Giving the squaw food and a
tent, the Indians left her to meet her last enemy, whether death came
by starvation or cold or the wolf pack. Again and again the abandoned
squaw came up with the marchers, weeping and begging their pity, only
to fall from weakness. But the wilderness has no pity; and so they
left her.
Christmas of 1771 was passed on Athabasca Lake, the northern lights
rustling overhead with the crackling of a flag. There was food in
plenty; for the Athabasca was rich in buffalo meadows and beaver dams
and moose yards. On the lake shore Hearne found a little cabin, in
which dwelt a solitary woman of the Dog Rib tribe who for eight months
had not seen a soul. Her band had been massacred. She alone escaped
and had lived here in hiding for almost a year. In spring the Indians
of the lake carried their furs to the forts of Hudson Bay. With the
Athabascans went Hearne, reaching Fort Prince of Wales on June 30,
1772, after eighteen months' absence.
He had discovered Coppermine River, the Arctic Ocean, and the Athabasca
country,--a region in all as large as half European Russia.
For his achievements Hearne received prompt promotion. Within a year
of his return to the fort, Governor Norton, the Indian bully, fell
deadly ill. In the agony of death throes, he called for his wives.
The great keys to the apartments of the women were taken from his
pillow, and the wives were brought in. Norton lay convulsed with pain.
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