ess, when he was
suddenly aroused by a hand being placed on his shoulder. He turned
round with surprise, and found the captain of the ship by his side,
who said to him hurriedly. "The sooner you are out of this the better,
friend. A chap has been looking after you already, and I am sure he
will be back again." The post had arrived long before them, and
Meynell's implacable enemy had contrived to find out his destination,
and to prepare the authorities for his arrival by a description of his
person, that they might arrest him at once. In this difficulty his
friend the captain proved a ready counsellor. There chanced to be a
schooner alongside freighted with stores for the Indians of the
Saguenay, that was to sail almost immediately; the captain knew the
skipper of this craft, and arranged with him to take Meynell, who was
to remain in that remote part of the country till the danger blew
over.

In a short time Meynell was steering down the river again, on his way
to the lonely Saguenay, little caring where he went; indeed, perhaps,
he would have chosen this adventure to a remote district, with the
novelty of the Indian life, as readily as any thing else, even had he
not been impelled to it by necessity.

It may not be known to all that the Saguenay is a large river that
flows from a lake of considerable size, eastward into the St Lawrence,
which it joins on the north side, a hundred and forty miles below
Quebec. It is of great depth, the waters dark and gloomy, and the
scenery through which they pass magnificent, but of a desolate and
barren character. About seventy miles up this great tributary is an
infant settlement called Chicontimi, a station of the fur-traders.
Here the navigation ends, and, beyond, the labour of man has left but
slight traces. At the time of Meynell's arrival this district was
inhabited, or rather hunted over, by a tribe called by the Canadians,
"Montaignais Indians,"--a friendly honest race, expert fishers and
hunters, and valuable neighbours to the fur-traders. The schooner was
laden with stores of various kinds, to be exchanged with those people
for the produce of the chase.

In three days Meynell reached Chicontimi. The fur-traders were
surprised at the unexpected visitor, but as he proved to be a smart
active fellow, and was not without means, they did not object to his
presence, and in a short time he made himself very useful. At this
period of the year, the Montaignais tribe always encam