f
required; while the steersman, with powerful sweeps of his heavy oar,
directs the flying boat as it bounds from surge to surge like a thing of
life; and the bowman stands erect in front to assist in directing his
comrade at the stern, having a strong and long pole in his hands, with
which, ever and anon, he violently forces the boat's head away from
sunken rocks, against which it might otherwise strike and be stove in,
capsized, or seriously damaged.

Besides the groups already enumerated, there were one or two others,
composed of grave, elderly men, whose wrinkled brows, grey hairs, and
slow, quiet step showed that the strength of their days was past;
although their upright figures and warm, brown complexions gave promise
of their living to see many summers still. These were the principal
steersmen and old guides--men of renown, to whom the others bowed as
oracles or looked up to as fathers; men whose youth and manhood had been
spent in roaming the trackless wilderness, and who were, therefore,
eminently qualified to guide brigades through the length and breadth of
the land; men whose power of threading their way among the perplexing
intricacies of the forest had become a second nature, a kind of
instinct, that was as sure of attaining its end as the instinct of the
feathered tribes, which brings the swallow, after a long absence, with
unerring certainty back to its former haunts again in spring.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

THE STORE.

At whatever establishment in the fur-trader's dominions you may chance
to alight, you will find a particular building which is surrounded by a
halo of interest; towards which there seems to be a general leaning on
the part of everybody, especially of the Indians; and with which are
connected, in the minds of all, the most stirring reminiscences and
pleasing associations.

This is the trading-store. It is always recognisable, if natives are in
the neighbourhood, by the bevy of red men that cluster round it,
awaiting the coming of the storekeeper or the trader with that stoic
patience which is peculiar to Indians. It may be further recognised, by
a close observer, by the soiled condition of its walls, occasioned by
loungers rubbing their backs perpetually against it, and the peculiar
dinginess round the keyhole, caused by frequent applications of the key,
which renders it conspicuous beyond all its comrades. Here is contained
that which makes the red man's life enjoyable; that which c