s certain of having a land-breeze as he is of having a sea-breeze. In
that respect there is no difference, though it's quite in rule it should
be different up here on this bit of fresh water. Of course, my lad, you
know all about these said Thousand Islands?"

"Lord bless you, Master Cap, nobody knows all about them or anything
about them. They are a puzzle to the oldest sailor on the lake, and we
don't pretend to know even their names. For that matter, most of them
have no more names than a child that dies before it is christened."

"Are you a Roman Catholic?" demanded the Sergeant sharply.

"No, sir, nor anything else. I'm a generalizer about religion, never
troubling that which don't trouble me."

"Hum! a generalizer; that is, no doubt, one of the new sects that
afflict the country," muttered Mr. Dunham, whose grandfather had been
a New Jersey Quaker, his father a Presbyterian, and who had joined the
Church of England himself after he entered the army.

"I take it, John--" resumed Cap. "Your name is Jack, I believe?"

"No, sir; I am called Robert."

"Ay, Robert, it's very much the same thing, Jack or Bob; we use the two
indifferently. I say, Bob, it's good holding ground, is it, down at this
same station for which we are bound?"

"Bless you, sir! I know no more about it than one of the Mohawks, or a
soldier of the 55th."

"Did you never anchor there?"

"Never, sir. Master Eau-douce always makes fast to the shore."

"But in running in for the town, you kept the lead going, out of
question, and must have tallowed as usual."

"Tallow!--and town, too! Bless your heart, Master Cap! there is no more
town than there is on your chin, and not half as much tallow!"

The Sergeant smiled grimly, but his brother-in-law did not detect this
proof of humor.

"No church tower, nor light, nor fort, ha? There is a garrison, as you
call it hereaway, at least?"

"Ask Sergeant Dunham, sir, if you wish to know that. All the garrison is
on board the _Scud_."

"But in running in, Bob, which of the channels do you think the best?
the one you went last, or--or--or--ay, or the other?"

"I can't say, sir; I know nothing of either."

"You didn't go to sleep, fellow, at the wheel, did you?"

"Not at the wheel, sir, but down in the fore-peak in my berth. Eau-douce
sent us below, soldiers and all, with the exception of the pilot, and we
know no more of the road than if we had never been over it. This he has
always done in goin