CHAPTER VIII.
A land of love, and a land of light, Withouten sun, or moon, or night: Where the river swa'd a living stream, And the light a pure celestial beam: The land of vision, it would seem A still, an everlasting dream. _Queen's Wake._
The rest that succeeds fatigue, and which attends a newly awakened senseof security, is generally sweet and deep. Such was the fact with Mabel,who did not rise from her humble pallet--such a bed as a sergeant'sdaughter might claim in a remote frontier post--until long after thegarrison had obeyed the usual summons of the drums, and had assembled atthe morning parade. Sergeant Dunham, on whose shoulders fell the taskof attending to these ordinary and daily duties, had got through all hismorning avocations, and was beginning to think of his breakfast,before his child left her room, and came into the fresh air, equallybewildered, delighted, and grateful, at the novelty and security of hernew situation.
At the time of which we are writing, Oswego was one of the extremefrontier posts of the British possessions on this continent. It hadnot been long occupied, and was garrisoned by a battalion of a regimentwhich had been originally Scotch, but into which many Americans had beenreceived since its arrival in this country; all innovation that had ledthe way to Mabel's father filling the humble but responsible situationof the oldest sergeant. A few young officers also, who were natives ofthe colonies, were to be found in the corps. The fort itself, likemost works of that character, was better adapted to resist an attack ofsavages than to withstand a regular siege; but the great difficultyof transporting heavy artillery and other necessaries rendered theoccurrence of the latter a probability so remote as scarcely to enterinto the estimate of the engineers who had planned the defences. Therewere bastions of earth and logs, a dry ditch, a stockade, a parade ofconsiderable extent, and barracks of logs, that answered the doublepurpose of dwellings and fortifications. A few light field-pieces stoodin the area of the fort, ready to be conveyed to any point where theymight be wanted, and one or two heavy iron guns looked out from thesummits of the advanced angles, as so many admonitions to the audaciousto respect their power.
When Mabel, quitting the convenient, but comparatively retired hut whereher father had been permitted to place her, issued into the pure airof the morning, she found herself at the foot of a bastion, which layinvitingly before her, with a promise of giving a _coup d'oeil_ of allthat had been concealed in the darkness of the preceding night. Trippingup the grassy ascent, the light-hearted as well as light-footed girlfound herself at once on a point where the sight, at a few varyingglances, could take in all the external novelties of her new situation.
To the southward lay the forest, through which she had been journeyingso many weary days, and which had proved so full of dangers. It wasseparated from the stockade by a belt of open land, that had beenprincipally cleared of its woods to form the martial constructionsaround her. This glacis, for such in fact was its military uses, mighthave covered a hundred acres; but with it every sign of civilizationceased. All beyond was forest; that dense, interminable forest whichMabel could now picture to herself, through her recollections, with itshidden glassy lakes, its dark rolling stream, and its world of nature.
Turning from this view, our heroine felt her cheek fanned by a fresh andgrateful breeze, such as she had not experienced since quitting the fardistant coast. Here a new scene presented itself: although expected, itwas not without a start, and a low exclamation indicative of pleasure,that the eager eyes of the girl drank in its beauties. To the north, andeast, and west, in every direction, in short, over one entire halfof the novel panorama, lay a field of rolling waters. The element wasneither of that glassy green which distinguishes the American watersin general, nor yet of the deep blue of the ocean, the color being of aslightly amber hue, which scarcely affected its limpidity. No land wasto be seen, with the exception of the adjacent coast, which stretched tothe right and left in an unbroken outline of forest with wide bays andlow headlands or points; still, much of the shore was rocky, and intoits caverns the sluggish waters occasionally rolled, producing ahollow sound, which resembled the concussions of a distant gun. No sailwhitened the surface, no whale or other fish gambolled on its bosom, nosign of use or service rewarded the longest and most minute gaze at itsboundless expanse. It was a scene, on one side, of apparently endlessforests, while a waste of seemingly interminable water spread itself onthe other. Nature appeared to have delighted in producing grand effects,by setting two of her principal agents in bold relief to each other,neglecting details; the eye turning from the broad carpet of leaves tothe still broader field of fluid, from the endless but gentle heavingsof the lake to the holy calm and poetical solitude of the forest, withwonder and delight.
