Thither Duncan followed, and shortly afterwards was married to his
faithful Catharine. On one point they had never differed, both being
of the same religion.

Pierre had seen a good deal of the fine country on the shores of Lake
Ontario; he had been hunting with some friendly Indians between the
great waters and the Rice Lake; and he now thought if Duncan and
himself could make up their minds to a quiet life in the woods, there
was not a better spot than the hill pass between the plains and the
big lake to fix themselves upon. Duncan was of the same opinion when
he saw the spot. It was not rugged and bare like his own Highlands,
but softer in character, yet his heart yearned for the hill country.
In those days there was no obstacle to taking possession of any tract
of land in the unsurveyed forests; therefore Duncan agreed with his
brother-in-law to pioneer the way with him, get a dwelling put up, and
some ground prepared and "seeded down," and then to return for their
wives, and settle as farmers. Others had succeeded, had formed little
colonies, and become the heads of villages in due time; why should not
they? And now behold our two backwoodsmen fairly commencing their
arduous life: it was nothing, after all, to Pierre, by previous
occupation a hardy lumberer, or the Scottish soldier, accustomed to
brave all sorts of hardships in a wild country, himself a mountaineer,
inured to a stormy climate and scanty fare from his earliest youth.
But it is not my intention to dwell upon the trials and difficulties
courageously met and battled with by our settlers and their young
wives.

There was in those days a spirit of resistance among the first
settlers on the soil, a spirit to do and bear, that is less commonly
met with now. The spirit of civilization is now so widely diffused,