The Pathfinder or, The Inland Sea by Cooper James Fenimore

Author:Cooper, James Fenimore
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: (Privatkopie)
Published: 2010-02-02T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter XVI

»Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form

Glasses itself in tempests; in all time,

Calm or convulsed – in breeze, or gale, or storm,

Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime

Dark heaving; – boundless, endless and sublime –

The image of Eternity; the throne

Of the Invisible; even from out thy slime

The monsters of the deep are made; each zone

Obeys thee; thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, alone.«

Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, IV.clxxxiii.

As the day advanced, the portion of the inmates of the vessel that had the liberty of doing so, appeared on deck. As yet the sea was not very high, from which it was inferred that the cutter was still under the lee of the islands, but it was apparent to all who understood the lake, that they were about to experience one of the heavy autumnal gales of that region. Land was nowhere visible, and the horizon, on every side, exhibited that gloomy void, which lends to all views on vast bodies of water, the sublimity of mystery. The swells, or as landsmen term them, the waves, were short and curling, breaking of necessity sooner than the longer seas of the ocean, while the element itself, instead of presenting that beautiful hue, which rivals the deep tint of the southern sky, looked green and angry, though wanting in the lustre that is derived from the rays of the sun.

The soldiers were soon satisfied with the prospect, and, one by one, they disappeared, until none were left on deck but the crew, the Serjeant, Cap, Pathfinder, the Quarter Master, and Mabel. There was a shade on the brow of the latter, who had been made acquainted with the real state of things, and who had fruitlessly ventured an appeal in favor of Jasper's restoration to the command. A night's rest and a night's reflection appeared also to have confirmed the Pathfinder in his opinion of the young man's innocence, and he, too, had made a warm appeal in behalf of his friend, though with the same want of success.

Several hours passed away, the wind gradually getting to be heavier, and the sea rising, until the motion of the cutter compelled Mabel and the Quarter Master to retreat, also. Cap wore several times, and it was now evident that the Scud was drifting into the broader and deeper parts of the lake, the seas raging down upon her in a way that none but a vessel of superior mould and build could have long ridden, and withstood. All this, however, gave Cap no uneasiness, but like the hunter that pricks his ears at the sound of the horn, or the war horse that paws and snorts with pleasure at the roll of the drum, the whole scene awakened all that was man within him, and instead of the captious, supercilious and dogmatic critic, quarrelling with trifles and exaggerating immaterial things, he began to exhibit the qualities of the hardy and experienced seaman, that he truly was. The hands soon imbibed a respect for his

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