Mrs. Doty. The mess-basket was stowed with good things of every
description--ham and tongue--biscuit and plum-cake--not to mention the
substantiate of crackers, bread, and boiled pork, the latter of which,
however, a lady was supposed to be too fastidious to think of touching,
even if starving in the woods.

We had engaged three Canadian voyageurs to take charge of our tent,
mess-basket, and matters and things in general. Their business it was to
be to cut the wood for our fires, prepare our meals, and give a helping
hand to whatever was going forward. A messenger had also been sent to
the Kakalin, or rapids, twenty-one miles above, to notify
_Wish-tay-yun_,[3] the most accomplished guide through the difficult
passes of the river, to be in readiness for our service on a specified
day.

In the mean time, we had leisure for one more party, and it was to be a
"real Western hop." Everybody will remember that dance at Mrs. Baird's.
All the people, young and old, that would be gathered throughout, or, as
it was the fashion to express it, _on_ Green Bay, were assembled. The
young officers were up from Fort Howard, looking so smart in their
uniforms--treasures of finery, long uncalled forth, were now brought to
light--everybody was bound to do honor to the strangers by appearing in
their very best. It was to be an entertainment unequalled by any given
before. All the house was put in requisition for the occasion. Desks and
seats were unceremoniously dismissed from Mr. B.'s office, which formed
one wing, to afford more space for the dancers. Not only the front
portion of the dwelling, but even the kitchen was made fit for the
reception of company, in case any primitive visitor, as was sometimes
the case, should prefer sitting down quietly there and smoking his
cigar. This was an emergency that, in those days, had always to be