Page:Across the sub-Arctics of Canada (1897).djvu/273

 Keeping as straight a course as we could, we pressed on through the darkness toward the distant shore, the dark outline of which could just be discerned against the lighter sky. At length we reached the shore, when, after passing through a narrow strip of woods, to our joy there suddenly flashed out before us, a few yards ahead, the lights of Oxford House. A few minutes later we were the guests of Mr. and Mrs. Isbister, one of the most hospitable old couples it has ever been my good fortune to meet. Mr. Isbister was the local agent of the Hudson's Bay Company, and was a thorough old-time Canadian, one of those men filled with reminiscences of early Canadian life in the north and whose many stories were a delight to hear.

Having reached Oxford in safety, preparations were at once commenced for our journey to the next post—Norway House—150 miles farther west. Some delay was occasioned in getting dogs, but at length three miserable half-starved teams were secured, and with a new guide and drivers we set out on the third stage of our winter journey. Without narrating the many incidents by the way, I need only say that after a six days' tramp, with the thermometer in the neighborhood of 40 degrees below zero, we arrived safely at Norway House, an important Hudson's Bay Company's post, situated at the northern extremity of Lake Winnipeg. Two of the dog-teams procured at Oxford had been intended to haul my brother and myself, and for a time they did so, but the poor animals were in such a wretched condition from the effects of former hard work that we preferred to walk most of the time, and before we