"I mean that we shall have to pick our way through these damned trees!" 66 Nay, nay, you will go in the canoe, and the Oswego has been cleared of its flood-wood by the troops. It will be floating down stream, and that, too, with a swift current." "And what the devil is to prevent these minks, of which you speak, from shooting us as we double a head-land, or are busy in steering clear of the rocks?" "The Lord! He who has so often helped others, in greater difficulties. Many and many is the time that my head would have been stripped of hair, skin and all, hadn't the Lord fi't of my side. I never go into a skrimmage, friend mariner, without thinking of this great ally, who can do more in battle, than all the battalions of the 60th, were they brought into a single line." "Ay-ay-this may do well enough for a scouter; but we seamen like our offing, and to go into action with nothing in our minds, but the business before us-plain broadside and broadside work, and no trees, or rocks, to thicken the water." "And no Lord, too, I dare to say, if the truth were known! Take my word for it, Master Cap, that no battle is the worse fou't for having the Lord on your side. Look at the head of the Big Sarpent, there; you can see the mark of a knife all along by his left ear; now, nothing but a bullet from this long rifle of mine, saved his scalp that day, for it had fairly started, and half a minute more would have left him without the war-lock. When the Mohican squeezes my hand, and intermates that I befriended him in that matter, I tell him, no; it was the Lord, who led me to the only spot where execution could be done, or his necessity be made known, on account of the smoke. Sartain when I got the right position, I finished the affair of my own accord, for a friend under the tomahawk is apt to make a man think quick, and act at once, as was my case, or the Sarpent's spirit would be hunting in the happy land of his people, at this very moment.' "Come, come, Pathfinder, this palaver is worse than being skinned from stem to stern; we have but a few hours of sun, and had better be drifting down this said current of yours, VOL. I. 4 while we may. under way?" Magnet, dear, are you not ready to get Magnet started, blushed brightly, and made her preparations for an immediate departure. Not a syllable of the discourse just related had she heard, for Eau-douce, as young Jasper was oftener called than any thing else, had been filling her ears with a description of the yet distant port towards which she was journeying, with accounts of her father, whom she had not seen since a child, and with the manner of life of those who lived in the frontier garrisons. Unconsciously, she had become deeply interested, and her thoughts had been too intently directed to these interesting matters, to allow any of the less agreeable subjects discussed by those so near to reach her ears. The bustle of departure put an end to the conversation entirely, and the baggage of the scouts, or guides, being trifling, in a few minutes, the whole party was ready to proceed. As they were about to quit the spot, however, to the surprise of even his fellow-guides, Pathfinder collected a quantity of branches, and threw them upon the embers of the fire, taking care even to see that some of the wood was damp, in order to raise as dark and dense a smoke as possible. 66 a "When you can hide your trail, Jasper," he said, smoke at leaving an encampment may do good, instead of harm. If there are a dozen Mingos within ten miles of us, some on 'em are on the heights, or in the trees, looking out for smokes; let them see this, and much good may it do them. They are welcome to our leavings." "But may they not strike, and follow on our trail ?" asked the youth, whose interest in the hazard of his situation had much increased, since the meeting with Magnet. "We shall leave a broad path to the river." "The broader the better; when there, it will surpass Mingo cunning, even, to say which way the canoe has gone; up stream or down. Water is the only thing in natur' that will thoroughly wash out a trail, and even water will not always do it, when the scent is strong. Do you not see, Eau-douce, that if any Mingos have seen our path below the falls, they will strike off towards this smoke, and that they will naturally conclude that they who began by going up stream, will end by going up stream. If they know any thing, they now know a party is out from the fort, and it will exceed even Mingo wit, to fancy that we have come up here, just for the pleasure of going back again, and that, too, the same day, and at the risk of our scalps." 66 Certainly," added Jasper, who was talking apart with the Pathfinder, as they moved towards the wind-row, "they cannot know any thing about the serjeant's daughter, for the greatest secrecy has been observed, on her account." "And they will learn nothing, here," returned Pathfinder, causing his companion to see that he trod with the utmost care, on the impression left on the leaves, by the little foot of Mabel, "unless this old salt-water fish has been taking his niece about in the wind-row, lake a fa'n playing by the side of the old doe." "Buck, you mean, Pathfinder." "Isn't he a queerity?