ded to fulfil his promise
was proved by his appearance about ten days afterwards, with a load on
his back.

"I've not been idle, captain, I was anxious to return your kindness," he
said. "The country abounds with game, and I could live here in
contentment for the rest of my days, provided I could occasionally
indulge in a little literary recreation."

From that day Mr Tidey became domesticated in our family. My father
being convinced that he was a man of sterling worth, we were duly placed
under his care, and immediately he set to work to afford us the
instruction which it must be confessed we at the time greatly needed.
We made rapid progress, an evidence that he possessed the art of
teaching; and, as Kathleen grew older, she also came in for her lessons.

Mr Tidey was of opinion, much to our satisfaction, that all work and no
play makes Jack a dull boy; and we consequently spent a portion of each
day in shooting or trapping, often making excursions to a considerable
distance from home. Sometimes in summer we camped out for several days
together. On these occasions we gained a considerable amount of
information from our worthy tutor on natural history.

"You shall have a lesson now from the book of nature," he used to say
when we started. "It is a big book, and, if studied carefully, more
knowledge can be gained from it than from any other source. It might
not be of so much use in the great cities down east, but I opine that
you are not likely to spend much of your time in that direction, and it
is well worth obtaining for many reasons, besides the satisfaction
knowledge always affords."

We used to start with our rifles in our hands and our knapsacks on our
backs, making our beds at night on a heap of leaves, the blue vault of
heaven for our only covering; or, when the sky looked threatening, we
either built a hut of boughs or occasionally took shelter in the log hut
of one of the pioneers of civilisation, as the hardy backwoodsmen are
called, although, in most instances, but little civilised themselves.
We preferred, however, taking up our abode at night in a bower of our
own construction.

We met with many adventures, but, owing to Mr Tidey's caution and
judgment--though sometimes we were exposed to dangers--we always escaped
from them without any serious mishap.

We had had several encounters with bears and wolves, and now and then we
met with more formidable enemies in the shape of a party of Shawane