it. They dance much also. Dancing gives not much joy, though Big
Otter can do some of it--but plum-puddinn is glorious! Waugh! I will
do it!"

Having communed with himself thus far, the Indian leaned his gun against
a tree, flung down his provision-bag, took off his snow-shoes, cleared
away the snow, kindled a fire, spread his bed of pine-brush and his
blanket above it--and, in short went through the usual process of
encamping. It was early in the day to encamp, but there was only one
way in which our Indian could hope to partake of the plum-puddinn, and
that was to walk a little over fifty miles at one stretch. That
distance still lay between him and Fort Wichikagan, and it had to be
traversed within fourteen and fifteen hours--including rests and food.

To prepare himself for the feat Big Otter drew from his wallet an
enormous mass of venison which he roasted and consumed. Then he filled
a small portable kettle with snow, which, with the aid of a fierce fire,
he soon converted into tea. You see our Indian was becoming civilised
by intercourse with pale-faces, and rather luxurious, for he carried tea
and sugar on this journey. He did not deem butter a necessity, but
could afford to dispense with that, because of having the remains of a
rogan, or birch basket, of bear's grease (unscented, of course!) which
he had reserved at the end of his fall hunt.

The meal, or rather the gorging, over, Big Otter rolled himself head and
feet in a blanket, pillowed his head on the provision-wallet, and
suddenly went to sleep.

Hour after hour passed, but not the slightest motion was perceptible in
that recumbent figure save the slow regular rise and fall of the deep
chest. The short-lived sun of winter soon passed its zenith and began
to decline towards its early couch in the west, but still the sleeper
lay motionless like a log. At last the shades of early evening began to
fall, and then Big Otter awoke. He rose at once, stretched himself with
a sort of awful energy, rolled up his blanket, put on his snow-shoes,
caught up wallet and gun, and set off on his journey.

To see a strong man stride over the land on snowshoes is a grand sight
at any time, but to see Big Otter do it on this occasion would have been
worth a long journey. With his huge and weighty frame and his mighty
stride he made nothing of small obstacles, and was but little affected
by things that might have retarded ordinary mortals. Small bushes went