banks of the river are chiefly pines, and only
fit for firewood."

"And an important item is firewood, as we shall find ere long," remarked
Stanley. "Your account of the timber is very satisfactory, Francois.
Did you see traces of Indians or Esquimaux?"

"No; I saw none."

"Perhaps you did, Prince," continued Stanley, turning to that worthy,
who was stretched, along with Massan, at full length before the blaze,
and had been listening attentively to the conversation while he solaced
himself with his pipe.

"Yes, sir, we seed the marks they left behind them," answered Prince,
while he glanced towards Massan, as if to invite him to give the desired
information.

"Ay, we saw their marks, no doubt," said the guide, knocking the ashes
out of his pipe, and raising himself from his reclining posture to that
of a tailor, the more conveniently to recharge that beloved implement.
"Ay, we saw their marks, and they was by no means pleasant to look on.
After we had landed above the p'int, as Francois told ye, Dick Prince
and me went up one o' the gullies, an' then gettin' on one o' them flat
places that run along the face of all the mountains hereabouts, we
pushed straight up the river. We had not gone far when, on turnin' a
p'int, we both clapped eyes at the same moment on the most ill-lookin'
blackguard of a wolf I ever saw. Up went both our guns at once, and I
believe we were very near puttin' a bullet in each of his eyes, when we
noticed that these same eyes were not bookin' at us, but starin', most
awful earnest like, up a gully in the mountains; so we looked up, an',
sure enough, there we saw a deer on the mountain-top, tossin' its head
and snuffin' round to see that the coast was clear before it came down
to the water. We noticed that a regular beaten deer-track passed down
this gully, and master wolf, who knowed the walk very well, was on the
lookout for his dinner; so we waited quiet till the deer came down, an'
Dick put a bullet in its heart, an' I put one into the wolf's head, so
they both tumbled down the cliffs together. The shot made another deer,
that we had not seen, start off into the river; but before it got a few
yards from the shore, Dick loaded again and put a bullet into its head
too, an' it was washed ashore at the p'int below us.

"Havin' fixed them off comfortably, we cut up the deer, and put all we
could carry on our shoulders, for we knowed that if we left them we'd
find nothin' but the bones wh