white man rose, and courteously
took off his cap to Mabel Dunham. He was young, healthful and manly in
appearance, and wore a dress, which, while it was less rigidly professional than
that of the uncle, also denoted one accustomed to the water. In that age, real
seamen were a class entirely apart from the rest of mankind, their ideas,
ordinary language, and attire being as strongly indicative of their calling, as
the opinions, speech and dress of a Turk denote a Mussulman. Although the
Pathfinder was scarcely in the prime of life, Mabel had met him with a
steadiness that may have been the consequence of having braced her nerves for
the interview, but when her eyes encountered those of the young man at the fire,
they fell before the gaze of admiration, with which she saw, or fancied she saw,
he greeted her. Each, in truth, felt that interest in the other, which
similarity of age, condition, mutual comeliness and their novel situation would
be likely to inspire in the young and ingenuous.
    »Here,« said Pathfinder, with an honest smile bestowed on Mabel - »are the
friends your worthy father has sent to meet you. This is a great Delaware; and
one that has had honors as well as trouble, in his day. He has an Injin name fit
for a chief, but as the language is not always easy for the inexperienced to
pronounce, we nat'rally turn it into English, and call him the Big Sarpent. You
are not to suppose, howsever, that by this name we wish to say that he is
treacherous, beyond what is lawful in a red skin, but that he is wise, and has
the cunning that becomes a warrior. Arrowhead, there, knows what I mean.«
    While the Pathfinder was delivering this address, the two Indians gazed on
each other steadily, and then the Tuscarora advanced and spoke to the other, in
an apparently friendly manner.
    »I like to see this,« continued Pathfinder; »the salutes of two red-skins,
in the woods, Master Cap, are like the hailing of friendly vessels on the ocean.
But, speaking of water, it reminds me of my young friend Jasper Western, here,
who can claim to know something of these matters, seeing that he has passed his
days on Ontario.«
    »I am glad to see you, friend,« said Cap, giving the young fresh-water
sailor, a cordial gripe, »though you must have something still to learn,
considering the school to which you