In Vain Did We Urge The Improbability Of The Former
Accident, Or The Peaceable Character Of The Dog-Ribs, So Little In
Conformity With The Latter.
"The ice at this season was deceitful," they
said "and the Dog-Ribs, though unwarlike, were treacherous." These
assertions,
So often repeated, had some effect upon the spirits of our
Canadian voyagers who seldom weigh any opinion they adopt, but we
persisted in treating their fears as chimerical for, had we seemed to
listen to them for a moment, it is more than probable that the whole of
our Indians would have gone to Fort Providence in search of supplies, and
we should have found it extremely difficult to have recovered them.
The matter was put to rest by the appearance of Belanger on the morning
of the 23rd and the Indians, now running into the opposite extreme, were
disposed to give us more credit for our judgment than we deserved. They
had had a tedious and fatiguing journey to Fort Providence and for some
days were destitute of provisions.
Belanger arrived alone; he had walked constantly for the last
six-and-thirty hours, leaving his Indian companions encamped at the last
woods, they being unwilling to accompany him across the barren grounds
during the storm that had prevailed for several days and blew with
unusual violence on the morning of his arrival. His locks were matted
with snow and he was encrusted with ice from head to foot so that we
scarcely recognised him when he burst in upon us.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 332 of 649
Words from 89538 to 89794
of 176017
