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the novel effect of this new music, horses' heads were seen in the distance, and not the heavy coach, as had been expected, but the open barouche of Sir John Seabury came in sight, containing himself and Ronald Payne.

Ronald was nearly hugged to death. Words of apology and congratulation, of excuse and good-will, of repentance and joy, were poured into his ear by all, save Jane; and she stood away, the uncontrollable tears coursing down her face. It was plain, in a moment, that he bore no malice to any of them his brow was as frank as ever, his eye as merry, his hands as open to clasp theirs-he was the same old Ronald Payne of months ago.

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"Ronald Payne" exclaimed Mrs. Armstrong, standing a little before the rest, "I was the first to accuse you, I was the foremost to rail at and shun you; let me be the most eager to express my painful regret, and so far-which is all I can do-make reparation. For the future, you shall not have a more sincere friend than myself."

"And allow me, Mr. Payne, to be the second to speak," added Sir John, " although I have no apology to make, for I never believed you guilty, as you know; but all these good people did, and it is of no use, you are aware, to run against a stream. As some recompense for what you have suffered, I hereby offer you a lease of the farm and lands rented by the unfortunate James Darnley. It is the best vacant farm on my estate. And a word yet should you not have sufficient ready money to stock it, I will be your banker."

Ronald Payne grasped in silence the offered hand of his landlord. His heart was too full to speak, but a hum of gratification from those around told that the generosity was appreciated.

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"But, Mrs. Armstrong," continued Sir John, a merry smile countenance, "is there no other recompense you can offer him?"

Jane was now standing amongst them, by Ronald's side, though not a word had yet passed between them. His eyes fondly sought hers at the last words, but her glowing countenance was alike turned from him and from Sir John Seabury.

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Ay, by all that's right and just, there is, Sir John!" burst forth good Farmer Armstrong. "He deserves her, and he shall have her; and my wife still says no, why I don't think she is any wife of mine."

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Sir John glanced at Mrs. Armstrong, waiting no doubt for her lips to form themselves into the negative; but they formed themselves into nothing, save an approving smile cast towards Ronald Payne.

"And with many thanks, grateful thanks-which I am sure he feelsfor your generous offer of being his banker, Sir John," continued Mr. Armstrong, you must give me leave to say that it will not now be needed. My daughter does not go to her husband portionless."

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"You must let me have notice of the time, Miss Armstrong," whispered Sir John, as he leaned forward and took her hand, "for I have made up my mind to dance at your wedding."

But the secret was not confined to Sir John Seabury. The crowd had comprehended it now; and suddenly, as with one universal voice, the air was rent with shouts. "Long live Ronald Payne and his fair wife when he shall win her! Long life and happiness to Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Payne!"

HUNTING IN THE FAR WEST.*

THE Prairie! What a world of heart-stirring ideas are associated with that name. Boundless expanses of verdure, now level, now undulating, always picturesque, watered by magnificent rivers, up whose rocky shores civilisation is advancing, slowly and step by step, into the heart of the wilderness. Wary red skins at war with nature and with one another. Immense herds of bisons or buffaloes, with deer-like legs; and troops of wapiti or elk stags, hunted by man, bears, and wolves, of which latter there are no less than three descriptions. Then, again, more humble grouse or prairie hens and rabbits, beaver and fish in the rivers, big-horns or wild sheep on the rocks; the whole scene varied by occasional thunder-storms and almost equally terrific prairie fires. Here and there, but still at intervals of many hundred miles, a hunting, or rather bartering, fort, with a Scotch or American captain and a group of French employés, some of Creole, some of Canadian origin; whilst in the remote background is the most interesting feature in the whole picture the enduring, the daring, the clever trapper-veteran of the prairie, living in constant vicissitudes of wealth and poverty, starvation and plenty, adventures and danger-a race now rapidly becoming extinct.

In their place we have the amateur sportsman-young gentlemen, who, weary of the monotony of stalking in Caledonian preserves, take themselves off to the deer plains of South Africa, or the elk woods of the Missouri, with almost the same facilities that our forefathers got to the fastnesses of Dunkeld. These adventurous youths pen narratives on their return, which, if not so full of trials and sufferings and hair-breadth escapes as those of the hardy trappers as given to us by Mr. Ruxton, still contain quite enough to amuse the most exacting reader; and as the amateur sportsman does not remain long enough in the country to blunt first impressions and dim the enjoyment of novelty, nothing comes to tarnish the freshness of the picture; it is all enthusiasm from beginning to end, a constant succession of striking scenes and interesting adventures, with an unavoidable recurrence to the destruction of animal life, so frequently obtruded, that at last the reader finds himself insensibly entertaining a half latent hope that the terrible destroyer of life will himself not get off without a good hugging by some resolute old grisly bear.

