The Pathfinder; Or, The Inland Sea

by James Fenimore Cooper

  CHAPTER XII.

  Lo! dusky masses steal in dubious sight, Along the leaguer'd wall, and bristling bank, Of the arm'd river; while with straggling light, The stars peep through the vapor, dim and dank. BYRON.

  A few hours later Mabel Dunham was on the bastion that overlooked theriver and the lake, seemingly in deep thought. The evening was calm andsoft, and the question had arisen whether the party for the ThousandIslands would be able to get out that night or not, on account of thetotal absence of wind. The stores, arms, and ammunition were alreadyshipped, and even Mabel's effects were on board; but the small draft ofmen that was to go was still ashore, there being no apparent prospect ofthe cutter's getting under way. Jasper had warped the _Scud_ out ofthe cove, and so far up the stream as to enable him to pass through theoutlet of the river whenever he chose; but there he still lay, ridingat single anchor. The drafted men were lounging about the shore of thecove, undecided whether or not to pull off.

  The sports of the morning had left a quiet in the garrison which wasin harmony with the whole of the beautiful scene, and Mabel felt itsinfluence on her feelings, though probably too little accustomed tospeculate on such sensations to be aware of the cause. Everything nearappeared lovely and soothing, while the solemn grandeur of the silentforest and placid expanse of the lake lent a sublimity that other scenesmight have wanted. For the first time, Mabel felt the hold that thetowns and civilization had gained on her habits sensibly weakened; andthe warm-hearted girl began to think that a life passed amid objectssuch as those around her might be happy. How far the experience of thelast days came in aid of the calm and holy eventide, and contributedtowards producing that young conviction, may be suspected, rather thanaffirmed, in this early portion of our legend.

  "A charming sunset, Mabel!" said the hearty voice of her uncle, so closeto the ear of our heroine as to cause her to start,--"a charming sunset,girl, for a fresh-water concern, though we should think but little of itat sea."

  "And is not nature the same on shore or at sea--on a lake like this oron the ocean? Does not the sun shine on all alike, dear uncle; and canwe not feel gratitude for the blessings of Providence as strongly onthis remote frontier as in our own Manhattan?"

  "The girl has fallen in with some of her mother's books. Is not naturethe same, indeed! Now, Mabel, do you imagine that the nature of asoldier is the same as that of a seafaring man? You've relations in bothcallings, and ought to be able to answer."

  "But uncle, I mean human nature."

  "So do I, girl; the human nature of a seaman, and the human nature ofone of these fellows of the 55th, not even excepting your own father.Here have they had a shooting-match--target-firing I shouldcall it--this day, and what a different thing has it been from atarget-firing afloat! There we should have sprung our broadside, sportedwith round shot, at an object half a mile off, at the very nearest; andthe potatoes, if there happened to be any on board, as very likely wouldnot have been the case, would have been left in the cook's coppers.It may be an honorable calling, that of a soldier, Mabel; but anexperienced hand sees many follies and weaknesses in one of these forts.As for that bit of a lake, you know my opinion of it already, and I wishto disparage nothing. No real seafarer disparages anything; but, d---me,if I regard this here Ontario, as they call it, as more than so muchwater in a ship's scuttle-butt. Now, look you here, Mabel, if you wishto understand the difference between the ocean and a lake, I can makeyou comprehend it with a single look: this is what one may call a calm,seeing that there is no wind; though, to own the truth, I do not thinkthe calms are as calm as them we get outside--"

  "Uncle, there is not a breath of air. I do not think it possible for theleaves to be more immovably still than those of the entire forest are atthis very moment."

  "Leaves! what are leaves, child? there are no leaves at sea. If you wishto know whether it is a dead calm or not, try a mould candle,--your dipsflaring too much,--and then you may be certain whether there is or isnot any wind. If you were in a latitude where the air was so still thatyou found a difficulty in stirring it to draw it in in breathing, youmight fancy it a calm. People are often on a short allowance of air inthe calm latitudes. Here, again, look at that water! It is like milk ina pan, with no more motion now than there is in a full hogshead beforethe bung is started. On the ocean the water is never still, let the airbe as quiet as it may."

  "The water of the ocean never still, Uncle Cap? not even in a calm?"

  "Bless your heart, no, child! The ocean breathes like a living being,and its bosom is always heaving, as the poetizers call it, though therebe no more air than is to be found in a siphon. No man ever saw theocean still like this lake; but it heaves and sets as if it had lungs."

