Over the joyous feast the sudden darkness descended. 
All was silent without, and, illuming the landscape with silver,
Fair rose the dewy moon and the myriad stars; but within doors, 980
Brighter than these, shone the faces of friends in the glimmering lamplight. 
Then from his station aloft, at the head of the table, the herdsman
Poured forth his heart and his wine together in endless profusion. 
Lighting his pipe, that was filled with sweet Natchitoches tobacco,
Thus he spake to his guests, who listened, and smiled as they listened:—­ 985
“Welcome once more, my friends, who long have been friendless and homeless,
Welcome once more to a home, that is better perchance than the old one! 
Here no hungry winter congeals our blood like the rivers;
Here no stony ground provokes the wrath of the farmer;
Smoothly the plowshare runs through the soil, as a keel through the water. 990
All the year round the orange-groves are in blossom; and grass grows
More in a single night than a whole Canadian summer. 
Here, too, numberless herds run wild and unclaimed in the prairies;
Here, too, lands may be had for the asking, and forests of timber
With a few blows of the axe are hewn and framed into houses. 995
After your houses are built, and your fields are yellow with harvests,
No King George of England shall drive you away from your homesteads,
Burning your dwellings and barns, and stealing your farms and your cattle.” 
Speaking these words, he blew a wrathful cloud from his nostrils,
While his huge, brown hand came thundering down on the table, 1000
So that the guests all started; and Father Felician, astounded,
Suddenly paused, with a pinch of snuff half-way to his nostrils. 
But the brave Basil resumed, and his words were milder and gayer:—­
“Only beware of the fever, my friends, beware of the fever! 
For it is not like that of our cold Acadian climate, 1005
Cured by wearing a spider hung round one’s neck in a nutshell!”
Then there were voices heard at the door, and footsteps approaching
Sounded upon the stairs and the floor of the breezy veranda. 
It was the neighboring Creoles and small Acadian planters,
Who had been summoned all to the house of Basil the herdsman. 1010
Merry the meeting was of ancient comrades and neighbors: 
Friend clasped friend in his arms; and they who before were as strangers,
Meeting in exile, became straightway as friends to each other,
Drawn by the gentle bond of a common country together. 
But in the neighboring hall a strain of music, proceeding 1015
From the accordant strings of Michael’s melodious fiddle,
Broke up all further speech.  Away, like children delighted,
All things forgotten beside, they gave themselves to the maddening
Whirl of the dizzy dance as it swept and swayed to the music,
Dreamlike, with beaming eyes and the rush of fluttering garments. 1020