Almost at first streak of dawn the women were abroad. Shortly after, the
men visited their traps and lifted the nets. In this land and season of
plenty the catch had been good. The snares had strangled three hares;
the steel traps had caught five muskrats, which are very good eating in
spite of their appearance; the net had intercepted a number of pickerel,
suckers, and river whitefish. This, with the meat of the caribou, shot
by Three Fingers the day before, and the supplies brought from the Post,
made ample provision.

Nevertheless, when the camp had been struck and the canoes loaded, the
order of march was reversed. Now the men took the lead by a good margin,
and the women and children followed. For in the wooded country game
drinks early.

Before setting out, however, old Haukemah blazed a fair clean place on a
fir-tree, and with hard charcoal from the fire marked on it these
characters:

[Illustration: random characters]

"Can you read Injun writin'?" asked Dick. "I can't."

"Yes," replied Sam, "learned her when I was snowed up one winter with
Scar-Face down by the Burwash Lake country." He squinted his eyes,
reading the syllables slowly.

"'Abichi-kā-menót Moosamík-kā-jā yank. Missowā edookan owāsi sek
negi--' Why, it's Ojibway, not Cree," he exclaimed. "They're just leaving
a record. 'Good journey from Moose Factory. Big game has been seen.'