“The lad knows us both, and was sartain that we should not drown, which is scarcely one of my gifts.  It would have been hard swimming of a sartainty, with a long-barrelled rifle in the hand; and what between the game, and the savages and the French, Killdeer and I have gone through too much in company to part very easily.  No, no; we waded ashore, the rift being shallow enough for that with small exceptions, and we landed with our arms in our hands.  We had to take our time for it, on account of the Iroquois, I will own; but, as soon as the skulking vagabonds saw the lights that the Sergeant sent down to your canoe, we well understood they would decamp, since a visit might have been expected from some of the garrison.  So it was only sitting patiently on the stones for an hour, and all the danger was over.  Patience is the greatest of virtues in a woodsman.”

“I rejoice to hear this, for fatigue itself could scarcely make me sleep, for thinking of what might befall you.”

“Lord bless your tender little heart, Mabel! but this is the way with all you gentle ones.  I must say, on my part, however, that I was right glad to see the lanterns come down to the waterside, which I knew to be a sure sign of your safety.  We hunters and guides are rude beings; but we have our feelings and our idees, as well as any general in the army.  Both Jasper and I would have died before you should have come to harm —­ we would.”

“I thank you for all you did for me, Pathfinder; from the bottom of my heart, I thank you; and, depend on it, my father shall know it.  I have already told him much, but have still a duty to perform on this subject.”

“Tush, Mabel!  The Sergeant knows what the woods be, and what men —­ true red men —­ be, too.  There is little need to tell him anything about it.  Well, now you have met your father, do you find the honest old soldier the sort of person you expected to find ?”

“He is my own dear father, and received me as a soldier and a father should receive a child.  Have you known him long, Pathfinder?”

“That is as people count time.  I was just twelve when the Sergeant took me on my first scouting, and that is now more than twenty years ago.  We had a tramping time of it; and, as it was before your day, you would have had no father, had not the rifle been one of my natural gifts.”

“Explain yourself.”

“It is too simple for many words.  We were ambushed, and the Sergeant got a bad hurt, and would have lost his scalp, but for a sort of inbred turn I took to the weapon.  We brought him off, however, and a handsomer head of hair, for his time of life, is not to be found in the rijiment than the Sergeant carries about with him this blessed day.”

“You saved my father’s life, Pathfinder!” exclaimed Mabel, unconsciously, though warmly, taking one of his hard, sinewy hands into both her own.  “God bless you for this, too, among your other good acts!”