The boys exchanged delighted glances.
"The prospect appears to please you," said Mr. Chillingworth.
"Please us!" cried Tom. "We're tickled to death."
"Well, I think you will have an instructive and, I hope, a pleasant time," said Mr. Dacre, "and at the same time be useful to us. Both Mr. Chillingworth and myself have been in the Yukon country before, and I can assure you that it won't be all picnicking. It is a wild country we are going to. North of fifty-three lies one of the few really wild territories left in the world. It's a great chance for you boys to show what you are made of."
Soon afterward the boys left the charthouse, half wild with excitement. The lure of the north was upon them. Each hastily went over in his mind all that he could recall about the land for which they were bound. There was magic in the name of Yukon, that mighty river of frozen lands, whose course winds through golden sands and solitudes undisturbed by the foot of man.
"Fellows, it seems too good to be true," exclaimed Jack warmly. "It's the chance of a lifetime."
"We'll have lots of good hunting. I'm glad we brought our rifles," said Jack.
"Maybe we'll find gold!" exclaimed Sandy.
"Well, at the market rate for silver and black foxes, a few of them would be as good as a gold mine," declared Tom.