your rifles with an unsteady aim, and give me time to put yard upon
yard of river between us. I will not revile you like a Delaware
or a Mohican; for my gifts are a white man's gifts, and not an
Indian's; and boasting in battle is no part of a Christian warrior;
but I may say here, all alone by myself, that you are little better
than so many men from the town shooting at robins in the orchards.
That was well meant," throwing back his head, as a rifle bullet cut
a lock of hair from his temple; "but the lead that misses by an
inch is as useless as the lead that never quits the barrel. Bravely
done, Jasper! the Sergeant's sweet child must be saved, even if
we go in without our own scalps."

By this time the Pathfinder was in the centre of the river, and
almost abreast of his enemies, while the other canoe, impelled by
the vigorous arms of Cap and Jasper, had nearly gained the opposite
shore at the precise spot that had been pointed out to them. The
old mariner now played his part manfully; for he was on his proper
element, loved his niece sincerely, had a proper regard for
his own person, and was not unused to fire, though his experience
certainly lay in a very different species of warfare. A few strokes
of the paddles were given, and the canoe shot into the bushes,
Mabel was hurried to land by Jasper, and for the present all three
of the fugitives were safe.

Not so with the Pathfinder: his hardy self-devotion had brought him
into a situation of unusual exposure, the hazards of which were
much increased by the fact that, just as he drifted nearest to
the enemy the party on the shore rushed down the bank and joined
their friends who still stood in the water. The Oswego was about
a cable's length in width at this point, and, the canoe being in