fear, will be the sufferer. I think, however, that the calamity would not have happened had there not been treason. I fear me, brother, that Jasper Eau-douce has played us false!"

"That is just my notion; this fresh-water life must, sooner or later, undermine any man's morals. Lieutenant Muir and myself talked this matter over, while we lay in a bit of a hole out here on this island; and we both came to the conclusion that nothing short of Jasper's treachery could have brought us all into this infernal scrape. Well, serjeant, you had better compose your mind, and think of other matters; when a vessel is about to enter a strange port it is more prudent to think of the anchorage inside than to be under-running all the events that have turned up during the v'yage-there's the log-book, expressly to note all these matters in; and what stands there must form the column of figures that's to be posted up, for or against us. How, now, Pathfinder! is there anything in the wind, that you come down the ladder like an Indian in the wake of a scalp ?"

The guide raised a finger for silence, then beckoned to Cap to ascend the first ladder, and to allow Mabel to take his place at the side of the serjeant.

"We must be prudent, and we must be bold, too," he said, in a low voice. "The riptyles are in earnest in their intention to fire the block, for they know there is now nothing to be gained by letting it stand. I hear the voice of that vagabond Arrowhead, among them, and he is urging them to set about their diviltry this very night. We must be stirring, Salt-water, and doing too. Luckily, there are four or five barrels of water in the block, and these are something towards a siege. My reckoning is wrong, too, or we shall yet reap some advantage from that honest fellow, the Sarpent, being at liberty."

Cap did not wait for a second invitation, but stealing away, he was soon in the upper room with Pathfinder, while Mabel took his post at the side of her father's humble bed. Pathfinder had opened a loop, having so far concealed the light that it would not expose him to a treacherous shot, and, expecting a

summons, he stood with his face near the hole, ready to answer. The stillness that succeeded, was at length broken by the voice of Muir.

66

'Master Pathfinder," called out the Scotchman,

summons you to a parley. Come freely to one of the loops, for you've nothing to fear so long as you are in converse with an officer of the 55th."

"What is your will, Quarter-Master-what is your will? I know the 55th, and believe it to be a brave regiment, though I rather incline to the 60th, as my favorite, and to the Delawares more than to either. But what would you have, QuarterMaster? It must be a pressing errand that brings you under the loops of a block-house, at this hour of the night, with the sartainty of Killdeer's being inside of it."

"Oh! you'll no harm a friend, Pathfinder, I'm certain, and that's my security. You're a man of judgment, and have gained too great a name on this frontier for bravery, to feel the necessity of fool-hardiness to obtain a character. You'll very well understand, my good friend, there is as much credit to be gained by submitting gracefully, when resistance becomes impossible, as by obstinately holding out contrary to the rules of war. The enemy is too strong for us, my brave comrade, and I come to counsel you to give up the block, on condition of being treated as a prisoner of war."

"I thank you for this advice, Quarter-Master, which is the more acceptable, as it costs nothing. But I do not think it belongs to my gifts to yield a place like this, while food and water last."

"Well, I'd be the last, Pathfinder, to recommend any. thing against so brave a resolution, did I see the means of maintaining it. But ye'll remember that Master Cap has fallen-"

"Not he-not he," roared the individual in question through another loop-" so far from that, Lieutenant, he has risen to the height of this here fortification, and has no mind to put his head of hair into the hands of such barbers again, so long as

he can help it. I look upon this block-house as a circumstance, and have no mind to throw it away."

“If that is a living voice," returned Muir, "I am glad to hear it, for we all thought the man had fallen in the late fearful confusion! But, Master Pathfinder, although ye're enjoying the society of your friend Cap, and a great pleasure do I know it to be, by the experience of two days and a night passed in a hole in the earth, we've lost that of Serjeant Dunham, who has fallen, with all the brave men he led in the late expedition. Lundie would have it so, though it would have been more discreet and becoming to send a commissioned officer in command. Dunham was a brave man, notwithstanding, and shall have justice done his memory. In short, we have all acted for the best, and that is as much as could be said in favor of Prince Eugene, the Duke of Marlborough, or the great Earl of Stair himself."

"You're wrong ag'in, Quarter-Master, you're wrong ag'ir," answered Pathfinder, resorting to a ruse to magnify his force. "The sarjeant is safe in the block too, where one might say the whole family is collected."

