167 
forest and s t r e am 
amusing to see them turn grave when they clap¬ 
ped eyes on us. The older man told us that his 
party was going up country for a month or two, 
that the big forest fires were south of the Sa¬ 
guenay; that was pas d’eau (to which last 
sentiment we said “You bet,” in all the languages 
we knew). The men brought through another 
load while we were eating, but the youngsters did 
not return. 
When we tcok our stuff across we found quite 
an encampment at the other end of the portage. 
Yet the whole crowd had only two canoes. They 
seemed to travel on the instalment plan. 
Of course a novice cannot fool Indians into 
thinking him a real backwoodsman, but he al¬ 
ways tries. J-, for instance, instead of drop¬ 
ping his canoe on land must needs dump it right 
into the water. Fortunately he did not hit a 
rock. W also pulled off a very professional 
trick by putting his packs aboard without first 
piling them on the bank. It remained for me 
to give away the whole show. My bottom pack 
somehow twisted right around and I staggered 
through the midst of the Indians holding things 
in place with both hands and my teeth. The 
younger man saw the joke and winked at me. 
J - gossiped and found that these people 
had come from Chicoutimi by another route 
than ours. Out came la chart dc la Government 
of Canada and everybody grouped around it 
while things were explained. The effect was 
most picturesque. It looked like an early Chris¬ 
tian missionary expounding gospel to the heathen. 
The new route was impracticable for us, and 
after taking a picture we said au revoir. 
The wading was easier because the Indians 
had cleared a channel, and we were now doing 
portages in one clip with man-sized packs, so 
were able to camp early on Lac a l’Oure. Un¬ 
wisely we washed our clothes. I say unwisely, 
because there was no heat in the sun and my 
well-meant efforts with a fire resulted more in 
smoking than drying. Rabbits were thick, but 
we held a big killing and had a quiet night. 
August io—Next day the sky was clear and 
the weather sultry hot. I had the canoe on the 
long portage and experienced a frightful down¬ 
fall. There were lots of reasons, perhaps. For 
one thing, the inverted canoe was like a furnace. 
But logic does not lessen discomfort. I blew up 
entirely half or three-quarters of a mile from 
the end, and W-, having polished off his job, 
relieved me. He reported more Indians ahead. 
J > a ' so P r etty tired, met me and we walked 
slowly through together. We were literally 
drenched with perspiration and bruised and 
strained by our loads. We felt quite sick of life. 
e reader must pardon my hazy idea of this 
incident. If recollection were to be trusted we 
found four Indians sitting at a table near the 
water, their eyes gravely fixed on an object about 
teen feet in front of them. Of course there 
wasnt any table; they probably squatted behind 
a log. But they certainly were too concerned 
with what they saw to return our bon jour. 
ow t e cynosure of those steady eyes was a 
canoe on the ground, bottom up. It looked 
somewhat familiar, but I was much startled to 
see it heave about and to hear W-’s voice is¬ 
sue from beneath imploring help. It resembled 
a communication from the spirit world The ex¬ 
planation was simple. The trail branched near its 
end, one branch being blind-running over a six- 
■f't 
Ml 
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Krl*. 
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'iP-i 
Kim 
Montaignais Indians on Their Way Up 
foot bank and then stopping. W-walked gayly 
down the bank and could not get foothold io 
climb back. Those confounded bucks had sat 
there for ten minutes without raising a hand 
to help. 
Perhaps this should be pardoned. They told 
J they were going up-country for the win¬ 
ter. They certainly had thousands of pounds to 
carry. On the beach, for instance, were piled 
more than twenty hundred-pound sacks of flour. 
We had lunch on the island of the abandoned 
cabin. The female portion of the Indian party 
was camped on the next portage. Their dogs 
showed some inclination to tackle us, but we 
discouraged them. Again we tried to bluff at 
being tremendous campers, and this time did 
quite well, for we were loaded and swinging 
over the trail in three shakes. 
We decided to try for a horse and wagon at 
the Indian house on the Shipshaw. Approaching, 
we saw some kind of religious ceremony going 
on around the cross. It occurred to me that 
this might be consecrated ground, in which case 
we were probably witnessing a funeral. Not so; 
for in a minute the people all extended their 
hands toward the cross, inclined their heads, and 
trotted cheerfully away. It seemed to be a kind 
of backwoods vespers. 
Landing, we walked behind the house, past a 
fat squaw who was cooking most amazing black 
beans over an open air fire, and conversed with 
some men whittling away at canoe ribs. That is, 
W- conversed; despite his objections, we al- 
the Peribonca for the Winter Trapping. 
I think he offered to lend us a horse to ride ove 
on, for he made galloping motions with hi 
hands, and said, Vite, plus vite. J-howeve 
chose to foot it while W- and I got suppe 
at camp. 
came in at dusk, weary but successful 
He had a wagon and a voiture, to arrive a 
seven the next morning. Price, five dollar 
cash, and our considerable store of extra pro 
visions. He said the owners of these vehicle: 
wer.e English by descent and proud of the fact 
but they spoke only French. They made sev 
eral remarks about some guerre or other, whicl 
- naturally enough took to be the little dif¬ 
ficulty between Wolfe and Montcalm. His pari 
ways pushed him to the front in these matters. 
On the present occasion he began by asking for 
a dog instead of a horse, but soon caught his 
stride and found there was no horse nearer 
than Lac Claire. We went on to our first camp 
and walked through to the house at the lake. 
Here a kindly Frenchwoman and her very pretty 
daughter answered our questions. They had a 
horse, but no wagon; thought there were wag¬ 
ons on. Lac Charles, two miles along toward 
Chicoutimi. The man of the house, cheery but 
hard of hearing, appeared, and bore out this idea. 
of the conversation must have rung oddly! Ev 
in Quebec, events since the first of August, 191 
have made that fight a matter of purely academ 
interest. 
August 11 Our conveyances came at seve 
a. m. sharp, and we were soon aboard. TI 
drivers did have some English, after all_th 
word “giddap.” They produced it proudly an 
used it often. The meaning had been reverse 
for the horses stopped dead every time the 
heard the command! During most of the tri 
it rained hard and steadily, which was only ou 
due, for note that we had camped two week 
without a rainy day—the most remarkabl 
weather record I can remember. Our men drop 
ped us at the ferry landing, wet and chilly. Whei 
the boat came in we hustled our stuff aboard am 
took refuge in the baggage room. There wer 
leaks in the roof, but steam pipes kept the plac 
warm. The ferry was a long time starting, an< 
many people came to look us over. Amom 
them was a man who spoke good English, am 
with him we held much converse. 
And here, in all good conscience, this chron¬ 
icle should end. There were other adventures, 
grave and gay, but the magic was not in them. 
W* felt the change as we carried our loads 
through the mud to dry land. Behind us, across 
the wind-swept river, the forest had closed its 
doors for another year. 
