"This proves that the Sarpent has not reached Oswego,"said he, "and that we are not to expect succor from the garrison.I hope Lundie has not taken it into his head to displace the lad, for Jasper Western would be a host of himself in such a strait.We three, Master Cap, ought to make a manful warfare: you, as a seaman, to keep up the intercourse with the cutter; Jasper, as a laker who knows all that is necessary to be done on the water; and I, with gifts that are as good as any among the Mingos, let me be what I may in other particulars.I say we ought to make a manful fight in Mabel's behalf.""That we ought, and that we will," answered Cap hear-tily; for he began to have more confidence in the security of his scalp now that he saw the sun again."I set down the arival of the _Scud_ as one circumstance, and the chances of Oh-deuce's honesty as another.This Jasper is a young man of prudence, you find; for he keeps a good offing, and seems determined to know how matters stand on the island before he ventures to bring up.""I have it! I have it!" exclaimed Pathfinder, with ex-ultation."There lies the canoe of the Sarpent on the cut-ter's deck; and the chief has got on board, and no doubt has given a true account of our condition; for, unlike a Mingo, a Delaware is sartain to get a story right, or to hold his tongue.""That canoe may not belong to the cutter," said the captious seaman."Oh-deuce had one on board when he sailed.""Very true, friend Cap; but if you know your sails and masts by your gores and fishes, I know my canoes and my paths by frontier knowledge.If you can see new cloth in a sail, I can see new bark in a canoe.That is the boat of the Sarpent, and the noble fellow has struck off for the garrison as soon as he found the block beseiged, has fallen in with the _Scud_, and, after telling his story, has brought the cutter down here to see what can be done.The Lord grant that Jasper Western be still on board her!""Yes, yes; it might not be amiss; for, traitor or loyal, the lad has a handy way with him in a gale, it must be owned.""And in coming over waterfalls!" said Pathfinder, nudg-ing the ribs of his companion with an elbow, and laughing in his silent but hearty manner."We will give the boy his due, though he scalps us all with his own hand."The _Scud_ was now so near, that Cap made no reply.
The scene, just at that instant, was so peculiar, that it merits a particular description, which may also aid the reader in forming a more accurate nature of the picture we wish to draw.
The gale was still blowing violently.Many of the smaller trees bowed their tops, as if ready to descend to the earth, while the rushing of the wind through the branches of the groves resembled the roar of distant chariots.
The air was filled with leaves, which, at that late season, were readily driven from their stems, and flew from island to island like flights of birds.With this exception, the spot seemed silent as the grave.That the savages still remained, was to be inferred from the fact that their canoes, together with the boats of the 55th, lay in a group in the little cove that had been selected as a harbor.Otherwise, not a sign of their presence was to be detected.Though taken en-tirely by surprise by the cutter, the sudden return of which was altogether unlooked-for, so uniform aud inbred were their habits of caution while on the war-path, that the in-stant an alarm was given every man had taken to his cover with the instinct and cunning of a fox seeking his hole.
The same stillness reigned in the blockhouse; for though Pathfinder and Cap could command a view of the chan-nel, they took the precaution necessary to lie concealed.
The unusual absence of anything like animal life on board the _Scud_, too, was still more remarkable.As the Indians witnessed her apparently undirected movements, a feeling of awe gained a footing among them, and some of the bold-est of their party began to distrust the issue of an expedi-tion that had commenced so prosperotisly.Even Arrow-head, accustomed as he was to intercourse with the whites on both sides of the lakes, fancied there was something ominous in the appearance of this unmanned vessel, and he would gladly at that moment have been landed again on the main.
In the meantime the progress of the cutter was steady and rapid.She held her way mid-channel, now inclining to the gusts, and now rising again, like the philosopher that bends to the calamities of life to resume his erect at-titude as they pass away, but always piling the water be-neath her bows in foam.Although she was under so very short canvas, her velocity was great, and there could not have elapsed ten minutes between the time when her sails were first seen glancing past the trees and bushes in the distance and the moment when she was abreast of the blockhouse.Cap and Pathfinder leaned forward, as the cut-ter came beneath their eyrie, eager to get a better view of her deck, when, to the delight of both, Jasper Eau-douce sprang upon his feet and gave three hearty cheers.Re-gardless of all risk, Cap leaped upon the rampart of logs and returned the greeting, cheer for cheer.Happily, the policy of the enemy saved the latter; for they still lay quiet, not a rifle being discharged.On the other hand, Pathfinder kept in view the useful, utterly disregarding the mere dramatic part of warfare.The moment he be-held his friend Jasper, he called out to him with stentorian lungs, --"Stand by us, lad, and the day's our own! Give 'em a grist in yonder bushes, and you'll put 'em up like part-ridges."
Part of this reached Jasper's ears, but most was borne off to leeward on the wings of the wind.By the time this was said, the _Scud_ had driven past, and in the next moment she was hid from view by the grove in which the blockhouse was partially concealed.
