ds wide, while at
the right hand of its lower extremity sprang up a bald white rock face
of limestone.

So sharp was the bend of the great river here that at the turn it
seemed as though the river itself had come to an end or had dropped
out of sight. The walls on the left seemed perhaps a trifle higher,
ranging in height from one hundred to a hundred and eighty feet, the
crest in places broken into crenelated turrets.

"Well," said Rob, "this is the celebrated run of the Ramparts. I must
confess I am disappointed. I think the Yukon beats this in a great
many places. They may tip this off as a big attraction for tourists,
but it's too far to come for the show, in my estimation."

John, busy charting the channel on his map, nodded his head in
affirmation. "How wide do you think it is here, Rob?" he asked, and
Rob was obliged to ask some of the boat officials as to that. They
told him that the river was from three hundred to five hundred yards
wide at this place, and that there were two great bends in the six
miles of the run between the shut-in walls.

"How far is it to the Arctic Circle, Uncle Dick?" demanded Jesse of
their leader when finally he came on deck after finishing his work in
his state-room.

The latter rubbed his chin for a time before he could reply. "Well,"
said he, "I don't know just where it is, but it's somewhere on ahead
of Fort Good Hope, and we'll strike Fort Good Hope now just beyond the
foot of the Ramparts. We'll say that some time in the night we'll pass
the Circle."

"Hurrah for that!" exclaimed Rob, and the other boys also became
excited.

"What does the Circle look like?" asked Jesse, with much interest.

"Well," replied his uncle, "I don't think it looks like anything in
particular. But I think we'll feel the bump when we run over it in the
night. I can assure you of that. Also I can assure you that, once you
get above it, at the end of our northern journey, you'll see a country
different from any you have seen. You hardly realize, no doubt, the
great extent of this tremendous run from the Rockies to the sea."

Meantime the boat had been continuing its progress steadily. It
required about forty-five minutes to complete the run of the bolder
part of the shores known as the Ramparts. Once below, there was to be
seen, even in the faint midnight light, the scattered buildings of
that far-northern post known as Good Hope.

The boys, with all the rest of the passengers, went ashore her