Maretta, the deaf and mute woman, ran to greet him, stopped just short of touching him, and smiled her welcome. The woman used a sign language that Mattie always seemed to understand, and Maretta understood him. The two men who had accompanied Mattie from White Bay with the heavy load of provisions told Cole about their ordeal. No “white man” could have ever done what Mattie had, they said. The storm that had made them go astray had come on so suddenly they were defenceless against it. Caught out on an open barren with severe drifting and a biting wind, Mattie had led them downwind to shelter. There were times, the men told Cole, when they could barely make out the Indian’s tall form through the swirling snow. What amazed the two men even more was, even when the storm had cleared and Mattie realized he was well away from where he wanted to be, he did not backtrack. He simply climbed a rise, looked out over the hills for a minute, came back down, and calmly walked in a different direction toward the campsite.
