F. Colburn Adams - "Justice in the By Ways"

William J. Locke - "The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne"

Alphonse Daudet - "Fromont and Risler, v1"

Lady Duff Gordon - "Letters from the Cape"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: The Pathfinder

J >> James Fenimore Cooper >> The Pathfinder




"Ah! that comes of your d----d fresh-water ponds!" growled Cap,
hemming so loudly as to cause him instantly to repent the indiscretion.
"No man, now, ever heard of a pirate or a ship getting round one
end of the Atlantic!"

"Mayhap the ocean has no ends?"

"That it hasn't; nor sides, nor bottom. The nation which is snugly
moored on one of its coasts need fear nothing from the one anchored
abeam, let it be ever so savage, unless it possesses the art of
ship building. No, no! the people who live on the shores of the
Atlantic need fear but little for their skins or their scalps. A
man may lie down at night in those regions, in the hope of finding
the hair on his head in the morning, unless he wears a wig."

"It isn't so here. I don't wish to flurry the young woman, and
therefore I will be in no way particular, though she seems pretty
much listening to Eau-douce, as we call him; but without the
edication I have received, I should think it at this very moment,
a risky journey to go over the very ground that lies between us
and the garrison, in the present state of this frontier. There
are about as many Iroquois on this side of Ontario as there are
on the other. It is for this very reason, friend Cap, that the
Sergeant has engaged us to come out and show you the path."

"What! do the knaves dare to cruise so near the guns of one of his
Majesty's works?"

"Do not the ravens resort near the carcass of the deer, though the
fowler is at hand? They come this-a-way, as it might be, naturally.
There are more or less whites passing between the forts and the
settlements, and they are sure to be on their trails. The Sarpent
has come up one side of the river, and I have come up the other,
in order to scout for the outlying rascals, while Jasper brought
up the canoe, like a bold-hearted sailor as he is. The Sergeant
told him, with tears in his eyes, all about his child, and how his
heart yearned for her, and how gentle and obedient she was, until
I think the lad would have dashed into a Mingo camp single-handed,
rather than not a-come."

"We thank him, and shall think the better of him for his readiness;
though I suppose the boy has run no great risk, after all."

"Only the risk of being shot from a cover, as he forced the canoe
up a swift rift, or turned an elbow in the stream, with his eyes
fastened on the eddies. Of all the risky journeys, that on an
ambushed river is the most risky, in my judgment, and that risk
has Jasper run."

"And why the devil has the Sergeant sent for me to travel a hundred
and fifty miles in this outlandish manner? Give me an offing, and
the enemy in sight, and I'll play with him in his own fashion, as
long as he pleases, long bows or close quarters; but to be shot
like a turtle asleep is not to my humor. If it were not for little
Magnet there, I would tack ship this instant, make the best of my
way back to York, and let Ontario take care of itself, salt water
or fresh water."

"That wouldn't mend the matter much, friend mariner, as the road
to return is much longer, and almost as bad as the road to go on.
Trust to us, and we will carry you through safely, or lose our
scalps."

Cap wore a tight solid queue, done up in eelskin, while the top
of his head was nearly bald; and he mechanically passed his hand
over both as if to make certain that each was in its right place.
He was at the bottom, however, a brave man, and had often faced
death with coolness, though never in the frightful forms in which
it presented itself under the brief but graphic picture of his
companion. It was too late to retreat; and he determined to put
the best face on the matter, though he could not avoid muttering
inwardly a few curses on the indiscretion with which his brother-in-law,
the Sergeant, had led him into his present dilemma.

"I make no doubt, Master Pathfinder," he answered, when these
thoughts had found time to glance through his mind, "that we shall
reach port in safety. What distance may we now be from the fort?"

"Little more than fifteen miles; and swift miles too, as the river
runs, if the Mingos let us go clear."

"And I suppose the woods will stretch along starboard and larboard,
as heretofore?"

"Anan?"

"I mean that we shall have to pick our way through these damned
trees."

"Nay, nay, you will go in the canoe, and the Oswego has been cleared
of its flood-wood by the troops. It will be floating down stream,
and that, too, with a swift current."

"And what the devil is to prevent these minks of which you speak
from shooting us as we double a headland, or are busy in steering
clear of the rocks?"

