float about in the blue heavens--the birds that sing in the
woods--the sweet springs where I slake my thirst--and in all
the other glorious gifts that come from God's Providence!'"

And he preceded that, a little before, with this:

"'It consarns me as all things that touches a fri'nd consarns a
fri'nd.'"

And this is another of his remarks:

"'If I was Injin born, now, I might tell of this, or carry in
the scalp and boast of the expl'ite afore the whole tribe; or
if my inimy had only been a bear'"--and so on.

We cannot imagine such a thing as a veteran Scotch Commander-in-Chief
comporting himself in the field like a windy melodramatic actor, but
Cooper could. On one occasion Alice and Cora were being chased by the
French through a fog in the neighborhood of their father's fort:

"'Point de quartier aux coquins!' cried an eager pursuer, who
seemed to direct the operations of the enemy.

"'Stand firm and be ready, my gallant Goths!' suddenly
exclaimed a voice above them; wait to see the enemy; fire low,
and sweep the glacis.'

"'Father? father!' exclaimed a piercing cry from out the mist;
it is I! Alice! thy own Elsie! spare, O! save your daughters!'