the very height of the fun, when the
Free Trader's charming daughter was being whirled about by a scarlet
tunic, Mrs. Spear turned to me and beamed:

"Doesn't Athabasca look radiantly beautiful?"

"Indeed she does!" I blushed.

"And what a delightful party this is . . . but there's just one thing
lacking . . . to make it perfect."

"What's that?" I enquired.

"A wedding . . . my dear." Then, after a long pause, during which she
seemed to be staring at me--but I didn't dare look--she impatiently
tossed her head and exclaimed:

"My . . . but some men are deathly slow!"

"Indeed they are," I agreed.

About four o'clock in the morning the music died down, then, after much
hand-shaking, the company dispersed in various directions over the
moonlit snow; some to their near-by lodges, some to the log shacks in
the now-deserted Indian village, and others to their distant hunting
grounds. It must have been nearly five o'clock before the ladies in
the Factor's house went upstairs, and the men lay down upon caribou,
bear, and buffalo skins on the otherwise bare floor of the living room.
It was late next morning when we arose, yet already the policemen had
vanished--they had again set out on their long northern patrol.

At breakfast Mr. and Mrs. Spear invited me to return and spend the
night with them, and as Oo-koo-hoo and his wife wanted to remain a few
days to visit some Indian friends, and as the Factor had told me that
the north-bound packet with the winter's mail from the railroad was
soon due; and as, moreover, the Fur Brigade would be starting south in
a few days, and it would travel for part of the way along our homeward
trail, I accepted Mr. Mackenzie's invitation to return to Fort
Consolation and depart with the Fur Brigade.

It was a cold trip across the lake as the thermometer had dropped many
degrees and a northwest wind was blowing in our faces. As I had
frequently had my nose frozen, it now turned white very quickly, and a
half-breed, who was crossing with us, turned round every once in a
while and exclaimed to me:

"Oh my gud! your nose all froze!"

The snow seemed harder than ever, and for long stretches we took off
our snowshoes and ran over the drifts, but so wind-packed were they
that they received little impression from our feet. Of course, when we
arrived at Spearhead, the house was cold and everything in it above the
cellar--except the cats and geese--was frozen solid; but it is
surprising