that's doctrine, out of question. He will be our Judge, +and keeps the log-book of our acts, and will foot them all up at +the last day, and then say who has done well and who has done ill. +I do believe Mabel is right; but then you need not be concerned, +as no doubt the account has been fairly kept." + +"Uncle! -- Dearest father! this is a vain illusion! Oh, place all +your trust in the mediation of our Holy Redeemer! Have you not +often felt your own insufficiency to effect your own wishes in the +commonest things? And how can you imagine yourself, by your own +acts, equal to raise up a frail and sinful nature sufficiently to +be received into the presence of perfect purity? There is no hope +for any but in the mediation of Christ!" + +"This is what the Moravians used to tell us," said Pathfinder to +Cap in a low voice; "rely on it, Mabel is right." + +"Right enough, friend Pathfinder, in the distances, but wrong in +the course. I'm afraid the child will get the Sergeant adrift, +at the very moment when we had him in the best of the water and in +the plainest part of the channel." + +"Leave it to Mabel, leave it to Mabel; she knows better than any +of us, and can do no harm." + +"I have heard this before," Dunham at length replied. "Ah, Mabel! +it is strange for the parent to lean on the child at a moment like +this!" + +"Put your trust in God, father; lean on His holy and compassionate +Son. Pray, dearest, dearest father; pray for His omnipotent +support." + +"I am not used to prayer. Brother, Pathfinder -- Jasper, can you +help me to words?" + +Cap scarcely knew what prayer meant, and he had no answer to give. +Pathfinder prayed often, daily, if not hourly; but it was mentally, +in his own simple modes of thinking, and without the aid of words +at all. In this strait, therefore, he was as useless as the mariner, +and had no reply to make. As for Jasper Eau-douce, though he would +gladly have endeavored to move a mountain to relieve Mabel, this +was asking assistance it exceeded his power to give; and he shrank +back with the shame that is only too apt to overcome the young and +vigorous, when called on to perform an act that tacitly confesses +their real weakness and dependence on a superior power. + +"Father," said Mabel, wiping her eyes, and endeavoring to compose +features that were pallid, and actually quivering with emotion, +"I will pray with you, for you, for _myself_; for us _all_. The +petition of the feeblest and humblest is never unheeded." + +There was something sublime, as well as much that was supremely +touching, in this act of filial piety. The quiet but earnest manner +in which this young creature prepared herself to perform the duty; +the self-abandonment with which she forgot her sex's timidity and +sex's shame, in order to sustain her parent at that trying moment; +the loftiness of purpose with which she directed all her powers +to the immense object before her, with a woman's devotion and a +woman's superiority to trifles, when her affections make the appeal; +and the holy calm into which her grief was compressed, rendered her, +for the moment, an object of something very like awe and veneration +to her companions. + +Mabel had been religiously educated; equally without exaggeration +and without self-sufficiency. Her reliance on God was cheerful +and full of hope, while it was of the humblest and most dependent +nature. She had been accustomed from childhood to address herself +to the Deity in prayer; taking example from the Divine mandate +of Christ Himself, who commanded His followers to abstain from +vain repetitions, and who has left behind Him a petition which is +unequalled for sublimity, as if expressly to rebuke the disposition +of man to set up his own loose and random thoughts as the most +acceptable sacrifice. The sect in which she had been reared has +furnished to its followers some of the most beautiful compositions +in the language, as a suitable vehicle for its devotion and +solicitations. Accustomed to this mode of public and even private +prayer, the mind of our heroine had naturally fallen into its train +of lofty thought; her task had become improved by its study, and +her language elevated and enriched by its phrases. When she kneeled +at the bedside of her father, the very reverence of her attitude +and manner prepared the spectators for what was to come; and as her +affectionate heart prompted her tongue, and memory came in aid of +both, the petition and praises that she offered up were of a character +which might have worthily led the spirits of angels. Although the +words were not slavishly borrowed, the expressions partook of the +simple dignity of the liturgy to which she had been accustomed, +and was probably as worthy of the Being to whom they were addressed +as they could well be made by human powers. They produced their +full impression on the hearers; for it is worthy of remark, that, +notwithstanding the pernicious effects of a false taste when long +submitted to, real sublimity and beauty are so closely allied to +nature that they generally find an echo in every heart. + +But when our heroine came to touch upon the situation of the dying +man, she became the most truly persuasive; for then she was the +most truly zealous and natural. The beauty of the language was +preserved, but it was sustained by the simple power of love; and her +words were warmed by a holy zeal, that approached to the grandeur +of true eloquence. We might record some of her expressions, +but doubt the propriety of subjecting such sacred themes to a too +familiar analysis, and refrain. + +The effect of this singular but solemn scene was different on +the different individuals present. Dunham himself was soon lost +in the subject of the prayer; and he felt some such relief as one +who finds himself staggering on the edge of a precipice, under a +burthen difficult to be borne, might be supposed to experience when +he unexpectedly feels the weight removed, in order to be placed +on the shoulders of another better able to sustain it. Cap was +surprised, as well as awed; though the effects on his mind were +not very deep or very lasting. He wondered a little at his own +sensations, and had his doubts whether they were so manly and heroic +as they ought to be; but he was far too sensible of the influence +of truth, humility, religious submission, and human dependency, +to think of interposing with any of his crude objections. Jasper +knelt opposite to Mabel, covered his face, and followed her words, +with an earnest wish to aid her prayers with his own; though it +may be questioned if his thoughts did not dwell quite as much on +the soft, gentle accents of the petitioner as on the subject of +her petition. + +The effect on Pathfinder was striking and visible: visible, because +he stood erect, also opposite to Mabel; and the workings of his +countenance, as usual, betrayed the workings of the spirit within. +He leaned on his rifle, and at moments the sinewy fingers grasped +the barrel with a force that seemed to compress the weapon; while, +once or twice, as Mabel's language rose in intimate association +with her thoughts, he lifted his eyes to the floor above him, as +if he expected to find some visible evidence of the presence of +the dread Being to whom the words were addressed. Then again his +feelings reverted to the fair creature who was thus pouring out +her spirit, in fervent but calm petitions, in behalf of a dying +parent; for Mabel's cheek was no longer pallid, but was flushed +with a holy enthusiasm, while her blue eyes were upturned in the +light, in a way to resemble a picture by Guido. At these moments +all the honest and manly attachment of Pathfinder glowed in his +ingenuous features, and his gaze at our heroine was such as the +fondest parent might fasten on the child of his love. + +Sergeant Dunham laid his hand feebly on the head of Mabel as she +ceased praying, and buried her face in his blanket. + +"Bless you, my beloved child! bless you!" he rather whispered than +uttered aloud; "this is truly consolation: would that I too could +pray!" + +"Father, you know the Lord's