g loaded toboggans, laughing and
shouting a greeting as they recognized him.

"'Twas an answer to my prayers," said Gilbert in relating the incident
to me. "I was fair scrammed when I saw them Indians. They were the
first Indians I had seen the whole winter. They weren't pretty, but
just then they looked to me like angels from heaven, and just as
pretty as any angels could look."

The Indians had recently made a killing, and their toboggans were
loaded with fresh caribou meat. They made Gilbert eat until they
nearly killed him with kindness, and they had an extra pair of
snowshoes, which they gave him.

This is the life of the trapper on The Labrador. This is the sort of
man he is--hardy, patient, brave and reverent. He is a man of grit and
daring, as he must be to cheerfully meet, with a stout heart and a
smile, the constant hardships and adventures that beset him.

Dr. Grenfell declares that it is no hardship to devote his life to
helping men like this. His work among them brings constant joy to him.
They appreciate him, and he has grown to look upon them as all members
of his big family. He takes a personal and devoted interest in each.
It is a great comfort to the men to know that if any are sick or
injured at home while they are away on the trails the mission doctor
will do his best to heal them. Before Grenfell went to The Labrador
there was no doctor to call upon the whole winter through.

The trapping season for fur ends in April. Then the trapper "strikes
up" his traps, hangs them in trees where he will find them the
following fall, packs his belongings on his toboggan and returns home,
unless he is to remain to hunt bear. In that case he must wait for the
bears to come forth from their winter's sleep, and this will keep the
hunter in the wilderness until after the "break-up" comes and the ice
goes out. Those who go far inland usually wait in any case until the
ice is out of the streams and boat or canoe traveling is possible and
safe.

The break-up sets in, usually, early in June. Then come torrential
rains. The snow-covered wilderness is transformed into a sea of slush.
New brooks rise everywhere and pour down with rush and roar into lakes
and rivers. The rivers over-flow their banks. Trees are uprooted and
are swept forward on the flood. Broken ice jams and pounds its way
through the rapids with sound like thunder. The spring break-up is an
inspiring and wonderful spectacle.

When the hunting season