ay's run considering the kind of water we were travelling on, and the
amount of time we spent on the shore. We had just run our twelfth
rapid, and were turning the boats around, when we saw a man back from
the shore working over a pile of boxes which he had covered with a
piece of canvas. A boat was tied to the water's edge. We called to
him, and he answered, but did not seem nearly as much interested in
seeing companion travellers as we were, and proceeded with his work.
We landed, and, to save time, introduced ourselves, as there seemed to
be a certain aloofness in his manner. He gave the name of Smith--with
some hesitation, we thought.

Smith was about medium size, but looked tough and wiry; he had a sandy
complexion, with light hair and mustache. He had lost one eye, the
other was that light gray colour that is usually associated with
indomitable nerve. He had a shrewd, rather humorous expression, and
gave one the impression of being very capable. Dressed in a neat
whipcord suit, wearing light shoes and a carefully tied tie, recently
shaved--a luxury we had denied ourselves, all this time--he was
certainly an interesting character to meet in this out-of-the-way
place. We should judge he was a little over forty years old; but
whether prospector, trapper, or explorer it was hard to say. Some
coyote skins, drying on a rock, would give one the impression that he
was the second, with a touch of the latter thrown in. These coyotes
were responsible for the tracks we had seen, and had mistaken for dog
tracks, but of all the canyons we had seen he was in the last place
where we would expect to find a trapper. The coyotes evidently reached
the river gorge through side canyons on the left, where we had seen
signs of ancient trails. Apart from that there was no sign of animal
life. With the last of the wooded canyons, the signs of beaver had
disappeared. There were a few otter tracks, but they are wily fellows,
and are seldom trapped. While there are laws against the trapping of
beaver, they seldom prevent the trappers from taking them when they
get the chance; they are only a little more wary of strangers; the
thought occurred to us that this trapper may have secured some beaver
in the open sections above, and mistrusted us for this reason.

It was too late to go any farther that evening, so we camped a hundred
yards below him, close to where our boats were pulled out. At this
place there was a long, wide flat in the canyon,