helpless infant on the river-bank the succour brought her?

A small birch-bark canoe was wending its way up the river on the
morning following that on which Michel's wife had met her death. It
came from Fort Little Rapids, and was proceeding to Fort Simpson,
some 500 miles up the rivet. There were three men in the canoe, a
Cree, or Swampy Indian, in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company,
and two Slaves or Etcha-Ottine of Mackenzie River. They were paddling
rapidly, having lately been ashore for breakfast, and being anxious
to reach Fort Simpson as soon as possible. La V.'s custom was to take
the left bank of the river going up stream; but on this occasion, for
no particular reason which he could give, he agreed with his men to
take the right side. They had not long past the region of the smoky
banks [Footnote: "The region of the smoky banks." These fires, called
"Boucanes" by the Canadians, occur in several parts of the Mackenzie
and Athabasca district. In the neighbourhood of Lake la Biche, and
also along the miry bank, a number of jets of hot steam find vent
through the mud, and make the waters of the river bubble. Above Fort
Norman, on the Mackenzie, in several spots the banks give out smoke
and occasionally flames. These fires have existed for ages, and are
regarded with the greatest awe and superstition by the Indians. A
little higher up the river there are hot springs and a small
Solfaferra, like the larger one near Naples.], when a sound was heard
which caused the three men simultaneously to stop their paddling and
listen. It occurred again and yet again, at long intervals; one man
pronounced it a dog, but La V. shook his head, and declared it to
be the cry of an infant, and that he would put ashore and ascertain
if it were not so. Very faint was that cry, and waxing, even as they
listened, still more feeble; were it dog or infant, the cry was
evidently from one in the very last stage of exhaustion. Soon, as