tions to the trading fleet, and competition
had raised the price of fur until now the trappers, with a ready
market, were growing quite independent, and Skipper Sam, instead of
paying what he pleased for the pelts, which, when he had a monopoly of
the trade, was a merely nominal price as compared with their value,
was forced in order to get them at all to pay more nearly their true
worth.

Even now he was making a fair profit, but his mind constantly reverted
to the "good old days" when his returns were from five hundred to a
thousand per cent. on his investment, and he felt injured and
dissatisfied. At the end of every voyage he declared solemnly that he
was no longer making more than seamen's wages and would quit the
trade, and the mate, who was well aware of the captain's comfortable
financial position, always believed he meant it.

It should be said to Captain Hanks' credit that he paid his mate and
crew of five men the highest going wages, and treated them well and
kindly. So long as they attended strictly to their duties he was their
friend. They were provided with the best of food and they appreciated
the good treatment and were loyal to Captain Hanks' interest and very
much attached to the _Maid of the North_, as seamen are to a good ship
that for several voyages has been their home.

So it was that the mate made his suggestions so freely. If Captain
Hanks were to quit the trade he knew that it would be many a day
before he secured another such berth, and his solicitude was therefore
not alone in the captain's interests but was largely a matter of
looking out for himself.

The voyage just completed had not, in fact, been a very profitable
one, for the previous winter had been a poor year for the trappers
that they dealt with, just as it had been farther north in Eskimo Bay,
and Skipper Sam had good reason for feeling discouraged.

It was early in August now, and the _Maid of the North_ was entering
Halifax Harbour with the expectation of tying up at her berth the next
morning. If she were to go north it would be necessary for her to be
fitted out for the voyage immediately in order to reach her winter
quarters before the ice began to form in the bays.

The two men ate their supper and both went on deck to smoke their
pipes. Skipper Sam had no more to say about the proposed undertaking
until late in the evening, when he called the mate to his cabin, where
he had retired after his smoke, and there the mate