s. Brush up the uniform, and pay a little more
attention 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 I never 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 regiment 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
misgiving