CHAPTER II.
Yea! long as Nature's humblest child Hath kept her temple undefiled By simple sacrifice, Earth's fairest scenes are all his own, He is a monarch and his throne Is built amid the skies! WILSON.
The Mohican continued to eat, though the second white man rose, andcourteously took off his cap to Mabel Dunham. He was young, healthful,and manly in appearance; and he wore a dress which, while it was lessrigidly professional than that of the uncle, also denoted one accustomedto the water. In that age, real seamen were a class entirely apart fromthe rest of mankind, their ideas, ordinary language, and attire being asstrongly indicative of their calling as the opinions, speech, and dressof a Turk denote a Mussulman. Although the Pathfinder was scarcely inthe prime of life, Mabel had met him with a steadiness that may havebeen the consequence of having braced her nerves for the interview; butwhen her eyes encountered those of the young man at the fire, they fellbefore the gaze of admiration with which she saw, or fancied she saw,he greeted her. Each, in truth, felt that interest in the other whichsimilarity of age, condition, mutual comeliness, and their novelsituation would be likely to inspire in the young and ingenuous.
"Here," said Pathfinder, with an honest smile bestowed on Mabel, "arethe friends your worthy father has sent to meet you. This is a greatDelaware; and one who has had honors as well as troubles in his day. Hehas an Indian name fit for a chief, but, as the language is not alwayseasy for the inexperienced to pronounce we naturally turn it intoEnglish, and call him the Big Sarpent. You are not to suppose, however,that by this name we wish to say that he is treacherous, beyond whatis lawful in a red-skin; but that he is wise, and has the cunning whichbecomes a warrior. Arrowhead, there, knows what I mean."
While the Pathfinder was delivering this address, the two Indians gazedon each other steadily, and the Tuscarora advanced and spoke to theother in an apparently friendly manner.
"I like to see this," continued Pathfinder; "the salutes of twored-skins in the woods, Master Cap, are like the hailing of friendlyvessels on the ocean. But speaking of water, it reminds me of my youngfriend, Jasper Western here, who can claim to know something of thesematters, seeing that he has passed his days on Ontario."
"I am glad to see you, friend," said Cap, giving the young fresh-watersailor a cordial grip; "though you must have something still to learn,considering the school to which you have been sent. This is my nieceMabel; I call her Magnet, for a reason she never dreams of, thoughyou may possibly have education enough to guess at it, having somepretentions to understand the compass, I suppose."
"The reason is easily comprehended," said the young man, involuntarilyfastening his keen dark eye, at the same time, on the suffused face ofthe girl; "and I feel sure that the sailor who steers by your Magnetwill never make a bad landfall."
"Ha! you do make use of some of the terms, I find, and that withpropriety; though, on the whole, I fear you have seen more green thanblue water."
"It is not surprising that we should get some of the phrases whichbelong to the land; for we are seldom out of sight of it twenty-fourhours at a time."
"More's the pity, boy, more's the pity! A very little land ought to goa great way with a seafaring man. Now, if the truth were known, MasterWestern, I suppose there is more or less land all round your lake."
"And, uncle, is there not more or less land around the ocean?" saidMagnet quickly; for she dreaded a premature display of the old seaman'speculiar dogmatism, not to say pedantry.
"No, child, there is more or less ocean all round the land; that's whatI tell the people ashore, youngster. They are living, as it might be, inthe midst of the sea, without knowing it; by sufferance, as it were, thewater being so much the more powerful and the largest. But there isno end to conceit in this world: for a fellow who never saw salt wateroften fancies he knows more than one who has gone round the Horn. No,no, this earth is pretty much an island; and all that can be truly saidnot to be so is water."
Young Western had a profound deference for a mariner of the ocean, onwhich he had often pined to sail; but he had also a natural regardfor the broad sheet on which he had passed his life, and which was notwithout its beauties in his eyes.
"What you say, sir," he answered modestly, "may be true as to theAtlantic; but we have a respect for the land up here on Ontario."
"That is because you are always land-locked," returned Cap, laughingheartily; "but yonder is the Pathfinder, as they call him, with somesmoking platters, inviting us to share in his mess; and I will confessthat one gets no venison at sea. Master Western, civility to girls, atyour time of life, comes as easy as taking in the slack of the ensignhalyards; and if you will just keep an eye to her kid and can, while Ijoin the mess of the Pathfinder and our Indian friends, I make no doubtshe will remember it."
