Young Heywood did not smoke, but he drew forth his sketch-book and
sketched his two companions; and in the practice of his beloved art, I
have no doubt, he was happier than either.

"I wonder how many trading-posts the Hudson's Bay Company has got?" said
Heywood, as he went on with his work.

"Hundreds of 'em," said Jasper, pressing the red-hot tobacco into the
bowl of his pipe with the end of his little finger, as slowly and coolly
as if his flesh were fire-proof. "I don't know, exactly, how many
they've got. I doubt if anybody does, but they have them all over the
country. You've seen a little of the country now, Heywood; well, what
you have seen is very much like what you will see as long as you choose
to travel hereaway. You come to a small clearing in the forest, with
five or six log houses in it, a stockade round it, and a flagstaff in
the middle of it; five, ten, or fifteen men, and a gentleman in charge.
That's a Hudson's Bay Company's trading-post. All round it lie the wild
woods. Go through the woods for two or three hundred miles and you'll
come to another such post, or fort, as we sometimes call 'em. That's
how it is all the country over. Although there are many of them, the
country is so uncommon big that they may be said to be few and far
between. Some are bigger and some are less. There's scarcely a
settlement in the country worthy o' the name of a village except Red
River."

"Ah! Red River," exclaimed Heywood, "I've heard much of that
settlement--hold steady--I'm drawing your _nose_ just now--have you been
there, Jasper?"

"That have I, lad, and a fine place it is, extendin' fifty miles or more
along the river, with fine fields, and handsome houses, and churches,
and missionaries and schools, and what not; but the rest of Rupert's
Land is just what you have seen; no roads, no houses, no cultivated
fields--nothing but lakes, and rivers, and woods, and plains without
end, and a few Indians here and there, with plenty of wild beasts
everywhere. These trading-posts are scattered here and there, from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, and from Canada to the Frozen Sea, standin'
solitary-like in the midst of the wilderness, as if they had dropped
down from the clouds by mistake and didn't know exactly what to do with
themselves."

"How long have de Company lived?" inquired Arrowhead, turning suddenly
to Jasper.

The stout hunter felt a little put out. "Ahem! I don't exactly know;
but it must h