THE YOUNG ALASKANS ON THE TRAIL

 BY

 EMERSON HOUGH

 AUTHOR OF "THE YOUNG ALASKANS" "THE STORY OF THE COWBOY"

 ILLUSTRATED

 HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON MCMXI

 BOOKS BY

 EMERSON HOUGH

 THE YOUNG ALASKANS. Ill'd. Post 8vo $1. 25

 YOUNG ALASKANS ON THE TRAIL. Ill'd. Post 8vo 1. 25

 HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK

 COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY HARPER & BROTHERS

 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

 [Illustration: See page 75 AROUND THE CAMP-FIRE]

CONTENTS

 CHAP. PAGE

 I. TAKING THE TRAIL 1 II. THE GATE OF THE MOUNTAINS 10 III. STUDYING OUT THE TRAIL 23 IV. THE GREAT DIVIDE 37 V. CROSSING THE HEIGHT OF LAND 43 VI. FOLLOWING MACKENZIE 53 VII. AROUND THE CAMP-FIRE 69 VIII. A HUNT FOR BIGHORN 83 IX. A NIGHT IN THE MOUNTAINS 102 X. HOW THE SPLIT-STONE LAKE WAS NAMED 112 XI. LESSONS IN WILD LIFE 119 XII. WILD COUNTRY AND WILDERNESS WAYS 134 XIII. THE CARIBOU HUNT 143 XIV. EXPLORING THE WILDERNESS 158 XV. IN THE BIG WATERS 168 XVI. THE GRIZZLY HUNT 181 XVII. THE YOUNG ALASKANS' "LOB-STICK" 191 XVIII. BAD LUCK WITH THE "MARY ANN" 200 XIX. NEW PLANS 207 XX. THE GORGE OF THE MOUNTAINS 217 XXI. THE PORTAGE OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 226 XXII. EAST OF THE ROCKIES 232 XXIII. THE LAND OF PLENTY 236 XXIV. THE WHITE MAN'S COUNTRY 244 XXV. HOW THE ERMINE GOT HIS TAIL BLACK 249 XXVI. TRAILING THE BEAR 254 XVII. THE END OF THE OLD WAR-TRAIL 264 XXVIII. STEAMBOATING IN THE FAR NORTH 274 XXIX. A MOOSE HUNT 286 XXX. FARTHEST NORTH 294 XXXI. HOMEWARD BOUND 307 XXXII. LEAVING THE TRAIL 317

 ILLUSTRATIONS

 AROUND THE CAMP-FIRE _Frontispiece_

 THE BEAR BROKE COVER WITH A SAVAGE ROAR _Facing p. _ 186

 MOISE AT HOME " 266

 THE PORTAGE, VERMILION CHUTES, PEACE RIVER " 302

 THE YOUNG ALASKANS ON THE TRAIL

I

TAKING THE TRAIL

It was a wild and beautiful scene which lay about the little campin the far-off mountains of the Northwest. The sun had sunk beyondthe loftier ridges, although even now in the valley there remainedconsiderable light. One could have seen many miles over thesurrounding country had not, close at hand, where the little whitetent stood, the forest of spruce been very dense and green. At nogreat distance beyond its edge was rough and broken country. Fartheron, to the southward, stood white-topped peaks many miles distant, although from the camp these could not be seen. 

It might have seemed a forbidding scene to any one not used to travelamong the mountains. One step aside into the bush, and one would havefancied that no foot had ever trod here. There was no indication ofroad or trail, nor any hint of a settlement. The forest stood dark, and to-night, so motionless was the air, its silence was more completethan is usually the case among the pines or spruces, where always theupper branches murmur and whisper among themselves. Such scenes causea feeling of depression even among grown persons who first meet them;and to-night, in this remote spot, one could not well have blamed thethree young occupants of this camp had they felt a trifle uneasy asthe twilight drew on toward darkness. 

They were, it is true, not wholly new to camp life, these threeboys--Rob McIntyre, John Hardy, and Jesse Wilcox. You may perhaps callto mind the names of these, since they are the same who, more than ayear before, were cast away for some time on the slopes of KadiakIsland, in the far upper portion of Alaska; from which place they wereat last rescued in part by their own wits and in part by thewatchfulness of their guardian, Mr. Hardy. The latter, whom all threeboys called Uncle Dick, was a civil engineer who, as did the parentsof all the boys, lived in the coast town of Valdez, in far-off Alaska. 

When Rob, John, and Jesse returned home from their dangerousadventures on Kadiak Island, they had been told that many a day wouldelapse before they would be allowed to take such chances again. Perhaps Uncle Dick never really told the parents of the boys the fulltruth about the dangers his young charges had encountered on KadiakIsland. Had he done so they would never have been willing for the boysto take another trip even more dangerous in many ways--the one onwhich they were now starting. 

But Uncle Dick Hardy, living out of doors almost all the time onaccount of his profession as an engineer, was so much accustomed todangers and adventures that he seemed to think that any one could getout of a scrape who could get into one. So it was not long after thereturn from Kadiak before he forgot all about the risks the boys hadrun there. The very next year he was the first one to plead with theirparents, and to tell them that in his belief the best way in the worldfor the boys to pass their next summer's vacation would be for them tocross the Rocky Mountains from the Pacific side and take the old watertrail of the fur-traders, north and east, and down the Peace Riverfrom its source. 

It chanced that Uncle Dick, who, like all engineers, was sometimesobliged to go to remote parts of the country, had taken charge of anengineering party then locating the new railroad bound westward fromEdmonton, in far-off Northwest Canada. While he himself could notleave his employment to go with the boys across the Rockies, heassured their parents that he would meet them when they came down theriver, and see that every care should be taken of them meantime. 

"Let them go, of course, " he urged. "You can't really hurt a good, live boy very much. Besides, it is getting to be so nowadays thatbefore long a boy won't have any wilderness where he can go. Here'sour railroad making west as fast as it can, and it will be taking allsort of people into that country before long. Here's a chance for theboys to have a fine hunt and some camping and canoeing. It will makethem stout and hearty, and give them a good time. What's the useworrying all the time about these chaps? They'll make it through, allright. Besides, I am going to send them the two best men in Canada fortheir guides. 

"I wouldn't say, myself, that these boys could get across alone, " headded, "because it's a hard trip for men in some ways. But in thecare of Alex Mackenzie and Moise Duprat they'll be as safe as theywould be at home in rocking-chairs. "

"What Mackenzie is that?" asked Jesse Wilcox's mother of her brother, Uncle Dick. 

"Well, he may be a relative of old Sir Alexander Mackenzie, so far asI know. The family of that name is a large one in the North, and therealways have been Mackenzies in the fur trade. But speaking of thename, here's what I want to explain to you, sister. These boys will begoing back over the very trail that good old Sir Alexander took whenhe returned from the Pacific Ocean. "

"But that was a long time ago--"

"Yes, in 1793, while George Washington still was alive, and not sovery long after the Revolutionary War. You know, Mackenzie was thefirst man ever to cross this continent, and this was the way he went, both in going west and coming east--just where I want these boys togo. They'll see everything that he saw, go everywhere that he went, from the crown of the continent on down clear to the Arctics, if youwant to let them go that far. 

"I'm telling you, sister, " he added, eagerly, "the boys will _learn_something in that way, something about how this country wasdiscovered and explored and developed, so far as that is concerned. That is history on the hoof, if you like, sister. In my belief they'rethe three luckiest little beggars in the world if you will only letthem go. I'll promise to bring them back all right. "

"Yes, I know about your _promises_!" began Mrs. Wilcox. 

"When did I ever fail to keep one?" demanded Uncle Dick of her. "Andwhere can you find three sounder lads in Valdez than these we'retalking about now?"

"But it's so _far_, Richard--you're talking now about the Peace Riverand the Athabasca River and the Arctic Ocean--why, it seems as thoughthe boys were going clear off the earth, and we certainly would neversee them again. "

"Nonsense!" replied Uncle Dick. "The earth isn't so big as it used tobe in Sir Alexander's time. Let them alone and they'll come through, and be all the more men for it. There's no particular hardship aboutit. I'll go down with them in the boat to Vancouver and east with themby rail to where they take the stage up the Ashcroft trail--awagon-road as plain as this street here. They can jog along that wayas far as Quesnelles as easy as they could on a street-car inSeattle. Their men'll get them from there by boat up the Fraser to theheadwaters of the Parsnip without much more delay or much more danger, but a lot of hard work. After that they just get in their boats andfloat. "

"Oh, it _sounds_ easy, Richard, " protested his sister, "but I know allabout your simple things!"

"Well, it isn't every boy I'd offer this good chance, " said UncleDick, turning away. "In my belief, they'll come back knowing more thanwhen they started. "

"But they're only boys, not grown men like those old fur-traders thatused to travel in that country. It was hard enough even for them, if Iremember my reading correctly. "

"I just told you, my dear sister, that these boys will go with lessrisk and less danger than ever Sir Alexander met when he first wentover the Rockies. Listen. I've got the two best men in the Northwest, as I told you. Alex Mackenzie is one of the best-known men in theNorth. General Wolseley took him for chief of his band of _voyageurs_, who got the boats up the Nile in Kitchener's Khartoum campaign. He'ssteadier than a clock, and the boys are safer with him than anywhereelse without him. My other man, Moise Duprat, is a good cook, a goodwoodsman, and a good canoeman. They'll have all the camp outfit theyneed, they'll have the finest time in the world in the mountains, andthey'll come through flying--that's all about it!"

"But won't there be any bad rapids in the mountains on that river?"

"Surely, surely! That's what the men are for, and the boats. When thewater is too bad they get out and walk around it, same as you walkaround a mud puddle in the street. When their men think the way issafe it's bound to be safe. Besides, you forget that though all thiscountry is more or less new, there are Hudson Bay posts scattered allthrough it. When they get east of the Rockies, below Hudson's Hope andFort St. John, they come on Dunvegan, which now is just a countrytown, almost. They'll meet wagon-trains of farmers going into all thatcountry to settle. Why, I'm telling you, the only worry I have is thatthe boys will find it too solemn and quiet to have a good time!"

"Yes, I know about solemn and quiet things that you propose, Richard!"said his sister. "But at least"--she sighed--"since their fathers wantthem to live in this northern country for a time, I want my boy togrow up fit for this life. Things here aren't quite the same as theyare in the States. Well--I'll ask Rob's mother, and John's. "

Uncle Dick grinned. He knew his young friends would so beset theirparents that eventually they would get consent for the trip he haddescribed as so simple and easy. 

And, in truth, this evening camp on the crest of the Rockies inBritish Columbia was the result of his negotiations. 

II

THE GATE OF THE MOUNTAINS

Whether Uncle Dick told the boys everything he knew about thisundertaking, or whether their mothers realized what they were doing inallowing them to go so far and into a wild region, we shall be forcedto leave as an unanswered question. Certainly they started with theirUncle when he left Valdez by steamer for Vancouver. And, finishingthat part of their journey which was to be made by rail, wagon, andboat, here they were, in the twilight of a remote valley at the crestof the great Rocky Mountains; near that point, indeed, properly to becalled the height of land between the Arctic and the Pacific waters. Moreover, they were for the time quite alone in camp. 

"Well, fellows, " said Rob at last, "I suppose we'd better get somemore wood together. The men'll be back before long, and we'll have toget something to eat. "

"How do you know they'll come back?" asked John dubiously. 

"Alex told me he would, and I have noticed that he always does thingswhen he says he is going to. "

"I don't hear them, anyway, " began Jesse, the youngest, who was, bynature as well as by years perhaps, not quite so bold and courageousas his two young friends. 

"You couldn't hear them very far, " replied Rob, "because they wearmoccasins. "

"Do you think they really can get the canoes out, carrying them ontheir backs all the way from where we left them?" asked Jesse. 

"They're very strong, " Rob answered, "and that work isn't new to them. And, you know, they carried all our packs in the same way. "

"That Moise is as strong as a horse, " said John. "My! I couldn't liftthe end of his pack here. I bet it weighed two hundred pounds atleast. And he just laughed. I think he's a good-natured man, anyhow. "

"Most of these woodsmen are, " replied Rob. "They are used tohardships, and they just laugh instead of complain about things. Alexis quieter than Moise, but I'll venture to say they'll both do theirpart all right. And moreover, " he added stoutly, "if Alex said he'd behere before dark, he'll be here. "

"It will be in less than ten minutes, then, " said Jesse, looking atthe new watch which his mother had given him to take along on histrip. "The canoe's a pretty heavy thing, John. "

Rob did not quite agree with him. 

"They're not heavy for canoes--sixteen-foot Peterboroughs. They beatany boat going for their weight, and they're regular ships in thewater under load. "

"They look pretty small to me, " demurred Jesse. 

"They're bigger than the skin boats that we had among the Aleuts lastyear, " ventured John. "Besides, I've noticed a good deal depends onthe way you handle a boat. "

"Not everybody has boats as good as these, " admitted Jesse. 

"Yes, " said John, "it must have cost Uncle Dick a lot of money to getthem up here from the railroad. Sir Alexander Mackenzie traveled in abig birch-bark when he was here--ten men in her, and three thousandpounds of cargo besides. She was twenty-five feet long. Uncle Dicktold me the Indians have dugouts farther down the river, but not verygood ones. I didn't think they knew anything about birch-bark so farnorthwest, but he says all their big journeys were made in those bigbark canoes in the early days. "

"Well, I'm guessing that our boats will seem pretty good before we getthrough, " was Rob's belief, "and they'll pay for themselves too. "

All the boys had been reading in all the books they could find tellingof the journeys of the old fur-traders, Alexander Mackenzie, SimonFraser, and others, through this country. Rob had a book open in hislap now. 

"How far can we go in a day?" asked Jesse, looking as though he wouldbe gladder to get back home again than to get farther and fartheraway. 

"That depends on the state of the water and the speed of the current, "said the older boy. "It's no trouble to go fifty miles a daystraightaway traveling, or farther if we had to. Some days they didn'tmake over six or eight miles going up, but coming down--why, they justflew!"

"That wouldn't take us long to go clear through to where Uncle Dickis. "

"A few weeks or so, at least, I hope. We're not out to beat SirAlexander's record, you know--he made it from here in six days!"

"I don't remember that book very well, " said Jesse; "I'll read itagain some time. "

"We'll all read it each day as we go on, and in that way understand itbetter when we get through, " ventured John. "But listen; I thought Iheard them in the bush. "

It was as he had said. The swish of bushes parting and the occasionalsound of a stumbling footfall on the trail now became plainer. Theyheard the voice of Moise break out into a little song as he saw thelight of the fire flickering among the trees. He laughed gaily as hestepped into the ring of the cleared ground, let down one end of thecanoe which he was carrying, and with a quick twist of his body set itdown gently upon the leaves. 

"You'll mak' good time, _hein_?" he asked of the boys, smiling andshowing a double row of white teeth. 

"What did I tell you, boys?" demanded Rob. "Here they are, and itisn't quite dark yet. "

The next moment Alex also came in out of the shadow and quietly setdown his own canoe, handling it as lightly as though it were but anordinary pack. Indeed, these two woodsmen were among the most powerfulof their class, and well used to all the work which comes on a trip ina wilderness country. 

As they stood now a little apart, it might be seen that both of theguides were brown-skinned men, still browner by exposure to theweather. Each of them had had an Indian mother, and the father ofeach was a white man, the one a silent Scot, of the Hudson Bay furtrade, the other a lively Frenchman of the lower trails, used tohorse, boat, and foot travel, and known far and wide in his own day asa good _voyageur_. 

Indeed, two better men could not have been selected by Uncle Dick forthe work now in hand. As they stood now in their shirt-sleeves, eachwiping off his forehead with his red kerchief, they looked so strongand tall that the boys suddenly felt all uneasiness pass away fromtheir minds. The twilight came on unnoticed, and in the light of thefire, freshly piled up with wood, the camp scene became bright andpleasant. It was impossible to feel any alarm when they were hereunder the protection of these two men, both of them warriors, who hadseen encounters of armed men, not to mention hundreds of meetings withwild beasts. 

"Well, " said Rob to Moise, "you must be tired with all that load. "

"_Non! Non!_" said Moise; "not tired. She'll been leetle boat, notover hondred-feefty poun'. I'll make supper now, me. "

"It was best to bring both the boats in to-night, " said Alex, quietly, "and easier to start from here than to push in to the lake. We loadhere in the morning, and I think there'll be plain sailing from here. It's just as well to make a stream carry us and our boats whenever wecan. It's only a little way to the lake. "

"I thought you were never coming, Alex, " said Jesse, frankly, lookingup from where he sat on his blanket roll, his chin in his hands. 

The tall half-breed answered by gently putting a hand on the boy'shead, and making a better seat for him closer to the fire. Here he wasclose enough to watch Moise, now busy about his pots and pans. 

"Those mosquito he'll bite you some?" laughed Moise, as he saw theboys still slapping at their hands. "Well, bimeby he'll not bite somuch. She'll be col' here un the _montaigne_, bimeby. "

"I'm lumpy all over with them, " said John. 

"It's lucky you come from a country where you're more or less used tothem, " said Alex. "I've seen men driven wild by mosquitoes. But goingdown the river we'll camp on the beaches or bars, where the wind willstrike us. In two or three weeks we'll be far enough along towardfall, so that I don't think the mosquitoes will trouble us too much. You see, it's the first of August now. "

"We can fix our tent to keep them out, " said Rob, "and we have barsand gloves, of course. But we don't want to be too much liketenderfeet. "

"That's the idea, " said Alex quietly. "You'll not be tenderfeet whenyou finish this trip. "

"Her Onkle Deek, she'll tol' me something about those boy, " saidMoise, from the fireside. "She'll say she's good boy, all same likeman. "

Jesse looked at Moise gravely, but did not smile at his queer way ofspeech, for by this time they had become better acquainted with boththeir guides. 

"What I'll tol' you?" said Moise again a little later. "Here comescool breeze from the hill. Now those mosquito he'll hunt his home yas, heem! All right! We'll eat supper 'fore long. "

Moise had put a pot of meat stew over the fire before he started backup the trail to bring in the canoe, when they first had come in withthe packs. This he now finished cooking over the renewed fire, and byand by the odors arose so pleasantly that each boy sat waiting, hisknife and fork on the tin plate in his lap. Alex, looking on, smiledquietly, but said nothing. 

"Moise doesn't build a fire just the way I've been taught, " said Rob, after a while. 

"No, " added John. "I was thinking of that, too. "

"He's Injun, same as me, " said Alex, smiling. "No white man can builda fire for an Injun. S'pose you ask me to put your hat on for you soyou wouldn't need to touch it. I couldn't do that. You'd have to fixit a little yourself. Same way with Injun and his fire. "

"That's funny, " said Rob. "Why is that?"

"I don't know, " smiled Alex. 

"He just throws the sticks together in a long heap and pushes the endsin when they burn through, " said Jesse. "He didn't cut any wood atall. "

Moise grinned at this, but ventured no more reply. 

"You see, " said Alex, "if you live all the time in the open you learnto do as little work as possible, because there is always so much todo that your life depends on that you don't want to waste anystrength. "

"It doesn't take a white man long to get into that habit, " said Rob. 

"Yes. Besides, there is another reason. An Injun has to make hisliving with his rifle. Chopping with an ax is a sound that frightensgame more than any other. The bear and deer will just get up and leavewhen they hear you chopping. So when we come into camp we build ourfire as small as possible, and without cutting any more wood than weare obliged to. You see, we'll be gone the next morning, perhaps, sowe slip through as light as possible. A white man leaves a trail likea wagon-road, but you'd hardly know an Injun had been there. You soonget the habit when you have to live that way. "

"Grub pile!" sang out Moise now, laughing as he moved the pans and thesteaming tea-kettle by the side of the fire. And very soon the boyswere falling to with good will in their first meal in camp. 

"Moise, she'll ben good cook--many tams mans'll tol' me that, " grinnedMoise, pleasantly, drawing a little apart from the fire with his owntin pan on his knee. 

"We'll give you a recommendation, " said John. "This stew is fine. Iwas awfully hungry. "

It was not long after they had finished their supper before all beganto feel sleepy, for they had walked or worked more or less ever sincemorning. 

Alex arose and took from his belt the great Hudson Bay knife, orbuffalo knife, which he wore at his back, thrust through his belt. With this he hacked off a few boughs from the nearest pine-tree andthrew them down in the first sheltered spot. Over this he threw anarrow strip of much-worn bear hide and a single fold of heavyblanket, this being all the bed which he seemed to have. 

"Is that all you ever had?" asked Rob. "I don't think you'll sleepwell, Alex. Let me give you some of my bed. "

"Thank you, no, " said Alex, sitting down and lighting his pipe. "Wemake our beds small when we have to carry them in the woods. We sleepwell. We get used to it, you see. "

"Injun man she'll been like dog, " grinned Moise, throwing down his ownsingle blanket under a tree. "A dog she'll sleep plenty, all right, an' she'll got no bed at all, what?"

"But won't you come under the edge of the tent?" asked Rob. 

"No, you're to have the tent, " said Alex. "I'm under orders from yourUncle, who employed me. But you're to make your own beds, and takecare of them in making and breaking camp. That's understood. "

"I'll do that for those boy, " offered Moise. 

"No, " said Alex, quietly, "my orders are they're to do that forthemselves. That's what their Uncle said. They must learn how to doall these things. "

"Maybe we know now, a little bit, " ventured John, smiling. 

"I don't doubt it, " said Alex. "But now, just from a look at your bed, you've taken a great deal of time making your camp to-night. You'vegot a good many boughs. They took noise and took time to gather. We'llsee how simple a camp we can make after we get out on the trail. Myword! We'll have trouble enough to get anything to sleep on when weget in the lower Peace, where there's only willows. "

"What do you do if it rains?" queried Jesse. "You haven't got any tentover you, and it leaks through the trees. "

"It won't rain so much when we get east, " said Alex. "When it does, Moise and I'll get up and smoke. But it won't rain to-night, that'scertain, " he added, knocking his pipe on the heel of his moccasin. "Throw the door of your tent open, because you'll not need to protectyourselves against the mosquitoes to-night. It's getting cold. Goodnight, young gentlemen. "

In a few moments the camp was silent, except something which sounded alittle like a snore from the point where Moise had last been seen. 

John nudged his neighbors in the beds on the tent floor, and spoke inlow tones, so that he might not disturb the others outside. "Are youasleep yet, Rob?"

"Almost, " said Rob, whispering. 

"So'm I. I think Jesse is already. But say, isn't it comfy? And I likeboth those men. "

III

STUDYING OUT THE TRAIL

It must have been some time about five o'clock in the morning, or evenearlier, when Rob, awakened by the increasing light in the tent, stirred in his blanket and rolled over. He found himself looking intothe eyes of John, who also was lying awake. They whispered for aminute or two, not wishing to waken Jesse, who still was asleep, hisface puckered up into a frown as though he were uneasy aboutsomething. They tried to steal out the other tent, but their firstmovement awakened Jesse, who sat up rubbing his eyes. 

"What's the matter?" said he; "where are we?" He smiled sheepishly asthe other boys laughed at him. 

"A good way from home, you'll find, " answered John. 

The smell of fresh smoke came to their nostrils from the fire, whichhad been built for some time. So quiet had the men been about theirwork that they had left the boys undisturbed for the best part of anhour. They themselves had been accustomed to taking the trail evenearlier in the day than this. 

"Good morning, young gentlemen, " said Alex, quietly. "I hope you sleptwell. "

"Well, " said Jesse, grinning, "I guess I did, for one. "

"You'll been hongree?" smiled Moise at the fireside. 

"Awfully!" said John. "I could eat a piece of raw bear meat. "

"So?" grinned Moise. "Maybe you'll seen heem before we get through, _hein_? She'll not been very good for eat raw. "

"Nor any other way, according to my taste, " said Alex, "but we'll seehow we like it cooked, perhaps. "

"Do you really think we'll see any bear on this trip?" asked Rob. 

"Plenty, " said Alex, quietly. 

"Grizzlies?"

"Very likely, when we get a little farther into the mountains. Weought to pick up two or three on this trip--if they don't pick us up. "

"I'm not worrying about that, " said Rob. "We're old bear hunters. "

Both the men looked at him and laughed. 

"Indeed, we are, " insisted Rob. "We killed a bear, and an awfully bigone, all by ourselves up on Kadiak Island. She was bigger than thattent there; and had two little ones besides. Each of them was big as aman, almost. They get awfully big up there in Alaska. I'll bet youhaven't a one in all these mountains as big as one of those fellows upin our country. "

"Maybe not, " said Alex, still smiling, "but they get pretty near asbig as a horse in here, and I want to tell you that one of our old, white-faced grizzlies will give you a hot time enough if you runacross him--he'll come to you without any coaxing. "

"This is fine!" said Rob. "I begin to think we're going to have a goodtrip this time. "

"Grub pile!" sang out Moise about this time. A moment later they wereall sitting on the ground at the side of the breakfast fire, eating ofthe fried bacon, bannock, and tea which Moise had prepared. 

"To-day, Moise, she'll get feesh, " said Moise, after a time. "Alsomaybe the duck. I'll heard some wild goose seenging this morning downon the lake below there. She's not far, I'll think. "

"Just a little ways, " said Alex, nodding. "If we'd gone in a littlefarther to the west we might have hit the lake there, but I thought itwas easier to let the water of this little creek carry our boats in. "

"Listen!" said John. "Isn't that a little bird singing?"

A peal of sweet music came to them as they sat, from a small warbleron a near-by tree. 

"Those bird, he's all same Injun, " remarked Moise. "He seeng for thesun. "

The sun now indeed was coming up in the view from the mountain rangeson the east, though the air still was cool and the grass all aboutthem still wet with the morning dew. 

"Soon she'll get warm, " said Moise. "Those mosquito, she'll begin toseeng now, too. "

"Yes, " said Rob, "there were plenty of them in the tent this morningbefore we got up. We'll have to get out the fly dope pretty soon, ifI'm any judge. "

"But now, " he added, "suppose we read a little bit in our book beforewe break camp and pack up. "

"You're still reading Sir Alexander and his voyages?" smiled Alex. 

"Yes, indeed, I don't suppose we'd be here if we hadn't read that oldbook. It's going to be our guide all the way through. I want to seejust how close we can come to following the trail Mackenzie made whenhe crossed this very country, a hundred and eighteen years ago thisvery month. "

"Some say they can't see how Sir Alexander made so many mistakes, "said Alex, smiling. He himself was a man of considerable intelligenceand education, as the boys already had learned. 

"I know, " said Rob, nodding. "For instance, Simon Fraser--"

"Yes, I know those Simon Fraser--he's beeg man in the Companee, " brokein Moise, who very likely did not know what he was talking about. 

Alex smiled. "There have always been Mackenzies and Frasers in the furtrade. This was a long time ago. "

"How'll those boy know heem, then?" said Moise. "I don't know. Someboy she'll read more nowadays than when I'm leetle. Better they knowhow to cook and for to keel the grizzly, _hein_?"

"Both, " said Alex. "But now we'll read a little, if you please, Moise. Let's see where we are as nearly as we can tell, according to the oldMackenzie journal. "

"I'll know where we ought for be, " grumbled Moise, who did not fancythis starting-place which had been selected. "We'll ought to beennorth many miles on the portage, where there's wagon trail to LakeMcLeod. "

"Now, Moise, " said Rob, "what fun would that be? Of course we couldput our boats and outfit on a wagon or cart, and go across to LakeMcLeod, without any trouble at all. Everybody goes that way, and hasdone so for years. But that isn't the old canoe trail of Mackenzie andFraser. "

"Everybody goes on the Giscombe Portage now, " said Moise. 

"Well, all the fur-traders used to come in here, at least before theyhad studied out this country very closely. You see, they didn't haveany maps--they were the ones who made the first maps. Mackenzie wasthe first over, and he did it all by himself, without any kind of mapto help him. "

"Yes, and when he got over this far he was in an awful fix, " saidJohn. "I remember where it says his men were going to leave him and goback down the Peace River to the east. He wasn't sure his guide wasgoing to stick to him until he got over to the Fraser, west of here. "

"Yes, " said Rob, "and there wasn't any Fraser River known by that nameat that time. They all thought it was the Columbia River, which itwasn't by a long way. But Sir Alexander stuck it out, don't you see. He was a great man, or he couldn't have done it. I take off my hat tohim, that's what I do. "

And in his enthusiasm, Rob did take off his hat, and his youngcompanions joined him, their eyes lighting with enthusiasm for the manthe simple story of whose deeds had stirred their young blood. 

Alex looked on approvingly. "He was of my family, " said he. "Perhapsmy great-grandfather--I don't know. He was a good man in the woods. You see, he went far to the north before he came here--he followed theMackenzie River to its mouth in the Arctic Sea. Then he thought theremust be a way across to the Pacific. Some one told him about the PeaceRiver. That's how he came to make the first trip over the mountainshere. By rights the Fraser River ought to have been named after him, too, because he was the first to see it. "

"But he wasn't the first to run it on out, " said John, who also had agood idea of the geography hereabouts, which he had carefully studiedin advance. "It was Simon Fraser did that first. "

"Yes, they'll both been good man, heem, " said Moise, his mouth full ofbacon. "My wife, she'll had an onkle once name Fraser an' he'll beenseex feet high an' strong like a hox--those Fraser, yes, heem. "

"They must have been strong men, " said Alex, "and brave men as well. "

"Their worst time was getting west of here, wasn't it?" asked John. 

"Yes, " answered Rob. "The book says that when they tried to get downthe Fraser they had a terrible time. Sometimes they had to carry theircanoe through swamps and over hills. No wonder the men mutinied. Why, they lost all their bullets, and got everything they had wet. The menalmost lost heart. "

Moise nodded. "I'll onderstan' that, " said he. "Sometime man gettired. "

"But you see now, Moise, why we wanted to come down here and go overthis same ground and not to take the easy portage trail into LakeMcLeod. "

"All same to me, " smiled Moise. "I'll don' care. "

"Of course, if we wanted to go through the easiest way, " assented Rob, "it would be simpler to go up through McLeod Lake. But you see, that'ssomething of a way above here. Finlay found that lake after Mackenziecame across, and they had a fort up there when Fraser came througheighteen years later. The Indians used to come to that fort and tellabout the salt water somewhere far to the west. They had brass andiron which they had got of white men somewhere on the Pacific--thatwas more than a hundred years ago. Fraser wanted to get across to thePacific, but he followed the old Mackenzie trail across here. Hestarted at the Rocky Mountain portage and went up into McLeod Lake, and stopped there for a while. But he didn't start west and northwest, by way of Stuart Lake. Instead of that, he followed Mackenzie'sjournal, just as we're doing. He came into the little creek whichleads into these lakes--where we'll go down pretty soon. He came rightacross this lake, not a mile from where we're sitting. Then he metIndians in here, who told him--just as Moise has told us--that thebest and easiest way to get across would have been by way of McLeodLake--the very place he had come from. "

"Well, " said Jesse, "I agree with Moise. It would be easier to gowhere we could have wagons or carts or something to take the boatsover. Everything looks mighty wild in here. "

"Certainly, Jess, " said John, "that's why we're here. I expect thatportage trail up there is just like a road. "

"Fur-traders made it first, " smiled Alex, "and then the miners usedit. That was the way white men came into the country east of theRockies, in the far North. "

"How long ago was that?" asked John. 

"There were a great many miners all along the Fraser as early as 1857. Ten years later than that, they came up the big bend of the Columbia. Many men were killed on the rapids in those days. But they kept onpushing in, and in that way they learned all these old trails. Iexpect some Fraser uncle or other of Moise's has been across here manya time. "

"Seex feet high, an' strong like a hox, " smiled Moise, nodding hishead. "Heem good man, my onkle, yes, heem. "

"Well, " said Rob, as he bent over the book once more. "Here's SirAlexander's story, and here's a map I made myself. That way, to thewest, is the little lake where the Bad River runs out to another riverthat runs into the Fraser. This lake drains into that little lake. There's another lake east of here, according to the story; and when weget there we'll strike a deep, clear creek which will take us prettysoon into the Parsnip River. From there it's all downhill. "

"Yes, " said Alex, smiling, "considerably downhill. "

"It's said there was a current westward in this middle lake, " beganJohn. 

"Certainly, " Rob answered, "we are really now on Pacific waters. "

"How far is it across to the other lake?" asked Jesse. 

"The portage is just eight hundred and seventeen paces, " replied John, promptly. "I remember that's what Mackenzie wrote down. "

"Fraser in his journal calls it 'between eight and nine hundredpaces, '" said Rob. "Anyhow, that portage goes over the top of theRocky Mountain range at this place--that's the top of the divide. Nearly all these natural passes in the mountains run up on each sideto a sort of flat place. Anyhow, when we get over that portage we'reon Peace River waters. In yonder direction the waters run into thePacific. To the east they go into the Arctic. I'm ready to start now, and anxious to get over the height of land. "

"She'll be downheel then, " laughed Moise. "All same roof on the house, maybe so. "

"You're not scared, are you, Moise?" asked Rob, smiling. 

"Moise, she'll sweem all same feesh, " was the answer of the_voyageur_. 

"We're not going to do any swimming, " said Alex, quietly, "and noteven any more wading than we have to. You see, our party is small, andwe're going over a trail that has already been explored. We travellight, and have good boats. I think we ought to have rather an easytime of it, after all. "

"One thing, " broke in John, "that always makes me think less of theseearly explorers, is that they weren't really exploring, after all. "

"What do you mean by that?" asked Jesse. "You just said that Mackenzieand Fraser were the first to come across here. "

John shook his head vigorously. "No, they weren't the first--as nearas I can find out, the white men always had some one to tell themwhere to go. When Mackenzie was going north there was always sometribe or other to tell him where he was and what there was ahead. Itwas some Indian that told him about coming over this way to thewest--it was Indians that guided him all the way across, for thatmatter, clear from here to the Pacific. "

"That's right, " said Rob. "If some Indian hadn't told him about it, heprobably never would have heard about the creek which leads into theselakes where we are now. He had a guide when he came here, and he had aguide west of the Fraser, too--they never would have got throughwithout Indians to help them. "

"That's true, " said Alex, not without a certain pride in the red racewhich had given him half his own blood. "The whites haven't alwaysused the Indians well, but without native help they could never havetaken this northern country. The Beaver Indians used to hunt allthrough these mountains. It was those men who told Mackenzie how toget over here. He was told, weeks before he got here, that there was acarrying-place across the great hills to the western waters. As yousay, young gentlemen, he had guides all the way across. So, after all, as we have only him and Fraser for guides, we'll take a little creditto ourselves, just as he did!"

"Yes, " said Moise. "My people, she'll own this whole contree. They'llshow the Companee how to take hold, all right. But that's all right;I'm glad, me. "

"It looks a little tame, " grumbled John, "coming through here wherethose old fur-traders knew every foot of the country. "

"Well, we'll see, " said Alex, rising, filling his pipe and tighteninghis belt to begin the day's work. "It may not look so tame before weget through! But first, " he added, "we'll have to see if we can getthe boats to the open water of the lake. Come, it's time to break campnow for the first day's journey. "

IV

THE GREAT DIVIDE

To boys as familiar with camp work as were Rob, John, and Jesse, thework of breaking camp in the morning was simple. In a few moments theyhad their tent down and rolled up ready to put in the canoe. Theirbeds also were rolled, each in its own canvas, and lashed with a rope. Their rifles, which, kept dry in their cases, had been placed underthe edge of their blankets as they slept, were now leaned against thebed-rolls. Their knapsacks, in which each boy had his personalbelongings, such as brushes, combs, underwear and spare socks, werevery quickly made ready, and placed in order each with its owner'sbed-roll. In a very few minutes they stood up and showed Alex thatthey were ready. 

Meantime, Moise had put his pots and pans into the sack which servedhim as a cook's box. His flour and bacon he quickly got ready in theirpackages, and even before the boys were done with their work he wascarrying these parcels down to the first canoe, which was to serve asthe cook's boat. The beds of Moise and Alex, simple as they were, required only a roll or two to be ready for the boats. 

"We'll fix a system, " said Alex, "so that we'll load each boat justthe same every day. There's nothing like being regular when you're onthe trail. "

"I'll bet, Alex, she'll not be a harder boss than ol' Pete Fraser, mywife, he's onkle, " declared Moise. "He'll make those men get up bytwo, three, in the morning an' track two, three hour before she'll eatbreakfast, heem. "

"Well, you see, we had to do a little reading this morning, " remarkedJohn. 

"Surely, and to very good purpose, " answered Alex. "You ought to keeptrack of the old journal day by day. "

"Exactly, " said Rob, "and I'm going to keep a journal of my own eachday. We haven't got any sextant to take observations, but I've got allthe maps, and I've got a compass--maybe we'll get out a Voyage ofDiscoveries of our own some day!"

"Now, Moise, " said Alex, "you're to go ahead with the cook-boat. You'dbetter take Mr. Rob for your bow paddler. I'll let Mr. John take thebow in my boat, and our youngest friend here will go amidships, sitting flat on the bottom of the canoe, with his back against hisbed-roll. The blankets and tent will make the seats. Of course, Moise, you're not to go too far ahead. It's always a good plan to keep insight of the wangan-box and the cook's chest, when you're in thewoods. "

"All right, " replied Moise, "I'll go slow with those boy all the time, yes. "

"Well, we're not any of us scared yet, " said John, stoutly, "and wewon't be. "

"I hope we'll get some white water to run, " added Rob, his eyesshining. Jesse was the only one who seemed to be not wholly happy. Thesilence of the great hills about him, situated as they now were farfrom all human habitation, made him feel rather lonesome. He kept up astout heart, however, and soon forgot his troubles when the actualbustle of the departure was begun. 

