356 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



heard an angry growling proceeding from Cheadle, 

 whose bed had come down with a run. At day- 

 break we were aroused by a number of fellows out- 

 side our door laughing, and shouting, '' Wlio is this 



fellow putting on frills ?'' In a weak and absent 



moment Cheadle had mechanically put his boots 

 outside the door, as if expecting them to be cleaned, 

 and this had properly excited their derision. 



We now abandoned the idea of travelling forward 

 on horseback, for we were assured by several persons 

 who had just arrived from Cariboo that it would be 

 impossible to take horses into William's Creek on 

 account of the snow, which had begun to fall before 

 they left the mines. We therefore took our places in 

 the " stage " running from Lilloet to Soda Creek on 

 the Eraser, 175 miles distant. A steamer plies be- 

 tween the Creek and the Mouth of Quesnelle, a 

 distance of sixty miles, and from thence a pack trail 

 runs to Eichfield, in William's Creek, the centre of 

 the Cariboo mines. The " stage " was a light open 

 wagon, and besides ourselves and one other pas- 

 senger, carried nearly a ton of freight. But we 

 started wdth a team of five horses, two wheelers and 

 three leaders, and for the first day went along 

 famously. " Johnny," the driver, was a capital whip, 

 and quite a character. He was a regular Yankee, 

 and his Californian hat of hard felt, with a low 

 steeple crown, and immensely broad brim, gave him 

 a ludicrous appearance in our eyes. He was like all 

 his race, a most unquiet spirit, always engaged in 

 talking to us or the horses, chewing, spitting. 