Master Cap uttered more than he was aware of at the time. Jasper Westerndid attend to the wants of Mabel, and she long remembered the kind,manly attention of the young sailor at this their first interview. Heplaced the end of a log for a seat, obtained for her a delicious morselof the venison, gave her a draught of pure water from the spring, and ashe sat near her, fast won his way to her esteem by his gentle but frankmanner of manifesting his care; homage that woman always wishes toreceive, but which is never so flattering or so agreeable as when itcomes from the young to those of their own age--from the manly to thegentle. Like most of those who pass their time excluded from the societyof the softer sex, young Western was earnest, sincere, and kind in hisattentions, which, though they wanted a conventional refinement, which,perhaps, Mabel never missed, had those winning qualities that provevery sufficient as substitutes. Leaving these two unsophisticated youngpeople to become acquainted through their feelings, rather than theirexpressed thoughts, we will turn to the group in which the uncle hadalready become a principal actor.
The party had taken their places around a platter of venison steaks,which served for the common use, and the discourse naturally partookof the characters of the different individuals which composed it. TheIndians were silent and industrious the appetite of the aboriginalAmerican for venison being seemingly inappeasable, while the twowhite men were communicative, each of the latter being garrulous andopinionated in his way. But, as the dialogue will put the reader inpossession of certain facts that may render the succeeding narrativemore clear, it will be well to record it.
"There must be satisfaction in this life of yours, no doubt, Mr.Pathfinder," continued Cap, when the hunger of the travellers was so farappeased that they began to pick and choose among the savory morsels;"it has some of the chances and luck that we seamen like; and if ours isall water, yours is all land."
"Nay, we have water too, in our journeyings and marches," returned hiswhite companion "we bordermen handle the paddle and the spear almost asmuch as the rifle and the hunting-knife."
"Ay; but do you handle the brace and the bow-line, the wheel and thelead-line, the reef-point and the top-rope? The paddle is a good thing,out of doubt, in a canoe; but of what use is it in the ship?"
"Nay, I respect all men in their callings, and I can believe the thingsyou mention have their uses. One who has lived, like myself, in companywith many tribes, understands differences in usages. The paint of aMingo is not the paint of a Delaware; and he who should expect to see awarrior in the dress of a squaw might be disappointed. I am not yetvery old, but I have lived in the woods, and have some acquaintance withhuman natur'. I never believe much in the learning of them that dwellin towns, for I never yet met with one that had an eye for a rifle or atrail."
"That's my manner of reasoning, Master Pathfinder, to a yarn. Walkingabout streets, going to church of Sundays, and hearing sermons, neveryet made a man of a human being. Send the boy out upon the broad ocean,if you wish to open his eyes, and let him look upon foreign nations, orwhat I call the face of nature, if you wish him to understand his owncharacter. Now, there is my brother-in-law, the Sergeant: he is as gooda fellow as ever broke a biscuit, in his way; but w
hat is he, after all?Why, nothing but a soldier. A sergeant, to be sure, but that is a sortof a soldier, you know. When he wished to marry poor Bridget, my sister,I told the girl what he was, as in duty bound, and what she might expectfrom such a husband; but you know how it is with girls when their mindsare jammed by an inclination. It is true, the Sergeant has risen in hiscalling, and they say he is an important man at the fort; but hispoor wife has not lived to see it all, for she has now been dead thesefourteen years."
"A soldier's calling is honorable, provided he has fi't only on the sideof right," returned the Pathfinder; "and as the Frenchers are alwayswrong, and his sacred Majesty and these colonies are always right, Itake it the Sergeant has a quiet conscience as well as a good character.I have never slept more sweetly than when I have fi't the Mingos, thoughit is the law with me to fight always like a white man and never likean Indian. The Sarpent, here, has his fashions, and I have mine; and yethave we fi't side by side these many years; without either thinking ahard thought consarning the other's ways. I tell him there is but oneheaven and one hell, notwithstanding his traditions, though there aremany paths to both."
"That is rational; and he is bound to believe you, though, I fancy, mostof the roads to the last are on dry land. The sea is what my poor sisterBridget used to call a 'purifying place,' and one is out of the way oftemptation when out of sight of land. I doubt if as much can be said infavor of your lakes up hereaway."
