Had My Poor Friend Been Spared To Revisit His Native Land I
Should Look Back To This Period With Unalloyed Delight.
On the morning of the 9th the weather although still cold was clear, and
I went out in quest of tripe de roche, leaving Hepburn to cut willows for
a fire and Mr. Hood in bed.
I had no success as yesterday's snow-drift
was so frozen on the surface of the rocks that I could not collect any of
the weed, but on my return to the tent I found that Michel the Iroquois
had come with a note from Mr. Franklin which stated that, this man and
Jean Baptiste Belanger being unable to proceed, were about to return to
us, and that a mile beyond our present encampment there was a clump of
pine-trees to which he recommended us to remove the tent. Michel informed
us that he quitted Mr. Franklin's party yesterday morning but that having
missed his way he had passed the night on the snow a mile or two to the
northward of us. Belanger he said, being impatient, left the fire about
two hours earlier and, as he had not arrived, he supposed must have gone
astray. It will be seen in the sequel that we had more than sufficient
reason to doubt the truth of this story.
Michel now produced a hare and a partridge which he had killed in the
morning. This unexpected supply of provision was received by us with a
deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty for His goodness, and we looked
upon Michel as the instrument He had chosen to preserve all our lives. He
complained of cold and Mr. Hood offered to share his buffalo robe with
him at night. I gave him one of two shirts which I wore whilst Hepburn in
the warmth of his heart exclaimed "How I shall love this man if I find
that he does not tell lies like the others." Our meals being finished we
arranged that the greatest part of the things should be carried to the
pines the next day and, after reading the evening service, retired to bed
full of hope.
Early in the morning Hepburn, Michel, and myself, carried the ammunition
and most of the other heavy articles to the pines. Michel was our guide
and it did not occur to us at the time that his conducting us perfectly
straight was incompatible with his story of having mistaken his road in
coming to us. He now informed us that he had on his way to the tent left
on the hill above the pines a gun and forty-eight balls which Perrault
had given to him when with the rest of Mr. Franklin's party he took leave
of him. It will be seen on a reference to Mr. Franklin's journal that
Perrault carried his gun and ammunition with him when they parted from
Michel and Belanger. After we had made a fire and drank a little of the
country tea Hepburn and I returned to the tent where we arrived in the
evening, much exhausted with our journey. Michel preferred sleeping where
he was and requested us to leave him the hatchet, which we did after he
had promised to come early in the morning to assist us in carrying the
tent and bedding. Mr. Hood remained in bed all day. Seeing nothing of
Belanger today we gave him up for lost.
On the 11th, after waiting until late in the morning for Michel who did
not come, Hepburn and I loaded ourselves with the bedding and,
accompanied by Mr. Hood, set out for the pines. Mr. Hood was much
affected with dimness of sight, giddiness, and other symptoms of extreme
debility, which caused us to move very slowly and to make frequent halts.
On arriving at the pines we were much alarmed to find that Michel was
absent. We feared that he had lost his way in coming to us in the
morning, although it was not easy to conjecture how that could have
happened, as our footsteps of yesterday were very distinct. Hepburn went
back for the tent and returned with it after dusk, completely worn out
with the fatigue of the day. Michel too arrived at the same time and
relieved our anxiety on his account. He reported that he had been in
chase of some deer which passed near his sleeping-place in the morning
and, although he did not come up with them, yet that he found a wolf
which had been killed by the stroke of a deer's horn and had brought a
part of it. We implicitly believed this story then, but afterwards became
convinced from circumstances, the detail of which may be spared, that it
must have been a portion of the body of Belanger or Perrault. A question
of moment here presents itself, namely whether he actually murdered these
men, or either of them, or whether he found the bodies in the snow.
Captain Franklin, who is the best able to judge of this matter from
knowing their situation when he parted from them, suggested the former
idea, and that both Belanger and Perrault had been sacrificed. When
Perrault turned back Captain Franklin watched him until he reached a
small group of willows which was immediately adjoining to the fire and
concealed it from view, and at this time the smoke of fresh fuel was
distinctly visible. Captain Franklin conjectures that Michel, having
already destroyed Belanger, completed his crime by Perrault's death in
order to screen himself from detection. Although this opinion is founded
only on circumstances and is unsupported by direct evidence it has been
judged proper to mention it, especially as the subsequent conduct of the
man showed that he was capable of committing such a deed. The
circumstances are very strong. It is not easy to assign any other
adequate motive for his concealing from us that Perrault had turned back,
while his request overnight that we should leave him the hatchet and his
cumbering himself with it when he went out in the morning, unlike a
hunter who makes use only of his knife when he kills a deer, seem to
indicate that he took it for the purpose of cutting up something that he
knew to be frozen.
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