feather, from one pile of foam to another, scarcely permitting its glossy
side to be wetted. There were a few rocks to be avoided, the proper direction
was to be rigidly observed, and the fierce current did the rest.1
    To say that Cap was astonished, would not be expressing half his feelings.
He felt awed, for the profound dread of rocks, which most seamen entertain, came
in aid of his admiration of the boldness of the exploit. Still he was indisposed
to express all he felt, lest it might be conceding too much in favor of fresh
water and inland navigation, and no sooner had he cleared his throat, with the
aforesaid hem, than he loosened his tongue, in the usual strain of superiority.
    »I do not gainsay your knowledge of the channel, Master Oh! the deuce, (for
such he religiously believed to be Jasper's soubriquet) and, after all, to know
the channel, in such a place is the main point. I have had cockswains with me,
who could come down that shoot too, if they only knew the channel.«
    »It is'n't enough to know the channel, friend Mariner,« said Pathfinder; »it
needs narves and skill to keep the canoe straight, and to keep her clear of the
rocks too. There is'n't another boatman in all this region that can shoot the
Oswego, but Eau douce, there, with any sartainty, though, now and then, one has
blundered through. I can't do it myself, unless by means of Providence, and it
needs Jasper's hand, and Jasper's eye, to make sure of a dry passage. Fourteen
spoonsfull, after all, are no great matter, though I wish it had been but ten,
seeing that the Sarjeant's daughter was a looker on!«
    »And yet you conned the canoe; you told him how to head, and how to sheer.«
    »Human frailty, Master Mariner; that was a little of white-skin natur'. Now,
had the Sarpent, yonder, been in the boat, not a word would he have spoken, or
thought would he have given to the public. An Injin knows how to hold his
tongue, but we white folk fancy we are always wiser than our fellows. I'm curing
myself fast of the weakness, but it needs time, to root up the tree that has
been growing more than thirty years.«
    »I think little of this affair, sir; nothing at all