214 LOST IN THE WILDERNESS 



was a convenient place from which to visit our 

 traps early in the morning. Behind our camp the 

 hill rose abruptly, thickly covered with black 

 spruce. We had our supper and then I stretched 

 myself on the balsam boughs near the fire. Wil- 

 liam sat and smoked his pipe. I was tired with my 

 day's work and dozed off to sleep. I suppose I 

 slept about a quarter of an hour, when I felt 

 William shaking me by the shoulder. I turned 

 round and looked inquiringly. He stooped and 

 whispered : ''Indians !" I sat up and asked him 

 where they were. "Listen, " he said, "and you 

 will hear ; they are throwing stones at us from the 

 hill." "Why, surely you must be dreaming," 

 I answered. "No, no, listen!" A minute or 

 two and there was a splash in the lake, made by 

 the flop of a beaver's tail. "There," he said, 

 "did you hear it fall in the water ?" I could not 

 help laughing and then I told him what it was, 

 and how it was done by the beaver, and after that 

 we lay down and slept. He was with me for 

 nearly a year and learned and saw many things 

 that were new to him. The trip did not cure him 

 entirely, but it did him a lot of good. Poor fel- 

 low I The Indians cannot trouble him much now 

 unless they are those of the "Happy Hunting 

 Grounds." 



