th' Quebec
law lets us run hounds, 'thout a heavy fine. Never 'd seen either o'
them before, but friends o' theirs we'd been guidin' for gave brother 'n'
me a big recommend, 'n' they wrote up ahead 'n' hired us t' put up th'
teams t' haul them 'n' their traps in, 'n' then guide 'em.

"Soon 's they showed up on th' depot platform at Gracefield, I knowed
brother 'n' me was up agin it hard. Train must 'a been a half-hour late
gettin' to Maniwaki for th' time she lost unloadin' them two fellers'
_necessities_ for a two-weeks' deer hunt: 'bout a dozen gun cases, 'n'
fishin' tackle 'nough for ten men, 'n' trunks 'n' boxes that took three
teams t' haul 'em out t' th' Bertrand farm. Fact is, them boxes held
enough ca'tridges t' lick out another Kiel rebellion 'n' leave over
'nough t' run all th' deer 'tween Thirty-one Mile Lake 'n' the Lievre
plumb north into James's Bay, for if there's anythin' your average
sportin' deer-hunters can be counted on for sure's death 'n' taxes, it's
t' begin throwin' lead, at th' rate o' about ten pound apiece a day, the
minute they gets into th' bush, at rocks 'n' trees 'n' loons 'n'
chipmucks--never killin' nothin' but their chance o' seein' a deer.

"'N' these bloomin' beauties o' our'n was no exception. Th' lead they
wasted on th' two-mile portage from th' Government road t' th' lake would
equip all the Injuns on the Desert Reservation for a winter's hunt.

"Why, when Tom 'n' me got hold o' th' box they'd been takin' ca'tridges
from t' heave her into the boat, she was so light, compared t' th' others
we'd been handlin', we landed her plumb over th' boat in th' water; 'n'
damned if she didn't nigh float. She was the only thing they had light
'nough t' even try t' float ('cept their own shootin,') which sure wasn't
heavy 'nough t' sink none, 'n' could 'a fell out o' a canoe 'n' been
picked up a week later bumpin' 'round with th' other worthless drift.

"Took us a whole day to run their stuff over t' th' camp, 'n' it only a
mile across th' lake from th' landin'; 'n' when night come we was 's near
dead beat 's if we'd been portagin' a man's load apiece on a
tump-line--'n' that's a tub o' pork 'n' a sack 'o flour weighin' two
hundred and seventy five pounds--over every portage 'tween Pointe a
Gatineau 'n' th' Baskatong.

"O' course th' gettin' them fellers over theirselves was a easy
diversion, they was that t' home 'bout a canoe! Youse may not believe
it, but after tryin' a half-hour 'n'