n't he talk to him of sojers,
or guns, or wild bastes, or somethin' ginteel of that kind, an' not be
makin' a poor mouth, as if he hadn't a single hap'ny.' Andy was relieved
when the conversation veered round to a consideration of Canada as
military quarters.

'About the pleasantest going,' was the Hon. Captain Argent's opinion.
'Of course I can't exactly make out why we're sent here, unless
to stave off the Yankees, which it seems to me the colonists are
sufficiently inclined and sufficiently able to do themselves; neither
can I imagine why Joe Hume and his school of economists submit to such
expense without gaining anything in return, save the honour and glory of
calling Canada our colony. But leaving that matter to wiser heads than
mine, I can say for myself that I like the quarters greatly, and am
inclined to agree with Canadian eulogists, that it is the finest country
in the world--barring our own little islands.'

'I don't feel, though, as if it ever could be _home_,' observed Robert,
who had taken to his shingles again.

'Perhaps not; but we military men have an essentially homeless
profession, you know.'

'The red-coats in Montreal and Quebec seemed a visible link with mother
country, most welcome to my eyes in the new land; and so, Argent, when
you're commander-in-chief, do continue the regiments in Canada, for my
sake.'

'But, my dear fellow,' said the officer quite seriously, as he struck
the ashes from his pipe, 'it is waste of the most expensive manufactured
material on earth, the British soldier. When he's within reach of the
States, he deserts by whole pickets, ready armed and accoutred to the
Yankees' hands; I've had the pleasant job of pursuing the chaps myself,
and being baulked by the frontier. It's the garrison duty they detest;
and an unlimited licence beckons them over the border.'

'And you think,' said Robert, 'the colonists are sufficiently loyal, and
all that, to be left to themselves?'

'I don't think they would join the States, at all events. What a horrid
set those Yankees are! Canadians are too respectable to wish to sail in
the same ship with them.' This truly cogent argument was followed by
a series of profound whiffs. 'And if they did,' added Captain Argent
presently, 'we've been building the strongest fortifications in the
world, spending millions at Halifax and Quebec and other places, on
fosses and casemates, and bomb-proof towers, just for the Yankees! And
I suppose that Bar