第143章

You will remeinber the finesse and delicacy that belong to military honor?""I know enough, Mr.Muir, to understand that you have no command in this expedition, and therefore can have no right to yield the blockhouse; and I remember, moreover, to have heard my dear father say that a prisoner loses all his authority for the time being.""Rank sophistry, pretty Mabel, and treason to the king, as well as dishonoring his commission and discrediting his name.You'll no' be persevering in your intentions, when your better judgment has had leisure to reflect and to make conclusions on matters and circumstances.""Ay," put in Cap, "this is a circumstance, and be d----d to it!""No mind what'e uncle say," ejaculated June, who was occupied in a far corner of the room."Blockhouse good - got no scalp.""I shall remain as I am, Mr.Muir, until I get some tid-ings of my father.He will return in the course of the next ten days.""Ah, Mabel, this artifice will no' deceive the enemy, who, by means that would be unintelligible, did not our suspicions rest on an unhappy young man with too much plausibility, are familiar with all our doings and plans, and well know that the sun will not set before the worthy Ser-geant and his companions will be in their power.Aweel!

Submission to Providence is truly a Christian virtue!""Mr.Muir, you appear to be deceived in the strength of this work, and to fancy it weaker than it is.Do you desire to see what I can do in the way of defence, if so disposed?""I dinna mind if I do," answered the Quartermaster, who always grew Scotch as he grew interested.

"What do you think of that, then? Look at the loop of the upper story?"As soon as Mabel had spoken, all eyes were turned up-ward, and beheld the muzzle of a rifle cautiously thrust through a hole, June having resorted again to a _ruse_ which had already proved so successful.The result did not dis-appoint expectation.No sooner did the Indians catch a sight of the fatal weapon than they leaped aside, and in less than a minute every man among them had sought a cover.The French officer kept his eye on the barrel of the piece in order to ascertain that it was not pointed in his particular direction, and he coolly took a pinch of snuff.As neither Muir nor Cap had anything to appre-hend from the quarter in which the others were menaced, they kept their ground.

"Be wise, my pretty Mabel, be wise!" exclaimed the former; "and no' be provoking useless contention.In the name of all the kings of Albin, who have ye closeted with you in that wooden tower that seemeth so bloody-minded?

There is necromancy about this matter, and all our char-acters may be involved in the explanation.""What do you think of the Pathfinder, Master Muir, for a garrison to so strong a post?" cried Mabel, resorting to an equivocation which the circumstances rendered very excusable."What will your French and Indian compan-ions think of the aim of the Pathfinder's rifle?""Bear gently on the unfortunate, pretty Mabel, and do not confound the king's servants -- may Heaven bless him and all his royal lineage! -- with the king's enemies.If Pathfinder be indeed in the blockhouse, let him speak, and we will hold our negotiations directly with him.He knows us as friends, and we fear no evil at his hands, and least of all to myself; for a generous mind is apt to render rivalry in a certain interest a sure ground of respect and amity, since admiration of the same woman proves a com-munity of feeling and tastes."

The reliance on Pathfinder's friendship did not extend beyond the Quartermaster and Cap, however, for even the French officer, who had hitherto stood his ground so well, shrank back at the sound of the terrible name.So unwil-ling, indeed, did this individual, a man of iron nerves, and one long accustomed to the dangers of the peculiar war-fare in which he was engaged, appear to remain exposed to the assaults of Killdeer, whose reputation throughout all that frontier was as well established as that of Marl-borough in Europe, that he did not disdain to seek a cover, insisting that his two prisoners should follow him.Mabel was too glad to be rid of her enemies to lament the depar-ture of her friends, though she kissed her hand to Cap through the loop, and called out to him in terms of affec-tion as he moved slowly and unwillingly away.

The enemy now seemed disposed to abandon all attempts on the blockhouse for the present; and June, who had ascended to a trap in the roof, whence the best view was to be obtained, reported that the whole party had assem-bled to eat, on a distant and sheltered part of the island, where Muir and Cap were quietly sharing in the good things which were going, as if they had no concern on their minds.This information greatly relieved Mabel, and she began to turn her thoughts again to the means of effecting her own escape, or at least of letting her father know of the danger that awaited him.The Sergeant was expected to return that afternoon, and she knew that a moment gained or lost might decide his fate.

Three or four hours flew by.The island was again buried in a profound quiet, the day was wearing away, and yet Mabel had decided on nothing.June was in the base-ment, preparing their frugal meal, and Mabel herself had ascended to the roof, which was provided with a trap that allowed her to go out on the top of the building, whence she commanded the best view of surrounding objects that the island possessed; still it was limited, and much ob-structed by the tops of trees.The anxious girl did not dare to trust her person in sight, knowing well that the unrestrained passions of some savage might induce him to send a bullet through her brain.She merely kept her head out of the trap, therefore, whence, in the course of the afternoon, she made as many surveys of the different channels about the island as "Anne, sister Anne," took of the environs of the castle of Blue Beard.