that it was good; then, observing that little
Oscar had just finished his fourth venison steak, he politely handed him
the trencher. The greasy-fingered boy gravely helped himself to number
five, and assailed it as if he had only just begun to terminate a long
fast.

There were no vegetables at that feast, and instead of bread they had
cakes of hard deer's-fat, with scraps of suet toasted brown intermixed--
a species of plum-cake, which was greatly relished by the visitors. At
the last, when repletion seemed imminent, they finished off with marrow
bones. With these they trifled far on into the night. Of course as the
demands of appetite abated the flow of soul began.

"I see neither nets, hooks, nor lines about the camp, Hendrick," said
Paul Burns, after the queen and princess had retired into the hut for
the night. "How do you manage to catch salmon?"

The hunter replied by pointing to a spear somewhat resembling Neptune's
trident which stood against a neighbouring tree.

"We spear them by torchlight," he said. "Oscar is a pretty good hand at
it now."

"You live well, Master Hendrick," remarked Trench, raising a bark flagon
to his lips and tossing off a pint of venison soup, with the memory of
pots of ale strong upon him. "Do you ever have a scarcity of food?"

"Never; for the country, as you have seen, swarms with game. We dry the
flesh of deer, otter, martens, and musk-rats, and store it for winter,
and during that season we have willow-grouse and rabbits for fresh meat.
Besides, in autumn we freeze both flesh and fish, and thus keep it
fresh till spring, at which time the wildfowl return to us. The skins
and furs of these creatures furnish us with plenty of clothing--in fact,
more than we can use. The question sometimes comes into my mind, Why
did the Great Father provide such abundance for the use of man without
sending men to use it?--for the few Micmacs who dwell in the land are
but as a drop in the ocean, and they totally neglect some things, while
they waste others. I have seen them slaughter thousands of deer merely
for the sake of their tongues and other tit-bits."

"There is much of mystery connected with that, Master Hendrick, which we
cannot clear up," remarked Trench.

"Mystery there is, no doubt," said Paul quickly. "Yet there are some
things about it that are plain enough to those who choose to look. The
Word of God (which, by the way, is beginning to be circulated now among
us in