ARRIVAL AT THE COAST 73 



leave my bones in the mountains rather than fail. From that 

 time forward, I saw that Mr. Horetzky believed that I would be 

 an encumbrance to him in getting through and he laid his plans, 

 without my knowledge, as I was not able to talk French. When 

 I decided to proceed onwards with him a number of horses were 

 collected and we crossed the river and took the trail for Fort St. 

 John on the sixth of October. On that day the Hudson's Bay 

 clerks returned to the south. 



For the next ten days, we were crossing through a fine section 

 of the country bordering on the Peace River. The trail often led 

 us into ravines cut nearly one thousand feet into the valley but 

 good soil was found in every part. 



We crossed Pine River on the sixteenth and, in a short time, 

 were in sight of St. Johns Hudson's Bay post. While there I 

 discovered that Mr. Horetzky had a scheme to not go through the 

 mountains by Peace River but to ascend the North Pine River 

 where we found there was a pass that led through the mountains. 

 We discovered it in this way: While in conversation about the 

 mountains, the Beaver chief, Mastie, said that there was a canoe 

 route up the Pine River into a lake in the mountains from which 

 a stream discharged into a river flowing to the west. He showed 

 us a plan made with a pointed stick on the floor of the cabin. I 

 asked the guide to tell him to let us know what the borders of the 

 lake were like. I knew if he said it was rocky his statement was 

 wrong, but that if it were marshy along the lake his statement was 

 correct. He answered that it was marshy all round the lake and 

 I said at once, "No doubt it is a new pass." 



Not understanding French I was not aware that Mr. Horetzky 

 was trying to get the Indians to lead him up the Pine River 

 while I would be sent with the baggage up the Peace River, 

 through the Rocky Mountains, and up the Parsnip to Fort Mc- 

 Leod. In other words, he would shake me off and I would be 

 left for the winter in the mountains. That was evidently the 

 scheme he had in his mind as the sequel will tell. This quotation 

 is Mr. Horetzky 's own explanation of this: "Here I found Mr. 

 Kennedy, the clerk in charge, and, having expressed my wish to 

 cross the mountains by the Pine River Pass, we soon had engaged 



