Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/439

TO RED RIVER, country in myriads. Our dogs, habituated to the sight, shewed no inclination to pursue them, and we ourselves had little time to spare for hunting. On one occasion, when we were benighted in the plains near Quill Lake, we took up our quarters in a willow-bush, evacuated the moment before by an old bull and his followers, whose lair served us for an encampment. There are few sounds more melancholy than the nightly howling of the troops of wolves that attend the motions of the buffalo. The mind is oppressed, as it were, with a feeling of intense loneliness. The only Indians we met on this part of our route were a small party of Plain Crees, and two or three Saulteaux.

In the afternoon of the 22nd we reached Fort Pelly, where we were very kindly welcomed by Dr. Todd, and where we remained the following day. The weather was very cold, the thermometer being at —37°; the snow grew deeper as we advanced, and the encampments were open and bad.

I passed this time by way of Qu'appelle, instead of Manitobah, and halted on the 27th at a post called "Beaver Creek," though the beavers have long since disappeared. Arriving there late in the evening, I found that I had only missed, by an hour or two, a famous Plain chief