The icy hand of January had
crushed all other creatures into oblivion. No deer, no animals of any
kind crossed their trail. Their food was going rapidly, and they were
now reduced to a scanty ration of jerked venison.
At last they halted one day by the side of a brook and pitched their
wigwam. Then leaving the women to cut wood and put the camp in order,
the two Indians shouldered their guns and axes, and made signs to Bob
to follow them, which he gladly did.
They ascended the frozen stream for several miles, when suddenly they
came upon a beaver dam and the dome-shaped house of the animals
themselves, nearly hidden under the deep covering of snow. The house
had apparently been located earlier in the season, for now the Indians
went directly to it as a place they were familiar with.
Here they began at once to clear away the snow from the ice at one
side of the house, using their snow-shoes as shovels. When this was
done, a pole was cut, and to the end of the pole a long iron spike was
fastened. With this improvised implement Sishetakushin began to pick
away the ice where the snow had been cleared from it, while Mookoomahn
cut more poles.
[Illustration: "It was dangerous work"]
Though the ice was fully four feet thick Sishetakushin soon reached
the water.
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