We got to the rapid about noon, all feeling very, very weak. I
started a fire. By the time I got some wood and had my fire
started they had already enough fish for a pretty fair meal and, of
course, you can imagine how glad we were and did not delay much
time but got our fish for lunch. It was nice to have something to
eat again. We were pretty sure of getting lots more. After lunch
Mr. Hubbard and Wallace fished. It was good signs of caribou round
there. I took the rifle and tracked up the caribou, but I saw
nothing. It was late when I got back. The boys were still
fishing. They had caught about sixty more little trout. We felt
as if we could eat all those fish in one meal, but seeing they were
so scarce we had to try and save some for the next day.
Saturday, October 10th. - We fished all before noon and did not get
any at all. So we had to start off from there, seeing it was no
use in trying to fish any more. We came to some more rapids in the
afternoon. Wallace and I ran some with empty canoe, and then went
back for our dunnage, while Mr. Hubbard would fish. It got very
cold in the afternoon. Mr. Hubbard caught about twenty little
trout. Looking forward we hoped next day to get to our old camp,
Camp Caribou, where we killed our caribou August 12th. We thought
that may be we will find some of the old bones so as to make some
broth, thinking it would help us some. We camped just near the
river where we could get lots of wood, and have a good camp fire so
we could sit beside the camp fire and have a good talk about home.
Mr. Hubbard tells me he will get a room for me in New York. He
again that night asked me to stay with him a couple of months in
Congers before I go home to Missanabie, and also to pay him a visit
real often, and also that he would never go out doing any
travelling without me.
He said, "I am sure Mrs. Hubbard will not be able to do enough for
you, especially when she knows how good you have been to me. I
would like to have you come with me to Michigan. I am sure my
sister would like to have you tell them the story about our trip."
Sunday, October llth. - Had four small trout for lunch, only little
larger than a sardine. Late in the evening we came to our old
camp, where we had the caribou. Most of the bones were carried off
by some animals. Picked up all we could find and made some broth,
and very, very strong broth too, which I suppose no one could
hardly believe that any human being could eat. The bones were full
of maggots, and when it boiled for some time the maggots would boil
out. It just looked like if it had been little rice in it. We
drunk it up maggots and all. It was pretty high, but found it
good. Nothing was too bad for us to eat.
Monday, October 12th. - Fine day. In the morning we had bone broth
again and tea. We started off carrying all the bones we could find
in our pail, also taking the caribou horns with us. At noon we had
broth and piece of the hide we got off from the caribou horns. In
the evening we came to a rapid. Hubbard and I nearly swamped the
canoe, and part of the rapid was too rough to run. It was only
just a short lift over, about 100 feet. The three of us took the
canoe, and before getting over we dropped it. We were getting so
weak that it took the three of us to carry the canoe, and yet we
couldn't even that distance. We looked at each other, but none
complained of his weakness. We found we could not go any farther
without something to eat. We ate one of Mr. Hubbard's old
moccasins, made out of caribou skin, that he made himself. We
boiled it in the frying pan, till it got kind of soft, and we
shared in three parts. Each had his share and found it good, and
also drank up the water where it was boiled in. At night we had
some tea, and it freshened us up some.
Tuesday, October 13th. - Wind raw and cold. We came to a little
fall we had to carry over, quite short, about 40 feet portage, but
our canoe we hadn't the strength to carry. We had to drag it over
the rocks.
I shot a whisky jack, and we had it along with our bone broth and
tea. Not knowing what our next meal would be, or whether we will
ever have the pleasure of enjoying another meal, it looked very
much like starvation.
My back was aching quite a bit that day. Touch of lumbago. It
made things worse for me. I thought it would be impossible for me
to try and go any farther. So I told Mr. Hubbard that if I did not
feel any better in the morning, they could go on and try to make
their way out and leave me behind, because I did not want to delay
them in the least. For all, I was sure they would never make their
way out; but I thought they might try anyway. Mr. Hubbard was
very, very sorry about it; but he said he hoped I'd be better in
the morning.
Wednesday, October 14th. - The boys were up before me and had a fire
on. It was some time before I could get up; but I was feeling
better than I did the night before.
