to be seen, and for a time we saw no signs of any human presence. We turned down the river, and ere long came upon the tracks of a solitary hunter. These Jimmie knew to be the tracks of his brother, and by following them a mile or two into a dense evergreen wood, we came upon the camp. It was a solitary tepee, situated in the heart of a snow-clad thicket of spruce trees and scrub, so dense that a bird could scarcely fly through it.
The Indian lodge or tepee was built of poles placed closely together, and arranged in the shape of a cone. The cracks between the poles were chinked tightly with moss, with which the tepee was then covered, excepting a foot or so at the top, where a hole was left for the chimney. An opening made in the wall to serve as a doorway was closed by a heavy curtain of deerskin, and as we lifted it we saw in the centre of the lodge, upon a square mud-covered hearth, a smouldering wood fire burning, from which the circling smoke ascended to find its way through the chimney, while huddled around it by the wall were the old Indian, his squaw and their children. Deerskin cushions were offered us, and as we seated ourselves more wood was piled on the fire.
William, the Indian, was a much older man than his brother, for his long flowing locks were already whitened with age, though he still appeared strong and athletic. Presents of tobacco were passed around; pipes were then lighted, and information sought and obtained, both by ourselves and the Indian. We found that William had seen and killed only one deer for some weeks past, and was now almost out of food, and entirely out of ammunition. We supplied him with the latter, and told him
