ioneer artist," Parker confessed, and
the hearty agreement he met with quite disconcerted him.

Mrs. Parker was indignant at the covert ridicule of her husband, and was
silent all through the meal; indeed, the burden of the conversation fell
upon Jennie and Maynard, but they were entirely willing to bear it, and
were not lacking for words.

"It is good to hear the bugles again," Jennie remarked, as one of the
calls rang out on the still air, sweet and sad and as far removed from
war as a love song.

"They're not so pleasant when they call to the same monotonous round of
daily duties," said Mr. Payne.

Curtis smiled. "Here's another disgruntled officer. What would you
do--kill off the Indians and move into the city?"

"To kill off a few measly whites might insure completer peace and
tranquillity," replied Maynard.

"You fellows couldn't be more righteously employed," put in Lawson. "You
might begin on the political whoopers round about."

"What blasphemy!" cried Jennie. "These 'noble pioneers!'"

"Founding a mighty State," added Curtis.

"Founding a state of anarchy!" retorted Lawson. "They never did have any
regard for law, except a law that worked in their favor."

Parker got in a word. "Lawson, do you know what you are? You're what
Norman Bass used to call 'a blame a-riss-to-crat.'" This provoked a
laugh at Lawson's expense.

"I admit it," said Lawson, calmly. "I am interested in the cowboy and
the miner--as wild animals--as much as any of you, but as founders of an
empire! The hard and unlovely truth is, they are representatives of
every worst form of American vice; they are ignorant, filthy, and cruel.
Their value as couriers of the Christian army has never been great with
me."

Maynard was unusually reflective as he stared at Lawson.

"That's mighty plain talk," he observed, in the pause that followed.
"You couldn't run for office on speeches like that."

"Lawson's living doesn't depend on prevarication," remarked Curtis. "If
it did--"

"If it did I'd lie like the best--I mean the worst of you," replied
Lawson.

"In a few years there will not be an Indian left," Parker remarked.

"The world will be the poorer."

"They will all be submerged," continued Parker.

"Why submerge them? Is the Anglo-Saxon type so adorable in the sight of
God that He desires all the races of the earth to be like unto it? If
the proselytizing zeal of the missionaries and functionaries of the
English-speaking race co