d Fort Selkirk.

This latter fort is an old Canadian Post where mounted police and other
officers and soldiers are stationed. Never shall I forget my first
experience at Fort Selkirk. We arrived about one o'clock in the
afternoon and were told that our steamer would remain there an hour,
giving us all a chance to run about on shore for a change. Taking my
sunshade, and attracted by the wide green fields dotted with pretty wild
flowers of various colors, I rambled around alone for an hour, all the
time keeping our steamer in plain sight not many hundred yards away.
Curious to learn the meaning of a group of peculiar stakes driven into
the ground, some of which were surrounded by rude little fences, I made
my way in a narrow path through the deep grass to the place, and soon
discovered an Indian burial ground. There were, perhaps, twenty little
mounds or graves, a few much sunken below the level as if made long
years before, but all were marked in some manner by rude head boards.

These were notched, and had at one time been fancifully stained or
colored by the Ayan Indians, the stains and funny little inscriptions
being, for the most part, obliterated by the elements. Dainty wild roses
here nodded gracefully to each other, their pretty blooms being weighted
down at times by some venturesome, big honey bee or insolent fly; both
insects with many others, some of them unknown to me, buzzing
contentedly in the sunshine overhead.

Daisies and buttercups grew wild. Flowering beans and peas trailed their
sprays upon the ground. Blue bells, paint brush, and other posies fairly
bewildered me, so surprised was I to find them here in this far
Northland. Without this happiness and cheer given me by my sweet little
floral friends I might not have been so well prepared to endure the
rudeness that was awaiting me.

Upon my return to the steamer I found all in confusion. I could see no
signs of departure and no one of whom I cared to make inquiries. Men and
women were coming and going, but none appeared sober, while many with
flushed faces were loudly laughing and joking. A few Canadian police in
red coats scattered here and there were fully as rollicking as any,
and the steamer's captain and purser, arm in arm with a big, burly
Canadian official, were as drunk as bad liquor could well make them.

[Illustration: FIVE FINGER RAPIDS.]

Going to my stateroom I sat down to read, and, if possible, hide my
anxiety. As there was no windo