We sat up for some time, half expecting another visit from the Indian; but we did not see him, and at length lay down to sleep, Pat promising to keep one eye open, in case he should steal into our camp and help himself to the remainder of our venison.
Chapter Three.
Our last fragments of meat are consumed—Fortunate discovery of a flask of powder—Pat’s lasso—The maddened buffalo bull—Pat’s lasso is turned to useful account—Buffalo tongues roasted—Pat’s “Irish”—Our Buffalo meat becoming exhausted, we are sadly in want of food—Pat’s strange behaviour—His mysterious disappearance with the gun—I go in search of him—Failing to find him, I am overjoyed at meeting Bouncer—The “bull boat,” or parchment canoe—Shooting rapids—Black Fort once more—Sandy and Pierre’s adventures—Our young-lady visitors, Rose and Letty—The meat pit.
“Copper-Snake” did not return during the night, nor did we the next morning see anything of him; we therefore packed up, and began our tramp in the direction he had pointed out.
The sky had hitherto been clear, but the clouds now began to spread over it, though there was scarcely a breath of air. In a short time the sun was so obscured that it no longer enabled us to steer our course. We had marked a hill, however, in the distance, and marched on guided by it.
The hill was of less height and not so far off as we supposed, and when we had crossed it, we could fix on no object to serve as a mark. Notwithstanding this, we kept straight on till we came to a stream. We then had to make our way for some distance down it till we could find a ford. Though the water was very cold, by taking off our shoes and trousers we waded across without wetting our clothes.
We were unable to decide in what direction the stream ran, and crossing it somewhat confused us. It might, Pat argued, be running north, or north-west, and still fall into the Saskatchewan, or be running east.
Neither the appearance of the sky nor the wind served in any way to guide us. At last we were obliged to camp, as neither of us had strength to go farther. By the next evening we had exhausted, with the exception of a few mouthfuls, the whole of our stock of dried venison, but as we hoped during the next day to reach the fort, we agreed that we could manage to keep body and soul together with the little which remained; still, I did not feel very comfortable. The idea would intrude, that “Copper-Snake” might have misled us, or that we had wandered out of our course. If so, we should be very hard pressed for food, or death by starvation might after all be our fate. I remembered too the anxiety my brother Alick would be enduring about me.