FOURTH EXPLORATION, 1880 



167 



half-breeds, no matter what was said to the contrary, were 

 strictly honest and, as a matter of principle, did not appropriate 

 anything found on the prairie. 



My instructions were to proceed from the Grand Valley to 

 Moose Mountain and I was waiting for the remainder of my outfit 

 on the next boat so that, when I received it, we started on our line 

 of travel. As I have already stated, I had a map given to me by 

 Col. Dennis upon which he had marked with a blue line the track 

 I was to take for my summer trip. On this line, I proceeded for 

 the whole summer and the first "leg" was to Moose Mountain. 

 In the evening of our second day out, a thunder-storm arose in 

 the west and, when close upon us, two of our horses ran away in 

 front of the storm. These horses were my own and were very 

 fine Canadian horses. The other horses had all been hobbled and, 

 as soon as mine ran away, I ran out of my tent bareheaded and 

 followed them. Davie Macoun immediately caught a horse, took 

 off the hobbles, jumped on his back and, carrying two spare 

 halters, galloped after me. It was almost dark and the lightning 

 and thunder were awful. Davie galloped past me and headed the 

 horses and, half a mile from camp, we rounded them up. An- 

 other man came rushing up and we put a halter on each of them, 

 and the storm was about over by this time. Each flash of light- 

 ning made me feel as though it was to be our last and I ordered 

 each man to take a halter and I took another and kept away from 

 the horse so that if the horses were struck we might be saved. 

 The next ten minutes were awful. The strain was dreadful on 

 all of us, but the storm passed and at once darkness came on and 

 we had no idea which was the direction or way to find the camp. 



When darkness came on, Mr. Jukes ordered lights to be put 

 up and, by good luck, we saw the glow and made our way to camp, 

 which we found in good order and the tents standing as we had 

 left them. 



In 1879, I had learned from Matheson how to pitch a camp 

 and, as we always practiced it, it came into order for this storm. 

 When seeking a camping place for the night, any time during the 

 summer, an elevated spot, near a hill and water, should be chosen 

 so that comparative freedom from mosquitoes may be secured, if 



