GEORGE FREDERICK RUXTON V 



wilderness of the Far West ; and I never recall, but 

 with pleasure, the remembrance of my solitary camp in 

 the Bayou Salade, with no friend near me more faith- 

 ful than my rifle, and no companions more sociable 

 than my good horse and mules, or the attendant 

 cayute which nightly serenaded us. With a plentiful 

 supply of dry-pine logs on the fire, and its cheerful 

 blaze streaming far up into the sky, illuminating the 

 valley far and near, and exhibiting the animals, with 

 well-filled bellies, standing contentedly at rest over 

 their picket-fire, I would sit cross-legged, enjoying the 

 genial warmth, and, pipe in mouth, watch the blue 

 smoke as it curled upwards, building castles in its 

 vapoury wreaths, and, in the fantastic shapes it assumed, 

 peopling the solitude with figures of those far away. 

 Scarcely, however, did I ever wish to change such 

 hours of freedom for all the luxuries of civilised life ; 

 and, unnatural and extraordinary as it may appear, 

 yet such is the fascination of the life of the mountain 

 hunter, that I believe not one instance could be 

 adduced of even the most polished and civilised of 

 men, who had once tasted the sweets of its attendant 

 liberty, and freedom from every worldly care, not 

 regretting the moment when he exchanged it for the 

 monotonous life of the settlements, nor sighing and 

 sighing again once more to partake of its pleasures 

 and allurements." 



