chase, and the next time Huck wants a hunt, he shall enjoy it himself. I like not this service. It's little less than a disparagement of the profession, and speaks not well for an old soldier."
The leader spoke with feeling, and no little emphasis, as his steed scrambled up the bank from the slough in which his legs had been almost fastened, the slimy ooze of which, left by the now-receding tide, rendered the effort to release himself a matter of greater difficulty than usual. The grumbling continued, even after he had gained the tussock.
"Thou a soldier!" cried one who rode up behind him, and who spoke in terms of familiarity indicating close companionship—"thou a soldier, Travis, indeed! What should make thee a soldier?"
"Am I not, Clough?" was the reply.
"And wherefore dost thou grumble, then?"
"Wherefore? Because, being a soldier, I am sent upon any but a soldier's service. A dog might do this duty—a dog that you had well beaten."
"And what better service, Travis, couldst thou have to keep thee from grumbling? Art thou, now, not a sorry bear with a sore head, that kindness cannot coax, and crossing only can keep civil! Send thee on what service Huck may, it is all the same; thou wilt grumble at the toil, even when it likes thee best. What wouldst thou have—what would please thee?"
"By Saint Jupiter, but he might ask, at least! He might give a man his choice," responded the other, gruffly. "It's but a small favour I ask, to be suffered to choose for myself whether I shall work for my master on hill or in hole—with a free bit, or hand to hand, close struggle with a hungry alligator in his wallow."
"And thou wouldst choose the very service he now puts thee to. What! do we not all know thee—and who knows thee better than Huck? He sees thou art the best man for the swamp; that thy scent is keen with the bloodhound, thine eye like the hawk's, and thou art quick for fight as the major's bull-pup. It is because he knows thou art fond of this sort of venture that he puts thee upon it; and what thou grumblest at, therefore, it will be out of thine own wisdom to show, even if thou wert really discontented with the duty, which I believe not."
