Tue Great JouRNEY 103

a state of extreme alarm. The guide had met
some angry natives who had told him some-
_ thing which set him off running as fast as he
could; they had kept with him for a time, but
he had finally left them. The lives of the
whole party were in imminent danger. The
first Indians they had seen, those who had
shot at them on the rgth, had spread evil
reports, and the sudden change in plan, with
the appearance of the white men up the
river again, had convinced the natives that
they were enemies. The voyageurs despaired
at the news, and wished to make for home at
once; Mackenzie himself was filled with
“sensations little short of agony”. The men
almost mutinied; once they loaded the canoe
without orders, and Mackenzie thought that
they were about to defy his authority. It was
essential that he should get in touch again
with the natives before an attack was made.
He spent two anxious days beside the river
with guards always posted. On the morning
of the 26th they found an old blind man in
the woods; convincing him that they were
friends, they started upstream, and against

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