He was trudging on steadily, singing cheerfully as he walked, when a sound came on the night-air that sent a shiver through the young pedestrian’s frame—­the war-cry of the wolves.  At first he hoped he was not the object of pursuit; but the hideous uproar came nearer and nearer, and then he knew that he must instantly adopt some plan for his escape.

His route lay by the river shore, and he could swim well; but the night was dark, and he might be hurried into the rapids; and to be dashed to pieces on the rocks was scarcely less dreadful than to be mangled and devoured by wolves.  In this extremity, the child lifted up his brave young heart to God, and resolved to use the only chance left him of escape.  So he mounted Buck, the near-ox, making use of his goad, shouting at the same time to the animal, to excite him to his utmost speed.

In most cases, the horned steed would have flung off his rider, and left him for wolves’ meat, without hesitation; but Buck set off with the speed of a race-horse, as if fully aware of his young rider’s peril.  Nor was his companion less tardy.  Fast, however, as the trio fled, still faster came upon them the yelling pack behind; and James could ever hear—­

  “Their long hard gallop which could tire
   The hound’s deep hate and hunter’s fire.”

Fortunately for him, old Buck heard it too, and galloped on and on; but still the wolves came neater and nearer.  James shouted to keep them off; the oxen almost flying; their chains rattling as they went.  This clanking sound, to which the hateful pack were unaccustomed, made them pause whenever they came close upon the oxen, whilst the latter redoubled their speed, till at length these gallant racers left the wolves behind, and finding themselves within a short distance of home, never stopped till they brought the brave little fellow safely to his own door.

He had felt afraid but once; and that was when those dismal yells first broke upon his ear—­and never lost his presence of mind.  He trusted in God, and used the means within his reach for his preservation, and arrived safe at last.

Few boys would have displayed so much sense and spirit—­but the boy is almost always the father of the man; and what James was then, he is now.

CHAPTER XV.

FORMATION OF THE CANADA COMPANY. —­ INTERVIEW WITH MR. GALT. —­ HIS PERSONAL DESCRIPTION AND CHARACTER. —­ GUELPH. —­ DR. DUNLOP. —­ MY MEDICAL SERVICES AT GUELPH. —­ DR. DUNLOP AND THE “PAISLEY BODIES.” —­ AN ECCENTRIC CHARACTER. —­ AN UNFORTUNATE WIFE.

I REMEMBER on my first visit to the mouth of the river Maitland, now the site of Goodrich, a bridle-path for seventy miles through the trackless forest was the only available communication between the settlements and Lake Huron.  This was only twenty-four years ago.  This vast and fertile tract of more than one million acres, at that time did not contain a population of three hundred souls; no teeming fields of golden grain, no manufactories, no mills, no roads; the rivers were unbridged, and one vast solitude reigned around, unbroken, save by the whoop of the red-man, or the distant shot of the trapper.