"That towns and settlements lead to sin, I will allow; but our lakes arebordered by the forests, and one is every day called upon to worshipGod in such a temple. That men are not always the same, even in thewilderness, I must admit for the difference between a Mingo and aDelaware is as plain to be seen as the difference between the sun andthe moon. I am glad, friend Cap, that we have met, however, if it beonly that you may tell the Big Sarpent here that there are lakes inwhich the water is salt. We have been pretty much of one mind since ouracquaintance began, and if the Mohican has only half the faith in methat I have in him, he believes all that I have told him touching thewhite men's ways and natur's laws; but it has always seemed to me thatnone of the red-skins have given as free a belief as an honest man likesto the accounts of the Big Salt Lakes, and to that of their being riversthat flow up stream."
"This comes of getting things wrong end foremost," answered Cap, witha condescending nod. "You have thought of your lakes and rifts as theship; and of the ocean and the tides as the boat. Neither Arrowheadnor the Serpent need doubt what you have said concerning both, thoughI confess myself to some difficulty in swallowing the tale about therebeing inland seas at all, and still more that there is any sea of freshwater. I have come this long journey as much to satisfy my own eyesconcerning these facts, as to oblige the Sergeant and Magnet, though thefirst was my sister's husband, and I love the last like a child."
"You are wrong, friend Cap, very wrong, to distrust the power of Godin any thing," returned Pathfinder earnestly. "They that live in thesettlements and the towns have confined and unjust opinions consarningthe might of His hand; but we, who pass our time in His very presence,as it might be, see things differently--I mean, such of us as have whitenatur's. A red-skin has his notions, and it is right that it should beso; and if they are not exactly the same as a Christian white man's,there is no harm in it. Still, there are matters which belong altogetherto the ordering of God's providence; and these salt and fresh-waterlakes are some of them. I do not pretend to account for these things,but I think it the duty of all to believe in them."
"Hold on there, Master Pathfinder," interrupted Cap, not without someheat; "in the way of a proper and manly faith, I will turn my back on noone, when afloat. Although more accustomed to make all snug aloft, andto show the proper canvas, than to pray when the hurricane comes, I knowthat we are but helpless mortals at times, and I hope I pay reverencewhere reverence is due. All I mean to say is this: that, beingaccustomed to see water in large bodies salt, I should like to taste itbefore I can believe it to be fresh."
"God has given the salt lick to the deer; and He has given to man,red-skin and white, the delicious spring at which to slake his thirst.It is unreasonable to think that He may not have given lakes of purewater to the west, and lakes of impure water to the east."
Cap was awed, in spite of his overweening dogmatism, by the earnestsimplicity of the Pathfinder, though he did not relish the idea ofbelieving a fact which, for many years, he had pertinaciously insistedcould not be true. Unwilling to give up the point and, at the same time,unable to maintain it against a reasoning to which he was unaccustomed,and which possessed equally the force of truth, faith, and probability,he was glad to get rid of the subject by evasion.
"Well, well, friend Pathfinder," said he, "we will leave the argumentwhere it is; and we can try the water when we once reach it. Only markmy words--I do not say that it may not be fresh on the surface; theAtlantic is sometimes fresh on the surface, near the mouths of greatrivers; but, rely on it, I shall show you a way of tasting the watermany fathoms deep, of which you never dreamed; and then we shall knowmore about it."
The guide seemed content to let the matter rest, and the conversationchanged.
"We are not over-conceited consarning our gifts," observed thePathfinder, after a short pause, "and well know that such as live in thetowns, and near the sea--"
"On the sea," interrupted Cap.
"On the sea, if you wish it, friend--have opportunities which do notbefall us of the wilderness. Still, we know our own callings, and theyare what I consider natural callings, and are not parvarted by vanityand wantonness. Now, my gifts are with the rifle, and on a trail, andin the way of game and scouting; for, though I can use the spear and thepaddle, I pride not myself on either. The youth Jasper, there, who isdiscoursing with the Sergeant's daughter, is a different cratur'; forhe may be said to breathe the water, as it might be, like a fish. TheIndians and Frenchers of the north shore call him Eau-douce, on accountof his gifts in this particular. He is better at the oar, and the ropetoo, than in making fires on a trail."
