After taking one canoe some
distance above the bend he went back for the second, and all the
remainder of the afternoon Job climbed hills of water in the
canoes.
That evening our camp was again on top of a high bank thirty feet
or more above the river. Joe and Gilbert put up the tents, while
down at our camp fire at the shore George made the bannocks and Job
skinned, dressed, and cooked the porcupine. When it grew so dark
that I could not see to write I went to help cook bannocks. It
seemed good to be near the fire too, for it was growing cold.
George and Job chatted merrily in Indian, Job evidently, as fond of
fun as George. The fun suddenly came to an end, however, when
Gilbert came down to say that the tube of my bed-pump was missing.
It was too true. The thing was not to be found anywhere. It had
been dropped when the stuff was handed down the bank in the
morning.
It seemed a quite serious matter to me, knowing as I did from past
experience that I cannot sleep on the ground long without growing
very tired, when I lose my nerve and am afraid to do anything. I
did not like to think of the possibility of either growing
desperate and wanting to turn back or breaking down under the
strain of going on. Some one would have to go back for the tube,
and time was precious now. It would be trying to lose a day.
While I sat rather disconsolate considering the situation, George
conceived the brilliant idea of having Gilbert turn himself into an
air-pump, which he did quite cheerfully, and very soon my bed was
as tight and firm as need be, and peace reigned again.
When at last we assembled for supper it was nearly 10 P.M., and the
stars were coming out over Mount Sawyer. The meal was a quiet one,
for all were tired, and well content to listen in silence to the
music of the river, as softly the night-gloom gathered unto itself
the wilderness.
CHAPTER IV
DISASTER WHICH THREATENED DEFEAT
Friday morning was warm and bright. It seemed wonderful to be
having so much fine weather in Labrador, and not a fly or mosquito
as yet. The one nuisance we had met was mice or lemmings. They
had been busy with my hat in the night, and when I came to put it
on that morning I found there was a hole eaten in the crown and a
meal or two taken out of the brim.
