them, though gals is the name I've been taught to use, are of more account in this life, than I could have believed. Now, afore I know'd you, the new-born babe did not sleep more sweetly than I used to could; my head was no sooner on the root, or the stone, or may hap on the skin, than all was lost to the senses, unless it might be to go over, in the night, the business of the day, in a dream, like; and there I lay till the moment came to be stirring, and the swallows were not more certain to be on the wing, with the light, than I to be afoot, at the moment I wished to be. All this seemed a gift, and might be calculated on, even in the midst of a Mingo camp; for I've been outlying, in my time, in the very vil lages of the vagabonds."

"And all this will return to you, Pathfinder; for one so upright and sincere will never waste his happiness on a mere fancy. You will dream again, of your hunts, of the deer you have slain, and of the beaver you have taken."

"Ah's me, Mabel, I wish never to dream again! Before we met, I had a sort of pleasure in following up the hounds, in fancy, as it might be; and even in striking a trail of the Iroquois-nay, I've been in skrimmages, and ambushments, in thought, like, and found satisfaction in it, according to my gifts; but all those things have lost their charms since I've made acquaintance with you. Now, I think no longer of any thing rude in my dreams, but the very last night we staid in the garrison, I imagined I had a cabin in a grove of sugar maples, and at the root of every tree was a Mabel Dunham, while the birds that were among the branches, sung ballads, instead of the notes that natur' gave, and even the deer stopped to listen. I tried to shoot a fa'an, but Killdeer missed fire, and the creatur' laughed in my face, as pleasantly as a young girl laughs in her merriment, and then it bounded away, looking back, as if expecting me to follow.”

"No more of this, Pathfinder-we'll talk no more of these things," said Mabel, dashing the tears from her eyes; for the simple, earnest manner in which this hardy woodsman betrayed the deep hold she had taken of his feelings, nearly proved too much for her own generous heart. "Now, let us look for my father; he cannot be distant, as I heard his gun, quite near.

"The sarjeant was wrong-yes, he was wrong, and it's

of no avail to attempt to make the dove consort with the wolf."

"Here comes my dear father," interrupted Mabel; "let us look cheerful and happy, Pathfinder, as such good friends ought to look, and keep each other's secrets."

A pause succeeded; the serjeant's foot was heard crushing the dried twigs hard by, and then his form appeared shoving aside the bushes of a copse, quite near. As he issued into the open ground, the old soldier scrutinized his daughter and her companion, and speaking good-naturedly, he said

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Mabel, child; you are young and light of foot-look for a bird I've shot, that fell just beyond the thicket of young hemlocks, on the shore; and,'as Jasper is showing signs of an intention of getting under way, you need not take the trouble to clamber up this hill again, but we will meet you, on the beach, in a few minutes "

Mabel obeyed, bounding down the hill with the elastic step of youth and health. But, notwithstanding the lightness of her steps, the heart of the girl was heavy, and no sooner was she hid from observation, by the thicket, than she threw herself on the root of a tree, and wept as if her heart would break. The serjeant watched her until she disappeared, with a father's pride, and then turned to his companion, with a smile as kind and as familiar as his habits would allow him to use towards any.

"She has her mother's lightness and activity, my friend, with somewhat of her father's force,” he said. "Her mother was not quite as handsome, I think myself; but the Dunhams were always thought comely, whether men or women. Well, Pathfinder, I take it for granted you've not overlooked the opportunity, but have spoken plainly to the girl? women like frankness, in matters of this sort."

"I believe Mabel and I understand each other, at last, sarjeant," returned the other, looking another way to avoid the soldier's face.

"So much the better. Some people fancy that a little doubt and uncertainty makes love all the livelier, but I am one of those who think the plainer the tongue speaks, the easier the mind will comprehend. Was Mabel surprised?"

"I fear she was, sarjeant; I fear she was taken quite by surprise-yes, I do."

"Well, well, surprises in love, are like an ambush in war, and quite as lawful; though it is not as easy to tell when a woman is surprised, as to tell when it happens to an enemy. Mabel did not run away, my worthy friend, did she?"

No, sarjeant, Mabel did not try to escape; that I can say with a clear conscience."

"I hope the girl was not too willing, neither! Her mother was shy and coy for a month, at least-but frankness, after all, is a recommendation, in man or woman.

"That it is—that it is—and judgment, too."

"You are not to look for too much judgment in a young creature of twenty, Pathfinder, but it will come with experiA mistake in you, or in me, for instance, might not be so easily overlooked, but in a girl of Mabel's years, one is not to strain at a gnat, lest they swallow a camel."

ence.

The reader will remember that Serjeant Dunham was not a Hebrew scholar.

