h to linger longer to
listen to love speeches, which in her most joyous and buoyant moments
she would have found unpleasant. She took a hasty leave of her
companion, and was about to trip away towards the hilt of the other
woman, when Muir arrested the movement by laying a hand on her arm.

"One word, Mabel," said he, "before you leave me. This little flag may,
or it may not, have a particular meaning; if it has, now that we are
aware of its being shown, may it not be better to put it back
again, while we watch vigilantly for some answer that may betray the
conspiracy; and if it mean nothing, why, nothing will follow."

"This may be all right, Mr. Muir, though, if the whole is accidental,
the flag might be the occasion of the fort's being discovered."

Mabel stayed to utter no more; but she was soon out of sight,
running into the hut towards which she had been first proceeding. The
Quartermaster remained on the very spot and in the precise attitude in
which she had left him for quite a minute, first looking at the bounding
figure of the girl and then at the bit of bunting, which he still held
before him in a way to denote indecision. His irresolution lasted but
for this minute, however; for he was soon beneath the tree, where he
fastened the mimic flag to a branch again, though, from his ignorance
of the precise spot from which it had been taken by Mabel, he left it
fluttering from a part of the oak where it was still more exposed than
before to the eyes of any passenger on the river, though less in view
from the island itself.

CHAPTER XXI.

Each one has had his supping mess,
The cheese is put into the press,
The pans and bowls, clean scalded all,
Reared up against the milk-house wall.
COTTON.

It seemed strange to Mabel Dunham, as she passed along on her way to
find her female companion, that others should be so composed, while she
herself felt as if the responsibilities of life and death rested on her
shoulders. It is true that distrust of June's motives mingled with her
forebodings; but when she came to recall the affectionate and natural
manner of the young Indian girl, and all the evidences of good faith and
sincerity she had seen in her conduct during the familiar intercourse
of their journey, she rejected the idea with the unwillingness of a
generous disposition to believe ill of others. She saw, however, that
she could not put her companions properly on their guard without