But the outlet for the product of the country was, in its unsettled condition, uncertain and precarious, and the young traders were no better off than before.

One transaction only is remembered, the advance by Gallatin to the garrison of supplies to the value of four hundred dollars; for this he took a draft on the state treasury of Massachusetts, which, there being no funds for its payment, he sold at one fourth of its face value.
The life, rude as it was, was not without its charms.

Serre seems to have abandoned himself to its fascination without a regret.

His descriptive letters to Badollet read like the "Idylls of a Faun." Those of Gallatin, though more tempered in tone, reveal quiet content with the simple life and a thorough enjoyment of nature in its original wildness.
In the summer they followed the tracks of the moose and deer through the primitive forests, and explored the streams and lakes in the light birch canoe, with a woodsman or savage for their guide.

In the winter they made long journeys over land and water on snowshoes or on skates, occasionally visiting the villages of the Indians, with whom the Lesderniers were on the best of terms, studying their habits and witnessing their feasts.