194 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



citement, and warmly shaking Mm by the hand, 

 said, ''My dear O'B., allow me to congratulate you 

 most heartily on the compliment which has been 

 paid you ; you have been unanimously elected 

 Captain of the Home Guard." 



The newly-elected captain was horror-struck — 

 visions of sharp-pointed bayonets directed against 

 his abdomen, and keen swords flashing in descent 

 upon his cranium, rose before his mental eye ; the 

 roar of cannon and musketry, and the whistle of 

 bullets, seemed already to sound in his affrighted ears ; 

 wounds, agony, and death to stare him in the face. 

 Stammering ovtt thanks, less warm than seemed 

 appropriate to the warlike Southerner, he stole away 

 from his disappointed friend, and secretly made pre- 

 parations for escape. That night he took what little 

 money he had in hand, and, leaving all the rest of 

 his property behind, fled from the honour proposed 

 for him. He succeeded in getting across the lines 

 into the Northern States, and there obtained an ap- 

 pointment as Classical Professor at one of the 

 colleges. This institution was, however, supported 

 by voluntary subscriptions, which failed under the 

 pressure of the war, the staff was reduced, and Mr. 

 O'B. ao-ain cast adrift. He next anchored for a 

 short time near St. Paul, in Minnesota, and thence 

 proceeded to Fort Garry, with the intention of 

 establishing a school in the Eed River Settlement. 

 Classics were, however, at a discount amongst the 

 half-breeds, and consequently Mr. O'B.'s merits as a 

 pedagogue were not properly appreciated by the 



