“Nothing, certainly, could be more agreeable to me,” replied the gallant young fellow, blushing deeply at the looks which were turned upon him.

“Glad to hear it! glad to hear it!  Well, sir, I started right off—­right straight off, and tried my best to overtake you, but, bless me, I might as well have tried to run away from my own shadow, as to catch up with a young chap when he is in love.  I got to the settlement yesterday, toward night, and the first thing I heard was that my house had been burned, and my sweet little darling Mary there, either killed or carried off a prisoner.  I felt bad about that,” added the Captain, wiping his eyes with his handkerchief, but smiling all the while, “yes, I won’t deny I felt a little bad about that.  They had all seen the light from the settlement, and knowing the direction of my house, were pretty sure it was that.  But, to be certain, one of the men came out here yesterday, and found there was no mistake about it.  But the queerest part of the matter was, that all the people, the garrison especially, appeared to feel bad about it too—­actually felt bad about it.  And when I asked for volunteers, they all sprung forward and insisted that they would go—­insisted that they would go.  I picked out those twelve there—­because they had all been in Indian fights and understood the country through which we would be compelled to go.  They are all good fellows, and perfect phenomena, if you may believe all they say—­perfect phenomena.  You see that chap there, with the big mouth and crossed eyes.  Well, sir, he informs me that he has dined off a live Indian every morning for the last seventeen years, and is certain that he should pine away and die, if he should be deprived of his usual meal.  You see he is pretty nearly an Indian himself.  His hair is black as a savage’s, and if he goes a few months longer without washing, he will have the war-paint all over his face.  That one standing beside him, with a nose like a hickory knot and with feet like flat-boats, calls himself ’half horse, half alligator, tipped with a wild-cat and touched with a painter.’  The rest are about the same, so that I have a good mind to march right into the Indian country on a campaign against the whole set that have been in this business—­the whole set that have been in this business.”

The pleasant humor with which this sarcasm was uttered, made every man laugh and respect their commander the more.  They saw that while he rather disliked the extravagant boasting in which several of them had indulged, he still had great confidence in their skill and courage, as was shown by his selection of them for this perilous enterprise.

“They are the right stuff,” added the Captain.  “They ain’t used to the drill, but they will soon understand that.  I had some trouble to keep them in line in the woods, as they couldn’t exactly see the use, but they were doing first rate, when we came upon you—­doing first rate.  But, I declare, I haven’t spoken to Oonomoo, there, I dare say he is at the bottom of this rescue.  He generally is—­generally is.”