Louis never saw difficulties; he was always hopeful, and had a very good opinion of his own cleverness; he was quicker in most things, his ideas flowed faster than Hector's, but Hector was more prudent, and possessed one valuable quality--steady perseverance; he was slow in adopting an opinion, but when once convinced, he pushed on steadily till he mastered the subject or overcame the obstacle.
"Catharine," said Louis, one day, "the huckleberries age now very plentiful, and I think it would be a wise thing to gather a good store of them, and dry them for the winter.

See, ma chere, wherever we turn our eyes, or place our feet, they are to be found; the hill sides are purple with them.

We may, for aught we know, be obliged to pass the rest of our lives here; it will be well to prepare for the winter when no berries are to be found." "It will be well, mon ami, but we must not dry them in the sun; for let me tell you, Mr.Louis, that they will be quite tasteless--mere dry husks." "Why so, ma belle ?" "I do not know the reason, but I only know the fact, for when our mothers dried the currants and raspberries in the sun, such was the case, but when they dried them on the oven floor, or on the hearth, they were quite nice." "Well, Cath., I think I know of a flat thin stone that will make a good hearthstone, and we can get sheets of birch bark and sew into flat bags, to keep the dried fruit in." They now turned all their attention to drying huckleberries (or whortleberries).

_[FN: From the abundance of this fruit, the Indians have given the name of Whortleberry Plain to the lands on the south shore.

During the month of July and the early part of August, large parties come to the Rice Lake Plains to gather huckleberries, which they preserve by drying, for winter use.