What pearl is it that rich men cannot buy,
That learning is too proud to gather up;
But which the poor and the despised of all
Seek and obtain, and often find unsought?
Tell me -- and I will tell thee what is truth.
COWPER.
The meeting with the Indian and his wife excited no surprise in
the majority of those who witnessed the occurrence; but Mabel, and
all who knew of the manner in which this chief had been separated
from the party of Cap, simultaneously entertained suspicions, which
it was far easier to feel than to follow out by any plausible clue
to certainty. Pathfinder, who alone could converse freely with the
prisoners, for such they might now be considered, took Arrowhead
aside, and held a long conversation with him, concerning the reasons
of the latter for having deserted his charge and the manner in
which he had been since employed.
The Tuscarora met these inquiries, and he gave his answers with the
stoicism of an Indian. As respects the separation, his excuses
were very simply made, and they seemed to be sufficiently plausible.
When he found that the party was discovered in its place of
concealment, he naturally sought his own safety, which he secured
by plunging into the woods. In a word, he had run away in order
to save his life.
"This is well," returned Pathfinder, affecting to believe the other's
apologies; "my brother did very wisely; but his woman followed?"
"Do not the pale-faces' women follow their husbands? Would not
Pathfinder have looked back to see if one he loved was coming?"
This appeal was made to the guide while he was in a most fortunate
frame of mind to admit its force; for Mabel and her blandishments
and constancy were becoming images familiar to his thoughts. The
Tuscarora, though he could not trace the reason, saw that his
excuse was admitted, and he stood with quiet dignity awaiting the
next inquiry.
"This is reasonable and natural," returned Pathfinder; "this is
natural, and may be so. A woman would be likely to follow the man
to whom she had plighted faith, and husband and wife are one flesh.
Your words are honest, Tuscarora," changing the language to the
dialect of the other. "Your words are honest, and very pleasant
and just. But why has my brother been so long from the fort? His
friends have thought of him often, but have never seen him."
"If the doe follows the buck, ought not the buck to follow the doe?"
answered the Tuscarora, smiling, as he laid a finger significantly
on the shoulder of his interrogator. "Arrowhead's wife followed
Arrowhead; it was right in Arrowhead to follow his wife. She lost
her way, and they made her cook in a strange wigwam."
"I understand you, Tuscarora. The woman fell into the hands of
the Mingos, and you kept upon their trail."
"Pathfinder can see a reason as easily as he can see the moss on
the trees. It is so."
"And how long have you got the woman back, and in what manner has
it been done?"
"Two suns. The Dew-of-June was not long in coming when her husband
whispered to her the path."
"Well, well, all this seems natural, and according to matrimony.
But, Tuscarora, how did you get that canoe, and why are you paddling
towards the St. Lawrence instead of the garrison?"
"Arrowhead can tell his own from that of another. This canoe is
mine; I found it on the shore near the fort."
"That sounds reasonable, too, for the canoe does belong to the man,
and an Indian would make few words about taking it. Still, it is
extraordinary that we saw nothing of the fellow and his wife, for
the canoe must have left the river before we did ourselves."
This idea, which passed rapidly through the mind of the guide, was
now put to the Indian in the shape of a question.
"Pathfinder knows that a warrior can have shame. The father would
have asked me for his daughter, and I could not give her to him. I
sent the Dew-of-June for the canoe, and no one spoke to the woman.
A Tuscarora woman would not be free in speaking to strange men."
All this, too, was plausible, and in conformity with Indian
character and customs. As was usual, Arrowhead had received one
half of his compensation previously to quitting the Mohawk; and his
refraining to demand the residue was a proof of that conscientious
consideration of mutual rights that quite as often distinguishes
the morality of a savage as that of a Christian. To one as upright
as Pathfinder, Arrowhead had conducted himself with delicacy and
propriety, though it would have been more in accordance with his
own frank nature to have met the father, and abided by the simple
truth. Still, accustomed to the ways of Indians, he saw nothing
out of the ordinary track of things in the course the other had
taken.
