216 THE DEATH OF ROBITAILLE 



man. The cutting of the timber was to commence 

 after the early hunt was over. About the end of 

 January, Savard, for whom the house was to be 

 built, sent word to Robitaille to come up. The 

 trip had to be made on foot over a very rough bit 

 of ground. The distance was nearly fourteen 

 miles, one-third of which was over lakes and the 

 rest through dense woods There was no regular 

 trail, but at intervals in the worst places there 

 v/ere a few old "blazes" on the trees. On the 

 morning on which Ee left Pointe des Monts for 

 Godbout, the weather was cloudy and threatening. 

 Some of the hunters warned him that it was go- 

 ing to be stormy and that he had better wait. 

 He would not be persuaded and said it was all 

 right and tEat he would have no trouble in reach- 

 ing Godbout, as he had been over the road four 

 times- About an hour after he left, an east wind 

 with snow set in, increasing during the day to a 

 strong gale which lasted all through that night 

 and part of the next day, when it cleared up, 

 with very cold weather. A few days later some 

 hunters came up from Pointe des Monts to God- 

 bout and reported the departure of Robitaille. 

 As he had not been seen since, it was immediately 

 surmised that he had perished and a search party 

 was organized, of which I formed a member. 

 We had little trouble locating his tracks. He had 

 gone in the right direction for about four miles, 

 but had then deviated to the right, presumably 



