begins at the top, or the
bottom.«
    »I will not say that Jasper is equal to your seafarers below,« observed
Pathfinder, across whose upright mind an unworthy feeling of envy, or of
jealousy never passed, »but he is a bold boy, and manages his cutter as
skilfully as any man can desire, on this lake at least. You did'n't find him
backward at the Oswego Falls, Master Cap, where fresh water contrives to tumble
down hill, with little difficulty.«
    Cap made no other answer than a dissatisfied ejaculation, and then a general
silence followed, all on the bastion studying the movements of the cutter, with
the interest that was natural to their own future connection with the vessel. It
was still a dead calm, the surface of the lake literally glittering with the
last rays of the sun. The Scud had been warped up to a kedge, that lay a hundred
yards above the points of the outlet, where she had room to manoeuvre in the
river, which then formed the harbor of Oswego. But the total want of air
prevented any such attempt, and it was soon evident that the light vessel was to
be taken through the passage, under her sweeps. Not a sail was loosened, but as
soon as the kedge was tripped, the heavy fall of the sweeps was heard, when the
cutter, with her head up stream, began to sheer towards the centre of the
current, on reaching which the efforts of the men ceased, and she drifted
towards the outlet. In the narrow pass itself her movement was rapid, and in
less than five minutes, the Scud was floating outside of the two low gravelly
points that intercepted the waves of the lake. No anchor was let go, but the
vessel continued to set off from the land, until her dark hull was seen resting
on the glassy surface of the lake, fully a quarter of a mile beyond the low
bluff, which formed the eastern extremity of what might be called the outer
harbor, or roadstead. Here the influence of the river current ceased, and she
became, virtually, stationary.
    »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 position; »I dare say 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 the current well enough, girl, and so would a
chip