; if I had
tea I would never lie down at all." As I made my bed he continued to sing
to himself, chatter and laugh with a peculiar low chuckle, watching me
all the time. His first brew of tea was quickly made; hot and strong, he
poured it into a cup, and drank it with evident delight; then in went
more water on the leaves and down on the fire again went the little
kettle.` But I was not permitted to lie down without interruption. Chicag
headed a deputation of his brethren, and grew loud over the recital of
his grievances. Between the sturgeon and the Company he appeared to think
himself victim, but I was unable to gather whether the balance of
ill-treatment lay on the side of the fish or of the corporation. Finally
I got rid of the lot, and crept into my bag. Parisiboy sat at the other
side of the fire, grinning and chuckling and sipping his tea. All night
long I heard through my fitful sleep his harsh chuckle and his song.
Whenever I opened my eyes, there was the little old man in the same
attitude, crouching over the fire, which he sedulously kept alight. How
many brews of tea he made, I can't say; but when daylight came he was
still at the work, and as I replenished the kettle the old leaves seemed
well-nigh bleached by continued boilings.

That morning I got away from the camp of Chicag, and crossing one arm of
Cedar Lake reached at noon the Mossy Portage. Striking into the cedar
Forest at this point, I quitted for good the Saskatchewan. Just three
Months earlier I had struck its waters at the South Branch, and since
that day fully 1600 miles of travel had carried me far along its shores.
The Mossy Portage is a low swampy ridge dividing the waters of Cedar Lake
from those of Lake Winnipegoosis. From one lake to the other is a
distance of about four miles. Coming from the Cedar Lake the portage is
quite level until it reaches the close vicinity of the Winnipegoosis,
when there is a steep descent of some forty feet to gain the waters of
the latter lake. These two lakes are supposed to lie at almost the same
level, but I shall not be surprised if a closer examination of their
respective heights proves the Cedar to be some thirty feet higher than
its neighbour the Winnipegoosis. The question is one of considerable
interest, as the Mossy Portage will one day or other form the easy line
of communication between the waters of Red River and those of
Saskatchewan.

It was late in the afternoon when we got the dogs on the br