in that meaning, it will do better for young
ensigns and recruits than for cool-headed, obsarvant Christian men.
There is honor in doing what's right, and unhonor in doing what's wrong;
and I think it wrong to take the life even of a Mingo, without a useful
end in view, I do; and right to hear reason at all times. So, Lieutenant
Muir, let us know what your friends the Frenchers and Indians have to
say for themselves."

"My friends!" said Muir, starting; "you'll no' be calling the king's
enemies my friends, Pathfinder, because the fortune of war has thrown
me into their hands? Some of the greatest warriors, both of ancient and
modern times, have been prisoners of war; and yon is Master Cap, who can
testify whether we did not do all that men could devise to escape the
calamity."

"Ay, ay," drily answered Cap; "escape is the proper word. We ran below
and hid ourselves, and so discreetly, that we might have remained in the
hole to this hour, had it not been for the necessity of re-stowing the
bread lockers. You burrowed on that occasion, Quartermaster, as handily
as a fox; and how the d---l you knew so well where to find the spot is a
matter of wonder to me. A regular skulk on board ship does not trail aft
more readily when the jib is to be stowed, than you went into that same
hole."

"And did ye no' follow? There are moments in a man's life when reason
ascends to instinct--"

"And men descend into holes," interrupted Cap, laughing in his
boisterous way, while Pathfinder chimed in, in his peculiar manner.
Even Jasper, though still filled with concern for Mabel, was obliged
to smile. "They say the d---l wouldn't make a sailor if he didn't look
aloft; and now it seems he'll not make a soldier if he doesn't look
below!"

This burst of merriment, though it was anything but agreeable to Muir,
contributed largely towards keeping the peace. Cap fancied he had said
a thing much better than common; and that disposed him to yield his own
opinion on the main point, so long as he got the good opinion of his
companions on his novel claim to be a wit. After a short discussion, all
the savages on the island were collected in a body, without arms, at
the distance of a hundred yards from the block, and under the gun of
the _Scud_; while Pathfinder descended to the door of the blockhouse and
settled the terms on which the island was to be finally evacuated by the
enemy. Considering all the circumstances, the conditions were not very