Cap gave an ejaculation as he witnessed this ungrateful exhibition, and he cast a quick suspicious glance at his brother-in-law.
“The dirty table-cloth hung up to air, as my name is Charles Cap!” he muttered, “and we hugging this d____d shore, as if it were our wife and children, met on the return from an India v’y’ge! Harkee, Jasper, are you in search of a cargo of frogs, that you keep so near in to this New France?”
“I hug the land, sir, in hope of passing the enemy’s ship without being seen, for I think she must be somewhere down here to leeward.”
“Ay, ay; this sounds well, and I hope it may turn out as you say. I trust there is no under-tow, here.”
“We are on a weather shore, now,” said Jasper smiling; “and, I think you will admit, Master Cap, that a strong undertow makes an easy cable. We owe all our lives to the undertow of this very lake.”
“French flummery!” growled Cap, though he did not care to be heard by Jasper. “Give me a fair, honest, English-Yankee-American tow, above board and above water, too, if I must have a tow, at all, and none of your sneaking drift that is below the surface, where one can neither see nor feel. I dare say, if the truth could be come at, that this late escape of ours was all a contrived affair.”
“We have now a good opportunity, at least, to reconnoitre the enemy’s post at Niagara, Brother, for such I take this fort to be,” put in the Serjeant. “Let us be all eyes in passing, and remember that we are almost in face of the enemy.”
This advice of the serjeant’s needed nothing to enforce it, for the interest and novelty of passing a spot occupied by human beings were of themselves sufficient to attract deep attention in that scene of a vast but deserted nature. The wind was now fresh enough to urge the Scud through the water with considerable velocity, and Jasper eased her helm as she opened the river, and luffed nearly into the mouth of that noble strait, or river as it is termed. A dull, distant, heavy roar came down through the opening in the banks, swelling on the currents of the air like the deeper notes of some immense organ, and occasionally seeming to cause the earth itself to tremble.
“That sounds like surf on some long unbroken coast!” exclaimed Cap, as a swell deeper than common came to his ears.
“Ay, that is such surf as we have in this quarter of the world,” Pathfinder answered. “There is no under-tow there, Master Cap, but all the water that strikes the rocks stays there, so far as going back, ag’in, is consarned. That is old Niagara that you hear, or this noble stream tumbling down a mountain!”
“No one will have the impudence to pretend that this fine broad river falls over yonder hills.”
“It does, Master Cap; it does; and all for the want of stairs, or a road to come down by. This is natur’ as we have it up hereaway, though I dare say you beat us down on the ocean. Ah’s! me; Mabel, a pleasant hour it would be if we could walk on the shore some ten or fifteen miles up this stream, and gaze on all that God has done there!”
“You have then seen these renowned falls, Pathfinder?” the girl eagerly enquired.
“I have—yes I have, and an awful sight I witnessed at that same time. The Sarpent and I were out, scouting about the garrison there, when he told me that the traditions of his people gave an account of a mighty cataract in this neighborhood, and he asked me to vary from the line of march a little to look at the wonder. I had heard some marvels consarning the spot from the soldiers of the 60th, which is my nat’ral corps like, and not the 55th, with which I have sojourned so much of late, but there are so many terrible liars in all rigiments, that I hardly believed half they told me. Well, we went; and though we expected to be led by our ears, and to hear some of that awful roaring that we hear to-day, we were disapp’inted, for natur’ was not then speaking in thunder, as she is this morning. Thus it is, in the forest, Master Cap, there being moments when God seems to be walking abroad in power, and then ag’in there is a calm over all, as if his spirit lay in quiet along the ’arth. Well, we came suddenly upon the stream, a short distance above the fall, and a young Delaware who was in our company, found a bark canoe, and he would push into the current, to reach an island that lies in the very centre of the confusion and strife. We told him of his folly, we did, and we reasoned with him on the wickedness of tempting Providence by seeking danger that led to no ind, but the youth among the Delawares are very much the same as the youth among the soldiers, risky and vain. All we could say did not change his mind, and the lad had his way. To me it seems, Mabel, that whenever a thing is really grand and potent, it has a quiet majesty about it, that is altogether unlike the frothy and flustering manner of smaller matters, and so it was with them rapids. The canoe was no sooner fairly in them, than down it went, as it might be as one sails through the air on the ’arth, and no skill of the young Delaware could resist the stream. And yet he struggled manfully for life, using the paddle to the last, like the deer that is swimming to cast the hounds. At first, he shot across the current so swiftly that we thought he would prevail, but he had miscalculated his distance, and when the truth really struck him, he turned the head up stream, and struggled in a way that was fearful to look at. I could have pitied him, even had he been a Mingo! For a few moments his efforts were so frantic that he actually prevailed over the power of the cataract; but natur’ has its limits, and one faltering stroke of the paddle set him back, and then he lost ground, foot by foot, inch by inch, until he got near the spot where the river looked even and green and as if it were made of millions of threads of water, all bent over some huge rock, when he shot backward like an arrow and disappeared, the bows of the canoe tipping just enough to let us see what had become of him. I met a Mohawk, some years later, who had witnessed the whole affair, from the bed of the stream below, and he told me that the Delaware continued to paddle, in the air, until he was lost in the mists of the falls!”