Prayer; you taught it to me yourself +while I was yet an infant." + +The Sergeant's face gleamed with a smile, for he _did_ remember +to have discharged that portion at least of the paternal duty, and +the consciousness of it gave him inconceivable gratification at +that solemn moment. He was then silent for several minutes, and +all present believed that he was communing with God. + +"Mabel, my child!" he at length uttered, in a voice which seemed +to be reviving, -- "Mabel, I'm quitting you." The spirit at its +great and final passage appears ever to consider the body as nothing. +"I'm quitting you, my child; where is your hand?" + +"Here, dearest father -- here are both -- oh, take both!" + +"Pathfinder," added the Sergeant, feeling on the opposite side of +the bed, where Jasper still knelt, and getting one of the hands +of the young man by mistake, "take it - I leave you as her father +-- as you and she may please --bless you -- bless you both!" + +At that awful instant, no one would rudely apprise the Sergeant of +his mistake; and he died a minute or two later, holding Jasper's and +Mabel's hands covered by both his own. Our heroine was ignorant of +the fact until an exclamation of Cap's announced the death of her +father; when, raising her face, she saw the eyes of Jasper riveted +on her own, and felt the warm pressure of his hand. But a single +feeling was predominant at that instant, and Mabel withdrew to weep, +scarcely conscious of what had occurred. The Pathfinder took the +arm of Eau-douce, and he left the block. + +The two friends walked in silence past the fire, along the glade, +and nearly reached the opposite shore of the island in profound +silence. Here they stopped, and Pathfinder spoke. + +"'Tis all over, Jasper," said he, -- "'tis all over. Ah's me! +Poor Sergeant Dunham has finished his march, and that, too, by the +hand of a venomous Mingo. Well, we never know what is to happen, +and his luck may be yourn or mine to-morrow or next day!" + +"And Mabel? What is to become of Mabel, Pathfinder?" + +"You heard the Sergeant's dying words; he has left his child in my +care, Jasper; and it is a most solemn trust, it is; yes, -- it is +a most solemn trust." + +"It's a trust, Pathfinder, of which any man would be glad to relieve +you," returned the youth, with a bitter smile. + +"I've often thought it has fallen into wrong hands. I'm not consaited, +Jasper; I'm not consaited, I do think I'm not; but if Mabel Dunham +is willing to overlook all my imperfections and ignorances like, +I should be wrong to gainsay it, on account of any sartainty I may +have myself about my own want of merit." + +"No one will blame you, Pathfinder, for marrying Mabel Dunham, any +more than they will blame you for wearing a precious jewel in your +bosom that a friend had freely given you." + +"Do you think they'll blame Mabel, lad? I've had my misgivings +about that, too; for all persons may not be so disposed to look at +me with the same eyes as you and the Sergeant's daughter." + +Jasper Eau-douce started as a man flinches at sudden bodily pain; +but he otherwise maintained his self-command. "And mankind is envious +and ill-natured, more particularly in and about the garrisons. +I sometimes wish, Jasper, that Mabel could have taken a fancy to +you, -- I do; and that you had taken a fancy to her; for it often +seems to me that one like you, after all, might make her happier +than I ever can." + +"We will not talk about this, Pathfinder," interrupted Jasper +hoarsely and impatiently; "you will be Mabel's husband, and it is +not right to speak of any one else in that character. As for me, +I shall take Master Cap's advice, and try and make a man of myself +by seeing what is to be done on the salt water." + +"You, Jasper Western! -- you quit the lakes, the forests, and the +lines; and this, too, for the towns and wasty ways of the settlements, +and a little difference in the taste of the water. Haven't we the +salt-licks, if salt is necessary to you? and oughtn't man to be +satisfied with what contents the other creatur's of God? I counted +on you, Jasper, I counted on you, I did; and thought, now that +Mabel and I intend to dwell in a cabin of our own, that some day +you might be tempted to choose a companion too, and come and settle +in our neighborhood. There is a beautiful spot, about fifty miles +west of the garrison, that I had chosen in my mind for my own place +of abode; and there is an excellent harbor about ten leagues this +side of it where you could run in and out with the cutter at any +leisure minute; and I'd even fancied you and your wife in possession +of the one place, and Mabel and I in possession of t'other. We +should be just a healthy hunt apart; and if the Lord ever intends +any of His creaturs to be happy on 'arth, none could be happier +than we four." + +"You forget, my friend," answered Jasper, taking the guide's hand +and forcing a friendly smile, "that I have no fourth person to love +and cherish; and I much doubt if I ever shall love any other as I +love you and Mabel." + +"Thank'e, boy; I thank you with all my heart; but what you call +love for Mabel is only friendship like, and a very different thing +from what I feel. Now, instead of sleeping as sound as natur' at +midnight, as I used to could, I dream nightly of Mabel Dunham. The +young does sport before me; and when I raise Killdeer, in order to +take a little venison, the animals look back, and it seems as if +they all had Mabel's sweet countenance, laughing in my face, and +looking as if they said, 'Shoot me if you dare!' Then I hear her +soft voice calling out among the birds as they sing; and no later +than the last nap I took, I bethought me, in fancy, of going over +the Niagara, holding Mabel in my arms, rather than part from her. +The bitterest moments I've ever known were them in which the +devil, or some Mingo conjuror, perhaps, has just put into my head +to fancy in dreams that Mabel is lost to me by some unaccountable +calamity -- either by changefulness or by violence." + +"Oh, Pathfinder! If you think this so bitter in a dream, what must +it be to one who feels its reality, and knows it all to be true, +true, true? So true as to leave no hope; to leave nothing but +despair!" + +These words burst from Jasper as a fluid pours from the vessel that +has been suddenly broken. They were uttered involuntarily, almost +unconsciously, but with a truth and feeling that carried with them +the instant conviction of their deep sincerity. Pathfinder started, +gazed at his friend for full a minute like one bewildered, and then +it was that, in despite of all his simplicity, the truth gleamed +upon him. All know how corroborating proofs crowd upon the mind +as soon as it catches a direct clue to any hitherto unsuspected +fact; how rapidly the thoughts flow and premises tend to their just +conclusions under such circumstances. Our hero was so confiding +by nature, so just, and so much disposed to imagine that all his +friends wished him the same happiness as he wished them, that, +until this unfortunate moment, a suspicion of Jasper's attachment +for Mabel had never been awakened in his bosom. He was, however, +now too experienced in the emotions which characterize the passion; +and the burst of feeling in his companion was too violent and too +natural to leave any further doubt on the subject. The feeling +that first followed this change of opinion was one of deep humility +and exquisite pain. He bethought him of Jasper's youth, his higher +claims to personal appearance, and all the general probabilities +that such a suitor would be more agreeable to Mabel than he could +possibly be himself. Then the noble rectitude of mind, for which +the man was so distinguished, asserted its power; it was sustained +by his rebuked manner of thinking of himself, and all that habitual +deference for the rights and feelings of others which appeared to +be inbred in his very nature. Taking the arm of Jasper, he led +him to a log, where he compelled the young man to seat himself by +a sort of irresistible exercise of his iron muscles, and where he +placed himself