"You'd better take the axes, Mr. Rob, and go ahead and cut out the waya little bit on this little creek, " said Alex. "I'm afraid the boatswon't quite clear. "

"Aye, aye, sir, " said Rob, and soon he and the other boys were makingtheir way in among the tangled thicket, sometimes in and sometimes outof the water, chopping away the branches so that the little boatscould get through. 

"Will they float, do you think, Mr. Rob?" called Alex. 

"Like a bird!" answered Rob, as the first canoe, which was named the_Mary Ann_, soon took the water. 

"Here comes the _Jaybird_!" cried Jesse, as they pushed the othercanoe over the last foot or so of grass which lay between it and thewater. 

"Those boat she'll be all same like ducks, " exclaimed Moise, admiringly. "I'll bet not even my onkle Pete Fraser he'll have betterboat like those. "

"Sir Alexander's boat was twenty-five or thirty feet long, all madeout of birch-bark, " said Rob. "Ours aren't much over sixteen feet. "

"They had eight or ten men in their boats, " began John, "and the mostwe'll have in either of ours will be three--that is, if you count Jessas a full-sized man!"

"Yes, " said Alex, "and they had a number of packs, each weighingninety pounds. Now, all our packs won't weigh a great deal more thanthat for each boat, counting in what we're going to eat. We'll have toget something in the way of meat as we go on through. Fine boatsthese, and much better than birch-bark. Perhaps you may remember thatSir Alexander was having trouble to find good bark to mend his boatsbefore he got in here. We'll not need to trouble about that. "

"No, " said Rob, "we've got plenty of canvas, and rubber cement, andshellac, and tacks, and cord, and wire. We'll make it through, even ifwe do have some little breaks. "

"I don't think we'll have any, " replied Alex in a reassuring way. "Moise, don't you think your load settles your canoe just a littledeeper than she ought to go?"

"_Non! Non!_" said Moise, in reply, casting a judicial look at the lowfreeboard of the _Mary Ann_. "She'll go, those boat. "

"She'll be getting lighter all the time, " ventured Jesse. "John getsawfully hungry, and he'll eat a lot!"

They all laughed heartily at this reference to John's well-knownappetite. All were in good spirits when the real progress down thetangled creek began. 

"_En roulant, ma boule, roulant!_" began Moise, as he shoved out hisboat--the words of the old Canadian _voyageurs'_ boat song, known forgenerations on all the waterways of the North. 

"Better wait until we get into the lake, " smiled Alex. "I don't thinkwe can 'roll the ball, ' as you call it, very much in among thesebushes. "

They moved on down now, pushing and pulling their boat when they couldnot paddle or pole it. Sometimes they had to force their way throughan _embarras_, as the _voyageurs_ call a pile of driftwood. The boys, however, only enjoyed this sort of work. They were wet, but happy, when, after some time passed in this slow progress, at last they sawthe open waters of the lake fully before them. 

"_En voyage, messieurs_, " cried Moise. "We begin!"

V

CROSSING THE HEIGHT OF LAND

Before our young trail-makers now lay the expanse of one of thoselittle mountain lakes which sometimes are forgotten by the map-makers. The ground immediately about the edge of the lake was low, flat, andovergrown. Only a gentle ripple crossed the surface of the lake, foralmost no air at all was stirring. Out of a near-by cove a flock ofyoung wild geese, scarcely able to fly, started off, honking inexcitement; and here and there a wild duck broke the surface into aseries of ripples; or again a fish sprang into the air, as it wentabout its own breakfast operations for the day. It was an inspiringscene for all, and for the time the Young Alaskans paused, taking inits beauty. 

"_Il fait beau, ce matin_, " said Moise, in the French which made halfor more of his speech. "She'll been fine morning this day, what?"

"Couldn't be better, " assented Alex, who stood knee-deep at the edgeof the lake, and who now calmly removed his moccasins and spread themon the thwart of the boat before he stepped lightly in to take hisplace at the stern of the _Jaybird_. The boys noticed that when hestepped aboard he hardly caused the boat to dip to one side or theother. This he managed by placing his paddle on the farther side ofthe boat from him and putting part of his weight on it, as it restedon the bottom at the other side of the boat. All the boys, observingthe methods of this skilled canoeman, sought to imitate his example. Presently they were all aboard, Rob in the bow of the _Mary Ann_, Johntaking that place for the _Jaybird_, with Jesse cuddled up amidships. 

"Well, " said Alex, "here's where we start. For me, I don't carewhether we go to the Pacific or the Arctic!"

"Nor me no more, " added Moise. "Only I'll rather go downheel asupheel, me--always I'll rather ron the rapeed than track the boat upthe rapeed on the bank. Well, _en roulant_, eh, M'sieu Alex?"

"_Roulant!_" answered Alex, briefly. Moise, setting his paddle intothe water with a great sweep, began once more the old canoe song. 

 "Le fils du roi s'en va chassant _En roulant, ma boule!_ Avec son grand fusil d'argent _En roulant, ma boule!_"

So they fared on merrily, the strong arms of the two skilled boatmenpushing the light canoes rapidly through the rippling water. Moise, astrong and skilful paddler, was more disposed to sudden bursts ofenergy than was the soberer and quieter Alex, who, none the less, camealong not far in the rear with slow and easy strokes which seemed torequire little exertion on his part, although they drove the boatstraight and true as an arrow. The boys at the bow paddles felt thelight craft spring under them, but each did his best to work his ownpassage, and this much to the approval of the older men, who gave theminstructions in the art of paddling. 

"You'll see, M'sieu Rob, " said Moise, "these paddle she'll be all samelike fin of those feesh. You'll pull square with heem till she'll getbehind you, then she'll turn on her edge just a little bit--so. Thatway, you paddle all time on one side. The paddle when she'll come outof water, she'll keep the boat running straight. "

The distance from their point of embarkation to the eastern edge ofthe little lake could not have been more than a couple of miles, forthe entire distance from the western to the eastern edge was not overthree miles. In what seemed no more than a few moments the boatspulled up at the western end of what was to be their first portage. 

"Now, " said Moise, "we'll show those boy how a Companee man make theportage. " He busied himself arranging his packs, first calling for thetent, on which he placed one package after another. Then he turned inthe ends of the canvas and folded over the sides, rolling all up intoa big bundle of very mixed contents which, none the less, he fastenedby means of the strap which now served him as support for it all. 

"I know how you did that, " said Rob--"I watched you put the strap downinside of the roll. "

"Yes, " said Moise, smiling, "she'll been what Injun call tump-strap. White man he'll carry on hees shoulder, but Injun an' _voyageur_, she'll put the tump-band on her head, what? That's best way for muchload. "

Moise now proceeded to prove the virtue of his remarks. He was a verypowerful man, and he now swung up the great pack to his shoulders, although it must have weighed much over a hundred and fifty pounds andincluded almost the full cargo of the foremost boat. 

"Throw something on top of her, " said Moise. "She'll been too light!I'm afraid I'll ron off, me. "

"Well, look at that man, " said Jesse, admiringly. "I didn't know anyman was so strong. "

"Those Companee man, she'll have to be strong like hox!" said Moise, laughing. "You'll ought to seen heem. Me, I'm not ver' strong. Two, three hondred pounds, she'll make me tire. "

"Well, trot on over, Moise, " said Alex, "and I'll bring the boat. Young gentlemen, each of you will take what he can conveniently carry. Don't strain yourselves, but each of you do his part. That's the waywe act on the trail. "

The boys now shouldered their small knapsacks and, each carrying hisrifle and rod, started after the two stalwart men who now went onrapidly across the portage. 

Moise did not set down his pack at all, but trotted steadily across, and Alex followed, although he turned at the summit and motioned toRob to pause. 

"You'd hardly know it, " said Rob, turning to John and Jesse, who nowput down their packs, "but here we are at the top of this portagetrail and the top of the Peace River pass. Here was where old SirAlexander really turned toward the west, just as we now are turningtoward the east. It's fine, isn't it?"

"I'm glad I came, " remarked John. 

"And so am I, " added Jesse; "I believe we're going to have a goodtime. I like those two men awfully well--they're just as kind, and my!how strong!"

Presently they all met again at the eastern edge of the dim trail. "Istepped it myself, " said John, proudly. "Both Sir Alexander and oldSimon Fraser were wrong--she's just six hundred and ninety-threepaces!"

"Maybe they had longer legs than you, " smiled Alex. "At any rate, there's no doubt about the trail itself. We're precisely where theywere. "

"What made them call that river the Parsnip River?" demanded Jesse ofAlex, to whom he went for all sorts of information. 

"I'll show you, " said Alex, quietly, reaching down and breaking offthe top of a green herb which grew near by. "It was because of thewild parsnips--this is one. You'll find where Sir Alexander mentionsseeing a great many of these plants. They used the tops in theirpemmican. You see, the north men have to eat so much meat that they'reglad to get anything green to go with it once in a while. "

"What's pemmican?" asked Jesse, curiously. 

"We used to make it out of buffalo meat, or moose or caribou, " saidAlex. "The buffalo are all gone now, and, in fact, we don't get muchpemmican any more. It's made by drying meat and pounding it up finewith a stone, then putting it in a hide sack and pouring grease in ontop of it. That used to be the trail food of the _voyageurs_, becausea little of it would go a good way. Do you think you could make any ofit for the boys, Moise?"

"I don' know, " grinned Moise. "Those squaw, she'll make pemmican--notthe honter. Besides, we'll not got meat. Maybe so if we'll get moosedeer we could make some, if we stop long tam in camp. But always squawmake pemmican--not man. "

"Well, we'll have to give some kind of imitation of the old ways oncein a while, " commented Alex, "for though they are changed and gone, our young friends here want to know how the fur-traders used totravel. "

"One thing, " said John, feeling at his ankle. "I'll be awfully gladwhen we get out of the devil's club country. "

"Do you have those up in Alaska?" asked Alex. 

"Have them?--I should say we have! They're the meanest thing you canrun across out of doors. If you step on one of those long, snakybranches, it'll turn around and hit you, no matter where you are, andwhenever it hits those little thorns stick in and stay. "

"I know, " nodded Alex. "I struck plenty of them on the trail up northfrom the railroad. They went right through my moccasins. We'll not betroubled by these, however, when we get east of the divide--that's aplant which belongs in the wet country of the western slope. "

All this time Moise was busy rearranging the cargoes in the firstboat, leaving on the shore, however, such parcels as did not belong inthe _Mary Ann_. Having finished this to his liking, he turned beforethey made the second trip on the _Jaybird_ and her cargo. 

"Don't we catch any of those feesh?" he asked Alex, nodding back atthe lake. 

"Fish?" asked John. "I didn't see any fish. "

"Plenty trout, " said Moise. "I s'pose we'll better catch some while wecan. "

"Yes, " said Alex, "I think that might be a good idea. Now, if we had anet such as Sir Alexander and old Simon Fraser always took along, we'd have no trouble. Moise saw what I also saw, and which you younggentlemen did not notice--a long bar of gravel where the trout werefeeding. "

"We'll not need any net, " said Rob. "Here are our fly-rods and ourreels. If there are any trout rising, we can soon catch plenty ofthem. "

"Very well. We'd better take the rods back, then, when we go for thesecond boat. "

When they got to the shore of the middle lake, the boys saw that thekeener eyes of the old _voyageurs_ had noted what they had missed--aseries of ripples made by feeding fish not far from the point wherethey had landed. 

"Look at that!" cried Jesse. "I see them now, myself. "

"Better you'll take piece pork for those feesh, " said Moise. 

"I don't think we'll need it, " replied Rob. "We've plenty of flies, and these trout won't be very wild up here, for no one fishes forthem. Anyhow, we'll try it--you'll push us out, won't you, Moise?"

Carefully taking their places now in the _Jaybird_, whose cargo wasplaced temporarily on the bank, the three boys and Moise now pushedout. As Rob had predicted, the fish were feeding freely, and there wasno difficulty in catching three or four dozen of them, some of verygood weight. The bottom of the canoe was pretty well covered with fishwhen at length, after an hour or so of this sport, Moise thought itwas time to return to shore, where Alex, quietly smoking all the time, had sat awaiting them. 

"Now we'll have plenty for eat quite a while, " said Moise. 

"That's all right, " said John. "I'm getting mighty hungry. How long isit going to be before we have something to eat?"

"Why, John, " said Rob, laughingly, "the morning isn't half gone yet, and we've just had breakfast. "

VI

FOLLOWING MACKENZIE

"Well, " said Alex, "now we've got all these fish, we'll have to takecare of them. Come ahead and let's clean them, Moise. "

The boys all fell to and assisted the men at this work, Moise showingthem how to prepare the fish. 

"How are we going to keep them?" asked John, who always seemed to beafraid there would not be enough to eat. 

"Well, " explained Alex, "we'll put them in between some green willowboughs and keep them that way till night. Then I suppose we'll have tosmoke them a little--hang them up by the tail the way the Injuns do. That's the way we do whitefish in the north. If it weren't for thefish which we catch in these northern waters, we'd all starve to deathin the winter, and so would our dogs, all through the fur country. "

"By the time we're done this trip, " ventured Rob, "we'll begin to be_voyageurs_ ourselves, and will know how to make our living in thecountry. "

"That's the talk!" said Alex, admiringly. "The main thing is to learnto do things right. Each country has its own ways, and usually theyare the most useful ways. An Injun never wants to do work that hedoesn't have to do. So, you'll pretty much always see that the Injunways of keeping camp aren't bad to follow as an example, after all. 

"But now, " said he at length, after they had finished cleaning andwashing off their trout, "we'll have to get on across to the otherlake. "

As before, Moise now took the heavier pack on his own broad shoulders, and Alex once more picked up the canoe. 

"She's a little lighter than the other boat, I believe, " said he, "butthey're both good boats, as sure's you're born--you can't beat aPeterborough model in the woods!"

The other boys noticed now that when he carried his canoe, he did soby placing a paddle on each side, threaded under and above the thwartsso as to form a support on each side, which rested on his shoulders. His head would have been covered entirely by the boat as he stood, were it not that he let it drop backward a little, so that he couldsee the trail ahead of him. Rob pointed out to Jesse all thesedifferent things, with which their training in connection with the bigAlaskan sea-going dugouts had not made them familiar. 

"Have we got everything now, fellows?" asked Rob, making a last searchbefore they left the scene of their disembarkation. 

"All set!" said John. "Here we go!"

It required now but a few moments to make the second traverse of theportage, and soon the boats again were loaded. They found this mosteasterly of the three lakes on the summit to be of about the same sizeas the one which they had just left. It was rather longer than it waswide, and they could see at its eastern side the depression where theoutlet made off toward the east. Again taking their places at thepaddles in the order established at the start of the day, they rapidlypushed on across. They found now that this lake discharged through alittle creek which rapidly became deep and clear. 

"It's going to be just the way, " said Rob, "that Sir Alexander tells. I say, fellows, we could take that boat and come through here in thedark, no matter what Simon Fraser said about Sir Alexander. "

They found the course down this little waterway not troublesome, andfared on down the winding stream until at length they heard the soundof running water just beyond. 

"That's the Parsnip now, no doubt, " said Alex, quietly, to his youngcharges. Already Moise had pushed the _Mary Ann_ over the lastremaining portion of the stream, and she was floating fair and free onthe current of the second stream, not much larger than the one fromwhich they now emerged. 

"_Voila!_" Moise exclaimed. "She'll been the Peace River--or whatthose _voyageur_ call the Parsneep. Now, I'll think we make fast ride, yes. "

Jesse, leaning back against his bed-roll, looked a little serious. 

"Boys, " said he, "I don't like the looks of this. This water soundsdangerous to me, and you can't tell me but what these mountains arepretty steep. "

"Pshaw! It's just a little creek, " scoffed John. 

"That's all right, but a little creek gets to be a big river mightyfast up in this country--we've seen them up in Alaska many a time. Look at the snow-fields back in those mountains!"

"Don't be alarmed, Mr. Jess, " said Alex; "most of the snow has gonedown in the June rise. The water is about as low now as it is at anytime of the year. Now, if we were here on high water, as Simon Fraserwas, and going the other way, we might have our own troubles--I expecthe found all this country under water where we are now, and thecurrent must have been something pretty stiff to climb against. "

"In any case, " Rob added, "we're just in the same shape that SirAlexander and old Simon were when they were here. We wouldn't care toturn back, and we've got to go through. If they did it, so can we. Idon't believe this stream's as bad, anyhow, as the Fraser or theColumbia, because the traders must have used it for a regular routelong ago. "

"I was reading, " said John, "in Simon Fraser's travels, about how theydid in the rapids of the Fraser River. Why, it was a wonder they evergot through at all. But they didn't seem to make much fuss about it. Those men didn't know where they were going, either--they just got intheir boat and turned loose, not knowing what there was on ahead!That's what I call nerve. Pshaw! Jess, we're only tenderfeet comparedto those chaps!"

"That's the talk!" commented Alex, once more lighting his pipe andsmiling. "We'll go through like a bird, I'm pretty sure. "

"Yes, " said Moise, "we'll show those boy how the _voyageur_ ron therapeed. "

"One thing I want to say to you young gentlemen, " resumed Alex, "notto alarm you, but to teach you how to travel. If by any accident theboat should upset, hang to the boat and don't try to swim. The currentwill be very apt to sweep you on through to some place where you canget a footing. But all these mountain waters are very strong and verycold. Whatever you do, hang to the boat!"

"Yes!" said Rob, "'don't give up the ship, ' as Lawrence said. SirAlexander tells how he got wrecked on the Bad River with his wholecrew. But they hung to the canoe and got her out at the foot of therapids, after all, and not one of them was hurt. "

"He didn't lose a man on the whole trip, for that matter, " John added. 

"Well, now, let's see about the rapids, " said Rob again, spreading outhis map and opening one of his books which he always kept close athand. "Simon Fraser tells as day by day what he did when he was goingwest. They got into that lake we've just left, about noon. They musthave poked up the creek some time, and very early that same morning. That was June thirtieth, and on the same day they passed another rivercoming in from the west side--which must be between here and theoutlet from McLeod Lake. "

"What does the map say about the other side of the stream?" askedJohn, peering over Rob's shoulder. 

"Well, on the twenty-eighth, as they were coming up they passed tworivers coming in from the east. That can't be very far below here, andthe first stream on the west side must be pretty close, from all I canlearn. Below there, on the twenty-seventh, there was another riverwhich they passed coming in from the east, and Simon says near itsmouth there was a rapid. He doesn't seem to mention any rapids betweenthere and here--probably it had to be a pretty big one for him to takeany notice of it. That's two or three days down-stream, according tohis journal, and, as Alex says, it was high water, and they made slowtime coming up--not as fast as Sir Alexander did, in fact. "

"Plenty good water, " said Moise, looking out over the rapid littlestream with professional approval. "She's easy river. "

"Then we ought to make some sort of voyage, " said Rob. "You see, SirAlexander took thirty-four days coming up to this point from theplace where he started, far east of the Rockies, but going downhill itonly took him six days. "

"That was going some, " nodded John, emphatically, if not elegantly. 

"But not faster than we'll be going, " answered Rob. "You see, it tookhim a sixth of the time to go east which it needed to come west. Then, what they did in three days coming up, we ought to run in a half-dayor less going down. "

Alex nodded approvingly. "I think it would figure out something likethat way, " said he. 

"So if we started now, or a little after noon, " resumed Rob, "and rana full half-day we ought to pass all these rivers which Simonmentions, and get down to the first big rapid of which he speaks. Theywere good and tired coming up-stream, but we won't have to work at allgoing down. "

"Well, don't we eat any place at all?" began John again, amid generallaughter. 

"Sure, " said Moise, "we'll stop at the first little beach and makeboil the kettle. I'm hongree, too, me. "

They did as Moise said, and spent perhaps an hour, discussing, fromtime to time, the features of the country and the probable time itwould take them to make the trip. 

"The boat goes very fast on a stream like this, " said Alex. "We couldmake fifty or sixty miles a day without the least trouble, if we didnot have to portage. I should think the current was four to six milesan hour, at least, and you know we could add to that speed if we caredto paddle. "

"Well, we don't want to go too fast, " said Jesse. "We have all summerfor this trip. "

This remark from the youngest of the party caused the old _voyageur_to look at him approvingly. "That's right, " said he, "we'll nothurry. "

Moise was by this time examining the load of the _Mary Ann_, arrangingthe packs so that she would trim just to suit his notion when Rob wasin place at the bow. Alex paid similar care to the _Jaybird_. Theboats now ran practically on an even keel, which would give them thegreatest bearing on the water and enable them to travel over theshallowest water possible. 

"_En roulant?_" said Moise, looking at Alex inquiringly. 

Alex nodded, and the boys being now in their proper places in theboats, he himself stepped in and gave a light push from the beachwith his paddle. 

"So long, fellows, " called out Rob over his shoulder as he put hispaddle to work. "I'm going to beat you all through--if I'm bow paddlein the first boat I'll be ahead of everybody else. _En roulant, maboule!_"

The _Mary Ann_, swinging fully into the current, went off dipping andgliding down the gentle incline of the stream. "Don't go too fast, Moise, " called out Alex. "We want to keep in sight of the cook-boat. "

"All right!" sang out Moise. "We'll go plenty slow. "

"Now, " said Alex to John and Jess as he paddled along slowly andsteadily; "I want to tell you something about running strange watersin a canoe. Riding in a canoe is something like riding a horse. Youmust keep your balance. Keep your weight over the middle line of thecanoe, which is in the center of the boat when she's going straight, of course. You'll have to ease off a little if she tilts--you ride hera little as you would a horse over a jump. Now, look at this littlerough place we're coming to--there, we're through it already--you see, there's a sort of a long V of smooth water running down into therapid. Below that there's a long ridge or series of broken water. This rapid will do for a model of most of the others, although it's atame one. 

"In this work the main thing is to keep absolutely cool. Never try abad rapid which is strange to you without first going out and gettingthe map of it in your mind. Figure out the course you're going totake, and then hang to it, and don't get scared. When I call to you togo to the right, Mr. John, pull the boat over by drawing it to yourpaddle on that side--don't try to push it over from the left side. Youcan haul it over stronger by pulling the paddle against the water. Ofcourse I do the reverse on the stern. We can make her travel sidewise, or straight ahead, or backward, about as we please. All of us canoemenmust keep cool and not lose our nerve. 

"Well, I'll go on--usually we follow the V down into the head of arapid. Below that the highest wave is apt to roll back. If it is toohigh, and curls over too far up-stream, it would swamp our boat tohead straight into it. Where should we go then? Of course, we wouldhave to get a little to one side of that long, rolling ridge of whitewater. But not too far. Sometimes it may be safer to take that bigwave, and all the other waves, right down the white ridge of thestream, than it is to go to one side. "

"I don't see why that would be, " said Jesse. "I should think therewould be the most dangerous place for a canoe. "

"It is, in one way, " said Alex. "Or at least you're surer to shipwater there. But suppose you are in a very heavy stream like theFraser or the Columbia. At the foot of the chute there is very apt tobe some deep swells, or rolls, coming up from far down below. Besidesthat, there's very apt to be a strong eddy setting up-stream justbelow the chute, if the walls are narrow and rocky. Now, that sort ofwater is very dangerous. One of those big swells will come up under aboat, and you'd think a sledge-hammer had hit her. Nothing can stopthe boat from careening a little bit then. Well, suppose the eddycatches her bow and swings her up-stream. She goes up far enough, inspite of all, so that her nose gets under some white water comingdown. Well, then, she swamps, and you're gone!"

"I don't like this sort of talk, " said Jesse. "If there's any placewhere I could walk I'd get out. "

"I'm telling you now about bad water, " said Alex, "and telling you howto take care of yourself in case you find yourself there. One thingyou must remember, you must travel a little faster than the current toget steerageway, and you must never try to go against your current ina rapid--the water is stronger than all the horses you ever saw. Themain thing is to keep cool, to keep your balance, and sometimes not tobe afraid of taking a little water into the boat. It's the business ofthe captain to tell whether it's best to take the ridge of water atthe foot of the chute or to edge off from it to one side. That last iswhat he will do when there are no eddies. All rapids differ, and ofcourse in a big river there may be a dozen different chutes. We alwaysgo ashore and look at a rapid if we think it's dangerous. 

"Now, you hear that noise below us, " he added, "but don't be alarmed. Don't you see, Moise and Rob are already past it? I'll show you nowhow we take it. Be steady, John, and don't paddle till I tell you. Onyour right a little!" he called out an instant later. "That's it! So. Well, we're through already!"

"Why, that was nothing, " said Jesse. "It was just as smooth!"

"Exactly. There is no pleasanter motion in the world than running abit of fast water. Now, there was no danger in this, and the onlytrouble we had was just to get an inch or so out of the way of thatbig rock which might have wrecked us. We always pick a course in arapid which gives us time to turn, so that we can dodge another rockif there's one on ahead. It usually happens pretty fast. You'll soonlearn confidence after running a few pieces of white water, and you'lllearn to like it, I'm sure. "

Moise had turned his boat ashore to see the second boat come through, and after a moment Alex joined him at the beach, the canoes being heldafloat by the paddles as they sat. 

"She comes down fast, doesn't she, fellows?" asked Rob. 

"I should say so!" called John. "I don't see how they ever got a bigboat up here at all. "

"Well, Sir Alexander says that this was part of the worst water theyfound, " said Rob. "Sometimes they had to pull the boat up by hangingon to the overhanging trees--they couldn't go ashore to track her, they couldn't get bottom with their setting-poles, and of course theycouldn't paddle. Yet we came down like a bird!"

The boats dropped on down pleasantly and swiftly now for some time, until the sun began to sink toward the west. A continually changingpanorama of mountain and foothill shifted before them. They passed onelittle stream after another making down from the forest slopes, but sorapid and exhilarating was their movement that they hardly kept trackof all the rivers and creeks which came in. It was late in the eveningwhen they heard the low roar of a rapid far on ahead. The men in therear boat saw the _Mary Ann_ slacken, pause, and pull off to one sideof the stream. 

"That must be the big rapid which Fraser mentions, " commented John. 

"Very likely, " said Alex. "Well, anyhow, we might as well pull in hereand make our camp for the night. We've made a good day's work for astart at least. "

"I shouldn't wonder if it was a hundred miles from where we starteddown to the outlet of the McLeod River, " began Rob again, ever readywith his maps and books. "I think they call it the Pack River now. There is a sort of wide place near there, where the MischinsincliaRiver comes in from the east, and above that ten or fifteen miles isthe Misinchinca River, on the same side. I don't know who named thoserivers, but we haven't passed them yet, that's sure. Then down belowthe mouth of the McLeod is the Nation River, quite a good stream, Isuppose, on the west side. The modern maps show another stream calledthe Manson still farther. I don't know whether Mackenzie knew them bythese names, or whether we can tell them when we see them, but it'sall the more fun if we can't. "

VII

AROUND THE CAMP-FIRE

The point at which they ended their day's voyage was a long sand-pitprojecting out from the forest and offering a good landing for thecanoes. They were glad enough to rest. Moise and Alex, who had paddledsteadily all the afternoon, stepped out on the beach and stretchedthemselves. 

"Let's go back into the woods, " said Jesse. "We can't sleep on thesehard little rocks--we can't even drive the tent-pegs here. "

"Well, Mr. Jess, " said Alex, "if you went back into the woods I thinkyou'd come back here again--the mosquitoes would drive you out. If younotice, the wind strikes this point whichever way it comes. In ourtraveling we always camp on the beaches in the summer-time when wecan. "

"Besides, " added Rob, "even if we couldn't drive the tent-pins, wecould tie the ropes to big rocks. We can get plenty of willows andalders for our beds, too, and some pine boughs. "

The long twilight of these northern latitudes still offered themplenty of light for their camp work, although the sun was far down inthe west. Alex, drawing his big buffalo knife, helped the tired boysget ready their tent and beds, but he smiled as he saw that to-nightthey were satisfied with half as many boughs as they had prepared ontheir first night in camp. 

"I don't suppose, " said Rob, "that Sir Alexander and his men made verybig beds. "

"No, I'm afraid not, " replied Alex. "On the contrary, the canoemenalways broke camp about four o'clock in the morning, and they keptgoing until about seven at night. Fifteen hours a day in and out ofthe water, paddling, poling, and tracking, makes a man so tired hedoesn't much care about what sort of bed he has. "

While the others were getting the tent ready Moise was busy making hisfire and getting some long willow wands, which he now was making intoa sort of frame. 

"What's that for, Moise?" asked Jesse. 

"That's for dry those feesh you boys'll got this morning. Fine bigtrouts, three, four poun', an' fat. I'll fix heem two, three, days sohe'll keep all right. "

"But we couldn't stay here two or three days, " said John. 

"We might do worse, " replied Alex. "This isn't a bad camping place, and besides, it seems to me good country to make a little hunt, if wecare to do that. "

"It certainly would be a fine place for beaver, " said Rob, "if itweren't against the law to kill them. "

"Yes, or other things also--bear or bighorns, I should think verylikely. "

"I suppose there isn't any law against killing bears, " said Rob, "buthow about bighorns? I thought they were protected by law. "

"We'll talk about that after a while, " Alex answered. "Of course, noone would want to kill beaver at this time of year, no matter what thelaw was, because the fur is not good. "

"I see by Sir Alexander's journal, " continued Rob, "that it must havebeen along in here that they saw so much beaver work. There are plentyof dams even now, although it's a hundred years later than the time hecame through. "

"I suppose when we get down farther there are fewer creeks, " saidJohn, "and the rocks and trees are bigger. I don't know just where weare now, because the trees are so thick a fellow can't see out. "

"Well, " went on Rob, bringing out his map, and also that which wasfound in his copy of _Mackenzie's Voyages_, "it must have been justabout in here that Mackenzie met the first Indians that he saw in thiscountry--the ones who told him about the carrying place, and about thebig river and the salt water beyond it. They were the Indians who hadiron spears, and knives, and things, so that he knew they had metwhite men off to the west. They had a big spoon which Mackenzie sayswas made out of a horn like the buffalo horn of the Copper Mine River. I suppose Mackenzie called the musk-ox buffalo, and very likely henever had seen a mountain-sheep. "

"That's right, " said Alex, "those Injuns used to make big spoons outof the horns of the mountain-sheep--all the Injuns along the Rockiesalways have done that. It seems strange to me that Mackenzie didn'tknow that, although at that he was still rather a new man in thenorth. "

"You never have been in here yourself, have you, Alex?" asked John. 

"No, and that's what is making the trip so pleasant for me. I'm havinga good time figuring it out with you. I know this river must run northbetween those two ranges of mountains, and it must turn to the eastsomewhere north of here. But I've never been west of Fort St. John. "

"I don't like the look of this river down there, " said Jesse, steppingto the point of the bar, and gazing down the stream up which came thesullen roar of heavy rapids. 

"Those rapeed, she'll been all right, " said Moise. "Never fear, we gothrough heem all right. To-morrow, two, three, day we'll go throughthose rapeed like the bird!"

"We can walk around them, Jesse, if we don't want to run them, " saidRob, reassuringly. "Of course it's rather creepy going into heavywater that you don't know anything about--I don't like that myself. But just think how much worse it must have been for Sir Alexander andhis men, who were coming up this river, and on the high water at that. Why, all this country was overflowed, and one time, down below here, all the men wanted to quit, it was such hard work. He must have been abrave man to keep them going on through. "

"He was a great man, " added Alex. "A tired man is hard to argue with, but he got them to keep on trying, and kept them at their work. "

"Grub pile!" sang Moise once more, and a moment later all weregathered again around the little fire where Moise had quicklyprepared the evening meal. 

"I'm just about starved, " said John. "I've been wanting something toeat all afternoon. "

They all laughed at John's appetite, which never failed, and Moisegave him two large pieces of trout from the frying-pan. "I'll supposethose feesh he'll seem good to you, " said Moise. 

"I should say they were good!" remarked Jesse, approvingly. "I likethem better all the time. "

"S'pose we no get feesh in the north, " began Moise, "everybody she'llbeen starve. "

"That's right, " said Alex. "The traders couldn't have traveled in thiscountry without their nets. They got fish enough each night to lastthem the next day almost anywhere they stopped. You see, sometimes thebuffalo or the caribou are somewhere else, but fish can't get out ofthe river or the lake, and we always know where to look for them. "

"The dorè, she'll be good feesh, " continued Moise, "but we'll not gotdorè here. Maybe so whitefeesh over east, maybe so pickerel. "

"You remember how we liked codfish better than salmon up in Alaskawhen we were on Kadiak Island?" asked Rob. "I wonder if we'll liketrout very long at a time?"

"Whitefeesh she'll be all right, " Moise smiled. "Man an' dog bothhe'll eat whitefeesh. "

"Well, it's all right about fish, " Rob remarked, after a time, "buthow about the hunt we were talking about? I promised Uncle Dick I'dbring him some bearskins. "

"Black bear or grizzlies?" asked Alex, smiling. 

"Grizzly. "

"Well, I don't know about that, " demurred Alex. "Of course I don'tdeny you may have killed a bear or so up in Alaska, but down here mostof us are willing to let grizzlies alone when we see them. "

"This white-face bear, he'll be bad, " Moise nodded vigorously. 

"Are there many in here?" asked John, curiously, looking at the densewoods. 

"I don't know, " Alex replied. "I've seen a few tracks along the bars, but most of those are made by black bear. Injuns don't look forgrizzlies very much. I don't suppose there's over six or eight grizzlyskins traded out of Fort St. John in a whole year. "

"Injuns no like for keel grizzly, " said Moise. "This grizzly, he'll bechief. He'll be dead man, too, maybe. Those grizzly he'll be onkle ofmine, maybe so. All Injun he'll not want for keel grizzly. Some Injuncan talk to grizzly, an' some time grizzly he'll talk to Injun, too, heem. "

"Now, Moise, " said Rob, "do you really think an animal can talk?"

"Of course he'll talk. More beside, all animal he'll talk withspirits, an' man, not often he can talk with spirits himself. Yes, animal he'll talk with spirit right along, heem. "

"What does he mean, Alex?" asked Rob. 

"Well, " said Alex, gravely, "I'm half Injun too, and you know, Injunsdon't think just the way white people do. Among our people it wasalways thought that animals were wiser than white men think them. Somehave said that they get wisdom from the spirits--I don't know aboutthat. "

"Do you know how those cross fox he'll get his mark on his back thatway?" asked Moise of Rob. 

"No, only I suppose they were always that way. "

"You know those fox?"

"We all know them, " interrupted John. "There's a lot of them up inAlaska--reddish, with smoky black marks on the back and shoulders, anda black tail with a white tip. They're worth money, too, sometimes. "

"Maybe Moise will tell you a story about how the fox got marked, " saidAlex quietly. 

"Oh, go ahead, Moise, " said all the boys. "We'd like to hear that. "

"Well, one tam, " said Moise, reaching to the fire to get a coal forhis pipe, and leaning back against a blanket-roll, "all fox that ronwild was red, like some fox is red to-day. But those tam was some goodfox an' some bad fox. Then Wiesacajac, he'll get mad with some fox an'mark heem that way. He'll been bad fox, that's how he get mark. "

"Wiesacajac?" asked Rob. "What do you mean by that?"

"He means one of the wood-spirits of the Cree Indians, " answered Alex, quietly. "You know, the Injuns have a general belief in the GreatSpirit. Well, Wiesacajac is a busy spirit of the woods, and is usuallygood-natured. "

"Do you believe in him?" asked Jesse. "I thought you went to church, Alex?"

"The Company likes us all to go to church when we're in thesettlements, " said Alex, "and I do regularly. But you see, my motherwas Injun, and she kept to the old ways. It's hard for me tounderstand it, about the old ways and the new ones both. But my motherand her people all believed in Wiesacajac, and thought he was aroundall the time and was able to play jokes on the people if he felt likeit. Usually he was good-natured. But, Moise, go on and tell about howthe fox got his mark. "

Moise, assuming a little additional dignity, as became an Indianteller of stories, now went on with his tale. 

"Listen, I speak!" he began. "One tam, long ago, Wiesacajac, he'll besit all alone by a lake off north of this river. Wiesacajac, he'llbeen hongree, but he'll not be mad. He'll be laugh, an' talk byheemself an' have good tam, because he'll just keel himself some nicefat goose. 

"Now, Wiesacajac, he'll do the way the people do, an' he'll go forroast this goose in the sand, under the ashes where he'll make hisfire. He'll take this goose an' bury heem so, all cover' up with ashesan' coals--like this, you see--but he'll leave the two leg of thosefoots stick up through the ground where the goose is bury. 

"Wiesacajac he'll feel those goose all over with his breast-bone, an'he'll say, 'Ah, ha! he'll been fat goose; bimeby he'll be good foreat. ' But he'll know if you watch goose he'll not get done. So bimebyWiesacajac he'll walk off away in the wood for to let those goose getbrown in the ashes. This'll be fine day--_beau temps_--an' he'll behappy, for he'll got meat in camp. So bimeby he'll sit down on log an'look at those sky an' those wind, an' maybe he'll light his pipe, Idon't know, me. 

"Now about this tam some red fox he'll be lie down over those ridgean' watch Wiesacajac an' those goose. This fox he'll be hongree, too, for he'll ain't got no goose. He'll been thief, too, all same likeevery fox. So he'll see Wiesacajac walk off in woods, an' he'll smellaroun' an' he'll sneak down to the camp where those goose will be withhis feet stick out of ashes. 

