boys seem to have taken possession of my home!" he said.

"We found the cabin unoccupied, and took the liberty of using it," Will
answered in a conciliatory tone.

"Oh, it's all right!" returned the other. "That's the way I took
possession of the place! I found the cabin deserted and just moved in."

"We can vacate if necessary," Will suggested.

"Oh, there's room enough for all of us, I take it!" answered the
stranger. "My name is Cameron, and I spend only a day or two here
occasionally. I was hoping when I saw your light that you were having a
midnight supper. How about something to eat?"

"There's plenty in the cabin!" George replied. "We can give you either
fish or bear steak for supper."

"Then I'm glad to find you here!" laughed the other, "for I've been
traveling all day and I'm as hungry as a wolf!"

The visitor threw himself into a chair and began a careful survey of the
interior, far more searching than the one made from the doorway.

"My name is Cameron, as I said before," he said, "and I'm prospecting
for gold."

"Prospecting for gold on a glacier?" asked Will.

"Young man," Cameron replied, "there is plenty of gold in this vicinity.
The ice brought it here. I'm being laughed at by my friends," he
continued, "because I'm searching for the mother lode. But, all the
same, I've every prospect of discovering it!"

"The mother lode in a glacier?" asked Sandy.

"It is my theory," Cameron went on, "that the range of mountains to the
north holds gold in large quantities. It is a part of my theory, too,
that the drifting ice brought tons of it down to the moraine. If I find
any gold here at all, I'll find it in quantities sufficient to clog the
money markets of the world!"

Cameron looked from face to face as he spoke, apparently anticipating a
burst of enthusiasm from his listeners.

"Up on the Yukon," he went on, "the gold was found under the ice, where
it had been deposited by glaciers which are now dead. The same
conditions exist here. For all we know, there may be tons of the
precious metal at the bottom of the first layer of ice."

"That's very true!" replied Will. "And if you don't mind, we'll stick
around a short time and see what you discover."

"Remember," Cameron said then, "that this is my claim!"

"Of course," Will answered, "we wouldn't attempt to rob you of any
legitimate discovery."

In the meantime George and Sandy were preparing a supper for the
visitor. With their heads bent