The most terrifying thing I can think of is being alone - and I mean utterly alone, like no one else in the world alone - at night. That's the nucleus of the first story in my collection and it's also where the title came from for the book.

Simpson was impressed by Kane's artistic ability but at the same time worried that Kane might not have the stamina needed to travel with the fur brigades of the company. There he embarked on a three-week excursion by horse joining a large Métis hunting band that went buffalo hunting in Sioux lands in Dakota Territory in the United States. On October 6 1846 Kane left Edmonton for Fort Assiniboine where he again embarked with a canoe brigade up the Athabasca River to Jasper's House arriving on November 3.

Kane's work particularly his field sketches are still a valuable resource for ethnologists. On both trips Kane sketched and painted Aboriginal peoples and documented their lives. Upon his return to Toronto he produced more than one hundred oil paintings from these sketches.