run away, my worthy
friend, did she?"

"No, Sergeant, Mabel did not try to escape; _that_ I can say with a
clear conscience."

"I hope the girl was too willing, neither! Her mother was shy and coy
for a month, at least; but frankness, after all, is a recommendation in
a man or woman."

"That it is, that it is; and judgment, too."

"You are not to look for too much judgment in a young creature of
twenty, Pathfinder, but it will come with experience. A mistake in you
or me, for instance, might not be so easily overlooked; but in a girl
of Mabel's years, one is not to strain at a gnat lest they swallow a
camel."

The reader will remember that Sergeant Dunham was not a Hebrew scholar.

The muscles of the listener's face twitched as the Sergeant was thus
delivering his sentiments, though the former had now recovered a portion
of that stoicism which formed so large a part of his character, and
which he had probably imbibed from long association with the Indians.
His eyes rose and fell, and once a gleam shot athwart his hard features
as if he were about to indulge in his peculiar laugh; but the joyous
feeling, if it really existed, was as quickly lost in a look allied to
anguish. It was this unusual mixture of wild and keen mental agony with
native, simple joyousness, which had most struck Mabel, who, in the
interview just related, had a dozen times been on the point of believing
that her suitor's heart was only lightly touched, as images of
happiness and humor gleamed over a mind that was almost infantile in
its simplicity and nature; an impression, however, which was soon driven
away by the discovery of emotions so painful and so deep, that they
seemed to harrow the very soul.

"You say true, Sergeant," Pathfinder answered; "a mistake in one like
you is a more serious matter."

"You will find Mabel sincere and honest in the end; give her but a
little time."

"Ah's me, Sergeant!"

"A man of your merits would make an impression on a rock, give him time,
Pathfinder."

"Sergeant Dunham, we are old fellow-campaigners--that is, as campaigns
are carried on here in the wilderness; and we have done so many kind
acts to each other that we can afford to be candid--what has caused you
to believe that a girl like Mabel could ever fancy one so rude as I am?"

"What?--why, a variety of reasons, and good reasons too, my friend.
Those same acts of kindness, perhaps, and the campaigns you mention;
moreover, you are my sworn a