great emotion.

"He's my womans," said he. "He'll fix the camp for us an' take care of
those meat, yes."

[Illustration: MOISE AT HOME]

Moise and his wife met, undoubtedly glad to see each other, though
making no great show at the time. Pretty soon the breed woman came
down and lifted the bear hides and the meat from the boats.

"She'll fix up the hides for you, all right," said Alex, quietly. "As
we don't need the meat, and as I don't live here, but a hundred miles
below on Little Slave, I think we had better give Moise all of the
meat for himself and his people--he probably has fifty or more
'uncles' and 'cousins' in this village. Meantime, I think it might be
well for us to make a little camp over here in the cottonwoods just
back of the lodges."

They saw now on the flat between the river and the Company post quite
a little village of Indian conical tepees, from which now came many
Indians and half-breeds, and a multitude of yelping dogs.

The boys, aided by one or two taciturn but kindly natives, who seemed
to know who they were, and so lent a hand without any request, soon
had their simple little camp well under way. At about this time they
were approached by a stalwart man wearing the cap of the Hudson Bay
Company's river service.

"I'm Saunders, of the Hudson Bay Company," said he, "and I suppose
you're the nephews of Mr. Wilcox, an engineer, who has gone down the
river?"

"Yes, sir," said Rob; "we have just come down, and we expected to meet
him below here."

"I have a letter for you," said Captain Saunders. "Mr. Wilcox came up
from Little Slave awhile back, and went down to Fort Vermilion with us
on our last trip--I'm the captain of the boat over yonder. He asked me
to bring you down to Vermilion on our next run. I suppose the letter
explains it all."

"Yes, sir," said Rob, after reading it and handing it to the others.
"That's about the size of it. We thought our trip was ended here, but
he asks us to come on down and meet him at Fort Vermilion! It seems a
long way; but we're very glad to meet you, Captain Saunders."

They all shook hands, and the grizzled veteran smiled at them
quizzically.

"Well, young gentlemen," said he, "I hardly know what to think about
your trip, but if you really made it, you're lucky to get through in
as good shape as you have."

"We had a perfectly bully time, sir," said Rob. "We lost one of our
boats west of the canyon, but we got another this side, and we're al