s eyes, and the very volume of the lustral
flood contented him. He felt the strong current pressing against his
arms, and longed to embrace it all. And again, tickled by the
absurdity of his fancies, he lay on his back and laughed up at the
sky.

He swam to shore, flung himself down, and panted. Across the river,
by the landing-stage beneath the citadel, a band was playing down
Haviland's brigade to its boats; and one of the boats was bringing a
man whom John had great need to meet. When the sun had dried and
warmed him, he dressed at leisure, putting on a suit complete, with
striped shirt, socks, and cowhide boots purchased from a waterside
trader across the river and paid for with the last of his moneys
earned in the wilderness. The boots, though a world too wide,
cramped him painfully; and he walked up and down the bank for a
minute or two, to get accustomed to them, before strolling down to
meet the challenge of the pickets.

They were men of the 17th, and John inquired for their adjutant.
They pointed to the returning boats. The corporal in charge of the
picket, taking note of his clothes, asked if he belonged to Loring's
bateau-men, and John answered that he had come down with them through
the falls.

"A nice mess you made of it up yonder," was the corporal's comment.
"Two days we were on fatigue duty picking up the bodies you sent down
to us, and burying them. Only just now a fellow came along in a
canoe--a half-witted kind of Canadian. Said he was searching for his
brother."

"Yes," said John, "I saw him go by. I know the man."

"Hell of a lot of brother he's likely to find. We've tidied up the
whole length of the camp front. But there's corpses yet, a mile or
two below, they say. I sent him down to take his pick."

He put a question or two about the catastrophe. "Scandalous sort of
bungle," he pronounced it, being alike ignorant of the strength of
the rapids, and fain, as an honest soldier of Haviland's army, to
take a discrediting view of anything done by Amherst's. He waxed
very scornful indeed.

"Now _we_ was allowing you didn't find the stream fast enough, by the
way you kept us cooling our heels here." Perceiving that John was
indisposed to quarrel, he went wearily back to his chuck-farthing.

John sat down and waited, scanning the boats as they drew to shore.
Dick, whom he had left an ensign, was now adjutant of the 17th.
This meant, of course, that he had done creditably and mad