back to York, and let Ontario take care of itself, salt water or fresh water." "That wouldn't mend the matter much, friend mariner, as the road to return is much longer, and almost as bad as the road to go on. Trust to us, and we will carry ou through safe, or lose our scalps." Cap wore a tight, solid queue, done up in eel-skin, while the top of his head was nearly bald, and he mechanically passed his hand over both, as if to make certain that each was in its right place. He was at the bottom, however, a brave man, and had often faced death with coolness, though never in the frightful forms in which it presented itself, under the brief but graphic pictures of his companion. It was too late to retreat; and he determined to put the best face on the matter, though he could not avoid muttering inwardly a few curses on the indifference and indiscretion with which his brother-in-law, the sergeant, had led him into his present dilemma. "I make no doubt, Master Pathfinder," he answered, when these thoughts had found time to glance through his mind, "that we shall reach port in safety. What distance may we now be from the fort?" "Little more than fifteen miles; and swift miles, too, as the river runs, if the Mingos let us go clear." "And I suppose the woods will stretch along, starboard and larboard, as heretofore? "Anan?" "I mean that we shall have to pick our way through these damned trees!" "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 cur rent." “And what the devil is to prevent these minks, of which you speak, from shooting us as we double a headland, 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' 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." “Aye, aye; this may do well enough for a scouter; but we seamen like our offing, and to go into action with noth ing in our minds but the business before us; plain broad side and broadside work, and no trees or rocks to thicker the water." "And no Lord, too, I dare to say, if the truth was 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 warlock. When the Mohican squeezes my hand, and intermates that I befri'nded 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 Saipent'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, while we may. Magnet, dear, are you not ready to get under way?" Magnet started, blushed brightly, and made her preparations for an immediate departure. Not a syllable of the iscourse just related had she heard, for Eau-douce, as young Jasper was oftener called than anything else, had heen filling her ears with a description of the yet distant tort 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 garri sons. 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, ir order to raise as dark and dense a smoke as possible. "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 nat'rally conclude that they who began by going up stream, will end by going up stream? If they know anything, they now know a party is out from the fort, and .t 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." "Certainly," added Jasper, who was talking apart with the Pathfinder, as they moved towards the wind-row, "they cannot know anything about the sergeant's daughter, for the greatest secrecy has been observed on her account." "And they will l'arn nothing here," returned Pathfinder, causing his companion to see that he trod with the utmost care on the impressions 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, like 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 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; 66 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 mean while?" "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 bet ter 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 experi ment. 66 said Perhaps the sergeant's daughter will be frightened,” he "Not she, if she has any of the sergeant's spirit in her. She doesn't look like a skeary thing at all. Leave it to me, Eau-douce, and I will manage the affair alone." "Not you, Pathfinder; you would only drown both. L the canoe goes over, I must go in it." "Well, have it so, then; shall we smoke the pipe o! Agreement on the bargain?" Jasper laughed, nodded his head, by way of consent, and the subject was dropped, for the party had reached the anoe, 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, slug. gish, 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, a few 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 Ontario. The canoe in which Cap and his party had travelled from Fort Stanwix, the last military station on the Mohawk,1 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 o 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 them infarnals, the Mingos, strike our trail, or follow it to this point, they will not fail to look for the 1 See Appendix, Note D. |