Mabel Dunham, though unsophisticated, like most of her countrywomenof that period, and ingenuous and frank as any warm-hearted andsincere-minded girl well could be, was not altogether without a feelingfor the poetry of this beautiful earth of ours. Although she couldscarcely be said to be educated at all, for few of her sex at thatday and in this country received much more than the rudiments of plainEnglish instruction, still she had been taught much more than was usualfor young women in her own station in life; and, in one sense certainly,she did credit to her teaching. The widow of a field-officer, whoformerly belonged to the same regiment as her father, had taken thechild in charge at the death of its mother; and under the care of thislady Mabel had acquired some tastes and many ideas which otherwise mightalways have remained strangers to her. Her situation in the family hadbeen less that of a domestic than of a humble companion, and the resultswere quite apparent in her attire, her language, her sentiments, andeven in her feelings, though neither, perhaps, rose to the level ofthose which would properly characterize a lady. She had lost the lessrefined habits and manners of one in her original position, withouthaving quite reached a point that disqualified her for the situation inlife that the accidents of birth and fortune would probably compel herto fill. All else that was distinctive and peculiar in her belonged tonatural character.
With such antecedents it will occasion the reader no wonder if helearns that Mabel viewed the novel scene before her with a pleasurefar superior to that produced by vulgar surprise. She felt its ordinarybeauties as most would have felt them, but she had also a feeling forits sublimity--for that softened solitude, that calm grandeur, andeloquent repose, which ever pervades broad views of natural objects yetundisturbed by the labors and struggles of man.
"How beautiful!" she exclaimed, unconscious of speaking, as she stood onthe solitary bastion, facing the air from the lake, and experiencing thegenial influence of its freshness pervading both her body and her mind."How very beautiful! and yet how singular!"
The words, and the train of her ideas, were interrupted by a touch ofa finger on her shoulder, and turning, in the expectation of seeing herfather, Mabel found Pathfinder at her side. He was leaning quietlyon his long rifle, and laughing in his quiet manner, while, with anoutstretched arm, he swept over the whole panorama of land and water.
"Here you have both our domains," said he,--"Jasper's and mine. The lakeis for him, and the woods are for me. The lad sometimes boasts of thebreadth of his dominions; but I tell him my trees make as broad a plainon the face of this 'arth as all his water. Well, Mabel, you are fit foreither; for I do not see that fear of the Mingos, or night-marches, candestroy your pretty looks."
"It is a new character for the Pathfinder to appear in, to compliment asilly girl."
"Not silly, Mabel; no, not in the least silly. The Sergeant's daughterwould do discredit to her worthy father, were she to do or say anythingthat could be called silly."
"Then she must take care and not put too much faith in treacherous,flattering words. But, Pathfinder, I rejoice to see you among us again;for, though Jasper did not seem to feel much uneasiness, I was afraidsome accident might have happened to you and your friend on thatfrightful rift."
"The lad knows us both, and was sartain that we should not drow
n, whichis scarcely one of my gifts. It would have been hard swimming of asartainty, with a long-barrelled rifle in the hand; and what between thegame, and the savages and the French, Killdeer and I have gone throughtoo much in company to part very easily. No, no; we waded ashore, therift being shallow enough for that with small exceptions, and we landedwith our arms in our hands. We had to take our time for it, on accountof the Iroquois, I will own; but, as soon as the skulking vagabonds sawthe lights that the Sergeant sent down to your canoe, we well understoodthey would decamp, since a visit might have been expected from someof the garrison. So it was only sitting patiently on the stones for anhour, and all the danger was over. Patience is the greatest of virtuesin a woodsman."
"I rejoice to hear this, for fatigue itself could scarcely make mesleep, for thinking of what might befall you."
"Lord bless your tender little heart, Mabel! but this is the way withall you gentle ones. I must say, on my part, however, that I was rightglad to see the lanterns come down to the waterside, which I knew to bea sure sign of _your_ safety. We hunters and guides are rude beings; butwe have our feelings and our idees, as well as any general in thearmy. Both Jasper and I would have died before you should have come toharm--we would."
"I thank you for all you did for me, Pathfinder; from the bottom of myheart, I thank you; and, depend on it, my father shall know it. Ihave already told him much, but have still a duty to perform on thissubject."
