. "But we brought back
some black gold. Come and see it."

They went forward to the platform where the baggage was being unloaded.
Macgregor was helping to hand out the willow cage. It looked strangely
wild and rough among the neat suit-cases and trunks.

"What in the world have you got there?" cried Maurice, peering through
the bars.

Fred and Horace were also looking anxiously to learn the condition of
the sick cub.

"Why, he's dead!" exclaimed Fred, in bitter disappointment.

"Yes," said Mac; "the little fellow keeled over just after I came on
guard. I didn't send word to you fellows, for I knew there was nothing
to be done."

The rest of the family were alive and looked in good condition. The
boys had already decided what they would do immediately, and, calling a
cab, they drove with the foxes to the house of a well-known naturalist
connected with the Toronto Zoological Park. He was as competent as any
one could be, and he readily agreed to take care of the foxes till they
should be sold.

Naturally, however, he declined to be responsible for their safety, and
Horace at once attempted to insure their lives. No insurance company
would accept the risk, but after much negotiation he at last managed to
effect a policy of two thousand dollars for one month, on payment of an
exorbitant premium. He was more successful in getting insurance
against theft, and took out a policy for ten thousand dollars with a
burglar insurance company, on condition of a day and night watchman
being employed to guard the animals.

It was plain that the foxes were going to be a source of terrible
anxiety while they remained on the boys' hands. Horace at once
telegraphed to the manager of one of the largest fur-breeding ranches
in Prince Edward Island, and received a reply saying that a
representative of the company would call within a few days.

The man turned up three days later, and inspected the foxes in a casual
and uninterested way.

"We'd hardly think of buying," he remarked. "We've got about all the
stock we need. I was coming to Toronto just when I got your wire, and
I thought I'd look in at them. What are you thinking of asking for
them?"

"Fifty thousand dollars," said Horace.

The fur-trader laughed heartily.

"You'll be lucky if you get a quarter of that," he said. "Why, we
bought a fine, full-grown black fox last year for five hundred. Your
cubs are hardly worth anything, you know. They 're almost s