ace track and through the fringe of tepees, tents and
other shelters being erected for the housing of the fast gathering
arrivals. At last he stood before a group of mooseskin tepees in which
were gathered several families of Cree Indians. These people had been
brought from the present famous Indian encampment on the shores of Lac la
Biche, just south of Athabasca River, where it turns on its long
northward journey to the Arctic Ocean.

It is the men of this region who are sought by the great fur companies,
by adventurers and sportsmen and by all those traffickers who use the
great riverway to the north. And it is from them that the skilled canoe
men and the experienced flatboat steersmen are selected for the conduct
of the precious flotillas on these northern waters.

From Lac la Biche the veterans are called each year when the ice is gone
out of the Athabasca, to take charge of the great Hudson's Bay Company's
fleet of batteaux whose descent of the river means life to those who pass
their winters in the far north. These things both boys knew, and hence
their interest in Moosetooth Martin and old man La Biche.

"Here they are!" announced young Moulton as, without hesitation, he made
his way through the litter of the little camp where the women were
already cooking the inevitable bannock.

Norman greeted each man and welcomed them to the camp. The Indians were
beyond middle age and the dark face of each was seamed with wrinkles.
Nothing in Moosetooth's yellow regular teeth warranted his name, however.
This might better have been applied to La Biche, whose several missing
teeth emphasized his few remaining ones.

The two men and others were squatted near the fire, each smoking a short
black pipe. Some spoke English but there was little conversation. The
boys turned to examine a couple of rare birch-bark canoes and the camp
itself, but almost at once they were distracted by the appearance of a
new spectator in the group already surrounding the camp.

This was a young man, not much beyond the two boys in age but older in
expression. He had a foreign look, and wore a small moustache. Norman
instantly noted that his face showed mild traces of dissipation. The
stranger was tall and although slight in build seemed full of energy and
somewhat sinewy in body. His clothes were distinctive and of a foreign
cut. He wore smart riding gloves, a carelessly arranged but expensive
necktie in which was stuck a diamond studded horses