ions about
the promotion. One would retire more cheerfully with such a companion
as Mabel, than in cheerless widowhood, and with nothing but oneself to
love,--and such a self, too, as Davy's!"

"I hope, sir, my child will make a prudent choice, and I think her mind
is already pretty much made up in favor of Pathfinder. Still she shall
have fair play, though disobedience is the next crime to mutiny."

"Have all the ammunition carefully examined and dried as soon as
you arrive; the damp of the lake may affect it. And now, once more,
farewell, Sergeant. Beware of that Jasper, and consult with Muir in any
difficulty. I shall expect you to return, triumphant, this day month."

"God bless your honor! If anything should happen to me, I trust to you,
Major Duncan, to care for an old soldier's character."

"Rely on me, Dunham--you will rely on a friend. Be vigilant: remember
you will be in the very jaws of the lion;--pshaw! of no lion neither;
but of treacherous tigers: in their very jaws, and beyond support. Have
the flints counted and examined in the morning--and--farewell, Dunham,
farewell!"

The Sergeant took the extended hand of his superior with proper respect,
and they finally parted; Lundie hastening into his own movable abode,
while the other left the fort, descended to the beach, and got into a
boat.

It is not to be supposed that Sergeant Dunham, after he had parted from
his commanding officer, was likely to forget the injunctions he had
received. He thought highly of Jasper in general; but distrust had been
insinuated between his former confidence and the obligations of duty;
and, as he now felt that everything depended on his own vigilance, by
the time the boat reached the side of the _Scud_ he was in a proper
humor to let no suspicious circumstance go unheeded, or any unusual
movement in the young sailor pass without its comment. As a matter of
course, he viewed things in the light suited to his peculiar mood;
and his precautions, as well as his distrust, partook of the habits,
opinions, and education of the man.

The _Scud's_ kedge was lifted as soon as the boat with the Sergeant, who
was the last person expected, was seen to quit the shore, and the head
of the cutter was cast to the eastward by means of the sweeps. A few
vigorous strokes of the latter, in which the soldiers aided, now sent
the light craft into the line or the current that flowed from the river,
when she was suffered to drift into the offi