ACROSS THE SUB-ARCTICS OF CANADA 



obliged to sit or lie in icy water all night. Poor little Michel 

 had both of his feet frozen, and the rest of ns were badly 

 used up. Still we were in the same position as on the night 

 before. We coiild not hold out much longer; we must gain 

 the shore or perish. At the time of high tide, the ice being 

 somewhat loosened, our canoes were thrust into the pack, and 

 by great exertion, as well as much care, we succeeded about 

 one o'clock in reaching solid ice, upon which we were able to 

 land, and, for the last time, haul out our noble little crafts. 

 We had been in them just thirty hours, battling with the 

 ice, exposed to a chilling winter blast, our clothing saturated 

 and frozen, and our bodies faint and numb with starvation 

 and cold. But we were now within reach of the land, and 

 all of us who were able gladly scrambled out upon the ice 

 to stretch our cramped and stiffened limbs. My brother was 

 in a perishing condition from the exposure of the night. He 

 had been barely able to keep his canoe afloat by bailing, and 

 had sat in the icy water for seventeen hours. I wrapped him 

 up as warmly as I could and administered half a bottle of 

 Jamaica ginger, the last of our stock. We then set about 

 hauling the canoes over the ice to the shore, which we soon 

 reached, and where we were so fortunate as to find drift-wood. 

 A fire was quickly made, camp pitched, and better still, a 

 meal prepared. On the previous day a seal, the only one 

 secured on the trip, had been shot, and we were now in a 

 position to appreciate it. The three western half-breeds were 

 still fairly strong, but the remaining five of us were very 

 weak and badly used up. We knew now, however, that we 

 could be no great distance from Churchill, for we had again 

 reached the wooded country, and two or three miles back 

 from the shore could be seen dark clumps of spruce trees. 

 This was a most consoling fact, for besides having meat for 

 several days, we felt that we would have shelter and fire. 

 As for launching our canoes again, that was entirely out 



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