"Tush, Mabel! The Sergeant knows what the woods be, and what men--truered men--be, too. There is little need to tell him anything about it.Well, now you have met your father, do you find the honest old soldierthe sort of person you expected to find?"
"He is my own dear father, and received me as a soldier and a fathershould receive a child. Have you known him long, Pathfinder?"
"That is as people count time. I was just twelve when the Sergeant tookme on my first scouting, and that is now more than twenty years ago.We had a tramping time of it; and, as it was before your day, you wouldhave had no father, had not the rifle been one of my natural gifts."
"Explain yourself."
"It is too simple for many words. We were ambushed, and the Sergeant gota bad hurt, and would have lost his scalp, but for a sort of inbred turnI took to the weapon. We brought him off, however, and a handsomer headof hair, for his time of life, is not to be found in the rijiment thanthe Sergeant carries about with him this blessed day."
"You saved my father's life, Pathfinder!" exclaimed Mabel,unconsciously, though warmly, taking one of his hard, sinewy hands intoboth her own. "God bless you for this, too, among your other good acts!"
"Nay, I did not say that much, though I believe I did save his scalp.A man might live without a scalp, and so I cannot say I saved his life.Jasper may say that much consarning you; for without his eye and armthe canoe would never have passed the rift in safety on a night likethe last. The gifts of the lad are for the water, while mine are for thehunt and the trail. He is yonder, in the cove there, looking after thecanoes, and keeping his eye on his beloved little craft. To my eye,there is no likelier youth in these parts than Jasper Western."
For the first time since she had left her room, Mabel now turned hereyes beneath her, and got a view of what might be called the foregroundof the remarkable picture she had been studying with so much pleasure.The Oswego threw its dark waters into the lake, between banks of someheight; that on its eastern side being bolder and projecting farthernorth than that on its western. The fort was on the latter, andimmediately beneath it were a few huts of logs, which, as they couldnot interfere with the defence of the place, had been erected along thestrand for the purpose of receiving and containing such stores as werelanded, or were intended to be embarked, in the communications betweenthe different ports on the shores of Ontario. Two low, curved, gravellypoints had been formed with surprising regularity by the counteractingforces of the northerly winds and the swift current, and, inclining fromthe storms of the lake, formed two coves within the river: that on thewestern side was the most deeply indented; and, as it also had the mostwater, it formed a sort of picturesque little port for the post. It wasalong the narrow strand that lay between the low height of the fort andthe water of this cove, that the rude buildings just mentioned had beenerected.
Several skiffs, bateaux, and canoes were hauled up on the shore, andin the cove itself lay the little craft from which Jasper obtained hisclaim to be considered a sailor. She was cutter-rigged, might have beenof forty tons burthen, was so neatly constructed and painted as tohave something of the air of a vessel of war, though entirely withoutquarters, and rigged and sparred with so scrupulous a regard toproportions and beauty, as well as fitness and judgment, as to give heran appearance that even Mabel at once distinguished to be gallant andtrim. Her mould was admirable, for a wright of great skill had senther drafts from England, at the express request of the officer who hadcaused her to be constructed; her paint dark, warlike, and neat; and thelong coach-whip pennant that she wore at once proclaimed her to be theproperty of the king. Her name was the _Scud_.
"That, then, is the vessel of Jasper!" said Mabel, who associated themaster of the little craft very naturally with the cutter itself. "Arethere many others on this lake?"
"The Frenchers have three: one of which, they tell me, is a real ship,such as are used on the ocean; another a brig; and a third is a cutter,like the _Scud_ here, which they call the _Squirrel_, in their owntongue, however; and which seems to have a natural hatred of our ownpretty boat, for Jasper seldom goes out that the _Squirrel_ is not athis heels."
"And is Jasper one to run from a Frenchman, though he appears in theshape of a squirrel, and that, too, on the water?"
"Of what use would valor be without the means of turning it to account?Jasper is a brave boy, as all on this frontier know; but he has no gunexcept a little howitzer, and then his crew consists only of two menbesides himself, and a boy. I was with him in one of his trampooses, andthe youngster was risky enough, for he brought us so near the enemythat rifles began to talk; but the Frenchers carry cannon and ports, andnever show their faces outside of Frontenac, without having some twentymen, besides their _Squirrel_, in their cutter. No, no; this _Scud_ wasbuilt for flying, and the major says he will not put her in a fightinghumor by giving her men and arms, lest she should take him at his word,and get her wings clipped. I know little of these things, for my giftsare not at all in that way; but I see the reason of the thing--I see itsreason, though Jasper does not."
