Adventure and adventurers > Away in the wilderness, or, Life among the red Indians and fur-traders of North America

AWAY IN THE WILDERNESS.
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were dressed alike, in the yellow leathern costume
of winter. The only difference being that Jasper
wore a fur cap, while Arrowhead sported a cloth
head-piece that covered his neck and shoulders,
and was ornamented with a pair of horns.
All day the two men plodded steadily over the
country. Sometimes they were toiling through
deep snow in wooded places, sinking six or eight
inches in spite of their snow-shoes. At other
times, they were passing swiftly over the surface
of the open plains, where the snow was beaten so
hard by exposure to the sun and wind that the
shoes only just broke the crust and left their out¬
lines behind. Then they reached a bend of the
river, where they had again to plod heavily through
the woods on its banks, until they came out upon
its frozen surface. Here the snow was so hard,
that they took off their snow-shoes and ran briskly
along without them for a long space.
Thus they travelled all day, without one halt,
and made such good use of their time, that they
arrived at the log-hut of old Laroche early in the
evening.
“ Well met, son-in-law, that is to he” cried the
stout old man, heartily, as the two hunters nuade
their appearance before the low door-way of his hut,
which was surrounded by trees and almost buned
in snow. “ If you had been half an hour later, I
would have met ye in the woods.”