fire to cook their dinners, or warm themselves at, and a
wooded country offers a better prospect of game. The sight, therefore,
of a great forest was cheering; and our travellers, in high spirits,
planted their tent upon the banks of the great Northern river. They had
still many hundred miles to go before arriving at their destination; but
they determined to continue their journey without much delay, following
the river as a guide. No more "near cuts" were to be taken in future.
They had learned, from their recent experience, that "the shortest way
across is sometimes the longest way round," and they resolved to profit
by the lesson. I hope, boy reader, you too will remember it.

After reaching the Mackenzie the voyageurs halted one day, and upon the
next commenced their journey down-stream. Sometimes they kept upon the
bank, but at times, for a change, they travelled upon the ice of the
river. There was no danger of its giving way under them, for it was
more than a foot in thickness, and would have supported a loaded waggon
and horses, without even cracking.

They were now drawing near the Arctic circle, and the days grew shorter
and shorter as they advanced. But this did not much interfere with
their travelling. The long nights of the Polar regions are not like
those of more Southern latitudes. They are sometimes so clear, that one
may read the smallest print. What with the coruscations of the aurora
borealis, and the cheerful gleaming of the Northern constellations, one
may travel without difficulty throughout the livelong night. I am sure,
my young friend, you have made good use of your globes, and need not be
told that the length of both nights and days, as you approach the pole,
depends upon two things--the latitude of the place, and the season of
the year; and were you to spend a whole year _leaning against the pole
itself_, (!) you would _live but one day and one night_--each of them
six months in length.

But no doubt you know all these things without my telling you of them,
and you are impatient to hear not about that, but whether the young
voyageurs safely reached the end of their journey. That question I
answer briefly at once--they did.

Some distance below the point where they had struck the Mackenzie, they
fell in with a winter encampment of Dog-rib Indians. Some of these
people had been to the Fort to trade; and Norman being known to them, he
and his Southern cousins were received with m