"To whet his tommyhawk, I make no doubt. Oh, elder, how ye have been deceived in people! Ye believe that every one is as good as one can be, or can be grafted to bear sweet fruit, but, hoe-down-hoe, elder, 'taint so. Yer Aunt Indiana knows how desperately wicked is the human heart. If ye don't do others, others will do ye, and this world is a warfare. Come in; I've got somethin' new to tell ye. It's about the Linkens' Abe." The Tunker entered the cheerful cabin in the sunny clearing of the timber. "I've been savin' up the news to tell ye when ye came. Abe's been to war!" "He has not been hurt, has he?" "_Hurt!_ No, he hasn't been hurt. A great Indian fighter he proved! The men were all laughin' about it. He'll live to fight another day, as the sayin' goes, and so will the enemy. Well, I always thought that there was no need of killin' people. Let them alone, and they will all die themselves; and as for the enemy, let them alone, and they will come home waggin' their tails behind them, as the ditty says. Well, I must tell ye. Abe's been to war. He didn't see the enemy, nor fight, nor nothin'. But a wild Indian came right into his camp, and the soldiers started up to kill him, and what do ye suppose Abe did?" "I think he did what he thought to be right." "He let him go! There! what do you think of that? He just went to fightin' his own company to save the Indian. There's a warrior for ye! And that wasn't all. He talked in such a way that he frightened his own men, and he just gave the Indian some bread and cheese, and let him off. And the Indian went off blessin' him. Abe will never make a soldier or handle armies much, after all yer prophecies. Such a soldier as that ought to be rewarded a pinfeather." "His conduct was after the Galilean teaching--was it not?--and produced the result of making the Indian a friend. Was not that a good thing to do? Who was the Indian?" "It was old Main-Pogue. He was uncle, or somethin', to that boy who used to travel about with you, teachin' you the language--Waubeno; the old interpreter for General Cass's men. He'll go off and tell Waubeno. I wonder if Main-Pogue knew who it was that saved him, and if he will tell Waubeno that?" "Lincoln did a noble act." "Oh, elder, ye've got a good heart, but ye're weak in yer upper story. That ain't all I've got to tell ye. Abe has failed, after all yer prophecies, too. He and another man went to keepin' store up in New Salem, and he let his partner cheat him, and they _failed_; and now he's just workin' to pay up his debts, and his partner's too." "And his partner's too? That shows that he saved an honest purpose out of losses. The greatest of all losses is a loss of integrity of purpose. I'm glad to hear that he has not lost that."