 | CHAPTER X. The pathfinder, or, The inland sea |  |
10. CHAPTER X.
The rain came heavily, and fell in floods;
But now the sun is rising calm and bright;
The birds are singing in the distant woods.”
Wordsworth.
As the light returned, Pathfinder and Cap ascended again
to the roof, with a view to reconnoitre the state of things once
more, on the island. This part of the block-house had a low
battlement around it, which afforded a considerable protection
to those who stood in its centre; the intention having been to
enable marksmen to lie behind it, and to fire over its top.
By making proper use, therefore, of these slight defences—
slight, as to height, though abundantly ample as far as they
went—the two look-outs commanded a pretty good view of
the island, its covers excepted; and of most of the channels
that led to the spot.
The gale was still blowing very fresh at south; and there
were places in the river where its surface looked green and
angry, though the wind had hardly sweep enough to raise
the water into foam. The shape of the little island was
generally oval, and its greatest length was from east to west.
By keeping in the channels that washed it, in consequence
of their several courses, and of the direction of the gale, it
would have been possible for a vessel to range past the island,
on either of its principal sides, and always to keep the wind
very nearly abeam. These were the facts first noticed by
Cap, and explained to his companion; for the hopes of both
now rested on the chances of relief sent from Oswego. At
this instant, while they stood gazing anxiously about them,
Cap cried out in his lusty, hearty, manner—
“Sail, ho!”
Pathfinder turned quickly in the direction of his companion's
face, and there, sure enough, was just visible the object
of the old sailor's exclamation. The elevation enabled
the two to overlook the low land of several of the adjacent
islands; and the canvass of a vessel was seen through the
bushes that fringed the shore of one that lay to the southward
low sail; but so great was the power of the wind, that her
white outlines were seen flying past the openings of the verdure,
with the velocity of a fast-travelling horse; resembling
a cloud driving in the heavens.
“That cannot be Jasper!” said Pathfinder, in disappointment;
for he did not recognise the cutter of his friend, in
the swift-passing object. “No—no—the lad is behind the
hour; and that is some craft that the Frenchers have sent
to aid their friends, the accursed Mingos.”
“This time you are out in your reckoning, friend Pathfinder,
if you never were before,” returned Cap, in a manner
that had lost none of its dogmatism by the critical circumstances
in which they were placed. “Fresh-water or salt,
that is the head of the Scud's mainsail, for it is cut with a
smaller goar than common; and then you can see that the
gaff has been fished—quite neatly done, I admit, but fished.”
“I can see none of this, I confess,” answered Pathfinder,
to whom even the terms of his companion were Greek.
“No!—Well, I own that surprises me; for I thought your
eyes could see any thing! Now, to me, nothing is plainer
than that goar and that fish; and I must say, my honest
friend, that, in your place, I should apprehend that my sight
was beginning to fail.”
“If Jasper is truly coming, I shall apprehend but little.
We can make good the block against the whole Mingo nation,
for the next eight or ten hours; and, with Eau-douce to
cover the retreat, I shall despair of nothing. God send that
the lad may not run alongside of the bank, and fall into an
ambushment, as befel the sarjeant!”
“Ay; there's the danger. There ought to have been signals
concerted, and an anchorage-ground buoyed out, and
even a quarantine station, or a Lazaretto, would have been
useful could we have made these Minks-ho respect the laws.
If the lad fetches up, as you say, anywhere in the neighbourhood
of this island, we may look upon the cutter as lost.
And, after all, Master Pathfinder, ought we not to set down
this same Jasper as a secret ally of the French, rather than
as a friend of our own?—I know the serjeant views the
matter in that light, and I must say this whole affair looks
like treason!”
“We shall soon know, we shall soon know, Master Cap;
for there indeed comes the cutter, clear of the other island,
and five minutes must settle the matter. It would be no
more than fair, however, if we could give the boy some sign
in the way of warning. It is not right that he should fall
into the trap, without a notice that it has been laid.”
Anxiety and suspense, notwithstanding, prevented either
from attempting to make any signal. It was not easy, truly,
to see how it could be done; for the Scud came foaming
through the channel, on the weather side of the island, at a
rate that scarce admitted of the necessary time. Nor was
any one visible on her deck to make signs to; even her helm
seemed deserted, though her course was as steady as her progress
was rapid.
Cap stood in silent admiration of a spectacle so unusual.
But, as the Scud drew nearer, his practised eye detected the
helm in play, by means of tiller-ropes, though the person
who steered was concealed. As the cutter had weather-boards
of some little height, the mystery was explained; no
doubt remaining that her people lay behind the latter, in
order to be protected from the rifles of the enemy. As this
fact showed that no force, beyond that of the small crew,
could be on board, Pathfinder received his companion's explanation
with an ominous shake of the head.
“This proves that the Sarpent has not reached Oswego,”
he said, “and that we are not to expect succour 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,
heartily, for he began to have more confidence in the security
of his scalp, now that he saw the sun again; “I set
down the arrival of the Scud as one circumstance, and the
chances of Eau-douce's honesty as another. This Jasper is
a young man of prudence, you find, for he keeps a good offing,
island, before he ventures to bring up.”
