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" /3'r^ Zoj CONTENTS. cn«rrER • ' I.— Why Bobebt Wynn Emisrated . . '" * >tf '^^ II.— CllCSSINQ THE "PeRRT" ^Z^ .«» • • • W III-— Up the St. Lawhexce «« • • • • • 29 IV. — WooDEN-Nias . . -^ 86 V. — Debarkation . ? "^"^ • V .42 VI.— CoNCEnNINO AN IxcUBUS ' . . ' . ' V " : " * " • • • ♦ OB Vn.— The River HiGiiWAT . . . """ ^a • • •.. . , .OS *^II— "Jean Baptiste" at Home . . . ^ ^ , , g^ IX.— "From Mud to Marble" . . «o ••••••• w X. — Corduroy . . «._ . 75 XI.— The Battle with the Wilderness BEOI^^> 82 XII.— Camping in the Blsh . oa ^III- — The Yankee Storekeeper . . . , , ^ 97 XIV.— The "Corner" . . XV.-^Andy Trees A "Baste" . . ,no XVI.— Lost in the Woods . ,,. • • . . 11* XVII.— Back to Cedar Creek ..... XVni.— Giant Two-Shoes .... ,.,„ XIX. — A Medley . 136 XX.— The Ice Sledgk . ... * • • • • . . 142 XXI.— -The FoiiEsr-MAN . . 147 XXII. — Silver Slkiqh-Bells . ,,.,. •••••.. 155 XXIII.— Still-Huntinq .... i-^ XXIV.-Lumbei..^8 jgg G CONTENTS. CHAPTKR XXV. — Childuen or the Forest XXVI. — Ox A Sweet Sujurarr . XXVIL— A BtvsY Bee . . * . XXVIII. — Old Faces rroN New Neighbgiiiis XXIX.— One Day in July XXX.— VisTTons AND Visited . XXXI. — SI•^'DAY IN TiiE Forest XXXII. — How the Captain cleared his Been XXXIII.— The Forest on Fire . XXXIV. — Triton asiono Minnows XXXV.- -The Fink Mist .... XXXVI.— Below Zero .... XXXVII. — A Cut, and its CoNSEQUE^Cl:o XXXVIII. — Jack-of-ali.-Trapes XXXIX — Settler the Second . XL. — An Unwelcome Suitor XLI. — The Mill-Privilege XLII. — Under the Northern Lights XLIII.— A BusH-FLrmNG .... XLTV. — SiioviNa of the Ice , . ., . XLV. — Exeunt Omnes .... I'A'JK 171 17!> 18 i 190 194 202 207 2i:'. 218 225 230 240 244 251 255 262 265 271 277 284 290 *^* The story of Cedar Creek licoa been composed from the journals and letters of an emigrant family, and contains true pictures of life in the Far West. In- tending emigrants should obtain the most recent information, from the latest official Colonization Circular (published by Groombridge and Sons), or by applica- tion at the Government Emigration OflSces, the addresses of which are given it Almanacks and Directorie.<:. l'A'_.K 171 17!) 181 190 194 202 207 21 :{ 218 225 230 240 244 251 255 262 265 271 277 284 290 letters t. In- e latest pplica- iven it CEDAR CREEK; FJJOM THE SHANTY TO THE SETTLEMENT. CHAPTER I. WHY EGBERT WYNX EMIGRATED. A NIGHT train drew up slowly alongside the platform at the Euston Square terminus. Immediately the long inanimate line of rail-carriages burst into busy life: a few minutes of apparently frantic confusion, and the individual items of the human freight were speeding towards all points of the compass, to be absorbed in the leviathan metropolis, as drops of a shower in a boundless sea. One of the cabs pursuing each otlier along the lamplit streets, and finally diverging among the almost infinite ramifications of London thoroughfares, contains a young man, who sits gazing through the window at the rapidly passing ranges of houses and shops with curiously fixed vision. The face, as momentarily revealed by the beaming of a brilliant gaslight, is chiefly re- markable for clear dark eyes rather deeply set, and a firm closure of the lips. He scarcely alters his posture during the miles of driving through wildernesses of brick and stone : some thoughts are at work beneath that broad short brow, which keep him thus stiU. He has never been in London before. He has come now on an errand of hope and endeavour, for he wants to push himself into the army of the world's workers, somewhere. Prosaically, he 8 CEDAR CKEEK. wants to earn his bread, and, if possible, butter wherewith to flavour it. Like Britons in general, from Dick Whittington downwards, he thinks that the capital is the place in which to seek one's fortune, and to find it. He had not expected streets paved with gold, nor yet with the metaphorical plenty of penny loaves ; but an indefinite disappointment weighs upon him as he passes through quarters fully as dingy and poverty-stricken as those in his own provincial town. Still on — on — across " the province covered with houses ;" some- times in a great thoroughfare, where midnight is as noisy as noon- day, and much more glaring; sometimes through a region of silence and sleep, where gentility keeps proper hours, going to bed betimes in its respectable streets, liobert Wynn began to wonder when the journey would end ; for, much as he knew of London by hearsay and from books, it was widely different^ thus personally to experience the metropolitan amplitude. A slight dizziness of sight, from the perpetual sweeping past of lamps and shadowy buildings, caused him to close his eyes ; and from specula- tions on the possi- uture and the novel present, his thoughts went straight home ajj^in. Home to the Irish village where bis ancestors had long been lords of the soil ; and the peasantry had deemed that the gi-eatest power on earth, under majesty itself, was his Honour Mr. Wynn of Dunore, ivhere now, fallen from greatness, the family was con- siderably larger than the means. The heavily encumbered property had dropped away piece by piece, and the scant residue clung to its owner like shackles. With difficulty the narrow exchequer had raised cash enough to send Eobert on this expedi- tion to London, from which much was hoped. The young man had been tolerably well educated ; he possessed a certain amount and quality of talent, extolled by partial friends as far above th© average ; but the mainstay of his anticipations was a promise of a WHY ROBERT WYNN EMIGRATED. 9 Civil service appointment, obtained from an influential quarter; and his unsophisticated country relatives believed he had only to present himself in order to realize it at once. He was recalled to London by the sudden stoppage of the cnb. On the dim lamp over a doorway was stained the name of the obscure hotel to which he had been recommended as central in situation, wWlo cheap in charges. Cabby's fare was exorbitant, tho passenger thought; but, after a faint resistance, Mr. Wynn was glad to escape from the storm of h-less remonstrances by pay- ment of the full demand, and so entered the coffee room. It vras dingy and shabby-genteel, like the exterior ; a quarter of a century might have elapsed since the faded paper had been put up, or a stroke of painting executed, in that dispiriting apartment. Meanwhile, all the agencies of travel-stain had been defacing both. An odour of continual meal-times hung about it; likewise of smoke of every grade, from tho perfumed havanna to the plebeian pigtail. The little tables were dark with hard work and antiquity ; the chair-seats polished with innumerable frictions. A creeping old waiter, who seemed to have known bdtter days in a higher class establishment, came to receive the new comers orders; and Robert sat down to wait for his modest chop and glass of ale. That morning's " Times " lay on his table : he glanced over tho broad sheet of advertisements — that wondrous daily record of need and of endeavour among the toiling millions of London. Tho inexplicable solitude in a crowd came about the reader's heart : what a poor chance had a provincial stranger amid the jostling multitude all eager for the prizes of comfort and competence! Robert went back for anchor to one strong fact. The Honourable Mr. Currie Faver, Secretary to the Board of Patronage, had declared to the member for the Irish county of C , on the eve of an important division, that his young friend should have tho earliest appointment at his disposal in a certain department. B 2 iO CEDAU CKEKK Kobcrt Wynu felt an inward gratulation on the superiority of his auspices. True, the promise made in January yet remained due in July ; but there wore numberless excellent good reasons why Mr. Currie Faver had been as yet unable to redeem his pledge. Robert turned his paper to look for the news : a paragraph in the corner arrested his attention. " Wo learn from the best authority that, owing to the diminution of business consequent upon recent Acts of the legislature, it is the intention of Her Majesty's Commissioners of Public Locomotion to reduce their staff of officials, so that no fresh appointments can be made for some months." He gazed at this piece of intelligence much longer than was necessary for the mere reading of it. The Board of Public Locomotion was the very department in which he had been promised a clerkship, Kobert made up his mind that it could not be true; it was a mere newspaper report: at all events, Mr. Currie Faver was bound by a, previous pledge ; whoever remained unappointed, it could not be a friend of the hon. member for C . . There were voices in the next, compartment, and presently their conversation was forced on Mr. Wynnes attention by the strongly stated sentiment, "The finest country in the world — whips all creation, it does." Some rejoinder ensued in a low tone. "Cold!" with a rather scornful accent, "I should think so. Gloriously cold I None of your wet sloppy winters and foggy skies, but ice a yard and a half thick for months. What do you think of forty degrees below zero, stranger ?" Robert could fancy the other invisible person shrugging his shoulders. "Don't like it, eh? That's just a prejudice here in the old country ; natural enough to them that don't know the difference. When a man hears of seventy degrees below the freezing point, he's WHY nOBEUT WYNN EMIORATED. 11 apt to got a shiver. But there, we don't riind it ; the colder tlio merrier ; winter's Dur time of fun : sleighing and skating parties, logging and quilting bees, and other sociabilities unknown to yon in England. Ay. we're the finest people and the finest country on earth ; and since I've been to see yours, I'm the steadier in that opinion." "But emigrants in the backwoods have so few of the comforts of civilization," began the other person, with a weak, irresolute voice. " Among which is foremost the tax-gatherer, I suppose ?" was the triumphant rejoinder. "Well, stranger, that's an animal I never saw in full blow till I've been to the old country. I was obliged to clear out of our lodgings yesterd vy because they came down on the furniture for poor-rate. Says I to the landlady, who was crying and wringing her hands, ' Why not come to the country where there's no taxes at all, nor rent either, if you choose?' Then it w ndd frighten one, all she counted up on her fingers — poor-rate, paving-rate, water-rate, lighting, income-tax, and no end of others. I reckon that's what you pay for your high civilization. Now with us, there's a water privilege on a'most every farm, and a pile of maple-logs has fire and gaslight in it for the whole winter ; and there's next to no poor, for every man and woman that's got hands and health can make a living. Why, your civilization is your misfortune in the old country ; you've got to support a lot of things and people besides yourself and your family." " Surely you are not quite without taxes," said the other. "Oh, we lay a trifle on ourselves for roads and bridges and schools, and such things. There's custom houses at the ports ; but if a man chooses to live without tea or foreign produce, he won't be touched by the indirect taxes either. I guess we've the advantage of you there. You can't hardly eat or drink, or walk or ride, or do anything else, without a tax somewhere in the background slily sucking your pocket." v r ,: , H';.. 12 CEDAB CREEK. Ni lii "ATTnited States citizen," tliouglit RoWt Wynn. "What a peeuliar accent he has! and the national swagger too." And Mr. Wynn, feeling intensely British, left his box, and walked into th© midst of the room with his newspaper, wishing to suggest the presence of a third person. He glanced at the American, a middle-aged, stout-built man, with an intelligent and energetic countenance, who returned the glance keenly. There was some- thing indescribably foreign about his dress, though in detail it was as usual ; and his manner and air were those of one not accus- tomed to the conventional life of cities. His companion was a tall, pale, elderly person, who bore his piping voice in his appearance, and seemed an eager listener. " And you say that I would make an independence if I emi- grated ?" asked the latter, fidgetting nervously with a piece of paper. , *' Any man would who has pluck and perseverance. Ton would have to work hard, though ;" and his eyes fell on the wliite irreso- lute hands, dubious as to the requisite qualities being there indicated. " You'd want a strong constitution if you're for the backwoods." ■ < -'^ ' • ^' . -'>;u i>} ijuni " The freedom of a settler's life, surrounded by all the beauties of nature, would have great charms for me," observed the other. " Yes," replied the American, rather drily ; " but I reckon yon wouldn't see many beauties till you had a log shanty up, at all events. Now that young man" — ^he had caught Robert Wynn's eye on him again — " is the very build for emigration. Strong, active, healthy, wide awake: no oftence, young gentleman, but such as you are badly wanted ir Canada West" From this began a conversation which need not be mimitely detailed. It was curious to see what a change was produced in Robert's sentiments towards the settler, by learning that lie was a Canadian, and not a United States man : "the national swagger" ■fe WHY ROBERT WYNN EMIQRATED. 13 became little more than a dignified assertion of independence, quite suitable to a British subject; the accent he had disliked became an interesting local characteristic. Mr. Hiram Holt was the soa of an English settler, who had fixed himself on the left bank of the Ottawa, amid what was then primeyal forest, and was now a flourishing township, covered with prosperous farms and villages. Here had the sturdy Saxon struggled with, and finally conquered, adverse circumstances) leaving his eldest son possessed of a small freehold estate, and his other children portioned comfortably, so that much of the neighbourhood was peopled by his descend- ants. And this, Hiram's first visit to the mother country — for he was Canadian bom — was on colonial business, being deputed from his section of the province, along with others, to give evidence, as a landed proprietor, before the Secretary of State, whose gate- lodge his fiither would have been proud to keep when he was a poor Suffolk labourer. "Now there's an injustice," quoth Mr. Holt, diverging into politics. " England has forty-three colonies, and but one man to oversee them all — a man that's jerked in and out of office with every successive ministry, and is almost necessarily more intent on party manoeuvres than on the welfare of the young nations he rules. Our colony alone — the two Canadas — is bigger than Great Britain and Ireland three times over. Take in all along Vancouver's Island, and it's as big as Europe. There's a pretty considerable slice of the globe for one man to manage I Hut forty-two other colonies haVe tO' be maniaged ^ well; and I guess a nursery of forty-three children of all ages left* to one care-taker would run pretty wild, I do." j^^r'ta^ikB t *' Yet we n»:ver hear of mismanagement," observed Robert, in an unlucky moment ; for Mr. Hiram Holt retained all the Briton's prerogative of grumbling, and in five minutes had rehearsed a whole catalogue of colonial grievances very energetically. vft CEDAR CREEK. I • i " Then I suppose you'll be for joining the stars and stripes," said the young man. -^.,-1 " Never !" exclaimed the settler. " Never, while there's a rag of the union jack to run up. But it's getting late ; ;" and as he rose to his feet with a tremendous yawn, liobert perceived his great length, hitherto concealed by the table on which he leaned. "■ This life would kill me in six months. In my own place, I'm about the farm at sunrise in summer. Never knew what it was to bo sick, yoiing man." And so the party separated; Robert admiring the stalwart muscular frame of the Canadian as he strode before him up the stairs towards their sleeping rooms. As he passed Mr. Holt's door, he caught a glimpse of bare floor, whence all the cai-pets had been rolled off into a corner, every vestige of curtain tucked- away, and the window sashes open to their widest. Subsequently he learned that to such domestic softnesses as car- pets and curtains the sturdy settler had invincible objections, regarding them, as symptoms of effeminacy not suitable to his cha- racter, though admitting that for women they were well enough. ,, liobert was all night felling pines, building log-huts, and wander- ing amid interminable forests ; and when his shaving water and l)oots awoke him at eight, he was a little surprised to find himself a denizen of a London hotel. Mr. Holt had gone out hours before. After a hasty breakfast Mr. Wynn ordered a cab, and proceeded to the residence of the hon. member for C — — county. . > It was a mansion hired for the season in one of the fashionable scpiares ; for so had the hon. member's domestic board of control, his lady-wife and daughters, willed. Of course, Robert was im- mensely too early ; he dismissed the cab, and wandered about the neighbourhood, followed by suspicious glances from one or two policemen, until, after calling at the house twice, he was admitted into a library beset with tall dark bookcases. Here sat the M.P, enjoying the otium cum dujnitate, in a handsome morning gown, WHY ROBERT WYNN EMIGRATED. 15 with bundles of parliamentary papers and a little stack of letters on the table. But none of the legislative literature engrossed his attention just then : the " Morning Post " dropped from his fingers as he arose and shook hands with the son of his constituent. " Ah, my dear Wynn — ^liow happy — delighted indeed, I assure you. Have you breakfasted ? all well at home ? your highly honoured father ? late sitting at the House last night — close of the session most exhausting even to seasoned members, as the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer said to me last evening in the lobby ;" and here followed an anecdote. But while he thus ran on most affably, the under-current of idea in his mind was somewhat as follows: "What on earth does this young fellow want of me? His family interest in the county almost gone — ^not worth taking pains to please any longer — a great bore — yet I must be civil ; — oh, I recollect Currie Favor's promise — ^thinks he has given me enough this session — " Meanwhile, Robert was quite interested by his agi-eeable small talk. It is so charming to hear great names mentioned familiarly by one personally acquainted with them ; to learn that Palmerston and Lord John can breakfast like ordinary mortals. By-and-by, with a blush and a falter (for the mere matter of his personal pro- vision for life seemed so paltry among these world-famed characters and their great deeds, that he was almost ashamed to allude to it), Kobert Wynn ventured to make his request, that the hon. member for C would go to the hon. Secretary of the Board of Patron- age, and claim the fulfilment of his promise. Suddenly the M.P. became grave and altogether the senator, with his finger thought- fully upon his brow — the identical attitude which Grant had com- memorated on canvas, beaming from the opposite wall. "An unfortunate juncture; close of the session, when everj'- body wants to be off, and ministers don't need to swell their majorities any longer. I recollect perfectly to what you allude ; 16 CEDAB CREEK. «| « but) my dear young Mend, all these ministerial promises, as you term them, are more or less conditional, and it may be quite out of Mr. Currie Faver's power to fulfil this." Then he should not have made it, sir," said Eobert, hotly. For instance," proceeded the hon. gentleman, not noticing the interruption, *'tbe new arrangements of the commissioners renders it almost impossible that they should appoint to a clerkship, either supernumerary or otherwise, while they are reducing the ordinary staff. But I'll certainly go to Mr. Faver, and remind him of the circumstance: we can only be refused at worst. You may be assured of my warmest exertions in your behalf: any request from a member of your family ought to be a command with mo, Mr. Wynn." Kobert's feelings of annoyance gave way to gratification at Mr. A 's blandness, which, however, had a slight acid behind. " And though times are greatly altered, I don't forget our old electioneering, when your father proposed me on my first hustings. Greatly altered, Mr. Wynn ; greatly altered. I must go to the morning sitting now, but I'll send you a note as to the result of my interview. You must have much to see about London. I quite envy you your first visit to such a world of wonders ; I am sure you will greatly enjoy it. Good morning, Mr. Wynn, I hope I shall have good news for you." v> *!i : 5 $■.? And so Robert was bowed out, to perambulate the streets in rather bitter humour. Was he to return to the poor scantily supplied home, and continue a drag on its resources, lingering out his days in illusive hopes ? Oh that his strong hands and strong heart had some scope for their energies ! He paused in ono mighty torrent of busy faces and eager footsteps, and despised himself for his inaction. All these had business of one kind or other ; all were earnestly intent upon their calling ; but he was a wajf and a straw on the top of the tide, with ©very muscle stoutly !!■ li WHY ROBEET WYNN EMIGRATED. 17 strung, and every faculty of liis brain clear and sound. Would ho let the golden years of his youth slip by, witliout laying any foundation for independence ? Was this Civil Service appointment worth the weary waiting ? Emigration had often before presented itself as a course offering certain advantages. Mr. Holt's conversa- tion had brightened the idea. For his family, as well as for himself, it would be beneficial. The poor proud father, who had frequently been unable to leave his house for weeks together, through fear of arrest for debt, would be happier with an ocean between him and the ancestral estates, thronged with memories of fallen affluence : the young brothers, Arthur and George, who were nearing man's years without ostensible object or employment, would find both abundantly in the labour of a new country and a settler's life. Eobert had a whole picture sketched and filled in during half an hour's sit in the dingy coffee room ; from the shanty to the settle- ment was portrayed by his fertile fancy, till he was awakened from his reverie by the hearty voice of Hiram Holt. t " I thought for a minute you were asleep, with your hat over your eyes. I hope you're thinking of Canada, young man?" 4; ,.^: Eobert could not forbear smiling. "Now," said Mr. Holt, apparently speaking aloud a previous train of thought, " of all things in this magnificent city of yours, which I'm free to confess beats Quebec and Montreal by a long chalk, nothing seems queerer to me than the thousands of young men in your big shops, who are satisfied to struggle all their lives in a poor unmanly way, while our millions of acres are. calling, out for b'iT»ds to fell the forests and own the estates, and create happy homes along our unrivalled rivers and lakes. The young fellow that sold me these gloves " — showing a new pair on his hands — " would make as fine a backwoodsman as I ever saw — six feet high, and strong in proportion. It's the sheerest waste of material to have that fellow selling stockings." 1; -^^ ^f, ^ ^ - •• ^^ vi ,■-*■ ,.^a ,h1 III I 18 CEDAR CBEEK. But IMr. Holt found Robert Wynn rather taciturn ; whereupon he observed : " I'm long enough in the world, young man, to see that to-day*R experience, whatever it has been, has bated your hopes a bit ; the crest ain't so plumy as last night. But I say you'll yet bless the disappointment, whatever it is, that forces you over the water to our land of plenty. Come out of this over-crowded nation, out where there's elbow room and free breathing. Tell you what, young man, the world doesn't want you in densely packed England and Ireland, but you*re wanted in Canada, every thew and sinew that you have. The market for such as you is overstocked here : out with us you'll be at a premium. Don't be offended if I've spoke plain, for Hiram Holt is not one of them that can chop a pine into matches : whatever I am thinking, out with tho whole of it. But if YOU ever want a friend on the Ottawa " '' Robert asserted that he had no immediate idea of emigration ; his prospects at homo were not bad, etc. He could not let this rough stranger see the full cause he had for depression. "Not bad! but I tell you they're nothing compared to the prospects you may carve out for yourself with that clever head and those able hands." Again Mr. Holt seized the opportunity of dilating on the perfections of his beloved colony : had he been a paid agent, he could not have more zealously endeavoured to en- list Robert as an emigrant. But it was all a product of national enthusiasm, and of the pride which Canadians may well feei con- cerning their magnificent country. '• • >- ■ -V- . . . . ..ifj^,... N«xt morning a few coiurteous lines from the hon. member for C county informed Mr. Wynn, with much regret, that, as he had anticipated, Mr. Currie Faver had for the present no nomina- tion for the department referred to, nor would have for at least twelve months to come. - ^^^^^ v«^ - . j. . ^r " Before which time, I trust," soliloquised Robert a little fiercely, " I shall be independent of all their favours." And amidst some '■'^■, CROSSING THE "FERRY." 19 severe reflections on the universal contempt accorded to tli9 needy, and the corrupted state of society in England, which estimates a man by the length of his purse chiefly, Eobert Wynn formed tlie resolution that he would go to Canada. ..IV.. ' .J , .V %' CHAPTER II. CROSSING THE "FEERY." ROBEKT Wynn returned home to Dunore, having gained nothing by his London trip but a little of that bitter though salutary tonic called experience. His resolve did not waver — ^nay, it became his day-dream; but manifold obstacles occurred in the attempt to realize it Family pride was one of the most stubborn ; and not until all hope from home resources was at an end, did his father crive consent. '-:'■ *-•' '■• ^-'■' ---■ '•"i;. ^3v.';:.> r About a month after his meeting with Hiram Holt in the London coffee house, he and his brother Arthur found themselves on board a fine '^.uigrant vessel, passing down the river Lee into Cork liarbour, under the leaderehip of a little black steam-tug. Grievous liad been the wailing of the passengers at parting with their kins- folk on the quay ; but, somewhat stilled by this time, they leaned in groups on the bulwarks, or were sriuatted about on deck among their infinitude of red boxes and briliant tins, watching the villa- whitened shores gUding by rapidly. Only an occasional vernacular ejaculation, such as " Oh, wirra ! wirra !" or, " Och hone, mavrone !" betokened the smouldering remains of emotion in the frieze coats and gaudy shawls assembled for'ard : the wisest of the party were arranging their goods and chattels 'tween-decks, where they must encamp for a month or more ; but the majority, with truly Celtic 20 CEDAB CBEEK. improvidence, will wait till they are turned down at nightfall, aiid have a general scramble in the dusk. * Now the noble Cove of Cork stretches before them, a sheet of glassy water, dotted with a hundred sail, from the base of the sultry hill faced with terraces and called Queenstown, to the far Atlantic beyond the Heads. Heavy and dark loom the fortified government buildings of Haulbowline and the prisons of Spike Island, casting forbidding shadows on the western margin of the tide. Quickly the steam-tug and her follower thread their way among islets and moored barques and guard ships, southward to the sea. No pause anywhere ; the passengers of the brig " Ocean Queen " are shut up in a world i f their own for a while ; yet they do not feel the bond with mother country quite severed till they have cleared the last cape, and the sea-line lies wide in view ; nor even then, till the little black tug casts off the connecting cables, and rounds away back across the bar, within the jaws of the bay. >:■..„ Hardly a breath of breeze : but such as blows is favourable ; and with infinite creaking all sail is set. The sound Makes up emigrant sorrow afresh ; th 3 wildly contagious Irish cry is raised, much t<^> the discomposure of the captain,.,who stood on tho (marter deck with Eobert Wynn. " The savages ! they will be fitting mates for lied Indians, and may add a stave or two to the war-whoop. One would think they were all going to the bottom immediately." He walked forward to qu^l the noise, if possible, but he might as well have stamped and roared at Niagara.. Not a voice cared for his threats or his rage, but those within reach of Jiis arm. The choleric little man had to come back baffled. ^ >/ , " Masther Eobert, would ye like 'em to stop T whispered a great hulking peasant who had been looking on ; " for if ye would, I'll do it while ye'd be taking a pinch o' snu£^" Andy Callaghan disappeared somewhere for a moment, and pre- ''ly ;. ^ liil CnOSSING THE "FERRY.* 21 Bently emerged wjth an old violin, which he began to scrape vigor- oualy. Even his tuning was irresistibly comical ; and he had not been playing a lively jig for ten minutes, before two or three couples were on their feet, performing the figure. Soon an admir- ing circle, four deep, collected about the dancers. The sorrows of the exiles were effectually diverted, for that time. " A clever fellow," quoth the captain, regarding Andy's red hair and twinkling eyes with some admiration. " A diplomatic tend- ency, Mr. Wynn, which may be valuable. Your servant, I pre- 9" sume "A former tenant of my father's, who wished to follow our fortunes," replied Eobert. "He's a faithful fellow, though not much more civilized than the rest." That grand ocean bluff, the Old Head of Kinsale, was now in the offing, and misty ranges of other, promontories beyond, at whose base was perpetual foam. Robert turned away with a sigh, and descended to the cabins. In the small square box allotted to them, he found Arthur lying in his berth, reading Mrs. Traill's "Emigrant's Guide." ' ' " :' - " I've bopn wondering what became of you ; you've not been on deck since we left Cork." ^ ' • - ...... " Of course not. I should have been blubbering like a school- boy ; and as I had enough of that last night, I mean to stay here till we're out of sight of land." ' ^ Little trace of the stoicism he professed was to be seen in the tender eyes which had for an hour been fixed on the same page ; but Arthur was not yet sufficiently in manhood's years to know that deep feeling is an honour, and not a weakness. Towards evening, the purple mountain ranges of KeiTy were fast fading over the waters ; well-known peaks, outlines familiar from childhood to the dwellers at Dunore, were sinking beneath the great circle of the sea. Cape Clear is left behind and the lonely ¥' m^ 'I'l CEDAR CREEK. Fassnct lighthouse ; the " Ocean Qiieeu " is coining to the blue water, and the long solemn swell raises and sinks her with pen- dulum-like regularity. " Ah, then, Masther Robert, an' we're done wid the poor ould counthry for good an' all !" Andy Callaghan's big bony hands are clasped in a tremor of emotion that would do honour to a pictu- resque Italian exile. " The beautiful ould counthry, as has the greenest grass that ever grew, an' the clearest water that ever ran, an' the purtiest girls in the wide world ! An' we're goin' among sthrangers, to pull an' dhrag for our bit to ate ; but we'll never be happy till we see them blue hills and green fields once more !" Mr. Wynn could almost have endorsjed the sentiment just then. Perhaps Andy's low spirits were intensified by the uncomfortable motion of the ship, which was beginning to strike landsmen with that rolling headache, the sure precursor of a worse visitation. Suffice it to say, that the mass of groaning misery in the steerage and cabins, on the subsequent night, would melt the heart of any but the most hardened " old salt." Did not Robert and Arthur regret their emigration bitterly, when shaken by the fangs of the fell demon, sea-sickness ? Did not a chance of going to the bottom seem a trivial calamity ? Answer, ye who have ever ^)een in like pitiful case. We draw a curtain over the abject miseries of three days ; over the Dutch-built captain's unseasonable joking and huge laughter — ^he, that could eat junk and biscuit if the ship was in Maelstrom ! Robert could have thrown his boots at him with pleasure, while the short, broad figure stood in the doorway during his diurnal visit, chewing tobacco, and talking of all the times he had crossed " the ferry," as he familiarly designated the Atlantic Ocean. The sick passengers, to a man, bore him an animosity., owing to his ostentatiously rude health and iron nerves, which is, of all exhibitions, the most oppressive to a prostrate victim of the sea-fiend _ ; .. . ,, u , . ^ . : -.: CROSSINQ THE "FERRY." 23 The third evening, an altercation became audible on the com- panion ladder, as if some ship's officer were keeping back somebody else who was determined to come below. " That's Andy Callaghan's voice," said Arthur. "Let me down, will ye, to see the young masthers?" came muffled through the doors and partition. "Look here, now" — in a coaxing tone — "I don't like to be cross; but though I'm so bad afther the sickness, I'd set ye back in your little hole there at the fut of the stairs as asy as I'd put a snail in its shell." At this juncture Robert opened their state-room door, and pre- vented further collision. Andy's lean figure had become gaunter than ever. " They thought to keep me from seeing ye, the villains I I'd knock every mother's son of 'em into ihe middle o* next week afore I'd be kep' away. Sure I was comin' often enough before, but the dinth of the sickness prevented me ; an' other times I was chucked about like a child's marvel, pitched over an' hether by the big waves banging the side of the vessel. Masther Robert, asthore, it's I that's shaking in the middle of my iligant new frieze shute like a withered pea in a pod — I'm got so thin intirely." "We are not much better ourselves," said Arthur, laughing; " but I hope the worst of it is over." " I'd give the full of my pockets in goold, if I had it this minit," said Andy, with great emphasis, " to set me foot on the nakedest sod of bog that's in Ould Ireland this day ! an' often I abused it ; but throth, the purtiest sight in life to me would be a good pratie- field, an' meself walkin' among the ridges !" " Well, Andy, we mustn't show the white feather in that way ; we could not expect to get to America without being sick, or Buffering some disagreeables." . • . " When yer honours are satisfied, 'tisn't for the likes of me to -m 24 CEDAR GREEK. grumble," Andy said resignedly. " Only if everybody knew what was before them, they mightn't do many a thing, maybe !*' " Very true, Andy " *' So we're all sayin* down in the steerage, sir. But oh, Masther llobert, I a'most forgot to tell ye, account of that spalpeen that thought to hindher yer own fosther-brother from comin* to see ye ; but there's the most wondherful baste out in the say this minit ; it's spoutin' tip water like the fountain that used to be at mi r Dunore, only a power bigger ; an' lyin* a-top of the waves like an island, for all the world ? I'm thinkin' ho wouldn't make much of cranching up the ship like a hazel nut." ' - ^ " A whale ! I wonder will they get out the boats ?" said Arthur, with sudden animation. " I think I'm well enough to go on deck, Bob : rd like to have a shot at the fellow." " A very useless expenditure of powder," rejoined llobert. But Arthur, boylike, sprung upstairs with the rifle, which had often done execution among the wildfowl of his native moorlands. Certainly it was a feat to hit such a prominent mark as that moun- tain of blubber ; and Arthur felt justly ashamed of himself, when the animal beat the water furiously, and dived headlong in his pain. Now, the only other cabin passengers on board the brig were a retired military ofificer and his family, consisting of a son and two daughters. They had made acquaintance with the Wynus on the first day of the voyage, but since then there had been a necessary Buspr^nsion of intercourse. And it was a certain mild but decided tlisapproval in Miss Armytage's grave glance, when Arthur turned round and saw her sitting on the poop with her father and little sister, wliich brought the colour to his cheek, for he felt he had been guilty of thoughtless and wanton cruelty. He bowed and moved further away. Bat llobert joined them, and passed half an hour very contentedly in gazing at a grand sunset. The closing act of which was as follows : a dense black brow of cloud on the . \ CBOSSINO THE ** FKIiliY." margin of the sea ; beneath it burst a flaming bolt of b'ght Irora the sun's great eye, along the level waters. Far in the zenith were hroad beams radiating across other clouds, like golden pathways. Slowly the dark curtain seemed to close down over the burning glory at tho horizon. "How very beautiful !" exclaimed Miss Amiytuge. " Yes, my dear Edith, except as a weather barometer," said her fiithcr. " In that point of view it means — stoiin." "Oh, papa!" ejaculated tho littlo girl, nestling close — not to liiin, but to her elder sister, whose hand instantly clasped hers with a reassuring pressure, while the quiet face looked down at the ])orturbcd child, smiling sweetly. It was almost the first smile Jvobcrt had seen on her face; it made Miss Armytago quite hand- some for the moment, he thought. - . Miss Armytage, caring very little for his thought, was occupied an instant with saying something in a low tone to Jay, which gradually brightened the small countenance again, llobert caught the words, " Our dear Saviour." They reminded him of his mother. Captain Armytage was correct in his prediction; before mid- night a fierce north-easter was raging on the sea. The single beneficial result was, that it fairly cured all maladies but terror ; for, after clinging to their berths during some hours with every muscle of their bodies, lest they should be swung oif and smashed in the lurches of the vessel, the passengers arose next morning, v/ell and hungry. " I spind the night on me head, moslly," said Andy Oall^erhan. " Troth, I never knew before how the flies managed to walk on the ceilin' back downwards ; but a thrifle more o* practice would taohe it to meself, for half me time the floor was above at the rafters over me head. I donno rightly how to walk on my feet the day afther it." ,.-,.... This was the only bad weather they experienced, as viewed > k 26 OEDAB CBEEK. nautically : even the captain allowed that it had been " a stiflfisli gale;" bnt subsequent tumults of the winds and waves, which seemed tremendous to unsophisticated landsmen, were to him mere ocean, frolics. And so, while each day the air grew colder, they neared the banks of Newfoundland, where everybody who could devise fishing tacjkle tried to catch the famous cod of those waters. Arthur was one of the successful captors, having spent a laborious day in the main-chains for the purpose. At eventide he was found teaching little Jay how to hold a line, and how to manage when a bite came. Her mistakes and her delight amused him : botli lasted till a small panting fish was pulled up. " There's a whiting for you now/' said he, " all of your own catching." Jay looked at it regretfully, as the poor little gills opened and shut in vain efforts to breathe the smothering air, and the pretty silver colouring deadened as its life went. " I am very sorry," she said, folding her hands together ; "I think I ought not to have killed it only to amuse myself :" and she walked away to where hei- sister was sitting. " "What a strange child 1" thought AHhur, as he watched the little figure crossing the deck. But he wound up the tackle, and angled no more for that evening. The calm svas next day deepened by a fog ; a dense haze settled on the sea, seeming by sheer weight to still its restless motion. Now was the skipper much more perturbed than during the rough weather : wrapt in a mighty pea-coat, he kept a perpetual look-out in person, chewing the tobacco meanwhile as if he bore it an ani- mosity. Frequent gatherings of drift-ice passed, and at times ground together with a disagreeably strong sound. An intense chill pervaded the atmosphere — a cold unlike what Robert or Arthur had ever felt in the frosts of Ireland, it was so much more keen and penetrating, , . \ „ ^ , > CROSSING THE " FERKY. 27 " The captain says it is from icebergs," said the latter, drawing up the collar of his great coat about his ears, as they walked the deck. " I wish we saw one — at a safe distance, of course. But this fog is so blinding " Even as he spoke, a vast whitish berg loomed a-beam, immensely liigher than the topmasts, in towers and spires snow-crested. What great precipices of grey glistening ice, as it passed bv- ?. mighty half-distinguishable mass ! what black rifts of destructive depth ! The ship surged backward before the great refluent wave of its movement. A sensation of awe struck tlio br.ivest beholder, as slowly and majestically the huge berg glided astern, and its grim features were obliterated by the heavy haze. Both drew a relieved breath when the grand apparition had passed. " I wish Miss Armytage had seen it," said Arthur, " Why ?" rejoined Kobert, though the same thought was just in his own mind. .■■,-■.■■., .-W •. './,_;;, v,-'^. k..:'.^ ■„,- i^a^^?-..!;;, ^*:-:j*i " 0'^ because it was so magnificent, and I am sure she would admire it. I could almost make a poem about it myself. Don't you know the feeliug, as if the sight were too large, too imposing for your mind somehow ? And the danger only intensifies that." " Still, I wish we were out of their reach. The skipper's temper will be unbearable till then." . . r ♦ It improved considerably when the fog rose off the sea, a day or two subsequently, and a head-wind sprang up, carrying them .0 wards the Gulf. One morning, a low grey stripe of cloud on the horizon A\as shown to the passengers as part of Newfoundland. Long did Eobert Wynn gaze at that dim outline, possessed by all the strange feeling-s which belong to the first sight of the new world, especially when it is to be a future home. No shame to his manhood if some few tears for the dear old home dimmed his eyes as he looked. But soon that shadow of land disappeared, and, passing Cape Bay at a long distance, they entered the p^-eat » > m CEDAB CREEK. ,.! estuary of the St. Lawrence, which mighty inlet, if it had place in our little Europe, would be fitly termed the Sea of Labrador ; but where all the features of Nature are colossal, it ranks only as a gulf. One morning, when little Jay had gone on deck for an ante- breakfast run, she came back in a state of liigh delight to the cabin. ** Oh, Edith, such beautiful birds ! such lovely little birds ! and the sailors say they're from the land, though we cannot see it anywhere. How tired they must be after such a long fly, all the way from beyond the edge of the sea ! Do come and look at them, dear Edith— do come!" ; . .v . >>> . v . . Sitting on the shrouds were a pair of tiny land birds, uo bigger than tomtits, and wearing red top-knots on their heads. How welcome were the confiding little creatures to the passengers, who had been rocked at sea for nearly five weeks, and hailed these as sure harbingers of solid ground ! They came down to pick up Jay's crumbs of biscuit, and twittered familiarly. The captain offered to have one caught for her, but, after a minute's eager ac- quiescence, she declined. " I would like to feel it in my hand," said she, " but it is kinder to let it fly about wherever it pleases." "Why, you little Miss Considerate, is that your principle always?" asked Arthur, who had made a great playmate of her. She did not understand his question; and on his explaining in simpler words, " Oh, you know I always try to think what God would like. That is sure to be right, isn't it ?" " I suppose so," said Arthur, with sudden gravity. "Edith taught me — she does just that," continued the child. " I don't think she ever does anything that is wrong at all. But oh, Mr. Wynn," and he felt a sudden tightening of her grasp on his hand, " what big bird is that ? look how frightened the little ones are !" "**^^^ A hawk, which had been circling in the air, now made a swoop UP THE ST. LAWRENCE. 11^ I on tlie rigging, but was anticipated by his quarry : one of the birds flew actually into Arthur's hands, and the other got in among some barrels which stood amidships. " Ah," said Arthur, " they were driven out here by that chap, I suppose. Now I'll give you the pleasure of feeling one of them in your hands." . -w, „^ " But that wicked hawk !" ■- ' " And that wicked Jay, ever to eat chickens or mutton." *^ Ah I but that is different. How his little heart beats, and flutters. I wish I had him for a pet. I would love you, little birdie, indeed I would." ' * • , ? * For some days they stayed by the ship, descending on deck for crumbs regularly, furnished them by Jay, to whom the office of feeding them was deputed by common consent. But nearing the Island of Anticosti, t'uey took wing for shore with a parting twitter, and, Uke Noah's dove, did not return. Jay would not aUow that they were ungratefuL ; : -I CHAPTER in. . ^ ■ UP THE ST. LAWRENCE. * Little Jay could hardly be persuaded into the belief that they were now sailing on a river; that the swift broad tide bearing against them, more than one hundred and twenty miles across at this island of Anticosti, was the mouth of a stream having source in a mountain far away, and once narrow enough to step over. Arthur showed her the St. Lawrence on a map hung in the saloon ; but such demonstration did not seem to convince her much. " Then where are the banks ? My geography says that a river always bar banks," was her argument. 30 CEDAR CREEK. )< *' In the evening he was able to show her the wide pitiless snow ranges of Labrador, whence blew a keen desert air. Perpetual pine- woods — looking like a black band set against the encroaching snow — edged the land, whence the brig was some miles distant, tacking to gain the benefit of the breeze oflf shore. ^■"*^ •* Presently came a strange and dismal sound wafted over the waters from the far pine forests — a high prolonged howl, taken uj) and echoed by scores of ravenous throats, repeated again and again, augmenting in fierce cadences. Jay caught Mr. Wynn's arm closer. " Like wolves," said Arthur ; " but we are a long way oif." " I must go and tell Edith," said the child, evidently feeling safer with that sister than in any other earthly care. After he had brought her to the cabin, he returned on deck, listening with a curious sort of pleasure to the wild sounds, and looking at the dim outlines of the shore. - As darkness dropped over the circle of land and water, a light seemed to arise behind those hills, revealing their solid shapes anew, stealing silently aloft into the air, like a pale and pure northern dawn. At first he thought it must be the rising moon, but no orb appeared ; and as the brilliance deepened, intensified into colour, and shot towards the zenith, he knew it for the aurora borealis. Soon the stars were blinded out by the vivid sweeping flicker of its rays ; hues bright and varied as the rainbow thrilled along the iridescent roadways to the central point above, and tongues of flame leaped from arches in the north-west. Burning scarlet and amber, purple, green, trembled in pulsations across the ebony surface of the heavens, as if some vast fire beneath the horizon was flashing forth coruscations of its splendour to the dark hemisphere beyond. The floating banners of angels is a hackneyed symbol to express the oppressive magnificence of a Canadian aurora. The brothers were fascinated : their admiration had no words. /' UP THE ST. LAWRENCE. it " This is as bad as the iceberg for making a fellow's brain feel too big for his head," said Arthur at last. " We've seen two sublime things, at all events, Bob." Clear frosty weather succeeded — weather without the sharp sting of cold, but elastic and pure as on a mountain peak. Being becalmed for a day or two off a wooded point, the skipper sent a boat ashore for fuel and water. Arthur eagerly volunteered to help ; and after half-an-hour's rowing through the calm blue bay, lie had the satisfaction to press his foot on the soil of Lower Canada. ■'■--" ';-^^--^> ■.,..;.. ■■r^.;^ - \,^^- ..- ,v.,.,„ m^^v,.., -...,.„, There was a small clearing beside a brook which formed a narrow deep cove, a sort of natural miniature dock* where their boat floated. A log hut, mossed with years, was set back some fifty yards towards the forest. What pines were those ! what giants of arborescence ! Seventy feet of massive shaft without a bough ; and then a dense thicket of black inwoven branches, making a dusk beneath the fullest sunshine. -'* " I tell you we haven't trees in the old country ; our oaks and larches are on,ly shrubs," he said to Kobert, when narrating his expedition. " Wait till you see pines such as I saw to-day. Looking, along the forest glades, those great pillars upheld the roof every- where in endless succession. And the silence ! as if a human creature never breathed among them, though the log hut was close by. When I went in, I saw a French habitan, as they call him, who minds the lighthouse on the point, with his Indian wife, and her squaw mother dressed in a blanket, and of course babies — the queerest little brown things you ever saw. One of them was tied into a hollow board, and buried to the chin in * punk,' by way of bed-clothes.* " And what is punk ?" asked Robert. " Rotten wood powdered to dust," answered Arthur, with an air of superior information. "It's soft enough; and the poor little 98 CEDAR CREEK. animal's head was just visible, so that it looked like a young live mummy. But the grandmother squaw was even uglier than the grandchildren ; a thousand and one lines seamed her coppery face, which was the colour of an old penny piece rather burnished from use. And she had eyes, Bob, little and wide apart, and black as sloes, with a snaky look. I don't think she ever took them off me, and *twas no manner of use to stare at her in return. So, as I could not understand what they were saying — ^gabbling a sort of patois of bad French and worse English, with a sprinkling of Indian — and^ as the old lady's gaze was getting uncomfortable, I went out again among my friends, the mighty pines. I hope w»3 shall have some about our location, wherever we settle." ** And I tiust more intimate acquaintance won't make us wish them a trifle fewer and slighter," remarked Robert. • - - * • ' - " WeU, I am afraid my enthusiasm would fade before an acre of such clearing," rejoined Arthur. "But, Bob, the colours of the foliage are lovelier than I can tell. You see a little of the tinting even from this distance. The woods have taken pattern by thci aurora : it seems we are now in the Indian summer, and the maplo trees are just burning with scarlet and gold leaves." " I suppose you did not see many of our old country ti«es?" " Hardly any. Pine is the most plentiful of all : how I like its sturdy independent look ! as if it were used to battling with snow- storms, and got strong by the exercise. The mate showed mo hickory and hemlock, and a lot of other foreigners, while the men were cutting logs in the bush." : ..j^. j "You have picked up the Canadian phraseology already," observed Robert. «, ^ ; : , ,-,j* "Yes;" and Arthur reddened slightly. "Impossible to avoid that, when you're thrown among fellows that speak nothing else. But I wanted to tell you, that coming back we hailed a boat from one of those outward-bound ships lying yonder at anchor : the mate UP THE ST. LAWRENCE. DO kavs their wood and water is half a pretence. They are smuggling jskius, in addition to their regular freight of lumber." " Smuggling skins !" "For the skippers' private benefit, you understand: furs, sucli |jissable, marten, and squirrel; they send old ship's stores ashore '< to trade with vagrant Indians, and then sew up the skins in their I clothes, between the lining and the stuff, so as .to pass the Custom House officers at home. Bob ! I'm longing to be ashore for good. You don't know what it is to feel firm ground under one's fe(^t after six weeks' unsteady footing. I'm longing to get out of this floating prison, and begin our life among the pines." • > ; : ■ Robert shook his head a little sorrowfully. Now that they were iiearing the end of the voyage, many cares pressed upon him, which to the volatile nature of Arthur seemed only theme for adventure. Whither to bend their steps in the first instance, was a matter for crrave deliberation. Thoy had letters of introduction to a gentle- man near Carillon on the Ottawa, and others to a family at loronto. Former friends had settled beside the lonely Lake jSimcoe, midway between Huron and Ontario. Many an hour of the becalmed days he spent over the maps and guide books they had brought, trying to study out a result. Jay came up to him one afternoon, as he leaned his head on his hand perplexedly. _^, " What ails you? have you a headache ?" -^ " No, I am only puzzled." Her own small elbow rested on the taffrail, and her little fingers dented the fair round cheek, in unwitting imitation of his posture. " Is it about a lesson ? But you don't have to get lessons." " No ; it is about what is best for me to do when I land." " Edith asks God always ; and he shows her what is best," said the child, looking at him wistfully. Again he thought of his pious jtrayerful mother. She might have spoken through the childish lips. He closed his books, remarking that they were stupid. Jay gave him licr hand to walk up and down the deck. He had never made it a c 34 CEDAR CREEK. custom to consult God, or refer to him in mattera of ckiily life, though theoretically he acknowledged his pervading sovereignty. To procure the guidance of Infinite Wisdom would be well worth a prayer. Something strong as a chain held him back — the pride of his consciously unrenewed heaii;. - , When the weather became favourable, they passed up the river rapidly ; and a succession of the noblest views opened around them. No panorama of the choice spots of earth could be lovelier. Lofty granite islets, such as Kamouraska, which attains an altitude of five liundred feet ; bold promontories and deep basin bays ; magnificent ranges of bald blue mountains inland ; and, as they neared Grosse Isle and the quarantine ground, the soft beauties of civilization were superadded. Many ships of all nations lay at anchor ; the shore was dotted with white farmhouses, and neat villages clustered each round the glittering spire of a church. " How very French that is, eh ?" said Captain Armytage, refer- ring to those shining metal roofs. " Tinsel is charming to the eyes of a hahitan. You know, I\e been in these parts before with my regiment ; so I am well acquainted with the ground. We have the parish of St. Thomas to our left now, thickly spotted with white cottages : St. Joachim is on the opposite bank. The nomenclature all about here smacks of the prevailing faith and of the old masters." " 'Tis a pity they didn't hold by the musical Indian names,*' said HobertWynn. , " Well, yes, when the music don't amount to seventeen syllables a-piece, eh ?" Captain Armytage had a habit of saying " eh " at every available point in his sentences. Likewise had he the most gentleman-like manners that could be, set off by the most gentle- man-like personal appearance ; yet, an inexplicable something about him prevented a thorough liking. Perhaps it was the intrinsic selfishness, and want of sincerity of nature, which one instinctively felt after a little intercourse had worn off the dazzle of his engaging ^y UP THE ST. LAWRENCE. 35 demeanour. Perhaps Robert bad detected tbe odour of rum, inef- fectually concealed by the fragrance of a smoking pill, more fre- quently than merely after dinner, and seen the sad shadow on his daughter's face, following. But that did not prevent Captain Armytage's being a very agi'eeable and well-informed companion nevertheless. . " Granted that * Canada ' is a pretty name," said he ; *' but it's Spanish more than native. * Aca nada ' — nothing here — said the old Castilian voyagers, when they saw no trace of gold mines or other wealth along the coast. That's the story, at all events. But I hold to it that our British John Cabot was the first who ever visited this continent, unless there's truth in the (jld Scandinavian tales, which I don't believe." ; ', . , u^^. , But the gallant officer's want of credence does not render it the less a fact, that, about the year 1001, Biorn Heriolson, an Icelander, was driven south from Greenland by tempestuous weather, and dis- covered Labrador. Subsequently, a colony was established for trading purposes on some part of the coast named Vinland ; but after a few Icelanders had made fortunes of the peltries, and many had perished among the Esquimaux, all record of the settlement is blotted out, and Canada fades from the world's map till restored by the explorations of the Cabots and Jacques Cartier. The two former examined the seaboard, and the latter first entered the grand estuary of the St. Lawrence, which he named from the Saint's day of its discovery ; and he also was the earliest white man to gaze down from the mighty precipice of Quebec, and pronounce the obscure Indian name which was hereafter to suggest a world- famed capital. Then, the dwellings and navies of nations and genera- tions yet unborn were growing aU around in huncbeds of leagues of forest; a di*ead magnificence of shade darkened the face of the earth, amid which the red man reigned supreme. Now, as the passengers of the good brig " Ocean Queen '* gazed upon it three centuries subsequently, the slow axe had chopped away those 3G CEDAll CREEK. r forests of pines, and the land was smiling with homesteads and mapped out in fields of rich fai-m pi-oduce : the encroaeliments of the in'esistible white man had metamorphosed the country, and almost blotted out its olden masters. Robert Wvnn beofan to realize the force of Hiram Holt's patriotic declaration, *' It's the finest country in the world !" " And the loveliest !" he could have added, without even a savinff clause for his own old emerald isle, when they passed the western point of the high wooded island of Orleans, and came in view of the superb falls of Montmorenci ; two hundred and fifty feet of sheer precipice, leaped by a broad full torrent, eager to reach the great river flowing beyond, and which seemed placidly to await the turbulent onset. As Robert gazed, the fascination of a great water- fall came over him like a spell. Who has not felt this beside Lodore, or Foyers, or Tore ? Who has not found his eye mes- merized by the falling sheet of dark polished waters, merging: into snowy spray and crowned with rainbow crest, most change- able, yet most unchanged ? Thousands of years has this been going on ; you may read it in the worn limestone layers that have been eaten through, inches in centuries, by the impetuous stream. Thus, also, has the St. Law- rence carved out its mile-wide bed beneath the Heiglits of Abraham — ^the stepping-stone to Wolfe's fame, and Canadian freedom. .y. CHAPTER IV. W00DEN-NE8S. Piled on the summit of Cape Diamond, and duplicated in sliado\v upon the deep waters at its Vase, three hundred feet below, stands the fortress of Quebec. Edinburgh and Ehrenbreitstein have been used as old-world symbols to suggest its beauty and strength ; but the girdle of mighty river is wanting to the former, and the latter WOODEN-NESS. 37 is a triflinp: miniature of tlie Cttnadian city-queen. Robert Wynn knew of no such comparisons ; he only felt how beautiful was that mass of interwoven rock, and wood, and town, reflected and rooted in the flood ; he scarcely heard Captain Armytage at his left re- minding him for the tenth time that he had been here before with liis regiment. ^ * ' • " ' '^ * - " There's Point Levi to the south, a mile away, in front of the mountains. Something unpleasant once befell me in crossing there. I and another sub. hired a boat for a spree, just Ixjcause the hummocks of ice were knocking about on the tide, and all prudent people staid ashore ; but we went out in great dreadnought boots, and bearskin caps over our ears, and amused ourselves with pulling about for a while among the floes. I suppose the grinding of the ice deafened us, and the hummocks hid us from view of the people on board; at all events, down came one of the river steamers slap on us. I saw the red paddles laden with ice at every revolu- tion, and the next instant was sinking, with my boots dragging me down like a cannon-ball at my feet. I don't know how I kicked them off*, and rose : Gilpin, the other sub., had got astride on the capsized boat ; a rope flung from the steamer struck me, and you may believe I grasped it pretty tightly. D'ye see here ?" and he showed Robert a front tooth broken short : " I caught with my hands first, and they were so numb, and the ice forming so fast on the dripping rope, that it slipped till I held by my teeth ; and another noose being thrown around me lasso-wise, I was dragged in. A narrow escape, eh ?" " Very narrow," echoed Robert. He noticed the slight shiver that ran through the daughter's figure, as she leaned on her father's arm. His handsome face looked down at her carelessly. " Edith shudders," said he ; ^" I suppose thinking that so wonder- ful an escape ought to be remembered as more than a mere adventure." To which he received no answer, save an appealin look from her soft eyes. He turned away with a short laugli. If ft 38 CEDAR CKEEK. **Well, at all events it cured mo of boating among the ioe. Ugh! to be sucked in and smothered under a floe would bo frightful." Mr. Wynn wishing to say something that would prove ho was not thinking of the little aside-scene between father and daugh- ter, asked if the St. Lawrence was generally so full of ice in winter. It was difficult to believe, now in the balmy atmosphere of the Indian summer, with a dreamy sunshine warming and gladdening all things — the very apotheosis of autumn — that wintry blasts would howl along this placid river, surging fierce ice-waves together, before two months should pass. . > • vn " There's rarely a bridge quite across," replied Captain Army- tage ; " except in the north channel, above the Isle of Orleans, where the tide has less force than in the southern, because it is narrower ; but in the widest place the hummocks of ice are fre- quently crushed into heaps fifteen or twenty feet high, which makes navigation uncomfortably exciting." • i; "I should think so," rejoined Kobert, drily. - - ... " Ah, you have yet to feel what a Canadian winter is like, my young friend ;" and Captain Armytage nodded in that mysterious manner which is intended to impress a " griffin " with the cheering conviction that unknown horrors are before him. " I wonder what is that tall church, whose roof glitters so in- tensely ?" " The cathedral, under its tin dome and spires. The metal is said to hinder the lodging and help thy thawing of the snow, which might otherwise lie so heavy as to OLdanger the roof." " Oh, that is the reason !" ejaculated Eobert, suddenly enlight- ened as to the needs-be of all the surface glitter. " Rather a pretty effect, eh ? and absolutely unique, except in Canadian cities. It suggests an infinitude of greenhouses reflect- ing sunbeams at a variety of angles of incidence." WOODEN-NESS. " 1 presume this is tlio lower town, lying along the quays ?'