s of
frozen desolation that lay between him and his friends. It was to be a
journey of tragic experiences--a journey that was to try his metal as
it had never yet been tried.

XX

THE FOLK AT WOLF BIGHT

The Grays were very lonely and the little cabin at Wolf Bight seemed
desolate and deserted indeed during the first days following the
departure of the trappers for the interior. Mrs. Gray and Emily cried
a little, and often Emily would say:

"I wonders where Bob is now, Mother, an' what he's doin'?"

"He's workin' up th' river, lass, an' th' dirty weather's makin' th'
trackin' an' portagin' wonderful hard for un," she would answer, when
it stormed; or, when the sun shone, "They's havin' a fine day for
travellin' now."

But presently the preparations for Emily's departure for school
occupied their attention to the exclusion of all else, and they forgot
for a time their loneliness.

Her going was to be an event of vast importance. It was an innovation,
not only in their household but in the community, for never before had
any of the young people of the Bay attended school; and never before,
save on the occasion when Emily had been taken to the St. Johns
hospital the previous year, to undergo an operation, had any of the
girls--or women, either, for that matter--been farther from home than
Fort Pelican.

When Bob came into his little fortune through the salvage of the
trading schooner, "Maid of the North," Mrs. Gray had urged that
Richard rest from the trail for one season, and at the same time give
the animals an opportunity to increase. This he had done, and during
the previous winter, when Bob also was at home, he and Bob had
occupied their time in the woods with the axe and pit saw, cutting a
quantity of timber and planking.

There was no immediate need of this timber, and when Bob was gone
Richard determined to utilise it in the construction of a small
schooner, in anticipation of the trading operations to begin the
following year. Such a vessel would be a necessity in transporting
supplies from Fort Pelican to the store at Wolf Bight.

Therefore, he began at once the work of laying the keel. There were
nearly three months at his disposal before he would go out upon his
trapping trail, and in this time, hoping to accomplish much, he
remained at his task from early morning until dusk drove him from it.
Thus occupied, Mrs. Gray and Emily seldom saw him, save at meal hours
and after candle-light in the