Two anxious minutes succeeded; but, at the expiration of that brief space, the sails were again gleaming through the trees, Jasper having wore, jibed, and hauled up under the lee of the island on the other tack.The wind was free enough, as has been already explained, to admit of this manoeuvre; and the cutter, catching the current under her lee bow, was breasted up to her course in a way that showed she would come out to windward of the island again without any difficulty.This whole evolution was made with the greatest facility, not a sheet being touched, the sails trimming themselves, the rudder alone controlling the admirable machine.The object appeared to be a re-connoissance.When, however, the _Scud_ had made the cir-cuit of the entire island, and had again got her weatherly position in the channel by which she had first approached, her helm was put down, and she tacked.The noise of the mainsail flapping when it filled, lose-reefed as it was, sounded like the report of a gun, and Cap trembled lest the seams should open.
"His Majesty gives good canvas, it must be owned,"muttered the old seaman; "and it must be owned, too, that boy handles his boat as if he were thoroughly bred!
D--- me, Master Pathfinder, if I believe, after all that has been reported in the matter, that this Mister Oh-deuce got his trade on this bit of fresh water.""He did; yes, he did.He never saw the ocean, and has come by his calling altogether up here on Ontario.I have often thought he has a nat'ral gift in the way of schooners and sloops, and have respected him accordingly.As for treason and lying and black-hearted vices, friend Cap, Jasper Western is as free as the most virtuousest of the Delaware warriors; and if you crave to see a truly honest man, you must go among that tribe to discover him.""There he comes round!" exclaimed the delighted Cap, the _Scud_ at this moment filling on her original tack; "and now we shall see what the boy would be at; he cannot mean to keep running up and down these passages, like a girl footing it through a country-dance."The _Scud_ now kept so much away, that for a moment the two observers on the blockhouse feared Jasper meant to come-to; and the savages, in their lairs, gleamed out upon her with the sort of exultation that the crouching tiger may be supposed to feel as he sees his unconscious victim approach his bed.But Jasper had no such inten-tion: familiar with the shore, and acquainted with the depth of water on every part of the island, he well knew that the _Scud_ might be run against the bank with impu-nity, and he ventured fearlessly so near, that, as he passed through the little cove, he swept the two boats of the sol-diers from their fastenings and forced them out into the channel, towing them with the cutter.As all the canoes were fastened to the two Dunham boats, by this bold and successful attempt the savages were at once deprived of the means of quitting the island, unless by swimming, and they appeared to be instantly aware of the very important fact.Rising in a body, they filled the air with yells, and poured in a harmless fire.While up in this unguarded manner, two rifles were discharged by their adversaries.
One came from the summit of the block, and an Iroquois fell dead in his tracks, shot through the brain.The other came from the _Scud_.The last was the piece of the Dela-ware, but, less true than that of his friend, it only maimed an enemy for life.The people of the _Scud_ shouted, and the savages sank again, to a man, as if it might be into the earth.
"That was the Sarpent's voice," said Pathfinder, as soon as the second piece was discharged."I know the crack of his rifle as well as I do that of Killdeer.'Tis a good bar-rel, though not sartain death.Well, well, with Chingach-gook and Jasper on the water, and you and I in the block, friend Cap, it will be hard if we don't teach these Mingo scamps the rationality of a fight."All this time the _Scud_ was in motion.As soon as he had reached the end of the island, Jasper sent his prizes adrift; and they went down before the wind until they stranded on a point half a mile to leeward.He then wore, and came stemming the current again, through the other passage.Those on the summit of the block could now perceive that something was in agitation on the deck of the _Scud_; and, to their great delight, just as the cutter came abreast of the principal cove, on the spot where most of the enemy lay, the howitzer which composed her sole armament was unmasked, and a shower of case-shot was sent hissing into the bushes.A bevy of quail would not have risen quicker than this unexpected discharge of iron hail put up the Iroquois; when a second savage fell by a messenger sent from Killdeer, and another went limping away by a visit from the rifle of Chingachgook.New covers were immediately found, however; and each party seemed to prepare for the renewal of the strife in another form.But the appearance of June, bearing a white flag, and accompanied by the French officer and Muir, stayed the hands of all, and was the forerunner of another parley.
The negotiation that followed was held beneath the blockhouse; and so near it as at once to put those who were uncovered completely at the mercy of Pathfinder's unerring aim.Jasper anchored directly abeam; and the howitzer, too, was kept trained upon the negotiators: so that the beseiged and their friends, with the exception of the man who held the match, had no hesitation about ex-posing their persons.Chingachgook alone lay in ambush;more, however, from habit than distrust.
