nger. I fear her mind may be said to have come to its
conclusion?"

"I fear it has indeed, Quartermaster, and her father, after all, is
mistaken. Yes, yes; the Sergeant has fallen into a grievous error."

"Well, man, why need ye lament, and undo all the grand reputation ye've
been so many weary years making? Shoulder the rifle that ye use so well,
and off into the woods with ye, for there's not the female breathing
that is worth a heavy heart for a minute, as I know from experience.
Tak' the word of one who knows the sax, and has had two wives, that
women, after all, are very much the sort of creatures we do not imagine
them to be. Now, if you would really mortify Mabel, here is as glorious
an occasion as any rejected lover could desire."

"The last wish I have, Lieutenant, would be to mortify Mabel."

"Well, ye'll come to that in the end, notwithstanding; for it's
human nature to desire to give unpleasant feelings to them that give
unpleasant feelings to us. But a better occasion never offered to make
your friends love you, than is to be had at this very moment, and that
is the certain means of causing one's enemies to envy us."

"Quartermaster, Mabel is not my inimy; and if she was, the last thing I
could desire would be to give her an uneasy moment."

"Ye say so, Pathfinder, ye say so, and I daresay ye think so; but reason
and nature are both against you, as ye'll find in the end. Ye've
heard the saying 'love me, love my dog:' well, now, that means, read
backwards, 'don't love me, don't love my dog.' Now, listen to what is
in your power to do. You know we occupy an exceedingly precarious and
uncertain position here, almost in the jaws of the lion, as it were?"

"Do you mean the Frenchers by the lion, and this island as his jaws,
Lieutenant?"

"Metaphorically only, my friend, for the French are no lions, and this
island is not a jaw--unless, indeed, it may prove to be, what I greatly
fear may come true, the jaw-bone of an ass."

Here the Quartermaster indulged in a sneering laugh, that proclaimed
anything but respect and admiration for his friend Lundie's sagacity in
selecting that particular spot for his operations.

"The post is as well chosen as any I ever put foot in," said Pathfinder,
looking around him as one surveys a picture.

"I'll no' deny it, I'll no' deny it. Lundie is a great soldier, in
a small way; and his father was a great laird, with the same
qualification. I was born on the estate, and h