uld take him at his word,
and get her wings clipped. I know little of these things, for my gifts
are not at all in that way; but I see the reason of the thing--I see its
reason, though Jasper does not."

"Ah! Here is my uncle, none the worse for his swim, coming to look at
this inland sea."

Sure enough, Cap, who had announced his approach by a couple of lusty
hems, now made his appearance on the bastion, where, after nodding to
his niece and her companion, he made a deliberate survey of the expanse
of water before him. In order to effect this at his ease, the mariner
mounted on one of the old iron guns, folded his arms across his breast,
and balanced his body, as if he felt the motion of a vessel. To complete
the picture, he had a short pipe in his mouth.

"Well, Master Cap," asked the Pathfinder innocently, for he did not
detect the expression of contempt that was gradually settling on the
features of the other; "is it not a beautiful sheet, and fit to be named
a sea?"

"This, then, is what you call your lake?" demanded Cap, sweeping the
northern horizon with his pipe. "I say, is this really your lake?"

"Sartain; and, if the judgment of one who has lived on the shores of
many others can be taken, a very good lake it is."

"Just as I expected. A pond in dimensions, and a scuttle-butt in taste.
It is all in vain to travel inland, in the hope of seeing anything
either full-grown or useful. I knew it would turn out just in this way."

"What is the matter with Ontario, Master Cap? It is large, and fair to
look at, and pleasant enough to drink, for those who can't get at the
water of the springs."

"Do you call this large?" asked Cap, again sweeping the air with the
pipe. "I will just ask you what there is large about it? Didn't Jasper
himself confess that it was only some twenty leagues from shore to
shore?"

"But, uncle," interposed Mabel, "no land is to be seen, except here on
our own coast. To me it looks exactly like the ocean."

"This bit of a pond look like the ocean! Well, Magnet, that from a girl
who has had real seamen in her family is downright nonsense. What is
there about it, pray, that has even the outline of a sea on it?"

"Why, there is water--water--water--nothing but water, for miles on
miles--far as the eye can see."

"And isn't there water--water--water--nothing but water for miles on
miles in your rivers, that you have been canoeing through, too?--Ay, and
'as far as the eye can see,' in