"Those thief of fox he'll dig up the fat goose of Wiesacajac, an'tase' it, an' find it ver' good. He'll ron off in the woods with thegoose an' eat it all up, all 'cept the foots an' the leg-bones. Thenthe fox he'll sneak back to the fire once more, an' he'll push thedirt back in the hole, an' he'll stick up these foots an' theleg-bones just like they was before, only there don't been no gooseunder those foots now, because he'll eat up the goose. 

"'Ah, ha!' says Mr. Fox then, 'I'm so fat I must go sleep now. ' Sohe'll go off in woods a little way an' he'll lie down, an' he'll go tosleep. 

"Bimeby Wiesacajac he'll look at the sun an' the wind plenty long, an'he'll got more hongree. So he'll come back to camp an' look for hisgoose. He'll take hol' of those foots that stick up there, an' pullthem up, but the foots come loose! So he'll dig in the sand an' ashes, an' he'll not found no goose. 

"'Ah, ha!' say Wiesacajac then. He'll put his finger on his nose an'think. Then he'll see those track of fox in the sand. 'Ah, ha!' he'llsay again. 'I'll been rob by those fox. Well, we'll see about that. '

"Wiesacajac, he'll follow the trail to where this fox is lie fastasleep; but all fox he'll sleep with one eye open, so this fox he'llhear Wiesacajac an' see him come, an' he'll get up an' ron. But he'llbe so full of goose that inside of hondred yards, maybe feefty yards, Wiesacajac he'll catch up with him an' pick him up by the tail. 

"'Now I have you, thief!' he'll say to the fox. 'You'll stole mygoose. Don't you know that is wrong? I show you now some good manners, me. '

"So Wiesacajac, he'll carry those fox down to the fire. He's plentystrong, but he don't keel those fox. He's only going to show heem alesson. So he'll poke up the fire an' put on some more wood, thenhe'll take the fox by the end of the tail an' the back of his neck, an' he'll hold heem down over the fire till the fire scorch his backan' make heem smoke. Then the fox he'll beg, an' promise not to dothat no more. 

"'I suppose maybe you'll not keep your promise, ' says Wiesacajac, 'forall foxes they'll steal an' lie. But this mark will stay on you so allthe people can tell you for a thief when they see you. You must carryit, an' all your children, so long as there are any foxes of yourfamilee. '

"The fox he'll cry, an' he'll roll on the groun', but those black markshe'll stay. 

"An' she'll stay there till now, " repeated Moise. "An' all the tam, those fox he'll be 'shamed for look a man in the face. All the tam youfind cross fox, he'll be black where Wiesacajac hold heem over thefire, with his back down, but the end of his tail will be white, because there is where Wiesacajac had hold of heem on one end, an' hisfront will be white, too, same reason, yes, heem. Whatever Wiesacajacdid was done because he was wise an' strong. Since then all cross foxhave shown the mark. I have spoken. "

Moise now looked around at his young listeners to see how they likedthe story. 

"That's what I call a pretty good story, " said John. "If I had onemore trout I believe I could go to bed. "

"Do you know what time it is?" asked Alex, smiling. 

"No, " said Rob. "Why, it's almost midnight, " he added, as he looked athis watch. 

"We've made a long day of it, " said Alex, "almost too long. We don'twant to be in too big a hurry. "

"How far do you think we've come, Alex?" asked Jesse. "It seemed likea long way to me. "

"Well I don't know exactly, Mr. Jess, " said Alex, "because there areno roads in this country, you see, and we have to guess. But it musthave been about noon when we got out of the last lake after wefinished fishing. We've doubled on the portage, which made thatsomething like a mile, and I suppose took about an hour. We fishedabout an hour, and it took us about an hour to clear out the littlecreek and go through a mile or so down to the main river. We've beenrunning seven or eight hours pretty steadily. Maybe we've come thirtyor forty miles, I don't know. "

"Well, I know I'm tired, " said John, "and I can't even eat anothertrout. "

VIII

A HUNT FOR BIGHORN

Alex allowed the boys to sleep late next morning, and the sun wasshining warmly when at length they turned out of their tent and wentdown to the river for their morning bath. Heartily as they had eatenthe night before, they seemed still hungry enough to enjoy the heartybreakfast which Moise had ready for them at the fire. 

"Well, Alex, what's the programme for to-day?" asked Rob; "are wegoing on down, or shall we stop for a hunt?"

"Whichever you like, " answered Alex. "We're maybe getting into heavierwater now, so I suppose we ought to be a little more careful about howwe run down without prospecting a little. "

"How would it be for some of us to go down along the bank and do alittle scouting?" asked John. 

"A very good plan, " agreed Alex, "and Moise might do that while weothers are doing something else. "

"Oh, you mean about our hunt, " broke in Rob. "Now, we were speakingabout bears and sheep. We don't want to break the game laws, youknow. "

"Let me see your map, Mr. Rob, " said Alex. "I told you we'd talk overthat after a while. "

"What's the map got to do with game laws, Alex?"

"A great deal, as I'll show you. You see, in all this upper countrythe laws made down at Ottawa and Edmonton govern, just as if we livedright in that country. We keep the game laws the same as any otherlaws. At the same time, the government is wise, and knows that men inthis far-off country have to live on what the country produces. If thepeople could not kill game when they found it they would all starve. So the law is that there is no restriction on killing game--that is, any kind of game except beaver and buffalo--north of latitude 55°. "

"Well, what's that got to do with our hunt?" asked Rob. 

"I was just going to explain, if you will let me see your map. As nearas I can tell by looking at the lines of latitude on it, we must havebeen just about latitude fifty-five degrees at the place where westarted yesterday. But we have been running north very strongly thirtyor forty miles. While I can't tell exactly where we are, I'm verypositive that we are at this camp somewhere north of fifty-fivedegrees. In that case there is no law against our killing what welike, if we let the beaver alone; for of course, the buffalo are allgone from this country long ago. "

"Now, I wouldn't have thought of that, " said Rob, "and I'm very gladthat you have figured it out just that way. We agree with you that afellow ought to keep the game laws even when he is away from thetowns. In some of the States in the earlier days they used to havelaws allowing a man to kill meat if he needed it, no matter what timeof year. But people killed at all times, until there wasn't much leftto kill. "

"It ought to be a good hunting country here, " went on Alex, "for Idon't think many live here or hunt here. "

"Well, " said Rob, with a superior air, "we don't much care for blackbear. Grizzlies or bighorns--"

"Have you never killed a bighorn?"

"No, none of us ever has. They have plenty of them up in Alaska, andvery good ones, and white sheep also, and white goats sometimes, andall sorts of bears and moose and things. We've never hunted very muchexcept when we were on Kadiak Island. We can all shoot, though. Andwe'd like very much to make a hunt here. There isn't any hurry, anyway. "

"S'pose you'll got some of those sheep, " ventured Moise, "he'll bebest for eat of anything there is--no meat better in the world thanthose beeghorn. "

"Well, " said John, "why don't we start out to get one? This looks likea good country, all right. "

"That suits me, " added Rob. "Jess, do you want to go along?"

Alex looked at Jesse before he answered, and saw that while he wastall for his age, he was rather thin and not so strong as the otherboys, being somewhat younger. 

"I think Mr. Jess would better stay in camp, " said he. "He can helpMoise finish drying his fish, and maybe they can go down and have alook at the rapids from the shore. We others can go over east for ahunt. I've a notion that the mountains that way are better. "

"It looks like a long way over, " said Rob. "Can we make it out andback to camp to-day?"

"Hardly; I think we'll have to lie out at least one night, maybe more, to be sure of getting the sheep. "

"Fine!" said John; "that suits me. We wouldn't need to take along anytent, just a blanket and a little something to eat--I suppose we couldcarry enough. " He looked so longingly at Moise's pots and pans thateverybody laughed at him once more. 

"All right, " said Alex, "we'll go. "

The old hunter now busied himself making ready their scant supplies. He took a little bag of flour, with some salt, one or two of thecooked fish which remained, and a small piece of bacon. These herolled up in a piece of canvas, which he placed on his pack-straps. Heasked the boys if they thought they could get on with a singleblanket, and when they agreed to this he took Rob's blanket, foldedit, rolled it also in canvas, and tied it all tight with a rope, theends of his tump-strap sticking out, serving him for his way ofpacking, which was to put the tump-strap across his head. 

"It's not a very big bundle, " said he. "You young gentlemen need takenothing but your rifles and your ammunition. I don't need any blanketfor a night or so. What little we've got will seem heavy enough beforewe get up there in the hills. "

"Now, Moise, listen, " he added. "You're to stay in this camp until weget back, no matter how long it is, and you're not to be uneasy if wedon't come back for two or three days. Don't go out in the boats withMr. Jess until we get back. Give him three meals a day, and finish updrying your trout. "

"All right, " answered Moise, "I'll stay here all summer. I'll hope youget beeg sheep. "

Alex turned, and after the fashion of the Indians, did not say good-bywhen he left camp, but stalked off. The two boys, rifle in hand, followed him, imitating his dignity and not even looking back to wavea farewell to Jesse, who stood regarding them rather ruefully. 

They had a stiff climb up the first ridge, which paralleled thestream, when the boys found their rifles quite heavy enough to carry. After a time, however, they came out at the top of a high plateau, where the undergrowth was not very thick and tall spruces stood morescattered. They could now see beyond them some high, bare ridges, thatrose one back of the other, with white-topped peaks here and there. 

"Good sheep country, " said Alex, after a time. "I think good formoose, and maybe caribou, too, lower down. "

"Yes, and good for something else, " cried Rob, who was running on alittle in advance as the others stopped. "Look here!"

"There he goes in his moccasins, " said Alex. "Grizzly!"

"Yes, and a good big one, I should think, " said Rob. "Not as big as aKadiak bear; but see, his foot sinks a long way into the ground, andit's not very soft, either. Come on, Alex, let's go after him. "

Alex walked over and examined the trail for a little while. 

"Made yesterday morning, " he commented, "and traveling steadily. Notelling where he is by this time, Mr. Rob. When an old white-facestarts off he may go forty miles. Again, we might run across him orsome other one in the first berry patch we come to. It seems to mesurer to go on through with our sheep hunt. 

"There's another thing, " he added, "about killing a big bear inhere--his hide would weigh fifty to seventy-five pounds, very likely. Our boats are pretty full now, and we're maybe coming to bad water. There's good bear hunting farther north and east of here, and it seemsto me, if you don't mind, that it might be wiser for us to hunt sheephere and bear somewhere else. "

"That sounds reasonable, " said John. "Besides, we've never seen wildbighorn. "

"Come ahead then, " said Rob, reluctantly leaving the big bear trail. "I'd just like to follow that old fellow out, though. "

"Never fear, " said Alex, "you shall follow one just as big before thistrip is over!"

Alex now took up his pack again, and began to move up toward thefoothills of the mountains, following a flat little ravine which woundhere and there, at no place very much covered with undergrowth. Atlast they reached the edges of bare country, where the sun struck themfully. By this time the boys were pretty tired, for it was far pastnoon, and they had not stopped for lunch. John was very hungry, buttoo brave to make any complaint. He was, however, feeling the effectsof the march considerably. 

"Well, " said he, as they finally sat down upon a large rock, "I don'tsee any signs of sheep up in here, and I don't think this looks like avery good game country. There isn't anything for the sheep to eat. "

"Oh yes, " rejoined Alex; "you'll find a little grass, and some mossamong the rocks, more often than you would think. This is just thekind of country that bighorns like. You mustn't get discouraged toosoon on a hunt. An Injun may be slow to start on a hunt, but when hegets started he doesn't get discouraged, but keeps on going. Sometimesour people hunt two or three days without anything to eat. 

"But now since you mention it, Mr. John, " he added, "I'd like to askyou, are you sure there are no signs of game around here?"

Both the boys looked for a long time all over the mountain-slopesbefore them. Rob had his field-glasses with him, and these he now tookout, steadily sweeping one ridge after another for some time. 

"I see, Alex!" he called out, excitedly. "I know what you mean!"

"Where are they?" called John, excitedly. 

"Oh, not sheep yet, " said Rob, "but just where they've been, I think. "

"Look, Mr. John, " said Alex, now taking John by the arm and pointingacross the near-by ravines. "Don't you see that long mark, lighter incolor, which runs down the side of that mountain over there, a mile ortwo away, and up above us?"

"Yes, I can see that; but what is it?"

"Well, that's a sheep trail, a path, " said Alex. "That's a trail theymake coming down regularly from the high country beyond. It looks tome as though they might have a watering place, or maybe a lick, overin there somewhere. It looks so good to me, at least, that I thinkwe'll make a camp. "

They turned now, under the old hunter's guidance, and retraced theirsteps until they found themselves at the edge of timber, where Alexthrew down his bundle under a tall spruce-tree whose branches spreadout so as almost to form a tent of itself. He now loosened his strapsand bits of rope from about the bundle, and fastened these about hiswaist. With remaining pieces of twine he swung up the package to thebough of the tree above the ground as high as he could reach. 

"We don't want any old porcupine coming here and eating up our grub. They almost gnaw through a steel plate to get at anything greasy orsalty, " he explained. "We'll call this camp, and we'll stop hereto-night, because I can see that if we go up to that trail and do anywaiting around it will be too late for us to get back home to-night. "

Although no game had as yet been sighted, the confidence that it wassomewhere in the country made the boys forget their fatigue. Theyfollowed Alex up the mountain-slopes, which close at hand provedsteeper than they had looked for, keeping up a pretty fast pace, until finally they got almost as high up as the trail which Alex hadsighted. This latter lay at some distance to the right of theirpresent course, and a high, knife-edged ridge ran down from the hills, separating the hunters from the mountain-side beyond. Alex now turnedto his young companions and said in a low tone:

"You'd better stay here now for a little while. I'll crawl up to thetop yonder and look over. If you see me motion to you, come on up towhere I am. "

Rob and John sat down on a near-by rock and watched the hunter as hecautiously ascended the slope, taking care not to disengage any stoneswhose noise might alarm any near-by game. They saw him flatten out, and, having removed his hat, peer cautiously over the rim. Here he laymotionless for some time, then, little by little, so slowly that theyhardly noticed he was moving, he dropped down over the rim, and, looking down over his shoulder, motioned to them to come on up. 

When the boys joined Alex at the edge of the ridge they were prettymuch out of breath, as they had hurried in the ascent. "What is it, Alex?" hissed John, his eyes shining. 

"They're over there, " said the hunter, quietly. "Five sheep, two goodones--one a very fine ram. Do you want to have a look at them? Bevery careful--they're up at the top of the slope, and haven't comedown over the trail yet. Be careful, now, how you put your headsover. "

The two boys now slowly approached the crest, and, almost tremblingwith excitement, peered over. Alex following, laid a hand on John'sleg and another on Rob's shoulder, for fear they would make somesudden movement and frighten the game. When at length the boys crawledback from the ridge they were very much excited. "What'll we do now, Alex?" asked John. "They're too far off to shoot. "

"Wait, " said Alex; "they're going to come on down the trail. I thinkthey water at some spring in the mountain, although I don't know. Infifteen or twenty minutes they'll be pretty close to us--inside of twohundred yards, at least, I should think. 

"Now listen, " he continued to the boys, "and mind what I tell you. There are two rams there, and if we get them we need nothing more. I'll not shoot unless I need to. Rob, you'll take the ram which isfarthest to the right, at the time I tell you to fire, and you, Mr. John, will take the other ram, no matter whether it's the big one orthe little one. Let the ewes alone. And whatever you do, don't shootinto the flock--wait until each of you can see his animal ready for adistinct shot. If either of you misses, I'll help him out--there'sthree or four hundred yards of good shooting all up that mountainface. Now mind one thing; don't have any buck fever here! None ofthat, do you hear me?"

Alex spoke rather sternly this time, but it was with a purpose. He sawthat the hands of both the boys were rather trembling, and knew thatsometimes when a man is in that nervous condition a sharp word willhave the effect of quieting and steadying him. 

Rob looked at him quickly, and then smiled. "Oh, I see, " said he. 

They were all talking in low whispers, so that they might not beoverheard by the game, if it should come closer. "It's no disgrace tohave buck fever, " said Alex, in his low tone. "Injuns even getexcited, and I've known old hunters to get buck fever right in themiddle of a hunt, without any reason they could tell anything about. But now, when you're steady enough, we'll all crawl up once in a whileand have a look. "

He kept a steadying hand on both the boys when a few minutes laterthey approached the rim of the ridge once more. By this time thesheep, which had not in the least taken alarm, were advancing rathersteadily down the narrow path on the steep mountain face. The biggestram was in advance, a stately and beautiful game creature, such aswould have made a prize for the most experienced of hunters. It wasall Rob could do to keep from an exclamation of delight at seeingthese rather queer creatures so close at hand and unsuspicious of thehunters' presence. 

Alex pulled them down once more, and sternly admonished them to bequiet. "Wait now, " he whispered, "one minute by the watch. "

When the minute, which seemed an hour in length, had elapsed, Alex puthis finger on his lips for silence and motioned to each boy to seethat his rifle was ready. Then cautiously they all pushed up once moreto the edge of the ridge. 

This time they saw all five of the sheep standing closely bunchedtogether, two or three of them with their heads down. There seemed tobe a slight moist place among the slate rocks where perhaps some sortof saline water oozed out, and it was this that these animals hadvisited so often as to make a deep trail on the mountain-side. Alexshook his head as Rob turned an inquiring glance at him, and the boys, who by this time were steady, did not shoot into the huddled band ofsheep. 

They lay thus for what seemed a long time, eagerly watching the gameanimals which were unconscious of any hunters' presence. One of thesheep, a yearling, began to jump up and down, bouncing like a rubberball in its sportive antics, which almost made John laugh as hewatched it. Turning to look at this, the smaller ram paced off to theright, followed now by the larger ram. Both creatures now, as if theyhad some sense of danger, stood with their majestic heads raised, looking steadily about and apparently scanning the air to catch thetaint of danger. Thus they offered a good mark to the riflemen. 

"Shoot!" whispered Alex, quickly; and almost as he spoke two reportsrang out. 

At the report of Rob's rifle the lesser ram, which was the one thatstood to the left, fell as though struck by a hammer, shot through theshoulders and killed at once. The larger ram, which had fallen toJohn's lot, was not struck beyond a slight singe of the bullet alongthe hair of its back. It sprang, and with incredible speed began tomake its way up the opposite slope. The ewes also scattered and ran. Alex was on the point of using his rifle, when again John's piece rangout, and this time the great ram, hit fair by the bullet, fell androlled over and over until it reached the bottom of the slope quitedead. 

Both of the boys sprang to their feet and gave a wild whoop ofexultation. They were trembling now, although they did not know it, and jabbered excitedly as they started on down the slope to theirgame. Alex followed slowly, calmly filling his pipe and smiling hisapproval. 

"That's good work for young hunters, " said he. "I couldn't have donebetter. Mr. John, you missed your first shot. Do you know why?"

"I know, " said Rob. "He didn't allow for shooting downhill. A fellownearly always shoots too high when he shoots at anything away downbelow him. "

"Quite right, " nodded Alex, "and a very common fault in mountainhunting. "

"Well, I got him the next time, " said John. "If you can see where yourbullet goes you can tell how to shoot the next shot. "

"They're two magnificent sheep, " said Alex, admiringly, "and we've gotto take out both these heads, for they're too good to leave in themountains. I suppose now we will have to do a little butchering. "

He drew his great knife from his belt, and now in very skilful waybegan to skin, clean, and dismember the sheep, doubling back thehalf-disjointed legs and the hams and shoulders and throwing theseparated pieces of meat on the skins, which were spread out, fleshside up, on the ground. He took out the shoulders and hams of eachsheep and split the remainder of the carcass, detaching the ribs alongthe spine with blows of his heavy bladed knife. After a little herolled up the meat of each sheep in its own hide, lashed it firmlywith thong, and made it into two packs. The heads he next skinned out, showing the boys how to open the skin along the back of the neck, andacross the head between the horns. He asked for their smaller andkeener knives when it came to skinning out the ears, eyes andnostrils, but removed the scalp from each sheep without making a cutwhich showed through the skin. 

"Now, " said he at last, "when we get the meat trimmed off theseskull-bones you'll have a couple of sheep heads that many a hunterwould give hundreds of dollars to kill for himself. They are going tobe awkward to carry, though, I'll tell you that. "

"How much would one of these rams weigh, Alex?" asked Rob. 

"The biggest one a couple of hundred pounds, maybe, " said Alex. "Thegreen head, this way, might make fifty of that, I don't know. We'llhave to make two trips down to the bivouac, that's one thing sure. Maybe we can lighten the heads by trimming out to-night. "

"I'll tell you, Alex, " said Rob; "if you can take one of the meatpacks we'll take one of the heads between us. It's downhill from hereto where we left the blankets. "

"All right, " answered Alex. "I could carry a couple of hundred poundsdown here, I suppose, but there's plenty of time, as we aren't morethan a mile from camp. So come ahead. "

Proceeding in this way they finally did get all their meat down to thelittle bivouac they had made under the spruce-trees. They were verytired but happy by this time, and hungry as well, for now evening wasclosing down. 

"I'll show you how to make a fire now, " said Alex, "because you willsee that we aren't over sand or gravel in this camping place, as weare on the river. "

He scraped away the bed of spruce needles and loose soil until he gotdown to the moist and sandy layer, with some rocks here and thereprojecting through. 

"That'll do, I think, " said he. "We won't build a big fire, and we'llhave rocks under and around it all we can. You always want to rememberthat a forest fire is a terrible thing, and nearly always they comefrom careless camp-fires. You know the earth itself burns in a forestlike this. Never allow a fire to get away, and never leave it burning. These are laws which we have to follow up here, or we get intotrouble. "

IX

A NIGHT IN THE MOUNTAINS

"I believe I like it up here better than I do along the river, " saidJohn, after they finally had their little fire going. 

"Yes, " remarked Rob, "you can see out farther here. The mountains arefine. See how pink they are over where the snow is--the sun from thewest makes it all like a picture, doesn't it?"

"I never tire of the mountains, " said Alex, "and I've lived among themmany years. "

"I'd like to be a hunter, " Rob began. 

"Not to-day, " rejoined Alex. "Our people can't make a living that waynow. We have to buy things of the Company, and pay for them with ourfurs and robes. But we'll be hunters for this time, sure, with meat incamp and two fine heads as well. I wish we could eat some to-night. "

"Why, why can't we?" demanded John, who looked as though he could eata good-sized piece quite raw. 

"We could if we had to, " said Alex, "but the meat will be better if welet it hang over night. If we ate too much of the very fresh meat itmight make us sick. "

"Men eat bear liver the day it is killed. "

"Yes, white men do, but not many Indians will eat bear liver at all. We can try some of the sheep liver, if you like, for I've brought itdown in the packs. For that matter, it won't hurt us maybe to try alittle piece of meat roasted on a stick before the fire, the way theIndians cook. That, with a bit of bacon and some bannock that I'llmake, will do us, if we have a cup of tea. You see, I've a little canalong which I got in Moise's cook-bag. "

"I don't see how you're going to make bread, " began John, "for youhaven't got any pan. "

"No, Injuns don't always have pans like white people, " said Alex, laughing, "but I'll show you. I'll use the flour-sack for a pan--justpour the water right in on the flour and mix it up in the sack. Alloutdoor men know that trick. An Injun would take a stick and rollaround in that white dough and roast that dough ball before the firealong with his meat, " he said, "but I think by taking a slab of barkwe can cook our bannock somehow, a little bit, at least, as though wehad a pan to lean up before the fire. "

The boys found new proof of the old saying that hunger is the bestsauce. For though their meal was really very frugal, they enjoyed itheartily, and having had a cup of tea, they forgot all about theirfatigue. 

The shadows were coming down across the near-by ridges when at lengththey turned to Alex inquiringly. 

"We want to know where we're going to make our beds. "

"Well, this big spruce-tree is a good enough tent for me--the lowerbranches spread out almost like an umbrella. We won't keep much fire, but if I get cold in the night, not having any blankets, I'll justmake a little fire. You know, I don't need to sleep as warmly as youdo. "

"Well, " said John, "you ought to get under part of our blanket. "

"Then we'd all be cold. Keep some of the blanket under you, for that'swhere the cold comes from, not from above. I may after a while pushthe ashes back from our fireplace and lie down on the ground where ithas been made warm by the fire. Injuns sometimes do that when theycan't do any better. Mostly, however, we depend on keeping up a fireif it is very cold and we have no robe or blanket. "

High up in the hills where they were it grew very cold at night, andthe boys, shivering in their scanty covering, woke up more than once. Sometimes they would see Alex lying quite asleep, and again he wouldbe sitting up smoking his pipe, leaning against the trunk of the tree. In some way, however, the night wore through, although they were gladwhen at length the sun came up and they could all stretch theircramped and stiffened limbs. 

"My eyes have got sticks in them, " said John, rubbing at his face. 

"And my hair pulls a little bit, too, " Rob added. "I forgot to bringmy comb, or even my tooth-brush. "

"Well, one thing, " said Alex, as he built up the fire. "We'll havesome sheep meat for breakfast, all right. The animal heat will be allout of it now, and we'll have a hearty meal. We'll need it too, forit's quite a way down to camp, several miles, that's sure. "

They finished their breakfast while the sun was still low over theeastern mountains, and presently began to think about the homewardmarch. 

"They'll be wondering about us down there, " said Rob, "and I'm mightyglad we've made our hunt and can get home so soon. "

"We might not be able to do it again in a dozen hunts, " said Alex. "Game isn't as abundant as it once was. "

"I should say not, " said John. "When you read in the stories aboutMackenzie and Fraser, and all those old fellows, they'll tell aboutseeing all kinds of game from the boat just as they went along. "

"We'll do the same when we get out of the mountains, " Alex replied;"but not buffalo and caribou any more. Bear and moose we'll be veryapt to see. 

"We'll double-portage these loads for one trip, at least, " he resumed. "I'll make the first trip with one head on top of my pack, and if youcan manage the other one for a little way I'll come back for the restof the meat, and we'll go about half-way down toward the boats on ourfirst trip. As you probably can't travel as fast as I can, I'm goingahead, but I'll blaze the trees as I go. Then I'll drop my load andcome back to meet you. When you come to my first load you must stopthere until I catch up with you again. As I'll be below you all thetime, at first, there'll be no danger about your getting off thetrail. "

"No danger anyhow, " said Rob. "We've often followed a trail that way. "

Indeed, the young hunters proved themselves quite good woodsmen enoughto follow Alex down the mountain face into the thicket of the plateau. He went almost at a trot, loaded as he was, and as the boys found thebig ram's head a heavy load for them to carry between them on thestick, they met him as he was coming back up the mountains, when theythemselves were not a great deal more than half-way down to the placewhere he had dropped his pack. 

"It's all plain, " said Alex, "for I followed our old trail down thehill, and put a branch across two or three places so that you'll knowwhen you're near the pack. "

They found no difficulty in obeying his instructions, and so tiredwere they that it seemed but a short time before presently Alex joinedthem for a second time, carrying the remainder of the meat on histump-strap. 

"Now, " said he, "we're a great deal more than half-way down to theboats. We won't come back for the second trip at all now, and we'lltake our time with the loads. I'll send Moise up for one pack, whichwe will leave here. "

"Suppose he doesn't want to come?" asked John. 

"Oh, Moise will be glad to come. He's a good packer and a cheerfulman. Besides, I suppose that would be his business as we look at itamong our people. In the old times, when Sir Alexander came through, ahunter did nothing but hunt. If he killed a head of game the peoplearound the post had to go out and get it for themselves if they wantedit brought in. "

"But how will Moise find this place?" asked John, anxiously. "I don'twant to lose this head, I'll tell you that. "

Alex laughed. "He'll come right to the place! I'll explain to him, sohe'll know right where it is. "

"Although he has never been here before?"

"Surely; one Injun can tell another how to go to a place. Besides, ourtrail will be as plain as a board-walk to him. He's used to that kindof work, you see. "

All of this came out quite as Alex had said. They took their time infinishing their journey, but it was long before noon when they arrivedat the boat encampment on the banks of the river, where they weregreeted with great joy by Jesse and Moise. Then, although it was notyet time for lunch, Moise insisted on cooking once more, a plan towhich John gave very hearty assent, and in which all the othersjoined. 

After a while Alex and Moise, each smoking contentedly, began toconverse in their own tongue, Alex sometimes making a gesture towardthe mountains off to the east, and Moise nodding a quiet assent. Aftera time, without saying anything, Moise got up, tightened his belt, filled his pipe once more, and departed into the bush. 

"Are you sure he'll find that meat?" demanded John, "and bring downthat bighorn head?"

"He certainly will, " said Alex; "he'll run that trail like a dog, andjust about as fast. Moise used to be a good man, though he says now hecan't carry over two hundred pounds without getting tired. "

"Well, listen at that!" said Jesse. "Two hundred pounds! I shouldn'tthink anybody could carry that. "

"Men have carried as much as six hundred pounds for a little way, "said Alex. "On the old portage trails two packets, each of ninetypounds, was the regular load, and some men would take three. That wastwo hundred and seventy pounds at least; and they would go on a trot. You see, a country produces its own men, my young friends. "

"Well, that's the fun of a trip like this, " said Rob. "That, andfollowing out the trails of the old fellows who first came throughhere. "

"Now, " continued Alex, getting up and looking about the camp, "we havemeat in camp, and fish also. I think perhaps we'd better dry a part ofour sheep meat, as we used to the meat of the buffalo in the old days. We'll smoke it a little, cutting it thin and spreading it in the sun. By keeping the fresh meat under boughs so the flies won't get at it, it'll stay good for quite a little while too. We don't want to wasteanything, of course. "

They were busy about their odd jobs in the camp when, long before theywould have expected it, Moise came trotting down the base of thetimbered ridge above the camp, and, still smoking and still smiling, tossed down the big bundle of meat and the other sheep-head on theground beside the fire. 

"By gosh! Those will be fine head!" said he. "If I'll had this head inWinnipeg I'll got hondred dollars for each one, me, maybe so. Now I'llshow you how for cook some sheep to-night after supper. "

"You mean at supper, don't you?" asked Rob. 

"_Non! Non!_ We'll eat supper, wait a while, then those sheep meathe'll look good some more. I'll show you. "

"Are you going to tell us another story to-night?" asked Jesse, eagerly. 

"Yes, after supper I'll tol' you some more story, " assented Moise. "Westay here maybe two, three day now, so to-morrow I think we'll be incamp. All right. To-night we'll tell the story some more. "

X

HOW THE SPLIT-STONE LAKE WAS NAMED

As Moise was even hungrier than John, there seemed no objection toeating another meal even before sundown. The evening came off fair andcool, so that the mosquitoes did not bother the campers. As the chillof the mountain night came on, the boys put on their blanket coats andpulled the bed-rolls close up to the fire, near which the men both satsmoking quietly. Already the boys were beginning to learn reticence incamp with men like these, and not to interrupt with too manyquestions; but at length Jesse's eagerness to hear Moise's story couldno longer be restrained. 

"You promised to tell us something to-night, Moise, " said he. "What'sit going to be?"

"First I'll must got ready for story, " said Moise. "In the camp mypeople eat when they tell story. I'll fix some of those sheep meatnow. "

Borrowing his big knife from Alex, Moise now cut himself asharp-pointed stick of wood, two or three feet long, and stuck one endof this into each end of the side of sheep ribs which lay at the meatpile. Finding a thong, he tied it to the middle of the stick, andmaking himself a tall tripod for a support, he suspended the piece ofmeat directly over the fire at some distance above, so that it couldnot burn, but would revolve and cook slowly. 

"Suppose in a half-hour I'll can tell story now, " said Moise, laughingpleasantly. "No use how much sheep meat you eat, always you eat more!"

At last, however, at what must have been nine or ten o'clock at night, at least, perhaps later, after Moise had cut for each of the boys asmoking hot rib of the delicious mountain mutton, he sat back, arib-bone in his own hand, and kept his promise about the story. 

"I'll tol' you last night, young mens, " he said, "how about thoseWiesacajac, the spirit that goes aroun' in the woods. Now in the furcountry east of the mountains is a lake where a rock is on the shore, split in two piece, an' the people call that the Split-Stone Lake. Listen, I speak. I tell now how the lake he's got that name. 

"Wiesacajac, he'll make hont sometime in that country, an' he'll comeon a camp where all the men are out honting. Only two peoples is leftin camp, same like you leave us two peoples here when you go hont. Butthese two peoples is little, one boy, one girl. The mens an' womensall go hont in the woods and there is no meat in camp at all. Thechildren were not old for hont or for feesh. Their papa an' theirmamma say, 'Stay here. ' So they stay an' wait. They have wait manydays. Pretty soon now they'll gone dead for starve so long. 

"Now Wiesacajac, he'll come an' stan' by the fire, an' see thoselittle peoples. 'Oh, Wiesacajac, ' they'll say, 'we're ver' hongree. Wehave not eat for many days. We do not think our peoples will come backno more. We'll not know what for do. '

"Now, Wiesacajac, he'll been always kin'. 'Oh, now, my childrens, 'he'll say, 'this is bad news what you give me, ver' bad indeed. You'llmake me cry on you, I'll been so sorry for you. You're on this lakewhere the win' comes, an' the country is bare, an' there is no game. '

"He'll look aroun' an' see nothing in those camp but one piece ofswanskin, ol' dry swanskin, all eat clean of meat. Then he'll lookout on the lake, an' he'll see a large flock of swans stay therewhere no man can come. Those swan will know the children was hongree, but they'll not like for get killed theirselves. 

"Wiesacajac he'll say, 'My children, why do you starve when there'smeat there in front of you?'

"Those was child of a honter. 'Yes, ' said those boy, 'what use is thatmeat to us? It's daylight. You know ver' well you'll not can come upto the swans. '

"'Ah, ha! Was that so?' said Wiesacajac. 'Let me show you somethings, then. '

"So Wiesacajac, he'll take those ol' swanskin an' put it on hees head. Then he'll walk down in the lake an' sink down till just the head andbreast of those swanskin will show on the water. Wiesacajac, he'll begood honter, too. He'll sweem aroun' in the lake foolish, but all tamhe'll come closer to those swan, an' closer. Those swan she'll be wisebird, an' they'll saw heem an' they'll say, 'There's one of us thatwe'll not miss--what'll he doing out there?'

"Then they begin to sweem toward Wiesacajac, an' Wiesacajac begin tosweem toward them. Bimeby he'll been right among 'em. Then these twohongree boy an' girl on the camp they'll holler out to each other, for they'll see one swan after another flap his wing an' jump for afly, but then fall back on water, for he'll can't fly at all. 

"Wiesacajac, he'll have some _babiche_--some hide string, aroun' heeswaist, an' he'll took it now an' tie the feet of all those swantogether, so all they'll can do is to flap hees wing an' scream an'blow their horn like the swan do. At last he'll got them all tiedfast--the whole flock. But he'll can't hold so many swan down on thewater. Those swan will all begin to trumpet an' fly off together, an'they'll carry Wiesacajac with them. Now he'll let them fly until theycome right near where those two hongree boy an' girl is sit, an' goingfor starve. Then he'll drop down an' tie the end of hees _babiche_ toa strong bush. _Voila!_ Those whole flock of swan is tie' fast tocamp. None but Wiesacajac can do this thing. 

"'Now my childrens, ' say Wiesacajac, kin'ly, to those boy an' girl, 'you see, there's plenty of meat in your camp. Go now, cook an' eat. '

"So now those children go an' keel a swan an' skin it, an' get itready for cook. By this time Wiesacajac he'll done make the fire. He'll not want to set woods on fire, so he'll build it by those bigrocks which always stood by that lake. Here they'll cook the swan an'eat all they want, same like we do the sheep meat here to-night. Thosetwo childrens he'll wish his parent was both there. He'll say, they'llnot be hongree no more never. He'll put some meat on a leaf for thoseol' people when they come back. 

"Well, Wiesacajac, he'll say bimeby, 'Now I mus' go. When those parentof yours come back, an' they see those swan, they'll not go forbelieve unless I leave a sign. To show them an' the other people whohas been here, an' to show all the people who hont that it is wisenever to get discourage', but always to keep on trying when you arehongree or in trouble, I make some mark on this place, me. '

"So now Wiesacajac he'll go down to the water, an' he'll come backwith his two hands full of those water. Of course, you know Wiesacajache'll been much taller than any mans. So he'll stoop just this way, one leg each side of those two rocks, right at this place. An' fromhis two han' he'll let fall those water on those hot stone. Now, youknow, if you'll put water on hot stone, he'll split. These two stoneshe'll split wide open from top to bottom. 

"You can see those stone there now. All the peoples know them, an'call them the Split-Stone Lake all the tam. An' they all knowWiesacajac was there, an' help the two childrens, an' split thosestone to leave it for a mark. 

"I have finish. "

"That certainly is a good story, " said Jesse. "I like those storiesyou tell up here, for I've never heard any just like them. It makesyou feel like you were out of doors, doesn't it, fellows?"

"Yes, " said Rob, "but I'd like to ask you, Alex, do you really believein all those stories about spirits--the Indian spirits? You know, youwere telling me that you went to church. "

"Yes, " said Alex, "I do. The Company likes to have us go to church, and when we're around the post we do. My mother was baptized, althoughshe was an Indian woman. My father taught me to read the Bible. Ibelieve a great deal as you do. But somewhere in me I'm part Injun. "

XI

LESSONS IN WILD LIFE

"Well, Alex, " said John, the morning after the sheep hunt, as they satabout the fire after breakfast, "it doesn't look as though we'd savedmuch weight. "

"How do you mean, Mr. John?"

