served Hooliam busy with
the sail. When it was hoisted, it appeared he had taken a reef in it.

"Shake it out!" Garth commanded.

Hooliam shrugged and protested.

"He says the mast is not strong," Charley translated. "This heavy wind
will carry it away," he says.

"Just now he said there was no wind," Garth said. "Let her go; and if
anything breaks we'll mend it."

Hooliam in a long harangue, demanded to know through Charley, if Garth
would pay for the damage.

For answer Garth merely picked up his rifle; and the reef was let out in
a hurry.

In all this there was something more than mere savage perversity;
Hooliam, it was clear, had an urgent private reason for wishing to delay
the journey. He had not sufficient command of his features to hide his
chagrin at the failure of his several attempts. He sulked all afternoon.
Garth sat with his weapon across his knees; and his steady gaze never
wandered far from the steersman. Willy-nilly, Hooliam was compelled to
hold the _Loseis_ to her course; and by four o'clock, the wind holding
light and steady, they had covered about thirty miles of their journey.

About this time the mast of another boat was discovered sticking above
the bank of a creek on shore. The usual excited discussion arose--this
time as to the identity of the craft. Finally the _Loseis's_ prow was
turned toward the shore. Garth demanded an explanation. Hooliam, more
obsequious now, said that it was Phillippe's boat on the way out; and he
had messages to deliver him from their common employers at the Landing.
Garth suspected another excuse; but he was very reluctant to interfere
with the real business of the North; and since it was almost time to
spell for another meal, he decided to make no objections.

With true half-breed impetuosity they chose the worst place in miles on
which to beach the _Loseis_. Her forefoot was run on a bar fully two
hundred yards off shore; and communications were carried on by means of
laborious wading, waist-deep, to and fro. The moment she touched, the
entire crew and the skipper, dropping everything, dashed pell mell for
the beach and across the intervening sand to the camp of the other
boatmen on the shore of the creek. The passengers ferried themselves
ashore in the _Flat-iron_, which had been stowed, much against Hooliam's
will, on board the _Loseis_.

After supper, as time passed and there was no sign of the returning
crew, Garth sent Charley after Hooliam with a p