"
"We don't blame wind, weather and water upon you, Captain Van Zouten,"
laughed Willet, "and although I'm no seaman if you'd have consulted me
I too would have suggested shelter for the night."
Captain Van Zouten breathed his relief.
"If my passengers are satisfied," he said, "then so am I."
All the sails were furled, the sloop was anchored securely in a cove
where she could not injure herself, no matter how fiercely the wind
might beat, and Robert and Tayoga, wrapped in their fur cloaks, stood
on her deck, watching the advance of the fierce winter storm, and
remembering those other storms they had passed through on Lake
Champlain, although there was no danger of Indians here.
It began to snow heavily, and a fierce wind whistled among the
mountains behind them, lashing the river also into high waves, but the
sloop was a tight, strong craft, and it rocked but little in its snug
cove. Despite snow, wind and darkness Robert, Tayoga and the hunter
remained a long, time on deck. The Onondaga's feather headdress had
been replaced by a fur cap, similar to those now worn by Robert and
Willet, and all three were wrapped in heavy cloaks of furs.
Robert was still thinking of New York, a town that he knew to some
extent, and yet he was traveling toward it with a feeling akin to that
with which he had approached Quebec.
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