"Well, I rejoice to hear it, for we had certainly counted the serjeant among the slain. If pretty Mabel is in the block still, let her not delay an instant, for Heaven's sake, in quitting it, for the enemy is about to put it to the trial by fire. Ye know the potency of that dread element, and will be acting more like the discreet and experienced warrior ye're universally allowed to be, in yielding a place you canna' defend, than in drawing down ruin on yourself and companions."

"I know the potency of fire, as you call it, Quarter-Master, and am not to be told, at this late hour, that it can be used for something else besides cooking a dinner. But I make no doubt you've heard of the potency of Killdeer, and the man who attempts to lay a pile of brush agin' these logs will get a taste of his powder. As for arrows, it is not in their gift to set this building on fire, for we've no shingles on our roof, but good solid logs and green bark, and plenty of water besides. The roof is so flat, too, as you know yourself, Quarter-Master, that we can walk

I'm

on it, and so no danger on that score while water lasts. peaceable enough if let alone, but he who endivers to burn this block over my head will find the fire squinched in his own blood." "This is idle and romantic talk, Pathfinder, and ye'll no maintain it yourself when ye come to meditate on the realities. I hope ye'll no gainsay the loyalty or the courage of the 55th, and I feel convinced that a council of war would decide on the propriety of a surrender forthwith. Na'-na'-Pathfinder, foolhardiness is na' mair like the bravery of Wallace or Bruce, than Albany on the Hudson is like the old town of Edinbro'."

"As each of us seems to have made up his mind, QuarterMaster, more words are useless. If the riptyles near you are disposed to set about their hellish job, let them begin at once. They can burn wood and I'll burn powder. If I were an Injin at the stake, I suppose I could brag as well as the rest of them, but my gifts and natur' being both white, my turn is rather for doing than talking. You've said quite enough, considering you carry the king's commission; and should we all be consumed, none of us will bear you any malice."

"Pathfinder, you'll no be exposing Mabel, pretty Mabel Dunham, to sic' a calamity!"

"Mabel Dunham is by the side of her wounded father, and God will care for the safety of a pious child. Not a hair of her head shali fall, while my arm and sight remain true; and though you may trust the Mingos, Master Muir, I put no faith in them. You've a knavish Tuscarora in your company there, who has art and malice enough to spoil the character of any tribe with which he consorts, though he found the Mingos ready ruined to his hands, I fear. But, enough said; let each party go to the use of his means and gifts."

Throughout this dialogue Pathfinder kept his body covered, lest a treacherous shot should be aimed at the loop; and he now directed Cap to ascend to the roof in order to be in readiness to meet the first assault. Although the latter used sufficient diligence, he found no less than ten blazing arrows sticking to the bark, while the air was filled with the yells and whoops of the

enemy. A rapid discharge of rifles followed, and the bullets came pattering against the logs, in a way to show that the struggle had indeed seriously commenced.

These were sounds, however, that appalled neither Pathfinder nor Cap, while Mabel was too much absorbed in her affliction to feel alarm. She had good sense enough, too, to understand the nature of the defences, and fully to appreciate their importance. As for her father, the familiar noises revived him, and it pained his child, at such a moment, to see that his glassy eye began to kindle, and that the blood returned to a cheek it had deserted, as he listened to the uproar. It was now Mabel first perceived that his reason began slightly to wander.

"Order up the light companies," he muttered, "and let the grenadiers charge! Do they dare to attack us in our fort? Why does not the artillery open on them?"

At that instant, the heavy report of a gun burst on the night; and the crashing of rending wood was heard, as a heavy shot tore the logs in the room above, and the whole block shook with the force of a shell that lodged in the work. The Pathfinder narrowly escaped the passage of this formidable missile, as it entered; but when it exploded, Mabel could not suppress a shriek; for she supposed all over her head, whether animate or inanimate, destroyed. To increase her horror, her father shouted, in a frantic voice, to "charge!"

"Kabel," said Pathfinder, with his head at the trap, "this is true Mingo work-more noise than injury. The vagabonds have got the howitzer we took from the French, and have discharged it ag'in the block; but, fortunately, they have fired off the only shell we had, and there is an ind of its use, for the present. There is some confusion among the stores up in this loft, but no one is hurt. Your uncle is still on the roof; and as for myself, I've run the gauntlet of too many rifles to be skeary about such a thing as a howitzer, and that in Injin hands."

Mabel murmured her thanks, and tried to give all her attention to her father, whose efforts to rise were only counteracted by his debility. During the fearful minutes that succeeded, she