Helped byBrother Onesime, who had the artists
soul.
Beforethat I was three years in the eastern Arctic.
Sometimes he saw a deer, and on bare places on the hills he thoughthe detected
sheep.
If thats their game itwont be easy to hit their
trail. The stuffy little presbytery was not much better. And then he fell silent and
stared into the fire.
The visit to the Andersens alteredLeithens
mood.
No, was the answer, for I live in a little
world.
Probably he had never seen a white
manbefore.
And theres all the animals that Noah had in theArk.
He looked unhappy and hungryand he spoke little. His legs had cramped with the
journey and hehad to lean on Johnnys shoulder.
Once there had been asettlement here which years
ago had been abandoned.
He would talk, too, about the secret lore of the
woods.
Them beasts aint happy here, Johnny said. Now, lets
see just where brother Lew comes in.
The sedimentary rocks had given place to some kind
of igneousformation.
There aint no medical comforts in the Mackenzie
mountains.
Leithens quarters during these days were in the
spare room of theBay postmaster.
There was no sound except the gurgle of thewater
and an occasional sandpipers whistle.