literating as best we could all
traces of our advance, and at last, after many hardships, we reached our
canoe. We had our rifles, but our ammunition was growing short, and we
had no means of replenishing it; the winter also was coming on, and we
were far from any white settlement. Still hunters are not to be
frightened by trifles; we knew well not only how to trap beavers, but
anything that flies, creeps, or swims, and we agreed that we would lay
up a store of provisions, and spend the winter by the side of the river.
To think with a hunter is to act. Our great want was salt. We caught
soon a supply of fish, fowl, and deer, and we killed a bear, which made
very good beef; but all these things we had to dry in the sun or to
smoke; we kept our ammunition in case of any extremity in which we might
find ourselves. We should have liked to have communicated with Noggin,
but we knew that he, like many white men who had married Indian women,
would be reconciled to his lot, and from henceforth live the life of
Indians.

"We agreed, therefore, as soon as the return of spring enabled us to
travel, we would take up our beaver skins and furs left in _cache_, and
go back with them to the settlements. Had we been supplied with powder,
we should not have hesitated at once to commence our journey, but
unarmed, as we soon should be, we should have been both unable to supply
ourselves with food, or to defend ourselves against any enemies we might
meet; whereas in the spring we should descend rapidly in our canoe, and
carry our provisions with us.

"Several weeks passed away. We had a warm hut built and a good supply
of provisions and fuel collected. It was intensely cold, and the river
was frozen across, and the snow had set in. My great concern was for my
companion. Illness had attacked him: he grew weaker and weaker every
day. With a sorrowful heart I saw that he had not long to live. I told
him so at last. He would not believe me. He said that he should get
better, that the cough would leave him, and that he was stronger than he
had been. He almost persuaded me that I was wrong in my surmises and
that he should recover. When the cold grew very great he took to his
bed, from which, according to my idea, I thought he would never rise.

"At last one day, however, he sat up and said he should like to go out
and see if he could not kill a wild turkey; he should like to have some
fresh meat. I told him I would get it for