Page:Across the sub-Arctics of Canada (1897).djvu/253

 CHAPTER XVIII.

CROSSING THE NELSON.

On the morning of the 11th of November our parties arranged to separate. The route of Mr. Matheson's party henceforth lay away to the eastward, while our path still led to the south, toward the banks of the Nelson River. A place was prepared on our own dog-sled for crippled Michel; the team of six dogs was harnessed, and the flat sleds, including one for Eli, the son of old William the Indian, were loaded with all that the dogs were unable to haul. Our supplies by this time were diminished to the extent of about two hundred and fifty pounds, so that, even with the additional weight of a man, the loads were lighter than at the outset of the journey.

Loads being thus readjusted, and our feet harnessed to snowshoes, we bade farewell to our friends from the Fort, as well as to those of the forest, and made a new start.

The weather was now unusually mild for the month of November, making the snow soft, and even wet in some places. This made travelling hard for the team, as it caused the ice glazing to melt from the sled, and the mud shoeing to wear and drag heavily upon the track. My brother and I still suffered much from our crippled