All these accessories added to the impressive grandeur of
her situation, and contributed to render the moment much the most
exciting which had ever occurred in the brief existence of Mabel
Dunham. Spirited, accustomed to self-reliance, and sustained by
the pride of considering herself a soldier's daughter, she could
hardly be said to be under the influence of fear, yet her heart
often beat quicker than common, her fine blue eye lighted with an
exhibition of a resolution that was wasted in the darkness, and her
quickened feelings came in aid of the real sublimity that belonged
to the scene and to the incidents of the night.

"Mabel!" said the suppressed voice of Jasper, as the two canoes
floated so near each other that the hand of the young man held
them together, "you have no dread? You trust freely to our care
and willingness to protect you?"

"I am a soldier's daughter, as you know, Jasper Western, and ought
to be ashamed to confess fear."

"Rely on me -- on us all. Your uncle, Pathfinder, the Delaware,
were the poor fellow here, I myself, will risk everything rather
than harm should reach you."

"I believe you, Jasper," returned the girl, her hand unconsciously
playing in the water. "I know that my uncle loves me, and
will never think of himself until he has first thought of me; and
I believe you are all my father's friends, and would willingly
assist his child. But I am not so feeble and weak-minded as you
may think; for, though only a girl from the towns, and, like most
of that class, a little disposed to see danger where there is none,