“Well, to say truth, I was equally unfortunate until I met this luckless goose, and fired the shot that brought him down and brought you up. But I’ve had enough o’ this now, and shall back to the fort again. What say you? Will you go in my canoe or walk?”
The young man was silent for a few seconds; then, without replying to his companion’s question, he said,—“By-the-bye, is it not to-night that you mean to make another attempt to induce the men to volunteer for the expedition!”
“It is,” replied Stanley, with a alight frown. “And what if they still persist in refusing to go?”
“I’ll try once more to shame them out of their cowardice. But if they won’t agree, I’ll compel them to go by means of more powerful arguments than words.”
“’Tis not cowardice; you do the men injustice,” said Frank, shaking his head.
“Well, well, I believe I do, lad; you’re right,” replied Stanley, while a smile smoothed out the firm lines that had gathered round his lips for a few seconds. “No doubt they care as little for the anticipated dangers of the expedition as any men living, and they hesitate to go simply because they know that the life before them will be a lonely one at such an out-o’-the-way place as Ungava. But we can’t help that, Frank; the interests of the Company must be attended to, and so go they must, willing or not willing. But I’m annoyed at this unexpected difficulty, for there’s a mighty difference between men who volunteer to go and men who go merely because they must and can’t help it.”
The young man slowly rubbed the stock of his rifle with the sleeve of his coat, and looked as if he understood and sympathised with his friend’s chagrin.
“If Prince were only here just now,” said he, looking up, “there would be no difficulty in the matter. These fellows only want a bold, hearty comrade to step forward and show them the way, and they will follow to the North Pole if need be. They look upon our willingness to go as a mere matter of course, though I don’t see why we should be expected to like banishment more than themselves. But if Prince were—”
“Well, well, Prince is not here, so we must do the best we can without him,” said Stanley.
As he spoke, the trumpet note of a goose was heard in the distance.