"Well, you said we couldn't kill any grizzlies because the skins weretoo heavy. It seems to me that sheep heads are just as heavy asgrizzly heads. "

"That's so, " said Alex, "but the sheep were good to eat, and wecouldn't leave the heads in the hills after we had killed them. We'lltry to get them down in the canoe somehow. The sheep meat has beenvery useful, and I wish we had more of it. We'll eat it almost all upin this camp, I'm thinking. "

"I suppose we'd better. That reminds me of a story my Uncle Dick toldme, " ventured Jesse. "He said he was out fishing with a friend onetime, and they wanted some grasshoppers for bait, and hadn't any wayto carry them. They had a jar of marmalade, so they sat down and ateall the marmalade, and then they had a good place to keep theirgrasshoppers. I suppose if we eat all the meat up, we'll have a placefor the heads. "

They all laughed at Jesse's story, but John admitted he would be sorrywhen all the bighorn mutton was gone, declaring it to be the best meathe had ever eaten. Rob expressed wonder at the way the meat wasdisappearing. 

"I remember, though, " said he, "that Sir Alexander Mackenzie tells howmuch meat his men would eat in camp. They had a party of ten men and adog one day, and they brought in two hundred and fifty pounds of elkmeat. They had had a hearty meal at one o'clock that afternoon, butthey put on the kettles and boiled and ate meat that night, androasted the rest on sticks, and by ten o'clock the next day theydidn't have any meat in camp! What do you think about that?"

"Maybe so to-night, maybe so to-morrow no more sheep!" grinned Moise, with his mouth still full. 

"We'll have to hunt as we go on down, " said Alex. "We'll be in goodgame country almost all the way. "

Under the instructions of Alex the boys now finished the preparationof the sheep heads and scalps, paring off all the meat they couldfrom the bones, and cleaning the scalps, which they spread out to dryafter salting them carefully. 

"I was out with a naturalist one trip, " said Alex, "and he collectedall sorts of little animals and snakes, and that sort of thing. Whenwe wanted to clean the skeleton of a mouse or a snake, we used toput it in an ant-hill. There were many ants, and in a couple ofweeks they'd picked the bones white and clean, as if they'd beensand-papered. I suppose we haven't time for that sort of thing now, though. "

"Why couldn't we boil the meat off?" suggested Rob. 

"A very good plan for a skull, " said Alex, "excepting for a bearskull. You see, if you put the head of a bear in boiling water, thetusks will always split open later on. With the bones of the sheep'shead, it will not make so much difference. But we couldn't get thehorns off yet awhile--they'll have to dry out before they will slipfrom the pith, and the best way is not to take them off at all. If wekeep on scraping and salting we'll keep our heads, all right. "

"How about the hides?" asked John, somewhat anxiously. 

"Well, sheep hides were never very much valued among our people, "replied Alex. "In the mountain tribes below here the women used tomake very white, soft leather for their dresses out of sheep hides. The hair is coarse and brittle, however, and although it will do for alittle while as a bed, I'm afraid you young gentlemen will throw awaythe hides when you finish the trip. "

"Well, all right, " said John. "We won't throw them away just yet. Let's spread them out and tan them. What's the best way to do that?"

"The Injuns always stake out a hide, on the ground or on a frame, flesh side up, " said Alex. "Then they take one of their littlescrapers and pare all the meat off. That's the main thing, and that isthe slowest work. When you get down to the real hide, it soon driesout and doesn't spoil. You can tan a light hide with softsoap, or saltand alum. Indeed, the Injuns had nothing of that sort in theirtanning--they'd scrape a hide and dry it, then spread some brains onit, work in the brains and dry it and rub it, and last of all, smokeit. In that way they got their hides very soft, and after they weresmoked they would always work soft in case they got wet, which isn'tthe case with white man's leather, which is tanned by means of acidsand things of that kind. "

"I have tanned little squirrel hides, and ground-hog hides, andwildcat skins, " said Rob, "many a time. It isn't any trouble if youonce get the meat all scraped off. That seems to be what spoils ahide. "

"In keeping all our valuable furs, " said Alex, "we never touch themwith salt or alum. We just stretch them flesh side out, and let themdry in the shade, not close to a fire. This keeps the life all in thefur. Alum makes the hair brittle and takes away the luster. For a bigbear hide, if I were far back in the mountains, I would put lots ofsalt on it and fold it up, and let it stay away for a day. Then Iwould unroll it and drain it off, and salt it all over again; tampsalt down into the ears, nose, eyes, and feet, then roll it up againand tie it tight, with the fur side out. Bear hides will keep allright that way if you haven't sunshine enough to dry them. The bestway to keep a hide, though, is simply to scrape it clean and dry it inthe sun, and after that fold it. It will never spoil then. "

"Alex, " ventured Moise, laughing, "you'll talk just like my old womanabout tan hides. Those business is not for mans. "

"That's true, " said Alex, smiling. "In the old times, when we hadbuffalo, the women always tanned the hides. Hard work enough it was, too, with so heavy and coarse a hide. Now they tan the moose hides. I'll show you, young gentlemen, lower down this river near the campingplaces on the shore spruce-trees cut into three-cornered shape. Youmight not know what that was for. It was done so that the women couldrub their moose hides around these angles and corners while they weremaking them soft. They make fine moose leather, too--although Isuppose we'd have to wait a good while before we could get Moise totan one in that way!"

"What makes them use brains in tanning the hide?" asked Jesse. 

"Only for the grease there is in them, " said Alex. "It takes some sortof grease to soften up a hide after it has been dried. The Injunsalways said they could tan a hide with the brains of the animal. Sometimes in tanning a buffalo hide, however, they would have marrowand grease and scraps thrown into a kettle with the brains. I thinkthe main secret of the Injun tanning was the amount of hard work putin on rubbing the hide. That breaks up the fiber and makes it soft. 

"But now, Moise, " resumed Alex, getting up and filling his pipe, "Ithink it is about time we went down and had a look at those rapidsbelow the camp. We've got to get through there somehow before long. "

"I don't like this water in here at all, " said Jesse, lookingtroubled. "I could hardly sleep last night on account of the noises itmade--it sounded just like glass was being splintered up under thewater. "

"That's gravel, or small rocks, slipping along on the bottom in thecurrent, I suppose, " said Alex, "but after all this is not nearly sobad a river as the Fraser or the Columbia--you ought to see the oldColumbia in high water! I'm thinking we'd have our own troublesgetting down there in boats as small as these. In a deep river whichis very fast, and which has a rough bottom, all sorts of unaccountablewaves and swells will come up from below, just when you don't expectthem. "

"These rapeed in here, she'll been all right, " said Moise. "No troubleto ron heem. "

"Well, we'll not take any chances, " said Alex, "and we'll in no casedo anything to alarm our young friends. "

He turned now, and, followed by Moise, crossed the neck of the bendand passed on down the river some distance. The boys, following moreslowly around the curve of the beach, finally saw both Alex and Moisepoised on some high rocks and pointing at the wild water whichstretched below them for the distance of two or three hundred yards. Moise, who seemed to be more savage than Alex, made a wild figure ashe stood gesticulating, a red handkerchief bound over his long, blackhair, and his red sash holding in place the ragged remnants of histrousers. To the boys it seemed sure that the boats could not getthrough such water at all, but to their surprise the two men seemednot in the least concerned when at length they returned to the camp. 

"It's a little rough, " said Alex, "but there seems to be a goodchannel out in the middle, plenty of water. We'll run the boatsthrough all right without any trouble. We'll go through light, andthen portage the camp stuff across the bend after we get the boatsbelow the rapids. Come on then, young gentlemen, and help us getready. It may be interesting to you to see your first piece of realwhite water, although it isn't very bad. 

"As I figure it, then, Mr. Rob, " continued Alex, "we ought to haverather better water below here for a little while. What does your mapsay about that?"

"Well, " answered Rob, "it's pretty hard to tell exactly, but takingthe stories of Fraser and Mackenzie together, we ought to be hereabout one hundred and fifty miles above the mouth of the Finlay. Byto-morrow night, if we hurry, we ought to be at or below the McLeodLake outlet. Dr. Macoun says in his government report that it is easyrunning in the late season from McLeod to the Finlay, about eightymiles; and I saw a letter once from Mr. Hussey, a friend of UncleDick's, who made this trip lately, and he said there was not much badwater between the lake and the mouth of the Finlay. Below there--lookout, that's all!

"It took the Mackenzie party six or eight days' plugging to get fromthere up to the carrying place, " he added, "but we're going downhillinstead of uphill. I should think we would have alternate stretches ofquiet water here and there, but no very rough water from here on downfor a while. With our small boats we probably cannot go so fast for awhile now as they did with their big canoes. They could run bangthrough a big rapid where we'd have to portage. "

"Well, " said Alex, "I suggest that we spend the rest of this day incamp here, run the two canoes through, sleep here to-night, thenportage below the rapids to-morrow morning and make a straight runfrom there down. We don't want to take too many chances. "

"That's all right, " said Rob, "and we'll help you pack the canoes. "

The men did not put very heavy loads in the canoes, but they took thesheep heads, and most of the heavier camp supplies, putting about halfof these each in the _Mary Ann_ and the _Jaybird_, themselves takingthe _Mary Ann_ for their first trip through the rapids. 

While they were busy finishing their loading, the boys ran on downaround the bend and got ready to see the first canoe take the rapids. When Jesse got fully within the sound and sight of the rolling, noisywater which now lay before them, he was very pale. 

"What would we do, Rob, " asked he, "if the boat should be lost outthere--we couldn't ever get out of here alive. "

"I don't think there is that much danger, Jess, " answered Rob. "But ifthere should be an accident, we have one boat left, and we'd not tryto run her through. We'd let her down the edge of the rapids on a ropethe best we could, a little at a time. That's what Alex would do nowif he thought there was any real danger. "

"Here they come!" shouted John. All three boys scrambled up on a high, jutting rock, where they could see the course of the boat. 

The _Mary Ann_ swept around the curve gently and steadily, caught inthe rapid down-set of the current. Moise was in the bow, Alex at thestern paddle, and both the men looked steadily ahead and not at eitherside. They saw the boat seemed to tip down at a sharp angle, but stillgo on steadily. Alex was following the long V which ran down in themid-channel stream, on either side of which were heavy rocks andsharp, abrupt falls in the water. At the foot of this smooth stripthey saw the bow of the boat shoot up into the air, then drop down toa more even keel. From that time on the _Mary Ann_ was swept downswiftly, jumping up and down, part of the time almost hidden out ofsight, and, as they thought, swamped in the heavy seas. To theirdelight, however, they saw the little craft emerge at the foot of thewhite water after a while and, taking advantage of the back current, swing gently alongside and up the shore toward where they stood at thefoot of the main cascade. Both the men were smiling at theirexcitement. 

"Well, what do you think about that?" asked John, in wonder. "I wassure they were gone, but they don't seem to care at all. "

On the contrary, Moise seemed to be very much pleased with theexperience. Alex was smoking quietly. Neither said much when finallythey came ashore close where the boys stood. 

"That was great work, " said Rob. "It was beautiful!"

"These boat she'll not tip over, " said Moise calmly. "She's good boat. I s'pose could carry through maybe a hondred ton or so!"

"Well, maybe not _that_ much!" smiled Alex, "but we've proved that thechannel out there is practicable. We'll go up now and bring down theother boat. First we'll put this one high up on the bank, so that norise in the stream can take it away, because we're apt to need theseboats before we get through. "

Suiting the action to the word, the two _voyageurs_ now went back tothe camp, and presently the boys once more saw the nodding and dippinglittle craft come around the bend. The _Jaybird_ came through withquite as good fortune as had the _Mary Ann_. And soon the two canoes, lightly loaded, were lying side by side on the beach below the rollingwater. 

"That's how we'll did done it!" said Moise. "S'pose water will be bad, go where he'll ain't be so bad. No use for get tip over. S'pose he'llbe too bad, we'll take a rope an' let those boat down little bit to atime. "

"Well, " said John, "we don't want to show the white feather, but Isuppose it's just as well that you should take the boats through a badplace, and not trust to us--we might get rattled in the wrong placeout there. "

"Yes, " said Rob, "it's better to be too careful than not carefulenough. I can see now what the boats will do, however, and I have moreconfidence than I have had at any time about our getting through thejourney all right. "

"I can't quite figure out, Mr. Rob, " said Alex, "just where we are. The maps don't seem to look like the country, or the country like themaps. "

"According to my reckoning, " Rob answered, "we're now about whereMackenzie was on June 9th. The day before that--which will be the dayafter this as we run down the stream--they had sight of a high, whitemountain in the evening, off to the east, and there were mountains andvalleys in full sight to the south. The valley was wide. That answerspretty closely to the description of this country here. In themorning of that day--which will be later on in the day for us as wego down--they saw a high, white bank on the east. We haven't passedany such bank. They made seventeen miles of this water coming up. Ifwe can locate that white bank, we ought to strike slacker water belowthere and then faster water still farther below, according to theirstory. On June 6th the water was so high and heavy that they had topull up by the branches of trees, because they couldn't paddle or poleor track. As they were three days in making something like thirtymiles, we ought to expect pretty fast work the next day or so belowhere. But of course they had high water, and we haven't. "

"That seems to me good reasoning, " said Alex. "We'll take it slow andeasy, and if we hear a bad rapid we'll go ashore and look it out firstbefore we run it. Not that I know even now just where that streamcomes in from McLeod. "

"We could find out by exploring, " said Rob, "but I don't think we needdo that. Let's go through on our own as much as we can. We want tostop when we get down into some good bear country anyhow--as soon asMoise and John have eaten up enough pork to make room in the boat!"

"They're making such a hole in the bacon now, " said Alex, "that I'mafraid we'll have to stop and hunt somewhere to-morrow. "

"That'll suit us all right, " boasted John. "Rob and I will stroll outand kill you almost anything you want to-morrow evening. "

They all returned now to the camp, which had been left on the bararound the bend, and passed the night there. 

"We'll have to be good _voyageurs_ from now on, " said Alex, when theyturned in for the night, "and that means getting on the trail by fouro'clock in the morning. "

XII

WILD COUNTRY AND WILDERNESS WAYS

By daylight of the following morning the boys were busy breaking campand getting their luggage across the bend to the place where they hadleft the boats below the rapids. They found no very bad water for somelittle distance, although occasionally there were stretches with steeprocks where the water rippled along very noisily. Again they wouldmeet wide bends where the paddles were useful. 

They still were in a wide valley. Far to the east lay the main rangeof the Rockies, but the mountains were much lower than they arefarther to the south. They kept a sharp outlook on both banks, tryingto find some landmark which would tell them where they were, and atlast, indeed, they found a high, white bank on the right-hand side, which they supposed to have been the one mentioned in the Mackenziejournal, although it was not exactly where Rob's map said it ought tobe. They paused at this place for their first rest, and occupiedthemselves for a time figuring out, each according to his notion, amap of the country on ahead, which all admitted now was entirelystrange to them. 

Alex and Moise agreed pretty closely in their description of thecountry below the Finlay, for they had friends who had made that tripnumbers of times. As to the country between this place and the mouthof the Finlay, Rob seemed to be deferred to more than any one else, because he had read carefully and mapped out the country in accordancewith the Fraser and Mackenzie journals and such narratives of latertravelers as he could find, surveyors, traders, and prospectors. 

"Now, " said he presently, "if we should run down two or three hoursfarther we'd make say fifteen miles, and that ought to bring us aboutto the spot where Mackenzie climbed the tree to look out over thecountry. As near as I can get at it, that was pretty near the realdivide between the eastern and western waters--that is to say, not farfrom where the small stream leads back to McLeod Lake, and the McLeodLake portage across to the Fraser, the way the fur-traders went lateron. That's the Giscombe portage route. It's a lot easier than the onewe've taken, too. "

"Well, I don't see how they ever got boats up this way at all, " saidJesse, looking with wonder at the swiftly moving current which passedat their feet. 

"And just to think, " said John, "they didn't know where they were atall, even as much as we do now; and we're pretty much lost, if itcomes to that. "

"Mackenzie, she'll been good man, " said Moise. "Maybe so most as goodman like my wife hees onkle, Pete Fraser. "

"Well, " said Alex, "we can drop down a way farther and if we don'tmeet bad water we'll get into camp early. "

"'Drop down' just about describes it, " said Rob. "It's like slidingdownhill on a sled, almost, isn't it? I'll know more about the makingof a big river than I ever did before. "

None the less the boys, who had gained confidence with every hour inthe care of these skilled boatmen, felt less and less fear as theypassed on down the sometimes tumbling and roaring stream which now laybefore them. The water was not really dangerous for some distance now, and only in two instances did Alex go ashore and line the boats downat the edge of rapids, although time and again he cautioned Moise, who was something of a daredevil in the canoe, not to undertake anyrun which looked in the least bad. Moise and Rob, of course, retainedtheir position in the lead boat, the _Mary Ann_. 

"I believe I'll get the hang of it after a while, " said Rob, as theypaused at the head of a rapid lying ahead of the two canoes. "The mainthing is to map out your course before you go through, and then hangto it. You can't take any too sudden turns, and you have to be carefulnot to strike on a rock--that's the most dangerous thing, after all, except the big swells at the foot of a fast drop. "

Sometimes, when the shore was strewn with rocks alongside a rapidwhich interrupted the passing down of the boats, all of the partywould be as much in the water as out, wading, shoving and pulling atthe boats. They were pretty well chilled when, well on into theafternoon, Alex signified that it was time to make camp for the day. 

"Better get out dry socks and moccasins, young gentlemen, " said he. "You're not quite as tough as Moise yonder. "

Moise, happy and care-free, had not as yet started to make a fire, butwas sitting on a rock playing earnestly at a jews'-harp which hecarried in his pocket. 

Jesse, idly prowling around in the "possible bag" in which Moisecarried his personal belongings, tipped out on the ground what lookedto be a small chopping-bowl, or wooden dish. "What's that, Moise?"said he, "and what are all these sticks tied up in a bundle here?"

"I suppose you'll not know what's those, " said Moise. 

Jesse shook his head. 

"That's what Injun calls his game, " said Moise, laughing. 

"His game--what's that?"

"Those game she'll been call platter game. All tam in winter Injunwill play those game in hees house--he'll play it here hondred year, two hondred year, I s'pose maybe. "

"I know!" broke in Rob, eagerly. "Mackenzie tells about that verything. He says that two of his Indians got to fighting over a game ofplatter at the fort down below here. I wonder if that's the samething!"

"It is, " said Alex, "precisely the same. The Crees all play this, although so far as I know it isn't known east of Lake Superior. Showhim how to play, Moise. "

Moise now spread down one of the blankets on the ground and took hisseat cross-legged at the side of it, motioning to the boys to sitopposite. He now untied the greasy rag which wrapped up the bundle ofsticks, and produced from it eight little pieces of copper, disks, redon one side and tinned or galvanized on the other. These he put in thepan or platter, and shaking them together, tossed them into the air, catching them again in the bowl, which he thumped on the blanket justas they fell. 

"S'pose four white an' four red'll come out, " said he, "an' I'm play'with Alex. He'll give me eight stick now, for I'll win. So. Try heemagain. "

This time the little disks fell irregularly, and Moise expressed hisdisgust. 

"Five one kin', three other kin'; no good!" said he. "She'll have tocome up two, four, seex, eight--the hard way for heem to come is alltam the way he'll win. You see?" he continued on shaking and thumpingthe bowl and catching the little disks, and as he won or lost, Alexgravely handed him the little sticks, or counters, or received themback from him as the case might be. 

This ancient gambling device of the Indians was very simple and thegame was soon learned, but the knack of catching the disks in the panproved quite difficult. John undertook it, with the result that hespilled every one of them out when they fell in the shallow bowl, muchto the amusement of Moise. 

"You'll not been Injun, " said Moise. "If any of those pieces he'll flyout of pan, then you have to give up the pan to the next man. You'llmake a loss that tam. All tam Injun he'll play those platter game inthe house at night, " continued Moise. "Two, four man, she'll sit onblanket an' play many hour. His woman she'll cook meat on the fire. Another man he'll sit an' poun' the drum. You'll see my drum, Is'pose. "

He now fished out from under his bed one of the singular Cree drums, ashallow, one-sided circle of bent wood covered with tightly stretchedmoose skin. He showed them how the Indian drummer held this, strainingit tight with thongs stretched from finger to thumb, and making themusic by drumming with the fingers of the other hand. 

"Injun he'll use those drum sometime to pass tam, " said Moise. "Sometam he'll use heem for pray. S'pose I'll want ver' much for getmoose--I'll play on heem an' seeng. S'pose I want for get grizzly ver'much--then I seeng _ver_' hard for get grizzly. S'pose you'll seengan' play, always you'll get those game, sure. "

"I don't see what we'd do without you, Moise, " said John, who wascontinually rummaging around in Moise's ditty-bag. "For instance, what's this funny-looking knife you have here?"

"That's worth noticing, " said Alex. "You young gentlemen ought to getyou one of those knives each before you leave the country. That's whatwe call a crooked knife--you see, the end of the blade is turned up. "

"How do you use that sort of thing?" asked John, curiously. 

"As any native Injun always uses a knife, " rejoined Alex. "You see howthe handle is put on--well, an Injun never whittles away from him, butalways pulls the knife toward him. You'll see, too, that he neversharpens a blade on both sides, but puts all the bevel on oneside--look at my big hunting-knife here--it's only sharpened on oneside, and the other is perfectly flat. "

"Well, what makes Indians do that way?" asked John, wonderingly. 

"I don't know, " said Alex, "except that they always have done so. Yousee, they use files rather than whetstones to sharpen their tools. Maybe they find it easier to put on an edge in this way. Anyhow, if anInjun is making a canoe or a pair of snowshoes, or doing any otherwhittling work, you will see him use one of these crooked knives, andhe'll always whittle toward him, with his thumb out at the end of thehandle. I don't know who first invented these crooked knives, "continued Alex, musingly, "but they've always been that way since myfather can remember. As to this big buffalo knife, I suppose theNorthwest Company or the Hudson Bay people invented that. They've beenselling them in the trade for a hundred and fifty years or so. "

"I suppose each country has its own tools and its own ways, " venturedRob. 

"Precisely. "

"I've been told, " Rob went on, "that that's the way the Chinese use aknife or a saw--they pull it to them instead of pushing it away. "

"Well, " said Alex, smiling, "some people say that all of us Injunscame across the narrow salt water far to the northwest. You know, too, don't you, that the Crees call themselves the First People?"

"They certainly were first in here, " assented Rob; "and, as we've saidbefore, it's hardly fair to call any white man a real discoverer--allthis country was known long before a white man ever set foot in it. "

XIII

THE CARIBOU HUNT

The supply of mountain mutton had lessened with alarming rapidity inthis open-air work, which tends to give any man or boy a strongappetite. Moise looked rather ruefully at the few pieces which hestill had hanging on his meat line near the camp. 

"I'll tol' you this sheep she's getting mighty scarce now pretty soonbefore long, " said he. 

"Why not make a hunt, Alex?" asked Rob. "It looks like fairly goodcountry, and you might be able to get something. "

"We might get a bear, " said Alex, "or possibly a moose. For all Iknow, the buffalo used to come this far back in from the east. Itdoesn't look like sheep country just in here, however, because we haveto go too far to get to the mountains. "

"How about caribou?"

Alex shook his head. "You mustn't ask me, " said he. "This isn't mycountry, and I've never been here before, nor seen any man who hasbeen here. I know there are caribou in British Columbia, far to thenorth. "

"Mackenzie talks about seeing reindeer in here. "

"Yes, I suppose he meant the black-faced caribou of the mountains, andnot the regular barren-ground animal which goes in the big herds. It'sodd, but those early men didn't seem to know all the animals on whichthey depended so much. Without doubt Mackenzie called the musk-ox somesort of buffalo, and he called these mountain caribou the reindeer. But we might get one for all of that. How would you like to go with meacross the river, Mr. Rob, and make a little hunt?"

"Fine!" assented Rob, eagerly. "But how about the others?"

"I'll tell you, Rob, " said John, who, to tell the truth, was just alittle tired from the hard work of the day before; "you and Alex goacross, and after a while Moise will take Jess and me out on this sidea little way back. We'll all meet here this evening. "

This plan was agreed to, and in the course of a few moments Alex andRob were pushing across the river in the _Mary Ann_, equipped lightlyfor their first hunt after some game which Rob was eager to meetbecause it was new to him. 

Once more they pushed through heavy undergrowth close to the river, traveled up a rather lofty bank, and found themselves in flattercountry, beyond which at some distance rose some mountains. 

"I'll bet you, " said Rob, "that this is just about where Mackenzieclimbed the tree to look around--you can't see much from the riverdown there, and his men were complaining about the hard work, and hedidn't know where he was. So he climbed a tree to have a look. "

"Well, Mr. Rob, " said Alex, "if you don't mind, I'll let you do theclimbing, while I sit here and smoke. I'm not quite as light as I oncewas. "

"All right, " said Rob. And, divesting himself of his cartridge-beltand jacket, a little later he began to make his way up to the topmostbranches of the tall spruce, breaking off the dead limbs as he slowlyadvanced upward. 

Rob remained aloft for some moments, but at last descended andrejoined Alex. 

"Now, what did you see, Mr. Rob?" inquired the old hunter. 

"Well, I don't know, " said Rob; "it's hard to figure out exactly, ofcourse. But Mackenzie talks about high mountains off to the northwest, and a parallel range of mountains running to the south, with a narrowvalley between. That, of course, must be this river, and as near as Ican tell, it must have been about here that he and Mackay and theIndian hunters took to the shore to spy out the way. "

"And jolly well got lost, too, eh?"

"They certainly did--got lost from their boat for an entire day! I canimagine how they felt when they didn't know whether the boat was abovethem or below them. Mackenzie says the mosquitoes about ate them up. They sent branches down the river to let the boatmen know they wereabove them. It wasn't until night that finally they found the boat wasfar below them. I'll warrant they were glad when they got togetheragain. The truth is, the men were almost ready to turn back and leaveMackenzie where he was. "

"They'd have done that a dozen times but for his courage, " said Alex. "Well, now, what would you do, Mr. Rob, if you should get lost in thewoods or mountains any time?"

"I'd try to keep cool, " said Rob, "but I'm not sure that I could. It'sa mighty bad feeling--I know what it is myself. What would you do, Alex, if you ever got lost in a storm, or anything of that kind?"

"Sit down and build a fire, " answered Alex. "Go to sleep, take iteasy, and wait till my mind got cool. Then when you're rested and allready to go on, you nearly always know which is the right direction. You see, an Injun is a good deal like a dog, as Moise would say. Butnow suppose I should get separated from you in here--how would you getback to camp?"

"Well, you see, " said Rob, "there is that high mountain on this sideof the river, and there is one right opposite, far off on the eastside. I know our camp is on the line between those two peaks. Ofcourse I'd know the river was downhill, unless I wandered off oversome other little divide. I'd just simply go downhill as straight as Icould until I hit the river. Of course I couldn't tell, maybe, whetherI was just above or below the camp. But I'd wait to see smoke, and I'dfire off my rifle, hoping that some one would hear me. Then I think Iwould not go very far from that place. I'd sit down and build a smoke, and wait. "

"That would be the best way to do, " Alex assented. "But do you know, simple as that seems, lots of grown men couldn't do it--they'd losetheir heads and be just as apt to go west as east! Many a man has beenlost in the wilderness simply because he got excited and scared anddidn't take it easy. Always remember that whenever you are in a wildcountry it isn't as dangerous as it seems to be. 

"But come, now, " he resumed, "I suppose we must get over in that flatcountry and see if we can find any sign of game. "

"How do you hunt caribou, Alex? I don't know anything about it. "

"That's hard to answer, " rejoined the old hunter. "Of course you cantake a trail if you can find it, and if it seems fresh. An Injun huntsmoose by following the trail. But either a moose or a caribou has verykeen scent, and if you follow straight on after them, and don't circleonce in a while and pick up the trail again, you're not apt to come upwith either one or the other. A caribou, however, is a strangeanimal--it isn't nearly as wild as a moose or a bighorn. A grizzlybear has very keen scent but very bad eyes, and I don't suppose agrizzly can see you half a mile at best. Now, a caribou has good eyes, ears, and nose, but he hasn't got any head. Sometimes he is very shy, and sometimes he'll stand and look at you, and let you keep onshooting. He seems to be full of curiosity, and wants to know whatyou're doing. 

"We'll work on over a little at a time, " he continued, "and maybe ifwe skirt around some open meadows or glades we may see some tracks. Sometimes they come out in places like that to feed or stand around. Awater-hole or little lake, too, is good for game usually. When anInjun knows he's in a country where game is moving or feeding he keepspretty quiet and lets the game come to him rather than going to it. "

The theories laid down by the old hunter seemed soon to work outfairly well, because they had not gone up more than a mile fartheruntil they got into a country which showed considerable sign of mooseand caribou, the latter in rather a fresh trail. As this led them to asort of open, grassy glade, where other sign was abundant, Alex pausedfor a time in the hope that something might show from the heavy coverin which they had been traveling. 

At last he quietly laid a hand on Rob's arm, and without making anysudden movement, pointed across the glade, which at that place wasseveral hundred yards wide. 

"Oh, I see them!" said Rob, in an excited whisper. "What funny-lookingthings they are--five of them!"

"Two stags, three cows, " said Alex, quietly. "Too far to shoot. Waitawhile. "

They drew back now into the cover of the surrounding valleys, where itis true the mosquitoes annoyed them unspeakably, but where theyremained with such patience as they could possess. The caribou seemedto be slowly feeding out from the opposite edge of the forest, butthey were very deliberate and uncertain in their progress. The twowatched them for the best part of half an hour. 

"Too bad!" said Alex, at last, as he peered out from behind the treewhich shielded them. "Four hundred yards at best. "

Rob also ventured a look at this time. 

"Why, there's only three, " said he. 

"Yes, the two stags went back into the woods. "

"But we can't kill the cows, " said Rob, decisively. 

"Why not? They're just as good to eat. "

"Maybe better, " said Rob, "I don't doubt that. A young, fat cow isbetter meat than an old bull any time, of course. But Uncle Dick saidwe mustn't waste anything, and mustn't kill anything except what hadhorns in this kind of game. "

"Well, " said Alex, "I don't much feel like going back to camp withoutany meat. "

"Nor I. Let's wait here awhile and maybe the stag'll come out again. "

This indeed proved to be the case, for in a few minutes the smallerstag did show at the edge of the wood, offering a dim and veryuncertain mark at a distance of several hundred yards. Rob began toprepare his rifle. 

"It's too far, " said Alex. "No Injun would think of shooting that far. You might only cripple. "

"Yes, " said Rob, "and I might only miss. But I'd rather do that thanshoot at one of the cows. I believe I'll take a chance anyhow, Alex. "

Adjusting his rifle-sights to the best of his knowledge, Rob took longand careful aim, and fired at the shoulder of the distant caribou, which showed but indistinctly along his rifle-sights. The shot mayhave come somewhere close to the animal, but certainly did not strikeit, for with a sudden whirl it was off, and in the next instant washidden by the protecting woods. 

Now, there was instanced the truth of what Alex had said about thefickleness of caribou nature. The three cows, one old and two youngones, stood in full view in the open, at about half the distance ofthe stag. They plainly saw both Alex and Rob as they now stepped outfrom their cover. Yet instead of wheeling and running, the older cow, her ears standing out high and wide, began to trot steadily towardthem instead of running away. Rob once more raised his rifle, but thistime not to shoot at game, but only to make an experiment. He firedonce, twice, and three times in the air; and even up to the time ofthe last shot, the old cow trotted steadily toward him, not stoppinguntil she was within fifty yards of him. Here she stood staringwide-eyed, but at length, having figured out something in her ownmind, she suddenly wheeled and lumbered off again, her heavy, coarsemuzzle straight ahead of her. All three now shambled off and soon werelost to view. 

"Well, what do you think about that, Alex?" demanded Rob. "That's thefunniest thing I ever saw in all my hunting. Those things must becrazy. "

"I suppose they think we are, " replied Alex, glumly; "maybe we are, orwe'd have taken a shot at her. I can almost taste that tenderloin!"

"I'm sorry about it, Alex, " said Rob, "but maybe some of the otherswill get some meat. I really don't like to shoot females, because gameisn't as plentiful now as it used to be, you know, even in the wildcountry. "

Alex sighed, and rather unhappily turned and led the way back towardthe river. "It's too late to hunt anything more, " said he, "and wemight not find anything that just suited us. "

When at length they reached camp, after again crossing the river inthe _Mary Ann_, twilight was beginning to fall. Rob did not notice anydifference in the camp, although the keen eyes of Alex detected agrayish object hanging on the cut limb of the tree at the edge of thenear-by thicket. John and Jesse pretended not to know anything, andAlex and Rob, to be equally dignified, volunteered no information andasked no questions. 

All the boys had noticed that old hunters, especially Indian hunters, never ask one another what success they have had, and never tellanything about what they have killed. Jesse, however, could not standthis sort of thing very long, and at length, with considerableexultation, asked Rob what luck he had had. Rob rather shamefacedlyadmitted the failure which he and Alex had made. 

"We did better, " said Jesse; "we got one. "

"You got one? Who got it?" demanded Rob. "Where is it?"

"There's a ham hanging up over there in the brush, " answered Jesse. "We all went out, but I killed him. "

"Is that so, John?" asked Rob. 

"It certainly is, " said John. "Yes, Jesse is the big chief to-night. "

"We only went a little way, too, " said Jesse, "just up over the ridgethere, I don't suppose more than half a mile. It must have been aboutnoon when we started, and Moise didn't think we were going to seeanything, and neither did we. So we sat down, and in an hour or so Iwas shooting at a mark to see how my rifle would do. All at once wesaw this fellow--it wasn't a very big one, with little bits ofhorns--come out and stand around looking to see what the noise wasabout. So I just took a rest over a log, and I plugged him!"

Jesse stood up straight, his thumbs in the armholes of his waistcoat, a very proud young boy indeed. 

Moise, strolling around, was grinning happily when at last he met theunsuccessful hunters. 

"Those Jesse boy, she'll been good shot, " said he. "I s'pose, Alex, you'll not make much hunter out of yourself, _hein_?"

"Well, " said Alex, "we let some mighty good cow venison get away fromus, all right. "

"Never mind, " said Moise, consolingly, "we'll got fat young caribounow plenty for two--three days, maybe so. "

Rob went up to Jesse and shook him by the hand. "Good boy, Jess!" saidhe. "I'm glad you got him instead of myself. But why didn't you tellus when we came into camp?"

"Moise said good hunters didn't do that, " ventured John, who joinedthe conversation. "How about that, Alex?"

"Well, " said the older hunter, "you must remember that white men aredifferent from Injuns. People who live as Injuns do get to be ratherquiet. Now, suppose an Injun hunter has gone out after a moose, andhas been gone maybe two or three days. He'll probably not hunt untileverything is gone in the lodge, and maybe neither he nor his familyis going to eat much until he gets a moose. Well, by and by he comeshome some evening, and throws aside the skin door of the lodge, andgoes in and sits down. His wife helps him off with his moccasins andhands him a dry pair, and makes up the fire. He sits and smokes. Noone asks him whether he has killed or not, and he doesn't say whetherhe has killed, although they all may be very hungry. Now, his wifedoesn't know whether to get ready to cook or not, but she doesn't askher man. He sits there awhile; but, of course, he likes his family anddoesn't want them to be hungry. So after a while, very dignified, he'll make some excuse so that his wife can tell what the result ofthe hunt has been. Maybe he'll say carelessly that he has a littleblood on his shirt, which ought to be washed off, or maybe he'll saythat if any one were walking a couple of miles down the river theymight see a blazed trail out toward the hills. Then his wife willsmile and hurry to put on the kettles. If it isn't too far, she'lltake her pack-strap then and start out to bring in some of the meat. Every people, you see, will have different ways. "

"But the man who doesn't kill something goes hungry, and his family, too?"

"Not in the least!" rejoined Alex, with some spirit. "There, too, the'First People' are kinder than the whites who govern them now. Supposein my village there are twenty lodges. Out of the twenty there will bemaybe four or five good hunters, men who can go out and kill moose orbear. It gets to be so that they do most of the hunting, and if one ofthem brings in any meat all the village will have meat. Of course thegood hunters don't do any other kind of work very much. "

"That isn't the way white people do, " asserted John; "they don'tdivide up in business matters unless they have to. "

"Maybe not, " said Alex, "but it has always been different with mypeople in the north. If men did not divide meat with one another manypeople would starve. As it is, many starve in the far-off countrieseach winter. Sometimes we cannot get even rabbits. It may be far tothe trading-post. The moose or the caribou may be many miles away, where no one can find them. A heavy storm may come, so no one cantravel. Then if a man is fortunate and has meat he would be cruel ifhe did not divide. He knows that all the others would do as much withhim. It is our custom. "

XIV

EXPLORING THE WILDERNESS

IF Rob, John, and Jesse had been eager for exciting incidents on theirtrip across the mountains, certainly they found them in plenty duringthe next three days after the caribou hunt, as they continued theirpassage on down the mountain river, when they had brought in all theirmeat and once more loaded the canoes. 

