usual time, it was generally for the
purpose of drawing the attention of the entertained party from some
movement of their entertainers.

Thus, upon one occasion the Hudson Bay Company's lookout reported that
he had discovered the tracks of Indians in the snow, and that he thought
they had just returned from a hunting expedition. No sooner was this
heard than a grand ball was given to the North-West Company, Great
preparations were made; the men, dressed in their newest capotes and
gaudiest hat-cords, visited each other, and nothing was thought of or
talked of but the ball. The evening came, and with it the guests; and
soon might be heard within the fort sounds of merriment and revelry, as
they danced, in lively measures, to a Scottish reel, played by some
native fiddler upon a violin of his own construction. Without the
gates, however, a very different scene met the eye. Down in a hollow,
where the lofty trees and dense underwood threw a shadow on the ground,
a knot of men might be seen, muffled in their leathern coats and fur
caps, hurrying to and fro with bundles on their backs and snow-shoes
under their arms; packing and tying them firmly on trains of
dog-sledges, which stood, with the dogs ready harnessed, in the shadow
of the bushes. The men whispered eagerly and hurriedly to each other as
they packed their goods, while others held the dogs, and patted them to
keep them quiet; evidently showing that, whatever was their object,
expedition and secrecy were necessary. Soon all was in readiness: the
bells, which usually tinkled on the dogs' necks, were unhooked and
packed in the sledges; an active-looking man sprang forward and set off
at a round trot over the snow, and a single crack of the whip sent four
sledges, each with a train of four or five dogs, after him, while two
other men brought up the rear. For a time the muffled sound of the
sledges was heard as they slid over the snow, while now and then the
whine of a dog broke upon the ear, as the impatient drivers urged them
along. Gradually these sounds died away, and nothing was heard but the
faint echoes of music and mirth, which floated on the frosty night-wind,
giving token that the revellers still kept up the dance, and were
ignorant of the departure of the trains.

Late on the following day the Nor'-West scouts reported the party of
Indians, and soon a set of sleighs departed from the fort with
loudly-ringing bells. After a long day's march of fort