Mr. Palliser-the amateur sportsman with whom we have now to do— will excuse us following him in his transatlantic journey to Boston; his journey thence to Wheeling on the Ohio, and his navigation of that river; and the Mississippi to New Orleans. We will pass on to his début in the hunting-grounds east of the great rivers, and where he first tried his hand at deer shooting and deer skinning, not far from Mr. Keat's cotton plantation on the Arkansa River. At these mere backwoods or frontier stations they still adhere to the absurd practice of panhunting, that is, shooting at night at any two-pair of eyes that come to

*Solitary Rambles and Adventures of a Hunter in the Prairies. By John Palliser, Esq. With Illustrations. John Murray.

stare at a pan of burning pine knots; and Mr. Palliser relates a story, that has the run of the whole length of the backwoods from Illinois to New Orleans, of a man shooting his brood mare and foal under such circumstances, as having occurred to a "major" who breakfasted with him that morning.

We can excuse this imposition of an old story upon a new comer, as we can a first failure in roasting venison by a bivouac fire the first time he camped out solus in a very fever-and-aguish sort of place by the banks of Lake Jefferson. Both are compensated for by a clever shot at a pair of eyes which, as he sat smoking and musing, were observed to shine very brightly in the fire-light. The owner of the bright eyes turned out to be a splendid panther, whose skin our sportsman added to his kit with infinite satisfaction.

After a short excursion to Louisville and the Mammoth Caves of Kentucky, Mr. Palliser joined an expedition then preparing to start from Independence, on the Missouri, for the Western territory and the Rocky Mountains. It must be premised that the manner in which communication is kept up with the hunting forts or stations in the Indian territory is twofold: first, by a steamer, which ascends the Missouri with goods for barter at the time of the rise of the waters in May, and is thus enabled to go as far as Fort Union, at the mouth of the Yellow Stone River, where that stream falls into the Great Missouri; and secondly, by an overland expedition of traders, hunters, and workmen, who go up together to their forts and trading posts, starting from Independence every year at the beginning of September. This was the caravan which Mr. Palliser joined, and which was on this occasion composed of some seventeen and eighteen individuals, among whom the most prominent persons were Mr. Kipp, a hardy old veteran leader, and Mr. Murray, in charge of Fort Alexander, on the Yellow Stone; the rest being French, or half-caste employés, a docile, patient, enduring set of travellers, with constitutions of iron, and well practised in travel. The last white faces they saw were those of the Mormons, the pioneers of civilisation in the Far West. "The day," says Mr. Palliser, "is not far distant when, by their means, the red man and the buffalo will be swept off the face of the earth." We sincerely hope not. There is room on the prairies for both, without interfering with Anglo-American progress; on the contrary, rather aiding and abetting it. As to the extinction of the aborigines, if such is meant in the hidden ways of Providence, we should grieve, but dare not demur; we hope, however, for better things; what useful huntsmen and herdsmen the domesticated red man would make. As to the bisons, with such a girth of natural pastures, what good could come of their extermination? Their flesh and fat is acknowledgedly infinitely superior to that of our races of domestic cows; they are naturally of a timid and docile disposition, feeding, as Mr. Palliser has pleasantly recorded in both pen and pencil illustrations, in the company of domestic calves. Is there no future in reserve, then, for the poor persecuted bison? May not herds less numerous than those which the hunter now so wantonly assails, slaughtering whole hosts often for the sake of a few marrow-bones, be some future day quietly feeding on the same prairies, tended by the red man, to the mutual benefit of both races, and certainly to the advantage of a general civilisation?

But to turn to our traveller: a description of one night's bivouac will suffice for all, as each night's work was little more than a repetition of the same operations:

A little before sunset we unsaddled and unpacked our horses, placing the packs and saddle of each rider in a separate pile at equal distances so as to form a circular enclosure, about ten paces in diameter, and after watering and "hobling" the horses, i. e. attaching the fore and hind legs on one side together by means of an iron chain, with a leathern strap round the fetlock, to prevent their straying, we turned them loose to graze; not till then considering ourselves at liberty to attend to our own comforts. Our first business was, then, to cut and gather wood and to light a fire in the centre of the circle, fetching some water in the kettles, and putting the meat on to cook, and making our beds of saddle-cloths, blankets, and buffalo robes: this done, we roasted our coffee-berries, and having wrapt them in a piece of deer or buffalo skin and pounded them on the stump of a tree with the back of a hatchet, put them in our coffee-pot and boiled them; and the meat being cooked by the time this process was over, and the coffee made, we fell to with great appetite. After supper we lighted our pipes, and then each turned in when he felt inclined, and, with his feet to the fire, slept as only travellers in the prairie can sleep. Before day, we were up again, unhobled and watered our horses, loaded the packs, and were all in the saddle by sunrise. We rode on till about eleven o'clock, when we camped again for breakfast, letting the horses graze for a couple of hours; at one, starting off again to pursue our march till near dark.

