"She seems very beautiful to me, uncle," said Mabel, whose gaze had not been averted from the cutter for a single moment while it had thus been changing its posi-tion; "I daresay you can find faults in her appearance, and in the way she is managed; but to my ignorance both are perfect.""Ay, ay; she drops down with a current well enough, girl, and so would a chip.But when you come to niceties, all old tar like myself has no need of spectacles to find fault.""Well, Master Cap," put in the guide, who seldom heard anything to Jasper's prejudice without manifesting a dis-position to interfere, "I've heard old and experienced salt-water mariners confess that the _Scud_ is as pretty a craft as floats.I know nothing of such matters myself; but one may have his own notions about a ship, even though they be wrong notions; and it would take more than one witness to persuade me Jasper does not keep his boat in good order.""I do not say that the cutter is downright lubberly, Master Pathfinder; but she has faults, and great faults.""And what are they, uncle? If he knew them, Jasper would be glad to mend them.""What are they? Why, fifty; ay, for that matter a hundred.Very material and manifest faults.""Do name them, sir, and Pathfinder will mention them to his friend.""Name them! it is no easy matter to call off the stars, for the simple reason that they are so numerous.Name them, indeed! Why, my pretty niece, Miss Magnet, what do you think of that main-boom now? To my ignorant eyes, it is topped at least a foot too high; and then the pennant is foul; and -- and -- ay, d--- me, if there isn't a topsail gasket adrift; and it wouldn't surprise me at all if there should be a round turn in that hawser, if the kedge were to be let go this instant.Faults indeed! No seaman could look at her a moment without seeing that she is as full of faults as a servant who has asked for his discharge.""This may be very true, uncle, though I much question if Jasper knows of them.I do not think he would suffer these things, Pathfinder, if they were once pointed out to him.""Let Jasper manage his own cutter, Mabel.His gift lies that-a-way, and I'll answer for it, no one can teach him how to keep the _Scud_ out of the hands of the Fron-tenackers or their devilish Mingo friends.Who cares for round turns in kedges, and for hawsers that are topped too high, Master Cap, so long as the craft sails well, and keeps clear of the Frenchers? I will trust Jasper against all the seafarers of the coast, up here on the lakes; but Ido not say he has any gift for the ocean, for there he has never been tried."Cap smiled condescendingly, but he did not think it necessary to push his critisms any further just as that moment.By this time the cutter had begun to drift at the mercy of the currents of the lake, her head turning in all directions, though slowly, and not in a way to attract particular attention.Just at this moment the jib was loosened and hoisted, and presently the canvas swelled towards the land, though no evidences of air were yet to be seen on the surface of the water.Slight, however, as was the impulsion, the light hull yielded; and in another minute the _Scud_ was seen standing across the current of the river with a movement so easy and moderate as to be scarcely perceptible.When out of the stream, she struck an eddy and shot up towards the land, under the emi-nence where the fort stood, when Jasper dropped his kedge.
"Not lubberly done," muttered Cap in a sort of solilo-quy, -- "not over lubberly, though he should have put his helm a-starboard instead of a-port; for a vessel ought always to come-to with her head off shore, whether she is a league from the land or only a cable's length, since it has a careful look, and looks are something in this world.""Jasper is a handy lad," suddenly observed Sergeant Dunham at his brother-in-law's elbow; "and we place great reliance on his skill in our expeditions.But come, one and all, we have but half an hour more of daylight to embark in, and the boats will be ready for us by the time we are ready for them."On this intimation the whole party separated, each to find those trifles which had not been shipped already.Afew taps of the drum gave the necessary signal to the soldiers, and in a minute all were in motion.
