The Young Alaskans on the Trail

r. He found himself looking into the eyes of John, who also was lying awake. They whispered for a minute or two, not wishing to waken Jesse, who still was asleep, his face p

ere are we?" He smiled sheepishly

home, you'll find

o quiet had the men been about their work that they had left the boys undisturbed for the best part

lemen," said Alex, quietl

, grinning, "I gue

ree?" smiled Mois

. "I could eat a pie

en heem before we get through, hein?

y taste," said Alex, "but we'll se

we'll see any bear on

said Ale

zzli

to the mountains. We ought to pick up two or

t that," said Rob. "We

looked at him

bigger than that tent there; and had two little ones besides. Each of them was big as a man, almost. They get awfully big

in here, and I want to tell you that one of our old, white-faced grizzlies will giv

begin to think we're going to

ere all sitting on the ground at the side of the breakfast fire, e

lso maybe the duck. I'll heard some wild goose seenging this mo

arther to the west we might have hit the lake there, but I thought it

n. "Isn't that a l

them as they sat, from a sma

me Injun," remarked Mois

ntain ranges on the east, though the air still was cool a

Moise. "Those mosquito, she

tent this morning before we got up. We'll have to g

read a little bit in our book b

Sir Alexander and his

guide all the way through. I want to see just how close we can come to following the trail Mack

kes," said Alex, smiling. He himself was a man of considerabl

nodding. "For inst

in the Companee," broke in Moise, who very l

en Mackenzies and Frasers in the f

. Some boy she'll read more nowadays than when I'm leetle. Be

ou please, Moise. Let's see where we are as nearly as

his starting-place which had been selected. "We'll ought to been north

n a wagon or cart, and go across to Lake McLeod, without any trouble at all. Everybody goes th

the Giscombe Portag

ry very closely. You see, they didn't have any maps-they were the ones who made the first maps.

t says his men were going to leave him and go back down the Peace River to the east. He was

t it was the Columbia River, which it wasn't by a long way. But Sir Alexander stuck it out, don't yo

mpanions joined him, their eyes lighting with enthusiasm for the

e he came here-he followed the Mackenzie River to its mouth in the Arctic Sea. Then he thought there must be a way across to the Pacific. Some one told him about the Peace Riv

had a good idea of the geography hereabouts, which he had care

of bacon. "My wife, she'll had an onkle once name Fraser an' he'll

rong men," said Alex, "

getting west of here,

time. Sometimes they had to carry their canoe through swamps and over hills. No wonder the men mut

rstan' that," said he. "

down here and go over this same ground and not

" smiled Moise.

ey had brass and iron which they had got of white men somewhere on the Pacific-that was more than a hundred years ago. Fraser wanted to get across to the Pacific, but he followed the old Mackenzie trail across here. He started at the Rocky Mountain portage and went up into McLeod Lake, and stopped there for a while. But he didn't start west and northwest, by way of Stuart Lake. Instead of that,

to go where we could have wagons or carts or something to

why we're here. I expect that portag

he miners used it. That was the way white men came in

o was that?"

g bend of the Columbia. Many men were killed on the rapids in those days. But they kept on pushing in, and in that wa

ox," smiled Moise, nodding his head.

e where the Bad River runs out to another river that runs into the Fraser. This lake drains into that little lake. There's another lake east of here, accordi

smiling, "consid

urrent westward in this

ered, "we are really

oss to the other l

enteen paces," replied John, promptly. "I

the top of the divide. Nearly all these natural passes in the mountains run up on each side to a sort of flat place. Anyhow, when we get over that portage we're on Peace

laughed Moise. "All same ro

, are you, Moise?"

l same feesh," was the

ve to. You see, our party is small, and we're going over a trail that has already been explored. W

s me think less of these early explorers, is

. "You just said that Mackenzie and Fra

When Mackenzie was going north there was always some tribe or other to tell him where he was and what there was ahead. It was some Indian that to

about the creek which leads into these lakes where we are now. He had a guide when he came here, and

northern country. The Beaver Indians used to hunt all through these mountains. It was those men who told Mackenzie how to get over here. He was told, weeks before he got here, that there was a carrying-place across

e contree. They'll show the Companee how to take ho

"coming through here where those old fu

"It may not look so tame before we get through! But first," he added, "we'll have to see if we can get