VIII 



HOMEWARD BOUND 



DURING the two following days, October 4th and 5th, we 

 travelled steadily westward, making about twelve miles 

 each day. Within a few hundred feet of where we camped 

 the second night was a peculiar phenomenon in the limestone 

 formation of this part of the country. Two fairly large and 

 swift creeks emptied from different directions into a slight 

 depression in the valley, and disappeared into the depths of 

 the earth in a gurgling pool several yards in diameter. The 

 next day, by hard travelling, we managed to reach our former 

 camping-place at Dease Lake before dark. On the trail to 

 Tele'graph Creek we met quite a large party travelling our way. 

 This consisted of Judge Porter, the local commissioner, and 

 about a dozen miners and prospectors coming out of the country 

 for the winter. The party also included the combined pack- 

 trains of Callbreath and the Hudson Bay Company, consisting 

 of about forty horses accompanied by a number of Indians 

 and dogs. 



During the day this cavalcade plodded steadily along the 

 muddy trails, while at night the glare of many small camp- 

 fires lighted up the surrounding tree-trunks. Around these 

 the strains of the accordion and well-sung popular songs re- 

 echoed until late at night, after which the tinkling of horse- 

 bells of many different tones resounded from the gloomy 

 forests. Along the trail the brilliant yellow leaves had fallen 

 from the poplars, making a bleak and forbidding landscape. 



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