Volume 1

TWO RIVERS—ANOTHER FALSE ALARM.
85
charged both barrels of my double gun at him
; he turned
and made one plunge toward me, but had not time to
repeat it before he fell, with his nose not more than three
paces off. I must acknowledge he gave me a fright. Mv
horse had gone at full speed in search of Crow's mare I
returned to Desmarais on foot. Crow had gone hunting
red deer.
^
At five o'clock the canoes arrived and camped.
My men
told me they had seen a great many red deer and bears
crossmg the river
;
large herds were seen at every turn of
the river The Indians on board the canoes killed four
otters \_Lutra canadensis] and three beavers. They complamed
of my men making so much noise all day that it
prevented them from killing bears and other large
animals.
Ihis evening the hunters returned, having killed four biches
and one bull, all extremely fat.
Two Rivers, opposite which we are camped, derives its
name from the circumstance of
dividing about three, miles
from Its mouth into two forks, each of which after its
separation takes a contrary course, one southward and the
other northward these
; forks are again divided into many
other smaller branches, which come from a considerable
distance, and take their waters out of large
marshes W. of
Lac des Bois. Near the entrance of this river is an excellent
salt pit.
Sept. 6th. The Indians set out early, going ahead by
land to hunt. At nine o'clock the canoes got off. I soon
followed on horseback, but had not gone over two leagues
when I found the Indians waiting for me. They had killed
four bears and eight red deer. While I waited for my
canoes the Indians began to talk about liquor.
At one o'clock the canoes arrived and gave us a momentary
alert [alarm, by] saying they had seen fresh horse
dung below the points, where two horses had drunk yesterday.
The fellows were in such a hurry to tell me this news
that they did not properly describe the place, but gave us
wrong information. It made all hands very uneasy, when