."

"Now I'm goin' t' tell un whatever."

"As I were sayin', th' bear he takes after me wi' his best licks an' I
takes off an' tries t' load my gun as I runs. I drops in a han'ful o'
powder an' then finds I gone an' left my ball pouch at th' fire. It
were pretty hard runnin' wi' my racquets sinkin' in th' snow, which
were new an' soft an' I were losin' ground an' gettin' winded an'
'twere lookin' like un's goin' t' cotch me sure. All t' onct I see a
place where the snow's drifted up three fathoms deep agin a ledge an'
even wi' th' top of un. I makes for un an' runs right over th' upper
side an' th' bear he comes too, but he has no racquets and th' snow's
soft, bein' fresh drift an' down he goes sinkin' most out o' sight an'
th' more un wallers th' worse off un is."

"An' what does you do?" asks Bob.

"What does I do? I stops an' laughs at un a bit. Then I lashes my
sheath knife on th' end o' a pole spear-like, an' sticks th' bear back
o' th' fore leg an' kills un, an' then I has bear's meat wi' my tea,
an' in th' spring gets four dollars from th' company for the skin."

In twenty minutes they had the pelt removed from the bear and Dick
generously insisted upon Bob taking it as the first-fruits of his
inland hunt, saying: "Ye earned he wi' yer runnin'."

The best of the meat was cut from the carcass, and that night thick,
luscious steaks were broiled for supper, and the remainder packed for
future use on the journey.

Fine weather had attended the voyageurs thus far but that night the
sky clouded heavily and when they emerged from the tent the next
morning a thick blanket of snow covered the earth and weighted down
the branches of the spruce trees. The storm had spent itself in the
night, however, and the day was clear and sparkling. Very beautiful
the white world looked when the sun came to light it up; but the snow
made tracking less easy, and warned the travellers that no time must
be lost in reaching their destination, for it was a harbinger of the
winter blasts and blizzards soon to blow.

Early that afternoon they came in view of the rushing waters of the
Gull Island Rapids, with their big foam crested waves angrily
assailing the rocks that here and there raised their ominous heads
above the torrent. The greater length of these rapids can be tracked,
with some short portages around the worst places. Before entering them
everything was lashed securely into the boat, as at the Porcupine
Rapids, and the trac