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"De tent for de missee," said a black, Quambo by name, who acted as under-butler to old Martin, coming forward. "Dey rest dere till de carriages come if dey like."
After watching them for some time, I wished to retire and let them amuse themselves undisturbed; but Quambo took it into his head to give a loud shout, when in an instant the startled creatures scampered off, and dived under the water.
Mike did not forget to secure the wolf-skin; and just as the sun sank behind the trees, we were saluted by the sharp, joyous barking of Snap, Yelp, and Pop, and by the gruffer tones of Quambo, who rushed out of the hut to welcome us home. We had plenty of work to do after we returned home, but I managed to make a run over to the settlement to pay a visit to my uncle and aunt and Lily.
Reuben had a great desire to see a beaver settlement which I had once visited when we first came into that part of the country; and I thought that I could find my way to it. Quambo amused us, as we walked along, with all sorts of tales about beavers, raccoons, opossums, bears, and other animals, with the habits of which he was well acquainted.
At last they came to a stand-still. Mike and Quambo, who at the time were ahead, endeavoured in vain to induce them to move on. Uncle Mark and I ran forward to assist them. As I was about to do so I caught sight of a ruddy spot in the distance, away somewhat to the left. That must be a fire, I thought, and I pointed it out to Uncle Mark.
"You no smoke, young gen'lemen; but ole neegur, he fond of baccy, and you no object," said Quambo. Quambo was always a pattern of politeness. We begged him to smoke as much as he liked, although we had not taken to it ourselves. When Quambo was enjoying his pipe, he was never in a hurry to move, so we sat on longer than we should otherwise have done.
"The creature is lost," cried Reuben. "No fear ob dat," answered Quambo. "We soon find him out." Then he and Mike, with the rest of us, began to collect all the decayed branches to be found above the snow. We soon bad enough wood for a fire; when Quambo striking a light, it quickly blazed up, and the flames exhibited the opossum making its way along one of the branches.
Not wishing to approach closer by myself, I returned to tell my uncles what I had seen. Uncle Mark and Quambo accompanied me back, and as we got nearer the wolves looked up and snarled at us, and continued their occupation; but what was our horror, on advancing a little further, to discover that they were feeding on the dead bodies of a number of persons stretched on the ground!
Uncle Stephen having engaged some new hands, who, being fresh from the "old country," were unwilling, as they were unfit, to go further into the forest, allowed Mike and Quambo to come to us. We therefore put up a room for them next to our own, and which could be heated in winter by the same stove. We were thus able to get on much more rapidly with our task of clearing the ground.
Quambo!" he shouted, "let's have some supper on table as soon as possible." "Him dare 'ready, captain," answered the black steward, "only wait de young gen'lemen to cut him." The captain, leaving the deck in charge of the first mate, descended with us, and did ample justice to the plentiful meal Quambo had spread on the table. The captain, before going on deck again, advised us to turn in.
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