* mid Kobert. ^ • > • . ^- • ./ " Yes, like our Scottish Edinburgh, the old city, being built in duugerous times, lies Imddled close together imder protection of its guardian rock," said the Captain. " But within, you could fancy yourself suddenly transported into an old Normandy town, among narrow crooked streets and high-gabled houses: nor will the degree of cleanliness undeceive you. For, unlike most other American cities, Quebec has a Past as well as a Present : there is the French Past, narrow, dark, crowded, hiding und^r a fortifica- tion ; and there is the English Present, embodied in the handsome upper town, and the suburb of St. John's, broad, well-built, airy. The line of distinction is very marked between the pushing Anglo- Saxon's premises and the tumble-down concerns of the stand-still hahitan.'' Perhaps, also, something is due to the difference between Pro- testant enterprise and Roman Catholic supineness. ^ • . " There's a boat boarding us already," said Robert. It proved to be the custom-house officers ; and when their domi- ciliary visit was over, Robert and Arthur went ashore. Navigating through a desert expanse of luTiihor rafts and a labyrinth of hun- dreds of hulls, they stepped at last on the ugly wooden wharves which line the water's edge, and were crowded with the usual traffic of a port; yet singularly noiseless, from the boarded pavement beneath the wheels. ^' -'^ Though the brothers had never been in any part of France, the peculiarly French aspect of the lower town struck them imme- diately. The old-fashioned dwellings, with steep lofty roofs, accu- mulated in narrow alleys, seemed to date back to an age long anterior to Montcalm's final struggle ^vith Wolfe on the heights , even back, perchance, to the brave enthusiast Champlain's first settlement under the superb headlaL. ^ replacing the Indian village of Stadacona. To perpetuate his fame, a street alongside the river 1». ■ami fil ^ CEDAK CliEEK. is called after him ; and though his " New France " has long since joined the dead names of extinct colonies, the practical effects of his early toil and struggle remain, in this American Gibraltar which he originated. -...,- Andy Callaghan had begged leave to accompany his young mas- ters ashore, i«nd marched at a respectful distance behind them, along that very Champlain Street, looking about him with un- feigned astonishment. " I suppose the quarries is all used up in these parts, for the houses is wood, an* the churches is wood, and the sthreets has wooden stones ondher our feet," he solilo- quized, half audibly. " It's a mighty quare counthiy intu-ely : between the people making a land on top of the wather for 'emselves by thim big rafts, an' buildin' houses on 'em, and kindlin' iires— " Here his meditation was rudely broken into by the sudden .somerset of a child from a doorstep he was passing; but it had scarcely touched the ground when Andy, with an exclamation in Irish, swung it aloft in his arms. > ?- .** Mom mush thig thu! you crathur, is it trying which yer head or the road is the hardest, ye are ? Whisht now, don't cry, me fine boy, and maybe I'd sing a song for ye." " Wisha then, cead mille failthe a thousand time^, Lishman, whoever ye are !" said the mother, seizing Andy's hand. " And my heart waims to the tongue of the old «3Gunthry! Won't you come in, honest man, an' rest awhile, an' it's himself will be glad to see ye ?" And who's himself?" inquired Andy, dandling the child. The carpenter, Pat M'Donagh of Ballinoge — " Hurroo!" shouted Andy, as he executed a whirligig on one leg, and then embraced the amazed Mrs. M'Donagh fraternally. " My uncle's son's wife ! an' a darling purty face ycu have of yei fiwn toe '* ** Don't be funnin', nov;," said the lady, bridling ; *' an* you might « (( <4 WOODEN-NESS. 41 Imve axed a person's lave before ye tossed me cap that way. Here, Pat, come down an' see yer cousin just arrived from the ould counthry !" '' ,--•-• Kobert and Arthur Wynn, missing their servitor at the next tnrn, und looking back, beheld something like a popular ^nieute in tlie narrow street, which was solely Andy fraternizing with his coimtiTmen and recovered relations. ' ** Wait a minit," said Andy, returning to his allegiance, as he saw them looking back ; " let me run afther the gentlemen and get lave to stav." ft* " Lave, indeed !" exclaimed the republican-minded Mrs. M*Do- nagh ; " it*s I that wud be afther askin lave in a free counthry ! Why, we've no masthers nor missusses here at all." "Hut, woman, but they're my fostherers — the young Mr. V/ynns of Dunore." Great had been that nai e among the peasantry once ; and even yet it had not lost its prestige with the transplanted Pat M'Donagli. He had left Ireland a ragged pauper in the famine year, and was now a thriving ai-tisan, with average wages of seven shillings a day ; an independence with which Robert Wynn would have con- sidered himself truly fortunate, and upon less than which many a lieutenant in Her Majesty's infantry has to keep up a gentlemanly jippearance. Pat's strength had been a drug in his own country ; here it readily worked an opening to prosperity. And presently forgetting his sturdy Canadian notions of indc- })endence, the carpentei was bowing cap in hand before the gentle- :ri?n, begging them to accept the hospitality of his house while they stayed in Quebec. "The M*Donaghs is ould tenants of yer honoui-s* father, an' many a kindnc^a they resaved from the family, and 'twould be the joy of me heart to see one of the ancient stock at me table," he said ; " an' sure me father's brother's son is along wid yc." " Tlic ancient stock " declined, ^vith many thanks, as they wanted c2 I'''! *' m CEDAR CREEK. to see the city ; but Andy, not having the same zeal for exploring, remained in the discovered nest of his kinsfolk, and made himself so acceptable, that they parted subsequently with tears. Meanwhile the brothers walked from the lower to the upper town, through the quaint steep streets of stone houses — ^relics of the old French occupation. The language was in keeping with this foreign aspect, and the vivacious gestures of the inhabitants told their pedigree. Eobert and Arthur were standing near a group of them in the market-square, assembled round a young bear brought in by an Indian, when the former felt a heavy hand on his shoulder, and the next instant the tenacity of his T/rist was pretty well tested in the friendly grasp of Hiram Holt. , \A •■-> : '^<* JV>. CHAPTER V. DEBARKATION, i .'■V I » : ;/ -^■ The chill of foreignness and loneliness which had been rreeping over P-^bert Wynn's sensations since he had ertered the strange city, was dissipated as if a cloud harJ suddenly lifted off. The friendly face of the colossal Canadian beaming a welcome upon him, with that broad sunshiny smile which seems immediately to raise the temperature of the surrounding air, did certainly warm his heart, and nerve it too. He was not altogether a stranger in a strange lan'^. " And so you've followed my advice I Bravo, young blood ! You'll never be sorry for adopting Canada as your country. Now, what are your plans?" bestowing an aside left-hand grasp upon Arthur. " Can Hiram Holt help you ? Have the old people come out ? So much the better ; they would only cripple you m the beginning. Wait till your axe has cut the niche big enough. You push on for the west, I suppose ?" All these inquiries in little longer than a breath; while he DEBARKATION. 43 wrung Robert's hand at intervals with a heartiness and power of muscle which almost benumbed the member. *'We have letters to friends on Lake Erie, and to others on Lake Simcoe," said Robert, rescuing his hand, which tingled, and yet communicated a very pleasurable sensation to his heart. " We had not quite decided on our line oi march." " Well, how did you come ? Emigrant vessel ?" Adopting the laconic also, Robert nodded, and said it was then* first day in Quebec. " Get quit of her as soon as you can ; haul your traps ashore, and come along with me. I'll be going up the Ottawa in a day or two, home ; and 'twill be only a step out of your way westward. You can look about you, and see what Canadian life is like for a few weeks ; the longer, the more welcome to Hiram Holt's house. Is that fixed ?" Robert was beginning to thank him warmly " Now, shut up, young man ; I distrust a fellow that has much palaver. You look too manly for it. I calculate your capital ain't much above your four hands between you ?" Arthur was rather discomfited at a query so pointed, and so directly penetrating the proud British reserve about monetary circumstances; but Robert, knowing that the motive was kind- hearted, and the manner just that of a straightforward unconven- tioanl settler, replied: "You are \early right, Mr. Holt; our «^.;;i*:«l in cash is very small; but I hope stout bodies and stout ''.b J- --e worth something." " V/j?" would you think of a bush farm? I think I heard you say you had some experience on your father's farm in Ireland ?" " My fafl ' v's estate, sir," began Arthur, reddening a little. Holt measured him by a. look, but not one of displeasure. " Farms in Canada grow into estates," said he : " by industry and r>ush, I shouldn't be Furprised if you became a landed proprietor y lurself before your beard is stiff." Ai-thur had as yet no svinptom 1- 44 CEDAU CREEK. of that manly adornment, though anxiously watching for the down. The backwoodsman turned to Kobert. " Government lands are cheap enough, no doubt ; four sliillings an acre, and plenty of them. K you're able, I'd have you venture on that speculation. Purchase-money is payable in ten years; that's a good breathing time for a beginner. But can you give up all luxuries for a while, arid eat bread baked by your own hands, and sleep in a log hut on a mess of juniper boughs, and work hard all day at clearing the eternal forests, foot by foot?" " We can," answered Arthur, eagerly. His brother's assent was not quite so vivacious. Hiram Holt thought within himself how soon the ardent young spirit might tire of thj ■ monotony of labour; how distasteful the utter loneliness and unev Iness of forest life might become to the undisciplined lad, accusi-omed, as he shrewdly guessed, to a petted and idling boyhood. " Well said, young fellow. For three years I can't say well done ; though I hope I may have that to add also." By this time they had passed from the Market Square to the Esplanade, overhanging the Lower Town, and which commands a view almost matchless for extent and varied beauty. At this hour the shades of evening were settling down, and tinging with sombre hues the colouring of the landscape : over the western edge the sun had sunk ; £Eir below, the noble river lay in black shadow and a single gleaming band of dying daylight, as it crept along under the fleets of ships. Indistinct as the details were becoming, the outlined masses were grander for the growing obscurity, and Robert could not restrain an exclamation of " Magnificent I" " Well, I won't deny but it w handsome," said Mr. Holt, secretly gratified; "I never expect to see anything like it for situation, whatever other way it's deficient. Now I'm free to confess it's only a village to your London, for forty thousand wouldn't be Ml I liNt; ^ '■^mM re to the nmands a this hour h sombre edge the idow and Qg under in M h I ^/7///'r rT ,ii<':i|i>li i' !l|l I '"S [.* K*'i»; m Pr- f =- r I'N' ii,ftVL III >••' \A DEBARKATION. 47 missed out of two or three millions: but bigness ain't tlie only beauty in the world, else I'd be a deal prettier than my girl Bell, who's not much taller than my walking-stick, and the ^irest lass in our t:ownship." The tidjective " pretty " seemed so ridiculously inappropriate to one of Mr. Holt's dimensions and hairy development of face, that Kobert could not forbear a smile. But the Canadian had returned to the landscape. " Quebec is the key of Canada, that's certain ; and so Wolfe and Montcalm knew, when they fought their duel here for the pi-ize.'* Arthur pricked up his ears at the celebrated names. " Oh, Bob, we must try and see the battle-field," he exclaimed, being fresh from Goldsmith's celebrated manual of English history. " To-morrow," said Mr. Holt. " It lies west on trp of the chain of heights flanking the river. A monument to the generals stands near here, in the castle gardens, with the names on opposite sides of the square block. To be sure, how death levels us all ! Lord Dalhousie built that obelisk when he was governor in 1827. You see, as it is the only bit of history we possess, we never can com- memorate it enough ; so there's another pillar on the plains." Lights began to appear in the vessels below, reflected as long brilliant lines in the glassy deeps. "Perhaps we ought to be getting back to the ship," suggested Eobert, " before it is quite -dark." " Of course you are aware that this is the aristocratic section of the town," said Mr. Holt, as they turned to retrace their steps. *' Here the citizens give themselves up to pleasure and politics, while the Lower Town is the business place. The money is made there which is speri here ; and when our itinerating legislature 'Comes round, Quebec is very gay, and considerably excited." *' Itinerating legislature ! what's that?" asked Arthur. " Why, you see, in 1840 he provinces of Upper and Lower 1 in GEDAIl CUEEK. Canada were legally united ; theii* representatives met in the same House of Assembly, and so forth. Kingston was made the capital, as a central point ; however, last year ('49) the famous device of itineration was introduced, by which, every four years, his Excel- lency the Governor and the Eight Honourable Parliament move about from place to place, like a set of travelling showmen.'* ** And wher A'ill Quebec's turn come ?" " In '51, next year. The removal of court patronage is said to have injured the city greatly : like all half-and-half measures, it pleases nobody. Toronto growls, and Kingston growls, and Quebec growls, and Montreal growls ; Canada is in a state of clu'onic dissatisfaction, so far as the towns go. For myself, I never feel at home in Quebec ; the lingo of the habitans puzzles me, and I'm not used to the dark narrow streets." "Are you a member of the parliament, Mr. Holt?" asked Arthur. " No, though I might be," replied Hiram, raising his hat for a moment from his masses of grizzled hair. *'I've been town reevi many times, and county warden once. The neighbours wanted to nominate me for the House of Assembly, and son Sam would IitivT attended to the farms and mills ; but I had that European trip in my eye, and didn't care. Ah, I see you look at the post-office, young fellow," as they passed that building just outside the gate of the Upper Town wall ; " don't get homesick already on our hands ; there are no post-offices in the bush." ' ' Arthur looked slightly affronted at this speech, and, to assert his manliness, could have resigned all letters for a twelvemonth. Mr. Holt walked on with a preoccupied air until he said : — " I must go now, I have an appointment ; but I'll be on board to-morrow at noon. The brig * Ocean Queen,' of Cork, you say ? Now your path is right down to Champlain Street ; you can't lose your way. Good-bye ;" and his receding figure was lost in the dusk, with mighty strides. )} DEBARKATION. 49 "He's too bluft'," said Arthur, resenting thus the one or two )lain-«5poken sentences that had touched himself. " But sound and steady, like one of his own forest pines," said Llobert. " We have yet to test that," rejoined Arthur, with some truth. "I wonder shall we ever find the house into wiiich Andy was decoyed ; those wooden ranges are all the image of one another. |I am just as well pleased he wasn't mooning after us through the Fpper Town dm*ing the daylight ; for, though he's such a worthy fellow, he hasn't exactly the cut of a gentleman's servant. We mst deprive him of that iligant new frieze top-coat, with its three Icapes, till it is fashioned into a civilized garment." ^^ ' Mr. Pat j\I*Donagh's mansion was wooden — one of a row of such, situated near the dockyard in which he wrought. Andy was already m the look-out from the doorstep ; and, conscious that he had Ibeen guilty of some approach to excess, behaved with such meek silence and constrained decorum, that his master guessed the cause, land graciously connived at his slinking to his berth as soon as he [was up the ship's side. But when Mr. W^ynn walked forward next mornmg to summon I Andy's assistance for his luggage, he found that gentleman the Ifoeus of a knot of passengers, to whom he was imparting informa- [tion in his own peculiar way. " Throth, an' he talks like a book itself," M as the admiring comment of a woman with a child on one I aim, while she crammed her tins into her red box with the other. ' Eveiy single ha'porth is wood, I tell yc, '>arrin' the grates ; Ian' tisn't grates they are at all, but shtoves. Sure, I saw 'em at Pat M'Donagh's as black as twelve o'clock at night, an' no more a sign of a blaze out of 'em than there's light from a blind man's eye ; an' 'tisn't turf nor coal they burns, but only wood agin. It's I that wuG sooner see the plentiful hearths of oald Ireland, wliero the turf fi.-e cooks the vittles dacently ! Oh win-a 1 why did we ever lave it ?" 50 CEDAR CREEK. 1,i i'l But Mr. Wynn intercepted the rising chorus by the simple dis- syllable, ** Andy I" " Sir, yer honour !" wheeling round, and suddenly resuming a i jocose demeanour ; " I was only jokin' about bein' back. I must be kapin' up their sperits, the crathurs, that dunno what's befl^re them at all at all ; only thinks they're to be all gintlemin an' | ladies." This, as he followed his master towards the cabins; *' Whisht here, Misther Eobert," lowering his tone confidentially. "You'd laugh if you heard what they think their goin' to get. Coinin' would be nothin' to it. That red-headed Biddy Flanagan " (Andy's own chevelure was of carrot tinge, yet he never lost an opportunity of girding at those like-haired), "who couldn't wash a pair of stockings if you gev her a goold guinea, expects twenty I pound a-year an' her keep, at the very laste ; and Murty Keefe I the labourin' boy, that could just trench a ridge of praties, thinks | nothin' of tin shillins a-day. They have it all laid out among them iligant. Mrs. Mulrooney is lookin' out for her carriage by'ne-by ; an' they were abusin' mo for not sayin' I'd cut an' run from yer honours, now that I'm across." -r -!/.>, p- " Well, Andy, I'd be sorry to stand in the way of your advance- ment " " -''^'^ ' -'"^'^' "' ■ • :"■■ ■"' ' /■■-'.■■■'■■: :«'A..^:' - " Me lave ye, Misther Eobert !" in accents of unfeigned surprise ; " not unless ye drove me with a whip an' kicked me — is it yer poor fostherer Andy Callaghan ? Masther Bob, asthore, ye're all the counthry I have now, an' all the frinds ; an' I'll hold by ye, if | it be plasin', as long as I've strength to strike a spade." Tears actually stood in the faithful fellow's eyes. " I believe you, Andy," said his master, giving his hand to the servant for a grasp of friendship, which, if it oftener took place between the horny palm of labour and the whiter fingers of the higher bom, would be for the cementing of society by such recognition of human brotherhood. ,. , When Andy had all their luggage on deck in order for the ti^ DEBARKATION. •t ats, he came up mysteriously to Mr. AVynn, where ho stood by hotaftmil. "' " * ' " There's that poor young lady strivin' an' Ltrugglin* to regulate hem big boxes, an' her good-for-nothin* father an' brother smokin' n the steerage, an' lavin* everything on her. Fine gintlemin, udeed I More like the Injins, that I'm tould lies in bed while heir wives digs the praties !" Edith Armytage was so well accustomed to such unequal divi- ion of labour in her family, that it had long ceased to seem ingular to her that she was invariably the worker, who bore the jYunt of every labour and of every trouble — on whose forecasting are depended the smooth arrangement of her father's designs; br he could plan well enough, but had a lofty disdain of details. The small matter of the luggage was type of all her experience. Jay rather enjoyed the hauling about of huge articles, and attempting to bring on deck things much larger than her strength ; and when she and Edith were jointly essaying to push and pull up the companion-ladder a carpet-bag of unusual size, it was suddenly lifted from between them, over Jay's head, and borne on deck. ;'<\.-^'[x^i !{i i :u -y.-M-.i .- ^ } CHAPTER VI. *( I i CONCERNING AN INCUBUS. Andy carried liis wrath at the Captain's company so far as to shako his fist close to that gentleman's bland and courteous back, w hile lie bent forward from his thwart in speaking to Mr. Holt ; which iijestures of enmity highly amused the Canadian boatmen, as tliey grinned and jabbered in jMtoia (old as the time of Henri Quatre) among themselves. *' The deludhercr !" muttered Andy. ** He'd coax a bird oft' ji three wid his silver tongue. An' he must come betune my own gintlemen an' their frind — the old schamer I" Here a tremendous blow was lodged (in pantomime) under the Captain's ribs. " Sure. of coorse, they can't be up to his thricks, an' he an ould sojer !" And here Andy let fly vivaciously ben(cith his unconscious adver- sary's left ear, restraining the knuckles within about half-an-inch of his throat. " Are you speaking to me, my good man ?" said the Captain, suddenly wheeling round upon Andy, who sat face to liis back. "Is it me, yer honour?" and the dolorous submissiveness of Andy's countenance was a change marvellous to behold. ^\'hat could the likes of me have to say to the likes of you, sir ?" ' Arthur Wynn's gravity was fairly overcome, and he got a heavy fit of coughing in his pocket-handkerchief. Captain Armytage gazed keenly at Andy for a moment, during which he might a^: well have stared at a plsister bust, for all the discoveries he made in the passive simple countenance. "Six hours* knapsack drill might do that fellow some good," said the officer, resuming his former position and the thread of conversation together. "In answer to your inquiry, Mr. Holt, 54 CEDAR CREEK. I have not quite decided whether lo settle in Upper or Lower Canada." ** Then, sir, you must know very little of either," was the blunt reply. " There's no more comparison between them than between settling in Normandy and in North Britain." ** Can't say I should like either location," rejoined the Captain, with his brilliant smile. '* But I've been here with the regiment, and am not quite without personal expeiience. The life of a seigneur would just suit me ; if I could lind an eligible seignory for sale " Hii'am Holt stared. A man who had come out with his family in an emigrant vessel, talking of purchasing a seignory ! But this was a magnificent manner of the Captain's. Sixpence in his pocket assumed the dimensions of a sovereign in his imagination. " Some of them are thirty thousand acres in extent," Mr. Holt remarked drily. " Ah, yes, quite a little principality : one should enjoy all the old feudal feelings, walking about among one's subject censitaires, taking a patemrl interest in their concerns, as well as bound to them by pecuniary ties. I should build a castellated baronial residence, pepper-box turrets, etcetera, and resist modem new lights to the uttermost." *'As soon a living man chained to a dead man, as I would hamper myself with that old-world feudality !" exclaimed the western pioneer. "Why, sir, can you have seen the wretched Wtff n-out land they scratch with a wretched plough, fall after fall, without dreaming of rotation of crops, or drainage, or any other improvement? Do you remember the endless strips of long narrow fields ^^dging the road, opening out of one another, in miserable divisions of one or two acres, perhaps, jur* affording starvation to the holders? What is the reason that ,nere vast quantities of wheat were formerly exported., the soil now grows hurdly enough for the people to eat ? :Sir, the country is cut up CONCERNING AN INCUBUS. 55 and subdivided to the last limits that will snppoit even the sleepv life of a habitan; all improvement of every kind is barred; the French population stand still in the midst of our go-ahead age : and you would prolong the system that causes this !" It was one of the few subjects upon which Mr. Holt got excited ; but he had seen the evils of leudalism in the strong light of western progress. Captain Amiytage, for peace* sake, qualified his lately expressed admiration, but was met again by a torrent of words — to the unalloyed delight of Andy, who was utterly unable to comprehend the argument, but only hoped " the schamer was gettin' more than he bargained for." "Pauperism will be the result, sir; the race is incorrigible in its stupid determination to do as its forefathers did, and nothing else. Lower Canada wants a clearing out, like what you are getting in Ireland, before a healthy regeneration can set in. The religion is faulty; the habits and traditions of the race are faulty; Jean Baptiste is the drone in our colonial hive. He won*t gather honey : he will just live, indolently drawling through an existence diversified by feast and fast days ; and all his social vices flourish in shelter of this seignorial system — this — this upas-tree which England is pledged to perpetuate :" and Mr. Holt struck his hand violently on the gunwale of the boat, awakening a responsive grin of triumph from Andy. The Captain was spared a reply by the boat just then touching the wharf; and while they are landing, and lodging the l^JggagG in Pat M'Donagh's house till the starting of the Montreal Loat next afternoon, we may say a few words concerning the feudal system extant in Lower Canada, at the period when this story begins. Henri Quatre was the monarch under ^^vhose sway the colony was originated. Champlain and De Levi knew no better than to reproduce the landed organization of France, with its most ob- jectionable feature of the forced partition of estates, in the trans- Atlantic province, for defensive purposes, against the numerous 56 CEDAB CREEK. and powerful Indian tribes. Military tenure was superadded. Every farmer was perforce also a soldier, liable at any time to be called away from his husbandry to fight against the savage Iroquois or the aggressive Biitish. Long after these combative days had passed away the military tenure remained, with its laws of serfdom, a canker at the roots of property ; and thinking men dreaded to touch a matter so inwound M'ith the very foundations of the social fabric in Lower Canada. But in 1854 and 1859 legisla- tive acts were passed which have finally aboh'shed the obnoxious tenure ; each landholder, receiving his estate in freehold, has paid a certain sum, and the province in general contributed 650,000/., as indemnity to those whose old established rights were surrendered for the public weal. Eight millions of inhabited acres were freed from the incubus, and Lower Canada has removed one great obstacle in the way of her prosperity. At the period when Hiram Holt expressed himself so strongly on the subject, a grinding vassalage repressed the industry of the liabitans. Though their annual rent, as censitaires or tenants, was not large, a variety of burdensome obligations was attached. When a man sold his tenure, the seigneur could demand a fine, sometimes one-twelfth of the purchase-money ; heavy duties were charged on successions. The ties of the Koman Catholic Church were oppressive. Various monopolies were possessed by the seigneurs. The whole system of social government was a repro- duction, in the nineteenth century, of the France of the fifteenth. Mr. Holt was somewhat cooled when his party had reached the citadel, through streets so steep that the drive to their summit seemed a feat of horsemanship. Here was the great rock whence Jacques Cartier, first of European eyes, viewed the mighty river in the time of our Henry viii,, now bristling with fortifications which branch away in angles round the Upper Town, crowned with a battery of thirty-two pounders, whose black muzzles commaad the peaceful shipping below. i?obert Wynn could not help remf^Tking CONCEBNIKG AK IKOUBUS. 67 on that peculiarly Canadian charm, the exquisite clearness of the air, which brought distant objects so near in vision that he could Iiardly believe Point Levi to be a mile across the water, and the woods of the Isle of Orleans more than a league to the eastward. Captain Armytage had many reminiscences of the fortress, but enjoyed little satisfaction in the relating of any ; for nothing could get the seignorial tenure out of Mr. Holt*s head, and he drove in sentences concerning it continually. Outside the castle gates the Captain remembered important business, which must preclude him from the pleasure of accompany- ing his friends to Wolfe's Landing. "Well, sir, I hope you now acknowledge that the seignorial svstem is a blot on our civilization." " I mtih. it had never been invented !" exclaimed the Captain, very sincerely. And, with the gracefullest of bows, he got quit of 3Ir. Holt and his pet aversion together. Hiram*s features relaxed into a smile. " 1 knew I could con- vince him; he appears an agreeable companion," remarked Mr. Holt, somewhat simply. But the subject had given the key-note tc» the day ; and in drmng along the road to Cape Rouge, parallel with the St. Lawrence, he was finding confirmations for his opinion in most things they met and passed. Th^ > rming country, and minute subdivisions of land, vexed Hiram's spirit. Tsot until they entered the precincts of the battle-field, and he was absorbed in pointing out the spots of peculiar interest, did the feudality of tiie province cease to trouble bim. All along the river was bordered by liandsome villas and pleasure-grounds of Quebec merchants. Cultivation has gradually vith the six children looked rather anxious, and hu^^ged her baby closer, poor woman ; glancing for a minute at the bar, where her husband was sipping gin, and already brawling with an American. But as the apple-complexioned man whom Andy addressed happened to be a French Jiabitan, limited in English at the best of times, the Irish brogue puzzled him so tlioroughly, that he could only make a polite bow, and signify his ignorance of Monsieur's meaning. " Maybe he's an Injin," thought Andy ; " but sure I thought thim savages wore no clothes, and he has an iligant blue coat an' red tie. I wondher would it be any good to thry the Irish wid him ;" and, as an experiment, he said something in the richest Munster dialect. The Canadian's politeness was almost forgotten in his stare of surprise, and he took the earliest opportunity of changinfT his place, and viewing Andy respectfully from afar. But if jit had a repeUant effect on the habitant it exert^^d a strong attractive) force upon other of the passengers. Mr. Callaghan was never happier than when at the focus of a knot of his countrymen, for his talents were essentially social ; and before the evening was over, his musical feats with voice and violin had so charmed the aforesaid Canadian, that he came up and made him another of the polite bows. w 60 CEDAR CREEK. ** Very much obliged to you, sir, if I only knew what you were sayin*,'* replied Andy, with equal courtesy. " He's inviting you to his daughter's wedding," interpreted one of the sailors who stood by ; " you and the fiddle." " With all the pleasure in life, sir," promptly replied Andy, as he imitated the bow of the worthy Tiahitan to perfection. "I'm always ready for any fun-goin'. Ask the old gentieman when and where it's to be," he continued, jogging the interpreter with his elbow. " The day after to-moiTOw, at a village near Montreal ;" ujwn learning which, Andy's countenance fell, and the festive vision faded from his ken. " Maybe it's in China I'd be by that time," said he, with incorrect notions of geography ; " but I'm obliged to you all the same, sir, an* wherever I am FU drink her health, if 'twas only in a glass of wather. I'll have a pain in me back if I bow much longer," added Andy, sotto voce ; " I don't know how he's able to keep it up at all." " Why, where are you going to ?" asked the sailor, laughing : ** this ain't the way to China by a long chalk." " Going to make me fortune," replied Andy, boldly, as he dropped the violin into its case and latched the cover tightly, as if a secret were locked in. While no more idea had he of his destination, nor plan for future life, poor faithful peasant, than the fine Newfound- land dog which slept not far from him that night in the fore-cabin, a mass of creamy curls. Meanwhile, all the evening, and all the night through, the noble stepmer stemmed the broad brimming flood, steadily onwards, cast- *ng behind her on the moonlit air a breath of dark smoke ruddy with sparks, at every palpitation of her mighty engine-heart. Past black pine forests to the edge of the shore ; past knots of white cottages centred round the usual gleaming metal spire; past confluence of other rivers, dark paths joining the great continental highway; blowing oflf steam now and then at young roadside THE BIVER HIGHWAY. 61 towns, where, upon wooden wharves, waited passengers and freight in the moonlight, swallowing into either mouth all presented to her, and on untiringly again. Kobert Wynn stayed on the small open poop astern, gazing at the picturesque panorama, half revealed, half shaded by the silvery beams, long after the major part of the passengers were snug in their state-rooms or berths below. With th.e urging of the fire-driven machinery he could hear mingled the vast moan of the river sweeping along eastwards. It saddened him, that never-silent voice of " the Father of Waters." Memories of home came thronging round him — a home for him ex- tinct, dead, till in this distant land he should create another. At the threshold of a great undertaking, before hand has been put to work it out, the heart alwavs shrinks and shivers, as did his here. Looking upon the length and breadth of all that had to be done, it seemed too hard for him. But not so when next morning he arose from a few hours' sleep, and beheld the bright sunshine lighting up the glorious Canadian world. Looming giants by moonlight are reduced to very ordinary obstacles by daylight ; and the set of desponding thoughts which had weighed upon the young man as he contemplated the inky river and darkling country, seemed now to belong to another phase of being. Despondent ! with the wide free world to work in, and its best prizes lying beside the goal, ready for capture by the steady heart and active hand. Kobert felt almost as if that shadowy home in the forest were already built, already peopled with the dear old faces he had left behind. The pure fresh air — clear as is rarely breathed in Europe, (for it is as if in our old world the breath of unnumbered nations has for centuries been soiling the elements) — the richly coloured scene, were a cordial to his young brain. The steamer was fast approaching the Isle of St. Helen's ; and beyond, against a background of purple mountain, lay " the Silver Town," radiant with that surface glitter peculiar to Canadian cities of the Lower Province ; as if Montreal had sent her chief edifices to be €2 CEDAR CREEK. electro-plated, and they had just come home brightly burnished. In front was the shining blue current of the St. Lawrence, escaped from a bewildering perplexity of islets and rapids, which had appa- rently ruffltd its temper not a little. ** Part of our Ottawa flows here," said Mr. Holt, glancing at the stream with a sort of home affection — " our clear emerald Ottawa, fresh from the virgin wilderness ; and it hasn't quite mingled with its muddy neighbour yet, no more than we westerns can comfortably mingle with the habitans and their old-world practices down here. You see, Wynn, the St. Lawrence has been running over a bed of marl for miles before it reaches Lake St. Louis ; and the Ottawa has been purified by plenty of rocks and rapids ; so they don't suit very well — no more than we and the habitans — ha! ha!" Mr. Holt w£is vastly amused by the similitude. He pointed to a very distinctly marked line of foam wavering on the river surface, and said, " There's the demarcation." "I am glad it is of such an evanescent nature, sir," replied Bobert. He might have said how much grander the river became when all brawling was forgotten, and both currents fused into one glorious stream. ** Now," said Arthur, with the contrariety of youth (and (mdey as is written in stage-plays), " I'm certain these x rench Canadians are not so black as they're painted. I like those sociable white villages round the tin spires; and the guide-book says the people are amiable and civil. I'll investigate that subject. Bob." " I would advise you to investigate breakfast just now," was the reply, as the steward's bell swung forth its summons. Then com- menced a procession of passengers to the eating-room ; through the length of the sumptuously furnished saloon, where the richest Persian carpets, marble tables, brilliant chandeliers and mirrors, were at the service of the public ; by a narrow staircase amidships down to the lowest story of the vessel, a long apartment lit by candles, and lined at the sides with curtained rows of berths. The St. ^p THE RIVER HIGHWAY. 63 usual pause followed for the advent of the ladies : nobody sat down till they had come from their cabin on the middle deck, and esta- blished themselves wheresoever they listed. "That's like Irish politeness," whispered Arthw, whose good spirits were always talkative. "My father, dear old gentleman, would take off his hat to a petticoat on a bush, I do believe." The company was very mixed, and quite as much conversation went on in French as in English. It seemed to the strangers as if the balance of gentlemanly deportment, and yet vivacity of manner, might possibly lie on the side of those who spoke the former tongue. Next to Arthur sat the saUow States'-man, bolting his breakfast with unconscionable speed, and between whiles, in a high treble voice, volunteering his opinion pretty freely on Canadian matters, as if he were endowed with a special commission to set them right. Badly as Hiram Holt thought of the seignorial system, he was perforce driven to defend it in some measure, mucli to Arthur's delectation ; but he soon discovered that to carry war into the enemy's country was his best policy, so he seized the institution of slavery in his canine teeth, and worried it well. The States'- man thought that a gentleman might be permitted to travel with- out being subject to attacks on his country : Mr. Holt observed that he thought precisely the same, which species of agreement closed the conversation. And the States'-man relieved his feelings subsequently by whittling a stick from the firewood into impalpa- ble chips, with his heels resting on the apex of the saloon stove. Kind-hearted Hiram Holt hfid meanwhile more than half repented his hostility. " Tell you what, sir," said he, going up and extending his hand ; " it wasn't the matter, but the manner of your talk that raised my dander a while since. I agree in most of what you say about this province here, and I hope as much as you do ihat the last badge of feudalism may soon be swept away." The American put his bony pale hand almost sullenly into the G4 i CEDAIt CREEK. •« Canadian 8 brawny palm, and after suflfering the pressure, returned to his interesting pursuit of whittling, which he continued iu silence for the rest of the voyage. CHAPTER VIII. "JEAN BAPTI8TE" AT HOME. After seeing most of the thoroughfares of Montreal, and receiving the set of sensations experienced by all new comers and recorded in all books of Canadian travel — principally wondering at the incon- gruities of French and English nationality grafted together, and coherent as the segments of the fabled centaur — the active com- merce of a British port carried on beneath the shadow of walled- in convents suggesting Belgium — friars endued with long black robes, passing soldiers clothed in the immemorial scarlet — a Eue Notre Dame and a St. James's Street in neighbourhood — the brothers witnessed another phase of American life as they dined at a monster table-d'hote in the largest hotel of the city. The imperial yystem of inn-keeping originated in the United States has been imported across the border, much to the advantage of British subjects ; and nothing can be a queerer contrast than the English- man's solitary dinner in a London coffee room, and his part in the vast collective meals of a trans- Atlantic hotel. " New to this sort of thing, I should imagine ?" said the gentle- man next beside Eobert, in a particularly thin, wiiy voice. "Yes, quite a stranger," answered Robert, looking round, and seeing that the speaker was a person with a sharp nose and small keen black eyes. " So I thought ; your looks betray it. Everything seems queer, I guess. Intending to be a settler, eh ?" Then, without waiting for an answer, " That's right : I alwavs welcome the infusion of JEAN B^iPTISTE AT HOME. Co young blood into our colony, particularly ^cn^fc blood ; for we are a rough set, mister, and want polisli — and — and — all that." These deferential words, uttered in the deferential manner ol inferiority to acknowledged excellence, certainly pleased Bobert ; for what heart is unsusceptible to subtle flattery? And of all modes of influence men are most easily flattered or disparaged by reference to what is no worthiness or fault of their own — ^the social station in wliich it has pleased the Creator that they should enter this world. The keen brain behind the keen eyes knew this well ; the fact had oiled a way for his wedge many a time. What was liis motive for endeavouring to ingratiate himself with young Wynn for the next twenty minutes ? " Now, mister, if it's a fact that you be settling, 1 can give you a chance of some of the finest lots of land ever o^ered for sale in Montcalm toNvnship. A friend of mine has a beautiful farm there that would just suit you ; best part cleared and under fence — fine water privilege — ^land in good heart, and going, I may say, dirt cheap." Kobert felt much obliged for the interest in his welfare which prompted this eligible off'er. "But unfortunately I have very little money to invest," said he carelessly. The swift penetrating glance that followed from his companion was unseen, as he crumbled his biscuit on the table-doth. " I am rather disposed to try the backwoods," he added. " The bush !" in accents of amazement. " The bush ! it may do very well for labourers, but for a gentleman of your pretensions, it would be misery — wholly unsuitable, sir — wholly unsuitable. No, no, take my advice, and settle where the advantages of civilization — ^the comforts of life to which you have been accustomed — aro accessible. A few thousand dollars " " I regret to "^y," Eobert interposed, *' that even one thousand i.s immensely more than I possess," turning to the Canadian with n frank smile, which was by no means reduplicated in the sharp i&ce. 66 CEDAR CREEK. ''/HI. And from the era of that revelation, converBation unaccountably jiugged. ** Do you know to whom you talked at table ?" asked Hiram Holt, afterwards. He liad been sitting some way further up at the other side. " One of the most noted land-jobbers in the country — a man who buys wild lands at three shillings an acre, to sell them iigain at ten or fifteen, if he can ; and he never loses an oppor- tunity of driving a trade. His bargain of a cleared farm is probably some worn out dilapidated location not worth half-a-dollar an acre till hundreds have been spent on it." " Then I've gained one benefit by being poor," said Robert ; " nobody can have a motive for over-reaching me " — which was philosophic consolation. Mr. Holt's business would not permit him to leave till next evening. And so the Wynns, continuing to lionize, looked into the vast but dreairy Romish cathedral, which seats ten thousand people in its nine spacious aisles and seven chapels ; clambered to the roof, and viewed the city from a promenade at an elevation of 120 feet; and then drove to that special beauty of Montreal — ^the mountain. This is a hill more than 500 feet in height, and clothed from head to foot with the richest verdure of woods ; among which grow the most delicious apples extant since Paris selected one as a prize. From the summit a landscape of level country stretches below westwards ; in middle, distant villages ; on the horizon, the Ottawa confluence, bounding Montreal Island and forming others. Southwards, across the St. Lawrence, the hills of Vermont far away ; nearer, the fertile valley of the Richelieu. " Let's go off to one of the habkan villages," said Arthur, sud- denly. ** Dismiss the cal^he, and we will walk back. I'll ask for a drink of water in cue of the cottages just to scrape acquaint- ance. » "Furbish up your French, ioo," said Robert, "for they do gabble it fast. I heard a fellow chattering in the steerage, coming JEAN DAmSTE AT HOME. 67 up the river yesterday morning : by the way, he and Andy had struck up a friendship; and such bowing as they had to each other's incomprehensible lingo!'* -iinm fiuima i*m to ^ ouj " I wonder what he is doing to-day," said Arthur, reflectively : '< lie asked me so particularly whether we should want him again till the evening." >.i .ih tn iftiit ■|(n» di " Found out a nest of Irish somewhere, I suppose." " There's a fellow taking off his hat to us," remarked Arthur, as they passed a carter. " Everybody seems to bow to everybody in this country. But did you ever see such an old-fashioned vehicle as he drives ? And he keeps talking to himself and his horse all the way, apparently." Bapidly walking down the fine road to the plain, they were not long in nearing a group of neat white houses round the invariable shining steeple. — . "The village looks as sociable as the people," said Robert. " How nep.t everything seems ! — ^Hallo, Arthur, we've come in for some festivity or other, by all the gay ribbons about." "Bon jour, Madame," said Arthur, boldly, to a tidy old lady, sitting in her green verandah. " Nous sommes des etrangers — I'd like to ask her what it's all about," he whispered confidentially to Kobert ; but I'm out of my depth already." ■ t The aged Canadienne arose, with the politeness so natural to her Gallic descent, and bade them welcome. But sounds issuing from the opposite house rivetted their attention. " As sure as I'm here, that's Andy's violin," exclaimed Arthur; **I'd know his scrape anywhere;" and he crossed the road in a moment. * Without doubt Andy was the player, ay, and the performer too ; for he was dancing a species of quick-step solo, surrounded by a circle of grinning and delighted habitans. The most perfect gravity dwelt in his own countenance, meanwhile, alloyed by just a spice ot lurking fan in his deep-set eyes. Which altogether faded, as a candle blown out, when suddenly he perceived the T mmmm 68 CEDAB CREEK. accession to the company. Silence succeeded the dead blank on his features, down hung the violin and its bow on either side, and the comers of his mouth sunk into a dismal curve. "Gro on, old boy — scrape away," shouted Arthur, hilariously. *' So many pretty faces would inspire anybody :" and whether it was that the bJick-eyed Canadian damsels felt the compliment through the foreign idiom, there was considerable blushing and bridling as the speaker's glance travelled round the group. They deserved his encomium. The slight sprightly type of dark beauty abounded; and so prettily decked out with bright ribbons and flowers, that it was evident the tastefuLaess which ren- derp. ^j'rench modistes unrivalled had not died out in these collateral relatives of the nation. Forward stepped Monsieur, the master of th^ house and father of the bride, begging that Messieurs would be so benevolent as to seat themselves, and wcnld honour him by partak- ing of refreshment ; both which requests Messieurs were nothing loth to fulfil. It was hardly to be realized that these were the besotted habUans, the unimprovable race, the blotch on the fair face of Ofoiadian civilization ; these happy-looking, simple-minded people : Hiram Holt was a slanderer. Full an hour passed before the Wynns could get away from the embarrassing hospitalities and politeness of the good villagers, who shook hands all round at part- ing, in most affectionate style. As for Andy, much to his own discomfort, he was kissed by his host. " Now I could ondherstand if it was the missus that shaluted me," said he, rubbing across his cheek with his cuff as soon as he was on the road ; " throth an* they're all very fond of me intirely, considherin' they never laid eyes on me till this momin', banin' himself. An' I never see nater houses — ^they're as clane as a gin- tleman's ; you might ate off the flure. If only the people wud forget that quare talk they have, an' spake like Christhens, that a body could know what they're sayin', 'twould be a dale moi-o comfortable." FROM MUD TO MARBLE. "And how could you get on without understanding them?' asked Arthur. " Oh, 'twas aisy enough sometinies ; for whin they wanted me to come to dinner they had only to show me the table ; and whin they wanted me to play, they only rubbed across their arm this way, and said, *jawer, jawer:* (I brought away that word, any- how," added Mr. Callaghan, with great satisfaction). " All other times they spake to me I bowed plinty, an* that did the business. But there was a man alongside me at the dinner, that had a few words of English ; an' he tould me that this time of the year they aU marries, to be ready against the winter. I likes that fashion, Misther Kobert ;" and herewith Andy heaved a little sigh, think- ing perhaps of a certain pretty blue-eyed Mary in Ireland. " Put your best foot foremost, Callaghan," said Mr. Wynn : " we shall scarcely reach town in time ;" and all three quickened their pace. **ril never believe a syllable agaiiist the Jiabitana again," said ^Vrthur. " Their old-fashioned politeness is a perfect relief from the bluff manners of most other Canadians. They seem to me to have a lot of virtues — cleanliness, good-humour, good-nature — and I like their habit of living all together, children settled round the parent tree like branches of a banyan. We would ^ive a trifle to be able to do it ourselves, Bob:" and the smile with which the brothers met each other's eyes was rather wistful. ., CHAPTER IX. -FROM MUD TO MARBLE." Hiram Holt was proud of his ancestry. Not that he had sixteen quarterings whereof to boast, or even six ; liis pedigree could have blazoned an escutcheon only with spade, and shuttle, and saw, back for generations. But then, society all about him was in like 70 .?! TS CEDAB CREEK. 4 plight ; and it is a strong consolation, in this as in matters moral, to be no worse than one's neighbours. Truly, a Eerald's College would find Canada a yery jungle as to genealogy. The man of marble has had a grandfather of mud, as was the case with the owner of Maple Grove. And, instead of resenting such origin as an injury receiyed from his progenitors, worthy Hiram looked back from the comfortable eminence of prosperity whereunto he had attained, and loyed to retrace the gradual steps of labour which led thither. He could remember most of them ; to his memory's eye the yirgin forest stretched for unknown and unnumbered mUes west and northward of the settler's adyenturous clearing, and the rude log shanty was his home beside the sombre pines. Now the pines were dead and gone, except a few isolated giants standing gloomily among the maple plantations ; but the backwoodsman's shanty had outliyed all subsequent changes. Here, in the wide courtyard to the rear of Mr. Holt's house it was preserved, like a curious thing set apart in a museum — an embodiment of the old struggling days embalmed. The walls of great unhewn logs fi&stened at the comers by notching; the crevices chinked up with chips and clay ; the single rude square window shuttered across ; the roof of basswood troughs, all black- ened with age; the rough door, creaking on clumsy wooden hinges when Mr, Holt imlocked it — ^these were not encouraging features, viewed by the light of a future personal experience. Bobert stole a glance at Arthur as they stepped inside the low dark shed, and, as Arthur had with similar motivei also stolen a glance at Hobeic, their eyes naturally met, and both laughed. They had been thinking a twin thought — ** How will my brother like such quarters as this in the forest ?*' **A queer concern," remarked Arthur, in a low Yoice, and rubbing his chin. "Bather!" replied Bobert, looking equally dubious. FROM MUD TO MABBLE. m " I like to show the shanty to youngsters," said Mr. Holt, as he turned from pushing back the shutter, " that they may see what they have to expect From such a start ae this we Canadians have all waked up into opulence — ^that is, the hardworking share of us ; and there's room enough for tens of thousands to do the same off in the bush." "I hope so, sir," was the least desponding remark of which Bobert could think. For the naked reality of a forest life came before him as never previously. The halo of distance had faded, as he stood beside the rude fireplace, fashioned of four upright lime- stone slabs in a corner, reaching to a hole in the roof, down which the wind was howling just now. It was rather a bleak look out, notwithstanding the honeyed promises of the old settler pouring on his ear. ** To be sure there is. Fortune's at vour bach in the bush : and you haven't, as in the mother country, to rise by pushing others down. There's no impassable gulf separating you from anything you choose to aim at. It strikes me that the motto of our capital is as good as a piece of advice to the settler — * Industry, Intelli- gence, and Integrity ' — with a beaver as pattern of the two first principles, anyhow. So recollect the beaver, my young chaps, and work like it. , ** 1 don't remember the building of this," he added ; ^* but every stick was laid by my father's own hands, and my mother chinked between them till all was tight and right. I tell you I'm prouder of it than of a piece of fancywork, S'lch as I've seen framed and glazed. I love every log in the old timbers." And Mr. Holt tapped the wall affectionately with his walking-staff. " It was the furthest west clearing then, and my father chose the site because of the spring yonder, which is covered with a stone and civilized into a well now-*i-days." " And is the town so modem as all that comes to ?" said Bobert. '' Twenty years grows a city in Canada^" replied Mr. Holt, some- M CEDAR CREEK. ?m. ' what loftily. " Twenty years between the swamp and the crowded ; street : while two inches of ivy would be growing round a European ■' ruin, we turn a wilderness into a cultivated country, dotted with villages. The history of Mapleton is easily told. My father was the first who ever built a sawmill on the rivev down there, and the frame-houses began to gather about it shortly. Then he ventured ' into the grist line ; and I'm the owner of the biggest mills in the place now, with half-a-dozen of others competing, and all doing a fair business in flour, and lumber for exportation. You see in this land we've room enough for all, and no man need scowl down another of the same trade. 'Taint so in England, where you must Imock your bread out of somebody else's mouth." " Not always, sir," said Robert, " nor commonly, I hope.'* " I forgot you were a fresh importation," observed Mr. Holt, with a satisfied chuckle. " You ain't colonized yet. Well, let's come und look at something else." Meanwhile Arthur had measured the dimensions of the shanty, by pacing along and across : sixteen feet one way, twelve the other. Narrow limits for the in-door life of a family ; but the cottage had somewhat grown with their growth, and thrown out a couple of small bed-chambers, like buds of incipient shanties, from the main trunk. A curiosity of woodcraft it looked, so mossy, gnarled, and weather-beaten, that one could easily have believed it had sprung from the ground without the intervention of hands, a specimen of Bome gigantic forest fungus. " ril leave a charge in my will that it's not to be disturbed," said Hiram. " 'Twould be sacrilege to move a log of the whole consam. D'ye hear, Sam ?" His son had just come up and shaken hands ; for this was a matutinal expedition of Mr. Holt and his guests round the farm. Being given to habits of extreme earliness, the former was wont to rouse any one in the house whose company he fancied, to go with him in his morning walks ; and the Wynns had been honoured by FROM MUD TO MARBLE. 