“I have it—I have it,”—exclaimed Pathfinder with exultation,—“there
lies the canoe of the Sarpent, on the cutter'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.”
Pathfinder's disposition to think well of the Delawares, and
to think ill of the Mingos, must, by this time, be very apparent
to the reader. Of the veracity of the former he entertained
the highest respect, while of the latter he thought, as
the more observant and intelligent classes of this country are
getting pretty generally to think of certain scribblers among
ourselves, who are known to have been so long in the habits
of mendacity, that it is thought they can no longer tell the
truth, even when they seriously make the effort.
“That canoe may not belong to the cutter,” said the captious
seaman—“Oh! Deuce had one on board, when we
sailed.”
“Very true, friend Cap; but, if you know your sails and
masts, by your goars 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 besieged, 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 water-falls!” said Pathfinder, nudging
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
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 harbour. Otherwise, not a sign
of their presence was to be detected. Though taken entirely
by surprise by the cutter, the sudden return of which was
altogether unlooked for, so uniform and inbred were their
habits of caution while on the war-path, that, the instant 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 block-house, for though Pathfinder
and Cap could command a view of the channel, they took
the precaution necessary to lie concealed. The unusual
absence of any thing 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 boldest of their
party began to distrust the issue of an expedition that had
commenced so prosperously. Even Arrowhead, 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 mean time, 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 attitude as
they pass away, but always piling the water beneath her
bows, in foam. Although she was under so very short canvass,
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 block-house. Cap and
Pathfinder leaned forward, as the cutter 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
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 beheld 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 partridges.”
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 block-house
was partially concealed.
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 reconnoissance. When,
however, the Scud had made the circuit 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,
close reefed as it was, sounded like the report of a gun, and
Cap trembled lest the seams should open.
“His Majesty gives good canvass, 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—e,
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
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 block-house 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 intention. 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 impunity, and he ventured
fearlessly so near, that as he passed through the little
cove, he swept the two boats of the soldiers from their fastenings,
and forced them out into the channel, towing them
with the cutter. As all the canoes were fastened to the two
Durham 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 Delaware, but, less true than that
of his friend, it only maimed an enemy for life. The people
of the Scud shouted, and the savages sunk 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 barrel,
though not sartain death. Well—well—with Chingachgook
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 she
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 Chigachgook. 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 block-house;
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 besieged
and their friends, with the exception of the man who
held the match, had no hesitation about exposing their persons.
Chingachgook alone lay in ambush; more, however,
from habit than distrust.
“You 've triumphed, Pathfinder;” called out the Quarter-Master,
“and Captain Sanglier has come himself to offer
terms. You 'll no be denying a brave enemy an honourable
retreat, when he has fought ye fairly, and done all the credit
he could to king and country. Ye are too loyal a subject,
yourself, to visit loyalty and fidelity with a heavy judgment.
I am authorized to offer, on the part of the enemy, an evacuation
of the island, a mutual exchange of prisoners, and a
little more can be done.”
As the conversation was necessarily carried on in a high
key, both on account of the wind, and on account of the distance,
all that was said was heard equally by those in the
block, and those in the cutter.
“What do you say to that, Jasper?” called out Pathfinder.
“You hear the proposal: shall we let the vagabonds go; or
shall we mark them, as they mark their sheep in the settlements,
that we may know them again?”
“What has befallen Mabel Dunham?” demanded the
young man, with a frown on his handsome face, that was
visible even to those in the block. “If a hair of her head
has been touched, it will go hard with the whole Iroquois
tribe!”
“Nay, nay, she is safe below, nursing a dying parent, as
becomes her sex. We owe no grudge on account of the serjeant's
hurt, which comes of lawful warfare; and as for Mabel—”
“She is here,” exclaimed the girl, herself, who had mounted
to the roof the moment she found the direction things
were taking. “She is here; and, in the name of our holy
religion, and of that God whom we profess to worship in
common, let there be no more bloodshed! Enough has been
spilt already; and if these men will go away, Pathfinder—
if they will depart peaceably, Jasper—oh! do not detain one
of them. My poor father is approaching his end, and it
were better that he should draw his last breath in peace with
the world. Go, go, Frenchmen and Indians; we are no
longer your enemies, and will harm none of you.”
“Tut, tut, Magnet,” put in Cap, “this sounds religious,
perhaps, or like a book of poetry; but it does not sound like
common sense. The enemy is just ready to strike; Jasper
is anchored with his broadside to bear, and, no doubt, with
springs on his cables; Pathfinder's eye and hand are as true
as the needle; and we shall get prize-money, head-money,
and honour in the bargain, if you will not interfere for the
next half-hour.”
