"To this fatal spot each eye was turned at day-break, to see if any ill-starred vessel had not struck during the night. This was the last point each look was bent on, as the darkness was falling; and when the wind howled and the sea ran mountains high, and dashed its white foam over their little huts, then was every one astir in the village. Many an anxious gaze pierced through the mist, hoping some white sail might gleam through the storm, or some bending spar show where a perishing crew yet cried for help. The little shoal would then present a busy scene, boats were got out, coils of rope, and oars strewed on every side, lanterns flitted rapidly from place to place. With what energy and earnestness they moved, how their eyes gleamed with excitement, and how their voices rung out in accents of hoarse command. Oh! how horrible to think that the same features of a manly nature-the bold and daring courage that fears not the rushing wave nor the sweeping storm, the heroic daring that can breast the wild breakers as they splash on the dark rocks, can arise from impulses so opposite, and that humanity the fairest, and crime the blackest have but the same machinery to work with.

"It was on a dark November night-the heavy sough of a coming storm sent large and sullen waves on shore, where they broke with that low hollow cadence that seamen recognise as boding ill. A dense thick fog obscured all objects sea-ward, and though many scouts were out up the hills, they could detect nothing; still as the night grew more and more threatening, the wreckers felt assured a gale was coming, and already their preparation was making for the approaching time. Hour after hour passed by, but though the gale increased, and blew with violence on shore, nothing could be seen. Towards midnight, however, a scout came in to say, that he thought he could detect at intervals, through the dense mist and spray, a gleaming light in the direction of the Teeth.' The drift was too great to make it clearly perceptible, but still he persisted in believing he had seen something.

"A party were soon assembled on the beach, their eyes turned towards the fatal rocks, which at low water rose some twelve or fifteen feet above the surface. They gazed long and anxiously, but nothing could they make out, till, as they were turning away, one cried out, "Ay, see there— there it is now ;' and as he spoke a red-forked flame shot up through the drifting spray, and threw a lurid flash upon the dark sea. It died away almost as quickly, and though seen at intervals again, it seemed ever to wax fainter and fainter. 'She's on fire,' cried one. No, no; it's a distress signal,' said another. One thing is certain,' cried a third, the craft that's on the "Teeth" on such a night as this wont get off very readily; and so, lads, be alive and run out the boats.'

"The little colony was soon astir. It was a race of avarice too; for latterly the settlement had been broken up by feuds and jealousies into different factions, and each strove to overreach the other. In less than half an hour eight boats were out, and breasting the white breakers headed out to sea. All, save the old and decrepit, the women and children, were away, and even they stood watching on the shore, following with their eyes the boats in which they felt most interested.

"At last they disappeared in the gloom-not a trace could be seen of them, nor did the wind carry back the voices, over which the raging storm was now howling. A few still remained straining their eye-balls towards the spot where the light was seen, the others had returned towards the village; when all of a sudden a frightful yell, a long sustained and terrible cry rose from the huts, and the same instant a blaze burst forth and rose into a red column towards the sky. The Indians were upon them. The

war shout-that dreadful sound they knew too well-resounded on every side. Then began a massacre, which nothing in description can convey. The dreadful rage of the vengeful savage-long pent up-long provoked -had now its time for vengeance. The tomahawk and the scalping knife ran red with blood, as women and infants rushed madly hither and thither in the flight. Old men lay weltering in their gore beside their daughters and grandchildren; while the wild red men, unsated with slaughter, tore the mangled corpses as they lay, and bathed themselves in blood. But not there did it end. The flame that gleamed from the "Teeth" rocks was but an Indian device to draw the wreckers out to sea. A pine wood fire had been lighted on the tallest cliff at low water, to attract their attention, by some savages in canoes, and left to burn away slowly during the night.

"Deceived and baffled, the wreckers made towards shore, to which already their eyes were turned in terror, for the red blaze of the burning huts was seen miles off in the bay. Scarcely had the first boat neared the shore, when a volley of fire-arms poured in upon her-while the war cry that rose above it, told them their hour was come. The Indians were several hundred in number, armed to the teeth; the others few, and with

out a single weapon. Contest it was none. The slaughter scarce lasted many minutes, for ere the flame from the distant rock subsided the last white man lay a corpse on the bloody strand. Such was the terrible retribution on crime, and at the very moment too, when their cruel hearts were bent on its perpetration.

"This tale, which was told me in a broken jargon, between Canadian French and English, concluded with words, which were not to me, at the time, the least shocking part of the story, as the narrator, with glistening eyes, and in a voice whose guttural tones seemed almost too thick for utterance said, 'It was I that planned it.'

"You will ask me by what chance did I escape with life among such a tribe. An accident-the merest accident-saved me. When a smuggler, as I have already told you I was, I once, when becalmed in the Bay of Biscay, got one of the sailors to tattoo my arm with gunpowder, a very common practice at sea. The operator had been in the North American trade, and had passed ten years as a prisoner among the Indians, and brought away with him innumerable recollections of their habits and customs. Among others, their strange idols had made a great impression on his mind; and, as I gave him a discretionary power as to the frescos he was to adorn me with, he painted a most American-looking savage with two faces on his head-his body all stuck over with arrows and spear points, while he, apparently unmoved by such visitors, was skipping about in something that might be a war dance.

