"That is her gift, sergeant," exclaimed Pathfinder, turning to his old comrade, with gratification written on every lineament of his honest countenance, "and it will have its way. I tell the Sarpent, that no Christianizing will ever make even a Delaware a white man; nor any whooping and yelling convart a paleface into a redskin. That is the gift of a young woman born of Christian parents, and it ought to be maintained." "You are right, Pathfinder; and so far as Mabel Dunham is concerned, it shall be maintained. But it is time to break your fasts, and if you will follow me, brother Cap, I will show you how we poor soldiers live, here on a distant frontier." CHAPTER IX. Now my co-mates and brothers in exile, SHAKESPEARE: As You Like It, II. i. 1. SERGEANT DUNHAM made no empty vaunt when he gave the promise conveyed in the closing words of the last chapter. Notwithstanding the remote frontier position of the post, they who lived at it enjoyed a table that, in many respects, kings and princes might have envied. At the period of our tale, and indeed for half a century later, the whole of that vast region which has been called the West, or the new countries, since the war of the Revolution, lay a comparatively unpeopled desert, teeming with all the living productions of nature that properly belonged to the climate, man and the domestic animals excepted. The few Indians that roamed its forests then could produce no visible effects on the abundance of the game; and the scattered garrisons, or occasional hunters that here and there were to be met with on that vast surface, had no other influence than the bee on the buckwheat field, or the bumming-bird on the flower. The marvels that have descended to our own times, in the way of tradition, concerning the quantities of beasts, birds, and fishes, that were then to be met with, on the shores of the Great Lakes in particular, are known to be sustained by the experience of living men, else we might hesitate about relating them; but having been eye-witnesses of some of these prodigies, our office shall be discharged with the confidence that certainty can impart. Oswego was particularly well placed to keep the larder of an epicure amply supplied. Fish of various sorts abounded in its river, and the sportsman had only to cast his line to haul in a bass, or some other member of the finny tribe, which then peopled the waters as the air above the swamps of this fruitful latitude is known to be filled with insects. Among others was the salmon of the lakes, a variety of that well known species that is scarcely inferior to the delicious salmon of northern Europe. Of the different migratory birds that frequent forests and waters, there was the same affluence, hundreds of acres of geese and ducks being often seen at a time, in the great bays that indent the shores of the lake. Deer, bears, rabbits, and squirrels, with divers other quadrupeds, among which was sometimes included the elk or moose, helped to complete the sum of the natural supplies, on which all the posts depended, more or less, to relieve the unavoidable privations of their remote frontier positions. In a place where viands that would elsewhere be deemed great luxuries were so abundant, no one was excluded from their enjoyment. The meanest individual at Oswego habitually feasted on game that would have formed the boast of a Parisian table; and it was no more than a healthful commentary on the caprices of taste and of the waywardness of human desires, that the very diet which in other scenes would have been deemed the subject of envy and repinings, got to pall on the appetite. The coarse and regular food of the army, which it became necessary to husband on account of the difficulty of transportation, rose in the estimation of the common soldier, and at any time he would cheerfully desert his venison, and ducks, and pigeons, and salmon, to banquet on the sweets of pickled pork, stringy turnips, and half-cooked cabbage. The table of Sergeant Dunham, as a matter of course, partook of the abundance and luxuries of the frontier as well as of its privations. A delicious broiled salmon smoked on a homely platter, hot venison steaks sent up their appetizing odors, and several dishes of cold meats, all of which were composed of game, had been set before the guests in honor of the newly arrived visitors, and in vindication of the old soldier's hospitality. "You do not seem to be on short allowance in this quarter of the world, sergeant," said Cap, after he had got fairly initiated into the mysteries of the different dishes; "your salmon might satisfy a Scotsman.' "It fails to do it, notwithstanding, brother Cap; for among two or three hundred of the fellows that we have in this garrison, there