"There must be something about these gifts of which you speak, afterall," said Cap. "Now this fire, I will acknowledge, has overlaid allmy seamanship. Arrowhead, there, said the smoke came from a pale-face'sfire, and that is a piece of philosophy which I hold to be equal tosteering in a dark night by the edges of the sand."
"It's no great secret," returned Pathfinder, laughing with great inwardglee, though habitual caution prevented the emission of any noise."Nothing is easier to us who pass our time in the great school ofProvidence than to larn its lessons. We should be as useless on a trail,or in carrying tidings through the wilderness, as so many woodchucks,did we not soon come to a knowledge of these niceties. Eau-douce, as wecall him, is so fond of the water, that he gathered a damp stick ortwo for our fire; and wet will bring dark smoke, as I suppose even youfollowers of the sea must know. It's no great secret, though all ismystery to such as doesn't study the Lord and His mighty ways withhumility and thankfulness."
"That must be a keen eye of Arrowhead's to see so slight a difference."
"He would be but a poor Indian if he didn't. No, no; it is war-time, andno red-skin is outlying without using his senses. Every skin has its ownnatur', and every natur' has its own laws, as well as its own skin.It was many years before I could master all these higher branches ofa forest education for red-skin knowledge doesn't come as easy towhite-skin natur', as what I suppose is intended to be white-skinknowledge; though I have but little of the latter, having passed most ofmy time in the wilderness."
"You have been a ready scholar, Master Pathfinder, as is seen by yourunderstanding these things so well. I suppose it would be no greatmatter for a man regularly brought up to the sea to catch these trifles,if he could only bring his mind fairly to bear upon them."
"I don't know that. The white man has his difficulties in gettingred-skin habits, quite as much as the Indian in getting white-skin ways.As for the real natur', it is my opinion that neither can actually getthat of
the other."
"And yet we sailors, who run about the world so much, say there is butone nature, whether it be in the Chinaman or a Dutchman. For my ownpart, I am much of that way of thinking too; for I have generally foundthat all nations like gold and silver, and most men relish tobacco."
"Then you seafaring men know little of the red-skins. Have you everknown any of your Chinamen who could sing their death-songs, with theirflesh torn with splinters and cut with knives, the fire raging aroundtheir naked bodies, and death staring them in the face? Until you canfind me a Chinaman, or a Christian man, that can do all this, you cannotfind a man with a red-skin natur', let him look ever so valiant, or knowhow to read all the books that were ever printed."
"It is the savages only that play each other such hellish tricks,"said Master Cap, glancing his eyes about him uneasily at the apparentlyendless arches of the forest. "No white man is ever condemned to undergothese trials."
"Nay, therein you are again mistaken," returned the Pathfinder, coollyselecting a delicate morsel of the venison as his _bonne bouche_; "forthough these torments belong only to the red-skin natur', in the way ofbearing them like braves, white-skin natur' may be, and often has been,agonized by them."
"Happily," said Cap, with an effort to clear his throat, "none of hisMajesty's allies will be likely to attempt such damnable cruelties onany of his Majesty's loyal subjects. I have not served much in the royalnavy, it is true; but I have served, and that is something; and, in theway of privateering and worrying the enemy in his ships and cargoes,I've done my full share. But I trust there are no French savages on thisside the lake, and I think you said that Ontario is a broad sheet ofwater?"
"Nay, it is broad in our eyes," returned Pathfinder, not caring toconceal the smile which lighted a face which had been burnt by exposureto a bright red; "though I mistrust that some may think it narrow; andnarrow it is, if you wish it to keep off the foe. Ontario has two ends,and the enemy that is afraid to cross it will be certain to come roundit."
"Ah! that comes of your d----d fresh-water ponds!" growled Cap, hemmingso loudly as to cause him instantly to repent the indiscretion. "Noman, now, ever heard of a pirate or a ship getting round one end of theAtlantic!"
"Mayhap the ocean has no ends?"
"That it hasn't; nor sides, nor bottom. The nation which is snuglymoored on one of its coasts need fear nothing from the one anchoredabeam, let it be ever so savage, unless it possesses the art of shipbuilding. No, no! the people who live on the shores of the Atlantic needfear but little for their skins or their scalps. A man may lie down atnight in those regions, in the hope of finding the hair on his head inthe morning, unless he wears a wig."
