I was not very sure
of it myself. I put down my little load.
Wallace said, "Is this the place?"
I said, "Yes."
So I went to where I thought we had left the flour. I dug down
into the snow and just came on it. It was, of course, in one solid
lump and black with mould. We got our knife and broke it off in
bits and ate quite a bit. We were just about played out when we
came to the flour. If I hadn't killed the partridge we would never
have got to the flour.
We gathered some wood and made a fire. No trees at all so as to
break the wind. All barren and the wind sharp, and clear night.
We gathered enough wood for the night, and had the rest of the
partridge, and also some flour soup in our little tea pail, and
only wishing Mr. Hubbard was with us to enjoy the meal too. We
thought and talked about Mr. Hubbard all the time, although at the
same time having poor hopes of him. Mr. Wallace nearly blind and
suffering with his eyes.
I sat up all night and kept on a fire. I was very uneasy about
Wallace and afraid be would not be able to go back to Mr. Hubbard
with the flour; but in the morning he was better and we did some
patching on our old moccasins. We had some flour soup. Last night
I did not notice in the dark the colour of our soup, till this
morning when we had our breakfast about daylight. It was just
black with the mouldy flour; but we found it very good. Nothing
was too bad for us to eat. We were feeling good and fresh in the
morning and expecting to make good time in travelling. I took my
share of the flour, about two pounds, and gave Mr. Wallace about
six or seven pounds, stuck fast on the bag. He told me to take
more, but I would not take any more. I said, "I will trust in
getting some game," as I would get to the wood country soon.
Before we parted I read the Sixty-seventh Psalm -
"God be merciful unto us and bless us, and cause his face to shine
upon us.
"That thy way may be known upon the earth, thy saving health among
all nations.
"Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.
"O let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for thou shalt judge
the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth.
"Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.
"Then shall the earth yield her increase: and God even our God
shall bless us.
"God shall bless us: and all the ends of the earth shall fear him."
Then I read a Thanksgiving Prayer:
"Almighty God, Father of all Mercies, we Thine unworthy servants do
give Thee most humble and hearty thanks for all Thy goodness and
loving-kindness to us and to all men. We bless Thee for our
creation and preservation and all the blessings of this life; but
above all for Thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world
by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace and for the hope
of glory. And we beseech Thee give us that due sense of all Thy
mercies, that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful and that we
shew forth Thy praise not only with our lips, but in our lives, by
giving up ourselves to Thy service and by walking before Thee in
holiness and righteousness all our days, through Jesus Christ our
Lord. To Whom with Thee and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory
world without end. Amen."
Then I told him what to do, for him not to leave the river, but to
follow the river. I was afraid he might some time leave the river
and wouldn't be able to find the river again, and lose his way.
And if he gets to Hubbard and Hubbard yet alive, "if he gets little
stronger by this flour, should he wish to come on, do the same,
follow the river near, all the time; because if I happen to get
down safe, and if I am too weak to come up myself when I send up
help I shall tell them which side of the river to follow and they
will surely meet you."
We found sorry to part, not knowing if we would meet again; but we
must try and help Hubbard and do all we can for him. Wallace
starts off on our back trail and I started toward Grand Lake. We
said, "Good-bye, and 'God be with you till we meet again,'" to each
other. We parted on a barren hill and could see each other for
some time. We would just walk a few yards and sing out to each
other, "Good-bye." This we kept on till out of sight and some
distance apart.
It snowed very hard all day, and couldn't hardly see any distance.
In the afternoon I killed a porcupine. How I wished I could give
some to the boys.
Wednesday, 21st, had snowed heavy all night, and made heavy
travelling without snowshoes, and the snow above my knees. To-day
I saw a caribou and got a shot at him with my pistol. In the
evening I killed another porcupine. I thought, "I shall be able to
get out to Grand Lake now if the snow don't get too deep for me."
ThursdaY, 22nd. Snowing very hard again and cold. I made a fire
at noon and tried to patch my shoe-packs but I couldn't spare time.
I walked with only my socks, on in the afternoon and made poor
time, as the country very rough and the snow very deep.
