ed opened the car window the next
morning, a biting cold air rushed in. Rough spruce woods lined the
track, and here and there he saw patches of snow.

It was almost noon when they got off at the station that was a favorite
starting-point for prospectors. Here they had to spend two days, for
Horace wished to engage Indian packers to help them portage over the
Height of Land. As it was early in the season, they had their pick of
men, and obtained three French half-breeds, who furnished their own
canoe and supplies.

The boys' canoe and duffel sacks had come up by freight. All was ready
at last. The next morning they put the canoes into the water; the
paddles dipped, and the half-dozen houses of the village dropped out of
sight behind the pines.

The first week of that voyage was uneventful, except for hard work and
considerable discomfort. It rained four days in the seven, and once it
snowed a little. They were going upstream always, against a rushing
current swollen with snow water. Sometimes they could paddle, more
often they had to pole, and frequently they were forced either to
carry, or else to wade and "track" the canoes up the current. The
nearer they came to the head of the river, the swifter and more broken
the stream became. At last they could go no farther in the canoes.
Then came the long portage. In order to reach the head of the
Missanabie River, which flowed in the opposite direction, they had to
carry the canoe and over six hundred pounds of outfit for about twelve
miles, across the Height of Land.

Here they camped for one night. At daylight next morning they started
over the long portage, heavily burdened, and before the first hour had
passed they were thankful that they had brought along the half-breed
packers, who strode along sturdily under a load that made Fred stare.
It is only fair to say, though, that the half-breeds were almost
equally surprised at the performance of the boys, for their previous
experience with city campers had not led them to expect anything in the
way of weight-carrying. Thanks to their gymnasium practice, however,
Fred and Macgregor were able to travel under a sixty-pound load without
actually collapsing.

The trail was rough and wound up and down over rocky ridges, through
tangles of swamp-alder and tamarack, but continually zigzagged up
toward the hills. It was a chilly day; the streams had been rimmed
with ice that morning, but after a few miles the boy