ined the flint,
steel, and tinder required for making a fire. It also contained
Jasper's pipe and tobacco--for he smoked, as a matter of course. Men
smoke everywhere--more's the pity--and Jasper followed the example of
those around him. Smoking was almost his only fault. He was a
tremendous smoker. Often, when out of tobacco, he had smoked tea.
Frequently he had tried bark and dried leaves; and once, when hard
pressed, he had smoked oakum. He would rather have gone without his
supper than without his pipe! A powder-horn and shot pouch were slung
over his shoulders by two cross belts, and he carried a long
single-barrelled gun.

I have been thus particular in describing Jasper Derry, because he is
our hero, and he is worth describing, being a fine, hearty, handsome
fellow, who cared as little for a wild Indian or a grizzly bear as he
did for a butterfly, and who was one of the best of companions, as he
was one of the best of hunters, in the wilderness.

Having gained the top of the hillock, Jasper placed the butt of his long
gun on the ground, and, crossing his hands over the muzzle, stood there
for some time so motionless, that he might have been mistaken for a
statue. A magnificent country was spread out before him. Just in front
lay a clear lake of about a mile in extent, and the evening was so still
that every tree, stone, and bush on its margin, was reflected as in a
mirror. Here, hundreds of wild ducks and wild geese were feeding among
the sedges of the bays, or flying to and fro mingling their cries with
those of thousands of plover and other kinds of water-fowl that
inhabited the place. At the lower end of this lake a small rivulet was
seen to issue forth and wind its way through woods and plains like a
silver thread, until it was lost to view in the far distance. On the
right and left and behind, the earth was covered with the dense foliage
of the wild woods.

The hillock on which the western hunter stood, lay in the very heart of
that great uncultivated wilderness which forms part of the British
possessions in North America. This region lies to the north of the
Canadas, is nearly as large as all Europe, and goes by the name of the
Hudson's Bay Territory, or Rupert's Land.

It had taken Jasper many long weeks of hard travel by land and water, in
canoes and on foot, to get there; and several weeks of toil still lay
before him, ere he could attain the object, for which his journey had
been undert