inquired John,
pointing to the west, where the clouds had now hidden the distant
range from view.

"All in due time, all in due time, my son," replied the engineer,
smiling down at him. "A good deal depends on how quickly we can make
and break camp, and how many miles we can get done each day through
muskeg and bush and over all sorts of trails and fords. For instance,
if we lost half our horses in Wolf Creek here to-morrow, we might have
to make quite a wait. But don't worry--just turn in before the
mosquitoes get you."

III

HITTING THE TRAIL

"Look on the tent, fellows!" exclaimed Jesse, the first thing next
morning, just as dawn was beginning to break. "It's almost solid
mosquitoes!"

"About a million," said John, sitting up in his blankets. "All of them
with cold feet, waiting for the sun to come up."

They were looking at the top of the tent, where in the folds of the
netting a great cloud of mosquitoes had gathered in the effort to get
through the cheese-cloth.

"Did any bite you in the night, Jesse?" asked Rob, from his bed.

"No, but I could hear them sing a good deal until I went to sleep."

"Well, come ahead; let's roll out," said Rob. "All those mosquitoes
will come to life when it gets warm."

They kicked off the blankets, slipped into their clothing, and soon
were out in the cool morning air. The spring night had been a dewy
one, and all the shrubs and grasses were very wet.

"Hello there, young mans!" they heard a voice exclaim, and saw Moise's
head thrust out from beneath his shelter. "You'll got up pretty early,
no?"

"Well, we've got to be moving early," said Rob. "Anyway, we beat Uncle
Dick up this morning."

"That's right," called out the voice of Uncle Dick, from his tent,
"but the quicker we get started the quicker we'll get over Wolf Creek.
Now you boys go over there where you hear the gray mare's bell and see
if you can round up all the pack-train. You'll learn before long that
half the campaign of a pack-train trip is hunting horses in the
morning. But they'll stick close where the pea-vine is thick as it is
here."

Our three young Alaskans were used to wet grass in the morning, and
after the first plunge, which wet them to the skin, they did not
mind the dew-covered herbage. Soon, shouting and running, they
were rounding up the hobbled pack-horses, which, with the usual
difficulty, they finally succeeded in driving up close to the camp,
where by this time Moise had