The vegetation in some parts of the prairie was gigantic, the grass growing from five to eight feet high. Sometimes they would travel through this for days without intermission, occasionally meeting with willows and small spots of timber. "Everything around," writes Mr. Palliser "the huge coarse grass-weeds that I never saw before, rank and tangled in their unchecked growth-and the eternal, illimitable sweep of the undulating prairie, impressed on me a sense of vastness quite overwhelming."

At Fort Vermilion they joined a band of 600 Sioux, just returned from a foray against the Ottoe Indians, and Mr. Palliser's further hunting exploits were nearly put an end to by an Indian taking a deliberate shot at him-the bullet whizzing close past his ear. Here he also first tasted buffalo. "To say what I think," he duly places on record, "of its flavour and its excellence, would be but to repeat all the encomiums upon it that I have ever heard or read. It is decidedly the best meat I ever tasted, and I have eaten as great a variety as most people. The fat is peculiarly delicious, and more like that of turtle than beef, over which it has a decided superiority in delicacy of flavour, and in not surfeiting those who even feast immoderately upon it."

At Fort Pierre, the largest station of the American Fur Company on the Missouri, they stayed two days. Near this station is an island, upon which it was once attempted to establish a farm, but the red skins killed the cattle, burned the hay, and stole the corn, selling it back to the Fur Company. Beyond Fort Pierre they entered the high prairies, the atmosphere of which is remarkably clear and wholesome. They generally found timber to camp in for breakfast, and also for supper and sleeping at night, but they were much inconvenienced by want of fresh water. The buffalo abounds in these elevated uplands. From Fort Union, near the junction of the Missouri and Yellow Stone Rivers, Mr. Palliser enjoyed

many a day's buffalo hunting, which he naturally describes as a noble sport, and which was only interrupted by stern winter, which wrapped the vast prairie in a shroud of snow and ice. Mr. Palliser describes the English or Canadian half-breds on the Red River from Lord Selkirk's settlements as the best hunters of buffalo; they will, in passing a buffalo at full speed, hit him mortally behind the shoulder at fifty yards, five times out of six. A strange epidemic broke out in the fort with the arrival of winter, and spread like wildfire: it was a sort of cold that affected the throat, like mumps, internally and externally. Still winter did not put a stop to Mr. Palliser's sport. There were plenty of rabbits and prairie hens, and he could stalk buffalo and elk. Disguised by a blanket, he would get into a herd of the former, and keep singling out and shooting the best and fattest of the cows for upwards of an hour before he was found out. The troops of elk, sometimes a hundred strong upon the Yellow Stone, are described as presenting a truly grand and imposing sight. Wolves of three descriptions-the large white wolf, or buffalo wolf, the grey wolf, and the kit wolf-also abounded, howling most dismally as the cold increased; and they afforded not only capital sport, but profitable employment, as Mr. Palliser was allowed two dollars a-piece for white wolf skins, one and a half dollars for the seventy-five cents for the kit wolf skins.

grey, and Buffalo shooting was not always unaccompanied by danger, as the following instance will show. Mr. Palliser was in pursuit of a sturdy old bull:

He was standing a little way off on the open plain, but the skirting willows and brushwood afforded me cover within eighty yards of him, profiting by which I crept up, and taking a deliberate aim, fired. The bull gave a convulsive start, moved off a little way, and turned his broadside again to me. I fired again, over a hundred yards this time; he did not stir. I loaded and fired the third time, whereupon he turned and faced me, as if about to show fight. As I was loading for a fourth shot he tottered forward a step or two, and I thought he was about to fall, so I waited for a little while, but as he did not come down I determined to go up and finish him. Walking up, therefore, to within thirty paces of him, till I could actually see his eyes rolling, I fired for the fourth time directly at the region of the heart, as I thought, but to my utter amazement up went his tail and down went his head, and with a speed that I thought him little capable of, he was upon me in a twinkling. I ran hard for it, but he rapidly overhauled me, and my situation was becoming anything but pleasant. Thinking he might, like our own bulls, shut the eyes in making a charge, I swerved suddenly to one side to escape the shock, but, to my horror, I failed in dodging him, for he bolted round quicker than I did, and affording me barely time to protect my stomach with the stock of my rifle, and to turn myself sideways as I sustained the charge, in the hopes of getting between his horns, he came plump upon me with a shock like an earthquake. My rifle stock was shivered to pieces by one horn, my clothes torn by the other; I flew into mid-air, scattering my prairie hens and rabbits, which had hitherto hung dangling by leathern thongs from my belt, in all directions, till landing at last, I fell unhurt in the snow, and almost over me-fortunately not quite-rolled my infuriated antagonist, and subsided in a snow drift. I was luckily not the least injured, the force of the blow having been perfectly deadened by the enormous mass of fur, wool, and hair that clothed his shaggy head-piece.

Mr. Palliser purchased a very fine dog-a mongrel between a white buffalo wolf and a common Indian bitch-whom he designated as

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