Chapter 28 - Page 2

situation, would be a source of very great
satisfaction. My mother always said, Master Pathfinder, that dying
people's spirits should not be damped, but that they ought to be
encouraged by all proper and prudent means; and this news will give
the poor fellow a great lift, if he feels towards them savages any
way as I feel myself."

June arose at this intelligence, and stole from the blockhouse with
a noiseless step. Dunham listened with a vacant stare, for life
had already lost so many of its ties that he had really forgotten
Arrowhead, and cared nothing for Muir; but he inquired, in a feeble
voice, for Eau-douce. The young man was immediately summoned, and
soon made his appearance. The Sergeant gazed at him kindly, and
the expression of his eyes was that of regret for the injury he
had done him in thought. The party in the blockhouse now consisted
of Pathfinder, Cap, Mabel, Jasper, and the dying man. With the
exception of the daughter, all stood around the Sergeant's pallet,
in attendance in his last moments. Mabel kneeled at his side, now
pressing a clammy hand to her head, now applying moisture to the
parched lips of her father.

"Your case will shortly be ourn, Sergeant," said Pathfinder, who
could hardly be said to be awestruck by the scene, for he had
witnessed the approach and victories of death too often for that;
but who felt the full difference between his triumphs in the
excitement of battle and in the quiet of the domestic circle; "and
I make no question we shall meet ag'in hereafter. Arrowhead has
gone his way, 'tis true; but it can never be the way of a just
Indian. You've seen the last of him, for his path cannot be the
path of the just. Reason is ag'in the thought in his case, as it
is also, in my judgment, ag'in it too in the case of Lieutenant
Muir. You have done your duty in life; and when a man does that,
he may start on the longest journey with a light heart and an actyve
foot."

"I hope so, my friend: I've tried to do my duty."

"Ay, ay," put in Cap; "intention is half the battle; and though
you would have done better had you hove-to in the offing and sent
a craft in to feel how the land lay, things might have turned out
differently: no one here doubts that you meant all for the best,
and no one anywhere else, I should think, from what I've seen of
this world and read of t'other."

"I did; yes. I meant all for the best."

"Father! Oh, my beloved father!"

"Magnet is taken aback by this blow, Master Pathfinder, and can say
or do but little to carry her father over the shoals; so we must
try all the harder to serve him a friendly turn ourselves."

"Did you