the little incident just
described.

Lest the reader should be surprised at so small a matter affecting them
so deeply, we must remark that these fur-traders had lived for some
years in a region where they saw no females except the brown and rather
dirty squaws of the Indians who visited the Cliff Fort with furs. Their
fort was indeed only three days' journey from the little settlement of
Partridge Bay, but as the space which lay between was a particularly
rugged part of the wilderness, with only a portion of road--unworthy of
the name--here and there, and the greater part of the way only passable
on foot or by means of dog-sledges, none but an occasional red man or a
trapper went to and fro; and as the nature of the fur-trader's business
called for very little intercourse with the settlements--their furs
being sent by water to Quebec in summer--it followed that the
inhabitants of the Cliff Fort rarely visited Partridge Bay. The sudden
vision, therefore, of two pretty females of a higher type had not only
the effect on Redding and his man of novelty, but also stirred up old
memories and associations.

Such good use did they now make of their time that the settlement of
Partridge Bay was reached before dark, and our hero went off immediately
in quest of the surveyor.

Mr Gambart was a cheerful, healthy, plump little man, with a plump
little wife, and three plump little daughters. Plumpness was not only a
characteristic of the Gambarts, but also of their surroundings, for the
cottage in which they dwelt had a certain air of plumpness about it, and
the spot on which it stood was a round little knob of a hill.

Here Reginald Redding was hospitably received--we might almost say
joyfully, because visitors to the settlement were so rare that whoever
made his appearance was sure to be received as a "welcome guest" if he
only carried the credentials of honesty and ordinary good nature on his
countenance.

Redding's impatience, however, to get at the truth of the matter that
had brought him there, induced him very soon to forsake the society of
the three plump little daughters and retire to the plump little father's
work-room.

"It is my opinion," said Mr Gambart, as he carefully unfolded the plan,
"that you may find the McLeods have trespassed somewhat on your
reserves, for, if my memory serves me rightly, there is a small islet--
as you see here--just in the centre of the creek, _half_ of which
belongs to you."

"I