Well, well; pleasant words make no heart-burnings be-tween auld fri'nds.If I cannot espouse Mabel, ye'll no object to my esteeming her, and speaking well of her, and of yoursal', too, on all suitable occasions and in all com-panies.But, Pathfinder, ye'll easily understan' that a poor deevil who loses sucha bride will probably stand in need of some consolation?""Quite likely, quite likely, Quartermaster," returned the simple-minded guide; "I know the loss of Mabel would be found heavy to be borne by myself.It may bear hard on your feelings to see us married; but the death of the Sergeant will be likely to put it off, and you'll have time to think more manfully of it, you will.""I'll bear up against it; yes, I'll bear up against it, though my heart-strings crack! and ye might help me, man, by giving me something to do.Ye'll understand that this expedition has been of a very peculiar nature;for here am I, bearing the king's commission, just a volun-teer, as it might be; while a mere orderly has had the command.I've submitted for various reasons, though my blood has boiled to be in authority, while ye war' battling,, for the honor of the country and his Majesty's rights -- ""Quartermaster," interrupted the guide, "you fell so early into the enemy's hands that your conscience ought to be easily satisfied on that score; so take my advice, and say nothing about it.""That's just my opinion, Pathfinder; we'll all say noth-ing about it.Sergeant Dunham is _hors de combat_ -- ""Anan?" said the guide.
"Why, the Sergeant can command no longer, and it will hardly do to leave a corporal at the head of a victorious party like this; for flowers that will bloom in a garden will die on a heath; and I was just thinking I would claim the authority that belongs to one who holds a lieutenant's commission.As for the men, they'll no dare to raise any objaction; and as for yoursal', my dear friend, now that ye've so much honor, and Mabel, and the consciousness of having done yer duty, which is more precious than all, Iexpect to find an ally rather than one to oppose the plan.""As for commanding the soldiers of the 55th, Lieuten-ant, it is your right, I suppose, and no one here will be likely to gainsay it; though you've been a prisoner of war, and there are men who might stand out ag'in giving up their authority to a prisoner released by their own deeds.
Still no one here will be likely to say anything hostile to your wishes.""That's just it, Pathfinder; and when I come to draw up the report of our success against the boats, and the de-fence of the block, together with the general operations, including the capitulation, ye'll no' find any omission of your claims and merits.""Tut for my claims and merits, Quartermaster! Lundie knows what I am in the forest and what I am in the fort;and the General knows better than he.No fear of me;tell your own story, only taking care to do justice by Mabel's father, who, in one sense, is the commanding officer at this very moment."Muir expressed his entire satisfaction with this arrange-ment, as well as his determination to do justice by all, when the two went to the group assembled round the fire.Here the Quartermaster began, for the first time since leaving Oswego, to assume some of the authority that might prop-erly be supposed to belong to his rank.Taking the re-maining corporal aside, he distinctly told that functionary that he must in future be regarded as one holding the king's commission, and directed him to acquaint his sub-ordinates with the new state of things.This change in the dynasty was effected without any of the usual symp-toms of a revolution; for, as all well understood the Lieu-tenant's legal claims to command, no one felt disposed to dispute his orders.For reasons best known to themselves, Lundie and the Quartermaster had originally made a differ-ent disposition; and now, for reasons of his own, the latter had seen fit to change it.This was reasoning enough for soldiers, though the hurt received by Sergeant Dunham would have sufficiently explained the circumstance had an explanation been required.
All this time Captain Sanglier was looking after his own breakfast with the resignation of a philosopher, the cool-ness of a veteran, the ingenuity and science of a French-man, and the voracity of an ostrich.This person had now been in the colony some thirty years, having left France in some such situation in his own army as Muir filled in the 55th.An iron constitution, perfect obduracy of feel-ing, a certain address well suited to manage savages, and an indomitable courage, had early pointed him out to the commander-in-chief as a suitable agent to be employed in directing the military operations of his Indian allies.In this capacity, then, he had risen to the titular rank of cap-tain; and with his promotion had acquired a portion of the habits and opinions of his associates with a facility and an adaptation of self which are thought in America to be peculiar to his countrymen.He had often led parties of the Iroquois in their predatory expeditions; and his con-duct on such occasions exhibited the contradictory results of both alleviating the misery produced by this species of warfare, and of augmenting it by the broader views and greater resources of civilization.In other words, he planned enterprises that, in their importance and conse-quences, much exceeded the usual policy of the Indians, and then stepped in to lessen some of the evils of his own creating.In short, he was an adventurer whom cir-cumstances had thrown into a situation where the callous qualities of men of his class might readily show themselves for good or for evil; and he was not of a character to baffle fortune by any ill-timed squeamishness on the score of early impressions, or to trifle with her liberality by unnec-essarily provoking her frowns through wanton cruelty.
