Malcolm
volunteered to cut the sets, which was easy work that could be done
in the house, and over which he could lounge and smoke; but Moodie
told him that he must take his share in the field, that I had
already sets enough saved to plant half-an-acre, and would have more
prepared by the time they were required. With many growls and
shrugs, he felt obliged to comply; and he performed his part pretty
well, the execrations bestowed upon the mosquitoes and black-flies
forming a sort of safety-valve to let off the concentrated venom of
his temper. When he came in to dinner, he held out his hands to me.
"Look at these hands."
"They are blistered with the hoe."
"Look at my face."
"You are terribly disfigured by the black-flies. But Moodie suffers
just as much, and says nothing."
"Bah! - The only consolation one feels for such annoyances is to
complain. Oh, the woods! - the cursed woods! - how I wish I were out
of them." The day was very warm, but in the afternoon I was
surprised by a visit from an old maiden lady, a friend of mine from
C - -. She had walked up with a Mr. Crowe, from Peterborough, a
young, brisk-looking farmer, in breeches and top-boots, just out
from the old country, who, naturally enough, thought he would like
to roost among the woods.
