第68章

"To me Jasper Eau-douce appears to know more than most of the young men of his class.He has read but little, for books are not plenty in this part of the world;but he has thought much, as least so it seems to me, for one so young.""He is ignorant, as all must be who navigate an inland water like this.No, no, Mabel; we both owe something to Jasper and the Pathfinder, and I have been thinking how I can best serve them, for I hold ingratitude to be the vice of a hog; for treat the animal to your own dinner, and he would eat you for the dessert.""Very true, dear uncle; we ought indeed to do all we can to express our proper sense of the services of both these brave men.""Spoken like your mother's daughter, girl, and in a way to do credit to the Cap family.Now, I've hit upon a traverse that will just suit all parties; and, as soon as we get back from this little expedition down the lake among them there Thousand Islands, and I am ready to return, it is my intention to propose it.""Dearest uncle! this is so considerate in you, and will be so just! May I ask what your intentions are?""I see no reason for keeping them a secret from you, Mabel, though nothing need be said to your father about them; for the Sergeant has his prejudices, and might throw difficulties in the way.Neither Jasper nor his friend Pathfinder can ever make anything hereabouts, and I propose to take both with me down to the coast, and get them fairly afloat.Jasper would find his sea-legs in a fort-night, and a twelvemonth's v'y'ge would make him a man.

Although Pathfinder might take more time, or never get to be rated able, yet one could make something of him too, particularly as a look-out, for he has unusually good eyes.""Uncle, do you think either would consent to this?"said Mabel smiling.

"Do I suppose them simpletons? what rational being would neglect his own advancement? Let Jasper alone to push his way, and the lad may yet die the master of some square-rigged craft.""And would he be any the happier for it, dear uncle?

How much better is it to be the master of a square-rigged craft than to be master of a round-rigged craft?""Pooh, pooh, Magnet! you are just fit to read lectures about ships before some hysterical society; you don't know what you are talking about; leave these things to me, and they'll be properly managed.Ah! here is the Pathfinder himself, and I may just as well drop him a hint of my benevolent intentions as regards himself.Hope is a great encourager of our exertions."Cap nodded his head, and then ceased to speak, while the hunter approached, not with his usual frank and easy manner, but in a way to show that he was slightly em-barrassed, if not distrustful of his reception.

"Uncle and niece make a family party," said Pathfinder, when near the two, "and a stranger may not prove a wel-come companion?"

"You are no stranger, Master Pathfinder," returned Cap, "and no one can be more welcome than yourself.

We were talking of you but a moment ago, and when friends speak of an absent man, he can guess what they have said.""I ask no secrets.Every man has his enemies, and Ihave mine, though I count neither you, Master Cap, nor pretty Mabel here among the number.As for the Mingos, I will say nothing, though they have no just cause to hate me.""That I'll answer for, Pathfinder! for you strike my fancy as being well-disposed and upright.There is a method, however, of getting away from the enmity of even these Mingos; and if you choose to take it, no one will more willingly point it out than myself, without a charge for my advice either.""I wish no enemies, Saltwater," for so the Pathfinder had begun to call Cap, having, insensibly to himself, adopted the term, by translating the name given him by the Indians in and about the fort, -- "I wish no enemies.

I'm as ready to bury the hatchet with the Mingos as with the French, though you know that it depends on One greater than either of us so to turn the heart as to leave a man without enemies.""By lifting your anchor, and accompanying me down to the coast, friend Pathfinder, when we get back from this short cruise on which we are bound, you will find yourself beyond the sound of the war-whoop, and safe enough from any Indian bullet.""And what should I do on the salt water? Hunt in your towns? Follow the trails of people going and com-ing from market, and ambush dogs and poultry? You are no friend to my happiness, Master Cap, if you would lead me out of the shades of the woods to put me in the sun of the clearings.""I did not propose to leave you in the settlements, Pathfinder, but to carry you out to sea, where a man can only be said to breathe freely.Mabel will tell you that such was my intention, before a word was said on the subject.""And what does Mabel think would come of such a change? She knows that a man has his gifts, and that it is as useless to pretend to others as to withstand them that come from Providence.I am a hunter, and a scout, or a guide, Saltwater, and it is not in me to fly so much in the face of Heaven as to try to become anything else.Am Iright, Mabel, or are you so much a woman as to wish to see a natur' altered?""I would wish to see no change in you, Pathfinder,"Mabel answered, with a cordial sincerity and frankness that went directly to the hunter's heart; "and much as my uncle admires the sea, and great as is all the good that he thinks may come of it, I could not wish to see the best and noblest hunter of the woods transformed into an ad-miral.Remain what you are, my brave friend, and you need fear nothing short of the anger of God.""Do you hear this, Saltwater? do you hear what the Sergeant's daughter is saying, and she is much too upright, and fair-minded, and pretty, not to think what she says.