“This, with all its appropriate colours-for as the heraldry folk say, 'It was proper' was a very conspicuous object on my arm, and no sooner seen by the chief than he immediately knelt down beside me, dressed my wounds and tended me; while the rest of the tribe, recognising me as one whose existence was charmed, showed me every manner of respect, and even devotion.

"Indeed soon I felt my popularity to be my greatest difficulty; for whatever great event was going forward among the tribe, it became the etiquette to consult me on it, as a species of soothsayer, and never was a prophet more sorely tested. Sometimes it was a question of the whale fishery-whether bottle noses or sulphur bottoms were coming up the bay, and whether, in the then season, it was safe or not to strike the calf whales first. Now it was a disputed point as to the condition of bears; or worse

than either, a little marauding party would be undertaken into a neighbour's premises, where I was expected to perform a very leading part, which, not having the same strong convictions of my invulnerable nature, as my worthy associates, I undertook with as few feelings of satisfaction as you may imagine. But these were not all; offers of marriage from many noble families pressed me on every side; and though polygamy to any extent was permissible, I never could persuade myself to make my fortune in this manner. The ladies too, I am bound to say, were not so seductive as to endanger my principles: flattened heads, bent down noses, and lip stones, are very strong antidotes to the tender passion. And I was obliged to declare, that I was compelled, by a vow, not to marry for three moons. I dared not venture on a longer period of amnesty, lest I should excite suspicion of any insult to them on a point where their vengeance never forgives; and I hoped, ere that time elapsed, that I should be able to make my escape-though how, or when, or where to, were points I could not possibly guess at.

Before the half of my probation had expired, we were visited by an old Indian of a distant tribe-a strange old fellow he was, clothed in goats' skins, and wearing strong leather boots and rackets (snow shoes), a felt hat, and a kind of leather sack strapped on his back, and secured by a lock. This singular-looking fellow was the post. He travelled once a year from a small settlement near Mirimichi to Quebec and back, carrying the letters to and from these places, a distance of something like seven hundred miles, which he accomplished entirely on foot, great part of it through dense forests and over wild uninhabited prairies, passing through the hunting grounds of several hostile tribes, fording rivers and climbing mountains, and all for the moderate payment of ten pounds a year, half of which he spent in rum before he left Quebec, and while waiting for the return mail; and strangest of all, though for forty years he had continued to perform this journey, not only no accident had ever occurred to the letters, but he himself was never known to be behind his appointed time at his destination.

"Tahata;' for such was his name, was however a character of great interest even to the barbarous tribes through whose territories he passed. He was a species of savage newspaper, recounting various details respecting the hunting and fishing seasons-the price of skins at Quebec or Montreal -what was the peltry most in request, and how it would bring its best price. Cautiously abstaining from the local politics of these small states his information only bore on such topics as are generally useful and interesting, and never for a moment partook of any partizan character; besides, he had ever some petty commission or other from the squaws to discharge at Quebec. There was an amber bead or a tin ornament, a bit of red ribbon or a glass button, or some such valuable, every where he went; and his coming was an event as much longed and looked for as any other that marked their monotonous existence.

"He rested for a few days at our village, when I learned these few particulars of his life, and at once resolved, come what might, to make my escape with him, and, if possible, reach Quebec. An opportunity fortunately soon offered for my, doing so with facility. The day of the courier's departure was fixed for a great fishing excursion, on which the tribe were to be absent for several days. Affecting illness, I remained on shore, and never stirred from the wigwam till the last canoe had disappeared from sight; then I slowly sauntered out, and telling the squaws that I would stroll about for an hour or so to breathe the air, I followed the track which was pointed out to me by the courier who had departed

early on the same morning. Before sunset I came up with my friend, and, with a heart overflowing with delight, sat down to partake of the little supper he had provided for our first day's journey; after that each day was to take care of itself.

"Then began a series of adventures, to which all I have hitherto told you are as nothing. It was the wild life of the prairies in companionship with one who felt as much at home in the dark recesses of a pine forest, as ever I did in the snug corner of mine inn. Now it was a night spent under the starry sky, beside some clear river's bank, where the fish lay motionless beneath the red glare of our watch-fire; now we bivouaced in a gloomy forest, planting stockades around to keep off the wild beasts; then we would chance upon some small Indian settlement, where we were regaled with hospitality, and spent half the night listening to the low chant of a red man's song, as he deplored the downfall of his nation, and the loss of their hunting grounds. Through all, my guide preserved the steady equability of one who was travelling a well-worn path-some notched tree, some small stone heap, some fissured rock, being his guide through wastes where it seemed to me no human foot had ever trod. He lightened the road with many a song and many a story, the latter always displaying some curious trait of his people, whose high sense of truth and unswerving fidelity to their word, once pledged, appeared to be an invariable feature in every narrative; and though he could well account for the feeling that makes a man more attached to his own nation, he more than once half expressed his surprise how, having lived among the simple-minded children of the forest, I could ever return to the haunts of the plotting and designing white men.

