Page:Episodes-before-thirty.djvu/253

Rh yet sweetly perfumed as in a dream of fairyland. I revelled in them. New York was still close enough to lend them some incredible glamour by contrast. That no gold came our way was nothing, that the days came to an end was bitter. Fading into mist, behind veils of blue smoke, yet lit by sheets of burning sunshine, lies the faint outline still. Each year drops another gauze curtain over an entrancing and ridiculous adventure that for my companions was disappointingly empty, but to me was filled to the brim with wonder and delight. A few sharp pictures, rather disconnected, defy both veils and curtains, set against a dim background of wild forest, a blue winding river with strange red shores, swift rapids, and cosy camp-fires at dawn, at sunset, beneath the stars, beneath the moon. The stillness of those grand woods is unforgettable; the voice of the river was unceasing, yet broke no silence; the smells of balsam, resinous pitch-pine, cedar smoke rise like incense above the memory of it all.

Duluth was all agog with excitement, and in every shop-window hung blue-prints of the El Dorado we were bound for. Two big-bladed hunting-knives, a second-hand Marlin rifle for $8, a Smith and Wesson revolver, were our weapons. I already had a six-shooter, given to me by the Tombs Court police. It had killed a negro, and I had reported the murder trial resulting. Three blankets had to be bought, a canoe, and provisions for the week's trip down the Vermilion River--tea, bacon, flour, biscuits, salt and sugar. R.M. had a small "A" tent with him large enough to hold three; an old, high-prowed bark canoe was purchased from an Indian for $6; but our money did not run to Hudson Bay blankets, and the cheap, thin coverings we bought proved poor protection in those frosty nights of early May.

We picked up a guide too, a half-breed named Gallup. He was going to Rainy Lake City in any case, and agreed to show us the portages and rapids for two dollars a day each way. He justified his name. He galloped. He had a slim-nosed Maine cedar-wood canoe that oiled along Rh