378 Thirty Years 



proceed towards Reindeer Lake, but this proposal met 

 with a direct refusal. Belanger stated his inability to 

 move, and St. Germain used similar language ; add- 

 ing, for the first time, that he did not know the route, 

 and that it was of no use to go in the direction I men- 

 tioned, which was the one agreed upon between the 

 Commander and myself. I then insisted that we 

 should go by the known route, and join the Com- 

 mander, but they would not hear of it ; they would 

 remain where they were until they had regained their 

 strength ; they said I wanted to expose them again to 

 death {/aire perir). In vain did I use every argu- 

 ment to the contrary, for they were equally heedless to 

 all. Thus situated, I was compelled to remain, and 

 from this time to the 25th, wc employed ourselves in 

 Linking about for the remnants of the deer and pieces 

 of skin, which even the wolves had left ; and by 

 pounding the bones, we were enabled to make asortof 

 soup, which strengthened us greatly, though each still 

 complained of weakness. It was not without, the 

 greatest difficulty that I could restrain the men from 

 eating every scrap they found, though they were 

 aware of the necessity there was of being economical 



in our present situation, and to save whatever they 



could for our journey ; yet Ihey could not resisl the 

 temptation, and directly my back- was turned they 

 seldom failed to snatch at the nearest piece to 



