About this time another event occurred which occasioned no small excitement in our little community.  Robineau, the striker from the blacksmith establishment at Sugar Creek, near the Four Lakes, arrived one very cold day at the Agency.  He had come to procure medical aid for Mata’s eldest daughter, Sophy, who, while sliding on the lake, had fallen on the ice and been badly hurt.  Her father was absent, having gone to Prairie du Chien to place his youngest daughter at school.  Two or three days had elapsed since the accident had happened; a high fever had set in, and the poor girl was in a state of great suffering; it had therefore been thought best to send Robineau to us for advice and aid, leaving Turcotte and a friendly Indian woman from a neighboring lodge to take charge of poor Sophy.

The commanding officer did not think it prudent, when the subject was laid before him, to permit the surgeon to leave the post, but he very cheerfully granted leave of absence to Currie, the hospital steward, a young man who possessed some knowledge of medicine and surgery.

As it was important that Sophy should have an experienced nurse, we procured the services of Madame Bellaire, the wife of the Frenchman who was generally employed as express to Chicago; and, as an aid and companion, Agathe, a daughter of Day-kau-ray, who lived in Paquette’s family, was added to the party.

Of Agathe I shall have more to say hereafter.

The weather was excessively cold when Robineau, Currie, and the two women set out for Sugar Creek, a distance of about forty miles.  We had provided them with a good store of rice, crackers, tea, and sugar, for the invalid, all of which, with their provisions for the way, were packed on the horse Robineau had ridden to the Portage.  It was expected they would reach their place of destination on the second day.

What, then, was our surprise to see Turcotte make his appearance on the fourth day after their departure, to inquire why Robineau had not returned with aid for poor Sophy!  There was but one solution of the mystery.  Robineau had guided them as ill as he had guided the boat at the Grande Chute the summer before, and, although he could not shipwreck them, he had undoubtedly lost them in the woods or prairies.  One comfort was, that they could not well starve, for the rice and crackers would furnish them with several days’ provisions, and with Agathe, who must be accustomed to this kind of life, they could not fail in time of finding Indians, and being brought back to the Portage.

Still, day after day went on and we received no tidings of them.  Turcotte returned to Sugar Creek with comforts and prescriptions for Sophy, and Colonel Cutler sent out a party to hunt for the missing ones, among whom poor Currie, from his delicate constitution, was the object of our greatest commiseration.

As the snow fell and the winds howled, we could employ ourselves about nothing but walking from window to window, watching, in hopes of seeing some one appear in the distance.  No Indians were at hand whom we could dispatch upon the search, and by the tenth day we had almost given up in despair.