“My story isn’t much, Master Colleton, and is easily told.  I love Kate Allen, and as I said before, I believe Kate loves me; and though it be scarcely a sign of manliness to confess so much, yet I must say to you, ’squire, that I love her so very much that I can not do without her.”

“I honor your avowal, Forrester, and see nothing unmanly or unbecoming in the sentiment you profess.  On the contrary, such a feeling, in my mind, more truly than any other, indicates the presence and possession of those very qualities out of which true manhood is made.  The creature who prides himself chiefly upon his insensibilities, has no more claim to be considered a human being than the trees that gather round us, or the rocks over which we travel.”

“Well, ’squire, I believe you are right, and I am glad that such is your opinion, for now I shall be able to speak to you more freely upon this subject.  Indeed, you talk about the thing so knowingly, that I should not be surprised, ’squire, to find out that you too had something of the same sort troubling your heart, though here you are travelling far from home and among strangers.”

The remark of Forrester was put with an air of arch inquiry.  A slight shadow passed over and clouded the face of the youth, and for a moment his brow was wrinkled into sternness; but hastily suppressing the awakened emotion, whatever its origin might have been, he simply replied, in an indirect rebuke, which his companion very readily comprehended:—­

“You were speaking of your heart, I believe, Forrester, and not of mine.  If you please, we will confine ourselves to the one territory, particularly as it promises to find us sufficient employment of itself, without rendering it necessary that we should cross over to any other.”

“It’s a true word, ’squire—­the business of the one territory is sufficient for me, at this time, and more than I shall well get through with:  but, though I know this, somehow or other I want to forget it all, if possible; and sometimes I close my eyes in the hope to shut out ugly thoughts.”

“The feeling is melancholy enough, but it is just the one which should test your manhood.  It is not for one who has been all his life buffeting with the world and ill-fortune, to despond at every mischance or misdeed.  Proceed with your narrative; and, in providing for the future, you will be able to forget not a little of the past.”

“You are right, ’squire; I will be a man, and stand my chance, whether good or ill, like a man, as I have always been.  Well, as I was saying, Kate is neither unkind nor unwilling, and the only difficulty is with her father.  He is now mighty fond of the needful, and won’t hear to our marriage until I have a good foundation, and something to go upon.  It is this, you see, which keeps me here, shoulder to shoulder with these men whom I like just as little perhaps as yourself; and it was because the soldiers came upon us just as I was beginning to lay up a little from my earnings, that made me desperate.  I dreaded to lose what I had been so long working for; and whenever the thought of Kate came through my brain, I grew rash and ready for any mischief—­and this is just the way in which I ran headlong into this difficulty.”