attenotte, with you, I see," said the Hudson Bay
officer in charge.

"Yes," I replied.

"Did he tell you any thing about the small-pox?"

"Oh yes; a great deal; he often spoke about it."

"Did he say he had had it himself?"

"No."

"Well, he had," continued ny host, "only a month ago, and the coat and
trousers that he now wears were the same articles of clothing in which he
lay all the time he had it," was the pleasant reply.

After this little revelation concerning Battenotte and his habiliments, I
must admit that I was not quite as ready to look with pleasure upon his
performance of the duties of cook, chambermaid, and general valet as I
had been in the earlier stage of our acquaintance; but a little
reflection made the hole thing right again, convincing one of the fact
that travelling, like misery, "makes one acquainted with strange
bedfellows," and that luck has more to do with our lives than we are wont
to admit. After leaving Saddle Lake we entered a very rich and beautiful
country, completely clear of snow and covered deep in grass and vetches.
We travelled hard, and reached at nightfall a thick wood of pines and
spruce-trees, in which we made a cosy camp. I had brought with me a
bottle of old brandy from Red River in case of illness, and on this
evening, not feeling all right, I drew the cork while the Cree was away
with the horses, and drank a little with my companion. Before we had
quite finished, the Cree returned to camp, and at once declared that he
smelt grog. He became very lively at this discovery. We had taken the
precaution to rinse out the cup that had held the spirit, but he
nevertheless commenced a series of brewing which appeared to give him
infinite satisfaction. Two or three times did he fill the empty cup with
water and drain it to the bottom, laughing and rolling his head each time
with delight, and in order to be sure that he had got the right one he
proceeded in the same manner with every cup we possessed; then he
confided to Battenotte that he had not tasted grog for a long time
before, the last occasion being one on which he had divested himself of
his shirt and buffalo robe, in other words, gone naked, in order to
obtain the coveted fire-water.

The weather had now become beautifully mild, and on the 23rd of November
the thermometer did not show even one degree of frost. As we approached
the neighbourhood of the White Earth River the aspect of the country
became very striking: gr