"They fight in the way they have been taught," he answered, gravely, "and for their homes, as white men do and will. Their love of country is not less than that of our race, and greater, maybe, for they live in its very bosom. Everything they treasure is threatened by the inroad of the whites, and has been from the beginning, the waves rolling on and over them like a cruel sea from which they cannot escape. They have sought to check or stay them, but only here and there have they been successful, and then only for a moment. Their fate is pathetic, and such, it seems to me, as to make men cry out. Brave and lost souls, they are like little children, made old and savage by the subtlety of the whites and our disregard of plighted faith." "Why did you quit the service, Jefferson? Surely it was a great loss to our country," she went on, as was her way, without stopping to give him time to reply; "and how does it happen that you come back here? Some speculation, I suppose, for I hear the country is full of opportunities of that kind." "No, madam; I am on my way to Dubuque to adjust the claim of a poor man who is kept out of his rights, partly by reason of my action while in the service," he answered, simply. "Pray tell me about it," Mrs. Singleton asked. "There is little to tell. When I was in the service the government sent me to Dubuque with troops to remove the miners who had established claims there in advance of an understanding with the Indians, and who, up to that time, had obstinately refused to move." "Did you succeed?" Mrs. Singleton interrupted. "Yes; partly by show of force and partly by persuasion, they were in the end prevailed upon to withdraw, but only on my pledging my word of honor that I would see to it finally that every man was reinstated in his claim." "Has not this been done?" "Yes, except in the case of one man, and it is to aid in reinstating him that I am now on my way to Dubuque." "Have you come all the way from your home in Mississippi to do this?" Mrs. Singleton asked, half incredulously, and yet with a note of admiration and believing in her voice. "Yes; there was no other way," he answered simply. "Oh, happy the cause, whatever it may be, that such men serve!" she answered, glancing at him with the pride women ever feel in the honor of men. "Surely, something great must be in store for one so brave and just and truly honorable." "I have no thought of greatness, dear madam, but live on my plantation, busied with its small affairs, and the sad thoughts that fill my mind of her I lost," he answered, his face clouding.