CHAPTER X. Think not I love him, though I ask for him; A WEEK passed in the usual routine of a garrison. Mabel was becoming used to a situation that, at first, she, had found not only novel, but a little irksome; and the officers and men, in their turn, gradually familiarized to the presence of a young and blooming girl, whose attire and carriage had that air of modest gentility about them, which she had obtained in the family of her patroness, annoyed her less by their ill-concealed admiration, while they gratified her by the respect which, she was fain to think, they paid her on account of her father; but which, in truth was more to be attributed to her own modest, but spirited deportment, than to any deference for the worthy serjeant. Acquaintances made in a forest, or in any circumstances of unusual excitement, soon attain their limits. Mabel found one week's residence at Oswego, sufficient to determine her, as to those with whom she might be intimate, and those whom she ought to avoid. The sort of neutral position occupied by her father, who was not an officer while he was so much more than a common soldier, by keeping her aloof from the two great classes of military life, lessened the number of those whom she was compelled to know, and made the duty of decision comparatively easy. Still she soon discovered that there were a few, even among those that could aspire to a seat at the commandant's table, who were disposed to overlook the halbert, for the novelty of a well-turned figure, and of a pretty, winning face; and by the end of the first two or three days, she had admirers even among the gentlemen. The quarter-master, in particular, a middleaged soldier, who had more than once tried the blessings of matrimony already, but was now a widower, was evidently disposed to increase his intimacy with the serjeant, though their duties often brought them together; and the youngsters among his messmates did not fail to note that this man of method, who was a Scotsman of the name of Muir, was much more frequent in his visits to the quarters of his subordinate than had formerly been his wont. A laugh, or a joke, in honor of the "serjeant's daughter," however, limited their strictures; though "Mabel Dunham was soon a toast that even the ensign, or the lieutenant, did not disdain to give. At the end of the week, Duncan of Lundie sent for Serjeant Dunham, after evening roll-call, on business of a nature that, it was understood, required a personal conference. The old veteran dwelt in a moveable hut, which, being placed on trucks, he could order to be wheeled about at pleasure, sometimes living in one part of the area The Pathfinder. 7 -can within the fort, and sometimes in another. On the present occasion, he had made a halt near the centre, and there he was found by his subordinate, who was admitted to his presence without any delay, or dancing attendance in an ante-chamber. In point of fact, there was very little difference in the quality of the accommodations allowed to the officers and those allowed to the men, the former being merely granted the most room; and Mabel and her father were lodged nearly, if not quite as well, as the commandant of the place, himself. "Walk in, serjeant, walk in, my good friend," said old Lundie, heartily, as his inferior stood in a respectful attitude at the door of a sort of library and bed room into which he had been ushered ;“walk in, and take a seat on that stool. I have sent for you, man, to discuss anything but rosters and pay-rolls, this evening. It is now many years since we have been comrades, and 'auld lang syne' should count for something, even between a major and his orderly, a Scot and a Yankee. Sit ye down, man, and just put yourself at your ease. It has been a fine day, serjeant?" "It has indeed, Major Dunham," returned the other, who. though he complied so far as to take the seat, was much too practised not to understand the degree of respect it was necessary to maintain in his manner; "a very fine day, sir, it has been, and we may look for more of them, at this season.' "I hope so, with all my heart. The crops look well as it is, man, and you'll be finding that the 55th make almost as good farmers as soldiers. I never saw better potatoes in Scotland, than we are likely to have in that new patch of ours." "They promise a good yield, Major Duncan, and, in that light, a more comfortable winter than the last." "Life is progressive, serjeant, in its comforts, as well as in its need of them. We grow old, and I begin to think it time to retire and settle in life. I feel that my working days are nearly over." "The king, God bless him, sir, has much good service, in your honor, yet.' "It may be so, Serjeant Dunham, especially if he should happen to have a spare lieutenant-colonelcy left." "The 55th will be honored the day that commission is given to Duncan of Lundie, sir." "And Duncan of Lundie will be honored the day he receives it. But, serjeant, if you have never had a lieutenant-colonelcy, you have had a good wife, and that is the next thing to rank, in making a man happy." "I have been married, Major Duncan; but it is now a long time since I have had no drawback on the love I bear his majesty and my duty." "What, man, not even the love you bear that active, little, roundlimbed, rosy cheeked daughter, that I have seen in the fort, these last few days! Out upon you, serjeant! old fellow as I am, I could almost love that little lassie, myself, and