62 WITH GUN AND GUIDE 



with longing eyes upon many gorgeous hats and had 

 finally purchased two of the very latest fashion to take 

 with her to her distant home, where they were the only 

 settlers in a vast region on the border of the Arctic circle. 



As each of the hats was packed in a separate band- 

 box, they were a constant source of care and worry at 

 every portage. 



These precious examples of the then latest fashions 

 in millinery were not to be touched by any one but the 

 future wearer. She alone would carry them around 

 the obstructions and across the portages. When this 

 particular slanting rock was reached, all the stores, 

 tents, bedding, etc., in the canoes were landed at the 

 base of the rock, while the Indians carried the canoes 

 on their backs up the face of the rock and then around 

 it, placing them in a quiet stretch of water above. 

 Then the freight was carried over. 



Next the trapper and his stout wife essayed the 

 rather dangerous climb. The woman insisted upon 

 carrying the two band boxes containing the hats her- 

 self, and, with one in each hand, she very carefully 

 crawled up the steep ascent. 



There was quite a wind blowing, which banged the 

 hat boxes around in a rude fashion, but all went well 

 until the summit was nearly reached, and there the 

 full force of the wind struck her and the bulky but 

 light- weighted freight in front with such force that she 

 reeled, tottered, and then fell. 