"This runs like water flowing down hill, Arrowhead," he answered,
after a little reflection, "and truth obliges me to own it. It was
the gift of a red-skin to act in this way, though I do not think
it was the gift of a pale-face. You would not look upon the grief
of the girl's father?"
Arrowhead made a quiet inclination of the body as if to assent.
"One thing more my brother will tell me," continued Pathfinder, "and
there will be no cloud between his wigwam and the strong-house of
the Yengeese. If he can blow away this bit of fog with his breath,
his friends will look at him as he sits by his own fire, and he can
look at them as they lay aside their arms, and forget that they are
warriors. Why was the head of Arrowhead's canoe looking towards
the St. Lawrence, where there are none but enemies to be found?"
"Why were the Pathfinder and his friends looking the same way?"
asked the Tuscarora calmly. "A Tuscarora may look in the same
direction as a Yengeese."
"Why, to own the truth, Arrowhead, we are out scouting like; that
is, sailing -- in other words, we are on the king's business, and
we have a right to be here, though we may not have a right to say
_why_ we are here."
"Arrowhead saw the big canoe, and he loves to look on the face of
Eau-douce. He was going towards the sun at evening in order to
seek his wigwam; but, finding that the young sailor was going the
other way, he turned that he might look in the same direction.
Eau-douce and Arrowhead were together on the last trail."
"This may all be true, Tuscarora, and you are welcome. You shall
eat of our venison, and then we must separate. The setting sun is
behind us, and both of us move quick: my brother will get too far
from that which he seeks, unless he turns round."
Pathfinder now returned to the others, and repeated the result of
his examination. He appeared himself to believe that the account
of Arrowhead might be true, though he admitted that caution would
be prudent with one he disliked; but his auditors, Jasper excepted,
seemed less disposed to put faith in the explanations.
"This chap must be ironed at once, brother Dunham," said Cap, as
soon as Pathfinder finished his narration; "he must be turned over
to the master-at-arms, if there is any such officer on fresh water,
and a court-martial ought to be ordered as soon as we reach port."
"I think it wisest to detain the fellow," the Sergeant answered;
"but irons are unnecessary so long as he remains in the cutter.
In the morning the matter shall be inquired into."
Arrowhead was now summoned and told the decision. The Indian
listened gravely, and made no objections. On the contrary, he
submitted with the calm and reserved dignity with which the American
aborigines are known to yield to fate; and he stood apart, an
attentive but calm observer of what was passing. Jasper caused
the cutter's sails to be filled, and the _Scud_ resumed her course.
It was now getting near 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 Sergeant, 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 Sergeant 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 Sergeant 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 for another that was more to her tyrant's mind.
"Come, bear a hand, Arrowhead," said the Sergeant, who stood on 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 reveille -- 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,
and then the cutter glanced ahead, leaving the light bubble of bark,
which instantly lost its way, almost stationary. So suddenly and
dexterously was this manoeuvre performed, that the canoe was on
the lee quarter of the _Scud_ before the Sergeant 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 canvas 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 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 forced ahead, Jasper knew
it was necessary to cast her ere she had lost all 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 Sergeant, manifesting the eagerness
of a boy to join in the pursuit; "let us launch it, and give chase!"
"It will 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 be
sufficient for the purposes of Arrowhead."
Both Cap and the Sergeant 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 before its pursuers could probably get half the distance.
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 an 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 manoeuvres were in the course of execution, Cap took the
Sergeant 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.
"Hark'e, brother Dunham," said he, 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,
Sergeant, 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."
Sergeant 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 that 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
Sergeant consulted the Quartermaster, 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 Sergeant 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 Quartermaster should lean.
Lieutenant 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 Sergeant, who forthwith set about the
execution of the necessary measures.
Without entering into any explanations, Sergeant 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 Sergeant
cautiously abstaining from making any allusion 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 further 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, was usually termed
the pilot, were to remain below, there was an alteration in his
countenance and manner that denoted strong feeling, 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
exists, 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, Sergeant," 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 anything of the sort to go by."
"No chart, Sergeant 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, Sergeant 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, Sergeant -- hold on a moment, if you please, Sergeant
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 couldn't command a yawl with dignity, if he consulted the
cockswain every time he wished to go ashore. No sir, if I sink,
I sink! but, d--- me, I'll go down ship-shape and with dignity."