  "And this lake is not absolutely still, for you perceive there is alittle ripple on the shore, and you may even hear the surf plunging atmoments against the rocks."

  "All d----d poetry! Lake Ontario is no more the Atlantic than a PowlesHook periagila is a first-rate. That Jasper, notwithstanding, is a finelad, and wants instruction only to make a man of him."

  "Do you think him ignorant, uncle?" answered Mabel, prettily adjustingher hair, in order to do which she was obliged, or fancied she wasobliged, to turn away her face. "To me Jasper Eau-douce appears to knowmore than most of the young men of his class. He has read but little,for books are not plenty in this part of the world; but he has thoughtmuch, as least so it seems to me, for one so young."

  "He is ignorant, as all must be who navigate an inland water like this.No, no, Mabel; we both owe something to Jasper and the Pathfinder, and Ihave been thinking how I can best serve them, for I hold ingratitude tobe the vice of a hog; for treat the animal to your own dinner, and hewould eat you for the dessert."

  "Very true, dear uncle; we ought indeed to do all we can to express ourproper sense of the services of both these brave men."

  "Spoken like your mother's daughter, girl, and in a way to do credit tothe Cap family. Now, I've hit upon a traverse that will just suit allparties; and, as soon as we get back from this little expedition downthe lake among them there Thousand Islands, and I am ready to return, itis my intention to propose it."

  "Dearest uncle! this is so considerate in you, and will be so just! MayI ask what your intentions are?"

  "I see no reason for keeping them a secret from you, Mabel, thoughnothing need be said to your father about them; for the Sergeant has hisprejudices, and might throw difficulties in the way. Neither Jasper norhis friend Pathfinder can ever make anything hereabouts, and I proposeto take both with me down to the coast, and get them fairly afloat.Jasper would find his sea-legs in a fortnight, and a twelvemonth'sv'y'ge would make him a man. Although Pathfinder might take more time,or never get to be rated able, yet one could make something of him too,particularly as a look-out, for he has unusually good eyes."

  "Uncle, do you think either would consent to this?" said Mabel smiling.

  "Do I suppose them simpletons? What rational being would neglect his ownadvancement? Let Jasper alone to push his way, and the lad may yet diethe master of some square-rigged craft."

  "And would he be any the happier for it, dear uncle? How much betteris it to be the master of a square-rigged craft than to be master of around-rigged craft?"

  "Pooh, pooh, Magnet! You are just fit to read lectures about shipsbefore some hysterical society; you don't know what you are talkingabout; leave these things to me, and they'll be properly managed. Ah!Here is the Pathfinder himself, and I may just as well drop him ahint of my benevolent intentions as regards himself. Hope is a greatencourager of our exertions."

  Cap nodded his head, and then ceased to speak, while the hunterapproached, not with his usual frank and easy manner, but in a wayto show that he was slightly embarrassed, if not distrustful of hisreception.

  "Uncle and niece make a family party," said Pathfinder, when near thetwo, "and a stranger may not prove a welcome companion?"

  "You are no stranger, Master Pathfinder," returned Cap, "a
nd no one canbe more welcome than yourself. We were talking of you but a moment ago,and when friends speak of an absent man, he can guess what they havesaid."

  "I ask no secrets. Every man has his enemies, and I have mine, though Icount neither you, Master Cap, nor pretty Mabel here among the number.As for the Mingos, I will say nothing, though they have no just cause tohate me."

  "That I'll answer for, Pathfinder! for you strike my fancy as beingwell-disposed and upright. There is a method, however, of getting awayfrom the enmity of even these Mingos; and if you choose to take it, noone will more willingly point it out than myself, without a charge formy advice either."

  "I wish no enemies, Saltwater," for so the Pathfinder had begun to callCap, having, insensibly to himself, adopted the term, by translatingthe name given him by the Indians in and about the fort,--"I wish noenemies. I'm as ready to bury the hatchet with the Mingos as with theFrench, though you know that it depends on One greater than either of usso to turn the heart as to leave a man without enemies."

  "By lifting your anchor, and accompanying me down to the coast, friendPathfinder, when we get back from this short cruise on which we arebound, you will find yourself beyond the sound of the war-whoop, andsafe enough from any Indian bullet."

