iting incidents of the long trip which
they had already made on their journey to this Wild North Land.

Frank, the eldest of the three, was the son of a Liverpool banker. His
friends had vainly tried to divert his mind from wild adventure and
exciting sports, and persuade him to settle down to steady routine
office work. Failing in this, they had listened to Mr Ross's pleadings
on his behalf, and had commented to let him have the year in the Wild
North Land, hoping that its trials and hardships would effectually cure
him of his love of adventure and cause him to cheerfully settle down at
his father's business.

Alec was from Scotland, a genuine son of "the mountain and the flood."
While a good student when at school, yet, when at home on his holidays,
his highest joy had ever been under the guidance of the faithful old
gillie to follow on the trail of the mountain deer. For a wider field
than that offered by his native Highlands he had been so longing that
his friends yielded to his importunities, and so now here he is with his
comrades, full of eager anticipations.

Sam was from what his mother used to call "dear, dirty Dublin." He was
full of life and fun; a jolly Irish boy of the finest type. Storms and
privations might at times depress the spirits of the others; but Sam,
true to his nationality, never lost his spirits or his good nature. So
rapid had been his progress in his studies that he had pushed himself
beyond his years, and so even his tutors had joined in his request that
he should have the year off, which, spent in the invigorating air and
healthful adventures in the Wild North Land, would doubtless be a
blessing to both mind and body:

In the good ship _Prince Arthur_, of the Hudson Bay Company, our three
young adventurers set sail in the month of May from the London docks.
They met with no adventures worth recording until after they had left
the Orkney Islands, where they had called for their last consignment of
supplies and the latest mails. Here they also shipped some hardy Orkney
men and Highlanders, who were going out in the employment of the Hudson
Bay Company.

The _Prince Arthur_ was a stanch sailing vessel, built especially for
the Hudson Bay Company's trade. She was employed in carrying out to
that country the outfit of goods required in the great fur trade. Her
return cargoes were the valuable furs obtained in barter from the
Indians. Her port was York Factory, on the western side