ne creek, my horse fell in a hole, looked s if he were going to fall down the jountain-side into the stream. I jumped 5 clear myself, went crashing twenty feet own through the brush before I stopped. fy horse had managed to keep himself n the trail. By the second night of travel -e decided that the Tonquin adventure ad been a picnic. Every night it rained, 5 that the horses did not feed well. Every ay we fought over worse trails. We lost je trail several times and took costly etours. ConpiITIONS BEGGAR DESCRIPTION George Wilcox, our travelling com- anion, as fluent a cusser as ever we stened to, said he’d have to devise new uss-words to adequately describe the rail. One night it snowed and we nearly roze. A cougar screamed near camp, creamed like a woman in pain, and yeorge was up to keep a big and warming ire going. He said the next morning that is dog got so close to the fire when the ougar screamed that he nearly burned is hair off. Because of the slow travel we missed -camping-place and the horses had to go night without feed. They were apa- hetic the next morning. When my mount showed signs of play- ng out, Wilcox said he would go ahead o the next feed and camp. He did, but ve never caught up to him until we got o Barkerville, for Dick suddenly lost his lerve completely, and every time the least it of an obstruction was met, he refused ompletely to try it. He carried only an mpty pack-saddle and was only a gaunt, lack ghost of his former self. We event- ally got him out to John Wendle’s place t Bowron Lake. Mr. Wendle said he vould look after him, and with heavy learts we left the horse that had been such faithful friend and servant. The Bowron-Kibbee Lakes District is ne of the most beautiful districts you ould imagine, but the Goat River trail ad removed from us any appreciation of ts merits. Dick died a week after we left him, lespite the good care he got. We rode into Barkerville, saw George Vilcox, then started along the highway to Juesnel. Four days later we arrived in hat bustling little town, re-awakening to new gold-fever. There was food await- ng us there, and since we hadn’t eaten nything but cornmeal for seven days, we eally learned what delightful tastes were. \nd we hadn’t heard from home for seven veeks, so mail was also a delight ! Taking stock at Quesnel, we realized hat we had set up serious liabilities for urselves. We were now short one horse, nd the ones we had were trail-weary to dangerous point. It was well past the niddle of September, and the days were ¢tting shorter. We still had to go through -IGHTEENTH EDITION three hundred and fifty miles of, to us, unknown country. We contacted Paul Krestinuck at Ques- nel, who told us that he had a trading-post at Algatcho (also spelled Ulkatcho, Alga- chuz, etc.) and that there was a wagon- road that far. That was good news, since Algatcho is about two hundred and fifty miles from Quesnel. A repetition of the Goat River country would have spelled total disaster. THe Worst Over On the twenty-first of September, after Louis LeBourdais had taken our picture, we crossed the Fraser on the big bridge and climbed onto the long undulating plateau that stretches right from the Fraser River to the Coast Range. We rode past small ranches, went through almost endless jack-pine forests and broad meadows. We came to the Nazko Indian village and camped several miles beyond it. The next day we crossed the Blackwater River and turned westward, at last on the trail of Alexander Mackenzie, the ex- plorer. The coming winter was sending his messengers ahead. Winds from the west almost blew us out of the saddle. When we camped at night we added shelter from wind as one of the necessities of a camp- site. Never had we seen such continuous winds. It snowed frequently, too fre- quently, and rained heavily and froze. Oft-times we had to walk to keep warm. Our immediate aim was Algatcho. We met the trader, John Ward, from Algatcho (partner of Paul Krestinuck), and he told us that the Indians at Algatcho would show us the crossing on the Dean River, that it was bad, that the trail from Al- gatcho to Bella Coola was high and pre- cipitous, that maybe we had better take the longer and safer route along the tele- graph line. Westward we travelled, learning that buckskin is cheaper in this country than cloth, that moose meat is more popular than beef because the former cannot be exported over the P.G.E., and that Algat- cho ever receded westward like a will-o- the wisp. On benign sunny days we rode along in pleasure, for game was every- where apparent and Indians were on the move. The country was easy to travel through. We passed the beautiful Kduskus Lakes, rode past Elguck Lake . . . which is the ultimate source of the Blackwater River, which we had crossed and _ re- crossed .. . and if it hadn’t been for the imminence of winter and the weakness of our pack-horses we would have enjoyed it to the full. We came upon a group of Indians dry- ing meat over their fire in exactly the same way their ancestors had. And one night, at dusk, we came to Algatcho, that village of our aspirations. It was deserted, except for one old wo- man who seemed more like a wraith of Phone Sidney 135 COAL AND RANGE OIL SIDNEY FREIGHT SERVICE LTD. SIDNEY, V. 1. B.C. Phone 31 | LOCAL MEAT MARKET A. D. Harvey Dealer in DRESSED MEATS FISH AND FRESH VEGETABLES * SIDNEY, B.C. Avenue Cafe and News-Stand Frank L. Godfrey, Proprietor Stage Depot -:- Taxi Service NEWS DEALER “Tf It's Published We Can Get Ii!” “THE SHOULDER STRAP” ON SALE HERE Sidney, B.C. Phone 100 Phones: Sidney (Day) 6; (Night) 60-Y, 152-Y Mitchell & Anderson Lumber Co. Lid. All Kinds of Lumber, Mill Work and Hardware ov SIDNEY, B. C. WILSONA INN Mrs. A. Wilson, Proprietress FISHING — BOATING Home Cooked Meals ¥ Reasonable Rates A Good Quiet Place to Spend Your Holidays x Deep Cove, Sidney, B. C. Page Twenty-one