73 a knocking-up at five o'clock for that purpose. Mr. Holt had strode into their room, flung open the window shutters and the sash with a resounding hand which completely dissipated sleep, and ren- dered it hardly matter of choice to follow him, since no repose was to be gained by Ijdng in bed. Sam*s clear brown eyes sparkled as he saw the victims promenading after his tall father at the Gothic hour of six, and marked Arthur furtively rubbing his eyes. "You*re tremendously early people here," remarked Arthur, when young Holt joined them. " I had a mind to turn round and close the shutters again, but was afraid I might affront your father." " Affront him ! oh no ; but he'd just come again and again to rouse you, till you were compelled to submit in self-defence. He wakes up young people on principle, he says." " Well, he practises his precepts," rejoined Arthur, " and seems to have trained his children in the same." " Yes, he has made us all practical men ; seven chips of the old block," observed Sam. " Seven brothers 1" ejaculated Arthur. ** I saw only three last night. And are they all as tall as you ?" "About forty-four feet of length among us," said Sam. " We're a long family in more ways than one ;" and he looked down from his altitude of seventy-five inches on the young Irishman. " It is quite a pleasant surprise to see your sister," Arthur re- marked. *' Bell hasn't kept up the family tradition of height, i must say. She's a degenerate specimen of the Holts ;" and the speaker's brown eyes softened with a beam of fondness ; "for which reason, I suppose, she'll not bear the name long." "And who's the lucky man ?" asked Arthur, feeling an instant's disagreeable surprise, and blushing at the sensation. "Oh, out of half-a-dozen pretenders, twould be hard to say. We all marry early in Canada : most of my contemporaries are d2 74 £lJli OEDAU CBEEK. < Benedicts long ago. Three brothers jonnger than I have wives and children, and are settled in farms and mills of their own." "And might I ask ?** began Arthur, hesitating wIku the very personal nature of the inquiry struck him. ** To be sure you might. Well^ in the first place, I took a fancy to go through college, and my father left me in Toronto for four years at the University of Upper Canada. That brought me up to twenty-three years old ; and then — ^for the last two years nobody would have me," added Sam, elevating his black brows. " Perhaps you are too fastidious ; I remark that about men who have nice sisters," said Mr. Arthur, with an air of much experi- ence : " now, Bobert and I never see anybody so nice as Linda — at least, hardly ever." ** A saving clause for Bell," said her brother, laughing, ** which is polite, at all events. I must tell her there's a young lady at home that you prefer immensely." Which he accordingly did, at the ensuing break&st ; and pretty Miss Holt pretended to take the matter greatly to heart, and would not permit Arthur to explain; while mischievous Sam scouted the notion of the unknown ** Linda " being his sister, except by the rather distant tie of Adam and Eve. What a plentiful table was this at Maple Grove ! Several sorts of meat and wild fowl, several species of bread and cake, several indigenous preserves ; and Eobert could not help going back with aching heart to the sca-^ supply of meagre fare at home ; he sa^' again his sweet pale mother trying to look cheerful over the poor meal, and Linda keeping up an artificial gaiety, while her soul was sick of stints and privation& His face grew stem and sad at the memory; enjoyment or amusement was criminal for him while they were suffering. So when, by-and-by, Mr. Holt invited him and Arthur to remain for the winter months at Maple Grove, with a view of gaining insight of Canadian manners and Canadian farm- ing, he decidedly declined. He wished to push on at once ; what- COBDUBOY. 75 ever hardships lay before them, had better be combated as soon as possible. A lengthened stay here would be a bad preparation for the wilderness life ; they could scarcely but be enerrated by it. " You re a braye lad/' said Mr« Holt, '' and I admire your pluck, though you are plunging right into a pack of troubles ; but the overcoming of each one will be a step in the ladder to fortune. Now I'll go and get out the horaes, and ride you over to Mr. Landenstein's office: he'll know all about the wild lands, and perhaps has a cleared farm or two cheap." But unfortunately such farms did not suit Eobert's pocket. One of two hundred acres, fifty cleared and the rest bush, was offered for 240^., with a wooden house thrown into the bargain ; but the purchaser's fancy for the forest was unconquerable : it puzzled even Mr. Holt. He returned from Mapleton the proprietor of a hundred acres of bush in a newly settled western township, and felt mucli the better and cheerier that his excursion had ended so. The future had something tangible for his grasp now; and he only grudged every hour spent away from his sphere of labour as an opportunity of advantage lost. CHAPTER X. CORDUROY. " They wor very kind to us," observed Andy, from his elevation in the waggon ; ** an' this counthry bates all the world at 'ating and dhrinking." This to Arthur Wynn, who was seated rather despondingly in front of the collection of boxes, pots, and pails, which formed their stock-in-trade for bush life. Sam Holt and Robert were walking on before the horse, a furlong a-head ; but Arthur had dropped behind for meditation's sake, and taken up his residence on the waggon for awhile, with his cap drawn over his eyes. I dare say 76 GEDAB CREEK. Miss Bell bad something to do with the foolish boy*s regret for leaving Maple Grove. "Every day was like a Christmas or an Aisther," continued Andy, who had no idea that any one could prefer silence to con- versation; **an' the sarvints had parlour fare in the kitchen always, an* a supper that was like a dinner, just before goin' to bed. Throth, they had fine times of it — puddins an' pies, if you plaze : ^ the bare lavins would feed a family at home. An* it's the same, they tell me, in all the farmers houses round about. I never thought to see so much vittles." No reply could be elicited from Mr. Arthur Wynn but a grunt. " Didn't you ?" put in the driver, with a small sneer. Andy had ' deemed him too &r distant to catch his words, as he walked beside his horse. "Why, then, you've long ears, my man; but sure it's kind for ye," retorted Mr. Ciallaghan, his eye twinkling wickedly. I fear that his subtle irony was lost upon its subject. " Of coorse I'm not used to ye're foreign food. Our vittles at home are a dale dacenter, though not so common." And Arthur, through his half-drowsy ears, was amused by the colloquy that ensued, in the course of which Andy completely floored the Canadian by a glowing descriptic ^^f Dunore, delivered in the present tense, but referring; alas I to a period of sixteen or twenty years previously. But the smart black-eyed backwoods- man wound up with the utterly incredulous speech : — " They left all them riches, to come and settle in our bush ! whew I" He jerked his whip resoundingly upon the fryingpan and tin kettle in the rear, which produced a noise so curiously illustrative of his argument, that Arthur laughed heartily, and shook off his fit of blues. The aspect of Nature would have helped him to do jjha.t The thousand dyes of the woods were brilliant as if the richest sunset had gushed from the heavens, and painted the earth with a vei- CORDUKOY. # manent glory of colour. A drapery of crimson and gold endued the maples ; the wild bines and briars were covered with orange and scarlet berries ; the black-plumed pine trees rose solemnly be- liind. A flat country, for the most part; and, as the travellers slowly receded westward, settlements became sparse and small; the grand forests closed more densely round them ; solitary clear- ings broke the monotony of trees. The first of anything that one sees or experiences, remains stronger than all after impressions on the memory. With what interest did the embryo settlers regard the first veritable log-hut that presented itself, surrounded by half an acre of stumps, among which struggled potatoes and big yellow squashes. A dozen hens |)ecked about ; a consumptive-looking cow suspended her chewing, :is also did her master his hoeing, to gaze after the waggon, till it ' disappeared beyond the square frame of forest which shut in the ^ little clearing. Again the long lines of stately oaks and firs, with a straight and [ apparently endless road between them, like the examples of per- spective in beginners' dra^ving books, but with the vanishing point ^ always receding. " I see they've tumpiked this road since I was on it before,'* observed the driver. " Where ?" asked Andy, looking about. ** I don't see a turnpike — ^an' sure I ought to know a tollman's dirty face in any place. Sorra house here at all at all, or a gate ; or a ha'portb except trees," he added, in a disgusted manner. " There," said the Canadian, pointing to a ploughed line along each side of the road, whence the earth had been thrown up in the centre by a scraper ; " that's tumpiking." " Ye might have invented a new name," rejoined the Irishman, with an offended air, " an' not be mislading people. I thought it Avas one of the ould pike-gates where I used to have to pay four- pince for me, ass and car ; an' throth, much as I hated it, I'd be > V" w CEDAR CREEK. a'most glttd to see one of the sort here, just for company's sake. A mighty lonesome counthry ye have, to be sure !" ^ " WeU, we can't be far from Greenock now ; and I see a bit of a snake fence yonder.*' . It was another clearing, on a more enterprising scale than the last described; the forest had been pushed back further, and a good wooden house erected in the open space ; zigzag rail fences inclosed a few fields almost clear of stumps, and an orchard was growing up behind. A man in a red shirt, who was engaged in underbrushing at a little distance, said that " the town " was only a mile away — Greenock, on the Clyde. Alas for nomenclature ! The waggon scrambled down a rather steep declivity, towards a dozen houses scattered beside a stream : stumps stood erect in the single short street, and a ferry-boat was the only craft enlivening the shore. A Greenock without com- merce or warehouses, a Clyde without wharves or ships, or the possibility of either — what mere travest* effected by a name ! " A nest of Scottish emigrants, I suppose,** said Robert Wynn, as he contemplated " the town.'* " Yes, and they'll push their place up to something,*' replied Sam Holt : " if pluck and perseverance can do it, they will. Only one enemy can ruin a Scotchman here, and that's the * drap drink.' Ten to one that in twenty years, you find this ground covered with factories and thousands of houses ; that solitary store is the germ of streets of shops, and the tavern will expand into half a score hotels. Sandy will do it all." " I*m afraid you could not speak so well of Irish progress." . " Because the canker of their religion continues to produce its legitimate effects in most cases ; and the influence of whisky — ^the great bane of social life in our colony — is even more predominant than over the lower class Scotch settlers. Still, they do infinitely better here than at home ; and you'll meet with many a flourishing Hibernian in the backwoods and pioneer cities." CORDUROY.^ > 79 " I presume this is a pioneer city ?" looking round at the hand- fal of wooden shanties. " Don't despise it ; Rome had as small a beginning, and was juanned by no more indomitable hands and hearts than our fron- tier emigrants." " We are producing quite a sensation," said Robert. For the major part of the inhabitants came out of doors to view the strangers, ^vith that curiosity which characterizes a new-bom society ; many of the men bethought themselves of some business at the wooden tavern by the water-side, where the waggon drew up and the new arrivals entered in. A store where everything was sold, fix)m a nail or a spool of " slack," to a keg of spirits or an almanack : sold for money when it could be had, for flour or wool or potash when it couldn't ; like- vnse a post-office, whither a stage came once a week with an odd passenger, or an odd dozen of newspapers and letters; like- wise the abode of a magistrate, where justice was occasionally dis- pensed and marriages performed. The dwelling that united all these offices in its single person, was a long, low, framed house, roofed with shingles, and but one story in height ; proprietor, a certain canny Scot, named Angus Macgregor, who having landed at Quebec with just forty shillings in the world, was making rapid strides to wealth here, as a landed proprietor and store-keeper without rivalry. Others of the clan Gregor had come out, allured by tidings of his prosperity ; and so the broad Doric of Lowland Scotch resounded about the tavern table, almost as much as the Canadian twang. All doing well. Labour was the sole commodity they possessed, and it sufficed to purchase the best things of life in Canada, especially that slow upward rising in circumstances and possessions, which is one of the sweetest sensations of struggling humanity, and which only a favoured few among the working classes can enjoy at home. Robert Wynn was almost as curious about their affairs as 80 CSDAR CREEK. ihey were about his ; for he was energized afresh by every instance of progress, and little inducement was required to draw from the Kettlers their own histories, which had the single monotony running through each, of gradual growth from poverty to prosperity. ** What sort of roads have you across the ferry to the Cedars ?" inquired Sam Holt of mine host. " The first part of the concession line is pretty good, but I canua say as much for the 'corduroy' afterwards: the riding's not so easy there, I guess." " Corduroy I" ejaculated Arthur. " Oh, wait till you feel it," said Sam, with much amusement in his eyes. " It's indescribable. I hope we won't meet it in the dark, that's all." ** Drivin* across ladders for ever, with the rungs very far apart," explained a Canadian to Andy, in the background, as the latter rubbed his finger-tips over the ribs in the material of his pantaloons, and looked puzzled. " An' what description of vahicle stands sich thratement ?" asked Mr. Callaghan, " an what description of baste ?" "Oxen is the handiest, 'cos they've the strongest legs,* returned his informant, with a fresh puff of his pipe. "Well, of all the counthries " began Andy, for the twentieth time that day ; and perhaps as many as ten additional utterances of the ejaculation were forced by the discovery that he and the gentlemen were to occupy the same sleeping apartment; but, above all, by the revelation that behind a ragged curtain in the comer reposed two wayfaring women, going to join their husbands in the woods, and having also a baby. The latter creature, not being at all overawed by its company, of course screamed in the night whenever the fancy seized it ; and good-natured Andy found himself at one period actually walking up and down with the warm bundle of flannel in his arms, patting it on the back soothingly. Next morning they left the little settlement, and, crossing the CORDUROY. ferry again plunged into the primeyal forest. Bobert felt as if that mock Clyde were the Bubicon of their fate. *'I leave the old degenerate life," he murmured to himself, " with all its traditions of ease. I go forth tu face Fortune in these wilds, and to win her, if ever sturdy toil of limb and brain succeeded." This spirit of independence was manly, but Bobert did not at the moment join to it the noisier spirit of dependence on the Divine Disposer of events : self-trust filled his heart ; and this is the great snare of youth. "You are looking unusually valoi:ous," said Sam Holt, who marched alongside. He had volunteered to stay with them for their first fortnight of bush life, like a kind fellow as he was. Something about these young Wynns had attracted his regard, and perhaps a touch of compassion. He would, at least, help them to put up the shanty, he said. And truly the road grew very bad ; at a short bit of swamp they made their first acquaintance with "corduroy." Sam explained the structure when the waggon had done bumping over it : trunks of trees had been laid along the road as " sleepers " in three con- tinuous lines ; and across them round logs, close together by theory, but in practice perhaps a foot or two apart, with unknown abysses of mud between. They wished even for the corduroy expedient a little further on, « when the line became encumbered with stimips left from the uuderbrushing, and which caught in the axletree every few score yards. Now came the handspikes into action, which provident Sam had cut, and laid into the waggon when the road was fair and smooth ; for the wheels had to be lifted high enough to slip over the obstacles, [n the pauses of manual labour came the chilling thought, " All this difficulty between us and home." Sunlight faded from the tree tops ; and soon night was descend- ing darkly among the pines. ^2 CEDAR CREEK. "We must either camp in the woods, or get shelter at some settler's," decided Sam. ** We'll try a quarter of a mile further, and see what it brings." So away they went again, shouting at the oxen, and endeavouring to steer the equipage free of mud-holes and stumps. " I am afraid our cups and saucei's are all in a smash/* said Arthur. Robert had a secret misgiving to the same effect ; but, then, crockerjTware is a luxury to which no shanty-man has a right. Andy rescued a washing basin and ewer, by wearing the former on his head and the latter on his left arm — helmet and shield-wise ; except at intervals, when he took liis turn at handspiking. A light gleamed through the trees, and a dog barked simulta- neously : they were on the verge of a clearing ;; and, hearing the voices outside, the owner of the house came forth to welcome the travellers, with a heartiness widelv different from the common- place hospitality of more crowded countries. --. CHAPTER XI. THE BATTLE WITH THE WILDERNESS BEGINS. A ROAPTNG fire of logs upon the wide hearth, logs built up into walls and roof, logs wrought into rough furniture of tables and stools — ^here, within the emigrant's hut, the all-encompassing forest had but changed its shape. Man had but pressed it into his service ; from a foe it had become a friend ; the wooden realm paid tribute, being subjugated. The still life of the cabin was rude enough. No appliances for ease, not many for comfort, as we in England understand the words. Yet the settler's wife, sitting by her wheel, ami dressed in the home-spun fruits thereof, had a well-to-do blooming aspect, which gasli^t and merino could not have improved ; and the settler's boy, building a miniature shanty of clups in the comer, his mottled THE BATTLE WITH THE WILDERNESS BEGINS, io skin testifying to all sorts of weather-beating, looked as happy as if he had a toyshop at his command, instead of the word being utterly miknown in his experience ; and the baby, rolled up in the hollowed pine-log, slept as sweetly as if satin curtains inclosed its rest. Back to Sam Holt's mind recurred words which he knew well : " A man's iife consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth." The woman rose and curtsied. She had not been accustomed to make that respectful gesture for a long time back ; but something in the appearance of the strangers lialf involuntarily constrained it. " I needn't ask if you're Canadian-born," said Mr. Holt \ " you've the manners of the old country." " My father and mother were from Wiltshire, and so be I," she answered, setting back her wheel, and looking gratified at the implied commendation. "But that be so long ago as I scarce remember." "And she made amends by marrying me," said the settler, entering from the outer door, and latching it behind him. ** Mary, get the pan and fix some supper quick. Them duck I shot won't ijo bad. You see, I've been expectin* you along rather ;" and he flung down an armful of wood, which he began to arrange witli architectural reference to the back-log and fore-stick. " Expecting us ?" exclaimed Robert Wynn. " You're for lot fifteen in ninth concession, township of Gazelle ? Wall, so I guessed ; for I heard from Zack Bunting who lives at the * Comer,' that it was sold by Landenstein ; and I calc'lated you'd be along presently :" and he finished his fire-building by a touch with his foot, which appeared to demolish much of his labour. Imt in reality conduced to his object of intensifying the heat and Maze. " Benny," to the boy, who had sat on the ground staring at the new comers, "go tell your mother to be spry." The little fellow went accordingly, by the side door through whieli she had dis- 84 /••T-rivi CEDAR CREEK. ,'.„: ?tHT appeared a few minutes previously ; and the Irish servant, planting himself on the vacated spot with his toes to the fire comfortably, commenced to erect of the child's chips a two-storied mansion. " You*ve got a good slice of bush there, back from the pond ; though the cedars will be troublesome, I guess." " Oh, we bargained for the cedars," said Sam Holt " There's enough to clear >vithout laying an axe to them for many a day." " It's all the doing of that spring creek, running through th(> middle of the lot, as £ne a water-privilege as ever I see ; but the cedars are where it gets to the pond. If the bed was deepened down below, it's my opinion the swamp would be drained." "You seem to know the ground well," said Kobert, with in- terest. ** I guess I ought to, that have shot over it before ever a blazed line ran through them woods. We was furthest west once, but that's over by a long spell ; the neighbourhood's pretty thick now, and the * Comer * will be a town shortly." " Well, if this is a thick neighbourhood, I should like to know his idea of a thin one," said Arthur, aotto voce, to >Sam Holt. " Wo have met only this house for miles." " Oh, they ain't many miles, only you thought thoy was, cos' I guess you ain't used to the stumps," put in the settler. " The back lot to ours, of the same number, is took by a Scotchman, and last week I run a blazed line across to )iis clearing through the bush ; for you see I'm often away, trapping or still-hunting, and Mary here thought she'd be a trifle less lonesome if she had a way of going over the hill to her friend Mrs. Macpherson. The other way is round by the * Comer,' which makes it five miles full ; but now Benny can run across of a message, by minding the marks ; can't you, my lad ?" " Yes, father," answered the boy, proudly. " And I can chop a blaze myself, too." Benny was not much taller than an axe liap.dJe. TUE BATTLE WITH THE WILDERNESS BEGINS. 85 Arthur looked from the child round at the wife, who was often left alone in this solitude of woods, and longed for the slender chain of a scarred line of trees between her and some other woman. A healthy, firm outline of face, wholly unacquainted with ner- vousness ; quiet, self-reliant, hard-working ; perhaps of & Dutch type of character. Her husband was a sturdy broad-set man, with lithe limbs, and quick senses looking oat from his clear-featured countenance : he had a roving unsubdued eye, befitting the hunter more than the farmer. " I wouldn't desire," said the latter, seating himself on the end of the table, while his wife superintended a pan of frizzling pork on the coals — " I wouldn't desire, for a feller that wanted to settle down for good, a more promising location than youm at the Cedars. The high groimd grows the very best sorts of hard >vood— oak, sugar maple, elm, basswood. Not too many beech, or I'd expect ^and ; with here and there a big pine and a handful of balsams. The underbrushing ain't much, except in the swamp." " I'm glad to hear that," said Mr. Holt, " for the fall is going fast, and we'll have to work pretty hard before snow comes." " So I'm thinkin'. But you ain't going to settle ; you haven't the cut of it : you're settled already." " How do you know ?" " Oh, you didn't listen as they did," pointing his thumb towards the Wynns, " when 1 fell to talkin of the ground. I know'd my men at once. Nor you didn't stare about as they did, as if the \\OMm and fixins was a show at a copper ahead." " You must excuse our curiosity," said Robert, politely. " Surely ; every man that has eyes is welcome to use 'em," re- I)lied the backwoodsman, bluntly. " Wo ain't got no manners in the bush, nor don't want 'em, as I tell Mary here, when she talks any palaver. Now, wife, them pritters must be done ;" and he left his seat on the table, to pry over her pan. " Then take the cakes out of the bake-kettle, will you,** said M CEDAB CREEK. * Miaiy ; ** and if them ducks be raw, 'tain't my fault, i'ememl,(-:■(: »;; 1 . J '. ' 1 , « L t ^ ■ CHAPTER XII. CAMPING IN THE BUSH. "Well I" exclaimed Bobert Wynn, "here is my estate; and neither pond, nor swamp, nor yet spring creek, do I behold." He looked again at the landmark — an elm tree at the junction of the lot line and the concession road, which bore the numbers of each, " Nine, Fifteen," in very legible figures on opposite sides. A " blaze" had been made by chopping away a slice of the bark witli an axe, about three feet from the ground, and on the white space the numbers were marked by the surveyor. All roads through the forest, and all farm allotments, are first outlined in this way. before the chopper sets to work. « The new townships in Upper Canada are laid out in parallel lines, running nearly east and west, sixty-six chains apart, and sixty-six feet in width ; which are termed concession lines, being conceded by government as road allowances. These lands thus enclosed are sub-divided into lots of two hundred acres by otliei lines, which strike the concession roads at right angles every thirt} , chains ; and every fifth of these lot lines is also a cross-road. We have all looked at maps of the country, and wondered at the sort ot chess-board counties which prevail in the back settlements : the same system of parallelograms extends to the farms. Eobert's face was a little ruefiiL Twenty yards in any direction he could not see, for the overpowering bush, except along the line of road darkened >vith endless forest. The waggon was being un CAMPING IN THE BUSH. 91 packed, for the driver sturdily dedured that his agreement had been only to bring them as far as this post on the concession : he must go back to the " Corner*' that evening, on his way Iiome. " An' is it on the road ye*ll lave the masther's things ?" remon- strated Andy. " I guess we han't no masters here, Pat," was the reply ; " but it* you see anywar else to stow the traps, I ain't partic'ler." And ho stolidly continued unloading. " Gome," said the cheer^ voice of Sam Holt, " we will have day- light enough to explore the lot, and select a site for a camp. I think I can discover the tops of cedars over the hardwood trees here. The boxes will take care of themselves, unless a squirrel takes into his head to inspect them. Let's follow the concession line along westward first." ' •" ■ .-..* Callaghan stayed by the luggage, feeling by no means sure of its safety, and saw the rest of the party gradually receding among the trees, with sensations akin to those of a sailor on a desert island. Sitting upon the tool-chest, like an item of property saved from a wreck, Andy looked from the base to the summit of the huge walls of forest that encompassed him, and along the canal of sky over- head, till his countenance had fallen to zero. The shipwrecked sensation had gone further : Mr. Holt saw it lurking in other faces, and forthwith found all advantages possible in the lot. The soil was sure to be the best : he could tell by the timber. Its height proved the depth of earth. When the trees grew shorter, a hidden treasure of limestone flag lay beneath the surface, useful for drains and building. And even the entangled cedar swamp was most desirable, as furnishing the best wood for rail-fences and logs for a house. But nothing could look more unpromising. Blackish pools of water alternated with a network of massive roots all over the soil, underneath broad evergreen branches ; trunks of trees leaned in every direction, as if top-heavy. Wilder confusion of thicket "^^^ 92 CEDAR CHEEK. could not bo conceived. *' The cedars troublesome ! I should thiuk so/' groaned their owner. " This is the worst bit," acknowledged Sam. " Now, if we could see it, the lake is down yonder ; perhaps if we strike a diagonal across tho lot, we may come to some rising ground." With the pocket compass for guide they left the blazed line, which they had followed hitherto. After a short distance tho bush began to thin, and the forest twilight brightened. *' A beaver meadow I" exclaimed Sam Holt, who was foremost Green as emerald, the small semi-circular patch of grass lay at the foot of gentle slopes, as if it had once been a lakelet itself. " Two acres ready cleared, with the finest dairy grass only waiting to be eaten," continued encouraging Sam. '* And the clearing on the hill will command the best view in the township ; there's the site for your house, Wynn. Altogether youVe had rare luck in this lot" ** But why is that green flat called a beaver meadow ?" asked Robert ** Do you see the creek running alongside ? No, you can't for the underbrush ; but it's there all the same. Well, they say that long ago beavers dammed up the current in such places as this, with clay and brushwood, so that the water spread over all level spaces near ; and when the Indians and French were at war, the red men cut away the dams and killed the beavers wholesale, to spite their enemies. You're to take that just as an on dit, recol- lect" ** And is all that verdure an appearance or a reality 7* ** Something of both : I don't say but you will occasionally find it treacherous footing, needing drainage to be comfortable. See! there's the pond at last" They had been climbing out of the denser woods, among a younger growth on the face of the slope ; and when they turned, the sheet of water was partially visible over the sunken cedar swamp. Id thiuk we could diagonal Vith the they had . to thin, foiemost %y at the : "Two ng to be D the hill B site for this lot" r asked can't for r sav that !8 as this, all level i war, the >le8ale, to ditf recol' nally find >le. See! among a jy turned: ien cedar y IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // % 1.0 I.I [If y£ 112.0 |25 |2. 2 im |l.25 1.4 1 1.6 41 6" ► HiotDgraphic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAEN STR'.:iY WEBSTER.N.Y. 11^30 (716) l72-45wi C/j <\ iV > "A across Tarieti "Ii of pari colossa this pi Superi( "It pocket in red i ineognit now poi and evi nected 1 away to board tc Asth Holt sto "for wl Indians thdr cii His s proceedi ^rild as i swept it liave no "The [gPavely. "Nor I^Jiyads -w Hehac they tun CAMPING IN THE BUSH. 95 '.i «Aix;:idI" exclaimed Arthur ; "why, it must be three miles across lo those limestone cliffs. What pretty islets ! Such endless varieties of wood and water !" " I think w6 Americans are rather given to the diminutive style of parlance," quoth Mr. Hoh. " We have some justification in the colossal proportion of all the features of nature around us. W^hat is this pretty lake but a mere pool, compared with our Erie and Superior?" " It is one of a chain," remarked Bobert, taking from his breast pocket a map of the district, which had his own farm heavily scored in red ink. Often had he contemplated that outline of the terra incognita on which he now trod, and longed for the knowledge he now possessed, which, after its manner, bad brought him both good and evil. Like balls threaded on a cord, a succession of lakes, con- nected by cascades and portages, or by reaches of river, stretched away to the north-west, sorely marring the uniformity of the chess- board township8.«^»f*i»««^ •<)"t'»/ '»«vrrrr ,-vttfO,rttr« ttii A.iii) i>i Ik As they picked their way back along the lot line northward, Mr. Holt stopped suddenly. " I hear a very singular noise," he said, "for which I am wholly at a loss to account, unless there be hidians about in the neighbourhood. Even then, it is totally unlike their cries. Listen !" His sharper senses had detected before theirs a distant wail, proceeding from some distance in front, apparently — weird and ^Tild as it could be, dying away or surging upon the ear as the wind swept it hither or thither. Arthur shrugged his shoulders. " You Imve no gnosts in these forests, Holt, I suppose ?" " The country's too new for anything of the sort," replied he, I gravely. " Nor any mocking birds that can be playing us a trick ? Or I dryads warning us off their territory ?" He had recognised the performance of Andy Callaghan, who, when I they turned the comer of the allotment, was discovered seated on i 96 CEDAR CREEK. the boxes as when they saw him last, and crooning the disnialest melody. But he had, in the meantime, recovered himself snt- ficiently to gather brushwood, and kindle a fire beside the road ; likewise to cook a panful of rashers as the shadows grew longer and the day later. ' ; " But sure I thought ye wor lost entirely ; sure I thought ye wor never comin' at all, Masther Kobert, avourneen. 'Twas that med me rise the keen. A single livin* thing I didn't lay my eyes ou since, barrin* a big frog. I'm afeard thim are like sticks, Masther Arthur, they're so long fryin'." " No matter, Andy, they'll do first-rate. I'd only advise you to chop up more. I feel like eating all that myself; " and, trencher on knee, they dined, with real backwood appetites. A shelter for the night was the next consideration. Mr. Holt constituted himself architect, and commenced operations by lashing a pole across two trees at about his own height ; the others cut sticks and shrubs for roofing. Three young saplings sloped back to tlie ground as principal rafters, and on these were laid a thatch of brushwood ; the open ends of the hut were filled with the same material. . ji . .; i ;^ ;! " Now," said Sam Holt, contemplating the work of his hands with professional pride, " when we have a big fire built in front, and a lot of hemlock brush to lie on, we shall be pretty comfortable." And he instructed his novices further in the art of making their couch luxuriously agreeable, by picking the hemlock fine, and spreading over it a buffalo skin. Sam Holt had evidently become acquainted with "considerable" bush lore at his University of Toronto. . . .--irr''- • ^ .i i <^ 4> •'^, f^'iJvT- i■'''^ ••• * Wi'AT jUyitliViii- .;• THE YANKEE STOREKEEPER. 97 CHAPTEK XIII. THE YANKEE STOREKEEPEK. Three men stood with their axes amid the primeval forest. Vast trunks rose around them to an altitude of thirty or even fifty feet without a bough ; above, " a boundless contiguity of shade," and below, a dense undergrowth of shrubs, which seemed in some places impenetrable jungle. Three axes against thirty thousand trees. The odds were immensely in the dryads' favour; the pines and hardwoods might have laughed in every leaf at the [tuny power threaten„.g their immemorial empire, and settled that vis inertue alone must overcome. If, as Tennyson has bestowed upon the larkspur ears, the liigher vegetation can listen also, the following conversation would that day have been heard from the triad of axmen beginning their campaign against the forest, and " bating no jot of heart or hope " ill the contest. " Here's the site for your shanty," said Mr. Holt, dealing a blow ou a fine maple before him, which left a white scai' along the bark. " It has the double advantage oi being close to this fine spring creek, and sufficiently near the concession line." "And I'm sanguine enough to believe thct there will be a view at some future period," added Eobert, "when we have hewed through some hundred yards of solid timber in front. By the way, Holt, why are all the settlers' locations I have yet seen in tlie country so destitute of wood about them ? A man seems to think it his duty to extirpate everything that grows higher than a pump- kin; one would imagine it ought to be easy enough to leave clumps of trees in picturesque spots, so as to produce the effect of the ornamental plantations at home. Now I do not mean exciu- fiively the lowest grade of settlers, for of eom-se from them so much if- Ml 98 CEDAK CREEK. taste was not to be expected ; but gentlemen farmers, and such like." *' I dare say they contract sucli an antipathy to wood of every species during their years of clearing, that it is thenceforth re- garded as a natural enemy, to be cut down wherever met with. And when you have seen one of our Canadian hurricanes, you will understand why an umbrageous elm or a majestic oak near one's dwellings may not always be a source of pleasurable sensations." " Still, I mean to spare that beautiful butternut yonder," said Robert ; of all trees in the forest it is prettiest. And I shall try to clear altogether in an artistic manner, with an eye to the prin- ciples of landscape gardening. Why, Holt! many an English parvenu planning the groimds of his country seat, and contemplat- ing the dwarf larches and infantine beeches struggling for thirty years to maturity, would give a thousand guineas for some of these lordly oaks and walnuts, just as they stand." ... Sam Holt refrained from expressing his conviction tliat, after a \vinter's chopping, Robert would retract his admiration for timber in any shape, and would value more highly a bald-looking stumpy acre prepared for fall wheat, than the most picturesque maple- clump, except so far as the latter boded sugar. " To leave landscape gardening for after consideration," said he, with some slight irony, " let us apply ourselves" at present to the shanty. I think, by working hard, we might have walls and roof up before dark. Twenty by twelve will probably be large enough for the present — eh, Robert?" Oh yes, certainly ; for the house was to be commenced so soon, that the shanty could be regarded only as a temporary shelter. Blessed, labour-lightening sanguineness of youth ! that can bound over intermediate steps of toil, and accomplish in a few thoughts the work of months or years. ^^V n - - • ■ a «:ii%t m^ ^ i?^ So Mr. Holt measured the above dimensions on the ground, choosing a spot where Ihe trunks appeared something less massive THE YANKEK STOKEKEEPER. 09 such ivery h re- with. 1 will one's s." ' taid i\\ trv ! prin- nglish [nplat- thirtv • these after a timber itumpy Imaple- |aid lie, to the .d roof enough [o soou, Ishelter. bound longhts round, iassive than elsewhere, and set h'j auxiliaries to cut down all the trees within the oblong, and for a certain distance round ; arranging also that the logs should fall as near as might be to where they were wanted for the walls. Now, the Sv^ttler's first-felled tree is to him like a schoolboy's first liatin doolension, or a lawyer's first brief — the pledge of ability, the earnest of future performances. Every success braces the nerves of mind, as well as the muscles of body. A victory over tlie woodland was embodied in that fallen maple. But Andy was so near getting smashed in the coming down of his tree, that Mr. Holt ordered him to lay by the axe, and bring his spade, to dig a hole in a certain spot within the oblong. " An' it's mighty harmless that crathur 'ud be agin the wood,'* muttered the Irishman ; " throth, the earth in this counthry is mostly timber. An' in the name of wondher what does he want wid a hole, barrin' we're to burrow like rabbits ?'* But the others were too busy felling or chopping trees into lengths of log, to heed Andy's wonderment ; and the novices were agreeably surprised to find how dexterous they became in the liandling of the axe, after even a few hours' practice. Their spirits rose ; for " nothing succeeds like success," saith the Frenchman. "Now 1*11 give you a lesson in basswood troughs," said Mr. Holt. " This shanty of yours is to be roofed with a double layer of troughs, laid hollow to hollow ; and we choose basswood because it is the easiest split and scooped. Shingle is an )ther sort of roof- ing, and that must be on your house ; but troughs are best for the shanty. See here ; first split the log fair in the middle ; then hollow the flat side with the adze." • ^ '4" Eobert was practising his precepts busily, when he was almost startled by a strange nasal voice beside him. ' ^ ';f.iK/// i-m^hh i " Considerable well for a beginner ; but I guess you put a power- ful deal too much stiength in yer strokes yet, stranger." The speaker was a tall lank man, with black hair to correspond, 100 CEDAll CREEK. and lantern jaws ; little cunning eyes, and a few scrubby i)atc'lio,s of rusty stubble on chin and cheeks. Robei*t disliked him at once. "Why didn't you stop at the 'Comer* yesterday? 'Twarn't neighbourly to go on right away like that. But it all como, 1 reckon, of Britisher pride and impudence." Robert looked at him full, and demanded, " Pray who are yon, sir I* ** Zack Bunting as keeps the store," replied the other. " I'm not ashamed neither of my name nor country, which is the IT — nitod States, under the glorious stars and stripes. I come up to help in raising the shunty, as I guessed you'd be at it to-day." Young Wynn hardly knew what to reply to such an odd mixture of insolence and apparent kindness. The Yankee took the adze from his hand before he could speak, and set about hollowing troughs very rapidly. " You chop, and I'll scoop, for a start. Now I guess you hain't been used to this sort of thing, when you was to hum ? You needn't hardly tell, for white hands like youm there ain't o' much use nohow in the bush. You must come down a peg, I reckon, and let 'em blacken like other folks, and grow kinder hard, afore they'll take to the axe properly. How many acres do you intend to clear this winter?" " As many as I can." "Humph! you should blaze 'em off all round, and work 'em reglar. You han't more than a month's * brushing' now. Are you maiTied ?" " No," replied Robert, waxing fierce internally at this catechism. " Are you ? " by way of retaliation. " This twenty year. Raised most of our family in the States. The old woman's spry enough yet, as you'll see when you come to the* Comer.'" -!r-:'^-t.):--' :i -■;> •^-'■•^ Mi;5;^'>-H AU this time Mr. Bunting was chewing tobacco, and discharging the fluid about with marrellous copiousness, at intervals. Robert '^ THE YANKKE 6T0KE KEEPER. 101 n ihargiiig Eobert tlionght his dried-np appearance capable of explanation. *' What made you come to settle in the bush ?" was his next question. " Holt I " called out Robert, quite unable patiently to endure any further cross-examination ; and he walked away throujrh the trees to say to his friend — " There's an intolerable Yankee yonder, split- ting troughs as fast as possible, but his tongue is more than I can boar." " Leave him to me," answered Sam ; " his labour is worth a little annoyance, anyhow : I'll fix him." But he quietly continued lit his own work, notwithstanding, and kept Robert beside him. Mr. Bunting speedily tired of manufacturing the basswood troughs alone, and sloped over to the group who were raising the walls of the shanty. " Wal, I guess you're gitting along considerable smart," he ob- ser>'ed, after a lengthened stare, which amused Arthur highly, for tlio concentration of inquisitiveness it betrayed. " 'Tam't an easy job for greenhorns ,nohow; but ye take to it kinder nateral, like the wood-duck to the pond." He chewed awhile, watching Sam's proceedings narrowly. " I guess this ain't your fii^st time of notching logs, by a long chalk, stranger ? " "Perhaps so, perhaps not," was the reply. "Here, lend a hand with this stick, Mr. Bunting." Zack took his hands from the pockets of his lean rusty trowsers, and helped to fit the log to its place, on the front wall ; which, in a shanty, is always higher than the back, making a fall to the roof, Mr. Holt managed to keep the Yankee so closely employed during the next hour, that he took out Of him the work of two, and utterly quenched his loquacity for the time being. " He shall earn his dinner, at all events," quoth Sam to himself. " Wal, stranger, you are a close shave," said Zack, sitting down to rest, and fanning himself with a dirty brownish rag by way of handkerchief. " I hain't worked so hard at any * bee* this twelve month. You warn't born last week, I guess." -^ ^sj; ^ 102 CF.DAll CHEEK. " I reckon not," replied Sam, receiving the com})liment us con- scious merit should. " But we're not half done, JMr. Bunting ; and I'd like such a knowledgeable head as yours to help fix the troughs." " Oil for oil, in this world," thouglit llobert. "Throth, they'll build me up intirely," said Andy to himself; " an' sorra door to get out or in by, only four walls an' a hole in the middle of the floor. Of all the quare houses that iver I sec. this shanty bates them hollow. Masther Robert ! " calling aloud, "I wondher have I dug deep enough ? " " Come out here, and get dinner," was the response. " We'll see to-morrow." " 'Tis asier said than done," remarked Andy, looking for a niche between the logs to put his foot in. *' I hope this isn't the way we'U always have to be clamberin' into our house ; but sorra other way do I see, barrin* the hole's to be a passage ondherground." " You goose ! the hole is to be a cellar, wherein to keep potatoes and pork," said h> ister, overhearing the tale of liis 'soliloquy. Andy departed to hi^ ^ookery enlightened. .' Before the pan had done frizzling, whole rows of the ready-made troughs were laid along the roof, sloping from the upper wall plate to the back ; and Mr. Bunting had even begun to place the: cover- ing troughs with either edge of the hollow curving into tho centn of that underneath. Robert and Arthur were chinking the walls by driving pieces of wood into every crevice between the logs : moss and clay for a further stuffing must be afterwards found. if the Yankee were quick at work, he fulfilled tho other sequent of the adage likewise. His dinner was almost a sleight-of-hand performance. Arthur could hardly eat his own for concealed amusement at the gulf-like capacity of his mouth, and the aston- ishing rapidity with which the eatables vanished. ' " While you'd be sayin' * thrapstick,' he tucked in a qparter of a stone of praties and a couple of pound of rashers," said Andy after- THE YANKEE STOREKEEPER, 103 wards. " Before the gintlemcu was half done, he was picking Ids long yaller teeth wid a pin, an* discoorsin' 'em as impideut as if he was a gintleman himself, the spalpeen !" All unwitting of the storm gathering in the person of the cook, Mr. Bunting did indulge in some free and easy reflections ujx)!! Britishers in general, and the present company in particular ; also of the same cook's attendance during their meal. " Now I guess we free-born Americans don't be above having our helps to eat with us : we ain't poor and proud, as that comes to. But I'll see yc brought down to it, or my name's not Zack Bunting. It tickles mo to see aristocrats like ye at work — rael hard work, t(» take the consait out of ye ; and if I was this feller," glancing at Andy, " I'd make tracks if ye didn't give me my rights, smart enough." , ■'=• The glow in the Irish servant's eyes was not to be mistaken. " I guess I*ve riled you a bit," added the Yankee, wonderingly. " An' what's my rights, sir, if yer honour would be plasin' to tell me ?" asked Andy, with mock obsequiousness ; " for I donno of u single one this minit, barrin' to do what my master bids me." " Because I calc'late you've been raised in them mean opinions, an' to think yerself not as good flesh an' blood as the aristocrats that keep you in bondage.'* ' ' ' " Come now," interrupted Sam Holt, " you shut up, Mr. Bunt- ing. It's no bondage to eat one's dinner afterwards ; and he'll be twice as comfortable." " That's thrue," said Andy : " I never yet could ate my bit in presence of the quality : so that's one right I'd forgive ; and as for me — the likes of me — bein' as good blood as the Misther Wynns of Dunore, I'd as soon think the Yankee was himself." With sovereign contempt, Andy turned his back on Mr. Bunt- ing, and proceeded to cook his dinner. " vVal, it's the first time I see a feller's dander riz for tellin' him he's as good as another," remarked Zack, sauntering in the I % '% Yi\ i 104 CEDAR CREEK. wukc of the others towards tlio unfinislieil shanty. " I reckon it's almost time for me to make tracks to hum ; tlio ole woman will be lookin' out. ]^>it I say, stranger, what are you going to do with that beaver meadow below on the creek ? It's a choice slice ot* pasture, that." *•' Cut the grass in summer," replied Sam Holt, tolerably sure of wha' was coming. " I've as fine a red heifer," said the Yankee, confidentially, " as ever was milked, and I'd let you have it, being a new comer, and not up to the ways of the countiy, very cheap." His little black eyes twinkled. " I'd like to drive a trade with you, I would ; for she's a rael prime article." " Thank you," said Mr. Holt, *' but we don't contemplate dairy farming as yet." Zack could not be rebuffed under half-a-dozen refusals. " Wal, if you won't trade, you'll be wantin' fixins from tlie store, an' I have most every thin' in stock. Some of my lads will be along- to see you co-morrow, I reckon, and any whiskey or tobacco you wanted they could ^^ring ; and if you chose to run a bill " Refused also, with thanks, as the magazines- say to rejected con- tributions. This, then, was the purport of Mr. Bunting's visit : to gratify curiosity ; to drive a trade ; to estimate' the new settlers' worldly wealth, in order to trust or not, as seemed prudent. While at dinner, he had taken a mental inventory and valuation of the boxes and bales about, submitting them to a closer examina- tion where possible. At the time, Robert thought it simply an indulgence of inordinate curiosity, but the deeper motive of self- interest lay behind. • ; " In their own phrase, that fellow can see daylight," remarked Mr. Holt, as Zack's lean figure disappeared among the trees. '' I never saw little eyes, set in a parenthesis of yellow crowsfeet at the comers, that did not betoken cunnini^." ■■'■>.: r^ '■ "'ir _.fc^. .fevi THE CORNER. 105 CHAPTER XIV. THK "CORNKR." Several days were employed in plasterinc: all ihe crevices of the shanty with clay, cutting out a doorway and a single window in the front wall, and building a hearth and chimney. But when com- pleted, and the goods and chattels moved in, quite a proud sense of proprietorship stole into the ONvner's heart. As yet, this arduous bush-life had not ceased to be as it were a play : Sam Holt's cheery companionship took the edge off every hardship; and their youthful health and strength i;ourished UTidor toil. "Now, considering we are to be dependent on ourselves for fur- niture, the best thing I can fashion in the first instance will be a workbench," said Arthur, whose turn for carpentering was decided. •' Little I ever thought that my childish tool-box was educating me for this." vi . ' " 1 think a door ought to be your first pei-formance," suggested Robert. "Our mansion would be snugger with a door than a screen of hemlock bmsh." . ; ' " But I must go to the * Corner' for boards, and that will take an entire day, the road is so vile. I can't see why I couldn't hew boards out of a pine myself, eh, ITolt ?" " You want to try your hand at * slabbing,' do you ? I warn you that the labour is no joke, and the planks never look so neat as those from the sawmill." " We have flung * looks* overboard long ago," replied Arthur. " Come, teach me, like a good fellow." " Choose your tree as clean and straight in the grain as possible." "And how am I to tell how its grain runs?" asked the pupil. "Experiment is the only certainty ; but if the tree be perfectly # E ^ ■"'i-"' ■ \ • . ' ' *■-'■'' 106 CEDAR CREEK. clear of knots for tliii-ty or forty feet, and its larger limbs drooping downwards, so as to shelter the trunk in a measure from the influence of the sun, these ait; presumptions in favour of the grain running straight." " What has the sun to do with it ?" " The grain of most trees naturally inclines to follow the annual course of the sun. Hence its windings, in great measure. Having selected and felled your pine, cut it across into logs of the length of plank you want." *' But you said something of experiment in deciding about the grain of the wood." • " Oh, by cutting out a piece, and testing it with the axe, to see whether it splits fair. When you have the logs chopped, mark the ends with a bit of charcoal into the width of your planks : then slab them asunder with wedges." * .-.«>/:' " Holt, where did you pick up such a variety of knowledge as you have?" ■'' r.-- -m^m-x: :,■:■ „■..-,.** ^^ . " I picked up this item among the lumber-men. You must know I spent more than one long vacation in exploring the most out-of- the-way locations I could find; But I'd advise you to go to the sawmill for your planks, though I do understand the theory of slabbing." After due consideration — and as glass for the window was a want for v/hich the forest could supply no substitute — it was agreed that all should take a half-holiday next day, and go down to the " Coi- ner" to uncle Zack's store. " Now that is settled," said Kobert, with a little difficulty, " I wanted to say — that is, I've toen thinking — that we are here in the wilderness, far away from all churches and good things of that kind, and we ought to have prayers of our own every evening, as my mother has at home." " Certainly," said both Arthur and Sam Holt. •* I have never so felt the presence of God," added Robert, THE CORNER. 107 solemnly, " as since I've been in tliese forest solitudes ; never so felt my utter dependence u^>on liim for everything." " No," rejoined Sam. " He seems to draw very near to the soul in the midst of these his grand works. The very stillness exalts one's heart towards him." And so that good habit of family worship was commenced, inaugurating the shanty that very night Andy Callaghan sat by and listened. " Throth, but they're fine words," said he. " I wouldn't believe any one now, that that book is bad to listen to." " And at home you'd run away from the sight of it. flow's that, Andy ?" asked Mr. Wynn. "It's aisy explained, sir," replied the servant, looking droll. " Don't you see, I haven't his riverence at me elbow here, to turn me into a goat if I did anything contrary, or to toss me into purgji- tory the minit the breath is out of my poor body." , ,. , , : > , Thousands of Andy's countrymen find the same relief to their consciences as soon as they tread the free soil of Canada West. „ Truly a primitive settlement was the " Corner." The dusk forest closed about its half dozen huts tlireateningly, as an army round a handful of invincibles. Stumps were everywhere that trees were not ; one log-cabin was erected upon four, as it had been, legs ready to walk away with the edifice. " Uncle Zack's" little store was the most important building in tho place, next to the sawmill on the stream. " The situation must be unhealthy," said Eobert ; " here's marsh under my very feet. Why, there's a far better site for a town plot on my land, Holt." " Ay, and a bettor water-privilege too. Let me see what your energy does towards developing its resources, Eobert." . They discovered one source of the storekeeper's prosperity in the enormous price he exacted for the commonest articles. Necessity alone could Imve driven Arthur to pay what he did for the wretched I ■ 108 CEDAR CKEEK. little window of four panes to light the shanty. And uncle Zack had as much to say about the expense and difficulty of getting goods to a locality so remote, and as much sympathizing with his purchaser because of the exorbitant cost, as if he were a philanthro- pist, seeking solely the convenience of his neighbours by his sales. "That fellow's a master of soft sawder when he chooses : out did you see how he clutched the hard cash after all ? My opinion is, he don't often get paid in the circulating medium," said Arthur. '* Of that you may be sure," rejoined Sam Holt ; " currency here lies more in potash or flour, just as they have salt in Abyssinia. Society seems to be rather mixed at the * Corner.' Tender's a French Canadian, and here's an Indian." - • No glorious red man, attired in savage finely of paint and feathers ; no sculptor's ideal form, or novelist's heroic countenance : but a mild-looking person, in an old shooting jacket and red flannel shirt, with a straw hat shading his pale coppery complexion. He wield a tomahawk or march on a war trail ! Never. And where was the grim taciturnity of his forefathers ? He answered when spoken to, not in Mohawk, or Cherokee, or Delaware, but in nasal Yankeefied English ; nay, he seemed weakly garrulous. " There's another preconceived idea knocked on the head," said Arthur. " My glorious ideal Indian I you are fallen, never to rise." .i-'» .c ■*■■ .'* ■ 1 ' CHAPTER XV. ANDY TREES A "BASTE." >'k ;!:* Door and window were fitted into the holes cut in the front wall of the shanty, and no carpenter's 'prentice would have owned to such clumsy joinery ; but Arthur was flushed with success, because the door could positively shut, and the window could open. He even projected tables and chairs in his ambitious imagination, en, suite witli the bedstead of ironwood poles and platted basswork bark, which ft ANDY TREES A BASTE. 100 lie had already improvised ; and which couch of honour would have been awarded by common consent to Mr Holt, had he not adhered to the hemlock brush with all the affection of an amateur. The great matter on the minds of our settlers now, was the underbnishing. They might calculate on the whole month of November for their work — the beautiful dreamy November of Ca- iiada, as different from its foggy and muddy namesake in Britain as well may be. Measuring off thirty acres as next summer's fallow, by blazing the trees in a line around, took up the best part of a day ; and it necessitated also a more thorough examination of Robert's domains. Such giant trees ! One monarch pine must be nigh a hundred feet from root to crest. The great preponderance of maple showed that the national leaf symbol of Canada had been suitably selected. '' ^:'---'^:^:^ -■->-:.;-' p^^ •;t^-.-^..-;\--M mi^nr ..^.n.-. " And is there no means," quoth Robei*t, who had been mentally gauging his small axe with the infinitude of forest — " is there no means of getting rid of wood without chopping it down?" '' " Well, yes, some slower means still ; the trees may be * girdled ;' that is, a ring of bark cut from the trunk nearthe base, whicli causes death in so far that no foliage appears next spring : consequently the tall melancholy skeleton will preside over your crops without injury." '• Can't say I admire that plan." . "You are fastidious. Perhaps you would like ^niggere' better?'* " I thought they were contraband in any but slave states." " Oh, these are * niggers' inanimate — pieces of wood laid round the trunk, and set on fire where they touch it ; of course the tree is l)urned through in process of time. These two expedients might he useful in subsidiary aids ; but you perceive your grand reliance must be on the axe." " There is no royal road to felling, any more than to learning. And when may I hope to get rid of the stumps ?" " I don't think the pine stumps ever decay ; but the hardwood, 110 CEDAR CREEK. or those of deciduous trees, may be hitched up by oxen and a crow- bar after six or seven years ; or you might bum them down." **Hulloa! what's that?" The exclamation was from Kobert, following a much louder ex- clamation from Andy in advance. " He has met mth some wild animal," concluded Mr. Holt. He was certainly cutting the strangest capers, and flourishing his hand as if the fingers were burned, howling the while between rage and terror. *' You disgustin' little varmint ! you dirty vagabone, to stick all thim things in me hand, an* me only goin' to lay a hold on ye gentle-like, to see what sort of an outlandish baste ye was ! Look, Masther Bobert, what he did to me with a slap of his tail !" Callaghan's fingers radiated handsomely with porcupine's quills, some inches long, stuck in pretty strongly and deeply ; and the animal himself, quite ready for further offensive warfare, crouched in the fork of a small maple, just out of reach. " Ah, then, come down here, you unnatural baste, an' may be I won't strip off your purty feathers," exclaimed Andy with unction. ** Cut down the tree," suggested Arthur. But the porcupine, being more aufait with the ways of the woods than these new comers, got away among the branches into a thicket too dense for pursuit. '. i ,; jj,, " They're as sharp as soords," soliloquized the sufferer, as he picked out the quills from his hand and wrist in rather gingerly fashion, and stanched the blood that followed. " Masther Robert, avourneen, is he a four-footed baste or a fowl ? for he has some of the signs of both on him. Wisha, good luck to the poor ould eounthry, where all our animals is dacent and respectable, since St. Patrick gev the huntin to all the varmint." ** A thrashing from a porcupine's tail would be no joke," observed Arthur. "I've know^ dogs killed by it," said Mr. Holt. "The quills ' iJftv ANDY TREES A BASTE. Ill work into all parts of their bodies, and the barbed points make extraction very difficult." . > . •- . *' I believe the Indians use these in some sort of embroidery.'