simple wrong, instead of half rights and half
wrongs indistinguishably mingled, we could all be righteous! If the
path to the goal of our chosen desire were only as straight as it is
narrow, instead of being dark, mysterious and tortuous, how easily could
we attain high ends! I was launched on the life for which I had longed,
but strange, shadowy forms like the storm-fiends of sailors' lore,
drunkenness, deceit and crime--on whose presence I had not
counted--flitted about my ship's masthead. And there was not one guiding
star, not one redeeming influence, except the utter freedom to be a man.
I was learning, what I suppose everyone learns, that there are things
which sap success of its sweets.

Such were my thoughts, as our canoes sped across the northern end of
Lake Huron, heading for the Sault. The Nor'-Westers had a wonderful way
of arousing enthusiastic loyalty among their men. Danger fanned this
fealty to white-heat. In the face of powerful opposition, the great
company frequently accomplished the impossible. With half as large a
staff in the service as its rivals boasted, it invaded the
hunting-ground of the Hudson's Bay Company, and outrunning all
competition, extended fur posts from the heart of the continent to the
foot-hills to the Rockies, and from the international boundary to the
Arctic Circle. I had thought no crews could make quicker progress than
ours from Lachine to _Point a la Croix_; but the short delay during the
storm occasioned faster work. More _voyageurs_ were engaged from the
Nipissangue tribes. As soon as one lot fagged fresh shifts came to the
relief. Paddles shot out at the rate of modern piston rods, and the
waters whirled back like wave-wash in the wake of a clipper. Except for
briefest stoppages, speed was not relaxed across the whole northern end
of those inland seas called the Great Lakes. With ample space on the
lakes, the brigades could spread out and the canoes separated, not
halting long enough to come together again till we reached the Sault.
Here, orders were issued for the maintenance of rigid discipline. We
camped at a distance from the lodges of local tribes. No grog was given
out. Camp-fire conviviality was forbidden, and each man kept with his
own crew. We remained in camp but one night; and though I searched every
tent, I could not find Le Grand Diable. This worried and puzzled me. All
night, I lay awake, stretching conscience with doubtful plans to entrap
the knave.

Risin