CHAP. xiii. A NARROW ESCAPE. -_>03 



tracks were visible on the banks, and we stole along the 

 river in a state of half suspense and excitement, hoping 

 and expecting to see game at every turn ; but the current 

 began to be strong, and the men had to get out of the 

 canoes and haul them up the stream, wading in the water 

 amono; fragments of rocks and water- worn boulders. This 



o o 



was enough to frighten any animal in advance of us, and we 

 could not stop to hunt, time being precious, for the water 

 in the rivers was foiling fast, and we feared that as we 

 approached the Height of Land it would be necessary to 

 carry the canoes. Breakfasting at the foot of a rapid, we 

 caught plenty of trout, which were cleansed, fried, and 

 eaten with almost painful expedition. The country began 

 to grow less interesting in outline ; for although the rocks 

 were grand, yet we had recently seen such magnifi- 

 cent walls towering to the skies, that a precipice three or 

 four hundred feet high was passed by almost without 

 notice. 



An incident, which had wellnigh cost us our canoes, oc- 

 curred here. The day was hot and sultry, the caribou moss 

 dry and brittle, and, notwithstanding every precaution, 

 a fire we made to cook dinner caught the moss and spread 

 with amazing rapidity. The portage we were then making 

 was not more than a third of a mile long, and every- 

 thing but the canoes had been carried to the other end ; 



O 



the men were returning to fetch their last load, when the 

 increasing smoke informed them of the spread of the fire. 

 They rushed to where the canoes were lying just as the 

 fire reached them ; lifting them up, they hastened as fast 

 as they could run with their heavy burdens, but the wind 

 drove the flames with terrible rapidity over the dry moss ; 



