1 上 Ik of N cares less A. Le T and of ever - which there are artisti vor their p with! I sometimes to, tra uced scouts on the wishes to see e as at present, the and neither my dear fath Mabel to note the w Listener, but her own. she spoke with way to show how t and how sincere a little flushed, it i trembled, no pulsation In short, her manner and appearance were those of a sincere-minded and frank girl, making such a declaration of good-will and regard for one of the other sex as she felt that his services and good qualities merited, without any of the emotion that invariably accompanies the consciousness of an inclination which might lead to softer disclosures. The Pathfinder was too unpracticed, however, to enter into distinctions of this kind, and his humble nature was encouraged by the directness and strength of the words he had just heard. Unwilling, if not unable to say any more, he walked away, and stood leaning on his rifle and looking up at the stars for quite ten minutes, in profound silence. In the meanwhile, the interview on the bastion, to which we have already alluded, took place between Lundie and the sergeant. “Have the men's knapsacks been examined?" demanded Major Duncan, after he had cast his eye at a written report, handed to him by the sergeant, but which it was too dark to read. "All, your honor; and all are right." "All in order, Major Duncan, and fit for any service." "You have the men named in my own draft, Dunham?" "Without an exception, sir. Better men could not be found in the regiment." "You have need of the best of our men, sergeant. This experiment has now been tried three times; always under one of the ensigns, who have flattered me with success, but have as often failed. After so much preparation and expense, I do not like to abandon the project entirely; but this will be the last effort: and the result will mainly depend on you and on the Pathfinder.” "You may count on us both, Major Duncan. The duty you have given us is not above our habits and experience, and I think it will be well done. I know that the Pathfinder will not be wanting." "On that, indeed, it will be safe to rely. He is a most extraordinary man, Dunham one who long puzzled me; but who, now that I understand him, commands as much of my respect as any general in his Majesty's service." "I was in hopes, sir, that you would come to look at the proposed marriage with Mabel as a thing I ought to wish and forward." "As for that, sergeant, time will show," returned Lundie, smiling, though here, too, the obscurity concealed the nicer shades of expression; "one woman is sometimes more difficult to manage than a whole regiment of men. By the way, you know that your would-be sonin-law, the quartermaster, will be of the party; and I trust you will at least give him an equal chance in the trial for your daughter's smiles." "If respect for his rank, sir, did not cause me to do this, your honor's wish would be sufficient." "I thank you, sergeant. We have served much together, and ought to value each other in our several stations. Understand me, however: I ask no more for Davy Muir than a clear field and no favor. In love, as in war, each man must gain his own victories. Are you certain that the rations have been properly calculated?" "I'll answer for it, Major Duncan; but if they were not, we cannot suffer with two such hunters as Pathfinder and the Serpent in company." "That will never do, Dunham," interrupted Lundie, sharply, "and it comes of your American birth and American training! No thorough soldier ever relies on anything but his commissary for supplies; and I beg no part of my regiment may be the first to set an example to the contrary." "You have only to command, Major Duncan, to be obeyed; and yet, if I might presume, sir" "Speak freely, sergeant, you are talking with a friend." "I was merely about to say, that I find even the Scotch soldiers like venison and birds quite as well as pork, when they are difficult to be had." "That may be very true; but likes and dislikes have nothing to do with system. An army can rely on nothing but its commissaries. The irregularity of the provincials has played the devil with the king's service too long to be winked at any longer." 66 General Braddock, your honor, might have been advised by Colonel Washington." "Out upon your Washington! You're all provincials together, man, and uphold each other as if you were of a sworn confederacy." "I believe his Majesty has no more loyal subjects than the Americans, your honor." "In that, Dunham, I'm thinking you 're right; and I have been a little too warm, perhaps. I do not consider you a provincial, however, sergeant; for, though born in America, a better soldier never shouldered a musket." "And Colonel Washington, your honor?" You "Well; and Colonel Washington may be a useful subject, too. He is the American prodigy; and I suppose I may as well give him all the credit you ask. have no doubt of the skill of this Jasper Eau-douce?" "The boy has been tried, sir; and found equal to all that can be required of him." "He has a French name, and has passed much of his boyhood in the French colonies: has he French blood in his veins, sergeant?" "Not a drop, your honor. Jasper's father was an old comrade of my own, and his mother came of an honest and loyal family, in this very province." "How came he then so much among the French, and whence his name? He speaks the language of the Canadas, too, I find!" "That is easily explained, Major Duncan. The boy was left under the care of one of our mariners in the old war, and he took to the water like a duck. Your honor knows that we have no ports on Ontario, that can be named as such, and he naturally passed most of his time on the other side of the lake, where the French have had a few vessels these fifty years. He learned to speak their language, as a matter of course, and got his name from the Indians and Canadians, who are fond of calling men by their qualities, as it might be." "A French master is but a poor instructor for a British sailor, notwithstanding!" "I beg your pardon, sir; Jasper Eau-douce was brought up under a real English seaman; one that had sailed under the king's pennant, and may be called a thoroughbred; that is to say, a subject born in the colonies, but none the worse at his trade, I hope, Major Duncan, for that." "Perhaps not, sergeant; perhaps not; nor any better. This Jasper behaved well, too, when I gave him the command of the Scud; no lad could have conducted himself more loyally, or better." "Or more bravely, Major Duncan. I am sorry to see, sir, that you have doubts as to the fidelity of Jasper." "It is the duty of the soldier who is intrusted with the care of a distant and important post like this, Dunham, never to relax in his vigilance. We have two of the most artful enemies that the world has ever produced, in their several ways, to contend with — the Indians and the French; and nothing should be overlooked that can lead to injury." "I hope your honor considers me fit to be intrusted with any particular reason that may exist for doubting Jasper, since you have seen fit to intrust me with this command." "It is not that I doubt you, Dunham, that I hesitate to reveal all I may happen to know, but from a strong reluctance to circulate an evil report concerning one of whom I have hitherto thought well. You must think well of the Pathfinder, or you would not wish to give him your daughter?" For the Pathfinder's honesty, I will answer with my life, sir," returned the sergeant firmly, and not without a dignity of manner that struck his superior. "Such a man does n't know how to be false." "I believe you are right, Dunham, and yet this last information has unsettled all my old opinions. I have received an anonymous communication, sergeant, advising |