Here, On The Opposite Bank, They Saw
The Thirteen Men Of Mr. Crooks's Party, Who Had Continued Up
Along The River.
They told Mr. Hunt, across the stream, that they
had not seen Mr. Crooks, and the two men who had remained with
him, since the day that he had separated from them.
The canoe proving too small, another horse was killed, and the
skin of it joined to that of the first. Night came on before the
little bark had made more than two voyages. Being badly made it
was taken apart and put together again, by the light of the fire.
The night was cold; the men were weary and disheartened with such
varied and incessant toil and hardship. They crouched, dull and
drooping, around their fires; many of them began to express a
wish to remain where they were for the winter. The very necessity
of crossing the river dismayed some of them in their present
enfeebled and dejected state. It was rapid and turbulent, and
filled with floating ice, and they remembered that two of their
comrades had already perished in its waters. Others looked
forward with misgivings to the long and dismal journey through
lonesome regions that awaited them, when they should have passed
this dreary flood.
At an early hour of the morning, December 23d, they began to
cross the river. Much ice had formed during the night, and they
were obliged to break it for some distance on each shore. At
length they all got over in safety to the west side; and their
spirits rose on having achieved this perilous passage.
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