hands could unite in making the
portages. At the Cascades, the Milles Roches and the Cedars,
three-quarters of the cargo had to be portaged by the packmen. At times
these lightened boats were poled or tracked through the broken water,
towed by the men, from such foothold as the rocky banks afforded, by
means of a long lariat tied to the boat's bow, with loops over each
trackman's shoulder, one man steering with a long sweep. When this
treadmill work was impossible, owing to too steep banks, and where no
batteau locks existed, the crew hauled the boats across the portage on a
skidway of small rolling logs, and, so journeying, Prescott was reached.
Here, the wind being favourable, lug-sails were hoisted and Brock's
strange fleet started for Kingston, reaching it after twelve days' toil
from Lachine, then coasting further along Lake Ontario to Little York
(Toronto). When wind failed, the long oars were used, the men rising
from the thwarts to pull, standing. Thus, alternately sitting and
rising, pulling in unison, the light-hearted voyageurs would break into
one of their wild French chants, quaint with catching refrain, in which
our hero soon learned to join.

At Prescott Brock sometimes took the Government schooner, paying two
guineas for a trip, which might last a week, or caught one of the small
"two-stickers" that carried freight between Kingston and Queenston. If
much pressed for time, the batteau would be exchanged for a caleche--the
stage-coach was as yet only a dream--and he would resign himself to a
rude jolting over the colonization road through the forest that flanked
the rugged northern shore of Lake Ontario.

These trips were a never-failing source of surprise and profit. The
skill of the canoemen, the strength and endurance of the packmen,
excited his admiration. What wonderful raw material! Given drill and
discipline, what might not be achieved on the frontier with such
craftsmen! The muscles, all whipcord, of these rugged Canadians, part
_coureur de bois_, part scout, amazed him. One thing was not so evident
as he could have wished. Their love seemed to be more for race and
language, home and wilderness, than for King and country. Perhaps, as he
said, if the safety of their homes were threatened, they would develop
patriotism of the highest type.

But, after all, as to kings, "Who," they naively asked him, "was their
king? Surely they must be under two flags and two kings. Napoleon or
George? _Que voulez