"Captain," he remarked slowly and thoughtfully, "you 've no idea the
trouble that negro is to me. Would you believe it? he actually left my
nail-brush behind at Detroit, and not another to be had for love or
money this side of Montreal! And only last night he mislaid a box of
rouge, and, by Saint Denis! I hardly dare hope there is so much as an
ounce of it in the whole party."

"I rather suspect not," was the somewhat crusty reply; "yet if a bit of
bear's grease could be made to serve your turn, we might possibly find
some among us."

"I know not its virtue," admitted the Frenchman gravely; "yet if it
reddens the lips it might be useful. But that which I had came from
the shop of Jessold in Paris, and is beyond all price."

We were ten days upon this forest journey, from the time of our
crossing the Maumee; and they were hard days, even to those of us long
habituated to the hardships of border travel. Indeed, I know few forms
of exertion that so thoroughly test the mettle of men as journeying
across the wilderness. There are no artificial surroundings, either to
inspire or restrain; and insensibly humanity returns to natural
conditions, permitting the underlying savage to gain ascendency. I
have seen more than one seemingly polished gentleman, resplendent with
all the graces of the social code, degenerate into a surly brute with
only a few hours of such isolation and the ceaseless irritation of the
trail. Yet I must acknowledge that De Croix accepted it all without a
murmur, and as became a man. His entire plaint was over the luxuries
he must forego, and he made far more ado about a bit of dust soiling
his white linen than about any real hardship of the march. 'T is my
memory that he rather grew upon us; for his natural spirits were so