horse
entangled in his rope, and lying flat on his side hidden among the
fallen tree trunks, there to struggle and starve, I reluctantly gave
orders for a start, with intent to send an Indian back to search for
him.

After two hours' smart travel we came suddenly upon the little Indian
village of Morricetown, which is built beside a narrow canyon through
which the Bulkley rushes with tremendous speed. Here high on the
level grassy bank we camped, quite secure from mosquitoes, and
surrounded by the curious natives, who showed us where to find wood
and water, and brought us the most beautiful spring salmon, and
potatoes so tender and fine that the skin could be rubbed from them
with the thumb. They were exactly like new potatoes in the States.
Out of this, it may be well understood, we had a most satisfying
dinner. Summer was in full tide. Pieplant was two feet high, and
strawberries were almost ripe.

Calling the men of the village around me, I explained in
Pigeon-English and worse Chinook that I had lost a horse, and that I
would give five dollars to the man who would bring him to me. They
all listened attentively, filled with joy at a chance to earn so much
money. At last the chief man of the village, a very good-looking
fellow of twenty-five or thirty, said to me: "All light, me go, me
fetch 'um. You stop here. Mebbe-so, klip-sun, I come bling horse."

His confidence relieved us of anxiety, and we had a very pleasant day
of it, digesting our bountiful meal of salmon and potatoes, and
mending up our clothing. We were now pretty ragged and very brown,
but in excellent health.

Late in the afternoon a gang of road-cutters (who had been sent out
by the towns interested in the route) came into town from Hazleton,
and I had a talk with the boss, a very decent fellow, who gave a grim
report of the trail beyond. He said: "Nobody knows anything about
that trail. Jim Deacon, the head-man of our party when we left
Hazleton, was only about seventy miles out, and cutting fallen timber
like a man chopping cord wood, and sending back for more help. We are
now going back to bridge and corduroy the places we had no time to
fix as we came."

Morricetown was a superb spot, and Burton was much inclined to stay
right there and prospect the near-by mountains. So far as a mere
casual observer could determine, this country offers every inducement
to prospectors. It is possible to grow potatoes, hay, and oats,
together with various sm