ed. He had spent a miserable night
on a ridge two miles to the southward, wet and shivering, with no fire,
and tormented by mosquitoes. He reported that from the ridge he could
hear the roar of a rapid. Darkness had prevented him from going on, and
he had not seen the rapid, but he was sure it was a part of a big river.

At first he was loath to admit he had been lost, doubtless remembering
how he and George had "guyed" me when I had been out all night and my
prediction that his turn would come; but when George confessed to
having gone astray also, he made a clean breast of it, telling us he
was "lost good and plenty, and scared some, too." Now I had my
innings, and I must confess I took great delight in returning some of
the chaff they had given me.

Hubbard decreed, in consequence of these experiences--getting
lost--that thereafter each man at all times should have on his person
an emergency kit, to consist of matches, a piece of fish line, some
hooks and two or three flies, enclosed in a film box waterproofed with
electrician's tape.

We remained in our camp on Lake Elson for two days in order to scout
and dry fish. It was the best fishing place we had yet come to.
During our stay we had all the trout we could eat, and we dried and
smoked forty-five large ones. The scouting proved that Hubbard's "big
river" was an important discovery. It lay two miles to the south of
us, flowing to the southeast. Hubbard sent George to look at it, and
he reported that it certainly came from large lakes, as it was big,
deep and straight. Could it come from Lake Michikamau?

While George was away Hubbard and I took a trip in the canoe around the
lake and through some inlets. At the northeast we discovered a creek
flowing into the lake, and as there were some old Indian wigwams and
cuttings near it, indicating the possibility of its being part of a
trail, we seriously considered the advisability of following it up.
From a knoll near by we could see to the northwest other lakes into
which the creek might possibly lead us; but, after returning to camp,
we considered the situation fully in the light of George's report of
the big river, and we decided that to the big river we should go.

This decision was not to prove an error of judgment; for the big river
was none other than the Beaver--an important part of an old trail of
the Indians to Lake Michikamau.

VII. ON A REAL RIVER AT LAST

We broke camp in the forenoon of