WALKING DURING THE THAW. 167 



with Bruneau, and immediately started homewards. 

 They were only able to travel at night, when it was 

 frosty, for snow-shoes are useless in a thaw. On the 

 second evening these broke down, from being con- 

 tinually wet, and they were obliged to flounder along 

 as they could without them. Nothing can be more 

 fatiguing than walking through deep snow at the 

 commencement of the thaw. The thin crust on the 

 surface will bear the weight of a man in some places, 

 and you walk on triumphantly for a few yards, and 

 then are suddenly shaken to pieces by crashing 

 through up to your middle. Struggling on, wading 

 through the mass until you come to another stronger 

 portion, you step on to it, and are again let down with 

 a run. Travelling like this all night brought them to 

 the edge of the lake, only two miles from the hut. 

 But they were too exhausted to proceed further, and 

 lighting a good fire, lay down and slept for several 

 hours, after which they were sufficiently restored to 

 be equal to the walk home across the lake. 



We now prepared to leave our winter quarters, 

 as soon as the snow had disappeared sufficiently to 

 admit of travelhng with carts. The first thing to do 

 was to find the horses, which had been turned loose 

 at the commencement of the winter. We had seen 

 them or their tracks from time to time, and knew in 

 what direction they had wandered. La Ronde fol- 

 lowed their trail without difficulty, and discovered 

 them about eight or ten miles away. We were very 

 much astonished at their fine condition when he 

 drove them back to La Belle Prairie. Although very 



