at the muzzle of the gun had been applied so
close as to set fire to the night-cap behind. The gun, which was of the
longest kind supplied to the Indians, could not have been placed in a
position to inflict such a wound except by a second person. Upon
inquiring of Michel how it happened he replied that Mr. Hood had sent him
into the tent for the short gun and that during his absence the long gun
had gone off, he did not know whether by accident or not. He held the
short gun in his hand at the time he was speaking to me. Hepburn
afterwards informed me that previous to the report of the gun Mr. Hood
and Michel were speaking to each other in an elevated angry tone, that
Mr. Hood, being seated at the fireside, was hid from him by intervening
willows, but that on hearing the report he looked up and saw Michel
rising up from before the tent-door, or just behind where Mr. Hood was
seated, and then going into the tent. Thinking that the gun had been
discharged for the purpose of cleaning it he did not go to the fire at
first, and when Michel called to him that Mr. Hood was dead a
considerable time had elapsed. Although I dared not openly to evince any
suspicion that I thought Michel guilty of the deed, yet he repeatedly
protested that he was incapable of committing such an act, kept
constantly on his guard, and carefully avoided leaving Hepburn and me
together. He was evidently afraid of permitting us to converse in private
and whenever Hepburn spoke he inquired if he accused him of the murder.
It is to be remarked that he understood English very imperfectly yet
sufficiently to render it unsafe for us to speak on the subject in his
presence. We removed the body into a clump of willows behind the tent
and, returning to the fire, read the funeral service in addition to the
evening prayers. The loss of a young officer of such distinguished and
varied talents and application may be felt and duly appreciated by the
eminent characters under whose command he had served, but the calmness
with which he contemplated the probable termination of a life of uncommon
promise, and the patience and fortitude with which he sustained, I may
venture to say, unparalleled bodily sufferings, can only be known to the
companions of his distresses. Owing to the effect that the tripe de roche
invariably had when he ventured to taste it, he undoubtedly suffered more
than any of the survivors of the party. Bickersteth's Scripture Help was
lying open beside t