第89章

As soon as Jasper and the pilot were below, the sentinel at the hatch received private orders to pay particular at-tention to both; to allow neither to come on deck again without giving instant notice to the person who might then be in charge of the cutter, and to insist on his return below as soon as possible.This precaution, however, was uncalled for; Jasper and his assistant both throwing them-selves silently on their pallets, which neither quitted again that night.

"And now, Sergeant," said Cap, as soon as he found himself master of the deck, "you will just have the good-ness to give me the courses and distance, that I may see the boat keeps her head the right way.""I know nothing of either, brother Cap," returned Dun-ham, not a little embarrassed at the question."We must make the best of our way to the station among the Thou-sand Islands, where 'we shall land, relieve the party that is already out, and get information for our future govern-ment.' That's it, nearly word for word, as it stands in the written orders.""But you can muster a chart -- something in the way of bearings and distances, that I may see the road?""I do not think Jasper ever had anything of the sort to go by.""No chart, Sergeant Dunham!"

"Not a scrap of a pen even.Our sailors navigate this lake without any aid from maps.""The devil they do! They must be regular Yahoos.

And do you suppose, Sergeant Dunham, that I can find one island out of a thousand without knowing its name or its position, without even a course or a distance?""As for the _name_, brother Cap, you need not be particu-lar, for not one of the whole thousand _has_ a name, and so a mistake can never be made on that score.As for the position, never having been there myself, I can tell you nothing about it, nor do I think its position of any par-ticular consequence, provided we find the spot.Perhaps one of the hands on deck can tell us the way.""Hold on, Sergeant -- hold on a moment, if you please, Sergeant Dunham.If I am to command this craft, it must be done, if you please, without holding any councils of war with the cook and cabin-boy.A ship-master is a ship-master, and he must have an opinion of his own, even if it be a wrong one.I suppose you know service well enough to understand that it is better in a commander to go wrong than to go nowhere.At all events, the Lord High Admiral couldn't command a yawl with dignity, if he consulted the cockswain every time he wished to go ashore.No sir, if I sink, I sink! but, d--- me, I'll go down ship-shape and with dignity.""But, brother Cap, I have no wish to go down anywhere, unless it be to the station among the Thousand Islands whither we are bound.""Well, well, Sergeant, rather than ask advice -- that is, direct, barefaced advice -- of a foremast hand, or any other than a quarter-deck officer, I would go round to the whole thousand, and examine tbem one by one until we got the right haven.But there is such a thing as coming at an opinion without manifesting ignorance, and I will manage to rouse all there is out of these hands, and make them think all the while that I am cramming them with my own experience! We are sometimes obliged to use the glass at sea when there is nothing in sight, or to heave the lead long before we strike soundings.When a youngster, sailed two v'y'ges with a man who navigated his ship pretty much by the latter sort of information, which sometimes answers.""I know we are steering in the right direction at pres-ent," returned the Sergeant; "but in the course of a few hours we shall be up with a headland, where we must feel our way with more caution.""Leave me to pump the man at the wheel, brother, and you shall see that I will make him suck in a very few minutes."Cap and the Sergeant now walked aft, until they stood by the sailor who was at the helm, Cap maintaining an air of security and tranquillity, like one who was entirely con-fident of his own powers.

"This is a wholesome air, my lad," Cap observed, in the manner that a superior on board a vessel sometimes conde-scends to use to a favored inferior."Of course you have it in this fashion off the land every night?""At this season of the year, sir," the man returned, touching his hat, out of respect, to his new commander and Sergeant Dunham's connection.

"The same thing, I take it, among the Thousand Is-lands? The wind will stand, of course, though we shall then have land on every side of us.""When we get farther east, sir, the wind will probably shift, for there can then be no particular land-breeze.

"Ay,ay; so much for your fresh water! It has always some trick that is opposed to nature.Now, down among the West India Islands, one is just as certain of having a land-breeze as he is of having a sea-breeze.In that respect there is no difference, though it's quite in rule it should be different up here on this bit of fresh water.Of course, my lad, you know all about these said Thousand Islands?""Lord bless you, Master Cap, nobody knows all about them or anything about them.They are a puzzle to the oldest sailor on the lake, and we don't pretend to know even their names.For that matter, most of them have no more names than a child that dies before it is chris-tened."

"Are you a Roman Catholic?" demanded the Sergeant sharply.

"No, sir, nor anything else.I'm a generalizer about religion, never troubling that which don't trouble me.""Hum! a generalizer; that is, no doubt, one of the new sects that afflict the country," muttered Mr.Dunham, whose grandfather had been a New Jersey Quaker, his father a Presbyterian, and who had joined the Church of England himself after he entered the army.

"I take it, John -- " resumed Cap."Your name is Jack, I believe?""No, sir; I am called Robert."

"Ay, Robert, it's very much the same thing, Jack or Bob; we use the two indifferently.I say, Bob, it's good holding ground, is it, down at this same station for which we are bound?""Bless you, sir! I know no more about it than one of the Mohawks, or a soldier of the 55th.""Did you never anchor there?"