"Ah! Here is my uncle, none the worse for his swim, coming to look atthis inland sea."
Sure enough, Cap, who had announced his approach by a couple of lustyhems, now made his appearance on the bastion, where, after nodding tohis niece and her companion, he made a deliberate survey of the expanseof water before him. In order to effect this at his ease, the marinermounted on one of the old iron guns, folded his arms across his breast,and balanced his body, as if he felt the motion of a vessel. To completethe picture, he had a short pipe in his mouth.
"Well, Master Cap," asked the Pathfinder innocently, for he did notdetect the expression of contempt that was gradually settling on thefeatures of the other; "is it not a beautiful sheet, and fit to be nameda sea?"
"This, then, is what you call your lake?" demanded Cap, sweeping thenorthern horizon with his pipe. "I say, is this really your lake?"
"Sartain; and, if the judgment of one who has lived on the shores ofmany others can be taken, a very good lake it is."
"Just as I expected. A pond in dimensions, and a scuttle-butt in taste.It is all in vain to travel inland, in the hope of seeing anythingeither full-grown or useful. I knew it would turn out just in this way."
"What is the matter with Ontario, Master Cap? It is large, and fair tolook at, and pleasant enough to drink, for those who can't get at thewater of the springs."
"Do you call this large?" asked Cap, again sweeping the air with thepipe. "I will just ask you what there is large about it? Didn't Jasperhimself confess that it w
as only some twenty leagues from shore toshore?"
"But, uncle," interposed Mabel, "no land is to be seen, except here onour own coast. To me it looks exactly like the ocean."
"This bit of a pond look like the ocean! Well, Magnet, that from a girlwho has had real seamen in her family is downright nonsense. What isthere about it, pray, that has even the outline of a sea on it?"
"Why, there is water--water--water--nothing but water, for miles onmiles--far as the eye can see."
"And isn't there water--water--water--nothing but water for miles onmiles in your rivers, that you have been canoeing through, too?--Ay, and'as far as the eye can see,' in the bargain?"
"Yes, uncle, but the rivers have their banks, and there are trees alongthem, and they are narrow."
"And isn't this a bank where we stand? Don't these soldiers call thisthe bank of the lake? And aren't there trees in thousands? And aren'ttwenty leagues narrow enough of all conscience? Who the devil ever heardof the banks of the ocean, unless it might be the banks that are underwater?"
"But, uncle, we cannot see across this lake, as we can see across ariver."
"There you are out, Magnet. Aren't the Amazon and Oronoco and La Platarivers, and can you see across them? Hark'e Pathfinder, I very muchdoubt if this stripe of water here be even a lake; for to me it appearsto be only a river. You are by no means particular about your geography,I find, up here in the woods."
"There _you_ are out, Master Cap. There is a river, and a noble one too,at each end of it; but this is old Ontario before you; and, though it isnot my gift to live on a lake, to my judgment there are few better thanthis."
"And, uncle, if we stood on the beach at Rockaway, what more should wesee than we now behold? There is a shore on one side, or banks there,and trees too, as well as those which are here."
"This is perverseness, Magnet, and young girls should steer clear ofanything like obstinacy. In the first place, the ocean has coasts, butno banks, except the Grand Banks, as I tell you, which are out of sightof land; and you will not pretend that this bank is out of sight ofland, or even under water?"
As Mabel could not very plausibly set up this extravagant opinion, Cappursued the subject, his countenance beginning to discover the triumphof a successful disputant.
"And then them trees bear no comparison to these trees. The coasts ofthe ocean have farms and cities and country-seats, and, in some parts ofthe world, castles and monasteries and lighthouses--ay, ay--lighthouses,in particular, on them; not one of all which things is to be seen here.No, no, Master Pathfinder; I never heard of an ocean that hadn't more orless lighthouses on it; whereas, hereaway there is not even a beacon."
"There is what is better, there is what is better; a forest and nobletrees, a fit temple of God."
