“Well, monsieur, after we had paddled a short bit beyond the point below the last rapid in Caniapuscaw River, we shoved the canoe ashore, and landed Prince and Massan, who set off to look for game, leavin’ Augustus, Ma-istequan, and me to paddle up the river as well as we could. But we soon found that three men in a big canoe could not make much way agin the strong current of the river, so we put ashore again and took to our legs.
“After making a long tramp up the banks o’ the river, we fell in with some good-sized pines; but although they are big for this part of the country, they are not big enough for building. Then we pushed into the gullies, which are sheltered from the cold winds off the bay, and here we found the trees a good deal bigger. There are pines and larch in abundance, and some of the larch are even bigger than we require.”
“Are they far inland?” inquired Stanley.
“No, monsieur, they are only a few hundred yards from the banks of the river, and growin’ on the edge of a small creek, which I noticed is deep enough to float them down.”
“Good, very good,” said Stanley, filling his pipe with a fresh charge of tobacco; “that is most fortunate, for it will save time, and take fewer men to bring them here. Go on, François.”
“Bien, monsieur. Then I felled one or two o’ the trees, to see what like they are; and I found that they are very tough and good. The pines are firmer and tougher than any I ever saw in the Indian country, owing, I suppose, to their stunted growth. While I was thus employed, Augustus shot the grouse we brought home, and we saw a great many coveys of them. In fact, we might have shot many more; but as we did not know how far we should have to walk, we thought it best not to burden ourselves too much. We also saw a great many ducks, and shot a few, as you see.”
“Did you see goose?” inquired La Roche, whose mind had a natural tendency to culinary matters.
“No,” replied François, “I saw no geese; but I did not go out of my way to look for them. I was more taken up with the timber than replenishing the kettle.”
“Ah! that ver’ great pity. Oui, grand dommage. De kittle toujours de most importance t’ing on de voyage. If you forget him, you goot for not’ing. Mais, François, did you look into the deep clear pool at de foot of de rapid?”
François emitted a cloud of smoke with a negative in the middle of it.