true, but bidding fair to be the higher of the two.
His close yellow hair, blue eyes, and heavy build showed that it was the
blood of his father, rather than that of his mother, which ran in his
veins; and even the sombre coat and swordless belt, if less pleasing to
the eye, were true badges of a race which found its fiercest battles and
its most glorious victories in bending nature to its will upon the seas
and in the waste places of the earth.

"What is yonder great building?" he asked, as they emerged into a
broader square.

"It is the Louvre, one of the palaces of the king."

"And is he there?"

"Nay; he lives at Versailles."

"What! Fancy that a man should have two such houses!"

"Two! He has many more--St. Germain, Marly, Fontainebleau, Clugny."

"But to what end? A man can but live at one at a time."

"Nay; he can now come or go as the fancy takes him."

"It is a wondrous building. I have seen the Seminary of St. Sulpice at
Montreal, and thought that it was the greatest of all houses, and yet
what is it beside this?"

"You have been to Montreal, then? You remember the fort?"

"Yes, and the Hotel Dieu, and the wooden houses in a row, and eastward
the great mill with the wall; but what do you know of Montreal?"

"I have soldiered there, and at Quebec, too. Why, my friend, you are
not the only man of the woods in Paris, for I give you my word that I
have worn the caribou mocassins, the leather jacket, and the fur cap
with the eagle feather for six months at a stretch, and I care not how
soon I do it again,"

Amos Green's eyes shone with delight at finding that his companion and
he had so much in common, and he plunged into a series of questions
which lasted until they had crossed the river and reached the
south-westerly gate of the city. By the moat and walls long lines of
men were busy at their drill.

"Who are those, then?" he asked, gazing at them with curiosity.

"They are some of the king's soldiers."

"But why so many of them? Do they await some enemy?"

"Nay; we are at peace with all the world. Worse luck!"

"At peace. Why then all these men?"

"That they may be ready."

The young man shook his head in bewilderment. "They might be as ready
in their own homes surely. In our country every man has his musket in
his chimney corner, and is ready enough, yet he does not waste his time
when all is at peace."

"Our king is very great, and he has many enemies."

"And who made th