V 



MEETING OF THE WILD MEN 



WHO IS SON-IN-LAW? 



Christmas week had arrived and now we were off for the 

 New Year's dance to be held at Fort Consolation. Instead of 

 travelling round three sides of an oblong as we had done to 

 reach Oo-koo-hoo's hunting ground by canoe, we now, travelling 

 on snowshoes, cut across country, over hill and valley, lake and 

 river, in a southeasterly direction, until we struck Caribou 

 River and then turned toward White River and finally arrived 

 at God's Lake. Our little party included Oo-koo-hoo, his 

 wife Ojistoh, their granddaughter Neykia, and myself. Our 

 domestic outfit was loaded upon two hunting sleds in the 

 hauling of which we all took turns, as well as in relieving each 

 other in the work of track beating. At night we camped in 

 the woods without any shelter save brush windbreaks over 

 the heads of our beds, our couches being made of balsam-twigs 

 laid shingle fashion in the snow. For the sake of warmth 

 Ojistoh and Neykia slept together, while Oo-koo-hoo and I 

 cuddled up close to one another and fitted together like spoons 

 in a cutlery case, for the cold sometimes dipped to forty 

 below. 



The prisoner of the city, however, may think sleeping under 

 such conditions not only a terrible hardship but a very dan- 

 gerous thing in the way of catching one's death of cold. I 

 can assure him it is nothing of the kind — when the bed is prop- 

 erly made. And not only does one never catch cold under 

 such conditions, but it is my experience that there is no easier 



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