A little shocked, therefore, at the interpretation that had been put on his words, he rejoined with some of the asper-ity of the man, though rebuked by a consciousness of not having done his own wishes justice."You are too old and too sensible a person, Pathfinder," said be, "to fetch a man up with a surge, when he is paying out his ideas in dis-tress, as it might be.Sergeant Dunham is both my brother-in-law and my friend, -- that is to say, as intimate a friend as a soldier well can be with a seafaring man, -- and I respect and honor him accordingly.I make no doubt, moreover, that he has lived such a life as becomes a man, and there can be no great harm, after all, in wishing any one well berthed in heaven.Well! we are mortal, the best of us, that you'll not deny; and it ought to be a lesson not to feel pride in our strength and beauty.Where is the Quartermaster, Pathfinder? It is proper he should come and have a parting word with the poor Sergeant, who is only going a little before us.""You have spoken more truth, Master Cap, than you've been knowing to, all this time.You might have gone further, notwithstanding, and said that we are mortal, the _worst_ of us; which is quite as true, and a good deal more wholesome, than saying that we are mortal, the _best_ of us.
As for the Quartermaster's coming to speak a parting word to the Sergeant, it is quite out of the question, seeing that he has gone ahead, and that too with little parting notice to himself, or to any one else.""You are not quite so clear as common in your language, Pathfinder.I know that we ought all to have solemn thoughts on these occasions, but I see no use in speaking in parables.""If my words are not plain, the idee is.In short, Mas-ter Cap, while Sergeant Dunham has been preparing him-self for a long journey, like a conscientious and honest man as he is, deliberately, the Quartermaster has started, in a hurry, before him; and, although it is a matter on which it does not become me to be very positive, I give it as my opinion that they travel such different roads that they will never meet.""Explain yourself, my friend," said the bewildered sea-man, looking around him in search of Muir, whose absence began to excite his distrust."I see nothing of the Quar-termaster; but I think him too much of a man to run away, now that the victory is gained.If the fight were ahead instead of in our wake, the case would be altered.""There lies all that is left of him, beneath that great-coat," returned the guide, who then briefly related the manner of the Lieutenant's death."The Tuscarora was as venemous in his blow as a rattler, though he failed to give the warning," continued Pathfinder."I've seen many a desperate fight, and several of these sudden out-breaks of savage temper; but never before did I see a hu-man soul quit the body more unexpectedly, or at a worse moment for the hopes of the dying man.His breath was stopped with the lie on his lips, and the spirit might be said to have passed away in the very ardor of wickedness."Cap listened with a gaping mouth; and he gave two or three violent hems, as the other concluded, like one who distrusted his own respiration.
"This is an uncertain and uncomfortable life of yours, Master Pathfinder, what between the fresh water and the savages," said he; "and the sooner I get quit of it, the higher will be my opinion of myself.Now you mention it, I will say that the man ran for that berth in the rocks, when the enemy first bore down upon us, with a sort of instinct that I thought surprising in an officer; but I was in too great a hurry to follow, to log the whole matter ac-curately.God bless me! God bless me! -- a traitor, do you say, and ready to sell his country, and to a rascally French-man too?"
"To sell anything; country, soul, body, Mabel, and all our scalps; and no ways particular, I'll engage, as to the purchaser.The countrymen of Captain Flinty-heart here were the paymasters this time.""Just like 'em; ever ready to buy when they can't thrash, and to run when they can do neither."Monsieur Sanglier lifted his cap with ironical gravity, and acknowledged the compliment with an expression of polite contempt that was altogether lost on its insensible subject.But Pathfinder had too much native courtesy, and was far too just-minded, to allow the attack to go un-noticed.
"Well, well," he interposed, "to my mind there is no great difference 'atween an Englishman and a Frenchman, after all.They talk different tongues, and live under different kings, I will allow; but both are human, and feel like human beings, when there is occasion for it."Captain Flinty-heart, as Pathfinder called him, made another obeisance; but this time the smile was friendly, and not ironical; for he felt that the intention was good, whatever might have been the mode of expressing it.Too philosophical, however, to heed what a man like Cap might say or think, he finished his breakfast, without al-lowing his attention to be again diverted from that im-portant pursuit.
