OUR RETURN JOURNEY 263 



sented us each with a pair of binoculars with an 

 appropriate inscription ; honors, I thought, out of 

 all proportion to the simple act of duty we had 

 performed. The reporters of the different local 

 papers chased us around to get some details of our 

 trip, but as I was averse to having these made 

 public, I managed to give them the slip several 

 times, for which I ask their forgiveness to-day. 



We had now a three hundred miles journey be- 

 fore us and as soon as the two Labries were suf- 

 ficiently recovered we left Quebec. We bought 

 some snowshoes and other necessary articles for 

 the trip, and as our funds had been exhausted on 

 the way from Cape Chatte to Levis, several of the 

 leading citizens of Quebec subscribed to form a 

 purse of one hundred and ten dollars, which was 

 presented to us to defray the expenses of our 

 homeward journey. Owing to the generous de- 

 sire of nearly everybody to help us along, this 

 sum proved more than ample. It paid for 

 our outfit and travelling expenses and left suffi- 

 cient to pay the doctor's bill and other small ex- 

 penses for my brother in Quebec. It need scarce- 

 ly be remarked, therefore, that Dr. Ahern's bill 

 was far from being a heavy one. Truly of him it 

 may be said, "his left hand does not know what 

 his right hand doeth." 



At 11 a.m. on Sunday, February 7th, we left 

 Quebec on snowshoes, getting on the ice near the 

 C. P. R. station, and heading direct for Chateau 



