50 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 



and could his lot be cast in a lovelier land ? No. 

 The very river seemed to murmur, " Better abide 

 by me than breathe the murky and infected air of 

 the great city," and the graceful hemlock* bowed 

 her head over the eddy where the curling ripple 

 loved to fawn at her feet, and whispered, " Yes, live 

 with me in the wilderness. Am I and my kindred 

 not sweeter to dwell amongst than crowded 

 assemblies and gas-tainted theatres ? " 



But a dull sound, for some time audible, had now 

 increased to a continuous thunder, and Paul, awaken- 

 ing from his reverie, asked Pierre the cause. Pierre 

 Lefranc was a French-Canadian, and a right good 

 specimen of the breed. From his earliest boyhood 

 he had led a wild, roving life, first in company with 

 his father, a courenr des hois, latterly by himself, 

 but ever in the Hudson's Bay service. Brought up 

 amongst the employes of the Company he regarded 

 that honourable association as the embodiment of 

 everything good and powerful in this world. He 

 lived by the Company, he swore by the Company, 

 in fact he may almost be said to have lived for the 

 Company. Any one unconnected with them he 

 regarded with ineffable contempt, and the small 

 private traders were his abomination. As Mr. 

 Tanner represented the Company in Canada, Pierre 



* Abies Canadensis. 



