C Ihe Ladies c cu. V'VVAN - History and Classics, Department of

47(9 From Providenceto AklavikProvidence in this case was the name of our first port of call after GreatSlave Lake, and it was there that Gwen met a disaster which threatened to wreckour Rat River expedition. We went ashore, as we always did at any stopping-place,picked our way up the rough gang-board that was set up on such occasions fromsteamer to mud-bank, and then along the winding track among stones and bouldersto the dirt road that bordered the cluster of wooden dwellings. Thence weplunged into the forest behind the settlement, as usual, to search for and collectwild flowers and after a few visits with the judge we went to bed as usual.Gwen woke next morning with a sprained ankle or foot that had been verypainful all through the night and she could hardly put her foot to the ground.When she told me the news we looked at each other in dismay. We knew by thistime that there would be no question of either of us sitting peacefully in thecanoe while our guides pushed it up the river; for most of the way we should haveto force open a pathway for ourselves through dense brushwood that covered thebanks. However she hobbled out of our cabin to breakfast and all through thatday our fellow-passengers buzzed around her, offering advice and remedies,telling tales of the sprained ankle or twisted knee or broken thigh of theirbrother's wife's mother-in-law, or of some first cousin long since dead from theinjury; suggesting homely cures; offering an arm for support whenever Gwenmoved. AnlOng the remedies suggested and supplied, the most helpful was theapplication of salt and water to the foot. There was no doctor nearer thanAklavik, four or five days journey ahead.