“And what became of the poor wretch?” demanded Mabel, who had been strongly interested by the natural eloquence of the speaker.
“He went to the happy hunting grounds of his people, no doubt, for though he was risky and vain, he was also just and brave. Yes, he died foolishly, but the Manitou of the red skin has compassion on his creatur’s as well as the God of a christian!”
A gun, at this moment, was discharged from a block-house, near the fort, and the shot, one of light weight, came whistling over the cutter’s mast, an admonition to approach no nearer. Jasper was at the helm, and he kept away, smiling at the same time, as if he felt no anger at the rudeness of the salutation. The Scud was now in the current, and her outward set soon carried her far enough to leeward to avoid the danger of a repetition of the shot, and then she quietly continued her course along the land. As soon as the river was fairly opened, Jasper ascertained that the Montcalm was not at anchor in it, and a man sent aloft, came down with the report that the horizon showed no sail. The hope was now strong, that the artifice of Jasper had succeeded, and that the French commander had missed them by keeping the middle of the lake, as he steered towards its head.
All that day the wind hung to the southward, and the cutter continued her course about a league from the land, running six or eight knots an hour, in perfectly smooth water. Although the scene had one feature of monotony, the outline of unbroken forest, it was not without its interest and pleasure. Various head-lands presented themselves, and the cutter, in running from one to another, stretched across bays so deep, as almost to deserve the names of gulphs, but nowhere did the eye meet with the evidences of civilization. Rivers occasionally poured their tribute into the great reservoir of the lake, but their banks could be traced inland for miles, by the same outlines of trees, and even large bays, that lay embosomed in woods, communicating with Ontario, only by narrow outlets, appeared and disappeared, without bringing with them a single trace of a human habitation.
Of all on board, the Pathfinder viewed the scene with the most unmingled delight. His eyes feasted on the endless line of forest, and, more than once that day, notwithstanding he found it s
o grateful to be near Mabel, listening to her pleasant voice, and echoing, in feelings at least, her joyous laugh, did his soul pine to be wandering beneath the high arches of the maples, oaks and lindens, where his habits had induced him to fancy lasting and true joys were only to be found. Cap viewed the prospect differently. More than once, he expressed his disgust at there being no light-houses, church-towers, beacons, or roadsteds with their shipping. Such another coast, he protested, the world did not contain, and taking the serjeant aside, he gravely assured him that the region could never come to any thing, as the havens were neglected, the rivers had a deserted and useless look, and that even the breeze had a smell of the forest about it, which spoke ill of its properties.
But the humours of the different individuals in her, did not stay the speed of the Scud. When the sun was setting, she was already a hundred miles on her route towards Oswego, into which river Serjeant Dunham now thought it his duty to go, in order to receive any communications that Major Duncan might please to make. With a view to effect this purpose, Jasper continued to hug the shore all night, and though the wind began to fail him towards morning, it lasted long enough to carry the cutter up to a point that was known to be but a league or two from the fort. Here the breeze came out light at the northward, and the cutter hauled a little from the land in order to obtain a safe offing should it come on to blow, or should the weather again get to be easterly.