at his side. + +The instant his feelings had found vent, Eau-douce was both alarmed +at, and ashamed of, their violence. He would have given all he +possessed on earth could the last three minutes be recalled; but +he was too frank by disposition and too much accustomed to deal +ingenuously by his friend to think a moment of attempting further +concealment, or of any evasion of the explanation that he knew was +about to be demanded. Even while he trembled in anticipation of +what was about to follow, he never contemplated equivocation. + +"Jasper," Pathfinder commenced, in a tone so solemn as to thrill +on every nerve in his listener's body, "this _has_ surprised me! +You have kinder feelings towards Mabel than I had thought; and, +unless my own mistaken vanity and consait have cruelly deceived +me, I pity you, boy, from my soul I do! Yes, I think I know how +to pity any one who has set his heart on a creature like Mabel, +unless he sees a prospect of her regarding him as he regards her. +This matter must be cleared up, Eau-douce, as the Delawares say, +until there shall not be a cloud 'atween us." + +"What clearing up can it want, Pathfinder? I love Mabel Dunham, +and Mabel Dunham does not love me; she prefers you for a husband; +and the wisest thing I can do is to go off at once to the salt +water, and try to forget you both." + +"Forget me, Jasper! That would be a punishment I don't desarve. +But how do you know that Mabel prefars _me_? How do you know it, +lad? To me it seems impossible like!" + +"Is she not to marry you, and would Mabel marry a man she does not +love?" + +"She has been hard urged by the Sergeant, she has; and a dutiful +child may have found it difficult to withstand the wishes of a dying +parent. Have you ever told Mabel that you prefarred her, Jasper +-- that you bore her these feelings?" + +"Never, Pathfinder. I would not do you that wrong." + +"I believe you, lad, I do believe you; and I think you would now +go off to the salt water, and let the scent die with you. But this +must not be. Mabel shall hear all, and she shall have her own way, +if my heart breaks in the trial, she shall. No words have ever +passed 'atween you, then, Jasper?" + +"Nothing of account, nothing direct. Still, I will own all my +foolishness, Pathfinder; for I ought to own it to a generous friend +like you, and there will be an end of it. You know how young +people understand each other, or think they understand each other, +without always speaking out in plain speech, and get to know each +other's thoughts, or to think they know them, by means of a hundred +little ways." + +"Not I, Jasper, not I," truly answered the guide; for, sooth to +say, his advances had never been met with any of that sweet and +precious encouragement which silently marks the course of sympathy +united to passion. "Not I, Jasper; I know nothing of all this. +Mabel has always treated me fairly, and said what she has had to +say in speech as plain as tongue could tell it." + +"You have had the pleasure of hearing her say that she loved you, +Pathfinder?" + +"Why, no, Jasper, not just that in words. She has told me that we +never could, never ought to be married; that _she_ was not good +enough for _me_, though she _did_ say that she honored me and +respected me. But then the Sergeant said it was always so with the +youthful and timid; that her mother did so and said so afore her; +and that I ought to be satisfied if she would consent on any terms +to marry me, and therefore I have concluded that all was right, I +have." + +In spite of all his friendship for the successful wooer, in spite +of all his honest, sincere wished for his happiness, we should be +unfaithful chroniclers did we not own that Jasper felt his heart +bound with an uncontrollable feeling of delight at this admission. +It was not that he saw or felt any hope connected with the circumstance; +but it was grateful to the jealous covetousness of unlimited love +thus to learn that no other ears had heard the sweet confessions +that were denied its own. + +"Tell me more of this manner of talking without the use of +the tongue," continued Pathfinder, whose countenance was becoming +grave, and who now questioned his companion like one who seemed +to anticipate evil in the reply. "I can and have conversed with +Chingachgook, and with his son Uncas too, in that mode, afore the +latter fell; but I didn't know that young girls practysed this art, +and, least of all, Mabel Dunham." + +"'Tis nothing, Pathfinder. I mean only a look, or a smile, or a +glance of the eye, or the trembling of an arm or a hand when the +young woman has had occasion to touch me; and because I have been +weak enough to tremble even at Mabel's breath, or her brushing me +with her clothes, my vain thoughts have misled me. I never spoke +plainly to Mabel myself, and now there is no use for it, since +there is clearly no hope." + +"Jasper," returned Pathfinder simply, but with a dignity that +precluded further remarks at the moment, "we will talk of the +Sergeant's funeral and of our own departure from this island. After +these things are disposed of, it will be time enough to say more +of the Sergeant's daughter. This matter must be looked into, for +the father left me the care of his child." + +Jasper was glad enough to change the subject, and the friends +separated, each charged with the duty most peculiar to his own +station and habits. + +That afternoon all the dead were interred, the grave of Sergeant +Dunham being dug in the centre of the glade, beneath the shade of +a huge elm. Mabel wept bitterly at the ceremony, and she found relief +in thus disburthening her sorrow. The night passed tranquilly, as +did the whole of the following day, Jasper declaring that the gale +was too severe to venture on the lake. This circumstance detained +Captain Sanglier also, who did not quit the island until the +morning of the third day after the death of Dunham, when the weather +had moderated, and the wind had become fair. Then, indeed, he +departed, after taking leave of the Pathfinder, in the manner of +one who believed he was in company of a distinguished character +for the last time. The two separated like those who respect one +another, while each felt that the other was all enigma to himself. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +Playful she turn'd that he might see + The passing smile her cheek put on; +But when she marked how mournfully + His eyes met hers, that smile was gone. +_Lalla Rookh._ + + +The occurrences of the last few days had been too exciting, and had +made too many demands on the fortitude of our heroine, to leave +her in the helplessness of grief. She mourned for her father, +and she occasionally shuddered as she recalled the sudden death +of Jennie, and all the horrible scenes she had witnessed; but on +the whole she had aroused herself, and was no longer in the deep +depression which usually accompanies grief. Perhaps the overwhelming, +almost stupefying sorrow that crushed poor June, and left her for +nearly twenty-four hours in a state of stupor, assisted Mabel in +conquering her own feelings, for she had felt called on to administer +consolation to the young Indian woman. This she had done in the +quiet, soothing, insinuating way in which her sex usually exerts +its influence on such occasions. + +The morning of the third day was set for that on which the _Scud_ +was to sail. Jasper had made all his preparations; the different +effects were embarked, and Mabel had taken leave of June, a painful +and affectionate parting. In a word, all was ready, and every soul +had left the island but the Indian woman, Pathfinder, Jasper, and +our heroine. The former had gone into a thicket to weep, and the +three last were approaching the spot where three canoes lay, one of +which was the property of June, and the other two were in waiting +to carry the others off to the _Scud_. Pathfinder led the way, +but, when he drew near the shore, instead of taking the direction +to the boats, he motioned to his companions to follow, and proceeded +to a fallen tree which lay on the margin of the glade and