REGAIN THE TRACK. 



139 



before an insufficient fire, from the scanty- 

 wood we were able to collect. It was my wish 

 to have divided the little provision that re- 

 mained with the dogs, as they had eaten nothing 

 for two days, and I considered them scarcely 

 able to move with the cariole the next morn- 

 ing, at the same time intending to kill one of 

 them the following evening, to meet our wants, 

 should we not succeed in recovering our track. 

 The driver assured me, however, that they 

 would go another day without giving up. 

 From the conversation I had with him, before 

 we started on the following morning, I found 

 that he had no knowledge of our situation on 

 the extensive lake before us, and supposed 

 that the Red River lay to the north, while I 

 thought, from the course of the sun, that it was 

 to the south, and insisted upon his taking that 

 direction, which we did accordingly ; and after 

 a laborious and rather anxious day's toil, we 

 saw some points of small and scattered willow 

 bushes, like those which I knew to be near the 

 entrance of the river. This providentially 

 proved to be the case, otherwise our trials 

 must have been great ; the driver having be- 

 come nearly snow-blind, and incapable of 

 driving the dogs, and the weather becoming 

 more intensely cold and stormy. It may easily 