"This story of mine," continued Mr. O'Kelly, "has somehow spun itself out far more than I intended. My desire was, to show you briefly in what strange and dissimilar situations I have been thrown in life-how I have lived among every rank and class, at home and abroad, in comparative affluence-in narrow poverty; how I have looked on at the world, in all its gala dress of wealth, and rank, and beauty-of power, of station, and command of intellect; and how I have seen it poor, and mean, and naked-the companion of gloomy solitudes, and the denizen of pathless forests; and yet found the same human passions, the same love and hate, the same jealousy and fear, courage and daring-the same desire for power, and the same wish to govern, in the red Indian of the prairie, as in the starred noble of Europe. The proudest rank of civilized life has no higher boast, than in the practice of such virtues as I have seen rife among the wild dwellers in the dark forest. Long habit of moving thus among my fellow men, has worn off much of that conventional reverence for class, which form the standing point of all our education at home. The tarred and weather-beaten sailor, if he be but a pleasant fellow, and has seen life, is to me as agreeable a companion as the greatest admiral that ever trod a quarter-deck. My delight has been thus, for many a year back, to ramble through the world, and look on its game, like one who sits before the curtain, and has no concern with the actors, save, in so far as they amuse him.

"There is no cynicism in this. No one enjoys life more than I do. Music is a passion with me-in painting I take the greatest delight, and beauty has still her charm for me. Society never was a greater pleasure. Scenery can give me a sense of happiness, which none but solitary men ever feelyet, it is less as one identified with these, than as a mere spectator. All this is selfish and egotistical, you will say-and so it is. But then, think what chance has one like me of any other pleasure! To how many

annoyances should I expose myself, if I adopted a different career: think of the thousand inquiries of—who is he? what is his family? where did he come from? what are his means? and all such queries, which would beset me, were I the respectable denizen of one of your cities. Without some position, some rank, some settled place in society, you give a man nothing he can neither have friend nor home. Now, I am a wanderermy choice of life, happily, took an humble turn: I have placed myself in a good situation for seeing the game-and I am not too fastidious, if I get somewhat crushed by the company about me: and now, to finish this long story, for I see the day is breaking, and I must leave Antwerp at ten o'clock.

"At last, then, we reached Quebec. It was on a bright, clear, frosty day in December, when all the world was astir-sledges flying here and there-men slipping along in rackets-women, wrapped up in furs, sitting snugly in chairs, and pushed along the ice some ten or twelve miles the hour-all gay, all lively, and all merry-looking-while I and my Indian friend bustled our way through the crowd towards the post-office. He was a well-known character, and many a friendly nod, and a knowing shake of the head welcomed him as he passed along. I, however, was an object of no common astonishment, even in a town where every variety of costume, from full dress to almost nakedness, was to be met with daily. Still something remained as a novelty, and it would seem I had hit on it. Imagine, then, an old and ill-used foraging-cap drawn down over a red night-cap, from beneath which my hair descended straight, somewhere about a foot in length-beard and moustaches to match-a red uniform coat, patched with brown seal-skin, and surmounted by a kind of blanket of buffalo hide—a pair of wampum shorts, decorated with tin and copper, after the manner of a marquetrie table-grey stockings, gartered with fish skin-and moccasins made after the fashion of high lows, an invention of my own, which I trust are still known as 'O'Kellies,' among my friends the red men.

"That I was not an Indian, was sufficiently apparent-if by nothing else, the gingerly delicacy with which I trod the pavement, after a promenade of seven hundred miles, would have shown it; and yet, there was an evident reluctance on all sides to acknowledge me as one of themselves. The crowd that tracked our steps had by this time attracted the attention of some officers, who stopped to see what was going forward, when I recognised the major of my own regiment among the number. I saw, however, that he did not remember me, and hesitated with myself whether I should return to my old servitude. The thought that no mode of subsistence was open to me that I was not exactly prepossessing enough to make my way in the world by artificial advantages-decided the question, and I accosted him at once.

"I will not stop to paint the astonishment of the officer, nor shall I dwell on the few events which followed the recognition-suffice it to say, that, the same evening I received my appointment, not as sergeant, but as regimental interpreter between our people and the Indians, with whom we were then in alliance against the Yankees. The regiment soon left Quebec for Trois Rivieres, where my ambassadorial functions were immediately called into play-not, I am bound to confess, under such weighty and onerous responsibilities as I had been led to suspect would ensue between two powerful nations-but, on matters of less moment, and fully as much difficulty, viz., the barter of old regimental coats and caps for bows and arrows; the exchange of rum and gunpowder for moccasins, and wampum ornaments-in a word, the regulation of an Anglo