and the fearful drift.
The last was the most serious danger; for, though exceedingly weatherly
under her canvas, and totally without top-hamper, the _Scud_ was so
light, that the combing of the swells would seem at times to wash
her down to leeward with a velocity as great as that of the surges
themselves.

During this night Cap slept soundly, and for several hours. The day was
just dawning when he felt himself shaken by the shoulder; and arousing
himself, he found the Pathfinder standing at his side. During the gale
the guide had appeared little on deck, for his natural modesty told him
that seamen alone should interfere with the management of the vessel;
and he was willing to show the same reliance on those who had charge
of the _Scud_, as he expected those who followed through the forest
to manifest in his own skill; but he now thought himself justified
in interfering, which he did in his own unsophisticated and peculiar
manner.

"Sleep is sweet, Master Cap," said he, as soon as the eyes of the
latter were fairly open, and his consciousness had sufficiently
returned,--"sleep is sweet, as I know from experience, but life is
sweeter still. Look about you, and say if this is exactly the moment for
a commander to be off his feet."

"How now? how now, Master Pathfinder?" growled Cap, in the first moments
of his awakened faculties. "Are you, too, getting on the side of the
grumblers? When ashore I admired your sagacity in running through the
worst shoals without a compass; and since we have been afloat, your
meekness and submission have been as pleasant as your confidence on your
own ground. I little expected such a summons from you."

"As for myself, Master Cap, I feel I have my gifts, and I believe
they'll interfere with those of no other man; but the case may be
different with Mabel Dunham. She has her gifts, too, it is true; but
they are not rude like ours, but gentle and womanish, as they ought to
be. It's on her account that I speak, and not on my own."

"Ay, ay, I begin to understand. The girl is a good girl, my worthy
friend; but she is a soldier's daughter and a sailor's niece, and ought
not to be too tame or too tender in a gale. Does she show any fear?"

"Not she! not she! Mabel is a woman, but she is reasonable and silent.
Not a word have I heard from her concerning our doings; though I do
think, Master Cap, she would like it better if Jasper Eau-douce were put
into his proper place, and things were res