The Pathfinder; Or, The Inland Sea

by James Fenimore Cooper

  CHAPTER XIV.

  Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless, So dull, so dead in look, so woe-begone, Drew Priam's Curtain in the dead of night, And would have told him, half his Troy was burned. SHAKESPEARE.

  All this time matters were elsewhere passing in their usual train.Jasper, like the weather and his vessel, seemed to be waiting for theland-breeze; while the soldiers, accustomed to early rising, had, to aman, sought their pallets in the main hold. None remained on deckbut the people of the cutter, Mr. Muir, and the two females. TheQuartermaster was endeavoring to render himself agreeable to Mabel,while our heroine herself, little affected by his assiduities, whichshe ascribed partly to the habitual gallantry of a soldier, and partly,perhaps, to her own pretty face, was enjoying the peculiarities of ascene 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 inmotion and so still and placid was the lake, that not the smallestmotion was perceptible in the cutter. She had drifted in theriver-current to a distance a little exceeding a quarter of a mile fromthe land, and there she lay, beautiful in her symmetry and form, butlike a fixture. Young Jasper was on the quarter-deck, near enough tohear occasionally the conversation which passed; but too diffident ofhis own claim, and too intent on his duties, to attempt to mingle in it.The fine blue eyes of Mabel followed his motions in curious expectation,and more than once the Quartermaster had to repeat his complimentsbefore she heard them, so intent was she on the little occurrences ofthe vessel, and, we might add, so indifferent to the eloquence of hercompanion. At length, even Mr. Muir became silent, and there was a deepstillness on the water. Presently an oar-blade fell in a boat beneaththe fort, and the sound reached the cutter as distinctly as if it hadbeen 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 ofthe jib. These well-known sounds were followed by a slight heel in thecutter, and by the bellying of all the sails.

  "Here's the wind, Anderson," called out Jasper to the oldest of hissailors; "take the helm."

  This brief order was obeyed; the helm was put up, the cutter's bows felloff, 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 thehour. All this passed in profound silence, when Jasper again gave theorder 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 onthe quarter-deck.

  "You've no inclination, Jasper lad, to trust yourself too near ourneighbours the French," observed Muir, who took that occasion torecommence the discourse. "Well, well, your prudence will never bequestioned by me, for I like the Canadas as little as you can possiblylike them yourself."

  "I hug this shore, Mr. Muir, on account of the wind. The land-breeze isalways freshest close in, provided you are not so near as to make alee of the trees. We have Mexico Bay to cross; and that, on the presentcourse, will give us quite offing enough."

  "I'm right glad it's not the Bay of Mexico," put in Cap, "which is apart of the world I would rather not visit in one of your inland craft.Does your cutter bear a weather helm, master Eau-douce?"

  "She is easy on her rudder, master Cap; but likes looking up at thebreeze as well as another, when in lively motion."

  "I suppose you have such things as reefs, though you can hardly haveoccasion to use them?"

  Mabel's bright eye detected the smile that gleamed for an instant onJasper's handsome face; but no one else saw that momentary exhibition ofsurprise and contempt.

  "We have reefs, and often have occasion to use them," quietly returnedthe young man. "Before we get in, Master Cap, an opportunity may offerto show you the manner in which we do so; for there is easterly weatherbrewing, and the wind cannot chop, even on the ocean itself, morereadily than it flies round on Lake Ontario."

  "So much for knowing no better! I have seen the wind in the Atlanticfly round like a coach-wheel, in a way to keep your sails shaking foran hour, and the ship would become perfectly motionless from not knowingwhich way to turn."

  "We have no such sudden changes here, certainly," Jasper mildlyanswered; "though we think ourselves liable to unexpected shifts ofwind. I hope, however, to carry this land-breeze as far as the firstislands; after which there will be less danger of our being seen andfollowed by any of the look-out 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 Indianand an officer. Had you been outlying that night, as usual, we shouldhave secured one, if not both of them."

  It was too dark to betray the color that deepened on the weather-burntfeatures of the guide; for he felt the consciousness of having lingeredin the fort that night, listening to the sweet tones of Mabel's voice asshe sang ballads to her father, and gazing at the countenance which,to him, was radiant with charms. Probity in thought and deed being thedistinguishing quality of this extraordinary man's mind, while he feltthat a sort of disgrace ought to attach to his idleness on the occasionmentioned, the last thought that could occur would be to attempt topalliate or deny his negligence.

  "I confess it, Jasper, I confess it," said he humbly. "Had I been outthat night,--and I now recollect no sufficient reason why I was not,--itmight, indeed, have turned out as you say."

