"

In the midst of which he was interrupted by the entrance of his
lieutenant with a tray of viands.

"Ah, yer a purty creatur," exclaimed Teddy, pausing with a look of
admiration before the maniac.

"Come, Teddy, sit down and let's have the news. What have we here?"
said Jack, looking at three covered plates which were placed before him.

"Salt pork fried," said Teddy removing the cover.

"And here?"

"Salt pork biled," said the man, removing the second cover; "an' salt
pork cold," he added, removing the third. "You see, sur, I wasn't sure
which way ye'd like it, an' ye was out whin I come to ax; so I just did
it up in three fashions. Here's loaf bread, an' it's not bad, though I
say it that made it."

As Jack cut down into the loaf, he naturally remembered those lines of a
well-known writer:

"Who has not tasted home-made bread,
A heavy compound of putty and
lead!"

"Are these cakes?" he said, as Teddy presented another plate with
something hot in it.

"Ay, pancakes they is, made of flour an' wather fried in grease, an' the
best of aitin', as ye'll find;--but, musha! they've all stuck together
from some raison I han't yet diskivered: but they'll be none the worse
for that, and there's plenty of good thick molasses to wash 'em down
wid."

"And this," said Jack, pointing to a battered tin kettle, "is the--
the--"

"That's the coffee, sur."

"Ah! well, sit down, Teddy, I have seen worse fare than this. Let's be
thankful for it. Now, then, let me hear about the fishery."

Nothing pleased Teddy O'Donel so much as being allowed to talk. He sat
down accordingly and entertained his master for the next hour with a
full, true, and particular account of every thing connected with Fort
Desolation. We will not, however, inflict this on the reader. Reduced
to its narrowest limits, his information was to the following effect:--

That the Indians, generally, were well disposed towards the traders,
though difficult to please. That a good many furs had been already
obtained, and there was a report of more coming in. That the salmon
fishery was situated on a river twenty miles below the fort, and was
progressing favourably; but that the five men engaged there were a
quarrelsome set and difficult to keep in order. Teddy thought, however,
that it was all owing to one of the men, named Ladoc, a bully, who kept
the other four in bad humour.

But the point on which poor Teddy dilated most was his solit