get it, unless they fire it in the dark. Well, sarjeant, the Sarpent and I separated about ten miles down the river; for we thought it wisest not to come upon even a friendly camp,without the usual caution. What has become of Chingachgook, I cannot say though Mabel tells me he is not far off: and I make no question the noble-hearted Delaware is doing his duty, although he is not now visible to our eyes. Mark my word, sarjeant; before this matter is over, we shall hear of him at some critical time, and that in a discreet and creditable manner. Ah! the Sarpent is, indeed, a wise and virtuous chief; and any white man might covet his gifts, though his rifle is not quite as sure as Killdeer, it must be owned. Well, as I came near the island, I missed the smoke, and that put me on my guard; for I knew that the men of the 55th were not cunning enough to conceal that sign, notwithstanding all that has been told them of its danger. This made me more careful, until I came in sight of this mock fisherman, as I've just told Mabel; and then the whole of their infernal arts was as plain before me, as if I saw it on a map. I need not tell you, sarjeant, that my first thoughts were of Mabel; and that, finding she was in the block, I came here, in order to live or die in her company.

The father turned a gratified look upon his child, and Mabel felt a sinking of the heart that, at such a moment, she could not have thought possible, when she wished to believe all her concern centred in the situation of her parent. As the letter held out his hand, she took it in her own, and kissed it. Then kneeling at his side, she wept as if her heart would break.

"Mabel," he said, steadily, "the will of God must be done. It is useless to attempt deceiving either you or myself: my time has come, and it is a consolation to me, to die like a soldier. Lundie will do me justice, for our good friend Pathfinder will tell him what has been done, and how all came to pass. You do not forget our last conversation?"

"Nay, father, my time has probably come, too," exclaimed Mabel, who felt just then, as if it would be a relief to die. "I cannot hope to escape; and Pathfinder would do well to leave us, and return to the garrison, with the sad news, while he can.'

"Mabel Dunham," said Pathfinder, reproachfully, though he took her hand with kindness, "I have not desarved this; I know I am wild, and uncouth, and ungainly"

"Pathfinder!"

"Well-well, we'll forget it; you did not mean it; you could not think it. It is useless, now, to talk of escaping, for the sarjeant cannot be moved; and the block-house must be defended, cost what it will. May be, Lundie will get the tidings of our disaster, and send a party to raise the siege."

"Pathfinder Mabel!" said the serjeant, who had been writhing with pain, until the cold sweat stood on his forehead "come both to my side. You understand each other, I hope?" "Father, say nothing of that it is all as you wish."

"Thank God! Give me your hand, Mabel here, Pathfinder, take it. I can do no more than give you the girl in this way. I know you will make her a kind husband. Do not wait on account of my death; but there will be a chaplain in the fort, before the season closes, and let him marry you at once. My brother, if living, will wish to go back to his vessel, and then the child will have no pro tector. Mabel, your husband will have been my friend, and that will be some consolation to you, I hope."

"Trust this matter to me, sarjeant," put in Pathfinder; "leave it all in my hands, as your dying request; and depend on it, all will go as it should."

"I do- I do put all confidence in you, my trusty friend, and empower you to act, as I could act, myself, in every particular. Mabel, child-hand me the water-you will never repent this night. Bless you, my daughter-God bless, and have you in his holy keeping!" I

This tenderness was inexpressibly touching to one of Mabel's feel ings; and she felt at that moment, as if her future union with Pathfinder had received a solemnization that no ceremony of the church could render more holy. Still, a weight, as that of a mountain, lay upon her heart, and she thought it would be happiness to die. Then followed a short pause, when the serjeant, in broken sentences, briefly related what had passed, since he parted with Pathfinder and the Delaware. The wind had come more favorable, and instead of encamping on an island, agreeably to the original intention, he had determined to continue, and reach the station, that night. Their approach would have been unseen, and a portion of the calamity avoided, he thought, had they not grounded on the point of a neighboring island, where, no doubt, the noise made by the men, in get ting off the boat, gave notice of their approach, and enabled the enemy to be in readiness to receive them. They had landed without the slightest suspicion of danger, though surprised at not finding a sentinel, and had actually left their arms in the boat, with the intention of first securing their knapsacks and provisions. The fire had been so close, that notwithstanding the obscurity, it was very deadly. Every man had fallen, though two or three subsequently arose, and disappeared. Four or five of the soldiers had been killed, or so nearly so, as to survive but a few minutes; though, for some unknown reason, the enemy did not make the usual rush for the scalps. Serjeant Dunham fell with the others; and he had heard the voice of Mabel, as she rushed from the block-house. This frantic appeal aroused all his parental feelings, and had enabled him to crawl as far as the door of the building, where he had raised himself against the logs, in the manner already mentioned.