When the day dawned the cutter had the mouth of the Oswego well under her lee, distant about two miles, and just as the morning gun from the fort was fired, Jasper gave the order to ease off the sheets, and to bear up for his port. At that moment a cry from the forecastle drew all eyes towards the point on the eastern side of the outlet, and there, just without the range of shot from the light guns of the works, with her canvass reduced to barely enough to keep her stationary, lay the Montcalm, evidently in waiting for their appearance. To pass her was impossible, for, by filling her sails, the French ship could have intercepted them in a few minutes, and the circumstances called for a prompt decision. After a short consultation, the serjeant again changed his plan, determining to make the best of his way towards the station for which he had been originally destined, trusting to the speed of the Scud to throw the enemy so far astern, as to leave no clue to her movements.
The cutter, accordingly, hauled upon a wind, with the least possible delay, with every thing set that would draw. Guns were fired from the fort, ensigns shown, and the ramparts were again crowded. But sympathy was all the aid that Lundie could lend to his party, and the Montcalm, also firing four or five guns of defiance, and throwing abroad several of the banners of France, was soon in chase, under a cloud of canvass.
For several hours the two vessels were pressing through the water, as fast as possible, making short stretches to windward, apparently with a view to keep the port under their lee, the one to enter it, if possible, and the other to intercept it in the attempt.
At meridian, the French ship was hull down, dead to leeward, the disparity of sailing, on a wind, being very great, and some islands were near by, behind which Jasper said it would be possible for the cutter to conceal her future movements. Although Cap and the serjeant, and particularly Lt. Muir, to judge by his language, still felt a good deal of distrust of the young man, and Frontenac was not distant, this advice was followed, for time pressed, and the Quarter Master discreetly observed that Jasper could not well betray them, without running openly into the enemy’s harbor, a step they could at any time prevent, since the only cruiser of force the French possessed, at the moment, was under their lee, and not in a situation to do them any immediate injury.
Left to himself, Jasper Western soon proved how much was really in him. He weathered upon the islands, passed them, and, on coming out to the eastward, kept broad away, with nothing in sight, in his wake, or to leeward. By sunset, again, the cutter was up with the first of the islands that lie in the outlet of the lake, and ere it was dark she was running through the narrow channels, on her way to the long sought station. At nine o’clock, however, Cap insisted that they should anchor, for the maze of islands became so complicated and obscure, that he feared, at every opening, the party would find themselves under the guns of a French fort. Jasper consented cheerfully, it being a part of his standing instructions to approach the station, under such circumstances as would prevent the men from obtaining any very accurate notion of its position, lest a deserter might betray the little garrison to the enemy.
The Scud was brought-to in a small retired bay, where it would have been difficult to find her by day-light and where she was perfectly concealed at night, when all but a solitary sentinel on deck sought their rest. Cap had been so harassed during the previous eight and forty hours, that his slumbers were long and deep, nor did he awake from his first nap, until the day was just beginning to dawn. His eyes were scarcely open, however, when his nautical instinct told him, that the cutter was under way. Springing up, he found the Scud threading the islands again, with no one on deck but Jasper and the pilot, unless the sentinel be excepted, who had not in the least interfered with movements that he had every reason to believe were as regular as they were necessary.
“How’s this, Master Western!” demanded Cap, with sufficient fierceness for the occasion—“Are you running us into Frontenac, at last, and we all asleep below, like so many mariners waiting for the ‘sentry go.’ ”
“This is according to orders, Master Cap, Major Duncan having commanded me never to approach the station, unless at a moment when the people were below, for he does not wish there should be more pilots in these waters, than the King has need of.”
“Whe-e-e-w! A pretty job I should have made of running down among these bushes and rocks with no one on deck! Why a regular York branch could make nothing of such a channel.”
“I always thought, sir,” said Jasper smiling, “you would have done better, had you left the cutter in my hands, until she had safely reached her place of destination.”
