DOWN THE PEACE RIVER 127 



Batoche's ferry and I found him a very fine man. We got along 

 wonderfully well until we had both oxen and horses in our com- 

 pany and, owing to the cattle being with us, we could not make 

 as much progress as many of the men wished. Besides myself, 

 we had with us a young fellow who was going from Prince Albert 

 and wished to reach Winnipeg before winter. We passed along 

 as rapidly as possible and had some uncommon experiences on 

 our way but I will only mention a few. One, in particular, comes 

 up before me and I will relate it as a novel experience. 



One afternoon, we reached a bad place on the road called a 

 slough. In the middle of it my horse refused, or was unable, to 

 pull the wagon out, so the guide and myself were left sitting in 

 the pool. He called out to one of the men, who immediately 

 took his horse out of the cart and hitched a rope to the horse's 

 tail well up to the rump, and threw the other end to us in the 

 cart. My guide fastened the rope to the shafts and the half- 

 breed on shore and the one in the wagon, after a few "sacres," 

 started both horses on the jump and we were hauled to shore in a 

 few moments. I expected the horse's tail to be pulled out of the 

 beast, but instead we were brought to dry land. Since that time, 

 I have learned that it was the common way amongst the half 

 breeds in olden times to pull one out of the mire. 



As it was late in the season, we decided to start early in the 

 morning and go on as fast as possible by day and this mode of 

 travel we kept up for quite a number of beautiful days. 



One morning, when we were about to start, I decided to 

 remain behind and write up my notes and was busily engaged 

 when 1 became poetical and had just written: "I think I hear 

 the tramp of the coming millions," and, as I had reached this 

 period, a concert broke out a few yards behind me, and, on look- 

 ing around, I saw a line of coyotes sitting on a ridge and giving 

 their peculiar howl. I need scarcely add that I never became 

 poetical again. When I mentioned it to the men, they said that 

 coyotes always followed a party of half-breeds when on the trail 

 to pick up the refuse of the camp when they had left. 



Our fine weather continued until the evening of the 23 rd of 

 October, when it began to thicken up and the next morning we 



