24. XXIV.
REFLECTIONS OF CAPTAIN LONGKNIFE.
SOME days after the scenes which we have tried
to make pass before the eyes of the reader, Captain
Wagner, who had been uninterruptedly engaged
in conferences with the Earl, bethought him
of paying some attention to his private affairs. Accordingly,
one morning before the sun had risen he donned his
warlike accoutrements, mounted “Injunhater,” and set out
for the Ordinary.
The sun soon appeared above the brow of the mountain,
and scattered the river mist before him. The landscape
waked up, the birds began to sing, and not to be behind
them, the Captain shouted lustily an old border balled, with
an ardor which was superior to its musical execution.
“The fact is,” he said in a confidential tone, after finishing
the chorus, “the fact is, I was not intended to delight the
world by the sweet tones of my voice. Astonishing, but
dooms true! It's not given to everybody to excel in all things,
and this is one of my failings. Oh, Injunhater!”
And the worthy touched his great black animal with the
spur, and cantered along gaily, presenting, as he moved
through the burnishing sunlight, an exceedingly striking and
martial appearance.
“A fine morning, by the snout of the dragon!” continued
the Captain, looking round with satisfaction on the expanse
of forest and prairie. “I should like to feel for once
like Fairfax yonder, that the world belonged to me—that I
was master. But wherefore? Am I not better off by far
than this good baron of Cameron? First, I am a common
individual—and these lords must have such a weary time!
Then I laugh, and the baron only sighs! He eats little or
nothing, and at this moment I could devour a raw buffalo,
or I'm a dandy! To end the whole matter I'm going to see
my wife—I'm going to breakfast with my intended! A noble
woman, a real fairy, though she's so fat. But who cares? I
rather like fat people! They laugh where lean ones groan;
I'll have this one! If I don't I'll eat my head!”
And the Captain seemed inspired by the reflection and
pushed on more rapidly. Then as he gazed in the direction
of the Ordinary his brow clouded—he was thinking of
Falconbridge.
“A noble fellow!” he muttered,—“a heart of oak—an
honest boy! And he's going to his doom as sure as my
name's Wagner. Well, I've done all I can, and more than I
have liked—things must go on their way. He has had full
warning, and though my breast aches at the thought that
he's going to bleed, I am done with it. Woman, woman!
why can't we male things stay away from them? We die
for them—which is better than living for 'em sometimes!
We laugh at 'em, sneer at 'em, curl our moustaches with a
high-handed air, and then we go kneel down, and make
fools of ourselves. Why did they enter the world ever?
What is it that draws us so toward 'em?”
The Captain knit his brows as he saw the tavern before
him, and after some moments of silence, muttered grimly:
“Woman! woman! wherever you turn in this miserable
world, you're sure to find a woman!—and an individual of
the masculine sex not far off!”