"But, brother Cap, I have no wish to go down anywhere, unless it
be to the station among the Thousand Islands whither we are bound."
"Well, well, Sergeant, rather than ask advice -- that is, direct,
barefaced 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 rouse 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. When a youngster, 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 Sergeant; "but in the course of a few hours we shall be up with
a headland, 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 Sergeant 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, 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 Sergeant 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 farther 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 anything
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 Sergeant sharply.
"No, sir, nor anything 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 your heart, Master Cap! there
is no more town than there is on your chin, and not half as much
tallow!"
The Sergeant smiled grimly, but his brother-in-law did not detect
this proof of humor.
"No church tower, nor light, nor fort, ha? There is a garrison,
as you call it hereaway, at least?"
"Ask Sergeant 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 didn'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, soldiers 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 the course, after we are once fairly up with the islands. No
one knows anything of either but Jasper and the pilot."
"Here is a circumstance for you, Sergeant," 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 for which we
are bound?"
"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."
"Still, the sailors of the lake have a method of finding the places
they wish to go to."
"If I have understood you, Sergeant, this station or blockhouse
is particularly private."
"It is, indeed, the utmost care having been taken to prevent a
knowledge of its position from reaching the enemy."
"And you expect me, a stranger on your lake, to find this place
without chart, course, distance, latitude, longitude, or soundings,
-- ay, d--- me, or tallow! Allow me to ask if you think a mariner
runs by his nose, like one of Pathfinder's hounds?"
"Well, brother, you may yet learn something by questioning the
young man at the helm; I can hardly think that he is as ignorant
as he pretends to be."
"Hum! -- this looks like another circumstance. For that matter,
the case is getting to be so full of circumstances that one hardly
knows how to foot up the evidence. But we will soon see how much
the lad knows."
Cap and the Sergeant now returned to their station near the helm,
and the former renewed his inquiries.
"Do you happen to know what may be the latitude and longitude of
this said island, my lad?" he asked.
"The what, sir?"
"Why, the latitude or longitude -- one or both; I'm not particular
which, as I merely inquire in order to see how they bring up young
men on this bit of fresh water."
"I'm not particular about either myself, sir, and so I do not happen
to know what you mean."
"Not what I mean! You know what latitude is?"
"Not I, sir!" returned the man, hesitating. "Though I believe it
is French for the upper lakes."
"Whe-e-e-w-!" whistled Cap, drawing out his breath like the broken
stop of an organ; "latitude, French for upper lakes! Hark'e, young
man, do you know what longitude means?"
"I believe I do, sir; that is, five feet six, the regulation height
for soldiers in the king's service."
"There's the longitude found out for you, Sergeant, in the rattling
of a brace-block! You have some notion about a degree, and minutes
and seconds, I hope?"
"Yes, sir; degree means my betters; and minutes and seconds are for
the short or long log-lines. We all know these things as well as
the salt-water people."
"D--- me, brother Dunham, if I think even Faith can get along on
this lake, much as they say it can do with mountains. Well, my
lad, you understand the azimuth, and measuring distances, and how
to box the compass."
"As for the first, sir, I can't say I do. The distances we all
know, as we measure them from point to point; and as for boxing the
compass, I will turn my back to no admiral in his Majesty's fleet.
Nothe, nothe and by east, nothe, nothe-east, nothe-east and
by nothe, nothe-east, nothe-east and by east, east-nothe-east,
east and by nothe-east -- "
"That will do, that will do. You'll bring about a shift of wind if
you go on in this manner. I see very plainly, Sergeant," walking
away again, and dropping his voice, "we've nothing to hope for from
that chap. I'll stand on two hours longer on this tack, when we'll
heave-to and get the soundings, after which we will be governed by
circumstances."
To this the Sergeant made no objections; and as the wind grew lighter,
as usual with the advance of night, and there were no immediate
obstacles to the navigation, he made a bed of a sail on deck,
and was soon lost in the sound sleep of a soldier. Cap continued
to walk the deck, for he was one whose iron frame set fatigue at
defiance, and not once that night did he close his eyes.
