etting they came upon the
ice of a wide lake.

At the end of a half-hour of slow plodding across an arm of the lake,
they entered the edge of sparsely wooded forest and halted.
Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn began at once to remove the snow from the
top of what appeared to be a high drift, and a little below the
surface uncovered the roof of a cache similar to the one they had made
on the shores of the Great Lake of the Indians, where Shad and Ungava
Bob had found them.

Shad's heart gave a bound when the object of the journey was revealed
to him. Here was food and promise of life! And Bob's words, so often
repeated when they were stranded on the island, flashed into his mind:

"It's th' Lard's way. He's watchin' you when you thinks He's losin'
track o' you. He's takin' care o' you an' you does your best t' take
care o' yourself."

Manikawan and her mother stretched the deerskin cover upon wigwam
poles used the previous summer and still standing near the lake, and
Shad cleared the snow from the interior of the wigwam, while the women
broke boughs and laid the bed.

In the meantime, Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn opened the cache and
transferred its precious contents to the wigwam. A fire was kindled,
and in the cosy warmth of their shelter they broke their fast, which
had now extended over a period of thirty-six hours.

The small portion of dried caribou meat doled out to each was far from
satisfying. Some of the tea which Ungava Bob had given the Indians
still remained. A kettle of this was brewed, and it served to
stimulate and warm them. Then they lighted their pipes and for a time
smoked in silence.

At length Sishetakushin, turning to Mookoomahn, began:

"On the Lake of the Beaver to the northward we have a small store of
atuk weas (deer's meat). We also have there the cover of a lodge.
Three suns will pass before we can reach this store of food. On the
Great Lake we have another store.

"Sishetakushin and the woman will travel to the Lake of the Beaver.
With the store of provisions and the lodge which we find on the Lake
of the Beaver we will travel northward to the lodge of the white man,
where the water of the river joins the big sea water, and where we
shall find food.

"Mookoomahn and the maiden, with the friend of White Brother of the
Snow, will travel southward to the Great Lake. Mookoomahn will show
the white man the way to the lodge of White Brother of the Snow. Then
he will return to the Great L