"Ay, your forest may do for a lake; but of what use would an ocean beif the earth all around it were forest? Ships would be unnecessary, astimber might be floated in rafts, and there would be an end of trade,and what would a world be without trade? I am of that philosopher'sopinion who says human nature was invented for the purposes of trade.Magnet, I am astonished that you should think this water even looks likesea-water! Now, I daresay that there isn't such a thing as a whale inall your lake, Master Pathfinder?"
"I never heard of one, I will confess; but I am no judge of animalsthat live in the water, unless it be the fishes of the rivers and thebrooks."
"Nor a grampus, nor a porpoise even? not so much as a poor devil of ashark?"
"I will not take it on myself to say there is either. My gifts are notin that way, I tell you, Master Cap."
"Nor herring, nor albatross, nor flying-fish?" continued Cap, who kepthis eye fastened on the guide, in order to see how far he might venture."No such thing as a fish that can fly, I daresay?"
"A fish that can fly! Master Cap, Master Cap, do not think, because weare mere borderers, that we have no idees of natur', and what she hasbeen pleased to do. I know there are squirrels that can fly--"
"A squirrel fly!--The devil, Master Pathfinder! Do you suppose that youhave got a boy on his first v'y'ge up here among you?"
"I know nothing of your v'y'ges, Master Cap, though I suppose them tohave been many; for as for what belongs to natur' in the woods, what Ihave seen I may tell, and not fear the face of man."
"And do you wish me to understand that you have seen a squirrel fly?"
"If you wish to understand the power of God, Master Cap, you will dowell to believe that, and many other things of a like natur', for youmay be quite sartain it is true."
"And yet, Pathfinder," said Mabel, looking so prettily and sweetly evenwhile she played with the guide's infirmity, that he forgave her in hisheart, "you, who speak so reverently of the power of the Deity, appearto doubt that a fish can fly."
"I have not said it, I have not said it; and if Master Cap is ready totestify to the fact, unlikely as it seems, I am willing to try to thinkit true. I think it every man's duty to believe in the power of God,however difficult it may be."
"And why isn't my fish as likely to have wings as your squirrel?"demanded Cap, with more logic than was his wont. "That fishes do and canfly is as true as it is reasonable."
"Nay, that is the only difficulty in believing the story," rejoined theguide. "It seems unreasonable to give an animal that lives in the waterwings, which seemingly can be of no use to it."
"And do you suppose that the fishes are such asses as to fly about underwater, when they are once fairly fitted out with wings?"
"Nay, I know nothing of the matter; but that fish should fly in the airseems more contrary to natur' still, than that they should fly in theirown element--that in which they were born and brought up, as one mightsay."
"So much for contracted ideas, Magnet. The fish fly out of water to runaway from their enemies in the water; and there you see not only thefact, but the reason for it."
"Then I suppose it must be true," said the guide quietly. "How long aretheir flights?"
"Not quite as far as those of pigeons, perhaps; but far enough to makean offing. As for those squirrels of yours, we'll say no more aboutthem, friend Pathfinder, as I suppose they were mentioned just as amake-weight to the fish, in favor of the woods. But what is this thinganchored here under the hill?"
"That is the cutter of Jasper, uncle," said Mabel hurriedly; "and a verypretty vessel I think it is. Its name, too, is the _Scud_."
"Ay, it will do well enough for a lake, perhaps, but it's no greataffair. The lad has got a standing bowsprit, and who ever saw a cutterwith a standing bowsprit before?"
"But may there not be some good reason for it, on a lake like this,uncle?"
"Sure enough--I must remember this is not the ocean, though it does lookso much like it."
"Ah, uncle! Then Ontario does look like the ocean, after all?"
"In your eyes, I mean, and those of Pathfinder; not in the least inmine, Magnet. Now you might set me down out yonder, in the middle ofthis bit of a pond, and that, too, in the darkest night that ever fellfrom the heavens, and in the smallest canoe, and I could tell you it wasonly a lake. For that matter, the _Dorothy_" (the name of his vessel)"would find it out as quick as I could myself. I do not believe thatbrig would make more than a couple of short stretches, at the most,before she would perceive the difference between Ontario and the oldAtlantic. I once took her down into one of the large South Americanbays, and she behaved herself as awkwardly as a booby would in a churchwith the congregation in a hurry. And Jasper sails that boat? I musthave a cruise with the lad, Magnet, before I quit you, just for the nameof the thing. It would never do to say I got in sight of this pond, andwent away without taking a trip on it."
