.

"Hello, young mans," exclaimed Moise, smiling as usual as he slipped
out of his saddle. "How was you all, hein? I'll bet you was glad to
see old Moise. You got hongree, what?"

"Certainly we are," replied John for all three. "We always are."

"That's the truth," laughed Uncle Dick. "Lucky we've got a couple of
pack-horses apiece, and lucky the engineers have got some supplies
cached over there in the Rockies."

"Well, some of those new horse, she was fool horse," said Moise.
"She'll want to go back on his home, or run off on the bush. She's
like any fool pack-horse, and don't want to do what he knows is right
worth a cent, him."

"Well, never mind," said Uncle Dick, carelessly. "I imagine our train
will be like all pack-trains, better when they get settled down to
work. It's always a lot of trouble until they get straightened around
and shaken down to the work."

"I'll goin' to put some bell on those old gray mare Betsy," said
Moise. "Maybe those fool horse will follow him, Betsy. All the time
six height hour, I've chase those fool horse where she'll break out
and eat grass. They make more trouble for Moise than all his eleven,
ten children up on Peace River."

"I don't believe your children are troubling you very much now,
Moise," said Uncle Dick.

"No, my hooman, she'll know how to herd those childrens," said Moise,
calmly. "S'pose those baby start out for eat grass, she'll told him,
no, not do that, and he'll learn pretty soon. Now if a little baby can
learn, why can't a three-year-old horse with white eye--I'm going to
talk to that fool yellow horse, me, before long."

"Well," said Uncle Dick, "we'll get all the packs off now and finish
the camp."

"Whoa, there!" called out Moise to the offending claybank cayuse which
had caused him most of his trouble that afternoon. "Hol' still now, or
Moise, she'll stick his foot in your eye."

But Uncle Dick only laughed at the threatening Moise, knowing that in
his heart he was kindly. Indeed, he smoothed down the warm back of the
cayuse with a gentle hand when he took off the pack. Soon all the
packs were in a row on the ground, not far from the fire, each with a
cover thrown over the saddle. Our three young companions helped put
hobbles on the fore-legs of the horses, and soon all the horse band,
twelve in number, were hopping away from the camp in search of grass
and water. They found the latter in a little slough a short distance
back on the trail, and did