Adventure and adventurers > Away in the wilderness, or, Life among the red Indians and fur-traders of North America

AWAY IN THE WILDEENESS.
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the laughs, the exclamations of surprise, perhaps
the tears that would spring to their eyes as they
read the brief hut, to them, thrilling private his¬
tory of the past half year.
There was no bad news in that packet, and a
feeling of deep joy was poured into the hearts of
the people of the fort by these “ good news from
a far country.” Even the half-breeds and Indians,
who could not share the feeling, felt the sweet
influence of the general happiness that was diffused
among the fur-traders on that bright New Year’s
Day in the wilderness.
What a dinner they had that day to be sure !
What juicy roasts of buffalo beef; what enor¬
mous steaks of the same ; what a magnificent
venison pasty; and what glorious marrow-bones
—not to mention tongues, and hearts, and grouse,
and other things ! But the great feature of the
feast was the plum-pudding. It was like a huge
cannon-ball with the measles ! There was wine,
too, on this occasion. Not much, it is true, but
more than enough, for it had been saved up all
the year expressly for the Christmas and New
Year’s festivities. Thus they were enabled to
drink to absent friends, and bring up all the old
toasts and songs that used to be so familiar long
ago m the “ old country.” But these sturdy
traders needed no stimulants. There were one or
two who even scorned the wine, and stuck to