e from the various
trading posts and other places.

See, here they come from Sagasta-weekee! Alec is at the head of the
company. His fleet dogs are never happy now except when first in every
crowd. Cozily wrapped up in fur robes in his cariole are Wenonah and
Roderick. Sam has brought over Mr Ross, and to Frank has been
intrusted Mrs Ross. The boys are now skillful drivers, and so no
mishap has occurred. Cordially are they welcomed, and as it is Oo-che-
me-ke-se-gou the ladies are gallantly kissed by the gentlemen. With
loving tenderness Mrs Hurlburt kissed the three boys, and said she
would do so in place of their precious mothers, who would doubtless
think of them on that glad day. Then she turned them over to her young
folks, while she hurried off to meet the later arrivals from the Hudson
Bay Company's fort.

Sam was first escorted in by Wenonah, who, as she met the young ladies
of the mission, exclaimed:

"Now this is Oo-che-me-ke-se-gou, and we are all of that way to-day."

Bravely did the blushing Sam pass through the ordeal, and then Alec and
Frank, in a way that seemed to come quite natural to them, saluted in a
good old-fashioned way the two fair ladies who had come into their young
lives and were much in their minds.

"Sure," said Sam, "that's not bad medicine to take, at all, at all."

At this there was a great laugh, for Sam had blushed and stammered and
acted as though it were an ordeal of great solemnity. There was a lot
of fun and pleasantry for the next hour or so among these happy young
people, while the older ones were busy looking after matters pertaining
to the feast. Frank and Alec entertained the young ladies' friends with
the latest news that had come in by the Christmas packet. Sam, with
Wenonah and Roderick, played all sorts of pranks all over the house.
When later arrivals came in and gravely kissed, not only the elderly
ladies of the party, but also the beautiful young maidens, Alec and
Frank's faces were studies that very much amused Sam.

"Indeed," he afterward said, "I thought it was going to be pistols and
coffee for four, and may I be there to see the fun."

As the tender passion had not yet struck him, he could thus afford to be
amused at the ebullitions of jealousy that rolled so ominously into the
young hearts of the chums. "Black as thunderclouds were their faces,"
he said, "as they saw these sweet young ladies, whom they in their
callow affections would already