amp scene became bright and
pleasant. It was impossible to feel any alarm when they were here
under the protection of these two men, both of them warriors, who had
seen encounters of armed men, not to mention hundreds of meetings with
wild beasts.

"Well," said Rob to Moise, "you must be tired with all that load."

"_Non! Non!_" said Moise; "not tired. She'll been leetle boat, not
over hondred-feefty poun'. I'll make supper now, me."

"It was best to bring both the boats in to-night," said Alex, quietly,
"and easier to start from here than to push in to the lake. We load
here in the morning, and I think there'll be plain sailing from here.
It's just as well to make a stream carry us and our boats whenever we
can. It's only a little way to the lake."

"I thought you were never coming, Alex," said Jesse, frankly, looking
up from where he sat on his blanket roll, his chin in his hands.

The tall half-breed answered by gently putting a hand on the boy's
head, and making a better seat for him closer to the fire. Here he was
close enough to watch Moise, now busy about his pots and pans.

"Those mosquito he'll bite you some?" laughed Moise, as he saw the
boys still slapping at their hands. "Well, bimeby he'll not bite so
much. She'll be col' here un the _montaigne_, bimeby."

"I'm lumpy all over with them," said John.

"It's lucky you come from a country where you're more or less used to
them," said Alex. "I've seen men driven wild by mosquitoes. But going
down the river we'll camp on the beaches or bars, where the wind will
strike us. In two or three weeks we'll be far enough along toward
fall, so that I don't think the mosquitoes will trouble us too much.
You see, it's the first of August now."

"We can fix our tent to keep them out," said Rob, "and we have bars
and gloves, of course. But we don't want to be too much like
tenderfeet."

"That's the idea," said Alex quietly. "You'll not be tenderfeet when
you finish this trip."

"Her Onkle Deek, she'll tol' me something about those boy," said
Moise, from the fireside. "She'll say she's good boy, all same like
man."

Jesse looked at Moise gravely, but did not smile at his queer way of
speech, for by this time they had become better acquainted with both
their guides.

"What I'll tol' you?" said Moise again a little later. "Here comes
cool breeze from the hill. Now those mosquito he'll hunt his home yas,
heem! All right! We'll eat supper 'fore long."

Moise had