e be travelling at any pace his fall is so sudden and
violent that a broken leg is too often the result. Once or twice Blackie
went in nearly to the shoulder, but he invariably scrambled up again all
right-poor fellow, he was reserved for a worse fate, and his long journey
was near its end! A clear cold day followed the day of snow, and for the
first time the thermometer fell below zero.

Day dawned upon us on the 6th November camped in a little thicket of
poplars some seventy miles from the South Saskatchewan; the thermometer
stood 30 below zero, and as I drew the girths tight on poor Blackie's
ribs that morning, I felt happy in the thought that I had slept for the
first time under the stars with 35 degrees of frost lying on the blanket
outside. Another long day's ride, and the last great treeless plain was
crossed and evening found us camped near the Minitchinass, or Solitary
Hill, some sixteen miles south-east of the South Saskatchewan. The grass
again grew long and thick, the clumps of willow, poplar, and birch had
reappeared, and the soil, when we scraped the snow away to make our
sleeping place, turned up black and rich-looking under the blows of the
axe. About midday on the 7th November, in a driving storm of snow, we
suddenly emerged upon a high plateau. Before us, at a little distance, a
great gap or valley seemed to open suddenly out, and farther off the
white sides of hills and dark tree-tops rose into view. Riding to the
edge of this steep valley I beheld a magnificent river flowing between
great banks of ice and snow 300 feet below the level on which we stood.
Upon each side masses of ice stretched out far into the river, but in
the centre, between these banks of ice, ran a swift, black-looking
current the sight of which for a moment filled us with dismay. We had
counted upon the Saskatchewan being firmly locked in ice, and here was
the river rolling along between its icy banks forbidding all passage.
Descending to the low valley of the river, we halted for dinner,
determined to try some method by which to cross this formidable barrier.
An examination of the river and its banks soon revealed the difficulties
before us. The ice, as it approached the open portion, was unsafe,
rendering it impossible to get within reach of the running water.` An
interval of some ten yards separated the sound ice from the current,
while nearly 100 yards of solid ice lay between the true bank of the
river and the dangerous portio