For the Allinson Honor

e ahead steep rocks pent in the raging water, which was veiled in spray; but nearer at hand the stream widened into a pool at which Andrew gazed with misgivings. Evidently Carnally meant to c

stance higher up an angry eddy swung back, close inshore, to the head of the pool, where it joined the main downward rush. At the junct

ked, as they rested in an eddy behind a stone. "I'm beginning to understand why Leonard asked for so much

such matters, Allinson was show

a high-grade product that can be handled at a profit in small quantitie

ve been unable to learn anything about it s

lf shortly, and we had better get on. There's a slack along the edge of the spur at the head of the pool which we ought to make, and i

noe up, I'll go with yo

about the bows; eddies swirling up from the rough bottom swung them to and fro and, although they strained every muscle, now and then brought them to a standstill. Angry waves broke on board freely, and Andrew realized that if Lucien lost his footing or slackened his efforts the line would be tor

h there?" Andrew a

ly. "If we fail, I gues

taxed to the utmost, the pole-shoes gripping the bottom. Then they moved a foot or two, and the work was a little easier when they next dipped the poles. They made a few yards. With a cry to the half-breed, Carnally loosed the line, and they shot forward up-stream with a back-eddy. It swirled about them in curious green upheavals, streaked with lin

in the stern, his eyes fixed ahead, quietly dipping

ngth when I give t

re of it. It seemed to Andrew that destruction surely awaited them. The turmoil grew closer, the rock was only a yard or

our right! S

rock unexpectedly fell back, and as they drove past its end a narrow basin opened up. The next moment they had entered i

ke it," he said. "The stream's stronger than usual

Allinson, of the Rain Bluff Mine." He turne

e and general appearance indicated that he led a comfortable, domestic life. Andrew supposed he was in business,

he rain had ceased, though the mist still drifted heavily down the gorge, and the aromatic smell of wood-smoke mingled w

" Graham remarked. "Is this your

north, looking for caribou. I'm glad of an oppor

e pull of the lonely North! Curious

u been u

the barrens between Churchill and the Mackenzie. Perhaps that's the grimme

fringe of it, but I was dressed in rags and worn very thin when

elf when there was only a shack or two and a Huds

urer for the sawmill

er than serving the fur

le crept into

ng slave of the desk, only seeing the wilds for a week or two in sum

ves, the lake storms, and the break up of the rivers in the spring. What a tremendous spectacle the last must be!-six-foot ice, piled up in wild confusion, thunde

d," said Gr

on about the silver lode you found?" Carna

persuasion before

d at a Hudson Bay factory about four hundred miles north of here and was despatched with two half-breeds and a canoe to carry stores to a band of Indians. No doubt you know that the great Company held sovereign a

country toward the headwaters

ere unusually heavy and dully lustrous, which made me curious. Following the creek back, I found a vein of the same material among the rocks. I filled a small bag with specimens and took the bearings of the sp

the door threw them out. 'Ye'll think nae mair o' them. The Company's no collecti

ew, "which of you hai

e official language of the Company was Caledonian; but that's beside the point. I was young enou

as that

rals belong to the Crown. The first discoverer can claim the r

e away animals with skins worth a good deal o

s to the band of Indians. It was winter, they were starving, and the agent recognized their claim. There was no oppression of native races in the Hudson Bay domains; not a yard of the Indians' land was taken from them, and drink could not be bought a

used with

t I've a grievance against the Hu

d for a commercial monopoly, considering how cocoa, ru

rob the starving trappers of anything that had been sent them, and I must make our provisions cover an extra three or four days. There was a danger in this, because an unexpected delay might be fatal, and the dogs were already in poor condition. I faced the risk. We set off, the sledge running heavily over soft snow, and we reached the neighborhood of the creek in a raging

eft hand, which was

and putting on a damp mitten

end to your

ompany's service. I kept the stones and after some time took them to an American assayer. He found them rich in lead and silver,

itation beside that creek," exclaimed

smiled

ree bits of stone to show a capitalist. The country's difficult to traverse; it would have needed a well-equipped party to carry up stores and haul a canoe over the

rbidden you to prospec

I couldn't do without. It was impossible to hire an Indian guide or packer without their consent. If

d, I've n

the banks and financiers' offices. Here and there a man listened with

n?" said

I might go back to the North-the children as they grew up took her view, and my silver mine became a joke among us. For twenty years I've led a happy, domestic life; but I'

led his pipe and laughed

yet. I may take the trail again some day, but it will have t

d imagine what Graham's self-denial had cost him whil

no doubt be easier

rs very good customers. Only, when you get back a short distance from the track, the North is s

the chilly mist, gathering thicker ro