It Was Not Without The Greatest Difficulty That I
Could Restrain The Men From Eating Every Scrap They Found, Though
They
were well aware of the necessity there was of being economical in our
present situation and to save whatever
They could for our journey; yet
they could not resist the temptation and whenever my back was turned they
seldom failed to snatch at the nearest piece to them, whether cooked or
raw.
We had set fishing-lines but without any success, and we often saw large
herds of deer crossing the lake at full speed and wolves pursuing them.
The night of the 25th was cold with hard frost. Early the next morning I
sent the men to cover the body of our departed companion Beauparlant with
the trunks and branches of trees which they did and, shortly after their
return, I opened his bundle and found it contained two papers of
vermilion, several strings of beads, some fire-steels, flints, awls,
fish-hooks, rings, linen, and the glass of an artificial horizon. My two
men began to recover a little as well as myself, though I was by far the
weakest of the three; the soles of my feet were cracked all over and the
other parts were as hard as horn from constant walking. I again urged the
necessity of advancing to join the Commander's party but they said they
were not sufficiently strong.
On the 27th we discovered the remains of a deer on which we feasted. The
night was unusually cold and ice formed in a pint-pot within two feet of
the fire. The coruscations of the Aurora Borealis were beautifully
brilliant; they served to show us eight wolves which we had some trouble
to frighten away from our collection of deer's bones and, between their
howling and the constant cracking of the ice, we did not get much rest.
Having collected with great care and by self-denial two small packets of
dried meat or sinews sufficient (for men who knew what it was to fast) to
last for eight days at the rate of one indifferent meal per day, we
prepared to set out on the 30th. I calculated that we should be about
fourteen days in reaching Fort Providence and, allowing that we neither
killed deer nor found Indians, we could but be unprovided with food six
days and this we heeded not whilst the prospect of obtaining full relief
was before us. Accordingly we set out against a keen north-east wind in
order to gain the known route to Fort Providence. We saw a number of
wolves and some crows on the middle of the lake and, supposing such an
assemblage was not met idly, we made for them and came in for a share of
a deer which they had killed a short time before, and thus added a couple
of meals to our stock. By four P.M. we gained the head of the lake or the
direct road to Fort Providence and, some dry wood being at hand, we
encamped; by accident it was the same place where the Commander's party
had slept on the 19th, the day on which I supposed they had left Fort
Enterprise, but the encampment was so small that we feared great
mortality had taken place amongst them, and I am sorry to say the
stubborn resolution of my men not to go to the house prevented me from
determining this most anxious point, so that I now almost dreaded passing
their encampments lest I should see some of our unfortunate friends dead
at each spot. Our fire was hardly kindled when a fine herd of deer passed
close to us. St. Germain pursued them a short distance but with his usual
want of success so that we made a meal off the muscles and sinews we had
dried, though they were so tough that we could scarcely cut them. My
hands were benumbed throughout the march and we were all stiff and
fatigued. The marching of two days weakened us all very much and the more
so on account of our exertion to follow the tracks of our Commander's
party, but we lost them and concluded that they were not before us.
Though the weather was not cold I was frozen in the face and was so
reduced and affected by these constant calamities, as well in mind as in
body, that I found much difficulty in proceeding even with the advantages
I had enjoyed.
November 3.
We set out before day, though in fact we were all much fitter to remain
from the excessive pain which we suffered in our joints, and proceeded
till one P.M. without halting, when Belanger who was before stopped and
cried out "Footsteps of Indians." It is needless to mention the joy that
brightened the countenances of each at this unlooked-for sight; we knew
relief must be at hand and considered our sufferings at an end. St.
Germain inspected the tracks and said that three persons had passed the
day before, and that he knew the remainder must be advancing to the
southward as was customary with these Indians when they sent to the
trading establishment on the first ice. On this information we encamped
and, being too weak to walk myself, I sent St. Germain to follow the
tracks, with instructions to the chief of the Indians to provide
immediate assistance for such of our friends as might be at Fort
Enterprise, as well as for ourselves, and to lose no time in returning to
me. I was now so exhausted that, had we not seen the tracks this day, I
must have remained at the next encampment until the men could have sent
aid from Fort Providence. We had finished our small portion of sinews and
were preparing for rest when an Indian boy made his appearance with meat.
St. Germain had arrived before sunset at the tents of Akaitcho whom he
found at the spot where he had wintered last year, but imagine my
surprise when he gave me a note from the Commander and said that Benoit
and Augustus, two of the men, had just joined them.
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