Chapter Twentieth.
The cold increases. The men take large quantities of fur. Abundant supplies of game. Conversation on various matters. Jones and Cole tell some of their adventures in the gold regions. A boulder of gold. Shooting it from a precipice. Jones loaded down with riches. Comfortable condition of the children. Howe describes an adventure he experienced near Lake Superior by falling into an Indian's deer-pit. Whirlwind relates a circumstance that occurred to himself and Shognaw in reference to their escape from the Crows. The party's resignation to their lot.
As the severity of the winter increased, they took daily hunting excursions, in order to procure the necessary furs and skins to help ward off the cold, always preserving their game, which was brought home, dried and smoked by the fire, to preserve it against an hour of need. They soon had their hut lined throughout with skins, the edges joined with sinews or slender strips of hide, which kept the wind from finding its way to them through the openings. They also covered the ground with skins, reserving the fur of the foxes and beaver which they snared, as well as the lighter skins, to make themselves new and warm clothing. Their food was almost entirely animal, as they rarely succeeded in getting anything of a vegetable character. They occasionally found a "nut-pine" tree, from which they gathered its fruits, but they disliked the taste of them, and gathered them more for the light they gave when on fire, than for eating. Though they were not as comfortably housed, or as well provided with the necessaries of life, as the winter previously; yet they did not suffer so as to endanger health, by either hunger or cold, and their greatest discomfort arose from the want of vegetable food and salt. For the last article they had searched in vain, and had come to the conclusion that there were no saline beds within many miles of them. Jones and Cole never grew tired of listening to their account of the hidden wealth they had discovered, and they would spend days speculating on the best plan of opening a communication with the districts containing the golden prize.
"I would have kept the urn," said Cole, "if a whole legion of Indians had been at my back."
"Perhaps not," said Jones. "I myself have seen the time when gold was a burthen."
"The time you shot the boulder!" remarked Cole, laughing.
"Laugh as you will," said Jones; "that was a lucky shot if it was an almost fatal one."
"What is it?" they all asked, seeing there was more than Jones felt disposed to tell.
"Why," said Jones, "when among the gold mines on the other side of the mountain we were not satisfied with the flakes of gold in the sand, and supposed, of course, that there was a solid bed of it somewhere up the river, from which it was washed down by the constant action of the waters. As we proceeded along the river the ground became more rugged until it led us into a cluster of hills and precipices jumbled up together. Entering a narrow ravine we soon came to a curious looking place with smooth sides standing perpendicularly, about twenty feet apart, which was gradually contracted to within two feet, leaving the end narrow and jagged. We soon saw there was ore in it, and on examining closely we discovered places where large blocks of the precious metal had been torn from its bed, with the marks of the mining tools still plainly visible. Looking around us we picked up among the loose pieces on the ground some lumps of pure gold, which were among the specimens we carried home."
"Yes, yes; that is all very well, and very true," said Cole, "but it is not all; tell the rest."