102 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



We feared that he had lost his way in 

 coming to us in the morning, although it 

 was not easy to conjecture how that could 

 have happened, as our footsteps of yester- 

 day were very distinct. Hepburn went 

 hack for the tent, and returned with it after 

 dusk, completely worn out with the fatigue 

 of the day. Michel too arrived at the 

 same time, and relieved our anxiety on his 

 account. He reported that he had been 

 in chase of some deer which passed near 

 his sleeping-place in the morning, and al- 

 though he did not come up with them, yet 

 that he found a wolf which had been killed 

 by the stroke of a deer's horn, and had 

 brought a part of it. We implicitly believed 

 this story then, but afterwards became con- 

 vinced from circumstances, the detail of 

 which may be spared, that it must have 

 been a portion of the body of Belanger or 

 Perrault. A question of moment here pre- 

 sents itself; namely, whether he actually 

 murdered these men, or either of them, or 

 whether he found the bodies in the snow. 

 Captain Franklin, who is the best able to 



