“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 the bargain?”

“Yes, uncle, but the rivers have their banks, and there are trees along them, and they are narrow.”

“And isn’t this a bank where we stand?  Don’t these soldiers call this the bank of the lake?  And aren’t there trees in thousands?  And aren’t twenty leagues narrow enough of all conscience?  Who the devil ever heard of the banks of the ocean, unless it might be the banks that are under water?”

“But, uncle, we cannot see across this lake, as we can see across a river.”

“There you are out, Magnet.  Aren’t the Amazon and Oronoco and La Plata rivers, and can you see across them?  Hark’e Pathfinder, I very much doubt if this stripe of water here be even a lake; for to me it appears to be only a river.  You are by no means particular about your geography, I find, up here in the woods.”

“There you are out, Master Cap.  There is a river, and a noble one too, at each end of it; but this is old Ontario before you; and, though it is not my gift to live on a lake, to my judgment there are few better than this.”

“And, uncle, if we stood on the beach at Rockaway, what more should we see than we now behold?  There is a shore on one side, or banks there, and trees too, as well as those which are here.”

“This is perverseness, Magnet, and young girls should steer clear of anything like obstinacy.  In the first place, the ocean has coasts, but no banks, except the Grand Banks, as I tell you, which are out of sight of land; and you will not pretend that this bank is out of sight of land, or even under water?”

As Mabel could not very plausibly set up this extravagant opinion, Cap pursued the subject, his countenance beginning to discover the triumph of a successful disputant.

“And then them trees bear no comparison to these trees.  The coasts of the ocean have farms and cities and country-seats, and, in some parts of the world, castles and monasteries and lighthouses —­ ay, ay —­ lighthouses, in particular, on them; not one of all which things is to be seen here.  No, no, Master Pathfinder; I never heard of an ocean that hadn’t more or less lighthouses on it; whereas, hereaway there is not even a beacon.”

“There is what is better, there is what is better; a forest and noble trees, a fit temple of God.”

“Ay, your forest may do for a lake; but of what use would an ocean be if the earth all around it were forest?  Ships would be unnecessary, as timber might be floated in rafts, and there would be an end of trade, and what would a world be without trade?  I am of that philosopher’s opinion who says human nature was invented for the purposes of trade.  Magnet, I am astonished that you should think this water even looks like sea-water!  Now, I daresay that there isn’t such a thing as a whale in all your lake, Master Pathfinder?”