Georgies Present | Page 7

Lord.'

"The tears dropped fast when he thought of my anxiety on his account,
and of the probability that his usefulness was at an end, and that we
should meet no more on earth.
"At length he came to the resolution to retrace his steps, hoping to
make the scanty supply of biscuit which still remained hold out until
they could regain the spot where the Indians had encamped, and where
they had buried some venison. Of the three travellers, he suffered least
from snow-blindness, which he thought was owing to the fact that he
had kept a black gauze veil over his face at mid-day, and had resolutely
adhered to his purpose of not rubbing his eyes. He was, therefore, best
able to guide his companions. He thus describes the plan on which he
proceeded:--'Maurice, the Indian, would open his eyes now and then to
look at my compass;--we could not see for fog more than one hundred
yards; he would fix on some object as far as the eye could reach, and
then shut his eyes again, when I would lead him up to it. On reaching it
he would take another look, and we then started for the next point. It
was literally a case of the blind leading the blind.
"In this manner, by forced marches, we were enabled to reach, by seven
or eight in the evening, the same spots at which we had halted on our
outward march at four each day. Thus we were spared the labour of
digging and clearing away the snow, to which, in our enfeebled
condition, we were quite unequal. The stint of food was now so small
that I advised my companions not to eat any quantity at a time, but to
take a piece the size of a nutmeg when hunger was most craving. We
gathered also each day, on our return, about as many partridge berries
as would fill a wine glass apiece, and these we found both refreshing
and nutritive. They had ripened in the autumn, and had been buried
under the snow all the winter, so that they resembled preserved fruit in
flavour, and reminded me of a rich, clarety grape.
"One great privation in this winter travelling is the want of water. We
were obliged to content ourselves with the supply gotten from the snow,
melted by the smoky fire. This water, together with the wind, had the
effect of parching and cracking my swollen lips to such a degree, that
when, after an interval of eight days, I had an opportunity of surveying

my face in a piece of broken glass, I was at a loss to recognise my own
features. The most scorching heat of summer is not so injurious to the
skin as the effect of travelling in the snow at this season.'
"After this tedious fashion, stage by stage, the wanderers slowly
proceeded, until at length, by God's mercy, they reached the place
where the Indian wigwams had been left. During the latter part of their
route they heard continually the noise of the woodpeckers upon the
bark of the trees, which is considered a certain sign of approaching rain,
a downfall of which they much feared. The weather was beginning to
soften, and consequently the ice lost its firmness, and it became both
difficult and dangerous to get so far as this place, but by great effort
they accomplished it. Nor was your grandfather satisfied to trust to the
imperfect shelter the tents afforded, but persevered in journeying on to
the hut built for the winter crew, and which he knew was at no great
distance from thence.
"Scarcely had he reached this spot when the rain fell in torrents, and
truly thankful did he feel that he had a roof to protect him, instead of
being in one of those miserable un-roofed snow-caves, which had for
so many nights been his only retreat during all weathers. For a time he
suffered greatly both in his eyes and from the smarting of his
cold-blistered face, which, together with the fatigue he had endured,
rendered it necessary that he should repose for some days before
venturing on his journeyings again. I shall not trace his onward
progress, which continued to be attended with much difficulty and
danger. His nerves became at length so shattered by his great exertions,
that, when travelling along the coast, where he had to pass over very
lofty cliffs, the sight of these dizzy precipices would so affect him that
he burst into tears, and experienced all the symptoms of fainting. Once
when clinging by his hands and knees upon the edge of a steep cliff, he
felt as though he must inevitably loose his hold, in which case the fall
would have been certain death. Closing