be
on hand in any emergency, the journey was commenced under the happiest
auspices.

We need not repeat the description of the trip down or up the river and
across the portages. There were several nights when they slept as usual
at the camp fires on the rocks. There was a good deal of sunshine and a
few storms.

They passed through some lakes of rarest beauty, that simply fascinated
the boys, and drew from them the warmest expressions of admiration, of
which they were capable. Even Sam at some glimpses on these lovely
sheets, where the water was so transparent that at times it seemed as
though they were paddling through the air, lost his powers of speech for
a time, and then when the spell was broken he exclaimed, in almost
sorrowful tones, "That beats Killarney!" How glorious must have been
the sight when even a loyal Irish boy would make such an admission!

The Dominion of Canada has in it more fresh-water lakes than any other
country in the world. Some of them are equal, if not superior, in the
clearness and purity of their waters, in the distinctness of the
reflections cast upon their limpid surface by surrounding hill or
forest, and in the wild, weird beauty of their environments, to any of
the world's old favourite ones that have been long praised in song and
story. They are slowly being discovered and prized, for some of them
are as a poet's dream and a painter's vision.

They saw various wild animals, but as they were in charge of the trading
outfit for the Hudson Bay Company's post in that region of country they
were under obligations to push on as rapidly as possible. The only time
they did make a stop of any length was in Split Lake, where, as they
were rowing their boats along, they saw a great commotion in the water a
long way ahead of them. When they drew near to it they saw it was a
battle between a couple of splendidly antlered reindeer and four wolves.

It was evident that the wolves were being badly worsted in the fight, as
the reindeer were now the aggressors. From the Indians' idea of it, it
looked as if the wolves had either chased the deer into the lake or,
seeing them in there swimming, had plunged in after them. The deer, at
first much alarmed, had boldly struck out into the lake, and were
followed by the wolves. Of course, it was impossible to say whether the
wolves had been able to reach them and make the attack, or whether the
reindeer, when they had drawn them a long way out,