S HISTORY. 



49 



we only got one, the reason being that A-ta-ka-koup's dogs 

 behaved badly, by rushing on in front and putting up the deer 

 long before we got near enough to shoot, for which conduct 

 they got an " Indian beating," which was much worse than 

 that given by an English keeper. 



On the fifth day we returned home, having had a most 

 enjoyable hunt. 



On our return we found Tom Boot camped near the hut, 

 having come to live on us, as he was too lazy to hunt for him- 

 self, and was very insolent if you refused him anything ; and 

 here he remained nearly the whole winter, begging and steal- 

 ing, and altogether he was an awful nuisance. 



Late in December I paid another visit to the fort to get 



supplies, and found there a Scotchman named F , who had 



had rather an eventful career. 



He was the son of a clergyman in Edinburgh, and had run 

 away from school when he was sixteen, and turned actor. As 

 he did not make much money at this, he had gone out to 

 St. John's, New Brunswick, just after the greater portion of 

 that city had been burned down. Here he had hired himself 

 to a house-painter, and had developed a decided talent for that 

 kind of work, being particularly good at imitating different 

 woods ; but after a time he got tired of this, and had gone to 

 George Town, Demerara, where he had set up for himself 

 as a house-painter and decorator, and had done well. He 

 then returned to Scotland and married, and had two 

 daughters. 



Then came the British Columbian gold boom, and, bitten 

 with the mining mania, he had sent his wife and daughters to 

 Iowa to some friends, and had paid forty pounds to a bubble 



