Jack, and Many Things Concerning Him 85 



very evident that it had burst open within 

 an hour or two at the most. We had to 

 make a long detour ere we found a place 

 where the crack was narrow enough to let 

 us cross and the journey could be resumed. 

 On another occasion, we had a queer ad- 

 venture where the ice was thin and Jack, 

 breaking through, had a narrow escape. 

 We were travelling on Lake Winnipeg and 

 it was a bitterly cold day. During the pre- 

 vious night, we had heard enough booming 

 on the great icy expanse to put us on our 

 guard against these great cracks and open- 

 ings, but all precautions avail but little 

 when these openings freeze over and the 

 drifting snow, swirling along, makes the ice 

 of half an inch or so look exactly like that 

 which is six feet thick. On this occasion, 

 the roguish Koona was the leader of my 

 train. Jack was in the second place, while 

 Cuffy and Caesar were behind. The guide, 

 that morning was a light-footed fellow who, 

 Indian-like, could run easily over ice so thin 

 that no ordinary white man would dare to 

 think of following. While speeding on, we 

 came to one of these cracks, that must have 

 opened up not many hours before. The ice 

 had formed upon it with sufficient strength 



