"Excuse me, sir," replied Hobson rather sharply, "it is mine in any case."
The stranger smiled. scornfully at this lofty reply, so exactly what be expected from an agent of the Hudson's Bay Company, which claims supremacy over all the northern districts, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
"Do you mean to say," he said at last, gracefully toying with his gun, "that you consider the Hudson's Bay Company mistress of the whole of North America?"
"Of course I do," said Hobson; "and if, as I imagine, you belong to an American company-
"To the St Louis Fur Company," replied the stranger with a bow.
"I think," added the Lieutenant, "that you will find it difficult to show the grants entitling you to any privileges here."
"Grants! privileges !" cried the Canadian scornfully, "old world terms which are out of place in America !"
"You are not now on American but on English ground," replied the Lieutenant proudly.
"This is no time for such a discussion," said the hunter rather warmly. "We all know the old claims made by the English in general, and the Hudson's Bay Company in particular, to these hunting grounds; but I expect coming events will soon alter this state of things, and America will be America from the Straits of Magellan to the North Pole !"
"I do not agree with you," replied Hobson dryly.