with characteristic gravity the final
preparations. Rev. Mr. Benedict, the only white man on the beach other
than the explorers, stood ready to launch the canoe.

[Illustration: Captain Glazier Embarking For The Headwaters
Of The Mississippi.]

It was a scene well worthy the painter's most cunning skill--the
beautiful lake, the wigwams dotting its shores here and there, the dark
green of the forest in the background, the Indians with their bright red
blankets adding bits of vivid coloring to the scene, and, at the water's
edge, Captain Glazier, upright and soldierly in bearing, ready to step
into his canoe and start forth in search of the mysterious springs which
had hitherto baffled the investigations of all previous explorers.

Finally, all was ready, the baggage being evenly distributed in the
three canoes with an Indian in each to guide and paddle it. Standing in
the foremost canoe Captain Glazier signified his readiness to start,
when Mr. Benedict pushed the light bark into the water, and waved his
hat in token of farewell. A general waving of hats followed, and soon
our explorers found themselves gliding swiftly over the bosom of the
lake, and almost out of sight of the friends who still watched them from
the shore.

After an hour's paddling they reached the other side of the arm of the
lake on which the Agency is situated, and prepared for a short portage
across a point of land which brought them to a larger arm, where the
wind and the waves had a sweep of fifteen or twenty miles. Coasting
along the shore for some distance they finally paddled across the lake
to the mouth of the Kabekanka River. A brisk wind was blowing from the
north, and the waves ran so high as to cause some anxiety in the minds
of those who were not accustomed to the motion of a canoe; for, now they
rose lightly to the top of the wave and anon sank with a swash into the
trough, splashing and dashing the water over their bows. Gradually,
however, as they became more used to their frail barks, their anxiety
lessened, and they began to enjoy the beautiful prospect before them,
and to inhale with delight the invigorating breeze.

After two or three hours steady work they reached the inlet into which
this branch of the Kabekanka empties. So choked up is this inlet with
reeds and rushes that it required some skill to force an entrance for
the canoes. Finally they succeeded, and paddling up the river they came,
at about eleven o'clock, to a li