Page:Hendryx--Connie Morgan with the Mounted.djvu/244

226 reached shore a short distance below. But my husband, who could not swim, must have been drawn into the swifter current beyond the rock, for I never saw him again. I made my way back to the cabin, but from a near-by ridge I saw there was someone there. So I hid in the scrub and the next morning made my way back to the scene of the accident. I was hungry, and hoping that one of the packs of provisions might have caught on the rock, that reaches almost to the surface of the water, I swam to the rock, and while peering down in the clear water I saw the strange packet that was the cause of all our trouble lying upon the white gravel.

"First I thought I would let it lie there, then a strange curiosity to see what the packet contained took possession of me and, balancing upon the rock, I dived down and recovered it. Of all the contents of the canoe this packet alone had not been carried down by the current. Taking the packet with me I started in search of the Indian village which I knew was somewhere in the vicinity. I thought they would give me food and possibly take me to some trading post. I found the village, but the Indians were gone. They had evidently fled