n we had carried up the canoes, we found the children making a great
to-do about wasps attacking them; for they had put down their packs
beside a wasps' hole; and old Granny, seeing the commotion, had put
down her end of the canoe, and with disgust exclaimed:

"Oh, my foolish people, always standing around and waiting for old
Granny to fix everything!" So saying, she pulled a big bunch of long,
dry grass, and lighting it, ran with a blanket over her head, and
placed the fire against the wasps' hole; in a moment they ceased their
attack and utterly disappeared.

We were now nearing the fork of Crane River, that in its three-mile
course came from Crane Lake, on the shore of which was Oo-koo-hoo's
last winter's camping ground; the men therefore decided that it was
best for Amik to push on in the light canoe and get the two deerskin
winter tepee coverings, as well as their traps, that had been cached
there last spring; and then return to the fork of the river where the
family would go into camp and wait for him.

NEARING TRIP'S END

Transferring most of the cargo to the other canoes, Amik and I provided
ourselves with a little snack and started at once for Oo-koo-koo's old
camping ground. It appeared about a three-mile paddle to the fork of
the river. Nothing save the quacking of ducks rushing by on the wing,
the occasional rise of a crane in front of us, the soaring of an eagle
overhead, and the rippling wakes left by muskrats as they scurried
away, enlivened our hurried trip. We found the leather lodge coverings
in good order upon a stage, and securing them along with several
bundles of steel traps that hung from trees, we put all aboard and
found we had quite a load, for not only were the tepee coverings bulky,
each bundle being about two feet thick by four feet long, but they were
heavy, too, for each weighed about a hundred pounds. Then, too, the
traps were quite a load in themselves. I didn't stop to count them,
but it is surprising the number of traps a keen, hard-working hunter
employs; and they ranged all the way from small ones for rat and ermine
to ponderous ones for bears. Also we gathered up a few odds and ends
such as old axes, an iron pot, a couple of slush scoops, a bundle of
fish-nets, and a lot of old snowshoes. Crane Lake, like many another
northern mere, was a charming little body of water nestling among
beautiful hills. After a cup of tea and some bannock, we once more
plied our paddles.