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

95(r5 Prelude toAdventureA t I a s tea met he day when Gwen's patience was rewarded and the doctor cutthe plaster from her leg. At once she donned her brother's knee-high boots,which were to prove a moral and physical support to her in the early stages of oursubsequent journey. Then she hopped downstairs and out to see the Pioneer, aNorthern Trading vessel that had come in during the night.It had been a hideous night of noise, with the barking of huskies on the shoreand the sound of Gregorian chants, sung to celebrate the mother superior's feastday, issuing from the chapel door opposite our bedroom. The words of thatmonotonous and melancholy music sound like "And all the afternoon" repeatedagain and again, until we longed for some variety in melody or words, as wetossed about helplessly on our pillows. However the dawn came at last, bringingsilence and when we got up Gwen's foot seemed to be quite sound. We were tostart on the morrow and it was a busy day for us. First of all, with the help of SisterFirmin, I baked slabs of bannock which were to serve us as bread for several days,at the end of which we should be reduced to hardtack biscuits. Then we paddledacross the river with my friend Tyrell and took a couple of white fish from hisnets. Later, after paying a farewell visit to the doctor, who bound up Gwen's foot,we repaired to the HBC store, where, with the help of our guide Lazarus and MrParsons, we packed our stores so that they could be easily handled in the canoe.We then attended a long and lavish tea-party at the mission house with CanonHester and the missionaries, which was followed by a concert of old-fashionedgramophone records. We said good-bye, regretfully, to Canon Hester and thenwe went out to pay other farewell visits in the settlement and to exchange "nods