Los Angeles herald., 1905-03-19

River station, Detore tney reacheu the
Athabaska river, forty miles south Of
Fort Chippewyan, whence the corporal
had started weeks before on his trip TO
rescue the missionary. still the jour
ney had hardly begun. They were
now to travel down the Athabaska for
more than month to reach their des-
tination. The river is a long, winding
stream for thousands of miles, carry
ing flood from mountain torrents in
the spring months. 1t is fringed with
timber; in places it is broad and clear
When possible the corporal took to the
ice where it was smooth, and so made
progress. .
But new dangers confronted him.
Wolves began to cry early in the after
noon, and by evening became numer-
Gus and threatening. For weeks he
had been followed by these ferocious
animals, but they were of a smaller
breed, very Wild and they kept at
distance but on the larger river, with
more timber, bigger and bolder wolves
appeared, and only fires kept burning
all night around the camp prevented
making an end to the expedition.
Strange as It may seem. however,
the thicker the wolves the more plenti-
full game became, and soon the COR
poral was bagglng grouse, jack rab-
bits, caribou and smaller deer In
abundance. This added TO the variety
of their food, but the missionary ate
| srt,r a,J 10 ho h1
way would nave died of starvation.
In speaking of the trip. Corporal
Field SAYS: "It was not the food sup
ply that worried me, but the condition
of the crazy man. He seemed deter
mined on starvation if he could not
escape. Had 1 once let him out OF
my sight he would have frozen to
death in few hours. AS our journey
continued the storms became more
| furious. All we could do was to in
case ourselves in our sleeping bags Of
fur and fasten ourselves to trees with
our backs to the upturned sledge and
the dogs huddled around us.
"The sheltered tent proved of little
service in severe storms. Snow soon
filled it and covered us in binding
hurricane of pulverized ice and snow
with a temperature far below Zero For
| three days we found cooking mpos-
sible, and we kept ourselves alive by
! nibbling pieces of bacon and some
canned stuff which we had secured in
our fur bags for emergencies. 1t was
Just like travelling in the Baffin Bay
| country of Greenland. After our last
blizzard the manman tried to getsfree
again. The exercise of Juggling at
straps and buckles was beneficial, how
ever for it kept his blood circulating.
FINALLY we reached Fort MacMnr-
ray, where we crossed to the eastern
side of the river, and L knew that one
half our long joruney was completed.
During the summer perhaps half
dozen persons live at Fort MacMurray,
but we found only a single individual
| there, a halfbreed Indian. He did his
best to make us comfortable, and after
a rest of two days we took to the trail
again, and. much refreshed, journeyed
on down the river. go ~
"Fresh troubles were at hand, how
ever. The missionary grew sulen and
refused to eat. When food could no
longer be forced down his throat I
grew alarmed and finally concluded to
loosen his fastenings to give him ex
ercise, hoping to restore his appetite.
| While 1 was gathering fuel for a fire
he became violent, picked up stick
| and attacked the dogs. Then, spying
me with my arms full of kindlng
wood, he made dash for the open
| prairie. With all his fastenings and
confinement he had gained speed and
soon outdistanced me. I kept on
running, however, and soon found
| that he was too weak to go far. Pres
emily overlook him and fastened his
arms and legs so that he could do no
| injury to himself or me. I am strong
man, but in the wind anG numbing
cold it was really difficult task to
carry him quarter of mile to
camp. However, got HIM there. and
was we'll rewarded, for he began eat
ing again, and his appetite grew bet
ter until we pulled into Edmonton, the
! Canadian Pacific railway station, on
January 6, fifty-four days from the
time 1 left Chippewyan to rescue the
clergyman at Peace station"
On the corporal's recovery from al
most fatal exhaustion their journey
was resumed for another by rail of
more than thousand miles to Bran
don, near Winnipeg, where the mis-
sionary was turned over. to an institu-
tion, and his ultimate recovery is hoped
for.