ADVENTURES BY LAND AND SEA 



been ijrepared, and part of it saved for our supper. It was 

 a most thoroughly appreciated meal, and after partaking of 

 it we were soon rolled up in our blankets, all unconscious of 

 the storm that howled without or of the fact that we had not 

 another meal in camp. On the morning of the 26th we were 

 glad to find that the wind had fallen sufficiently to allow us 

 to launch. Without delay the canoes were loaded and a fair 

 run made. Several sea-ducks were shot during the day, and 

 thus supper was secured. 



The next day, again storm-bound by a gale from the south- 

 west, the whole party started out to hunt for food. We were 

 not altogether unsuccessful, assembling in the evening with 

 five marmots (little animals about the size of squirrels). 



The following morning, though a strong breeze was blow- 

 ing, we determined to make a start, for to remain where we 

 were meant that we must soon starve to death. We were 

 already much reduced and weakened from the effects of 

 cold and hunger, and the condition of the weather had of late 

 been most disheartening. Churchill, the nearest habitation 

 of man, was still fully three hundred miles distant. We had 

 not one bite of food. The country was covered with snow, 

 the weather piercingly cold. No fuel was to be had, and, 

 worst of all, the weather was such, the greater part of the 

 time, that we were unable to travel. It was difficult to be 

 cheerful under such circumstances, but we kept up courage 

 and pushed on. 



While we were bending to our paddles, after making per- 

 haps seven or eight miles south-westerly along the coast, a 

 band of deer was seen upon the shore. Our course was 

 quickly altered and a landing effected, though with some 

 difficulty, as the tide was falling and the water rapidly 

 receding. The men were left to keep the canoes afloat while 

 my brother and I, with our rifles, went in pursuit of the 

 deer, which were at this time much more difficult to hunt 

 than earlier in the season, when they run in great herds. 



175 



