"Use the other powder, Sam, the lighter colored," he murmured
languidly, as if the sight had wearied him; "and mind you drop not so
much as a pinch upon the waistcoat."

Then he lifted his eyes inquiringly to mine.

"For what?" he asked.

"To look forth upon the Great Lake. Captain Wells tells me 't is but a
brief and safe walk from here to the shore-line."

"The lake?--water?" and the expression upon his face made me smile.
"_Mon Dieu_, man! have you become crazed by the hard march? What have
I ever said in our brief intercourse that could cause you to conceive I
care greatly for that? If it were only wine, now!"

"You have no desire to go with me, then?"

"Lay out the red tie, Sam; no, the one with the white spots in it, and
the small curling-iron. No, Monsieur; what you ask is impossible. I
travel to the west for higher purpose than to gaze upon a heaving waste
of water. _Sacre_! did I not have a full hundred days of such pleasure
when first I left France? My poor stomach has not fairly settled yet
from its fierce churning. Know ye not, Master Wayland, that we hope to
be at this Fort Dearborn upon the morrow, and 't is there I meet again
the fair Toinette? Saints! but I must look my best at such a time, not
worn and haggard from tramping through the sand. She was ever a most
critical maid in such matters, and has not likely changed. 'T is
curled too high upon the right brow, you black imp! and, as I live,
there is one hair you have missed entirely."