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"Taking up his paddle again, Apetak really began the journey. At first he paddled the canoe round and round, until my father was completely bewildered and knew not the north from the south. Then on and on the strong Indian paddled for hours. Of course he and my father talked to each other, and they laughed and chatted away at a great rate.
"`Now, said Apetak, `I will take off the covering from your face, but you will see nothing till I make a light. "So it was just as Apetak said. When the covering was removed from the eyes so dense was the darkness that my father saw no better than he did with it on. "However, that great bundle on Apetak's back was composed of torches for this place.
As my father was led along, although he could see nothing, he knew by the rush of air, and the way they went up and down hill, that they were in a very broken country. "`Here is the place, said Apetak. `Now very soon I will uncover your eyes, but before I do it you must follow me into the earth.
But he never took it off until he had so confused him that, when his eyes were uncovered he could not tell which way they had come. Early in the afternoon of about the fourth day Apetak said: "`We are nearly at our journey's end. Soon I will show you what I have brought you so far to see.
"This was good news to my father, who had begun to feel this travelling so long with the close covering on his face very irksome. "Shortly after, Apetak stopped paddling, and, after helping my father to land, he lifted his canoe out of the water, and hid it carefully among the bushes. Then, placing a large bundle on his back, including his axe and gun, he started on a land journey of some miles.
Anyway there it was in vast quantities and in various forms. "`How did you find it? asked my father of Apetak. "His answer was: `I was hunting in this part of the country, and I caught a fine silver fox by one hind leg in a trap. Just as I came up he succeeded in cutting off his leg with his teeth and thus got away.
So, leaving orders as to the business for a few days, he and Apetak started off with their guns, blankets, and the usual outfit in a birch canoe. When away from the post Apetak got out the mask, with which he blindfolded my father. It was a most thorough one, not a ray of light penetrating it. When it was fastened on Apetak said: "`It will be all right, and you will not be sorry for this trip.
"There was one old Indian whom we will call Apetak, who was, by all odds, the most skillful hunter father had. Not only was he successful in bringing the greatest quantity of furs to the port, but he was most fortunate in being able to capture more of the valuable black and silver foxes and other of the richest fur-bearing animals.
"Said Apetak: `Look at these great things that look like old lead bullets. "Said my father: `Sure enough, as my eyes became accustomed to the place, lit up by these flaming torches, I discovered that a great deal that I thought was native rock was really metal. At first I thought it was lead, as so long exposed there it looked like old lead pipes.
They demanded that all the furs should go into their sale shops, and not one of their officials, from the governor to the lowest clerk, dare accept as much as a beaver skin as a present from an Indian. "Thus was Apetak troubled because he had no way of showing his gratitude.
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