Following Jim's lead, we all ceased paddling. Resting our " beaver tail " paddles on the canoe gunnells, we drifted with the momentum and awaited the arrival of a lone fisherman approaching in his boat.

Coming alongside,
Pierre LaFleur hailed us in the usual North Country salutation, " Bo'jou', bo'jou! Keewaydin!! By gar!!! - One time I knew Grey Owl. We guide for Keewaydin 50 year ago. My...how he canoe. By gar, dat de best work I ever done - de time we rode de boilers on de Mississauga. Oui - me and Grey Owl run dat rapid! Ah-hah - maybe by'me bye I tell you dat story. "

LaFleur invited us to spend the night in one of his log cabins at the end of the lake. It stood in a clearing right along side the same railroad tracks on which we were scheduled to take a train portage to the Chibougamau River.

That night,
in the open around a roaring camp fire, LaFleur, a former gold prospector who had turned to sturgeon fishing for his health, entertained us with many hair raising true { and tall } tales of the North and of his friend Grey Owl.