Nor would it be just to leave unnoticed the sumptuous dinner at which we were entertained on the eve of our departure. The giver of the feast, Dr. B----k, selected the ward of the hospital as an appropriate dining-room, the single unfortunate patient in at the time being veiled from sight by a sheet of green baize suspended from the wall. We had soup, roast beef, boiled mutton, and plum pudding, with abundance of champagne. The company was somewhat mixed, yet all fraternised with easy cordiality. We had Mr. C----, manager of the Cariboo branch of the ---- Bank, a gentleman of solemn aspect, and with a large bald head, who wore spectacles, dressed in frock-coat, represented respectability, and spoke on all points with authority; Mr. B. ----, an old Hudson’s Bay man, highly convivial, delighting in harmony; Dr. B----l, a medical gentleman, afflicted with the “_cacoethes bibendi_,” as well as “_loquendi_”--a lean little fellow, with a large mouth, who appeared in the full glory of a swallow-tailed coat, and was perpetually smiling, yet, in reality, taking a gloomy view of things in general; Mr. C----, a young lawyer, Irish and impressionable; Billy Ferren, a successful miner, from his loquacity nicknamed “Billy the Bladge,” rough, noisy, breaking forth into shouts and laughter; Dr. B----k’s assistant, quiet and generally useful; and lastly, the lady of the party, Mrs. Morris, more generally known by her Christian name of Janet, fair, fat, and forty, and proprietor of a neighbouring house of refreshment. She had kindly come in to cook the dinner, and when that was duly set forth, she yielded to popular clamour, and joined us at the table. [Illustration: THE CAMERON “CLAIM,” WILLIAM’S CREEK, CARIBOO. (_See page 373._) ] Before the cloth was drawn--metaphorically--_i.e._, whilst we were still occupied with plum pudding, Dr. B----l, who had shown symptoms of restlessness for some time, could repress the flood of eloquence rising within him no longer, and having succeeded in catching the president’s eye, and received a permissive nod in return, rose cautiously on his legs. A vigorous rapping on the table procured silence, and Dr. B----l, steadying himself by the table with one tremulous hand, and waving the other gracefully towards ourselves, while the ever-beaming smile irradiated his countenance, proposed Milton’s health in most glowing terms, winding up his panegyric with a request for three-times-three, and “He’s a jolly good fellow.” These were given uproariously--the Hudson’s Bay man leading, and Janet bringing in an effective soprano.