 THE PATHFINDER, CHAPTER XXIV When 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." Attributed to 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.' "'As 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 sartan 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 point of view, never. At least not in my opinion. I know that nature is weak, human nature, 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 Sarpond and I left you, Sergeant,' Pathfinder resumed, "'and I need say nothing of all that happened before. It is now too late to regret what has 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 nature bestows its gifts, and some must be better than others 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 your'n in this very expedition. I never beheld a prettier flanking, and the way in which you carried your own boat up again there howitzer might have teached Lundy 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 again. 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. What is your truest philosophy, I, and truest religion, too? If the enemy has got the howitzer again, 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 sarpon and I separated about ten miles down the river, for we thought it wise as not to come upon even a friendly camp without the usual caution. That 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 sarpon is indeed a wise and virtuous chief, and any white man might covet his gifts, though his rifle is not quite as sure as kill-dear, 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 Fifty-Fifth were not cunning enough to conceal that sign, notwithstanding all that has been told them of its danger. This may be more careful, until I came inside 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 fell to sinking of the heart that at such a moment she could not have thought possible when she wished to believe all her concerns centered 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. Lundy 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 deserved 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 Lundy 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 my 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 inexpressively 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 and 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 breach of a rifle fell upon the floor, for he was busy 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 sucker, 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 had himself 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. Seeing 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 seamen, 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 to sleep, 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 vile vagabonds to not walk the earth. You have 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 Delaware's, you would have learned the difference. Well, to me they seem much of a muchness, likeers for an aft, always accepting our friend the serpent, who is a gentleman for an Indian. But when these savages made the assault on us, killing Corporal McNabb 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. 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 naves 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. Here is a damnable circumstance, as any man who has lived on it eight and forty hours will acknowledge. Uncle, 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 say it as much in plain language. In short, Sergeant, on this point there cannot well be two opinions, for semen 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? Return 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 wear 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 is a thousand pities that you didn't lie off and on with the boats, and send a canoe ahead to reconnoiter, 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. I—I—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 in 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 seem 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 is 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 sat 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 hoved too off your haven and sent in a boat to reconnoiter, 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 O'Doose has played us false. That is just my notion, for this fresh water life must sooner or later underman 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 underrunning all the events that have turned up during the voyage. There is the logbook expressly to note all these matters in, and what stands there must form the column of figures that shall 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 reptiles are an 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 salt water, and doing, too. Luckily there are four or five barrels of water in the block, and these are something towards the siege. My reckoning is wrong, too, or we shall yet reap some advantage from that honest fellow's the serpent being at liberty. Pat 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. Your Pathfinder, called out the Scotsman, a friend summons you to a parley. Come freely to one of the loops, for you have nothing to fear so long as you are in converse with an officer of the Fifty-Fifth. What is your will, quartermaster? What is your will? I know the Fifty-Fifth, and believe it to be a brave regiment, though I rather inclined to the Sixtieth as my favorite, and to the Delaware's 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 a certainty of Kildere being inside of it. Oh, you'll know how I'm 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 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 a 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 you'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 you'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. Lundy 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 again, quartermaster. You're wrong again," answered Pathfinder, resorting to a roost to magnify his force. The sergeant is safe in the block, too, where one might say the whole family is collected. Well, I'll 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. You know the potency of that red element, and will be acting more like the discreet and experienced warrior you're universally allowed to be in yield in a place you cannot 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 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 endeavors to burn this block over my head will find the fire squinched in his own blood. This is idle and romantic talk, Pathfinder, and you'll no maintain it yourself when you come to meditate on the realities. I hope you'll no gain say the loyalty