llful
manner that he had brought it in; and though Mabel's color heightened
with excitement, and her heart seemed often ready to leap out of her
mouth again, they reached the side of the _Scud_ without having received
even a drop of spray.

Ontario is like a quick-tempered man, sudden to be angered, and as soon
appeased. The sea had already fallen; and though the breakers bounded
the shore, far as the eye could reach, it was merely in lines of
brightness, that appeared and vanished like the returning waves produced
by a stone which had been dropped into a pool. The cable of the _Scud_
was scarcely seen above the water, and Jasper had already hoisted his
sails, in readiness to depart as soon as the expected breeze from the
shore should fill the canvas.

It was just sunset as the cutter's mainsail flapped and its stem began
to sever the water. The air was light and southerly, and the head of the
vessel was kept looking up along the south shore, it being the intention
to get to the eastward again as fast as possible. The night that
succeeded was quiet; and the rest of those who slept deep and tranquil.

Some difficulty occurred concerning the command of the vessel, but
the matter had been finally settled by an amicable compromise. As
the distrust of Jasper was far from being appeased, Cap retained a
supervisory power, while the young man was allowed to work the craft,
subject, at all times, to the control and interference of the old
seaman. To this Jasper consented, in preference to exposing Mabel any
longer to the dangers of their present situation; for, now that the
violence of the elements had ceased, he well knew that the _Montcalm_
would be in search of them. He had the discretion, however, not to
reveal his apprehensions on this head; for it happened that the very
means he deemed the best to escape the enemy were those which would
be most likely to awaken new suspicions of his honesty in the minds
of those who held the power to defeat his intentions. In other words,
Jasper believed that the gallant young Frenchman, who commanded the ship
of the enemy, would quit his anchorage under the fort at Niagara, and
stand up the lake, as soon as the wind abated, in order to ascertain the
fate of the _Scud_, keeping midway between the two shores as the best
means of commanding a broad view; and that, on his part, it would be
expedient to hug one coast or the other, not only to avoid a meeting,
but as affording a chance of pa