One afternoon two Indians, youths of about seventeen, came to our camp, and expressed their intention of honouring us with their company till the morrow. We had strong suspicions that they were spies, but invited them to sleep in the lodge, and redoubled our vigilance in keeping watch. But the night again passed without alarm, and we concluded that we had succeeded in throwing our pursuers off the trail. After hunting several days more, with varied success, we made a rapid journey back to the Fort, which we reached on the 8th of October. On our way we overtook the Company’s train of carts returning, laden with meat. Mr. Sinclair, who was in charge, informed us that when first the hunters went out on the fall hunt, they found buffalo in extraordinary numbers. Vast herds covered the ground in every direction, so that the earth fairly shook again beneath their trampling, and at night sleep was almost impossible from the constant lowing, and the tumult of their passage. By the time he got there the large bands had been broken up, and the cows, who are much wilder than the bulls, driven far to the south. He also told us that he had met the party of Crees who had guided Treemiss to the camp on the occasion when he lost his way. They related the whole story to him, with the further information that they had been much disappointed with us, and vastly smitten with our horses, which they had made up their minds to carry off. Accordingly, a large party cautiously followed our trail the next day, but when they arrived at our old camp by the river--the point where we had turned off at right angles--they were unable to trace us any further, and concluded that we had crossed the river. We were greatly pleased to find our suspicions were not groundless, and that the stratagem we adopted had been so completely successful. CHAPTER V. The Ball--Half-Breed Finery--Voudrie and Zear return to Fort Garry--Treemiss starts for the Montagne du Bois--Leave Carlton for Winter Quarters--Shell River--La Belle Prairie--Riviere Crochet--The Indians of White Fish Lake--Kekekooarsis, or “Child of the Hawk,” and Keenamontiayoo, or “The Long Neck”-- Their Jollification--Passionate Fondness for Rum--Excitement in the Camp--Indians flock in to Taste the Fire-water--Sitting out our Visitors--A Weary Day--Cache the Rum Keg by Night--Retreat to La Belle Prairie--Site of our House--La Ronde as Architect-- How to Build a Log Hut--The Chimney--A Grand Crash--Our Dismay--Milton supersedes La Ronde--The Chimney Rises again-- Our Indian Friends--The Frost sets in.