he fire being covered
with somewhat nicer furniture and more delicate fare than the remaining
portion.

The blowing of a horn was the signal for the entrance of ten or twelve
miners, who took their places below us at the table. They were the
roughest-looking set of men I ever beheld, and their language was as
uncouth as their persons. They wore hunting-shirts, trowsers, and
moccasins of deer-skin, the former being ornamented at the seams with a
fringe of the same, while a colored belt around the waist, in which was
stuck a large hunting-knife, gave each the appearance of a brigand.

Mr. Hamilton, although so much their superior, was addressed by them
uniformly as "Uncle Billy;" and I could not but fancy there was
something desperate about them, that it was necessary to propitiate by
this familiarity. This feeling was further confirmed by the remarks of
one of the company who lingered behind after the rest of the _gang_ had
taken their departure. He had learned that we came from Fort Winnebago,
and, having informed us that "he was a discharged soldier, and would
like to make some inquiries about his old station and comrades," he
unceremoniously seated himself and commenced questioning us.

The bitterness with which he spoke of his former officers made me quite
sure he was a deserter, and I rather suspected he had made his escape
from the service in consequence of some punishment. His countenance was
fairly distorted as he spoke of Captain H., to whose company he had
belonged. "There is a man in the mines," said he, "who has been in his
hands, and if he ever gets a chance to come within shot of him, I guess
the captain will remember it. He knows well enough he darsn't set his
foot in the diggings. And there's T. is not much better. Everybody
thought it a great pity that fellow's gun snapped when he so nearly
_had_ him at Green Bay."

Having delivered himself of these sentiments, he marched out, to my
great relief.

Mr. Hamilton passed most of the afternoon with us; for the storm raged
so without, that to proceed on our journey was out of the question. He
gave us many pleasant anecdotes and reminiscences of his early life in
New York, and of his adventures since he had come to the Western
wilderness. When obliged to leave us for awhile, he furnished us with
some books to entertain us, the most interesting of which was the
biography of his father.

Could this illustrious man have foreseen in what a scene--the dwellin