INTO THE TERRA-NOVA COUNTRY 9 



fast. Then the boxes were broken open, and we soon had 

 an excellent meal in preparation, whilst Jack Wells littered 

 the whole stock of supplies on the bank preparatory to sorting 

 it all carefully in bags for disposition in the two canoes. 



It is necessary, perhaps, to say a word or two about my 

 guides. Robert Saunders is a sturdy little man of about 5 feet 

 6 inches ; his face lined and beard grey, but there was also the 

 unmistakable appearance that showed the man of vigour and 

 energy in spite of its fifty-five years, which were all he would 

 acknowledge. His manner was straightforward and his eyes 

 possessed the honest and sincere look of absolute truth which 

 is always found in the best men accustomed to hardship and 

 the constant strusforle with the forces of Nature. " Little Bob" 

 had led a hard life if any man ever had in Newfoundland. In a 

 country where toil in all weathers is the common lot, his life had 

 been one of exceptional self-sacrifice, and what he had passed 

 through was certainly beginning to tell on him. He had never 

 spared himself, nor considered that he was more than some 

 old pack-horse. Twenty years at the " ice fishing " (seal 

 hunting), and packing and hunting in the woods in winter 

 on wretched food, will try the strongest man when we consider 

 that they are constantly wet through and allow their wet 

 clothes to dry on their bodies. Yet he had survived it all 

 while many of his fellows had fallen on one side, and thanked 

 God daily that He was so good to him in giving him food 

 to eat and a little croft with a good wife down at Alexander 

 Bay. I liked Saunders very much at once, and still more so 

 when I got to know him and his single-hearted efforts to do 

 everything in his power to insure a pleasant time. Of a truth 

 he looked a bit shy at me one evening when I got out my 

 note-book to snatch one of his entertaining stories for future 

 digestion, and I hoped he wouldn't notice it. But after a bit 



