206 ON SNOW-SHOES TO THE BARREN GROUNDS 



When I returned to camp that night the Indians had 

 finished chopping the supply of wood we were to take, 

 and likewise during the day finished the remnants of the 

 feast left from the day before, so that again we were with- 

 out meat. We were to have left the " last wood " the 

 next morning, but the thermometer registered 58 below, 

 and a blizzard of such severity raged that the Indians 

 would not face it ; so we lay in our robes until about three 

 o'clock, when the fury of the storm lessened, and every- 

 body turned out to hunt. When we assembled again, 

 four hours later, there was a yearling for the dogs, an un- 

 born calf for us, and a cow that had not been brought in. 



The temptation to linger here, where at least there was 

 a fire to warm our empty stomachs, was considerable ; but 

 the morning of the third day broke clear, though with 

 such a biting wind as almost took our breath away, and 

 we realized that the caribou were leaving us, and there 

 was no time to lose. So now we began our last prepara- 

 tions for the plunge into the Barren Grounds proper. We 

 calculated on getting back to this point in about twenty 

 days, and were taking that many nights' supply of wood, 

 intending to push due north for from ten to twelve days. 

 The wood we took from the largest trees to be found in 

 that patch, and was cut into blocks just the width of a 

 sledge i.e., about fourteen inches and then split into 

 quarters, because we were to take no axe. Every sledge 

 was shod with extra runners to protect it from the rocks, 

 and when loaded with the wood there was hardly room 

 for our sleeping-robes and moccasins and duffel. Then 

 we cached the caribou cow that had been killed the day 

 before, along with my rebellion-inciting balls of pemmican, 

 the ten pounds of flour, half of my remaining supply of 

 tobacco, tea, and cartridges, and every article that was not 

 absolutely necessary to our continued progress. I wrote 