or the courage of the fifty-fifth, and I feel convinced that a council of war would decide on the propriety of a surrender forthwith. Nah, nah, Pathfinder, foolhardiness is no more than the bravery of Wallace or Bruce, than Albany on the Hudson is like the old town of Edinburgh. Since each of us seems to have made up his mind, quartermaster, more words are useless. If the reptiles near you are disposed to set about their hellish job, let them begin it 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 in nature being both white, my turn is rather for doing than talking. You 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, you'll not be exposed in Mabel, pretty Mabel Dunham, to such 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 mangoes, Master Muir, I put no faith in them. You've ennavaged Tuscarora and your company there, who has art and malice enough to spoil the character of any tribe with which he consorts, though he found the mangoes 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 defenses, 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 above 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 again the block. But fortunately they have fired off the only shell we had, and there is an end 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 scary about such a thing as a howitzer, and that an 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 to brown 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 borders, 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 clamour 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 salt water 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 for Lorne 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 steady detention 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 casually 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 but thought 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 breach 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 hundreds striking the apertures. But when Pathfinder heard the sound of moccasin defeat 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 train 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 affect 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 impracticed eye to detect the forms of three or four lurking savages who were watching the progress of the flames, with a cool indifference of men accustomed to look upon human misery with apathy. Then indeed he spoke. Are you ready, friend Cap? he asked. The heap begins to strike through the crevices, and although these green logs are not of the fiery nature of an ill-tempered man, they may be kindled into a blaze if one provokes them too much. Are you ready with a barrel? See that it has the right cut, and that none of the water is wasted. All ready! answered Cap in the manner to which a seaman replies to such a demand. Then wait for the word. Never be over impatient in a critical time, nor full 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. Kildir 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 whole. Kildir is one reptile, the less. Pathfinder muttered to himself, I've seen that vagabond of four, and know him to be a marceless 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 serve the turn for tonight. 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 the 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 blaggards, and we shall have no more fires lighted to-night. Scaldings, cried Cap, upsetting the barrel with the care that it 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. Pathfinder by James Fenimore Cooper Chapter 25 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, though birds are singing in the distant woods. Attributed to Wordsworth As the light returned, Pathfinder and Cap ascended again to the roof, with a view to reconnoiter 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 center, 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 accepted, 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 a beam. 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-traveling horse resembling a cloud driving in the heavens. "'That cannot be, Jasper,' said Pathfinder, in disappointment, for he 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 mangoes.' "'This time you are out of 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, our 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 planer 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 Odu's to cover the retreat, I shall despair of nothing. God's sin that the lad may not run alongside of the bank and fall into an ambushment as befell the sergeant. "'Aye! 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 mink-hose 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 anyone visible on her deck to make signs, too. 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 practice eye detected the helm in play by means of tiller-ropes, though the person 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 ladder 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 serpent has not reached Oswego,' said he, "'and that we are not to expect succor from the garrison. I hope Lundy 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 oduses 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 serpent 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 certain to get a story right, or to hold his tongue. "'That canoe may not belong to the cutter,' said the capture seaman. Oh, Deuce had one on board when he sailed!' Very true, friend Cap, but if you know your sails and masks 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 serpent, 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 a miss, for, traitor Orloil, the lad has a handiway with him in a gale, it must be owned.' "'And it coming over waterfalls,' said Pathfinder, nudging the ribs of his companion with an elbow, and laughing in his silent but hearty matter. We will give the boy his due, though he scalps us all with his own hand.' The scud was now so near the 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 fifty-fifth, 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 undirective 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 boughs 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 eerie, eager to get a better view of her deck, when, to the delight of both, Jasper O'Doose 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 days are own! Give him a grist and yonder bushes, and you'll put him 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 already been explained. To admit of this maneuver, 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 reconnaissance. Then 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 semen. And it must be