Each held carelessly in his left
hand, and with its butt resting on the earth, a long gun;
completing an appearance, the attainment of which had,
in all probability, been sedulously sought,--that of a
Canadian duck-hunter.
A metamorphosis so ludicrously operated in the usually
elegant costume of two young English officers,--for such
they were,--might have been expected to afford scope to
the pleasantry of their companions, and to call forth
those sallies which the intimacy of friendship and the
freemasonry of the profession would have fully justified.
But the events that had occurred in such rapid succession,
since the preceding midnight, were still painfully
impressed on the recollection of all, and some there were
who looked as if they never would smile again; neither
laugh nor jeering, therefore, escaped the lips of one of
the surrounding group. Every countenance wore a cast of
thought,--a character of abstraction, ill suited to the
indulgence of levity; and the little conversation that
passed between them was in a low and serious tone. It
was evident some powerful and absorbing dread existed in
the mind of each, inducing him rather to indulge in
communion with his own thoughts and impressions, than to
communicate them to others.
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