"The Lord! -- He who has so often helped others in greater
difficulties. Many and many is the time that my head would have
been stripped of hair, skin, and all, hadn't the Lord fi't of my
side. I never go into a skrimmage, friend mariner, without thinking
of this great ally, who can do more in battle than all the battalions
of the 60th, were they brought into a single line."

"Ay, ay, this may do well enough for a scouter; but we seamen like
our offing, and to go into action with nothing in our minds but
the business before us -- plain broadside and broadside work, and
no trees or rocks to thicken the water."

"And no Lord too, I dare to say, if the truth were known. Take
my word for it, Master Cap, that no battle is the worse fi't for
having the Lord on your side. Look at the head of the Big Sarpent,
there; you can see the mark of a knife all along by his left ear:
now nothing but a bullet from this long rifle of mine saved his scalp
that day; for it had fairly started, and half a minute more would
have left him without the war-lock. When the Mohican squeezes my
hand, and intermates that I befriended him in that matter, I tell
him no; it was the Lord who led me to the only spot where execution
could be done, or his necessity be made known, on account of the
smoke. Sartain, when I got the right position, I finished the
affair of my own accord. For a friend under the tomahawk is apt
to make a man think quick and act at once, as was my case, or the
Sarpent's spirit would be hunting in the happy land of his people
at this very moment."

"Come, come, Pathfinder, this palaver is worse than being skinned
from stem to stem; we have but a few hours of sun, and had better
be drifting down this said current of yours while we may. Magnet
dear, are you not ready to get under way?"

Magnet started, blushed brightly, and made her preparations for
immediate departure. Not a syllable of the discourse just related
had she heard; for Eau-douce, as young Jasper was oftener called
than anything else, had been filling her ears with a description
of the yet distant part towards which she was journeying, with
accounts of her father, whom she had not seen since a child, and
with the manner of life of those who lived in the frontier garrisons.
Unconsciously she had become deeply interested, and her thoughts
had been too intently directed to these matters to allow any of
the less agreeable subjects discussed by those so near to reach
her ears. The bustle of departure put an end to the conversation,
and, the baggage of the scouts or guides being trifling, in a few
minutes the whole party was ready to proceed. As they were about
to quit the spot, however, to the surprise of even his fellow-guides,
Pathfinder collected a quantity of branches and threw them upon the
embers of the fire, taking care even to see that some of the wood
was damp, in order to raise as dark and dense a smoke as possible.

"When you can hide your trail, Jasper," said he, "a smoke at leaving
an encampment may do good instead of harm. If there are a dozen
Mingos within ten miles of us, some of 'em are on the heights, or
in the trees, looking out for smokes; let them see this, and much
good may it do them. They are welcome to our leavings."

"But may they not strike and follow on our trail?" asked the youth,
whose interest in the hazard of his situation had much increased
since the meeting with Magnet. "We shall leave a broad path to
the river."

"The broader the better; when there, it will surpass Mingo cunning,
even, to say which way the canoe has gone - up stream or down.
Water is the only thing in natur' that will thoroughly wash out
a trail, and even water will not always do it when the scent is
strong. Do you not see, Eau-douce, that if any Mingos have seen
our path below the falls, they will strike off towards this smoke,
and that they will naturally conclude that they who began by going
up stream will end by going up stream. If they know anything,
they now know a party is out from the fort, and it will exceed even
Mingo wit to fancy that we have come up here just for the pleasure
of going back again, and that, too, the same day, and at the risk
of our scalps."

"Certainly," added Jasper, who was talking apart with the Pathfinder,
as they moved towards the wind-row, "they cannot know anything
about the Sergeant's daughter, for the greatest secrecy has been
observed on her account."

"And they will learn nothing here," returned Pathfinder, causing
his companion to see that he trod with the utmost care on the
impression left on the leaves by the little foot of Mabel; "unless
this old salt-water fish has been taking his niece about in the
wind-row, like a fa'n playing by the side of the old doe."

"Buck, you mean, Pathfinder."

"Isn't he a queerity? Now I can consort with such a sailor as
yourself, Eau-douce, and find nothing very contrary in our gifts,
though yours belong to the lakes and mine to the woods. Hark'e,
Jasper," continued the scout, laughing in his noiseless manner;
"suppose we try the temper of his blade and run him over the falls?"

"And what would be done with the pretty niece in the meanwhile?"

"Nay, nay, no harm shall come to her; she must walk round the
portage, at any rate; but you and I can try this Atlantic oceaner,
and then all parties will become better acquainted. We shall find
out whether his flint will strike fire; and he may come to know
something of frontier tricks."

