iv THE LATE GEORGE FREDERICK RUXTON. 



several of the most important combats of the campaign. For 

 his marked gallantry on these occasions, he received from Queen 

 Isabella II., the cross of the first class of the order of St. 

 Fernando, an honor which has seldom been awarded to one so 

 young. On his return from Spain he found himself gazetted to 

 a commision in the 89th regiment ; and it was while serving 

 with that distinguished corps in Canada that he first became 

 acquainted with the stirring scenes of Indian life, which he has 

 since so graphically portrayed. His eager and enthusiastic 

 spirit soon became wearied with the monotony of the barrack- 

 room ; and yielding to that impulse which in him was irresis- 

 tibly developed, he resigned his commission, and directed his 

 steps toward the stupendous wilds, tenanted only by the red 

 Indian, or by the solitary American trapper. 



Those familiar with Mr. Ruxton's writings can not fail to 

 have remarked the singular delight with which he dwells upon 

 the recollections of this portion of his career, and the longing 

 which he carried with him, to the hour of his death, for a 

 return to those scenes of primitive freedom. " Although liable 

 to an accusation of barbarism," he writes, " I must confess that 

 the very happiest moments of my life have been spent in~the 

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

 ure, the remembrance of my solitary camp in the Bayou Salade, 

 with no friend near me more faithful than my rifle, and no com- 

 panions more sociable than my good horse and mules, or the 

 attendant cayeute which nightly serenaded us. With a plentiful 

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

 ing far up into the sky, ilhmiinating the valley far and near, and 

 exhibiting the animals, with well-filled bellies, standing content- 



