246 HUNTING CAMPS. 



the end of the trip the matter, of course, cropped up 

 again, and I was a good deal overcharged, but not to the 

 extent of the first impudent demand for fifty dollars. 



We met with many delays on the road, all occasioned 

 by Mousqueton's horse, which not only kicked a hole in 

 our canoe, but later overturned the buck-board and its 

 load, and finally conceived so strong a dislike to its owner 

 and its duties as to necessitate our packing every pound 

 of our outfit along the last miles of our way. However, 

 everything has an end, and Edward and I at last pitched 

 our camp on a hillside above a small and, I believe, 

 nameless river. Mousqueton departed to resume, as we 

 heard afterwards, his differences with his steed, had the 

 worst of it, and in the end was forced to abandon his 

 buck-board and to return the thirty miles whence he 

 came on foot. 



Meantime, on the 10th of October, Ed and I had 

 everything " straightened away to rights," and by three 

 o'clock of a beautiful autumn afternoon we set forth to 

 look over the ground. Chastened by the experiences of 

 the previous year, neither of us hoped for any immediate 

 success, but we were resolved to offer an unsparing 

 sacrifice of time and trouble at the shrine of the Wood 

 Gods. 



As we walked on that afternoon the country looked 

 likely, but so had the country round about Lac Bruise 

 when we visited it in the previous season. Our way to 

 the north-east of our camp led us through a wide valley 

 shut in to the west by a high ridge of mountains and to 

 the east by a smaller range. Not far from the centre of 

 it rose three mounds exceedingly suited for reconnoitring 

 purposes. The low ground was bruise, and among the 

 grey barkless trunks which stood or leaned at every 