are not half a dozen who will not swear that the fish is unfit to be eaten. Even some of the lads who never tasted venison, except as poachers, at home, turn up their noses at the fattest haunches that we get here." Aye, that is Christian natur'," put in Pathfinder, "and I must say it is none to its credit. Now, a redskin never repines, but is always thankful for the food he gets, whether it be fat or lean, venison or bear, wild turkey's breast or wild goose's wing. To the shame of us white men be it said that we look upon blessings without satisfaction, and consider trifling evils matters of great account. "It is so with the 55th, as I can answer, though I cannot say as much for their Christianity," returned the sergeant. "Even the major himself, old Duncan of Lundie, will sometimes swear an oatmeal cake is better fare than the Oswego bass, and sigh for a swallow of Highland water, when, if so minded, he has the whole of Ontario to quench his thirst in." + The Magic Flute "Has Major Duncan a wife and children?" asked Mabel, whose thoughts naturally turned towards her own sex in her new situation. "Not he, girl; though they do say that he has a betrothed at home. The lady, it seems, is willing to wait rather than suffer the hardships of service in this wild region, all of which, brother Cap, is not according to my notions of a woman's duties. Your sister thought differently, and had it pleased God to spare her would have been sitting at this moment on the very camp-stool that her daughter so well becomes." "I hope, sergeant, you do not think of Mabel for a soldier's wife," returned Cap, gravely. "Our family has done its share in that way already and it's high time that the sea was again remembered." "I do not think of finding a husband for the girl in the 55th, or any other regiment, I can promise you, brother, though I do think it getting to be time that the child were respectably married." "Father!" "'Tis not their gifts, sergeant, to talk of these matters in so open a manner, ," said the guide, "for I've seen it verified by exper'ence, that he who would follow the trail of a virgin's good-will must not go shouting out his thoughts behind her. So, if you please, we will talk of something else." "Well, then, brother Cap, I hope that bit of a cold roasted pig is to your mind; you seem to fancy the food." "Aye, aye, give me civilized grub, if I must eat," returned the pertinacious seaman. "Venison is well enough for your inland sailors, but we of the ocean like a little of that which we understand.' 99 Here Pathfinder laid down his knife and fork, and indulged in a hearty laugh, though always in his silent manner; then he asked, with a little curiosity in his manner, 66 Don't you miss the skin, Master Cap - don't you miss the skin?" "It would have been better for its jacket, I think myself, Pathfinder; but I suppose it is a fashion of the woods to serve up shoats in this style." "Well, well, a man may go round the 'arth and not know everything! If you had had the skinning of that pig, Master Cap, it would have left you sore hands. The creatur' is a hedge-hog!" "Blast me, if I thought it wholesome natural pork, either," returned Cap. "But then I believed even а pig might lose some of its good qualities, up hereaway, in the woods. It seemed no more than reason that a fresh-water hog should not be altogether so good as a salt-water hog. I suppose, sergeant, by this time, it is all the same to you!" "If the skinning of it, brother, does not fall to my duty. Pathfinder, I hope you did n't find Mabel disobedient on the march?" "Not she not she. If Mabel is only half as well satisfied with Jasper and the Pathfinder, as the Pathfinder and Jasper are satisfied with her, sergeant, we shall be friends for the remainder of our days." As the guide spoke, he turned his eyes towards the blushing girl, with a sort of innocent desire to know her opinion, and then, with an inborn delicacy that proved he was far superior to the vulgar desire to invade the sanctity of feminine feeling, he looked at his plate, and seemed to regret his own boldness. 'Well, well, we must remember that women are not men, my friend," resumed the sergeant, "and make proper allowances for nature and education. A recruit is not a veteran. Any man knows that it takes longer to make a good soldier than it takes to make anything else; and it ought to require unusual time to make a good soldier's daughter." "This is new doctrine, sergeant," said Cap, with some spirit. "We old seamen are apt to think that six soldiers, aye, and capital soldiers too, might be made, while one sailor is getting his education." "Aye, brother Cap, I've seen something of the opinions which seafaring men have of themselves," returned |