It was now getting towards the hour to set the watch, and when it was usual to retire for the night. Most of the party went below, leaving no one on deck but Cap, the Serjeant, Jasper, and two of the crew. Arrowhead and his wife also remained, the former standing aloof in proud reserve, and the latter exhibiting, by her attitude and passiveness, the meek humility that characterizes an Indian woman.
“You will find a place for your wife below, Arrowhead, where my daughter will attend to her wants,” said the Serjeant kindly, who was himself on the point of quitting the deck; “yonder is a sail, where you may sleep, yourself.”
“I thank my father. The Tuscaroras are not poor. The woman will look for my blankets in the canoe.”
“As you wish, my friend. We think it necessary to detain you, but not necessary to confine, or to maltreat you. Send your squaw into the canoe for the blankets, and you may follow her yourself and hand us up the paddles. As there may be some sleepy heads in the Scud, Eau douce,” added the serjeant, in a lower tone, “it may be well to secure the paddles.”
Jasper assented, and Arrowhead and his wife, with whom resistance appeared to be out of the question, silently complied with the directions. A few expressions of sharp rebuke passed from the Indian to his wife, while both were employed in the canoe, which the latter received with submissive quiet, immediately repairing an error she had made, by laying aside the blanket she had taken, and searching another that was more to her tyrant’s mind.
“Come, bear a hand, Arrowhead,” said the Serjeant, who stood at the gunwale, overlooking the movements of the two, which were proceeding too slowly for the impatience of a drowsy man, “it is getting late, and we soldiers have such a thing as reveillé. Early to bed, and early to rise.”
“Arrowhead is coming—” was the answer, as the Tuscarora stepped towards the head of his canoe.
One blow of his keen knife severed the rope which held the boat, when the cutter glanced ahead, leaving the light bubble of bark, which instantly lost its way, almost stationary. So suddenly and dexterously was this manœuvre performed, that the canoe was on the lee quarter of the Scud, before the serjeant was aware of the artifice, and quite in her wake, ere he had time to announce it to his companions.
“Hard a-lee!” shouted Jasper, letting fly the jib sheet with his own hands, when the cutter came swiftly up to the breeze, with all her canvass flapping, or was running into the wind’s eye, as seamen term it, until the light craft was a hundred feet to windward of her former position. Quick and dexterous as was this movement, and ready as had been the expedient, it was not quicker, or more ready, than that of the Tuscarora. With an intelligence that denoted some familiarity with vessels, he had seized his paddle, and was already skimming the water, aided by the efforts of his wife. The direction he took was south-westerly, or on a line that led him equally towards the wind and the shore, while it also kept him so far aloof from the cutter, as to avoid the danger of the latter’s falling on board of him, when she filled on the other tack.
Swiftly as the Scud had shot into the wind, and far as she had forged ahead, Jasper knew it was necessary to cast her, ere she lost her way, and it was not two minutes from the time the helm had been put down, before the lively little craft was aback forward, and rapidly falling off, in order to allow her sails to fill on the opposite tack.
“He will escape!” said Jasper, the instant he caught a glimpse of the relative bearings of the cutter and the canoe. “The cunning knave is paddling dead to windward, and the Scud can never overtake him!”
“You have a canoe!” exclaimed the serjeant, manifesting the eagerness of a boy to join in the pursuit—“Let us launch it, and give chase!”
“’Twill be useless. If Pathfinder had been on deck, there might have been a chance; but there is none now. To launch the canoe would have taken three or four minutes, and the time lost would have been sufficient for the purposes of Arrowhead.”
Both Cap and the serjeant saw the truth of this, which would have been nearly self evident even to one unaccustomed to vessels. The shore was distant less than half a mile, and the canoe was already glancing into its shadows, at a rate to show that it would reach the land, ere its pursuers could probably get half the distance. The canoe itself, might have been seized, but it would have been a useless prize, for Arrowhead in the woods, would be more likely to reach the other shore without detection than if he still possessed the means to venture on the lake again, though it might be, and probably would be at greater bodily labor to himself. The helm of the Scud, was reluctantly put up again, and the cutter wore short round on her heel, coming up to her course on the other tack, as if acting on instinct. All this was done by Jasper in profound silence, his assistants understanding what was necessary, and lending their aid in a sort of mechanical imitation. While these manœuvres were in the course of execution, Cap took the Serjeant by a button and led him towards the cabin door, where he was out of ear-shot, and began to unlock his stores of thought.
“Harkee, Brother Dunham,” he said with an ominous face, “this is a matter that requires mature thought, and much circumspection.”
“The life of a soldier, Brother Cap, is one of constant thought and circumspection. On this frontier, were we to overlook either, our scalps might be taken from our heads in the first nap.”
“But I consider this capture of Arrowhead as a circumstance—and I might add his escape as another. This Jasper Freshwater must look to it!”
“They are both circumstances truly, brother, but they tell different ways. If it is a circumstance against the lad, that the Indian has escaped, it is a circumstance in his favor, that he was first taken.”
