of the mounted force, one or two
nondescripts, and a scattered and respectful fringe of Loucheux
Indians who held back at the rear went to make up the strange throng
who greeted the last and only boat of the year.

It was a great event for these far-northern dwellers when the steamer
came. A great event it was, too, for these young adventurers who had
gone north with the brigade, who now had seen that brigade dwindle and
scatter over more than fifteen hundred miles of unknown country; and
who now saw the remnant of the brigade proper, one steamboat and a
scow, come to anchor here at the farthest north of the fur trade of
this continent!

The boys were quickly on shore, running around with their cameras
among the savages. They found the Huskies, as they always were called,
a much more imposing tribe than any of the Indians they had seen. The
men were taller and more robust, more fearless and self-respecting,
even arrogant in their deportment. The women were a strapping lot.
Some of them wore the blue line tattoo on the lower lip, showing them
to be married women; others, young girls not uncomely to look upon.
All were clad in the fur garments of the North, even though it now
was summer-time, the date of their arrival being July 8th. Over the
fur garments most of them wore a dirty cotton covering, supposedly to
keep their fur garments clean. The women usually slipped their arms
out of the sleeves of their loose, chemise-like jackets, so that with
their double coverings it was sometimes difficult to tell where they
kept their hands.

To the surprise of the boys, the Eskimos insisted on receiving money
or presents of some kind before they would allow themselves to be
photographed. They were willing to trade, but, as their Uncle Dick had
warned them, they proved to be most avaricious traders. A "labret" of
ivory or even of wood they valued at four or five dollars--or asked so
much as that at first. A bone-handled drill, made of a piece of seal
rib with a nail for a point to the drill, was priced accordingly. A
pair of mukluks, or native seal boots, was difficult to find at all,
while as for the furs with which their boats were crowded they
professed indifference whether or not any one purchased them.

"Wait awhile," said Uncle Dick. "Be as indifferent as they are. About
the time the boat turns around to go back south again you'll see them
begin to trade. I might have bought my bluestone pipe if I'd had
time."

"I'll