not quite decided on
our line of march.'

'Well, how did you come? Emigrant vessel?'

Adopting the laconic also, Robert nodded, and said it was their first
day in Quebec.

'Get quit of her as soon as you can; haul your traps ashore, and come
along with me. I'll be going up the Ottawa in a day or two, home; and
'twill be only a step out of your way westward. You can look about you,
and see what Canadian life is like for a few weeks; the longer, the more
welcome to Hiram Holt's house. Is that fixed?'

Robert was beginning to thank him warmly--

'Now, shut up, young man; I distrust a fellow that has much palaver.
_You_ look too manly for it. I calculate your capital ain't much above
your four hands between you?'

Arthur was rather discomfited at a query so pointed, and so directly
penetrating the proud British reserve about monetary circumstances; but
Robert, knowing that the motive was kind-hearted, and the manner just
that of a straightforward unconventional settler, replied, 'You are
nearly right, Mr. Holt; our capital in cash is very small; but I hope
stout bodies and stout hearts are worth something.'

'What would you think of a bush farm? I think I heard you say you had
some experience on your father's farm in Ireland?'

'My father's estate, sir,' began Arthur, reddening a little.

Holt measured him by a look, but not one of displeasure. 'Farms in
Canada grow into estates,' said he; 'by industry and push, I shouldn't
be surprised if you became a landed proprietor yourself before your
beard is stiff.' Arthur had as yet no symptom of that manly adornment,
though anxiously watching for the down. The backwoodsman turned to
Robert.

'Government lands are cheap enough, no doubt; four shillings an acre,
and plenty of them. If you're able, I'd have you venture on that
speculation. Purchase-money is payable in ten years; that's a good
breathing time for a beginner. But can you give up all luxuries for a
while, and eat bread baked by your own hands, and sleep in a log hut on
a mess of juniper boughs, and work hard all day at clearing the eternal
forests, foot by foot?'

'We can,' answered Arthur eagerly. His brother's assent was not quite so
vivacious.

Hiram Holt thought within himself how soon the ardent young spirit might
tire of that monotony of labour; how distasteful the utter loneliness
and uneventfulness of forest life might become to the undisciplined lad,
accustomed, as he shrewdly guessed, to a pett