Arthur O'Leary Part 14

'No, no; it's a distress signal,' said another. 'One thing is certain,'

cried a third, 'the craft that's on the "Teeth" on such a night as this, won't get off very readily; and so, lads, be alive and run out the boats.'

"The little colony was soon astir. It was a race of avarice too; for, latterly, the settlement had been broken up by feuds and jealousies, into different factions; and each strove to overreach the other. In less than half an hour, eight boats were out, and breasting the white breakers, headed out to sea. All, save the old and decrepit, the women, and children, were away, and even they, stood watching on the sh.o.r.e, following with their eyes the boats in which they felt most interested.

"At last they disappeared in the gloom--not a trace could be seen of them, nor did the wind carry back their voices, over which the raging storm was now howling. A few still remained straining their eye-b.a.l.l.s towards the spot where the light was seen, the others had returned towards the village; when all of a sudden a frightful yell, a long sustained and terrible cry arose from the huts, and the same instant a blaze burst forth, and rose into a red column towards the sky. The Indians were upon them. The war shout--that dreadful sound they knew too well--resounded on every side. Then began a ma.s.sacre, which nothing in description can convey. The dreadful rage of the vengeful savage--long pent up--long provoked--had now its time for vengeance. The tomahawk and the scalping knife ran red with blood, as women and infants rushed madly hither and thither in the flight. Old men lay weltering in their gore beside their daughters, and grandchildren; while the wild red men, unsated with slaughter, tore the mangled corpses as they lay, and bathed themselves in blood. But not there did it end. The flame that gleamed from the 'Teeth' rocks, was but an Indian device, to draw the wreckers out to sea. A pine-wood fire had been lighted on the tallest cliff at low water, to attract their attention, by some savages in canoes, and left to burn away slowly during the night.

"Deceived and baffled, the wreckers made towards sh.o.r.e, to which already their eyes were turned in terror, for the red blaze of the burning huts was seen, miles off, in the bay. Scarcely had the first boat neared the sh.o.r.e, when a volley of fire-arms poured in upon her--while the war-cry that rose above it, told them their hour was come. The Indians were several hundred in number, armed to the teeth; the others few, and without a single weapon. Contest, it was none. The slaughter scarce lasted many minutes, for ere the flame from the distant rock subsided, the last white man lay a corpse on the b.l.o.o.d.y strand. Such was the terrible retribution on crime, and at the very moment too, when their cruel hearts were bent on its perpetration.

"This tale, which was told me in a broken jargon, between Canadian-French and English, concluded with words, which were not to me, at the time, the least shocking part of the story; as the narrator, with glistening eyes, and in a voice whose guttural tones seemed almost too thick for utterance said, 'It was I, that planned it!'

"You will ask me, by what chance did I escape with life among such a tribe. An accident--the merest accident--saved me. When a smuggler, as I have already told you I was, I once, when becalmed in the Bay of Biscay, got one of the sailors to tattoo my arm with gunpowder, a very common practice at sea. The operator had been in the North American trade, and had pa.s.sed ten years as a prisoner among the Indians, and brought away with him innumerable recollections of their habits and customs. Among others, their strange idols had made a great impression on his mind; and, as I gave him a discretionary power as to the frescos he was to adorn me with, he painted a most American-looking savage with two faces on his head--his body all stuck over with arrows and spear-points, while he, apparently unmoved by such visitors, was skipping about, in something that might be a war-dance.

"This, with all its appropriate colours--for as the heraldry folk say, 'It was proper'--was a very conspicuous object on my arm, and no sooner seen by the chief, than he immediately knelt down beside me, dressed my wounds and tended me; while the rest of the tribe, recognising me as one whose existence was charmed, showed me every manner of respect, and even devotion. Indeed, I soon felt my popularity to be my greatest difficulty; for whatever great event was going forward among the tribe, it became the etiquette to consult me on it, as a species of soothsayer, and never was a prophet more sorely tested. Sometimes, it was a question of the whale-fishery--whether 'bottle noses,' or 'sulphur bottoms,' were coming up the bay, and whether, in the then season, it was safe, or not, to strike the 'calf whales' first. Now, it was a disputed point as to the condition of bears; or worse than either, a little marauding party would be undertaken into a neighbour's premises, where I was expected to perform a very leading part, which, not having the same strong convictions of my invulnerable nature, as my worthy a.s.sociates, I undertook with as few feelings of satisfaction as you may imagine. But these were not all; offers of marriage from many n.o.ble families pressed me on every side; and though polygamy to any extent was permissible.

