hire one till we learn how to manage a vessel
ourselves," replied Raed.

"And not only a skipper, but sailors as well," said Kit. "What shall
_we_ be able to do the first week out, especially if it be rough
weather?"

"Do you suppose we shall be much seasick?" Wade asked suddenly.

"Very likely we shall be sick, when it's rough, for a while," said
Raed. "We must expect it, and get over it the best way we can."

"Now, suppose we are able to hire a schooner such as we want, with a
skipper, and a crew of five or six," he continued: "where shall we
make our first cruise?"

"Along the coast of Maine," I suggested. "From Casco Bay to Eastport.
Several yachts were down there last summer. Found good fishing. Had a
fine time. There are harbors all along, so that they could go in every
night."

"Just the place for our first voyage!" exclaimed Wade.

"It seems to me," replied Raed, "that if we hire a good stanch
schooner and skipper, with a crew, we might do something more than
just cruise along the coast of Maine, fish a little, and then come
back."

"So it does to me," said Kit. "We should never get on our polar voyage
at that rate. If we are going into all this expense, let's go up as
far as the 'Banks' of Newfoundland, anyway."

"And why not a little farther," said Raed, "if the weather was good,
and we met with no accident? If everything went well, why not sail on
up to the entrance of Hudson Straits, and get a peep at the
Esquimaux?"

"Raed never'll be satisfied till he gets into Hudson Bay," laughed
Wade. "What is there so attractive about Hudson Bay? I can't imagine."

"Because," said Raed, "it's an almost unknown sea. Ever since it was
first discovered by the noble navigator, who perished somewhere along
its shores, it has been shut up from the world in the hands of a few
selfish individuals, who got the charter of the Hudson-bay Company
from the King of England. They own it and all the country about it and
run it for their own profit only. About that great bay there is a
coast-line of more than two thousand miles, with Indian tribes on its
shores as wild and savage as when Columbus first came to America. Just
think of the adventure and wild scenery one might witness on a voyage
round there! It's a shame we Americans can't go in there if we want
to. The idea of letting half a dozen little red-faced men in London
rule, hold, and keep everybody else out of that great region! It's a
disgrace to us. Their old