g through little clumps of
stunted bushes which frequently deceived me by their resemblance through
the driving snow to horses grouped together. After awhile I bent round
towards the wind and, making a long sweep in that direction, bent again
so as to bring the drift upon my right shoulder. No horses, no tracks,
any where--nothing but a waste of white drifting flake and feathery
snow-spray. At last I turned away from the wind, and soon struck full on
our little camp; neither of the others had returned. I cut down some
willows and made a blaze. After a while I got on to the top of the cart,
and looked out again into the waste. Presently I heard a distant shout;
replying vigorously to it, several indistinct forms came into view; and
Daniel soon emerged from the mist, driving before him the hobbled
wanderers; they had been hidden under the lea of a thicket some distance
off, all clustered together for shelter and warmth. Our only difficulty
was now the absence of my friend the Hudson Bay officer. We waited some
time, and at length, putting the saddle on Blackie, I started out in the
direction he had taken. Soon I heard a faint far-away shout; riding
quickly in the direction from whence it proceeded, I heard the calls
getting louder and louder, and soon came up with a figure heading right
away into the immense plain, going altogether in a direction opposite to
where our camp lay. I shouted, and back came my friend no little pleased
to find his road again, for a snowstorm is no easy thing to steer
through, and at times it will even fall out that not the Indian with all
his craft and instinct for direction will be able to find his way through
its blinding maze. Woe betide the wretched man who at such a time finds
himself alone upon the prairie, without fire or the means of making it;
not even the ship-wrecked-sailor clinging to the floating mast is in a
more pitiable strait. During the greater portion of this day it snowed
hard, but our track was distinctly-marked across the plains, and we held
on all day. I still rode Blackie; the little fellow had to keep his wits
at work to avoid tumbling into the badger holes which the snow soon
rendered invisible. These badger holes in this portion of the plains were
very numerous; it is not always easy to avoid them when the ground is
clear of snow, but riding becomes extremely difficult when once the
winter has set in. The badger burrows straight down for two or three
feet, and if a hors