"Well well, you needn't wait long for that," returned Pathfinder; "forthe Sergeant is about to embark with a party to relieve a post among theThousand Islands; and as I heard him say he intended that Mabel shouldgo along, you can join the company too."
"Is this true, Magnet?"
"I believe it is," returned the girl, a flush so impercep
tible as toescape the observation of her companions glowing on her cheeks; "thoughI have had so little opportunity to talk with my dear father that Iam not quite certain. Here he comes, however, and you can inquire ofhimself."
Notwithstanding his humble rank, there was something in the mien andcharacter of Sergeant Dunham that commanded respect: of a tall, imposingfigure, grave and saturnine disposition, and accurate and precise in hisacts and manner of thinking, even Cap, dogmatical and supercilious ashe usually was with landsmen, did not presume to take the same libertieswith the old soldier as he did with his other friends. It was oftenremarked that Sergeant Dunham received more true respect from Duncanof Lundie, the Scotch laird who commanded the post, than most of thesubalterns; for experience and tried services were of quite as muchvalue in the eyes of the veteran major as birth and money. While theSergeant never even hoped to rise any higher, he so far respectedhimself and his present station as always to act in a way to commandattention and the habit of mixing so much with inferiors, whosepassions and dispositions he felt it necessary to restrain by distanceand dignity, had so far colored his whole deportment, that few werealtogether free from its influence. While the captains treated himkindly and as an old comrade, the lieutenants seldom ventured to dissentfrom his military opinions; and the ensigns, it was remarked, actuallymanifested a species of respect that amounted to something very likedeference. It is no wonder, then, that the announcement of Mabel put asudden termination to the singular dialogue we have just related, thoughit had been often observed that the Pathfinder was the only man on thatfrontier, beneath the condition of a gentleman, who presumed to treatthe Sergeant at all as an equal, or even with the cordial familiarity ofa friend.
"Good morrow, brother Cap," said the Sergeant giving the militarysalute, as he walked, in a grave, stately manner, on the bastion. "Mymorning duty has made me seem forgetful of you and Mabel; but we havenow an hour or two to spare, and to get acquainted. Do you not perceive,brother, a strong likeness on the girl to her we have so long lost?"
"Mabel is the image of her mother, Sergeant, as I have always said, witha little of your firmer figure; though, for that matter, the Caps werenever wanting in spring and activity."
Mabel cast a timid glance at the stern, rigid countenance of her father,of whom she had ever thought, as the warm-hearted dwell on the affectionof their absent parents; and, as she saw that the muscles of his facewere working, notwithstanding the stiffness and method of his manner,her very heart yearned to throw herself on his bosom and to weep atwill. But he was so much colder in externals, so much more formal anddistant than she had expected to find him, that she would not have daredto hazard the freedom, even had they been alone.
"You have taken a long and troublesome journey, brother, on my account;and we will try to make you comfortable while you stay among us."
"I hear you are likely to receive orders to lift your anchor, Sergeant,and to shift your berth into a part of the world where they say thereare a thousand islands."
"Pathfinder, this is some of your forgetfulness?"
"Nay, nay, Sergeant, I forgot nothing; but it did not seem to menecessary to hide your intentions so very closely from your own fleshand blood."
"All military movements ought to be made with as little conversationas possible," returned the Sergeant, tapping the guide's shoulder in afriendly, but reproachful manner. "You have passed too much of your lifein front of the French not to know the value of silence. But no matter;the thing must soon be known, and there is no great use in trying nowto conceal it. We shall embark a relief party shortly for a post on thelake, though I do not say it is for the Thousand Islands, and I may haveto go with it; in which case I intend to take Mabel to make my brothfor me; and I hope, brother, you will not despise a soldier's fare for amonth or so."
"That will depend on the manner of marching. I have no love for woodsand swamps."
"We shall sail in the _Scud_; and, indeed, the whole service, whichis no stranger to us, is likely enough to please one accustomed to thewater."
"Ay, to salt-water if you will, but not to lake-water. If you have noperson to handle that bit of a cutter for you, I have no objection toship for the v'y'ge, notwithstanding; though I shall look on the wholeaffair as so much time thrown away, for I consider it an imposition tocall sailing about this pond going to sea."
