第153章

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 anything 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 hus-band; still there ought not to be any circumstance be-tween the parties to make them unhappy.Circumstances play the devil with matrimony, and I set it down as one that Pathfinder don't know as much as my niece.You've seen but little of the girl, Sergeant, and have not got the run of her knowledge; but let her pay it out freely, as she will do when she gets to be thoroughly acquainted, and you'll fall in with but few schoolmasters that can keep their luffs in her company.""She's a good child -- a dear, good child," muttered the Sergeant, his eyes filling with tears; "and it is my mis-fortune that I have seen so little of her.""She is indeed a good girl, and knows altogether too much for poor Pathfinder, who is a reasonable man and an experienced man in his own way; but who has no more idea of the main chance than you have of spherical trigo-nometry, Sergeant."

"Ah, brother Cap, had Pathfinder been with us in the boats this sad affair might not have happened!""That is quite likely; for his worst enemy will allow that the man is a good guide; but then, Sergeant, if the truth must be spoken, you have managed this expedition in a loose way altogether.You should have hove-to off your haven, and sent in a boat to reconnoitre, as I told you before.That is a matter to be repented of? and Itell it to you, because truth, in such a case, ought to be spoken.""My errors are dearly paid for, brother; and poor Mabel, I fear, will be the sufferer.I think, however, that the calamity would not have happened had there not been treason.I fear me, brother, that Jasper Eau-douce has played us false.""That is just my notion; for this fresh-water life must sooner or later undermine any man's morals.Lieutenant Muir and myself talked this matter over while we lay in a bit of a hole out here, on this island; and we both came to the conclusion that nothing short of Jasper's treachery could have brought us all into this infernal scrape.Well, Sergeant, you had better compose your mind, and think of other matters; for, when a vessel is about to enter a strange port, it is more prudent to think of the anchorage inside than to be under-running all the events that have turned up during the v'y'ge.There's the log-book ex-pressly to note all these matters in; and what stands there must form the column of figures that's to be posted up for or against us.How now, Pathfinder! is there anything in the wind, that you come down the ladder like an Indian in the wake of a scalp?"The guide raised a finger for silence and then beckoned to Cap to ascend the first ladder, and to allow Mabel to take his place at the side of the Sergeant.

"We must be prudent, and we must be bold too," said he in a low voice."The riptyles are in earnest in their intention to fire the block; for they know there is now nothing to be gained by letting it stand.I hear the voice of that vagabond Arrowhead among them, and he is urg-ing them to set about their devilry this very night.We must be stirring, Saltwater, and doing too.Luckily there are four or five barrels of water in the block, and these are something towards a siege.My reckoning is wrong, too, or we shall yet reap some advantage from that honest fel-low's, the Sarpent, being at liberty."

Cap did not wait for a second invitation; but, stealing away, he was soon in the upper room with Pathfinder, while Mabel took his post at the side of her father's humble bed.Pathfinder had opened a loop, having so far con-cealed the light that it would not expose him to a treacher-ous shot; and, expecting a summons, he stood with his face near the hole, ready to answer.The stillness that succeeded was at length broken by the voice of Muir.

"Master Pathfinder," called out the Scotchman, "a friend summons you to a parley.Come freely to one of the loops; for you've nothing to fear so long as you are in converse with an officer of the 55th.""What is your will, Quartermaster? what is your will?

I know the 55th, and believe it to be a brave regiment;though I rather incline to the 60th as my favorite, and to the Delawares more than to either; but what would you have, Quartermaster? It must be a pressing errand that brings you under the loops of a blockhouse at this hour of the night, with the sartainty of Killdeer being inside of it.""Oh, you'll no' harm a friend, Pathfinder, I'm certain;and that's my security.You're a man of judgment, and have gained too great a name on this frontier for bravery to feel the necessity of foolhardiness to obtain a character.

You'll very well understand, my good friend, there is as much credit to be gained by submitting gracefully, when resistance becomes impossible, as by obstinately holding out contrary to the rules of war.The enemy is too strong for us, my brave comrade, and I come to counsel you to give up the block, on condition of being treated as a pris-oner of war."