ccountable state; while others quit us rejoicing, like men who leave
heavy burthens behind them. I think that the mind sees clearly at
such moments, my friend, and that past deeds stand thick before the
recollection."

"I'll engage they do, Pathfinder. I have witnessed something of this
myself, and hope I'm the better man for it. I remember once that
I thought my own time had come, and the log was overhauled with a
diligence I did not think myself capable of until that moment. I've not
been a very great sinner, friend Pathfinder; that is to say, never on a
large scale; though I daresay, if the truth were spoken, a considerable
amount of small matters might be raked up against me, as well as against
another man; but then, I've never committed piracy, nor high treason,
nor arson, nor any of them sort of things. As to smuggling, and the like
of that, why, I'm a seafaring man, and I suppose all callings have their
weak spots. I daresay your trade is not altogether without blemish,
honorable and useful as it seems to be?"

"Many of the scouts and guides are desperate knaves; and, like the
Quartermaster here, some of them take pay of both sides. I hope I'm not
one of them, though all occupations lead to temptations. Thrice have I
been sorely tried in my life, and once I yielded a little, though I
hope it was not in a matter to disturb a man's conscience in his last
moments. The first time was when I found in the woods a pack of skins
that I knowed belonged to a Frencher who was hunting on our side of the
lines, where he had no business to be; twenty-six as handsome beavers
as ever gladdened human eyes. Well, that was a sore temptation; for I
thought the law would have been almost with me, although it was in peace
times. But then, I remembered that such laws wasn't made for us hunters,
and bethought me that the poor man might have built great expectations
for the next winter on the sale of his skins; and I left them where
they lay. Most of our people said I did wrong; but the manner in which I
slept that night convinced me that I had done right. The next trial was
when I found the rifle that is sartainly the only one in this part of
the world that can be calculated on as surely as Killdeer, and knowed
that by taking it, or even hiding it, I might at once rise to be the
first shot in all these parts. I was then young, and by no means so
expart as I have since got to be, and youth is ambitious and striving;
but, God be praised!