single human being
to remove the sense of utter solitude. Then, indeed, she beheld all who
were left behind, collected in a group around a fire which might be said
to belong to the camp. The person of her uncle, to whom she was so
much accustomed, reassured Mabel; and she examined the remainder with a
curiosity natural to her situation. Besides Cap and the Quartermaster,
there were the Corporal, the three soldiers, and the woman who was
cooking. The huts were silent and empty; and the low but tower-like
summit of the blockhouse rose above the bushes, by which it was
half concealed, in picturesque beauty. The sun was just casting its
brightness into the open places of the glade, and the vault over her
head was impending in the soft sublimity of the blue void. Not a cloud
was visible, and she secretly fancied the circumstance might be taken as
a harbinger of peace and security.

Perceiving that all the others were occupied with that great concern of
human nature, a breakfast, Mabel walked, unobserved, towards an end of
the island where she was completely shut out of view by the trees and
bushes. Here she got a stand on the very edge of the water, by forcing
aside the low branches, and stood watching the barely perceptible flow
and re-flow of the miniature waves which laved the shore; a sort of
physical echo to the agitation that prevailed on the lake fifty miles
above her. The glimpses of natural scenery that offered were very soft
and pleasing; and our heroine, who had a quick eye for all that was
lovely in nature, was not slow in selecting the most striking bits of
landscape. She gazed through the different vistas formed by the openings
between the islands, and thought she had never looked on aught more
lovely.

While thus occupied, Mabel was suddenly alarmed by fancying that she
caught a glimpse of a human form among the bushes that lined the shore
of the island which lay directly before her. The distance across the
water was not a hundred yards; and, though she might be mistaken, and
her fancy was wandering when the form passed before her sight, still
she did not think she could be deceived. Aware that her sex would be no
protection against a rifle bullet, should an Iroquois get a view of her,
the girl instinctively drew back, taking care to conceal her person as
much as possible by the leaves, while she kept her own look riveted on
the opposite shore, vainly waiting for some time in the expectation of
the stranger