  "And what should I do on the salt water? Hunt in your towns? Followthe trails of people going and coming from market, and ambush dogs andpoultry? You are no friend to my happiness, Master Cap, if you wouldlead me out of the shades of the woods to put me in the sun of theclearings."

  "I did not propose to leave you in the settlements, Pathfinder, but tocarry you out to sea, where a man can only be said to breathe freely.Mabel will tell you that such was my intention, before a word was saidon the subject."

  "And what does Mabel think would come of such a change? She knows that aman has his gifts, and that it is as useless to pretend to others as towithstand them that come from Providence. I am a hunter, and a scout,or a guide, Saltwater, and it is not in me to fly so much in the face ofHeaven as to try to become anything else. Am I right, Mabel, or are youso much a woman as to wish to see a natur' altered?"

  "I would wish to see no change in you, Pathfinder," Mabel answered, witha cordial sincerity and frankness that went directly to the hunter'sheart; "and much as my uncle admires the sea, and great as is all thegood that he thinks may come of it, I could not wish to see the best andnoblest hunter of the woods transformed into an admiral. Remain what youare, my brave friend, and you need fear nothing short of the anger ofGod."

  "Do you hear this, Saltwater? do you hear what the Sergeant's daughteris saying, and she is much too upright, and fair-minded, and pretty, notto think what she says. So long as she is satisfied with me as I am,I shall not fly in the face of the gifts of Providence, by striving tobecome anything else. I may seem useless here in a garrison but whenwe get down among the Thousand Islands, there may be an opportunity toprove that a sure rifle is sometimes a Godsend."

  "You are then to be of our party?" said Mabel, smiling so frankly and sosweetly on the guide that he would have followed her to the end of theearth. "I shall be the only female, with the exception of one soldier'swife, and shall feel none the less secure, Pathfinder, because you willbe among our protectors."

  "The Sergeant would do that, Mabel, though you were not of his kin.No one will overlook you. I should think your uncle here would like anexpedition of this sort, where we shall go with sails, and have a lookat an inland sea?"

  "Your inland sea is no great matter, Master Pathfinder, and I expectnothing from it. I confess, however, I should like to know the object ofthe cruise; for one does not wish to be idle, and my brother-in-law, theSergeant, is as close-mouthed as a freemason. Do you know, Mabel, whatall this means?"

  "Not in the least, uncle. I dare not ask my father any questions abouthis duty, for he thinks it is not a woman's business; and all I can sayis, that we are to sail as soon as the wind will permit, and that we areto be absent a month."

  "Perhaps Master Pathfinder can give me a useful hint; for a v'y'gewithout an object is never pleasant to an old sailor."

  "There is no great secret, Saltwater, concerning our port and object,though it is forbidden to talk much about either in the garrison. I amno soldier, however, and can use my tongue as I please, though as littlegiven as another to idle conversation, I hope; still, as we sail sosoon, and you are both to be of the party, you may as well be toldwhere you are to be carried. You know that there are such things as theThousand Islands, I suppose, Master Cap?"

  "Ay, what are so called hereaway, though I take it for granted that theyare not real islands, such as we fall in with on the ocean; and that thethousand means some such matter as two or three."

  "My eyes are good, and yet have I often been foiled in trying to countthem very islands."

  "Ay, ay, I've known people who couldn't count beyond a certain number.Your real land-birds never know their own roosts, even in a landfallat sea. How many times have I seen the beach, and houses, and churches,when the passengers have not been able to see anything but water! I haveno idea that a man can get fairly out of sight of land on fresh water.The thing appears to me to be irrational and impossible."

  "You don't know the lakes, Master Cap, or you would not say that. Beforewe get to the Thousand Islands, you will have other notions of whatnatur' has done in this wilderness."

  "I have my doubts whether you have such a thing as a real island in allthis region."

  "We'll show you hundreds of them; not exactly a thousand, perhaps, butso many that eye cannot see them all, nor tongue count them."

  "I'll engage, when the truth comes to be known, they'll turn out to benothing but peninsulas, or promontories; or continents; though these arematters, I daresay, of which you know little or nothing. But, islands orno islands, what is the object of the cruise, Master Pathfinder?"

  "There can be no harm in giving you some idea of what we are going todo. Being so old a sailor, Master Cap, you've heard, no doubt, of such aport as Frontenac?"