"I never could persuade myself, to make my fortune in this manner. The ladies too, I am bound to say, were not so seductive as to endanger my principles: flattened heads, bent-down noses and lip stones, are very strong antidotes to the tender pa.s.sion. And I was obliged to declare, that I was compelled, by a vow, not to marry for three moons. I dared not venture on a longer period of amnesty, lest I should excite suspicion of any insult to them, on a point where their vengeance never forgives; and I hoped, ere that time elapsed, that I should be able to make my escape--though how, or when, or where to, were points I could not possibly guess at.

"Before the half of my probation had expired, we were visited by an old Indian of a distant tribe--a strange old fellow he was, clothed in goats' skins, and wearing strong leather boots and rackets (snow shoes), a felt hat, and a kind of leather sack strapped on his back, and secured by a lock. This singular-looking fellow was, 'the post.' He travelled once a year from a small settlement near Miramichi, to Quebec, and back, carrying the letters to and from these places, a distance of something like seven hundred miles, which he accomplished entirely on foot, great part of it through dense forests and over wild uninhabited prairies, pa.s.sing through the hunting-grounds of several hostile tribes, fording rivers and climbing mountains, and all, for the moderate payment of ten pounds a year, half of which he spent in rum before he left Quebec, and while waiting for the return mail; and strangest of all, though for forty years he had continued to perform this journey, not only no accident had ever occurred to the letters, but he himself was never known to be behind his appointed time at his destination.

"'Tahata,' for such was his name, was, however, a character of great interest; even to the barbarous tribes through whose territories he pa.s.sed. He was a species of savage newspaper, recounting various details respecting the hunting and fis.h.i.+ng seasons,--the price of skins at Quebec or Montreal,--what was the peltry most in request, and how it would bring its best price. Cautiously abstaining from the local politics of these small states, his information only bore on such topics as are generally useful and interesting, and never for a moment partook of any partisan character; besides, he had ever some petty commission or other, from the squaws, to discharge at Quebec. There was an amber bead, or a tin ornament, a bit of red ribbon or a gla.s.s b.u.t.ton, or some such valuable, every where he went; and his coming was an event as much longed and looked for, as any other that marked their monotonous existence.

"He rested for a few days at our village, when I learned these few particulars of his life, and at once resolved, come what might, to make my escape with him, and, if possible, reach Quebec. An opportunity, fortunately, soon offered for my doing so with facility. The day of the courier's departure was fixed for a great fis.h.i.+ng excursion, on which the tribe were to be absent for several days. Affecting illness, I remained on sh.o.r.e, and never stirred from the wigwam till the last canoe had disappeared from sight: then I slowly sauntered out, and telling the squaws that I would stroll about, for an hour or so, to breathe the air, I followed the track which was pointed out to me by the courier, who had departed early on the same morning. Before sunset I came up with my friend, and with a heart overflowing with delight, sat down to partake of the little supper he had provided for our first day's journey; after that, each day was to take care of itself.

"Then began a series of adventures, to which all I have hitherto told you, are, as nothing. It was the wild life of the prairies in companions.h.i.+p with one, who felt as much at home in the recesses of a pine forest, as ever I did in the snug corner of mine inn. Now, it was a night spent under the starry sky, beside some clear river's bank, where the fish lay motionless beneath the red glare of our watch-fire; now, we bivouacked in a gloomy forest, planting stockades around to keep off the wild beasts; then, we would chance upon some small Indian settlement, where we were regaled with hospitality, and spent half the night listening to the low chant of a red man's song, as he deplored the downfall of his nation, and the loss of their hunting-grounds. Through all, my guide preserved the steady equability of one who was travelling a well-worn path--some notched tree, some small stone heap, some fissured rock, being his guide through wastes, where, it seemed to me, no human foot had ever trod. He lightened the road with many a song and many a story, the latter always displaying some curious trait of his people, whose high sense of truth and unswerving fidelity to their word, once pledged, appeared to be an invariable feature in every narrative; and though he could well account for the feeling that makes a man more attached to his own nation, he more than once half expressed his surprise, how, having lived among the simple-minded children of the forest, I could ever return to the haunts of the plotting, and designing white men.

