"By Gosh, I wish I had the curst British rascal who played me this trick, on t'other shore--if I wouldn't tuck my knife into his b----y gizzard, then is my name not Jeremiah Desborough. What the h--l's to be done now?" Taking advantage of his entrance into the hut, the two individuals, first described, had stolen cautiously under cover of the forest, until they arrived at its termination, within about twenty yards of the shore, where however there was no outward or visible sign of the individual who had been Desborough's companion. In the bows of the canoe were piled the blankets, and in the centre was deposited the provision bag that had formed a portion of their mutual load. The mast had not been hoisted, but lay extended along the hull, its sail loosened and partially covering the before mentioned article of freightage. The bow half of the canoe pressed the beach, the other lay sunk in the water, apparently in the manner in which it had first approached the land. Still uttering curses, but in a more subdued tone, against "the fellor who had stolen his small bores," the angry Desborough retraced his steps to the canoe. More than once he looked back to see if he could discover any traces of the purloiner, until at length his countenance seemed to assume an expression of deeper cause for concern, than even the loss of his weapons. "Ha, I expect some d----d spy has been on the look out-- if so, I must cut and run I calculate purty soon." This apprehension was expressed as he arrived opposite the point where the forest terminated. A slight rustling among the underwood reduced that apprehension to certainty. He grasped the handle of his huge knife that was thrust into the girdle around his loins, and rivetting his gaze on the point whence the sound had proceeded, retreated in that attitude. Another and more distinct crush of underwood, and he stood still with surprise, on finding himself face to face with two officers of the garrison. "We have alarmed you, Desborough," said the younger, as they both advanced leisurely to the beach. "Do you apprehend danger from our presence?" A keen searching glance flashed from the ferocious eye of the Yankee. It was but momentary. Quitting his firm grasp of the knife, he suffered his limbs to relax their tension, and aiming at carelessness, observed, with a smile, that was tenfold more hideous from its being forced: "Well now, I guess, who would have expected to see two officers so fur away from the fort at this early hour of the mornin'." "Ah," said the taller of the two, availing himself of the first opening to a pun which had been afforded, "we are merely out on a SHOOTING excursion." Desborough gazed doubtingly on the speaker--"Strange sort of a dress that for shootin' I guess--them cloaks most be a great tanglement in the bushes." "They serve to keep our ARMS warm," continued Middlemore, perpetrating another of his execrables.