eem ourselves when at
nightfall a low line of willows would rise above the sea of reeds to bid
us seek its shelter for the night. The snow became deeper as we
proceeded. At the Pasquia three feet lay level over the country, and the
dogs sank deep as they toiled along. Through this great marsh the
Saskatchewan winds in tortuous course, its flooded level in summer scarce
lower than the alluvial shores that line it. The bends made by the river
would have been too long to follow, so we held a straight track through
the marsh, cutting the points as we travelled. It was difficult to
imagine that this many-channelled, marsh-lined river could be the same
noble stream whose mountain birth I had beheld far away in the Rocky
Mountains, and whose central course had lain for so many miles through
the bold precipitous bank of the Western prairies.

On the 7th February we emerged from this desolate region of lake and
swamp, and saw before us in the twilight a ridge covered with dense
woods. It was the west shore of the Cedar Lake, and on the wooded
promontory towards which we steered some Indian sturgeon-fishers had
pitched their lodges. But I had not got thus far without much trouble and
vexatious resistance. Of the three men from Cumberland, one had utterly
knocked up, and the other two had turned mutinous. What cared they for my
anxiety to push on for Red River? What did it matter if the whole world
was at war? Nay, must I not be the rankest of impostors; for if there was
war away beyond the big sea, was that not the very reason why any man
possessing a particle of sense should take his time over the journey, and
be in no hurry to get back again to his house?

One night I reached the post of Moose Lake a few hours before daybreak,
having been induced to make the flank march by representations of the
wonderful train of dogs at that station, and being anxious to obtain
them in addition to my own: It is almost needless to remark that these
dogs had no existence except in the imagination of Bear and his
companion. Arrived at Moose Lake (one of the most desolate spots-I had'
ever looked upon), I found out that the dog-trick was not the only one
my men intended playing upon me, for a message was sent in by Bear to
the effect that his dogs were unable to stand the hard travel of the
past week, and that he could no longer accompany me. Here was a pleasant
prospect--stranded on the wild shores of the Moose Lake with one train of
dogs, dese