her mother was before her, it ought to satisfy any reason able woman.' "And may I ask, sergeant, who is the lucky man that you intend to call son-in-law ?” "The Pathfinder, your honour." "Pathfinder!" "The same, Major Duncan; and in naming him to you, I give you his whole history. No one is better known on this frontier than my honest, brave, true-hearted friend." "All that is true enough; but is he, after all, the sort of person to make a girl of twenty happy?" "Why not, your honour? The man is at the head of his calling. There is no other guide, or scout, connected with the army, who has half the reputation of Pathfinder, or who deserves to have it half as well." "Very true, Sergeant ; but is the reputation of a scout exactly the sort of renown to captivate a girl's fancy ?” 66 Talking of girls' fancies, sir, is, in my humble opinion, much like talking of a recruit's judgment. If we were to take the movements of the awkward squad, sir, as a guide, we should never form a decent line in battalion, Major Duncan." "But your daughter has nothing awkward about her; for a genteeler girl, of her class, could not be found in old Albion itself. Is she of your way of thinking in this matter? though, I suppose she must be, as you say she is betrothed." "We have not yet conversed on the subject, your honour; but I consider her mind as good as made up, from several little circumstances which might be named." “And what are these circumstances, Sergeant?" asked the Major, who began to take more interest than he had at first felt in the subject.. "I confess a little curiosity to know something about a woman's mind, being, as you know, a bachelor myself." "Why, your honour, when I speak of the Pathfinder to the girl, she always looks me full in the face; chimes in with every thing I say in his favour, and has a frank open way with her, which says as much as if she half considered him already as a husband.” "Hum! and these signs you think, Dunham, are faithful tokens of your daughter's feelings?" "I do, your honour, for they strike me as natural. When I find a man, sir, who looks me full in the face, while he praises an officer - for, begging your honour's pardon, the men will sometimes pass their strictures on their betters- and when I find a man looking me in the eyes as he praises his captain, I always set it down that the fellow is honest and means what he says." "Is there not some material difference in the age of the intended bridegroom and that of his pretty bride, Sergeant ? "You are quite right, sir; Pathfinder is well advanced towards forty, and Mabel has every prospect of happiness that a young woman can derive from the certainty of possessing an experienced husband. I was quite forty myself, your honour, when I married her mother." "But will your daughter be as likely to admire a green hunting-shirt, such as that our worthy guide wears, with a fox-skin cap, as the smart uniform of the 55th ?" 66 Perhaps not, sir; and therefore she will have the merit of self-denial, which always makes a young woman wiser and better." "And are you not afraid that she may be left a widow while still a young woman? what between wild beasts, and wilder savages, Pathfinder may be said to carry his life in his hand." 66 6 Every bullet has its billet,' Lundie," for so the Major was fond of being called in his moments of condescension, and when not engaged in military affairs; " and no man in the 55th can call himself beyond or above the chances of sudden death. In that particular, Mabel would gain nothing by a change. Besides, sir, if I may speak freely on such a subject, I much doubt if ever Pathfinder dies in battle, or by any of the sudden chances of the wilderness." "And why so, Sergeant?" asked the Major." He is a soldier, so far as danger is concerned, and one that is much more than usually exposed; and being free of his person, why should he expect to escape, when others do not?" "I do not believe, your honour, that the Pathfinder considers his own chances better than any one's else, but the man will never die by a bullet. I have seen him so often handling his rifle with as much composure as if it were a shepherd's crook, in the midst of the heaviest showers of bullets, and under so many extraordinary circumstances, that I do not think Providence means he should ever fall in that manner. And yet, if there be a man in his Majesty's dominions who really deserves such a death, it is Pathfinder." "We never know, Sergeant," returned Lundie, with a countenance grave with thought; "and the less we say about it, perhaps, the better. But will your daughter Mabel, I think, you call her - will Mabel be as willing to accept one who, after all, is a mere hanger-on of the army, as to take one from the service itself? There is no hope of promotion for the guide, Sergeant." "He is at the head of his corps already, your honour. In short, Mabel has made up her mind on this subject; and, as your honour has had