\\ak\\u;k woodlands. 79 



"Now, CU3S you, (iou't come fooliu' about me," replie«l 

 that worthj', aiming- a blow at me, which, had it taken 

 place, might well have felled Goliah; but which, as I 

 sprang aside, wasting its energies on the impassive air, 

 had well nigh floored the striker. "Don't you come foolin' 

 about me — you knows right well I called you, and yoii 

 knows, too, you almost cried, and told me to clear out, 

 and let you git an hour's sleep; for by the Lord you 

 thought Archer and I was made of steel 1 — you couldn't 

 and you wouldn't — and now you wants to know the rea- 

 son why you wam't along with usl" 



"Never mind the old thief, Frank," said Archer, seeing 

 that I was on the point of answering, "even his own aunt 

 says he is the most notorious liar in all Orange county — 

 and Heaven forbid we should gainsay that most respect- 

 able old lady!" 



Into what violent asseveration our host would have 

 plunged at this declaration, remains, like the tale of 

 Cambuscan bold, veiled in deep mystery ; for as he started 

 from the log on which he had been reposing while in the 

 act of unsplicing- his bamboo fishing pole, the elder of 

 the Teachmans thrust his head out of the cabin nearest 

 to us — "Come, boys, to breakfast !" — and at the first word 

 of his welcome voice, Tom made, as he would have him- 

 self defined it, stret tracks for the table. And a mighty 

 different table it was from that to which he had sat down 

 on the preceding morning. Timothy — unscared by the 

 wonder of the mountain nymphs, who deemed a being of 

 the masculine gender as an intruder, scarce to be tol- 

 erated, on the mysteries of the culinary art — ^had exerted 

 his whole skill, and brought forth all the contents of his 

 canteen! We had a superb steak of the fattest venison, 

 graced by cranberries stewed with cayenne pepper, and 

 sliced lemons. A pot of excellent black tea, almost as 

 strong as the cognac which flanked it; a disli of beautiful 

 fried perch, with cream a? ,thick as porridge, our own loaf 

 sugar, and Teachman's new laid eggs, hot wheaten cakes, 

 and hissing rashers of right tender pork, furnished a 

 breakfast forth that might have vied successfully with 

 those which called forth, in the Hebrides, such raptures 

 from the lexicographer. 



Breakfast despatched — for which, to say the truth, 

 Harry gave us but little time — we mustered our arrav 