"It isn't so here. I don't wish to flurry the young woman, and thereforeI will be in no way particular, though she seems pretty much listeningto Eau-douce, as we call him; but without the edication I have received,I should think it at this very moment, a risky journey to go over thevery ground that lies between us and the garrison, in the present stateof this frontier. There are about as many Iroquois on this side ofOntario as there are on the other. It is for this very reason, friendCap, that the Sergeant has engaged us to come out and show you thepath."
"What! do the knaves dare to cruise so near the guns of one of hisMajesty's works?"
"Do not the ravens resort near the carcass of the deer, though thefowler is at hand? They come this-a-way, as it might be, naturally.There are more or less whites passing between the forts and thesettlements, and they are sure to be on their trails. The Sarpent hascome up one side of the river, and I have come up the other, in order toscout for the outlying rascals, while Jasper brought up the canoe, likea bold-hearted sailor as he is. The Sergeant told him, with tears in hiseyes, all about his child, and how his heart yearned for her, and howgentle and obedient she was, until I think the lad would have dashedinto a Mingo camp single-handed, rather than not a-come."
"We thank him, and shall think the better of him for his readiness;though I suppose the boy has run no great risk, after all."
"Only the risk of being shot from a cover, as he forced the canoe up aswift rift, or turned an elbow in the stream, with his eyes fastened onthe eddies. Of all the risky journeys, that on an ambushed river is themost risky, in my judgment, and that risk has Jasper run."
"And why the devil has the Sergeant sent for me to travel a hundred andfifty miles in this outlandish manner? Give me an offing, and the enemyin sight, and I'll play with him in his own fashion, as long as hepleases, long bows or close quarters; but to be shot like a turtleasleep is not to my humor. If it were not for little Magnet there, Iwould tack ship this instant, make the best of my way back to York, andlet Ontario take care of itself, salt water or fresh water."
"That wouldn't mend the matter much, friend mariner, as the road toreturn is much longer, and almost as bad as the road to go on. Trust tous, and we will carry you through safely, or lose our scalps."
Cap wore a tight solid queue, done up in eelskin, while the top of hishead was nearly bald; and he mechanically passed his hand over bothas if to make certain that each was in its right place. He was at thebottom, however, a brave man, and had often faced death with coolness,though never in the frightful forms in which it presented itself underthe brief but graphic picture of his companion. It was too late toretreat; and he determined to put the best face on the matter, though hecould not avoid muttering inwardly a few curses on the indiscretion withwhich his brother-in-law, the Sergeant, had led him into his presentdilemma.
"I make no doubt, Master Pathfinder," he answered, when these thoughtshad found time to glance through his mind, "that we shall reach port insafety. What distance may we now be from the fort?"
"Little more than fifteen miles; and swift miles too, as the river runs,if the Mingos let us go clear."
"And I suppose the woods will stretch along starboard and larboard, asheretofore?"
"Anan?"
"I mean that we shall have to pick our way through these damned trees."
"Nay, nay, you will go in the canoe, and the Oswego has been cleared ofits flood-wood by the troops. It will be floating down stream, and that,too, with a swift current."
"And what the devil is to prevent these minks of which you speak fromshooting us as we double a headland, or are busy in steering clear ofthe rocks?"
"The Lord!--He who has so often helped others in greater difficulties.Many and many is the time that my head would have been stripped ofhair, skin, and all, hadn't the Lord fi't of my side. I never go into askrimmage, friend mariner, without thinking of this great ally, who cando more in battle than all the battalions of the 60th, were they broughtinto a single line."
"Ay, ay, this may do well enough for a scouter; but we seamen like ouroffing, and to go into action with nothing in our minds but the businessbefore us--plain broadside and broadside work, and no trees or rocks tothicken the water."
"And no Lord too, I dare to say, if the truth were known. Take my wordfor it, Master Cap, that no battle is the worse fi't for having the Lordon your side. Look at the head of the Big Sarpent, there; you can seethe mark of a knife all along by his left ear: now nothing but a bulletfrom this long rifle of mine saved his scalp that day; for it hadfairly started, and half a minute more would have left him withoutthe war-lock. When the Mohican squeezes my hand, and intermates that Ibefriended him in that matter, I tell him no; it was the Lord who led meto the only spot where execution could be done, or his necessity be madeknown, on account of the smoke. Sartain, when I got the right position,I finished the affair of my own accord. For a friend under the tomahawkis apt to make a man think quick and act at once, as was my case, orthe Sarpent's spirit would be hunting in the happy land of his people atthis very moment."