It was broad daylight when Sergeant Dunham awoke, and the exclamation
of surprise that escaped him, as he rose to his feet and began to
look about him, was stronger than it was usual for one so drilled
to suffer to be heard. He found the weather entirely changed, the
view bounded by driving mist that limited the visible horizon to
a circle of about a mile in diameter, the lake raging and covered
with foam, and the _Scud_ lying-to. A brief conversation with his
brother-in-law let him into the secrets of all these sudden changes.
According to the account of Master Cap, the wind had died away to
a calm about midnight, or just as he was thinking of heaving-to,
to sound, for islands ahead were beginning to be seen. At one A.M.
it began to blow from the north-east, accompanied by a drizzle,
and he stood off to the northward and westward, knowing that the
coast of New York lay in the opposite direction. At half-past one
he stowed the flying-jib, reefed the mainsail, and took the bonnet
off the jib. At two he was compelled to get a second reef aft;
and by half-past two he had put a balance-reef in the sail, and
was lying-to.
"I can't say but the boat behaves well, Sergeant," the old sailor
added, "but it blows forty-two pounders. I had no idea there
were any such currents of air up here on this bit of fresh water,
though I care not the knotting of a yarn for it, as your lake has
now somewhat of a natural look; and if this d----d water had a
savor of salt about it, one might be comfortable."
"How long have you been heading in this direction, brother Cap?"
inquired the prudent soldier; "and at what rate may we be going
through the water?"
"Why, two or three hours, mayhap, and she went like a horse for
the first pair of them. Oh, we've a fine offing now! for, to own
the truth, little relishing the neighborhood of them said islands,
although they are to windward, I took the helm myself, and run her
off free for some league or two. We are well to leeward of them,
I'll engage - I say to leeward; for though one might wish to be well
to windward of one island, or even half a dozen, when it comes to
a thousand, the better way is to give it up at once, and to slide
down under their lee as fast as possible. No, no; there they are
up yonder in the dingle; and there they may stay, for anything
Charles Cap cares."
"As the north shore lies only some five or six leagues from us,
brother, and I know there is a large bay in that quarter, might it
not be well to consult some of the crew concerning our position,
if, indeed, we do not call up Jasper Eau-douce, and tell him to
carry us back to Oswego? For it is quite impossible we should
ever reach the station with this wind directly in our teeth."
"There are several serious professional reasons, Sergeant, against
all your propositions. In the first place, an admission of ignorance
on the part of a commander would destroy discipline. No matter,
brother; I understand your shake of the head, but nothing capsizes
discipline so much as to confess ignorance. I once knew a master
of a vessel who went a week on a wrong course rather than allow he
had made a mistake; and it was surprising how much he rose in the
opinions of his people, just because they could not understand
him."
"That may do on salt water, brother Cap, but it will hardly do on
fresh. Rather than wreck my command on the Canada shore, I shall
feel it a duty to take Jasper out of arrest."
"And make a haven in Frontenac. No, Sergeant; the _Scud_ is in
good hands, and will now learn something of seamanship. We have
a fine offing, and no one but a madman would think of going upon
a coast in a gale like this. I shall ware every watch, and then
we shall be safe against all dangers but those of the drift, which,
in a light low craft like this, without top-hamper, will be next
to nothing. Leave it all to me, Sergeant, and I pledge you the
character of Charles Cap that all will go well."
Sergeant Dunham was fain to yield. He had great confidence in his
connection's professional skill, and hoped that he would take such
care of the cutter as would amply justify his opinion of him. On
the other hand, as distrust, like care, grows by what it feeds on,
he entertained so much apprehension of treachery, that he was quite
willing any one but Jasper should just then have the control of
the fate of the whole party. Truth, moreover, compels us to admit
another motive. The particular duty on which he was now sent of
right should have been confided to a commissioned officer; and Major
Duncan had excited a good deal of discontent among the subalterns
of the garrison, by having confided it to one of the Sergeant's
humble station. To return without having even reached the point
of destination, therefore, the latter felt would be a failure from
which he was not likely soon to recover, and the measure would at
once be the means of placing a superior in his shoes.