THE POST AGAIN 91

“Give old C— a good kick in the pants from
me when you get to Telegraph. Sorry I can’t do it
pers’n'lly, but I’m detained on business. Likely to
be for the next ten years or so if fur prices stay the
way they is!”

“Got my letter? If you swamp, fling it on the
bank. I don’t write more’n one in six years, so it’s
valuable.”

“You'll be back, fellows. We won’t say goodbye.
Everyone comes back. That's why there’s such a
crowd ’ere.”’

“Here, take some o’ this fly-dope. Youll need it
up that river when you start breakin’ pins an’ gettin’
stuck. That is, if you don’t drown in the first
canyon. She’s a bugger in low water ge

We pushed out from the bank, cranked the motor
and shot off down-stream toward the confluence. As
we rounded the wedge of land and turned up into
the Dease River we could see Thomas standing out-
side his whitewashed store waving goodbye. The
motor roared as it struck the current, and the water
rushed past the sides of the boat, but the banks went
by slowly as we headed up-stream toward the
white-caps of the canyon.