During the winter of 1867-68, the buffalo still kept far out, and there was considerable destitution all over the country. Our storehouse and fish-house were ever and anon called upon to come to the rescue. We never failed to emphasize the stern necessity of making provision for the future, but with a people having no abiding place this was a hard lesson to learn. The rabbits, fortunately, were more numerous than usual, and with them came the lynx, both helping out in the preservation of life from actual starvation.
I killed quite a number of lynx that winter, and got many of these on the ice of the lake. Whenever I saw an object moving on the snow-covered ice, I concluded it was either a lynx or a wolf, and as I had an opera glass I could very soon determine which, for the wolf had a long, bushy tail, and the lynx a very stumpy one—in fact, hardly any. Therefore, if the object I saw was tailless, I saddled my horse and rode for him. My dogs would also join the hunt, and when we came within a half-mile or so, the lynx generally noticed us and started off with tremendous leaps as if he would leave all creation behind. His strong feature, however, was in the height rather than the length of his jumping, and soon his half circles in the air came to a stop. While I was coming up on the steady jump, slow and sure, he would crook up his back, straighten up the fur on it and turn fiercely on me, but a shot from my gun would quickly keel him over. Later I found that one of my dogs could kill a lynx at one bite across the small of the back, and then I let him do the killing, for ammunition was none too plentiful in those days.
I made several trips to Victoria and visited a number of camps, and in March took my family through to Whitefish Lake by dog-train. When we reached home, towards the last of the month, winter was breaking; but what nearly broke our hearts was an epidemic, a sort of distemper, that took hold of my sleigh-dogs, and one after the other I had to shoot the poor brutes. They seemed to have a kind of hydrophobia. They did not attack human beings, but we thought it best to kill them. I felt the parting with the faithful fellows more than the loss of their usefulness. A pagan Cree who had come to us asked permission to skin two of my biggest and swiftest dogs, and I told him he could. The reader will note this, and see later what his purpose was.
And now our people were straggling in to the Mission. That spring a number of mountain Stonies visited us for the first time, and our week-day and Sabbath services were full of interest. More of our own people than ever before were desirous of doing some gardening, and we helped all as far as our means allowed us to do. Moreover, a good many expressed a desire to accompany us to the plains for an early summer provision trip, and as we wanted the provisions for the year, and as this was the very best way to have a number of our people with us for a time, I arranged for such a trip, to start about the middle of May.
This time our camp was quite large, numbering about forty lodges, and we felt quite able to go anywhere on the plains. We followed for the first hundred and fifty miles our route of the previous summer. We lived on ducks, rabbits, beaver and a few deer and antelope, until about thirty miles out from the last point of woods, where we found our first buffalo, and from thence on until we reached herds of them we were never without food.
At the spot where we found the first bulls Samson and little William and myself were of the party, and I came very near being killed. We had come suddenly upon the animals, and I was crossing in front of William to higher ground when he, not noticing me, fired at them, and the ball whizzed right past my ear. I turned and saw that William was fairly pale with fright. We were too much engaged for words. "Almost!" he cried, and I answered, "Yes, almost," and we dashed after the flying bulls. This narrow escape bothered poor William for some time, and I verily believe had he killed me by accident at that time Samson would have shot him right then and there, for he was angry at the other's carelessness, as he termed it.
In our camp at that time we had seven distinct classes of men. There were mountain Stonies and wood Stonies, plain Crees and wood Crees, French and Indian mixed bloods, and English and Indian mixed bloods; myself the only white man in the party. Environment, language and dialect had each differentiated these people. And now we were, because of the Gospel and for Christ's sake, seeking to bring them together. It was serious work at times. They could not possibly see eye to eye. Old feuds kept stirring their bile. Old memories of wrongs and slights and bloody scenes were constantly being brought most vividly before their minds, and my every resource was tried in quieting and quelling and pacifying them. Even the children partook of mutual distrust and hatred. We were leagued against the common enemy; but we might have a row among ourselves at any time, and I was forever on my guard so as not to intensify or afford any excuse for what was clearly apparent. In fact I was hoping for signs of the enemy to help allay this condition for the time being, when sure enough we began to track fresh camps and hunting parties of the Blackfeet tribes. As I had thought, this brought our discordant elements more into line, and we organized and watched and hunted together under the spur of a common danger.
Of course, our meetings every day and all through Sunday, our constant uplifting of the Gospel, and its resultant forces, were telling upon this conglomeration of humanity, but the inbreeding of centuries is not to be weeded out in a few weeks, nor yet in a few years. Early in life I was given to learn the lesson of patience.