42 
FOREST AND STREAM 
July 13, 1912 
As I had a very large load, Namaygoose offered 
to carry two pieces of baggage for me to the end 
• of his journey. With lightened loads we sped 
rapidly on our way. The start was made at mid¬ 
day, and at night we camped on the muskeg near 
Knee Lake, having accomplished a distance of 
twenty miles. Bob was very lame and Carlo was 
sick. Considering these disabilities, we did very 
well. At this place wood for the fire and spruce 
boughs for the camp were more than ordinarily 
scarce, and so this could not be reckoned among 
the most comfortable of my camps. Namay¬ 
goose manufactured a loaf from snow-water and 
flour and called it “bannock.” I succeeded in 
devouring it after several attempts. 
Leaving camp long before daylight we 
dashed across the portage at full speed. The 
low hanging branches slapped us in the face; 
fallen trees caught our feet; short sticks and 
stumps gouged us. The trailing sled rope seemed 
bound to entangle itself about my limbs, and 
the ups and downs of the trail, which could 
not be calculated in that gloomy hour before 
dawn, seemed to mock all efforts to preserve 
the balance, and finally at a turn in the trail the 
dogs stopped abruptly and my headlong flight 
carried me over the sled into a heap near my 
sled dog. He immediately wagged his tail by 
way of showing sympathy. This is a fair sam¬ 
ple of early morning travel ’ere old Sol aids the 
traveler by his friendly rays. 
At a little after noon we arrived at Oxford 
House where my dogs for safe keeping were 
placed in the dog yard belonging to the Hud¬ 
son’s Bay Company. During the hours of night 
Carlo could be heard making a fearful outcry. 
He had already caused me considerable trouble 
by his home-seeking proclivities, and he now 
seemed determined to get out of that yard and 
go home. Early in the morning I hastened to 
the dog yard and found a small piece of wood 
chewed from one of the upright logs that formed 
the inclosure. Through this aperture Cubre and 
Carlo had effected their escape. But two of my 
dogs remained in the yard. It was surprising 
to note through how small a space the dogs had 
managed to drag their bulk. 
Immediately men were sent off to search for 
the escaped canines that were so necessary for 
our trip. Several days later Cubre was brought 
back. He had followed an Indian dog train 
down Oxford Lake for thirty miles and had 
there made his home until recaptured. Two or 
three days after this a sled came in from God’s 
Lake and there in the harness was Carlo, my 
runaway dog. Upon effecting his escape he had 
made for his home at God’s Lake with as much 
speed as was possible. He bore the marks of 
having been whipped severely, but I did not re¬ 
sent such treatment at this time, as I otherwise 
would have done knowing that he needed pun¬ 
ishment. 
I was delayed still longer at Oxford House 
endeavoring to engage a dog train and driver to 
accompany me to Norway House. Finally an 
English-speaking fellow whose name for various 
reason I will not give, was engaged for the trip. 
He was the only available man at the time, pos¬ 
sessing a fairly good dog train. 
As the mail packet from York Factory, 
known as the “York Packet,” was soon to arrive 
and Mr. Campbell the trader with his several 
dog trains was to accompany it to Norway 
House, I decided to wait until after Christmas 
and enjoy their company. It saved me the ex¬ 
pense of employing a guide, as both the “Packet” 
and Mr. Campbell’s teams had men to run ahead 
of the dogs. 
On Tuesday, Dec. 27, my sled was early 
packed, and after waiting two hours for my 
man he came up hurriedly to inform me that 
he could not go to Norway House. I demanded 
a reason for thus breaking a contract and leav¬ 
ing me in the lurch. He replied: “You white 
men change your minds and I change my mind, 
too.” I was unable to convince him of the dif¬ 
ference between a man’s engagement of his own 
private affairs and the sacredness of a contract 
that involved the interests of others. The man 
had a special dislike for Norway House, and the 
vicinity of the police barracks, as he had been 
accused of “borrowing” a gun without the 
owner’s permission and of taking a cross fox 
from a man’s trap and selling it as his own. 
On a former trip to Norway House this 
recreant dog driver had been given an order for 
five dollars in goods at the company’s store. To 
the figure “5” he had prefixed a “1,” thus mak¬ 
ing the sum of “15.” To increase this amount 
still more he had used a different pencil to alter 
the “5” to an “8” and then presented finally an 
order for eighteen dollars. For this, as well as 
for his other misdoings, he was wanted by the 
police, and so I did not wonder at his reluctance 
to go thither. 
