IN THE LAND OF THE GREAT SPIRIT 151 



We had no tea left, but Kakikapo finished his 

 dried moose meat, and I, who had nothing to eat, 

 smoked my pipe. The Cree prepared some kinikinik 

 in the usual way. Taking a piece of the young wood, 

 he skinned off the red outer bark and then scraped 

 the inner bark till it formed a frill round the stick (^ 

 like the paper frill of a ham. This, stuck in front of the 

 fire, was soon dry enough for smoking. But it was slow 

 work watching Kakikapo blinking at the fire, and I 

 could not get those fighting moose out of my thoughts. 

 It struck me that possibly in the morning they 

 might come down to drink, so I took my rifle and 

 crept off in the darkness till I found the fallen tree, 

 and there I lay, comfortably enough for a bit, out of 

 the wind behind the big uplifted roots. But things 

 went wrong. 



I had fallen asleep, and awoke at 11.30 to hear the 

 muttering of thunder. It looked black and threaten- 

 ing, and a storm was evidently coming on. Creeping 

 back I woke up Kakikapo and made him understand 

 the need of shelter. Very reluctantly he moved, but 

 at length muttering " pineah " (pine-trees), he led the 

 way. I remembered having seen the pine-trees, 

 they were right across the swamp. Before we 

 had gone a hundred yards the storm burst upon 



