mself rises up wi' a start every time a wolf raises the
long howl at nicht. I didna believe there was ever sae helpless a
creature. An' for a' that he's the laddie that's here tae show the
heathen--thae puir, sinfu' heathen, mind ye--how tae find grace. No that
he's any doot aboot bein' equal tae the job. For a' that he's nigh
helpless i' the woods he was forever ying-yangin' at me an' Mike for
what he ca's sinfu' pride in oor ain' persons. I've a notion that if yon
had a bit o' that same sinfu' pride he'd be the better able tae make his
way."

Old MacPhee took the blackened clay pipe from his mouth and puffed a
blue spiral into the dead, sultry air. A sour expression gathered about
his withered lips.

"Dinna gibe at yon puir mortal," he rebuked. "Ye canna keep fools frae
wanderin'. I've seen manny's the man like him. It's likely that once
he's had a fair taste o' the North he'll be less a saint an' more a
man."

The afternoon was far spent when they landed. Breyette and MacDonald
made themselves comfortable with their backs against the wall. Supper
came and was eaten. Evening closed in. The bold, scorching stare of the
sun faded. Little cooling breezes fluttered along the lake shore,
banishing the last trace of that brassy heat. Men who had lounged
indoors, or against shaded walls roamed about, and half-breed women
chattered in voluble gutturals back and forth between the cabins.

CHAPTER III

THE DESERTED CABIN

In the factor's comfortable quarters Mr. Thompson sat down to the first
meal he had thoroughly relished in two weeks. A corner of the verandah
was screened off with wire netting. Outside that barrier mosquitoes and
sandflies buzzed and swarmed in futile activity. Within stood an easy
chair or two and a small table which was presently spread with a linen
cloth, set with porcelain dishes, and garnished with silverware. All the
way down the Athabasca Thompson had found every meal beset with
exasperating difficulties, fruitful of things that offended both his
stomach and his sense of fitness. He had not been able to accommodate
himself to the necessity of juggling a tin plate beside a campfire, of
eating with one hand and fending off flies with the other. Also he
objected to grains of sand and particles of ash and charred wood being
incorporated with bread and meat. Neither Breyette nor MacDonald seemed
to mind. But Thompson had never learned to adapt himself to conditions
that were unavoidable. Pi