Adventure and adventurers > Hudson Bay, or, Everyday life in the wilds of North America

AN ABRUPT TERMINATION.
perceptible motion. With impressive nautical polite¬
ness the captain handed her below, and in the sudden
sympathy of his heart proposed as a remedy a stiff
glass of brandy and water.
“ Or a pipe of cavendish,” suggested the second mate,
who met them on the ladder as they descended, and
could not refrain from a facetious remark, even although
he knew it would, as it did, call forth a thundering
command from his superior to go on deck and mind his
own business.
“ Isn’t it jolly,” said a young Stomowite, coming up
to Wiseacre, with a face blazing with glee—“ isn’t it
jolly, Mr. Wiseacre ?”
“ Oh, very!” replied Wiseacre, in a voice of such
dismal melancholy that the young Stornowite’s counte¬
nance instantly went out, and he wheeled suddenly
round to' light it again at the visage of some more
sympathizing companion.
Just at this point of the revelry the fiddler’s first
string, which had endured with a dogged tenacity that
was wonderful even for catgut, gave way with a loud
bang, causing an abrupt termination to the uproar, and
producing a dead silence. A few minutes, however,
soon rectified this mischance. The discordant tones of
the violin, as the new string was tortured into tune,
once more opened the safety-valve, and the ball began
de novo.
Great was the fun, and numerous were the ludicrous
incidents, that happened during that eventful night;
and loud were the noise and merriment of the dancers
as they went with vigorous energy through the bewilder-