280 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. CHAP. xvn. 



' No, not hurt.' 



4 Why don't you get up, then ? the canoe 's all right.' 

 Louis smiled faintly, but did not stir. 

 ' Did you slip, that you came down the hill as if you 

 were tabognaying ? ' * 



'Yes, I slipped I didn't want to break the canoe, so 

 I sat down and slid as if I was tabognaying.' 



I looked up the hill, and saw Louis' track over the wet 

 soil and moss. About twenty yards above us there was a 

 piece of a garment which had been torn from Louis during 

 his rapid descent. 



' Louis,' I said, ' you've lost part of your trousers.' 

 ' Seems like it,' he said, assuming a recumbent position 

 by leaning against the trunk of a small tree near him, and 

 having apparently no intention of rising from the ground. 

 ' Shall I give you a pair of trousers will that do? ' 

 ' Thank you, do very well.' 



The same evening I saw him collecting some balsam 

 from the tree near our camp, and storing it in a little birch- 

 bark cup he had made. 



'What are you getting that for?' I said. 

 ' Oh, nothing just a little balsam.' 

 ' Well, what 's the balsam for ? ' 



Louis looked round cautiously to see if anyone was 

 within hearing, and whispered to me 

 ' Got bit of linen ? ' 

 ' Yes,' I said. 

 c Very glad if you give me bit of linen.' 



* The 'tabognay ' is a little sledge upou which people in winter ,111111 s" 

 themselves in descending hills covered with snow. 