“Well,” said Pathfinder, “I incline to Mabel's way of
thinking. There has been enough blood shed to answer our
purpose, and to sarve the king; and as for honour, in that
for cool-headed, obsarvant, Christian men. There is honour
in doing what's right, and unhonour in doing what's wrong;
and I think it wrong to take the life, even of a Mingo, without
a useful end in view, I do; and right to hear reason at
all times. So, Lieutenant Muir, let us know what your
friends, the Frenchers and Indians have to say for themselves.”
“My friends!” said Muir, starting. “You 'll no be calling
the king's enemies my friends, Pathfinder, because the fortune
of war has thrown me into their hands? Some of the
greatest warriors, both of ancient and modern times, have
been prisoners of war; and yon is Master Cap, who can testify
whether we did not do all that men could devise to escape
the calamity.”
“Ay—ay,” drily answered Cap,—“escape is the proper
word. We ran below and hid ourselves, and so discreetly,
that we might have remained in the hole to this hour, had it
not been for the necessity of re-stowing the bread lockers.
You burrowed on that occasion, Quarter-Master, as handily
as a fox; and how the d—l you knew so well where to find
the spot, is a matter of wonder to me. A regular skulk on
board ship, does not trail aft more readily, when the jib is to
be stowed, than you went into that same hole!”
“And did ye no follow? There are moments in a man's
life when reason ascends to instinct—”
“And men descend into holes,” interrupted Cap, laughing
in his boisterous way, while Pathfinder chimed in, in his
peculiar manner. Even Jasper, though still filled with concern
for Mabel, was obliged to smile. “They say the d—l
wouldn't make a sailor if he didn't look aloft, and now it
seems he 'll not make a soldier if he doesn't look below!”
This burst of merriment, though it was any thing but
agreeable to Muir, contributed largely towards keeping the
peace. Cap fancied he had said a thing much better than
common, and that disposed him to yield his own opinion on
the main point, so long as he got the good opinion of his
companions on his novel claim to be a wit. After a short
discussion, all the savages on the island were collected in a
body, without arms, at the distance of a hundred yards from
the block, and under the gun of the Scud, while Pathfinder
descended to the door of the block-house, and settled the
enemy. Considering all the circumstances, the conditions
were not very discreditable to either party. The Indians
were compelled to give up all their arms, even to their knives
and tomahawks, as a measure of precaution, their force being
still quadruple that of their foes. The French officer, Monsieur
Sanglier, as he was usually styled, and chose to call
himself, remonstrated against this act, as one likely to reflect
more discredit on his command than any other part of the
affair; but Pathfinder, who had witnessed one or two Indian
massacres, and knew how valueless pledges became when put
in opposition to interest, where a savage was concerned, was
obdurate. The second stipulation was of nearly the same
importance. It compelled Captain Sanglier to give up all his
prisoners, who had been kept well guarded, in the very hole,
or cave, in which Cap and Muir had taken refuge. When
these men were produced, four of them were found to be unhurt;
they had fallen merely to save their lives, a common
artifice in that species of warfare, and of the remainder, two
were so slightly injured as not to be unfit for service. As
they brought their muskets with them, this addition to his force
immediately put Pathfinder at his ease, for having collected
all the arms of the enemy in the block-house, he directed
these men to take possession of the building, stationing a
regular sentinel at the door. The remainder of the soldiers
were dead, the badly wounded having been instantly dispatched
in order to obtain the much-coveted scalps.
As soon as Jasper was made acquainted with the terms,
and the preliminaries had been so far observed as to render it
safe for him to be absent, he got the Scud under way, and
running down to the point where the boats had stranded, he
took them in tow again, and, making a few stretches, brought
them into the leeward passage. Here all the savages instantly
embarked, when Jasper took the boats in tow a third time,
and running off before the wind, he soon set them adrift,
quite a mile to leeward of the island. The Indians were
furnished with but a single oar in each boat to steer with, the
young sailor well knowing that, by keeping before the wind,
they would land on the shores of Canada in the course of
the morning.
Captain Sanglier, Arrowhead, and June, alone remained,
the former having certain papers to draw up and sign with
Lieutenant Muir, who, in his eyes, possessed the virtues which
are attached to a commission, and the latter preferring, for
reasons of his own, not to depart in company with his late
friends, the Iroquois. Canoes were retained, for the departure
of these three, when the proper moment should arrive.
In the mean time, or while the Scud was running down
with the boats in tow, Pathfinder and Cap, aided by proper
assistants, busied themselves with preparing a breakfast;
most of the party not having eaten for four-and-twenty hours.
The brief space that passed in this manner, before the Scud
came-to again, was little interrupted by discourse, though
Pathfinder found leisure to pay a visit to the serjeant, to say
a few friendly words to Mabel, and to give such directions as
he thought might smooth the passage of the dying man. As
for Mabel, herself, he insisted on her taking some light refreshment,
and there no longer existing any motive for keeping
it there, he had the guard removed from the block, in
order that the daughter might have no impediment to her
attentions to her father. These little arrangements completed,
our hero returned to the fire, around which he found all the
remainder of the party assembled, including Jasper.
| CHAPTER X. The pathfinder, or, The inland sea | |