He bought a new outfit, a Winchester rifle, and all the supplies he could carry.

He did not forget a razor and a pair of shears, and when he was done he still had the value of two silver fox skins in cash.

He left Chippewyan that same night, and by the light of a Winter moon made his camp half a dozen miles northward toward Smith Landing.
He was on the Slave River now and for weeks traveled slowly but steadily northward on snowshoes.

He avoided Fort Smith and Smith Landing and struck westward before he came to Fort Resolution.

It was in April that he struck Hay River Post, where the Hay River empties into Great Slave Lake.