the state of his
brother-in-law, and that Mabel, as well as himself, was safe, was
softened nearly to tears. His own appearance he explained by saying that
he had been carelessly guarded, under the impression that he and the
Quartermaster were sleeping under the fumes of liquor with which
they had been plied with a view to keep them quiet in the expected
engagement. Muir had been left asleep, or seeming to sleep; but Cap
had run into the bushes on the alarm of the attack, and having found
Pathfinder's canoe, had only succeeded, at that moment, in getting to
the blockhouse, whither he had come with the kind intent of escaping
with his niece by water. It is scarcely necessary to say that he changed
his plan when he ascertained the state of the Sergeant, and the apparent
security of his present quarters.

"If the worst comes to the worst, Master Pathfinder," said he, "we must
strike, and that will entitle us to receive quarter. We owe it to our
manhood to hold out a reasonable time, and to ourselves to haul down the
ensign in season to make saving conditions. I wished Master Muir to
do the same thing when we were captured by these chaps you call
vagabonds--and rightly are they named, for viler vagabonds do not walk
the earth--"

"You've found out their characters?" interrupted Pathfinder, who was
always as ready to chime in with abuse of the Mingos as with the praises
of his friends. "Now, had you fallen into the hands of the Delawares,
you would have learned the difference."

"Well, to me they seem much of a muchness; blackguards fore and aft,
always excepting our friend the Serpent, who is a gentleman for an
Indian. But, when these savages made the assault on us, killing Corporal
M'Nab and his men as if they had been so many rabbits, Lieutenant Muir
and myself took refuge in one of the holes of this here island, of which
there are so many among the rocks, and there we remained stowed away
like two leaguers in a ship's hold, until we gave out for want of grub.
A man may say that grub is the foundation of human nature. I desired the
Quartermaster to make terms, for we could have defended ourselves for an
hour or two in the place, bad as it was; but he declined, on the ground
that the knaves wouldn't keep faith if any of them were hurt, and
so there was no use in asking them to. I consented to strike, on two
principles; one, that we might be said to have struck already, for
running below is generally thought to be givin