90 FOKT CONFIDENCE. 



rally returned when their food was exhausted, 

 saying that the animals were all gone. They were 

 afraid, I believe, to venture far in the proper di- 

 rection, lest they should meet enemies of whom 

 they are in constant dread, and especially of their 

 spiritual foes. Their complaints of the want of 

 game were, however, proved to be unfounded, by 

 the excursions of Mr. Eae and the two Hopes. 



In January, intelligence came that the hunters 

 had stored up a number of deer at a considerable 

 distance from the fort, but the news reached Cape 

 Macdonald as soon as Fort Confidence, and a party 

 from the fishery set off in quest of it. They were, 

 nevertheless, too late, some of their wandering 

 countrymen having discovered and consumed the 

 store before their arrival, and they were compelled 

 to return, in a famishing condition, to the fishery. 

 Our men had also a fruitless journey to the empty 

 cache. The lies that were told on these occasions 

 were innumerable, and every one was ready to 

 clear himself and inculpate some other party. We 

 generally, however, succeeded after a time in find- 

 ing out the real delinquents, who consequently 

 were coolly received, and had short rations when 

 they came to the fort. 



As the months of February and March rolled 

 away, and the days lengthened, cheering reports 

 from the hunting parties came in, and some of the 