“Ay, ay, but two circumstances do not contradict each other, like two negatives. If you will follow the advice of an old seaman, serjeant, not a moment is to be lost, in taking the steps necessary, for the security of the vessel, and all on board of her. The cutter is now slipping through the water at the rate of six knots, and as the distances are so short on this bit of a pond, we may all find ourselves in a French port before morning, and in a French prison before night.”
“This may be true enough; what would you advise me to do, brother?”
“In my opinion you should put this Master Freshwater under arrest, on the spot; send him below, under the charge of a sentinel, and transfer the command of the cutter to me. All this you have power to perform, the craft belonging to the army, and you being the commanding officer of the troops present.”
Serjeant Dunham deliberated more than an hour on the propriety of this proposal, for, though sufficiently prompt when his mind was really made up, he was habitually thoughtful and wary. The habit of superintending the personal police of the garrison had made him acquainted with character, and he had long been disposed to think well of Jasper. Still that subtle poison, suspicion, had entered his soul, and so much were the artifices and intrigues of the French dreaded, that, especially warned as he had been by his commander, it is not to be wondered the recollection of years of good conduct, should vanish under the influence of a distrust so keen, and seemingly so plausible. In this embarrassment, the Serjeant consulted the Quarter Master, whose opinion, as his superior, he felt bound to respect, though, at the moment, independent of his control. It is an unfortunate occurrence, for one who is in a dilemma, to ask advice of another who is desirous of standing well in his favor, the party consulted being almost certain to try to think in the manner which will be the most agreeable to the party consulting. In the present instance, it was equally unfortunate, as respects a candid consideration of the subject, that Cap, instead of the Serjeant himself, made the statement of the case, for the earnest old sailor was not backward in letting his listener perceive to which side he was desirous that the Quarter Master should lean. Lt. Muir was much too politic to offend the uncle and father of the woman he hoped and expected to win, had he really thought the case admitted of doubt, but, in the manner in which the facts were submitted to him, he was seriously inclined to think
that it would be well to put the control of the Scud temporarily into the management of Cap, as a precaution against treachery. This opinion, then, decided the serjeant, who, forthwith, set about the execution of the necessary measures.
Without entering into any explanations, Serjeant Dunham simply informed Jasper that he felt it to be his duty to deprive him, temporarily, of the command of the cutter, and to confer it on his own brother-in-law. A natural and involuntary burst of surprise, which escaped the young man, was met by a quiet remark, reminding him that military service was often of a nature that required concealment, and a declaration that the present duty was of such a character that this particular arrangement had become indispensable. Although Jasper’s astonishment remained undiminished—the serjeant cautiously abstaining from making any allusions to his suspicions—the young man was accustomed to obey with military submission; and he quietly acquiesced—with his own mouth directing the little crew to receive their future orders from Cap, until another change should be effected. When, however, he was told the case required that not only he, himself, but his principal assistant, who, on account of his long acquaintance with the lake, usually was termed the pilot, were to remain below, there was an alteration in his countenance and manner that denoted deep mortification, though it was so well mastered as to leave even the distrustful Cap in doubt as to its meaning. As a matter of course, however, when distrust existed, it was not long before the worst construction was put upon it.
As soon as Jasper and the pilot were below, the sentinel at the hatch received private orders to pay particular attention to both; to allow neither to come on deck again, without giving instant notice to the person who might then be in charge of the cutter, and to insist on his return below, as soon as possible. This precaution, however, was uncalled for, Jasper and his assistant, both throwing themselves silently on their pallets, which neither quitted again that night.
“And, now, Serjeant,” said Cap, as soon as he found himself master of the deck, “you will just have the goodness to give me the courses and distance, that I may see the boat keeps her head the right way.”
“I know nothing of either, Brother Cap,” returned Dunham, not a little embarrassed at the question. “We must make the best of our way to the station among the Thousand Islands, where ‘we shall land, relieve the party that is already out and get information for our future government.’ That’s it, nearly word for word, as it stands in the written orders.”
“But you can muster a chart—something in the way of bearings and distances, that I may see the road?”
“I do not think Jasper ever had any thing of the sort to go by.”
“No chart, Serjeant Dunham!”
“Not a scrap of a pen, even. Our sailors navigate this lake without any aid from maps.”
“The devil they do!—They must be regular Yahoos. And do you suppose, Serjeant Dunham, that I can find one island out of a thousand, without knowing its name, or its position—without even a course, or a distance?”
“As for the name, Brother Cap, you need not be particular, for not one of the whole thousand has a name, and so a mistake can never be made on that score. As for the position, never having been there, myself, I can tell you nothing about it, nor do I think its position of any particular consequence, provided we find the spot. Perhaps one of the hands on deck can tell us the way.”
“Hold on, Serjeant—hold on, a moment, if you please, Serjeant Dunham. If I am to command this craft, it must be done, if you please, without holding any councils of war with the cook and cabin boy. A ship-master is a ship-master, and he must have an opinion of his own, even if it be a wrong one. I suppose you know service well enough to understand that it is better in a commander to go wrong, than to go nowhere. At all events, the Lord High Admiral could’n’t command a yawl with dignity, if he consulted the cockswain every time he wished to go ashore. No—no—if I sink, I sink; but d____e, I’ll go down ship-shape and with dignity.”