send the lieutenant-colonelcy to the devil." "We all know where Major Duncan's heart is, and that is in Scotland, where a beautiful lady is ready and willing to make him hapas soon as his own sense of duty shall permit." ру แ Ay, hope is ever a far-off thing, serjeant," returned the superior, a shade of melancholy passing over his hard Scottish features as he spoke; "and bonny Scotland is a far-off country. Well, if we have no heather and oat-meal in this region, we have venison for the killing it; and salmon as plenty as at Berwick-upon-Tweed. Is it true, serjeant, that the men complain of having been over-venisoned, and over-pigeoned, of late ?” "Not for some weeks, Major Duncan, for neither deer nor birds are so plenty at this season as they have been. They begin to throw their remarks about concerning the salmon, but I trust we shall get through the summer without any serious disturbance on the score of food. The Scotch in the battalion do, indeed, talk more than is prudent of their want of oat-meal, grumbling occasionally of our wheaten bread." "Ah! that is human nature, serjeant; pure unadulterated Scotch human nature. A cake, man, to say the truth, is an agreeable morsel, and I often see the time, when I pine for a bite, myself." "If the feeling gets to be troublesome, Major Duncan, - in the men I mean, sir, for I would not think of saying so disrespectful a thing to your honor, but if the men ever pine seriously for their natural food, I would humbly recommend that some oat-meal be imported, or prepared in this country for them, and I think we shall hear no more of it. A very little would answer for a cure, sir." "You are a wag, serjeant; but hang me if I am sure you are not right. There may be sweeter things in this world, after all, than oat-meal. You have a sweet daughter, Dunham, for one." "The girl is like her mother, Major Duncan, and will pass inspection," said the serjeant, proudly. "Neither was brought up on anything better than good American flour. The girl will pass inspection, sir." "That would she, I'll answer for it. Well, I may as well come to the point at once, man, and bring up my reserve into the front of the battle. Here is Davy Muir, the quarter-master, is disposed to make your daughter his wife, and he has just got me to open the matter to you, being fearful of compromitting his own dignity-and I may as well add, that half the youngsters in the fort toast her, and talk of her from morning till night." 66 "She is much honored, sir," returned the father, stiffly, but I trust the gentlemen will find something more worthy of them, to talk about, ere long. I hope to see her the wife of an honest man before many weeks, sir." "Yes, Davy is an honest man, and that is more than can be said for all in the Quarter-Master's department, I 'm thinking, serjeant," returned Lundie, with a slight smile. "Well, then, may I tell the Cupid-stricken youth, that the matter is as good as settled?" "I thank your honor, but Mabel is betrothed to another." "The devil she is! That will produce a stir in the fort; though I'm not sorry to hear it, either, for to be frank with you, serjeant, I'm no great admirer of unequal matches." "I think with your honor, and have no desire to see my daughter an officer's lady. If she can get as high as her mother was before her, it ought to satisfy any reasonable woman." "And may I ask, serjeant, who is the lucky man that you intend to call son-in-law ?" "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 honor? the man is at the head of his calling. There is no other guide, or scout, connected with the army, that has half the reputation of Pathfinder, or who deserves to have it half as well." "Very true, serjeant; but is the reputation of a scout, exactly the sort of renown to captivate a girl's fancy? "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 honor, but I consider her mind as good as made up, from several little circumstances that might be named.” "And what are these circumstances, serjeant?" 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 a you know, a bachelor myself." "Why, your honor, when I speak of the Pathfinder to the girl, she always looks me full in the face; chimes in with every thing Í say in his favor 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 honor, 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 honor'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, serjeant?" "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 honor, when I married her mother." "But, will your daughter be as likely to admire a green huntingshirt, such as that our worthy guide wears, with a fox-skin cap, as the smart uniform of the 55th ?" "Perhaps not, sir; and, therefore, she will have the merit of selfdenial, 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." "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, serjeant ?" asked the major, looking at his inferior, with the sort of reverence which a Scot of his day, was more apt than at present to entertain for mysterious agencies. "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 honor, 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, serjeant," returned Lundie, with a countenance that was 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, serjeant!" "He is at the head of his corps, already, your honor. In short, Mabel has made up her mind on this subject, and, as your honor 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.' |