BLIND LEADING THE BLIND 77 



should express my wish that he learn the distance, etc. 

 The Cree for " How far is it?" is " Wah-he-d-che " ; for 

 " It is far," you drop only the " c/ic," and say " Wah-hc-o" 

 But I was not then so learned. So I had asked John, 

 " Wah-he-6-che MacDonald's?" and John had replied 

 after some discussion with the other Indians " Wah-hc-o" 

 I supposed him correcting me, and as this particular Cree 

 query was my piece dc resistance, "Wali-Jic-o-cJic" with an 

 accent on the " chd" again resounded in the chilly air, 

 and again he retorted, " Wah-hc-d" Then we ivaJi-he-o-chc V 

 and waJi-he-o V until each subsided in silence and disgust 



o 



at the other's stupidity. 



And so we travelled down the eastern bay of Big Jack- 

 Fish Lake. 



It got dark by the time we were well out on the lake ; 

 we could not have seen our way in broad daylight, be- 

 cause the snow was thickly falling and the wind savagely 

 blowing as we trustingly followed our foregoer. By-and- 

 by I decided we must be going wrong, for I thought the 

 cabin could not be so far off as we had come, and I got 

 John and the dogs turned about to go back and into the 

 western bay. The storm was now squarely in our teeth, 

 and the dogs would not face it. They kept turning and 

 entangling themselves in the harness, while we were faint 

 with hunger and benumbed with cold, and my ankle 

 seemed bursting with pain. 



I made the nearest approach I could in the storm to a 

 bee-line for the point, and then followed it around. I 

 had not the remotest idea where MacDonald's house was, 

 but I knew I should have to find it in the morning to get 

 my bearings ; so after we had gone about as far down the 

 western bay as we had into the eastern, we camped under 

 a pine-tree, where wood was plentiful, and ate a piece of 

 bacon each and drank a cup of tea, after a hard day's 



