the place where they were to the summit of the Rockies
themselves, and to the eastern edge of the province of British
Columbia.

"From where we are," said Uncle Dick, that night, "it is seven or
eight miles to the Athabasca River at the end of Brule Lake. Once more
we are at a place where we have the choice of two evils."

"I know," said Rob, once more pulling out his map; "you mean we'll
have to go over the Roche Miette--that big hill on ahead there."

"Yes, if we keep this side the Athabasca we will," said Uncle Dick.
"The Roche Miette is a historic landmark on this trail of the
fur-traders, and I never heard that any of them ever loved it, either.
There's no way of getting between it and the Athabasca, and the trail
over it certainly is bad enough. There are places where a pack-horse
might slip off, and if so it would go many a hundred feet before it
stopped."

"What would we do if that sort of thing happened?" demanded John.

"Well," said Uncle Dick, "we'd do precisely what other fellows have
done when that happened to them. But it hasn't happened yet, and maybe
won't at all."

"It's over a thousand feet high," said Rob, standing and looking at
the face of the big cliff ahead of them.

"Yes, and that means a thousand feet down on the other side, too.
Worse than that, it means fording the Rocky River on beyond, and she's
a wild one. Then you've got to ford the Maligne, as well as a lot of
little creeks. After that you've got to ford the Athabasca--because
we've got to get across the Athabasca in order to go up the Miette
River to the Yellowhead Pass."

The boys stood silent, looking at one another, none too happy at these
hardships and dangers which confronted them.

"Don't look so glum," said Uncle Dick. "I've been over this trail
three times each way, and the old traders used to cross here dozens of
times each way and thought nothing of it. You must learn to be like
soldiers, and be contented if you have a good supper and a good place
to sleep. Besides, I've got a plan that I'll tell you about in the
morning."

VII

CROSSING THE ATHABASCA

The boys felt a little more cheerful the next morning after they had
had their breakfast, and Rob finally asked the noncommittal leader of
their party what he had meant the night before when he mentioned his
plan for avoiding the Roche Miette.

"Well, some of us may get wet again," said Uncle Dick; "but if we can
make it through, we can save a little tim