On the Indian Trail | Page 5

our party, a quick reaction seized
me, and dropping the gun, I sank back trembling like a leaf.
After chatting away at a great rate, he at length settled down in the hay,
and went to sleep without having the slightest idea of the risk he had
run, or of the part I had played in what came so near being a tragedy.

I continued my watch until relieved at sunrise, and then, with my
comrade, turned over all the horses safe and sound to those whose duty
it was to watch them while they were feeding on the prairies.
There was a row for a time when I reported to the leaders of our
company the visit to the barn. The good-natured delinquent was the
subject of a great deal of scolding, which he bore with an unruffled
demeanour. As he was six feet, six inches and a half in stature, no
physical castigation was administered; nor was any needed; he was so
thoroughly frightened when he heard how he had stood under cover of
my rifle with my finger on the trigger.
CHAPTER TWO.
ON THE INDIAN TRAIL.
We will call the routes over which I travelled on my large mission field,
"Indian trails;" but the name at times would be found to be inept, as
often, for scores of miles, there was not the least vestige of a track or
path. This was because there was so little travel in summer of a
character that would make a well defined trail, for during that season
the Indians preferred to avail themselves of the splendid and numerous
lakes and rivers, which enabled them to travel very easily by canoe in
almost any direction.
Thus, when obliged to travel on the short stretches of the so-called,
"Indian trail," it is not to be wondered at if the missionary sometimes
lost his way, and had to be sought after and found, much to the
amusement of the Indians who constituted the hunting party.
"Good missionary, but him lost the trail." More than once was I so
addressed by my clever and experienced Indian canoeman, with whom
every summer I used to journey hundreds of miles into remote regions,
to find the poor sheep of the wilderness to whom to preach the glorious
Gospel of the Son of God. These summer routes lay through many
lakes, and up and down rushing rivers full of rapids and cataracts.
Generally two skilful Indian canoemen were my companions, one of
whom was called, "the guide."

The Indians, for whom we were seeking, drifted naturally from their
hunting grounds in the forests, to the shores of the lakes and rivers, for
the sake of the fish, which, daring the summer months, could be easily
obtained and which then constituted their principal food. The result was,
that while in winter, with our dog-trains, we could go anywhere--the
terrible ice-king freezing everything solid from the lakes and rivers to
the great quaking bogs--in summer, we were confined to those trips
which could be only made by the birch-bark canoe: in no other way
could the Gospel he carried to these people. After we became
accustomed to the canoe and dog-train, we rejoiced that we were
counted worthy to be the Messengers of Good Tidings'to these
neglected ones, who, having lost faith in their old paganism, were
longing for something better.
One summer in the early years of my missionary life, when I had had
but little experience in the northern methods of travel and was a novice
at finding my way on an obscure trail, I took a trip which I remember
very distinctly; partly, because of the difficulty I had in keeping the
trail when alone and partly because of the dangers to which I was
exposed when I lost it.
My birch canoe was a good one. It was made especially for running
rapids, and was so light that one man could easily carry it on his head
when necessary. I had as my companions two very capable Indian
canoemen. One of them had never been over that route before and the
other, whom by courtesy, we called, "our guide," had only once
travelled that way--and that, several years before the date of this trip.
All the able bodied men of my mission excepting these two, were away
serving the Hudson Bay Company as tripmen, which was the reason
why I could not obtain men better acquainted with the long route. I had
either to take these men and ran a good deal of risk, or wait another
year to carry the Gospel to those hundreds who had never heard it, and
who had sent a pleading call for me to come and tell them what the
Great Spirit said in His Book. So, after much prayer,