out +of view of those in the cutter. Seating himself on the trunk, he +signed to Mabel to take her place on one side of him and to Jasper +to occupy the other. + +"Sit down here Mabel; sit down there, Eau-douce," he commenced, +as soon as he had taken his own seat. "I've something that lies +heavy on my mind, and now is the time to take it off, if it's ever +to be done. Sit down, Mabel, and let me lighten my heart, if not +my conscience, while I've the strength to do it." + +The pause that succeeded lasted two or three minutes, and both the +young people wondered what was to come next; the idea that Pathfinder +could have any weight on his conscience seeming equally improbable +to each. + +"Mabel," our hero at length resumed, "we must talk plainly to each +other afore we join your uncle in the cutter, where the Saltwater +has slept every night since the last rally, for he says it's the +only place in which a man can be sure of keeping the hair on his +head, he does. Ah's me! What have I to do with these follies and +sayings now? I try to be pleasant, and to feel light-hearted, but +the power of man can't make water run up stream. Mabel, you know +that the Sergeant, afore he left us, had settled it 'atween us +two that we were to become man and wife, and that we were to live +together and to love one another as long as the Lord was pleased +to keep us both on 'arth; yes, and afterwards too?" + +Mabel's cheeks had regained a little of their ancient bloom in the +fresh air of the morning; but at this unlooked-for address they +blanched again, nearly to the pallid hue which grief had imprinted +there. Still, she looked kindly, though seriously, at Pathfinder +and even endeavored to force a smile. + +"Very true, my excellent friend," she answered; "this was my poor +father's wish, and I feel certain that a whole life devoted to your +welfare and comforts could scarcely repay you for all you have done +for us." + +"I fear me, Mabel, that man and wife needs be bound together by a +stronger tie than such feelings, I do. You have done nothing for +me, or nothing of any account, and yet my very heart yearns towards +you, it does; and therefore it seems likely that these feelings come +from something besides saving scalps and guiding through woods." + +Mabel's cheek had begun to glow again; and though she struggled +hard to smile, her voice trembled a little as she answered. + +"Had we not better postpone this conversation, Pathfinder?" she +said; "we are not alone; and nothing is so unpleasant to a listener, +they say, as family matters in which he feels no interest." + +"It's because we are not alone, Mabel, or rather because Jasper is +with us, that I wish to talk of this matter. The Sergeant believed +I might make a suitable companion for you, and, though I had +misgivings about it, -- yes, I had many misgivings, -- he finally +persuaded me into the idee, and things came round 'atween us, as +you know. But, when you promised your father to marry me, Mabel, +and gave me your hand so modestly, but so prettily, there was one +circumstance, as your uncle called it, that you didn't know; and +I've thought it right to tell you what it is, before matters are +finally settled. I've often taken a poor deer for my dinner when +good venison was not to be found; but it's as nat'ral not to take +up with the worst when the best may be had." + +"You speak in a way, Pathfinder, that is difficult to be understood. +If this conversation is really necessary, I trust you will be more +plain." + +"Well then, Mabel, I've been thinking it was quite likely, when you +gave in to the Sergeant's wishes, that you did not know the natur' +of Jasper Western's feelings towards you?" + +"Pathfinder!" and Mabel's cheek now paled to the livid hue of +death; then it flushed to the tint of crimson; and her whole frame +shuddered. Pathfinder, however, was too intent on his own object +to notice this agitation; and Eau-douce had hidden his face in his +hands in time to shut out its view. + +"I've been talking with the lad; and, on comparing his dreams with +my dreams, his feelings with my feelings, and his wishes with my +wishes, I fear we think too much alike consarning you for both of +us to be very happy." + +"Pathfinder, you forget; you should remember that we are betrothed!" +said Mabel hastily, and in a voice so low that it required acute +attention in the listeners to catch the syllables. Indeed the last +word was not quite intelligible to the guide, and he confessed his +ignorance by the usual, -- + +"Anan?" + +"You forget that we are to be married; and such allusions are +improper as well as painful." + +"Everything is proper that is right, Mabel; and everything is right +that leads to justice and fair dealing; though it _is painful_ +enough, as you say, as I find on trial, I do. Now, Mabel, had you +known that Eau-douce thinks of you in this way, maybe you never +would have consented to be married to one as old and as uncomely +as I am." + +"Why this cruel trial, Pathfinder? To what can all this lead? Jasper +Western thinks no such thing: he says nothing, he feels nothing." + +"Mabel!" burst from out of the young man's lips, in a way to betray +the uncontrollable nature of his emotions, though he uttered not +another syllable. + +Mabel buried her face in both her hands; and the two sat like a +pair of guilty beings, suddenly detected in the commission of some +crime which involved the happiness of a common patron. At that +instant, perhaps, Jasper himself was inclined to deny his passion, +through an extreme unwillingness to grieve his friend; while Mabel, +on whom this positive announcement of a fact that she had rather +unconsciously hoped than believed, came so unexpectedly, felt her +mind momentarily bewildered; and she scarcely knew whether to weep +or to rejoice. Still she was the first to speak; since Eau-douce +could utter naught that would be disingenuous, or that would pain +his friend. + +"Pathfinder," said she, "you talk wildly. Why mention this at +all?" + +"Well, Mabel, if I talk wildly, I _am_ half wild, you know, by natur', +I fear, as well as by habit." As he said this, he endeavored to +laugh in his usual noiseless way, but the effect produced a strange +and discordant sound; and it appeared nearly to choke him. "Yes, +I _must_ be wild; I'll not attempt to deny it." + +"Dearest Pathfinder! my best, almost my only friend! You _cannot, +do not_ think I intended to say that!" interrupted Mabel, almost +breathless in her haste to relieve his mortification. "If courage, +truth, nobleness of soul and conduct, unyielding principles, and a +hundred other excellent qualities can render any man respectable, +esteemed, or beloved, your claims are inferior to those of no other +human being." + +"What tender and bewitching voices they have, Jasper!" resumed the +guide, now laughing freely and naturally. "Yes, natur' seems to +have made them on purpose to sing in our ears, when the music of +the woods is silent. But we must come to a right understanding, +we must. I ask you again, Mabel, if you had known that Jasper +Western loves you as well as I do, or better perhaps, though that +is scarcely possible; that in his dreams he sees your face in the +water of the lake; that he talks to you, and of you, in his sleep; +fancies all that is beautiful like Mabel Dunham, and all that is +good and virtuous; believes he never knowed happiness until he knowed +you; could kiss the ground on which you have trod, and forgets all +the joys of his calling to think of you and the delight of gazing +at your beauty and in listening to your voice, would you then have +consented to marry me?" + +Mabel could not have answered this question if she would; but, +though her face was buried in her hands, the tint of the rushing +blood was visible between the openings, and the suffusion seemed +to impart itself to her very fingers. Still nature asserted her +power, for there was a single instant when the astonished, almost +terrified girl stole a glance at Jasper, as if distrusting Pathfinder's +history of his feelings, read the truth of all he said in that +furtive