  "It was the evening you passed with us, Pathfinder," Mabel innocentlyremarked; "surely one who lives so much of his time in the forest, infront of the enemy, may be excused for giving a few hours of his time toan old friend and his daughter."

  "Nay, nay, I've done little else but idle since we reached thegarrison," returned the other, sighing; "and it is well that the ladshould tell me of it: the idler needs a rebuke--yes, he needs a rebuke."

  "Rebuke, Pathfinder! I never dreamt of saying anything disagreeable, andleast of all would I think of rebuking you, because a solitary spy andan Indian or two have escaped us. Now I know where you were, I thinkyour absence the most natural thing in the world."

  "I think nothing of what you said, Jasper, since it was deserved. We areall human, and all do wrong."

  "This is unkind, Pathfinder."

  "Give me your hand, lad, give me your hand. It wasn't you that gave thelesson it was conscience."

  "Well, well," interrupted Cap; "now this latter matter is settled to thesatisfaction of all parties, perhaps you will tell us how it happened tobe known that there were spies near us so lately. This looks amazinglylike a circumstance."

  As the mariner uttered the last sentence, he pressed a foot slily onthat of the Sergeant, and nudged the guide with his elbow, winking atthe 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 ina manner so meek and subdued that it resembled the tone of a rebukedschoolboy. "Did the trail lead near the garrison, lad?"

  "We thought not; though, of course, it did not cross the river. It wasfollowed down to the eastern point, at the river's mouth, where whatwas doing in port, might be seen; but it did not cross, as we coulddiscover."

  "And why didn't you get under weigh, Master Jasper," Cap demanded, "andgive chase? On Tuesday morning it blew a good breeze; one in which thiscutter might have run nine knots."

  "That may do on the ocean, Master Cap," put in Pathfinder, "but it wouldnot do here. Water leaves no trail, and a Mingo and a Frenchman are amatch for the devil in a pursuit."

  "Who wants a trail when the chase can be seen from the deck, as Jasperhere said was the case with this canoe? and it mattered nothing if therewere twenty of your Mingos and Frenchmen, with a good British-
builtbottom in their wake. I'll engage, Master Eau-douce, had you given mea call that said Tuesday morning, that we should have overhauled theblackguards."

  "I daresay, Master Cap, that the advice of as old a seaman as you mighthave done no harm to as young a sailor as myself, but it is a long and ahopeless chase that has a bark canoe in it."

  "You would have had only to press it hard, to drive it ashore."

  "Ashore, master Cap! You do not understand our lake navigation at all,if you suppose it an easy matter to force a bark canoe ashore. As soonas they find themselves pressed, these bubbles paddle right into thewind's eye, and before you know it, you find yourself a mile or two deadunder their lee."

  "You don't wish me to believe, Master Jasper, that any one is soheedless of drowning as to put off into this lake in one of themeggshells when there is any wind?"

  "I have often crossed Ontario in a bark canoe, even when there has beena good deal of sea on. Well managed, they are the driest boats of whichwe have any knowledge."

  Cap now led his brother-in-law and Pathfinder aside, when he assured himthat the admission of Jasper concerning the spies was "a circumstance,"and "a strong circumstance," and as such it deserved his deliberateinvestigation while his account of the canoes was so improbable asto wear the appearance of brow-beating the listeners. Jasper spokeconfidently of the character of the two individuals who had landed, andthis Cap deemed pretty strong proof that he knew more about them thanwas to be gathered from a mere trail. As for moccasins, he said thatthey were worn in that part of the world by white men as well as byIndians; he had purchased a pair himself; and boots, it was notorious,did not particularly make a soldier. Although much of this logic wasthrown away on the Sergeant, still it produced some effect. He thoughtit a little singular himself, that there should have been spies detectedso near the fort and he know nothing of it; nor did he believe that thiswas a branch of knowledge that fell particularly within the sphere ofJasper. It was true that the _Scud_ had, once or twice, been sent acrossthe lake to land men of this character, or to bring them off; butthen the part played by Jasper, to his own certain knowledge, was verysecondary, the master of the cutter remaining as ignorant as any oneelse of the purport of the visits of those whom he had carried to andfro; nor did he see why he alone, of all present, should know anythingof the late visit. Pathfinder viewed the matter differently. With hishabitual diffidence, he reproached himself with a neglect of duty, andthat knowledge, of which the want struck him as a fault in one whosebusiness it was to possess it, appeared a merit in the young man. Hesaw nothing extraordinary in Jasper's knowing the facts he had related;while he did feel it was unusual, not to say disgraceful, that hehimself now heard of them for the first time.