  "Who hasn't? I will not say I've ever been inside the harbor, but I'vefrequently been off the place."

  "Then you are about to go upon ground with which you are acquainted.These great lakes, you must know, make a chain, the water passing out ofone into the other, until it reaches Erie, which is a sheet off here tothe westward, as large as Ontario itself. Well, out of Erie the watercomes, until it reaches a low mountain like, over the edge of which itpasses."

  "I should like to know how the devil it can do that?"

  "Why, easy enough, Master Cap," returned Pathfinder, laughing, "seeingthat it has only to fall down hill. Had I said the water went _up_ themountain, there would have been natur' ag'in it; but we hold it no greatmatter for water to run down hill--that is, _fresh_ water."

  "Ay, ay, but you speak of the water of a lake's coming down the side ofa mountain; it's in the teeth of reason, if reason has any teeth."

  "Well, well, we will not dispute the point; but what I've seen I'veseen. After getting into Ontario, all the water of _all_ the lakespasses down into the sea by a river; and in the narrow part of thesheet, where it is neither river nor lake, lie the islands spoken of.Now Frontenac is a post of the Frenchers above these same islands; and,as they hold the garrison below, their stores and ammunition are sent upthe river to Frontenac, to be forwarded along the shores of this and theother lakes, in order to enable the enemy to play his devilries amongthe savages, and to take Christian scalps."

  "And will our presence prevent these horrible acts?" demanded Mabel,with interest.

  "It may or it may not, as Providence wills. Lundie, as they call him,he who commands this garrison, sent a party down to take a station amongthe islands, to cut off some of the French boats; and this expedition ofours will be the second relief. As yet they've not done much, though twobateaux loaded with Indian goods have been taken; but a runner came inlast week, and brought such tidings that the Major is about to make alast effort to circumvent the knaves. Jasper knows the way, and we sha
llbe in good hands, for the Sergeant is prudent, and of the first qualityat an ambushment; yes, he is both prudent and alert."

  "Is this all?" said Cap contemptuously; "by the preparations andequipments, I had thought there was a forced trade in the wind, and thatan honest penny might be turned by taking an adventure. I suppose thereare no shares in your fresh-water prize-money?"

  "Anan?"

  "I take it for granted the king gets all in these soldiering parties,and ambushments, as you call them."

  "I know nothing about that, Master Cap. I take my share of the lead andpowder if any falls into our hands, and say nothing to the king aboutit. If any one fares better, it is not I; though it is time I did beginto think of a house and furniture and a home."

  Although the Pathfinder did not dare to look at Mabel while he made thisdirect allusion to his change of life, he would have given the worldto know whether she was listening, and what was the expression of hercountenance. Mabel little suspected the nature of the allusion, however;and her countenance was perfectly unembarrassed as she turned her eyestowards the river, where the appearance of some movement on board the_Scud_ began to be visible.

  "Jasper is bringing the cutter out," observed the guide, whose look wasdrawn in the same direction by the fall of some heavy article on thedeck. "The lad sees the signs of wind, no doubt, and wishes to be readyfor it."

  "Ay, now we shall have an opportunity of learning seamanship," returnedCap, with a sneer. "There is a nicety in getting a craft under hercanvas that shows the thoroughbred mariner as much as anything else.It's like a soldier buttoning his coat, and one can see whether hebegins at the top or the bottom."

  "I will not say that Jasper is equal to your seafarers below," observedPathfinder, across whose upright mind an unworthy feeling of envy or ofjealousy never passed; "but he is a bold boy, and manages his cutter asskillfully as any man can desire, on this lake at least. You didn'tfind him backwards at the Oswego Falls, Master Cap, where fresh watercontrives to tumble down hill with little difficulty."

  Cap made no other answer than a dissatisfied ejaculation, and then ageneral silence followed, all on the bastion studying the movementsof the cutter with the interest that was natural to their own futureconnection with the vessel. It was still a dead calm, the surface of thelake literally glittering with the last rays of the sun. The _Scud_ hadbeen warped up to a kedge that lay a hundred yards above the pointsof the outlet, where she had room to manoeuvre in the river which thenformed the harbor of Oswego. But the total want of air prevented anysuch attempt, and it was soon evident that the light vessel was to betaken through the passage under her sweeps. Not a sail was loosened;but as soon as the kedge was tripped, the heavy fall of the sweeps washeard, when the cutter, with her head up stream, began to sheer towardsthe centre of the current; on reaching which, the efforts of the menceased, and she drifted towards the outlet. In the narrow pass itselfher movement was rapid, and in less than five minutes the _Scud_ wasfloating outside of the two low gravelly points which intercepted thewaves of the lake. No anchor was let go, but the vessel continued to setoff from the land, until her dark hull was seen resting on the glossysurface of the lake, full a quarter of a mile beyond the low bluff whichformed the eastern extremity of what might be called the outer harboror roadstead. Here the influence of the river current ceased, and shebecame, virtually, stationary.

