“When do you want us to start?” he asked.
“As soon as it can possibly be arranged. Toma knows the route to the Yellowhead Pass; but after that you’ll have to chart your own course. We can depend on you then?”
“So far as I’m concerned—yes. I won’t presume to speak for Sandy and Toma, yet I’m pretty sure they’ll go.”
A few minutes later, Corporal Rand and Dick returned to the trading room, which was crowded. Stalwart, dusky half-breed trappers, eager to purchase supplies for impending excursions to favorite trapping grounds, pushed and elbowed their way through the throng awaiting their opportunity to confer with Factor MacClaren. Indian women, resplendent in bright shawls, bright-faced children from the Catholic Mission, here and there the dark, expressionless face and sinewy form of Cree hunters and rivermen from the south—all of this queer blend of humanity jostled forth and back, chattering excitedly.
At one side of the room, surrounded by an admiring group, a tall, lanky half-breed youth was playing a violin. Glancing that way, Dick’s eyes lighted up as he perceived the familiar figures of his two friends, Sandy MacClaren, the factor’s nephew, and John Toma, the young Indian guide.
Toma, Sandy and Dick, following several years of interesting adventures in the North, had become greatly attached to each other. They were three inseparables, who had learned to take the trials and hardships of wilderness life as a matter of common experience. In spite of many hard knocks, they were still as eager to embark upon new adventures as in the days when Dick and Sandy were newcomers to that remote and inhospitable land.
Dick lost no time in rejoining his two chums. With a friendly nod to Corporal Rand, he darted through the crowd and administered a resounding whack on the backs of Sandy and Toma.
“Well, you’ve returned at last,” he greeted them joyfully. “Did you have any luck?”
Sandy turned eagerly.
“You bet! We shot two moose,” and the young Scotchman immediately commenced a somewhat rambling and disconnected account of their experiences.