* Robert held in his hand a bunch of the quills such as had wounded Andy's fingers. "I've seen penholders of them, when I little thought I should handle the unsophisticated originals out here." Before this time he had learned how enervating were reminis- cences of home ; he resolutely put away the remembrance from liini now, and walked on to chop the blaze on the next tree. Breast-high the mark was cut, and at one blaze another could always be discerned ahead. . * "I've a regard for the beeches and elms," quoth he, as he hacked at a hickory stem. They are home trees ; but the shrubs have chiefly foreign faces, so I can chop them down without com- punction.'' ; '- -U'. .: r.,' ; .• . :• , . , r - n,\ , .., .,, All such sentimental distinctions will evaporate when you get ihto the spirit of your work," said his friend Sam. " Your under- brushing rule does not spare anything less than six inches in dia- meter ; all must be cut close to the ground, and piled in heaps for the burning." " A tolerable job to clear such a thicket as this ! What a net- work of roots must interlace every foot of soil !" " Kather, I should say. But the first crop will amply repay your pains, even though your wheat and Indian com struggle into ex- istence through stumps and interlacing roots. Then there's the potash — thirty dollars a barrel for second quality : less than two und a hr^^ acres of hardwood timber will produce a barrel." * " I don't quite understand." , - "Next summer, after your logging bee, you'll know what I mean. This creek is as if 'twas made on purpose for an ashery." ^^^^4 " By the way, here's my site for a town plot ;" as they came to a fine natural cascade over a granite barrier, after which plunge 112 CEDAR CREEK. the stream hunied down the slope towards the beaver meadow. ** Water power for half a dozen mills going to waste there, Holt." " Let's give it a name !" sang out Arthur — " this our city of magnificent intentions." " I hope you won't call it Dublin on the Liifey," said Mr. Holt. " How I hate those imported names — sinking our nationality in u ludicrous parody on English topography — such as London on the Tliames, Windsor, Whitby, Woodstock ; while the language that furnished * Toronto,' ' Quebec,' ' Ottawa,' lies still unexplored as a mine of musical nomenclature." i » i^v " In default of an Indian name," said Eobert, " let us call our future settlement after the existing fact — Cedar Creek." ; ; " And posterity can alter it, if it chooses," rejoined Arthur. *' All right. Now I'll cut down this birch where the post-office is to stand hereafter ;" and a few sturdy blows of his axe prostrated tho young tree. " When I'm writing to Linda, I shall date from Cedar Creek, which will give her an exalted idea of our location : at the same time she'll be convinced it is situated on the seashore, if I forget to say that in Canada every stream is a * creek.' " " Our people have an absurd partiality for what they imagine * handsome names,' " said Mr. Holt. " Not satisfied with giving their children the most far-fetched they can discover — for in- stance, we have a maid Armenia, at Maple Grove, and I coulc not resist designating her brother as Ararat, by way of localizing their relationship — but also the young settlements of the country have often the most bombastic names. In the backwoods, one time, I found a party of honest settlers in a tavern over an old romance, seai-ching for some sufficiently high-sounding title to confer on their cluster of cabins." ^ u. " I was amused to find that Jack Bunting's eldest son is called Nimrod, familiaiized to * Nim,' " said Robert. " I never saw a more remarkable likeness to a parent, in body and mind, than that youtU r ANDY TREES A UASTE. 113 exhibits : every tiit't of ragged beard and every twinkle of the knowing little eyes are to matcli." Nearing the shanty they heard a sound as of one making merry, and espied in the window the glow of a glorious fire. Within, Pefer Logan was making himself at home, cooking his dinner, while he trilled a Yankee ditty at the top of his powerful voice. No manner of apology for having opened their cellar, and made free with tlieir barrel of pork, did he seem to think necessary ; but when his meal was finished, he inquired abruptly why they hadn't built their chimney of " cats ?" " For I reckon this stick chimney will blaze up some night," added he. :• •. •: Koberc hearkened at that startling intimation. " Mine is of cats," said Mr. Logan. " Cats is clay," he conti- nued sententiously, " kinder like straw an' clay mixed up. I guess I'll stay an* help you to fix one to-mon*ow, if you've a mind to." With rugged but real kindness, he took a day from his hunting excursion for the purpose. The framework of the new chimney was of four upright poles, set in one corner of tlie shanty, und laced across by nmgs of wood, round which the clay was well kneaded, and plastered inside. An opening three feet high was left for the fir(>place ht front. Peter promised that by and by the clay would burn hard and red, like tilework. " I wonder you have not built yourself a handsome house, before now," said Mr. Wynn, " instead of that handsome barn. W hy you live in a shanty, while your com is in a frame building, puzzles me. " Ay," assented the settler, " but the frame barn is paving tue vrsTy for the frame house, I calculate : Benny '11 have both ; and for the present I'd sooner have my crops comfortable than myself;" a persuasion which Kobert afterwards found to be rooted in common sense, for the Canadian climate pennits not of stacks or ricks wintering in the open air. After his usual unmannerly faslxion, Mr. Logan bade no farewell. 114 CEDAK CREEK. but shouldered his gun at some hour prior to daybreak, and, knapsack on back, left the sleeping camp by the light of a young moon. CHAPTER XVI. r LOST IN THE WOODS. One day it happened that about noon, while Arthur was " brushing " at a short distance from the shanty, he noticed a pack of grouse among the underwood within shot. Dropping his axe, he ran home for the gun, which stood loaded in one corner. It was not altogether the sportsman's organ of destructiveness (for he had never forgotten little Jay's lesson on that head), but probably a growing dislike to the constant diet of pork that urged him to an imrelenting pursuit. Cautiously he crept through the thickets, having wafted an unavailing sigh for the pointer he had left at Dunore, his companion over many a fallow and stubble field, who would greatly have simplified this business. Unconsciously he crossed the blazed side-line of the lot into the dense cover beyond, tantalized by glimpses of game, which never came near enough for good aim. " I must regularly stalk them," thought Arthur. Noiselessly creeping on, he was suddenly brought to by an unexpected sight. The head and horns of a noble buck were for a moment visible through the thicket. Arthur's heart throbbed in his ears as he stood perfectly motionless. Grouse were utterly forgotten in the vision of venison. With every sense concentrated in his eyes, he watched the brush which screened the browsing deer. By a slight crackling of twigs presently, he was made aware that the animal was moving forward; he crept in the same direction. The leaves had been damped by a shower two hours before, and the cloudy day permitted them to retain moisture, or their crispness might have betrayed his tread. LOST IN THE WOODS. 115 Ha I a dried stick on which he inadvertently set his foot snapped across. The splendid shy eyes of the deer looked round in alarm us he bounded away. A shot rang through the forest after him, waking such a clamour of jays and crows and woodpeckers, that Arthur was quite provoked with them, they seemed exulting over liis failure. Pushing aside the dried timber which had caused this mischance, he pressed on the track of the deer impetuously. He could not believe that his shot had missed altogether, though the white tail had been erected so defiantly ; which " showing of the wliite feather," as the Canadian sportsman calls it, is a sign that the animal is unwounded. - But four feet had much the advantage of two in the chase. One other glimpse of the flying deer, as he came out on the brow of a ridge, was all that Arthur was favoured with. Some partridge got up, and this time he was more successful ; he picked up a bird, and turned homewards. : * • - .?r i ;::. ; ; r. i i > = .: Homewards I After walking a hundred yards or so he paused. Had he indeed gone back on his own track ? for he had never seen this clump of pines before. He could not have passed it previously without notice of its sombre shade and massive boles. He would return a little distance, and look for the path his passage must have made in brushing through the thickets. Brought to a stand again. This time by a small creek gurgling deeply beneath matted shrubs. He had gone wrong — must have diverged from his old course. More carefully than before, he retraced his way to the pine-clump, giiided by the unmistakeable black plumage of the tree tops. There he stood to think what he should do. ' ' The sky was quite obscured : it had been so all the morning. Xo guidance was to be hoped for from the position of the sun. He had heard something of the moss on the trees growing chiefly at the north side ; but on examination these pines seemed equally mOBsed everywhere. What nonsense ! surely he must be close to hi» ■•I r IIG CEDAR CREEK. own path. He would walk in everj' direction till Le crossed the track. ' ■'■' ' -' "' •" ■* ■'• ''•■'' '-•■•■•'-■ ^-' ■ ■••■■'- - Boldly striking out again, and looking closely for footmarks on the soft ground, he went along some distance; hero and there turned out of liis straight course by a thicket too dense for pene- tration, till before him rose pine- tops again. Could it be ? The same pines he had left ! Ho covered his eyes in bewilderment. Having stood on the spot for several minutes previously, he could not be mistaken. Yet he thought he could have been sure that he was proceeding in a direction diametrically opposite for the last quarter of an hour, while he must have been going round in a circle. Now, indeed, he felt that he was lost in the woods. - ;• : ; Poor Arthur's mind was a sort of blank for some minutes. All the trees seemed alike — his memory seemed obliterated. "What horrid bewilderment had possession of his faculties? Shutting him in, as by the walls of a living tomb, the great fro\vning forest stood on all sides. A mariner on a plank in mid-ocean could not have felt more hopeless and helpless. . > ■ .^ .i. >>:; ,..,.. Bousing himself with a shake from the numb chill sensation which had begun to paralyze exertion, he thought that, i( he could reach the little creek before mentioned, he might pursue his com*se, as it probably fell into their own lake at the foot of the Cedars. Keeping the pine-tops in a right line behind him, he succeeded in striking the creek, and discovering which way it flowed. After pusliing his way some hours along a path of innumerable difficnltiea. he found himself, in the waninsr liffht. at the edge of a cypress swamp. . »«,, Almost man though he was, he could have sat down and cried. Blackest night seemed to nestle under those matted boughs, and the sullen gleams of stagnant water — ^the plash of a frog jumphig in— the wading birds that stalked about — ^told him what to expect if he went further. At the same instant a gleam of copper sunset I/).ST IN THE WOODS. 117 struck across tlio lieavens on the tops of the evergreens, and tho west wjis not in tho direction that the wanderer had imagined ; ho now easily calculated that he had all this time been walking from liome instead of towards it. Strange to say, a ray of hope was brought upon that sunbeam, even coupled with the conviction that he had been hitherto so wofully astray. To-morrow might be bright (and to all the wanderers in this world tho anchor is to-morrow) ; he would be able to guide his course by the sun, and would come all right. He resolved to spend the night in a tree near his fire for fear of wild beasts, and selected a fine branching cedar for his dormitory. Laying his gun securely in one of the forks, and coiling himself up as snugly as possible, where four boughs radiated from the trunk, about twenty feet from the ground, he settled himself to sleep as ill an arm-chair, with the great hushing silence of the forest around him. Unusual as his circumstances were, he was soon wrapt iu a dreamless slumber. . <.< r. j , . ..; / ., u • Dull and slow dawned the November morning among the trees : broad daylight on their tops, when but a twilight reached the earth, sixty or eighty feet below\ Arthur found himself rather stiff and chill after his unwonted night's lodging ; he tried to gather up the brands of the evening's fire, which had sunk hours before into grey ashes, that he might at least warm himself before proceeding further. Simultaneously with its kindling appeared the sun — oh, welcome sight ! and shot a golden arrow aslant a line of trees. Then was revealed to Arthur the mossy secret of wood-craft, that the north side bears a covering withheld from the south ; for he per- ceived that, viewed in the aggregate, the partial greenery on the various barks was very distinct. Examining individual trunks would not show this ; but looking at a mass, the fact was evident. Now he knew the points of the compass ; but of what practical avail was his knowledge ? Whether he had wandered from the fihanty to the north, south, east, or west, was only conjecture. How 118 CEDAR CREEK. could that creek have led him astray ? He must have crosBod the rising ground separating two water-sheds — that sloping towards liis own lake and towards some other. There flowed the little stream noiselessly, sucked into tho swampy cypress grove : of course it got out somewhere at the other side ; but as to following it any further into the dismal tangled recesses, with only a chance of emergence in a right direction, he felt disinclined to try. • No breakfast for him but a drink of water ; though with cami- voroas eyes he saw the pretty speckled trout glide through the brown pool where he dipped his hand ; and he crossed the creek over a fallen tree, ascending to the eastward. He could not be insensible to the beauty of nature this morning — to the majesty of the mighty forest, standing in still solemnity over the face of the earth. Magnificent repose ! The world seemed not yet wakened ; the air was motionless as crystal ; the infinitely coloured foliage clung to maples and aspens — ^tattered relics of the royal raiment of summer. The olden awe overshadowed Arthur's heart; his Creator's presence permeated these sublime w'orks of Deity. Alone in the untrodden woods, his soul recognised its God ; and a certain degree of freedom from anxiety was the result. Personal effort was not his sole dependence, since he had felt that God was present, and powerful. ' ■• '■'■'^- ';-''■ -■ '■'■■'' ^•''^"- ''■•■.;' •'' '■» ' '}> r.^ >;J '.«,'' irn.; '.:,. Still he kept on to the south-east, hoping at last to strike some of the inhabited townships ; and the unvarying solidity of forest was well nigh disheartening him, when he saw, after several miles walking, the distinctly defined imprint of a man's foot on some clayey soil near a clump of chestnut trees. Yes, there could be no mistake : some person had passed not long since ; and though the tracks led away considerably from the south-easterly direction he had hitherto kept, he turned, without hesitation to follow them, and proceeded as rapidly as possible, in hope of overtaking the solitary pedestrian, whoever he might be. He shouted aloud, he sang some staves of various familiar old songs ; but no response from LOST IN THE WOODS. 111> other human voice came, anxiously as he listened for such echo, jiiit the footmarks were before his eyes as tangible evidence ; ho had got very sharp by this time at detecting the pressure of a heel on the dead leaves, or the displacement of a plant by quick steps. The tracks must lead to something. Certainly; they led to a creek. Impossible! It cannot bo that he has followed his own foot- prints of yesterday I Planting his boot firmly on the bank beside^ the other mark, he compared the twain. A glance was enough : the impressions were identical. The bewildered feeling of one in a labyrinth recurred. He saw nothing better for it than to return to the point whence he had diverged to follow the tracks. He now remembered having made this detour the previous day, to avoid cutting his way through ft dense underwood on the bank of the stream. - Nigh an hour had been lost by this delusive retracing of foot- marks. He thought that if he climbed the highest tree he could find, he would be able to get a bird's eye view of the country round. Oh that he might behold some islet of clearing amid the ocean of woods ! ' f ' ' ' *' To reach the branches of any of the largest trees was the diffi- culty ; for the smooth shaft of a massive marble pillar would be as easily climbed as the trunk of some arboreal giants here, rising fifty feet clear of boughs. However, by swinging from the smaller trees, he accomplished his object, and saw beneath him on all sides the vast continuity of forest. Desert could not be lonelier nor more monotonous. No glim* mer even of distant lake on the horizon ; no brown spots of clear- ing ; no variety, save the autumn coat of many colours, contrasted with sombre patches of pine. Stay — ^was not that a faint haze of smoke yonder ? a light bluish mist floating over a particular spot, hardly moving in the stiU air. Arthur carefully noted the direc- tion, and came down from his observatory on the run. He was con- 1 1 120 CEDAR CREEK. fident there iiiust be a trapper's fire, or a camp, or some other traces of humanity where that thin haze hung. He could not be baulked this time. Hope, which is verily a beauteous hydra in the young- breast, revived again in strength. If he only had somewhat to eat, he wouldn't mind Ihe long tramp before him. Peechmast rather increased than appeased his hunger ; and nothing came in view that could be shot. lie had not walked far, when a sharp wild cry, as of some small animal in pain, struck his ear. Pushing away the brush at the left, he saw the caus3 — a little dark furry croature hanging to a sapling, as it seemed ; and at his appearance the struggles to escape wei'e redoubled, and the weakly cries of fear became more piteous. Arthur perceived that to the top of the sapling was fastened a steel snaptrap, clasping a forepaw in its cruel teeth, and t^at each convulsive effort to get free only set the animal dangling in the air, as a trout is played from a rod. Hopelessly snared, indeed, was the poor marten ; he had not even the resource of parting with his paw, which, had he had any " purchase " to strive against, would j)robably have been his clioice. By what blandishments of bait he had ever been seduced into his present melancholy position was out of Arthur's power to :"magine. But now aii least it was beyond all doubt tnat men were near. Kaising his eyes from inspection of the marten-trap, he saw on a tree close by a freshly-cut blaze. Some rods further on he could see another. Now a question arose, which way should he follow thf line V — one end was probably in pathless forest. He concluded to take that direction wliich suited the smoke he had seen. He wondered what blazed line this was — whether marking the side lots of a co.icession, or a hunter's private road through the woods. Presently, at a little distance, the sight of ^a man's figure stooping almost made his lioart leap into his mouth. How lonely he had been, how almost desperate at times, he had not fully known till this his deliverance. Oh, tliat blessed human form ! be he the RACK TO CEDAR CREEK. 121 rudest trapper or Indian, Arthur could have embraced him. Much more when, the face being lifted from examining the trap, and fix- ing its eyes with a very astonished stare on the approaching figure, Arthur recognised the shrewd features of Peter Logan, H'l' H^iif ^*''n CHAPTER XVII. BACK TO CEDAR CREEK. ..;i:r ¥'= '. I : -4^'i ■W-i ■.■.h J*V .'■'''•'. V-.'.f nii*;^ " I DECLAR, if you hain't *most skeered me V* was Peter's exclama- tion. " For sartin I never seed a ghost, but it looked like enough this time. Now, do tell what brought you so far from hum ? Thir- teen mile, if it's a rod. You ain't lookin' partic'ler sprj^, anyhow. Now, Arthur, doen't, poor lad, doen't." For he could not speak during a minute or two ; his arm pressed heavily on the backwoodsman's sturdy shoulder, in the effort to steady tl *' strong trembling that shook him from head to foot like a spasm of ague. " Lost in the bush, you war ? Well, that ain't agreeable no-how exj>/,Jy ;" and Peter betook himself to a fumbling in his capacious pocket for a tin flask, containing some reviving fluid. " Here, take a pull — this'll fix you all right. Warn't it wonderful that I went my road of traps when I did, instead of early this momin*. There's a providence in that, for sjirtin." Deep in Arthur's heart, he acknowledged the same truth gi'ate- My. " You've got a plaguy touch of ague, likely," added Peter con- siderately, willing to shift the responsibility of that trembling from the mind to the body ; " campin' out is chill enough these nights. 1 han't much furder to go to the end of my blaze, and then I'll be back with you. So will you wait or come along?" Arthur had too lately found human company, to be willing to re- linquish it even with certainty of its return ; he dreaded nothing 122 CEDAR CREEK. 80 much as the same solitude whence he had just emerged ; there- fore he followed Peter, who over his shoulder carried a hag contain- ing various bodies of minks, fishers, and other furry animals, snared in his traps, and subsequently knocked on the head by his touj,'li service-rod. That night Arthur found comfortable shelter in Peter's hut, and was initiated into many mysteries of a trapper's life, by him and his haK-Indian assistant. Next morning they guided him as far as a surveyor's post, on which was legibly written the names of four townships, which was the signal for the separation of the party. Arthur turned his face towards civilization, along a blazed bound- ary line. The others plunged deeper into the woods, walking in the unsociable Indian file. ♦ The blazed line went on faii-ly enough for some miles ; over liillocks of hardwood, and across marshes of dank evergreens, when logs had been laid lengthwise for dry footing. At last Arthur thought he must be drawing near to a clearing ; for light appeareJ through the dense veil of trees before hin^ as if some extensive break to the vast continuity of forest occurred beyond. Soon he stood on its verge. Ay, surely a clearing ; but no human hands had been at work. Hundreds of huge trees lay strewn about, as if they had been wrenched off their stumps by some irresistible power seizing the branched heads and hurling theifi to the earth. Tom up by thi massy roots, or twisted round as you would try to break an obstinately tough withe, for many score of acres the wildest con- fusion of prostrate maples and elms and pines, heaped upon one another, locked in death-embraces, quite obliterated any track, and blocked across the country. Arthur had come upon what Frendi Canadians call a " renvers^," effected by some partial v/hirlwind during the preceding summer. Such tornadoes often crash a road of destruction through the bush for nules ; a path narrow in comparison with its length, and remind The tn right tl To c There v trunks : slow sa| large ki unwillin While a sound joy I— tl When n< came fro an attem and, mak he reach with Lam Theyi back waU the ends, from the glances o that tlie 8 simply los frankness, of bush wj against all ^og close I Arthur surreyor's left the SOI other trac BACK TO CEDAR CREEK. 125 reminding the traveller of the explosive fury of some vast projectile. The track of one has been observable for more than forty miles right through the heart of uninhabited forest. To cross the stupendous barrier seemed impossible to Arthur. There was a tangled chaos of interlaced and withering boughs and trunks : such a chevaux de frise might stop a regiment until some slow sap cut a path through ; and he was without axe, or even a large knife. He must work his way round ; and yet he was most unwilling to, part company with the blaze. While hesitating, and rather ruefully contemplating the obstacle, a sound at a considerable distance struck his ear. It was — oh, joy ! — the blows of an axe. Instantly he went in the direction. When near enough to be heard, he shouted. An answering hail came from tlie other side of the windfall ; but presently he saw that an attempt had been made to log up the fallen timber in heaps, and, making his way through the blackened stumps of extinct fires, he reached the spot where two rough-looking men were at work with handspikes and axes. They had built a little hut, whence a faint smoke curled, the back wall of piled logs still wearing dead branches and foliage at the ends. A reddish cur, as lawless-looking as his masters, rushed from the doorway to snap at Arthur's heels. The suspicious glances of the foresters bore hardly more welcome, till they heard that the stranger belonged to the settlers on Cedar Pond, and had simply lost his way. They informed him in return, with exceeding frankness, that they were squattei-s, taking possession of this strip of bush without anybody's leave, and determined to hold their own agamst all comers. An apparently well-used rifle lying against a log close by gave this speech considerable emphasis. Arthur wanted nothing more from them than to be put on the surveyor's line again ; and, when directed to the blaze, speedily left tho sound of their axes far behind. In half an hour he reached other traces of mankind— a regularly chopped road, where tho mmmm 126 CEDAR CREEK. trees had been felled for the proper width, and only here and iheits an obstinate trunk had come down wrongly, and lay right across, to be climbed over or crept under according to the wayfarer's taste. In marshy spots he was treated to strips of corduroy ; for the settled parts of the country were near. « Holloa I Uncle Zack, is that you ?" The person addressed stood in a snake-fenced field, superintend- ing a couple of labourers. He turned round at the hail, and stared as if he did not believe his senses. , " Wal, I guess I warn*t never skeered in my life before. They're all out lookin' for you; Nim, an* the whole * Comer' bodily. Your brother's distracted ravin' mad this two days huntin' the bush ; but I told him you'd be sartin sure to turn up somehow. Now, whar are you runnin' so fast ? there ain't nobody to hum, an' we 'greed to fire the rifles as a signal whoever fust got tidins of you. Three shots arter another," as young Wynn fired in the air. " Come, quick as wink, they'll be listenin*.'* "Eobert will know the report," observed Arthur, with a smile .to think of his pleasm-e in the recognition, " if he's near enough." " We'll make tracks for the * Comer,' I guess," said uncle Zack with alacrity; "that war the meetin'-place, an' you must be powerful hungry. I'd ha' been to sarch for you to-day, only them Irish fellers at the clearin' wanted lookin' arter precious bad." (" Lucky I got in them kegs o' whisky ; he'll have to stand treat for the neighbours," thought 'cute uncle Zack, in a sort of mental parenthesis). " But now do tell ! you must ha' gone a terrible big round, I guess. They took the Indjin out to foUer your trail ; them savages has noses an' eyes like hounds. We'll fire my rifle from the store ; it's bigger than yourn." His abstraction of mind during Arthur's narrative was owing to a judicio"** maturing of certain plans for exacting the greatest fimount of profit from the occurrence ; but he contrived to interlard his listening with such appropriate interjections as, " Now do tell 1 BACK TO CEDAR CREEK. 127 How you talk I Wal, I kinder like to know !" mentally watering his whisky the while. ■ Mrs. Zack, also scenting the prey afar off, was polite as that lady could be to good customers only. Arthur's impatience for the arrival of the parties from the bush hardly permitted him to do wore than taste the meal she provided. Within doors he could not stay, though weary enough to want rest. The few log-cabins of the " Corner " looked more drowsily quiet than usual ; the saw- mill was silent. Zack was turning over some soiled and scribbled ledgers on his counter. Suddenly a shot in the woods quite near : a detachment of the searchers had arrived. That the rejoicing would take its usual form, an emptying of his 8[)irit-kegs, Zack Bunting had never doubted. But the second word to the bargain, Mr. Wynn's promise to stand treat, had not been given, though it was a mere matter of form, Zack thought. Robert spoke to the neighbours, and thanked them collectively for tlieir exertions in a most cordial manner on behalf of himself and his brother, and was turning to go home, when the Yankee store- keeper touched his elbow. " 'Tain't the usual doins to let 'em away dry," suggested he, with a meaning smile. " 'Spose you stand treat now ; 'twill fix the business handsome." That keen snaky eye of his could easily read the momentary struggle in Robert's mind between the desire not to appear singular andunlriendly,andthe dislike to encouraging that whisky drinking vhich is the bane of working men everywhere, but most especially in the colonies. Sam Holt watched for his decision. Perhaps the knowledge of what that calm strong nature by his side would do helped to confirm Robert's wavering into bold action. " Certainly not," he said loudly, that all might hear. ** I'll not I give any whisky on any account. It ruins nine-tenths of the people. I'm quite willing to reward those who have kindly given hime and trouble to help me, but it shall not be in that way." ^p^^ HOT! 128 ' CEDAR CREEK. Zack's smoke-dried complexion became whitewashed with dis- ftppointment. A day or two afterwards, Zack,*s son, Nimrod, made his appear- ance at the Wynns' shanty. *' I say, but you're a prime chap arter the rise you took out of the ole coon," was his first remark. " Uncle Zack was as sartin as I stand of five gallons gone, anyhow ; and 'twar a rael balk to put him an' them off with an apology. I guess you won't mind their sayin' it's the truth of a shabby dodge, though." " Not a bit," replied Kobert ; " I expected something of the kind. I didn't imagine I'd please anybody but my own con- science." "* Conscience !'" reiterated Nim, with a sneer. "That stock hain't a long life in the bush, I guess. A storekeeper hain't no business on it nohow — ^'twould starve him out ; so uncle Zack don't keep it." And his unpleasant little eyes twinkled again at the idea of such unwonted connection as his father and a conscience. " That Indjin war hoppin' mad, I can tell you ; for they be the greatest brutes at gettin' drunk in the univarsal world. They'll do 'most anythin' for whisky." " The greater the cruelty of giving it to them," said Eobert. " What are you doin' ?" asked Nimrod, after a moment's survey of the other's work. " Shingling," was the reply. " Learning to make shingles." "An* you call them shingles?" kicking aside, with a gesture of contempt, the uneven slices of pinewood which had fallen from Jblobert's tool. " You hain't dressed the sapwood off them blocks, and the grain eats into one another besides. True for uncle Zack that gentry from the old country warn't never bom to be handlin' axes an' frows. It don't come kinder nateral. They shouldn't be no thicker than four to an inch to be rael handsome shingles," added he, " such as sell for seven-an'-sixpence a thousand." Nimrod's pertinacious supervision could not be got rid of until BACK TO CEDAR CREEK. 129 dinner ; not even though Mr. Wynn asked him his errand in no conciliatory tone. " Thought rd kinder like to see how ye were gettin' on," was llie answer. "New settlers is so precious awkurd. Thought I'd loai '.bout a while, an' see. It's sorter amusin*." He was so ignorantly unconscious of doing anything offensive by such gratification of his curiosity, that Bobert hardly knew whether to laugh or be angry. Nimrod's thick-skinned sensibilities would have cared little for either. He lounged about, whittling sticks, chewing tobacco, and asking questions, until Andy's stentorian call resounded through the woods near. " I guessed I'd dine with you to-day," said Nim, marching on before Iiis host. With equal coolness, as soon as the dish of trout appeared, he transfixed the largest with his caseknife. " Not so fast, my friend," interrupted Mr. Holt, bringing back the captive. " We divide fair here, though it's not Yankee law, I'm aware." "Ah, you warn't born yesterday," rejoined Nim, showing his yellow teeth, which seemed individually made and set after the pattern df his father's. " You're a smart man, I guess — raised in Amerikay, an' no mistake." "But come, Andy," said Arthur, "teU us where you caught these fine trout ? You've altogether made a brilliant effort to-day in the purveying line : the cakes are particularly good." "They're what them French fellers call *galettes,"' observed Nimrod, biting one. " Flour an' water, baked in the ashes. Turn- pike bread is better— what the ole gall makes to hum." Be it remarked that this periphrasis indicated his mother; and that the bread he alluded to is made with a species of leaven. " So ye ate turnpikes too," remarked Andy, obliquely glancing at the speaker. " The English language isn't much help to a man in this coimthry, where everythin' manes somethin' else. Well, 130 CEDAR CHEEK. Misther Arthur, about the trout ; you remimber I went down to the * Comer ' this mornin'. Now it's been on my mind some days back, that y©*d want a few shirts washed." **But what that has to do with the trout- '* intemipted Arthur, laughing. ♦* Whisht awhile, an' you'll hear. I didn't know how to set about it, no more than the child of a month old ; for there's an art in it, of coorse, like in everythin' else ; an' one time I thried to whiten a shirt ov me own— beggin' yer honours' pardon for mintionin' the article — it kem out of the pot blacker than it wint in. So sez I to meself, * I'll look out for the clanest house, an I'll ax the good woman to tache me how to wash a thing ; an' I walks along from the store to a nate little cabin back from the river, that had flowers growin' in the front ; an' sure enough, the Hoor was as clane as a dhrawin' room, an' a dacent tidy little woman kneadin' a cake on the table. * Ma'am,' sez I, * I'm obliged to turn washerwoman, an' I don't know how ;' but she only cuitsied, and said somethin' in a furrin tongue." " A French Canadian, I suppose," said Mr. Wynn. ** Jackey Dubois lives in the log-hut with the flowers," observed Nim, who was whittling again by way of dessert. " May be so ; but at all events she was as like as two peas to the girl whose weddin' I was at since I came ashore. * Ma'am,' sez I, * I want to lam to be a washerwoman :* and wid that I took off my neckerchief an' rubbed it, to show what I meant, by the rule of thumb. * Ah, to T^sh,' sez she, smilin' like a leathercoat potato. So, afther that, she took my handkercher and washed it foment me out ; an' I'd watched before how she med the cakes, an* cleared a little space by the fire to bake 'em, an* covered them up wid hot ashes." ** Not a word about the trout," said Arthur. •* How can I tell everything intirely all at wanst ?" replied the irishman, with an injured tone. '' Sure I was comin' to that. I BACK TO CEDAB CKEEK. 131 observed her lookin' partikler admirin' at the handkercher, which was a handsome yellow spot, so I up an' axed her to take a present of it, an' I settled it like an apron in front, to show how iligant 'twould look ; an' she was mighty plased, an' curtsied ever so often, an' Jackey himself gev me the trout out of a big basket he brought in. The river's fairly alive \vid 'em, I'm tould : an' they risin' to a brown-bodied fly, Misther Arthur." ** We'll have a look at them some spare day, Andy." " But what tuk my fancy intirely, was the iligant plan of bilin' 'em she had. There war round stones warmin'^ in the fire, an' she dropped 'em into a pot of water till it was scalding hot ; then in wid the fish, addin' more stones to keep it singin'. It's an Indjin fashion, Jackey told me ; for they haven't nothin' to cook in but wooden pails ; but I thried it wid them trout yer atin', an' it an- swered beautiful." ' Andy bid fair to be no mean cJtef-de-cumne, if his experiments always resulted so favourably as in the present instance. < ' " An' the whole of it is, Misther Eobert, that this Canada is a coun- thry where tte very best of atin' and dhrinkin' is to be had for the throuble of pickin' it up. Don't I see the poorest cabins wid plenty of bacon hangin' to the rafthers, an' the trees is full of birds that nobody can summons you for catchin', and the sthrames is walkin' wid fish ; I'm tould there's sugar to be had by bilin' the juice of a bush ; an' if you scratch the ground, it'll give you bushels of pra- ties an' whate for the axin'. I wish I had alLthe neighbours out here, that's a fact ; for it's a grand poor man's counthry, an' there's too many of us at home, Misther Bobert ; an' (as if this were the climax of wonders) I never see a beggar since I left the Cove o' Cork I" "All true, Andy, quite true," said his master, with a little sigk " Hard work will get a man anything here." " I must be goin*," said Nimrod, raising his lank figure on its big feet. ** But I guess that be for you ;" and he tossed to Eobert 4 182 CEDAR CREEK. a soiled piece of newspaper, ^vrapped round some square slight packet " Letters from home I Why, you unconscionable " burst forth Arthur ; « loafing about here for these three hours, and never to produce them I" But Nim had made off among the trees, grin- ning in every long tooth. Ah, those letters from home ! How sweet, yet how saddening ! Mr. Holt went off to chop alone. But first he found time to in- tercept Nimrod on the road, and rather lower his triumphant flush at successfully ** riling the Britishers," by the information that he (Mr. Holt) would write to the post-office authorities, to ask whether their agent at the " Comer " was justified in detaining letters for some hours after they might have been delivered. CHAPTER XVIII. GIANT TWO-SHOES. The calendar of the settler is apt to get rather confused, owing to the uniformity of his life and the absence of the landmarks of civilization. Where "the sound of the church-going bell" has never been heard, and there is nothing to distinguish one day from another, but the monotonous tide of time lapses on without a break, it will easily be imagined that the observance of a sabbath is much neglected, either through forgetfulness or press of labour. The ministrations of religion by no mcaiis keep pace with the necessi- ties of society in the Canadian wi). is. Here is a wide field for the spiritual toil of earnest men, among a people speaking the English language and owning English allegiance ; and unless the roots of this great growing nation be grounded in piety, we cannot hope for its orderly and healthful expansion in that " righteousness wJiich exalteth a people." Once a year or so, an itinerant Methodist preacher visited the a I ANT TWO-SHOES. 133 " Corner," and held his meeting in Zack Bunting's large room. But regular means of grace the neighbourhood had none. A result was, that few of the settlers about Cedar Creek acknowledged the sabbath rest in practice; and those who were bunest and most isolated sometimes lost the count of their week-days altogether.^ Robert Wynn thought it right to mark off Sunday very distinctly for himself and his household by a total cessation of labour, and the establishment of regular worship. Andy made no sort of objection, now that he was out of the priest's reach. Other days were laborious enough. In the underbrushing was included the cutting up all fallen timber, and piling it in heaps for the spring burnings. Gradually the dense thickets of hemlock, hickory, and balsam were being laid in windrows, and the long darkened soil saw daylight. The fine old trees, hitherto swathed deeply in masses of summer foliage, stood with bared bases before the axe, awaiting their stroke likewise. Then the latest days in November brought the snow. Steadily and silently the grey heavens covered the shivering earth with its smooth woolly coating of purest flakes. While wet Atlantic breezes moaned sorrowfully round Dunore, as if wailing over shattered for- tunes, the little log-shanty in tlie Canadian bush was deep in snow. Not so large as the butler's pantry in that old house at home, nor so well furnished as the meanest servant's apartment had been during the prosperous times, with hardly one of the accessories considered indispensable to comfort in the most ordinary British sitting room, yet the rough shanty had a pleasantness pf its own, a brightness of indoor weather, such as is often wanting where the fittings of do- mestic life are superb. Hope was in the Pandora's box to qualify all evils. , By the firelight, the settlers were this evening carrying on various occupations. Mr. Holt's seemed the most curious, and was the centre of attraction, though Robert ^as cutting shingles, and Arthur manufacturing a walnut-wood stool in primitive tripod style* 134 CEDAR CREEE. ** I tell you what," said he, leaning on the end of his plane, whence a shaving had just slowly curled away, "I never shall be able to assist at or countenance a logging-bee, for I consider it the grossest waste of valuable merchandise. The idea of voluntarily turning into smoke and ashes, the most exquisitely grained bird's- eye maple, black walnut, heart-of-oak, cherry, and birch — it's a shame for you. Holt, not to raise your voice against such wilful waste, which will be sure to make woful want some day. Why, the cabinet-makers at home would give you almost any money for a cargo of such walnut as this under my hand." " I regret it as much as you do ; but till the country has more railroads it is unavoidable, and only vexatious to think of* We certainly do burn away hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of the most expensive wood, while people in England pay enormous prices for furniture which our refuse timber could supply." " And don't you export any ornamental wood ?" asked Eobert. " I saw plenty of deals swimming down the St. Lawrence." " Yes, pine timber meets with the readiest market, and is easiest procurable. But even in that there is the most unjustifiable wasteful- ness practised. I was among the lumberers once, and f;aw the way they square the white pine. You know that every tree is of course tapering in the trunk, narrower at the top than at the base ; now, to square the log, the best timber of the lower part must be hewn av»ay, to make it of equal dimensions with the upper part. I am not above the mark when I say that millions of excellent boards are left to rot in the forest by this piece of mismanagement, and the white-pine woods are disappearing rapidly." But Arthm-'s sympathies could not be roused, for such ordinary stuff 8S deal, to the degree of resentment he felt for the wholesale destruction of cabinet-makers' woods. " If i may make so bould, sir," said Andy, edging forward, " might I ax what yer honour h makin' ? Only there areii't any giant^s in the counthry, Id think it was a pair of shoes, may be." G7\NT TWO-SHOES. 135 " You've guessed rightly," replied Mr. Holt, holding up his two colossal frames, so that they rested on edge. " Yes, Andy, a pair of shoes near six feet long I What do you think of that new Ca- nadian wonder ?" " I dunno where you'll get feet to fit 'em," said Andy, dubiously. " They're mostly as big as boats, an' much the same shape. May be they're for crossin' the wather in ?" " I intend to wear them myself, Andy," said the manufacturer, " but on dry land. You must be looking out for a pair too, if the snow continues, as is pretty certain, and you want to go down to the * Corner' before it is frozen over." " Why have you cut that hole in the middle of the board ?" asked Eobert, inspecting the gigantic wooden sole. ** To give the toes play," was the answer. " All parts of the foot must have the freest action in snow-shoes." " I remember a pair at Maple Grove," said Arthur, " made of leathern network, fastened to frames and crossbars, with the most complicated apparatus for the foot in the middle." " It is said by scientific men," said ISIi. Holt, " that if the theory of walking over soft snow were propounded, not all the mechanical knowledge of the pres(;nt day could contrive a more perfect means of meeting the difficulty, than that snow-shoe of the Ojibbeway In- dians. It spreads ihe weight equally over the wide surface : see, I've been trying, with these cords and thongs, to imitate their me- chanism in this hollow of my plank. Here's the walking thong, and the open mesh through which the toes pass, and which is pressed against by the ball of the foot, so as to draw the shoe after it. Then here's the heel-cord, a sort of sling passing round so as partially to imprison and yet lea\e free. The centre of the foot is held fast enough, you perceive." Eobert shook his head. " One thing la pretty clear," said he, " / shall never be able to walk in snow-shoe^ " " Did you think you would ever be expert at fellmg pines ?" ^^a« Mr. Holt's unanswerable answer. 136 CEDAB GREEK. CHAPTER XIX. A MEDLEY. «( We may soon expect winter," said Sam Holt, as he drew forth his gigantic snow-shoes, which had been standing up against the interior yy&U of the shanty, and now emerged into the brilliant sun- shine. " Soon expect it !" ejaculated Kobert ; " why, I should say it had very decidedly arrived already. I am sure twelve inches of snow must have fallen last afternoon and night." " It is late this year ; I've seen it deep enough for sleighing tlu second week in November ; and from this till March the ground will be hidden, generally under a blanket four fcv^t thick. You are only on the outskirts of winter as yet." " F ^ months ! I wonder it doesn't kill all vegetation." "On the contrary, it is the best thmg p'^^ssible for vegetation. Only for the warm close covering of snow, the intense and long- continued frost would penetrate the soil too deeply to be altogether thawed by the summer sun." ** I was very much struck," said Robert, " by seeing, in -^ ceme- tery near Q ^ebec, a vault fitted with stone shelves, for the recep- tion of the bodies of people who die dm-ing winter, as they cannot be properly interred till the next spring." " Yes ; Lower Canada is much colder than our section of the pro- vince. Learned men say something about the regular northward tendency of the isothermal lines from east to west ; cert: ' it is that, the fiu:ther west you go, the higher is the mean annual tem- perature, back to the Pacific, I believe. So the French Canadians have much the worst of the cold. You might have noticed flights of steps to the doors of the habitans f That was a provision against snowing time ; and another proof of the severity of the frost is^ A MEDLEY. 137 that any mason work not bedded at least three feet deep into the earth is dislodged by the April thaws. " Now what would you say to freezing up your winter stores of meat and fowls ? They're obliged to do it in. Lower Canada. Fresh mutton, pork, turkeys, geese, fcwls, and even fish, all stiff and hard as stone, are packed in boxes and stowed away in a shed till wanted. The only precaution needful is to bring out the meat into the kitchen a few days before use, that it may have time to thaw. Yet I can tell you that winter is our merriest time ; for snow, the great leveller, has made all the roads, even the most ricketty corduroy, smooth as a bowling-green ; consequently sleigh- ing and toboggin parties without end are carried on." " That's a terribly hard word," remarked Arthur. "It represents great fun, then, which isn't generally the case with hard words. A toboggin is an Indian train eau of birch-bark, turned up at one end, and perfectly level with the snow. A lady takes her seat on this, and about a foot and a half of a projection behind her is occupied by a gentleman, who is the propelling instrument for the vehicle. He tucks one leg under him, and leaves the other trailing on the snow behind, as a udder. I should have told you that, first of all, the adventurous pair must be on the top of a slope ; and when all is ready, the gentleman sets the affair in motion by a vigorous kick from l^'s rudder leg. Of com-se the V ' uil ' increases as they rush down the slope ; and imless he is a sf I '. -teersman, they may have a. grand upset or be embosomed in a V I tV. ; however, the toboggin and its freight generally glides like an arrow from the summit, and has received impetus enough to carry it a long distance over the smooth surface of the valley at foot." " How first-rate it must be !" exclaimed Arthur. " But we shall never see a human being in these back-woods ;" and over his hand- 'Tue face came an expression of ennui and weariness which be. t disliked and dreaded. " Come, Holt, I'm longing to have F 2 J'XtK ti\ hi:4 } 138 GEDAB CBEEE. a try at the snow-shoes :" and his volatile nature brightened agam immediately, at the novelty. " I'm afraid they're too long for this little clearing, among all the stumps," said the manufacturer ; " you may wear them eighteen inches shorter in the forest than on the roads or plains. At all events, I'll have to beat the path for you first ;" and having fixed his mocassined feet in the walkiDg thong and heel-cord, with his toes just over the " eye," he began to glide along, first slowly and then swiftly. Now was the advantage of the immense sole visible ; for whereas Robert and Arthur sank far above their ankles at every step in the loose dry snow, Mr. Holt, though much the heaviest of the three, was borne Oi ' " 'op buoyantly. " You see the great net. ity is," said he, returning by a circuit, "that the shoe should never press into the snow; so you must learn to drag it lightly over the surface, which requires some little practice. To render thtit easier, I've beaten the track slightly." " Holt, are those genuine Indian mocassins ?" asked Robert, as he ungirded his feet from the straps of the snow-she os. ** Well, they're such as I've worn over many a mile of Indian country," was the answer ; " and I can recommend them as the most agreeable chaussure ever invented. Chiropodists might shut shop, were mocassins to supersede the ugly and ponderous European boot, in which your foot lies as dead as if it had neither muscles nor joints. Try to cross a swamp in boots, and see how they'll make holes and stick in them, and only come up with a slush, leaving a pool behind ; but mocassined feet trip lightly over : the tanned deer-hide is elastic as a second skin, yet thick enough to ward off a cut from thorns or pebbles, while giving free play to all the muscles of the foot." " You haven't convinced me : it's but one remove from bare- footf dneiss. Like a good fellow, show me how I'm to manage these monstrous snow-shoes: I feel as queer as in my first pair of skates." A MEDLEY. 139 Mr. Holt did as required. But the best theoretical teaching about anything cannot secure a beginner from failures, and Arthur was presently brought up by several inches of snow gathered round the edges of his boards, and adding no small weight. " It wP'' work up on them," said he, (as, when a smaller boy, he had been used to blame everything but himself,) " in spite of aU I can do." " Practice makes perfect," was Sam Holt's consolatory remark. " Get the axes, Eobert, and we'll go chop a bit." " I'll stay awhile by the snow-shoes," said Arthur. The others walked away to the edge of the clearing, Mr. Holt having first drawn on a pair of the despised European boots. Never had Bobert seen such transparent calm of heaven and earth as on this glorious winter day. It weis as if the common atmosphere had been purified of all grosser particles — as if its component gases had been mixed afresh, for Canadian use only. The cold was hardly felt, though Mr. Holt was sure the thermometer must be close upon zero; but a bracing exhilaiatmg sensation strung every nerve with gladness and power. " You'll soon comprehend how delightful our winter is," said Sam Holt, noticing his companion's gradually glowing face. "It has phases of the most bewitching beauty. Just look at this white spruce, at all times one of our loveliest trees, with branches feather- ing down to the ground, and uvery one of its innumerable sea*green leaves tipped with a spikelet which might be a diamond !" They did stand before that splendid tree — ^magnificent sight ! " I wonder it escaped the lumberers when they were here ; they have generally pretty weU weeded the forests along this chain of lakes of such fine timber as this spruce. I suppose it's at least a hundred feet high : I've seen some a hundred and forty." " And you think lumberers have been chopping m these woods ? I saw no signs of them," said Eobert " I met with planks here and there, hewed off in squaring the 140 CEDAB CREEK. timber; but even without that, you know, they're always the pioneers of the settler along every stream through Canada. This lake of yours communicates with the Ottawa, through the river at the * Corner,* which is called * Clyde ' further on, and is far too tempting a channel for the lumberers to leave unused." The speaker stopped at the foot of a Balm-of-Gilead fir, on the edge of the swamp, and partially cleared away the snow, revealing a tuft of cranberries, much larger and finer than they are ever seen in England. " I noticed a bed of them here the other day. Now if you want a proof of the genial influence of the long-continued snow on vege- tation, I can tell you that these cranberries — ottakas, the French Canadians call them — go on ripening through the winter under three or four feet of snow, and are much better and juicier than in October, when they are generally harvested. That cedar swamp ought to be full of them." " I wonder can they be preserved in any way," said Eobert, crushing in his lips the pleasant bitter-sweet berry. " Linda is a wonderful hand at preserves, and when she comes " The thought seemed to energize him to the needful preparation for that coming : he immediately made a chop at a middle-aged Weymouth pine alongside, and began to cut it down. , " Well, as to preserving the cranberries," said Mr. Holt, laughing in his slight silent way, " there's none required ; they stay as fresh as when plucked for a long time. But your sister may exercise her abilities on the pailfuls of strawberries, and raspberries, and sand cherries, and wild plums, that fill the woods in summer. As to the cranberry patches, it is a curious fact that various Indian families consider themselves to have a property therein, and migrate to gather them every autumn, squaws and children and all." " It appears that my sv/amp is unclaimed, then," said Kobert, paiising in his blows. A MEDLEY. 141 " Not so with your maples," rejoined the other : " there's been a sugar camp here last spring, or I'm much mistaken." He was looking at some old scars in the trunks of a group of maples, at the back of the Weymouth pine on which Robert was operating. " Yes, they've been tapped sure enough ; but I don't see the loupes — the vats in which they leave the sap to crystallize : if it were a regular Indian * sucrerie,' we'd find those. However, I sus- pect you may be on the look-out for a visit from them in spring — au temps des sticres, as the habitans say." " And I'm not to assert my superior rights at all ?" " Well, there's certainly sugar enough for both parties during your natural lives, and the Indians will sheer off when they find the ground occupied; so I'd advise you to say nothing about it. Now, Wynn, let your pine fall on that heap of brushwood ; t'will save a lot of trouble afterwards ; if not, you'll have to drag the head thither and chop and pile the branches, which is extra work you'd as soon avoid, I dare say." After some judicious blows from the more experienced axe, the pine was good enough to fall just as required. "Now the trunk must be chopped into lengths of twelve or fourteen feet ;" and Mr. Holt gashed a mark with his axe at such distances, as well as he could guess. When it was done — " What's the rate of speed of this work ?" asked Eobert. " It seems so slow as to be almost hopeless ; the only consideration is, that one is doing it all for one's self, and — for those as dear as self," he could have added, but refrained. " About an acre in eight or nine days, according to your expert- ness," was the reply. Robert did a little ciphering in his mind immediately. Three axes, plus twenty-seven days, (minus Sun- days,) equal to about the chopping of ten acres and a fraction during the month of December. The calculation was somewhat reassuring. 142 CEDAR CREEK. **Wliat curious curves there are in tliis Canadian axe," he remarked, as he stood leaning on the handle and looking down. " It diflfers essentially from the common woodman's axe at home." ** And which the English manufacturers persisted in sending us, and could not be induced to make on precisely the model required, until we dispensed with their aid by establishing an edge-tool factory of our own in Gait, on the Grand River." " That was a declaration of independence which must have been very sensibly felt in Sheffield," remarked Robert. They worked hard till dinner, at which period they found Arthur limping about the shanty. " I practised those villanous snow-shoes for several hours, till I walked beautifully ; but see what I've got by it," he said : " a pain across the instep as if the bones would split." " Oh, just a touch of mal de raquette" observed Sam Holt, rather unsympathizingly. " I ought to have warned you not to walk too much in them at first" " And is there no cure ?" asked Arthur, somewhat sharply. " Peter Logan would scarify your foot with a gunflint, that is, if the pain were bad enough. Do you feel as if the bones were broken, and grinding together across the instep?" But Arthur could not confess to his experiences being so bad as this. Only a touch of the mal de raquette, that was alL Just a- paying for his footing in snow-shoes. CHAPTER XX. THE IGE-SLEDGE. Sam Holt had long fixed the first snow as the limit of his stay. He had built his colossal shoes in order to travel as far as Greenock on them, and there take the stage, which came once a week to that boundary of civilization and the post THE ICE-SLEDGE. 143 Two or three days of the intensest frost interveued between the fii^ snow and the Thursday on which the stage left Greenock. Cedar Pond was stricken dead — a solid gleaming sheet of stone from shore to shore. A hollow smothered gargle far below was all that remained of the life of the streams; and nightly they shrank deeper, as the tremendous winter in the air forced upon them more ice, and yet more. Notwithstanding the roaring fires kept up in the shanty chim- ney, the stinging cold of the night made itself felt through the unfinished walls. For want of boards, the necessary interior wainscoating had never been put up. The sight of the frozen pond suggested to Mr. Holt a plan for easily obtaining them. It was to construct an ice-boat, such as he had seen used by the Indians ,; to go down to the "Comer" on skates, lade the ice-boat with planks, and drive it before them back again. Arthur, who hailed with delight any variety from the continual chopping, entered into the scheme with ardour. Eobert would Lave liked it well enough, but he knew that two person? were quite sufficient for the business; he rather connived at the younger brother*s holidays ; he must abide by the axe. One board, about nine feet long, remained from Arthur's at- tempts at " slabbing.'