[“Cap’n Phil’s fadder gone up river! Yaas, he fadder!”]
[“CAP’N PHIL’S FADDER GONE UP RIVER! YAAS, HE FADDER!”]
“My father!” cried Phil. “It can’t be. You must be crazy, for my father is thousands of miles from here.”
“True, all same. You fadder, yaas!”
[CHAPTER XI]
THE BOYS CARRY THEIR POINT
Never in his life had Phil Ryder been more perplexed than he was at the astonishing statement just made by Kurilla. It was incredible that his father should be in that country. Why should he be? There had been barely time for him to receive the letter sent out by Nikrik, and he could not possibly have reached the Yukon Valley since then.
“How do you know it is my father?” he demanded of the native. “Has he been here? Did you see him? Why didn’t he wait until I came back?”