hich our tents were pitched, we
looked down to the left, upon a prairie flat and level as a
billiard-table, extending, as far as the eye could scan, one rich
surface of unrivalled green. To the right the prairie gradually changed
to oak openings, and then to a thick forest, the topmost boughs and
heads of which were level with our tents. Beyond them was the whole
broad expanse of the Winnebago lake, smooth and reflecting like a mirror
the brilliant tints of the setting sun, which disappeared, leaving a
portion of his glory behind him; while the moon in her ascent, with the
dark portion of her disk as clearly defined as that which was lighted,
gradually increased in brilliancy, and the stars twinkled in the clear
sky. We watched the features of the landscape gradually fading from our
sight, until nothing was left but broad masses partially lighted up by
the young moon.

Nor was the foreground less picturesque: the spreading oaks, the tents
of the soldiers, the waggons drawn up with the horses tethered, all
lighted up by the blaze of our large fires. Now, when I say our large
fires, I mean the _large_ fires of _America_, consisting of three or
four oak trees, containing a load of wood each, besides many large
boughs and branches, altogether forming a fire some twenty or thirty
feet long, with flames flickering up twice as high as one's head. At a
certain distance from this blazing pile you may perceive what in another
situation would be considered as a large coffee-pot (before this huge
fire it makes a very diminutive appearance). It is placed over some
embers drawn out from the mass, which would have soon burnt up
coffee-pot and coffee all together; and at a still more respectful
distance you may perceive small rods, not above four or five feet long,
bifurcated at the smaller end, and fixed by the larger in the ground, so
as to hang towards the huge fire, at an angle of forty degrees, like so
many tiny fishing-rods. These rods have at their bifurcated ends a
piece of pork or ham, or of bread, or perhaps of venison, for we bought
some, not having shot any: they are all private property, as each party
cooks for himself. Seeing these rods at some distance, you might almost
imagine that they were the fishing-rods of little imps bobbing for
salamanders in the fiery furnace.

In the mean time, while the meat is cooking and the coffee is boiling,
the brandy and whisky are severely taxed, as we lie upon our cloaks and