MEETING OF THE WILD MEN 173 



rafters, and with long rows of shelves stacked with folded furs, 

 and with huge piles of pelts and opened bales upon the floor. 

 Also there were moose and caribou horns lying about, and 

 bundles of Indian-made snowshoes hanging by wires from the 

 rafters, and in one corner kegs of dried beaver castors. 



THE WINTER MAIL ARRIVES 



On the morning of the second day of the storm I happened 

 to be in the Indian shop, where I had gone to see the Factor 

 and the clerk barter for the furs of a recently arrived party of 

 Indian fur-hunters, when presently I was startled by hearing: 



" Voyez, voyez, le pacquet /" shouted by Bateese as he flound- 

 ered into the trading room without a thought of closing the 

 door, though the drifting snow scurried in after him. Vocifer- 

 ously he called to the others to come and see, and instantly 

 trade was stopped. The Factor, the clerk, and the Indians, 

 rushed to the doorway to obtain a glimpse of the long-expected 

 packet. For two days the storm had raged, and the snow was 

 still blowing in clouds that blotted out the neighbouring forest. 



"Come awa', Bateese, ye auld fule! Come awa' ben, an 

 steek yon door! Ye dinna see ony packet!" roared the Factor, 

 who could distinguish nothing through the flying snow. 



"Bien, msieu, mebbe she not very clear jus' now; but w'en 

 I pass from de Mad Wolf's Hill, w'en de storm she lif a leetle, 

 I see two men an' dog-train on de lac below de islan's," replied 

 the half-breed fort-hunter, who had returned from a caribou 

 cache, and whose duty it was to keep the fort supplied with 

 meat. 



"Weel, fetch me the gless, ma mon; fetch me the gless 

 an' aiblins we may catch a glint o' them through this smoorin' 

 snaw; though I doot it's the packet, as ye say." And the 

 Factor stood shading his eyes and gazing anxiously in the 

 direction of the invisible islands. But before the fort-hunter 



