"Though it is extremely difficult and hazardous to build at such a point, I was determined to succeed, so I had a large scow built and anchored to a point of rock where the bridge was to be built. We made stronger trestles of heavier timber, and got two eight-inch cables, which we laid across the channel over the trestles, which we secured to the rocks at each end. Then we built a wooden bridge, and with screw-jacks placed on the scow below it was kept up to its proper level. The work is almost completed," he said, "and I am determined that it shall stand, even if I have to build it of silver dollars." "Can you see the bridge, Colonel?" asked the Chief. "The mist comes and goes. Sometimes it seems as though it were not there." "Your vision is probably growing defective," replied the Colonel. It was evident to more than the Chief that the structure had been loosened from its moorings by the gale, and could be seen moving majestically down stream; but, knowing the Colonel's temper, they determined to say nothing more on the subject. The account of the construction of the first bridges over the Ottawa had little of interest for either George or Chrissy, who sat a little apart from the others, absorbed in conversation. "On reaching the Fort after our interrupted meeting," said George, "I was ordered off to the North to open a new trading-post. Our crew consisted of one French-Canadian, four Indians, and myself. We left Fort Chippewyan in July, our canoe loaded with pemmican, an assortment of useful and ornamental articles to be given as gifts to the Indians, to ensure us a friendly reception among them, and the ammunition and arms necessary for defence, as well as a supply for our Indians, upon whom we depended for our chief supply of provisions, as it was impossible to carry all that would be required before our return. "Our course, which led from the Ungigah (Peace) to the Slave River, from thence to the Dog River, and from that to Slave Lake, was uneventful. The weather was extremely cold, and we were much hindered by ice. It was after we left the lake that our trouble really commenced. Our guide, who professed to know the route, mistook a small lake for the river, and led us into the midst of a tribe of the most hostile natives, known as the Red Knife Indians. "My men spoke to these people in the Chippewyan language, and the information they gave respecting the river for which we were searching had so much of the fabulous that I shall not attempt to recall it. They said it would require several winters to reach it; that there was a great Manitou in the midst of it which consumed everything that attempted to pass, and that there were other monsters of horrid shapes and such destructive powers that all travel on it was effectually blocked.