“We should have done it, Jasper, we should have done it, had it not been for a circumstance—these circumstances are serious matters, and no prudent man will overlook them.”
“Well, sir, I hope there is now an end of them. We shall arrive in less than an hour, if the wind holds, and then you’ll be safe from any circumstances that I can control.”
“Humph!”
Cap was obliged to acquiesce, and as every thing around him had the appearance of Jasper’s being sincere, there was not much difficulty in making up his mind to submit. It would not have been easy, indeed, for a person the most sensitive on the subject of circumstances, to fancy that the Scud was anywhere in the vicinity of a port as long established, and as well known on the frontiers, as Frontenac. The islands might not have been literally a thousand in number, but they were so numerous and small as to baffle calculation, though occasionally one of larger size than common was passed. Jasper had quitted what might have been termed the main channel, and was winding his way, with a good stiff breeze, and a favorable current, through passes that were sometimes so narrow that there appeared to be barely room sufficient for the Scud’s spars to clear the trees, while at other moments, he shot across little bays, and buried the cutter again, amid rocks, forests and bushes. The water was so transparent, that there was no occasion for the lead, and being of equal depth, little risk was actually run, though Cap, with his maritime habits, was in a constant fever lest they should strike.
“I give it up!—I give it up, Pathfinder!—” the old seaman at length exclaimed, when the little vessel emerged in safety from the twentieth of these narrow inlets, through which she had been so boldly carried—“this is defying the very nature of seamanship, and sending all its laws and rules to the d____l!”
“Nay, nay, Salt-water, ’tis the parfection of the art. You perceive that Jasper never falters, but, like a hound with a true nose, he runs with his head high, as if he had a strong scent. My life on it, the lad brings us out right in the ind, as he wou
ld have done in the beginning had we given him leave.”
“No pilot, no lead, no beacons, buoys or light-houses, no—”
“Trail!” interrupted Pathfinder, “for that to me, is the most mysterious part of the business. Water leaves no trail, as every one knows, and yet here is Jasper moving ahead as boldly as if he had before his eyes, the prints of moccasins on leaves, as plainly as we can see the sun in the heavens.”
“D____e, if I believe there is even any compass!”
“Stand by, to haul down the jib—” called out Jasper, who merely smiled at the remarks of his companion. “Haul down—starboard your helm—starboard hard—so—melt her—gently there with the helm—touch her lightly—now jump ashore with the fast, lad—No; heave—there are some of our people ready to take it.”
All this passed so quickly, as barely to allow the spectators time to note the different evolutions, ere the Scud had been thrown into the wind until her mainsail shivered, next cast a little by the use of the rudder only, and then she set bodily along side of a natural rocky quay, where she was immediately secured, by good fasts run to the shore. In a word, the station was reached, and the men of the 55th were greeted by their expecting comrades, with the satisfaction that a relief usually brings.
Mabel sprang upon the shore with a delight which she did not care to express, and her father led his men after her, with an alacrity which proved how wearied he had become of the cutter. The station, as the place was familiarly termed by the soldiers of the 55th, was indeed a spot to raise expectations of enjoyment, among those who had been cooped up so long in a vessel of the dimensions of the Scud. None of the islands were high, though all lay at a sufficient elevation above the water, to render them perfectly healthy and secure. Each had more or less of wood, and the greater number, at that distant day, were clothed with the virgin forest. The one selected by the troops for their purpose was small, containing about twenty acres of land, and by some of the accidents of the wilderness it had been partly stripped of its trees, probably centuries before the period of which we are writing, and a little grassy glade covered nearly half its surface. It was the opinion of the officer who had made the selection of this spot for a military post, that a sparkling spring near by, had early caught the attention of the Indians, and that they had long frequented this particular place, in their hunts, or when fishing for salmon, a circumstance that had kept down the second growth, and given time for the natural grasses to take root, and to gain dominion over the soil. Let the cause be what it might, the effect was to render this island far more beautiful than most of those around it, and to lend it an air of civilization that was then wanting in so much of that vast region of country.
The Leatherstocking Tales II Page 34