  "As for moccasins, Master Cap," said he, when a short pause invited himto speak, "they may be worn by pale-faces as well as by red-skins, itis true, though they never leave the same trail on the foot of one ason the foot of the other. Any one who is used to the woods can tell thefootstep of an Indian from the footstep of a white man, whether it bemade by a boot or a moccasin. It will need better evidence than this topersuade me into the belief that Jasper is false."

  "You will allow, Pathfinder, that there are such things in the world astraitors?" put in 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 theirgift, and I sometimes think they ought to be pitied for it, rather thanpersecuted."

  "Then why not believe that this Jasper may have the same weakness? A manis a man, and human nature is sometimes but a poor concern, as I know byexperience."

  This was the opening of another long and desultory conversation, inwhich the probability of Jasper's guilt or innocence was argued _pro_and _con_, until both the Sergeant and his brother-in-law had nearlyreasoned themselves into settled convictions in favor of the first,while their companion grew sturdier and sturdier in his defence ofthe accused, and still more fixed in his opinion of his being unjustlycharged with treachery. In this there was nothing out of the commoncourse of things; for there is no more certain way of arriving at anyparticular notion, than by undertaking to defend it; and among the mostobstinate of our opinions may be classed those which are derived fromdiscussions in which we affect to search for truth, while in reality weare only fortifying prejudice.

  By this time the Sergeant had reached a state of mind that disposed himto view every act of the young sailor with distrust, and he soon got tocoincide with his relative in deeming the peculiar knowledge of Jasper,in reference to the spies, a branch of information that certainly didnot come within the circle of his regular duties, as "a circumstance."

  While this matter was thus discussed near the taffrail, Mabel satsilently by the companion-way, Mr. Muir having gone below to look afterhis personal comforts, and Jasper standing a little aloof, with his armscrossed, and his eyes wandering from the sails to the clouds, from theclouds 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 tocommune with her own thoughts. The excitement of the late journey, theincidents which marked the day of her arrival at the fort, the meetingwith a father who was virtually a stranger to her, the novelty of herlate situation in the garrison, and her present voyage, formed a vistafor the mind's eye to look back through, which seemed lengthened intomonths. She could with difficulty believe that she had so recently leftthe town, with all the usages of civilized life; and she wondered inparticular that the incidents which had occurred during the descent ofthe Oswego had made so little impression on her mind. Too inexperiencedto know that events, when crowded, have the effect of time, or that thequick succession of novelties that pass before us in travelling elevatesobjects, in a measure, to the dignity of events, she drew upon hermemory for days and dates, in order to make certain that she had knownJasper, and the Pathfinder, and her own father, but little more than afortnight. Mabel was a girl of heart rather than of imagination, thoughby no means deficient in the last, and she could not easily account forthe strength of her feelings in connection with those who were so latelystrangers to her; for she was not sufficiently accustomed to analyzeher sensations to understand the nature of the influences that have justbeen mentioned. As yet, however, her pure mind was free from the blightof distrust, and she had no suspicion of the views of either of hersuitors; and one of the last thoughts that could have voluntarilydisturbed her confidence would have been to suppose it possible eitherof her companions was a traitor to his king and country.

  America, at the time of which we are writing, was remarkable for itsattachment to the German family that then sat on the British throne;for, as is the fact with all provinces, the virtues and qualities thatare proclaimed near the centre of power, as incense and policy, getto be a part of political faith with the credulous and ignorant at adistance. This truth is just as apparent to-day, in connection withthe prodigies of the republic, as it then was in connection with thosedistant rulers, whose merits it was always safe to applaud, and whosedemerits it was treason to reveal. It is a consequence of this mentaldependence, that public opinion is so much placed at the mercy of thedesigning; and the world, in the midst of its idle boasts of knowledgeand improvement, is left to receive its truths, on all such points astouch the interests of the powerful and managing, through such a medium,and such a medium only, as may serve the particular views of those whopull the wires. Pressed upon by the subjects of France, who were thenencircling the British colonies with a belt of forts and settlementsthat completely secured the savages for allies, it would have beendifficult to say whether the Americans loved the English more thanthey hated the French; and those who then lived probably would haveconsidered the alliance which took place between the cis-Atlanticsubjects and the ancient rivals of the British crown, some twentyyears later, as an event entirely without the circle of probabilities.Disaffection was a rare offence; and, most of all, would treason, thatshould favor France or Frenchmen, have been odious
in the eyes of theprovincials. The last thing that Mabel would suspect of Jasper was thevery crime with which he now stood secretly charged; and if others nearher endured the pains of distrust, she, at least, was filled with thegenerous confidence of a woman. As yet no whisper had reached her earto disturb the feeling of reliance with which she had early regarded theyoung sailor, and her own mind would have been the last to suggestsuch a thought of itself. The pictures of the past and of thepresent, therefore, that exhibited themselves so rapidly to her activeimagination, were unclouded with a shade that might affect any in whomshe felt an interest; and ere she had mused, in the manner related, aquarter of an hour, the whole scene around her was filled with unalloyedsatisfaction.

