Both Cap and the Sergeant saw the truth of this, which would have been nearly self-evident even to one unaccustomed to vessels.  The shore was distant less than half a mile, and the canoe was already glancing into its shadows, at a rate to show that it would reach the land before its pursuers could probably get half the distance.  The helm of the Scud was reluctantly put up again, and the cutter wore short round on her heel, coming up to her course on the other tack, as if acting on an instinct.  All this was done by Jasper in profound silence, his assistants understanding what was necessary, and lending their aid in a sort of mechanical imitation.  While these manoeuvres were in the course of execution, Cap took the Sergeant by a button, and led him towards the cabin-door, where he was out of ear-shot, and began to unlock his stores of thought.

“Hark’e, brother Dunham,” said he, with an ominous face, “this is a matter that requires mature thought and much circumspection.”

“The life of a soldier, brother Cap, is one of constant thought and circumspection.  On this frontier, were we to overlook either, our scalps might be taken from our heads in the first nap.”

“But I consider this capture of Arrowhead as a circumstance; and I might add his escape as another.  This Jasper Freshwater must look to it.”

“They are both circumstances truly, brother; but they tell different ways.  If it is a circumstance against the lad that the Indian has escaped, it is a circumstance in his favor that he was first taken.”

“Ay, ay, but two circumstances do not contradict each other like two negatives.  If you will follow the advice of an old seaman, Sergeant, not a moment is to be lost in taking the steps necessary for the security of the vessel and all on board of her.  The cutter is now slipping through the water at the rate of six knots, and as the distances are so short on this bit of a pond, we may all find ourselves in a French port before morning, and in a French prison before night.”

“This may be true enough.  What would you advise me to do, brother?”

“In my opinion you should put this Master Freshwater under arrest on the spot; send him below under the charge of a sentinel, and transfer the command of the cutter to me.  All this you have power to perform, the craft belonging to the army, and you being the commanding officer of the troops present.”

Sergeant Dunham deliberated more than an hour on the propriety of this proposal; for, though sufficiently prompt when his mind was really made up, he was habitually thoughtful and wary.  The habit of superintending the personal police of the garrison had made him acquainted with character, and he had long been disposed to think well of Jasper.  Still that subtle poison, suspicion, had entered his soul; and so much were the artifices and intrigues of the French dreaded, that, especially warned as he had been by his commander, it is not