* This Mr. Holt spHt again with wedges, so as to reduce it considerably in thickness, and cut away from the breadth till it was only about twenty inches wide. The stoutest rope in the shanty stores was fastened to it fore and aft, and drawn tightly to produce a curve into loat-shape, and a couple of cross pieces of timber were nailed to the sides as a sort of balus- trade and reinforcement to the rope. The ice-sledge was com- plete; the voyagers tied down their fur caps over their ears, strapped the dreadnought boots tiq:htly, and launched forth. ** Throth, I donno how they do it at all at all," said Andy, who had lent his strength to the curving of the sledge, and now shook his head as he viewed them from the shore. *• I'd as soon go to » - 144 CEDAR CREEK. walk on the edges of knires as on them things they call skates : throth, betune the shoes as long as yerself for the snow, an* the shoes wid soles as sharp as a soord for the ice, our own ould brogues aren't much use to us. An' as for calling that boord a boat, I hope they won't thry it on the wather, that's all." As if he had discharged his conscience by this protesting soli- loquy, Mr. Callaghan turned on his heel, and tramped after Kobert up to the shanty. Meanwhile, the voyagers had struck out from the natural cove formed by the junction of the creek with the pond, where were clumps of stately reeds, stiffened like steel by the frost. The cedar boughs in the swamp at the edge drooped lower than ever under their burden of snow ; the stems looked inky black, from contrast. The ice-boat pushed on beautifully, mth hardly any exertion, over the greyish glistening surface of the lake. " I fancy there's a bit of breeze getting up against us," said Mr. Holt, in a momentary pause from their rapid progression. " 'Twill be in our backs coming home," suggested Arthur, as an obvious deduction. " And if we can fix up a sail anyhow, we mi^ht press it into our service to propel the sledge," said Mr. Holt. " Well, I never did hear of sails on dry land before," said Arthur, thereby proving his Irish antecedents ; of which his quick-witted companion was not slow to remind him. " But I don't much admire that greyish look off there/' he added, becoming grave, and pointing to a hazy discolouration in the eastern skies. " I shouldn't be surprised if we had a blow to-night ; and our easterly winds in winter always bring snow." Uncle Zack was lost in admiration of the spirit which pro- jected and executed this ice-boat voyage. " Wal, you are a knowin* shave," wae his complimentary observation to Mr. Holt. ** 'Twar a smart idee, and no mistake. You'll only want to fix runners in front of the ice-sled goin' back, an* 'twill carry any load as easy as THE ICE'SLEDOE. 145 cirinkin/ *Spose you han*t got an old pair o' skates handy ? IVg most remarkable good *uns at the store, that'll cut right slick up to the Cedars in no time if tacked on to the sled. You ain't disposed to buy *em, are you ? Wal, as you be hard fixed, I don't care if I lend 'em for a trifle. Quarter dollar, say. That's dog-cheap — it's a rael ruination. Take it out in ]X)tash or maple sugar next spring— eh ? Is it five cents cash you named. Mister Holt ? Easy to see you never kep a backwoods store. Did anybody ever hear of an3rthin' so onreasonable ?" To which offer he nevertheless acceded after some grumbling ; and the runners of the borrowed skates were fastened underneath the sled, by Mr. Holt's own hands and hammer. Next, that gen- tleman fixed a pole upright in the midst, piling the planks from the'iMwmill close to it, edgeways on both sides, and bracing it with a sfey-rope to stem and stem. At the top ran a horizontal stick to act as yard, and upon this he girt an old blanket lent by Jackey Dubois, the comers of which were caught by cords drawn taut and fastened to the balustrade afore-mentioned. Sam Holt had in his own brain a strong dash of the daring, and love of adventure, which tingles in the blood of youthful strength. He thoroughly enjoyed this rigging of the ice-boat, because it was strange, and paradoxical, and quite out of every-day ship building. The breeze, become stronger, was moaning in the tops of the forest as he finished; the greyish haze had thickened into well defined clouds creeping up the sky, yet hardly near enough to account for one or two flakes that came wandering down. "Ye'll have a lively run to the Cedars, I guess," prophesied Zack, as he helped to pack in the last plank. ** An ' the quicker the better, for the weather looks kinder dirty. See if them ranners ain't vallyable now ; and only five cents cash for the loan." The queer little craft began to push ahead slowly, her sail filling out somewhat, as the wind caught in it at a curve of the shore. Certainly the runners materially lessened the friction of the 146 CEDAE CREEK. load of timber on the ice. The skaters hardly felt the weight more than in propelling the empty sledge. When they got upon the open surface of the pond, they might expect aid from the steady swelling of the sail, now fitful, as gusts swept down, snowladen, from the tree-covered banks of the stream. They hardly noticed the gradually increasing power of the wind behind them ; but the flakes in the air perceptibly thickened, even before they had reached the pond. " Now make a straight course across for the pine point yonder," said Sam Holt, as they paused in lee shelter for an instant. *' I suspect we might almost embark ourselves, Arthur, for the breeze is right upon it." A few minutes of great velocity bore them down on the head- land. They stopped for breath, the turned-up prow of their ice- boat resting even in the brush on shore. Then they coasted awhile, until another wide curve of the pond spread in front By this time the falling snow \eas sufficiently dense to blur distant outlines, and an indistinct foggy whiteness took f place of the remainiug dayliglit. Mr. Holt hesitated whether . , ^opt the safer and more laborious plan of following the windings of the shore, or to strike across boldly, and save a mile of meandering by one rapid push ahead. The latter was Arthur's decided choice. " Well, here goes !" and by the guiding rope in his hand Mi. Holt turned the head of the ice-boat before the wind. They grasped the balustrades at each side firmly, and careered along mih the former delightful speed. Until suddenly, Arthur was rstonished to see his companion cast himself flat on the ice, bringing round the sledge with a herculean effort broadside to the breeze. A few feet in front lay a dark patch on the white plain — a hreathing-hoU. THE FOREST-MAN. 147 CHAPTER XXI. THE FOEEST-MAN. During the momentary pause that followed the bringiDg up of the ice-boat broadside to the breeze, they could hear the fluctuating surge of deep waters, sucking, plunging — in that large dark patch on the ice. An instant more of such rapid progression would have sunk them in it, beyond all hope. " Live and learn, they say," remarked Sam Holt, rising from his prostrate position beside the cargo ; " and I certainly had yet to learn that breathing-holes could form at such an early period in the winter as this. We had better retrace our steps a bit, Wynn ; for the ice is probably unsound for some distance about that split." " A merciful escape," said Arthur, after they had worked their way backwards a few yards. " Ay, and even if we could have pulled up ourselves on the brink, the sledge must have been soused to a dead certainty. Had the snow-flakes been a trifle thicker, we wouldn't have seen the hole till we were swimming, I guess. And it's well •*^his cord of uncle Zack's was rotten, or the sail would have been too much for my pull." One of the ropes stretching the lower side of the blanket had snapped under the sudden pressure of Sam Holt's vigorous jerk round, and thereby lessened the forward force. They made a long circuit of the deadly breathing-hole, and then ran for the nearest shore on the furthest side. The deepening layer of soft snow on the surface of the ice impeded the smooth action of the runners considerably, and made travelling laborious. Under the lee of a promontory covered with pines they drew up to rest for a few minuies, and shake away loose snow. 'Ifill Mmm % ^^^n' H' Ri III HJffi 148 CEDAll CrEEK. [^•i ■ ■%- "You know everything, Holt, so you can tell me why those treacherous breaks in the ice are called breathing-holes." "I believe there's no reason to be given beyond a popular Canadian superstition that a lake needs air as well as a human being, and must have it by bursting these openings through its prison of ice. The freezing is generally uniform all over the surface at first, and after a month or so ^t cracks in cei-tain spots, perhaps where there exists some eddy or cross current in the water. But evidently the hole we saw a while ago was never frozen at alL Uncle Zack would tell you it is over some dismal cavern whence issue whirlwinds and foul air." " I think we should get on almost better without skates," said Ai'thur, y/hen they had struggled a furlong further. " We are in a drift just now," answered Mr. Holt ; " the wind has heaped the snow up along here. Certainly the skates would be of more use to us further out on the pond ; but I think we had better be cautious, and continue to coast ;" and so they did, having the fear of other possible breathing-holes before their eyo". How grandly roared the wind through the forest of pines with a steady persistent swelling sound, as of breakers upon an iron shore, sweeping off masses of snow wherewith to drown all landmarks in undistinguishable drifts of whiteness, and driving aslant the descending millions of flakes, till the outlines of the lake landscape were confused to the eyes which tried to trace familiar copse or headland. Sam Holt was secretly somewhat disquieted, and watched narrowly for the cedars which uenoted the Wynns' land. He would have abandoned the ict-boat but for unwillingness to risk the fruit of their day's journey. They must be nr " the swamp and the creek now : it was scarcely possible they could have passed without recognising the cove whence they had issued in the morn- ing ; and yet there was a chance. For the weatb r was extremely THE FOREST-MAIT. 149 thick and daylight was fading quickly : the disguise of drifts is beT/iidering even to the most practised eye. " Ha ! there are our codars at last !" exclainied Arthur. " How the snow has buried them ; they look stunted. I suppose up here's the creek;" and he laid his hand beside his mouth to shout a signal to the shanty, which was smothered immediately in the greater tumult of the otorm. Mr. Holt left the grounded ice-boat, and proceeded farther inland to examine the locality: returning in a few minutes, when Arthur had his skates off, with the information that this was merely a cove running in among trees, and by no means the estuary of a stream. "Now you know. Holt, if this isn't our creek it must be our swamp, and I'm blinded and petrified on that lake. Do let us get overland to the shai.ty. I'm certain we would travel faster ; and we can haul up the planks to-morrow or next day. You see it's getting quite dark." "And do you think the pathless forest will be more lightsome than the open, ice ? No ; we'd better kindle a fire, and camp out to-night. I'm pretty sure we must have passed Cedar Creek with- out knowing." Arthur was already so drowsy from the excessive cold that he was only glad of the pretext for remaining still, and yielding to the uncontrollable propensity. But ]\Ir. Holt pulled liim on hia feet, and commanded him to gather brushwood and sticks, ^;hile he went about himself picking birch-bark off the dead and living trees. This he spread under the brush, and ignited with his tinder box. The sight of the flaui ^ seemed ta wake ap Arthur with a shock from the lethargy that was stealing over his faculties. Mr. Holt had chosen a good site for his fire in the lee of a great body of pines, whose massive stems broke the wind ; so the blaze quickened *nd prospered, till a great bed of scarlet coals and ends of fagots remained of the first relay of fuel, and another was heaped on. MM J 50 OEDAB CBEEK. Now Arthur was glowing to his fingers* ends, thoroughly wide awake, and almost relishing tb^ novelty of his lodgings for the night ; with snow all around, curtaining overhead, carpeting under foot. " Curious way they camp out in the far west," said Holt, with his arms round his knees, as he sat on their hemlock mattress and gazed into the fire, wherein all old memories seem ever to have a trysting place with fancy. And so scenes of his roving years came back to him. " You must know that out in the Hudson's Bay territory the snow is often ten or fourteen feet deep, not only in drifts, but in smooth even layers, obliterating the country inequalities wonder- fully. That's the native land of snow-shoes and of furs, where your clothes must be mainly of both for half the year. But I was going to tell you how the voyagevv% build a fire wHen they have to camp out on a winter's night, and there's twelve feet of snow between them and the solid ground." " Sheer impossibility," said Arthur, presumptuously ; " the fire would work a hole down." " You shall hear. First, they cut down a lot of trees — ^green timber — about twenty feet or more in length. These are laid closely parallel on the snow, which has previously been beaten to a little consistency by snow-shoes : on the platform thus made the fire is lit, and it bums away merrily." " Don't the trees ever bum through ?" asked Arthur. " Seldom ; but the heat generally works a cavity in the snow underneath, sometimes quite a chasm, seven or eight feet deep — fire above, water below. Ha ! I'm glad to see my old friend the Great Bear looking through over the pines yonder. Our storm has done its worst." " Holt, though I'm rather hungry and sleepy, I'm heartily glad of this night's outing, for one reason : you won't be able to leave us to-morrow, and so are booked for another week, old fellow." THE FOKEST-MAN. 151 It seemed irrevocablv the case ; and under this conviction Arthur rolled himself in the blanket (cut from the spar of the ice-boat), and T7ent into dreamland straight from his brushwood bed, Mr. Holt continuing to sit by the fire gazing into it as before ; which sort of gazing, experienced people say, is very bad for the eyes. Perhaps it was that which caused a certain moisture to swell into most visible bright drops, filling the calm grey orbs with unspeakable sadness for a little while. The Great Bear climbed higher round the icy pole ; the sky had ceased to snow before the absorbed thinker by the fire noticed the change of weather. Then he rose gently, laid further wood on the blazing pile, threw brush about Arthur's feet and body for additional warmth, and, skates in hand, went down to the lake to explore. On reaching the point of the headland, he looked round. The weather was much clearer ; but westwards a glimmering sheen of ice — black land stretching along, black islands, snow-crowned, rising midway afar. Eastward, ha ! that is what should have been done hours ago. A fire burned on the edge of the woods at some distance. So they had really passed Cedar Creek unawares, as he suspected from th"i nature of the ground and trees. While Bobert and Andy crouched b^ their fire, feeding it up to full blaze with the most resinous woot y could find, the distant shout of the coming travellers gladdened th^W - ars. The sen ant flung his whole stock of balsam on the beacon at once, cmsing a most portentous flame-burst, and sprang up with a wild " hiirroo !" wielding one half-burrt faggot h la shillelah about his h^ad. *' Oh, then, Mister Eobert achora, it's yerself is the ja ius ; an' to think of mekin* a lighthouse to guide 'em wid, an' here they are safe home by the manes of it. But now., sir, if ye'Il t • my advice, as we're always lost when we goes anywhere b) aselves, we ought niver part for the futhur, an* thin we'll all go asthray together safe an* sound." " Let's >7arm ourselves at this Morions fire before we go up to 152 CEDAR CREEK. the shanty," said Arthur, stretching out his feet to the fire. " Pity to let it waste its sweetness on the desert air." So they stood explaining matters by the fire for a few minutes, till Andy, who was never tired of heaping on fresh fuel, came for- ward vfiih. an armftd and a puzzled face. " Mr. Holt, there's somethin* quare in that three, sir, which has a big hole in it full of dhry sticks an* brush, an there's somethin' wooi]y inside, sir, that I felt wid me tWv> hands ; an' more be token it's a big baste whatever it is." ** A bear, pro]}ably," said Mr. Holt, as he warmed the sole of one foot. " Better let him alone till morning, and tuck m his be 1- clothes again for to-night, poor fellow." But Arthur had started up to investigate, and must pull the black fleece for his personal satisfaction. " Oh, throth he's stirrin' now !" exclaimed Andy, who had begun to cram the orifice with the former stuflSng of dried bough and brush. " We've woke him ::p, Masther Arthur, if it's asleep he was at all, the rogue ; an' now he's sthrugglin' out of the hole wid all hip might. Keep in there, you big villyan, you don't dare to offer to come out ;" for Andy set his shoulder against the great carcass, which nevertheless sheered round till muzzle and paws could be brought into action, and their use illustrated on Andy's person. " Och murther !" roared the suffered , " he has his arms round me, the baste ; he's squeezin' me into m — m — mash !" A blazing stick, drawn from the fire by Mr. Holt's hand, here struck the bear's nose and eyes ; which, conjoined with Andy's own powerful wrenching, caused him to loosen his hold, and a ball from the rifle which Robert had fortunately brought down as the compa- nion of their night-watch, finished his career. " Well done, Bob !" w^.en, after a nm of thirty yards or so, they stood beside the prostrate enemy ; " you've won our first bearskin. Now we shall see what the paws are like, in the way of eatables : don't you say they're delicious, Holt ?'* THE F0REST-3IAN. 153 Borne upon two strong poles, the bear made his way up to the shanty, and was housed for the rest of the night. Poor Andy was found to be severely scratched by the long sharp claws. " Sure I'm glad *twas none of yerselyes he tuk to huggin'," said the faithful fellow ; " an' scrapin' as if 'twas a pratie he wanted to peel !" He had his revenge on the fore-paws next morning when Mr. Holt cut them off, some time before breakfast, and set them in a mound of hot ashes to bake, surrounding and crowning them further with live coals. Bruin himself was dragged outside into the snow, preparatory to the operation of skinning and cutting up into joints of excellenf^ laeat. " Do yoa know, I saw an amazing resemblance to a fur-coated man, as he stood up last night before Robert's shot," said Arthur. " You're not the first to see it," replied Holt. " The Indians call him * the forest-man,' and the Lower Canadians the * bourgeois ;' they attribute to him a sagacity almost human ; the Crees and Ojibbeways fancy him an enchanted being, and w;.ll enter into con- versation with him when they meet in the woods." "Yet they take an unfair advantage of his paws." " That's true ; my cookery must be almost done." And he re- entered the hut to dish up his dainty. " Come, who'll feast with me ?" " Appearances are much against them," said Robert, eyeing the charcoal-looking paws, which presented soles uppermost on the trencher. Mr. Holt scooped out a portion on to his own, plate, and used no further persuasion. " 'Twould never do not to know the taste of bear's paw," said Arthur, as if winding himself up to the effort of picking a small bit. Mr. Holt was amused to see the expression of enlightened satisfaction that grew on his face. " Oh, Bob, 'tis really capital. That's only a prejudice about its black look," helping himself again, " The Indians aren't far removed from epicures, when this is their pet disL" " Well," observed lilr. Holt, filling his horn cup with tea from 15i CEDAB CBEEE. the kettle, ** they equally relish fried porcupines and skunks ; hut some of their viands might tempt an alderman — such as elk's nose, beaver's tail, and buffalo's hump." " Holt," said Arthur, scooping the paw a third time. " it seemed to me that chap had fixed himself in a hole barely big enough, to judge by the way he wriggled out." *' Very likely. ' Bears are the knowingest varmint in all crea- tion,' as uncle Zack would say. They sometimes watch for days before entering a tree, and then choose the smallest opening pos- sible, for warmth's sake, and scrape up brush and moss to conceal themselves. I've known the hollow tree to be such a tight fit that the hunters were compelled to cut it open to get at the bear after he was shot. I suspect the heat of our fire had roused this one, even before Andy pulled away the brush, or he wouldn't ha' been 60 lively." ** What's the meat like. Holt? I hope it don't taste carnivorous." " You'll hardly know it from beef, except that the shorter grain makes it tenderer ; for the bear lives on the best products of the forest. He'll sit on his haunches before a serviceberry tree, bend the branches with his paws, and eat oif the red fruit wholesale. He'll grub with his claws for the bear potatoes, and chew them like tobacco. He'll pick the kernels out of nuts, and help himself to your maize and fall wheat, when you have them, as well as to your sucking pigs and yearly calves." ** Then we may fairly eat him in return," said Bobert ; ** but 111 leave the paws to you and Arthm\" " Thank you for the monopoly. Now these knives are sufficiently sharp." Sam Holt had been putting an edge on them at the grindstone during his talk. " Come and have your lesson in fiu> making, for I must be off." ** Off I oh, nonsense ; not to-day," exclaimed both. But he was quite unpersuadeable when once his plan was fixed. He took the stage at Greenock that afternoon. SILYEB SLEIOH-BELLS. 155 CHAPTER XXII. SILyEB SLEIGH-BELL& The shanty was ere long lined in a comely manner with the planks which had journeyed up the pond in the ice-boat, affording many an evening's work for Arthur. About Christmas all was right and tight. Now, to those who have any regrets or sadnesses in the back- ground of memory, the painfullest of all times are these anniversa- ries. One is forced round face to face with the past and the unal- terable, to gaze on it, perchance, through blinding tears. The days return — unchanged : but, oh, to what changed hearts! Were they not thinking of the Canadian exiles to-day, at home, at dear old Dunore ? For nothing better than exiles did the young men feel themselves, this snow-white Christmas morning, in the log-hut among the backwoods, without a friendly face to smile a greeting, except poor Andy's ; and his was regretful and wistful enough too. **I say, Bob, what shall we do with ourselves? I'm sure I wish I didn't know 'twas Christmas day at all. It makes a fellow feel queer and nonsensical — ^homesick, I suppose they call it — and all that sort of thing. I vote we obliterate the fact, by chopping -as hard as any other day." So, after reading the chapters for the day, (how the words brought up a picture of the wee country church in Ireland, with its congre- gation of a dozen, its whitewashed walls and Windless lancet win- dows !) they went forth to try that relief for all pains of memory — steady hard work. The ten acres allotted for December were nearly chopped through by this time, opening a considerable space in front of the shanty, and beginning to reveal the fair landscape of lake and wooded slopes that lay beyond. The felled trees lay piled 156 CEDAR CBEEK. in wind rows and plan heaps so far as was possible without the help of oxen to move the huge logs ; snow covered them pretty deeply, smoothing all unsightliness for the present. " How I long to have something done towards the building of our house,'* said Robert, pausing after the fall of a hemlock spruce, while Arthur attacked the upper branches. " I'd like so much to have it neatly finished before my father and mother and Linda come, next summer." " Well, haven't you no end of shingles made for the roof?" said the other, balancing his axe for a blow. " You're working at them perpetually ; and Andy isn't a bad hand either at wooden slates, as he calls them." " We must have a raising-bee in spring," concluded Robert, after some rumination — "as soon as the snow melts a little. Really, only for such co-operative working in this thinly peopled country, nothing large could be ever effected. Bees were a great device, whoever invented them." " By the way," said Arthur presently, returning from chopping apart the trunk into two lengths of fifteen feet, " did you hear that the Scotchman between us and the * Comer,' at Daisy Bum, wants to sell his farm and improvements, and is pushing out into the wild land further up the pond? Nim told me yesterday. He expects three pounds sterling an acre, including fixtures, and he got the ground for nothing ; so that's doubling one's capital, I imagine." ** How for nothing ?" " It was before a human being had settled in these townships, and the concession lines were only just blazed off by the surveyors. Davison obtained a grant of land on condition of performing what are called settlement duties, which means chopping out and clearing the cx)ncession lines for a certain distance. Of coarse that was another way of payment, by labour instead of cash. But on swearing that it was done, he obtained what Nim calls a ' liit, SILVER SLEIGH-BELLS. 157 a crown patent, we should say, and the land ^tas bis estate for _ i» ever. " I wish we could transfer a Cv^uple of his fen^jed fields here," said Robert, " and his young orchard. We mupt liave some sort of a garden, Arthur, before Linda comes." "Yes, she never could get on without her flower beds. I say, Bob, won't Cedar Creek look awfully wild to them ?" They worked on awhile both thinking of that. Any one accus- tomed to smooth enclosed countries, with regular roads and houses at short distances, would indeed find the backwcxnls "awfully wild." And that most gentle mother, how would she bear the transplanting? " I had a very misty idea of what bush-life was, I owr., till I found myself in it," quoth Robert, after a long silence, broken only by the ring of the axes. " Living like a labourer at home, but without half hia comforts." said Arthur, piling the boughs. ** Tell you what. Bob, we wouldn't be seen doing the things we do here. Suppose Sir Richard Lacy or Lord Scutcheon saw us in our present trim ?" " But you know that's all false pride," said Robert, with a little glow on his cheek nevertheless. ** We shouldn't be ashamed of anything but wrong." " Say what you will. Bob, it strikes me that we aren't of the class which do best in Canada. The men of hard hands, labouring men and women, are those who will conquer the forest and gain wealth here." " Well, if that be the rule, you and I must strive to be the exception," said Robert ; " for I'm determined to have a comfort- able homestead for the dear old people from Dunore, and I'jn equally determined to set my mark on Canadian soil, and to prosper, if it be God's will." He lifted off his cap for a moment, looking at the serene sky. The rising discontent in his brother's heart was stilled by the 158 CEDAR GREEK. gesture. Both worked assiduously, till Andy, with an unusual twinkle in his eyes, summoned them to dinner. " What has the fellow been about, I wonder ? I know 'twasn't respect for the holiday kept him in doors all the morning." It was presently explained. Andy, ignorant of courses, dished up, together with the ham, a yery fine dumpling emitting the odour of apples. " Sure, as ye can't have yer own plum puddin* in this outlandish counthry, ye can have a thing the same shape, anyhow. Mrs. Jackey showed me how to make it iligant, of the string of dried bits I had thrun in the box since we kem here first. Throth an' I'm cur*ous to see did they iver swell out agin, afther the parchin' they got" But for a slightly peculiar taste in the sweet, the dumpling was unimpeachable. " I suppose Mrs. Jackey uses maple sugar in her confectionery," said Bobert ; ** a 80upq shoot in these forests," said he. " I'm bound at present on a * still-hunting ' expedition ; which doesn't mean BTILL-HUNTINO. ICl looking out for illegal distillerioB, as it might signify iu Ireland, ha, ha !" Captain Argent had very high animal spirits, and a small joke sufficed to wake them into buoyant laughter, which was infectious by its very abundance. " Deer-stalking is the right word ; Tve done it in Scotland, but now I mean to try my hand on the moose — grandest of American ruminants. I've engaged an old trapper to come with me for a few days into their hauiits. Now, 'twould be a delightful porly if you two would join. What do you say, Wynn? Come, lay by your axe, and recreate yourself for a week, man." Arthur looked a very decided acceptance of the proposition, but Robert shook his head. "Couldn't leave the place," said he, smih'ng : " too much to be done." " Nonsense ; the trees will stand till your return, and you can't plough through four feet of snow." " If I was far enough advanced to have land fit for ploughing, nothing could be pleasanter than to join you, Argent ; but unfor- tunately no end of trees have to be cut down, and logged in heaps for burning before then. But, Arthur, wouldn't you go ?" His faint opposition, because he did not like to leave his brother, was easily overcome. Captain Argent made another attack upon Robert's resolve. "People always consider winter the time for amusement in Canada. Nature gives a tolerably good hint to the same effect, by blocking up the rivers so that ships can't sail, and snowing up the farms, so that the ground isn't seen for months ; and if that isn't a licence for relaxation " "I suspect that in the earlier stages of bush-life there are no holidays," replied Robert : " if you just reflect that everything in the way of civilization has to be done afresh from the beginning, pretty much like living on a desert island. Now I've got a house to huild by summer time, and here are all the preparations towards it as yet ;" and he pointed to the shingles. 1 m\ iliil ! m 1 1 f 1 :.. 91 i 1^ :i^ I 162 CEDAR CREEK. *'Why, thin, I'd like to know for what Misther Eobert is (ihrawin* up the poverty of the family, an' makin* little of himselt before the captain," thought Andy, angrily, and betraying the feeling by a bang of the fryingpan as ho laid it aside. " Can't be 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 h'^ire, unless to stave off the Yankees, which it seems to me the colonists are sufficiently inclined and sufficiently able to do them- selves ; 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 agreo 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 redcoats in Montreal and Quebec seemed a visible link with mother country, most welcome to my eyes in the new land; o,nd so, Argent, when you're commander-in-chief, do continue the r3giments 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. fm^^^ STILL-HUNTING. 1G3 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 Barrack Hill in the middle of Bytown wiU be made into another Acropolis for the same end." * " Ah," said Robert, shaving his shingle attentively, " so long as Canadians look back to England as home, and speak of it as home, there's little fear of annexation or revolt. Mother country has only to keep up the motherly relation, and patiently loosen the leading strings, according as her colonies grow able to run alone." " That sentiment might fall from the lips of a colonial secretary in his place in the Commons. By the way, did you hear that my brother Percy has been returned member for the ounty, at home ?" "No; we have not seen a newspaper since we left, except a shabby little Canadian print, which gives half a dozen lines to the English mail. Toll us about it, Argent. Was there a contest ?'* How intensely interesting were the particulars, and how Robert and Arthur did devour the ill-printed provincial news-sheet issuing from the obscure Irish country town, and burning all through with political partizanship I Luckily Argent had the last received copy in his pocket, which detailed all the gossip of the election, with the familiar names and localitiec of the struggle. Looking back half a lifetime seemed to be concentrated in the mouths since they had left Europe. Things widely different from 'HI 164 CEDAR CREEK. all past experience had filled their thoughts to ovei*flowing, and drowned out old sympathies, till this evening vivified them afresh. Yet Kobert felt, with a sort of little pain, that they must gradually die away, be detached, and fall off from his life. His logs and shingles, his beaver meadow and water privilege, were more to him now than all the political movements which might shake Ireland to its centre. Long after Argent's short athletic figure, crowned with fair curls, lay fast asleep on his buffalo rugs, enjoying hunters* repose, th? brothers sat talking and musing. It was not the first time that Bobert had to reason down Arthur's restless spiiit, if he could. This rencontre had roused it again. He was not satisfiedni into the blaze, the lumberers lay on their bunks, or sat on blocks, talking, sleeping, singing, as the mood moved. French Canadians are native-born songsters ; and their simple ballad melodies, full of rifrain and repetition, sounded very pleasing even to Argent's amateur ears. I can imagine that this shanty life must be pleasant enough," said Argent, rolling himself in his buffalo robe preparatory to sleep by the fire. " I'll just tell ye what it is," returned the foreman ; " nane that has gane lumbering can tak* kindly to ony ither calling. They hae caught the wandering instinct, and the free life o* the woods becomes a needcessity, if I might say sae. D'ye ken the greatest trouble I find in towns ? Trying to sleep on a civilized bed. I canna do't, that's the fact ; nor be sitting to civilized dinners, whar the misguided folk spend thrice the time that's needfu', fiddling with a fork an' spune. I like to eat an' be done wi* it." "Which little social trait was of a piece with Mr. Foreman's energy and promptness in all the circumstances of life. In a veiy few minutes from the aforesaid speech he was sound asleep, for he was determined to waste no time in accomplishing that either. Argent and Arthur left this wood-cutting polity next morning, and worked, or rather hunted their way back to the settled districts. The former stayed for another idle week at Cedar Creek ; and then the brothers were again alone, to pursue their strife \A\S\ the forest. I ...I •t I 174 CEDAR CBEEK. It went on, with varying success, till " the moon of the snow crust/* as the Ojibbeways poetically style March. A chaos of fallen trunks and piled logs lay for twenty-five acres about the little shanty; Bobert was beginning to understand why the Frencli Canadians called a cleared patch ** un d^ert," for beyond doubt the axe had a desolating result, in its present stage. ** Why, then, Masther Bobert, there's one thing I wanted to ax you," said Andy, resting a moment from his chopping : " it's goin' on four months now since we see a speck of green, an' will the snow ever be off the ground agin, at all at all ?*' ** You see the sun is only just getting power enough to melt it," returned his master, tracing with his axe-head a furrow in the thawing surface. " But sure if it always freezes up tight agin every evening*, that little taste of meltin' won*t do much good,'* observed Andy. **Throth, I*m fairly longin* to see that lake tiun into wather, instead ov bein* as hard as iron. Sure the fish must all be smothered long ago, the crathurs, in prison down there." " Well, Andy, I hope they'll be liberated next month. Mean- while, the ice is a splendid highroad. Look there." From behind a wooded promontory stretching far into the lake, at the distance of about half a mile from where they were chopping, emerged the figure of a very tall Indian, wrapped in a dark blanket and carrying a gun. After him, in the stately Indian file, marched two youths, also armed ; then appeared a birchen traineau, drawn by the squaw who had the honour of being wife and mother respectively to the preceding copper-coloured men, and who there- fore was constituted their beast of burden. A girl and a child — future squaws — shared the toil of pulling along the family chattels, unaided by the stalwart lords of the creation stalking in front " Why, thin, never welcome their impidence, an* to lave the poor 'women to do all the hard work, an' they marchin* out fore- nenst *em like three images, so stiff an' so sthraight, an* never #- Cli' ^ I gpakin* i ye my wondhei the babi Not i little CO kind fol nesses c tranquil elderly i herself tween h camp, ai under s from he were fii an oval whose n toil witl ever see lis he J ashamec The uttered totally i " Wh a pikest surra l»; the Iris! to make raeself g if Idhr CHILDREN OF THE FOREST. 177 gpakin' a word. I*m afeard it's here they're corain*. An* I give ye my "vvord she has a child on her back, tied to a boord ; no wondher for 'em to be as stiff as a toDgs whin they grows up, since the babies is rared in that way." Not seeming to heed the white men, the Indians turned into a little cove at a short distance, and stepped ashore. The woman- kind followed, pulling their traineau with difficulty over the rough- nesses of the landing place ; while husband and sons looked on tranquilly, and smoked " kinne-kanik " in short stone pipes. The elderly squaw deposited her baby on the snow, and also comforted herself with a whiff; certain vernacular conversation ensued be- tween her and her daughters, apparently about the place of their camp, and the younger ones set to work clearing a patch of ground under some birch-trees. Mrs. Squaw now drew forth a hatchet from her loaded sledge, and chopped down a few saplings, which were fixed firmly in the earth again a few yards rff, so as to maice an oval inclosure by the help of trees already standing. " Throth, an' I'll go an' help her," quoth good-natured Andy, whose native gallantry would not permit him to witness a woman's toil without trying to lighten it. " Of all the ould lazy-boots 1 ever see, ye're the biggest," apostrophizing the silent stoical Indians lis he passed where they lounged; "ye've a good right to be ashamed of yerselves, so ye have, for a set of idle spalpeens." The eldest of the trio removed his pipe for an instant and nttered the two words — "I savage." Andy's rhetoric had been totally incomprehensible. " Why, thin, ye needn't tell me ye're a savidge : it's as plain as a pikestaff. What'U I do with this stick, did ye say, ma'am ? Oh, surra bit o' me knows a word she's sayin', though it's mighty like the Irish of a Connaught man. I wondher what it is she's thryin' to make ; it resimblos the beginnin' of a big basket at present, an' raeself standin' in th(^ inside of the bottom. I can't bo far asthray if I dhrive down the three where there's a gap. I don't see how 178 CEDAB CREEK. they're to make a roof, an' this isn't a counthry where I'd exactly like to do 'athout one. Now she's fastenin' down the branchci round, stickin' *em in the earth, an' tyin' 'em together wid cord. It's the droll cor(^, never see a rope-walk anyhow." Certainly not ; for it was the tough bast of the Canadian cedar, manufactured in large quantities by the Indian women, twisted into all dimensions of cord, from thin twine to cables many feithom long ; used for snares, fishing nets, and every species of stitching. Mrs. Squaw, like a provident housekeeper, had whole balls of it in her traineau ready for use ; also rolls of birch-bark, which, when the skeleton wigwam was quite ship-shape, and well interlaced with crossbars of supple boughs, she began to wrap round in the fashion of a covering skirt. Had crinoline been in vogue in the year 1851, Bobert would have found a parallel before his eyes, in these birch-bark flounces arranged over a sustaining framework, in four successive falls, narrowing in circumference as they neared the top, where a knot of bast tied the arching timbers together. He was interested in the examination of these forest tent cloths, and found each roll composed of six or seven quadrangular bits of bark, about a yard square apiece, sewed into a strip, and having a lath stitched into each end, after the maimer in which we civilized people use rollers for a map. The erection was completed by the casting across several strings of bast, weighted at the ends with stones, which kept all steady. The male Indians now vouchsafed to take possession of the wig- wam. Solemnly stalking up to Andy, the chief of the party offered his pipe to him for a puff. " Musha thin, thank ye kindly, an' I'm glad to see ye've some notions o' civiltude^ though ye do work the wife harder than is dacent" But after a single " draw," Andy took the pipe in his fingers and looked curiously into its bowl, **It's the quarest tobacco I ever tasted," he observed : ** throth if I don't think it's ON A SWEET SUBJECT. 179 nothiii' but chips o' bark an* dead leaves. Here 'tis back for you, sir ; it don't shute my fancy, not bein' an Indjin yet, though I donno what I mightn't come to." The pipe was received with the deepest gravity. No outward sign had testified surprise or any other emotion, at the discovery that white men had settled close to their ** sugar- bush," and of course become joint proprietors. The inscrutable sphinx-like calm of these countenances, the strangeness of tliis savage life, detained Bobert most of the afternoon as by a sort of fascination. Andy's wrath at the male indolence was renewed by finding that the squaw and her girls had to cut and carry all the firewood needful : oven tho child of se 7en yeaiti old worked hard at bringing in logs to the wigwam. He was unaware that ihe Indian women hold labour to be theii: special prerogative ; that this very squaw despised him for the help he rendered her ; and that the observation in her own tongue, which was emphasized by an approving grunt from her husband, was a sarcasm levelled at tho inferiority and mean-spiritedness of the white man, as exempli- fied in Andy's person. One of the young fellows, who had dived into the forest an hour liefore, returned with spoil in the shape of a skunk, which the ever-industrious squaw set about preparing for the evening meal. The fearful odour of the animal appeared unnoticed by the Indians, but was found so hateful by Robert and his Irish squire, that they left the place immediately. Ei' CHAPTER XXVI. ON A SWEET SUBJECT. This Indinn family was oniy the precursor of half a dozen others, who also established " camps," preparatory to their great work of ta[)ping the maple trees. The Wynns found them inoffensive 7il!i 180 CEDAR CREEK. neighbours, and made out a good deal of amasement in watchiu'^ their ways. " I*d dear *em out of that in no time,'* said Zack Bunting, "if the land were mine. Indians hain't no rights, bein' savages. I guess they darsn't come nigh my farm down the pond — ^they'd b apt to cotch it right slick, I tell you. They tried to pull the wool over my eyes in the beginnin', an* wanted to be tappin* in my busli as usual, but Zaok Buntin* wam't the soft-headed goney to give in, I tell you. So they vamosed arter jest seein* my double-barrel, an' they hain't tried it on since. They know'd I wam't no doughface." " Well, I mean to let them manufacture as much sugar as they want," said Eobert : " there's plenty for both them and me." " Bights is rights," returned Zack, " as I'd soon show the var- mints if they dar'st come near me. But your Britisher govern- ment has sot 'em up altogether, by makin' treaties with 'em, an' givin* 'em money, an' buyin' lands from 'em, instead of kickin' 'em out as an everlastin' nuisance." " You forget that they originally owned the whole continent, and in common justice should have the means of livelihood given to them now," said Robert. " It is not likely they'll 'trouble the white man long." " I see yer makii' troughs for the sap," observed Zack. ** What on airth, you ain't never hewin' 'em from basswood ?" "Why not?" " Cos 'twill leak every smglo drop. Yer troughs must be white pine or black ash ; an' as ye'U want to fix fifty or sixty on 'em at all events, that half-dozen ain't much of a loss." " Couldn't they be made serviceable anyhow ?" asked Robert, unwilling quite to lose the labour of his hands. " Wal, you might bum the inside to make the grain closer : I've heerd tell on that dodge. If you wam't so far from the * Comer,' we could fix our sugar together, an* make but one bilin' of it, ijv you'll want a team, an' you don't know nothin* about maples." ON A SWEET SUBJECT. 181 liJ Zack*K eyes were fiskance upon Robert " We might *mo.st as well an' he says yo're to have a powerful lot of logs ready chopped for the fires," was the message. ** I guess I thought I'd be late for dinner," the boy added, with a sort of chuckle, " but I ain't ;" and he winked knowingly. " Well," observed Arthur, laughing, " you Yankees beat all the world for cool impudence." " I rayther guess we do, an' fur most things else teu," was the lad's reply, with his eyes fixed on the trencher of bear's meat which Andy was serving up for him. ** Don't you be sparing of the prit- ters — I'm rael hungry :" and, with his national celerity, the viands disappeared. When the meal was ended, Robert, as always, returned thanks to God for his mercies, in a few reverent words. The boy stared. " I guess I hain't never heerd the like of that 'afore," he re- marked. " Sure, God ain't nowhar hereabouts ?" Kobert was surprised to find how totally ignorant he was of the A BUSY BEa 18o very rudiments of the Christian faith. The name of God had reached his ear chiefly in oaths ; heaven and hell were words witli little meaning to his darkened mind. " I thought a Methodist minister preached in your father's big room once or twice a year," observed Robert, after some conyersa- tion. ** So he do ; but I guess we boys makes tracks for the woods ; an' besides, there ain*t no room for us nowhar," said Ged. Here I may just be permitted to indicate the wide and promising field for missionary labour that lies open in Canada West. No fet- ters of a foreign tongue need cramp the ardent thought of the evangelist, but in his native English he may tell the story of salva- tion through a land large as half a dozen European kingdoms, where thousands of his brethren according to th(3 flesh are perish* ing for want of knowledge. A few stray Methodists alone have pushed into the moral wilderness of the backwoods ; and what are they among so many ? Look at the masses of lumberers : it is computed that on the Ottawa and its tributaries alone they number thirty thousand men ; spending their sabbaths, as a late observer has told us, in mending their clothes and tools, smoking and sleep- mg, and utterly without religion. Why should not the gospel be preached to these our brothers, and souls won for Christ from among them? And in outlying germs of settlements like the " Comer," which are the centre of districts of sparse population, such ignorance as this of young Bunting's, tho' rare elsewhere in Canada or the States, is far from uncommon among the rising generation. Zack arrived with the ox-sled at the time appointed, and Ged perched on it. " Just look at the pile of vessels the fellow has brought to carry away liis share of the molasses and sugar," said Arthur, as the 'lumsy vehicle came lumbering up. 'Twas a great stroke of business to give us all tlie trouble, and take all the advantage to 18fi CEDAB CKEEK. himself — our trees, our fires, nothing but the use of his oxen a^ a set-oflf." The advantage was less than Arthur supposed ; for maples are not impoverished by drainage of sap, and firewood is so abundant as to be a nuisance. But for Zack's innate love of even the sem- blance of overreaching, he might have discerned that his gain in this transaction was hardly worth the pains. " Wal, Kobert, you ha* poured off the molasses into the kettles ; an* now fur the clarifyin*. I knowed as how ye had nothen* fit- milk, nor calfs blood, nor eggs, nor nothen* — so I brought up the eggs, an* when we're settlin* shares they kin be considered." ** The old sharper !" muttered Arthur. **I*m afeerd like they*re beat up already,** said Mr. Bunting, picking them gingerly out of his pockets, ** though I made Ged drive a purpose. But that near ox has a trick of stickin* over stumps, an* I had obliged to cut a handspike to him. I declar' if they ain't all whole arter all, *cept one.*' He smashed them into a wooden bowl half full of molasses, and beat them up with a chip, then emptied the contents into the kettles, stirring well. Hung over a slow fire, from a pole resting on two notched posts, the slight simmering sound soon began ; and on the top of the heated fiaid gathered a scum, which Zack removed. After some repetitions of this skimming, and when the molasses looked bright and clear, Mr. Bunting asked for a bit of fat bacon. " Which can be considered when we*re dividing shares," said Arthur, handing it to him a few minutes afterwards. A glance Tvas Zack's reply, as he strung the bacon on a cord, and hung it below the rim, within two inches of the boiling surface. " Indeed," quoth Robert, looking on at the operation of this ex- pedient for preventing the spilling over of the molasses, " I wonder some cleaner mode of keeping the boiling within bounds has notj been invented." " The Scotchman Davidson cools with a run of cold sap, out of a I % A BUSY BEE. 187- little spout an' a keg ; but tliem notions don't suit me nohow ; tho bit o' bacon fixes it jest as right. By the way, did you hear that bis farm is took ? By a Britisher gentleman — I'm told an officer, too ; I guess he'll want to back out o' the bush faster than lie got in, ef he's like the most of *em. I know'd some o' the sort, an* they never did a cent's worth o' good, hardly, though they was above bein* spoke to. 'Tain't a location for soft hands an' handsome clothes, I guess ; an' I declar ef I don't think I ever saw gentlemen Britishers git along so remarkably smart tis yerselves : but ye hain't been above work, that's a fact." The Wynns were glad enough of the prospect of a new neigh- bour of the educated class ; for, more than once or twice, the total absence of congenial society in any sense of the word had been felt as a minor privation. Robert foresaw tliut when with future years came improved means and enlarged leisure, this need would be greater. Zack thought the new settlers ought to try and aiTive before spring thaw. " Yer own logging-bee might be 'bout that time, Hobert," he observed, while he narrowly watched his kettles and their incipient sugar. " The fallow looks ready for burnin*, I guess." " Yes, 'tis nearly all chopped and piled ; but I'm more anxious to have a raising-bee for my new house. The logging can wait for a couple of months, Davidson tells me." " Wal, you'll want considerable of whisky for the ten," observed Zack, briskly ; " all the * Comer ' 'U be sure to come, an* raise yer house off the ground right slick at oust. A frame-house, I cal- c'late?" ** Clapboarded and painted, if I can, Mr. Bunting." "Now I don't want ever to hear of no better luck than I had in gittin' that co isignment of ile an' white lead t'other day. Jest the very thing fu:/ you, I guess 1" iiol-i^rt did not seem similarly struck by the coincidence. " Aj y one but Zack would have melted away long ago over that f u. It m V' ^> IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) •^^^.V^. €€^ 1.0 ^liifl 1.1 126 g^ 12.2 ^ 1^ 12.0 H: 1 m III 1-25 11.4 ||.6 II =^ Hill ■ ■ < 6" ► V] yl w /A '^ y Hiotpgraphic Sciences Corporalion «>:v^. 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14510 (716) 873-4503 ^"^9 * ^ '<^ \ // V-'^**' ^' .^>.^ {/. (/. i w \ :\ \ \ w:^ 188 CEDAR CREEK. roaring fire," said Arthur some time afterwards, withdrawing from his kettle to fan himself. " Being a tall bag of bones, I suppose he can't dissolve readily. What's he going to do now, I wonder?" Mr. Bunting had chipped a thin piece of wood from one of the fire logs, and wrought through it a narrow hole, inch long ; this he dipped in the seething molasses, and drew it forth filled with a thin film, which he blew out with liis breath into a long bubble of some tenacity. " Thar ! 'tis sugared at last," said he, jerking aside the chip ; " an' now fur the pans." By a remarkable clairvoyance, just at this juncture various younger members of the Bunting family made their appearance iii the sugar-bush ; and as fast as uncle Zack poured forth the sweet stuff into the tins and shallow wooden vessels placed to receive it, did half-a-dozen pilfering hands abstract portions to dip in the snow and devour. Zack's remonstrances and threats were of no avail, and whenever he made a dash towards them, they dispersed in all directions " quick as wink.'* " Ef I ketch you, Ged, you'll know the defference of grabbin' a pound out of this 'ere tin, I guess, you young varmint !" " 'Tain't so kinder aisy to catch a 'coon, uncle Zack," was the lad's rejoinder from the fork of a birch where he had takjn refuge, and sucked his stolen goods at ease. Similar raids harassed the long line of cooling tins, and not all the efforts of the sugar-makers at mounting guard could protect them, until the guerilla corps of youngsters became in some degree surfeited, and slid away through the woods as they had come. Meanwhile, the best part of a atone of the manufacture had vanished. ; ^ ** Them are spry chaps, I reckon,'* was the parent's reflection, with some pride in their successful freebooting, though he had opposed its details. , ? -v : i " I would teach them to be honest, Mr. Bunting ;" which speech only evoked a laugh, ia t ; - ./ w^^ A BUSY BEE. 1S9 fiH " Now I guess you're riled 'cos they ran away with yer sugar, jest as ef 'twarn't more mine than yourn." This was unpromising as portended the division into shares, wherein Robert was overreached, as he knew he should be ; but he comforted himself by the reflection tht\t next year he should be able to do without his odious assistant, and that for this summer he had housekeeping-sugar enough. He utterly refused to enter into any coalition for the making of vinegar or beer. Towards the close of the sap season he tapped a yellow birch, by his Scotch neigh- bour's advice, drew from it thirty gallons in three days, boiled down that quantity into ten gallons, and set it to ferment in a sunny place, with a little potato yeast as the exciting cause. Of course the result was immensely too much vinegar for any possible household needs, considering that not even a cucumber bed was as yet laid out in the embryo garden. But now April, "the moon for breaking the snow-shoes," in Ojibbeway parlance, was advancing; patches of brown ground l)egan to appear under the hot sunlight, oozy and sloppy until the two-feet depth of frost was gradually exhaled. The dwellers in the shanty had almost forgotten the look of the world in colours, for so many months had it slept in white array. Robert could havo kissed the earliest knot of red and blue hepaticas which bloomed at the base of a log-heap. But he looked in vain for that eldest child of an English spring, the "wee modest crimson-tipped" daisy, or for the meek nestling primrose among the moss. And from the heaven's blue lift no musio of larks poured down ; no t\?itter of the chafifinch Ox* whistle of the thrush echoed from the IP'eening woods. Robert thought the blue-bird's voice a iX)or apology for his native songsters. ^ ^- He had indeed little time for any reflections unconnected with hard work. The cedar swamp was shrinking before his axe, end yielding its fragrant timbers for the future house. From early monung till late at night the three men never ceased labour, *' v t : 190 CEDAB CREEK. /-.,.,i. -'..- ^ li ■ :,• ...; ..,.• ... .,,.■,. ,,.,,„ ,.„.:.. " Wid a horn in front, an' a ta^'l behind, there it goes," observed Andy, in allusion to the long oars projecting from rowlocks at each end. " An' now, Masther Robert, what'll become o' that in the rapids below the sawmill ? Sure 'twill be batthered in pieces, an' the water so mighty coorse intirely there ; enough to make chanevs of any raft." - ^ "'Twill be taken asunder, and the cribs sent down separately o\er the falls," replied Mr. Wynn. Arthur saw the operation by-and-by, and the hardy raftsmen shooting the rapids in what appeared to him circumstances of exciting peril. While he and all the disengaged dwellers at the "Corner" were as ^v^t looking on, a waggon came in sight from among the trees, and turned their curiosity into another channel. Gradlually it drew near, stumbling among the stumps and ruts, mth all sorts of language applied to the oxen. Arthur thought he had formerly seen that figure marching by the off-wheel. That peculiar gentleman-like and military air, even shouldering a handspike, could not be mistaken. : , ,. " I guess as how 'tis the Britisher oflScer as has took Davidson's betterments," said 'cute Zack ; " an' thar's womanfolks behind the waggon afoot. Wal, now, but I say I do pity them Britisher ladies > » . " Edith, my dear," he said, blandly, " I may be detained here for half an hour : I find that mine host, Mr. Bunting, has a very exact knowledge of the locality to which we are going. I think you both might be going on with the waggon ; your brother Avill follow in a minute or so when his smoke is finished, he says. Driver, you may go forward : an revoir, Edith." He kissed the tips of his fingers to his daughter gallantly, and passed into the bar again with a jaunty air. " If you will allow me to accompany you," said Arthm-, seeing that she hesitated, " you will do me a kindness, for I have rather a large pack to carry going home ; I can rest it on the waggon ; and Daisy Burn is more than half way to Cedar Creek." "Did I not tell you we would find out Arthur and Eobert?" said the child Jay, with an ecstatic clasp of her fingers upon young Wynnes. " You said you were afraid we should have no friends in the woods, but I knew that God would not let us be so forsaken as that." -' " '^■''- ^■'■'- * ; :r:'f;.-;i.i ^ lAnd the three walked on into the long vista of the concession line. ,.>,;. ,„:^': U.'i'. :f. ONE DAY IN JULY. 195 CHAPTER XXIX. ONE DAY IN JULY. A SUMMER more glorious than our settle s could have imagined, followed on the steps of the tardy spring. What serene skies — what brilliant sunshine — 'what tropical wealth of verdure! At every pore the rich earth burst forth into fruit and flower. Two months after the grass had been sunk deep beneath snow, sheets of straw- berries were spread in the woods, an exteixiporized feast. One might think that the cottage at Cedar Creek had also bloomed under the fair weather ; for when July — hottest of Cana- dian months — came, the dingy wooden walls had assumed a dazzling white, with a roof so grey that the shingles might have been verita- ble slates. Eesemblance to the lime-washed houses of home was Robert's fancy ; which, in Zack Bunting's mind, was a perverted taste, as he recommended a brilliant green groundwork, picked out with yellow, such canary-bird costume being favourite in Yankee villages. The few feet of garden railed off in front are filled with bushes of the fragrant Canadian wild-rose ; yellow violets, lobelias, and tiger-lilies, transplanted thither from the forest glades, appear to flourish. The brothers had resolved that Linda should not miss her flower beds and their gentle care even in bush-life. For the rest, the clearing looks wild enough, notwithstanding all civilizing endeavours. That mighty wall of trees has not been pushed back far, and the debris of the human assault, lying on the son in vast wooden lengths, seems ponderous even to discourage- ment. Bobert has been viewing it all through stranger eyes for the last week, since he heard the joyful news that they for whom ho has worked have landed at Montreal ; he has been putting finish- ing touches wherever he coulqk yet how unfinished it is. i If If ,it ■ i'. m:4 lii 1 19G CEDAR CREEK. To-day, Andy alone is in possession ; for his young masters have gone to meet tlie expected waggon, as far as Peter Logan's — nay, to Greenock if necessary. He has abundance of occupation for the interval : first, to hill up a patch of Indian corn with the hoe, draw- ing the earth into little mounds five or six inches high round eacli stalk ; and after that, sundry miscellaneoub duties, among which milking the cow stands prominent. She is enjoying herself below in the beaver meadow, while the superior animal Andy toils hard among the stumps, and talks to himself, as wont." " Why, thin, I wondher what th'ould masther 'uU say to our clearin', an' how he'll take to the life, at all at all ; he that niver did a hand's turn yet in the way of business, only 'musin' himself wid papers an' books as any gintleman ought; how he'll stand seein' Masther Kobert hoein' and choppin' like a labourin' man ? More be token, it's little o' that thim pair down at Daisy Bui'n does. I b'lieve they 'spect things to grow ov thimselves 'athout any cultivatin'. An' to see that poor young lady hillin' the corn herself — I felt as I'd like to ' both the captin an' his fine idle son — so I would, while I coula .and over 'em." Ho executed an aerial flourish with his hoe, and the minute after found practical occupation for it in chasing two or three great swine who were poking at the fence, as if they longed for the sweet young corn-stalks within. Whence the reader may perceive that Mr. Wynn had become proprietor of certain items of live stock ; inclu- ding sundry fowls, which were apt to keep all parties in exhilirating exercise by their aggressions on the garden. . .