h Jasper did not know that the wary Quartermaster had not
offered half the actual cost of the prize, he heard the proposition with
indifference. Shaking his head in the negative, he advanced towards
the stage, where his approach excited a little commotion, the officers'
ladies, one and all, having determined to accept the present, should
the gallantry of the young sailor induce him to offer it. But Jasper's
diffidence, no less than admiration for another, would have prevented
him from aspiring to the honor of complimenting any whom he thought so
much his superiors.

"Mabel," said he, "this prize is for you, unless--"

"Unless what, Jasper?" answered the girl, losing her own bashfulness in
the natural and generous wish to relieve his embarrassment, though both
reddened in a way to betray strong feeling.

"Unless you may think too indifferently of it, because it is offered by
one who may have no right to believe his gift will be accepted."

"I do accept it, Jasper; and it shall be a sign of the danger I have
passed in your company, and of the gratitude I feel for your care of
me--your care, and that of the Pathfinder."

"Never mind me, never mind me!" exclaimed the latter; "this is Jasper's
luck, and Jasper's gift: give him full credit for both. My turn may come
another day; mine and the Quartermaster's, who seems to grudge the boy
the calash; though what _he_ can want of it I cannot understand, for he
has no wife."

"And has Jasper Eau-douce a wife? Or have you a wife yoursel',
Pathfinder? I may want it to help to get a wife, or as a memorial that I
have had a wife, or as proof how much I admire the sex, or because it is
a female garment, or for some other equally respectable motive. It's not
the unreflecting that are the most prized by the thoughtful, and there
is no surer sign that a man made a good husband to his first consort,
let me tell you all, than to see him speedily looking round for a
competent successor. The affections are good gifts from Providence, and
they that have loved one faithfully prove how much of this bounty has
been lavished upon them by loving another as soon as possible."

"It may be so, it may be so. I am no practitioner in such things, and
cannot gainsay it. But Mabel here, the Sergeant's daughter, will give
you full credit for the words. Come, Jasper, although our hands are out,
let us see what the other lads can do with the rifle."

Pathfinder and his companions retired, for the spor