"This story of mine," continued Mr. O'Kelly, "has somehow spun itself out far more than I intended. My desire was, to show you briefly, in what strange and dissimilar situations I have been thrown in life--how, I have lived among every rank, and cla.s.s, at home and abroad, in comparative affluence--in narrow poverty; how, I have looked on, at the world, in all its gala dress of wealth, and rank, and beauty--of power, of station, and command of intellect; and how I have seen it poor, and mean, and naked--the companion of gloomy solitudes, and the denizen of pathless forests; and yet found the same human pa.s.sions, the same love, and hate, the same jealousy, and fear, courage, and daring--the same desire for power, and the same wish to govern, in the red Indian of the prairie, as in the starred n.o.ble of Europe. The proudest rank of civilized life has no higher boast, than in the practice of such virtues as I have seen rife among the wild dwellers in the dark forest. Long habit of moving thus among my fellow men, has worn off much of that conventional reverence for cla.s.s, which forms the standing point of all our education at home. The tarred and weather-beaten sailor, if he be but a pleasant fellow, and has seen life, is to me as agreeable a companion as the greatest admiral that ever trod a quarter-deck. My delight has been thus, for many a year back, to ramble through the world, and look on its game, like one who sits before the curtain, and has no concern with the actors, save, in so far as they amuse him.

"There is no cynicism in this. No one enjoys life more than I do.. Music is a pa.s.sion with me--in painting, I take the greatest delight, and beauty, has still her charm for me. Society, never was a greater pleasure. Scenery, can give me a sense of happiness, which none but solitary men ever feel--yet, it is less as one identified with these, than as a mere spectator. All this is selfish, and egotistical, you will say--and so it is. But then, think what chance has one like me of any other pleasure! To how many annoyances should I expose myself, if I adopted a different career: think of the thousand inquiries, of,--who is he? what is his family? where did he come from? what are his means? and all such queries, which would beset me, were I the respectable denizen of one of your cities. Without some position, some rank, some settled place in society, you give a man nothing--he can neither have friend, nor home. Now, I, am a wanderer--my choice of life, happily took an humble turn: I have placed myself in a good situation for seeing the game--and I am not too fastidious, if I get somewhat crushed by the company about me: but now, to finish this long story, for I see the day is breaking, and I must leave Antwerp by ten o'clock.

"At last, then, we reached Quebec. It was on a bright, clear, frosty day in December, when all the world was astir--sledges flying here and there--men slipping along in rackets--women, wrapped up in furs, sitting snugly in chairs, and pushed along the ice some ten or twelve miles the hour--all gay, all lively, and all merry-looking--while I and my Indian friend bustled our way through the crowd towards the post-office. He was a well-known character, and many a friendly nod, and a knowing shake of the head welcomed him as he pa.s.sed along. I, however, was an object of no common astonishment, even in a town where every variety of costume, from full dress to almost nakedness, was to be met with daily. Still, something remained as a novelty, and it would seem I had hit on it.

Imagine, then, an old and ill-used foraging-cap, drawn down over a red night-cap, from beneath which my hair descended straight, somewhere about a foot in length--beard and moustaches to match--a red uniform coat, patched with brown seal-skin, and surmounted by a kind of blanket of buffalo hide--a pair of wampum shorts, decorated with tin and copper, after the manner of a marquetrie table--gray stockings, gartered with fish skin--and moccasins made after the fas.h.i.+on of high-lows, an invention of my own, which I trust are still known as 'O'Kellies,' among my friends the red men.