—Now, I can consort with such a sailor as yourself, Eau-douce, and find nothing very contrary in our gifts, though yours belong to the lakes, and mine to the woods. Harkee, Jasper," continued the scout, laughing in his noiseless manner; "suppose we try the temper of his blade, and run him over the falls?" "And what would be done with the pretty niece, in the meanwhile?". Nay-nay-no harm shall come to her; she must walk round the portage, at any rate; but you and I can try this Atlantic oceaner, and then all parties will become better acquainted. We shall find out whether his flint will strike fire; and he may come to know something of frontier tricks." Young Jasper smiled, for he was not averse to fun, and had been a little touched by Cap's superciliousness; but Mabel's fair face, light agile form, and winning smiles, stood like a shield between her uncle and the intended experiment. "Perhaps the serjeant's daughter will be frightened," he said. "Not she, if she has any of the serjeant's spirit in her. She doesn't look like a skeary thing, at all. Leave it to me, then, Eau-douce, and I will manage the affair alone." "Not you, Pathfinder; you would only drown both. If the canoe goes over, I must go in it.” "Well, have it so, then; shall we smoke the pipe of agreement on the bargain?" Jasper laughed, nodded his head, by way of consent, and then the subject was dropped, as the party had reached the canoe, so often mentioned, and fewer words had determined much greater things between the parties. CHAPTER III. "Before these fields were shorn and tilled, The fresh and boundless wood; And torrents dashed, and rivulets played, -BRYANT. It is generally known, that the waters which flow into the southern side of Ontario, are, in general, narrow, sluggish, and deep. There are some exceptions to this rule, for many of the rivers have rapids, or, as they are termed in the language of the region, rifts, and some have falls. Among the latter was the particular stream on which our adventurers were now journeying. The Oswego is formed by the junction of the Oneida and the Onondaga, both of which flow from lakes; and it pursues its way, through a gentle undulating country, some eight or ten miles, until it reaches the margin of a sort of natural terrace, down which it tumbles some ten or fifteen feet, to another level, across which it glides, or glances, or pursues its course with the silent stealthy progress of deep water, until it throws its tribute into the broad receptacle of the Ontario. The canoe in which Cap and his party had travelled from Fort Stanwix, the last military station on the Mohawk, lay by the side of this river, and into it the whole party now entered, with the exception of Pathfinder, who remained on the land, in order to shove the light vessel off. "Let her starn drift down stream, Jasper," said the man of the woods to the young mariner of the lake, who had dispossessed Arrowhead of his paddle, and taken his own station as steersman; "let it go down with the current. Should any of these infarnals, the Mingos, strike our trail, or follow it to this point, they will not fail to look for the signs in the mud, and if they discover that we have left the shore, with the nose of the canoe up-stream, it is a natural belief to think we went up stream." This direction was followed; and, giving a vigorous shove, the Pathfinder, who was in the flower of his strength and activity, made a leap, landing lightly, and without disturbing its equilibrium, in the bow of the canoe. As soon as it had reached the centre of the river, or the strength of the current, the boat was turned, and it began to glide noiselessly down the stream. The vessel in which Cap and his niece had embarked for their long and adventurous journey, was one of the canoes of bark, which the Indians are in the habit of constructing, and which, by their exceeding lightness,, and the ease with which they are propelled, are admirably adapted to a navigation in which shoals, flood-wood, and other similar obstructions, so often occur. The two men who composed its original crew had several times carried it, when emptied of its luggage, many hundred yards; and it would not have exceeded the strength of a single man to lift its weight. Still it was long, and for a canoe, wide, a want of steadiness being its principal defect in the eyes of the uninitiated. A few hours practice, however, in a great measure remedied this evil, and both Mabel and her uncle had learned so far to humour its movements, that they now maintained their places with perfect composure; nor did the additional weight of the three guides tax its power in any particular degree, the breadth of the rounded bottom allowing the necessary quantity of water to be displaced, without bringing the gunwale very sensibly nearer to the surface of the stream. Its workmanship was neat; the timbers were small, and secured by thongs; and the whole fabric, though it was so slight and precarious to the eye, was probably capable of conveying double the number of persons that it now contained. Cap was seated on a low thwart, in the centre of the canoe; the Big Serpent knelt near him. Arrowhead and his wife occupied places forward of both, the former having relinquished his post aft. Mabel was half-reclining on some of her own effects, behind her uncle, while the Pathfinder and Eaudouce stood erect, the one in the bow, and the other in the stern, each using a paddle, with a long, steady, noiseless |