Young Jasper smiled, for he was not averse to fun, and had been a
little touched by Cap's superciliousness; but Mabel's fair face,
light, agile form, and winning smiles, stood like a shield between
her uncle and the intended experiment.

"Perhaps the Sergeant's daughter will be frightened," said he.

"Not she, if she has any of the Sergeant's spirit in her. She
doesn't look like a skeary thing, at all. Leave it to me, then,
Eau-douce, and I will manage the affair alone."

"Not you, Pathfinder; you would only drown both. If the canoe goes
over, I must go in it."

"Well, have it so, then: shall we smoke the pipe of agreement on
the bargain?"

Jasper laughed, nodded his head by way of consent, and then the
subject was dropped, as the party had reached the canoe so often
mentioned, and fewer words had determined much greater things
between the parties.



CHAPTER III.

Before these fields were shorn and till'd,
Full to the brim our rivers flow'd;
The melody of waters fill'd
The fresh and boundless wood;
And torrents dash'd, and rivulets play'd,
And fountains spouted in the shade.
BRYANT.


It is generally known that the waters which flow into the southern
side of Ontario are, in general, narrow, sluggish, and deep.
There are some exceptions to this rule, for many of the rivers
have rapids, or, as they are termed in the language of the region,
"rifts," and some have falls. Among the latter was the particular
stream on which our adventurers were now journeying. The Oswego
is formed by the junction of the Oneida and the Onondaga, both of
which flow from lakes; and it pursues its way, through a gently
undulating country, some eight or ten miles, until it reaches the
margin of a sort of natural terrace, down which it tumbles some
ten or fifteen feet, to another level, across which it glides with
the silent, stealthy progress of deep water, until it throws its
tribute into the broad receptacle of the Ontario. The canoe in
which Cap and his party had travelled from Fort Stanwix, the last
military station of the Mohawk, lay by the side of this river,
and into it the whole party now entered, with the exception of
Pathfinder, who remained on the land, in order to shove the light
vessel off.

"Let her starn drift down stream, Jasper," said the man of the woods
to the young mariner of the lake, who had dispossessed Arrowhead
of his paddle and taken his own station as steersman; "let it go
down with the current. Should any of these infarnals, the Mingos,
strike our trail, or follow it to this point they will not fail to
look for the signs in the mud; and if they discover that we have
left the shore with the nose of the canoe up stream, it is a natural
belief to think we went up stream."

This direction was followed; and, giving a vigorous shove, the
Pathfinder, who was in the flower of his strength and activity, made
a leap, landing lightly, and without disturbing its equilibrium,
in the bow of the canoe. As soon as it had reached the centre of
the river or the strength of the current, the boat was turned, and
it began to glide noiselessly down the stream.

The vessel in which Cap and his niece had embarked for their
long and adventurous journey was one of the canoes of bark which
the Indians are in the habit of constructing, and which, by their
exceeding lightness and the ease with which they are propelled,
are admirably adapted to a navigation in which shoals, flood-wood,
and other similar obstructions so often occur. The two men
who composed its original crew had several times carried it, when
emptied of its luggage, many hundred yards; and it would not have
exceeded the strength of a single man to lift its weight. Still
it was long, and, for a canoe, wide; a want of steadiness being
its principal defect in the eyes of the uninitiated. A few hours
practice, however, in a great measure remedied this evil, and both
Mabel and her uncle had learned so far to humor its movements,
that they now maintained their places with perfect composure; nor
did the additional weight of the three guides tax its power in any
particular degree, the breath of the rounded bottom allowing the
necessary quantity of water to be displaced without bringing the
gunwale very sensibly nearer to the surface of the stream. Its
workmanship was neat; the timbers were small, and secured by
thongs; and the whole fabric, though it was so slight to the eye,
was probably capable of conveying double the number of persons
which it now contained.

Cap was seated on a low thwart, in the centre of the canoe; the
Big Serpent knelt near him. Arrowhead and his wife occupied places
forward of both, the former having relinquished his post aft. Mabel
was half reclining behind her uncle, while the Pathfinder and
Eau-douce stood erect, the one in the bow, and the other in the
stern, each using a paddle, with a long, steady, noiseless sweep. The
conversation was carried on in low tones, all the party beginning
to feel the necessity of prudence, as they drew nearer to the
outskirts of the fort, and had no longer the cover of the woods.

