e stern added
cheerfully--

"The backwoods is not the City of London. There are no policemen to
appeal to if you lose your way. Besides, we hope to find dinner waiting
for our return. Hunting lost sons is not the same sport as hunting
moose."

Both the boys laughed at the elder man's remark, and one--Bob Arnold by
name--answered--

"Don't worry about us, father. Alf and I can take care of ourselves for
half a day. Can't we, Alf?"

"Rather," the younger chum replied. "It's our respected parents who'll
need to take care of themselves in unknown waters in that cockleshell."
Then he called out merrily, imitating the tone of the first speaker--his
father: "Take care of yourselves, dads! Remember the Athabasca River is
not Regent Street!"

"Cheeky youngster!" returned the elder man banteringly, as he struck the
forward paddle into the water. "There's not much of the invalid left
about you after three months' camping."

Then with waving hands and pleasant chaffing, that showed what real good
chums the quartette were, the men struck out for the centre of the
river, leaving their sons watching from the strand before the camp that
was pitched beneath the shadow of the great pine trees.

It was a glorious morning--just the right sort for a hunting-expedition.
The air was just chilly enough to render paddling a welcome exercise,
and just warm enough to allow intervals of pleasant drifting in the
centre of the current when there were no shoals or driftwood to be
avoided.

"Yes," remarked Holden, the younger of the two men, as the rhythm of the
dripping paddles murmured pleasantly with Nature's music heard from
leafy bough and bush; "yes, Alf's a different boy now. Who would have
believed that these three short months would have changed a fever-wasted
body into such a sturdy frame?"

"It looks like a miracle," returned the other man. "It was a great idea,
that of a six months' trapping in the backwoods. When we get back to
England we'll all four look as healthy as savages. My Bob is the colour
of a redskin."

"It was a great blessing that you were able to bring him. It wouldn't
have been half as enjoyable for Alf, not having a chum."

The elder man laughed softly as he turned a look of good-comradeship
towards his companion.

"That's just as it ought to be, Holden," he said. "You and I were chums
at school, chums at college, and now chums in business. It's the right
thing that our sons should follow our good example.