^s^; * " Musha, but 'tis very hot intirely," soliloquized Andy, returning from the aggravated stern-chase of the swine, and lifting his grass hat to fan his flushed face. " The sun don't know how to obsarve a maydium at all in this counthry, as our poor old Irish sun does. We're aither freezin' or fryin' the year round." Hereupon, as re- minded by the last-named experience, he threw down his hoe, and went to settle the smouldering fires m the fallow, where one or two ONE DAY IN JULY. 197 isolated heaps of brush were slowly consumiug, while their bluish smoke curled up lazily in the still air. " It's quare to think of how lonesome I am this minnit," continued he, as he blackened himself in ministering to the heaps. " Sorra livin* bowI to spake to nearer than the captin's, barrin' the cow, an' the pigs, an' thim savidges down at the swamp." Here he made an infuriate swing backwards of a bush, fortu- nately in his hand ; but it was against no Indian foe : on the con- trary, his own shoulders received the blow, and another to make sure ; whereby an individual enemy was pasted to the spot where its proboscis had pierced shirt and skin, and half a dozen others saved themselves by flight — ^being the dreaded black flies of Canada. " Why, thin, ye murtherin' vUlins, will ye follow me into the smoke itself?" said Andy, whirling his bush in the air to disperse their squadrons. " I thought ye wor satisfied wid most 'atin' us last week, an' blindin' the young gintlemin, an lavin' lumps on their faces as big as ha-zel-nuts. Betune yerselves an' the miss kitties, it's hard for a man to do a sthroke of work, wid huntin' ye. Ay, ye may well moo, ye crathur below in the meadow, that has only horns an' a tail to fight 'em. An' sure, may be 'tain"t the cow at all that's roarin', only one of them big frogs that bellows out of the swamp, for all the world as if they was bullocks." To settle the question, he walked away down to the beaver- meadow, now an expanse of the most delicious level green, and found that the cow had protected herself against all winged adver- saries by standing in the creek up to her throat in the cool water ; where she chewed the cud tranquilly, and contemplated with an impassive countenance the construction of a canoe at a little dis- tance, by two red men and their squaws. Andy paused, and looked on likewise. One wompn was stripping a large white birch of its bark, with a sharp knife ; she scraped away the internal coating as a tanner would i 11 ai !; i m m 198 CEDAR CREEK. scrape leather, and laid the pieces before the other squaw, whose business was to stitch thorn together with bast. Tho men, mean- while, prepared a sausage-shaped framework of very thin cedar ribs, tying oTery point of junction with firm knots ; for the aforesaid bast is to tho Indian what glue and nails ure to the civilized workman. " Throth, only for the birch threes I dunno what they'd do ; for out of its skin they make houses, an* boats, an* pots to bile vittles, an' candles to bum, an' omamints like what Mr. Bobert has above." A pause, as he watched the bark turned over tho ribs, and wedge- shaped pieces cut out to prevent awkward foldings near the gun- wale — all carried on in solemn silence. " Well, there's no manner of doubt but savages are great intirely at houldin' their tongues ; sure, may be it's no wondher, an' their langidge the quare sort it is, that they don't want to spake to each other but as little as they can help." Here tho nearest Indian raised his head, and appeared to listen to a distant sound ; a low word or two attracted the attention of the others, who also listened, and exchanged a few sentences, with a glance at Andy, whose curiosity was roused: and he asked, chiefly by signs, what it was all about. oriim n -. "Oxen — waggon," was the reply: "me hear driver. White man no have long ears." • -r Andy fled with precipitation to his neglected duties, while the red men laughed their low quiet laugh, knowing that the waggon they heard could not reach Cedar Creek in less than an hour. But at last it came. At last Linda, pressing eagerly forward upon Kobert's arm, had caught a first glimpse of their cottage home, and exclaimed, " Bob, how pretty ! Why, you told me it was a rough sort of a place : how very pretty !" " Well, you can't deny that the place is rough/* said he, after a pause of much satisfaction ; " look at the log-heaps — as tangled as a lady's work basket." 'IsMi ONE DAY IN JULY. 199 "Never mind the log-heaps; the house is neat enough for a picture ; and the view ! what a lovely placid lake I what islands I what grand woods !" ' Linda's speech was nothing but interjections of admiration for the next half-hour ; she would be charmed with every handiwork of the dear brothers who had wrought so hard for them And how were these repaid for that past toil, by the sweet mother's smile as she entered the neat little parlour, and was established in the rocking chair which Arthur had manufactured and cushioned with exceeding pains! The other furniture was rather scholastic, it is true, being a series of stools and a table, set upon rushen matting of Indian make ; the beams overhead were unceiled, and the hearth necessarily devoid of a grate. But the chimney bpace — huge. in proportion to the room — was filled with fragrant and graceful forest boughs ; and through the open casement window (Arthur hiid fitted the single sash on hinges, doorwise) looked in stray sprays of roses, breathing perfume. Mrs. Wynn was well satisfied with her exile at that moment, when she saw the loving faces of her sons about her again, in the home of their own raising. . . . A most joyful re-union I yet of that gladness which is near akin to tears. Robert would not give anybody a minute to think, or to grow sad. His father and George must walk with him all round the clearing and down to the beaver meadow. His acres of spring- burned fallow, his embryo garden, his creek and its waterfalls, must be shown off as separate articles of the exhibition. " Bob, what are these ?" The old gentleman stopped before an expanse of blackened stumps, among which a multitude of molehills diversified the soil. "Potatoes, sir. That's the Canadian way of raising them on new land — in hillh of five thousand to the acre. You see ridges would be out of the question, or any even system of culture, on account of the stumps and roots." " I suppose so," said Mr. Wynn, drily ; ** such ground must car- t 200 CEDAR CREEK. tainly require a peculiar method of working. I dare say you find it incumbent on you to forget all your Irish agriculture ?" " Well, I had a good deal to unlearn," answered Eobert. " I hoped to have had our logging-bee before your arrival, and then the farm would have looked tidier; but I could not manage " Do you mean to say the trees stood as thick here as they do there ? If so, you have done wonders already," said his father. "My poor boys, it was killing work." " Not at aU, sir," contradicted Kobert right cheerily ; " I enjoyed it after the first few weeks, as soon as I began to see my way. We've been quite happy this winter in the woods, though bush-life was so new and strange." " It seems to me simply to mean a permanent descent into the ranks of the labouring classes, without any of the luxuries of civiU- zation such as an English artizan would enjoy," said the old gentleman. , . : ** Except the luxury of paying neither rent nor taxes," rejoined Kobert, promptly. - ^^ ?f " You seem to have been carpenter, house-painter, wood-cutter, ploughman " i ^ iv ; : ; .^4^^^ " No, sir ; there isn't a plough on the premises, and I shouldn't know what to do with it if there were." : > <,ite. ' Had you no assistance in all this ?" • -^ Js** . i Oh yes ; invaluable help in Jacques Dubois, a lively little French Canadian from the * Comer,' whose indomitable esprit was worth more than the stronger physique of a heavy Anglo-Saxon. But come, sir, I hear the dinner beU." Which was the rattling of a stick on .n invalided kettle, com- monly used by Andy to sunmion his masters home. To impress the new arrivals with a sense of their resources, a feast, comprising e^ery accossible delicacy, had been prepared. Speckled trout from the lake, broiled in the hot wood ashes, Indian fashion ; wild fowl (( « ONE DAT IN JULY. 201 of various species, and wild fruits, cooked and au naturel, were the components. ; "I hardly thought you would have found time for strawberry cultivation," observed Mr. Wynn the elder. v > ■ ; i^y^ " And we have far more extensive strawberry beds, sir, than I ever saw in Ireland," said Kobert, with a twinkle of his eyes. " I'm thinking of turning in the pigs to eat a few pailfuls ; they are quite a drug for abundance." • " A raspberry tart !" exclaimed Linda j " and custards I Why, Bob!" ' ^ " Would you like to know a secret ?" — ^followed by a whisper. *' Nonsense ! not you !" They seemed to have other secrets to tell by-and-by, which re- quired the open air. The eleven months last gone past had brought many changes to both. And there they walked to and fro on the margin of the forest, until the moon's silver wheel rolled up over the dusk trees, and lit Cedar Creek gloriously. " What pure and transparent air !" exclaimed Linda, coming back to the present from the past. " Is your moonlight always laden with that sweet aromatic odour ?" > ^ v " Don't you recognise balm of Gilead ? Your greenhouse and garden plant is a weed here. Our pines also help in the fragrance you perceive." .V.^i-... .. . >-':,:-^ :, -;:.;r..'- -:■'-• :yr, ;•.;, " Kobert, I know that the red patches burning steadily yonder are the stumps you showed me ; but the half circular rings of fire, I don't understand them." « / "The niggers round the trunks of some trees," explained Robert. " That's a means we use for burning through timber, and 80 saving axe-work. Do you jiotice the moving light in the dis- tance, on the lake ? It comes from a pine-torch fixed in the bow of a canoe, by which an Indian is spearing fish." " Oh, have you Indians here ? how delightful ! I have always 80 longed to see a real live red man. Are they at all like Uncas and H 2 ;;;?ii %■ ili t :i:-:' i; : 1 'hi. i\ I .1 -i » ' If 'J ,1 -..»*■ 202 CEDAB CBEEK. Cliingachgook ? I shall pay them a visit first thing in the morning." " You'll be visited yourself, I imagine ;" and Eobert laughed. " You don't know the sensation your arrival has caused.", .., CHAPTEK XXX. VISITORS AND VISITED. :i'- v> . And next day Mrs. and Miss Wynn had indeed visitors. Up from the " Corner " trundled Mrs. Zack Bunting on the ox-sled, accom- panied by her son Nimrod, and by her daughter Almeria; and truly, but for the honour of bringing a vehicle, it had been better for her personal comfort to have left it at home. Dressed in the utmost finery they could command, and which had done duty on all festive occasions for years back, they lumbered up to the front door, where Linda was doing some work in the flower beds. " Good morning, Miss. Is your ma to hum ?" said Mrs. Zack, bestoAving a stare on her from head to foot. " I'm Miss Bunting, as you may have heerd Eobert speak on. This young lady is my daughter Almeria ; I guess you're older than her, though she's a good spell taller. Nim, call that boy to mind the oxen while you come in, or I've a notion they'll be makin' free with Miss's flowers here." . The boy was George Wynn, who came up slowly and supercili- ously in answer to Nim's shout, and utterly declined to take charge of the team, intimating his opinion that it was very good employ- ment for " swallow-tail " himself. Which remark alluded to the coat worn by Mr. Nimrod — a vesture of blue, with brass buttons, rendered farther striking by loose nankeen continuations^ and a green cravat. How insignificant was gentle Mrs. Wynn beside the Yankee woman's portly presence I How trifling her low voice in answer to VISITORS AND VISITED. 203 the shrill questioning ! Linda cast herself into the breach (meta- phorically), and directed the catechism upon herself. As for the young lady Almeria, she was quite satisfied to sit and stare with unwinking black eyes, occasionally hitching up her blue silk cape by a shrug of shoulder, or tapping the back of her faded pink bon- net against the wall, to push it on her head. Nim entered the room presently, and perched himself on the edge of a stool ; but his silent stare was confined to Linda's face, now flushed prettily through the clear skin with a mixture of anger and amuse- ment. •' •" ■ "' ■'■'^ *^"-' ' ■' ■■ ' ''''■'' " I guess now, that's the latest Europe fashion in yer gown ?'* taking up the hem of the skirt for closer inspection. " Half-a- dollar a yard 'twould be in Bytown, I reckon ; but it's too fine for a settler's wife, Miss. You've come to the right market for a hus- band, I guess ; gals is scarce in Grazelle township," with a knowing smile. The crimson mounted to Linda's brow, under the conjoint influence of Nimrod's stare and also of the entrance of another person, Sam Holt, who had come with the party yesterday from Mapleton. • v ' But in two minutes he had quietly turned the conversation, and repressed, as much as it was in man's power to do, Mrs. Bunting's interrogative propensities. .u^i^ ,f;j: i v r^ .:; -» " That's a washy, good-for-nothin' woman, that Mis' Wynn," was the visitor's judgment, as she departed in state on the ox-sled. " The young un's spryer ; but I'd like to be waitin' till they'd ha' the house clar'd up between 'em, wouldn't I ? Did you see that hired help o' theim, Almeria ?" " Yep, ma, an Irish girl, I guess. She was a-top o* the waggon yesterday." " So our Libby hain't no chance o' bein' took, 'less this young un should grow cockish, as 'most all Britisher helps does, when they gets a taste o' liberty. Wal, now, but I'd like to know what busi- ness them ladies has — ^for they're rael, an' no mistake, very dif- ■'il! it-, K u i m } 204 CEDAR CREEK. ferent from Mis' Davidson, with her hands like graters an' her v'ice like a loon's so loud an* hard — an' you may know the rael ladies by the soft hand an' the aisy Vice." Almeria rubbed her own knuckles, seeking for the symptom of gentle blood. " What business has they," continued Mrs. Zack, " away down here in the bush ? I guess they couldn't wash a tub o' clothes or fix a dinner for the men." " But they hadn't need to," put in Miss Almeria, out of sorts at finding her hand rough as a rasp. " They've helps, an' needn't never look at a tub." Which circumstance apparently set her in a sulk for the next mile. r Although Mrs. Davidson was failing in some lady-like require- ments, as the storekeeper's wife had indicated, and also came to visit her new neighbour in a homespun suit, the very antipodes of Mrs. Zack's attire of many colours, yet her loud cheery voice ^nd sensible face — with a possible friendship in it — ^were exceed- ingly pleasing, in contrast with the first visitor's nasal twang and " smart" demeanour. Mrs. Wynn would like to see her often ; but the Scotchwoman was thrifty and hardworking, with a large family to provide for: she could not afford to pay visits, and scarcely to receive them. " I wadna ha' come down the day, but thinkin' mayhap ye wad be wantin' help o' some sort ; an' if there's anything we could do- Sandy or me and the lads — just send your lad rinnin' up ; we'll be glad enough. Sabbath, may be, I'd ha' time to tak' a stroll down : ye ken there's na kirk." Ah, it was one of Mrs. Wynn's greatest troubles in coming to the bush that there were no public means of grace, and that no sound of the church-going bell was ever heard in these solitudes. Late in the afternoon Linda was able to find Kobert, and bring him with her towards the Indian encampment Sam Holt joined them. VISITORS AND VISITED. 205 " Now for my first introduction into savage life : I hope I shan't be disappointed." "Unreasonable expectations always are," observed Mr. Holt. " Don't expect to find Fenimore Cooper's model Indians. But I believe them in the main to be a fine people, honest and truthful where * civilization' has not corrupted them." " Is it not dreadful that the first effect of European contact with original races everywhere should be destructive ?" said Linda ; " even of the English, who have the gospel !" l . . ni " Yes : how sad that they who bear Christ's name should disho- nour him and thwart his cause among men, by practical disregard of his precepts. I shouldn't wonder if the red man hated the white man with a deadly hatred ; for to him is owing the demoralization and extinction of a noble race — if it were by no other means than the introduction of the * fire-water,' which has proved such a curse." "I have heard," said Eobert, "that in the Indian languages there are no words which could be employed in swearing ; and the native must have recourse to the tongue of his conquerors if he would thus sin." "And has no effort been made to Christianize them?" asked Linda. " I have visited the Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron," said Mr. Holt, " where the remains of several Indian tribes have been col- lected by Sir Francis Head, with a view to their civilization ; and I can hardly say that the experiment impressed me favourably. It is the largest fresh-water island in the world, more than a hundred miles long, and serves as a fine roomy cage for the aborigines, who support themselves by hunting, fishing, and a little agriculture, and receive those luxuries which to us are necessaries, such as blankets and clothes, as annual presents firom government. They seemed miserably depressed and stolid ; but the schools are well attended, and we may indulge some hope about the rising generation." 206 CEOAB CBEEE. j " They seem too apathetic to improve," said Eobert. " Still, it is our duty to work, however unpromising the material. I was pleased with a service which I attended in one of their log- schoolhouses. Nothing could be more devout than the demeanour of the Indians ; the women's sweet plaintive hymns haunted me for a long while." " That's curious ; for in their wild state I can't make out that they sing at all," remarked Eobert. " The noise they call music is far more like the growling of beasts ; and their only instrument, that I have ever seen, is a sort of drum with one head." r "Hush, here are some of them," said Linda. In a glade of the forest, two young girls were cutting wood, wielding hatchets as though well accustomed to their use, and dis- playing finely formed arms at every movement. For, as a general rule, the hardworking Indian woman is more strongly developed in proportion than her lazy lord. Lounging against a pine close by, was a tall, slender young man, attired in a buffalo skin cloak, of which the head and fore-legs portion hung down with a ragged effect ; from under his arm projected an ornamented pipe. " I think he might work, and the ladies look on," observed Linda. She could hardly repress an exclamation as he turned his face towards her. Bound his eyes were traced two yellow circles, and his mouth was inclosed by a parenthesis of vermillion; an ara- besque pattern adorned each dusky cheek. *' Isn't he a brilliant fellow ?" whispered Eobert. " A lover, you may be certain, who has attired himself thus to come out here and display his painted face to these girls.'* " But he does not appear to speak a single word to them." " Oh, they do a good deal with the eyes," he answered, laughing. " Now that I look at the girls, one of them is quite pretty, and I fancy I can detect a blush through the olive of her cheek." " What a hideous custom that painting the face is !" ** I can't agree with you ; that young fellow would look much SUNDAY IN THE FOREST. 207 ivorse if he washed the paint oJBf, and he knows it. You*d regret the change yourself, when you saw him look mean, dirty, and insignifi- cant, as at ordinary times ; for rarely he decorates himself thus." " Well, I beg you won't carry your liking so far as to practise it, nor Mr. Holt either." Sam bowed obediently. Perhaps nothing in the camp amused the European young lady more than the infants, the " papooses," in their back-board cradles, buried up to the armpits in moss, and protected overhead by an arch of thin wood, whence hung various playthings for the inmate. ** Now I can comprehend the use of this rattle, or even of the tiny mocassins," paid Mr. Holt, philosophically, as they investigated the pendants to the papoose. " But why this piece of deer-leather, with bits of stag-horn attached ? Except as a charm " Here nature answered the ingenious speculation, by the little coppery hand put forth to grasp the debated toy, and champ it in the baby mouth, after the fashion of our own immemorial coral-and- belk* This was the beginning of Linda's acquaintance with, and interest for the poor Indians. She afterwards saw much of them in their wigwams and at their work. A little kindness goes far towards winning th j Indian heart. They soon learned to regard all at Cedar Creek as friends, while to the young lady they gave the admiring cognomen of Ahwao, the Eose. CHAPTEK XXXI. SUNDAY IN THE FOBEST. Linda soon learned to hail it with delight. For the overwhelming labours of the other six days were suspended during this bright first : the woodman's axe lay quietly in its niche by the grindstone, the hoe bung idly in the shed ; Robert shook off sundry cares :'■ .1 )' '■ : J m 11 rl^Hn m ^^^I^^E 1 1 208 CEDAB CREEK. ,; which were wont to trouble his brotherly brow from Monday till Saturday, and almost to obscure the fact of his loving little sister to his brotherly eyes ; and was able to enjoy that rarity in bush-life, an interval of leisure. She found a considerable development in these brothers of hers. From coping with the actual needs and stern realities of existence, from standing and facing fortune on their own feet, so to speak, they had mentally become more muscular. The old soft life of comparative dependence and conventionality was not such as (iducates sturdy characters or helpful men. This present life was just the training required. Linda discovered that Kobert and Arthur were no longer boys to be petted or teased, as the case might be ; but men in the highest attributes of manhood — fore- thought, decision, and industry. It was on Sunday that she got glimpses of their old selves, and that the links of family affection were rivetted and brightened ; as in many a home that is not Canadian. For the rest ; these Sundays were barren days. The imcommon toil of the past week was not favourable to spirituality of mind; and which of all the party could become teacher to the others ? Mr. Wynn had some volumes of sermons by old orthodox divines, brought out indeed in his emigration with a view to these sabbath emergencies. When prayers were read, and the usual psalms and lessons gone through, he would mount his silver spectacles, fix him- self in a particularly stately attitude in his high-backed chair, and commence to read one of the discourses (taking out a paper mark before hand) in a particularly stately voice. It is not exceeding the truth to say that George oftentimes was driven to frantic efforts to keep himself awake ; and even Arthur felt the predisposition of Eutychus comft stealing over him. Sometimes the Davidsons came down. The sturdy Scotchman had all his national objections to " the paper :" and when convinced that it was better to hear a printed sermon than none at all, he SUNDAY IN THE FOKEST. 209 kept a strict out look on the theology of the discourse, which made Mr. Wynn rather nervous. A volume of sermons was alto- gether interdicted as containing doctrine not quite orthodox ; as he proved in five minutes to demonstration, the old gentleman having fled the polemic field ignominiously. "Kobert, in all your dreams for a settlement, have you ever tliought of the church there ought to be ?" " Thought of it ? — to be sure, and planned the site. Come along, and 111 show it to you — just where the tinned spire will gleam forth prettily from the woods, and be seen from all sides of the pond. Come ; I'll bring you an easy way through the bushes :" and as she was leaning on his arm for an afternoon stroll, with the other dear brother at her left hand, of course she went where he wished. " When I was out with Argent last winter," observed Arthur, " we came to a lot of shanties, called by courtesy a village (with some grand name or other, and intending, like all of them, to be some day at least a capital city) ; where they were beginm'ng to build a church. It was to be a very liberal-minded affair, for all sects were to have it in turn till their own places were built : and on this understanding all subscribed. Odd subscriptions! The paper was brought to Argent and me, he gave a few dollars ; most people gave produce, lumber, or shingles, or so many days' work, or the loan of oxen, and so on." " And as they do everything by ' bees,* from building a house down to quilting a counterpane, I suppose they had a bee for this,'* said Linda. : ;^ < jk " Exactly so. But it seemed a great pull to get it on foot at all. New settlers never have any money — ^like ourselves," jauntily added Arthur. " I never thought I could be so happy with empty pockets. Don't be deceived by that jingling — it is only a few keys which I keep for purposes of deception. Haven't I seen uncle Zack's eyes glisten, and I am certain his mouth watered, when he thought the music proceeded from red cents !" II •t;i i If \ ?''■ L . « ■■:|;i {-■ it; *pN ill • 111 ti 210 CEDAR CREEK. " But why must our church have a tin spire ?" asked Linda, by- and-bye. " It would remind me of some plaything, Bob.'* " Because it's national," was the reply. " But you needn't be afraid ; if we have a shed like a whitewashed bam for the first ten years, with seats of half-hewn logs, we may deem ourselves fortunate and never aspire to the spire. Excuse my pun." " Oh, did you intend that for a pun ?'* asked Linda, innocently. " I beg your pardon for not laughing in the proper place. But how about the minister of these bush churches. Bob ?" " Well, as the country opens up and gets cleared, we may reckon on having some sort of minister. I mean some denomination of preacher, within twenty-five or thirty miles of us ; and he will think nothing of riding over every Sunday. It's quite usual." " He's a zealous man that does it in the bitter winter, with the weather some degrees below zero," remarked Arthur. " How happy he must feel to be able to deny himself, and to suffer for Jesus' sake," said Linda, softly. "Robert, I often think could we do nothing down in that wretched place they *iill the * Comer,' where nobody appears to know anything about God at all? Couldn't we have a Sunday school, or a Bible class, or some- thing of that sort ? It hardly appears right to be Christians an . yet hold our tongues about our Saviour among all these dark souls." The thought had been visiting Robert too, during some of his Sundays ; but had been put aside from a false timidity and fear of man. *' How holy must be my life, how blameless my actions, if I set up to teach others ?" was one deterring consideration. As if he could not trast his God's help to keep him what a Christian ought to be I ** We wiU think over it, Linda," he said, gravely. An opening seemed to come ere next sabbath. On the Saturday arrived at the " Comer," the worthy itinerant preacher who occasion- ally visited there, and was forthwith sent up to the Wynns' shanty foi entertainment by Zack Bunting ; who, however willing to SUNDAY IN THE FOREST. 211 enjoy the eclat of the minigter's presence, was always on the look- out for any loophole to save his own purse ; and had indeed been requested by Mr. Wynn to commit the pastor to his hospitality when next he came round. Little of the cleric in appearance or garb was about this man of God. A clear-headed, strongly convic- tioned person, with his Bible for sole theologic library, and a deep sense of the vast consequence of his message at his heart, he dis- mounted from the sturdy Canadian horse whic i his own hands were used to attend, and entered the emigrant's dwelling with apostolic salutation — " Peace be to this house." " Very unlike our old-country ministers, my dear," said gentle Mrs. Wynn to her daughter ; " and I fear I never could get reconciled to that blanket coat and top-boots ; but he's a good man — a very good man, I am sure. I found him speaking to Andy Callaghan in the kitchen about his soul ; and really Andy looked quite moved by his earnestness. It seems he makes it a rule never to meet any person without speaking on the subject : I must say I highly approve of that for a minister." >' ./ vi;; ta^^i .^ ■ -A^^v . What a strange congregation was gathered in Zack Bunting's large room next noon! All sorts of faces, all sorts of clothes. Krs. Zack and Almeria in rainbow garments ; the Davidsons in sen- sible homespun ; the Wynns in old-country garb, were prominent. News had gone far and near that preaching was to be enjoyed that sabbath at the " Comer ;" and from daybreak it had made a stir along the roads. Ox-sleds, waggons, mounted horses, came thither apace by every available path through the woods. Old men and maidens, young men and matrons and children, crowded before the preacher, as he spoke to them from the verse — " Peace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.^* Now an emphasis was laid on those last two words that might well niake hypocrites wince. And Zack Bunting had been singing with considerable fervour various hymns totally unsuited to his state of soul ; as proprietor of the meeting-place, it became him to III m ' «' ?^.' 212 CEDAR CREEK. set an example cf devotion — besides, was not religion a highly res- pectable thing ? Among other hymns had been that beautiful out- pouring of individual faith and love — , • ♦i'' -"l-.,l *A' ' Jesus, my all, to heaven is gone. He whom I fix my hopes upon.' All this had Zack sung unflinchingly, as though one syllable of it were true for him ! The preacher dealt with the evil faithfully. He told his hear- ers that the common words repeated continually and often thought- lessly, ** Our Lord Jesus Christ," contained in themselves the veiy essence of God's glorious salvation. " Jesus," Saviour — He whose precious blood was shed to take away the sin of the world, and who takes away our sins for ever, if only we believe in him : " Christ," the Divine title, whose signification gave value inconceivable to the sacrifice on Calvary ; the Anointed One, the Prince of the kings of the earth ; " Our Lord," our Master — ^the appropriation clause which makes him and all the blessings of his gospel truly ours for ever, by faith in his name. In simpler words than are written here it was told ; and the grand old story of peace, the good news of all the ages, that which has gladdened the hearts of unnumbered millions with the gladness which death does not extinguish, but only "brighten into celestial glory — how God can be "just, and yet the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus ;" how there is no pre- paration needed for the reception of this vast boon of pardon, but simply the pre-requisite of being a sinner and needing a Saviour ; how all present might there, that hour, become forgiven souls, children of the royal family of heaven, heirs of God, and joint heirs of Christ, by means no more laborious than believing on Jesus as the Pardoner, coming to him in praye'* for his great gift of forgive- ness, and taking it, being sure of it from his hands, as a beggar takes alms for no deservings of his own. The preacher spoke all this with soul-felt earnestness ; it was the message of his life. HOW THE CAPTAIN CLEARED HIS BUSH. 213 Even when the motley congregation drifted away down the creaking narrow stairs and into the open sunny air, where their motley vehicles stood among the stumps, waiting, they could not at once shake off the impression of those earnest words. In amidst their talk of fall wheat, and burning fallow, and logging bees, would glide thoughts from that sermon, arresting the worldliness with presentations of a mightier reality still ; with suggestions of something which perhaps indeed was of deeper and more vital interest than what to eat, or what to drink, or wherewithal to be clothed. It < Plenty of invitation had the pastor as to his further progress. Few settlers but would have deemed it an honour to have his shanf ' turned for the nonce into a church. Many there were accus- tomed to the means of grace weekly at home, who pined unavail- ingly for the same blessings in the bush. Ah, our English sabbaths ! how should we thank God for them I " ' ' Kobert plucked up heart, and asked two or three seriously disposed young men to meet him every Sunday afternoon in the cottage of Jacques Dubois, for the purpose of reading the Bible together. Linda's plan of a Scripture class for girls was rather slower of realization ; owing partly to a certain timidity, not un- natural in a gently nurtured girl, which made her shrink from encountering the quick-witted half-republican, and wholly insub- ordinate young ladies of the " Corner." CHAPTER XXXII. . HOW THE CAPTAIN CLEARED HIB BUSH. The next great event in our settlers' history was their first logging bee, preparatory to the planting of fall wheat. The ladies had been quite apprehensive of the scene, for Bobert and Arthur could give uo pleasant accounts of the roysterings and revelry which generally « 1 214 .rY:;K- ?^-tU CEDAR CREEK. distinguished these gatherings. But they hoped, hy limiting the amcont of liquor furnished to sufficient for refreshment, though not sufficient for intoxication, that they could in a measure control the evil, as at their raising bee four months previously. The mass of food cooked for the important day required so much extra labour, as sorely to discompose the Irish damsel who acted under Linda's directions. Miss Biddy Murphy had already begun to take airs on herself, and to value her own services extravagantly. Life in the bush was not her ideal in coming to America, but rather high wages, and perchance a well-to-do husband ; and, knowing that it would be difficult to replace he^. she thought she might be indolent and insolent with impunity. Linda's mo l her never knew of all the hard household work which her fair fragile girl wont througli in these days of preparation, nor what good reason the roses had for deserting her cheeks. Mamma should not be vexed by hearing of Biddy's defeciion ; and there was an invaluable and indignant coadjutor in Audy. Everybody was at the bee. Zack Bunting and his team, David- son and his team, and his tall sons ; Captain Armytage and Mr. Keginald ; Jacques Dubois and another French Cana-'lian; a couple of squatters from the other side of the lake ; altogether two dozen men were assembled, with a fair proportion of oxen. It vf as a burning summer day : perhaps a hundred degrees in the sun at noon. What a contrast to the season which had witnessed the fall of the great trees now logging into heaps. Kobert could hardly believe his me'Jiory, that for three months since the year began, the temperature of this very place had been below the freezing point. Mr. Kegiiiald Armytago volunteered to be grogbos, an office which suited his ' - loafing" propensities, since his duties consisted in carrying about a pail of water and a bottle of whiskey to the knots of workmen. His worthy father's position was almost as or- namental, for after one or two feeble efforts with a handspike, he HOW THE CAPTAIN CLEARED HIS BUSH. 215 went to talk with Mr. Wynn the elder— chiefly of a notable plan which he had for clearing a belt of wood lying between his farm- house and the lake, and which quite shut out all view. " You see that Scotch fellow had no taste about his place, eh ? He just thought of the vulgar utilitarian facts of the farm as it Were ; but for the cultivation of the eye, the glorious influences of land- scape, he had no thought. Daisy Bum might as well be in the bottom of a pit ; all one can see is the sky and the wal^s of forest outside the clearing. Now my plan is — ^Keginald, my boy," as the grogbos passed within hearing distance, " give me th^ cup. The day is sultry to an extreme, eh ?'* Having refreshed his throat, he proceeded : " My plan is, to set on fire that strip of forest, eh ? I uever could abide the slow work of the axe. With proper precau- tions, such as engineers use along the new rail-lines, the burning might be kept within bounds, eh?" • ' ^ ^ Mr. Wynn, who knew nothing at all about the matter, cour- teously assented. " . . 5V. " Just look at liiy father, the glorious old gentleman, how he stands like a general overseeing a lot of pioneers,'* said Eobert to Arthur, as they passed one another. " Wonder what he and that drone are conversing about so long." *' I heard Armytage saying he would clear the belt of his forest on the lake with fire," was the reply. " In which case we may look out." " Whew !" Robert whistled a long note. But his gang of team- sters wanted him and his handspike, so he went on. Each yoke of oxen had four men attached to it, for the purpose of rolling the logs on top of each other, and picking the ground clear aftei them ; which last means gathering all chips and sticks into the pile like- wise. An acre to each team is considered a fair day's work. Eobert was so busy as quite to forget the Captain and his alarming method of clearing, thenceforth. By evening, something had been done towards disentangling iii :• I ml liiil J' f ' »„ ■ h mlI Lei 1 III \m M Ik 21G CEDAR CREEK. •■^■-^?■^, ''"^if'' ■ ■■*g. ■■ Cedar Cre^k. The trees, which had lain about at every conceiv- able angle, in the wildest disorder, were rolled into masses ready for burning, through six acres of the clearing. The men had worthily earned their supper. In the old shanty it was laid out, on boards and tressels from end to end. The dignified Mr. Wynn of Dunore took the chair ; Captain Aymytage was vice, or croupier. As to attendance, the Irish damsel struck work at the most critical junc- ture, and refused to minister to them in the article of tea. The ever-ready Andy, just in with blackened hands from his long day's fieldwork, washed them hurriedly, and becamo waiter for the nonce; having first energetically declared that if he was Biddy Murphy, he'd be 'shamed to ate the bread he didn't aim ; and that she might go home to her mother as soon as she liked, for an ili- gant young lady as she was. Zack Bunting overheard the strife, and the same night, on his return home, dropped a hint to the girl Libby — short for Liberia — ^his ^vife's orphan and penniless niece, who dwelt with them as a servant, and whose support they were anxious to get off their hands ; and so, to her own prodigious astonishment, the recalcitrant Biddy found herself superseded, and the American help hired a day or two afterwards. "The whole affair of the bee was not so formidable as you thought," said Bobert to his sister, subsequently. They were toge- ther in a canoe upon the pond, enjoying a tranquil afternoon, and ostensibly fishing. " Oh no, not so bad. You know I saw very little of your hive, except indeed the storekeeper's son, who was dressed so fantas- tically, and who would come offering his help in my cookery." " I saw you talking to Jackey Dubois. Could you make any- thing of his French ?" t - " Well, I tried, and of coui'se could imderstand him ; but the accent is very queer. He calls Canada always Conodo ; in fact he puts * o' for * a ' and * i ' constantly. The article * la' turns into * lo,* * voir ' becomes * voar.' That puzzles one — and the nasal twang HOW THE CAPTAIN CLEARED HIS BUSH, 217 besides. I wonder y^hy that is so imiversal. Even your nice fiiend Mr. Holt is affected by it, though slightly." " He told me once that it is a national peculiarity ; and no mat- ter what pains a man takes to preserve himself or his children from it, insensibly it grows in the pronunciation. He believes that something in the climate affects the nasal organs ; he predicts it for me, and I suppose for all of us." ^'I hope not Eobert, I think the foliage on the shores is changing colour alretuiy." " I daresay ; the maple blushes scarlet very early. Ah, wait till you see the Indian summer, with its gorgeous tinting and soft pink mists." a, y ,^ , - And here Bobert jerked into the boat a fine speckled trout caught by the bait of a garden worm. He had captured half a dozen in half an hour. " One would think the mists were come already," said Linda, still gazing at the waved outline of the shore. " There seems to be fog away yonder." " The Captain burning his fallow, I presume," said Robert, raising Lis eyes from his hook. But the smoke was larger than that would account for. " We will paddle a little nearer and investigate," said he, laying down his tackle. A dread suspicion stole into his mind, which whitened his very lips. They approached and coasted ; the smell of burning wood be- coming stronger — the smoke hanging over those headlands denser. It was as he feared — the forest was on fire. 1 1 ,' !I2 218 CEDAB CBEEE. «.M.r '-'■ ;v;-,. ;-'^t /'-,,■ . :■ ■,(■ -*■■„ ;'■';'•?•/ ;■ , 1 ( OHAPTEE XXXm. THE FOBEST ON FIBE. KoBEET drew his paddle into the canoe, and sat perfectly stiU for some moments, gazing towards the fire and taking in its circum- stances. They could hear the dull roar of the blaze distinctly, and even caught a glimpse of its crimson glare through an opening in the tall pines fringing the lake. It must have been burning a couple of hours to have attained such mastery. Dark resinous smoke hung heavily in the air : a hot stifling gust of it swept down on the canoe. i s Jvj-^ ^ ; ■ " The wind is towards the pond, most providentially," said Robert, taking up his paddle, and beginning to stroke the water vigorously towards home. ** The burning ma^ do no harm ; but fire is a fearful agent to set afoot. I'm sure the Captain heartily wishes his kindling undone by this time." " Is there no danger to the farm, Robert ?" asked his sister, who had become blanched with fear. " I never heard such a terrible sound as that raging and crackling." ** To Daisy Bum none, I should say ; for of course the man had sense enough to fire the bush only a long way down in front. an extensive clearing rather, round the house, and the breeze will keep away the blaze." " Thank God," fervently ejaculated Linda. " I wish we could bring Miss Armytage and little Jay to the Creek while it lasts. Wouldn't you go across for them, Bob ? I know they must be frightened." > Robert hardly heard her, and certainly did not take in the im- port of her words. With some wonder at his set face and earnest watch along shore, she did not press her wish. He was looking at THE FOEEST ON FIRE. 219 the belt of fat resinous pines and balsams, dry a*i chips from the long summer droughts and tropical heats, which extended along from the foot of Armytage*s farm eren to the cedar swamp ; he was feeling that the slight wind was blowing in a fair direction for the burning of this most inflammable fuel, and consequently the endangering of his property on the creek. A point or two from the east of south it blew ; proved by the strong resinous smell wafted towards the landing cove. " Bob, you're forgetting the trout and the tackle," as he jumped ashore, helped her out, and hurried up the beaten path beside the beaver meadow, "Never mind; I want to see Holt," was his answer. " If any man can help, 'tis he." : ; - ; > - " Then there is danger !" She still thought of the Daisy Bum I people. Before they reached the house, they met Mr. Holt and balf a dozen Indians. v; ^■^ ^, ;■ : " We must bum a patch of bmshwood, to deprive the fire of fuel," said the former. " These Indians have done the like on the I prairies westward. It is worth trying, at all events." - ^ ^ ^ "Go up to my mother, Linda; there's nothing to be much I alarmed for as yet ; I hope this plan of Holt's may stop its pro- gresSi rU be at the house as soon as I can, tell her ;" and he ran after the others, down to the mouth of the creek, where a strip of I alluvial land, covered with bushes and rank grass, interrapted the belt of firs and cedars. Calling in fire as an ally against itself seemed to Robert very perilous ; but the calm Indians, accustomed to wilderness exigencies, sei about the protective burning at once. The flame easily ran through the dry brushwood; it was kept within bounds by cutting down the shrubs where it might spread iurther than was desirable. Soon a broad blackened belt lay beside the creek, containing nothing upon which the fire could fasten. I Axes were at work to widen it still further. "The wind has risen very much. Holt," said Robert, as they felt lliot currents of air sweep past them. 'I f: 220 CEDAR CBEEE. ** Just the result of the rarified atmosphere over the flames," he answered They spoke little : the impending risk was too awful. For once, the white man suWitted himself to the guidance of tlio red. To prevent the fire from crossing the creek was the great object. The water itself, perhaps a hundred feet wide, would be an ineffectual barrier ; such fierce flame would overleap it. Therefore the Indians had burned the left bank, and now proceeded to burn the right. Indomitably self-possessed,, cool, and silent, they did precisely what met the emergency, without flurry or confusion. All this time the fire was advancing behind the green veil of woods. Volumes of thick smoke were borne off across the pond, alarming the dwellers in distant shanties and oases of clearing, with suggestion of the most terrific danger that can befall a settler in the bush. Before sunset the conflagration came in sight of Cedar Creek. Marching resistlessly onward, to the sound of great detona- tions of crashing and crackling timber, and its own vast devouring roar, the mighty fire presented a front of flame thirty feet higher j than the tree tops. Daylight went down before that huge glaie. The low hanging clouds were crimsoned with a glow, not from the I sinking sun, but from the billows of blaze beneath. As the dusk deepened, the terrors of the scene intensified by contrast, though in reality the triumphant fire recoiled from that blackened space | fringing the stream, where it must die for want of fuel. To prevent its spreading up to the concession line, and catching! the forest there, and perhaps destroying the whole township, all the men in the neighbourhood had assembled to cut down trees, and leave a barrier of vacancy. If the wind had not been blowing fromi that direction, it is improbable that their endeavours would havel been sufficient to keep back the burning. The crest-fallen Captainl Armytage, author of all the mischief, wielded an axe among! 1' im. Truly he had created a view of black smoking poles and| t i^i^rful char d vistas before his dwelling. Whether that were better than the utilitarian Scotchman's green woods, he did not sayl THE FOREST ON TIBE. 221 i-.li i:. ^:t ' tk just now, nor have spirit even to answer Davidson's sarcastic remarks on his " muckle clearin'." Far into the night, the graat gaunt boles of trees stood amid wreathing flame. When all risk was over that it would communicate further, and destroy the garden or the house, Kobert and the rest could admire its magnificence, and Sam Holt could tell of other forest-burnings of which he had heard, especially of the great fire which occurred in the year 1825, and consumed about two hundred square miles of woods on the Miramichi River in New Brunswick, left fourteen houses standing in the town of Newcastle, and de- stroyed five hundred people. Two thousand were thus reduced to pauperism. " Such things are never heard of in Europe. "Why are these forests more inflammable than those in the old world ?" asked Mr. Wynn the elder. " Because the drought and heat of the climate are so much greater," answered Sam Holt ; " and the preponderance of pines, loaded to the end of every leaf and twig with pitch and resin, affords uncommon food for fire." Then as to the cause ; he considered it could neyer be spon- taneous combustion, but always accident, unless, indeed, in an exceptional case like the present, said Mr. Holt, sotto voce. Settlers, burning brush heaps, or logging, sometimes permit the flame to run along the ground into the bush ; and in dry weather entrance was sufficient. The boundary fences of farms were often consumed in this way, and more extensive mischief might follow. For days the charred chaos of timber poles and fallen trunks gave forth such heat and flickering flames as to be unapproachable. Zack's Yankee brain had a scheme for utilizing the ashes, if only lie had machinery big enough for converting all into potash and pearlash. This man was old Mr. Wynn's special aversion. There was indeed little in common between the well-bred European I gentleman, who always, even in these poor circumstances, wore the iii \ H i \ f mm •,'i m 222 CEDAR GBEEK. whitest linen (he never knew how Linda toiled over those neat shirt-fronts and ruffles), and kept up the convenances of society in the bush, and had a well-educated range of thought — between all this and the Yankee storekeeper, who wore no Unen at all, nor had the faintest idea of the usages of the poUte world, nor an idea which might not be paralleled in the mental experience of a rat in a barn. " Get," and " grasp," were the twin grooves of his life. Unconscious of the antipathy, Zack would saunter up to Cedar Creek sometimes of an evening, and, if not intercepted, would march straight into the parlour where the ladies sat, and fix his feet on the wooden chinmey-piece, discharging tobacco juice at intervals into the fire with unerring labial aim. Mr. Wynn's anger at the intrusion signified nothing, nor could a repellent manner be understood by Zack without some overt act, which a strained respect for hospitality prevented on the part of the old gentleman. " Well, Robert, how you could permit that man to walk with you for the last half hour I do not know." Mr. Wynn stood on the threshold, looking a complete contrast to the shuffling, retreating figure of the Tank Yankee striding over to the road. " I assure you it is not for the pleasure I take in his society, sir ; but he gives me useful hints. We were talking just now of potash, and I showed him my new rail-fences ; he has rather put me out of conceit with my week's work because it is of basswood, which he says does not hold." " Are those the rails which I helped to split ?" he it noticed here that Mr. Wynn the elder could not bear to be totally dependent on his sons, nor to live the life of a faineant while they laboured so hard ; he demanded some manual task, and believed himself of considerable use, while they had often to undo his work when he turned his back ; and at all times the help was THE FOREST ON FIRE. 223 chiefly imaginary. No matter, it pleased him ; and they loved the dear old gentleman too well to mideceive him. " As to the potash business, sir, I fear it is too complicated and expensive to venture upon this year, though the creek is an excel- lent site for an ashery, and they say the manufacture is highly remunerating. What do you think, father?" And they had a conference that diverged far from potash. After closely watching Davidson's management, and finding that he realized twenty-eight shillings per hundred-weight, Robert resolved to try the manufacture. Details would be tedious. Both reader and writer might lose themselves in leach-tubs, asli-kettles, and coolers. The " help," Liberia, proved herself valuable out-of- doors as well as indoors at this juncture ; for Mrs. Zack's principle of up-bringing was that young folk should learn to turn their hand to 'most everythin'. And Libby, a large plump girl with pro- digiously red cheeks and lips, had profited so far by her training as to be nearly as clever in the field as in the kitchen. Her great strength was a constant subject of admiration to Andy, though the expression of any such sentiment was met by unmitigated scorn on the lady's part. " Why, thin, '^Miss Green, an' it's yerself has the beautifiillest arm, all to nothin', that ever I see ; an' it's mottled brown with freckles, an' as big as a blacksmith's anyhow. Och, an' look how she swings up the potash kettle as light as if it was only a stone pot : musha, but yer the finest woman, my darlin', from this to yerself all round the world agin !" " I guess, Mister Handy, if yer was to bmg some logs, an' not to stand philanderin* thar, 'twould be a sight better," rejoined Miss Liberia, sourly. "Look now," answered Andy ; **ye couldn't make yerself ugly, musthore, not if ye wor thryin' from this till then, so ye needn't frown ; but ye're very hard-hearted intirely on a poor orphant like me, that has nayther father nor mother, nor as much afi an uncle, J i 1 4* 224 CEDAR CREEK. nor a cousin near me itself. Though sorra bit o* me but *ud sooner never have one belongin* to me than thim out-an-out disgraceful cousins of yer own at the * Comer.* " Libby was immovable by this as by any other taunt, to all appearance. " Throth, I thried her every way," quoth Andy, sub- sequently, after an experience of some months ; " I thried her by flatthery an' by thruth-tellin', by abusin' her relations an* herself, an* by praisin* *em, by appalin*^to her compassion an' by bein stiff an' impident, an' I might as well hould me tongue. A woman that couldn't be coaxed wid words, I never seen afore." Perhaps she was the better servant for this disqualification ; at all events, she had no idea of any nonsense keeping her from the full discharge of her duties in the house. Her propensity to call the gentlemen by their baptismal names, without any respectful prefix, was viewed by Linda as a very minor evil when set off against strength and wiliing-heartedness. But one day that she wanted her young mistress, and abruptly put her head into the parlour, asking, in a strong tone, " Whar's Linda ? Tell her the men that's settin' the fall wheat '11 be 'long in no time for dinner," Mr. Wynn could have turned her away on the spot. " Wal ! sure it ain't no sin to forget the * miss ' of an odd time, I guess," was the large damsel's rejoinder, though without the least spice of sauciness. " Come, I hain't no time to be spendiii' here ;" and she closed the door after her with a bang which made gentle Mrs. Wynn start. There was some trouble in convincing her husband that it was only the servant's rough manner — no real disrespect was intended ; the incident put him into low spirits for the day, and turned many a backward thought upon the wealth of his youth. He would say, in these downcast moods, that Canada was no place for the gentleman emigrant; but could he point out any colony TMre suited ? Also, that his sons earned daily bread by harassing toil, worse than that of a bricklayer or day labourer at TRITON AMONG MINNOWS. 225 homo ; but were they not happier than in pursuit of mere pastime, like thousands of their equals in the province they had left? Robert would certainly have answered in the affirmative. Arthur's restless spirit less wisely pined for the pleasure-seeking of such a life as Argent's. > , , • . , j* ;■■ h'H i ** . .j<»> ^m-mt I i ) CHAPTER' XXXIV. TRITON AMONG MINNOWS. Linda was stooping one morning in the corner of her gardea Some precious plant was there, protected from the full glare of the noon sun by a calico shade, carefully adjusted, and with a circle of brown damp about it, which told of attentive watering. A few roundish leaves were the object of all this regard : in the centre of the knot to-day stood a little green knob on a short stem. " Oh, Georgie ! papa ! come and look at my daisy ; it has actually got a bud." Master George, nothing loth to have lessons disturbed by any summons, ran round from the open window through the open hall door, and his father followed more slowly to behold the marvel. ** You see, papa, I thought it never would get on, it was such a sickly little thing ; but it must be growing strong, or it could not put out a bud. How glad I shall be to see a daisy's face again ! I would give all the fragrance of the blue wild iris for one. But, papa, the laurel cuttings are dead, I fear." They looked very like it, though Mr. Wynn would still give them a chance. He apprehended the extreme dryness of the air might prove too much for the infant daisy also. But Linda wo^ild see nothing except promise of prosperity as yet. " Now, papa, when I am done with my melons, and you have finished Georgie's lessons, I want you to walk down to Daisy Bum with me. I have something to say to Edith." i I V I' y^''M It 226 CEDAR CUEEK. " With pleasure, my dear. But I have always wondered why that name was given to that farm, except on the principle of lucus a non" After the mid-day dinner they went. Meeting Andy on the road, trudging up from the "Comer" on some message, ho informed them that the captain and his son had gone to a cradliii;;^ bee at Benson's, an English settler a few miles off. " But as to whether *tis to make cradles they want, or to rock 'em, meself doesn't rightly know." The fact being that a " cradle," in American farming, signifies a machine for cutting down com wholesale. It is a scythe, longer and wider than that used in mowing hay, combined with au apparatus of "standard," "snaith," and "fingers," by means of which a single workman may leyel two acres and a half of wheat or oats in one day. m :»rv um " Captain Armytage is of a verj' sociable disposition," remarked Mr. Wynn, after a few steps. " A man fresh from the mess-table and clubs must find the bush strangely unsuitable." He was thinking of certain petty occurrences at his own bee, which de- monstrated the gallant ofiBcer's weaknesses. " Oh, papa, did you ever see anything like these vines ? Grapes will be as plentiful as blackberries are at home." For along the concession line many trees were festooned with ripening clusters ; and deeper in the woods, beyond Linda's ken, and where only the birds and wild animals could enjoy the feast, whole hundred-weights hung in gleams of sunshine. Well iy?ight the northmen, lighting upon Canadian shores in one hot surimer, many centuries before Cabot- or Cartier, name the country Yine-land ; and the earhest French explorers up the St. Lawrence call a grape-laden rock the Isle of Bacchus. •* But is it not a wonder, papa," pressed the young lady, ** when the cold is so terrible in winter ? Do you remember all the endless trouble the ^'ardener at Dunore had to saye his vines from the TRITON AMONG MINNOWS. 