The Oswego, just at that place, was a deep dark stream of no great
width, its still, gloomy-looking current winding its way among
overhanging trees, which, in particular spots, almost shut out
the light of the heavens. Here and there some half-fallen giant of
the forest lay nearly across its surface, rendering care necessary
to avoid the limbs; and most of the distance, the lower branches
and leaves of the trees of smaller growth were laved by its waters.
The picture so beautifully described by our own admirable poet,
and which we have placed at the head of this chapter, was here
realized; the earth fattened by the decayed vegetation of centuries,
and black with loam, the stream that filled the banks nearly to
overflowing, and the "fresh and boundless wood," being all as visible
to the eye as the pen of Bryant has elsewhere vividly presented them
to the imagination. In short, the entire scene was one of a rich
and benevolent nature, before it had been subjected to the uses and
desires of man; luxuriant, wild, full of promise, and not without
the charm of the picturesque, even in its rudest state. It will
be remembered that this was in the year 175-, or long before even
speculation had brought any portion of western New York within the
bounds of civilization. At that distant day there were two great
channels of military communication between the inhabited portion
of the colony of New York and the frontiers which lay adjacent
to the Canadas, -- that by Lakes Champlain and George, and that by
means of the Mohawk, Wood Creek, the Oneida, and the rivers we have
been describing. Along both these lines of communication military
posts had been established, though there existed a blank space of
a hundred miles between the last fort at the head of the Mohawk
and the outlet of the Oswego, which embraced most of the distance
that Cap and Mabel had journeyed under the protection of Arrowhead.

"I sometimes wish for peace again," said the Pathfinder, "when one
can range the forest without searching for any other enemy than
the beasts and fishes. Ah's me! many is the day that the Sarpent,
there, and I have passed happily among the streams, living on
venison, salmon, and trout without thought of a Mingo or a scalp!
I sometimes wish that them blessed days might come back, for it is
not my real gift to slay my own kind. I'm sartain the Sergeant's
daughter don't think me a wretch that takes pleasure in preying on
human natur'?"

As this remark, a sort of half interrogatory, was made, Pathfinder
looked behind him; and, though the most partial friend could
scarcely term his sunburnt and hard features handsome, even Mabel
thought his smile attractive, by its simple ingenuousness and the
uprightness that beamed in every lineament of his honest countenance.

"I do not think my father would have sent one like those you
mention to see his daughter through the wilderness," the young
woman answered, returning the smile as frankly as it was given,
but much more sweetly.

"That he wouldn't; the Sergeant is a man of feeling, and many is the
march and the fight that we have had -- stood shoulder to shoulder
in, as _he_ would call it -- though I always keep my limbs free
when near a Frencher or a Mingo."

"You are, then, the young friend of whom my father has spoken so
often in his letters?"

"His _young_ friend -- the Sergeant has the advantage of me by thirty
years; yes, he is thirty years my senior, and as many my better."

"Not in the eyes of the daughter, perhaps, friend Pathfinder;"
put in Cap, whose spirits began to revive when he found the water
once more flowing around him. "The thirty years that you mention
are not often thought to be an advantage in the eyes of girls of
nineteen."

Mabel colored; and, in turning aside her face to avoid the looks
of those in the bow of the canoe, she encountered the admiring gaze
of the young man in the stern. As a last resource, her spirited
but soft blue eyes sought refuge in the water. Just at this moment
a dull, heavy sound swept up the avenue formed by the trees, borne
along by a light air that hardly produced a ripple on the water.

"That sounds pleasantly," said Cap, pricking up his ears like a
dog that hears a distant baying; "it is the surf on the shores of
your lake, I suppose?"

"Not so -- not so," answered the Pathfinder; "it is merely this
river tumbling over some rocks half a mile below us."

"Is there a fall in the stream?" demanded Mabel, a still brighter
flush glowing in her face.

"The devil! Master Pathfinder, or you, Mr. Eau-douce" (for so Cap
began to style Jasper), "had you not better give the canoe a sheer,
and get nearer to the shore? These waterfalls have generally rapids
above them, and one might as well get into the Maelstrom at once
as to run into their suction."

"Trust to us, friend Cap," answered Pathfinder; "we are but
fresh-water sailors, it is true, and I cannot boast of being much
even of that; but we understand rifts and rapids and cataracts;
and in going down these we shall do our endeavors not to disgrace
our edication."

