"I'll not fail you, Sergeant; and in such an event you'll probably learn
what this cutter can really perform; for, as yet, I fancy it is pretty
much matter of guesswork."

"Well, for my part," said Pathfinder, drawing a heavy sigh, "I shall
cling to the hope of Jasper's innocence, and recommend plain dealing, by
asking the lad himself, without further delay, whether he is or is not
a traitor. I'll put Jasper Western against all the presentiments and
circumstances in the colony."

"That will never do," rejoined the Sergeant. "The responsibility of this
affair rests with me, and I request and enjoin that nothing be said to
any one without my knowledge. We will all keep watchful eyes about us,
and take proper note of circumstances."

"Ay, ay! circumstances are the things after all," returned Cap. "One
circumstance is worth fifty facts. That I know to be the law of the
realm. Many a man has been hanged on circumstances."

The conversation now ceased, and, after a short delay, the whole party
returned to the deck, each individual disposed to view the conduct of
the suspected Jasper in the manner most suited to his own habits and
character.

CHAPTER XIV.

Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless,
So dull, so dead in look, so woe-begone,
Drew Priam's Curtain in the dead of night,
And would have told him, half his Troy was burned.
SHAKESPEARE.

All this time matters were elsewhere passing in their usual train.
Jasper, like the weather and his vessel, seemed to be waiting for the
land-breeze; while the soldiers, accustomed to early rising, had, to a
man, sought their pallets in the main hold. None remained on deck
but the people of the cutter, Mr. Muir, and the two females. The
Quartermaster was endeavoring to render himself agreeable to Mabel,
while our heroine herself, little affected by his assiduities, which
she ascribed partly to the habitual gallantry of a soldier, and partly,
perhaps, to her own pretty face, was enjoying the peculiarities of a
scene and situation which, to her, were full of the charms of novelty.

The sails had been hoisted, but as yet not a breath of air was in
motion; and so still and placid was the lake, that not the smallest
motion was perceptible in the cutter. She had drifted in the
river-current to a distance a little exceeding a quarter of a mile from
the land, and there she lay, beautiful in her symmetry and form, but
like a fixture. Young Jasper was