look, and instantly concealed her face again, as if she +would hide it from observation for ever. + +"Take time to think, Mabel," the guide continued, "for it is +a solemn thing to accept one man for a husband while the thoughts +and wishes lead to another. Jasper and I have talked this matter +over, freely and like old friends, and, though I always knowed that +we viewed most things pretty much alike, I couldn't have thought +that we regarded any particular object with the very same eyes, +as it might be, until we opened our minds to each other about you. +Now Jasper owns that the very first time he beheld you, he thought +you the sweetest and winningestest creatur' he had ever met; that +your voice sounded like murmuring water in his ears; that he +fancied his sails were your garments fluttering in the wind; that +your laugh haunted him in his sleep; and that ag'in and ag'in has +he started up affrighted, because he has fancied some one wanted +to force you out of the _Scud_, where he imagined you had taken +up your abode. Nay, the lad has even acknowledged that he often +weeps at the thought that you are likely to spend your days with +another, and not with him." + +"Jasper!" + +"It's solemn truth, Mabel, and it's right you should know it. Now +stand up, and choose 'atween us. I do believe Eau-douce loves you +as well as I do myself; he has tried to persuade me that he loves +you better, but that I will not allow, for I do not think it +possible; but I will own the boy loves you, heart and soul, and he +has a good right to be heard. The Sergeant left me your protector, +and not your tyrant. I told him that I would be a father to you +as well as a husband, and it seems to me no feeling father would +deny his child this small privilege. Stand up, Mabel, therefore, +and speak your thoughts as freely as if I were the Sergeant himself, +seeking your good, and nothing else." + +Mabel dropped her hands, arose, and stood face to face with her +two suitors, though the flush that was on her cheeks was feverish, +the evidence of excitement rather than of shame. + +"What would you have, Pathfinder?" she asked; "Have I not already +promised my poor father to do all you desire?" + +"Then I desire this. Here I stand, a man of the forest and of +little larning, though I fear with an ambition beyond my desarts, +and I'll do my endivors to do justice to both sides. In the first +place, it is allowed that, so far as feelings in your behalf are +consarned, we love you just the same; Jasper thinks his feelings +_must_ be the strongest, but this I cannot say in honesty, for it +doesn't seem to me that it _can_ be true, else I would frankly and +freely confess it, I would. So in this particular, Mabel, we are +here before you on equal tarms. As for myself, being the oldest, +I'll first say what little can be produced in my favor, as well as +ag'in it. As a hunter, I do think there is no man near the lines +that can outdo me. If venison, or bear's meat, or even birds and +fish, should ever be scarce in our cabin, it would be more likely +to be owing to natur' and Providence than to any fault of mine. In +short, it does seem to me that the woman who depended on me would +never be likely to want for food. But I'm fearful ignorant! It's +true I speak several tongues, such as they be, while I'm very far +from being expart at my own. Then, my years are greater than your +own, Mabel; and the circumstance that I was so long the Sergeant's +comrade can be no great merit in your eyes. I wish, too, I was +more comely, I do; but we are all as natur' made us, and the last +thing that a man ought to lament, except on very special occasions, +is his looks. When all is remembered, age, looks, learning, and +habits, Mabel, conscience tells me I ought to confess that I'm +altogether unfit for you, if not downright unworthy; and I would +give up the hope this minute, I would, if I didn't feel something +pulling at my heart-strings which seems hard to undo." + +"Pathfinder! Noble, generous Pathfinder!" cried our heroine, +seizing his hand and kissing it with a species of holy reverence; +"You do yourself injustice -- you forget my poor father and your +promise -- you do not know _me_!" + +"Now, here's Jasper," continued the guide, without allowing the +girl's caresses to win him from his purpose, "with _him_ the case +is different. In the way of providing, as in that of loving, there's +not much to choose 'atween us; for the lad is frugal, industrious, +and careful. Then he is quite a scholar, knows the tongue of the +Frenchers, reads many books, and some, I know, that you like to +read yourself, can understand you at all times, which, perhaps, is +more than I can say for myself." + +"What of all this?" interrupted Mabel impatiently; "Why speak of +it now -- why speak of it at all?" + +"Then the lad has a manner of letting his thoughts be known, that +I fear I can never equal. If there's anything on 'arth that would +make my tongue bold and persuading, Mabel, I do think it's yourself; +and yet in our late conversations Jasper has outdone me, even on +this point, in a way to make me ashamed of myself. He has told +me how simple you were, and how true-hearted, and kind-hearted; and +how you looked down upon vanities, for though you might be the wife +of more than one officer, as he thinks, that you cling to feeling, +and would rather be true to yourself and natur' than a colonel's +lady. He fairly made my blood warm, he did, when he spoke of your +having beauty without seeming ever to have looked upon it, and +the manner in which you moved about like a young fa'n, so nat'ral +and graceful like, without knowing it; and the truth and justice +of your idees, and the warmth and generosity of your heart -- " + +"Jasper!" interrupted Mabel, giving way to feelings that had +gathered an ungovernable force by being so long pent, and falling +into the young man's willing arms, weeping like a child, and almost +as helpless. "Jasper! Jasper! Why have you kept this from me?" + +The answer of Eau-douce was not very intelligible, nor was the +murmured dialogue that followed remarkable for coherency. But +the language of affection is easily understood. The hour that +succeeded passed like a very few minutes of ordinary life, so far +as a computation of time was concerned; and when Mabel recollected +herself, and bethought her of the existence of others, her uncle +was pacing the cutter's deck in great impatience, and wondering +why Jasper should be losing so much of a favorable wind. Her first +thought was of him, who was so likely to feel the recent betrayal +of her real emotions. + +"Oh, Jasper," she exclaimed, like one suddenly self-convicted, "the +Pathfinder!" + +Eau-douce fairly trembled, not with unmanly apprehension, but with +the painful conviction of the pang he had given his friend; and he +looked in all directions in the expectation of seeing his person. +But Pathfinder had withdrawn, with a tact and a delicacy that might +have done credit to the sensibility and breeding of a courtier. For +several minutes the two lovers sat, silently waiting his return, +uncertain what propriety required of them under circumstances so +marked and so peculiar. At length they beheld their friend advancing +slowly towards them, with a thoughtful and even pensive air. + +"I now understand what you meant, Jasper, by speaking without a +tongue and hearing without an ear," he said when close enough to +the tree to be heard. "Yes, I understand it now, I do; and a very +pleasant sort of discourse it is, when one can hold it with Mabel +Dunham. Ah's me! I told the Sergeant I wasn't fit for her; that +I was too old, too ignorant, and too wild like; but he _would_ have +it otherwise." + +Jasper and Mabel sat, resembling Milton's picture of our first +parents, when the consciousness of sin first laid its leaden weight +on their souls. Neither spoke, neither even moved; though both at +that moment fancied they could part with their new-found happiness +in order to restore their friend to his peace of mind. Jasper was +pale as death, but, in Mabel, maiden modesty had caused the blood +to