Rob had been studying his maps and records, and predicted freely thatbelow this camp they would find wilder waters. This certainly provedto be the case. Moreover, they found that although it is easier to godown-stream than up in fast water, it is more dangerous, and sometimesprogress is not so rapid as might be expected. Indeed, on the firstday below the caribou camp they made scarcely more than six or eightmiles, for, in passing the boats down along shore to avoid a shortpiece of fast water, the force of the current broke the line of the_Mary Ann_, and it was merely by good fortune that they caught upwith her, badly jammed and wedged between two rocks, her gunwale stripbroken across and the cedar shell crushed through, so that she hadsprung a bad leak. 

They hauled the crippled _Mary Ann_ ashore and discharged her cargo inorder to examine the injuries received. 

"Well, now, we're giving an imitation of the early _voyageurs_, " saidJohn, as he saw the rent in the side of the canoe. "But how are wegoing to fix her? She isn't a birch-bark, and if she were, we have nobark. "

"I think we'll manage, " Rob replied, "because we have canvas andcement and all that sort of thing. But her rail is broken quiteacross. "

"She'll been good boat, " said Moise, smiling; "we'll fix heem easy. "So saying, he took his ax and sauntered over to a half-deadcedar-tree, from which, without much difficulty, he cut some longsplints. This they managed to lash inside the gunwale of the canoe, stiffening it considerably. The rent in the bottom they patched bymeans of their cement, and some waterproof material. They finished thepatch with abundant spruce gum and tar, melted together and spread allover. When they were done their labors the _Mary Ann_ was againwatertight, but not in the least improved in beauty. 

"We'll have to be very careful all the way down from here, I'mthinking, " said Alex. "The river is getting far more powerful almostevery hour as these other streams come in. Below the Finlay, I knowvery well, she's a big stream, and the shores are so bad that if wehad an accident it would leave things rather awkward. "

None the less, even with one boat crippled in this way, Rob and Johngained confidence in running fast water almost every hour. Theylearned how to keep their heads when engaged in the passage of whitewater, how to avoid hidden rocks, as well as dangerous swells andeddies. It seemed to them quite astonishing what rough water could betaken in these little boats, and continually the temptation was, ofcourse, to run a rapid rather than laboriously to disembark and linedown alongshore. Thus, to make their story somewhat shorter, theypassed on down slowly for parts of three days, until at last, longafter passing the mouth of the Pack River and the Nation, and yetanother smaller stream, all coming in from the west, they saw openingup on the left hand a wide valley coming down from the northwest. 

The character of the country, and the distance they had traveled, leftno doubt whatever in their minds that this was the Finlay River, theother head-stream of the Peace River. They therefore now felt asthough they knew precisely where they were. Being tired, they pitchedtheir camp not far below the mouth of the Finlay, and busiedthemselves in looking over their boats and supplies. They knew thatthe dreaded Finlay rapids lay only two miles below them. 

They were now passing down a river which had grown to a veryconsiderable stream, sometimes with high banks, again with shoresrather low and marshy, and often broken with many islands scatteredacross an expanse of water sometimes nearly a quarter of a milein extent. The last forty miles of the stream to the junction ofthe Finlay had averaged not more rapid but much heavier than thecurrent had seemed toward the headwaters. The roar of the rapidsthey approached now came up-stream with a heavier note, and wasdistinguishable at much greater distances, and the boats in passingthrough some of the heavier rapids did so in the midst of a din quitedifferent from the gentle babble of the shallow stream far toward itssource. The boom of the bad water far below this camp made themuneasy. 

"Well, " said Rob, as they sat in camp near the shore, "we know wherewe are now. We have passed the mouth of the McLeod outlet, and we havepassed the Nation River and everything else that comes in from thewest. Here we turn to the east. It must be nearly one hundred andfifty miles to the real gate of the Rockies--at the Cañon of the RockyMountains, as the first traders called it. "

"It looks like a pretty big river now, " said Jesse dubiously. 

"I would like to hope it's no worse than it has been just above here, "said Rob, "but I fear it is, from all I know. Mackenzie got it in highwater, and he only averaged half a mile an hour for a long time goingup, along in here. Of course coming down we could pick our way betterthan he could. "

"We have been rather lucky on the whole, " said Alex, "for, frankly, the water has been rather worse for canoes than I thought it would be. Moreover, it is still larger below here. But that's not the worst ofit. "

"What do you mean, Alex?" inquired John. 

"You ought not to need to ask me, " replied the old hunter. "You're all_voyageurs_, are you not?"

"But what is it, then?"

"Look closely. "

They went to the edge of the beach and looked up and down the rivercarefully, also studying the forking valleys into which they could seefrom the place where they were in camp. 

"Well, I don't know, " said Rob, "but it seems to me she's rising alittle!"

Alex nodded. "We've been in camp here three hours now, " said he, "andshe's come up a little more than an inch. "

"Why, how do you know that?" asked John. 

"I set a stick with a notch at water-level when we first came ashore. "

"How did you happen to think of that?"

"Very likely the same thing which made Rob guess it. "

"Yes, " said Rob, "I saw that the Finlay water coming down seemed to bediscolored. But at first I supposed it was the natural color of thatriver. So you think there has been a thaw?"

"Maybe some sort of rain or chinook over in there, " said Alex. "Whatdo you think, Moise?"

Moise and Alex talked for a time in the Cree language, Moise shakinghis head as he answered. 

"Moise thinks there has been a little rise, " interpreted Alex. "Hesays that below here the river sometimes cañons up, or runs betweenhigh banks with a narrow channel. That would make it bad. You see, therise of a foot in a place like that would make much more differencethan two inches in the places where the river is spread out severalhundred yards wide. We know a little bit more about the river fromhere east, because we have talked with men who have been here. "

"I suppose we'll have to wait here until it runs down, " said Jesse. 

"Maybe not. If we were here earlier in the season and this were theregular spring rise we might have to wait for some time before wecould go down with these boats. But the big flood has gone down longago. There isn't anything to hinder us as yet from dropping down andwatching carefully on ahead as we go. "

Rob was again consulting his inevitable copy of _Mackenzie's Voyages_. 

"It took Mackenzie and Fraser each of them just eight days to get thisfar up the river from the west end of the Cañon of the RockyMountains, " said he. "Fraser must have built his boat somewhere westof the Rocky Mountain Portage, as they call it. That must beseventy-five miles east of here, as near as I can figure it from theMackenzie story, but Uncle Dick's friend, Mr. Hussey, said it was onehundred and thirty miles--and only two big rapids, the Finlay and theParle Pas. I wish we could run it every foot, because Mackenzie didwhen he came down. At least, he doesn't say he didn't. "

"It was done by the traders for a long time, " said Alex, "all butthose two rapids and that cañon. There is no trail even for horsesbetween Hudson's Hope and Fort St. John, but that is easy water. Theyserve St. John now with steamboats, and the old canoe days are prettymuch over. But, anyhow, there is the main ridge of the Rockies east ofus, and we've got to get through it somehow, that's sure. Backthere"--he pointed up the valley down which they had been coming nowfor so long--"we were between two ranges of the divide. The Finlayyonder comes down out of some other range to the northwest. But nowthe doubled river has to break through that dam of the eastern rim. Isuppose we may look for bad water somewhere. Look here, " he added, examining the map, "here are the altitudes all marked on by thegovernment surveyors--twenty-five hundred feet above sea-level atGiscombe Portage, twenty-two hundred and fifty at Fort McLeod. Isuppose it was about three thousand feet where we started across. Atthe mouth of the Finlay it's only two thousand feet--a big drop. Butshe drops nearly three hundred feet more to the west end of theportage, and two hundred feet more at the east end. That's goingdownhill pretty fast--five hundred feet in less than one hundred andfifty miles--and some of it not very fast water. "

"Well, " ventured Rob, "why don't we drop down as far as we can, and ifwe get caught by a flood then stop and take a little hunt somewhereback in the hills? You know, we haven't got that grizzly yet youpromised us. "

"Sure enough, " said Alex, with no great enthusiasm; for he did notrelish the idea of hunting grizzly bear in company with such youngcompanions. 

"But we have come through good grizzly country already, " venturedJohn. 

"Very likely, " Alex smiled. "I've seen considerable bear sign alongthe shores, as well as a good many moose tracks close to where wecamped. "

"If you think we're afraid to go bear hunting, Alex, " Rob began, "youcertainly don't know us very well. That's one of the reasons we cameon this trip--we wanted to get a real Rocky Mountain grizzly. "

"It is not too late, " the old hunter rejoined, "and I shouldn't wonderif there was as good country east of here as any we've come to. Thegrizzly is a great traveler, anyhow, and is as apt to be found oneplace as another. At this time of year all the bears come out of themountains and feed along the valleys on red willow buds and suchthings. They even swim from the shore to the islands, in search ofwillow flats. Besides, there are plenty of saskatoons, I don't doubt, not far back from the river. The bears ought to be down out of thehigh country by this time, and if you really care for a hunt, thereought to be plenty of good places below here. "

"It isn't dark yet, " said Rob; "suppose we break camp and run downjust a little farther this evening. If the flood comes in behind us, we're just that much ahead. "

They acted on Rob's suggestion, and, passing rapidly on down the nowslightly discolored water, they soon left the Finlay gap behind them. Their journey was but brief, however, for soon they heard the boom ofthe rapids below them. 

"On shore, queek!" called Moise to Rob, who was in the bow of theleading boat. 

XV

IN THE BIG WATERS

The sound and sight of the Finlay rapids, at the head of which theleading boat now paused, gave Rob his first real idea of how wicked agreat mountain river can be. He looked back to see whether the_Jaybird_ and her crew were well warned of the danger. But Alex soonbrought the other boat alongside at the landing place, on the southside of the stream, above the rapids. 

"Well, here we are, " said he. "Now you may see what some real rapidsare. Those little ripples up above didn't amount to much. "

"She looks pretty bad, " said Rob. "Could anybody run a boat throughthere?"

"Old Sir Alexander probably did it, but he had a big birch-bark. I'dtake it on with a good man and a good boat. We could very possiblyeven get one of these boats through if we were obliged to, but thereis no use taking any risk. We can line down through the worst of it, or even run the boat ashore if we like. "

"Me, I'll rather ron the rapeed than walk on the bank with boat, " saidMoise. 

"Never mind, Moise, " said Alex, "we'll not have to walk far with her. We'll camp here to-night and look it over in the morning. It's alwaysbetter to tackle rough work in the morning rather than in theevening. "

The young travelers slept none too well that night. The sound of therapids coming through the dark and the feeling of remoteness here inthis wild mountain region proved depressing to their spirits. Theywere glad enough when at length toward dawn they heard Moise stirringabout the camp. By the time they had their breakfast finished and campbroken Alex had already returned from a trip along the side of therapids. 

"It's not so very bad, " said he, "although the river has come up aninch or so during the night. The whole rapid is about a quarter of amile long, but the worst place is only a couple of hundred yards orso. We'll drop down to the head of that strip on the line and portagearound there. "

They followed this plan, loading the boats and dropping down for ashort time, saving themselves all the portage work they could. Inplaces the water seemed very wild, tossing over the rocks in long, rolling waves or breaking in foam and spray. The boys scrambledalongshore, allowing Alex and Moise to care for the first boat when itbecame necessary for them to double up on each trip over the worstwater. Part of the time they bore a hand on the line, and weresurprised to see the strength of the current even on a boat without aload. 

"You see, " said Alex, when at length they came to a place where thewater seemed still more powerful and rough, and where it seemednecessary to haul the boat entirely from the water for a carry of somedistance over the rocks, "it's better to take a little trouble and goslow rather than to lose a boat in here. If she broke away from uswe'd feel a long way from home!"

After they got the _Mary Ann_ again in the water and at the foot ofthe rapids, the men went up after the _Jaybird_, while the boys didwhat they could toward advancing the cargo of the _Mary Ann_. In lessthan an hour they had everything below the rapids and saw plainsailing once more ahead of them. Moise expressed his disappointment atnot being allowed to run the Finlay rapids. 

"My onkle, she'll always ron those rapeed, " said he. "S'pose I'lltell heem I'll walk aroun', he'll laugh on me, yes!"

"That's all right, Moise, " said Rob; "your uncle isn't here, and forone, I'm glad we took it easy coming through here. That's rough watereither way you look at it, up-stream or down. But now, " he continued, once more consulting his maps and notes, "we ought to have a couple ofdays of good, straightaway running, with almost no bad water. It'sabout seventy miles from here to the Parle Pas rapids. And speaking of_rapids_, they tell me that's the worst place on the whole river. "

"That's a funny name--why do they call them the Parle Pas rapids?"asked Jesse. 

"Those were Frenchman words, " said Moise. "Parle Pas means 'no speak. 'He's a quiet rapeed. S'pose you'll ron on the river there, an' smoke apipe, an' talk, an' not think of nothing. All at once, _Boum_! You'llbeen in those rapeed, an' he'll not said a word to you!"

"Well, " said Rob, "the traders used to run them somehow, didn't they?"

"Yes, my onkle he'll ron them in beeg boat many tam, but not withleetle boat. She'll jump down five, three feet sometams. Leetle boatshe'll stick his nose under, yes. My onkle he'll tol' me, when youcome on the Parle Pas take the north side, an' find some chute therefor leetle boat. Leetle boat could ron the Parle Pas, maybe so, but Isuppose, us, we'll let those boat down on the line because we'll gotsome scares, _hein_?"

"It's just as well to have some scares on these mountain rivers, Moise, " said Alex, reprovingly. "This water is icy cold, and if even aman got out into the rapids he couldn't swim at all, it would tumblehim over so. We'll line down on the Parle Pas, yes, depend on that. But that's down-stream a couple of days if we go slow. "

"When do we get that bear hunt, Alex?" asked John, who lovedexcitement almost as much as Moise. 

"Almost anywhere in here, " answered Alex; "but I think we'd better putoff the hunt until we get below all the worst water. No use portagingbear hides. "

"It looks like good bear country here, " said Rob. "We must be in thereal Rockies now, because the mountains come right down to the river. "

"Good bear country clear to Hudson's Hope, or beyond that, " assentedAlex. 

"All right, " said Rob; "we'll have a good hunt somewhere when we getbelow the Parle Pas. If we have to do any more portaging, we don'twant to carry any more than we can help, that's true. And, of course, we're going to get that grizzly. "

Having by this time reloaded the boats, they re-embarked, and passedmerrily on down the river, which now seemed wholly peaceful andpleasant. The mountains now indeed were all about them, in placesrising up in almost perpendicular rock faces, and the valley was verymuch narrower. They were at last entering the arms of the great rangethrough which they later were to pass. 

The character of the river changed from time to time. Sometimes theywere in wide, quiet reaches, where they needed the paddles to makemuch headway. Again there would be drops of faster water, althoughnothing very dangerous. Relieved as they were now of any thought ofdanger for the next sixty or seventy miles ahead, this part of theirjourney seemed delightful in every way. They did not pause to hunt, and saw no game excepting one band of four timber wolves, upon whichthey came as they swept around a bend, but which hastened under coverbefore any one could get a shot. Once in a while they stopped atlittle beaches or bars, and almost always saw the trails of large gamein the sand or mud. Always they felt that now they were deep in thewilderness, and every moment was a pleasure to them. 

They did not really know how far below the Finlay rapids they traveledthat day, for continually they discovered that it is difficult toapply map readings to the actual face of a new country. They made nogreat attempt at speed, but sometimes drifted down-stream, the boatsclose together. Sometimes when the wind was fair Rob or John wouldraise the corner of a tent or blanket to act as a sail. Thus, idlingand chatting along, they made perhaps forty miles down-stream beforethey made their next evening camp. The country seemed to them wildernow, since the bold hills were so close in upon them, though of coursethey knew that each day was bringing them closer to the settlements onthe eastern side of the range. 

That night was cold, and they had no trouble with mosquitoes. Feelingno need of hurry, they made a late start and idled on down the riverthrough a very interesting mountain region, until the afternoon. Toward evening they began to feel that they might perhaps be near thedreaded Parle Pas rapids, and they approached each bend with care, sometimes going ashore for a prospecting trip which proved to be madeonly on a false alarm. They had, however, now begun to learn the "feelof the water, " as the _voyageurs_ called it. Rob, who was ahead, atlength noted the glassy look of the river, and called back to Moisethat he believed there were rapids ahead. 

"Parle Pas!" cried Moise. "On shore, queek!"

Swiftly they paddled across, to the north side of the river, wherepresently they were joined by the other boat. 

"She's the Parle Pas, all right, " laughed Moise; "look at heem!"

From their place of observation they could see a long ridge, or rim, the water falling in a sort of cascade well out across the stream. There seemed to be a chute, or channel, in midstream, but theback-combing rollers below it looked ominously large for a boat thesize of theirs, so that they were glad enough to be where they were, on dry land. 

Moise was once more for running the boats through the chute on thenorth shore, but Alex's cautious counsel prevailed. There was not morethan thirty or forty feet of the very worst water, rather a cascadethan a long rapid, but they discharged the cargo and lined both boatsthrough light. This sort of work proved highly interesting andexciting to all hands, and, of course, when superintended by such menas Alex and Moise had no great danger, although all of them werepretty wet when at length they had their boats reloaded at the foot ofthe rapids. 

"I know how Sir Alexander got across the mountains, " said John. "Hehad good _voyageurs_ to do the work! About all he had to do was towrite the story each night, and he didn't do that any too well, itseems to me--anyhow, when you come to read his story backward youcan't tell where you are very well. "

"That's right, " said Rob. "I don't much blame Simon Fraser for findingfault with Mackenzie's narrative. But maybe if we had written thestory they'd have found fault with us the same way. The same countrydoesn't look alike to different people, and what is a mile to one manmay be two miles to another when both are guessing. But anyhow, herewe are below the 'Polly' rapids--as the traders call them to-day--andjolly glad we ought to be we're safe, too. "

"Plain sailing again now for a while, " said Jesse. "Let's see themap. "

They all bent over the different maps they had, especially one whichRob had made up from all the sources of information he had. 

"Yes, " said Rob, "it ought to be about sixty miles of pretty goodwater now until we get to the one place on this river which theboldest _voyageur_ never tried to run--the Cañon of the RockyMountains, as the very first travelers called it. "

"Those map she'll not been much good, " said Moise, pointing to thegovernment maps of which Rob had a store. "The only good map she'llbeen made by the Injun with a stick, s'pose on the sand, or maybe soon a piece of bark. My onkle she'll made me a map of the Parle Pas. He'll show the place where to go through the middle on the Parle Pas. S'pose you'll tell my onkle, Moise he'll walk down the Parle Pas an'not ron on heem, he'll laugh on me, heem! All right, when you get tothe Grand Portage sixty miles below, you'll get all the walk you want, Alex, _hein_?"

Alex answered him with a pleasant smile, not in the least disposed tobe laughed into taking any risks he did not think necessary. 

"We'd better drop down a few miles farther before we make camp, " saidhe. "_En avant, Moise. En roulant, ma boule!_"

Moise turned to his paddle and broke into song gaily as they once moreheaded down the stream. They did not tarry again until the sun wasbehind the western ridges. The mountain shadows were heavy when atlast their little fire lighted up the black forest which crowded closein all around them. 

"I think this is fine, " said Jesse, quietly, as they sat about thecamp-fire that night. 

"I wouldn't have missed it for anything in the world, " said John; andRob gave his assent by a quiet nod of satisfaction. 

"I feel as if we were almost home now, " said Jesse. "We must have comean awfully long way. "

Alex shook his head. "We're a long way from home yet, " said he. "Whenthe Klondike rushes were on some men got up as far north as thisplace, and scattered everywhere, hoping they could get through somehowto the Yukon--none of them knew just how. But few of them ever got upthis river beyond Hudson's Hope, or even Fort St. John, far east ofthere. Some turned back and went down the Mackenzie, others took theback trail from Peace River landing. A good many just disappeared. Ihave talked with some who turned back from the mountains here, andthey all said they didn't think the whole world was as big as itseemed by the time they got here! And they came from the East, wherehome seems close to you!"

"Well, " said Rob, "as it's probably pretty rough below here, and goodgrizzly country, why not stop here and make that little hunt we weretalking about?"

"All right, " said Alex; "I suppose this is as good a game country asany. We ought to get a moose, even if we don't see any bear. In theold times there used to be plenty of buffalo this far to the west inthe mountains. What do you say, Moise--shall we make a hunting camphere?"

"We'll been got no meat pretty quick bimeby, " said Moise. "Maybe so. "

They were encamped here on a narrow beach, which, however, sheered uphigh enough to offer them security against any rise in the stream. They were careful to pull up the boats high and dry, and to securethem in case of any freshet. Used as they were by this time to camplife, it now took them but a few minutes to complete their simpleoperations in making any camp. As all the boys had taken a turn atpaddling this day, and as the exciting scenes of the past few days hadbeen of themselves somewhat wearying, they were glad enough to get along night's sleep. 

Before Rob, the leader of the younger members of the party, had rolledup in his blankets Alex came to him and asked him whether he reallycared to finish running the river, provided they could get outoverland. 

"Surely we do, " said Rob at once. "We'll go on through, as far as wecan, at least, by boat. We don't want to be modern and ride along onhorseback until we have to. Mackenzie didn't and Fraser didn't! Nor dowe want to go to any trading-post for supplies. We can get butter andeggs in the States if we want to, but we're _hunters_! You show us agrizzly to-morrow, Alex, that's all!"

"All right, " said Alex, smiling. "Maybe we can. "

XVI

THE GRIZZLY HUNT

"Why, Alex, this land along the bayou here looks like a cattle-yard!"exclaimed Rob as early the next morning they paused to examine a pieceof the moist ground which they had observed much cut up with tracks ofbig game. 

There were four in party now, Moise alone having remained to keep thecamp. For an hour or more now they had passed back toward the hills, examining the damp ground around the edges of the willow flats andalder thickets. From time to time they had seen tracks of bears, somelarge and some small, but at this particular point the sign was sounmistakable that all had paused. 

"I don't know that I ever saw more sign on one piece of ground, "admitted Alex. He spoke in a low tone of voice and motioned for theothers to be very quiet. "The trouble is, they seem to be feeding atnight and working back toward the hills in the daytime. On thiscountry here there have been six black bears and two grizzlies. "

"Yes, and here's that big track again, " said Rob. "He sinks in the muddeep as an ox, and has a hind foot as long as my rifle-stock. "

"Six or eight hundred pounds, maybe, " said Alex. "He's a good one. Theother one isn't so big. They fed here last night, and seem to beworking up this little valley toward the hills again. If we had plentyof time I'd be in favor of waiting here until evening, for this seemsto be a regular stamping-ground for bear. What do you think, Mr. Rob?"

"Well, " said Rob, "I know it usually isn't much worth while to followa bear, but maybe it wouldn't do any harm in here to work on afterthis one a little way, because there doesn't seem to be any hunting inhere, and maybe the bears aren't badly scared. "

"Very well, that's what I think, too, " said Alex; "but if this trailgets very much fresher I think it is just as well for all of us tokeep out of the thicket and take to the open. Maybe we can find higherground on ahead. "

They passed on up, making cross-cuts on the trail and circling now andagain through the willow flats as they advanced. Once in a while Alexwould have to search a little before he could pick up the trail, butalways somewhere among the willows he would find the great footprintof the big bear. Often he showed the boys where the willows had beenbroken down by the bear in its feeding, and at some places it left apath as though a cyclone had gone through. 

Having established it in his mind that the bear was steadily advancingdeeper back into the valley they were following, Alex at last left thewillow flats and made for the side of the depression down which alittle stream was coming, striking into the hills at the place wherethe valley finally narrowed to a deep coulée. Here they advancedslowly and cautiously, taking care to be on the side where the windwould favor them most, and once in a while Alex still dropped down tothe foot of the coulée in search of sign or feeding-ground. As theyadvanced, however, the course of the stream became more definite andthe moist ground not so large in extent, so that it became moredifficult to trail any animal on the drier ground. A mile farther on, none the less, in a little muddy place, they found the track of thegiant bear, still ahead of them. It had sunk eight inches or more intothe soft earth, and a little film of muddy water still was tricklinginto the bottom of the track, while at its rim little particles ofmud still hung loose and ragged. 

Alex's eyes now gleamed with eagerness, for he saw that the bear wasbut a little distance ahead. He examined closely the country about tosee whether the big grizzly was alone, and to his relief found no signof the smaller bear. 

"I'm not afraid of them both, " said he, in a low whisper to Rob, "butsometimes it's easier to get up to one bear than it is to two, and Inotice it's nearly always the small one that gives the alarm. "

The big grizzly, however, still was traveling steadily at times. Theycould not locate him in this thicket, and, indeed, a little farther onfound where, apparently but a few moments earlier, he had left thiscoulée and crossed a little ridge, apparently intending to change hiscourse entirely. This was disappointing, but Alex whispered to theyoung hunters not to be disturbed, for that possibly the bear mightlie up or go to feeding in some other ravine not far on ahead. 

"You'd better wait here, I think, " said he at last, as they approachedthe top of a little ridge, where evidently another coulée came down. 

He began slowly to climb toward the top, from which he could get aview of the other side. Almost as soon as he raised his head above thesummit he pulled it back again. Quickly he dropped down to where theothers stood. 

"Is he there?" asked Rob, eagerly. 

Alex nodded. He looked at the faces of all the boys. Not one of themwas pale, and every one seemed only eager to go ahead. Slowly standingand watching them for a time, at length the old hunter turned, silently motioning them to follow him. 

What Alex had seen when he peered over the top of the ridge wasnothing else than the big bear feeding in the bushes which lay somesixty yards ahead and below, where the ground was moister. When atlength the boys, however, reached the same place and gazed overeagerly they saw nothing at all at first. 

Rob turned to whisper a question to Alex, but even as he did so hefelt John clutch him by the arm. Then as they all looked on ahead theysaw the great bear rise once more on his hind legs high above thebushes. He was so close they could see his blocky head, his squarenose, and even his little piggish eyes. Slowly the grizzly turned alittle bit from side to side, nodding his head and whining a littleall to himself, as he started once more to reach out and break downthe tops of the bushes toward him in his great arms. 

It was at that instant that the rifle of Alex rang out, and he calledto the others hurriedly, "Shoot! Shoot!"

He needed not to give such counsel, for every boy there had almost atthe same instant fired at the giant grizzly which stood below them. Hefell with a great roar, and began to thresh about in the bushes. Nosight of him for a moment could be obtained. All four now sprangerect, waiting eagerly for the crippled game to break cover. John andRob even started down the slope, until Alex called out to themperemptorily to come back. As a matter of fact, three of the fourbullets had struck the bear and he was already hurt mortally, but thiscould not be determined, and Alex knew too much to go into the coverafter a wounded grizzly. 

[Illustration: THE BEAR BROKE COVER WITH A SAVAGE ROAR]

The bear itself heard them shouting, and, having located the presenceof an enemy, now broke cover with a savage roar, limping as best hecould in a vain endeavor to get up the slope and to attack hisenemies. But again and again the rifles spoke, and an instant laterthe great bear dropped down and rolled limp at the bottom of theslope, almost back into the bushes from which he had come. 

"He's dead now, all right!" said Alex, even as he held out his hand torestrain his young companions once more from rushing in on their game. "Some one hit him in the head that last time. I'm thinking the hidewon't be good for much, for he must be shot full of holes by now!"

Such indeed proved to be the case. The high-power rifles, fired atclose range, with hands excited yet none the less fairly accurate, haddone their work in such fashion as might have finished three or fourbears instead of one even as large as this one proved to be. 

Alex turned once more to note the conduct of his young friends as theygathered at the side of the dead bear. He smiled a little bit grimly. Whereas their faces had lately been flushed and eager, they now werejust a little pale, and he saw that they all were disposed to trembleas they stood. 

"We're well out of that, " said he, quietly. "That's bad as the ParlePas. Of course the odds were in our favor, but with a bear of thissize any man or any party is well out of it when they get him down. But here's your grizzly, young gentlemen. "

"My, isn't he a whale!" said Jesse. "There's plenty of meat, I shouldthink. "

"Yes, we've killed him, " said Alex, "but what good is he to us?Grizzlies aren't good to eat, even when they are feeding on berries, as this one is. "

"Never mind, " said Rob; "this is a pretty good robe, I want to tellyou, even if it is only in August. It is finer and closer than ourAlaska bears; see how white on the shoulders and face. I believe he'sabout as ugly a customer, too, as most of our big Alaska bears, thatlive on fish. "

"Yes, " said Alex, "he's what you call a bald-face, and whether there'sany truth in it or not, Injuns always say that these white-faced bearsare the most savage. Look at his claws--they're white too. All of themperfect, however, which shows that he hasn't been digging among therocks very much, but has been feeding in low country for quite awhile. I suppose Moise would call this bear his cousin, and I doubt ifhe'd want to help skin him. But that's what we've got to do now, andit's no easy job either. "

"We'll all help, " said Rob. 

"Well, you'd better go and help by finding some sort of rock for awhetstone, " said Alex, "for I see I have left my file down in camp. There's nothing in the world takes the edge off the best steel likeskinning a big bear--the hide is like sandpaper inside. "

"Here's something, " said Jesse, picking up a flat stone, "and maybe wecan sharpen the knives on it. "

They all fell to work now, each with his own hunting-knife. Alex, ofcourse, did most of the work, first ripping down the tough hide withhis big buffalo knife, along each leg and up the middle of the body. Then giving each of the boys a leg, and himself keeping clear of theeager knife blades, they all began the work of skinning off the hide. 

"Skin it close, " said Alex, "and don't leave on much meat. The Injunsnever skin a bear hide close, for the women like the fat, it seems, and they do all the scraping in camp. But this hide is so big that I'mnot anxious to carry any more weight on it than I have to--I shouldnot wonder if it would weigh seventy-five to a hundred pounds, thebest we can do. "

At last, however, they had the great hide free from the carcass, withthe footpads and long claws attached, and the scalp all skinnedcarefully free from the skull at eyes, ears, and nose. Rob insisted ontaking the skull also, although Alex demurred. 

"We'll carry it, Alex, " said he. "This is a splendid robe, I'mtelling you, fine color, and not worn nearly as badly as I should haveexpected in the summer-time. We're going to have a rug made out of itfor Uncle Dick's house, and we want the skull, too. We'll carry thatdown the hill. "

"All right, " said Alex; "I'll have plenty to do with the rest of thisold fellow. "

He rolled the green hide into a pack, which he lashed tightly withsome thongs, and once more using his belt as a pack-strap, which herested on the top of his head, he managed to get under the weight ofthe green hide, and started off at a half trot, following the nearestvalley down to the river where their camp was pitched. 

Strong as the old hunter was, at times even he was willing enough toset down his pack and rest awhile, and to smoke a pipe. The boys, whowere carrying his rifle and also making shifts at carrying the heavybear skull, themselves were willing enough to join him when hestopped. At last, however, they got to the top of the bank under whichtheir camp was pitched. 

"Listen!" said Rob. "There's some one talking. "

Alex nodded. They stepped up to the top of the bank and looked over. 

XVII

THE YOUNG ALASKANS' "LOB-STICK"

They saw sitting near the fire three men beside Moise, all of themIndians or half-breeds. They were all of them talking and laughingeagerly, certainly not showing very much of the so-called Indianreserve, at the time the hunters peered over at them. Yet occupied asthey were, their senses were always alert. One of them heard a twigsnap, and turned his face to the bank. 

Alex said nothing, but kicked over the edge of the bank the big rolledhide of the grizzly; after which, silently and with proper dignity, all the hunters, old and young, advanced down the bank and across thebeach toward the fire. No one said anything until after the rifleswere all lined up against the blanket rolls and the pipes of the menhad been filled once more. Moise at length could be dignified no more, and broke out into a loud series of French, English, and Cree terms, all meant to express his delight and approval at the success of thehunt. The three breeds also smiled broadly and nodded approvingly, once in a while saying a word in their own tongue to one another. Theydid not, however, seem to ask any questions regarding the hunt as yet. Alex spoke a word or so to Moise. 

"She's been my cousin, " said Moise, pointing indifferently to allthree of the new-comers. He also pointed to their means of locomotion, a long and risky looking dugout which lay at the beach. 

"He'll gone on up the river, " said Moise, "from Hudson's Hope. "

"Well, when they go, " said Alex, "I suppose you'll have to give themsomething to eat, as you seem to be doing now. Only please don't partwith quite all our supplies--we're going to need a little tea andflour for ourselves before we get out of here. You can tell these menthere's plenty of game in this part of the country, so they can easilymake a hunt if they like. "

"Sure, " said Moise, "I'll dream last night you'll catch grizzly thistime. But how we'll go to put heem in boat, _hein_? S'pose we put thathide in canoe, she'll sink unless we eat up all the grub pile. "

Alex told Moise to unroll the bear hide so that it might dry as muchas possible. He then set all of them at fleshing the hide, a task noneof them seemed to relish. Afterward, he also added some sort ofcounsel in the Cree language which presently resulted in the threevisitors tightening up their belts, taking their solitary rifle, andpassing out of sight in the bush at the top of the bank. 

"Where are they going?" asked John, curiously, of Moise. 

"She'll say she'll go after bear meat, " said Moise. "Not got muchmeat, for she'll ain't seen much moose yet. "

"Well, they're welcome to that grizzly meat, " grinned Alex. "I didn'tthink they'd eat it. They must be starving. Make them up a littlepackage of tinned stuff, Moise, and put it in their boat. I thinkwe'll need about all the bacon we've got, and they can use the fat ofthe bear better than we can. Give them some tea, and a little flourtoo. What do they say about the river below here at the big cañon?"

"Says bad water, " said Moise. "She'll rose perhaps four, three, twoinches to-day, maybe so, here, and that's all same so many foots inthe cañon. She'll say best way to do is to take portage trail andleave those boat on west end of those cañon. "

"Yes, but we want to get our boats through, " said Alex, "although itmust be a dozen miles anyhow by way of the carrying trail, and not toogood at that. "

"He'll say, " resumed Moise, "s'pose we take those boat through to thebig mountain--through big water, ver' wide, with many islands--we'llcome on a place where boats can go up the bank, if plenty men carrythem up. Then she'll been ten mile, eight mile, to some place belowthe mountain. All the tam she'll say best way is to go by horse, onthe north side of the river, on the police trail from Fort St. John, s'pose we'll could find that trail, an' s'pose we'll had some horse. "

"What do you say, Mr. Rob?" asked Alex. "We ought to get our boatsdown. Shall we haul out at the west end, or try for Hudson's Hope?"

"I'd be in favor of getting down as far as we can, " said Rob. "We canreach the head of the mountain in a couple of days. I'm for moving ondown and taking a chance on the rest of it! Of course we'll have toportage the cañon somehow. "

"That suits me, " said John. And even Jesse, the youngest of the three, was all for continuing the journey as originally planned. 

"All right, " said Alex, "I'm with you. We're learning the game now, certainly, and I don't think we'll find this part of the river anyworse than it has been up above. There isn't anything bad marked onthe map, anyhow, for quite a way. "

At about this time, as they were all busied about the camping place, the boys noticed Alex and Moise step a little apart and begin toconverse in low tones. From their looks and gestures, the boysgathered that the men were speaking of something in which theythemselves were concerned, in just what way they could not tell. Presently Moise smiled and nodded vigorously. Approaching thecamp-fire, he took up his short-handled ax and slung it at his back bya bit of thong. Then he stepped over to the tallest and straightestpine-tree which grew close to the water's edge thereabout. Active as acat, he soon had climbed the lower branches, where, without pausing, he began to hack off, close to the trunk, every branch within hisreach. Having done so, he climbed yet higher up and repeated theoperation, as though it were his purpose to cut off nearly all thebranches to the top of the tree. At first the boys thought he wasgathering boughs for the beds, but as they were almost ready to breakcamp they could not understand this. 

"Let's go up and help him, fellows!" exclaimed John. 

Alex restrained them. "No, you mustn't do that. " John stopped ratherabashed. 

"You see, " explained the old hunter, "you are concerned in this, soyou must not help. "

"I don't understand--" began John. 

"Well, the truth is, we are going to give you a celebration. In short, we are making a monument for you young gentlemen, all of you. "

Rob broke into the conversation. "A monument? But we're not dead, andaren't going to be soon!"

"This is a monument of the Far North. It is not necessary to die. Weare making you what we call a 'lob-stick, ' or 'lop-stick. '"

"I never heard of anything like that. "

"Very likely not. Nor do I suppose there is one this far to the west, although there are some which we may see down the Peace River. HadMackenzie and Fraser got their dues, each of them would have had a'lob-stick' somewhere in here. Probably they were too busy in thosedays. But if either of them had had a 'lob-stick' made for him itwould very likely be standing to-day. In that case every man who wentpast on the river would know why it had been given. "

The boys were very much excited over this and demanded of Alex that heshould explain more precisely these matters. 

"Well, " said the old hunter, kindly, "each country has its own ways. When I was in London with General Kitchener I went to WestminsterCathedral, and saw there engraved in brass the names of men who haddone deeds worth commemorating. It is our way in this country also toperpetuate the memory of deeds of goodness or of bravery, anythingwhich is remarkable and worth remembering. Here and there along thePeace River, and far to the north on the Athabasca, you will see atree trimmed like this, different from the others, and noticeable toall passers-by. Perhaps one tells where a man has saved the life ofanother man, or where a party have divided their food until allstarved, or where some great deed was done, such as a fight with someanimal. Any great event in our history we may keep in mind in thisway. When the men go by on the river they think of that. We believe itmay make their hearts stronger, or make them more disposed to do goodor brave things themselves. It is our custom. "

"But what have we done to deserve this?" demanded Rob. 

