TRAVELLING HOME. 97 



made up for the loss ; and the horses were therefore 

 at once harnessed to the sleighs, and all speed made 

 for Fort Milton once more. 



The journey home was slow and tedious. Al- 

 though there had been no regular thaw, the warm sun 

 had melted the snow on the hill sides and southern 

 slopes, and the labour of dragging the loaded sleighs 

 over the bare ground was so harassing to the horses, 

 that but short stages could be made, and those at a slow 

 pace. At one point the way lay across a large lake. 

 The snow on this had almost entirely disappeared, and 

 the horses fell so continually over the bare ice, that 

 the attempt to take them across was obliged to be 

 abandoned. Misquapamayoo's Lilliputian steed in 

 particular, whose feet were small as those of a deer, 

 was utterly unable to stand on the slippery surface, 

 and for a long time it seemed as if the only chance of 

 getting him off again would be to drag him to terra 

 firma by the tail. The horses had now to be taken out 

 of the sleighs, which were drawn by hand across the 

 lake, and a road cut through the woods which skirted 

 the banks, whereby the horses were led round to the 

 further side. This operation occupied a whole morn- 

 ing, and it was not until the evening of the fifth day 

 of travelling that the party reached La Belle Prairie, 

 after an absence of twelve days. 



One little incident of the journey home serves to 

 illustrate the rough and ready manner of proceeding 

 characteristic of the voyageurs. One of the sleighs in 

 passing along the side of a steep hill, upset, over- 

 turning with it the horse, who lay helplessly on his 



H 



