 CHAPTER XIII. THE GOBLIN NOW THE FOOL ALARMS, HAGS MEAT TO MUMBLE OR THEIR CHARMS, THE NIGHTMARE RIDES THE DREAMING ASS AND FAIRYS TRIPIT ON THE GRASS. ATTRIBUTED TO CUTTON. 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 what 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 Lundy. 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 bateau into the river to receive their frates, 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. There 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. Deck 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 accepted. 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 unsure, 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 luster, 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 again, 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 the 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 nature, and even then he must act up to his own knowledge, and act closely. Asked 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 ought in favor of a friend. It is honorable to him that he has reached the 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 house so ever, or likely to be. But Jasper, you have not yet told me how he got command of the schooner. It's 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, though everybody 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 this 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 gift, however, runs so little towards the water in 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 tonight? Your question would have been more natural had you said, why are you here, Pathfinder? The serpent is in his place, while I am not in mine. He is out with two or three more scouting the lakeshores, 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 pitties, Mabel. Your father wasn't born a general, as some of the English are who come among us, for I feel certain he wouldn't leap a Frencher in the Canada's a week, could he have his own way with him? 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, though I have always tried to remember what I owe to my dear father. I, 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 Sorus pressed 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 that little earnestly. Perhaps he fancied you would think the better of me if you did not believe me as 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 straight 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-fitted and bloody day. It's the way of us skirmishers to think little of the fight when the rifle is done cracking, and at night, around our fires or on our marches, we talk of the things we love, just as you young women converse about your fancies and opinions, when you get together to laugh over your ideas. 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 Delaware's 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 Delaware's, 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 a-feared 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 love to think of my scoutings, and of my marches, and outlines, and fights, and other adventures. But now my mind cares less about them. I think more of the barracks, and of evenings past in discourse, of feelings in which there are no wranglings in 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. But 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 it 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 unpracticed, 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 Lundy and the Sargent. 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 Sargent, but which it was too dark to read. All your honour 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. Other men could not be found in the regiment. You have need of the best of our men, Sargent. 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 has 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 hope, 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 Lundy, 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 of 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 in 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 Serpenting Company. That will never do, Dunham, interrupted Lundy 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 to gather, 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 Odus. 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. His 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 once his name? He speaks the language of the Canada's, 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, not withstanding. I beg your pardon, sir. Jasper O'Doose was brought up under a real English seaman, one that had sailed under the king's penant, and may be called a thoroughbred. 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 skud. 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. Return 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 Odus, 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 Urquois 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 in the scalp of her uncle. I understand the hints, 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, not to be condemned too hastily for the circumstance, by Your Honor's leave. It's a damned 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 his way back after he has once traveled 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. So 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. Dispatches are feigned, and artifice is generally allowed to be justifiable. Military manly artifices, sir, if you will, such as ambushes, surprises, faints, 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 and endeavouring to put you in the vacancy, to which you have many claims. I humbly thank your honour, 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 how it, sir. 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 favour his observation by concealing it. He must be true. For him, sir, my own head shall answer, and 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 but thought to you of the spare flints. A sergeant is a safe commander for all such details, your honour. Well, then give me your hand, Dunham. God bless you, and may you be successful. Mure 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 Davies. I hope, sir, my child will make a prudent choice, and I think her mind is already pretty much made up in favour of Pathfinder. Still she must 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 Mure in any difficulty. I shall expect you to return triumphant this day, month. God bless your honour. If anything should happen to me, I trust 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, sure, 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. Lundy 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 of 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 habit's opinions and education of the man. The scud's cage was lifted as soon as the boat with the sergeant, who was the last person expected, was seen to quick 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 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 Oduce, 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 everyone 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 Oduce is false, and in the pay of the enemy, I wish to hear your opinion on the subject. Anon. 