The muscles of the listener's face twitched, as the serjeant was thus delivering his sentiments, though the former had now recovered a portion of that stoicism which formed so large a part of his character, and which he had probably imbibed from long association with the Indians. His eyes rose and fell, and once a gleam shot athwart his hard features, as if he were about to indulge in his peculiar laugh, but the joyous feeling, if it really existed, was as quickly lost in a look allied to anguish. It was this unusual mixture of wild and keen mental agony, with native, simple, joyousness, that had most struck Mabel, who, in the interview just related, had a dozen times been on the point of believing that her suitor's heart was only lightly touched, as images of happiness and humour gleamed over a mind that was almost infantine in its simplicity and nature; an impression, however, that was soon driven away, by the discovery of emo tions so painful and so deep, that they seemed to harrow the very soul. Indeed, in this respect, the Pathfinder was a mere child: : unpractised in the ways of the world, he had no idea of concealing a thought of any kind, and his mind received and reflected each emotion, with the pliability and readiness of that period of life; the infant scarcely yielding its wayward imagination to the passing impression, with greater facility, than this man, so simple in all his personal feelings,

so stern, stoical, masculine and severe in all that touched his ordinary pursuits.

"You say true, sarjeant," Pathfinder answered-" take in one like you is a more serious matter."

a mis

"You will find Mabel sincere and honest in the end, give her but a little time."

"Ah's me, sarjeant!"

"A man of your merits, would make an impression on a rock, give him time, Pathfinder."

"Sarjeant Dunham, we are old fellow campaigners-that is, as campaigns are carried on here in the wilderness; and we have done so many kind acts to each other, that we can afford to be candid-what has caused you to believe that a girl like Mabel could ever fancy one as rude as I am?"

"What?-why a variety of reasons, and good reasons, too, my friend. Those same acts of kindness, perhaps, and the campaigns you mention; moreover, you are my sworn and tried comrade."

"All this sounds well, so far as you and I are consarned, but they do not touch the case of your pretty daughter. She may think these very campaigns have destroyed the little comeliness I may once have had, and I am not quite sartain that being an old friend of her father would lead any young maiden's mind into a particular affection for a suitor. Like loves like, I tell you, sarjeant, and my gifts are not altogether the gifts of Mabel Dunham."

"These are some of your old modest qualms, Pathfinder, and will do you no credit with the girl. Women distrust men who distrust themselves, and take to men who distrust nothing. Modesty is a capital thing in a recruit, I grant you ; or in a young subaltern who has just joined, for it prevents his railing at the non-commissioned officers, before he knows what to rail at; I'm not sure it is out of place in a commissary, or a parson, but it's the devil and all when it gets possession of either a real soldier, or a lover. Have as little to do with it as possible, if you would win a woman's heart. As for your doctrine that like loves like, it is as wrong as possible, in matters of this sort. If like loved like, women would love one another, and men also. No-no-like loves dislike," the serjeant was merely a scholar of the camp, "and you have nothing to fear from Mabel on that score.

Look at Lieutenant Muir; the man has had five wives, already, they tell me, and there is no more modesty in him than there is in a cat-o'-nine-tails."

"Lieutenant Muir will never be the husband of Mabel Dunham, let him ruffle his feathers as much as he may."

"That is a sensible remark of yours, Pathfinder, for my mind is made up that you shall be my son-in-law. If I were an officer myself, Mr. Muir might have some chance; but time has placed one door between my child and myself, and I don't intend there shall be that of a marquee, also."

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Sarjeant, we must let Mabel follow her own fancy; she is young and light of heart, and God forbid that any wish of mine should lay the weight of a feather on a mind that is all gaiety now, or take one note of happiness from her. laughter."

"Have you conversed freely with the girl?" the serjeant demanded quickly, and with some asperity of manner.

Pathfinder was too honest to deny a truth plain as that which the answer required, and yet too honourable to betray Mabel, and expose her to the resentment of one whom he well knew to be stern in his anger.

"We have laid open our minds," he said, "and though Mabel's is one that any man might love to look at, I find little there, sarjeant, to make me think any better of myself.” "The girl has not dared to refuse you to refuse her father's best friend?"

Pathfinder turned his face away to conceal the look of anguish, that consciousness told him was passing athwart it, but he continued the discourse in his own quiet manly tones.

"Mabel is too kind to refuse any thing, or to utter harsh words to a dog. I have not put the question in a way to be downright refused, serjeant."

"And did you expect my daughter to jump into your arms, before you asked her? She would not have been her mother's child had she done any such thing, nor do I think she would have been mine. The Dunhams like plain dealing, as well as the King's Majesty, but they are no jumpers. Leave me to manage this matter for you, Pathfinder, and there shall be no unnecessary delay. I'll speak to Mabel myself, this very evening, using your name as principal in the affair."

"I'd rather not-I'd rather not, sarjeant. Leave the mat