D4 REINDEER LAKE AND PORT DU BROCKET 



Cochrane River. The two Posts are, depending 

 on wind, five to six days' canoe journey apart, 

 while the York Boat of the Hudson Bay Company 

 a cumbersome, wide-beamed sailing craft of 

 some forty-foot keel with following wind (and 

 the Indian crew always wait for such a wind when 

 about to make the voyage), and travelling day and 

 night, can accomplish the distance in two days. 



It was in mid- July that Joe and I in our solitary 

 canoe approached the north end of Reindeer 

 Lake and sought the inlet which would hold some 

 sign of habitation. 



Night was creeping down over the earth, and 

 the shores were darkening to blackness when our 

 journey on the lake drew to a close and we neared 

 the Post of Fort Du Brochet. The gladness of 

 a summer's day was folding its spirit in repose, 

 and the inflexions of a score of tiny nature 

 sounds were fading away into the darkness, 

 though still the strained ear caught the laughing 

 trickle of water against the canoe and the low- 

 speaking lap of the gentle waves as they came and 

 went with the lazy northern breeze. Our 

 approach was unheralded, and the lone canoe 

 stole softly inshore, where cabins stood solemnly 

 silhouetted against the wistful sky. Dim figures 

 moved on shore to the left, and low voices, in 

 native conversation, rose then died away. Stars 

 peeped out, and the Northern Lights grew clear 

 in the overhead sky. A rising fish splashed and 

 another. . . . Then silence reigned. 



The canoe was run in on the sand close by the 

 shadowy landing, and my companion and I stepped 

 ashore to pick our way up the rough path to the 



