Our arrival at camp was heartily welcomed by our friends—not the less so that we brought a handsome supply of fresh meat for all the party. The announcement that there was still more made our companions hurry off, not waiting for their suppers, to bring it into camp.
“If we don’t make haste there’ll be little else but the bones left for us to suck,” observed Swiftfoot. “The eagles and vultures will soon scent it out, not to speak of those cunning little critters the wolverines.”
He then led the party back to the spot, whilst Trevor proposed that he and I should try to add some fish to the dainty banquet with which we determined to close the day. Leaving, therefore, Peter, assisted by Ready, to guard the camp—the former being directed also to watch the pot boiling and the roast of bear’s flesh—Trevor and I took our rods to try and catch some fish out of the lake. So full are these lakes of fish that we soon caught a dozen fine trout and several other fish. We had time to prepare our supper before the return of Swiftfoot and the others with the remainder of the bears’ flesh.
We had a most sumptuous supper, washed down by copious draughts of tea, added to which—“The feast of reason and the flow of soul” made the hours pass so quickly away that it was long past midnight before we went to rest.
The next day we met a party of seven men, well-armed, who had wintered at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, some distance to the south, and were now on their way to the Saskatchewan to prospect for gold, of which they had heard there was an abundance. They had been very successful in their buffalo hunting, and had also caught a large supply of fish before the stream froze over, so that they were all in good condition and high spirits. They camped with us, and as we all sat round our fire at night, and song, tale, and anecdote succeeded each other, amid hearty shouts of laughter, no one would have supposed that tea was the strongest beverage in which we were indulging, and that we all had passed through and were about to plunge again into perils and hardships of no ordinary kind.
Chapter Twenty.
Habakkuk Gaby is hugged by a Grizzly—A Rattlesnake follows suit—The Rocky Mountains—The Frazer River—We form Three Exploring Parties—I construct a Raft, and what followed—All Safe at Last.