  The season and the night, to represent them truly, were of a nature tostimulate the sensations which youth, health, and happiness are wont toassociate with novelty. The weather was warm, as is not always the casein that region even in summer, while the air that came off the land, inbreathing currents, brought with it the coolness and fragrance of theforest. The wind was far from being fresh, though there was enough ofit to drive the _Scud_ merrily ahead, and, perhaps, to keep attentionalive, in the uncertainty that more or less accompanies darkness.Jasper, however, appeared to regard it with complacency, as was apparentby what he said in a short dialogue that now occurred between him andMabel.

  "At this rate, Eau-douce,"--for so Mabel had already learned to stylethe young sailor,--said our heroine, "we cannot be long in reaching ourplace of destination."

  "Has your father then told you what that is, Mabel?"

  "He has told me nothing; my father is too much of a soldier, and toolittle used to have a family around him, to talk of such matters. Is itforbidden to say whither we are bound?"

  "It cannot be far, while we steer in this direction, for sixty orseventy miles will take us into the St. Lawrence, which the French mightmake 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 appearvery much the same."

  "You have then 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 sucha mariner as myself, in your heart, Mabel Dunham?"

  "Then I have no such thing in my heart, Jasper Eau-douce. What righthave I, a girl without experience or knowledge, to despise any, muchless one like you, who are trusted by the Major, and who command avessel 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 saidso much against us fresh-water sailors, that you had begun to look uponus as little better than pretenders?"

  "Give yourself no uneasiness on that account, Jasper; for I know myuncle, and he says as many things against those who live ashore, whenat 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 uncleCap, if he spoke openly, would be found to have even a worse notion of asoldier 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 Eau-douce!--I the wife of a soldier! My father wishes it! Whyshould he wish any such thing? What soldier is there in the garrisonthat I could marry--that he could _wish me_ to marry?"

  "One may love a calling so well as to fancy it will cover a thousandimperfections."

  "But one is not likely to love his own calling so well as to cause himto overlook everything else. You say my father wishes me to marry asoldier; and yet there is no soldier at Oswego that he would be likelyto give me to. I am in an awkward position for while I am not goodenough to be the wife of one of the gentlemen of the garrison, I thinkeven you will admit, Jasper, I am too good to be the wife of one of thecommon soldiers."

  As Mabel spoke thus frankly she blushed, she knew not why, thoughthe obscurity concealed the fact from her companion and she laughedfaintly, like one who felt that the subject, however embarrassing itmight be, deserved to be treated fairly. Jasper, it would seem, viewedher position differently from herself.

  "It is true Mabel," said he, "you are not what is called a lady, in thecommon 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 thedaughter of a sergeant, and I am content to remain in the station inwhich 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 havebecome officers--even generals; and why may not sergeants' daughtersbecome officers' ladies?"

  "In the case of Sergeant Dunham's daughter, I know no better reasonthan the fact that no officer is likely to wish to make her his wife,"returned Mabel, laughing.

  "_You_ may think so; but there are some in the 55th that know better.There is certainly one officer in that regiment, Mabel, who does wish tomake you his wife."

  Quick as the flashing lightning, the rapid thoughts of Mabel Dunhamglanced over the five or six subalterns of the corps, who, by age andinclinations, would be the most likely to form such a wish; and weshould do injustice to her habits, perhaps, were we not to say thata lively sensation of pleasure rose momentarily in her bosom, at thethought of being raised above a station which, whatever might be herprofessions of contentment, she felt that she had been too well educatedto fill with perfect satisfaction. But this emotion was as transient asit was sudden; for Mabel Dunham was a girl of too much pure and womanlyfeeling to view the marriage tie through anything so worldly as themere advantages of station. The passing emotion was a thrill produced byfactitious habits, while the more settled opinion which remained was theoffspring of nature and principles.

  "I know no officer in the 55th, or any other regiment, who would belikely to do so foolish a thing; nor do I think I myself would do sofoolish a thing as to marry an officer."

  "Foolish, Mabel!"

  "Yes, foolish, Jasper. You know, as well as I can know, what the worldwould think of such matters; and I should be sorry, very sorry, to findthat my husband ever regretted that he had so far yielded to a fancy fora face or a figure as to have married the daughter of one so much hisinferior as a sergeant."

