236 HUNTERS OF THE GREAT NORTH 



all against my trying it. At first they thought of build- 

 ing a large raft for me, for they said my small and water- 

 logged one would never do for running the rapids. Later, 

 however, we made an actual trial of the biggest canoe 

 and it turned out that we had about two inches of free- 

 board with the two of us in it. We decided that this 

 would be all right in quiet water. The Deacon knew 

 where all the rapids were and said he would land me 

 above each series of rapids and run them alone, picking 

 me up again below the dangerous water. 



Up to now I had thought it probable that the Indians 

 would know about the cabin I had found and about which 

 I had woven the story of a gold seeker tragedy. Careful 

 inquiry showed that they had no knowledge of the place, 

 although they had been up and down that river every 

 summer by canoe and every winter by dog team their 

 whole lives long. I tried my best to describe the location, 

 and they said they would look for it whenever they 

 went up that way. I have never heard if they found it. 



But a story that interested them more than the deserted 

 cabin was my account of how I had cooked breakfast 

 ashore and had forgotten several pounds of tea tied up 

 in a silk handkerchief. I had not been at the village 

 an hour when one of the men got into his canoe and 

 started upstream in search of the tea and handkerchief. 

 I estimate he had forty miles to go. However, he said 

 that he might get a moose on the journey, thus killing 

 two birds with one stone. 



Compared to my sluggish drift, the canoe journey from 

 the mouth of the»01d (Vow seemed like flying. Between 

 paddle and current we made from six to eight miles an 

 hour. There were no rapids that could not be easily run 

 in a good canoe or even in one of these bark canoes with 



