GRAND RAPIDS 7 



encountered another stream called "Crow duck" (Cormorant) 

 River, which we crossed in a similar manner. I had been 

 travelling since day-break and my water-logged boots were 

 becoming a heavy, chafing burden by the time we reached the 

 Saskatchewan. The river with its mile-breadth of water, rip- 

 pling and dancing in the starlight, yet hurrying swiftly on, was 

 the last barrier between us and the post. This my self-ap- 

 pointed guide ferried me safely over. As he pushed out again 

 the words reached me in the darkness, "I go back to-night" 

 accompanied by a laugh, as if that ten mile tramp through 

 dangerous swamps was a huge joke. I was soon enjoying 

 liberal doses of the never failing remedy of the North for cold 

 and dampness — hot tea, and attacking my belated supper with 

 a sportsman's appetite — a possession not to be despised in such 

 a country. 



Second Moose Hunt. On the third of October, I again vis- 

 ited Long Point acccompanied by a French metis, who, like 

 myself, wished to see if he could kill a moose without the aid 

 of an Indian hunter. We reached the muskeg where we were 

 to camp, early in the morning. As we paddled our canoe up 

 a small, winding stream we saw many moose tracks and at last 

 decided to pitch our camp beside the creek and continue on foot. 

 We found a few minutes later that in unloading the canoe we 

 had alarmed a moose which had been lying at the water's edge 

 just around the next, bend, where we should have come upon 

 him had we continued a few yards further, but he was out of 

 range when discovered, and it would have been useless to at- 

 tempt pursuit. The stream flowed through a large brule in 

 which were occasional openings and clumps of green timber. 

 As we were working our way slowly through the maze of 

 fallen trees, one on each side of the stream, I heard the report 

 of Louis' rifle. I hastened towards him, and very carelessly 

 ran into a little open meadow when I ought to have kept my- 

 self concealed in the forest; as I entered it a frightened moose, 

 carrying a fine pair of antlers (not the largest ones that I ever 

 saw), appeared upon the farther side. He stopped and looked 

 about for a moment, then with one plunge disappeared in the 

 thicket, quite unharmed by the too-hastily-aimed bullet sent 

 after him. Louis had fired at a cow at long range "just to see 

 'er jump. " 



