In the Van; or, The Builders

The second night of the long march was passed by all in newly made camps far away from human habitation. It was very different from the first night, in which a comfortable house...

"We arrived at Point Levi two days ago. What a delight it was to be in the vicinity of civilization again! On the other side of the great St. Lawrence was the famous old city. A...

Four more days' journey without writing a line: and then the long, long nights. The same old story; riding all morning, then helping the women to fix things for dinner in the wo...

The old Citadel was brilliantly illuminated. Lights gleamed in every window. The snow was shovelled clean from the footpaths, and guardsmen had made smooth the drives for incomi...

On a bright May morning, later in the month than the sailing of the ships out of the Halifax Harbor, the sun shone at Penetang in vivid warmth and splendor. The people were glad...

On the day of the march the temperature was almost down to zero, and the sky a clear pale blue. The order had been issued for the little column to be ready at nine o'clock sharp...

Notwithstanding the exciting disturbances of the night, to both men and beasts, the troops were up by daylight. Breakfast was over, the camp was struck, and all were ready to ma...

A lump rose in Maud's throat, and a spasm crossed her features as she closed the door. Then she stopped to put a tray in order, making a noise in getting it even. It took her mo...

It was a beautiful day in the autumn when the frigate _Beaver_ passed McNab Island and sailed up the long harbor to Halifax. Wonderful tints of the forest, from russet brown thr...

"Do you know, Ned, I've been on the _North King_ ever sin' she was launched at Glasgow, seventeen year ago, and this is the first time a leddy has ever sailed aboard of 'er."

Half an hour later, the Sergeant again had charge of the Captain. He was weak and pallid, but his mind was clear, and he fixed his eyes on the Sergeant's face.

From the time he was stationed in Halifax Captain Morris had always been a welcome visitor at Judge Maxwell's. The possibility of being a suitor for the hand of one of the daugh...

To Helen Captain Cummings was an enigma. She could not understand him, and in search of a solution her mind persistently returned to the interview in the woods, and the conversa...

If it had not been for the game shot in the woods and the abundance of bass and pickerel caught in the bay, provisions would have been scarce at the new fort before summer opene...

Helen stood on deck, wrapped in seal coat and gauntlets, looking at the snow-covered town as the _North King_ sailed up the harbor. Many vessels were already anchored. The brigh...

An evening or two later, a carriage containing Sir George and Lady Head drew up at a little mansion in the West end, the residence of the retired general, Sir Charles Menzies. T...

They buried the broken body of Teddy Barnes in a little oak grove on the lower plateau, and the dead leaves on the branches soughed in gentle requiem to the words:

Through interminable forest of spruce, pine and hemlock; through scraggy underwood, through clumps of tamarack poles, through dense cedar hedges; in and out among boulders of ro...

"One hundred miles yet to face over this weary way! Oh, why did I come? Harold is well and strong, and could have done without me; while I am a drag to him and the whole troop b...

"So he thinks that a flower severed from the soil and placed in the shade will flourish as well as in its native sunlight," Maud mused after he went away that morning. "Had he a...

Dreary enough were the next few days for the adventurous troop, as they wended their way westward. The sky was heavily clouded, while a gusty wind blew the pellety snow into the...

The first summer at Penetang was full of new experiences for Helen. The feminine loneliness was very trying, and if it had not been that her hands and mind were always busy work...

"Your post will be long in going," he said, wagging his head. "It may take a month to clear the ice off the bay, and there ain't a single post-office anywheres this side o' Litt...

In plain clothes, without letters or despatches but well supplied with funds, Corporal Bond was chosen by Sir George to accompany Latimer and his wife on the first trip of the _...

The ebb and flow of battles on sea and land in the War of 1812 and '14 do not belong to this story. Sir John Sherbrooke's despatch of men fresh from the European wars to Eastpor...

"Another week of hard driving and marching is over. Sometimes we had night quarters for the men, always for the officers and women. Still, I was so tired each night, and there w...

It was July before Colonel Battersby's column, after a long march from Montreal, reached Kingston and joined the forces of General Drummond, and none too soon, for word had been...

The next day was Sunday, but a sad day on the _North King_; for it was known by daybreak throughout the long line of bunks in the forecastle, that the woman was dead.

The few remaining hours of that 31st of March were well occupied by the men of the 100th. Larger and better camps were pitched to last for many nights, instead of one, until rea...

"Not necessarily, my dear, but that reminds me. This will give me a good opportunity to send a letter to Mrs. Manning. I promised to write her. They say the troopships will carr...

Two days later, Lieutenant Manning was at the officers' mess at the quarters of the 100th Regiment. The fact that he had only recently been transferred, and that he was still on...

Only twice did Maud Maxwell receive letters from Dr. Beaumont during the months that followed that memorable morning when the companies started out on their long march. One was...

"Oh! it's about that dear young creature you brought over with you, Sir George. She tells me that she is going with her husband and the troops right through that dreadful forest...

The European war was drawing to a close, or rather to an intense lull before the final conflict. Napoleon's arrogance in declining to yield a jot of German territory to Austria'...

"Harold Manning: wilt thou have this woman to thy wedded wife, to live together after God's ordinance, in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou love her, honor and keep her in...

"By a company of recruits made up of Yankees and disaffected Canadians from the lumber camps. They have heard that we are a squad of soldiers taking supplies to Quebec, and have...

Henri Beaumont, although a native of Quebec, was a graduate of an English university, and it was in London, after obtaining his degree, that he received his appointment on the m...

By November the war was over in Canada, and the declaration of peace heralded far and wide. Moreover, it was whispered among officers and men at Penetang that Sir George would s...

For more than an hour the drive was rapid, the country being less undulating and the road smoother. Still the way was always through the woods. Tall pines everywhere stretched s...

Two afternoons later Helen went with the women Bond and Hardman to gather blackberries, which were ripening in rich profusion upon bushes scattered along the southern border of...

For some minutes Helen silently watched the sick woman. She was between thirty and forty years of age, with face prematurely old. Her ashen grey features were very thin and her...