atively over his shoulder.

"Don't know as I have," he grunted. "I know there's mighty good
huntin' down the bay; and I've been thinkin' of Rupert's House [the
Hudson's Bay Company Post on James Bay where he was born], and what the
fellus I know there are doin' these days. I can't say they seem like
dream-folks to me; they're real enough, all right."

Hubbard and I laughed. Solitude was an old story to our friend, the
English-Indian, and our "feelings" must have seemed to him highly
artificial, if not affected.

Our progress on Tuesday and Wednesday (July 28 and 29) was the old
story of hard tracking in the river and difficult portaging. The
weather was cloudy and a chill wind blew. On Tuesday we advanced our
camp a little more than three miles, and on Wednesday a little more
than four. This continued slow work gave Hubbard serious concern, and
the condition of our larder and wardrobe was not reassuring. Our bacon
and sugar were going fast. Fish had become an absolute necessity, and
our catches had been alarmingly small. There was also a lamentable lack
of game. Far below we had heard the chatter of the last red squirrel,
and seen the last bear signs and the last tree barked by porcupines.
There were caribou trails a-plenty, but seldom a fresh track. A
solitary rabbit had crossed our trail since we entered the valley, and
there were no more rabbit runs visible. We could only hope that as we
neared the "height of land," we should find more game--find plenty of
caribou, at least, on the moss-covered barrens. We had also noted a
change in the timber growth; neither birch nor aspen had we seen for a
week.

Our moccasins were breaking through the bottoms, and this was a serious
matter; for while George had an extra pair, Hubbard and I had only
those on our feet. Hubbard's feet were very sore. Two of his toe
nails came off on Wednesday night, and a wide crack, which must have
made walking very painful, appeared in one of his heels. The nearest
thing we had to adhesive plaster was electrician's tape, and with this
he bandaged his heel, and tied it and his toes up with pieces of cotton
rags we had brought for cleaning rifles.

It was on Thursday, July 30, that we reached the point where another
good-sized stream comes into the Susan, or where the river may be said
to divide into two branches. We found that the southerly branch came
over a low fall from the west, while the other, or northerly branch,
flowed