At first he was loath to admit he had been lost, doubtless
remembering how he and George had "guyed" me when I had been out
all night and my prediction that his turn would come; but when
George confessed to having gone astray also, be made a clean breast
of it, telling us he was "lost good and plenty, and scared some,
too." Now I had my innings, and I must confess I took great
delight in returning some of the chaff they had given me.

Hubbard decreed, in consequence of these experiences--getting lost-
-that thereafter each man at all times should have on his person an
emergency kit, to consist of matches, a piece of fish line, some
hooks and two or three flies, enclosed in a film box waterproofed
with electrician's tape.

We remained in our camp on Lake Elson for two days in order to
scout and dry fish. It was the best fishing place we had yet come
to. During our stay we had all the trout we could eat, and we
dried and smoked forty-five large ones. The scouting proved that
Hubbard's "big river" was an important discovery. It lay two miles
to the south of us, flowing to the southeast. Hubbard sent George
to look at it, and he reported that it certainly came from large
lakes, as it was big, deep and straight. Could it come from Lake
Michikamau?

While George was away Hubbard and I took a trip in the canoe around
the lake and through some inlets. At the northeast we discovered a
creek flowing into the lake, and as there were some old Indian
wigwams and cuttings near it, indicating the possibility of its
being part of a trail, we seriously considered the advisability of
following it up. From a knoll near by we could see to the