"That I was not an Indian, was sufficiently apparent--if by nothing else, the gingerly delicacy with which I trod the pavement, after a promenade of seven hundred miles, would have shown it; and yet there was an evident reluctance on all sides to acknowledge me as one of themselves. The crowd that tracked our steps had by this time attracted the attention of some officers, who stopped to see what was going forward, when I recognised the major of my own regiment among the number. I saw, however, that he did not remember me, and hesitated with myself whether I should return to my old servitude. The thought that no mode of subsistence was open to me--that I was not exactly prepossessing enough to make my way in the world by artificial advantages-decided the question, and I accosted him at once.

"I will not stop to paint the astonishment of the officer, nor shall I dwell on the few events which followed the recognition--suffice it to say, that, the same evening I received my appointment, not as a sergeant, but as regimental interpreter between our people and the Indians, with whom we were then in alliance against the Yankees. The regiment soon left Quebec for Trois Rivieres, where my amba.s.sadorial functions were immediately called into play--not, I am bound to confess, under such weighty and onerous reponsibilities as I had been led to suspect would ensue between two powerful nations--but, on matters of less moment, and fully as much difficulty, viz., the barter of old regimental coats and caps for bows and arrows; the exchange of rum and gunpowder for moccasins, and wampum ornaments--in a word, the regulation of an Anglo-Indian tariff, which accurately defined the value of everything, from a black fox skin to a pair of old gaiters--from an Indian tomahawk to a tooth-pick.

"In addition to these fiscal regulations, I drew up a criminal code--which, in simplicity at least, might vie with any known system of legislation--by which it was clearly laid down, that any unknown quant.i.ty of Indians were only equal to the slightest inconvenience incurred, or discomfort endured by an English officer: that the condescension of any intercourse with them, was a circ.u.mstance of the greatest possible value--and its withdrawal the highest punishment. A few other axioms of the like nature, greatly facilitated all bargains, and promoted universal good feeling. Occasionally, a knotty point would arise, which somewhat puzzled me to determine. Now and then, some Indian prejudice, some superst.i.tion of the tribe would oppose a barrier to the summary process of my cheap justice; but then, a little adroitness and dexterity could soon reconcile matters--and as I had no fear that my decisions were to be a.s.sumed as precedents, and still less dread of their being rescinded by a higher court, I cut boldly, and generally severed the difficulty at a blow.

"My life was now a pleasant one enough--for our officers treated me on terms of familiarity, which gradually grew into intimacy, as our quarters were in remote, stations, and as they per-oeived that I possessed a certain amount of education--which, it is no flattery to say, exceeded their own. My old qualities of convivialism, also, gave me considerable aid; and as I had neither forgotten to compose a song, nor sing it afterwards, I was rather a piece of good fortune in this solitary and monotonous state of life. Etiquette prevented my being asked to the mess, but, most generously, nothing interfered with their coming over to my wigwam almost every evening, and taking share of a bowl of sangaree, and a pipe--kindnesses I did my uttermost to repay, by putting in requisition all the amusing talents I possessed: and certainly, never did a man endeavour more for great success in life, nor give himself greater toil, than did I, to make time pa.s.s over pleasantly to some half-dozen silly subalterns, a bloated captain or two, and a plethoric, old snuff-taking major, that dreamed of nothing but rappee, punchy and promotion. Still, like all men in an ambiguous, or a false position, I felt flattered by the companions.h.i.+p of people, whom, in my heart, I thoroughly despised and looked down upon; and felt myself honoured by the society of the most thick-headed set of noodles ever a man sat down with--Aye! and laughed at their flat witticisms, and their old stale jokes--and often threw out hints for _bon mots_, which, if they caught, I immediately applauded, and went about, saying, did you hear 'Jones's last?'--'do you know what the major said this morning?'

bless my heart! what a time it was. Truth will out--the old tuft-hunting leaven was strong in me, even yet--hards.h.i.+p and roughing had not effaced it from my disposition--one more lesson was wanting, and I got it.

