THE ECLIPSE, I 59 danger, I should have no fear ; but a vague uncertain peril of which I have only a presentiment "
- ' What danger do you mean % " inquired Mrs Barnett ; *' a danger
from men, from animals, or the elements % " " Of animals I have no dread whatever, madam ; it is for them to tremble before the hunters of Cape Bathurst, nor do I fear men ; these districts are frequented by none but Esquimaux, and the Indians seldom venture so far north." " Besides, Lieutenant," said Mrs Barnett, " the Canadians, whose arrival you so much feared in the fine season, have never appeared." " I am very sorry for it, madam." " What ! you regret the absence of the rivals who are so evidently hostile to your Company ? "
- Madam, I am both glad and sorry that* they have not come;
that will of course puzzle you. But observe that the expected con- voy from Fort Reliance has not arrived. It is the same with the agents of the St Louis Fur Company ; they might have come, and they have not done so. Not a single Esquimaux has visited this part of the coast during the summer either " "And what do you conclude from all this?" inquired Mrs Barnett. " I conclude that it is not so easy to get to Cape Bathurst or to Fort Hope as we could wish." The lady looked into the Lieutenant's anxious face, struck with the melancholy and significant intonation of the word easy. "Lieutenant Hobson," she said earnestly, "if you fear neither men nor animals, I must conclude that your anxiety has reference to the elements." " Madam," he replied, " I do not know if my spirit be broken, or if my presentiments blind me, but there seems to me to be something uncanny about this district. If I had known it better I should not have settled down in it. I have already called your attention to certain peculiarities, which to me appear inexplicable ; the total absence of stones everywhere, and the clear-cut line of the coast. I can't make out about the primitive formation of this end of the continent, I know that the vicinity of a volcano may cause some phenomena ; but you remember what I said to you on the subject of the tides % " " Oh yes, perfectly." " Where the sea ought, according to the observations of explorers