"Moise and I and those other men who were here have the right todecide in regard to that, " said Alex. "We would not be foolish enoughto leave a 'lob-stick' for any light reason. To us it seemed that youwere brave, considering your years, in facing the grizzly this morningas you did; also, that you are brave to undertake this trip, young asyou are, and with us whom you did not know, across this wild country, which daunted even Mackenzie and Fraser in the old days. Having met incouncil, Moise and I have determined to do this. We think there is noother 'lob-stick' on the river above here, and that there is not aptto be. "

By this time Moise had lopped off all the branches of the tree exceptthe top ones, which stood out like an umbrella. Descending from stubto stub, he now trimmed off all the remaining branches clear to theground. As Alex had said, the tree stood straight and unmistakable, sothat any _voyageur_ on the river must notice it. 

Rob took off his hat, and the others did the same. "We do not know howto thank you for this honor, Alex and Moise, " said he, "but we willtry never to do anything which shall make you ashamed of us. If we do, you may come and cut down this tree. "

"I believe it will stand, " smiled Alex. "Not many men pass here inthese days, but by and by every man who does come here will know wherethis tree stands and why it was made a 'lob-stick. ' They will measuredistances by it on the river. And always when the _voyageurs_ pass, orwhen they camp here near the tree, they will know your story. That isthe way history is made in this country. I think that a hundred yearsfrom now, perhaps, men will know your story as well as you do that ofMackenzie and Fraser, although theirs was written in books. This isour custom. If it pleases you, we are very glad. "

Hats still in hand, the boys now stepped up one by one and shook handswith Alex and Moise. When they left this camp they looked back for along time, and they could see their commemorative tree standing outtall, slender, and quite distinct from all the others. No doubt itstands there to-day just as it was left in the honor of our young_voyageurs_. 

XVIII

BAD LUCK WITH THE "MARY ANN"

Alex now went down to the boats and began to rearrange the cargo, fromwhich the boys saw that in his belief it was best to continue thejourney that evening, although it now was growing rather late. Evidently he was for running down ahead of the flood-water if any suchshould come, although it seemed to all of them that after all theyneed have no great fear, for the river had risen little if any sincemorning. 

They determined to put the big bear hide in the _Mary Ann_, andshifted some of the burden of that boat to the _Jaybird_, folding upthe long hide and putting it at the bottom of the canoe under thethwarts, so that the weight would come as low as possible. When the_Mary Ann_ had received the rest of her necessary cargo she showedmost of her bundles and packages above the gunwale, and Alex looked atthe two boats a little dubiously, even after Moise had carried down tothe dugout of his cousins such of the joint supplies as even hisliberality thought proper. 

"We'll try her, anyhow, " said Alex, taking a look up the river, whichcame rolling down, tawny now, and not white and green in its colors. So saying, they pushed off. 

They must, at this camp, have been somewhere between twelve and twentymiles east of the mouth of the Parle Pas rapids, and they had madeperhaps a dozen miles more that evening when they began to come to aplace where again the mountains approached the stream closely. Herethey could not see out at all from their place at the foot of the highbanks which hedged them in. At nightfall they encamped in a wildregion which seemingly never had known the foot of man. The continuousrush of the waters and the gloom of the overhanging forests now hadonce more that depressing effect which sometimes is not unknown evento seasoned _voyageurs_. Had they been asked, the young travelers musttruthfully have replied that they would be glad when at last themountains were passed and the prairie country to the eastward reached. 

On the next day they continued among the high hills for several hours, although at length the river expanded into a wide reach which gavethem a little free paddling. In such contractions of the stream asthey met it seemed to them that the rocks were larger, the waterdeeper, and each hour becoming more powerful than it had been. Advancing cautiously, they perhaps had covered thirty miles when theycame to a part of the stream not more than three hundred yards wide, where the current was very smooth but of considerable velocity. Belowthis the mountains crowded still closer in to the stream, seeming torise almost directly from the edge of the banks and to tower nearlytwo thousand feet in height. 

"We must be getting close to the big portage now, " said Rob to Moise, as they reached this part of the river. 

"Yes, " said Moise, "pretty soon no more water we'll could ron. "

Moise's speech was almost prophetic. In less than half an hour afterthat moment they met with the first really serious accident of theentire journey, and one which easily might have resulted disastrouslyto life as well as to property. 

They were running a piece of water where a flat rapid dropped downwithout much disturbance toward a deep bend where the current swungsharply to the right. A little island was at one side, on which therehad been imbedded the roots of a big tree, which had come down asdriftwood. The submerged branch of this tree, swinging up and down inthe violent current, made one of the dangerous "sweepers" whichcanoemen dread. Both Rob and Moise thought there was plenty of room toget by, but just as they cleared the basin-like foot of the rapid the_Mary Ann_ suddenly came to a stop, hard and fast amidships, on anaked limb of the tree which had been hidden in the discolored watersat the time. 

As is usual in all such accidents, matters happened very quickly. Thefirst thing they knew the boat was lifted almost bodily from thewater. There was the cracking noise of splintering wood, and aninstant later, even as the white arm of the tree sunk once more intothe water, the _Mary Ann_ sunk down, weak and shattered, her backbroken square across, although she still was afloat and free. 

Rob gave a sudden shout of excitement and began to paddle swiftly tothe left, where the bank was not far away. Moise joined him, and theyreached the shore none too soon, their craft half full of water, fornot only had the keel to the lower ribs of the boat been shattered bythe weight thus suspended amidships, but the sheathing had beenripped and torn across, so that when they dragged the poor _Mary Ann_up the beach she was little more than the remnant of herself. 

The others, coming down the head of the rapid a couple of hundredyards to the rear, saw this accident, and now paddled swiftly over tojoin the shipwrecked mariners, who luckily had made the shore. 

"It's bad, boys, " said Rob, hurrying down to catch the prow of the_Jaybird_ as she came alongside. "Just look at that!"

They all got out now and discharged the cargo of the _Mary Ann_, including the heavy grizzly hide, which very likely was the main causeof the accident, its weight having served to fracture the stout fabricof the plucky little boat. When they turned her over the case lookedrather hopeless. 

"She's smashed almost to her rail, " said Rob, "and we've broken thatalready. It's that old grizzly hide that did it, I'm sure. We lit fairon top of that 'sweeper, ' and our whole weight was almost out of thewater when it came up below us. Talk about the power of water, Ishould say you could see it there, all right--it's ripped our wholeship almost in two! I don't see how we can fix it up this time. "

Moise by this time had lighted his pipe, yet he did not laugh, as heusually did, but, on the contrary, shook his head at Alex. 

"Maybe so we'll could fix heem, " was all he would venture. 

"Well, one thing certain, " said Rob, "we'll have to go into camp righthere, even if it isn't late. "

"Did you have any fun in the other rapids above here?" asked John ofRob. 

"No, " said Rob; "it was all easy. We've run a dozen or twenty a lotworse than this one. Not even the Parle Pas hurt us. Then I come inhere, head paddler, and I run my boat on a 'sweeper' in a little bitof an easy drop like this. It makes me feel pretty bad, I'll tell youthat!"

They walked about the boat with hands in pockets, looking gloomy, forthey were a little bit doubtful, since Moise did not know, whetherthey could repair the _Mary Ann_ into anything like working shapeagain. 

Alex, as usual, made little comment and took things quietly. Theynoticed him standing and looking intently down the river across thenear-by bend. 

"I see it too, " said Rob. "Smoke!"

The old hunter nodded, and presently walked on down the beach to havea look at the country below, leaving Moise to do what he could withthe broken boat. The boys joined Alex. 

Presently they saw, not far around the bend, a long dugout canoepulled up on the beach. Near by was a little fire, at which sat twopersons, an old man and a younger one. They did not rise as thevisitors approached, but answered quietly when Alex spoke to them inCree. 

XIX

NEW PLANS

"These men say, " interpreted Alex, as he turned to the boys, "thatit's sixteen to twenty miles from here to the end of the portage outof the hills, across the north bank, which cuts off the thirty milesof cañon that nobody ever tries to run. They say for a little way theriver is wide, with many islands, but below that it narrows down andgets very bad. They're tracking stuff up-stream from the portage to asurveyors' camp which depends on their supplies. They say they willnot sell their canoe, because they couldn't get up-stream, but that ifwe can get east of the portage there's a man, a sort of farmer, somewhere below there, who has a boat which perhaps he would sell. "

"What good would that do us?" demanded John. "A boat twenty or thirtymiles east of here across the mountains isn't going to help us verymuch. What we want is a boat now, and I don't see how we can get alongwithout it. Won't they sell their canoe?"

"No, they don't want to sell it, " said Alex; "they say they're underemployment, and must get through to the camp from Hudson's Hope ontime. We couldn't portage a dugout, anyhow. But they say that we cango on up there with them if we like, and then come back and go aroundby the portage. What do you say, Mr. Rob?"

Rob answered really by his silence and his tight-shut jaw. "Well, "said he, "at least I don't much care about turning back on a trail. But we'll have to split here, I think, unless we all go into camp. Butpart of us can go on through by the river, and the rest come on later. Maybe we can _cache_ some of our luggage here, and have it brought onacross by these men, if they're going back to Hudson's Hope. "

"That sounds reasonable, " said Alex, nodding. "I believe we can workit out. "

He turned and spoke rapidly in Cree to the two travelers, with manygestures, pointing both up and down the stream, all of them talkingeagerly and at times vehemently. 

"They say, " said Alex at last, "there's a place at the foot of thehigh bank above the cañon head where two or three men might be able toget a boat up to the carrying trail, although the landing is littleused to-day. But they say if we could get across to the east end ofthe cañon they could send men down by the trail after that other boat. They don't think we can get our boat across. They say they'll find usin a few days, they think, somewhere on the portage. They ask us ifthey can have what's left of our canoe. They say they'll take twodollars a day and grub if we want them to work for us. They don't saythat no man could make the portage below here, but don't think wecould do it with our crew. Well, what do you say now, Mr. Rob?"

"Why, it's all as easy as a fiddle-string, " said Rob. "I'll tell youhow we'll fix it. Jess, you and Moise go with these men on up to thesurveyors' camp, and back down to Hudson's Hope--you can take enoughgrub to last you around, and you know that water is easy now. Alex andJohn and I will still have enough grub to last us through to the eastside of the Rockies--we're almost through now. It might be rather hardwork for Jess. The best way for him is to keep with Moise, who'll takegood care of him, and it's more fun to travel than to loaf in camp. For the rest of us, I say we ought to go through, because we startedto go through. We all know where we are now. Moise will bring the menand supplies around to meet us at the east side. Even if we didn'tmeet, " he said to Jesse, "and if you and Moise got left alone, itwould be perfectly simple for you to go on through to Peace RiverLanding, two or three hundred miles, to where you will get word ofUncle Dick. There are wagon-trails and steamboats and all sorts ofthings when you once get east of the mountains, so there's no dangerat all. In fact, our trip is almost done right where we standhere--the hardest part is behind us. Now, Jess, if you don't feel hardabout being asked to go back up the river, or to stay here till thesemen come back down-stream, that's the way it seems best to me. "

"I'm not so anxious as all that to go on down this river, " grinnedJesse. "It isn't getting any better. Look at what it did to the old_Mary Ann_ up there. "

"Well, the main thing is not to get lonesome, " said Rob, "and to besure there's no danger. We'll get through, some time or somewhere. Only don't get uneasy, that's all. You ought to get around to us in acouple of days after you start on the back trail. How does it look toyou, Alex?"

The old hunter nodded his approval. "Yes, " said he; "I think thethree of us will take the _Jaybird_ loaded light and run downto the head of the mountain without much trouble. I don't hear ofanything particularly nasty down below here until you get nearly tothe gorge. I think we had better hire these two breeds for a time, put them on pay from the time they start up the river with Moise andMr. Jess. They say they would like to go with Mr. Jess for their'bourgeois'--that's 'boss, ' you know. They also say, " he added, smiling, "that they would very much like to have some sugar and tea. "

After a time Alex rose, beckoned to the two breeds, and they all wentback up the beach to the place where Moise by this time was buildinghis camp-fire and spreading out the cargo of the _Mary Ann_ to dry. 

The two breeds expressed wonder at the lightness of the boats whichthey now saw, and rapidly asked in their language how the party hadmanaged to get so far across the mountains with such little craft. Butthey alternately laughed and expressed surprise when they lifted thefragments of the _Mary Ann_ and pointed out the nature of the injuryshe had sustained. 

"Those man'll been my cousin, too, " said Moise, pointing to thenew-comers. "She'll been glad to see us, both of her. Her name isBilly and Richard. Ole Richard, his Injun name was been At-tick--'TheReindeer. ' Also she'll say, " he added, "she'll ain't got some tea norsugar. _Allons!_ I think maybe we'll eat some dish of tea. "

Soon they were seated on the ground, once more eating tea and bannock, piecing out their meal, which, by the way, was the third during theday, with some of the dried caribou meat which they had brought fromfar above. 

"They'll ask me, my cousin, " said Moise at last, his mouth full, "whatwe'll take for those busted canoe. "

"What do you say, Mr. Rob?" asked Alex. 

"I don't see how it's going to be worth anything to us, " said Rob, "and it will take us a long time to patch her up at best. Tell themwe'll give them what there is left of the _Mary Ann_ if they'll takegood care of Jess on the way around on the trail. And we'll pay themtwo dollars a day each besides. "

When Moise had interpreted this speech, the older of the two breeds, who did not speak any English, rose and gravely shook each of theboys by the hand, then not saying anything further, he rose, tookhis big buffalo knife from its sheath, and proceeded to finishthe distribution of the unfortunate _Mary Ann_, it being his planevidently not to float her again, but to reduce her to a portablepackage which could be taken away in their other canoe, the dugout, on the beach below. 

"Well, there goes the _Mary Ann_, " said John, sadly. "He is evidentlygoing to make some kindling wood for himself. "

"My cousin she'll say this boat must be took up to camp, where womanscan work on heem, " explained Moise. "He'll say he'll patch up thoseboat fine, for all the ribs she'll be bent all right an' not bust, andhe'll make new keel an' new side rails--oh, you wait! Maybe so nex'year you'll come here you'll see those boat _Marie H'Ann_ just so finelike she never was. "

Whatever might have been the future plans for the _Mary Ann_, she soonresembled nothing so little as a Peterborough canoe. The old mancalmly proceeded to separate the framework at bow and stern, so thathe could crush the two sides of the canoe together after removing theribs, which also he proceeded to do, one by one. Finally he had a pileof ribs and some broken splints which he laid carefully on the beach. Then he doubled back the splintered skin of the canoe, throwing awayvery little indeed of the fractured woodwork. At last he grunted somerapid words to the younger man, who seemed to be his son or a memberof his family. 

"My cousin she'll say he can took those boat in dugout all right downthe river, " said Moise. "She'll said to me also we'll go on Hudson'sHope with heem. " Moise pointed to Jesse. Alex nodded and explainedfurther the plan which had roughly been sketched out before that timeby Rob and himself. In a little time the younger Cree had returned andpoled the big dugout around the bend up to the place where they werenow in camp. With some excited talk on the part of both, they now tookthe wreck of the _Mary Ann_ and carried it up the bank to await theirreturn. In different places along the great cottonwood dugout theyadded such supplies as Moise thought was right. The other suppliesthey then _cached_, and put over all the robe of the big grizzly, flesh side out, and heavily salted, weighting the edges down withheavy stones. 

The freeboard of the dugout was very slight when Jesse took his place, but seemed quite enough to satisfy the requirements of these_voyageurs_. The old man sprang into the stern of the dugout andmotioned to Jesse to find a seat amidships. Meantime Moise was fixingup a towing collar, which he attached to the line. It became apparentthat the plan was for him and the younger breed to double on thetracking line, the old man remaining astern to do the steering. 

"That's the way we get up a river in this country, " said Alex to Rob, who was watching all this with interest. "I would bet they would dotwenty-five miles a day with that rig they've got there--they goalmost at a trot whenever there's an open bit of beach. When there isnone, they pole or paddle. "

"I don't see how they do it, " said Rob. "None of them have gotanything on their feet but moccasins, and those men there have onlypieces of moccasins at that. I should think the rocks would cut theirfeet in bits!"

"Well, you know, Moise and his 'cousins' are all 'same like dog, ' ashe would say, " smiled Alex. "Your feet get used to it in time. Thesemen have never known anything better, so they have got adjusted to theway they have to make their living. I doubt if they would wearhard-soled shoes if they had them, because they would say the soleswould slip on the rocks. They're in the water about as much as theyare out of it when they are tracking a boat up-stream. That's the waythis country was conquered for the white men--by the paddle, pole, andtracking line. "

"You forget Uncle Dick's way, " chimed in John. 

"How do you mean?"

"Railroads. "

"Yes, " said Alex, sighing, "they're coming some day, that's sure. Buteven the surveyors and engineers had to travel this way, and I thinkyou will find even in the country where the wagons are it's quite away from here to home. "

"Well, here we go, " said Rob, after a time. "We mustn't wastedaylight, you know. "

By this time Jesse was looking very serious. Naturally he relied verymuch upon Moise, but he disliked to leave his friends, and especiallyto say good-by to Alex, on whom they all seemed to depend very much. 

"It's the right thing to do, Jess, " said John, after a time. "So faras that is concerned, you'll have it just as safe and a good dealeasier than we will, in all probability. We'll meet you in a week orso at most. "

"So long, then!" said Jesse, bravely waving his hand. 

"So long!" said Rob and John. They waved their caps to one another, aseach boat now began its way, the _Jaybird_ carrying three passengers, and the long dugout, under the tracking line, taking what remained ofthe expedition of our _voyageurs_, who now separated for the time totake different directions on the stream they had followed thus far. 

XX

THE GORGE OF THE MOUNTAINS

For a time after the boats parted the crew of the _Jaybird_ said verylittle as they pursued their way down-stream. The accident to the_Mary Ann_ made them all thoughtful, and Rob was very careful in hisposition as bow paddler for the remaining boat. As the craft waspretty well loaded, Alex also was cautious. They took their time whenthey struck the head of any fast water, went ashore and prospected, and once in awhile lined down the boat instead of undertaking to run afast chute. In spite of their additional caution, they ran mile aftermile of the great river, until finally they felt themselvesapproaching the great eastern gate of the Rockies, whence there breaksout upon the lower country of the great Peace River the Unjingah, orUnjigab, as the natives formerly called it. 

"Now, " said Alex, at last, as he steered in along shore, "I thinkwe'll stop and take a look around. "

They had been expecting the entrance to the actual gorge of the rivernow for the last three or four miles, for they had passed into thewide space, six or eight hundred yards in extent, described as lyingabove the cañon entrance, where the river, falling through a narrowpassageway in the rocks, is condensed to a quarter of its averagewidth. 

The fatigue of the steady travel of the trip now began to show itseffect upon them all, and the boys were quite ready to go into camp. Rob and John undertook to prepare the supper, and soon were busyarranging a little fireplace of stone, while Alex climbed up the bankto do some prospecting farther on. 

"How does it look, Alex?" inquired Rob, when he finally returned. Alexwaved a hand as a sign of his ignorance. "Hills and woods, " said he. "Not so much spruce, but some pine and poplars, and plenty of 'boispicard'--what you call 'devil's club' on your side of the Rockies. Ididn't know it grew this far east. I don't see how Mackenzie's men gotup from below with a thirty-foot birch-bark, " he added, after a time. "They must have come through something on this course, because theycould not have taken the water very much below here, that's sure. "

"Is there any trail at all, Alex?" asked John. 

"We've landed almost at the trail--just enough to call a trail for afoot man. It isn't used much to-day, that's sure. Pretty steep. Sandyfarther up. "

"Could we carry the boat through, do you think?" Rob looked anxiouslyup at the lofty bank which rose above them. Perhaps there was a littletrace of stubbornness in Rob's make-up, and certainly he had no wishto abandon the project at this stage. 

"We might edge her up the bank a little at a time, " said Alex, "snubbing her up by the line. I suppose we could pass it from stump tostump, the same as _voyageurs_ had to with their big birch-barkssometimes. "

"We'll get her up somehow to-morrow, " said Rob, "if you say it'spossible. "

"Then there'll be some more hills, " smiled Alex; "eight or ten ortwelve miles of rough country, I suppose. "

"Time enough to trouble about that to-morrow, Alex. Sit down and havea cup of tea. "

They still had one or two of their smoke-dried trout and a bit of thehalf-dried caribou which they had brought down with them. On thewhole they made a very fair meal. 

"Try some of my biscuits, Alex, " suggested John. "I baked them in thespider--mixed the dough all by myself in the sack, the way Moise does. Aren't they fine?"

"You're quite a cook, Mr. John. But I'm sorry we're so nearly out ofmeat, " said Alex. "You can't travel far on flour and tea. "

"Won't there be any game in the river below the Rockies?" asked Rob. 

"Oh yes, certainly; plenty of bear and moose, and this side of thePeace River Landing, wherever there are any prairies, plenty of grousetoo; but I don't think we'll get back to the prairies--the valley isover a thousand feet deep east of the mountains. "

"Alex, how many moose have you ever killed in all your life?" askedRob, curiously. 

"Three hundred and eighty-seven, " answered Alex, quietly. 

The boys looked at each other in astonishment. "I didn't know anybodyever killed that many moose in all the world, " said John. 

"Many people have killed more than I have, " replied Alex. "You see, attimes we have to hunt for a living, and if we don't get a moose orsomething of the kind we don't eat. "

"And how many bear have you ever killed, Alex?"

"Twenty-odd grizzlies I have killed or helped kill, " said Alex. "Werarely hunt them alone. Of black bear I don't know how many--we don'tcount them at all, there are so many of them in this country. But nowI suppose pretty soon we will have to go over on the Hay River, or theLiard, farther north, to get good hunting. The farms are bringing inmowing-machines and threshing-machines into this country now. The gamecan't last forever at this rate. "

"Well, I'm glad we made our trip this year, " said Rob. 

"We haven't made it yet!" smiled Alex. "But I think to-morrow we'llsee what we can do. "

They made an early start in the morning, their first task being thatof trying to get the _Jaybird_ up the steep face of the bluff whichrose back of the camp, on top of which the trail, such as it was, madeoff through the shoulders of the mountains in a general course towardthe east, the river sweeping in a wide elbow, thirty miles around, through its wild and impassable gorge, far to the south of them. 

Taking a boat, even a little one, overland is no easy task, especiallyup so steep an ascent as this. Powerful as was the old hunter, it washard enough to make much progress, and at times they seemed to lose asmuch as they gained. None the less, Alex was something of a general inwork of this sort, and when they had gained an inch of progress heusually managed to hold it by means of snubbing the boat's line aroundthe nearest stump or rock. 

"That's awfully strong line, isn't it?" said Rob. "You brought thatover with you--we didn't have that in our country. We use rope. I wasnoticing how thin the line was which those two breeds had on theirdugout yesterday. "

"That's the sort they use all through the trade in the North, "answered Alex. "It has to be thin, or it would get too waterlogged andheavy. You'll see how long it needs to be in order that the men onshore can get it over all the rocks and stumps and still leave thesteersman headway on the boat. It has been figured out as the rightthing through many years, and I have seen it used without change allmy life. "

"Well, it hasn't broken yet, " said Rob. "But I think we had betterpiece it out by doubling it the best we can. We don't want to break itup at this work. "

Little by little, Alex lifting the main portion of the weight, andthe boys shoving at the stern the best they could, they did edge the_Jaybird_ at last clear to the top of the bank, where finally she saton level keel on a little piece of green among the trees. 

While they were resting John idly passed a little way to one sideamong the trees, when, much to his surprise, he almost stepped intothe middle of a bunch of spruce-grouse. These foolish birds, althoughperhaps they had hardly seen a white man in all their lives, did nomore than to fly up in the low branches of the trees. Alex called outin a low tone to John to come back. Then he fumbled in his pocketsuntil he found a short length of copper wire, out of which he made anoose, fastening it to the end of a long stick. 

"Now, Mr. John, " said he, "there's lunch and supper both if you canget it. Let's see how good you are at snaring grouse. "

John cautiously stepped up under the tree, expecting every minute thatthe birds would fly. Yet to his amazement they sat there stupidlylooking down at him. Cautiously he raised the pole among the lowerbranches of the tree, and at length managed to slip the noose fairlyabout the neck of the nearest bird, when he gave it a jerk and broughtit down fluttering. Passing from one side of the tree to the other, he repeated this, and soon had four of the fat, young birds in hispossession--a feat which interested John in more ways than one, for, as has been indicated, he was very fond of good things to eat. 

They left the birds at the top of the bank, and, turning, brought upin a trip or so all the remainder of their scanty amount of baggagefrom the waterside below. 

"I suppose it might be a good plan, now, to make a trip over to theeast, " said Alex, "and see what we can see. "

They found after a long investigation that the trail, as nearly asthey could trace it, soon swung away quite a distance from the courseof the stream, rising steadily for three miles to a sort of highbench. It held this for several miles, finally approaching a steepslope and dropping sharply toward the level of the water, which wasmuch lower than at the head of the cañon. 

They discovered the eastern end of the portage to be close at the footof a high and precipitous bank back of which grew scattered clumps ofpoplar-trees. This journey, which only Alex made throughout, took themseveral miles from the place where they had left the _Jaybird_, andthey were tired enough by the time they had returned to theirsupplies. They made no further progress on that day. Alex told themthey would find water at only one place on the portage, so they mustcamp here in any case for the night. 

XXI

THE PORTAGE OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS

"We might just as well do what we can toward getting across, " saidAlex the next day, "because now we know what there is ahead of us. I'djust as soon portage the boat a little way, at least, because it willonly have to be done when Moise and the two breeds come to help us. Come ahead, then. "

He swung the _Jaybird_ up on his broad shoulders, and started off up atrail none too good at best. The boys, one on each side of the sternof the boat, helped all they could, and thus they made considerableprogress, resting and carrying again and again, so that by noon the_Jaybird_ was high and dry, and far enough indeed from the streamwhich had brought her on so long a journey. 

In short, they kept at this work, doubling back to portage the cargo, and making a mid-way camp at the water, but always edging both theirboat and their baggage farther on over the trail, until in the courseof three days they actually finished the difficult portage, twelvemiles in length, alone, one man and two boys! This feat would havebeen impossible for any man less powerful and determined than Alex, and even he admitted himself to be very weary when at length theypaused not far from the scattered buildings of the old port ofHudson's Hope. 

They were now on the eastern side of the Rockies, and the river whichthey had been following here took on yet a different character. It haddropped down rapidly in the thirty miles of the cañon, and ran in awide flood, some hundreds of yards across, rapid and indeed violent, but still steady in current, between banks which rose sharply to athousand feet in height on either side. It was easy to be seen why theearlier traders thought they were among mountains, even before theyreached the Rockies, because from the river they really could not seeout over the country at all. 

At the top of the steep bank above the river they left their boat andmost of their supplies, with the intention of waiting until thearrival of the rest of their party. Meantime they paid a visit to thehalf-abandoned trading-post. There were only two or three log houses, where small stocks of goods sometimes were kept. There really weretwo posts here, that of the Hudson Bay Company and of Revillon Frères, but it seemed that only the Hudson Bay post was occupied in thesummer-time. Whether or not the trader in charge had any family or anyassociate they could not tell, but on the door of the log buildingthey found a written notice saying that he was gone out bear hunting, and did not know when he would return. 

"Well, this isn't much of a settlement, young gentlemen, " said Alex, laughing, as he saw their plight. "But I think we can get through withwhat supplies we have and not trouble the Company at all. "

"I always thought there was a good trail from here to St. John, " saidRob. "At least, it's marked on the map. "

"Not much of a trail!" said Alex. "I worked with the Mounted Policemaking trail from St. John as far as Half Way River. But the trailcuts across the corner there, and goes on up to Fort Grahame, on theFinlay River. The real highway here is the river yonder--it's easywater now all the way to St. John--that is, it will be if we can get aboat. I don't see any chance of one here, and can only hope that Moiseand his 'cousins' can find that dugout down below here somewhere. "

"If we were on the river down there, you wouldn't know there was anypost here at all, " said Jesse. "You can't see any buildings. "

"No, " said Alex; "they're too high up on this bench. You can see thebuildings at St. John as you go by, because they are close to theriver, and so you can at Dunvegan. I don't imagine, however, we'llwant to stop anywhere except in camp this side of Peace River Landing. It'll be fine from here down. "

"My!" said John, "that certainly was hard work, portaging over thattwelve miles there. They ought to have horses and carts, I shouldsay. "

"Hard to use 'em in here, " smiled Alex. "As it is, it's better thantrying to run the cañon. No one ever did get through there, so far asever I heard. "

"Yes, " said Rob, "Sir Alexander Mackenzie must have come up throughthe cañon, according to his story. That is, he must have followed thebig bend around, although, of course, he had to take his boat out andcarry it through the roughest kind of country. That was worse than ourportage here, and no man can tell how they made it through, from allyou can learn through his story about it. You see, they didn't knowthis country then, and had to learn it as they went. If they had hitthat cañon a month later on their journey the men wouldn't have stoodit--they'd have mutinied and killed Mackenzie, or have left him andstarted home. "

Not caring yet to undertake their embarkment below the portage, theynow strolled around here and there, intending to wait until theirfriends caught up with them. Off to the east they could see, fromamong the short, choppy hills, a country which seemed for the mostpart covered with continuous growth of poplars, sometimes broken withglades, or open spaces. 

"I've never been west of the Half Way River, " said Alex after a time, "but I know right where we are. We could almost throw our boat on thedeck of the steamboat from this bank if we were as far east as St. John. "

"No steamboat for ours until we get to Peace River Landing, " said Rob. 

"That's right, " John assented. "We've come through this far, and wecan finish the way we started--that is, if the other fellows catch upwith us all right, and we get another boat. How long since we leftthem? I've sort of lost track of the time. "

"Fifth day, " said Rob. "It's about time they were coming. "

His prediction was fulfilled that evening, when, as they werepreparing the camp-fire for their supper, they heard a loud shout fromthe trail back of them. 

"Who's that, Alex?" demanded John. 

But even as he asked he had his answer. Such excited gesticulations, such cries of welcome, could come from no one but Moise. 

XXII

EAST OF THE ROCKIES

The two boys ran rapidly to meet Moise, and overwhelmed him withquestions asked all at once. 

"How's everything?" demanded Rob, "and where's Jesse?"

"Oh, those boy, she'll been all right, " said Moise. "She'll be on campseex, h'eight mile below here, up above, maybe so. My cousins Billyand At-tick, come through with us--they'll portage half-way to-day. 

"But, _mes amis_, " broke out Moise; "there's your boat! How you'll gother through? S'pose you take wings an' fly over those rock, _hein_?_Mon Dieu!_"

"We couldn't wait any longer, Moise, " said Rob, "and we thought we hadbetter be busy than idle. It was hard work, but Alex carried her over, and we didn't have much left to pack except our rifles and ourselves. "

"Then you'll not need any mans for help on the portage? All right. We'll get some boat below. "

"How far is it back to your camp, Moise?" demanded John. 

"Maybe five, seex mile, maybe more--I'll not keep track of heem. "

"Can we go back there to-night with you? I'd like to see Jess. May wego, Alex?"

"If you like, " answered the old hunter, quietly. "I'll stay here andsleep, and if you care to, you can sleep there. I don't doubt you willbe glad to see your friend again, and he'll be glad to see you. "

Tired as the boys had been, they were now so excited that they forgottheir fatigue, and trotted along close to Moise as he now turned andstruck a steady pace back on the portage trail. It was quite dark whenat last they came out on a high bank above a level, at which acamp-fire was glowing. John and Rob put their hands to their mouthsand gave a loud "Halloo!" They saw the smaller of the three figures atthe fire jump to his feet. Then came the answering "Halloo!" of Jesse, who came scrambling up to meet them as they hurried down. 

"You're safe, then, " said Jesse. "Oh, but I'm glad you got here allright. "

"We're glad to meet you safe and sound, too, " said Rob. "Yes, wefinished the trip--we even carried our boat through by ourselves, andshe's there now on the bank of the stream, ready to go on down. "

"That's fine, " said Jess. "These two men, the cousins of Moise, havebeen as nice as you please. They said they could fix up the _MaryAnn_, and they were very glad to have her--there she is, all in abundle. They are taking her across in sections. It was hard workgetting up the river, for it was all dirty and high. But we made it--Ithink we worked eighteen hours a day all the way round. Moise is ahustler, all right, besides being a cook. "

"So is Alex a hustler, you may depend, " rejoined Rob. "We couldn'thave two better men. Well, here we are, together once more, safe andsound. "

"What's the programme now, Rob?" asked John. 

"We're to sleep here to-night--although it doesn't seem as though we'dhave very many blankets, " answered Rob. "And then in the morning Isuppose Moise would better go and help Alex get the boat down to theriver. But where's the other dugout we were to have, Moise?"

Moise talked awhile further with the two reticent breeds. 

"My cousin Billy, he'll say there's old man about five, seex milebelow there, an' he'll got dugout, " he said at last. "He'll say twentydollar for dugout. "

"That's cheaper than Peterboroughs, " said Rob, smiling. "Anyhow, we'vegot to have it, because you can't buy canoes in shops here on thePeace River. You tell these two men, Moise, to go down there in themorning and have the old man, whoever he is, bring his canoe up assoon as he can to the port. We'll meet, I should say, about noonto-morrow, if all goes well. And as we're now through the worst of itand seem to have pretty fair weather yet, I shall be surprised if wedon't get quite a bit farther east inside of the next twenty-fourhours. "

"Then hurrah for Uncle Dick!" said John. "He's somewhere down thisriver, and maybe it won't be so very long before we run across him. "

"Hurrah! for all those boy also!" smiled Moise. "Pretty lucky, _hein_?"

XXIII

THE LAND OF PLENTY

Rob's plans were approved by Alex and Moise, and worked out so wellthat by noon of the next day the entire party had reassembled at therendezvous. The _Jaybird_ was the first boat to be loaded, the mengetting her down the steep bank with small delay and taking a rapidrun of a couple of miles or so down the river soon thereafter. After alittle time they concluded to wait for the other men who had gone downthe river-bank to secure the dugout of an old Indian, who, it seems, was known as Picheu, or the Lynx. 

"I don't know about a dugout, Moise, " said Rob. "There may be badwater below here. "

"No, not very bad water, " said Moise. "I'll ron heem on steamboat manytam! But those dugout she'll been good boat, too. I s'pose she'll beentwenty foot long an' carry thousand pound all right. "

"Well, " Rob answered, "that will do us as well as a steamboat. Iwonder why the old _voyageurs_ never used the dugout instead of thebirch-bark--they wouldn't have had to mend it so often, even if theycouldn't carry it so easily. "

"I'll tell you, fellows, " said Jesse, who was rather proud of hisoverland trip by himself, "the fur trade isn't what it used to be. At those posts you don't see just furs and traps, and men inblanket-coats, and dog-trains. In the post here they had groceries, and axes, and calico dresses, and hats, just like they have in acountry store. I peeked in through the windows. "

Alex smiled at them. "You see, " said he, "you've been looking atpictures which were made some time ago perhaps. Or perhaps they weremade in the winter-time, and not in the summer. At this season all thefur packets have gone down the trail, and they don't need dog-trainsand blanket-coats. You ought to come up here in the winter-time to geta glimpse of the old scenes. I'll admit, though, that the fur-postsaren't what they were when I was a boy. You can get anything you likenow, from an umbrella to a stick of toffy. "

"Where?" asked John, suddenly, amid general laughter. 

"The toffy? I'm sure we'll find some at Peace River Landing, alongwith plows and axes and sewing-machines, and all that sort of thing!"

"But the people pay for them all with their furs?" inquired Rob. 

"For the most part, yes. Always in this part of the country the peoplehave lived well. Farther north the marten have longer fur, but notfiner than you will find here, so that they bring just as good prices. This has always been a meat country--you'll remember how many buffaloand elk Mackenzie saw. Now, if the lynx and the marten shoulddisappear, and if we had to go to farming, it still would be the 'Landof Plenty, ' I'm thinking--that's what we used to call it. If we shouldgo up to the top of these high banks and explore back south a littlebit, on this side of the Smoky, you'd see some of the prettiestprairies that ever lay out of doors, all ready for the plow. I supposemy people some time will have to use the plow too. "

"Yes, " assented Rob, "I remember Mackenzie's story, how very beautifulhe found this country soon after he started west on his trip. "

"My people, the Crees, took this country from others long ago, " saidAlex, rather proudly. "They came up the old war-trail from LittleSlave Lake to the mouth of the Smoky, where the Peace River Landing isnow. They fought the Beavers and the Stoneys clear to the edges of theRockies, where we are now. They've held the land ever since, andmanaged to make a living on it, with or without the white man's help. Some of us will change, but men like At-tick, the old Indian whobrought Jess across the trail, and like old Picheu, below here, aren'tapt to change very much. "

John was once more puzzling at the map which the boys had made forthemselves, following the old Mackenzie records. "I can't figure outjust where Mackenzie started from on his trip, but he says it waslongitude 117° 35' 15", latitude 56° 09'. Now, that doesn't check upwith our map at all. That would make his start not very far from thefort, or what they call the Peace River Landing to-day, I shouldthink. But he only mentions a 'small stream coming from the east, 'although Moise says the Smoky is quite a river. "

"Most people think Mackenzie started from Fort Chippewayan, " saidAlex, "but as a matter of fact, he wintered far southwest of there, onthe Peace River, somewhere between three hundred and four hundredmiles south and west of Fort Vermilion, as I gather from the length oftime it took him to get to the edge of the Rockies, where we are now. He mentions the banks getting higher as he went south and west. Whenyou get a couple of hundred miles north of the Landing the banks beginto get low, although at the Landing they're still almost a thousandfeet high above the water-level, at least eight hundred feet, I shouldsay. "

"Well, " said Rob, "we know something about this country ourselves now, and we'll make a map of it some time, perhaps--a better one than wehave now. "

"Yes, " said Jesse, "but who can draw in that horse-trail from Hudson'sHope to the head of the steamboat transport? I'd like to see thattrail!"

