164 THE DRAMA OF THE FORESTS 



all save the trader's wife, who rode in state, in a carriole, 

 hauled by a tandem train of four dogs. 



THE NEW year's DANCE 



It was a beautiful sunny day and the air was very still; 

 and though the snow was wind-packed and hard, the footing 

 was very tiresome, for the whole surface of the lake was just one 

 endless mass of hard-packed snowdrifts that represented noth- 

 ing so much as a great, stormy, white-capped sea that had been 

 instantly congealed. And for us it was just up and down, in 

 and out, up and down, in and out, all the way over. These 

 solid white waves, however, proved one thing, and that was 

 the truth of Oo-koo-hoo's woodcraft; for, just as he had previ- 

 ously told me, if we had been suddenly encompassed by a 

 dense fog or a heavy snowstorm, we could never for a moment 

 have strayed from our true course; as all the drifts pointed 

 one way, south-by-southeast, and therefore must have kept us 

 to our proper direction. 



There were many dogs and sleds, and many Indians and half- 

 breeds, too, about the Fort when we arrived; and as the dogs 

 heralded our approach, the Factor came out to greet us and 

 wish us a Happy New Year. At the door Mrs. Mackenzie, 

 the half-breed wife of the Factor, was waiting with a beaming 

 smile and a hearty welcome for us ; and after we had removed our 

 outer wraps, she led us over to the storehouse in which a big 

 room had been cleared, and heated, and decorated to answer 

 as a ballroom and banqueting hall. Tables were being laid 

 for the feast, and Indian mothers and maidens and children, 

 too, were already sitting on the floor around the sides of the 

 room, and with sparkhng eyes were watching the work in 

 happy expectation. Around the doorway, both out and in, 

 stood the men — Indians and half-breeds and a few French 

 and Enghsh Canadians. Some wore hairy caribou capotes, 



