l hollow, where the flat bundles containing
their blankets are placed, and a couch is thus formed that rivals
Eastern effeminacy in luxuriance. There are occasions, however, when
this couch is converted into a bed, not of thorns exactly, but of
corners; and really it would be hard to say which of the two is the more
disagreeable. Should the men be careless in arranging the cargo, the
inevitable consequence is that "monsieur" will find the leg of an iron
stove, the sharp edge of a keg, or the corner of a wooden box occupying
the place where his ribs should be. So common, however, is this
occurrence that the clerks usually superintend the arrangements
themselves, and so secure comfort.

On a couch, then, of this kind, Charley and Harry now found themselves
constrained to sit all morning--sometimes asleep, occasionally awake,
and always earnestly desiring that it was time to put ashore for
breakfast, as they had now travelled for four hours without halt, except
twice for about five minutes, to let the men light their pipes.

"Charley," said Harry Somerville to his friend, who sat beside him, "it
strikes me that we are to have no breakfast at all to-day. Here have I
been holding my breath and tightening my belt, until I feel much more
like a spider or a wasp than a--a--"

"_Man_, Harry; out with it at once, don't be afraid," said Charley.

"Well, no, I wasn't going to have said _that_ exactly, but I was going
to have said a voyageur; only I recollected our doings this morning, and
hesitated to take the name until I had won it."

"It's well that you entertain so modest an opinion of yourself," said
Mr Park, who still smoked his pipe as if he were impressed with the
idea that to stop for a moment would produce instant death. "I may tell
you for your comfort, youngsters, that we shan't breakfast till we reach
yonder point."

The shores of Lake Winnipeg are flat and low, and the point indicated by
Mr Park lay directly in the light of the sun, which now shone with such
splendour in the cloudless sky, and flashed on the polished water, that
it was with difficulty they could look towards the point of land.

"Where is it?" asked Charley, shading his eyes with his hand; "I cannot
make out anything at all."

"Try again, my boy; there's nothing like practice."

"Ah, yes! I make it out now; a faint shadow just under the sun. Is
that it?"

"Ay, and we'll break our fast _there_."

"I would like very much to break your