Thus For A Time, In Present Revelry, However
Uncouth, They Forgot All Past Troubles And All Anxieties About
The Future, And Their Forlorn Wigwam Echoed To The Sound Of
Gayety.
The next day they resumed their labors, and by the 6th of the
month it was complete.
They soon killed abundance of buffalo, and
again laid in a stock of winter provisions. The party were more
fortunate in this, their second cantonment. The winter passed
away without any Indian visitors, and the game continued to be
plenty in the neighborhood. They felled two large trees, and
shaped them into canoes; and, as the spring opened, and a thaw of
several days' continuance melted the ice in the river, they made
every preparation for embarking. On the 8th of March they
launched forth in their canoes, but soon found that the river had
not depth sufficient even for such slender barks. It expanded
into a wide but extremely shallow stream, with many sand-bars,
and occasionally various channels. They got one of their canoes a
few miles down it, with extreme difficulty, sometimes wading and
dragging it over the shoals; at length they had to abandon the
attempt, and to resume their journey on foot, aided by their
faithful old pack-horse, who had recruited strength during the
repose of the winter.
The weather delayed them for a few days, having suddenly become
more rigorous than it had been at any time during the winter; but
on the 20th of March they were again on their journey.
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