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

La Pierre House 75numbers of white men in the world. Then he told us how Archdeacon Whittakerhad exposed Stefansson and his "old hag of an Eskimo" wife, from a pulpit inToronto and how Stefansson's fiancee thereupon went off and married a Yankee.He made no comment and I think we were all asking ourselves the same question:"But what about the archdeacon and the part he played?"He himself was going for the summer to Bernard Harbour and then to rangeduring the winter about King William Land and Victoria Island. Then, just as herose to go, he said: "Why don't you hire a gas boat from the Hudson's BayCompany and get them to take you and the canoe and the guides up the slackwater of the Rat? Save yourselves three or four days dull travel. Go as far asDestruction City."We acted on his advice and the next morning settled the plan with Mr Parsons.That night we went to bed exhausted, for, as we sat looking at the brown andsluggish current of the river below and the low line of forest on the other side andthe distant range of intensely blue hills, we felt as if we had travelled far that day,not in space but in the world of emotions. We had been through dismay andapprehension, changing to uncertainty, and a horrible wavering between hopesand fears; then through anxiety that slowly faded away to be replaced by determinationand finally by self-assurance. We had only won through to this mood ofconfidence in ourselves thanks to the help and encouragement of our kindfriends.Before we went to sleep we decided that I must take advantage of the idle daysahead, by finding someone who would teach me how to paddle a canoe.