  "She seems very beautiful to me, uncle," said Mabel, whose gaze had notbeen averted from the cutter for a single moment while it had thus beenchanging its position "I daresay you can find faults in her appearance,and in the way she is managed; but to my ignorance both are perfect."

  "Ay, ay; she drops down with a current well enough, girl, and so would achip. But when you come to niceties, all old tar like myself has no needof spectacles to find fault."

  "Well, Master Cap," put in the guide, who seldom heard anything toJasper's prejudice without manifesting a disposition to interfere, "I'veheard old and experienced saltwater mariners confess that the _Scud_ isas pretty a craft as floats. I know nothing of such matters myself; butone may have his own notions about a ship, even though they be wrongnotions; and it would take more than one witness to persuade me Jasperdoes not keep his boat in good order."

  "I do not say that the cutter is downright lubberly, Master Pathfinder;but she has faults, and great faults."

  "And what are they, uncle? If he knew them, Jasper would be glad to mendthem."

  "What are they? Why, fifty; ay, for that matter a hundred. Very materialand manifest faults."

  "Do name them, sir, and Pathfinder will mention them to his friend."

  "Name them! it is no easy matter to call off the stars, for the simplereason that they are so numerous. Name them, indeed! Why, my prettyniece, Miss Magnet, what do you think of that main-boom now? To myignorant eyes, it is topped at least a foot too high; and then thepennant is foul; and--and--ay, d---me, if there isn't a topsail gasketadrift; and it wouldn't surprise me at all if there should be a roundturn in that hawser, if the kedge were to be let go this instant. Faultsindeed! No seaman could look at her a moment without seeing that she isas full of faults as a servant who has asked for his discharge."

  "This may be very true, uncle, though I much question if Jasper knows ofthem. I do not think he would suffer these things, Pathfinder, if theywere once pointed out to him."

  "Let Jasper manage his own cutter, Mabel. His gift lies that-a-way, andI'll answer for it, no one can teach him how to keep the _Scud_ outof the hands of the Frontenackers or their devilish Mingo friends. Whocares for round turns in kedges, and for hawsers that are topped toohigh, Master Cap, so long as the craft sails well, and keeps clear ofthe Frenchers? I will trust Jasper against all the seafarers of thecoast, up here on the lakes; but I do not say he has any gift for theocean, for there he has never been tried."

  Cap smiled condescendingly, but he did not think it necessary to pushhis criticisms any further just as that moment. By this time the cutterhad begun to drift at the mercy of the currents of the lake, her headturning in all directions, though slowly, and not in a way to attractparticular attention. Just at this moment the jib was loosened andhoisted, and presently the canvas swelled towards the land, thoughno evidences of air were yet to be seen on the surface of the water.Slight, however, as was the impulsion, the light hull yielded; and inanother minute the _Scud_ was seen standing across the current ofthe river with a movement so easy and moderate as to be scarcelyperceptible. When out of the stream, she struck an eddy and shot uptowards the land, under the eminence where the fort stood, when Jasperdropped his kedge.

  "Not lubberly done," muttered Cap in a sort of soliloquy,--"not overlubberly, though he should have put his helm a-starboard instead ofa-port; for a vessel ought always to come-to with her head off shore,whether she is a league from the land or only a cable's length, since ithas a careful look, and looks are something in this world."

  "Jasper is a handy lad," suddenly observed Sergeant Dunham at hisbrother-in-law's elbow; "and we place great reliance on his skill inour expeditions. But come, one and all, we have but half an hour more ofdaylight to embark in, and the boats will be ready for us by the time weare ready for them."

  On this intimation the whole party separated, each to find those trifleswhich had not been shipped already. A few taps of the drum gave thenecessary signal to the soldiers, and in a minute all were in motion.