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 Lundy 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? What is 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 that there must be some truth in their doctrines. But you have been talking with Duncan of Lundy 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 O'Doose since he was a boy, and I have as much faith in his honesty as I have in my own, or that of the serpent himself. But the serpent, Pathfinder, has his tricks and ambushes in war as well as another. I, them, are his natural gifts, and are such as belong to his people. Neither red-skinned nor pale-faced can deny nature, but Chingachkoek 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 have 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 not 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 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 Odus this evening. His movements are common enough, I daresay, for fresh water, Master Pathfinder, that 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 manor that 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. There knows this to be true.' "'I'll not gain say it,' answered the guide. "'At least they tell me such is the fact. But this will prove nothing again the Mississauga, and least of all again one like Jasper. I speak the mingodialect myself, having learned it while a prisoner among the reptiles. 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.' "'I, 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. But 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 linguester in that language, I should not think so much of it, though we always looked 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 here away on the opposite coast,' cried Cap, jerking a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the candidates, 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, had 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 in foremost half his time. It's 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 idea, or a word, isn't treachery and bad faith. I sometimes get an idea from the mingos themselves, but my heart has always been with the Delaware's. 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 damn little logic. In first place, the king's majesty cannot lend his crown, if 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 ore 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 underway, 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 overall. 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 make-way 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 at that, he got the flag union down. That might have been an accident. Returned the sergeant, for such a thing has happened to myself. Besides, the howards 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 how your 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 traders. It will be duly attended to, Brother Cap. But I shall count on you for aid in managing the scud, should anything occurred 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's pretty much a 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 trader. I'll put Jasper Western against all 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. I, I, 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 the 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. End of chapter. Chapter 14 Of The Pathfinder This is a 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 14 Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless, so dull, so dead in look, so woe be gone, drew Priam's curtain in the dead of night, and would have told him half his Troy was burned. Attributed to Shakespeare All this time matters where else we're 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 palates in the main hold. None remained on deck but the people of the cutter, Mr. Muir, and the two females. The quartermaster was endeavouring 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 and 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 ore-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 have no inclination, Jasper lad, to trust yourself too near our neighbours the French. Observe Muir, who took that occasion to recommend state discourse. Well, well, your prudence will never be questioned by me, for I like the Canada's 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 fresh as closed 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 often enough. I'm right glad it's not the Bay of Mexico, putting 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 Odus? She is as 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 a 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 lookout 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 in 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 colour 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 and thought, indeed, 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. Return the other, sighing. And as 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 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 is 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 slyly 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 way, 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 in Frenchman, with a good English-built bottom in their wake. I'll engage, Master O'Doose, had you given me a call that said Tuesday morning, that we should have overhauled the Blaggards. I daresay, Master Cap, that the advice of as old a seamen as you might have done no harm to as young a sailor as myself, but it is a long and hopeless chase that has a barked canoe in it. You would have only had to press it hard to drive it ashore. Ashore, Master Cap, you do not understand our lake navigation at all. If you suppose it is 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 do not 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 kept Dean 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 knew 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 who had been 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 Moccasin's master cap, said he when a short pause invited him to speak, they may be worn by pale faces as well as by redskins. It is true, though they never leave the same trail on the foot of one as on the foot of the other. Anyone 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, putting 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 defense 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 taff-rail, Mabel sat silently by the companion way, Mr. Murer 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 traveling 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 center 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 today, 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 boast of knowledge and improvement, is left to receive its truths, on all such points as touched 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 offense, 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 matter 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, Odus, 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 been told what that is, Mabel? He has told me nothing. My father is too much of a soldier, and too little use to have a family around him to talk of such matters. Is it forbidden to say whether 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 them 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 Odus. 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 freshwater 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 anyone else? He wishes you to be the wife of a soldier? Jasper, oh deuce, 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 to 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 sergeant's daughters become officer's 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. Return, Mabel, laughing. You may think so, but there are some in the fifty-fifth 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, where 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 fifty-fifth 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 as 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 word 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 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 knew 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. Ha! Ha! He means saltwater 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 did not take your opinions of us freshwater 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-bowl. 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 snowshoes. Let her lough! cried Jasper to the man at the helm. Lough 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.