"Among my visitors was an old captain of the rough school of military habit, with all the dry jokes of the recruiting service, and all the coa.r.s.eness which a life spent, most part in remote stations, and small detachments, is sure to impart. This old fellow, Mat Hubbart, a well known name in the Glengarries, had the greatest partiality for practical jokes--and could calculate to a nicety, the precise amount of a liberty which any man's rank in the service permitted, without the risk of being called to account: and the same scale of equivalents, by which he established the nomenclature for female rank in the army, was regarded by him as the test for those licences he permitted himself to take with any man beneath him: and as he spoke of the colonel's 'lady,' the major's 'wife,' the captain's 'woman,' the lieutenant's 'thing'--so did he graduate his conduct to the husbands--never transgressing for a moment on the grade, by any undue familiarity, or any unwonted freedom.

With me, of course, his powers were discretionary--or rather, had no discretion whatever. I was a kind of military outlaw, that any man might shoot at--and certainly, he spared not his powder in my behalf.

"Among the few reliques of my Indian life, was a bear-skin cap and hood, which I prised highly. It was a present from my old guide--his parting gift--when I put into his hands the last few pieces of silver I possessed in the world. This was then to me a thing, which, as I had met with not many kindnesses in the world, I valued at something far beyond its mere price; and would rather have parted with any, or everything I possessed, than lose it. Well, one day on my return from a fis.h.i.+ng excursion, as I was pa.s.sing the door of the mess-room, what should I see but a poor idiot that frequented the barrack, dressed in my bear-skin.

"'Holloa! Rokey,' said I, 'where did you get that?' scarce able to restrain my temper.

"'The captain gave it me,' said the fellow, touching his cap, with a grateful look towards the mess-room window, where I saw Captain Hubbart standing, convulsed with laughter.

"'Impossible!' said I--yet half-fearing the truth of his a.s.sertion. 'The Captain couldn't give away what's mine, and not his.'

"'Yes, but he did though,' said the fool, 'and told me, too, he'd make me the "talk man" with the Indians, if you didn't behave better in future.'

"I felt my blood boil up as I heard these words. I saw at once that the joke was intended to insult and offend me; and he probably meant as, a lesson, for my presumption, a few evenings before, since I had the folly, in a moment of open-hearted gaiety, to speak of my family, and perhaps to boast of my having been a gentleman: I hung my head in shame, and all my presence of mind was too little to allow me to feign a look of carelessness as I walked by the window: from whence the coa.r.s.e laughter of the captain was now heard peal after peal. I shall not tell you how I suffered when I reached my hut, and what I felt at every portion of this transaction. One thing forcibly impressed itself on my mind, that the part I was playing must be an unworthy one, for I had never incurred such a penalty; that if these men a.s.sociated with me, it was on terms which permitted all from them--nothing, in return; and for a while, I deemed no vengeance enough to satisfy my wounded pride.

Happily for me, my thoughts took another turn, and I saw that the position in which I had placed myself, invited the insolence it met with; and that if any man stoop to be kicked in this world, h.e.l.l always find some kind friend ready to oblige him with the compliment. Had an equal so treated me, my course had presented no difficulty whatever Now, what could I do?

"While I pondered over these things, a corporal came up to say, that a party of the officers were about to pay me a visit after evening parade, and hoped I'd have something for supper for them. Such was the general tone of their invitations, and I had received in my time above a hundred similar messages, without any other feeling than one of pride, at my being in a position to have so many distinguished guests. Now, on the contrary, the announcement was a downright insult: my long sleeping pride suddenly awakened, I felt all the contumely of my condition; and: my spirit, sunk for many a day in the slavish observance of a miserable vanity, rebelled against farther outrage. I muttered a hasty 'all right,' to the soldier, and turned away to meditate on some scheme of vengeance.

"Having given directions to my Indian follower, a half-breed fellow of the most cunning description, to have all ready in the wigwam; I wandered into the woods. To no use was it that I thought over my grievance, nothing presented itself in any shape as a vindication of my wounded feelings--nor could I see how anything short of ridicule could ensue, from all mention of the transaction. The clanking sound of an Indian drum broke on my musings, and told me that the party were a.s.sembled; and on my entering the wigwam, I found them all waiting for me. There were full a dozen; many who had never done me the honour of a visit previously, came on this occasion to enjoy the laugh at my expense, the captain's joke was sure to excite. Husbanding their resources, they talked only about indifferent matters--the gossip and chit-chat of the day--but still with such a secret air of something to come, that even an ignorant observer could notice, that there was in reserve somewhat that must abide its time for development. By mere accident, I overheard the captain whisper in reply to a question of one of the subalterns--'No! no!--not now--wait, till we have the punch up.'