“But, Brother Cap, I have no wish to go down any where, unless it be to the station among the Thousand Islands, whither we are bound.”
“Well, well, serjeant, rather than ask advice, that is direct, bare-faced advice, of a foremast hand, or any other than a quarter-deck officer, I would go round to the whole thousand, and examine them one by one, until we got the right haven. But, there is such a thing, as coming at an opinion, without manifesting ignorance, and I will manage to rowse all there is, out of these hands, and make them think, all the while, that I am cramming them, with my own experience. We are sometimes obliged to use the glass at sea, when there is nothing in sight, or to heave the lead, long before we strike soundings. I suppose you know in the army, serjeant, that the next thing to knowing that which is desirable, is to seem to know all about it. When a youngster, I sailed two v’y’ges with a man who navigated his ship pretty much by the latter sort of information, which sometimes answers.”
“I know we are steering in the right direction, at present,” returned the serjeant; “but in the course of a few hours we shall be up with a head-land, where we must feel our way, with more caution.”
“Leave me to pump the man at the wheel, brother, and you shall see that I will make him suck, in a very few minutes.”
Cap and the serjeant now walked aft, until they stood by the sailor who was at the helm, Cap maintaining an air of security and tranquillity, like one who was entirely confident of his own powers.
“This is a wholesome air, my lad,” Cap observed, as it might be incidentally, and in the manner that a superior on board a vessel sometimes condescends to use to a favored inferior. “Of course, you have it, in this fashion, off the land, every night?”
“At this season of the year, sir,” the man returned, touching his hat, out of respect to his new commander and Serjeant Dunham’s connection.
“The same thing, I take it, among the Thousand Islands?— The wind will stand of course, though we shall then have land on every side of us.”
“When we get further east, sir, the wind will probably shift, for there can then be no particular land breeze.”
“Ay, ay—so much for your fresh water! It has always some trick that is opposed to nature. Now, down among the West-India islands, one is just as certain of having a land breeze, as he is of having a sea breeze. In that respect there is no difference, though it’s quite in rule, it should be different up here, on this bit of fresh water. Of course, my lad, you know all about these said Thousand Islands?”
“Lord bless you, Master Cap, nobody knows all about them, or any thing about them. They are a puzzle to the oldest sailor on the lake, and we don’t pretend to know even their names. For that matter, most of them have no more names than a child that dies before it is christened.”
“Are you a Roman Catholic?—” demanded the serjeant, sharply.
“No sir, nor any thing else. I’m a generalizer about religion, never troubling that which don’t trouble me.”
“Hum! a generalizer; that is, no doubt, one of the new sects that afflict the country!” muttered Mr. Dunham, whose grandfather had been a New-Jersey quaker, his father a presbyterian, and who had joined the church of England, himself, after he entered the army.
“I take it, John,” resumed Cap—“Your name is Jack, I believe?”
“No sir; I am called Robert.”
“Ay, Robert—it’s very much the same thing—Jack, or Bob—we use the two indifferently. I say, Bob, it’s good holding ground, is it, down at this same station for which we are bound?”
“Bless you sir, I know no more about it, than one of the Mohawks, or a soldier of the 55th.”
“Did you never anchor there?”
“Never, sir. Master Eau douce always makes fast to the shore.”
“But in running in for the town, you kept the lead going, out of question, and must have tallowed as usual?”
“Tallow! and town, too! Bless you heart, Master Cap, there is no more town, than there is on your chin, and not half as much tallow.
”
The serjeant smiled grimly, but his brother-in-law did not detect this proof of facetiousness.
“No church tower, nor light, nor fort, ha! There is a garrison, as you call it hereaway, at least.”
“Ask Serjeant Dunham, sir, if you wish to know that! All the garrison is on board the Scud.”
“But, in running in, Bob, which of the channels do you think the best, the one you went last, or—or—or—ay, or the other?”
“I can’t say, sir. I know nothing of either.”
“You did’n’t go to sleep, fellow, at the wheel did you?”
“Not at the wheel, sir, but down in the fore peak, in my berth. Eau douce sent us below, so’gers and all, with the exception of the pilot, and we know no more of the road than if we had never been over it. This he has always done, in going in and coming out, and, for the life of me, I could tell you nothing of the channel, or of the course, after we are once fairly up with the islands. No one knows any thing of either, but Jasper and the pilot.”
“Here’s a circumstance for you, serjeant,” said Cap, leading his brother-in-law, a little aside. “There is no one on board to pump, for they all suck from ignorance, at the first stroke of the brake. How the devil am I to find the way to this station.”
“Sure enough, Brother Cap; your question is more easily put than answered. Is there no such thing as figuring it out, by navigation? I thought you salt-water mariners were able to do as small a thing as that! I have often read of their discovering islands, surely.”
“That you have, brother; that you have; and this discovery would be the greatest of them all, for it would not only be discovering one island, but one island out of a thousand. I might make out to pick up a single needle on this deck, old as I am, but I much doubt if I could pick one out of a haystack.”
The Leatherstocking Tales II Page 27
