174 CANADIAN NIGHTS 



candle. Up to about Christmas you are safe 

 enough ; you will experience spells of cold weather, 

 but nothing to hurt, up to that time ; but after 

 the end of December you may be caught at any 

 moment in a cold snap, lasting several days, when 

 the thermometer will go down very low, and the 

 intense cold be accompanied by violent cruel gales 

 of wind. Such storms are dangerous, and may 

 result in loss of limb or even of life to the 

 traveller whose camp is in an exposed position. 

 Among the hills and in the forest you are right 

 enough at all times, for it is your own fault, or 

 the fault of the men with you, if you cannot make 

 yourself comfortable in any weather where fuel 

 and shelter can be obtained. Nothing worthy of 

 note occurred during this expedition except a 

 little misunderstanding which came near proving 

 inconvenient to one of the party. As one of the 

 officers from the fort and I were returning to 

 camp one evening, making our way through a 

 thick growth of brush and cotton-wood trees that 

 fringed a little stream, we happened to start one 

 of those huge prairie hares commonly called 

 jack-rabbits. We fired at him, as we were close 

 to the camp and there was no danger of scaring 

 better game, and then slid off our horses and 



