Two of the men instantly hastened to obey, and Stanley, with the gun and paddles under his arm, proceeded towards the gateway of the fort. As he passed the group assembled on the wharf, he turned and said—
“You’ll come to the hall in an hour, lads; I shall expect you to be ready with an answer by that time.”
“Ay, ay, sir,” replied several of the men.
“But we won’t go for all your expectations,” said one in an undertone to a comrade.
“I should think not,” whispered another.
“I’ll be hanged, and burnt, and frozen if I do,” said a third.
In the meantime Mr Stanley walked briskly towards his dwelling, and left the men to grumble over their troubles and continue their debate as to whether they should or should not agree to go on the pending expedition to the distant regions of Ungava.