iver, the next
stream to run north into the Athabasca. They found the banks steep,
more than one hundred feet to the narrow valley below; but, thanks to
the earliness of the season, the river itself was not very deep, and
the point of the ford was so well chosen by the old trail-makers that
they got across the river without having to swim and scarcely wetting
the packs. Uncle Dick was exceedingly glad of this, for he knew the
sudden rises which come in all of these streams. "Now," he said,
"we're all right, and it's good going to the Big Eddy--not more than
eight miles, I think."

They found the trail easier here for a time, passing over grassy
glades, where the horses very much wanted to stop to eat, but after a
long and a rather hard day's drive they finally pulled up in the early
evening at the double bend of the McLeod River, known as the Big Eddy.

"Now then, John," said Uncle Dick, as he swung off his saddle at the
camping-place, "you hustle out your fishing-rod and go down there to
the eddy and see if you can get us a trout for supper. The rest of us
will take care of the camp."

"Yes," said Moise, "those bull-trout, she'll got big in that eddy,
him--sometimes we'll caught him seven, height, eleven pound long."

"Well, that'll suit me," said John, "I don't care how big they come."
So saying, he picked up his rod from the saddle of his riding-pony
and, feeling for the reel in his pocket, began to joint and string the
rod as he passed down the bank.

The others had not been working very long at fixing the camp before
they heard a shout from John, far below them. Uncle Dick chuckled.
"Shouldn't wonder if he'd got hold of one of them," said he. "Better
go and see, Rob--you and Jesse." The other boys ran out of cover into
an open place from which they could see John at the side of the deep
eddy where he had begun fishing. Rob gave a big shout. "He's got one,
sure!" He could see John's rod bending strongly, while John himself
was walking up and down, making excited motions, looking back over his
shoulder. The two ran down to him as fast as they could. "What's the
matter, John?" demanded Rob, laughing, as he saw his friend's excited
actions.

"Well, by Jiminy! I've got a whale, near's I can make out," answered
John, excitedly. "I just threw in over in that slack water--baited
with a piece of grouse, you know, not having anything else--and pretty
soon he nailed it. I've been walking him around in there for quite a