Over the Divide | 155

him. His object being attained, the conversation dropped,
and the work went on.

The unexpected return of their guide restored confidence
to the woyageurs, especially since he made it known that
the false reports that had been spread among the natives
regarding the explorers’ attitude towards them had been
dissipated, and he added that the two men seen the day
before had just returned from their rendezvous with the
coast Indians, and had brought a message that his brother-
in-law had an axe for him there, for which he required a
dressed moose-skin in exchange. The latter article the guide
had with him in the canoe, which little circumstance did
more to hearten them than anything else in the whole voyage,
for it had the effect of bridging the distance between them
and that brother-in-law in the most wonderful way.

The blind man tried to escape in the night but was de-
tained just as he was pushing off in a canoe, and the next
day the guide and his friend departed without Mackenzie’s
knowledge and in spite of the fact that Mackay had been
detailed to watch him. On inquiry some of the men com-
posedly told him that the guide had gone off to wait for
them above, and Mackenzie observes that he hoped this
might be true, “‘but, that my people should suffer them to
depart without giving me notice, was a circumstance that
awakened very painful reflections in my breast.” After four
days’ labour the canoe was finished by five in the afternoon,
and they were happy in the knowledge that it was stronger
and better than the old one. The remainder of the day was
spent by the men in cleaning and refreshing themselves, a
very welcome relaxation after the labour and stress of the
last ten days.

The blind man was left here at his own request. ‘The
mosquitoes, sand-flies, and deer-flies, always troublesome