"It is the business of men, engaged as we have been by
a confiding father, to run this risk -- "

"But it is not their business to overlook prudence."

"Prudence! a man may carry his prudence so far as to forget his
courage."

The group was standing on the narrow strand, the Pathfinder leaning
on his rifle, the butt of which rested on the gravelly beach,
while both his hands clasped the barrel at the height of his own
shoulders. As Jasper threw out this severe and unmerited imputation,
the deep red of his comrade's face maintained its hue unchanged,
though the young man perceived that the fingers grasped the iron of
the gun with the tenacity of a vice. Here all betrayal of emotion
ceased.

"You are young and hot-headed," returned Pathfinder, with a
dignity that impressed his listeners with a keen sense of his moral
superiority; "but my life has been passed among dangers of this
sort, and my experience and gifts are not to be mastered by the
impatience of a boy. As for courage, Jasper, I will not send back
an angry and unmeaning word to meet an angry and an unmeaning word;
for I know that you are true in your station and according to your
knowledge; but take the advice of one who faced the Mingos when you
were a child, and know that their cunning is easier sarcumvented
by prudence than outwitted by foolishness."

"I ask your pardon, Pathfinder," said the repentant Jasper, eagerly
grasping the hand that the other permitted him to seize; "I ask your