th a good nose and large chin and sandy hair, he was not usually taken
much notice of by strangers during his journeyings in the world; but
when vigorous action in cases of emergency was required Jack Robinson
was the man to make himself conspicuous.

It is not our intention to give an account of Jack's adventurous life
from beginning to end, but to detail the incidents of a sojourn of two
months at Fort Desolation, in almost utter solitude, in order to show
one of the many phases of rough life to which outskirters are frequently
subjected.

In regard to his early life it may be sufficient to say that Jack, after
being born, created such perpetual disturbance and storm in the house
that his worthy father came to look upon him as a perfect pest, and as
soon as possible sent him to a public school, where he fought like a
Mameluke Bey, learned his lessons with the zeal of a philosopher, and,
at the end of ten years ran away to sea, where he became as sick as a
dog and as miserable as a convicted felon.

Poor Jack was honest of heart and generous of spirit, but many a long
hard year did he spend in the rugged parts of the earth ere he
recovered, (if he ever did recover), from the evil effects of this first
false step.

In course of time Jack was landed in Canada, with only a few shillings
in his pocket; from that period he became an outskirter. The romance in
his nature pointed to the backwoods; he went thither at once, and was
not disappointed. At first the wild life surpassed his expectations,
but as time wore on the tinsel began to wear off the face of things, and
he came to see them as they actually were. Nevertheless, the romance of
life did not wear out of his constitution. Enthusiasm, quiet but deep,
stuck to him all through his career, and carried him on and over
difficulties that would have disgusted and turned back many a colder
spirit.

Jack's first success was the obtaining of a situation as clerk in the
store of a general merchant in an outskirt settlement of Canada. Dire
necessity drove him to this. He had been three weeks without money and
nearly two days without food before he succumbed. Having given in,
however, he worked like a Trojan, and would certainly have advanced
himself in life if his employer had not failed and left him, minus a
portion of his salary, to "try again."

Next, he became an engineer on board one of the Missouri steamers, in
which capacity he burst his boiler, and threw hi