“At last, then, we reached Quebec. It was on a bright, clear, frosty day in December, when all the world was astir--sledges flying here and there--men slipping along in rackets--women, wrapped up in furs, sitting snugly in chairs, and pushed along the ice some ten or twelve miles the hour--all gay, all lively, and all merry-looking--while I and my Indian friend bustled our way through the crowd towards the post-office. He was a well-known character, and many a friendly nod, and a knowing shake of the head welcomed him as he passed along. I, however, was an object of no common astonishment, even in a town where every variety of costume, from full dress to almost nakedness, was to be met with daily. Still, something remained as a novelty, and it would seem I had hit on it. Imagine, then, an old and ill-used foraging-cap, drawn down over a red night-cap, from beneath which my hair descended straight, somewhere about a foot in length--beard and moustaches to match--a red uniform coat, patched with brown seal-skin, and surmounted by a kind of blanket of buffalo hide--a pair of wampum shorts, decorated with tin and copper, after the manner of a marquetrie table--gray stockings, gartered with fish skin--and moccasins made after the fashion of high-lows, an invention of my own, which I trust are still known as ‘O’Kellies,’ among my friends the red men. “That I was not an Indian, was sufficiently apparent--if by nothing else, the gingerly delicacy with which I trod the pavement, after a promenade of seven hundred miles, would have shown it; and yet there was an evident reluctance on all sides to acknowledge me as one of themselves. The crowd that tracked our steps had by this time attracted the attention of some officers, who stopped to see what was going forward, when I recognised the major of my own regiment among the number. I saw, however, that he did not remember me, and hesitated with myself whether I should return to my old servitude. The thought that no mode of subsistence was open to me--that I was not exactly prepossessing enough to make my way in the world by artificial advantages, decided the question, and I accosted him at once.