"Valley Brook is the farm we live on, and Hope is a school near Brill," said Sam. "Poor, poor Tom! Who would have imagined such a thing as this could happen to him!"
"How far is Lion Head from here?" asked Dick.
"As the crow flies, about five hundred miles."
"Five hundred miles!" exclaimed Sam.
"Yes, an' it's nearly six hundred by the way they'll have to travel," went on Jack Wumble.
This news almost stunned the Rover boys. Was it possible that Tom was undertaking a trip of six hundred miles into the little-known portion of Alaska?
"He'd never do such a thing if he was in his right mind," said Dick. "We must catch him just as soon as we can!"
"That is why I hired passage on this boat," said the old miner. "I'm calkerlatin' we can head him off. Thet is, if the weather stays good."
"It looks like rain and is getting colder."
"Right ye are, Dick. An' when it gits cold up here, it gits cold, I kin tell ye thet. Last winter I 'most froze to death up in my shack," added Jack Wumble.