"Jasper is every way able to manage the _Scud_, brother Cap; and in thatlight I cannot say that we have need of your services, though we shallbe glad of your company. You cannot return to the settlement untila party is sent in, and that is not likely to happen until after myreturn. Well, Pathfinder, this is the first time I ever knew men on thetrail of the Mingos and you not at their head."
"To be honest with you, Sergeant," returned the guide, not without alittle awkwardness of manner, and a perceptible difference in the hueof a face that had become so uniformly red by exposure, "I have not feltthat it was my gift this morning. In the first place, I very well knowthat the soldiers of the 55th are not the lads to overtake Iroquois inthe woods; and the knaves did not wait to be surrounded when they knewthat Jasper had reached the garrison. Then a man may take a littlerest after a summer of hard work, and no impeachment of his goodwill.Besides, the Sarpent is out with them; and if the miscreants are to befound at all, you may trust to his inmity and sight: the first beingstronger, and the last nearly, if not quite as good as my own. He lovesthe skulking vagabonds as little as myself; and, for that matter, Imay say that my own feelings towards a Mingo are not much more than thegifts of a Delaware grafted on a Christian stock. No, no, I thought Iwould leave the honor this time, if honor there is to be, to the youngensign that commands, who, if he don't lose his scalp, may boast of hiscampaign in his letters to his mother when he gets in. I thought I wouldplay idler once in my life."
"And no one has a better right, if long and faithful service entitles aman to a furlough," returned the Sergeant kindly. "Mabel will think nonethe worse of you for preferring her company to the trail of the savages;and, I daresay, will be happy to give you a part of her breakfast ifyou are inclined to eat. You must not think, girl, however, that thePathfinder is in the habit of letting prowlers around the fort beat aretreat without hearing the crack of his rifle."
"If I thought she did, Sergeant, though not much given to showy andparade evolutions, I would shoulder Killdeer and quit the garrisonbefore her pretty eyes had time to frown. No, no; Mabel knows me better,though we are but new acquaintances, for there has been no want ofMingos to enliven the short march we have already made in company."
"It would need a great deal of testimony, Pathfinder, to make me thinkill of you in any way, and more than all in the way you mention,"returned Mabel, coloring with the sincere earnestness with which sheendeavored to remove any suspicion to the contrary from his mind. "Bothfather and daughter, I believe, owe you their lives, and believe me,that neither will ever forget it."
"Thank you, Mabel, thank you with all my heart. But I will not takeadvantage of your ignorance neither, girl, and therefore shall say, Ido not think the Mingos would have hurt a hair of your head, had theysucceeded by their devilries and contrivances in getting you into theirhands. My scalp, and Jasper's, and Master Cap's there, and the Sarpent'stoo, would sartainly have been smoked; but as for the Sergeant'sdaughter, I do not think they would have hurt a hair of her head."
"And why should I suppose that enemies, known to spare neither womennor children, would have shown more mercy to me than to another? I feel,Pathfinder, that I owe you my life."
"I say nay, Mabel; they wouldn't have had the heart to hurt you. No, noteven a fiery Mingo devil would have had the heart to hurt a hair ofyour head. Bad as I suspect the vampires to be, I do not suspect them ofanything so wicked as that. They might have wished you, nay, forced youto become the wife of one of their chiefs, and that would be tormentenough to a Christian young woman; but beyond that I do not think eventhe Mingos themselves would have gone."
"Well, then, I shall owe my escape from this g
reat misfortune to you,"said Mabel, taking his hard hand into her own frankly and cordially,and certainly in a way to delight the honest guide. "To me it would be alighter evil to be killed than to become the wife of an Indian."
"That is her gift, Sergeant," exclaimed Pathfinder, turning to his oldcomrade with gratification written on every lineament of his honestcountenance, "and it will have its way. I tell the Sarpent that noChristianizing will ever make even a Delaware a white man; nor anywhooping and yelling convert a pale-face into a red-skin. That is thegift of a young woman born of Christian parents, and it ought to bemaintained."
"You are right, Pathfinder; and so far as Mabel Dunham is concerned, it_shall_ be maintained. But it is time to break your fasts; and if youwill follow me, brother Cap, I will show you how we poor soldiers livehere on a distant frontier."
The Pathfinder; Or, The Inland Sea Page 8