owned, too. That boy handles his boat as if he were thoroughly bred. Damn me, master Pathfinder, if I believe, after all that has been reported in the matter, that this Mr. Oduse 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 natural 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 virtuous 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 way that for a moment the two observers on the blockhouse feared Jasper meant to come, too, 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 a 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 peace 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 serpent's voice,' said Pathfinder, as soon as the second peace was discharged. I know the crack of his rifle as well as I do that of a kill-deer. It is a good barrel, though not certain death. Well, well, with Chingach Cook and Jasper on the water, and you and I in the block, Fencap, 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 to 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 air-coy, when a second savage fell by a messenger sent from Kildere, and another went limping away by a visit from the rifle of Chingach Cook. 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 Amur, stayed the hands of all, and was the forerunner of another parlay. The negotiation that followed was held beneath the blockhouse, and so near it as to, at once, to put those who were uncovered completely at the mercy of Pathfinder's unerring aim. Jasper anchored directly a beam, 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. Chingach Cook 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 not be denied a brave enemy honorable retreat when he has fought you fairly and done all the credit he could to king and country. You're 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 spilled 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 inclined to Mabel's way of thinking. There has been enough bloodshed to answer our purpose, and to serve the king, and as for honor in that meaning it will do better for young ensigns and recruits than for cool-headed, absorbent 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 not be calling the king's enemies my friends, Pathfinder, because the fortune of war has thrown me into their hands. All 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.' "'I, I,' dryly 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 restowing the bread-lockers. You burrowed on that occasion, quarter-master, as handily as a fox, and how the devil 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 you not follow? There are moments in a man's life when reason ascends to instinct.' Then 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 devil 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 sure, 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 block-house 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, Messieurs Senglier, as he was usually styled, 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 interests where a savage was concerned, was obdurate. The second stipulation was of nearly the same importance. It compelled Captain Senglier 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 to 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 sentel at the door. The remainder of the soldiers were dead, the badly wounded having been instantly dispatched 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 way, 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 Songlier, 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 assistance, busy 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 intentions 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 OF THE PATHFINDER This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. THE PATHFINDER by James Fenimore Cooper CHAPTER XXVI You saw but sorrow in its waning form, a waking sea remaining from a storm, where now the weary waves roll o'er the deep and faintly murmur ere they fall asleep. Attributed to 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 heartiest 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 manor of the quartermaster had that air of super-erogatory 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, in 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 performant, indeed, to a long exercise deference to Lundy and his family. For while the Major himself was much too acute to be the dup 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 contestant's 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 practiced. He was as sincere as the other was false, and as direct as the other was tortuous. Both were cool in 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 one good might come of it. My dearest friend, Muir commenced, for you'll be dearer to us all by seventy and sevenfold after your late conduct than ever you were. You've just established yourself in this late transaction. It's true that they'll not be making you a commissioned officer, for that species of preferment is not much in your line, nor much in your wishes, I'm thinking, but as a guide, and a counselor, and a loyal subject, and an expert marksman, your 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 your share, and you ought just to set down in content and enjoy yourself for the remainder of your days. Get married, man, without delay, and look to your precious happiness, for you've no occasion to look any longer to your glory. Take Mabel Dunham for heaven's sake, to your bosom, and you'll both have a body-bride and a bony reputation. Why quarter-master, this is a new piece of advice to come from your mouth. They told me I had a rival in you. And you had, man, an afformable one too, I can tell you, one that is never yet courted in vain, and yet one that is courted five times. Lundi twits me with four, and I deny the charge, but he little thinks the truth would outdo even his arithmetic. Yes, yes, you had a rival-pathfinder, but you've won no longer in me. You have my hearty wishes for your success with Mabel, and were the honest sergeant likely to survive? You might rely on my good word with him, too, for a certainty. I feel your friendship, quarter-master. 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 certain as most things in wartime. For Mabel and her father consenting, the whole fifty-fifth couldn't very well put a stop to it. Huzz 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 Dian. 