227 frost ? And Robert says that great river the Ottawa is frozen np for five months every year, yet here the grapes flourish in the open air." " I suppose we are pretty much in the latitude of the Garonne," answered Mr. Wynn, casting about for some cause. " But indeed, Linda, if your Canadian grape does not enlarge somewhat " *' You unreasonable papa, to expect as fine fruit as in a hothouse or sunny French vineyard. I really see no reason why we Cana- dians should not have regular vineyards some day, and you would see how our little grapes must improve under cultivation. Perhaps we might make wine. Now, you dear clever papa, just turn your attention to that, and earn for yourself the soubriquet of national benefactor." Clinging to his arm as they walked, she chattered her best to amuse the sombre mind, so lately uprooted from old habits and ways of life into a mode of existence more or less distasteful. The birds aided her effort with a variety of foreign music. Wood- pigeon, bobolink, bluebird, oriole, cooed, and trilled, and warbled, from the bush all around. The black squirrel, fat, sleek, jolly with good living of summer frxuts, scampered about the boughs with erect shaggy tail, looking a very caricature upon care, as he stowed away hazel-nuts for the frosty future. Already the trees had donned their autumn coats of many colours ; and the beauteous maple-leaves, matchless in outline as in hue, began to turn crimson and gold. The moody man yielded to the sweet influences of nature in a degree, and acknowledged that even this exile land could be enjoyable. ti Arriving at the snake fences of Armytage's farm, he said he would go down to the post at the " Comer " for letters, and call in an hour for Linda on his return. She found Edith and Jay work- ing hard as usual. Their employment ^o day was the very prosaic one of digging potatoes. '* What honii*. occupation for a lady I" exclaims somebody. Yes ; Mias Armytage would have much pra» II ')*f' > \ It 228 CEDAR CREEK. ferred an afternoon spent in painting flowers, for wliich she had a talent. But there was no help for such manual labour in this casp Don't you imagine her pride suffered before she took part in field work ? I think so, by the deep blush that suffused her face --.vheu she saw the visitor coming along, though it was only Linda Wyun, who made some not very complimentary reflections on the fathe'* and brother whose absence on an amusing expedition ^lermitted this — whose general indolence compelled severe labour from the girls. They were misplaced men, certainly, and had as much business in the bush, with their tastes and habits, and want of self-control, as Zack Bunting would have had in an English drawing room. j>i»u x;. Linda had been thinking over a plan, which, when uttered, wns proved to have also suggested itself to her friend. Could not some- thing be done in the way of a Sunday school class for the miserable ignorant children at the ** Corner"? Now the very rudiments of revealed religion were unknown to them ; and to spend an hour or two on the vacant sabbath in trying to teach them some of Hea\ en's lore, seemed as if it might be the germ of great good. Miss Army tage, naturally not of Linda's buoyant disposition, foresaw abundance of difficulties — the indifference or opposition of parents, the total want of discipline or habits of thought among the young themselves. Still, it was worth trying : if only a single chiWish soul should be illuminated with the light of life to all eternity, by this means, oh how inestimably worth trying ! iJi. Wynn ;vas seen coming up the clearing. *' I know papa las had a letter," exclaimed Linda, " and that it is a pleasant one, by his pleasant face. Confess now, Edith, isn't he the handsomest man you ever saw ?" Eei' friend laughed at the daughterly enthusiasm, but could have answered in the affirmative, as she looked at his stately gray-rrowned figure, and handsomo features, lighted with a grave, kind smile as Linda took possession of his h ?t arm — to be nearer his h-jart, she TRITON AMONG MINNOWS. 229 eaid. She was not very long in co^.:ing from liim the blue oflieial letter which contained his appointment to the magistracy of the district, about which he pretended not to be a bit pleased. " And there's some other piece of nonsense in that," said he, taking out a second blue envelope, and addressed to Arthur Wynn, Esquire. " * Adjutant-Generars OfSce,* " read Linda, from the comer. " His appointment to the militia, I am sure. That good, powerful 3Ir. Holt !" Even at the name she coloured a little. " He said that he would try and have this done. And I am so glad you are taking your proper footing in the colony, papa. Of course they should make you a magistrate. I should like to know who has the dignified presence, or will uphold the majesty of the law, as well as you?** *' Magistracy and militia — very different in this mushroom society from what they are in the old country," said Mr. Wynn, despair- ingly. ** AVell, papa, I have ambition enough to prefer being chief fun- gus "imong the mushrooms, instead of least among any other class. Don't you know how poverty is looked down upon at home ? Here we are valued for ourselves, not for om* money. See how all the neighbourhood looks up to Mr. Wynn, of Cedar Creek. You are lord-lieutenant of the coimty, without his commission : these men feel the influence of f.uperior education and abilities and knowledge." . „ . , . " I verily believe, saucebox, that you think your father fit to be governor-general ; or, at least, a triton among the minnows." '* Paptt, the fun is, yor/Il have to marry people now, whenever you're asked. It is pr.rt of a magistrate's duty in out-of-the-way pl':*ces, Mr. Holt says." " Then I am to consider my services bespoke by the young ladies present, eh?" said Mr. Wynn, making a courtly inclination to Edith 'and Ja}. ** With the greatest pleasure." h\'- ■ . I'-lr , P . ■ n ii ■A : it;'- 280 CEDAR CtlEEK. tl; ,"'J i'» 'I ' 'J.i » »'■ > \ ' " ' -■ « '•'^ ■J'"' * " - "\. i '' CHAPTER XXXV. THE PINK MIST. Mr. Wynn became his magisterial functions well, though exercised after a primitive fashion, without court-house or bench whence to issue his decisions, without clerk to record them, or police force to back them, or any other customary paraphernalia of justice to ren- der his office imposing. To be sure his fine presence was worth a great deal, and his sonorous voice. As Linda predicted, he was obliged to perform clerical duty at times, in so far as to marry folk who lived beyond reach of a clergyman, and had thrice published their intention in the most public pp;rt of the township. The earliest of these transactions affianced one of Davidson's lads to a braw sonsie lass, daughter of Benson, the Shropshire settler beyond the " Corner." The bridegroom a tall strapping young fellow of about twenty-three, haa a nice cottage ready for his wife, and a partially cleared farm of a hundred acres, on which he ^ ad been working with this homestead in view, for the last year and a half. The prudent Scotsman would portion off his other sons in similar res- pectability as they came of age. .» ;.m^ "And yer mither and I cam' here wi' an axe and a cradle," he was wont to say, " e^, Jeanie Davidson ?" He ha'' ^jood cause for gratulation at the wedding that day. His own indomitable industry and energy had raised him from being a struggling weaver in Lanarkshire to be a prosperous landowner in Canada West. He looked upon a flourishing family of sons and daughters round the festive board in Benson's barn, every one of them a help to wealth instead of a diminution to it ; strong, intelli- gent lads, healthy and handy lasses. "With scarce «. care or a doubt, he could calculate on their comfortable future. id f....-,,if trtis-^^ ..ly "o ill of illi- i ■ 1 4 t' ! ! .* ,i' ^^^1 it il • » %^ .&. « »', ^ '.■(I it THE PINK MIST. 233 ** I tell you what, neighbour," cried stout John Benson, from the head of the table, " throw by cold water for once, and pledge me in good whisky to the lucky day that brought us both to Canada." " Na, na," quoth Davidson, shaking his grizzled head, " I'll drink the toast wi' all my heart, but it must be in gude water. These twenty year bad T hae been a temperance man, and hae brought up thae lads to the same fashion ; for, coming to Canada, 1 kenned what ruined mony a puir fallow might weel be the ruin o* me, an' I took a solemn vow that a drap o' drink suld never moisten my lips mair. Sandy Davidson wouldna' be gettin' John Benson's daughter in marriage the day, if it were na' for the cauld water." - Captain Armytage, who never missed a merry-making of any description within a circle of miles, took on himself to reply to this teetotal oration. ^!^t> ^*^;lk> '^nr * /^ VI-mx^i It was all very well for Mr. Davidson to talk thus, but few consti- tutions could bear up against the excessive labour of bush life without proportionate stimulants. For his own part he would sink under it, but for judicious reinforcement of cordials, ordered him by the first medical men in Europe. * ' n/ft t» :L .f " I daur say," replied Davidson, whose keen hard eye had been lixed on the speaker ; *• I daur say. Ye mak' nae faces at yer medicine, anyhow. It's weel that Zack's store is so handy to Daisy Burn, only I'm thinkin' the last wuU go to the first, in the long run." " What do you mean, sir?" demanded the Captain, fierily. " Naething," responded Davidson, coolly — " naething save what- e'er the words mean." *' But we were a-goin to drink to Canada, our adopted country," put in Benson, willing to stifle the incipient quarrel — ** the finest country on the face of the earth, after Old England." His stentorian Shvopshire lungs supplied a cheer of sufficient intensity, taken up by his guests. " The country whar we needna* fear factor, nor laird, nor rent- I 2 (i, f J Ml nm fm ,( ■: :r m m 234 tiiDAIl CKEEK. day," shouted Davidson. " We're lairds an' factors here, an' our rent-day comes — never." ,< hi., , n: - > > k. . " Whirroo !" exclaimed an Irishman, Pat O'Brien, who, having been evicted in his own country, was particularly sensitive as to landlord and tenant-right. ** No more agints, nor gales o' rint, nor nothin', ever to pay !" , . , . .1 : i _. " Not forgetting the tax-gatherer," interposed portly Mr. Benson. " None of us are partikler sorry to part with him." Meanwhile the comely bride was sitting with her husband at one side of the table, thankful for the diversion from herself as a topic of enthusiasm and mirth. " Lads, you'd be a' at the loom, an' your sisters in the factories, only for Canada," said Davidson, now on his legs. " An' I suld be lookin' for'ard to the poor-house as soon as my workin' days were ower ; an' Sandy couldna* marry, except to live on porridge an' brose, wi' cauld kail o' sabbath. How wad ye relish that prospect, bonnie Susan ?" , ,,. ..,. Bonnie Susan liked the prospect of the folds of her own silk dress best at that moment, to judge by the determinately downward glance of her eyes. > ,:, o, , .^ Ai-.riujj:M i* f»;svj /i:v -nu-h ^ ' By-and-by Davidson (for the subject was a favourite one with him) hit upon another of the Canadian advantages as a poor man's land -^-that the larger a man's family the wealthier was he. No need to look on the little ones as superfluous mouths, which by dire neces- sity the labourer in mother country is often forced to do ; for each child will become an additionfil worker, therefore an additional means of gain. " An' if the folk at hame kenned this mair, dinna ye think tlie emigration wad be thrice what it is, Mr. Robert? Dinna ye think they wad risk the sea an' the strangers, to make a safe future for their bairns ? Ay, surely. An' when I think o' the people treading one anither down over the edges o' thae three little islands, while a country as big as Europe stands atnaist empty here " / THE PINK MIST. 235 Mr. Davidson never stated the consequences of his thought ; for just then came a universal call to clear the tables, stow away the boards and tressels, and make room for dancing and small plays. The hilarity may be imagined — ^the boisterous fun of general blind- man's buff, ladies* toilet, and all varieties of forfeits. Robert Wynn stole away in the beginning ; he had come for an hour, merely to gratify their good neighbour Davidson ; but, pressing as was his own farm-work, he found time to spend another hour at Daisy Burn, doing up some garden beds under direction of Miss Edith. She had come to look on him as a very good friend ; and he well, there was some indefinable charm of manner about the young lady. Those peculiarly set grey eyes were so truthful and so gentle, that low musical voice so perfect in tone and inflection, that Robert was pleased to look or listen, as the case might be. But chiefest reason of all — was she not dear Linda's choicest friend and intimate ? Did they not confide every secret of their hearts to each other ? Ah, sunbeam, Linda knew well that there was a depth of her friend's nature into which she had never looked, and some reality of gloom there which she only guessed. Perhaps it was about Edith's father, or brother. That these gentlemen neglected their farm business, and that therefore affairs could not prosper, waJa tolerably evident. Fertile as is Cana- dian soil, some measure of toil is requisite to evolve its hidden treasures of agricultural wealth. Except from a hired Lish labourer named Mickey Dunne, Daisy Bum &rm did not get this requisite. The young man Reginald now openly proclaimed his abhorrence of bush life. No degree of self-control or arduous habits had pre- pared him for the hard work essential. Most of the autumn he had lounged about the " Comer," except when his father was in Zack*s bar, which was pretty often ; or he was at Cedar Creek on one pretext or other, whence he would go on fishing and shooting excursions with Arthur. Meanwhile, Robert's farming progressed well. His fall-wheat r' 1 u ■: ^; !^ l:':J ■■ -11 ; ! \, '.SIS I ' ^h.^ It * ? 236 CEDAK CBEEK. was all down by the proper period, fifteenth of September ; for it is found that the eariier the seed is sown, the stronger is the plant by the critical time of its existence, and the better able to with- stand frost and rust. Complacently he looked over the broad brown space, variegated with charred stumps, which occupied fully a twelfth of the cle^.ed land, and, stimulated by the pleasures of hope, he calculated on thirty-five bushels an acre next summer, as the probable yield. Davidson had raised forty per acre in his first season at Daisy Burn, though he acknowledged that twenty-five was the present average. The garden stuf^ planted on Kobert's spring-burn ground had flourished ; more than two hundred bushels per acre of potatoes were lodged in the root-house, and a quantity of very fine turnips and carrots. Beans had not thriven : he learned that the climate is considered unfavourable for them. The pumpkins planted be- tween his rows of Indian corn had swelled, and swelled, till they lay huge golden balls on the ground, promising abundant dishes of " squash " and sweet pie through the winter. < " How is it that everything thrives with you, Wynn ?" younp: Armytage said one afternoon that he found the brothers busy slitting rails for the fencing of the aforesaid fall-wheat. " I should say the genius of good luck had a special care over Cedar ' Creek." - -^ " Well, nature has done three-fourths of it," answered Eobert, driving in a fresh wedge with his beetle ; "for this soil reminds me of some poet's line — * Tickle the earth with a straw, and forth ^ laughs a yellow harvest.* The other quarter of our success is just owing to hard work, Armytage, as you may see." " I can't stand that," said the young man, laughing : " give me something to do at once ;" and he beganto split rails also. Linda, coming from the house, found them thus employed — ^a highly industrial trio. %*' I recollect being promised wild plums to preserve," said she, THE PIXK MIST. 237 after looking on for a little. " Suppose you get out the canoe, Bob, an J we go over to that island where we saw such quantities of them unripe ? Now don't look so awfully wise over your wedges, but just consider how I am to have fruit tarts for people, if tho fruit is never gathered." * Whether the motive was this telling argument, or that his work was almost finished owing to the additional hand, Kobert allowed the beetle to be taken from his fingers and laid aside. " You im- perious person ! I suppose we must obey you." The day was one of those which only Canada in the whole world can furnish — a day of the " pink mist," when the noon sun hangs central in a roseate cup of sky. The rich colour was deepest all round the horizon, and paled with infinite shades towards the zenith, like a great blush rose drooping over the earth. Twenty times that morning Linda went from the house to look at it : her eyes could not be satiated with the beauty of the landscape and of the heavens above. ' ■ "^*-" " ". ^' '" • ? '• " - "] V ' Then, what colours on the trees I As the canoe glided al^ng through the enchanted repose of the lake, what painted vistas cf forest opened to the voyagers' sight! what glowing gold islets against an azure background of distant waters and purple shores ! what rainbows had fallen on the woods, and steeped them in hues more gorgeous than the imagination of even a Turner could con,- ceive ! Shades of Tlac and violet deepening into indigo ; scarlet flecked with gold and green ; the darkest claret a^^d richest crim- son in opposition : no tropical forest was ever dyed in greater glory of blossom than this Canadian forest in glory of foliage. " What can it be, Robert ?" asked Linda, after drinking in the delight of colour in a long silent gaze. " Why have we never such magnificence upon our trees at home ?" "People say it is the sudden frost striking the sap; or that there is some peculiar power in the sunbeams— actinic power, I believe 'tis called — ^to paint the leaves thus ; but one thing seems ■III ' t ' S: a ? n- 238 CEDAR CREEK. fatal to this supposition, that after a very dry summer the colour- ing is not near so brilliant as it would be otherwise. I'm inclined to repose faith in the frost theory myself ; for I have noticed that after a scorching hot day and sharp night in August^ the maples come out in scarlet next morning." **Now, at home there would be some bald patches on the trees," observed Arthur. " The leaves seem to £^11 wholesale here, after staying on till the last." " I have heard much of the Indian summer," said Linda, ** but it far exceeds my expectation. An artist would be thought mad who transferred such colouring to his canvas, as natural. Just look at the brilliant gleam in the water all along under that bank, from the golden leafage above it; and yonder the reflection is a vermilion stain. I never saw anything so lovely. I hope it will last a long time. Bob." That was impossible to say ; sometimes the Indian summer was for weeks, sometimes but for a few days ; Canadians had various opinions as to its arrival and duration: September, October, or November might have portions of the. dreamy hazy weather thus called. As to why the name was given, nobody could tell ; except it bore reference to an exploded idea that the haze characteristic of the time of the year arose from the burning of the great grassy prairies far west, by the red men. " What has become of your colony of Indians ?" asked Army- tage, " those who lived near the cedar swamp ?" "Oh, they left us in 'the whortleberry moon,' as they call August, and migrated to some region where that fruit abounds, to gather and store it for winter use. They smoke the berries over a slow fire, I am told, and when dry, pack them in the usual birch- bark makaks ; and I've seen them mixed with the dough of bread, and boiled with venison or porcupine, or >vhatever other meat was going, as we would use whole pepper." " After the whortleberries, they were to go to the rice-grounds," IsH THE PINK MIST. 230 observed Arthur. " Bob, suppose we paddle over and try for ducks in the rice-beds, to the lee of that island." Hera were some hundred yards of shallow water, filled with the tail graceful plant, named by the Jesuits " folle avoine," and by the English " wild rice." The long drooping ears filled with very large grains, black outside and white within, shook down their contents into the silt at bottom, with every movement which waved their seven-feet stems. Arthm* knew it as a noted haunt of wild duck, a cloud of which arose when he fired. " It was here we met all the pigeons the other day," said he. " Those trees were more like the inside of a feather-bed than any- thing else, so covered were they with fluttering masses of birds ; you couldn't see a bit of the foliage ; and 'twas quite amusing to watch some of them lighting on the rice, which wasn't strong enough to support them, and trying to pick out the grains. As they could neither swim nor stand, they must have been thoroughly tantalized. Don't you remember, Armytage?" But their main business, the plums, must be attended to : the islet was found which was bordered with festoons of them, hanging over the edge in the coves ; and after due feasting on the delicious aromatic fruit, they gathered some basketsful. When that was done, it was high time to paddle homewards ; the sun was gliding forth from the roseate vault over the western rim, and a silvery haze rose from the waters, softly veiling the brilliant land- scape. "A great improvement to your charcoal forest, it must be owned,'* said Kobert, pointing Armytage to where the sharp black tops of rampikes projected over the mist. The young man did not relish allusions to that folly of his father's, and was silent. "Oh, Bob, what a pretty islet!" exclaimed Linda, as they passed a rock crested with a few trees, and almost carpeted by the brilliant red foliage of the pyrola, or winter green. " The bushes make quite a crimson wreath round the yellow poplars." W I I m »(. 240 CBDAR CREEK. " I think," said Robert, with deliberat'on, " it would be almost worth the voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to see this single day of * the pink mist.' > » fiVMii '■ CHAPTER XXXVI. BELOW ZERO. Indian summer was succeeded by the " temps boucaneux," whon hoarfrost drooped noiselessly on the night its silver powder on all the dazzling colouring, presenting nature robed in a delicate white guise each morning, which the sun appropriated to himself as soon as he could get above the vapours. Now were the vast waters of Cfinrtda passing from a fluid to a solid form, giving out caloric in quantities, accompanied by these thin mists. Towards the close of November, navigation ceases on the Ottawa : the beginning of Df ceraber sees the mighty river frozen over. Yet it lies in the h tude of Bordeaux ! All honour to the benevolent Gulf Stream, which warms France and England comfortably. When Linda's fingers were particularly cold, she would puzziv°i Robert and her father with questions as to why this should be so. Mr. HoU. once told her that the prevailing wind came from the north-west across a vast expanse of frozen continent and frozen ocean. Also that James's Bay, the southern tongue of Hudson's, was npt to get choked with masses of ice drifted in from the arctic seas, and which, being without a way of escape, just jammed together and radiated cold in company on the surrounding lands. This explanation was given and received within earshot of a splendid fire, on one of those tremendous January mornings when the temperature is, perhaps, twenty-five degrees below zero, when the very smoke cannot disperse in the frozen atmosphere, and the breath of man and beast returns upon them in snowy particles. BELOW ZERO. 241 Nobody cares to be out of doors, for the air cuts like a knife, and one*s garments stiffen like sheet-iron. Linda stands at the window of the little parlour — well she understands now why the lieartli was made almost as wide as one side of the room — and looks out on the white world, and on tlie coppery sun struggling to euh'ghteu the icy heavens ; and on that strange phenomenon, the ver r/laa, gleaming from every tree. " Now, Mr. Holt, as you have been good enough to attempt an explanation of the cold, perhaps you could tell me the cause of the ver glas ? What makes that thin incrustation of ice over the trunk and every twig, which has been attracting my admiration these three days ? It was as if each tree was dressed in a tight- fitting suit of crystal, when the sun succeeded in shining a little yesterday." " I imagine that the cause was the slight thaw on Monday, and the freezing of the moisture that tlien covered the bark and branches into a coat of ice. So I only attempt explanations, Miss Linda." "Oh, but it is not your fault if they are imsatisfactory, as I own that of the north-west winds and James's Bay was to me ; it is the fault of science. I'm afraid you'll not answer another question which I have, since I am so ungrateful as not to accept evei7thing you say with becoming reverence." " Name your question." ** Why is every fourth day milder than the others ? Why may we reckon, with almost certainty, on a degree of soft weather to- morrow?" ** Those are the tertian intervals, and nobody understands them." "Concise and candid, if it doesn't make me wiser; but I'm compensated for that, in finding something of which you are equally ignorant with myself, Mr. Holt." Remarks of a more superficial character were extorted by tho severity of the weather from the inmates of the kitchen. » ■ (1 1^ •' m '■.'*>■ ,■1;; '■ •"1 S'Hi- 242 CEDAB CREEK. (( ArraJi, Miss Libby asthore, wor ye able to sleep one wink last night wid the crackling of the threes? I niver heerd " " Sartin sure I was," replied the rubicund damsel, as she moved briskly about her work. She had a peculiarity of wearing veiy short skirts, lest they should impede her progress ; but once that Andy ventured a complimentary joke on her ankles, he met witli such scathing scorn that he kept aloof from the ^aibject in future, though often sorely tempted. " Nothen ever kep me waking," asseverated the Yankee girl with perfect truth. ** Now, young man, jest git out o' my way : warm yar hands in yar hair, if you've a mind teu — ^it's red enough, I guess." . " Throth an' I wish I could take yer advice. Miss ; or if you'd give me a few sparks of yer own hot timper, I needn't ever come up to the hearth at all at all." " Thar, go 'long with you for a consaited sot-up chap, an* bring in a couple of armfuls of wood," said the lady. ** I reckon you'd best take care of yar hair settin' fire to the logs. Mister Handy," she added with a chucide. Linda entered the kitchen on some household business, and Mi\ Callaghan was too respectful to retort in her presence. But this is a specimen of the odd sort of sparring which Arthur cLoee to con- sid jr courtsliip, and to rally both parties about. *' Deed then I hope tisn't the likes of a crooked stic i of her kind I'^ be a^'ther bringin' home at long last," Andy would say, wieldinii CHAPTER XXXVII. A CUT, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. What could be the matter ? Ponto, at all events, seemed to think it of much importance, for he never ceased to pull their skirts and whine an entreaty, and go through the pantomime of running oflf in a great hurry — never further than the threshold — until he saw the girls put on their cloaks and hoods. Gravely he sat on his tail, looking at them with patient eyes, and, when the door was opened, sprang off madly towards the pond. "Could Reginald have sent him for anything? Something might have happened to Reginald. Ponto never came home in that way before. Could a tree have fallen on Reginald ?" and Jay's small hand shivered in Linda's at the thought. They hurried after the dog, over the spotless surface of snow, into the chan-cd forest, where now every trunk and bough of ebony seemed set in silver. Thither Regiaald had gone to chop at noon, in a little fit of industry. They were guided to the spot by the sad whinings of faithful Ponto, who could not comprehend why his master was lying on the gr6und, half against a tree, and what meant that large crimson stain deepening in the pure snow. A desperate axe^iut in his foot — this was the matter. Linda almost turned sick at the sight ; but Jay, compressing her white lips very firmly, to shut in a scream, kneeled down by her brother. He had succeeded, with infini)>e effort, in drawing off his long A CUT, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 245 leathern boot through which the axe had penetrated, and had been trying to bind his neckcloth tightly above the ankle. Jay helped him with all her little strength. " Give me a stick," said he hoarsely — " a strong stick ;" Linda flew to find one. " Something to make a tourniquet ;" and, not readily seeing any wood to answer the want, she used liis axe, stained as it was, to chop a branch from the single tree he had felled. She had never tried her strength of arm in this way before; but now the axe felt quite light, from her excitement. Before the stick could be ready, in her unpractised fingers, Jay cried out, " Oh, Linda, he is dying ! he has fainted I" Still, she had common sense to know that the first neces- sity was to stop the bleeding ; so, quieting the little sister by a word or two, she inserted the stick in the bandage above the ankle, and turned it more than once, so as to tighten the ligament materially. Looking at the pallid features, another thought struclc her. " Let us heap up snow round the wounded foot and leg ; I'm sure the cold must be good for it ;" and, with the axe for their only shovel, the two girls gathered a pile of frozen sno^v, as a cushion and covering to the limb — " Oh, if Edith were here ! if Edith were here !" being Jay's suppressed cry. Where is the labourer whom I saw working ur* tlie fjirm ?" Gone away; discharged last week. Papa said he couldn't afford to pay him any longer. That's why Beginald went out to chop to-day. Oh, Linda, I wish somebody came. He is lying so white and still : are yotl sure he is not dead ?" His head was on the little sister's lap, and Linda chafed the tem- phs with snow. Would the aleigh-bells ever be hear^ ? She longed for help of some sort. As to surgery., there was not a practitioi within thirty miles. What could be done with such a bad hurt as this without a surgeon? A universal dight shudder, and a tremor of the eyelids, showed it (t « S-r i " < u , -h U- i 246 ."'::{ jy^'VJ CEPAB CHEEK. ) A that consciousness was returning to the wounded man. Almost at the same instant Ponto raised his head, and ran off through the trees, whining. A man's footsteps were presently heard coming rapidly over the crisp snow. It was Mr. Holt : and a mountain load of responsibility and dread was lifted from Linda's mind at the sight of liim. This was not the first time that she had felt in his presence the soothing sense of confidence and restfiilness. He could not help praising them a little for what they had done with the primitive tourniquet and the styptic agency of the snow. Beyond tightening the bandage by an additional twist or two of the inserted stick, he could do nothing more for the patient till he was removed to the hoxise ; but he began collateral help by cutting poles for a litter, and sent Jay and Linda for straps of basswood bark to fasten them together. When the sleigh at last came up the avenue, Mr. Wynn the elder helped him to carry young Army- tage home, wherein Sam Holt's great physical strength carefully bore two-thirds of the dead weight. It seemed that he had been chopping up that fir for firewood, perhaps without giving much thought to his work, when the axe, newly shcirpened before he came out, caught in a crooked branch, which diverted almost the whole force of the blow on his own foot. Well was it that Mr. Holt, in his erratic education, had chosen to piy into the mysteries of surgery for one sessi n, and knew some- thing of the art of putting together se'Vv.red flesh and bone; although many a dreadful axe-wound is cured in the backwoods by settlers who never heard of a diploma, but nevertheless heal with herbs and bandages, which would excite the scornful mirth of a clinical student. Thus began a long season of iUness and weakness for the young man, so recently in the rudest health and strength. It was very new to his impetuous spirit, and very irksome, to lie all day in the house, not daring to move the injured limb, and under the shadow of Zack Banting's cheerful prediction, that he guessed lae young A CUT, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 247 fellar might be a matter o' six or eight months a-lyiD thar, afore such a big cut healed, ef he wam't lamed for life. Eeginald chafed, and grumbled, and sulked, for many a day ; but the fact could not be gainsaid ; those divided veins and tendons and nerves must take long to unite again ; Mr. Holt fourn^ him one morning in such an unquiet mood. " Armytage," said he, after the usual attentions to the wound, " I suppose you consider this axe-cut a great misfortune ?** " * Misfortune !* " and he rose on his elbow in one of the fifty positions he was wont, for very restlessnesii, to assume. " Misfor- tune ! I should tlliik I do : nothing much worse could have hap- pened. Look at the farm, without a hand on it, going to rack and rum Bather a highly coloured picture ; and Reginald seemed to forget that, while his limbs were whole, he had devoted them almost entirely to amusement. Mr. Holt heard him ouv* patiently. " I should not be surprised if it proved one of the best events of your life,'" he observed ; "that is, if you will allow it to fulfil the object for which it was sent" " Oh that's your doctrine of a particular Providence,'* said the other peevishly, lying back again. " Yes ; my doctrine of a particular Providence, taught in every leaf of the Bible. Now, Armytage, look back calmly over your past Hie, aid forward, whither you were drifting, and see if the very kindest thing that could be done for you by an all-wise and all-loving God was not to bring you up suddenly, and lay you aside, and jonrce you to think. Beware of trying to frustrate his purpose." Mr. Holt went away immediately on saying that, for he had no desire to amuse Beginald with an unprofitable controversy which might ensue, but rather to lodge the one truth in his mind, if pos- sible. Young Armytage thought him queer and methodistical ; but he could not push out of his memory that short conversation. Twenty times he resolved to think of something else, and twenty \ 1 y ' t 248 CEDAR CEEEK times the dismissed idea came round again, and the calm forcible words visited him, " Beware of trying to frustrate God's purpose." At last he called to his sister Edith, who was busy at somu housework in the kitchen, across a little passage. " Come here ; I want to ask you a question. Do you think that I am crippled as a punishment for my misdeeds, idleness, etcetera ?" " Indeed, I do not," she answered with surprise. " What put such a thought into your head ?" " Holt said something like it. He thinks this axe-cut of mine is discipline — perhaps like the breaking-in which a wild colt requires ; and as you and he are of the same opinion in religious matters, I was curious to know if you held this dogma also." She looked down for a moment. " Not quite as you have repre- sented it," she said. " But I do think that when the Lord sends peculiar outward circumstances, he intends them to awake the soul from indifference, and bring it to see the intense reality of invisible things. Oh, Keginald,** she added, with a sudden impulse of earnestness, " I wish you felt that your soul is the most precious thing on earth." He was moved more than he would have cared to confess, bv those tearful eyes and clasped hands ; he knew that she went away to pray for him, while about her daily business. More serious thoughts than he had ever experienced were his that afternoon : Jay could not avoid remarking — ^in private — on his unusual quietude. Next morning he found a Bible beside his bed, laid there 1: f Edith, he had no doubt ; but for a long time she could not uificover whether he ever looked into it. When Mr. Holt left the country, he gave Robert Wynn charge of the patient mentally as well as corporeally. He knew that Robert's own piety would grow more robust for giving a helping hand to another. Somehow, the Yankee storekeeper was very often hanging about A CUT, AND ITS CONSEQUENCEU. 249 Daisy Burn that winter. Captain Armytage and he were great friends. That gallant officer was, in Zack's parlance, " the Colonel," which brevet-rank I suppose was flattering, as it was never seriously disclaimed. He was king of his company in the tavern bar at the " Corner ;" and few days passed on which he did not enjoy that bad eminence, while compounding "brandy-smash," "rum-salad," " whisky-skin," or some other of the various synonyms under which the demon of drink ruins people in Canada. But where did the Captain find cash for this ? The fact is, ho never paid in ready money ; for that was unknown to his pockets, and very rare in the district. He paid in sundry equivalents of produce ; and a nice littlo mortgage might be effected on his nice little farm of Daisy Bum, if needs be. Zack held his greedy grasping fingers over it ; for the family were obliged to go a good deal in debt for sundry necer Jties. Slave and scrape as Miss Armjrtage might, she had no way of raising money for such things as tea and coffee. Once she attempted to make dandelion roots, roasted and ground, do duty for the latter ; but it was stigmatized as a failure, except by loving little Jay. Then, wages must be paid to the Irish labourer, whose services to chop wood, etc., were now absolutely necessary. Meat was another item of expense. A large store of potatoes was almost the sole provision upon which the household could reckon with certainty ; mismanagement and neglect had produced tlie usual result of short crops in the foregoing season, and their wheat went chiefly to the store, in barter. " An* ef Zack ain't shavin' the Capting, I guess Fma Dutchman," remarked a neighbouring settler to Eobert. ** I reckon a matter of two yeai'll shave him out o' Daisy Bum, clear and clean." But its owner had some brilliant scheme in the future for lifting him free of every embarrassment, xtainbow tints illuminated all prospective pages of Captain Armytage's life. "Edith, my dear," he would say, if that young lady deprecated any fresh expenditure, or ventured an advice concerning the farm U I Hi n ^rn it it I 4 'M Ir \t .5*1 a hi ft 11 ill t>bO CEDAR CBEEK. — •* Edith, my dear, the main fault of your character is an extraor- dinary want of the sanguine element, for the excess of which I have always been so remarkable. You know I compare it to the life-buoy, which has held me up above the most tempestuous waves of the sea of existence, eh ! But you, my poor dear girl, have got a sad way of looking at things — a gloomy temperament, I should call it perhaps, eh ? which is totally opposite to my nature. Now, as to this beast, which Mr. Bunting will let me have for twenty- eight dollars, a note-of-hand at three months, he is kind enough to say, will do as well as cash. And then, Reginald, my boy, we need drink cafS noir no longer, but can have the proper caf4 au lait every morning." " I don't know who is to milk the cow, sir," said his son, rather bluntly. " Edith is overwhelmed with work already." " Ah, poor dear ! she is very indefatigable." He looked at her patronizingly, while he wiped his well-kept moustache in a hand- kercMef which she had washed. " Indeed, Edith, I have sometimes thought that such continual exertion as yours is unnecessary. You should think of us all, and spare yourself, my child." ** I do, papa," she answered : whether that die thought of them all, or that she spared herself, she did not explain. Her brother knew which it was. " That is right, my child. It grieves me to see you condescend- ing to menial offices, unsuitable to your rank and position." She did not ask — as a less gentle nature would have asked — who else was to be the menial, if not she ? " That is the worst of a bush life. If I had known how difficult it is to retain one's ^here as a gentleman, I think I should not have exposed myself to the alternative of pecuniary loss, or debasing toil. Perhaps it would be well to walk down to the * Corner ' now and conclude that bargain with our good friend the storekeeper, eh ? Is there anything I can do for either of you, eh ? Don't hesitate to command me," he added, blandly. ** What ! yon want .TACK-OF-ALL-TBADES. 251 nothing? A very fortunate pair — very fortunate, indeed, eli?" And Captain Armytago kissed hands out of the room. '* Edith/' said her brother, after a pause of some minutes, ''my lather will be ruined by his confidence in that mar.. Bunting can twiue liim round his finger. I am ashamed of it." She shook her head sadly. But there was no help for the fact that their father was in the toils already ; unless, indeed, the debt could be paid off, and the acquaintanceship severed. Hopeless ! for the tendencies of a life cannot be remodelled in a day, except by the power of Divine grace. CHAPTER XXXVIII. J AOK-OF- ALL-TRADES. SLEianiNG was good that year, till the middle of March. Before the season was past. Captain Argent paid a flying visit on his way to the hunting grounds, as usual, and on his return found something so pleasant in the household at Cedar Creek, that he remained many days. They were all old acquaintances, to be sure, and had mauy subjects of interest in common. Mr. Wynn the elder, who, perhaps, was imbued with a little of the true Briton's reverence for aristo- cracy, was pleased to entertain his former neighbour. Lord Scut- cheon's son, especially when that young officer himself was endowed with such a frank, genial bearing, as rendered him almost a uni- versal favourite. Had there ever been more than mere pleasant acquaintanceship between him and Miss Wynn ? Kightly or wrongly, Sam Holt landed it the case. He heard many allusions ^o former times and i&cidents, not knowing that as children they had been playmates. The gallant captain's present admiration was pretty plain ; and the young lady was amused by it after the manner of her aez. Being ^i \mm 25 no CEDAB CBEEK. very downright himself, Mr. Holt had no idea how much admiration is required to fill the measure of a proposal of marriage, in a red- coat's resolve, or how much harmless coquetry lies dormant in the sweetest woman. The precipitate gentleman leaped to sundry conclusions, gathered himself and his fur robes into his cutter, and left on the third day of Captain Argent's visit. In her secret heart, I imagine that Linda knew why. But an engrossing affair to her at this period was the conceal- ment from their visitor of the decidedly active part she took in household duties. Innocent Captain Argent was unaware that the faultless hot bread at breakfast was wrought by her hands ; that the omelets and ragoAts at dinner owned her as cook ; that the neat- ness of the little parlour was attributable to her as its sole house- maid. The mighty maiden called Liberia had enough to do in other departments, outdoor as well as indoor, besides being rather a ponderous person for a limited space. And so, when Captain Argent one morning pushed open the parlour door long before he ought to have left his apartment, he beheld a Sgure with short petticoats, wrapt in a grey blouse, and having a hood of the same closely covering her hair, dusting away at the chaire and tables and shelves, with right goodwill. "Now, Georgie, you know that you can't sit here till I have quite finished," said the figure, without turning its head. " Like a good boy, ask Libby to come and build up the fire : ask gently, remember, or she'll not mind you." The noiseless manner of closing the door caused her first to doubt the identity of the person spoken to, and a very vivid crimson dyed her cheeks, when, Liberia coming in, her blacksmith arms laden with logs, she threw them down with resounding clatter, and said, " Wal, of that ain't the nicest, soft speakin'eet gentleman I ever see ! He asked me as perlite for the wood, as he couldn't be per- iiter ef I war Queen Victory herself." JACK-OF-ALL-TRADES. 253 " How fortunate that I didn't turn round my head," thought Linda, her first confusion over; "for of all horridly unbecoming things, showing no hair about one's face is the worst." Whence it will bo seen that Miss Wynn was not exempt from female vanity. To the cat thus let out of the bag. Captain Argent made no further allusion than was involved in a sudden fondness for tho nurseiy tale of Cinderella. Every subject of conversation intro- duced for the morning was tinged by that fairy legend, which tinged Linda's countenance also, rose-colour. Mr. Wynn the elder was slightly mystified ; for the topics of promotion by purchase in the army, and the emigration of halfpay officers, seemed to have no leading reference to the above world-famed story. The dear old gentleman 1 he did the honours of his small wooden cottage at Cedar Creek as finely as if it had been his own ancestral mansion of Dunore. Their delf cups might have been Dresden, the black ware teapot solid silver, the coarse table-cloth damask — for the very air which he spread around the breakfast arrange- ments. One might have fancied that he infused an orange-pekoe flavour into the rough muddy congou for which Bunting exacted the highest price. He did not know that the coffee, which he strongly recommended to his guest, was of native Canadian growth, being to all intents and purposes dandelion roots ; for you see they were obliged to conceal many of their contrivances from this grand old father. I doubt if he was aware that candles were made on the premises : likewise soap, by Liberia's energetic hands. The dandelion expedient was suggested by thrifty Mrs. Davidson, who had never bought a pound of coffee since she emigrated ; and (jx- ceedingly well the substitute answered, with its bitter aromatic flavour, and pleasant smell. If Captain Argent had looked into the little house closet, he would have seen a quantity of brownish roots cut up and stored on a shelf. Part of Linda's morning duty was to chop a certain quantity of these to the size of beans, roast ' (I* I i« f ' » ll •m in If 254 CEDAB GREEK. X them on a pan, and grind a cupful for breakfast. They cost nothing but the trouble of gathering from among the potato heaps, when the hills were turned up in autumn, and a subsequent wasli- ing and spreading in the sun to dry. Mrs. Davidson would also fain have introduced peppermint and sage tea ; but eyen Zack's bad congou was declared more tolerable than those herb drinks, which many a settler imbibes from year to year. ''Throth, an' there's no distinction o' thrades at all in this counthry," said Andy ; " but every man has to be a farmer, an* a carpinther, an' a cobbler, an* a tailor, an' a grocer itself ! There*s Misther Bobert med an iligant shute o* canvas for the summer; an* Misther Arthur is powerful at boots ; an* sorra bit but Miss Linda spins yam firstrate. conridherin' she never held a distaff before. An* the darlin* missus knits stockins ; oh mavrone, but ahe's the beautiftil sweet lady Inturely, that ought to be sitting in her carriage I*' News arrived from Dunore this spring, which Linda fancied would sorely discompose Andy. The Wynns kept up a sort of correspon dence with the old tenantry, who loved them much. In an April letter it was stated that the pretty blue-eyed Mary Collins, Andy's betrothed, had been base enough to marry another, last shrovetide. But the detaching process had gone on at this side of the Atlantic also. Linda was amazed at the apathy with which the discarded lover received the intelligence. He scratched his red head, and looked somewhat bewildered ; indulged in a few monosyllable ejacu- lations, and half an hour afterwards came back to the parlour to ask her **if she was in airnest, to say that over agin." "Poor fellow! he has not yet comprehended the full ex- tent of his loss,*'' thought the young lady, compassionately. She broke the news to him once more, and he went away without a remark. When Arthur came in, she would beg of him to look after the SETTLER THE SECOND. 255 poor suffering fellow. The request was on her lips at his appear- ance, but he interrupted her with : — " What do you think of that scamp, Andy, proposing for Libby in my hearing ? The fellow told her that his heart was in her keeping, and that she was the light of his life, and grew quite poetical, I assiu^ you ; i^i return for which, he was hunted round the wood-yard with a log f* And Linda's sympathy ex^'red. CHAPTER XXXIX. SETTLER THE SECOND. Next summer brought a scourge of frequent visitation to the " Comer." Lake fever and ague broke out among the low-lying log-houses, and Zack's highly adulterated and heavily priced drugs came into great demand. He was the furthest west adventurer at that date who took upon him to supply apothecary's wares among the threescore and ten other vendibles of a backwoods store. So the ill wind which blew hot fits and cold fits to everybody else blew profit into Zack*s pockets. The population had swelled somewhat since our first introduction to this little pioneer settlement. The number of wooden huts mottling the cleared space between the forest and the river edge, clustering, like bees round their queen, about the saw and grist- mill, had increased during the last two years by some half-score — a slow rate of progression, as villages grow in Canada; but the '* Comer " had a position unfavourable to development. An aguish climate will make inhabitants sheer off speedily to healthier localities. No sensible emigrant will elect' to live on a marshy site where he can help it. The value of the " Comer " was just now as a stage on the upper branch of that great western if If 4 iUi 1' I f «?«^ 258 GEDAB CBEEK. and politics wouldna mak' the pot boil, nor gie salt to our parritclu So I came oot here, an* left politics to gentlefolk." Mr. Wynn, rather scandalized at Davidson's want of public spirit, said something concerning a citizen's duty to the state. " Weel, sir, my thought is, that a men's first earthly duty is to himsel' and his bairns. When I mind the workin' men at hame, ruggin', an' rivin', an' roarin' themselves hoarse for Mr. This or Su* Somebody That, wha are scramblin* into parliament on their shouthers, while the puir fallows haen't a pound in the warld beyond their weekly wage, an* wuU never be a saxpence the better for a* their zeal, I'm thankfii' that mair light was given me to see my ain interest, an' to follow it." " I hardly wonder at your indifference to the paltry politics of the province," observed the gentleman from the old country, sipping his tea loftily. " I wish Mr. Hiram Holt heard that speech, sir," said Robert. " To him Canada is more important than Great Britain by so much as it is larger." " The citizen of Monaco has similar delusions as to the import^ ance of his petty principality,'* rejoined Mr. Wynn. "I should rather say there was no political principle among Canadians.** " No, sir, there's none in the backwoods,** replied Davidson, with perfect frankness. " We vote for our freendsL I'm tauld they hae gran* principles in the auld settlements, an' fecht ane anither first- rate every election. We hae too much to do in the new townships for that sort o' wark. We tak' it a* easy." Bobert remember^l a notable example of this political in- difference in a'Ji election which had taken place since their settle- ment at Cedar Creek. On the day of polling he and his retainer Andy went down to the " Comer,** the latter with very enlarged anticipations of fun, and perchance a '^ row." His master noticed him trimming a saplin into a splendid ** shillelagh," with a slender handle and heavy head as ever did execution in a faction fight lii' SETTLER THE SECOND. 259 npon Emerald soil. The very word election had excited his bump of combativeness. But alas ! the little stumpy street was dull and empty as usual : not even the embryo of a mob : no flaring post- bilb soliciting votes : the majesty of the people and of the law wholly unrepresented. " Arrah, Misther Kobert, this can't be the day at all at all," said Andy, after a prolonged stare in every direction. " That villain Nim tould us wrong." "Jacques!" called Kobert into the cottage adorned with flowers in front, " is this poUing day ?" " Oh, oui," said the little Canadian, running out briskly. " Qui, c'est vat you call le jour de poll. Voila, ever dere de house." A log-cabin, containing two clerJis at iwo rude desks, was the booth ; a few idlers lounged about, whittling sticks and smoking, or reading some soiled news sheets. Andy looked upon them with vast disdain. "An* is this what ye call a lection in America?" said he. " Where's the vothers, or the candidates, or the speeches, or the tratin,* or the colours, or the sojers, or anythmk at all ? An* ye can't rise a policeman itself to kape the pace ! Arrah, let me out ov this home, Misther Eobert. '"bere's not as much as a single spark ov sperit in the whole counthry !** So he marched off in high dudgeon. His master stayed a short while behind, and saw a few sturdy yeomen arrive to exercise the franchise. Their air of agricultural prosperity, and supreme poli- tical apathy, contrasted curiously with young Wynn's memories oi the noisy and ragged partisans in home elections. It was evident that personal character won the electoral sufirage here in the back- woods, and that party feeling had scarce an influence on the voters. The franchise is almost universal throughout Canada. In 1849 it was lowered to thirty dollars (six pounds sterling) for freeholders, proprietary, or tenantry in towns, and to twenty dollars (four ;. ,' till 'i 41 i I m: Zt t'-f 1.1- » 260 CEDAR CHEEK. pounds) in rural districts. This is with reference to the hundred and thirty representatives in the Lower House of the Provincial Legislature. The members of the indissoluble Upper House, or Legislative Council, are also returned at the rat3 of twelve every two years, by the forty-eight electoral divisions of the province. But to come back to our family party under the butternut tree. Robert related the above anecdote of Andy's disappointment ; and from it old Mr. Wynn and Davidson branched oif to a variety ol" cognate topics. "Noo, I'll confess," said the Scotchman, **that the municipal elections hae an interest for me far aboon thae ithers. The council in my township can tax me for roads, an' bridges, an' schules: that's what I call a personal and practical concern. Sae I made nae manner of objection to bein' one of the five councillors mysel' ; and they talk of electin' you too, Maister Robert." Robert shook his head at the honour. " I hae a fancy mysel' for handlin* the purse strings wherever I can," added Davidson. " Benson w^ill be the neist town-reeve, as he has time to be gaun' to the county council, which I couldna do. But noo, will ye tak' a turn round the farm ?'* Plucking a sprig from an ash-leaved sugar maple close by, according to a habit he had of twisting something in his lips during intervals of talk, Mr. Davidson walked down the slope with Robert. While they are discussing crops, with the keen interest which belongs not to amateurs, we may enlighten the reader some- what concerning the municipal system of self-government in which the shrewd Mr. Davidson professed his interest Nowhere is it so perfect as in Canada. Each district has thorough control over its own affairs. Taxation, for the purpose of local improvement or education, is levied by the town or county councils, elected by the dwellers in each township. No byelaw for raising money can be enforced, unless it has previously been submitted to the electors or people. The town council consists of five membei's, one of whom SETTLER THE SECOND. 261 is town-reeve ; the town-reeves form the county council ; and tlio presiding officer elected by them is called the warden. From the completeness of the organization, no merely local question can bo brought before the provincial legislature, and it would be well if Imperial Parliament could, by similar means, be relieved of an immense amount of business, inconsistent with its dignity. " Eh ! what's this ?" asked Davidson, stopping before the pai-tiaUy raised walls of a wooden cottage. " Wha*s gaun to live here ?" " Don't you recollect my town plot ?" asked Kobert. ** My first tenant sets up here. Jackey Dubois is removing from the * Comer :' he was always getting the ague in that marshy spot, and isn't sorry to change." *• Then that brings me richt down on what I hae been wantin' to say," quoth Davidson. " If ye'U gie us the site, me an* my son Wat wull build a mill." " With all my heart : a grist or a saw mill ?" " May be baith, if we could raise the cash. Nae doot the saw- mill s the proper to begin wi', seein' yer toun's to be builded o' wood " **For the present," observed Mr. Wynn ; "but there's plenty of limestone under that hardwood ridge." **An* the finest water power in the township rinnin' a* to waste on top of it. Weel, noo, I'm glad that's settled ; though 'twull be an awfu' expense first cost. I dinna exactly ken how to over- take it." Kobert imagined that he was magnifying matters, iu order to lessen any possible demand of ground-rent. But it is probable that Davidson would have even paid something over and above his ideas of equitable, for the pleasure of Zack Bunting's anticipated mortification at finding a rival mill set up in the neighbourhood. m .U5 i f ii : I'll fiii si (' - 'i- ' ;_,''tr M ' 'i m '•rU •^(?l 262 CEDAR CREEK. CHAPTER XL. AN UNWELCOME SUITOR. .When Hie affair of the mill was arranged, and Robert's mind's eye beheld it already built and noisily flourishing, they sauntered along the bend of the pond towards where the charcoal forest of last autumn had donned a thin veil of greenery. The sight set Dpvidson upon his favourite irritation — the decay of his farm, Daisy Bum, under its present owner. "He's an a'thegither gude-for-naething," was his conclusion respecting Captain Armytage. " Such men as he hae nae mair business settlin' in the bush than he wad hae in tryin' the life o' a fish. A mon may come without land, or money, or freends, an I'll warrant him to get on ; but there's ane thing he must hae, the willingness to work hard. That wull bring him the lands, and money, and freends, as plenty as blackberries. Sae far as I can see, your gentlefolk dinna do weel in the bush ; they're ower proud to tak' to the axe and the hoe as they ought, an' they hae maistly fine habits o' life that mak' them unhappy. I wad like to see the Captain or his son cobblin* their ain shoon I Though I'm tauld the young fellow's greatly improved sin' his hurt ; but that winna mak' him handier." " He is much more inr'-''strious," said Robert, " and I hope will be able to pull up affairs on the farm, even yet." " Na, sir, na ! Ziack Bunting's got his claw on it in the shape of a mortgage, already. That farm o' his below the * Comer ' he grasped in just the same way ; put the owner in debt to the store, foreclosed the mortgage, and ruined the puir man. I ken he has his eye on Daisy Bum for Nim, ever sin' he saw the Captain. And that Yankee cam' here, Maister Robert, without as much as a red cent aboon the pack on his back I" AN UNWELCOME SUITOR. 263 Just then Artlmr and George came in sight round the lee of a small island, paddling swiftly along. ** Trolling for black bass and maskelong^/' remarked Robert. ** There! he has a bite." Arthur's line, some seventy or eighty feet lono;, was attached to his left arm as he paddled, which gave a most templing tremulous- ness to the bait — a mock-mouse of squirrel fur ; and a great pike-like fish, lying deep in the clear water, beheld it and was captivated. Slowly he moved towards the charmer, which vibrated three or four feet beneath the surface ; he isaw not the treacherous line, the hook beneath the fur; his heavily under-jawed mouth (whence he obtained the name of masque-longue, misspelled con- tinually in a variety of ways by his Canadian captors), his tre- mendous teeth, closed voraciously on the temptation. Arthur's arm received a sudden violent jerk, from the whole force of a lively twenty-five pound maskelong^; a struggle began, to be ended successfully for the human party by the aid of the gaif-hook. This was the noblest prey of the pond. Pickerel of six or seven pounds were common ; and a profusion of black bass-spotted trout in all the creeks; sheepheads and suckers ad libitum, the last named being the worst fish of Canada. George thought the success far too uniform for sport ; Arthur hardly cared to call the killing of God's creatures " sport," during some time back. " Davidson, here's a contribution for your bee," cried Arthur, holding up the prize by its formidable snout. "For your good wife, with my compliments.'