is behind the hour; and that is some craft which the
Frenchers have sent to aid their friends, the accursed Mingos."

"This time you are out in your reckoning, friend Pathfinder, if you
never were before," returned Cap in a manner that had lost none of
its dogmatism by the critical circumstances in which they were placed.
"Fresh water or salt, that is the head of the _Scud's_ mainsail, for it
is cut with a smaller gore than common; and then you can see that the
gaff has been fished--quite neatly done, I admit, but fished."

"I can see none of this, I confess," answered Pathfinder, to whom even
the terms of his companion were Greek.

"No! Well, I own that surprises me, for I thought your eyes could see
anything! Now to me nothing is plainer than that gore and that fish; and
I must say, my honest friend, that in your place I should apprehend that
my sight was beginning to fail."

"If Jasper is truly coming, I shall apprehend but little. We can make
good the block against the whole Mingo nation for the next eight or
ten hours; and with Eau-douce to cover the retreat, I shall despair of
nothing. God send that the lad may not run alongside of the bank, and
fall into an ambushment, as befell the Sergeant!"

"Ay, there's the danger. There ought to have been signals concerted,
and an anchorage-ground buoyed out, and even a quarantine station or
a lazaretto would have been useful, could we have made these Minks-ho
respect the laws. If the lad fetches up, as you say, anywhere in the
neighborhood of this island, we may look upon the cutter as lost. And,
after all, Master Pathfinder, ought we not to set down this same Jasper
as a secret ally of the French, rather than as a friend of our own? I
know the Sergeant views the matter in that light; and I must say this
whole affair looks like treason."

"We shall soon know, we shall soon know, Master Cap; for there, indeed,
comes the cutter clear of the other island, and five minutes must settle
the matter. It would be no more than fair, however, if we could give the
boy some sign in the way of warning. It is not right that he should fall
into the trap without a notice that it has been laid."

Anxiety and suspense, notwithstanding, prevented either from attempting
to make any signal. It was not easy, truly, to see how it could be done;
for the _Scud_ came foaming through the channel, on the weather side of
the island, at a rate that scarcely admitted of the necessary time. Nor
was