152 EXPLORATION OF THE PRAIRIES, 1879 



getting late in the season, we hurried on — but three hundred 

 miles is a long distance to travel at a slow pace and it was on 

 the 1 5th of October when we found, by observation, that we were 

 nearing Battleford. For a number of days, we had been passing 

 over ground without any trees or shrubs and our fuel had given 

 out. Our thermometer showed, on our last morning on the prairie, 

 to have fallen to 16 degrees and, as it was the last day we expected 

 to sleep in the tent, we cut up the poles and made a good fire and 

 warmed ourselves. On this last day, we travelled fast and almost 

 at sun-down we saw Battleford about eight miles off and, after 

 some delay and taking a wrong trail, at the foot of the hill, we 

 at last reached Battleford by guess. I had seen the Evening Star 

 while on the trail, rising to the left of Battleford, and so we steered 

 for the Star allowing a little for its increase in altitude, and reached 

 Battleford late in the night and camped right in the road. 



In the morning, we reached the town and found Matheson 

 there. He told me that Savage was in jail and had been there 

 for a month. On making inquiries, I found that he and Wilkins 

 had had a quarrel on the prairie and, by the efforts of David 

 Macoun, there was no blood shed, but Wilkins swore that Savage 

 was going to take his life and, besides, he had mutinied. I saw 

 the Magistrate and talked the matter over with him and, at my 

 request, he allowed Savage to be set free. I offered to take him 

 with me, but he said he preferred staying at Battleford. He re- 

 mained there all winter and came next year to Winnipeg, but I 

 never saw him again. 



After leaving Battleford, we took the lower road, which was 

 along the Saskatchewan and found it a worse trail than the one 

 that Matheson and I had followed in the summer, south of the 

 Eagle Hills. We hurried on and, in a few days, overtook Wilkins 

 and found that he was making very little progress. After a 

 couple of days, I decided that Ogilvie and I would leave the party 

 and proceed as quickly as possible to Winnipeg, so that I could 

 make out my accounts and have everything properly arranged 

 when the others reached the city. After a number of adventures 

 and some difficulties, Ogilvie and I reached Winnipeg. On the 

 same evening that I arrived, an engineer named Barclay reached 