"Come, come, Pathfinder, this palaver is worse than being skinned fromstem to stem; we have but a few hours of sun, and had better be driftingdown this said current of yours while we may. Magnet dear, are you notready to get under way?"
Magnet started, blushed brightly,
and made her preparations forimmediate departure. Not a syllable of the discourse just relatedhad she heard; for Eau-douce, as young Jasper was oftener called thananything else, had been filling her ears with a description of the yetdistant part towards which she was journeying, with accounts of herfather, whom she had not seen since a child, and with the manner oflife of those who lived in the frontier garrisons. Unconsciously shehad become deeply interested, and her thoughts had been too intentlydirected to these matters to allow any of the less agreeable subjectsdiscussed by those so near to reach her ears. The bustle of departureput an end to the conversation, and, the baggage of the scouts or guidesbeing trifling, in a few minutes the whole party was ready to proceed.As they were about to quit the spot, however, to the surprise of evenhis fellow-guides, Pathfinder collected a quantity of branches and threwthem upon the embers of the fire, taking care even to see that someof the wood was damp, in order to raise as dark and dense a smoke aspossible.
"When you can hide your trail, Jasper," said he, "a smoke at leavingan encampment may do good instead of harm. If there are a dozen Mingoswithin ten miles of us, some of 'em are on the heights, or in the trees,looking out for smokes; let them see this, and much good may it do them.They are welcome to our leavings."
"But may they not strike and follow on our trail?" asked the youth,whose interest in the hazard of his situation had much increased sincethe meeting with Magnet. "We shall leave a broad path to the river."
"The broader the better; when there, it will surpass Mingo cunning,even, to say which way the canoe has gone--up stream or down. Water isthe only thing in natur' that will thoroughly wash out a trail, and evenwater will not always do it when the scent is strong. Do you not see,Eau-douce, that if any Mingos have seen our path below the falls,they will strike off towards this smoke, and that they will naturallyconclude that they who began by going up stream will end by going upstream. If they know anything, they now know a party is out from thefort, and it will exceed even Mingo wit to fancy that we have come uphere just for the pleasure of going back again, and that, too, the sameday, and at the risk of our scalps."
"Certainly," added Jasper, who was talking apart with the Pathfinder,as they moved towards the wind-row, "they cannot know anything about theSergeant's daughter, for the greatest secrecy has been observed on heraccount."
"And they will learn nothing here," returned Pathfinder, causing hiscompanion to see that he trod with the utmost care on the impressionleft on the leaves by the little foot of Mabel; "unless this oldsalt-water fish has been taking his niece about in the wind-row, like afa'n playing by the side of the old doe."
"Buck, you mean, Pathfinder."
"Isn't he a queerity? Now I can consort with such a sailor as yourself,Eau-douce, and find nothing very contrary in our gifts, though yoursbelong to the lakes and mine to the woods. Hark'e, Jasper," continuedthe scout, laughing in his noiseless manner; "suppose we try the temperof his blade and run him over the falls?"
"And what would be done with the pretty niece in the meanwhile?"
"Nay, nay, no harm shall come to her; she must walk round the portage,at any rate; but you and I can try this Atlantic oceaner, and then allparties will become better acquainted. We shall find out whether hisflint will strike fire; and he may come to know something of frontiertricks."
Young Jasper smiled, for he was not averse to fun, and had been a littletouched by Cap's superciliousness; but Mabel's fair face, light, agileform, and winning smiles, stood like a shield between her uncle and theintended experiment.
"Perhaps the Sergeant's daughter will be frightened," said he.
"Not she, if she has any of the Sergeant's spirit in her. She doesn'tlook like a skeary thing, at all. Leave it to me, then, Eau-douce, and Iwill manage the affair alone."
"Not you, Pathfinder; you would only drown both. If the canoe goes over,I must go in it."
"Well, have it so, then: shall we smoke the pipe of agreement on thebargain?"
Jasper laughed, nodded his head by way of consent, and then the subjectwas dropped, as the party had reached the canoe so often mentioned, andfewer words had determined much greater things between the parties.
The Pathfinder; Or, The Inland Sea Page 2