CHAPTER XXXV.
An Unexpected Meeting .-- Navigation in a Skin Canoe.-Strange Fears of Suffering Men.-Hardships of Mr.Crooks and His Comrades .-- Tidings of M'Lellan .-- A Retrograde March .-- A Willow Raft .-- Extreme Suffering of Some of the Party--Illness of Mr.Crooks .-- Impatience of Some of the Men .-- Necessity of Leaving the Laggards Behind.
THE wanderers had now accomplished four hundred and seventy-two miles of their dreary journey since leaving the Caldron Linn; how much further they had yet to travel, and what hardships to encounter, no one knew.
On the morning of the 6th of December, they left their dismal encampment, but had scarcely begun their march when, to their surprise, they beheld a party of white men coming up along the opposite bank of the river.

As they drew nearer, they were recognized for Mr.Crooks and his companions.

When they came opposite, and could make themselves heard across the murmuring of the river, their first cry was for food; in fact, they were almost starved.

Mr.Hunt immediately returned to the camp, and had a kind of canoe made out of the skin of the horse killed on the preceding night.

This was done after the Indian fashion, by drawing up the edges of the skin with thongs, and keeping them distended by sticks or thwart pieces.