IN QUEST OF TREASURE 35 



Soon there were salmon-trout — fried to a golden brown — 

 crisp bannock, and tea for all; then a little re-adjusting of the 

 packs, and we were again at the paddles. Oo-koo-hoo's wife, 

 Ojistoh, along with her second granddaughter and her two 

 grandsons, occupied one of the three-and-a-half fathom canoes; 

 Amik, and his wife, Naudin, with her baby and eldest daughter, 

 occupied the other; and Oo-koo-hoo and I paddled together in 

 the two-and-a-half fathom canoe. One of the five dogs — 

 Oo-koo-hoo's best hunter — travelled with us, while the other 

 four took passage in the other canoes. Although the going was 

 now up stream — the same river by which I had come — we 

 made fair speed until Island Lake stretched before us, when we 

 felt a southwest wind that threatened trouble; but by making 

 a long detour about the bays of the southwestern shore the 

 danger vanished. Arriving at the foot of the portage trail at 

 Bear Rock Rapids, we carried our outfit to a cliif above, which 

 afforded an excellent camping ground; and there arose the 

 smoke of our evening fire. The cloudless sky giving no sign of 

 rain, we contented ourselves with laying mattresses of balsam 

 brush upon which to sleep. While the sunset glow still filled 

 the western sky, we heard a man's voice shouting above the 

 roar of the rapids, and on going to the brink, saw a "York 

 boat" in the act of shooting the cataract. It was one of the 

 boats of "The Goods Brigade" transporting supplies for the 

 northern posts of the Hudson's Bay Company. As the craft 

 measured forty feet in length and was manned by eight men, 

 it was capable of carrying about seventy packs, each weighing 

 about a hundred pounds. But of these boat brigades — more 

 in due season. 



After supper, when twilight was deepening, and tobacco — in 

 the smoking of which the women conscientiously joined — was 

 freely forthcoming, the subject of conversation turned to wood- 

 craft. Since it fell to Oo-koo-hoo, as the principal hunter, to 

 keep the party supplied with game while en route, I was won- 



