102 LAKE SUPERIOR. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE canoes arrived on the following morning ere 

 our breakfast was dispatched, and having stowed 

 into them our fishing-gear and the requisites for a 

 simple meal, we were about embarking when Don, 

 who was directed to sit on the bottom of one, be- 

 tween the two Indian boys, entered a violent protest, 

 and seating himself on a log instead, announced he 

 should either not go at all, or should be allowed to 

 pole and have sole charge of one end of the canoe. 

 This proposition astounded all who could under- 

 stand, and would have astounded the others still 

 more if they had understood it ; but ere we had 

 recovered our breath Don commenced explaining 

 his views : 



" For many years I have heard of voyaging in a 

 canoe ; have thought it the chief pleasure of the 

 wilderness, and have been anxious not only to learn 

 how, but to do it. Of course, you will hardly ex- 

 pect me to know how to manage so frail a boat 

 without practice, and yet if I never practise, how 

 am I to learn ? It is self-evident I must commence 

 some time. If you admit that, and you can scarcely 

 dispute it, what better time could I have than the 

 present ? You propose to take the bow of the other 

 canoe, and although you are probably not as expert 

 as the savages, you did not acquire such skill as you 



