Once again, then, behold them afloat and paddling up stream--still
westward--with hopes animated and fortune smiling, or, as Reuben put it,
with "a gale of luck blowin' right astarn." Reuben, be it observed, had
consorted with sailors in his day down the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and had
picked up a little of their slang.

But their good fortune never lasted long at a time. Their progress
being very slow, it was found advisable to send the young Indian
interpreters on shore to lighten the canoe and to hunt as they advanced.
They frequently killed elk and other game. On one of these occasions
Swiftarrow was nearly killed. He had been sent to fetch the choice
parts of an elk which they had shot, when a big rock fell from the
cliffs above, and was dashed to pieces at his very feet. Just after
this incident a violent fall of rain took place, obliging them to remain
in camp for a day. Then driftwood barred the river, and an opening had
to be forced through it. Then more cascades appeared to check their
advance; and, worst of all, just as they began to hope that the height
of land was gained, an opening in the hills revealed a range of blue
mountains far ahead of them, running south and north as far as the eye
could reach. To add to their perplexities, they came to a fork in the
river, one branch running due west, the other in a southerly direction.

"Follow the westerly branch," said one; "that must be the right one."

"Not so sure o' that," observed Reuben; "the end of a track don't
needsesarly p'int out the gin'ral run of it."

"You are right, Reuben," said Mackenzie; "besides, I have been warned of
this very branch by an old Indian whom I met last winter, and who said
he had been up here in his youth. Therefore, though appearances are
against it, I shall follow the southern branch."

Mackenzie was right in this determination, as it afterwards proved, but
most of his men grumbled very much at the time, because the southerly
branch, besides appearing to be the wrong one, was a very rapid and
dangerous stream. They knew by that time, however, that nothing could
bend their leader's will, so they submitted, though with a bad grace.

Here an immense number of beaver were seen, and a gladsome sight it was
to the fur-trader, because beaver skins at that time were in great
repute--silk hats not having, as yet, beaten them off the field and
reduced their value to almost nothing. In some places these sagacious
and bu