"In going down!" exclaimed Cap. "The devil, man! you do not dream
of going down a waterfall in this egg shell of bark!"

"Sartain; the path lies over the falls, and it is much easier to
shoot them than to unload the canoe and to carry that and all it
contains around a portage of a mile by hand."

Mabel turned her pallid countenance towards the young man in the
stern of the canoe; for, just at that moment, a fresh roar of the
fall was borne to her ears by a new current of the air, and it
really sounded terrific, now that the cause was understood.

"We thought that, by landing the females and the two Indians,"
Jasper quietly observed, "we three white men, all of whom are used
to the water, might carry the canoe over in safety, for we often
shoot these falls."

"And we counted on you, friend mariner, as a mainstay," said
Pathfinder, winking to Jasper over his shoulder; "for you are
accustomed to see waves tumbling about; and without some one to
steady the cargo, all the finery of the Sergeant's daughter might
be washed into the river and be lost."

Cap was puzzled. The idea of going over a waterfall was, perhaps,
more serious in his eyes than it would have been in those of one
totally ignorant of all that pertained to boats; for he understood
the power of the element, and the total feebleness of man when
exposed to its fury. Still his pride revolted at the thought of
deserting the boat, while others not only steadily, but coolly,
proposed to continue in it. Notwithstanding the latter feeling,
and his innate as well as acquired steadiness in danger, he would
probably have deserted his post; had not the images of Indians
tearing scalps from the human head taken so strong hold of his
fancy as to induce him to imagine the canoe a sort of sanctuary.

"What is to be done with Magnet?" he demanded, affection for his
niece raising another qualm in his conscience. "We cannot allow
Magnet to land if there are enemy's Indians near?"

"Nay, no Mingo will be near the portage, for that is a spot too
public for their devilries," answered the Pathfinder confidently.
"Natur' is natur', and it is an Indian's natur' to be found where
he is least expected. No fear of him on a beaten path; for he
wishes to come upon you when unprepared to meet him, and the fiery
villains make it a point to deceive you, one way or another. Sheer
in, Eau-douce, and we will land the Sergeant's daughter on the end
of that log, where she can reach the shore with a dry foot."

The injunction was obeyed, and in a few minutes the whole party
had left the canoe, with the exception of Pathfinder and the two
sailors. Notwithstanding his professional pride, Cap would have
gladly followed; but he did not like to exhibit so unequivocal a
weakness in the presence of a fresh-water sailor.

"I call all hands to witness," said he, as those who had landed
moved away, "that I do not look on this affair as anything more than
canoeing in the woods. There is no seamanship in tumbling over a
waterfall, which is a feat the greatest lubber can perform as well
as the oldest mariner."

"Nay, nay, you needn't despise the Oswego Falls, neither," put in
Pathfinder; "for, thought they may not be Niagara, nor the Genessee,
nor the Cahoos, nor Glenn's, nor those on the Canada, they are
narvous enough for a new beginner. Let the Sergeant's daughter stand
on yonder rock, and she will see the manner in which we ignorant
backwoodsmen get over a difficulty that we can't get under. Now,
Eau-douce, a steady hand and a true eye, for all rests on you,
seeing that we can count Master Cap for no more than a passenger."

The canoe was leaving the shore as he concluded, while Mabel went
hurriedly and trembling to the rock that had been pointed out,
talking to her companion of the danger her uncle so unnecessarily
ran, while her eyes were riveted on the agile and vigorous form
of Eau-douce, as he stood erect in the stern of the light boat,
governing its movements. As soon, however, as she reached a point
where she got a view of the fall, she gave an involuntary but
suppressed scream, and covered her eyes. At the next instant, the
latter were again free, and the entranced girl stood immovable as
a statue, a scarcely breathing observer of all that passed. The
two Indians seated themselves passively on a log, hardly looking
towards the stream, while the wife of Arrowhead came near Mabel,
and appeared to watch the motions of the canoe with some such
interest as a child regards the leaps of a tumbler.

As soon as the boat was in the stream, Pathfinder sank on his
knees, continuing to use the paddle, though it was slowly, and in
a manner not to interfere with the efforts of his companion. The
latter still stood erect; and, as he kept his eye on some object
beyond the fall, it was evident that he was carefully looking for
the spot proper for their passage.