194 THE DRAMA OF THE FORESTS 



"But I can't give a funny bear story, the same as you've 

 been tellin', because all my experiences with bears have been 

 mighty serious. However, I'll try and tell you 'bout me an 

 Old-pot-head's son; an' to my mind it's the most serious of 'em 

 all. 



"As I was sayin', we was in charge of the Peace River 

 packet; an' if it hadn't been for the charm Father La Mille 

 blessed for me at Fort Good Hope, I don't know 's I'd be here 

 to tell about it. 



"Anyway, me an' Old-pot-head's son was carryin' the 

 packet and headin' for Hudson's Hope. It was the fall packet, 

 an' — as winter was just about due — we was hustlin' 'long for 

 all we was worth, an' jabbin' holes in the river with our paddles 

 as fast as we could, in fear o' the freeze up 



"As bad luck would have it, that very night the ice over- 

 took us, an' we had to leave the canoe ashore an' finish the 

 voyage afoot. Lucky for us, we was only about three-days' 

 travel from the Fort, so we leaves our axe an' whatever we 

 don't particular need with the canoe. 



"Mile after mile we walks along the river bank; an' as we 

 don't have no extra moccasins, our bare skin was soon upon the 

 sand. What with havin' our duds torn by bushes, an' our 

 fallin' in the mud once or twice, and several times a-wadin* 

 creeks, we was a pretty sight when we stops to camp that 

 night. When the sun went down, we was so tired that we just 

 stopped dead in our tracks. We had been packin' our blank- 

 ets, our grub, an' cookin' gear to say nothin' o' the packet; so, 

 of course, we didn't give much thought to the campin' ground. 

 But after supper I looks round an' sees that we'd made our 

 fire down in a little hollow, an' that the place was bare o' trees 

 'ception three that stood in a row 'bout four lengths of a three- 

 fathom canoe from our fire. The middle one was a birch with 

 a long bare trunk, an' on each side stood a pine. Now, I 

 want you gentlemen to pay perticler 'tention to just how they 



