s countenance, and a huge pillow in
his hands, which was in the very act of descending upon my devoted head.
To collapse into the smallest possible compass, and present the most
invulnerable part of my body to the blow, was the work of an instant,
when down came the pillow, bang! "Hooroo! hurroo! hurroo! a merry
Christmas to you, you rascal!" shouted Crusty. Bang! bang! went the
pillow. "Turn out of that, you lazy lump of plethoric somnolescence,"
whack!--and, twirling the ill-used pillow round his head, my facetious
friend rushed from the room, to bestow upon the other occupants of the
hall a similar salutation. Upon recovering from the effects of my
pommelling, I sprang from bed and donned my clothes with all speed, and
then went to pay my friend Mr Wilson the compliments of the season. In
passing through the hall for this purpose, I discovered Crusty
struggling in the arms of the skipper, who, having wrested the pillow
from him, was now endeavouring to throttle him partially. I gently shut
and fastened the door of their room, purposing to detain them there till
_very nearly_ too late for breakfast, and then sat down with Mr Wilson
to discuss our intended proceedings during the day. These were--
firstly, that we should go and pay a ceremonious visit to the men;
secondly, that we should breakfast; thirdly, that we should go out to
shoot partridges; fourthly, that we should return to dinner at five; and
fifthly, that we should give a ball in Bachelors' Hall in the evening,
to which were to be invited all the men at the fort, and _all_ the
Indians, men, women, and children, inhabiting the country for thirty
miles round. As the latter, however, did not amount to above twenty, we
did not fear that more would come than our hall was calculated to
accommodate. In pursuance, then, of these resolutions, I cleaned my
gun, freed my prisoners just as the breakfast-bell was ringing, and
shortly afterwards went out to shoot. I will not drag the reader after
me, but merely say that we all returned about dusk, with game-bags full,
and appetites ravenous.

Our Christmas dinner was a good one, in a substantial point of view; and
a very pleasant one, in a social point of view. We ate it in the winter
mess-room; and really (for Hudson Bay) this was quite a snug and highly
decorated apartment. True, there was no carpet on the floor, and the
chairs were home-made; but then the table was mahogany, and the walls
were hung round wi