"I suppose we could get on the steamboat some time before long if wewanted to, " said John. 

"No, " said Alex, "hardly again this summer, for she's made her lasttrip with supplies up to Fort St. John by now. "

"We don't want any steamboat, nor anything else, " said Rob, "except togo on down on our own hook, the way we started. Let's be as wild as wecan!"

"We're apt to see more game from here down than we have any place onthe trip, " said Alex. "You know, I told you this was the Land ofPlenty. "

"Bimeby plenty bear, " said Moise. "This boy Billy, he'll tol' me ol'Picheu he'll keel two bear this last week, an' he'll say plenty bearnow all on river, on the willows. "

"Well, at any rate, " said Alex, "old Picheu himself is coming. "

"How do you know?" asked Jesse. 

"I hear the setting-pole. "

Presently, as Alex had said, the dugout showed its nose around thebend. At-tick and Billy, Jesse's two friends, were on the trackingline, and in the stern of the dugout, doing most of the labor ofgetting up-stream, was an old, wrinkle-faced, gray-haired andgray-bearded man, old Picheu himself, in his time one of the mostfamous among the hunters of the Crees, as the boys later learned. Hespoke no English, but stood like some old Japanese war-god on thebank, looking intently from one to the other as they now finishedtheir preparations for re-embarking. He seemed glad to take the moneywhich Rob paid him for the dugout and shook hands pleasantly allaround, to show his satisfaction. 

The boys saw that what Moise had said about the dugout was quitetrue. It was a long craft, hewed out of a single log, which looked atfirst crankier than it really was. It had great carrying capacity, andthe boys put a good part of the load in it, which seemed only tosteady it the more. It was determined that Rob and Moise should goahead in this boat, as they previously had done in the _Mary Ann_, theothers to follow with the _Jaybird_. 

Soon all the camp equipment was stowed aboard, and the men stood atthe edge of the water ready to start. Their old friends made nocomment and expressed little concern one way or the other, but as Robturned when he was on the point of stepping into the leading boat hesaw Billy standing at the edge of the water. He spoke some brief wordto Alex. 

"He wants to say to Mr. Jess, " interpreted Alex, "that he would liketo make him a present of this pair of moccasins, if he would take themfrom him. "

"Would I take them!" exclaimed Jesse; "I should say I would, and thankhim for them very much. I'd like to give him something of mine, thishandkerchief, maybe, for him to remember me by. "

"He says, " continued Alex, "that when you get home he wishes youwould write to him in care of the priest at St. John. He says he hopesyou'll have plenty of shooting down the river. He says he would liketo go to the States when he gets rich. He says his people will talkabout you all around the camp-fire, a great many times, telling howyou crossed the mountains, where so few white men ever have been. "

"I'll tell you what, boys, " said Rob, "let's line up and give them alla cheer. "

So the three boys stood in a row at the waterside, after they hadshaken hands once more with the friends they were leaving, and gavethem three cheers and a tiger, waving their hats in salutation. Evenold Picheu smiled happily at this. Then the boys sprang aboard, andthe boats pushed out into the current. 

XXIV

THE WHITE MAN'S COUNTRY

They were passing now between very high banks, broken now and then byrock faces. The currents averaged extremely strong, and there were attimes runs of roughish water. But gradually the stream now wasbeginning to widen and to show an occasional island, so that on thewhole they found their journey less dangerous than it had been before. The dugout, although not very light under the paddle, proved verytractable, and made a splendid boat for this sort of travel. 

"You'd think from the look of this country, " said John to Alex, "thatwe were the first ever to cross it. "

"No, " said the old hunter, "I wish we were; but that is far from thetruth to-day. This spring, before I started west to meet you, therewere a dozen wagons passed through the Landing on one day--every oneof them with a plow lashed to the wagon-box. The farmers are coming. If you should stop at Dunvegan you'd hardly know you were inMackenzie's old country, I'm afraid. And now the buffalo and the elkare all gone, where there used to be so many. It is coming now to bethe white man's country. "

"You'll have to come up to Alaska, where we live, Alex, " said John. "We've got plenty of wild country back inside of Alaska yet. But eventhere the outside hunters are killing off the bear and moose mightyfast. "

"Yes, " said Alex, "for sport, for their heads, and not for the meat!My people kill for meat alone, and they could live here forever andthe game would still be as thick as ever it was. It's the whites whodestroy the new countries. "

"I'm beginning to like this country more and more, " said Jesse, frankly. "Back in the mountains sometimes I was pretty badly scared, the water roared so much all the time. But here the country lookseasier, and the water isn't so strong. I think we'll have the bestpart of our trip now. "

At that instant the sound of a rifle-shot rang out from some pointbelow them on the river. The dugout had just swung out of sight aroundthe bend. "That's Rob's rifle!" exclaimed John. 

"Very likely, " said Alex. "Bear, I suppose. "

The crew of the _Jaybird_ bent to their paddles and presently passedin turn about the sharp bend and came up alongside the dugout, whichlay along shore in some slack water. Rob was looking a trifleshamefaced. 

"Did you miss him?" asked John, excitedly. 

"Well, " said Rob, "I suppose you'd call it a miss--he was running upthe bank there about half a mile away. You can see him going yet, forthat matter. "

Sure enough, they could, the animal by this time seeming not largerthan a dog as it scrambled up among the bushes on the top of the steepprecipice which lined the bank of the river. 

"He must have been feeding somewhere below, " said Rob, "and I supposeheard us talking. He ran up that bank pretty fast. I didn't know itwas so hard to shoot from a moving boat. Anyhow, I didn't get him. "

"He'll was too far off, " said Moise. "But those boy she'll shoot righton his foot all the time. I think she'll hit him there. "

"Never mind, Mr. Rob, " said Alex. "We've got plenty of river below us, and we're sure to see more bear. This river is one of the bestcountries for black bear there is this side of the Hay or the Liard. "

Both boats proceeded at a leisurely pace for the remainder of thisstage, no one being anxious to complete the journey to the Peace RiverLanding any earlier than was necessary, for the journey down the riverwas of itself interesting and pleasant. All the landscape continuedgreen, although it was late in the summer. The water, however, was nowless brilliant and clear than it had been in the mountains, and hadtaken on a brownish stain. 

They encamped that night at a little beach which came down to theriver and offered an ideal place for their bivouac. Tall pines stoodall about, and there was little undergrowth to harbor mosquitoes, although by this time, indeed, that pest of the Northland was prettymuch gone. The feeling of depression they sometimes had known in thebig mountains had now left the minds of our young travelers, and theywere disposed, since they found themselves well within reach of theirgoal, to take their time and enjoy themselves. 

"Moise, tell us another story, " demanded Jesse, after they hadfinished their evening meal. 

"What kind of story you'll want?" inquired Moise. 

"I think we'd rather have something about your own country, aboutanimals, the same as you told us back in the mountains, perhaps. "

"Well, " said Moise, "I'll told you the story of how the ermine he'llgot the end of his tail black. "

XXV

HOW THE ERMINE GOT HIS TAIL BLACK

"Long tam 'go, " said Moise, "before my onkle he'll been born, allpeoples lived in the woods, and there was no Companee here for trade. In those day there was no tobacco an' no rifle--those was long tam'go--I don' know how long. 

"In those tam all the people he'll talk with Wiesacajac, an'Wiesacajac he'll be friendly all tam with these peoples. All theanimal that'll live in the wood he'll do all right, too. Only oneanimal he was bad animal, and those was what you call wissel (weasel). This wissel is what you call ermine some tam. He'll be mighty smartanimal. In summer-tam, when grass an' rock is brown, he'll go aroun'brown, sam as the rock an' the leaf. In summer-tam the wissel he'llcaught the hare an' the partridge, an' he'll live pretty good, heem. 

"Now, in the winter-tam most all the animals in the wood he'll gowhite. Those hare, he'll get white just same color as the snow. Those_picheu_, those lynx, he'll get gray, almost white. The ptarmigan, he'll get white, too, so those owl won' see heem on the snow; an' theowl he'll get white, so nothing will see heem when he goes on thesnow. Some tam up north the wolf he'll be white all over, an' some foxhe'll also be white all same as the snow. 

"But the _Cigous_, or wissel, he'll stay brown, with white streak onhis neck, same like he'll been in the summer-tam. When he'll go on thehont, those rabbeet, she'll saw _Cigous_ come, an' he'll ron off, so_Cigous_ he'll go hongree. 

"Now, _Cigous_ he'll get this on his min', an' he'll sit down one taman' he'll make a pray to Kitchai-Manitou, an' also to Wiesacajac, an'he'll pray that some tam he'll be white in the winter-tam, the same asthe snow, the same as those other animal, so he'll catch the meat an'not go hongree. 

"'Oh, Wiesacajac, ' he'll pray, 'what for you'll make me dark thisa-way, when I'll been hongree? Have pity on me!'

"Well, Wiesacajac, he'll been kin' in his heart, an' he'll hear those_Cigous_ pray, an' he'll say, 'My frien', I s'pose you'll not got anymeat, an' you'll ask me to take pity on you. The reason why I'll notmake you white like other animal is, you'll been such thief! Oh, _Cigous_, s'pose you'll go live two week all right, an' not steal, an'not tell any lie to me, then I'll make you white, all same like otheranimals. '

"'Oh, Wiesacajac, ' say _Cigous_, 'it's ver' hard to be good for twoweek an' not steal, an' not tell lie. But I'll try to do this thing, me!'

"Now, in two week all the family of _Cigous_ he'll not got anything toeat, an' he'll almost starve, an' he'll come in out of the woods an'sit aroun' on the village where the people live. But all the peoplecan see _Cigous_ an' his family because he'll all be brown, an' he'llshow on the snow, plain. 

"Now, _Cigous_ he'll got very hongree, an' he'll got under the blanketin the lodge where the people live. Bimeby he'll smell something cookon the fire. Then he'll go out in the bush, an' he'll pray again toWiesacajac, an' he'll say, 'Oh, Wiesacajac, I'm almost white now, so Ican get meat. But it's ver' hard tam for me!'

"Wiesacajac, he'll tol' heem to go back in an' not lie an' not steal, an' then see what he'll got. 

"_Cigous_, he'll been happy this tam, an' he'll go back on the lodgean' smell that cooking some more. He'll not know it, but by this tamWiesacajac has made heem all white, tail an' all. But _Cigous_ he'llsmell something cook in the pot, an' he'll say, 'I wonder what is cookin that pot on the fire. '

"He'll couldn't stan' up high to reach his foots in the pot, so hesay, 'Ah, ha! My tail he's longer than my foots. I'll stick my tail inthe pot, an' see what is cook that smells so good. '

"Now, _Cigous_ not know his tail is all white then. But Wiesacajac, he'll see _Cigous_ all the tam, an' he'll turn the meat in the potinto pitch, and make it boil strong; so _Cigous_ when he'll stick histail in the pot, he'll stick it in the pitch, an' when he'll pull outthe end of his tail, the end of it will be all black!

"Then _Cigous_ he'll go out on the snow, an' he'll look aroun', an'bimeby Wiesacajac he'll seen heem an' he'll say, 'Ah, _Cigous_, what'son your tail, because I'll see it is all black on the end?'

"_Cigous_ he'll turn aroun' an' ron aroun' an' aroun' on a reeng, butall the tam he'll see the black spot on his tail, an' it won't comeoff. 

"'Now, _Cigous_, ' says Wiesacajac, 'I'll been good spirit, else surelyI'll punish you plenty for stealing when you tol' me you'll be goodanimal. Already I'll made you white, all but your tail. Now that thepeople may always know you for a thief, you an' all your family musthave black spot on tail in the winter-tam. I would make you black allover, _Cigous_, but I have take pity on your family, who must notstarve. Maybe so you could caught meat, but all the tam your tail willmark you for a thief!'

"From that time, " said Moise, concluding, "the ermine, _Cigous_, hasalways been a good honter. But always he's brown in the summer-tam, an' in the winter-tam he isn't not quite white. That is because he issuch thief. I know this is so, because my onkle she'll tol' me. I havefinish. "

XXVI

TRAILING THE BEAR

"I'll tell you what, " said John, in the morning, as they stilllingered at their pleasant camp; "we're not apt to have a much nicerstopping place than this, so why not make a little hunt, and come backhere to-night?"

"Not a bad idea, " said Alex. 

"What's the best way to plan it out?" asked John. "Ought we to go byboats down the river, and then come back here?"

"I would suggest that Moise and Rob take the dugout and go down theriver a little way, " replied Alex, "and that you and I and Jess climbto the top of the bank, taking our time, to see if we could find anymoose sign, or maybe a bear trail in the country back from the river. In that way we could cover both the top and bottom of the valley. Wemight find a grizzly higher up, although we are out of the grizzlycountry here by rights. "

This plan suggested by Alex was followed out, and at no very late hourin the morning camp was deserted by our travelers, whose huntingspirit seemed still unabated. They did not meet again until almostdusk. Alex and his companions found no fresh game trails on theheights above, and, in short, concluded their hunt rather early in theafternoon and returned to camp, where they remained for some hoursbefore at length they saw the dugout, which the boys had christened_The Plug_, slowly making its way up the river. 

John and Jesse, themselves pretty tired from their long walk, summonedup energy enough to go down to the beach and peer into the dugout. They saw no sign of any game. They did not, however, ask anyquestions, for they were learning the dignity of Indian hunters. Alexlooked at Moise, but asked him no question. He noticed that Moise waswhistling, and apparently not very unhappy, as after a time he wentabout making his evening fire. 

"So you didn't get any bear, Mr. Rob?" said Alex at last. 

"No, not quite, " said Rob, "but I ought to have got one--I had apretty fair shot, although it was rather dark where the bear wasstanding. "

Alex spoke a few words to Moise in the Cree language. 

"Never mind, " said he to Rob at length. "We'll get him to-morrow veryeasily. "

"So Moise said to me; but I don't see how he knows. The bear startedoff as though he weren't hit at all. He came down to the edge of thewood at a high bank and looked right at us when we were pulling theboat up the stream. You know, the canoe is rather teetery, but I shotas well as I could, and thought I hit him. He turned around, and Ishot at him again. But he didn't stop. Moise thought we had bettercome on in because it was so late. "

"Sure, " said Moise, "I'll tol' those boy he'll shoot those bear twotam, once in the front an' once in the back. With those rifle, he'llnot go far. To-morrow we'll catch heem easy. "

"He was a big bear, too, " said Rob, "although not as big as ourgrizzly--just a black bear, that's all. I don't like to cripple anyanimal and then lose it. "

"I don't think we'll lose this one, " said Alex, reassuringly. 

The judgment of the old hunters proved to be correct, for on the nextday, when all hands dropped down the river to the point where Rob hadshot at the bear, it was not five minutes before they found the trailwhere a considerable amount of blood showed that the bear had beenbadly wounded. At once they began to follow this trail back into thehigh country away from the river. 

Alex did not ask any questions, and there was little talk between himand Moise. Moise, however, took the lead on the trail. Alex did noteven carry his rifle, but loitered along, picking berries and enjoyinghimself, after his own fashion. 

"Keep close up to Moise, young gentlemen, " he said. "This bear, although only a black bear, is apt to be very ugly if you find himstill alive. If he comes for you, kill him quick. I doubt, however, very much whether he will be alive when we come up with him. "

"How do you know about that, Alex?" demanded John. 

"It's our business to know about such things, " answered Alex, smiling. 

All the boys now could see where the bear had scrambled up the bank, and where it had gone through the bushes on its way to the forest, leaving a plain blood trail on the ground. 

"Moise will lead on the trail, " said Alex. "He's more Injun than I am. In some ways I can beat him, in others he can beat me. He is one ofthe best trailers on the river. "

Moise now was a different man from the talkative companion of thecamp. He was very silent, and advanced cautiously along the trail, hiseyes studying every record of the ground and cover which had been leftby the wounded animal. Once in a while he pointed silently to a brokenbush or to a drop of blood. After a while he stopped and pointed to atree whose bark was ripped off. 

"Heem awful mad, " whispered Moise. "S'pose you'll seen heem here, he'll fight sure. He'll bite all the tree an' fight the bush. "

After a while Alex showed them a deep excavation in the soft dirt. 

"He'll dig hole here an' lie down, " said Moise. "Plenty mad now, sure!"

They kept on after the trail, following it deeper into the forest andhigher up the slope, minute after minute, for a time which seemedshort, but which really was over an hour and a half in extent. Moisestill remained silent and not in the least excited, and Alex stillcontinued to pick his berries and eat them leisurely as he followedalong in the rear. Once they lost the trail on an open hillsidecovered with wintergreen plants, and the boys thought the hunt wasover. Moise however, swung around like a hound on the trail, clear tothe other side of the hill, and in the course of a few minutes pickedup the spoor again when it struck softer ground beyond. They passed onthen, moving upward deeper into the forest for some minutes, until atlength Moise turned about. 

"About five minute now, we'll found heem, " said he, quietly. 

"How does he know, Alex?" demanded Jesse, who was farther to the rear. 

"Easy enough, " answered Alex. "He says the bear has lain down tentimes now, and he would not do that unless he was very weak. He wouldtravel as far as he could. Now he is lying down very often. I'm sorry, but I don't think we'll get any fight out of this bear. Moise thinksyou'll find him dead. "

Surely enough, they had hardly gone another hundred yards beforeMoise, stepping back quietly, pointed through an opening in thebushes. There, lying before them in a little glade, lay a vast, blackbody, motionless. 

Rob grounded his rifle-butt, almost in disappointment, but laterexpressed his satisfaction. 

"Now, boys, I got him, " said he, "and I guess it's just as well hedidn't have to wait till now for us to come. But speaking oftrailing, Moise, you certainly know your business. "

"Oh yes, " said Moise, "every man in this country he'll mus' know howto trail, else he'll go hongree some tam. My onkle she'll taught mehow for follow trail. "

"Well, " said Alex, "here's some more meat to get down to the boat, Isuppose, and we need meat badly, too. We ought not to waste it, but ifwe take it all on board we'll have to hurry to get down to Peace RiverLanding with it, because it is more than we can possibly eat. "

The two older hunters now drew their big buffalo knives and fell towork skinning and dismembering the carcass of the bear, the boyshelping as they could. It was plainly the intention of Alex and Moiseto make one trip with meat and hide. 

In order to carry the green bear hide--always a slippery and awkwardthing to pack--Moise now showed a little device often practised, as hesaid, among the Crees. He cut two sharpened sticks, each about acouple of feet in length, and placing these down on the hide, foldedthe hide around them, so that it made a sharp, four-cornered pack. Helashed the hide tightly inside these four corners, and then lifting itup and down, smilingly showed the boys that the green hide now wouldnot slip, but would remain in place, thus making a much better pack. He slung his belt at the corners of the pack, and then motioned toAlex to throw up on top of his pack one of the hams of the bear whichhad been detached from the carcass. When Moise got his load he startedoff at a trot, taking a course different from that on which they hadcome. 

Alex in turn used his belt and some thongs he had in making a pack ofthe remainder of the meat, which, heavy as it seemed, he managed toshoulder, leaving the boys nothing to carry except the skull of thebear, which they had expressed a wish to retain with the robe. 

"Do you suppose we'll ever get to be men as strong as that?" asked Robin a whisper, pointing to the solitary figure of the breed now passingrapidly down the slope. 

"I didn't know anybody was so strong, " admitted Jesse. "They must bepretty good men, I'm thinking. "

"But which way are they going?" asked John. "Do you suppose they'relost?"

"We'll follow and see, " answered Rob. "They seem to know their own waypretty well. "

They now kept Alex in sight, and in the course of about fifteen ortwenty minutes came up with Moise, who was sitting down, resting hisback against the root of a tree. 

"I suppose you'll know where we are now?" he asked of Rob. 

Rob shook his head. "No, I don't recognize the place. "

Moise pointed with a thumb to a point just back of the tree. Robstepped over, and gazing down, saw a deep hole in the ground. 

"Why, I know!" said he. "This is one of the holes the bear dug--one ofthe first ones, I should think. "

"Oh, I see, you cut across-lots and didn't follow the back trail. "John was as much surprised as Rob. 

"No, " said Alex, "we saved perhaps half a mile by coming straightacross, for, you see, the bear was wandering all around on thehillside as he was trying to get away. You'll find the boats aredirectly below us here, and not very far away. "

"This, " said Rob, "seems to me pretty wonderful! You men certainly doknow how to get along in this country. I'd never have thought this wasthe direct course, and if I had been in there alone I certainly wouldhave followed the bear's trail back--if I could have found it. "

Yet it all came out quite as Alex and Moise had planned, for in lessthan ten minutes more they scrambled down the steep bank to the rockybeach where the two boats lay. The men distributed the hide and meatbetween the two, covering up both with green willow boughs. 

"Now, " said Alex, "for a fast run down this river. We've got more meatthan we can use, and we must get to the Landing. "

XXVII

THE END OF THE OLD WAR-TRAIL

It is possible to make twenty-five miles a day with pole andtracking-line against a current even so strong as that of the PeaceRiver. Twice or thrice that distance down-stream is much easier, sothat no greatly difficult journey remained ahead of our travelersbetween their last camp and the old Hudson Bay post known as PeaceRiver Landing, which perhaps Moise would have called the end of theold war-trail from Little Slave Lake--the point near the junction ofthe Peace and Smoky rivers which has in it so much strategic value, whether in war or in peace. The two boats, pausing only for thebriefest possible encampments, now swung on down, day after day, notpausing at the ultimate western settlements, St. John and Dunvegan, but running on down, between high and steep banks, through a countryclean and beautiful with its covering of poplar growth. At last, wellwearied with steady paddling, they opened up a great "V" in thevalley, so that they knew they were at the junction of the Smoky andthe Peace, and hence at the end of this stage of their journey. 

It was evening at the time of their arrival, and Rob was much forfinishing the journey that day, yet yielded to the wish of Moise, whothought it would be better to camp some few miles above the town, although almost within sight of the great ferry which here crosses themain river from the wagon trail of the north bank. 

"We'll must go in like real _voyageurs_, " insisted Moise. "We'll notlook good to go in to-night--too much tire an' dirt. "

In the morning Moise appeared at the breakfast table attired in hisbest. He had in some way managed a clean shave, and now his long, black hair was bound back with a gaudy handkerchief, his old shirtreplaced by a new and bright one, and his old moccasins discarded fora pair of new and brilliantly beaded ones, so that in all he made abrave figure of a voyageur indeed. Alex also in a quiet way hadfollowed the lead of Moise. The boys themselves, falling into thespirit of this, hunted through their war-bags for such finery as theycould compass, and decked themselves out in turn with new moccasins, new gloves, and new kerchiefs for their necks. Moise looked on themall with the utmost approbation. 

"It's the best for return like some _braves hommes_, " said he. "Well, _en avant_!"

They all bent gaily to the paddles now, and sped down the flood of thegreat stream until at length they sighted the buildings of the HudsonBay post, just below the ferry. Here, finishing with a great spurt ofspeed, they pulled alongside the landing bank, just below where therelay at mooring the tall structure of the Hudson Bay steamboat, _PeaceRiver_, for the time tarrying at this point. Moise rolled his paddlealong the gunwale, making the spray fly from the blade after the oldfashion of the _voyageurs_ ending a journey, and the boys followed hisexample. Many willing hands aided them to disembark. A little laterthey found themselves ready for what seemed apt to be one of theirlast encampments. 

A tall breed woman stood at a little distance up the bank, silentlyawaiting their coming. Moise pointed to her with no great emotion. 

"He's my womans, " said he. "He'll fix the camp for us an' take care ofthose meat, yes. "

[Illustration: MOISE AT HOME]

Moise and his wife met, undoubtedly glad to see each other, thoughmaking no great show at the time. Pretty soon the breed woman camedown and lifted the bear hides and the meat from the boats. 

"She'll fix up the hides for you, all right, " said Alex, quietly. "Aswe don't need the meat, and as I don't live here, but a hundred milesbelow on Little Slave, I think we had better give Moise all of themeat for himself and his people--he probably has fifty or more'uncles' and 'cousins' in this village. Meantime, I think it might bewell for us to make a little camp over here in the cottonwoods justback of the lodges. "

They saw now on the flat between the river and the Company post quitea little village of Indian conical tepees, from which now came manyIndians and half-breeds, and a multitude of yelping dogs. 

The boys, aided by one or two taciturn but kindly natives, who seemedto know who they were, and so lent a hand without any request, soonhad their simple little camp well under way. At about this time theywere approached by a stalwart man wearing the cap of the Hudson BayCompany's river service. 

"I'm Saunders, of the Hudson Bay Company, " said he, "and I supposeyou're the nephews of Mr. Wilcox, an engineer, who has gone down theriver?"

"Yes, sir, " said Rob; "we have just come down, and we expected to meethim below here. "

"I have a letter for you, " said Captain Saunders. "Mr. Wilcox came upfrom Little Slave awhile back, and went down to Fort Vermilion with uson our last trip--I'm the captain of the boat over yonder. He asked meto bring you down to Vermilion on our next run. I suppose the letterexplains it all. "

"Yes, sir, " said Rob, after reading it and handing it to the others. "That's about the size of it. We thought our trip was ended here, buthe asks us to come on down and meet him at Fort Vermilion! It seems along way; but we're very glad to meet you, Captain Saunders. "

They all shook hands, and the grizzled veteran smiled at themquizzically. 

"Well, young gentlemen, " said he, "I hardly know what to think aboutyour trip, but if you really made it, you're lucky to get through inas good shape as you have. "

"We had a perfectly bully time, sir, " said Rob. "We lost one of ourboats west of the cañon, but we got another this side, and we're allsafe and sound, with every ounce of our property along. "

"You have the best of me, I must admit, " said the Hudson Bay man, "forI have never been west of St. John myself, although we make theDunvegan run regularly all the time, of course. They tell me it ispretty wild back there in the mountains. "

"Yes, sir, " said Rob. "The water's pretty fast sometimes; but, yousee, we had two good men with us, and we were very careful. "

"You had pretty fair men with _you_, too, didn't you, Alex?" smiledSaunders, as the tall half-breed came up at that time. 

"None better, " said Alex, quietly. "We caught a grizzly and a blackbear, not to mention a caribou and a couple of sheep. They seem to menatural hunters. I'm quite proud of them--so proud that we gave them a'lob-stick, ' Captain. "

"And quite right, too, " nodded Saunders. 

"Oh, well, of course we couldn't have done any of those things withoutyou and Moise, " said Rob. "Anybody can shoot a rifle a little bit, butnot every one could bring the boats out of such water as we have had. "

"Well, now, what do you want to do?" resumed Saunders, after a little. "Here's the _Peace River_ steamer, and you can get a room and a bathand a meal there whenever you like. Or you can stay here in your tentand eat with the factor up at the post beyond. I would suggest thatyou take in our city before you do much else. "

"When were you planning to leave for Vermilion, Captain Saunders?"inquired Rob. 

"Some time to-morrow morning, as soon as we get plenty of wood fromthe yard across the river. It's about three hundred and fifty miles toVermilion down-stream--that is to say, north of here--but we run it intwo or three days with luck. Coming up it's a little slower, ofcourse. "

"If you don't mind, sir, " said Rob at length, "I think we'd rathersleep in our tent as long as we can--the steamboat would be very nice, but it looks too much like a house. "

Saunders laughed, and, turning, led the way through the Indianvillages and up toward the single little street which made the villageof Peace River Landing, ancient post of the Hudson Bay. Here heintroduced the young travelers, who at once became the sensation ofthe hour for all the inhabitants, who now thronged the streets aboutthem, but who all stood silent and respectful at a distance. 

They found the Hudson Bay post, as Jesse had said, more like a countrystore than the fur-trading post which they had pictured forthemselves. They saw piled up on the shelves and counters all sorts ofthe products of civilization--hardware of every kind, groceries, tinned goods, calicoes, clothes, hats, caps, guns, ammunition--indeed, almost anything one could require. 

John was looking behind the counters with wistful eye, for the timeceasing his investigation of the piles of bright new moccasins. 

"I don't see any, Alex, " said he, at last. 

"Any what, Mr. John?"

"Well, you said there'd be toffy. "

Alex laughed and beckoned to the clerk. When John made known hiswishes, the latter ran his hand in behind a pile of tobacco andbrought out a number of blue-covered packages marked "Imperial Toffy. "

"I think you will find this very nice, sir, " said he. "It's made inthe old country, and we sell quite a bit of it here. "

John's eyes lighted up at this, and, if truth be told, both of theother boys were glad enough to divide with him his purchase, quantities of which he generously shared also with the Indian andhalf-breed children whom he presently met in the street. 

"I don't see but what this is just the same as any other town, " saidhe at length, his mouth full. 

They were received with great courtesy by the factor of the Hudson BayCompany, who invited them to have lunch with him. To their surprisethey found on the table all the sorts of green vegetables they hadever known--potatoes, beans, tomatoes, lettuce, many varieties, andall in the greatest profusion and excellence. 

"We don't encourage this sort of thing, " said the factor, smilinglypointing to these dishes of vegetables, "for the theory of our Companyis that all a man needs to eat is meat and fish. But just to be infashion, we raise a few of these things in our garden, as you may see. When you are at Vermilion, moreover, although that is three hundredand fifty miles north from here, you'll see all sorts of grain andevery vegetable you ever heard of growing as well as they do twelve orfifteen hundred miles south of here. "

"It's a wonderful country, sir, " said Rob. "I don't blame Alex andMoise for calling this the Land of Plenty. "

"Moise said that the old war-trail over from the Little Slave countryused to end about here, " ventured John. 

The factor smiled, and admitted that such was once said to have beenthe case. 

"Those days are gone, though, my young friend, " said he. "There's anew invasion, which we think may unsettle our old ways as much as theinvasion of the Crees did those of the Stoneys and Beavers long ago. Imean the invasion of the wagon-trains of farmers. "

"Yes, " said Rob, "Alex told us we'd have to go to the Liard Riverpretty soon, if we wanted any moose or bear; but anyhow, we're here intime, and we want to thank you for helping us have such a pleasanttrip. We're going to enjoy the run down the river, I'm sure. "

XXVIII

STEAMBOATING IN THE FAR NORTH

Captain Saunders finished the operation of getting wood for the _PeaceRiver_ by ten o'clock of the next morning, and as the steamer oncemore came alongside the steep bank at the landing the hoarse note ofher whistles notified every one to get ready for the journey down thestream. The boys, who had passed the night in their tent withAlex--Moise having gone to his own tepee for the night--now began tobestir themselves before going aboard the steamer. 

"What are we going to do with all our things, Alex?" asked Rob. 

"How do you mean, sir?"

"Why, our tent and the skins and trophies and blankets andeverything--we won't need them on board the boat, will we?"

"No, sir, and the best way will be to leave them here. "

"What! In our tent, with no one to care for them? You know, Moise isgoing with us, as I understand it. "

"Everything will be perfectly safe right there in the tent, if onlyyou tie the flaps so the dogs can't get in, " answered Alex. "You see, it's only white men that steal in this country--the Injuns and breedswon't do that. Until the Klondike pilgrims came through here we didn'tknow what theft was. I can answer for these people here. Everythingyou leave will be perfectly safe, and, as you say, it will be lessbother than to take this stuff along on the boat. "

Rob motioned to his companions, and they stepped aside for a littlewhile. 

"What are we going to do about the stuff we've got left over, fellows?" asked he. "Of course, we've got to get down by wagon as faras Little Slave, and we'll need grub enough, if Uncle Dick hasn't gotit, to last us two or three days. But we won't boat, and we've gotquite a lot of supplies which I think we had better give toMoise--they have to charge pretty good prices for everything they sellat the store up here, and maybe Moise will like this stuff. "

"That suits me, " said John, "and I think it would be a good idea. GiveMoise all the meat and such supplies as we don't need going out. "

"And then, how about the boats?"

"Well, old Picheu sold us the dugout, and I don't suppose he'll everget down here any more, and we certainly couldn't take it out with us. I'm in favor of making Moise a present of that. He seems to like itpretty well. "

"A good idea, " said Rob. "And how about the _Jaybird_? Wouldn't it befine to give that to Alex!"

Both the other boys thought this would be a good idea, and theyaccordingly proposed these plans to Alex before they went aboard thesteamer. 

The old hunter smiled with great pleasure at their generosity. "Idon't want to rob you young men, " said he, "and without doubt youcould sell both of those boats here if you liked. But if you want usto keep them, they will be of great value to us. Moise hunts up anddown the river all the time, and can use the dugout. I live on LittleSlave, and hunt miles below here, but I have plenty of friends withwagons, and they'll take the _Jaybird_ across for me. I'll keep her aslong as she lasts, and be very glad indeed. "

"Well, then, " said Rob, "I don't see any reason why we shouldn't goaboard. I'm almost sorry, too, because it seems to me as though wewere pretty near to the end of our trip now. "

"Don't be so sure, " said the old hunter to him. "Some of the best bearcountry on this river is below this point, and unless I am very muchmistaken, you will probably see a dozen or two bear between here andVermilion. "

On board the steamboat the boys found a long table spread with cleanlinen, comfortable bunks with linen sheets, something they had notseen for a long time, and a general air of shipshapeness which did notseem to comport with a country so wild and remote as this. Each wasassigned to a room, where he distributed his belongings, and soon theywere all settled down comfortably, Alex and Moise also having roomsgiven to them, according to the instructions which Uncle Dick had sentup to the Company. 

During the last few minutes before the mooring-lines of the boat werecast loose all the party stood along the rail watching the breeddeck-hands carrying aboard the remainder of the boat's cargo. Robexpressed the greatest surprise at the enormous loads which these mencarried easily from the storehouse down the slippery bank and up thesteep gang-plank. "I didn't think such strong men lived anywhere inthe world, " said he. "I never saw anything like it!"

"Yes, " said Alex, "there are some pretty good men on the river, that's true. The man who couldn't shoulder three hundred pounds andget it aboard would be back of the first rank. "

"Three hundred pounds!" said Rob. "That's pretty heavy, isn't it?"

"_Non! Non!_" broke in Moise. "She's no heavy. On the trail those manhe'll take three packets, two hundred seventy poun', an' he'll trotall same dog--we'll both told you that before. My onkle, Billy Loutit, he'll carry seex hondred poun' one tam up a heell long tam. He'll takebarrel of pork an' ron on the bank all same deer. "

Rob turned a questioning glance on Alex, who nodded confirmation. "Menhave been known to carry four or five hundred pounds considerabledistances on the portage, " said he. "It isn't best for them, butthey're always rivaling one another in these feats of strength. Saunders here, the captain, used to carry five hundred pounds in hisday--all the salt pork and boxes you could rake up on top of him. Yousee this is a country of large distances and the seasons are short. You talk about 'hustling' down in the cities, but I suppose therenever was a business carried on which 'hustled' as long and hard asthe old fur trade a hundred years ago. That's where these men camefrom--from fathers and grandfathers who were brought up in the work. "

At last the steamer cast loose her mooring-lines and stood off formidstream with a final roar of her whistles. A row of Indians andbreeds along the bank again gave the salute of the north with a volleyof rifle-fire. They were off for the last lap of their long journeydown the great river, this time under somewhat different circumstancesfrom those under which they had begun their journey. 

The boys rapidly explored the steamboat, and found her a comfortableside-wheeler, especially built for this river work, with powerfulengines and abundance of room on her lower deck for heavy cargo. Hercabin-deck provided good accommodations for passengers, and, all inall, she was quite a wonderful vessel for that far-off country, intheir belief. 

"I found something down below, " said John, coming up thecompanion-stair after a time. 

"What's that?" asked Jesse. 

"Bear hide nailed on the side of the boat, by the wood-pile below. Theengineer killed it a week ago up the river. About every one on theboat has a rifle, and they say they get bears every trip. I think wehad better have our guns ready all the time. They say that oldShowan, the pilot in the pilot-house up above, only keeps his job onthis boat because he gets such fine bear hunting all the time. "

"Well, he'll have to beat us, " said Rob, stoutly. 

"Alex, " inquired Jesse, after a time, "how many bear did you ever seeon this river in one day?"

"I wouldn't like to say, " answered Alex, "for we don't always countthem. I'm told that one of our passengers counted twenty-eight in oneafternoon right on this part of the river where we are now. I've oftenseen a dozen a day, I should say. "

"You're joking about that, Alex!" said Rob. 

"Wait and see--I may show you pretty soon, " was the answer. 

The boys, always ready enough when there was game to be seen, securedtheir rifles and took their stand at the front rail of the cabin-deck, ready for anything which might appear. 

"I don't see how you can shoot off this boat, " said Jesse, trying tosight his rifle. "It wobbles all the time when the engine goes. "

Alex gave him a little advice. "I think you'll find it better to standwith your feet pretty close together, " said he, "and keep your handsas close together as you can on your rifle, too. Then, when you catchsight of your mark as you swing by, pull, and don't try to hold deadon. "

For some time they saw nothing, and, leaning their rifles against thecabin walls, were talking about something else, when all at once theyheard the whistle of the steamer boom out above them. At about thesame time, one of the deck-hands at the bow deck below picked up apiece of plank and began to beat loudly with it upon the sidestructure of the boat. 

