d. Alick then told us that
they had come suddenly on Bruin, who was on the point of seizing Robin
when he had shot at it, but had missed; the bear, instead of pursuing
them, frightened by the report of the gun, had taken to flight, when
they followed and finally killed it. In their chase, while passing over
a piece of boggy ground, he had lost his shoes. The chase and the
return to camp had occupied a considerable amount of time.

"All's well that ends well," exclaimed Martin, "and now I propose that
we smoke some of the bear's flesh."

To this we all agreed, and thus employed ourselves till we turned in at
night.

"Up, up," cried Martin the next morning at daybreak. "We must turn to
without loss of time, and begin building our canoe. We must first cut
out the ribs, which will be the longest part of the operation, and those
who like can accompany me to the cedar wood."

We all did so; and Martin, selecting some young trees, cut them down;
then, with his axe, he chopped them into lengths. This done, we all
worked away with our knives to form them into thin strips. The wood is
remarkably tough, hard, and white, and can be bent into any form. We
were employed all day in this work, and it was not till the next that we
had a sufficient quantity of strips to commence forming the frame.

To form the gunwale we had to fasten a number together. The gunwale was
kept apart by slender bars of the same wood, while the ribs were bent
into the required shape, which they easily retained. There was no keel,
and the bottom was nearly flat. The third bar was broader than the
rest, and in it we cut a hole for stepping the mast, though unless with
a very light and perfectly favourable wind we should be unable to carry
sail.

It took us several days to put the framework together. We had now to
cut the bark from the white birch trees. To do this we formed two
circles round a tree, about five or six feet apart, and then cut a
perpendicular notch down from one to the other; next, putting pieces of
wood under the bark at the notches, we without difficulty pulled it off.

Martin having before taken his measurements, the bark exactly fitted the
centre part of the canoe, being also very nearly of the required shape.
We now sewed it on with the wattap. This was a long operation, as every
hole had to be carefully bored. Another piece of somewhat less width
formed the bows, easily conforming itself to the required shape. A
sing