152 IN THE LAND OF THE GREAT SPIRIT 



us and the rain came down in torrents. By each 

 lightning flash we ran as far as we could see and 

 then waited for the next. For a muskeg is not a 

 good place to walk in in the dark. Several times we 

 dropped a leg into moose-foot holes, and had a wretched 

 scramble to get out. But at any rate it ended 

 amusingly for me. For the Cree, in making his final 

 effort on the other side, tumbled bang into something 

 that looked like an elder-bush, and sat down in the 

 middle of it swearing Indian oaths. I roared with 

 laughter, it was so comical, and this made him worse. 

 However, at last we reached the pineah, and there we 

 spent a most unpleasant night. We were literally wet 

 to the skin, and could only find an odd spruce twig or 

 so that was dry enough to light. But we slept at last, 

 and woke to find the storm gone, the sky clear, and a 

 sharp white frost. This was bad and delayed us for 

 some hours, for it was hopeless to think of a still hunt 

 with the grass and leaves dry and crackling. So I 

 filled up the time by picking berries, cranberries, and 

 ** muskegomin," or bog-cranberries, and made what 

 meal I could. 



There is little more to add. We found the place 

 where the fight had taken place, and a wonderful 

 mess it had made. Broken branches torn-up ground, 



