Jack, and Many Things Concerning Him S3 



more relish for driving the missionary's 

 train that day. 



He gave us a great fright, and then a good 

 laugh, one bitterly cold day by his falling 

 through the thin ice in a great crack on Lake 

 Winnipeg. During the previous night, as 

 we lay in our camp in the snow, in the 

 woods on the shore, we were frequently dis- 

 turbed by the loud booming reports, like 

 distant thunder or heavy artillery. In re- 

 sponse to my inquiries from my Indian com- 

 rades, all the answer I received was the 

 laconic : " Ice cracking, big cold, open 

 places, much danger, take care." 



This, when amplified, means that al- 

 though the ice is several feet thick, yet when 

 the cold reaches a certain intensity, so great 

 is the contraction that the ice bursts with 

 tremendous suddenness and power, so that 

 great openings or cracks, as they are called, 

 are formed which are often many miles in 

 length, but generally only a few feet in 

 width. To the travellers hurrying on, es- 

 pecially in the gloom of night, these cracks 

 are very dangerous, as the water at once 

 rushes up even with the ice, and some time 

 must elapse ere it freezes sufficiently hard 

 to support any hunter or traveller who may 



