Page:Across the sub-Arctics of Canada (1897).djvu/259

 Later two of the hunters returned with several ptarmigan and one or two rabbits, and last of all, some time after dark, the remaining two—Jim and our noble guide—walked into camp carrying the carcase of a deer.

With careful use we had meat enough now to keep us from suffering for several days, and in order to guard against greed or waste my brother and I took possession of the stock and divided it up equally among the party, each man receiving in all about ten pounds.

Without narrating in detail the incidents following it will be sufficient to state that for ten long days our weary wait on the bleak banks of the Nelson was continued. From time to time the men were sent out to hunt, but except in the above instance were obliged to return empty-handed.

On the morning of the 19th, the guide and Jim, provided with rifles, blankets, axes and snowshoes, started up the river, determined to find deer if there were any in the neighborhood, and also to investigate the possibilities of crossing the river higher up.

Four days of bitterly cold weather passed, the thermometer varying from 12 to 15 degrees below zero, and back came our discouraged hunters without having fired a shot. Food was becoming alarmingly scarce. A fox which happened in our way was trapped and eagerly devoured.

On the evening of the 22nd, though the mercury indicated 22° below zero, the channel of the river above us was noticed to be less thickly blocked with ice than where we were encamped. It was resolved, if possible, to haul the boat a mile or two farther up stream, and there to launch and measure our strength with the floe.