The mists had gathered on our
little lake, and away in the distance hung white over the river.
Gilbert was busy getting wood and preparing the breakfast. Soon I
heard him at the door of the men's tent saying, "All aboard."
"Any mosquitoes this morning, Gilbert?"
"Not a one. Too cold. By Garge, but it's cold this morning! I
went down to the lake and tried to wash, but I had to l'ave off.
It was too cold."
Shortly I heard them at the fire. The click of the cups told me
that they were taking a little tea and bannock before starting to
carry. Then all was quiet, and one load had gone forward to the
next lake, nearly a half mile ahead. When all but the camp stuff
had been taken forward, we had breakfast, and by 7 A.M. we were in
the canoes.
Our course led us south through two little lakes, with a portage
between, for something more than two miles. Here the second lake
bent away to the southeast, and we landed on our right at the foot
of a low moss-covered ridge. Beyond this we hoped to see the
river. As we climbed, new heights appeared before us, and it
proved to be about three-quarters of a mile to the top, from which
the ridge dropped abruptly on the west, and at its foot was a long,
narrow lake. At first I thought it was the river, but, when it
became clear that it was not, my heart sank a little. Had we been
wrong after all? Had the river bent away to the north instead of
the south as we supposed?
Job and Gilbert outstripped us in the climb, and now we saw them
disappearing across a valley on our left in the direction of a high
hill farther south, and we followed them. As before, new heights
kept appearing as we went up, and when the real summit came in view
we could see Job and Gilbert sitting on its smooth and rounded top
looking away westward. How I wondered what they had found. When
we came up with them there, to the west, around the south end of
the opposite ridge, we could see the river flowing dark and deep as
before. Above, to the southwest, were two heavy falls, and at the
head of the upper and larger one the river widened. There were
several islands, and it looked as if we might be coming to the
expansions near the upper part of the river. One lake beside that
at the foot of the mountain would make the portage route an easy
and good one.
The view from the mountain top was magnificent in all directions.
To the north the hills lay east and west in low, regular ridges,
well covered with green woods; and thirty miles away, on a few of
the highest of them, were great patches of snow lying.
