e.

As the people among whom we were going were poor, we ever felt that,
Paul-like, for the furtherance of the Gospel, the wisest course among
those bands who had not fully accepted salvation was to keep ourselves
as far as possible from being burdensome unto them. So my good wife
cooked a generous supply of meat and buns, made as rich with fat as
possible. Fortunate indeed were we in having supplies sufficient for
this to be done. It was not always so. At this very Mission, all we
had one morning for breakfast was a hind-quarter of a wild cat!

All our preparations were completed, and we were ready to start at one
o'clock in the morning. To our great regret a fierce storm arose, and
so we were obliged to wait until the day dawned, ere we could harness
our dogs and venture out. When we had gone about twenty miles, the
storm swept with such power over the great Lake Winnipeg, driving the
recently fallen snow before it, with such a stinging, blinding effect,
that we were forced to give up the struggle, and run into the forest and
camp.

We cleared away the snow from a space about eight feet square. At one
side of this we built up our fire, and over the rest of the cleared
space we spread some evergreen boughs, on which we placed our beds. We
unharnessed our dogs, and thawed out for them some frozen fish. As this
was one of my short trips, I had with me but two dog-trains and two good
Indians. We melted snow in our kettles, and made tea, and cooked some
meat. This, with the bread, of which we were on this trip the happy
possessors, constituted our meals. About sundown we had prayers, and
then, as we had been up most of the previous night, we wrapped ourselves
in our robes and blankets, and went to sleep to the lullaby of the
howling tempest.

About ten o'clock that night I woke up, and, uncovering my head, found
that the storm had ceased. I sprang up and kindled the fire, but my
fingers ached and my body shivered ere I succeeded in getting it to
blaze brightly. I filled the tea-kettle with snow, and while it was
melting I called up my two travelling companions, and also a couple of
young natives, who, with their dog-trains, had joined us. The Indians
can tell with marvellous accuracy the hour of the night by the position
of the Great Bear in the heavens. This is their night clock. I saw by
their puzzled looks, as they gazed at the stars, that they wanted to
tell me I had made a great mistake, if I thou