mantle on her cheeks, until their bloom was heightened to a +richness that was scarcely equalled in her hours of light-hearted +buoyancy and joy. As the feeling which, in her sex, always +accompanies the security of love returned, threw its softness and +tenderness over her countenance, she was singularly beautiful. +Pathfinder gazed at her with an intentness he did not endeavor to +conceal, and then he fairly laughed in his own way, and with a sort +of wild exultation, as men that are untutored are wont to express +their delight. This momentary indulgence, however, was expiated +by the pang which followed the sudden consciousness that this +glorious young creature was lost to him for ever. It required a +full minute for this simple-minded being to recover from the shock +of this conviction; and then he recovered his dignity of manner, +speaking with gravity, almost with solemnity. + +"I have always known, Mabel Dunham, that men have their gifts," +said he; "but I'd forgotten that it did not belong to mine to please +the young, the beautiful, and l'arned. I hope the mistake has +been no very heavy sin; and if it was, I've been heavily punished +for it, I have. Nay, Mabel, I know what you'd say, but it's +unnecessary; I _feel_ it all, and that is as good as if I _heard_ +it all. I've had a bitter hour, Mabel. I've had a very bitter +hour, lad." + +"Hour!" echoed Mabel, as the other first used the word; the +tell-tale blood, which had begun to ebb towards her heart, rushing +again tumultuously to her very temples; "surely not an hour, +Pathfinder?" + +"Hour!" exclaimed Jasper at the same instant; "No, no, my worthy +friend, it is not ten minutes since you left us!" + +"Well, it may be so; though to me it has seemed to be a day. I +begin to think, however, that the happy count time by minutes, and +the miserable count it by months. But we will talk no more of +this; it is all over now, and many words about it will make you +no happier, while they will only tell me what I've lost; and quite +likely how much I desarved to lose her. No, no, Mabel, 'tis useless +to interrupt me; I admit it all, and your gainsaying it, though +it be so well meant, cannot change my mind. Well, Jasper, she +is yours; and, though it's hard to think it, I do believe you'll +make her happier than I could, for your gifts are better suited to +do so, though I would have strived hard to do as much, if I know +myself, I would. I ought to have known better than to believe the +Sergeant; and I ought to have put faith in what Mabel told me at +the head of the lake, for reason and judgment might have shown me +its truth; but it is so pleasant to think what we wish, and mankind +so easily over-persuade us, when we over-persuade ourselves. But +what's the use in talking of it, as I said afore? It's true, +Mabel seemed to be consenting, though it all came from a wish to +please her father, and from being skeary about the savages -- " + +"Pathfinder!" + +"I understand you, Mabel, and have no hard feelings, I haven't. I +sometimes think I should like to live in your neighborhood, that +I might look at your happiness; but, on the whole, it's better +I should quit the 55th altogether, and go back to the 60th, which +is my natyve rigiment, as it might be. It would have been better, +perhaps, had I never left it, though my sarvices were much wanted +in this quarter, and I'd been with some of the 55th years agone; +Sergeant Dunham, for instance, when he was in another corps. +Still, Jasper, I do not regret that I've known you -- " + +"And me, Pathfinder!" impetuously interrupted Mabel; "do you regret +having known _me_? Could I think so, I should never be at peace +with myself." + +"You, Mabel!" returned the guide, taking the hand of our heroine +and looking up into her countenance with guileless simplicity, +but earnest affection; "How could I be sorry that a ray of the sun +came across the gloom of a cheerless day -- that light has broken +in upon darkness, though it remained so short a time? I do not +flatter myself with being able to march quite so light-hearted as +I once used to could, or to sleep as sound, for some time to come; +but I shall always remember how near I was to being undeservedly +happy, I shall. So far from blaming you, Mabel, I only blame +myself for being so vain as to think it possible I could please such +a creatur'; for sartainly you told me how it was, when we talked +it over on the mountain, and I ought to have believed you then; +for I do suppose it's nat'ral that young women should know their +own minds better than their fathers. Ah's me! It's settled now, +and nothing remains but for me to take leave of you, that you may +depart; I feel that Master Cap must be impatient, and there is +danger of his coming on shore to look for us all." + +"To take leave!" exclaimed Mabel. + +"Leave!" echoed Jasper; "You do not mean to quit us, my friend?" + +"'Tis best, Mabel, 'tis altogether best, Eau-douce; and it's wisest. +I could live and die in your company, if I only followed feeling; +but, if I follow reason, I shall quit you here. You will go back +to Oswego, and become man and wife as soon as you arrive, -- for +all that is determined with Master Cap, who hankers after the sea +again, and who knows what is to happen, -- while I shall return to +the wilderness and my Maker. Come, Mabel," continued Pathfinder, +rising and drawing nearer to our heroine, with grave decorum, "kiss +me; Jasper will not grudge me one kiss; then we'll part." + +"Oh, Pathfinder!" exclaimed Mabel, falling into the arms of the +guide, and kissing his cheeks again and again, with a freedom and +warmth she had been far from manifesting while held to the bosom +of Jasper; "God bless you, dearest Pathfinder! You'll come to +us hereafter. We shall see you again. When old, you will come to +our dwelling, and let me be a daughter to you?" + +"Yes, that's it," returned the guide, almost gasping for breath; +"I'll try to think of it in that way. You're more befitting to be +my daughter than to be my wife, you are. Farewell, Jasper. Now +we'll go to the canoe; it's time you were on board." + +The manner in which Pathfinder led the way to the shore was solemn +and calm. As soon as he reached the canoe, he again took Mabel +by the hands, held her at the length of his own arms, and gazed +wistfully into her face, until the unbidden tears rolled out of the +fountains of feeling and trickled down his rugged cheeks in streams. + +"Bless me, Pathfinder," said Mabel, kneeling reverently at his +feet. "Oh, at least bless me before we part!" + +That untutored but noble-minded being did as she desired; and, +aiding her to enter the canoe, seemed to tear himself away as one +snaps a strong and obstinate cord. Before he retired, however, he +took Jasper by the arm and led him a little aside, when he spoke +as follows: -- + +"You're kind of heart and gentle by natur', Jasper; but we are both +rough and wild in comparison with that dear creatur'. Be careful +of her, and never show the roughness of man's natur' to her soft +disposition. You'll get to understand her in time; and the Lord, +who governs the lake and the forest alike, who looks upon virtue +with a smile and upon vice with a frown, keep you happy and worthy +to be so!" + +Pathfinder made a sign for his friend to depart, and he stood +leaning on his rifle until the canoe had reached the side of the +_Scud_. Mabel wept as if her heart would break; nor did her eyes +once turn from the open spot in the glade, where the form of the +Pathfinder was to be seen, until the cutter had passed a point +that completely shut out the island. When last in view, the sinewy +frame of this extraordinary man was as motionless as if it were a +statue set up in that solitary place to commemorate the scenes of +which it had so lately been the witness. + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +Oh! let me only breathe the air, + The blessed air that's breath'd by thee; +And, whether on its wings it bear + Healing or death, 'tis sweet to me! +MOORE. + + +Pathfinder was accustomed to solitude; but, when the _Scud_ had +actually disappeared, he