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-murs have duly expressed that sentiment with their dying breaths. All your wives, quarter-master, have been likely to feel this consolation. Out upon you, man! I've no thought you such a wag! Ha-ha! Well, well! Pleasant words make no heart-burnings between all friends. If I cannot espouse Mabel, you'll no eject my esteeming her, but speak well of her, and of yourself, too, on all suitable occasions and in all companies. But, pathfinder, you easily understand that a poor devil who loses such a bride will probably stand in need of some consolation? Quite likely, quite likely, quarter-master. Return 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 heartstrings crack. And you might help me, man, by giving me something to do. You'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 the mere orderly has had the command. I've submitted for various reasons, though my blood has boiled to be in authority, while you're war-battling, for the honor of the country and his majesty's rights. Quarter-master, 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. It's just my opinion, Pathfinder. We'll all say nothing about it. Sergeant Dunham is or de Kambat. 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 their lieutenant's commission. As for the men, then no dare to raise any objection. And as for yourself, my dear friend, now that you have so much honor and mable and the consciousness of having done your 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 Fifty-Fifth Lieutenant, it is your right, I suppose, and no one here will be likely to gain say it, though you've been a prisoner of war, and there are men who might stand out again 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, on the defense of the block, together with the general operations, including the capitulation, when they'll find any omission of your claims and merits. Tut, for my claims and merits, quartermaster, Lundy 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 Mable'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 around 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 a new state of things. This change in the dynasty was affected 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, Lundy 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 Senglier 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 veracity 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 Fifty-Fifth. 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 into 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-time 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 Songlier, 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 Songlier bore some resemblance to that celebrated interview between Wellington and Blucher, which have 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 a warrior, that there was little in common between them in the way of character as well as of interests. One served from money and performant, 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 tranquility 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 Songelier 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 knew 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 Songelier. 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, M. Songelier 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. M. Pathfinder said he, with a very decided accent, though with a friendly smile, en militaire honneur, le courage et la loyauté. You speak Iroquois? I, I understand the language of the reptiles, and can get along with it, if there's occasion, return 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-Hart, you find a nave. 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. Everywhere, sir, your own un ball from your honourable hand be a certain depth. You kill my best water on some island. That may be, that may be, though I dare say if the truth was known, they would turn out to be great rascals. No offence to you, Master Flinty-Hart, but you keep desperate evil company. Yes, sir, 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 ombrave ois comme ça. What that mean? What that je nomme d'eux? The hand and eye of Captain Senglier 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 the power of muscle that would not be denied. Who has the heart to do this to Jasper, O deuce, and who is 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. You'll not take on yourself to dispute the legality of orders given by one who bears the King's commission to the King's soldiers. I dispute the King's words if they came from the King's own mouth. Did he say that Jasper desires this? Has not the leg 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 savers a little of insubordination. But we can bear much from pathfinder. It is true that 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, you'll not 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 nature, return, pathfinder. Jasper O'Doose is my friend. Jasper O'Doose is a brave lad, and an honest lad, and a loyal lad, and no man of the fifty-fifth shall lay hands on him short of Lundy's own orders, while I'm on 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. We are no harkened or reasoned, pathfinder. You'll not be forgetting our suspicions and judgments, and here is another circumstance to augment and aggravate them all. You 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 you'll be at the trouble to look at the fly of the scud's ensign, you'll just say that the cloth has been cut out from it. Circumstantial evidence was never stronger. Ma foie, c'est un petit four, c'est si, 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's 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 Fifty-Fifth, or the Sarpent here, and Kildere, with Jasper and his crew. You overrate your force, Lieutenant Muir, as much as you underrate Odus's truth. Trimpon! Well, if I must speak plainly, Pathfinder, I in must. Captain Sanglier here, an 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. Celerat, mothered 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 Flindy-Heart? I, added Muir, let him speak out then, since you wish it, unhappy youth, that the truth may be known. I only hope that you may escape the last punishment when a court will be sitting on your misdeeds. How is it, Captain? Do you, or do you not, see a traitor among us? Oui. Yes, sir, bien sûr. 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, Yankee 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, Songlie took a pinch of snuff and said in a calm voice, Voila, l'affaire finie! Mais, shrugging his shoulders, ce n'est qu'on c'est le rotem 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. Chingachuk, 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 Songlie struck him. Speak, monsieur, said he in English. Am I the traitor? Le voilà, answered the cool Frenchman. That is our espion, our agent, our friend. Ma foie, c'était un grand celeron. Voici. While speaking, Songlie 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