hingled red
roof. Beyond this were some houses of the employes. In the other
direction was the residence of the factor, a person of considerable
importance in this neighborhood. Yet farther up-stream, along the
bank, stood a church with a little bell; whereas, quite beyond the
scattered settlement and in the opposite direction there rose a tall,
two-story building with projecting smoke-stack. Rob inquired the
nature of this last building, which looked familiar to him.

"That is the grist-mill," said Captain Saunders to him. "You see, we
raise the finest wheat up here you'll find in the world."

"I've heard of it," said Rob, "but I couldn't really believe it,
although we had good vegetables away back there at Peace River
Landing."

"It's the truth," said Captain Saunders; "yonder is the Company's
wheat-field, a hundred acres of it, and the same sort of wheat that
took the first prize at the Centennial, at your own city of
Philadelphia, in 1876. I'll show you old Brother Regnier, the man who
raised that wheat, too. He can't speak any English yet, but he
certainly can raise good wheat. And at the experimental farm you shall
see nearly every vegetable you ever heard of."

"I don't understand it," said Rob; "we always thought of this country
as being arctic--we never speak of it without thinking of dog-trains
and snowshoes."

"The secret is this," said Captain Saunders. "Our summers are short,
but our days are very long. Now, wheat requires sunshine, daylight, to
make it grow. All right; we give it more hours of sunshine in a month
than you do in a month in Dakota or Iowa. The result is that it grows
quicker and stronger and better, as we think. It gets ripe before the
nights become too cold. This great abundance of sunlight is the
reason, also, that we raise such excellent vegetables--as I'm sure you
will have reason to understand, for here we always lay in a supply for
our return voyage. I am thinking, however," added the captain,
presently, as the boat, screaming with her whistle, swung alongside of
her landing-place, "that you'll see some one in this crowd here that
you ought to know."

All along the rim of the bank there was rather a gaily-clad line of
Indians and half-breeds, men and women, many of whom were waving
salutations to members of the boat's crew. The boys studied this line
eagerly, but for some time none of them spoke.

"I see him!" said Jesse at last. "That's Uncle Dick sitting up there
on the ben