* Mrs. Davidson was in the thick of preparations for a logging-bee, to be held two days subsequently, and whither all the Cedar Creek people were invited. Every settler's wife's housekeeping is brought to a severe test on such occasions, and the huge maskelong^ was a most acceptable addition. The four gentlemen and Mr. Callaghan went with their team of oxen to help their good neighbour on the appointed morning. (I J '\'% t If 1:,!;' ':(' 264 CEDAR CREEK. It might have been four hours afterwards that Linda wua worlv- ing in her garden, hoeing a strawberry bed, and singing to herself some low song, when, attracted by a sh'ght movement at the fence, she raised her eyes. Mr. Nimrod Bunting was leaning against the mils. " I guess you may go on. Miss," said he, showing all his yellow teeth. " IVe been admirin* yar voice this quarter of an hour past. I've never happened to hear you sing afore ; and I assure you, Miss, I'm saying the truth, that the pleasure is highly gratifyin.* " Linda felt greatly inclined to put do\\Ti her hoe and run into the house ; but that would be so ridiculous. She hoed on in silence, with a very displeased colour on her cheek. " I see all yar people at the bee : yar too high yarself to go to them kind'er meetings, I reckon, Miss ? Wal, I like that. I like prida Th' ole woman said always, so did uncle Zack, * Nim, yar above yar means ; yar only fit for a Britisher gentleman ;* they did, I guess !" " The sun is getting so hot," quoth Miss Wynn, laying down her hoe. ** I reckon I ain't agoin* to have come down from Davidson's to here to speak to you, Miss," and Nim vaulted over the fence, " an' let yon slip through my fingers that way. Uncle Zack said he'd speak to tlie ole feller up at the bee, an' bade me make tracks an' speak to you. Miss. He's agoin' to foreclose the mortgage, he is." "What, on Daisy Burn?" Linda was immensely relieved for the moment. " Taint on nothen* else, I guess. 'Tis an elegant farm — ain't it?" "Cannot your father wait for his money — even a little time? Captain Armytage would surely pay in the long run ; or his son would " " But s'pose we don't want 'em to pay ? S'pose we wants the farm, and house, and fizins, and all, for a new-married pair to set up, Miss ?" THE MILL-PRIVILEGE. 2(35 " I dont think you should allow anything to interfere with what is just and merciful," said Miss Wynn, with a strong effort. Her toionentor stood on the path between her and the house. " S'pose 1 said they wanted that new-married pair to be you an* me, Miss?** The audacity of the speech nearly took away her breath, and sent the blood in violent crimson over her foce and throat. " Let me pass; sir,'* was her only answer, most haughtily spoken. "Unde Zack*s a rich man,** pleaded his son. **He*s always been an ole *coon, with a fine nest of cash at his back. It's in a New York bank, vested in shares. He's promised me the best part of it, an' the store into the bargain. You'll be a fool if you say * No,* I guess." Here he was seized from behind by the throat, and hurled round heavily to the ground. " Why, then, you spalpeen of an owdacious vagabone, it's well but I smash every bone in yer skin. Of all the impudence I ever heerd in my whole lifo; you bate it out, clear and clane I Oh, murther, if I could only give you the batin' I'd like, only may be the master *ud be vexed !** And Mr. Oallaghan danced round his victim, wielding a terrible shillelagh 'M CHAPTER XLI. THE MILL-PRIVILEGE. Meanwhile, the noonday dinner at Davidson's bee progi'essed merrily. The mighty maskelong^ disappeared piecemeal, simul- taneously with a profusion of veal and venison pies, legs and sides of pork, raspberry tarts, huge dishes of potatoes and hot buns, trays of strawberries, and other legitimate backwoods fare: served and eaten all at the same time, with an aboriginal disregard of couTses. After much wriggling and scheming — ^for ho could K 2 ■A (I 266 CEDAB CBEEK. not do the smallest thing in a straightforward manner — Zack Bunting had edged himself beside Mr. Wynn the elder ; who, to please his good friend Davidson, occupied what he magnificently termed the vice-chair, being a stout high stool of rough red pine ; and Zack slouched beside him, his small cunning eyes glancing sidelong occasionally from his tin platter, to the noble upright figure of the old gentleman. "What's in the wind now?" quoth Eobert to himself, at tlie other end of the board, as he surveyed this contrast of personages. Looking down the lines of hungry labourers for Nim's duplicate face, it was absent, though he had seen it a-field. Andy's was also wanting, and with it the hilarity which radiated from him upon surrounding company. Not having the key of the position Eobert failed to connect these absences, although just then they were being connected in a very marked manner at Cedar Creek. Zack wanted to speak on a particular subject to his lofty neigh- bour, but somehow it stuck in his thro His usual audacity was at fault. Mr. Wynn had never seemed so inaccessible, though in reality he was making an effort to be unusually bland to a person he disliked. For the first time in his existence, cringing Zack feared the face of mortal man. " Spell o* warm weather, squire, ain't it, rayther ? I wor jest a sayin' to Silas Duff here, that I never want to see no better day for loggin', I don't" " It is indeed beautifully fine," answered Mr. Wynn, who was generally called in the neighbourhood "the squire," a sort of com- pliment to his patriarchal and magisterial position. '* I hope our friend Davidson will have his work cleared off satisfactorily before dark." "Oh, no fear, squire, no fear, I guess. There's good teams a-field. Them cattle, druv by my lad Nim, are the finest in the township, I reckon." ' " Indeed !" quoth Mr. Wynn, who just knew an ox from an ass. THE MILL-PRIVILEQE. 267 ** Tain't a lodn' game to keep a store in the bush, ef you be a smart man," observed Zack, with a leer, after a few minutes* devotion to the contents of his tin plate. By this adjective "smart" is to be understood "sharp, overreaching" — in fact, a cleverness verging upon safe dishonesty. " I guess it*s the high road to bein' worth some punkins, ef a feller has sense to invest his money well." ** I daresay," rejoined Mr. Wynn, vaguely, looking down on the mean crooked face. " Fact, squire, downright fact. Now, I don't mind tellin' you, squire," lowering his voice to a whisper, "that IVe cleared a hundred per cent, on some sales in my time ; an' the money hain't been idle since, you may b'lieve. Thar ! that's sharp tradin', I guess ?" "Yes, sir, very sharp indeed.** Mr. Wynn's face by no means reflected the Yankee's smile. But Zack saw in his gravity only a closer attention to the important subject of gain. " I've shares in a big bank in New York, that returns me fifteen per cent. — every copper of it : an* I've two of the best farms in the township— that's countin' Daisy Burn, \>har Til foreclose some day soon, I guess." " You are a prosperous man, as you calculate prosperity, Mr. Bunting." " I guess I ain't nothin' else," answered the storekeeper, with satisfaction. "But I kin tell you, squire, that my lad Nim is 'tamal 'cute too, an' hell be worth lookin' arter as a husband, he will." Still with an unsuspicious effort at cordiality, Mr. Wynn an- swered, " I suppose so." " He might get gals in plenty, but he has a genteel taste, has Nim: the gal to please Nim must be thorough genteel. Now, what would you say, squire " — ^an unaccountable faint-heartedness seized uncle Zack at this juncture, and he coughed a hesitation. ■^i AIL?!! ■IS 268 CEDAR CREEK. " Well, sir !" For the old gentleman began to suspect toward^i what he was drifting, but rejected the suspicion as too wild and improbable. ** Wal, the fact is, squire, Nim will have the two farms, an* the store, an' the bank shares — of course not all tliat till I die, but Daisy Bum at once : an* — an* — he's in a 'tarnal everlastin' state about your daughter Linda, the purtiest gal in the township, I guess." Mr. Wynn rose from his seat, his usually pale countenance deeply flushed. What ! his moss-rose Linda — as often in a fond moment he named her — his pretty Linda, thought of in connection with this vulgar, cheating storekeeper's vulgar son ? " Sii", how dare you?" were all the words his lips framed, when Robert, beholding the scene from the other end of the board, came to the rescue. " The fellow has been drinking," was the most charitable con- stioiction Mr. Wynn could put upon Zack's astounding proposition. His dignity was cruelly outraged. "Baiting the trap with his hateful knavish gains I" cried Linda's father. " This is the result of the democracy of bush-life ; the indiscriminate association with all classes of people that's forced on one. Any low fellow that pleases may ask your daughter in marriage !" Kobert walked up and down with him outside the building. Though sufficiently indignant himself, he tried to calm his father. ** Don't make the affair more public by immediate withdrawal," he advised. ** Stay an hour or so longer at the bee, for appearance' sake. It's hardly likely the fellow will attempt to address you again, at least on that subject." So the old gentleman very impatiently watched the log heaps piling, and the teams straining, and the " grog-bos " going his rounds, for a while longer. We left Andy Callaghan over his victim, with a flourishing shillelagh. Having spun him round, he stirred him up agdn with a few sharp taps ; and it must be confessed that Nim showed very Tlin MILL-PniVILEOE, 2C0 little fight for ft raau of his maguitude, but sneakod over the fence after ft minute's bravado. " Och, but it's myself that 'ud like to bo batin' ye !" groaned Andy for the second time, most sincerely. " Only I'm afeartl if I began I wouldn't know how to lave off, 'twould be so plej\sant, yo owdacious villain. Ha ! ye'd throw the stick at me, would ye ?" and Mr. Callaghan was across the fence in a twinkling. AVhere- upon Nim fairly tiu'ned tail, and fled ignomuiiously, after having ineffectually discharged a piece of timber, javelin-wise, at his enemy. A loud peal of laughter, in a very masculine key, broke upon Andy's ear. It proceeded from the usually undemonstrative maiden Liberia, who was bringing a pail of water from the creek when her path was crossed by the flying jmir. From that hour the tides of her feminine heart set in favour of the conqueror. " Troth, an' I may as well let ye have the benefit of yer heels, ye mortal spalpeen," said Andy, reining himself in. " An' it's the father of a good thrashin' I could give ye for yer impidence. To think o' ^liss Linda, that's one of the ould auncient Wynns of Du- nore since Adam was a boy I I donno why I didn't pound him into smithereens whin I had him so 'andy on the flat of his back — only for Miss Linda, the darlin' crathur, tellin' me not. Sure tliero isn't a i^eeler in the whole counthry, nor a jail neither, for a thousand mile. Now I wondher, av it was a thing I did bate him black an' blue, whose business would it bo to 'rest mo ; an' is it before the masther I'd bo brought to coort?" Cogitating thus, and chewing the cud on the end of his sapling, Andy returned homewards leisurely. His young mistress was no- where to be seen ; so he picked up the hoe and finished her straw- berry bed ; and when he saw the elder Mr. Wynu approaching, he quietly walked off to Davidson's and took his place among the hive again, as if nothing had happened. Nor did the faithful fellow ever allude to the episode — with a rare delicacy judging that the young II A ' ■ *r i'M Hi 270 CEDAB CBEEK. lady would prefer silence — except once that Kobert asked him what had brought him to Cedar Greek so opportunely. " Why, thin, didn't I know what the vagabone wanted, lavin* the bee 'ftthout his dinner, an* goin* down this road, afther me lookin* at him this twel'month back dressing himself out in all the colours of neckties that oyer was in the rainbow, an* saunterin* about the place eyery Sunday in particler, an' starin' at her purty face as ira- pident as if he was her aqual. Often Td ha* giyen me best ehuto o* clothes to pluck the two tails oflF his coat ; an* he struttin* up to Daisy Bum, when she and Miss Armytage tached the little childher there ; tin* Miss Linda thinkin* no more of him than if a s.iake was watchin* her out ov the bushes. But, moreover, I heerd him an* his old Bchamer ov a father whisperin* at the bee : * Do you go down to herself,* said Zack, * an* I'll spake to the squire.* * Sure, me lad,* thinks I, * if you do you*ll have company along md you ; * so I dogged him every step of the way.'* Which explains Andy's interposition. Robert Wynn, when his wrath at the Buntings* presumption subsided, had gloomy anticipations that this would prove the begin- ning of an irreconcilable feud, making the neighbourhood very disagreeable. But not so. A week afterwards, while he stood watching the workmen building the dam for the projected mill, he, hoard the well-known drawl at his elbow, and turning, beheld the unabashed Zack. He hjd duly weighed matters for and against, and found that the squire was too powerful for a pleasant quarrel, and too big to injure with impunity. ** Wal, Robert, so yar misin* a sawmill !" ho liad uttered in a tone of no agreeable surprise. Mr. Wynn pointed to Davidson, and left him to settle that j)oint of rivalry. ** W.; ,7ull divide the custom o' the country, neebor Zack,** quoth the other. "I don*t deny that yju have an elegant mill-privilege here; but I guess thivt'? cM you'll ^'>ve. Whar's grist to come from, or UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. 271 lumber? D*ye think they'll pass the four roods at the * Corner,* whar my mill stands handy ?** ** Boom eneugh i* the warld for baith o* us/* nodded Davidson ; ** a' room eneugh in Canada for a million ither mills, freend." And ho walked down the sloping bank to assist at the dam. This last — a blow at the pocket — seemed to affect Zack far more than that other blow at the intangible essence, his family honour. He could see his son Nim set off for the back settlements of Iowa, without a pang ; for it is in yulgar Yankee nature to fling abroad the sons and daughters of a house far and wide into the waters of the world, to make their own way, to sink or swim a? happens. But the new sawmill came betweei. him and his rest. Before winter the machinery had been noisily at work for many a day ; with huge beams walking up to the saw, and getting perpetually sliced into clean fresh boards ; with an intermittent shooting of slabs and sawdust into the creek. " Most eloquent music" did it dis- course to Robert's ears, whose dream of a settlement was thus ful- filling, in that the essential requisite, lumber for dwelling houses, was being prepared. lUi CHAPTER XLII. UNDER THE NGBTHEBN LIGHTS. For some sufficient reason, the Yankee storekeeper did not at that time prosecute his avowed intention of foreclosing the mortgage oii Daisy Bum. Perhaps there was something to he gained by dally- ing with the Captain still — some further value to be sucked out of him in that viilanous trap, the tavern bar, whither many a disap- pointed settler has resorted to drown his cai'es, and found tlie intoxicating glass indeed full of " blue ruin." One brilliant day in midwinter, when the sky was like a crys- tallized sapphire dome, and the earth spotless in snow, a single I ; »j1 272 CEDAR CREEK. sleigh came bowling along the smooth road towards the '* Comer.** *• A heavy fall of snow is equivalent to the simultaneous construc- tion of macadamized roads all through Canada," saith that univer- sally quoted personage, Good Authority. So it is found by thou- sands of sleighs, then liberated after a rusty summer rest. Then is the season for good fellowship and friendly intercourse : leisure has usurped the place of business, and the sternest utilitarian £ud8 time for relaxation. The idlers in Bunting's bar heard tlie sleigli-bells long before; they left the arches of the forest; and as the smallest atom of gi'avel strikes commotion into a still pool, so the lightest event was of consequence in this small stagnant community of the " Corner." The idlers speculated concerning those bells, and a dozen pair of eyes witnessed the emergence of the veliicle into the little stumpy street. Zack's sharp vision knew it for one that had been here last year, as he peered through the store-window, stuffed with goods of all sorts; but the occupant was not the satoe. Grizzled hair and beard escaped the bounds of the fur cap tied down over his ears, and the face was mucli older and harder. The mills seemed to attract his attention, frozen up tightly as they were ; he slackened his sleigh to a pause, threw his reins on the horse's neck, and walked to the edge of the dam. After a few minutes, Bunting's (curiosity stimulated him to follow, and see what attracted the stranger's regard. " Are you the proprietor of this mill, sir ?" called out the tali gi-ay-liaired gentleman, in no mild tone. Zack hesitated, weigh- ing the relative advantages of truth and falsehood. "Wal, I guess- (i >> You need guess nothing, sir ; but the construction of your dan; is a disgi'aco to civilization — a murderous construction, sir. Do you see that it is at least twelve feet, perpendicular, sir ? and how do you ever expect that salmon can climb over that barrier? 1 UNPER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. 273 suppose a specimen of the true * salmo salar' has never been caught iu these waters since you blocked up the passage with your villa- nous dam, sir ?" " I wam't ever a-tliinkin' o* the salmon at all, I guess," answered the mill-owner truly and humbly, because ho conceived himself iu the authoritative presence of some bigwig, senator, or m.p,, capable of calling him Zack Bunting, to a disagreeable account, perchance. " But you should have thought," rejoined the stranger, irately. *' Through such wrong-headedness as yours, Canada is losing yearly one of her richest possessions in the way of food. What has exter- minated the salmon in nearly all rivers wes*, of Quebec? dams like this, which a fisli coidd no more ascend than he could walk on dry land. But I hope to see parliamentary enactments which shall render this a felony, «=ir — a felony if I can. It is robbery and mur- der both together, sir." Mr. Hiram Holt walked rapidly to his sleigh, wrapped liimnclf again in the copious furs, and left the storekeeper staring after tiie swift ghding cutter, and wondermg more than ever who ho was. This matter of the dams had so much occupied his attention of late, that even after he reached Cedar Creek he reverted to it once and anon ; for this fine old Canadian had iron opinions welded into his iron character. The capacity of entertaining a conviction, yet being lukewarm about it, was not possible to Hiram Holt. He believed, and practised suitably, with thorough intensity, in every- thing ; even in such a remote subject as the Canadian tisherios. The squii-e, who knew what preservation of salmon meant in the rivers of Britain, and who in his time had been a skilful ani^ler, could sympathize with him about the reckless system of extinction going on through the province, and which, if it be not arrested by the hantl of legislative interferi'nce, will probably empty the Cana- dian streams of this most delicious and nutritive of fish. " A gold-field discovered in Labrador would not be more renmnc- rutive than that single item of salmon, if properly worked," im 274 CEDAR GREEK. remarked Hiram. " When the fisheries of the tiny Tweed rent for fifteen thousand a-year, a hundred times that sum would not cover the value of the tributaries of the St Lawrence. And yet they're systematically killed out, sir, by these abominable dams." " Why, Mr. Holt," said Linda, looking up from her work, " I think the mills are of more consequence than the salmon." ** But they're not incompatible, my young lady," he answered. " Put steps to the dams — wooden boxes, each five feet high, for the salmon to get upstairs into the still water a-top." Whereat Miss Linda, in her ignorance, was mightily amused at the idea of a fish ascending a staircase. " The quantity of salmon was almost infinite twenty years ago," said Hiram, after condescending to enlighten her on the subject of its leaping powers. ** I remember reading that Iloss purchased a ton weight of it from the Esquimaux for a sixpenny knife ; and one haul of his own seino net took thirty-tliree hundred salmon." George, manufacturing a sled in the corner, whistled softly, and expressed his incredulity in a low tone ; not so low, but that Mr. Holt's quick ears caught the doubt, and he became so overflowing vnth piscatory anecdotes, that Linda declared afterwards the very tea had tasted strongly of salmon on that particular evening. " It is only a few years since Sir John Macdonald and his party killed four hundred salmon in one week, from a part of I'Esquemain Kivcr, called the Lower Pools. Thirty-five such rivers, equally full, flow through Labrador into the St. Lawrence : am I not then right in saying that this source of wealth is prodigious ?'* asked Mr. Holt. " But the abominable dams, and the barrier nets, and the Indiims' spearing, have already lessened it one-fourth." A relative com- paring of experiences, with reference to fishy subjects, ensued between the squire and his guest ; and both agreed that — quitting the major matter of the dams — an enforcement of "close time," from the 20th of August till May, would materially tend to preserve the fish UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. 275 '* Nature keeps them tolerably close most of that lime," remarked Arthur, " by building a couple of yards of ice over them. From November till April they're under lock and key." "And han't you over fished through holes in the ice?" asked Mr. Holt. " Capital sport, I can tell you, with a worm for bait." ** No : but I was going to say, how curiously thin and weak the trout are just when the ice melts. They've been on prison allow- ance, I presume, and are ready to devour anything." During all the evening, though Linda took openly a considerable share in the conversation, ner mind would beat back on one ques- tion, suggested repeatedly : " Why did Mr. Sam Holt go to Eu- rope ?" for one item of news brought by to-day's arrival was, that his eldest son had suddenly been seized with a wish to visit Eng- land, and had gone in the last boat from Halifax. Glancing up at some remark, she ercountered Mrs. Wynn's eyes, and coloured deeply. That sweetest supervision of earth, a mother's loving look, had read more deeply than the daughter imagined. Rising hurriedly, on some slight excuse, she went to the windo^7 and looked out. " Oh, papa ! such glorious northern lights !" Ay, surely. Low arcs of dazzling light stretched from east to west, across the whole breadth of the heavens ; whence coruscated, in prolonged flashes, gorgeous streamers of every colour, chiefly of pale emerald green, pink, and ambor. " A rich aurora for this season of tlie year," remarked Hiram Holt. "Those that are brightly coloured generally appear iii autumn or spring." "Oh, yes," said George; "do you recollect how magnificent was <'iio we had while the fall-wheat was planting? tb«) sky was all crimson, with yellow sti'eamers." "Do you know what the Indians think about auroras?" asked Mr. Holt " They believe that these flashes are the spirits of the dea'' dancing before the throne of the Manitou, or Great Spirit" M 276 CEDAK CKEEK. " No v,^oncler tliey should seek for some supernatural cause of such splendour," observed Robert. The aurora borealis exhibited another phase of its wondrous beauty on the ensuing evening. The young people from Cedar Creek iiad gone to a corn-husking bee cit Vernon*s, an old gentle- man settlor, who lived some eight miles off on the concession-liLe ; and coming home in the sleighs, the wh^le magnificent panorama of the slties spread above them. Waves of light rolled slowly from shore to shore of the horizon in vast pulsations, noiselessly ascending to the zenith, and descending all across the stars, like tidal surges of the aerial ocean sweeping over a shallow silver strand. Three sleighs, a short distance from each other, were running along the canal-lilvo road, through dark walls of forest, towards the " Corner." Now, it is a principle in all bringings home from these midwinter bees, that families scatter as much as may be, and no sisters shall bo escorted by their own brothers, but by somebody else*s brothel's. Consequently, Robert Wynn had pau-ed off with Miss Arraytago for this drive ; and Mr. Holt, graybeard though he was, would not resign Linda to any one, but left young Arraytage Arthur, and Jay to fill the third sleigh. Of course that sublime aurora overhead formed a main topic of conversation ; but irrelevant matter worked in somehow. Blunt Hiram at last fm-nishcd a key to what had puzzled his fair com- panion, by asking abruptly, when Captain Argent was expected at C)edar Creek ? "Captain Argent?" she repeated, in sui*priso; "he's not ex- pected at all ; I believe he has gone to Ireland on a year's leave." " Then you are not about to be married to him ?" said Mr. Holt, still more bluntly. " No indeed, sii*," she answered, feeling very red, and thankful for the (•oni})rtrative gl(X)ni. Whereupon Mr. Holt shook hands with her, and expressed liis conviction that she was the best and A DUSH-FLITTIXG. 277 prettiest girl in the county ; afterwards fell into a brown study, lasting till they got home. The pair in the hindmost sleigh diverged equally far from the aurora ; for heavy upon Edith's heart lay the fact that the mort- gage was at last about to be foreclosed, and they should leave Daisy Burn. This very evening, her father coming late to Mrs. Vernon's corn-shelling bee, had told Iier that Zack would be pro- pitiated no longer ; he wanted to get the farm in time for spring operations, and vowed he would have it They must all go to Mon- treal, where Captain Armytage had some friends, and where Edith hoped she might be able, perhaps, to turn her accomplish- ments to good account by opening a school. " Papa is not at all suited for a settler's life," she said. " Ho has rdways lived in cities, and town habits are strong upon him. It is the best we can do." 'fl CIIArXEll XLIII. A BUSH-FLITTING. Into Robert Wynn's mind, during that sleigh-drive under the northern lights, had entered one or two novel ideas. The first was a plan for frustrating the grasping storekeeper's design. He laid the whole circumstances before Mr. Holt, and asked for tlie means of redeeming the mortgage, by paying Captain Armytage's debt to Bunting, which was not half the value of the farm. The gallant officer was not obliged for his friend's officiousness. He had brought himself to anticipate the move to Montreal most pleasurably, notwithstanding the great pecyniary loss to himself. The element of practicality had little place in his mental compo- sition. An atmosphere of vagueness surrounded all his schemes, and coloured them with a seductive halo. " You see, my dear fellow," ho said to Kobort, when the propo- m 278 CKDAB CREEK. sition of redeeming the mortgage was made, " yon see, it does not suit my plans to bury myself any longer in these backwoods, eh ? There are so few opportunities of relaxation— of intellectual con- verse, of — a — in short, of any of those refinements required by a man of education and knowledge of the world. You will under- stand this, my dear Mr. Robert I — ^I wish for a more extended field, in fact Nor is it common justice to the girls to keep them immured, I may say, in an atmosphere of perpetual labour. I am sure my poor dear Edith has lived a slave's life since she came to the bush. Only for your amiable family, I — ^I positively don't know what might have been the consequence, eh ?" Robert felt himself getting angry, and wisely withdrew. On Mr. Holt's learning the reception of his offer, he briefly remarked that he guessed Sam wouldn't object to own a farm, near Cedar Creek, and he should buy it altogether from the Captain ; which was accordingly done. We refrain from picturing Zack's feelings. The other idea which had visited Robert under the aurora — why should he not himself become the tenant of Daisy Burn ? He took his fur cap and went down there for an answer. The Captain had gone to the "Comer," this being post-day, and he expected some letters from the Montreal friends in whom he believed. Reginald was chopping wood ; the two sisters were over their daily lessons. What to do with Jay, while the above question was being asked and answered, was a problem tasking Robert's ingenuity ; and finally, he assumed the office of writing master, set her a sum in long division, which he assured her would require the deepest abstraction of thought, and advised a with- drawal to some other room for that purpose. Jay fell into the snare, and went, boasting of her arithmetical jjowers, which would bring back the sum completed in a few minutes. The instant the door closed — " I came down this morning," said Robert, " to tell you that I have concluded to take Daisy Bum as tenant to Mr. Holt, from A BU8H-FLITTING. 279 «, the first of April next. That is," he added, "on one con- dition." " What 7" she asked, a faint colour rising to her cheek, for his eyes were fixed on her. " Arthur is much steadier than lie was, since that visit to Argent last spring made him see that a penniless proud man has no busi- ness to endeavour to live among his equals in social rank, but his Huperiors in wealth. He is good enough farmer to manage Cedar Creek, with George's increasing help, and Dubois as a sort of steward. Edith, if I come here and settle on this farm, I cannot live alone : will you be my wife ?" He leaned forward, and took her passive hand. The conscious crimson rose for one moment to her throat and n\ orted face, crept oven to the finger-tips, then left her of the usual marble paleness r.gain. ** No, Robert,'* she answered firmly, withdrawing her hand ; " it cannot be ; I cannot leave my father and Jay." To this determination she held fast For she had known that such an option might be offered her, as every woman in like cir- cumstances must know ; she had weighed the matter well in the balance of duty, and this was her resolve. Could she have counted the cost accurately, it might not have been ; but she hid from her eyes the bright side of the possible future, and tried steadily to do what she deemed right. Great was Jay's surprise, when she came back with the long- division sum triumphantly proved, to find her writing master gone, and Edith with her eyes very tearful. That occurrence was a puzzle to her for some time aftenvards. Crying was so rare with Edith — and what could Robert Wynn have to do with it ? But Jay prudently asked no questions after tlio first astonished ejacu- lation. When Robert was walking back to the Creek, feeling his plea- sant '* castle in the air" shattered about his ears* blind to tho ^'^ 280 CEDAR CREEK. Splendour of the sun-lit winter world, and deaf to the merry lv> It of the snow-birds, young Armytage came out of the woods anvl joined him. He, poor fellow, was preoccupied with his own plans. " I think, and Edith agrees with me, that my best chance is to get a small lot of wild land, and begin at the beginning as you did. I want the discipline of all the enforced hard work, B< . AFy unfortunate bringing up in e^'cry species of self-indulgence was no good education for a settler; but, with God's help, I'll get over it." Robert was lifted out of his own trouble for a time, by seeing the manful struggle which this other heart had to make against the slavery of habit. Ho roused himself to speak cheeringly to the young man, and receive his confidence cordially, in an hour when selfishness would rather have been alone. ** Perhaps an application for a Goveri mental free grant of land would be advisable," said Eeginald. " I've been thinking of it. You see I would rather like to be bound down, and forced to stay in one spot, as I must if I undertake the hundred acres on Govern- ment terms." " What are the terms ?" asked Kobert. " Well, in the first place, I must be more than eighteen years old ; must take possession of the kind in a month from the date of allotment ; must put twelve acres at least into cultivation within four years, besides building a log-house, twenty feet by eighteen ; and must guarantee residence on the lot till these conditions bo fulfilled.'* "JSard work, and no mistake,'* said Robert. ** I've a mind to go with you." " You r exclaimed the other, with unfeigned surprise, looking in Wynn's face. " Yes ; I feel as if I would be the better for a few months of the old difficulties. I'd like to get away from this for a while." " But perhaps you wouldn't like the * while * to extend over four A BUSH-FLIlTINa. i8i years," remarked Armytage. " Of all people, I never expected to find you a rover, Wynn," It was the passing fancy of a wounded spirit. Before the Captain departed from Daisy Burn, Robert had become wiser. Duty called on him to remain in the home which his labour had created in the bush. After some deliberation, he asked Reginald to work Mr. Holt's newly acquired farm in shares with liimself ; and Reginald, though looking wistfully on his receding vision of solitary bush life, consented. " Farming upon shares " signifies that the owner furnishes the land, implements of husbandry, and seed ; the other contracting party finds all the labour required ; and the produce is divided between them. This agreement was slightly modified in the case of Daisy Burn, for Robei*t did many a hard day's work on it him- self, and was general superintendent. The plan may answer well where ignorance and capital go together, and chance to secure the services of honest industry ; but the temptations of the labourer to fraud are strong, and his opportunities unlimited. Many a new settler has been ruined by farming upon shares with dishonest people. The last sleighing week saw the departure of the Armytago family. Before a thaw imprisoned the back settlements in spring isolation, they had reached the city of Ottawa, where the Captain showed a disposition to halt for some days to look about liim, he said — a favourite occupation in his lotos-eating life : Edith protested in vain. No ; he might fall in with some employment to suit him perchance : though what would suit Captain Armytage, except a handsome salary for keeping his hands in his pockets, he woulil himself have biten puzzled to define. However, for the purpose of falling in with such employment, ho frequented mos.; of the hotel and tavern-bars in the town, leaving; (he giiid ?hiefly to their own devices. So, as the weatlier was fine, 3Ii8s Ar/aytage and Jay walked about a gi-eut deal beside the ■i ; A [| I 'l\ m i IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) '^ 1.0 ^K* K£ I.I 12.2 1^ lii |; M 12.0 m 1.25 1 1.4 III ^'^ ^ 6" - ► PhotDgraphic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 145*0 (716) 872-4503 \ iV \\ ^^ 6^ "■^f^ // ^ ,<^^. '^^' idi & ^ ] ! ; 282 CEDAR CREEK. broad brown river, just unchained from ice, and rushing, floe-laden, towards the Chaudiere Falls ; through the wide rectangular streets, lined with the splendid stores and massive houses of a busy popula- tion; through, the village-like suburbs, where each cottage was fronted with a garden ; and ascended the Major Hill, to behold the imrivalled view of forest, flood,. and field from its summit. Far to right and left stretched a panorama, such as only British North America could furnish ; the great Ottawa river gliding by, a hun- dred and fifty feet below, the long lino of cataracts flashing and dashing to the north, a framework of black forest closing in to the edge of the streets, and bounded itself on the horizon by high blue mountains. '''^ ' '^ tt. ^u.^v^ ., ^ Here they were overtaken by Mr. Hiram Holt. He had seen them pass as he sat in some lawyer's office near by, and followed them when his business was finished. His fii'st proposition was that they should go with him to Mapleton, while their father chose to idle about Bytown. Miss Armytage declined, for she hoped they might leave for Montreal in a day or two at furthest; but if Mr. Holt commanded any influence there, and she told him, poor girl, the little plan of teaching which she had formed. " Come, now," quoth Hiram, alter some conversation on that head, and a promise of v/riting to friends in Montreal, "take my arm, young lady, and I'll show you some of our Ottawa lions. Big- gest of all, to my fancy, is the town itself— only twenty-five years old, and as large as if it had been growing for centuries. The man is only in the prime of life who felled the first tree on this site, and now the town covers as much ground as Boston. Certainly the site is unrivalled." Edith, thinking a good deal of other more personally important things, acquiesced in all he said. " You see, it's the centre of everything : three magnificent rivers flow together here, the Ottawa, Rideau, and Gatineau ; water-pri- vilege is unlimited ; Chaudiere up yonder would turn all the mills A BUSH-FLITTING. 283 ivers in creation. Now, do you know the reason it's called Chaudiere, my dear?" '''' This to Jay, who had to confess her ignorance. ''Because the vapour — do you see the cloud always ascending from the crest of the Falls ? — reminded somebody of the steam from a boiling kettle. Hence these are the Kettle Falls, Miss Jay." She thought the appellation very undignified. " The finest building sites are on this Barracks Hill," observed Mr. Holt, relapsing into contemplation. ** But Government won't give them up : it is to be a sort of Acropolis, commanding the whole position at the fork of the three rivers, and the double mass of houses on both sides. Bytown hasn't seen its best days yet, by a long chalk, I guess." ^-- - ^ <— , ^ " I thought it was called Ottawa," said Jay, inquiringly. *' Well, madam, in this country, when cities arrive at the dignity of ten thousand inhabitants, they are permitted to change their names. So a town named York has very properly become Toronto, and the town founded by Colonel By has become Ottawa. But, as I was saying, its best days are in the future : it must be the capital of the Canadas yet." Jay remembered that her geography book assigned that distinc- tion to Quebec and Montreal. Mr. Holt affirmed that the pre- eminence of these must dwindle before this young city at their feet, wliich could be captured by no coup-de-main in case of war, and was at the head of the natural land avenue to the great Lakes Huron and Superior. " The ancier *: Indian route," said he — ** the only safe one if there were war with the United States ; and you may depend on it, if railways take in the country, one of the greatest termini will be here, at the head-quarters of the lumber trade." His vaticination has been fulfilled. Lines of telegraph, rail, and steamers radiate from Ottawa city as a centre, at this day. It has m m i-i iffl 284 CEDAR CREEK. successfully contended for the lioaour of being acknowledged capital of the Canadas, and has been declared such by the decision of Queen Victoria. ' • ' ^ ^' ^t' ^ ; Lions in the way of antiquity it had none to show, being tho veriest mushroom of a capital ; but Mr. Holt took his friends to see the great sluice-works, the beautiful Suspension Bridge, the chain of locks forming a water staircase on the Kideau canal, and one of the huge sawmills turned by a rill from Chaudiere Falls, where Jay admi' 3d immensely the glittering machinery of saws, chisels, and planes, and the gay painting of the iron-work. Since then, the vast tubular bridge of the Grand Trunk Railway spans the river, and is a larger lion than all the rest. CHAPTER XLIV. ; "1 - ; - t • SHOVING OF THE ICE. : • ; We must pass over a year ; for so long did Sam Holt continue in Europe. Rambling over many countries, from the heather hills of Scotland and the deep fiords of Norway, to the Alharabra and the sunlit " isles of Greece," this grandson of a Suffolk peasant, ele- vated to the ranks of independence and intellectual cultm*e by the wisdom and self-denial of his immediate ancestors, saw, and sketched, and intensely enjoyed, the beauty with which God has clothed the old world. And in that same sketchbook, his constant companion, there was one page which opened oftener than any other — fell open of itself, if you held the volume carelessly — containing a drawing, not of alpine aiguille, nor Itab'an valley, nor Spanish posada, nor Greek temple, but of a comfortable old mansion, no way romantically situate among swelling hills, and partially swathed in ivy. The corner of the sketch bore the lightly pencilled letters, "Dunore." And now he fancied that twelve months* travel had completed SHOVING OF THE ICE. 2S5 ihe cure, aud that he had quite conquered his aifection for one who did not return it. He was prepared to settle down in common life again, with the second scar on his heart just healed. - i Coming home by Boston, he took rail thence to Burlington on Xake Champlain, and near the head of that noble sheet of water crossed the Canadian frontier into French scenery and manners. The line stopped short at the edge of the St. Lawrence, where pas- sengers take boat for La Chine or the island of JMontreal ; that is, ice permitting. jSTow, on this occasion the ice did not permit, at least for some time. Sam Holt had hoped that its annual commo- tion would have been over ; but it had only just begun. A vast sheet of ice, a mile in breadth and perhaps ten in length, was being torn from its holdfasts by the current beneath ; was creaking, grinding, shoving along, crunching up against the shore in masses, block over block ten or fifteen feet high ; yielding slowly and reluctantly to the pressure of the deep tide below, which some- times with a tremendous noise forced the hummocks into long ridges. The French Canadians call these " bourdigneaux." The sights, the sounds, were little short of sublime. But when night came down with its added stillness, then the heaving, grating, tearing, wrenching noises were as of some prodigious hidden strength, riving the very foundations of solid earth itself. People along shore could hardly sleep. Mr. Holt, having a taste for strange scenery, spent much of that sharp spring night under ** the glimpses of the moon," watching the struggle between the long- enchained water and its icy tyrant. Another passenger, like- minded, was companion of his ramble. " I fear it is but an Utopian scheme to dream of bridging such a flood as this," observed Holt. "No piers of man's construction could withstand the force that is in motion on the river to-night, I fear the promoters of the Victoria Bridge are too sanguine." " Well, I could pin my faith upon any engineering project sanc- tioned by Stephenson," rejoined the other. *• We had him here to 286 CEDAR CREEK. view the site, just a mile out of Montreal : lie recommended the tubular plan, a modified copy of the English Britannia Bridge. And Hoss, the resident engineer, has already begun preliminaries, with coffer dams and such like mysteries." " It will be the eighth wonder of the world, if completed," said Mr. Holt, " and must add immensely to the commercial advantages of Canada." - >=. .^^ -u " My dear sir," quoth the other impressively (he was a corn- merchant in Montreal), " unless you are in trade, you cannot duly estimate the vast benefits that bridging the St. Lawrence will con- fer on the colony. For six months of the year the river is closed to navigation, as you are aware, and the industry of Canada is con- sequently imprisoned. But this noble highway which the Grand Trunk Kailway Company have commenced, will render all seasons alike to our commerce. Consider the advantage of being able to transport the inexhaustible cereals of the Far West, * without break of bulk or gauge,' from the great corn countries of the Upper Lakes to the very wharves on the Atlantic." Mr. Holt was not surprised to hear, after this, that the speaker was a heavy shareholder in the Grand Trunk Railway, and placed unlimited faith in its projects. Whether, in subsequent years, its complete collapse (for a time) as a speculation lowered his enthu- siasm, we cannot say : perhaps he was satisfied to suffer, in fulfil- ment of the superb ambition of opening up a continent to com- merce. The com merchant had got upon his hobby, and could have talked all night about the rail and its prospects in Canada. " The progress of the province outstrips all sober calculation," said he. " Population has increased twelve hundred per cent, within the last forty years ; wherever the rail touches the ground, an agricultural peasantry springs up. Push it through the very wilderness, say I : there is no surer means of filling our waste places with industrial ^ife ; and the Pacific should be our terminus." SHOVING OP THE ICE. 287 This design has ceased to be thought extravagant, since Professor Hind's explorations have proved the existence of a fertile belt across the continent, through British territory, from the Lake oi the Woods to the Kocky Mountains ; along which, if speedily and wisely opened up, must travel the commerce of China and Japan, as T/ell as the gold of Columbia. The nation which constructs this line will, by its means, hold the sceptre of the commercial world. Brother Jonathan is well aware of the fact, and would long since have run a chain of locomotives from Atlantic to Pacific, if he could ; but thousands of miles of the great American desert inter- vene, and along the western sea-board there is no port fit for the vast trade, from Acapulco to Esquimalt on Vancouver's Island, except San Francisco, which, for other reasons, is incapacitated. . Grinding, crushing, heaving, the broad current of the St. Law- rence bore its great burden all night along. The same might con- tinue for many days ; and Sam Holt was anxious to get home : he determined, in company with his new friend the com merchant, to attempt the passage in a canoe. wi^ *ff vu " Now, sir," said the latter gentleman, vhile they waited on the bank, muffled to their eyes in furs, " you v/ill have some experience of what a complete barrier the frozen St. Lawrence is to Canadian commerce, or the commonest intercourse, and how much the Victoria Bridge is needed.'* " Au large ! au large 1" called the boatmen, sturdy, muscular fellows accustomed to river perils ; and, laying themsel ^es at the bottom of the canoe as directed, shoulders resting against the thwarts, the passengers began their " traject." Sometimes they had open water in lanes and patches ; sometimes a field of jagged ice, where- upon the merry-hearted voyageurs jumped out and dragged the canoe across to water again, singing some French song the while. What perilous collisions of floes they dexterously avoided I What intricate navigation of narrow channels they wound through within half-a-boat's length of crashing destruction I Notwithstanding all 288 CEDAR C.IEEK. >T'A tlieir ability, the passengers were thankful to touch land again some miles below the usual crossing place, and some houi*s aftor embarkation. Here the banks were deeply excoriated with the pressure of tlie ice against them ; for the edges of the vast field set in motion tlio previous day had ploughed into the eartli, and piled itself in immense angular "jambs." On the quay of Montreal it lay in block heaps also, crushed up even into the public thoroughfare ; and men were at work to help the break in tlie harbour with pick- axes and crowbars on the grey plain. ,. V' Mr. Holt had only a fev' minutes wherewith to visit a friend in one of the obscure streets of the city in a mean-looking house, made known to him by the coming out of children bearing school- satchels. A gentleman with semi-military air, wearing his hat some- what jauntily on top of a bloated face and figure, met them as he emerged from a side-street, and, paternally patting their heads, called them " little deai-s ;" and, from his seedy dress and un- occupied manner, it was not hard to perceive that he must still be unsuccessful in his search after the employment to suit him. Whether Editli's suited her or not was a question her friend would fain have asked, when ho saw the tired look and dull eye after her morning's work. Captain Armytage observed that he had frequently wished her to take holidays — in fact, had done every- thing short of exercising his paternal authority ; which, perhaps, he ought to have used on the occasion. In fact, he had thoughts of removal to Toronto ; the air of Montreal evidently did not agree with either of the girls, eh ? It is to be noticed that Jay stood by, having suddenly shot into a slender shy girl, very efficient over the smallest pupils. Mr. Holt was cordially pleased when Captain Armytage made many apologies for not remaining longer ; the fact was, he had a business appointment ; and herewith he whispered to his daughter. SIIOVINO OF THE ICE. 289 lade Id a Iter, who gave him something from her pocket — Mr. Holt fancied it was money. \ •^^- V ■'^'^" '•■^^ ■'- •^'^->' '^^^'^^ '• She knew of the approaching marriage of his sister Bell, to attend wliich he had hastened home ; and knew, also, that some of the Cedar Creek household would be there. Sinewy athlete as Sam Holt was, he could not frame his lips to ask whether Linda might be one of them. But how often had he to put the question resolutely away during that and the next day's travelling ? And what would have been his disappointment if, on entering the family at Mapleton, that pretty brown head and fair face had not met his glance? And you fancied that you were cured, Mr. Holt; you reckoned fifteen months' travel a specific. Yes; Linda was one of Bell's bridesmaids. And that same sketchbook, filled with glimpses of European scenery, brought about an enduring result on this wise. The girls were looking over it the day before the wedding — Misfl Bell in a manner rather preoccupied, which, un*^er the circum- stances, was excusable. Having both a trousseau and a bridegroom on one's hands is quite sufficient for any young lady's capacity ; so she presently left her brother Sam to explain his sketchbook to Linda alone, w-*"^ *m i»wt«^ rU'^iyj^t/ si^&iRKi^rs w wm ^ All went evenly until the page was opened, the bit of silver paper lifted ofij and Dunore was before her. What a start — colour — exclamation! Her beloved Frish home, with its green low hills, and its purple sea-line afar. " Oh, Mr. Holt, I am so glad that you went to see Dunore !" Her eyes were full of tears as she gazed. ^' ''*' " Are you ? I went there for your sake, Linda, to look at the place you loved so much." And — and — what precise words he used then, or how he understood that she would prize the drawing a thousand-fold for his sake, neither rightly remembered after- wards. But -- If 290 :v CEDAR CREEK. " In April the ice always breaks up," remarked old Hiram, with a huge laugh at his own joke. « * • • • Mr. and Mrs. Sam Holt, after their wedding trip to Niagara, settled down soberly at Daisy Bum as if they had been married a hundred years, Arthur said. They brought back with them a fugitive slave, who had made her escape from a Virginian planter. Dinah proved a faithful and useful nurse to the Daisy Burn children. Fugitive slaves are found all over Canada as servants, and generally prove trustworthy and valuable. 'ifi^h^ -n '^Mwm^P i^,;i»jr: CHAPTER XLV. EXEUNT OMNEa Now, in the year 1857, came a retributive justice upon Zack Bunting, in the shape of a compk''^ collapse of all his gains and their produce. He had placed th*. In a New York bank which paid enormous interest — thirty per cent., people said ; and when that figure of returns is offered, wise men shake their heads at the security of the principal Nevertheless, all went rightly till the commercial panic of the period above mentioned, when Zack's possessions were reduced to their primitive nonentity, and the old proverb abundantly illustrated, " 111 got, ill gone." " Libby," quoth Andy, one afternoon, soon subsequently to the above occurrence, ''they say that precious limb of an uncle of yours isn't goin* to come back here at all at all. Tm tould Mrs. Zack an' Ged is packing up, to be off to some wild place intirely." ^,v He waited, gazing at her energetic movements in washing the dinner plates (for the luxury of ware had supplanted tin before now with w ara, )d a m a iter. Jurn mts. jack and bich hen the the ck's old the B of Mrs. lace <\ }■ the now 2 U] H «t5 EXEUNT 0MNE8. 293 at Cedar Creek), to see what effect the news would produce. None. Miss Liberia merely uttered " W al !" • > /r ... ?- , o "Won't you be vory lonesome in the world all by yourself, Libby, astbore ?" he rejoined, casting a melting tenderness into voice and manner ; " without a relation that ever was ?'* t«, ir.a i , " Not a bit, I guess," was the curt reply. = .*. >t?/ " Och,*' groaned the lover, " av there ever was in the whole 'varsal world a woman so hard to manage I She hasn't no more feelin's than one of them chaneys, or she wouldn't be lookin' at me these four years a-pinin' away visibly before her eyes. My new shute o' clothes had to be took in twice, I'm got so thin ; but little you cares." Then, after a pause, "Libby, mavor.: neen, you'd be a grand hand at managin' a little store ; now the one at the * Corner ' '11 be shut. 'Spose we tried it togedder, eh, mabouchal ?" Without hesitation, without change of countenance, without dis- placing one of her plates, the Yankee damsel answered, " I guess 'twould be a spry thing, rayther; we'd keep house considerable well. And now that's settled, you can't be comin' arter me a tormentin' me no more ; and the sooner we sot up the fixin's the better, I reckon." , j^^ m^!>^'un^m^^.^ ftm- mf^mm '^M n Thus calmly and sensibly did the massive maiden Liberia prepare to glide from single into wedded life ; and though she has never been able quite to restrain the humorous freaks of her husband, she has succeeded in transforming the pauper labourer Andy Callaghan into an independent shopkeeper and farmer. Not long after the happy accomplishment of this last alliance the post^oiBce was transferred from th^ decaying knot of cabins at the " Comer " to the rising settlement of Cedar Creek. Andy's pew store had a letter box fixed in its wipdow, and his wife added to her multifarious occupations that of post-mistress. "Anything for me this evening, Mrs. Callaghan?** asked the silver-headed squire, u\ his sts^tely way, conning up to the counter. 294 CEDAR CREEK. "I guess thar's the newspaper," answered Liberia, pushing it across, while the other hand held a yard measure upon some calico, whence she was serving a customer. A new face Mr. Wynn saw in a moment: probably one of the fresh f laigrants who sometimes halted at the Crefek proceeding up country. Mrs. Callaghan looked doubtfully at the piece of English silver produced by the woman, and turned it round between her finger and thumb. " I say, squire, stop a minute : what sort o* money's this ?" "A crown-piece sterling; you'll give six shillings and a penny currency for it," answered Mr. Wynn. "Now I guess that's what I don't understand," said Liberia. « Why ain't five shiUin's the same everywhar?" - ? That Mr. Wynn could not answer. He had been indulging some thoughts of a pamphlet on currency reformation, and went out of the store revolving them again. = ' For it is to be noted that the squire felt somewhat like Lycurgus, or Codnis, or some of those old lawgivers and state-founders in this new settlement of the Creek. He knew himself for the greatest authority therein, the one whose word bore greatest weight, the referee and arbitrator in all cases. Plenty of iL^.erests had spr mg up in his life such as he could not have dreamed of nine years before, when rooted at Dunore. His thoughts of the latter had changed since he learned that a railway had cut the lawn across and altered the avenue and entrance gate, and the new owner had constructed a piece of ornamental water where the trout-stream used to run ; likewise built a wing to the mansion in the Tudor style, with a turret at the end. Which items of news, by completely changing the aspect of the deai old home, as they remembered Dunore, had done much towards curing the trouble- some yearning after it. No f the sqnire walked through the broad sloping street of pretty and clean detached cottages (white, with bright green shutters out- EXEUNT OMNES. 295 side), fronting fields whence the forest had been pushed back considerably. Orchards of young t^-ees bloomed about them ; the sawmill was noisily eating its way through planks on the edge of the stream ; groups of " sugar-bush " maples stood about ; over all the declining sun, hastening to immerse itself in the measureless woods Vi^estward. "Pleasant places," said Mr. Wynn to himself, quoting old words ; " my lot has fallen in pleasant places." Sitting in the summer parlour of the butternut's shade, he read his newspaper — a weekly Greenock print, the advertisement side half-filled with quack medicines, after the manner of such journals in Canada. Presently an entry in the "Deaths" arrested his attention. f^rj I'-ir. „>?i?i*i * .jv > < , "Died, at his house in Montreal, on the 11th inst.. Captain Reginald Armytage, late of H.M.'s 115th foot. Friends at a distance will please accept this intimation." = ' ' Robert sprang to his feet. " Let me see it, father." ?*• Now was the twentieth day of the month. " I wonder she has not written to some of us — to Linda even," said he, returning the paper. Then going over beside his mother, he whispered, "I shall go to her, mother." * ^ " Poor Edith ! But what could you do, my son ?" "Mother" — after a pause — "shall I not bring you another daughter to fill Linda's empty place ?* Mra. Wynn had long before this been trusted with the stoiy of Robert's affection. Her gentleness won every secret of her son's heart. What could she say now but bless him through her tears ? And so he went next day. He found the mean house in the obscure street where Edith hj»d for years toiled, and not unhappily. Duty never brings unmixed pain in its performance. The schoolroom was full, of the subdued hum of children's voices ; the mistress stood at her desk, deep mourning on her figure and in her £EM;e. It was only the twelfth day since her bereavement; but . ^- t 296 CEDAR CREER. . uhe was glad of the return of regular work, though the white features and frail hands hardly seemed equal to much as yet. Presently the German girl who was her servant opened the door, and Miss Armytage went to hear her message. "Von gentleman's in parlour;" which suggested to Edith a careful father of fresh pupils. She gave her deputy, Jay, a few charges, and went to the visitor, who had thought her an intermin> able time in coming. He, blooming, strong, fresh from his healthy farm-life in the backwoods, saw with compassion how wan and worn she looked. Nursing at night during her father's illness, and school-keeping in the day, might be blamed for this. Would she come to Gedar Creek, and be restored ? " Yes," she answered, with perfect frankness, but not until the current six months of schooling had elapsed. At the end of June she would be free; and then, if Mrs. Wynn asked her and Jay— The other, the old question, was on Kobert's lips at the instant. And to this also she said " Yes. Now for the prospects of the settlement which we have traced from its first shanty to its first street. Its magnates looked forward confidently to its development as a town — ^nay, perchance as a city of ten thousand inhabitants, when it purposes to assume a new name, as risen from nonage. Future maps may exhibit it as Wynnsboro*, in honour of the founder. A station on the line of rail to connect the Ottawa with Lake Huron is to stand beside that concession line (now a level plank road) where Eobert Wynn halted eleven years ago, axe in hand, and gazed in dismay on the impenetrable bush. UWDOlf : PBINTEI) BT W. CLOWEI AND SONS, ffTAMFORD STBBVr AMD CBABIMO CBOM« le white as yet. be door, Edith a fi a few itermin- healthy an and }ss, and old she itil the f June 3r and nstant traced )rward a city a new it as ine of e that ^ynn n the •^ KOSBi :.;#- :^/ / '■- *;