第70章

"I take it for granted the king gets all in these soldier-ing parties, and ambushments, as you call them.""I know nothing about that, Master Cap.I take my share of the lead and powder if any falls into our hands, and say nothing to the king about it.If any one fares better, it is not I; though it is time I did begin to think of a house and furniture and a home."Although the Pathfinder did not dare to look at Mabel while he made this direct allusion to his change of life, he would have given the world to know whether she was lis-tening, and what was the expression of her countenance.

Mabel little suspected the nature of the allusion, however;and her countenance was perfectly unembarrassed as she turned her eyes towards the river, where the appearance of some movement on board the _Scud_ began to be visible.

"Jasper is bringing the cutter out," observed the guide, whose look was drawn in the same direction by the fall of some heavy article on the deck."The lad sees the signs of wind, no doubt, and wishes to be ready for it.""Ay, now we shall have an opportunity of learning seamanship," returned Cap, with a sneer."There is a nicety in getting a craft under her canvas that shows the thoroughbred mariner as much as anything else.It's like a soldier buttoning his coat, and one can see whether he begins at the top or the bottom.""I will not say that Jasper is equal to your seafarers below," observed Pathfinder, across whose upright mind an unworthy feeling of envy or of jealousy never passed;"but he is a bold boy, and manages his cutter as skillfully as any man can desire, on this lake at least.You didn't find him backwards at the Oswego Falls, Master Cap, where fresh water contrives to tumble down hill with little difficulty."Cap made no other answer than a dissatisfied ejaculation, and then a general silence followed, all on the bastion studying the movements of the cutter with the interest that was natural to their own future connection with the vessel.It was still a dead calm, the surface of the lake literally glittering with the last rays of the sun.The _Scud_ had been warped up to a kedge that lay a hundred yards above the points of the outlet, where she had room to manoeuvre in the river which then formed the harbor of Oswego.But the total want of air prevented any such at-tempt, and it was soon evident that the light vessel was to be taken through the passage under her sweeps.Not a sail was loosened; but as soon as the kedge was tripped, the heavy fall of the sweeps was heard, when the cutter, with her head up stream, began to sheer towards the centre of the current; on reaching which, the efforts of the men ceased, and she drifted towards the outlet.In the narrow pass itself her movement was rapid, and in less than five minutes the _Scud_ was floating outside of the two low gravelly points which intercepted the waves of the lake.

No anchor was let go, but the vessel continued to set off from the land, until her dark hull was seen resting on the glossy surface of the lake, full a quarter of a mile beyond the low bluff which formed the eastern extremity of what might be called the outer harbor or roadstead.Here the influence of the river current ceased, and she became, vir-tually, stationary.