“Well,” said Farnum, glancing at Mr. Hampton, “as your father knows, that is one of the unexplained and puzzling facts of the situation, that about the ship. You see, a skeleton crew was to be left aboard the ship and it was to winter in the MacKenzie. But of ship or crew, we have found no trace. Search for the ship was prosecuted at the first opportunity this Spring, but it had disappeared. I made a trip up the MacKenzie myself, but the only information I could gather was an occasional rumor at a trading post that a schooner had gone by, on its way out, at night. A ship that might have been the Viking, Thorwaldsson’s craft. That was last Fall. Perhaps, the skeleton crew feared to winter in the MacKenzie and started for the outside, and was caught in a storm which it was not sufficiently strong to weather. Only three or four men were to be left aboard. That is the only explanation I could think of.”
Mr. Hampton nodded.
“As I said before,” he stated, “that seems a reasonable explanation. Three or four men, left alone, might have feared to face the Winter iced in, or might have been stricken ill, and so, for some reason that appeared good enough to them, might have decided to violate orders and start out. As to the disappearance of the ship, many an undermanned vessel has gone down in a storm, without leaving a trace.”
“But, Dad, you’ve said nothing about this,” protested Jack.
Mr. Hampton smiled slightly.
“There are a lot of things which I know I have never told you, Jack,” he said. “If I really have neglected to speak of this, however, it has been through an oversight. I’ve had a lot of things on my mind. But, come. We know this is the way Thorwaldsson passed. We are on the right track. So let us push on. We have still four hours of travel to do before making camp.”
CHAPTER IV.—STRIKING GOLD.
Life flowed along very pleasantly indeed, for the boys, during the weeks that followed. They were so far north that the sun shone constantly, and never a cloud came to trouble the sky, never a storm to drive them to take shelter. When they camped it was usually in the dim cool recesses of a forest of firs, beneath the dense shade of which could be found the only semblance of night.
Never before had they known the delights of camp life, as they were now living it. It was like being on one continuous picnic. For a considerable period of time they found themselves in a mesh or network of streams and lakes, through which Tom Farnum guided them steadily northeastward, with never a sign of doubt as to the course to take.
They wondered about this, asked why they took certain forks of river or stream, why avoided others. Tom answered readily enough. From Mr. Anderson he had received a minute report containing every scrap of data Farrell had been able to furnish as to the course taken by him and Cameron on going into the wild country.