of Pathfinder. As for the individual himself--why, time will
show."

"Now, tell me frankly, Davy Muir," said Lundie, stepping short in
his walk, and looking the other earnestly in the face with a comical
expression of surprise, that rendered the veteran's countenance
ridiculously earnest,--"do you really suppose a girl like the daughter
of Sergeant Dunham can take a serious fancy to a man of your years and
appearance, and experience, I might add?"

"Hout, awa', Lundie! ye dinna know the sax, and that's the reason yer
unmarried in yer forty-fifth year. It's a fearfu' time ye've been a
bachelor, Major!"

"And what may be your age, Lieutenant Muir, if I may presume to ask so
delicate a question?"

"Forty-seven; I'll no' deny it, Lundie; and if I get Mabel, there'll be
just a wife for every twa lustrums. But I didna think Sergeant Dunham
would be so humble minded as to dream of giving that sweet lass of his
to one like the Pathfinder."

"There's no dream about it, Davy; the man is as serious as a soldier
about to be flogged."

"Well, well, Major, we are auld friends,"--both ran into the Scotch or
avoided it, as they approached or drew away from their younger days, in
the dialogue,--"and ought to know how to take and give a joke, off duty.
It is possible the worthy man has not understood my hints, or he never
would have thought of such a thing. The difference between an officer's
consort and a guide's woman is as vast as that between the antiquity of
Scotland and the antiquity of America. I'm auld blood, too, Lundie."

"Take my word for it Davy, your antiquity will do you no good in this
affair; and as for your blood, it is not older than your bones. Well,
well, man, ye know the Sergeant's answer; and so ye perceive that my
influence, on which ye counted so much, can do nought for ye. Let us
take a glass thegither, Davy, for auld acquaintance sake; and then ye'll
be doing well to remember the party that marches the morrow, and to
forget Mabel Dunham as fast as ever you can."

"Ah, Major! I have always found it easier to forget a wife than to
forget a sweetheart. When a couple are fairly married, all is settled
but the death, as one may say, which must finally part us all; and it
seems to me awfu' irreverent to disturb the departed; whereas there
is so much anxiety and hope and felicity in expectation like, with the
lassie, that it keeps thought alive."

"That is just my idea of your situation, Davy; for I never su