ty that would bring a
railroad in. Show our business men a good opening and you'll get the
dollars, while there are folks across the frontier who have a mighty
keen scent for oil."

"Have you done much prospecting?" Harding asked.

The other smiled. "Whenever I can get dollars enough for an outfit I
go off on the trail. There's a fascination in the thing that gets hold
of you--you can't tell what you may strike and the prizes are big.
However, I allow that after seven or eight years of it I'm poorer than
when I started at the game."

Blake made a sign of comprehension. He knew the sanguine nature of the
Westerner and his belief in the richness of his country, and he had
felt the call of the wilderness. There was, in truth, a fascination in
the silent waste that drew the adventurous into its rugged fastnesses,
and that a number of them did not come back seldom deterred the others.

"We want to get as far north as the timber limit, if we can," he said.
"I understand there are no Hudson's Bay factories near our line, but we
were told we might find some Stony Indians."

"There's one bunch of them," the prospector replied. "They ramble
about after fish and furs, but they've a kind of base-camp where a few
generally stop. They're a mean crowd and often short of food, but if
they've been lucky you might get supplies. Now and then they put up a
lot of dried fish and kill some caribou."

He told Blake roughly where the Indian encampment lay, and after
talking for a while they went to sleep. Next morning the prospectors,
who took the horses, started for the south, while Blake's party pushed
on north with loads that severely tried their strength. After a few
days' laborious march they reached a stream and found a few Indians who
were willing to take them some distance down it. It was a relief to
get rid of the heavy packs and rest while the canoe glided smoothly
through the straggling forest, and the labour of hauling her across the
numerous portages was light compared with the toil of the march.
Blake, however, had misgivings; they were making swift progress
northwards, but it would be different when they came back. Rivers and
lakes would be frozen then, which might make travelling easier, if they
could pick up the hand sledges they had cached, but there was a limit
to the provisions they could transport, and unless fresh supplies could
be obtained they would have a long distance to traverse on scanty
rations i