h confirmed me in the
opinion that there was no safety for us except in his death, and he
offered to be the instrument of it. I determined, however, as I was
thoroughly convinced of the necessity of such a dreadful act, to take
the whole responsibility upon myself; and immediately upon Michel's
coming up, I put an end to his life by shooting him through the head
with a pistol. Had my own life alone been threatened, I would not have
purchased it by such a measure; but I considered myself as intrusted
also with the protection of Hepburn's, a man, who, by his humane
attentions and devotedness, had so endeared himself to me, that I felt
more anxiety for his safety than for my own. Michel had gathered no
_tripe de roche_, and it was evident to us that he had halted for the
purpose of putting his gun in order, with the intention of attacking us,
perhaps, whilst we were in the act of encamping.

I have dwelt in the preceding part of the narrative upon many
circumstances of Michel's conduct, not for the purpose of aggravating
his crime, but to put the reader in possession of the reasons that
influenced me in depriving a fellow-creature of life. Up to the period
of his return to the tent, his conduct had been good and respectful to
the officers, and in a conversation between Captain Franklin, Mr. Hood,
and myself, at Obstruction Rapid, it had been proposed to give him a
reward upon our arrival at a post. His principles, however, unsupported
by a belief in the divine truths of Christianity, were unable to
withstand the pressure of severe distress. His countrymen, the Iroquois,
are generally Christians, but he was totally uninstructed and ignorant
of the duties inculcated by Christianity; and from his long residence in
the Indian country, seems to have imbibed, or retained the rules of
conduct which the southern Indians prescribe to themselves.

On the two following days we had mild but thick snowy weather, and as
the view was too limited to enable us to preserve a straight course, we
remained encamped amongst a few willows and dwarf pines, about five
miles from the tent. We found a species of _cornicularia_, a kind of
lichen, that was good to eat when moistened and toasted over the fire;
and we had a good many pieces of singed buffalo hide remaining.

On the 26th, the weather being clear and extremely cold, we resumed our
march which was very painful from the depth of the snow, particularly on
the margins of the small lakes tha