I guessed at once that such was the period they proposed to discuss the joke played off at my cost, and I was right; for no sooner had the large wooden bowl of sangaree made its appearance, than Hubbart filling his gla.s.s; proposed a b.u.mper to our new ally, Rokey; a cheer drowned half his speech, which ended in a roar of laughter, as the individual, so complimented, stood at the door of the wigwam, dressed out in full costume with my bear-skin.

"I had just time to whisper a command to my Indian imp, concluding with an order for another bowl of sangaree, before the burst of merriment had subsided--a hail-storm of jokes, many, poor enough, but still cause for laughter, now pelted me on every side. My generosity was lauded, my good taste extolled, and as many impertinences as could well be offered up to a man at his own table, went the round of the party. No allusion was spared either to my humble position as interpreter to the force, or my former life among the Indians, to furnish food for joke; even my family--of whom, as I have mentioned, I foolishly spoke to them lately--they introduced into their tirade of attack and ridicule, which nothing but a sense of coming vengeance could hove enabled me to endure.

"'Come, come,' said one, 'the bowl is empty. I say, O'Kelly, if you wish us to be agreeable, as I'm certain you find us, will you order a fresh supply?'

"'Most willingly,' said I, 'but there is just enough left in the old bowl to drink the health of Captain Hubbart, to whom we are certainly indebted for most of the amus.e.m.e.nt of the evening. Now, therefore, if you please, with all the honours, gentlemen--for let me say, in no one quality has he his superior in the regiment. His wit we can all appreciate; his ingenuity I can speak to 'his generosity--you have lauded 'mine'--but think of 'his.' As I spoke I pointed to the door, where my ferocious-looking Indian stood, in all his war-paint, wearing on his head the full-dress c.o.c.ked-hat of the captain, while over his shoulders was thrown his large blue military-cloak, oyer which, he had skilfully contrived to make a hasty decoration of bra.s.s ornaments, and wild-birds' feathers.

"'Look there!' said I, exultingly, as the fellow nodded his plumed-hat and turned majestically round, to be fully admired.

"'Have you dared, sir?'--roared he, frothing with pa.s.sion and clenching his fist towards me--but a perfect cheer of laughter overpowered his words. Many rolled off their seats and lay panting and puffing on the ground; some, turned away half-suffocated with their struggles, while a few, more timid than the rest, endeavoured to conceal their feelings, and seemed half-alarmed at the consequences of my impertinence. When the mirth had a little subsided, it was remarked, that Hubbart was gone--no one had seen how or when--but he was no longer among us.

"'Come, gentlemen, said I, 'the new bowl is ready for you, and your toast is not yet drunk. All going so early? Why, it's not eleven yet.'

"But so it was--the impulse of merriment over--the _esprit du corps_ came back in all its force, and the man, whose feelings they had not scrupled to outrage and insult, they turned on, the very moment he had the courage to a.s.sert his honour. One by One pa.s.sed out--some, with a cool nod--others, a mere look--many, never even noticed me at all; and one, the last, I believe, dropping a little behind, whispered as he went, 'Sorry for you, faith, but all your own doing, though.'

"'My own doing,' said I in bitterness, as I sat me down at the door of the wigwam. 'My own doing!' and the words ate into my very heart's core.