"What's the matter?" asked Rob. "Has everybody gone crazy, Alex?"

"No; they're just trying to beat up the game, " said Alex, smiling. "You see that island below? It nearly always has bears feeding on it, where the berries are thick. When the boat comes down above them themen try to scare the bears out into the river. Just wait a minute, andperhaps you'll see some of the strangest bear hunting you ever heardof in your life. "

Almost as he spoke they all heard the crack of a rifle from thepilot-house above them, and saw the spit of a bullet on the water manyhundreds of yards below them. 

"I see him, " said Rob, "I see him--there he goes! Look at that littleripple on the water. "

"Yes, " said Alex, quietly, "there was one on the island, as I supposedthere would be. He is swimming off now for the mainland. Too far yet, I should say. Just take your time, and let Showan waste hisammunition. "

It was all the boys could do to hold their fire, but presently, sincealmost every one else on the boat began to shoot, Alex signaled to hisyoung charges to open up their battery. He knew very well that therifles they were using were more powerful than the carbines which madethe usual arm in that country. 

"Be careful now, young men, " said he, "and watch where your bulletsgo. "

For the first few shots the boys found the difficulty which Jesse hadprophesied, for shooting from an unstable platform is alwaysdifficult. They had the added advantage, however, of being able totell where their bullets were falling. As they were all firing closetogether, and were using rifles of the same caliber, it was difficultto tell who really was the lucky marksman, but, while the littletriangle of moving water still seemed two or three hundred yards belowthe boat, suddenly it ceased to advance. There lay upon the surface ofthe water a large oblong, black mass. 

"Through the head!" said Alex, quietly. "I don't know which one. "

All the deck-hands below began to laugh and shout. The captain ofthe boat now came forward. "I don't know which one of you tocongratulate, " said he, "but that was good work. Now my men willhave plenty of meat for the trip down, that's sure. "

He now passed down to the floor of the deck, and under hisinstructions one of the deck-hands picked up a long, stout polewhich had a hook fastened on the end of it. 

"Look down there below now, young gentlemen, " said Alex, "and you'llsee something you never will see anywhere but here. We gaff a bearhere, the same as you do a salmon. "

This literally was true. The engineer now shut off his engines, andthe great boat drifted slowly down upon the floating body of the deadbear, with just steerageway enough to enable the pilot to lay heralongside. At last the deck-hand made a quick sweep with hisgaff-hook, and calling two of his fellows to hold onto the pole withhim, and so stopping the tremendous pull which the body of the bearmade on the pole, they finally succeeded in easing down the strain andpresently brought the dead bear close alongside. Then a noose wasdropped over its neck and it was hauled aboard. All this time theboys were excitedly waiting for the end of their strange hunt, and tothem this sort of bear hunting seemed about the most curious they hadever known. 

The deck-hands now, in obedience to a word in their own language fromthe captain, rapidly began to skin and quarter the dead bear. 

Moise explained to them that his young hunters wanted the skin savedfor them, with the claws and the skull, so that they were moreparticular than they usually are in skinning a bear which they intendto eat. Truth to say, the carcass of this bear scarcely lasted for therest of the voyage, for black bear is a regular article of diet forthese people, although they will not often eat the grizzly. 

These operations were scarcely well advanced before once more thewhistle began to roar, and once more the rifle-fire began fromShowan's place up in the pilot-house. This time they all saw a bigbear running up the bank, but perhaps half a mile away. It made goodspeed scrambling up over the bare places, and was lost to sight fromtime to time among the bushes. But it had no difficulty in making itsescape unhurt, for now the boys, although they fired rapidly at it, could not tell where their bullets were dropping, and were unable tocorrect their aim. 

"I don't care, " said Rob, "if it did get away. We've got almost bearsenough now, and besides, I don't know whether this is sportsmanlike ornot, shooting bears from a boat. Anyhow, when an animal is swimming inthe water and can't get away, I don't see the fun in killing it. Let'swait on the next one and let the pilot shoot it. "

They did not have half an hour to wait before they saw that very thinghappen. The whistles once more stirred the echoes as they swung downto a group of two or three islands, and this time two bears startedwildly across the channel for the mainland. Rob and his friends didnot shoot at these, but almost every one else did. One escaped unhurt, but another, although it almost reached the bank, was shot dead with abullet from Showan's rifle. Once more the manoeuvers of thegaff-hook were repeated, and once more a great black bear was hauledon board. In fact, they saw during the afternoon no less than sixfull-grown bears, none of which got away unsaluted, but only two ofwhich really were "bagged, " as Alex called it, by the men with thegaff-hook. 

XXIX

A MOOSE HUNT

The great flues of the _Peace River_ devoured enormous quantities ofthe soft pine fuel, so that soon after noon of the second day theyfound it well to haul alongshore at a wood-yard, where some of theemployés of the company had stacked up great heaps of cord-wood. Itwas the duty of the deck-hands to get this aboard the boat, anoperation which would require perhaps several hours. 

"You might prefer to go ashore here, " said Alex, "while we're lyingtied up. We'll blow the whistle in time to call you in before we castoff. "

As Alex did not think there would be any hunting, he concluded toremain on the boat, but Moise volunteered to walk along the beach withthe boys, to explain anything they might see, and to be of assistancein case they should happen to meet with any game, although no onesuspected that such would be the case, since the arrival of the boathad necessarily made considerable disturbance. 

"Maybe so we'll seen some of these mooses somewhere, " said Moise aftera time. "You'll seen his track on the sand all along. "

"That's so, " said Rob. "They look just like cattle, don't they? Ishould think all the game in the country must be coming down into thisvalley to see what's going on. Here's a wolf track, too, big as ahorse's foot, almost. And what are all of these little scratches, likea cat, on the beach, Moise?"

"Some beevaire, he'll sweem across an' come out here. He'll got ahouse somewhere, I'll s'pose. Plenty game on this part of the riverall tam. Plenty meat. My people he'll live here many year. I got someonkle over on Battle River, an' seven, five, eight cousin on CadotteRiver, not far from here. All good honter, too. "

"I can believe that, Moise, after seeing you, " said John. 

The happy-go-lucky Moise laughed light-heartedly. "If she'll don' honton this land, she'll starve sure. A man he'll mus' walk, he'll mus'hont, he'll mus' portage, he'll mus' trap, he'll mus' walk on thetrack-line, an' know how for paddle an' pole, else he'll starve sure. "

They walked on down along the narrow beach covered with rough stones, and showing only here and there enough of the sand or earth to hold atrack. At length, however, Moise gave a sharp word of caution, andhurriedly motioned them all to get under cover at the bank. 

"What is it, Moise?" whispered Rob, eagerly. 

"Moose!" He pointed down the bank. For a long time the boys coulddiscover nothing, but at last they caught sight of a little splash ofwater four or five hundred yards below, where a trickling streamentered the main river at a low place. 

"He'll stood there an' fight the fly, maybe so, " said Moise. "Ha-hum!Why he'll don' see us I don' know, me. Why the boat he'll not scareheem I'll don' know, me, too. How we'll get heem I don' know, me. Butwe'll try. Come!"

The boys now found that Moise was once more turned hunter, and rathera relentless and thoughtless one at that, for he seemed to pay noattention to the weakness of other members of his company. Theyscarcely could keep him in sight as he made his way through the heavycover to an upper bench, where the forest was more open. Here hepointed to the steep slope which still rose above them. 

"We must make surround, " said he, in a whisper. 

Not so bad a general was Moise, for, slight as was his chance toapproach so wary an animal as a moose under these conditions, he usedthe only possible plan by which success might have been attained. 

The little trickle of water in which the moose stood at the beachbelow came down out of a steep _coulée_, which at the point where theystood ran between deep banks, rapidly shallowing farther up the mainslope. Fortunately the wind was right for an approach. Moise left Johnat a rock which showed on an open place pretty well up the hill, andstationed Jesse a little closer to the _coulée_. Moise and Robscrambled across the steep slopes of the ravine, and hurried on asfast as they could go, to try to get below the moose in case it shouldattempt to take the water. Thus they had four rifles distributed atpoints able to cover the course of the moose should it attempt toescape up the bank, and close enough to hear it if it passed beneathin the forest growth. 

Rob and Moise paused only long enough partly to get their breathbefore Moise motioned to Rob to remain where he was, while he himselfhastened to the right and down toward the beach. 

For some time the half-breed hunter remained at the edge of the cover, listening intently. Apparently he heard no sound, and neither he norRob could detect any ripple on the water showing that the moose wasgoing to undertake escape by swimming. Thus for a time, for whatindeed seemed several minutes, all the hunters continued in theirinaction, unable to determine upon a better course than simply to waitto see what might happen. 

What did happen was something rather singular and unexpected. SuddenlyRob heard a rifle-shot at the left, and turning, saw the smoke ofJesse's rifle, followed by a second and then a third report. He sawJesse then spring to his feet and run up to the slope, shoutingexcitedly as he went and waving his cap. Evidently the hunt was overin very unexpected fashion. Moise, Rob, and John also ran up as fastas their legs and lungs would allow them. 

They saw lying almost at the head of the _coulée_, which herehad shallowed up perceptibly, a great, long-legged, dark body, with enormous head, tremendously long nose, and widely palmatedantlers--the latter in the velvet, but already of extreme size. 

For a time they could hardly talk for fatigue and excitement, butpresently each could see how the hunt had happened to terminate inthis way. The moose, smelling or hearing Moise when he got on the windbelow, at the edge of the cover, had undertaken to make its escapequietly under the cover of the steep _coulée_ down which it had come. With the silence which this gigantic animal sometimes can compass, ithad sneaked like a rabbit quite past Rob and almost to the head of the_coulée_. A little bit later and it might have gained the summit andhave been lost in the poplar forest beyond. Jesse, however, hadhappened to see it as it emerged, and had opened fire, with the resultwhich now was obvious. His last bullet had struck the moose throughthe heart as it ran and killed it almost instantly. 

"Well, Jess, " said Rob, "I take off my hat to you! That moose musthave passed within a hundred yards of me and I never knew it, and fromwhere you killed him he must have been three hundred yards at least. "

"Those boy she'll be good shot, " said Moise, approvingly, slappingJesse warmly on the shoulder. "Plenty meat now on the boat, _hein_?"

"When I shot him, " said Jesse, simply, "he just fell all over thehill. "

"I was just going to shoot, " said John, "but I couldn't see very wellfrom where I was, and before I could run into reach Jesse had donethe business. "

"Well, " said Moise, "one thing, she'll been lucky. We'll make thosedeck-hand come an' carry in this meat--me, I'm too proud to carry somemore meat, what?"

He laughed now as he began to skin out and quarter the meat in hisusual rapid and efficient fashion. 

They had finished this part of their work, and were turning down thehill to return to the steamer when they were saluted by the heavywhistle of the boat, which echoed in great volume back and forthbetween the steep banks of the river, which here lay at the bottom ofa trough-like valley, the stream itself several hundred yards inwidth. 

"Don't hurry, " said Moise; "she'll wait till we come, an' she'll likeplenty moose meat on his boat. "

All of which came out as Moise had predicted, for when they toldCaptain Saunders that they really had a dead moose ready to be broughtaboard the latter beamed his satisfaction. 

"That's better than bear meat for me!" said he. "We'll just lie herewhile the boys go out and bring in the meat. "

"Now, " said Rob to his friends, as, hot and dusty, they turned totheir rooms to get ready for dinner, "I don't know what you otherfellows think, but it seems to me we've killed about all the meatwe'll need for a while. Let's wait now until we see Uncle Dick--itwon't be more than a day or so, and we've all had a good hunt. "

XXX

FARTHEST NORTH

As they had been told, our travelers found the banks of their river atthis far northern latitude much lower than they had been for the firsthundred miles below the Landing. Now and again they would pass littlescattered settlements of natives, or the cabin of some formertrading-station. For the most part, however, the character of thecountry was that of an untracked wilderness, in spite of the truth, which was that the Hudson Bay Company had known it and traded throughit for more than a century past. 

By no means the most northerly trading-posts of the great fur-tradingcompany, Fort Vermilion, their present destination, seemed to ouryoung friends almost as though it were at the edge of the world. Their journey progressed almost as though they were in a dream, andit was difficult for them to recall all of its incidents, or to getclearly before their minds the distance back of them to the homes infar-off Alaska, which they had left so long ago. The interest oftravelers in new land, however, still was theirs, and they lookedforward eagerly also to meeting the originator of this pleasantjourney of theirs--Uncle Dick Wilcox, who, as they now learned fromthe officers of the boat, had been summoned to this remote region onbusiness connected with the investigation of oil-fields on theAthabasca River, and had returned as far as Fort Vermilion on hisway out to the settlements. 

When finally they came within sight of the ancient post of FortVermilion, the boys, as had been the case in such other posts as theypreviously had seen, could scarcely identify the modest whitewashedbuildings of logs or boards as really belonging to a post of the oldcompany of Hudson Bay. The scene which they approached really was aquiet and peaceful one. At the rim of the bank stood the whitebuilding of the Company's post, or store, with a well-shingled redroof. Beyond this were some houses of the employés. In the otherdirection was the residence of the factor, a person of considerableimportance in this neighborhood. Yet farther up-stream, along thebank, stood a church with a little bell; whereas, quite beyond thescattered settlement and in the opposite direction there rose a tall, two-story building with projecting smoke-stack. Rob inquired thenature of this last building, which looked familiar to him. 

"That is the grist-mill, " said Captain Saunders to him. "You see, weraise the finest wheat up here you'll find in the world. "

"I've heard of it, " said Rob, "but I couldn't really believe it, although we had good vegetables away back there at Peace RiverLanding. "

"It's the truth, " said Captain Saunders; "yonder is the Company'swheat-field, a hundred acres of it, and the same sort of wheat thattook the first prize at the Centennial, at your own city ofPhiladelphia, in 1876. I'll show you old Brother Regnier, the man whoraised that wheat, too. He can't speak any English yet, but hecertainly can raise good wheat. And at the experimental farm you shallsee nearly every vegetable you ever heard of. "

"I don't understand it, " said Rob; "we always thought of this countryas being arctic--we never speak of it without thinking of dog-trainsand snowshoes. "

"The secret is this, " said Captain Saunders. "Our summers are short, but our days are very long. Now, wheat requires sunshine, daylight, tomake it grow. All right; we give it more hours of sunshine in a monththan you do in a month in Dakota or Iowa. The result is that it growsquicker and stronger and better, as we think. It gets ripe before thenights become too cold. This great abundance of sunlight is thereason, also, that we raise such excellent vegetables--as I'm sure youwill have reason to understand, for here we always lay in a supply forour return voyage. I am thinking, however, " added the captain, presently, as the boat, screaming with her whistle, swung alongside ofher landing-place, "that you'll see some one in this crowd here thatyou ought to know. "

All along the rim of the bank there was rather a gaily-clad line ofIndians and half-breeds, men and women, many of whom were wavingsalutations to members of the boat's crew. The boys studied this lineeagerly, but for some time none of them spoke. 

"I see him!" said Jesse at last. "That's Uncle Dick sitting up thereon the bench. "

The others also identified their relative and friend as he sat quietlysmoking and waiting for the boat to make her landing. At length hearose and came to the staging--a rather slender, bronzed man, withvery brown face and eyes wrinkled at the corners. He wore anengineer's garb of khaki and stiff-brimmed white hat. 

The three boys took off their hats and gave a cheer as they saw himstanding there smiling. 

"How are you, Uncle Dick?" they all cried; and so eager were they thatthey could scarcely wait for the gang-plank to be run out. 

Their uncle, Mr. Richard Wilcox, at that time employed in theengineering department of one of the Dominion railways, laughed ratherhappily as he bunched them in his arms when they came ashore. Therewas little chance for him to say anything for some time, so eager werethe boys in their greeting of him. 

"Well, you're all here!" said he at length, breaking away to shakehands with Alex and Moise, who smiled very happily also, now coming upthe bank. "How have they done, Alex?"

"Fine!" said the old hunter. "Couldn't have been better!"

"This was good boys, all right, " affirmed Moise. "We'll save her lifeplenty tam, but she's good boy!"

"Did you have any trouble getting across, Alex?" asked Uncle Dick. 

"Plenty, I should say!" said Alex, smiling. "But we came through it. The boys have acted like sportsmen, and I couldn't say more. "

"I suppose perhaps you got some game then, eh?"

All three now began to speak at once excitedly, and so fast that theycould scarcely be understood. 

"Did you really get a grizzly?" inquired Uncle Dick of Alex, after awhile. 

"Yes, sir, and a very good one. And a black bear too, and a moose, andsome sheep, and a lot of small stuff like that. They're hunters andtravelers. We gave them a 'lob-stick' to mark their journey--far backin the Rockies. "

"Well, Alaska will have to look to its laurels!" said Uncle Dick, taking a long breath and pretending not to be proud of them. "It seemsto me you must have been pretty busy shooting things, from all I canlearn, young men. "

"Oh, we know the country, " interrupted Rob, "and we've got a map--wecould build a railroad across there if we had to. "

"Well, to tell the truth, I'm mighty glad you got through all right, "said Uncle Dick. "I've been thinking that maybe I oughtn't to havelet you try that trip, for it's dangerous enough for men. Buteverything's well that ends well, and here you are, safe and sound. You'll have to be getting out of here before long, though, in order tomake Valdez in time for your fall school--you'd be running wild if Ileft you on the trail any longer. 

"The boat will be going back to the Landing in a couple of days, Isuppose, " he added after a time, as he gathered their hands in his andstarted along the path up the steep bank; "but there are a few thingshere you ought to see--the post and the farms and grains which theyhave--wonderful things in their way. And then I'll try to get Saundersto fix it so that you can see the Vermilion Chutes of the PeaceRiver. "

"I know right where that is, " said Rob, feeling in his pocket for hismap--"about sixty miles below here. That's the head of navigation onthe Peace, isn't it?"

"It is for the present time, " said Uncle Dick. "I've been looking atthat cataract of the Peace. There ought to be a lock or a channel cutthrough, so that steamboats could run the whole length fromChippewayan to the Rockies! As it is, everything has to portagethere. "

"We don't know whether to call this country old or young, " said Rob. "In some ways it doesn't seem to have changed very much, and in otherways it seems just like any other place. "

"One of these days you'll see a railroad down the Mackenzie, youngman, " said Uncle Dick, "and before long, of course, you'll see oneacross the Rockies from the head of the Saskatchewan, above the bigbend of the Columbia. "

"Why couldn't we get in there some time, Uncle Dick?" asked Jesse, whowas feeling pretty brave now that they were well out of the RockyMountains and the white water of the rapids. 

"Well, I don't know, " said Uncle Dick, suddenly looking around. "Itmight be a good idea, after all. But I think you'd find pretty badwater in the Columbia if you tried to do any navigation there. Timeenough to talk about that next year. Come on now, and I'll introduceyou to the factor and the people up here at the Post. "

They joined him now, and soon were shaking hands with many persons, official and otherwise, of the white or the red race. They found thelife very interesting and curious, according to their own notions. Thehead clerk and they soon struck up a warm friendship. He told themthat he had spent thirty years of his life at that one place, although he received his education as far east as Montreal. Married toan Indian woman, who spoke no English, he had a family of ten brightand clean children, each one of whom, as John soon found to hissatisfaction, appreciated the Imperial Toffy which made a part of thestock of the Hudson Bay Company at that post also. 

[Illustration: THE PORTAGE, VERMILION CHUTES, PEACE RIVER]

All of these new friends of theirs asked them eagerly about theirjourney across the Rockies, which was a strange region to every one ofthem, although they had passed their lives in the service of the furtrade in the north. As usual, in short, they made themselves much athome, and asked a thousand questions difficult enough to answer. Here, as they had done at Peace River Landing, they laid in a stock of gaudymoccasins and gloves and rifle covers, all beautifully embroidered bynative women in beads or stained porcupine quills, some of which workhad come from the half-arctic tribes hundreds of miles north ofVermilion. They saw also some of the furs which had been sent down inthe season's take, and heard stories in abundance of the ways of thatwild country in the winter season. Even they undertook to make friendswith some of the half-savage sledge-dogs which were kept chained inthe yard back of the Post. After this they made a journey out to thefarm which the Dominion government maintains in that far-off region, and there saw, as they had been promised by Captain Saunders, wheatand rye taller than any one of them as they stood in the grain, andalso vegetables of every sort, all growing or in full maturity. 

"Well, we'll have stories to tell when we get back, " said Rob, "and Idon't believe they'll believe half of them, either, about the wildnessof this country and the tameness of it. Anyhow, I'm glad we've come. "

The next day they put in, as Uncle Dick suggested, in a steamer tripdown to the Vermilion Chutes. They did not get closer than three orfour miles, but tied up while the party went down on foot to see thebig cataract of the Peace--some fifteen feet of sheer, boiling whitewater, falling from a rim of rock extending almost half a milestraightaway across the river. 

"I expect that's just a little worse than the 'Polly' Rapids, " saidJohn. "I don't think even Moise could run that place. "

Even as they stood on the high rim of the rock at the edge of thefalls they saw coming up from below the figure of a half-breed, whowas dragging at the end of a very long line a canoe which was guidedby his companion far below on the swift water. Had the light linebroken it must, as it seemed to these observers, have meantdestruction of the man in the canoe. Yet the two went on about theirwork calmly, hauling up close to the foot of the falls, then liftingout their canoe, portaging above, and, with a brief salutation, passing quickly on their way up the stream. 

"That's the way we do it, boys, " said Uncle Dick, "in this part of theworld--there goes the fast express. It would trouble the lightest ofyou to keep up with that boy on the line, too, I'm thinking. Someday, " added Uncle Dick, casting a professional eye out over the wideridge of rock which here blocked the river, "they'll blow a holethrough that place so that a boat can get through. Who knows but oneof you will be the engineer in charge? Anyhow, I hope so--if I don'tget the job myself. "

"You mustn't forget about that trip over the Yellowhead Pass, whereyour new railroad's going now, Uncle Dick, " said Jesse, as they turnedto walk again up the rough beach toward the mooring-place of thesteamer. 

"Don't be in too big a hurry, Jesse, " returned his relative. "You'vegot a whole year of studying ahead of you, between now and then. We'll take it under advisement. "

"What I believe I like best about this country, " said Rob, soberly, "is the kindness of the people in it. Everywhere we have been they'vebeen as hospitable as they could be. We don't dare admire anything, because they'll give it to us. It seems to me everybody gets alongpleasantly with everybody else up here; and I like that, you know. "

"It's a man's country, " said Uncle Dick, "that's true, and I don'tknow that you'll be the worse for a little trip into it, although youcome from a man's country back there in Alaska yourselves, for thematter of that. Well, this is the northern end of your trail for thisyear, my sons. Here's where we turn back for home. "

They paused at the bend and looked once more back at the long, foamingridge of white water which extended across from shore to shore of thestream which they had followed so far. 

"All right, " said Rob, "we've had a good time. "

They turned now, and all tramped steadily back to the boat, which soonresumed her course up-stream. 

Regarding their further stay at Fort Vermilion, or their returnjourney of several days southward to Peace River Landing, little needbe said, save that, in the belief of all, the young hunters now hadkilled abundance of game. Although they saw more than a dozen bears ontheir way up the river, they were willing to leave their rifles intheir cases, and spend their time studying the country and poring yetmore over the maps which they were now preparing to show their friendsat home. 

XXXI

HOMEWARD BOUND

Arrived at Peace River Landing, the young hunters found everythingquite as Alex said it would be, their belongings perfectly safe anduntouched in the tent where they had left them. Uncle Dick, who nowtook charge of the party, agreed with them that it was an excellentthing to make Alex and Moise presents of the canoes, and to give Moisethe remainder of the supplies which would not be required on theirbrief trip to Little Slave Lake by wagon. 

At this time the telephone line had been completed from Little SlaveLake to Peace River Landing, and the factor at the latter post hadsent word for two wagons and teams to come up for these passengers, outbound. There was little difficulty in throwing their lightequipment, with their many trophies and curiosities, into one of thewagons, and arranging with the other to carry out the _Jaybird_, which, a little bit battered but practically unhurt, now continued thelast stage of its somewhat eventful journey over the old Mackenzietrail--Alex, as may be supposed, watching it with very jealous eye sothat it should get no harm in the long traverse. 

Alex was thus to accompany the party for a few days, but Moise, wholived at the Landing, now must say good-by. This he did still smiling, though by no means glad to lose the company of his young friends. 

"You'll come back some more bimeby, " said he. "Any man he'll drink thewater on this river one time, he'll couldn't live no more without onceeach year he'll come back an' drink some more on that river! I'll seeyou again, an' bimeby you'll get so you'll could carry seex hondredpoun' half a mile an' not set it down. Moise, he'll wait for you. "

When they reached the top of the steep hill which rises back of PeaceRiver Landing, almost a thousand feet above the river which runsbelow, they all stopped and looked back, waiting for the wagons totoil up the slope, and waiting also to take in once more the beauty ofthe scene which lay below them. The deep valley, forking here, laypronounced in the dark outlines of its forest growth. It still wasmorning, and a light mist lay along the surface of the river. In thedistance banks of purple shadows lay, and over all the sun wasbeginning to cast a softening light. The boys turned away to trudge onalong the trail with a feeling almost of sadness at leaving a place sobeautiful. 

"It is as Moise says, though!" broke out Rob, answering what seemed tobe the unspoken question in the minds of his fellows--"we'll have tocome back again some time. It's a man's country. "

Hardened by their long experience in the open, the boys were able togive even Uncle Dick, seasoned as he was, something of an argument atfootwork on the trail, and they used wagons by no means all the timein the hundred miles which lie between Peace River Landing and LittleSlave Lake--a journey which required them to camp out for two nightsin the open. By this time the nights were cold, and on the height ofland between these two waterways the water froze almost an inch in thewater-pails at night, although the sun in the daytime was as warm asever. To their great comfort, the mosquito nuisance was now quiteabsent; so, happy and a little hungry, at length they rode into thescattered settlement of Grouard, or Little Slave Lake, passing on theway to the lower town one more of the old-time posts of the Hudson BayCompany. 

"You see here, " said Uncle Dick, as they paused at the edge of thewater which lay at the end street, "only an arm of the lake proper. The steamer can't get through this little channel, but ties up abouteight miles from here. I suppose we ought to go aboard to-night. "

"If you will allow me, sir, " said Alex, stepping forward at this time, "I might give the boys a little duck-shoot this evening on their waydown to the boat. "

"Why not?" said Uncle Dick, enthusiastically. "I don't know but I'dlike a mallard or so for myself, although I can't join you to-night, as I'm too busy. Can you get guns and ammunition, Alex?"

"Oh yes, " replied the old hunter, "easily. And I'll show the younggentlemen more ducks to-night than they ever saw in all their livesbefore. The _Jaybird_ will carry all of us, if we're careful, and I'lljust paddle them down along the edge of the marsh. After we've madeour shoot, we'll come on down to the boat after dark, or thereabout. "

"Fine!" said Uncle Dick. "That'll give me time to get my businesscompleted here, and I'll go down to the boat by wagon along shore. "

This arrangement pleased the boys very much, for they knew in ageneral way that the lake on whose shores they now were arrived wasone of the greatest breeding-places for wild fowl on the continent. Besides this, they wished to remain with Alex as long as possible, forall of them had become very fond of the quiet and dignified man whohad been their guide and companion for so long. 

The four of them had no trouble in finishing the portage of the_Jaybird_ and her cargo from the wagon to navigable water, and finallythey set off, paddling for the marshes which made off toward the mainlake. 

They had traveled perhaps three or four miles when Alex concluded toyield to the importunities of the boys to get ashore. They were eagerto do this, because continually now they saw great bands and streamsof wild fowl coming in from every direction to alight in themarshes--more ducks, as Alex had said, than they had thought therewere in all the world. Most of them were mallards, and from manyplaces in the marsh they could hear the quacking and squawking of yetother ducks hidden in the high grass. 

"We haven't any waders, " said Alex, "and I think you'll find thewater pretty cold, but you'll soon get used it to. Come ahead, then. "

They pushed their canoe into the cover of the reeds and grasses, anddisembarking, waded on out toward the outer edge of the marsh, wherethe water was not quite so deep, yet where they could get cover inrushes and clumps of grass. Alex posted them in a line across a narrowquarter of the marsh, so that each gun would be perhaps a hundredyards from his neighbor, Jesse, the shortest of the party, taking theshallowest water nearest to the road beyond the marsh. 

They had not long to wait, for the air seemed to them quite full ofhurrying bands of fowl, so close that they could see their eyes dartglances from side to side, their long necks stretched out, their redfeet hugged tight up to their feathers. 

It is not to be supposed that any one of our young hunters was anexpert wild-fowl shot, for skill in that art comes only with aconsiderable experience. Moreover, they were not provided with thebest of guns and ammunition, but only such as the Post was accustomedto sell to the half-breeds of that country. In spite of all handicaps, however, the sport was keen enough to please them, and successfulenough as well, for once in a while one of them would succeed inknocking out of a passing flock one or more of the great birds, whichsplashed famously in the water of the marsh. Sometimes they wereunable to find their birds after they had fallen, but they learned tohurry at once to a crippled bird and secure it before it could escapeand hide in the grasses. Presently they had at their feet almost adozen fine mallards. In that country, where the ducks abound, therehad as yet been no shooting done at them, so that they were not reallyas wild as they are when they reach the southern latitudes. Neitherwere their feathers so thick as they are later in the season, whentheir flight is stronger. The shooting was not so difficult as not toafford plenty of excitement for our young hunters, who called out inglee from one to the other, commenting on this, the last of their manysporting experiences in the north. 

They found that Alex, although he had never boasted of his skill, wasa very wonderful shot on wild fowl; in fact, he rarely fired at allunless certain he was going to kill his bird, and when he dropped thebird it nearly always was stone-dead. 

After a time Rob, hearing what he supposed to be the quacking of aduck in the grass behind him, started back to find what he fanciedwas the hidden mallard. He saw Alex looking at him curiously, and oncemore heard the quacking. 

"Why, it's _you_ who've been doing that all the time, Alex!" exclaimedRob. "I see now why those ducks would come closer to you than tome--you were calling them!"

Alex tried to show Rob how to quack like a duck without using anyartificial means, but Rob did not quite get the knack of it thatevening. For a time, however, after the other boys had come over also, they all squatted in the grass near to Alex, and found much pleasurein seeing him decoy the ducks, and do good, clean shooting when theywere well within reach. 

At last Alex said, "I think this will do for the evening, if you don'tmind. It's time we were getting on down to the steamer. "

The boys had with them their string of ducks, and Alex had piled upnearly two dozen of his own. 

"What are we going to do with all of these?" said Rob. "They're heavy, and our boat's pretty full right now. "

"How many shall you want on the boat?" inquired Alex. 

"Well, " said Rob, "I don't know, but from the number of ducks we'veseen I don't suppose they're much of a rarity there any more than theyare with you. Why don't you keep these ducks yourself, Alex, for yourfamily?"

"Very well, " said Alex, "suppose you take half dozen or so, and let meget the others when I come back--I'll pile them up on this muskrathouse here, and pick them up after I have left you at the steamer. Yousee, " continued he, "my people live about two miles on the other sideof the town, closer to the Hudson Bay post. I must go back and getacquainted with my family. "

"Have you any children, Alex?" asked Rob. 

"Five, " said Alex. "Two boys about as big as you, and three littlegirls. They all go to school. "

"I wish we had known that, " said Rob, "when we came through town, forwe ought to have called on your family. Never mind, we'll do that thenext time we're up here. "

They paddled on now quietly and steadily along the edge of themarshes, passed continually by stirring bands of wild fowl, nowindistinct in the dusk. At last they saw the lights of the steamerwhich was to carry them to the other extremity of Little Slave Lake. 

And so at last, after they had gone aboard, it became necessary topart with Alex in turn. Rob called his friends apart for a littlewhispered conversation. After a time they all went up to Alex carryingcertain articles in their hands. 

"If you please, Alex, " said Rob, "we want to give your childrensome little things we don't need any more ourselves. Here's ourpocket-knives, and some handkerchiefs, and what toffy John has left, and a few little things. Please take them to your boys, and to thegirls, if they'll have them, and say we want to come and see themsome time. "

"That's very nice, " said Alex. "I thank you very much. "

He shook each of them by the hand quietly, and then, dropping lightlyinto the _Jaybird_ as she lay alongside, paddled off steadily into thedarkness, with Indian dignity now, saying no further word of farewell. 

XXXII

LEAVING THE TRAIL

Continually there was something new for the travelers, even after theyhad finished their steamboat journey across the lake on the secondday. Now they were passing down through the deep and crooked littleriver which connects Slave Lake with the Athabasca River. They madewhat is known as the Mirror Landing portage in a York boat whichhappened to be above the rapids of the Little Slave River, where awagon portage usually is made of some fifteen or sixteen miles. Hereon the Athabasca they found yet another steamboat lying alongshore, and waiting for the royal mails from Peace River Landing. 

This steamer, the _North Star_, in common with that plying on LittleSlave Lake, they discovered to be owned by a transportation companydoing considerable business in carrying settlers and settlers'supplies into that upper country. Indeed, they found the owner of theboat, a stalwart and kindly man, himself formerly a trader among theIndians, and now a prominent official in the Dominion government, ready to accompany them as far as Athabasca Landing, and eager to talkfurther with Mr. Wilcox regarding coming development of the countrywhich Moise had called the Land of Plenty. 

They found that the Athabasca River also flows to the northward in itsmain course, joining the water of the Peace River in the greatMackenzie, the artery of this region between the Rockies and theArctics; but here it makes a great bend far to the south, as though toinvite into the Far North any one living in the civilized settlementsfar below. Their maps, old and new, became objects of still greaterinterest to the young travelers, both on board the vessel, where theyhad talked with every one, as usual, regarding their trip and thecountry, and after they had left the steamer at the thriving frontiertown of Athabasca Landing. 

Here they were almost in touch with the head of the rails, but stillclinging to their wish to travel as the natives long had done, theytook wagon transportation from Athabasca Landing to the city ofEdmonton, something like a hundred miles southward from the terminusof their water journey. At this point, indeed, they felt again thattheir long trail was ended, for all around them were tall buildings, busy streets, blazing electric lights, and all the tokens of athriving modern city. Here, too, they and their journey became objectsof newspaper comment, and for the brief time of their stay the young_voyageurs_ were quite lionized by men who could well understand thefeat they had performed. 

Mr. Wilcox was obliged to remain in the north for some time yet inconnection with his engineering duties, which would not close untilthe approach of winter. He therefore sent the boys off alone for theirrailway journey, which would take them first to Calgary, and thenacross the Rockies and Selkirks through Banff, and forward toVancouver, Victoria, and Seattle, from which latter point they wereexpected to take coast boats up the long Alaska coast to Valdez--a seavoyage of seven days more from Seattle. 

Mr. Wilcox gave them full instructions regarding the remainingportions of their journey, and at length shook hands with them as heleft them on the sleeping-car. 

"Tell the folks in Valdez that I'll be back home on one of the lastboats. So long! Take care of yourselves!"

He turned, left the car, and marched off up the platform withoutlooking around at them even to wave a hand. His kindly look had saidgood-by. The boys looked after him and made no comment. They saw thatthey were in a country of men. They were beginning to learn the waysof the breed of men who, in the last century or so, have conquered theAmerican continent for their race--a race much the same, underwhatever flag. 

Even on the railway train they found plenty of new friends who werecurious to learn of their long journey across the Rockies. The boysgave a modest account of themselves, and were of the belief thatalmost any one could have done as much had they had along such goodguides as Alex and Moise. 

The Rockies and the Selkirks impressed them very much, and they stillconsulted their maps, especially at the time when they foundthemselves approaching the banks of the Columbia River. 

"This river and the Fraser are cousins, " said Rob, "like the Athabascaand the Peace. Both of these rivers west of the Rockies head far tothe south, then go far to the north, and swing back--but they run tothe Pacific instead of to the Arctic. Now right here"--he put hisfinger on the place marked as the Yellowhead Pass--"is the head ofthe Saskatchewan River, and the fur-traders used to cross here fromthe Saskatchewan to the Columbia just the way Mackenzie and Fraser andFinlay used to cross to the Peace from the Fraser. I tell you what Ithink, fellows. I'd like to come back next year some time, and have ago at this Yellowhead Pass, the way we did at that on the head of thePeace--wouldn't you? We could study up on Alexander Henry, andThompson, and all those fellows, just as we did on Fraser andMackenzie for the northern pass. "

"Well, " said John, "if we could have Alex and Moise, there's nothingin the world I'd like better than just that trip. "

"That's the way I feel, too, " added Jesse. "But now we're done withthis trip. When you stop to think about it, we've been quite a littleway from home, haven't we?"

"I feel as though I'd been gone a year, " said John. 

"And now it's all over, " added Rob, "and we're really going back toour own country, I feel as if it would be a year from here to home. "

Jesse remained silent for a time. "Do you know what I am thinkingabout now? It's about our 'lob-stick' tree that our men trimmed upfor us. We'll put one on every river we ever run. What do you say tothat?"

"No, " replied Rob, "we can't do that for ourselves--that has to bevoted to us by others, and only if we deserve it. I'll tell youwhat--let's do our best to _deserve_ it first!"

The others of the Young Alaskans agreed to this very cheerfully, andthus they turned happily toward home. 

 THE END

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:

1. Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors;otherwise, every effort has been made to remain true to the author'swords and intent. 

2. "Uncle Dick" is variously referred to as both Richard Hardy and asRichard Wilcox in this book; in transcribing this book, no effort wasmade to correct this.