own breakfast, with the resignation of a philosopher, the
coolness of a veteran, the ingenuity and science of a
Frenchman, and the voracity of an ostrich.
This per-
son had now been in the colony some thirty years, hav-
ing left France in some such situation, in his own army,
as Muir filled in the 55th. An iron constitution, per-
fect obduracy of feeling, a certain address well suited to
manage savages, and an indomitable courage, had early
pointed him out to the commander-in-chief as a suitable
agent to be employed in directing the military operations
of his Indian allies. In this capacity, then, he had risen
to the titular rank of captain; and with his promotion,
had acquired a portion of the habits and opinions of his
associates, with a facility and an adaptation of self that
are thought in this part of the world to be peculiar to
his countrymen. He had often led parties of the Iro-
quois in their predatory expeditions; and his conduct
on such occasions exhibited the contradictory results of
both alleviating the misery produced by this species of
warfare, and of augmenting it, by the broader views and
the greater resources of civilization. In other words, he
planned enterprises, that, in their importance and conse-
quences, much exceeded the usual policy of the Indians,
and then stepped in to lessen some of the evils of his
own creating. In short, he was an adventurer whom
circumstances had thrown into a situation where the
callous qualities of men of his class might readily show
themselves, for good or for evil; and he was not of a
character to baffle fortune by any ill-timed squeamishness
on the score of early impressions, or to trifle with her
liberality, by unnecessarily provoking her frowns through
wanton cruelty. Still, as his name was unavoidably
connected with many of the excesses committed by his
parties, he was generally considered, in the American Pro-
vinces, a wretch who delighted in bloodshed, and who
found his greatest happiness in tormenting the helpless
and the innocent, and the name of Sanglier, which
was a sobriquet of his own adopting, or of Flint Heart,
as he was usually termed on the borders, had got to be

as terrible to the women and children of that part of the country as those of Butler and Brandt became at a later day.

The meeting between Pathfinder and Sanglier bore some resemblance to that celebrated interview between Wellington and Blucher, which has been so often and graphically told. It took place at the fire and the parties stood earnestly regarding each other for more than a minute without speaking. Each felt that in the other he saw a formidable foe; and each felt, while he ought to treat the other with the manly liberality due to a warrior, that there was little in common between them, in the way of character, as well as of interests. One served for money and preferment; the other, because his life had been cast in the wilderness, and the land of his birth needed his arm and experience. The desire of rising above his present situation never disturbed the tranquillity of Pathfinder; nor had he ever known an ambitious thought as ambition usually betrays itself until he became acquainted with Mabel. Since then, indeed, distrust of himself, reverence for her, and the wish to place her in a situation above that which he then filled, had caused him some uneasy moments, but the directness and simplicity of his character had early afforded the required relief; and he soon came to feel that the woman who would not hesitate to accept him for her husband would not scruple to share his fortunes, however humble. He respected Sanglier as a brave warrior; and he had far too much of that liberality which is the result of practical knowledge, to believe half of what he had heard to his prejudice; for the most bigoted and illiberal on every subject are usually those who know nothing about it; but he could not approve of his selfishness, cold blooded calculations, and, least of all, of the manner in which he forgot his "white gifts," to adopt those that were purely "red." On the other hand, Pathfinder was a riddle to Captain Sanglier. The latter could not comprehend the other's motives; he had often heard of his disinterestedness, justice, and truth; and,

in several instances, they had led him into grave errors, on that principle by which a frank and open-mouthed diplomatist is said to keep his secrets better than one that is close-mouthed and wily.

After the two heroes had gazed at each other, in the manner mentioned, Monsieur Sanglier touched his cap; for the rudeness of a border life had not entirely destroyed the courtesy of manner he had acquired in youth, nor extinguished that appearance of bonhomie which seems inbred in a Frenchman.

"Monsieur le Pathfindair," he said, with a very decided accent, though with a friendly smile, "un militaire honor le courage et la loyauté. You speak Iroquois ?"

"Aye, I understand the language of the riptyles, and can get along with it, if there's occasion," returned the liberal and truth-telling guide; "but it's neither a tongue nor a tribe to my taste. Wherever you find the Mingo blood, in my opinion, Master Flinty-Heart, you find a knave. Well, I've seen you often, though it was in battle; and I must say, it was always in the van. You must know most of our bullets by sight?"

