the beach and watch the natives run their nets, and even pursue
their native art of hunting; for that morning, hearing shots from the
bank, they looked out to see a half-dozen native kayaks hurrying to a
point out in the river where a black object bobbing up was seen now
and then. It was, in fact, a beaver which had been spied. On the bank
a half-breed was shooting at it with a rifle, while the Huskies were
crowding around, endeavoring to spear it when it came to sight. At
last a lucky shot from the rifleman brought an end to the chase. A
Husky drove a spear into the body of the dead beaver, and they came
ashore with it, all of them shouting and singing and flinging up their
paddles or their spear-shafts as they raced ahead.

"Look at those boats," said Rob, always observant. "In the last five
hundred miles we have seen the birch-bark canoe change into a kayak,
haven't we?"

"That's right," said John. "First there was the Cree canoe, with the
high bow and stern rolling in--much as you could see in Canada
anywhere. Then, as the trees got smaller, birch bark scarcer, in the
Dog Rib and Rabbit country, the boats got narrower. I wouldn't have
liked to get into one. But they didn't waste any bark rolling the ends
in; the ends came up sharp, as in the kayak."

"Yes, and at Arctic Red River," said Jesse, remembering, "they had
just a little deck--not much of a one. And now here they are made out
of skin and decked all over except a little hole in the middle."

"And if you'll look at these Eskimos," said Rob, again, "and then
think of how those Chippewyans looked, you'll have to admit that they
both have the same look and that they both look Japanese. I saw
Chippewyans that looked like Japs to me, and that was 'way south of
here. I suppose maybe some writers are correct, and that a good many
of the tribes, if not all of them, came across the Bering Sea once
upon a time, long ago."

"Uncle Dick is going to get a couple of Indian boys here, Loucheux, to
help us up to the divide," said John. "He told me that to-day. He's
out of patience with the delay here and crazy to get started, but he
couldn't get any supplies. The Hudson's Bay say that they lost a scow
somewhere which ought to have come in here and didn't come. The
Northwest Mounted Police claim that all their bacon is missing. The
Indians say they are starving and have to have something for their
children. How we'll get beans enough to carry us across Uncle Dick
can't