The Young Alaskans on the Trail — A Closer Reading

Rob did not quite agree with him.

"They're not heavy for canoes--sixteen-foot Peterboroughs. They beat any boat going for their weight, and they're regular ships in the water under load."

"They look pretty small to me," demurred Jesse.

"They're bigger than the skin boats that we had among the Aleuts last year," ventured John. "Besides, I've noticed a good deal depends on the way you handle a boat."

"Not everybody has boats as good as these," admitted Jesse.

"Yes," said John, "it must have cost Uncle Dick a lot of money to get them up here from the railroad. Sir Alexander Mackenzie traveled in a big birch-bark when he was here--ten men in her, and three thousand pounds of cargo besides. She was twenty-five feet long. Uncle Dick told me the Indians have dugouts farther down the river, but not very good ones. I didn't think they knew anything about birch-bark so far northwest, but he says all their big journeys were made in those big bark canoes in the early days."

"Well, I'm guessing that our boats will seem pretty good before we get through," was Rob's belief, "and they'll pay for themselves too."

All the boys had been reading in all the books they could find telling of the journeys of the old fur-traders, Alexander Mackenzie, Simon Fraser, and others, through this country. Rob had a book open in his lap now.

"How far can we go in a day?" asked Jesse, looking as though he would be gladder to get back home again than to get farther and farther away.

"That depends on the state of the water and the speed of the current," said the older boy. "It's no trouble to go fifty miles a day straightaway traveling, or farther if we had to. Some days they didn't make over six or eight miles going up, but coming down--why, they just flew!"

"That wouldn't take us long to go clear through to where Uncle Dick is."

"A few weeks or so, at least, I hope. We're not out to beat Sir Alexander's record, you know--he made it from here in six days!"

"I don't remember that book very well," said Jesse; "I'll read it again some time."

"We'll all read it each day as we go on, and in that way understand it better when we get through," ventured John. "But listen; I thought I heard them in the bush."

It was as he had said. The swish of bushes parting and the occasional sound of a stumbling footfall on the trail now became plainer. They heard the voice of Moise break out into a little song as he saw the light of the fire flickering among the trees. He laughed gaily as he stepped into the ring of the cleared ground, let down one end of the canoe which he was carrying, and with a quick twist of his body set it down gently upon the leaves.

"You'll mak' good time, _hein_?" he asked of the boys, smiling and showing a double row of white teeth.

"What did I tell you, boys?" demanded Rob. "Here they are, and it isn't quite dark yet."

The next moment Alex also came in out of the shadow and quietly set down his own canoe, handling it as lightly as though it were but an ordinary pack. Indeed, these two woodsmen were among the most powerful of their class, and well used to all the work which comes on a trip in a wilderness country.

As they stood now a little apart, it might be seen that both of the guides were brown-skinned men, still browner by exposure to the weather. Each of them had had an Indian mother, and the father of each was a white man, the one a silent Scot, of the Hudson Bay fur trade, the other a lively Frenchman of the lower trails, used to horse, boat, and foot travel, and known far and wide in his own day as a good _voyageur_.

Indeed, two better men could not have been selected by Uncle Dick for the work now in hand. As they stood now in their shirt-sleeves, each wiping off his forehead with his red kerchief, they looked so strong and tall that the boys suddenly felt all uneasiness pass away from their minds. The twilight came on unnoticed, and in the light of the fire, freshly piled up with wood, the camp scene became bright and pleasant. It was impossible to feel any alarm when they were here under the protection of these two men, both of them warriors, who had seen encounters of armed men, not to mention hundreds of meetings with wild beasts.

"Well," said Rob to Moise, "you must be tired with all that load."