“Nevvair, sair, your own; une balle from your honorable hand be sairtaine deat'. You kill my best warrior on some island."

"That may be that may be; though I dare say, if the truth was known, they would turn out to be great rascals. No offense to you, Master Flinty-Heart, but you keep desperate evil company."

"Yes, sair," returned the Frenchman, who, bent on saying that which was courteous himself, and comprehending with difficulty, was disposed to think he received. a compliment, "you too good. But, un brave always comme cà. What that mean ha! what that jeune

homme do?"

The hand and eye of Captain Sanglier directed the look of Pathfinder to the opposite side of the fire, where Jasper, just at that moment, had been rudely seized by two of the soldiers, who were binding his arms under the direction of Muir.

"What does that mean, indeed?" cried the guide, stepping forward, and shoving the two subordinates away with a power of muscle that would not be denied. "Who has the heart to do this to Jasper Eau-douce; and who has the boldness to do it before my eyes?"

"It is by my orders, Pathfinder," answered the quartermaster; "and I command it on my own responsibility. Ye'll no tak' on yourself to dispute the legality of orders given by one who bears the king's commission to the king's soldiers?"

"I'd dispute the king's words if they came from the king's own mouth, did they say that Jasper desarves. this. Has not the lad just saved all our scalps? taken us from defeat, and given us victory? No, no, lieutenant; if this is the first use that you make of your author.ity, I for one will not respect it."

"This savors a little of insubordination," answered Muir; "but we can bear much from Pathfinder. It is true this Jasper has seemed to serve us in this affair; but we ought not to overlook past transactions. Did not Major Duncan himself denounce him to Sergeant Dunham, before we left the post? Have we not seen sufficient with our own eyes to make sure of having been betrayed? And is it not natural, and almost necessary to believe that this young man has been the traitor? Ah! Pathfinder, ye'll no be makin' yourself a great statesman or a great captain, if you put too much faith in appearances. Lord bless me! Lord bless me! if I do not believe, could the truth be come at, as you often say yourself, Pathfinder, that hypocrisy is a more common vice than even envy; and that's the bane o' human nature."

Captain Sanglier shrugged his shoulders; then he looked earnestly from Jasper towards the quartermaster, and from the quartermaster towards Jasper.

"I care not for your envy or your hypocrisy, or even for your human natur'," returned Pathfinder. "Jasper Eau-douce is my friend; Jasper Eau - douce is a brave lad, and an honest lad, and a loyal lad; and no man of

the 55th shall lay hands on him short of Lundie's own orders, while I'm in the way to prevent it.

You may

have authority over your soldiers, but you have none over Jasper or me, Master Muir."

"Bon!" ejaculated Sanglier, the sound partaking equally of the energies of the throat and of the nose.

"Will ye no hearken to reason, Pathfinder? Ye'll no be forgetting our suspicions and judgments; and here is another circumstance to augment and aggravate them all. Ye can see this little bit of bunting; well, where should it be found but by Mabel Dunham, on the branch of a tree, on this very island, just an hour or so before the attack of the enemy; and if ye'll be at the trouble to look at the fly of the Scud's ensign, ye'll just say that the cloth has been cut from out it. Circumstantial evidence was never stronger."

"Ma foi, c'est un peu fort, ceci," growled Sanglier, between his teeth.

"Talk to me of no ensigns and signals, when I know the heart," continued the Pathfinder. "Jasper has the gift of honesty; and it is too rare a gift to be trifled with like a Mingo's conscience. No, no; off hands, or we shall see which can make the stoutest battle — you, and your men of the 55th, or the Sarpent here, and Killdeer, with Jasper and his crew. You overrate your force, Lieutenant Muir, as much as you underrate Eaudouce's truth."

"Très bon!"

"Well, if I must speak plainly, Pathfinder, I e'en must. Captain Sanglier here, and Arrowhead, this brave Tuscarora, have both informed me that this unfortunate boy is the traitor. After such testimony you can no longer oppose my right to correct him, as well as the necessity of the act."

"Scélérat," muttered the Frenchman.

66

Captain Sanglier is a brave soldier, and will not gainsay the conduct of an honest sailor," put in Jasper.

there any traitor here, Captain Flinty-Heart?"

"Is

"Aye," added Muir, "let him speak out then, since ye