第50章

Well, my friend," laying his own hand on one of the Path-finder's, and giving it a hearty squeeze, "how do you like the girl?""You have reason to be proud of her, Sergeant.I have seen many of her sex, and some that were great and beau-tiful; but never before did I meet with one in whom Ithought Providence had so well balanced the different gifts.""And the good opinion, I can tell you, Pathfinder, is mutual.She told me last night all about your coolness, and spirit, and kindness, -- particularly the last, for kind-ness counts for more than half with females, my friend, --and the first inspection seems to give satisfaction on both sides.Brush up the uniform, and pay a little more atten-tion to the outside, Pathfinder, and you will have the girl heart and hand.""Nay, nay, Sergeant, I've forgotten nothing that you have told me, and grudge no reasonable pains to make myself as pleasant in the eyes of Mabel as she is getting to be in mine.I cleaned and brightened up Killdeer this morning as soon as the sun rose; and, in my judgment, the piece never looked better than it does at this very moment.""That is according to your hunting notions, Pathfinder;but firearms should sparkle and glitter in the sun, and Inever yet could see any beauty in a clouded barrel.""Lord Howe thought otherwise, Sergeant; and he was accounted a good soldier.""Very true; his lordship had all the barrels of his regi-ment darkened, and what good came of it? You can see his 'scutcheon hanging in the English church at Albany.

No, no, my worthy friend, a soldier should be a soldier, and at no time ought he to be ashamed or afraid to carry about him the signs and symbols of his honorable trade.

Had you much discourse with Mabel, Pathfinder, as you came along in the canoe?""There was not much opportunity, Sergeant, and then I found myself so much beneath her in idees, that I was afraid to speak of much beyond what belonged to my own gifts.""Therein you are partly right and partly wrong, my friend.Women love trifling discourse, though they like to have most of it to themselves.Now you know I'm a man that do not loosen my tongue at every giddy thought;and yet there were days when I could see that Mabel's mother thought none the worse of me because I descended a little from my manhood.It is true, I was twenty-two years younger then than I am to-day; and, moreover, instead of being the oldest sergeant in the regiment, I was the youngest.Dignity is commanding and useful, and there is no getting on without it, as respects the men; but if you would be thoroughly esteemed by a woman, it is necessary to condescend a little on occasions.""Ah's me, Sergeant, I sometimes fear it will never do.""Why do you think so discouragingly of a matter on which I thought both our minds were made up?""We did agree, if Mabel should prove what you told me she was, and if the girl could fancy a rude hunter and guide, that I should quit some of my wandering ways, and try to humanize my mind down to a wife and children.

But since I have seen the girl, I will own that many mis-givings have come over me."

"How's this?" interrupted the Sergeant sternly; "did I not understand you to say that you were pleased? -- and is Mabel a young woman to disappoint expectation?""Ah, Sergeant, it is not Mabel that I distrust, but my-self.I am but a poor ignorant woodsman, after all; and perhaps I'm not, in trutb, as good as even you and I may think me.""If you doubt your own judgment of yourself, Path-finder, I beg you will not doubt mine.Am I not accus-tomed to judge men's character? and am I often deceived?

Ask Major Duncan, sir, if you desire any assurances in this particular.""But, Sergeant, we have long been friends; have fi't side by side a dozen times, and have done each other many services.When this is the case, men are apt to think over kindly of each other; and I fear me that the daughter may not be so likely to view a plain ignorant hunter as favor-ably as the father does."

"Tut, tut, Pathfinder! you don't know yourself, man, and may put all faith in my judgment.In the first place you have experience; and, as all girls must want that, no prudent young woman would overlook such a qualification.

Then you are not one of the coxcombs that strut about when they first join a regiment; but a man who has seen service, and who carries the marks of it on his person and countenance.I daresay you have been under fire some thirty or forty times, counting all the skirmishes and am-bushes that you've seen."

"All of that, Sergeant, all of that; but what will it avail in gaining the good-will of a tender-hearted young female?""It will gain the day.Experience in the field is as good in love as in war.But you are as honest-hearted and as loyal a subject as the king can boast of -- God bless him!""That may be too; but I'm afeared I'm too rude and too old and too wild like to suit the fancy of such a young and delicate girl as Mabel, who has been unused to our wilderness ways, and may think the settlements better suited to her gifts and inclinations.""These are new misgivings for you, my friend; and Iwonder they were never paraded before."