ave followed the Major
so long that I've got to reverence all he says and does: that's just my
weakness, ye'll know, Pathfinder. Well, this post may be the post of an
ass, or of a Solomon, as men fancy; but it's most critically placed,
as is apparent by all Lundie's precautions and injunctions. There are
savages out scouting through these Thousand Islands and over the forest,
searching for this very spot, as is known to Lundie himself, on certain
information; and the greatest service you can render the 55th is to
discover their trails and lead them off on a false scent. Unhappily
Sergeant Dunham has taken up the notion that the danger is to be
apprehended from up-stream, because Frontenac lies above us; whereas all
experience tells us that Indians come on the side which is most contrary
to reason, and, consequently, are to be expected from below. Take your
canoe, therefore, and go down-stream among the islands, that we may have
notice if any danger approaches from that quarter."

"The Big Sarpent is on the look-out in that quarter; and as he knows the
station well, no doubt he will give us timely notice, should any wish to
sarcumvent us in that direction."

"He is but an Indian, after all, Pathfinder; and this is an affair
that calls for the knowledge of a white man. Lundie will be eternally
grateful to the man who shall help this little enterprise to come off
with flying colors. To tell you the truth, my friend, he is conscious it
should never have been attempted; but he has too much of the old laird's
obstinacy about him to own an error, though it be as manifest as the
morning star."

The Quartermaster then continued to reason with his companion, in order
to induce him to quit the island without delay, using such arguments
as first suggested themselves, sometimes contradicting himself, and not
unfrequently urging at one moment a motive that at the next was directly
opposed by another. The Pathfinder, simple as he was, detected these
flaws in the Lieutenant's philosophy, though he was far from suspecting
that they proceeded from a desire to clear the coast of Mabel's suitor.
He did not exactly suspect the secret objects of Muir, but he was far
from being blind to his sophistry. The result was that the two parted,
after a long dialogue, unconvinced, and distrustful of each other's
motives, though the distrust of the guide, like all that was connected
with the man, partook of his own upright, disinterested, and ingenuo