say."

"Well, leave it to Uncle Dick," said Jesse. "I know he'll fix it all
right some way, and we'll get through, too."

"That's the talk, Jesse," said Rob, slapping a hand on his shoulder.
"You've got more nerve than you had when you started, and you weigh
ten pounds more, too. I'll warrant that you'll be the lead dog on the
tow-line going up the Rat."

Thus occupied, they passed the time all too rapidly. In the late
evening of their second day the boys noticed a strange hurrying among
all the population at the crest of the bluff and on the beach below.
Some sort of warning seemed to be in the air; an instant later it
became audible in the deep, booming whistle of the steamboat which lay
moored below.

The _Mackenzie River_, last unit of the modern fur brigade, was ready
to turn back from her farthest north and take up her weary way once
more, bucking the tremendous current of the Mackenzie River for more
than a thousand miles to the southward.

Again and again the whistle's echoes rang along the steep shore, and
here and there whites and natives, all the tribesmen, every unit of
the motley population of the place, hurried down to the landing, until
the narrow beach was packed. Men shouted and waved to others now gone
aboard the boat. The two red-clad police officers now going back home
smiled their pleasure at the thought of the long journey that lay
ahead of them; whereas the two who took their place stood looking upon
them somewhat ruefully, but bravely as they might, facing their own
two years of exile, during which they would never again see a white
face until they themselves were relieved. A few Huskies now came
hurriedly, offering bargains in their coveted white-fox skins, and
some of the great Arctic mink which had not yet all been traded even
by the shrewd district agent who had come north with the steamer to
see after this particular portion of the territory of his Company,
always so prolific in good furs.

[Illustration: HUSKY FLEET--FORT MCPHERSON]

Men joked and chaffed each other here and there across the narrow
strip of water. Dogs howled each time the whistle blast rang out. A
few enthusiasts on the top of the bank wasted precious ammunition in a
salute. A few cronies drank a parting stirrup cup out of their scant
remaining alcoholic stores. Yonder the Eskimos now began to man their
whale-boats for their long voyage to the Arctic Sea. The women were
packing up their own supplies now, herding