"And now," said the factor, smiling, "let us have talk of that world of
which I am hungering for news. You are of the fall ship's load of new
arrivals, I take it?"
"No," said De Courtenay, "it was last spring, about this time, that I
first saw the shores of the New World. Five of my men came with me from
across seas and the rest I picked on starting into the wilderness. They
are mostly Canadians of Scottish blood. I have a fancy that the strong
blond peoples are best for the rigours of what one may find in this
country. Though," he laughed as at some reminiscence, "I have found so
far that my two swarthy guides are worth any three of the rest."
"You have found the way hard?"
"Mother of God! If the rest is like the first of it, I think you may
find my bones bleaching beside some portage where I have given up the
ghost. Truly do we pay for our whims of caprice, M'sieu."
"Whims?"
"Aye, what save a whim of the moment could have induced me to undertake
so great a hardship as this winning to the Saskatchewan? What save the
love of excitement sent me to be, like yourself, the head of a lost
trading-post in this far north country?"
The merry blue eyes were full of gaiety and light.
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