was almost overcome with a sense of his +loneliness. Never before had he been conscious of his isolated +condition in the world; for his feelings had gradually been +accustoming themselves to the blandishments and wants of social +life; particularly as the last were connected with the domestic +affections. Now, all had vanished, as it might be, in one moment; +and he was left equally without companions and without hope. Even +Chingachgook had left him, though it was but temporarily; still his +presence was missed at the precise instant which might be termed +the most critical in our hero's life. + +Pathfinder stood leaning on his rifle, in the attitude described +in the last chapter, a long time after the _Scud_ had disappeared. +The rigidity of his limbs seemed permanent; and none but a man +accustomed to put his muscles to the severest proof could have +maintained that posture, with its marble-like inflexibility, for so +great a length of time. At length he moved away from the spot; the +motion of the body being preceded by a sigh that seemed to heave +up from the very depths of his bosom. + +It was a peculiarity of this extraordinary being that his senses +and his limbs, for all practical purposes, were never at fault, let +the mind be preoccupied with other interests as much as it might. +On the present occasion neither of these great auxiliaries failed +him; but, though his thoughts were exclusively occupied with Mabel, +her beauty, her preference of Jasper, her tears, and her departure, +he moved in a direct line to the spot where June still remained, +which was the grave of her husband. The conversation that followed +passed in the language of the Tuscaroras, which Pathfinder spoke +fluently; but, as that tongue is understood only by the extremely +learned, we shall translate it freely into the English; preserving, +as far as possible, the tone of thought of each interlocutor, as +well as the peculiarities of manner. June had suffered her hair +to fall about her face, had taken a seat on a stone which had been +dug from the excavation made by the grave, and was hanging over +the spot which contained the body of Arrowhead, unconscious of +the presence of any other. She believed, indeed, that all had left +the island but herself, and the tread of the guide's moccasined +foot was too noiseless rudely to undeceive her. + +Pathfinder stood gazing at the woman for several minutes in mute +attention. The contemplation of her grief, the recollection +of her irreparable loss, and the view of her desolation produced +a healthful influence on his own feelings; his reason telling him +how much deeper lay the sources of grief in a young wife, who was +suddenly and violently deprived of her husband, than in himself. + +"Dew-of-June," he said solemnly, but with an earnestness which +denoted the strength of his sympathy, "you are not alone in your +sorrow. Turn, and let your eyes look upon a friend." + +"June has no longer any friend!" the woman answered. "Arrowhead +has gone to the happy hunting-grounds, and there is no one left to +care for June. The Tuscaroras would chase her from their wigwams; +the Iroquois are hateful in her eyes, and she could not look at +them. No! Leave June to starve over the grave of her husband." + +"This will never do -- this will never do. 'Tis ag'in reason and +right. You believe in the Manitou, June?" + +"He has hid his face from June because he is angry. He has left +her alone to die." + +"Listen to one who has had a long acquaintance with red natur', +though he has a white birth and white gifts. When the Manitou of +a pale-face wishes to produce good in a pale-face heart He strikes +it with grief; for it is in our sorrows, June, that we look with +the truest eyes into ourselves, and with the farthest-sighted eyes +too, as respects right. The Great Spirit wishes you well, and +He has taken away the chief, lest you should be led astray by his +wily tongue, and get to be a Mingo in your disposition, as you were +already in your company." + +"Arrowhead was a great chief," returned the woman proudly. + +"He had his merits, he had; and he had his demerits, too. But June +you are not desarted, nor will you be soon. Let your grief out -- +let it out, according to natur', and when the proper time comes I +shall have more to say to you." + +Pathfinder now went to his own canoe, and he left the island. In +the course of the day June heard the crack of his rifle once +or twice; and as the sun was setting he reappeared, bringing her +birds ready cooked, and of a delicacy and flavor that might have +tempted the appetite of an epicure. This species of intercourse +lasted a month, June obstinately refusing to abandon the grave of +her husband all that time, though she still accepted the friendly +offerings of her protector. Occasionally they met and conversed, +Pathfinder sounding the state of the woman's feelings; but the +interviews were short, and far from frequent. June slept in one +of the huts, and she laid down her head in security, for she was +conscious of the protection of a friend, though Pathfinder invariably +retired at night to an adjacent island, where he had built himself +a hut. + +At the end of the month, however, the season was getting to be too +far advanced to render her situation pleasant to June. The trees +had lost their leaves, and the nights were becoming cold and wintry. +It was time to depart. + +At this moment Chingachgook reappeared. He had a long and confidential +interview on the island with his friend. June witnessed their +movements, and she saw that her guardian was distressed. Stealing +to his side, she endeavored to soothe his sorrow with a woman's +gentleness and with a woman's instinct. + +"Thank you, June, thank you!" he said; "'tis well meant, though it's +useless. But it is time to quit this place. To-morrow we shall +depart. You will go with us, for now you've got to feel reason." + +June assented in the meek manner of an Indian woman, and she withdrew +to pass the remainder of her time near the grave of Arrowhead. +Regardless of the hour and the season, the young widow did not +pillow her head during the whole of that autumnal night. She sat +near the spot that held the remains of her husband, and prayed, +in the manner of her people, for his success on the endless path +on which he had so lately gone, and for their reunion in the land +of the just. Humble and degraded as she would have seemed in the +eyes of the sophisticated and unreflecting, the image of God was +on her soul, and it vindicated its divine origin by aspirations +and feelings that would have surprised those who, feigning more, +feel less. + +In the morning the three departed, Pathfinder earnest and intelligent +in all he did, the Great Serpent silent and imitative, and June +meek, resigned, but sorrowful. They went in two canoes, that of +the woman being abandoned: Chingachgook led the way, and Pathfinder +followed, the course being up stream. Two days they paddled +westward, and as many nights they encamped on islands. Fortunately +the weather became mild, and when they reached the lake it was +found smooth and glassy as a pond. It was the Indian summer, and +the calms, and almost the blandness of June, slept in the hazy +atmosphere. + +On the morning of the third day they passed the mouth of the Oswego, +where the fort and the sleeping ensign invited them in vain to +enter. Without casting a look aside, Chingachgook paddled past the +dark waters of the river, and Pathfinder still followed in silent +industry. The ramparts were crowded with spectators; but Lundie, +who knew the persons of his old friends, refused to allow them to +be even hailed. + +It was noon when Chingachgook entered a little bay where the _Scud_ +lay at anchor, in a sort of roadstead. A small ancient clearing was +on the shore; and near the margin of the lake was a log dwelling, +recently and completely, though rudely fitted up. There was an air +of frontier comfort and of frontier abundance around the place, +though it was necessarily wild and solitary. Jasper stood on the +shore; and when Pathfinder landed, he was