d according to his gifts; and if Master
Cap is useless in running the Oswego Falls, I try to remember that he is
useful when out of sight of land; and if Jasper be useless when out of
sight of land, I do not forget that he has a true eye and steady hand
when running the falls."

"But Jasper is not useless--would not be useless when out of sight of
land," said Mabel, with a spirit and energy that caused her clear sweet
voice to be startling amid the solemn stillness of that extraordinary
scene. "No one can be useless there who can do so much here, is what I
mean; though, I daresay, he is not as well acquainted with ships as my
uncle."

"Ay, bolster each other up in your ignorance," returned Cap with a
sneer. "We seamen are so much out-numbered when ashore that it is seldom
we get our dues; but when you want to be defended, or trade is to be
carried on, there is outcry enough for us."

"But, uncle, landsmen do not come to attack our coasts; so that seamen
only meet seamen."

"So much for ignorance! Where are all the enemies that have landed in
this country, French and English, let me inquire, niece?"

"Sure enough, where are they?" ejaculated Pathfinder. "None can tell
better than we who dwell in the woods, Master Cap. I have often followed
their line of march by bones bleaching in the rain, and have found their
trail by graves, years after they and their pride had vanished together.
Generals and privates, they lay scattered throughout the land, so many
proofs of what men are when led on by their love of great names and the
wish to be more than their fellows."

"I must say, Master Pathfinder, that you sometimes utter opinions
that are a little remarkable for a man who lives by the rifle; seldom
snuffing the air but he smells gunpowder, or turning out of his berth
but to bear down on an enemy."

"If you think I pass my days in warfare against my kind, you know
neither me nor my history. The man that lives in the woods and on the
frontiers must take the chances of the things among which he dwells. For
this I am not accountable, being but an humble and powerless hunter and
scout and guide. My real calling is to hunt for the army, on its marches
and in times of peace; although I am more especially engaged in the
service of one officer, who is now absent in the settlements, where I
never follow him. No, no; bloodshed and warfare are not my real gifts,
but peace and mercy. Still, I must face the enemy as well as another