"If you'll pay out one or two tow-lines, skipper, they'll soon have us off this. I've told them it's their fault we ran aground, and that, if they don't tow us off, we shall report them at the next cavalry depôt, and they'll get hurt." No time was lost in throwing over four tow-warps, and the Indians, much impressed by Barnes's representation to them of the measure of their iniquity, considered themselves let off very cheaply. The canoes were divided into four lots, one to each rope, and as soon as they had "tailed-on" one to the other, the four long teams paddled with a will, and the launch--no bigger than a Brighton fishing-smack--was towed free without the least difficulty. Only too glad to fall in with a companion who, in addition to being a decently educated man, undoubtedly "knew his way about," Mr. Colton readily agreed to the young Canadian's becoming his companion as far as his destination. He still had a very long journey before him, but the newness of all his surroundings and the beauty of the country made it seem all too short. Sometimes they got a lift in a farm-waggon or were able to hire horses as far as the next water-way; failing these, they walked, sleeping at night at a farmhouse, or sometimes in the forest; and in this way they came to the Lake of the Woods, whence they would be able to travel all the way by water to the Saskatchewan River, where the clergyman's journey ended. They reached the lake early one morning after having passed the night at a fur-agent's house on the Minnesota boundary; and, before they were aware of it, they had walked straight into a camp of wandering Chippewyans, who had been resting on the lake shore for a few days before returning northwards from disposing of their furs. Evidently they were used enough to meeting with white men, for, beyond a cheery "good morning," they took no further notice till the strangers addressed them; and then it appeared that several of them spoke English or French. They had just finished their breakfast, for the fires were still smoking, and cooking utensils and broken food lay about the ground, though most of their other property had already been stowed in the canoes. "We also want to reach the Saskatchewan," said Barnes, when they mentioned their destination. "What reward do you ask for taking us there?" The braves conferred in a low voice, and at last the chief said: "We will take you there, and feed you by the way, for five dollars each"; which meant that, for a guinea, a man might travel four hundred miles by water, in beautiful weather, and be fed for a whole week at the least. Colton was about to offer them more, but his companion checked him. "Give them what you like extra at the end of the journey, but we must haggle now, or they'll think we're worth robbing"; and he actually had the face to beat the redskins down to three dollars a head, money down.