To-morrow you will know who he is. Are you satisfied? Will you do it?"
The four rose, and Cloud-in-the-Sky nodded approvingly many times. Hume
held out his hand. Each man shook it, Jeff Hyde first. Then he said:
"Close up ranks for the H.B.C.!" (H.B.C. meaning, of course, Hudson's Bay
Company.)
With a good man to lead them, these four would have stormed, alone, the
Heights of Balaklava.
Once more Hume spoke. "Go to Gosse and get your outfits at nine to-morrow
morning. Cloud-in-the-Sky, have your sleds at the store at eight o'clock,
to be loaded. Then all meet me at 10.15 at the office of the chief
factor. Good night."
As they passed out into the semi-arctic night, Late Carscallen with an
unreal obstinacy said: "Slow march to the Barren Grounds--but who leads?"
Left alone Hume sat down to the pine table at one end of the room and
after a short hesitation began to write. For hours he sat there, rising
only to put wood on the fire. The result was three letters: the largest
addressed to a famous society in London, one to a solicitor in Montreal,
and one to Mr. Field, the chief factor. They were all sealed carefully.
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