He called. Their answer was
laughter that set the woods ringing. Hearne was now two hundred miles
from the fort, without either ammunition or food. There was nothing to
do but turn back. The weather was fair. By snaring partridges, the
white men obtained enough game to sustain them till they reached the
fort on the 11th of December.
[Illustration: Eskimo using Double-bladed Paddle.]
The question now was whether to wait till spring or set out in the
teeth of midwinter. If Hearne left the fort in spring, he could not
possibly reach the Arctic Circle till the following winter; and with
the North buried under drifts of snow, he could not learn where lay the
Northwest Passage. If he left the fort in winter in order to reach the
Arctic in summer, he must expose his guides to the risks of cold and
starvation. The Indians told of high, rocky barrens, across which no
canoes could be carried. They advised snow-shoe travel. Obtaining
three Chipewyans and two Crees as guides, and taking no white servants,
Hearne once more set out, on February 23, 1770, for the "Far-Away-Metal
River." This time there was no cannonading. The guns were buried
under snow-drifts twenty feet deep, and the snow-shoes of the
travellers glided over the fort walls to the echoing cheers of soldiers
and governor standing on the ramparts. The company travelled light,
depending on chance game for food. All wood that could be used for
fire lay hidden deep under snow.
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