Fort Desolation | Page 7

blank.
"Perhaps the back is better," he muttered, opening the door that led to
the rear of the premises. In order to get out he had to pass through the
kitchen, where he found his men busy with fried pork and flour cakes,
and his lieutenant, Teddy, preparing coffee.
"What is that?" inquired Jack, pointing to a small heap of brown
substance which Teddy was roasting in a frying-pan.
"Sure it's coffee," said the man.
"Eh?" inquired Jack.
"Coffee, sur," repeated Teddy with emphasis.
"What is it made of?" inquired Jack.
"Bread-crumbs, sur. I'm used to make it of pais, but it takes longer, d'ye
see, for I've got to pound 'em in a cloth after they're roasted. The
crumbs is a'most as good as the pais, an' quicker made whin yer in a

hurry."
Jack's first impulse was to countermand the crumbs and order tea, but
he refrained, and went out to survey the back regions of his new home.
He found that the point selected for the establishment of the fort was a
plain of sand, on which little herbage of any kind grew. In rear of the
house there was a belt of stunted bushes, which, as he went onward into
the interior, became a wood of stunted firs. This seemed to grow a little
more dense farther inland, and finally terminated at the base of the
distant and rugged mountains of the interior. In fact, he found that he
was established on a sandbank which had either been thrown up by the
sea, or at no very remote period had formed part of its bed. Returning
home so as to enter by the front door, he observed an enclosed space a
few hundred yards distant from the fort. Curious to know what it was,
he walked up to it, and, looking over the stockade, beheld numerous
little mounds of sand with wooden crosses at the head of them. It was
the burial-ground of the establishment. Trade had been carried on here
by a few adventurous white men before the fort was built. Some of
their number having died, a space had been enclosed as a
burying-ground. The Roman Catholic Indians afterwards used it, and it
was eventually consecrated with much ceremony by a priest.
With a face from which every vestige of intelligence was removed,
Jack Robinson returned to the fort and sat down in solitary state in the
hall. In the act of sitting down he discovered that the only arm-chair in
the room was unsteady on its legs, these being of unequal length. There
were two other chairs without arms, and equally unsteady on their legs.
These, as well as everything in the room, were made of fir-wood-- as
yet unpainted. In the empty fire-place Jack observed a piece of charcoal,
which he took up and began, in an absent way, to sketch on the white
wall. He portrayed a raving maniac as large as life, and then, sitting
down, began insensibly to hum--
"I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls."
In the midst of which he was interrupted by the entrance of his
lieutenant with a tray of viands.

"Ah, yer a purty creatur," exclaimed Teddy, pausing with a look of
admiration before the maniac.
"Come, Teddy, sit down and let's have the news. What have we here?"
said Jack, looking at three covered plates which were placed before
him.
"Salt pork fried," said Teddy removing the cover.
"And here?"
"Salt pork biled," said the man, removing the second cover; "an' salt
pork cold," he added, removing the third. "You see, sur, I wasn't sure
which way ye'd like it, an' ye was out whin I come to ax; so I just did it
up in three fashions. Here's loaf bread, an' it's not bad, though I say it
that made it."
As Jack cut down into the loaf, he naturally remembered those lines of
a well-known writer:
"Who has not tasted home-made bread, A heavy compound of putty
and lead!"
"Are these cakes?" he said, as Teddy presented another plate with
something hot in it.
"Ay, pancakes they is, made of flour an' wather fried in grease, an' the
best of aitin', as ye'll find;--but, musha! they've all stuck together from
some raison I han't yet diskivered: but they'll be none the worse for that,
and there's plenty of good thick molasses to wash 'em down wid."
"And this," said Jack, pointing to a battered tin kettle, "is the-- the--"
"That's the coffee, sur."
"Ah! well, sit down, Teddy, I have seen worse fare than this. Let's be
thankful for it. Now, then, let me hear about the fishery."
Nothing pleased Teddy O'Donel so much as being allowed to talk. He

sat down accordingly and entertained his master for the next hour with
a