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 home-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 knowing shake of the head welcomed him as he passed 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 mustaches 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 marqueterie table; gray stockings, gartered with fish-skin; and moccasins made after the fashion of high-lows, an invention of my own, which I trust are still known as 'O'Kelly's' 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 followed our steps had by this time attracted the attention of some officers, who stopped to see what was going forward, when I recognized 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 Rivières, where my ambassadorial functions were immediately called into play: not, I am bound to confess, under such weighty and onerous responsibilities as I had been led to suspect would ensue between two powerful nations, but on matters of less moment and fully as much difficulty; namely, 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 AngloIndian 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 quantity 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 circumstance of the greatest possible value, and its withdrawal the highest punishment. A few other axioms of the like naturę

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 superstition 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 assumed 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 perceived 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 how 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 endeavor more for great success in life, nor give himself greater toil, than did I, to make time pass over pleasantly to some half-dozen silly subalterns, a bloated captain or two, and a plethoric old snuff-taking major, who dreamed of nothing but rappee, punch, and promotion. Still, like all men in an ambiguous or a false position, I felt flattered by the companionship of people whom in my heart I thoroughly despised and looked down upon; and felt myself honored by the society of the most thick-headed set of noodles ever a man sat down with, -ay, and laughed at their flat witticisms and their old stale jokes, and often threw out hints for bons 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; hardship 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 coarseness which a life spent for the 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 licenses 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 relics of my Indian life was a bear-skin cap and hood, which I prized 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 fishing excursion, as I was passing the door of the mess-room, what should I see but a poor idiot that frequented the barrack dressed in my bear-skin.

666

Halloa, 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 assertion. The captain could n'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 did n'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 probably it was meant as a lesson for my presumption a few evenings before, since I had the folly, in a moment of open-hearted gayety, 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 coarse 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 upon my mind, that the part I was playing must be an unworthy one, or I had never incurred such a penalty; that if these men associated with me, it was on terms which permitted all from them, and 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, he'll 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 distin