There was still a long journey ahead to the coast of Lake Superior; and the canoe was leaky from bumping about among the ice floes. Luckily two boats of Chippewas came along on their way to John Sayer's post at Red Cedar or Cass lake. With these Thompson and his party embarked. A carry of two hundred yards took them past the narrow and shallow waters of Turtle brook, to a point where the stream was enlarged by a tributary from a nearby lake. Here they launched their canoes and followed the stream through its incredible windings to the lake. This was the country of wild rice and maple sugar, and on these the poor Indians were compelled to subsist. Not a deer or a beaver was to be seen; all had been destroyed. The geese and ducks flew overhead in safety; for the impoverished natives could not even afford the price of guns and ammunition, and they had lost the art of making and using the bow. Sayer supplied Thompson with a fresh canoe, which enabled him to continue his voyage. From the south of the lake, the valley of the Mississippi now lay clear before him to the south east--a wide expanse of marshy ground through which the channel meandered like a writhing snake. As he advanced, however, the marsh gave way to a sandy loam, heavily clothed with resinous fir. Arriving at Sand Lake river, he turned east along this to Sand lake. Before him was a great swamp, nearly five miles in width and stretching north and south as far as the eye could reach. This was the last barrier between him and the headwaters of the River St. Louis. Shouldering their canoe and baggage, they advanced along the rude corduroy road which the traders had laid across the bog. As often as they missed their step, they sank to their waists in the mire. A long day's work was needed before they had reached the other side. From thence a brook carried them to the main stream of River St. Louis. They passed into the forest country that surrounds the lake; and were soon at the trading house which the North-Westers maintained at Fond du Lac on the present site of the city of Duluth. Here they found an old twenty-eight foot canoe, which they patched up and fitted with oars, for their slight river craft was unequal to the winds and waves of Superior; and they had still to make a survey of the lake. The weather was fine; and they made the circuit without adventure, east along the south shore to Sault Ste. Marie, and westward along the north shore to Grand Portage. Late in the evening of the 7th of June, Thompson set foot on the pier, his long journey over. At Sault Ste. Marie he had encountered Sir Alexander Mackenzie and William McGillivray travelling east to Montreal. When they heard what he had done, they were warm in their praise, and told him that he had accomplished as much in ten months as might have been expected in two years. His reputation was thus established, and his future with the North West Company was assured. CHAPTER V EIGHT YEARS OF TRADING