“Yes, indeed, he is!” cried Phil. “And I of him, for we are everything in the world to each other.”
“And how anxious he must be!” murmured the teacher.
“I suppose so; though I don’t see why he should be, for he taught me to take care of myself long ago. I am beginning to get pretty anxious about him, though, and it seems to me that it is clearly my duty to organize a relief expedition at once and go in search of him. What do you say to that, Serge?”
“I say I should feel exactly as you do if he were my mother,” answered the lad from Sitka, who was immediately afterwards covered with confusion by the outburst of merriment that greeted his remark.
“I mean—” he stammered.
“Of course,” interrupted Phil, teasingly, “we understand. You mean that if my father were your mother, in which case you and I would probably be brother and sister, you would feel in duty bound to go in search of him or her, as the case might be.”
“Oh, you get out!” laughed Serge.
“The very thing I am proposing to do. And, really, Captain Hamer, now that my father has appeared on the scene, and gone up the river, I don’t see how you can any longer have an excuse for refusing to let Serge and me follow after him. If we don’t overtake him this side of Forty Mile, we shall certainly find him there. Then we can all go out together by way of Chilkat, and I know that out of gratitude for your kindness to me, if for no other reason, my father will gladly undertake to place your order for goods in San Francisco.”
“Your argument is certainly a strong one,” admitted Gerald Hamer, hesitatingly, “and it really begins to look as though you had gained your point after all.”
“And we ought to start as quickly as we can,” urged Phil, eagerly, “in order to relieve my father’s anxiety as soon as possible, and also to prevent him from getting lost, which, I am sure, any one is likely to do on the Yukon. When it comes to procuring dogs for the trip, I would advise you to buy Kurilla’s team, if possible, for I give you my word they are far and away the very best lot of haulers I have ever driven. As for their feed, I was invited to a certain wedding to-day, though I regret that I was forced to decline the invitation, that resulted in a sledge-load of prime dog-fish—no, I don’t mean that either, for they were salmon—which, I believe, can be bought cheap.”