After this simple explanation was made, the serjeant was so weak as to need repose, and his companions, while they ministered to his wants, suffered some time to pass in silence. Pathfinder took the occasion to reconnoitre from the loops and the roof, and he examined the condition of the rifles, of which there were a dozen kept in the building, the soldiers having used their regimental muskets in the

expedition. But Mabel never left her father's side for an instant, and when, by his breathing, she fancied he slept, she bent her knees and prayed.

The half hour that succeeded was awfully solemn and still. The moccasin of Pathfinder was barely heard over head, and occasionally the sound of the breech of a rifle fell upon the floor, for he was busied in examining the pieces, with a view to ascertain the state of their charges, and their primings. Beyond this nothing was so loud as the breathing of the wounded man. Mabel's heart yearned to be in communication with the father she was so soon to lose, and yet she would not disturb his apparent repose. But Dunham slept not; he was in that state when the world suddenly loses its attractions, its illusions, and its power; and the unknown future fills the mind with its conjectures, its revelations and its immensity. He had been a moral man for one of his mode of life, but he had thought little of this all-important moment. Had the din of battle been ringing in his ears, his martial ardor might have endured to the end; but there, in the silence of that nearly untenanted block-house, with no sound to enliven him, no appeal to keep alive factitious sentiment, no hope of victory to impel, things began to appear in their true colors, and this state of being to be estimated at its just value. He would have given treasures for religious consolation, and yet he knew not where to turn to seek it. He thought of Pathfinder, but he distrusted his knowledge. He thought of Mabel, but for the parent to appeal to the child for such succour, appeared like reversing the order of nature. Then it was that he felt the full responsibility of the parental character, and had some clear glimpses of the manner in which he himself had discharged the trust towards an orphan child. While thoughts like these were rising in his mind, Mabel, who watched the slightest change in his breathing, heard a guarded knock at the door. Supposing it might be Chingachgook, she rose, undid two of the bars, and held the third in her hand, as she asked who was there. The answer was in her uncle's voice, and he implored her to give him instant admission. Without an instant of hesitation, she turned the bar, and Cap entered. He had barely passed the opening, when Mabel closed the door again, and secured it as before, for practice had rendered her expert in this portion of her duties.

The sturdy seaman, when he had made sure of the state of his brother-in-law, and that Mabel, as well as himself, was safe, was softened nearly to tears. His own appearance he explained by say ing that he had been carelessly guarded, under the impression that he and the Quarter-Master were sleeping under the fumes of liquor with which they had been plied with a view to keep them quiet in the expected engagement. Muir had been left asleep, or seeming to sleep; but Cap had run into the bushes, on the alarm of the attack, and having found Pathfinder's canoe, had only succeeded, at that moment, in getting to the block-house, whither he had come with the kind intent of escaping with his niece by water. It is scarcely necessary to say, that he changed his plan, when he ascertained

the state of the serjeant, and the apparent security of his present quarters.

"If the worst comes to the worst, Master Pathfinder," he said, "we must strike, and that will entitle us to receive quarter. We owe it to our manhood to hold out a reasonable time, and to ourselves to haul down the ensign in season to make saving conditions. I wished Master Muir to do the same thing, when we were captured by these chaps you call vagabonds, and rightly are they named, for viler vagabonds do not walk the earth

"You've found out their characters!" interrupted Pathfinder, who was always as ready to chime in with abuse of the Mingos, as with the praises of his friends. Now, had you fallen into the hands of the Delawares, you would have learned the difference."

