ne which led to the
first terrace on the mountain.

When the sun rose over the mountain-tops and looked down upon the calm
surface of the river, there was not a man remaining in the fort, with
the exception of Stanley and Frank, and their active servant La Roche.

A deep calm rested on the whole scene. The sailors of the vessel,
having risen to dispatch breakfast, retired to their hammocks again and
went to sleep; Stanley, Frank, and their household, were busy within
doors; Chimo snored in the sunshine at the front of the fort; and the
schooner floated on a sheet of water so placid, that every spar and
delicate rope was clearly reflected. Nothing was heard save the soft
ripple on the shore, the distant murmur of mountain streams, and, once
or twice through the day, the faint reverberation of a fowling-piece.

But as the day advanced, evidences of the approaching feast began to be
apparent. Early in the forenoon Massan and Prince returned with heavy
loads of venison on their shoulders, and an hour later Bryan staggered
into the fort bending under the weight of a well-filled bag of fish. He
had been at his favourite fishing quarters in the dark valley, and was
dripping wet from head to foot, having fallen, as usual, into the water.
Bryan had a happy facility in falling into the water that was quite
unaccountable--and rather enviable in warm weather. As the cooking
operations were conducted on an extensive scale, a fire was kindled in
the open air in the rear of the men's house; round which fire, in the
course of the forenoon, Bryan and La Roche performed feats of agility so
extravagant, and apparently so superhuman, that they seemed to involve
an element of wickedness from their very intensity. Of course no large
dinner ever passed through the ordeal of being cooked without some
accidents or misfortunes, more or less. Even in civilised life, where
the most intricate appliances are brought to bear on the operation by
_artistes_ thoroughly acquainted with their profession, infallibility is
not found. It would be unjust, therefore, to expect that two
backwoodsmen should be perfectly successful, especially when it is
remembered that their branch of the noble science was what might be
technically termed plain cookery, the present being their first attempt
in the higher branches.

Their first difficulty arose from the larger of the two plum-puddings,
which La Roche had compounded under the directions of Mrs Stanley a