ld Picheu sold us the dugout, and I don't suppose he'll ever
get down here any more, and we certainly couldn't take it out with us.
I'm in favor of making Moise a present of that. He seems to like it
pretty well."

"A good idea," said Rob. "And how about the _Jaybird_? Wouldn't it be
fine to give that to Alex!"

Both the other boys thought this would be a good idea, and they
accordingly proposed these plans to Alex before they went aboard the
steamer.

The old hunter smiled with great pleasure at their generosity. "I
don't want to rob you young men," said he, "and without doubt you
could sell both of those boats here if you liked. But if you want us
to keep them, they will be of great value to us. Moise hunts up and
down the river all the time, and can use the dugout. I live on Little
Slave, and hunt miles below here, but I have plenty of friends with
wagons, and they'll take the _Jaybird_ across for me. I'll keep her as
long as she lasts, and be very glad indeed."

"Well, then," said Rob, "I don't see any reason why we shouldn't go
aboard. I'm almost sorry, too, because it seems to me as though we
were pretty near to the end of our trip now."

"Don't be so sure," said the old hunter to him. "Some of the best bear
country on this river is below this point, and unless I am very much
mistaken, you will probably see a dozen or two bear between here and
Vermilion."

On board the steamboat the boys found a long table spread with clean
linen, comfortable bunks with linen sheets, something they had not
seen for a long time, and a general air of shipshapeness which did not
seem to comport with a country so wild and remote as this. Each was
assigned to a room, where he distributed his belongings, and soon they
were all settled down comfortably, Alex and Moise also having rooms
given to them, according to the instructions which Uncle Dick had sent
up to the Company.

During the last few minutes before the mooring-lines of the boat were
cast loose all the party stood along the rail watching the breed
deck-hands carrying aboard the remainder of the boat's cargo. Rob
expressed the greatest surprise at the enormous loads which these men
carried easily from the storehouse down the slippery bank and up the
steep gang-plank. "I didn't think such strong men lived anywhere in
the world," said he. "I never saw anything like it!"

"Yes," said Alex, "there are some pretty good men on the river,
that's true. The man who couldn't sh