190 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



for their prey. The word was given, and away- 

 darted the hunted Indian, the pursuers following 

 with frantic yells. At first the pack of Blackfeet 

 gained rapidly, for terror seemed to paralyse the 

 limbs of the unfortunate Cree, and his escape seemed 

 hopeless. But as his enemies came within a few 

 yards of him, he recovered his presence of mind, 

 shook himself together, his training and fine con- 

 dition began to tell, and, to their astonishment and 

 chagrin, he left them with ease at every stride. 

 In another mile he was far in advance, and pulling 

 up for an instant, shook his fist triumphantly at his 

 baffled pursuers, and then quickly ran out of sight. 

 He eventually succeeded in rejoining the rest of his 

 tribe in safety. 



In the course of a few days we again went over 

 to St. Alban's to look for the bears. M. Lacome 

 provided four half-breeds to accompany us, and 

 we spent the whole day in a fruitless hunt. We 

 found, indeed, places where the ground had been 

 turned up by the animals in digging for roots, but 

 none of the signs were very fresh. 



The next day we made another search, assisted 

 by a number of dogs, but the bears had evidently 

 left the neighbourhood, and we returned to Ed- 

 monton vastly disappointed. 



We were obliged to stay some time longer at the 

 Fort, for the road before us lay through dense forest, 

 affording but little pasturage, and it was necessary 

 that the horses should be quite fresh and in the 

 highest condition before setting out on such a journey. 



