“Ah, sober-face! and have you at last mustered courage to break away from the commander of this most notable company?” he cried mockingly.  “’T is passing strange he does not chain you to his saddle!  By Saint Guise! ’twould indeed be the only way in which so dull a cavalier would ever hold me loyal to his whims.  Friend Wayland, I scarce thought you would ever thus honor me again; and yet, ’t is true, I have had an ambition within my heart ever since we first met.  ’T is to cause you to fling aside those rough habiliments of the wilderness, and attire yourself in garments more becoming civilized man.  Would that I might induce you, even now, to permit Sam to rearrange those heavy blond locks a la Pompadour.  Bless me! but it would make a new man of you.”

“Such is not at all my desire, Monsieur,” I answered, civilly.  “I came now merely to learn if you would walk with me through these dunes of sand before the daylight fades.”

He looked out, idly enough, across that dreary expanse of desolation, and shrugged his shoulders.

“Use the other powder, Sam, the lighter colored,” he murmured languidly, as if the sight had wearied him; “and mind you drop not so much as a pinch upon the waistcoat.”

Then he lifted his eyes inquiringly to mine.

“For what?” he asked.

“To look forth upon the Great Lake.  Captain Wells tells me ’t is but a brief and safe walk from here to the shore-line.”

“The lake?—­water?” and the expression upon his face made me smile. “Mon Dieu, man! have you become crazed by the hard march?  What have I ever said in our brief intercourse that could cause you to conceive I care greatly for that?  If it were only wine, now!”

“You have no desire to go with me, then?”

“Lay out the red tie, Sam; no, the one with the white spots in it, and the small curling-iron.  No, Monsieur; what you ask is impossible.  I travel to the west for higher purpose than to gaze upon a heaving waste of water. Sacre! did I not have a full hundred days of such pleasure when first I left France?  My poor stomach has not fairly settled yet from its fierce churning.  Know ye not, Master Wayland, that we hope to be at this Fort Dearborn upon the morrow, and ’t is there I meet again the fair Toinette?  Saints! but I must look my best at such a time, not worn and haggard from tramping through the sand.  She was ever a most critical maid in such matters, and has not likely changed.  ’T is curled too high upon the right brow, you black imp! and, as I live, there is one hair you have missed entirely.”

Realizing the uselessness of waiting longer, I turned my back upon his vanity, and strode off alone.  It is not my nature to swerve from a purpose merely because others differ in desires; and I was now determined to carry out my plan.  I took one of the narrow depressions between two mounds of sand and plunged resolutely forward, endeavoring to shape my course as directly northward as the peculiarities of the path would admit.  To my mind, there was little to fear from the hostile Indians, as every sign proved them to be hastening westward in advance of us; while I was too long accustomed to adventure to be easily confused, even in the midst of that lonely desolation.