An excellent breakfast the next morning, with the fair prospect of reaching by evening the first terminal point of their journey, put the travelers in exuberant spirits for the day, and nothing but jolting over one of the roughest roads ever encountered by them could have lessened their enjoyment of the occasion. A short stop was made for luncheon at Fourteen Mile Lake, and this being their first meal in the open air they were enabled, together with the experience thus far gained in their journeying, to gauge more accurately their supply of rations. It was readily discovered that they would need at least a third more provisions for their expedition than would be required for the ordinary occupations of in-door life; and it was at once decided to provide an additional supply of bacon and dried meats before leaving Leech Lake. After luncheon the Captain's brother and Mr. Paine took a bath in the lake, while he himself found amusement in duck-shooting and in chatting with some straggling Chippewas, who were about launching their canoes for a six weeks' hunting and fishing excursion. It happened that Captain Glazier had never before seen birch bark canoes, and they were therefore regarded by him with considerable interest, their use in the future being indispensable to the success of his undertaking. Now the Captain possesses, in common with most men of adventurous spirit, a characteristic desire to get at the bottom facts of everything, and this curiosity here caused him a laughable mishap; for, the better to examine it, he stepped into one of the canoes, when, from want of experience in balancing himself in so light a vessel, he was precipitated into the lake, much to his own discomfort but greatly to the amusement of the spectators. Firmly resolved upon more caution in the future, the Captain and his companions pursued their journey towards Leech Lake, which was reached at four o'clock in the afternoon. CHAPTER XXXVII. HOME OF THE CHIPPEWAS. An embryonic red man.--A primitive hotel.--An unkempt inhabitant of the forest.--Leech Lake.--Major Ruffe's arrival.--White Cloud.--Paul Beaulieu and his theory about the source of the Mississippi.--Che-no-wa-ge-sic.--Studying Indian manners and customs.--Dining with Indian royalty.--Chippewa hospitality.--How the wife of an Indian Chief entertains.--Souvenir of Flat Mouth.--Return of Che-no-wa-ge-sic.--A council held.--An Indian speech.--"No White Man has yet seen the head of the Father of Waters."--Voyage of exploration.--Launching the canoes.