66

66

Well, to me, they seem much of a muchness; blackguards fore and aft, always excepting our friend the Serpent, who is a gentleman, for an Indian. But, when these savages made the assault on us, killing Corporal McNab and his men, as if they had been so many rabbits, Lieutenant Muir and myself took refuge in one of the holes of this here island, of which there are so many among the rocksregular geological underground burrows made by the water, as the lieutenant says, and there we remained stowed away like two leaguers in a ship's hold, until we gave out for want of grub. A man may say that grub is the foundation of human nature. I desired the Quarter-Master to make terms, for we could have defended ourselves for an hour or two in the place, bad as it was; but he declined, on the ground that the knaves wouldn't keep faith, if any of them were hurt, and so there was no use in asking them to. I consented to strike, on two principles; one, that we might be said to have struck already, for running below is generally thought to be giving up the ship; and the other that we had an enemy in our stomachs that was more formidable in his attacks, than the enemy on deck. Hunger is a d--ble circumstance, as any man who has lived on it eightand-forty hours will acknowledge."

“Uncle !” said Mabel, in a mournful voice and with an expostulatory manner, "my poor father is sadly, sadly hurt!"

"True, Magnet, true-I will sit by him, and do my best at consolation. Are the bars well fastened, girl? for, on such an occasion, ! the mind should be tranquil and undisturbed."

"We are safe, I believe, from all but this heavy blow of Providence."

66

Well, then, Magnet, do you go up to the floor above, and try to compose yourself, while Pathfinder runs aloft and takes a look-out from the cross-trees. Your father may wish to say something to me, in private, and it may be well to leave us alone. These are solemn scenes, and inexperienced people, like myself, do not always wish what they say to be overheard."

Although the idea of her uncle's affording religious consolation by the side of a death-bed, certainly never obtruded itself on the imagination of Mabel, she thought there might be a propriety in the re

quest, with which she was unacquainted; and she complied accordingly. Pathfinder had already ascended to the roof to make his survey, and the brothers-in-law were left alone. Cap took a seat by the side of the serjeant, and bethought him, seriously, of the grave duty he had before him. A silence of several minutes succeeded, during which brief space, the mariner was digesting the substance of his intended discourse.

"I must say, Serjeant Dunham," Cap at length commenced, in his peculiar manner, "that there has been mismanagement somewhere in this unhappy expedition, and, the present being an occasion when truth ought to be spoken, and nothing but the truth, I feel it my duty to say as much, in plain language. In short, serjeant, on this point there cannot well be two opinions, for, seaman as I am, and no soldier, I can see several errors myself, that it needs no great education to detect."

"What would you have, brother Cap?" returned the other, in a feeble voice-"what is done, is done; and it is now too late to remedy it."

Very true, brother Dunham, but not to repent of it; the good book tells us, it is never too late to repent; and I've always heard that this is the precious moment. If you've any thing on your mind, serjeant, hoist it out freely, for, you know, you trust it to a friend. You were my own sister's husband, and poor little Magnet is my own sister's daughter; and, living or dead, I shall always look upon you as a brother. It's a thousand pities that you didn't lie off and on, with the boats, and send a canoe ahead, to reconnoitre; in which case your command would have been saved, and this disaster would not have befallen us all. Well, serjeant, we are all mortal; that is some consolation, I make no doubt; and if you go before, a little, why, we must follow. Yes, that must give him consolation.”

"I know all this, brother Cap; and hope I'm prepared to meet a soldier's fate-there is poor Mabel--"

66

Ay, ay that's a heavy drag, I know; but you wouldn't take her with you, if you could, serjeant; and so the better way is to make as light of the separation as you can. Mabel is a good girl, and so was her mother, before her; she was my sister, and it shall be my care to see that her daughter gets a good husband, if our lives and scalps are spared; for I suppose no one would care about entering into a family that has no scalps."

"Brother, my child is betrothed--she will become the wife of Pathfinder."

"Well, brother Dunham, every man has his opinions, and his manner of viewing things; and, to my notion, this match will be any thing but agreeable to Mabel. I have no objection to the age of the man; I'm not one of them that thinks it necessary to be a boy, to make a girl happy; but on the whole, I prefer a man of about fifty, for a husband; still, there ought not to be any circumstance between the parties to make them unhappy. Circumstances play the devil with matrimony; and I set it down as one, that Pathfinder