In The
Course Of The Day He Had Several Times Remarked That We Were Pursuing The
Same Course That Mr. Franklin Was Doing When He Left Him And That, By
Keeping Towards The Setting Sun, He Could Find His Way Himself.
Hepburn
and I were not in a condition to resist even an open attack, nor could we
by any device escape from him.
Our united strength was far inferior to
his and, beside his gun, he was armed with two pistols, an Indian
bayonet, and a knife. In the afternoon, coming to a rock on which there
was some tripe de roche, he halted and said he would gather it whilst we
went on and that he would soon overtake us. Hepburn and I were now left
together for the first time since Mr. Hood's death, and he acquainted me
with several material circumstances which he had observed of Michel's
behaviour and which confirmed me in the opinion that there was no safety
for us except in his death, and he offered to be the instrument of it. I
determined however, as I was thoroughly convinced of the necessity of
such a dreadful act, to take the whole responsibility upon myself and,
immediately upon Michel's coming up, I put an end to his life by shooting
him through the head with a pistol. Had my own life alone been threatened
I would not have purchased it by such a measure, but I considered myself
as entrusted also with the protection of Hepburn's, a man who, by his
humane attentions and devotedness, had so endeared himself to me that I
felt more anxiety for his safety than for my own. Michel had gathered no
tripe de roche and it was evident to us that he had halted for the
purpose of putting his gun in order with the intention of attacking us,
perhaps whilst we were in the act of encamping.
I have dwelt in the preceding part of the narrative upon many
circumstances of Michel's conduct, not for the purpose of aggravating his
crime, but to put the reader in possession of the reasons that influenced
me in depriving a fellow-creature of life. Up to the period of his return
to the tent his conduct had been good and respectful to the officers, and
in a conversation between Captain Franklin, Mr. Hood, and myself, at
Obstruction Rapid, it had been proposed to give him a reward upon our
arrival at a post. His principles however, unsupported by a belief in the
divine truths of Christianity, were unable to withstand the pressure of
severe distress. His countrymen, the Iroquois, are generally Christians,
but he was totally uninstructed and ignorant of the duties inculcated by
Christianity, and from his long residence in the Indian country seems to
have imbibed or retained the rules of conduct which the southern Indians
prescribe to themselves.
On the two following days we had mild but thick snowy weather and, as the
view was too limited to enable us to preserve a straight course, we
remained encamped amongst a few willows and dwarf pines about five miles
from the tent. We found a species of cornicularia, a kind of lichen that
was good to eat when moistened and toasted over the fire, and we had a
good many pieces of singed buffalo hide remaining.
On the 26th, the weather being clear and extremely cold, we resumed our
march which was very painful from the depth of the snow, particularly on
the margins of the small lakes that lay in our route. We frequently sunk
under the load of our blankets and were obliged to assist each other in
getting up. After walking about three miles and a half however we were
cheered by the sight of a large herd of reindeer and Hepburn went in
pursuit of them but, his hand being unsteady through weakness, he missed.
He was so exhausted by this fruitless attempt that we were obliged to
encamp upon the spot although it was a very unfavourable one.
Next day we had fine and clear but cold weather. We set out early and, in
crossing a hill, found a considerable quantity of tripe de roche. About
noon we fell upon Little Marten Lake, having walked about two miles. The
sight of a place that we knew inspired us with fresh vigour and, there
being comparatively little snow on the ice, we advanced at a pace to
which we had lately been unaccustomed. In the afternoon we crossed a
recent track of a wolverine which, from a parallel mark in the snow,
appeared to have been dragging something. Hepburn traced it and upon the
borders of the lake found the spine of a deer that it had dropped. It was
clean picked and at least one season old, but we extracted the spinal
marrow from it which, even in its frozen state, was so acrid as to
excoriate the lips. We encamped within sight of the Dog-Rib Rock and from
the coldness of the night and the want of fuel rested very ill.
On the 28th we rose at daybreak, but from the want of the small fire that
we usually made in the mornings to warm our fingers, a very long time was
spent in making up our bundles. This task fell to Hepburn's share as I
suffered so much from the cold as to be unable to take my hands out of my
mittens. We kept a straight course for the Dog-Rib Rock but, owing to the
depth of the snow in the valleys we had to cross, did not reach it until
late in the afternoon. We would have encamped but did not like to pass a
second night without fire and, though scarcely able to drag our limbs
after us, we pushed on to a clump of pines about a mile to the southward
of the rock and arrived at them in the dusk of the evening.
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