It made me shudder to think of spending Sunday there. So
the men were persuaded to try to reach the head of the rapid, which
was three-quarters of a mile farther on, taking forward only the
camp stuff. We were now travelling along the foot of Bald Mountain
seen from the hill on Monday, and passing what is known by the
trappers as North Pole Rapid, which was the wildest of the rapids
so far. The travelling was still rough, and the men were in a
hurry. I could not keep up at all. George wanted to carry my
rifle for me, but I would not let him. I was not pleased with him
just then.
We reached the head of the rapid, and it was beautiful there. A
long terrace stretched away for miles ahead. It was thinly wooded,
as they all were, with spruce and a few poplars, smooth, dry, and
mossy, and thirty feet below us was the river with North Pole Brook
coming in on the other side. It was an ideal place for Sunday
camp.
Though it rained hard through the night the morning was beautiful,
and again I breathed a little sigh of thankfulness that we were not
in the other desolate place farther back. The day would have been
a very restful one had it not been for the flies which steadily
increased in numbers, coaxed back to life and activity by the warm
sunshine. I wanted very much to climb the mountain behind our camp
in the afternoon, but I could not go alone, and the men were taking
a much needed rest. So I wandered about watching the hills and the
river for a while, took a few photographs, and lay in the tent.
Towards evening the flies swarmed over its fly front, getting in in
numbers one could not tell where or how. Still they were nothing
inside to what they were outside. At supper I hated to put up my
veil. They were so thick I could hardly eat. Finally George came
to the rescue, and waving a bag round my head kept them off till I
finished my meal.
While we were at supper Job walked silently into camp with a rifle
under his arm. He had a way of quietly disappearing. You did not
know anything about it till you found he was not there. Then
suddenly be would appear again, his eyes shining. He had
wonderfuly fine eyes, so bright that they startled me sometimes.
Full of energy, quick, clever, he went straight to the point in his
work always without the slightest hesitation. When you saw these
men in the bush you needed no further explanation of their air of
quiet self-confidence.
Job had been up as far as the bend of the river where we were to
leave the Nascaupee for the trappers' cross country route to Seal
Lake.
