to get across would have been by way of McLeod
Lake--the very place he had come from."

"Well," said Jesse, "I agree with Moise. It would be easier to go
where we could have wagons or carts or something to take the boats
over. Everything looks mighty wild in here."

"Certainly, Jess," said John, "that's why we're here. I expect that
portage trail up there is just like a road."

"Fur-traders made it first," smiled Alex, "and then the miners used
it. That was the way white men came into the country east of the
Rockies, in the far North."

"How long ago was that?" asked John.

"There were a great many miners all along the Fraser as early as 1857.
Ten years later than that, they came up the big bend of the Columbia.
Many men were killed on the rapids in those days. But they kept on
pushing in, and in that way they learned all these old trails. I
expect some Fraser uncle or other of Moise's has been across here many
a time."

"Seex feet high, an' strong like a hox," smiled Moise, nodding his
head. "Heem good man, my onkle, yes, heem."

"Well," said Rob, as he bent over the book once more. "Here's Sir
Alexander's story, and here's a map I made myself. That way, to the
west, is the little lake where the Bad River runs out to another river
that runs into the Fraser. This lake drains into that little lake.
There's another lake east of here, according to the story; and when we
get there we'll strike a deep, clear creek which will take us pretty
soon into the Parsnip River. From there it's all downhill."

"Yes," said Alex, smiling, "considerably downhill."

"It's said there was a current westward in this middle lake," began
John.

"Certainly," Rob answered, "we are really now on Pacific waters."

"How far is it across to the other lake?" asked Jesse.

"The portage is just eight hundred and seventeen paces," replied John,
promptly. "I remember that's what Mackenzie wrote down."

"Fraser in his journal calls it 'between eight and nine hundred
paces,'" said Rob. "Anyhow, that portage goes over the top of the
Rocky Mountain range at this place--that's the top of the divide.
Nearly all these natural passes in the mountains run up on each side
to a sort of flat place. Anyhow, when we get over that portage we're
on Peace River waters. In yonder direction the waters run into the
Pacific. To the east they go into the Arctic. I'm ready to start now,
and anxious to get over the height of land."

"She'll be downheel then," l