Another soon
followed, and got up a similar sensation among the dry leaves and dead
twigs on his own private account; while a third, springing into the
circle, did the same; and so on, until at last the whole party were
hot in the dance. Some brandished their scalping-knives, some
flourished their tomahawks, some waved aloft the scalps of their
enemies taken in battle; all yelling the while, and all making
horrible faces. And warmer and warmer they waxed in the dance, and
round and round they went; now up in the air, now down on the ground;
jumping and kicking, yelping and barking, spinning and whirling,
yelling and howling, like a pack of hobgoblins and imps on a spree.
The hollow woods gave back the barbarous din in a thousand
obstreperous echoes; and afar off, from the depths of the lonely
forest glens, might have been heard, had not the attention of the
spectators been otherwise engaged, the answering howl of the hungry
wolves.

After some time spent in this outlandish amusement, without any
previous notice whatever, plump down they sat, and, in a minute, were
smoking their pipes with as much gravity and composure as if they had
just come in from a gentle promenade with their wives and children
along the banks of a smooth and tranquil river. It was a sight, once
seen, never to be forgotten. At first, George and his friends had
looked on with open-eyed amazement; but, before the dance was ended,
the whole scene appeared to them so comical, that they had need of all
their self-control to keep a sober countenance, so as not to give
offence to their savage entertainers.

VI.

THE YOUNG SURVEYOR.

It was a glorious region of stately woods, fertile valleys, clear
running streams, and lofty mountains, where our young surveyor, with
the exception of the winter months, spent the next three years of his
life. At first, not being accustomed to such severe privations and
exposure, it had gone rather hard with him: but he soon became inured
to them; and it was, no doubt, to this rough experience in the
wilderness, that he owed, in large measure, his uncommon vigor and
activity of body, and that firm reliance on the resources of his own
mind, which enabled him to endure and overcome those hardships,
trials, and difficulties which beset him throughout the greater
portion of his after-life. This severe training was also of another
advantage to him, in making him perfectly familiar with all that
region, in whose dark