  "_Your_ husband, Mabel, will not be so likely to think of the father asto think of the daughter."

  The girl was talking with spirit, though feeling evidently entered intoher part of the discourse; but she paused for nearly a minute afterJasper had made the last observation before she uttered another word.Then she continued, in a manner less playful, and one criticallyattentive might have fancied in a manner slightly melancholy,--

  "Parent and child ought so to live as not to have two hearts, or twomodes of feeling and thinking. A common interest in all things I shouldthink as necessary to happiness in man and wife, as between the othermembers of the same family. Most of all, ought neither the man nor thewoman to have any unusual cause for unhappiness, the world furnishing somany 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 persuadeyou to marry Lieutenant Muir."

  "My dear, dear father can entertain no notion so ridiculous--no notionso 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 wordsstronger. Having answered you so frankly, Jasper, I have a right to askhow you know that my father thinks of any such thing?"

  "That he has chosen a husband for you, I know from his own mouth; forhe has told me this much during our
frequent conversations while he hasbeen superintending the shipment of the stores; and that Mr. Muir is tooffer for you, I know from the officer himself, who has told me asmuch. By putting the two things together, I have come to the opinionmentioned."

  "May not my dear father, Jasper,"--Mabel's face glowed like firewhile she spoke, though her words escaped her slowly, and by a sortof involuntary impulse,--"may not my dear father have been thinking ofanother? It does not follow, from what you say, that Mr. Muir was in hismind."

  "Is it not probable, Mabel, from all that has passed? What brings theQuartermaster here? He has never found it necessary before to accompanythe parties that have gone below. He thinks of you for his wife; andyour 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 thatshe was an object of admiration with the Quartermaster; though she hadhardly supposed to the extent that Jasper believed; and she, too, hadeven gathered from the discourse of her father that he thought seriouslyof having her disposed of in marriage; but by no process of reasoningcould she ever have arrived at the inference that Mr. Muir was to be theman. She did not believe it now, though she was far from suspecting thetruth. Indeed, it was her own opinion that these casual remarks of herfather, which had struck her, had proceeded from a general wish tohave her settled, rather than from any desire to see her united to anyparticular individual. These thoughts, however, she kept secret; forself-respect and feminine reserve showed her the impropriety of makingthem the subject of discussion with her present companion. By way ofchanging the conversation, therefore, after the pause had lasted longenough to be embarrassing to both parties, she said, "Of one thingyou may be certain, Jasper,--and that is all I wish to say on thesubject,--Lieutenant Muir, though he were a colonel, will never be thehusband of Mabel Dunham. And now, tell me of your voyage;--when will itend?"

  "That is uncertain. Once afloat, we are at the mercy of the winds andwaves. Pathfinder will tell you that he who begins to chase the deer inthe morning cannot tell where he will sleep at night."

  "But we are not chasing a deer, nor is it morning: so Pathfinder's moralis thrown away."

  "Although we are not chasing a deer, we are after that which may be ashard to catch. I can tell you no more than I have said already; for itis 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_ toshow 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. Myuncle Cap, too, says that a sailor should never marry."

  "He means salt-water sailors," returned Jasper, laughing. "If he thinkswives not good enough for those who sail on the ocean, he will fancythem just suited to those who sail on the lakes. I hope, Mabel, you donot take your opinions of us fresh-water mariners from all that MasterCap 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 discernibleabout a hundred yards ahead of the cutter, and nearly on her lee bow. Atthe first glance, he saw it was a bark canoe; for, though the darknessprevented hues from being distinguished, the eye that had becomeaccustomed to the night might discern forms at some little distance;and the eye which, like Jasper's, had long been familiar with thingsaquatic, could not be at a loss in discovering the outlines necessary tocome to the conclusion he did.

  "This may be an enemy," the young man remarked; "and it may be well tooverhaul him."

  "He is paddling with all his might, lad," observed the Pathfinder, "andmeans to cross your bows and get to windward, when you might as wellchase a full-grown buck on snow-shoes!"

  "Let her luff," cried Jasper to the man at the helm. "Luff up, till sheshakes. There, steady, and hold all that."

  The helmsman complied; and, as the _Scud_ was now dashing the wateraside merrily, a minute or two put the canoe so far to leeward as torender escape impracticable. Jasper now sprang to the helm himself and,by judicious and careful handling, he got so near his chase that it wassecured by a boat-hook. On receiving an order, the two persons who werein the canoe left it, and no sooner had they reached the deck of thecutter than they were found to be Arrowhead and his wife.