th them, but they definitely moved their rses too fast for us. That evening the water froze solid in e pail in the tent, and in the stream xt morning there were two inches of 2 We had turned south now, and were aded toward high, high mountains, mbing steadily. We were on the trail rly, because we were very much afraid the weather, and passed the Algatcho dian encampment about half-past nine the morning. The Indian mother and r children were there, but they caught d passed us in about a half hour. END IN SIGHT About noon that day, after rising al- ost to timberline, dropping into and mbing out a deep, steep canyon, we me without warning out on the edge a great, deep, wide and beautiful val- y. There, at the foot of almost over- nging crags, and four thousand feet -aight down was a green and beautiful ley with a silver river and a few patch- ork clearings. Between these clearings ere was evidence of .a road, and in the sarings were buildings. The mountains on our side of the val- y were bare, beetling crags, but across e valley the peaks were snow-and-ice- pped. Just under the glaciers and snow, e bright colours of autumn held sway, it these gave way, lower down, to green immer colours. At our level, winter was rpressing his frigid hand, but down ere it was summer, and nature was still ild. It was the most beautiful sight of e whole trip. It was the Bella Coola alley. The trail down the mountain-side took ; many hours. It clung to the side of uffs, it scrambled up and down. It ound in and out so that even to our irdened viewpoint it was not a good ail. But we eventually spewed out onto level valley floor and rode through a ik-like forest of fir trees. We came to the edge of a road. We oked hard, and lo, there were fresh itomobile tracks. We could have kissed ose tracks, for they told us that our way the sea was clear. No more mountain isses! No more rivers to swim! No ore campsites with wood, water, horse- ed and shelter to worry about! We uld have kissed those tracks the way turning soldiers kiss the soil of their itive land. At the first farm we asked for pasture r our horses, a place to camp. These ere the first white people, with the ex- ption of Trader John Ward, that we id seen since we left Quesnel three eeks before. We were given pasture for the horses right, but the farmer and his wife, Mr. id Mrs. John Hober, insisted we accept eir hospitality. We did, with misgiv- gs, for we suddenly became conscious at we were worn to rags and tatters. IGHTEENTH EDITION But under the steady hospitality of these good people we forgot that. That night, for the first time in our married life, Ruth and I slept in a bed with springs and mattress, the first time we slept under a roof bigger than that of a mountain cabin. The utter relaxation from concern for the next two days, which we spent with the Hobers, was almost wearying. Tue Paciric at Last Then we proceeded down the valley, riding through forests of huge fir and cedar, becoming acquainted again with white men. The third day from Hobers’ we com- pleted our journey to the sea. The vision I had retained in my mind of breakers and surf and pounded sand was broken. We came to the sea at the head of a long inlet on a lowering, calm day when the tide was out, revealing long mud-flats. The Indians of the Interior called it “Stinking Lake”. They were right. But it was the sea! We had completed a fifteen hundred mile mountain journey, and arrived, five days ahead of schedule, on the tenth of October. We believed it was the longest con- tinuous pack-train journey made in Can- ada in the twentieth century. If it wasn’t, we didn’t care, for it was long enough. Our horses were played out, our outfit in rags and tatters. Besides that, we had accomplished our mission. We had come from the prairies to the Pacific with horses. Throughout the long journey we had been treated with the most obvious kind- ness. Indians and whites, and several Chinese had volunteered more than we would have asked, and helped us on our way. We stayed that winter in Bella Coola and in the spring, as guests of Mr. and Mrs. John Harestad, we went in their boat to visit Mackenzie’s Rock, in Dean Channel. That was the real end of our travels along Mackenzie's Route. The more we had travelled it the more we realized Mackenzie had been a great man. fig In February, 1935, sixteen months after we arrived at Bella Coola and a few days after giving birth to a son, Ruth went over the Great Divide, the one we must all cross alone, and from which there is no return. And even as the hor- ribly lonesome and hollow sound of earth falling on the rough-box around a coffin filled my ears, I knew that I had had a partner whose courage, and faith and loyalty and steadfastness of purpose made anything possible. CALLER: “Why does your wife talk so much to herself?” Man of the House: “Because she thinks I’m listening to her.” AGENTS FOR McClary Furnaces, Iron Fireman Coal Stokers Pipe and Fittings, Electric Pumps, Roofing Plumbing—Heating Sheet Metal Work CRAIG STREET DUNCAN, B.C. Queen Margaret’s Schooi Principals: Miss N. C. Denny, A.R.R.C. Miss D. R. Geoghegan, B.A. Country Boarding and Day School for Girls. Begin- ners to Matriculation. Healthy situation. Large playing fields. Own chapel in grounds. Swimming pool. Own ponies and farm. Church of England. PROSPECTUS SENT ON REQUEST . DUNCAN, B.C. Full Dinner—or a Snack THE BEST OF FOOD WITH THE BEST OF SERVICE Magazines and Tobacco Buy “The Shoulder Strap’ Here WESTWELL'S Phone 1 Duncan, B.C. Box 574 Shop Phone 46 J. W. GRIFFITHS ISLAND DRUG STORE BERT MENZIES An Up-to-Date Stock of Drugs and Medicines—Nyal Remedies Prescriptions Carefully Dispensed BRITISH COLUMBIA DUNCAN Phone 431 P.O. Box 234 HIGHMOOR'S Electric Pumps, Electric Motors, Water Systems, Lighting Plants, Coal Stokers, Plumbing Supplies, Water Located Agents for Rockgas 427 CANADA AVE. DUNCAN, B.C. DOBSON’'S LTD. COWICHAN’S PAINT HEADQUARTERS Glass Wallpaper Signs Painters and Decorators PHONE 639 P.O. BOX 122 191 Kenneth St. DUNCAN, B.C. Telephone 604 GRAY MOTOR COMPANY AUTOMOBILE SALES AND SERVICE DODGE TRUCKS DODGE AND DE SOTO CARS INDUSTRIAL MOTORS Government St. Duncan, B. C. Page Twenty-three