“‘Umph! umph! whew!’ exclaimed the chief, as he spread his hands and contorted his face.  We could not understand him; pained were we that we could not.  He felt keenly the misfortune, shook his head in sorrow; and murmured, as if a world separated his thoughts and ours.  Modestly, John touched me on the shoulder, and whispered:—­’S’pose we call this distant Britain? you can have the next discovery.  I’ll proclaim it in the name of my sovereign—­it will be quite right;’ John was inclined to do the very honorable on the sly; but, being of opinion that he had appropriated to himself enough in that sort of way, I interposed a decided objection.  ‘Governor!’ I retorted, taking the chief by the hand—­’if a good speculation you would make, annex this little empire of yours to our great Republic.  Manifest destiny will make you one of us; but don’t wait for that.  Hook on while the link is hot—­you’ll find it a good speculation.  Young America will put your nation through a process of regenerating:  he will make steam civilize when everything else fails; he will send his Transit Company to take possession of the government.  We seek not, like John to conquer—­we colonize.  You may be one of us; by accepting Young America’s offering you may be as independent as a colored preacher on Sunday.’  The chief gazed in bewilderment—­his people muttered still more.

“John now became furious of anger.  ‘We, too,’ he interposed, ’colonize.  Say you will come under the protection and acknowledged allegiance to our Queen, and yours shall be a scarlet coat, a cocked hat, and a great broadsword wherewith to fight your way in the world.’  The chief moved his head doubtingly, as his body vibrated from head to foot.  What strange opinions invaded his thoughts!  He placed his broad hard hands gently on our heads, drew us lovingly to him, and smiled.  In that smile was that which said we were both good and honest, but needed much watching.  We were, indeed, good specimens of our separate nations, but the free-and-easy seemed most acceptable to the savage.  ‘Governor!’ I continued to address the chief as I turned to John, ’beware of his fascinating coat of scarlet.  Such things may charm the little; sensible men know their worthlessness.  Hang out the star-spangled banner, espouse popular rights; let the rest of mankind know you belong to a nation whose destiny is the overthrow of kings and kingcraft on one continent at least.’  Still, mutely the savage listened.  There was no getting English into his head; hence I saw the necessity of gaining my ends by signs and motions, after the fashion of our modern diplomacy.  Say what you will, mute diplomacy is not without its effect.  At it I went, in a style that put French dancing entirely into the shade.

“‘Your Yankee figuring won’t play on his head, Smooth,’ spoke Littlejohn, in a tantalizing sort of vein.  ’He is less a fool than you take him for.’