the condescension to speak to me about Mr. Muir, I trust you will be kind enough to say that the girl is as good as billeted for life." "Well, well, this is your own matter, and, now Sergeant Dunham !" "Your honour," said the other, rising, and giving the customary salute. "You have been told it is my intention to send you down among the Thousand Islands for the next month. All the old subalterns have had their tours of duty in that quarter all that I like to trust, at least; and it has at Lieutenant Muir, it is true, quarter-master, I do not like Are the men length come to your turn. 66 Every thing is ready, your honour. The draft is made, and I understood that the canoe which got in last night brought a message to say that the party already below is looking out for the relief." "It did; and you must sail the day after to-morrow, if not to-morrow night. It will be wise, perhaps, to sail in the dark." "So Jasper thinks, Major Duncan ; and I know no one more to be depended on, in such an affair, than young Jasper Western." Young Jasper Eau-douce!" said Lundie, a slight smile gathering around his usually stern mouth. "Will that lad be of your party, Sergeant?" "Your honour will remember that the Scud never quits port without him.” "True; but all general rules have their exceptions. Have I not seen a seafaring-person about the fort within the last few days?" "No doubt, your honour; it is Master Cap, a brotherin-law of mine, who brought my daughter from below." 'Why not put him in the Scud for this cruise, sergeant, and leave Jasper behind? Your brother-in-law would like the variety of a fresh-water cruise, and you would enjoy more of his company." "I intended to ask your honour's permission to take him along; but he must go as a volunteer. Jasper is too brave a lad to be turned out of his command without a reason, Major Duncan; and I'm afraid brother Cap despises fresh water too much to do duty on it." "Quite right, Sergeant, and I leave all this to your own discretion. Eau-douce must retain his command on second thoughts. You intend that Pathfinder shall also be of the party ?” "If your honour approves of it. There will be service for both the guides, the Indian as well as the white man." "I think you are right. Well, Sergeant, I wish you good luck in the enterprise; and remember the post is to be destroyed and abandoned when your command is withdrawn. It will have done its work by that time, or we shall have failed entirely, and it is too ticklish a position to be maintained unnecessarily. You can retire." Sergeant Dunham gave the customary salute, turned on his heels as if they had been pivots, and had got the door nearly drawn-to after him, when he was suddenly recalled. "I had forgotten, Sergeant, the younger officers have begged for a shooting match, and to-morrow has been named for the day. All competitors will be admitted, and the prizes will be a silver-mounted powder horn, a leathern flask ditto," reading from a piece of paper, as I see by the professional jargon of this bill, and a silk calash for a lady. The latter is to enable the victor to show his gallantry, by making an offering of it to her he best loves." "All very agreeable, your honour, at least to him that succeeds. Is the Pathfinder to be permitted to enter ?” "I do not well see how he can be excluded, if he choose to come forward. Latterly, I have observed that he takes no share in these sports, probably from a conviction of his own unequalled skill." "That's it, Major Duncan; the honest fellow knows there is not a man on the frontier who can equal him, and he does not wish to spoil the pleasure of others. I think we may trust to his delicacy in any thing, sir. Perhaps it may be as well to let him have his own way?" "In this instance we must, Sergeant. Whether he will be as successful in all others remains to be seen. I wish you good evening, Dunham." The Sergeant now withdrew, leaving Duncan of Lundie to his own thoughts: that they were not altogether disagreeable, was to be inferred from the smiles which occasionally covered a countenance hard and martial in its usual expression, though there were moments in which all its severe sobriety prevailed. Half an hour might have passed, when a tap at the door was answered by a direction to enter. A middle-aged man, in the dress of an officer, but whose uniform wanted the usual smartness of the profession, made his appearance, and was saluted as "Mr. Muir." “I have come, sir, at your bidding, to know my fortune,” said the Quarter-master, in a strong Scotch accent, as soon as he had taken the seat which was proffered to him. "To say the truth to you, Major Duncan, this girl is making as much havoc in the garrison as the French did before Ty: I never witnessed so general a rout in so short a time!" 66 Surely, Davy, you don't mean to persuade me that your young and unsophisticated heart is in such a flame, after one week's ignition? Why, man, this is worse than |