334 DEATH FROM SURFEIT. 



skeleton ])efore him prayed and entreated him not to go, 

 not again to leave him all lone and solitary. But he 

 could not stay, poison was in the very atmosphere for 

 him. He went, and in two days returned again, and 

 throwing the door open quickly as usual — " what a 

 sight presented itself ! " The man, or what had once 

 been a man, lay dead upon the hearth, stiff and cold, a 

 skin-covered frame of bones. The fire had burnt out 

 for lack of fuel, and beside the corpse was the kettle, 

 whose contents had so lately confirmed his frightful 

 suspicions. It was now perfectly empty — flesh, 

 broth — all utterly consumed. 



The wretched being had met his final death-stroke 

 in a surfeit of the horrible repast. 



Mr. P. took the body outside the Fort and laid it 

 " en cache ;" then writing two letters, one for Whites, 

 the other for Indians, he took himself to a distance 

 and there encamped. For nearly three weeks he 

 dragged on a poor existence with skins and some 

 little game, and was reduced to the former extremity, 

 when the brother of the engaged Indian arrived with 

 some meat for him, hoping haply to find him still 

 alive. On meeting, they both shed tears of joy. 

 "My father, my father," said the red man, "is it 

 possible that you are still alive ? oh ! what delight for 

 us to be able to save you." He said he was not 



