90 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



snow, they gained a point where, peering throngli a 

 little patch of scrub, they saw the five bulls within 

 twenty yards of them. La Eonde, in his excitement, 

 hurriedly whispered instructions to Cheadle in a most 

 unintelligible jargon of mingled French, English, 

 and Cree. The latter, equally excited, and bewildered 

 by directions he could not understand, hesitated to 

 fire. La Ronde, in despair, stealthily raised his gun, 

 when Cheadle, unwilling to be forestalled, raised his 

 also, and in so doing incautiously protruded his head 

 out of cover. 



In an instant the whole band started ofi" full speed, 

 saluted, as they went, by an ineffectual volley at their 

 sterns. Many were the mutual recriminations, and 

 fiercely did La Ronde " sacre." The bufialo were gone, 

 no more to be seen, and small was the pemmican 

 remaining in the camp. Far away in the distance the 

 frightened bulls began to slacken their pace, and at 

 last commenced slowly walking and feeding along. 

 The only chance remaining was to try and come up 

 with them again, and the disappointed hunters set ofi" 

 in pursuit at a run, carefully screening themselves 

 from observation. After about two hours' hard work, 

 they succeeded in getting before them, and lying con- 

 cealed in their path, killed two as they passed slowly by. 



It was now nearly dark, and the party w^ere three 

 or four miles from camp. It w^as impossible to fetch 

 the horses and sleighs, and carry the meat back that 

 night, and if the carcasses w^ere left, the wolves would 

 pick the bones clean by morning. There was, there- 

 fore, no choice but to camp on the spot for the night. 