the first to take him by +the hand. The meeting was simple, but very cordial. No questions +were asked, it being apparent that Chingachgook had made the +necessary explanations. Pathfinder never squeezed his friend's +hand more cordially than in this interview; and he even laughed +cordially in his face as he told him how happy and well he appeared. + +"Where is she, Jasper? Where is she?" the guide at length whispered, +for at first he had seemed to be afraid to trust himself with the +question. + +"She is waiting for us in the house, my dear friend, where you see +that June has already hastened before us." + +"June may use a lighter step to meet Mabel, but she cannot carry +a lighter heart. And so, lad, you found the chaplain at the +garrison, and all was soon settled?" + +"We were married within a week after we left you, and Master Cap +departed next day. You have forgotten to inquire about your friend +Saltwater." + +"Not I, not I; the Sarpent has told me all that: and then I love +to hear so much of Mabel and her happiness, I do. Did the child +smile or did she weep when the ceremony was over?" + +"She did both, my friend; but -- " + +"Yes, that's their natur', tearful and cheerful. Ah's me! They +are very pleasant to us of the woods; and I do believe I should +think all right, whatever Mabel might do. And do you think, Jasper, +that she thought of me at all on that joyful occasion?" + +"I know she did, Pathfinder; and she thinks of you and talks of +you daily, almost hourly. None love you as we do." + +"I know few love me better than yourself, Jasper: Chingachgook +is perhaps, now, the only creatur' of whom I can say that. Well, +there's no use in putting it off any longer; it must be done, and +may as well be done at once; so, Jasper, lead the way, and I'll +endivor to look upon her sweet countenance once more." + +Jasper did lead the way, and they were soon in the presence of +Mabel. The latter met her late suitor with a bright blush, and +her limbs trembled so, she could hardly stand; still her manner +was affectionate and frank. During the hour of Pathfinder's visit +(for it lasted no longer, though he ate in the dwelling of his +friends), one who was expert in tracing the working of the human +mind might have seen a faithful index to the feelings of Mabel +in her manner to Pathfinder and her husband. With the latter she +still had a little of the reserve that usually accompanies young +wedlock; but the tones of her voice were kinder even than common; +the glance of her eye was tender, and she seldom looked at him +without the glow that tinged her cheeks betraying the existence +of feelings that habit and time had not yet soothed into absolute +tranquillity. With Pathfinder, all was earnest, sincere, even +anxious; but the tones never trembled, the eye never fell; and +if the cheek flushed, it was with the emotions that are connected +with concern. + +At length the moment came when Pathfinder must go his way. Chingachgook +had already abandoned the canoes, and was posted on the margin of +the woods, where a path led into the forest. Here he calmly waited +to be joined by his friend. As soon as the latter was aware of +this fact, he rose in a solemn manner and took his leave. + +"I've sometimes thought that my own fate has been a little hard," +he said; "but that of this woman, Mabel, has shamed me into reason." + +"June remains, and lives with me," eagerly interrupted our heroine. + +"So I comprehend it. If anybody can bring her back from her +grief, and make her wish to live, you can do it, Mabel; though I've +misgivings about even your success. The poor creatur' is without +a tribe, as well as without a husband, and it's not easy to reconcile +the feelings to both losses. Ah's me! -- what have I to do with +other people's miseries and marriages, as if I hadn't affliction +enough of my own? Don't speak to me, Mabel, -- don't speak to me, +Jasper, -- let me go my way in peace, and like a man. I've seen +your happiness, and that is a great deal, and I shall be able to +bear my own sorrow all the better for it. No, - I'll never kiss you +ag'in, Mabel, I'll never kiss you ag'in. Here's my hand, Jasper, +-- squeeze it, boy, squeeze it; no fear of its giving way, for it's +the hand of a man; -- and now, Mabel, do you take it, -- nay, you +must not do this," - preventing Mabel from kissing it and +bathing it in her tears, -- "you must not do this -- " + +"Pathfinder," asked Mabel, "when shall we see you again?" + +"I've thought of that, too; yes, I've thought of that, I have. If +the time should ever come when I can look upon you altogether as +a sister, Mabel, or a child, -- it might be better to say a child, +since you're young enough to be my daughter, -- depend on it I'll +come back; for it would lighten my very heart to witness your +gladness. But if I cannot, -- farewell -- farewell, -- the Sergeant +was wrong, --yes, the Sergeant was wrong!" + +This was the last the Pathfinder ever uttered to the ears of Jasper +Western and Mabel Dunham. He turned away, as if the words choked +him, and was quickly at the side of his friend. As soon as the +latter saw him approach, he shouldered his own burthen, and glided +in among the trees, without waiting to be spoken to. Mabel, her +husband, and June all watched the form of the Pathfinder, in the +hope of receiving a parting gesture, or a stolen glance of the eye; +but he did not look back. Once or twice they thought they saw his +head shake, as one trembles in bitterness of spirit; and a toss +of the hand was given, as if he knew that he was watched; but a +tread, whose vigor no sorrow could enfeeble, soon bore him out of +view, and was lost in the depths of the forest. + +Neither Jasper nor his wife ever beheld the Pathfinder again. +They remained for another year on the banks of Ontario; and then +the pressing solicitations of Cap induced them to join him in New +York, where Jasper eventually became a successful and respected +merchant. Thrice Mabel received valuable presents of furs at +intervals of years; and her feelings told her whence they came, +though no name accompanied the gift. Later in life still, when the +mother of several youths, she had occasion to visit the interior; +and found herself on the banks of the Mohawk, accompanied by her +sons, the eldest of whom was capable of being her protector. On +that occasion she observed a man in a singular guise, watching her +in the distance, with an intentness that induced her to inquire +into his pursuits and character. She was told he was the most +renowned hunter of that portion of the State, -- it was after the +Revolution, -- a being of great purity of character and of as marked +peculiarities; and that he was known in that region of country +by the name of the Leatherstocking. Further than this Mrs. Western +could not ascertain; though the distant glimpse and singular +deportment of this unknown hunter gave her a sleepless night, and +cast a shade of melancholy over her still lovely face, that lasted +many a day. + +As for June, the double loss of husband and tribe produced the +effect that Pathfinder had foreseen. She died in the cottage of +Mabel, on the shores of the lake; and Jasper conveyed her body to +the island, where he interred it by the side of that of Arrowhead. + +Lundie lived to marry his ancient love, and retired a war-worn and +battered veteran; but his name has been rendered illustrious in +our own time by the deeds of a younger brother, who succeeded to +his territorial title, which, however, was shortly after merged in +one earned by his valor on the ocean. + + + + + + + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Pathfinder, by James Fenimore Cooper +******This file should be named pthfn11.txt or pthfn11.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, pthfn12.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, pthfn11a.txt + +This etext was prepared by Nigel Lacey, Leicestershire, UK. + +*** + +More information about this book is at the top of this file. + + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. 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