Heaven knows, had any one of them who left me, but turned his head, and looked at me then, as I sat--my head buried in my hands, my frame trembling with strong pa.s.sion---he had formed a most false estimate of my feelings. In all likelihood, he would have regarded me as a man sorrowing over a lost position in society--grieved at the mistaken vanity that made him presume upon those who a.s.sociated with him by grace especial, and never, on terms of equality. Nothing in the world was then farther from my heart: no, my humiliation had another source--my sorrowing penetrated into a deeper soil. I awoke to the conviction that my position was such, that even the temporary countenance they gave me by their society, was to be deemed my greatest honour, as its withdrawal should be my deepest disgrace--that these poor heartless brainless fools for whom I taxed my time, my intellect, and my means, were in the light of patrons to me. Let any man who has felt what it is to live among those on whose capacity he has looked down, while he has been obliged to pay homage to their rank--whose society he has frequented, not for pleasure nor enjoyment--not for the charm of social intercourse, or the interchange of friendly feeling, but for the mere vulgar object that he might seem to others to be in a position to which he had no claim---to be intimate, when he was only endured--to be on terms of ease, when he was barely admitted; let him sympathise with me. Now, I awoke to the full knowledge of my state, and saw myself at last in a true light. 'My own doing!' repeated I to myself. Would it had been so many a day since, ere I lost self-respect--ere I had felt the humiliation I now feel."

"'You are under arrest, sir,' said the sergeant, as with a party of soldiers he stood prepared to accompany me to the quarters. "'Under arrest! By whose orders?'

"'The colonel's orders,' said the man briefly, and in a voice that showed I was to expect little compa.s.sion from one of a cla.s.s who had long regarded me as an upstart, giving himself airs unbecoming his condition.

"My imprisonment, of which I dared not ask the reason, gave me time to meditate on my fortunes, and think over the vicisicitudes of my life,--to reflect on the errors which had rendered abortive every chance of success in whatever career I adopted; but, more than all, to consider how poor were all my hopes of happiness in the road I had chosen, while I dedicated to the amus.e.m.e.nt of others, the qualities which, if cultivated for myself, might be made sources of contentment and pleasure. If I seem prolix in all this--if I dwell on these memories, it is, first, because few men may not reap, a lesson from considering them; and again, because on them hinged my whole future life.

"There, do you see that little drawing yonder? it is a sketch, a mere sketch I made from recollection, of the room I was confined in. That's the St. Lawrence flowing beneath the window, and there, far in the distance, you see the tall cedars of the opposite bank. On that little table I laid my head the whole night long; I slept too, and soundly, and when I awoke the next day I was a changed man.

"'You are relieved from arrest,' said the same sergeant who conducted me to prison, 'and the colonel desires to see you on parade.'

"As I entered the square, the regiment was formed in line, and the officers, as usual, stood in a group chatting together in the centre. A half smile, quickly subdued as I came near, ran along the party.

"'O'Kelly,' said the colonel, 'I have sent for you to hear a reprimand which it is fitting you should receive at the head of the regiment, and which, from my knowledge of you, I have supposed would be the most effectual punishment I could inflict for your late disrespectful conduct to Captain Hubbart.'

"'May I ask, colonel, have you heard of the provocation which induced my offence?'

"'I hope, sir/ replied he, with a look of stern dignity, 'you are aware of the difference of your relative rank and station, and that, in condescending to a.s.sociate with you, Captain Hubbart conferred an honour which doubly compensated for any liberty he was pleased to take. Read the general order, Lieutenant Wood.'

"A confused murmur of something, from which I could collect nothing, reached me; a vague feeling of weight seemed to press my head, and a giddiness that made me reel, was on me; and I only knew the ceremony was over, as I heard the order to march given, and saw the troops begin to move off the ground.

"'A moment, colonel,' said, I, in a voice that made him start and drew on me the look of all the others. 'I have too much respect for you, and I hope also for myself, to attempt any explanation of a mere jest, where the consequences have taken a serious turn; besides, I feel conscious of one fault, far too grave a one, to venture on an excuse for any other I have been guilty of. I wish to resign my post. I here leave the badge of the only servitude I ever did, or ever intend to submit to; and now, as a free man once more, and a gentleman, top, if you'll permit me, I beg to wish you adieu: and as for you, captain, I have only to add, that whenever you feel disposed for a practical joke, or any other interchange of politeness, Con O'Kelly will be always delighted to meet your views--the more so as he feels, though you may not believe it, something still in your debt.'