184 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



urging that their services could be no longer re- 

 quisite, as the Indians were going from us. St. 

 Germain even said that he had understood he was 

 only engaged to accompany us as long as the 

 Indians did, and persisted in this falsehood until 

 his agreement to go with us throughout the voyage 

 had been twice read to him. As these were the 

 only two of the party on whose skill in hunting we 

 could rely, I was unable to listen for a moment 

 to their desire of quitting us, and lest they should 

 leave us by stealth, their motions were strictly 

 watched. This was not an unnecessary precau- 

 tion, as I was informed that they had actually 

 laid a plan for eloping ; but the rest of the men 

 knowing that their own safety would have been 

 compromised had they succeeded, kept a watch- 

 ful eye over them. We knew that the dread of 

 the Esquimaux would prevent these men from 

 leaving us as soon as the Indians were at a dis- 

 tance, and we trusted to their becoming recon- 

 ciled to the journey when once the novelty of a 

 sea voyage had worn off. 



Jul}/ 18.— As the Indians persevered in their 

 determination of setting out this morning, I re- 

 minded them, through Mr. Wentzel and St. Ger- 

 main, of the necessity of our having the deposit 

 of provision made at Fort Enterprise, and received 

 a renewed assurance of their attending to that 



