ell to your papers, brother?" Cap anxiously demanded.
"Of course you know a capture on the high seas is piracy, unless your
boat is regularly commissioned, either as a public or a private armed
cruiser."

"I have the honor to hold the Colonel's appointment as sergeant-major
of the 55th," returned the other, drawing himself up with dignity, "and
that will be sufficient even for the French king. If not, I have Major
Duncan's written orders."

"No papers, then, for a warlike cruiser?"

"They must suffice, brother, as I have no other. It is of vast
importance to his Majesty's interests, in this part of the world, that
the boats in question should be captured and carried into Oswego. They
contain the blankets, trinkets, rifles, ammunition, in short, all the
stores with which the French bribe their accursed savage allies to
commit their unholy acts, setting at nought our holy religion and its
precepts, the laws of humanity, and all that is sacred and dear among
men. By cutting off these supplies we shall derange their plans, and
gain time on them; for the articles cannot be sent across the ocean
again this autumn."

"But, father, does not his Majesty employ Indians also?" asked Mabel,
with some curiosity.

"Certainly, girl, and he has a right to employ them--God bless him! It's
a very different thing whether an Englishman or a Frenchman employs a
savage, as everybody can understand."

"But, father, I cannot see that this alters the case. If it be wrong in
a Frenchman to hire savages to fight his enemies, it would seem to be
equally wrong in an Englishman. _You_ will admit this, Pathfinder?"

"It's reasonable, it's reasonable; and I have never been one of them
that has raised a cry ag'in the Frenchers for doing the very thing we
do ourselves. Still it is worse to consort with a Mingo than to consort
with a Delaware. If any of that just tribe were left, I should think it
no sin to send them out ag'in the foe."

"And yet they scalp and slay young and old, women and children!"

"They have their gifts, Mabel, and are not to be blamed for following
them; natur' is natur', though the different tribes have different ways
of showing it. For my part I am white, and endeavor to maintain white
feelings."

"This is all unintelligible to me," answered Mabel. "What is right in
King George, it would seem, ought to be right in King Louis."

As all parties, Mabel excepted, seemed satisfied with the course the
discussion had taken