Now, my co-mates and partners in exile, Hath not old custom made this life more sweet Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods More free from peril than the envious court?
Here feel we but the penalty of Adam.
_As You Like It._
Sergeant Dunham made no empty vaunt when he gave the promise conveyed in the closing words of the last chapter.Notwithstandrng the remote frontier postion of the post they who lived at it enjoyed a table that, in many respects, kings and princes might have envied.At the Period of our tale, and, indeed, for half a century later, the whole of that vast region which has been called the West, or the new countries since the war of the revolution, lay a comparatively unpeoped desert, teeming with all the living productions of nature that properly belonged to the climate, man and the domestic animals excepted.The few Indians that roamed its forests then could produce no visible effects on the abundance of the game; and the scattered garrisons, or occasional hunters, that here and there were to be met with on that vast surface, had no other influence than the bee on the buckwheat field, or the humming-bird on the flower.
The marvels that have descended to our own times, in the way of tradition, concerning the quantities of beasts, birds, and fishes that were then to be met with, on the shores of the great lakes in particular, are known to be sustained by the experience of living men, else might we hesitate about relating them; but having been eye-witnesses of some of these prodigies, our office shall be discharged with the confidence that certainty can impart.
Oswego was particularly well placed to keep the larder of an epicure amply supplied.Fish of various sorts abounded in its river, and the sportsman had only to cast his line to haul in a bass or some other member of the finny tribe, which then peopled the waters, as the air above the swamps of this fruitful latitude are known to be filled with insects.
Among others was the salmon of the lakes, a variety of that well-known species, that is scarcely inferior to the delicious salmon of northern Europe.Of the different migratory birds that frequent forests and waters, there was the same affluence, hundreds of acres of geese and ducks being often seen at a time in the great bays that indent the shores of the lake.Deer, bears, rabbits, and squirrels, with divers other quadrupeds, among which was sometimes included the elk, or moose, helped to complete the sum of the natural supplies on which all the posts de-pended, more or less, to relieve the unavoidable privations of their remote frontier positions.
In a place where viands that would elsewhere be deemed great luxuries were so abundant, no one was excluded from their enjoyment.The meanest individual at Oswego habitually feasted on game that would have formed the boast of a Parisian table; and it was no more than a healthful commentary on the caprices of taste, and of the waywardness of human desires, that the very diet which in other scenes would have been deemed the subject of envy and repinings got to pall on the appetite.The coarse and regular food of the army, which it became necessary to husband on account of the difficulty of trans-portation, rose in the estimation of the common soldier;and at any time he would cheerfully desert his venison, and ducks, and pigeons, and salmon, to banquet on the sweets of pickled pork, stringy turnips, and half-cooked cabbage.
The table of Sergeant Dunham, as a matter of course, partook of the abundance and luxuries of the frontier, as well as of its privations.A delicious broiled salmon smoked on a homely platter, hot venison steaks sent up their appetizing odors, and several dishes of cold meats, all of which were composed of game, had been set before the guests, in honor of the newly arrived visitors, and in vindication of the old soldier's hospitality.
"You do not seem to be on short allowance in this quarter of the world, Sergeant," said Cap, after he had got fairly initiated into the mysteries of the different dishes;"your salmon might satisfy a Scotsman."
"It fails to do it, notwithstanding, brother Cap; for among two or three hundred of the fellows that we have in this garrison there are not half a dozen who will not swear that the fish is unfit to be eaten.Even some of the lads, who never tasted venison except as poachers at home, turn up their noses at the fattest haunches that we get here.""Ay, that is Christian natur'," put in Pathfinder; "and I must say it is none to its credit.Now, a red-skin never repines, but is always thankful for the food he gets, whether it be fat or lean, venison or bear, wild turkey's breast or wild goose's wing.To the shame of us white men be it said, that we look upon blessings without satis-faction, and consider trifling evils as matters of great ac-count."
"It is so with the 55th, as I can answer, though I cannot say as much for their Christianity," returned the Sergeant.
"Even the major himself, old Duncan of Lundie, will sometimes swear that an oatmeal cake is better fare than the Oswego bass, and sigh for a swallow of Highland water, when, if so minded, he has the whole of Ontario to quench his thirst in.""Has Major Duncan a wife and children?" asked Mabel, whose thoughts naturally turned towards her own sex in her new situation.
"Not he, girl; though they do say that he has a be-trothed at home.The lady, it seems, is willing to wait, rather than suffer the hardships of service in this wild region; all of which, brother Cap, is not according to my notions of a woman's duties.Your sister thought differ-ently."
"I hope, Sergeant, you do not think of Mabel for a sol-dier's wife," returned Cap gravely."Our family has done its share in that way already, and it's high time that the sea was again remembered.""I do not think of finding a husband for the girl in the 55th, or any other regiment, I can promise you, brother;though I do think it getting to be time that the child were respectably married.""Father!"
