ile he himself remained
at Kaministiquia with the mutineers to forage for provisions. {208}
Winter found Jemmeraie's men on the Minnesota side of Rainy Lake, where
they built Fort Pierre and drove a rich trade in furs with the encamped
Crees. In summer of 1732 came La Verendrye, his men in gayest apparel
marching before the awe-struck Crees with bugle blowing and flags
flying. Then white men and Crees advanced in canoes to the Lake of the
Woods, coasting from island to island through the shadowy defiles of
the sylvan rocks along the Minnesota shore to the northwest angle.
Here a second winter witnessed the building of a second post, Fort St.
Charles, with four rows of fifteen-foot palisades and thatched-roofed
log cabins. The Western Sea seemed far as ever,--like the rainbow of
the child, ever fleeing as pursued,--and La Verendrye's merchant
partners were beginning to curse him for a rainbow chaser. He had been
away three years, and there were no profits. Suspicious that he might
be defrauding them by private trade or sacrificing their interests to
his own ambitions, they failed to send forward provisions for this
year. La Verendrye was in debt to his men for three years' wages, in
debt to his partners for three years' provisions. To fail now he dared
not. Go forward he could not, so he hurried down to Montreal, where he
prevailed on the merchants to continue supplies by the simple argument
that, if they stopped now, there would be total loss.

Young Jean La Verendrye and Jemmeraie have meanwhile descended Winnipeg
River's white fret of waterfalls to Winnipeg Lake, where they build
Fort Maurepas, near modern Alexander,--and wait. Fishing failed. The
hunt failed. The winter of 1735-1736 proved of such terrible severity
that famine stalked through the western woods. La Verendrye's three
forts were reduced to diet of skins, moccasin soup, and dog meat. In
desperation Jemmeraie set out with a few voyageurs to meet the
returning commander, but privation had undermined his strength. He
died on the way and was buried in his hunter's blanket beside an
unknown stream between Lake Winnipeg and the Lake of the Woods.
Accompanied by the priest Aulneau, young Jean de La Verendrye decided
to rush canoes down from the Lake of the Woods to Michilimackinac for
food and powder. A furious pace was {209} to be kept all the way to
Lake Superior. The voyageurs had risen early one morning in June, and
after paddling some mile