As the company’s trains were not ready for 
the start I boldly launched forth upon the frozen 
lake. The cold was intense. As I had but a 
fair-sized load, I was able to keep from freezing 
by the exercise of running and driving. All 
went well for the first ten miles, when upon 
coming to a fork in the trail I was obliged to 
leave the dogs for a moment to ascertain which 
road I was to take. This brief stop sufficed to 
chill me thoroughly. To add to the dangers I 
found that Carlo, anxious to be freed from his 
traces, had cut two of them with his teeth. 
Things appeared rather dismal for a time, as I 
had nothing with me with which to repair the 
damage. After giving Carlo the punishment he 
deserved, there was nothing left to do but to 
await Mr. Campbell’s arrival. He quickly re¬ 
paired the traces and lending me his warm bear 
skin mittens for my half frozen hands, he made 
me drive hard toward the far distant shore. He 
led the way at a rapid pace and I was obliged 
to fasten the sled rope to my benumbed body 
to avoid being left behind. Not until after many 
miles did I again become warm and regain the 
proper use of arms and limbs. This experience 
taught me a lesson. After this I always carried 
twine or deer skin along with me on my jour¬ 
neys, as well as an awl with which to mend 
broken harness or sled. 
A heavy fall of snow the first night that con¬ 
tinued until noon of the following day rendered 
traveling very laborious. With the York Packet 
were two trains of “Husky” dogs, very slow and 
hard-pulling animals. Mr. Campbell had with 
him three trains and these with mine made a 
procession of six long dog trains. We had a 
very good chance to compare the “Husky” with 
the ordinary Indian dog of the country. Of 
course the Eskimo dog, or Husky was the hardier 
of the two, the strongest haulers, the most en¬ 
during and the least particular about their food. 
We however found our dogs to be much speedier 
and in traveling behind the Packet we were 
obliged many times to stop and permit the 
Huskies to go ahead for a mile or two after 
which our trains rapidly came up again. 
On the third morning the start was made 
while the sky was still studded with stars. While 
descending a very steep hill, my sled upset and 
dogs, driver and sled were precipitated into the 
soft depths of a great snowdrift at the foot of 
the hill. Before dogs and harness could be ex¬ 
tricated and rearranged, and the snow shaken 
from my clothing, the other trains were far 
away across the lake. My dogs were able to 
follow the trail, however, and were eager to 
catch up. We crossed the four-mile portage at 
such a rapid rate that several times in the dark¬ 
ness I was thrown violently to the ground. After 
a twelve or fifteen-mile run we came up to the 
other sleds. 
Hearing that the mail had been carried as 
far as an Indian house a mile or two ahead and 
left there, Mr. Campbell suddenly became very 
energetic in breaking a road, and hastened on 
ahead to get his mail. Previously he had found 
it more convenient to stay behind with his much 
vaunted train of five fresh dogs, and leave the 
road making and the road breaking to the tired 
dogs of the Packet, which had already experi¬ 
enced a ten or twelve days’ trip. But for this 
mile or two he generously went ahead. After 
reading his mail and eating his dinner he took 
his original position behind the Packet. 
It soon became my duty to lead the way, and 
despite the fact that I had one lame dog, one 
sick animal, and a third was a puppy, my train 
did splendidly for some time. When the dogs 
began to lag, another train took their place. We 
had been joined by this time by three Indian dog 
trains and presented an interesting sight as the 
nine trains followed the windings of the crooked 
trail across the muskegs and lakes. At night two 
large camps were made to accommodate the 
party. 
While carelessly felling trees one of the 
men dropped a large spruce tree full upon Carlo’s 
back. With a yelp he was buried in the snow 
and I heard Mr. Campbell exclaim in Cree: 
“Surely, he is killed!” But when the tree was 
lifted poor Carlo staggered forth in a dazed 
condition and wandered off in the woods. I 
followed him for a distance, and after throw¬ 
ing him a few spruce boughs for a bed, I left 
him until the morning. He did recognize me 
and I fullly expected to find him dead in the 
morning. However, he had so far recovered 
that I put him in the harness and he made forty 
miles that day. 
At this camp a thrilling experience befell 
us. During the night we were awakened by a 
choking sensation to find that the wind, which 
had greatly increased in force, had also changed 
direction, and the embers of the fire had been 
blown into activity and sparks were being show¬ 
ered over our bedding and equipment. Hastily 
throwing our belongings to the other side of the 
fire, we jumped through the flame and made 
haste to place ourselves beyond its reach. There 
in the cold and snow we rearranged the camp 
and searched for our several possessions. For 
some time I looked in vain for my moccasins 
and cup, and to this day I have not found my 
knife, fork and spoon, and a number of the be¬ 
longings of the party were consumed in the 
flames. 
On the last day of the trip we were astir 
