CHAPTER XXVII.

Father pushes on for home in advance--Hard times for the "tenderfeet"--A plunge into icy water--My brother David gallops into camp--His high spirits prove infectious--Kindness of the Hudson's Bay Company--Oxen sent to help us in to Victoria--A mutinous camp-follower--My threat of a sound thrashing subdues the mutineer--Our long journey is ended--Adieu to my readers

ILLUSTRATIONS.

"Here one of the bravest of our men was slain" ... Frontispiece

"The brilliant flashes of the aurora light"

"My cap ... falling right in the face of the bull, for the moment blinded him"

"I saw more buffalo than I had ever dreamed of before"

"I went at him with firebrands"

"Rising up I let drive at the larger of the two"

"Down we ran, and chased them across the full length of the bar"

"We carried the haycocks in between us on two poles"

"And now I ... tapped his nose for him so effectually that he was stunned"

"I succeeded in getting hold of the end of a tree"

"With unerring aim he shot the bull through the head"

"He was a funny-looking specimen as he picked himself up out of the icy stream"

PATHFINDING ON PLAIN AND PRAIRIE.