Hudson's Bay factor, who was not only brother to both man and beast,
but who knew every bird by its flight or song; who loved children with
all his heart--flowers, too--and whose kindly spirit often rose in
song. Yes, he was just a real man, like some of the men you know--but
after all, perhaps he was even finer--for the wilderness does nothing
to a man save make him healthier in body and in soul; while the cities
are the world's cesspools. He was rather a small, slender man, with
fatherly eyes set in an intelligent face that was framed with gray hair
and gray beard.

After the Chief Factor and his men had been refreshed with bannock,
pork, and tea, pipes were filled and lighted and for a time we talked
of all sorts of subjects. Later, when we were alone for a little
while, I found Mr. Thompson a man richly informed on northern travel,
for he had spent his whole life in the service of the Hudson's Bay
Company, and at one time or another had been in charge of the principal
posts on Hudson Bay, Great Slave Lake, and the Peace, the Churchill,
the Athabasca, and the Mackenzie rivers. Among other subjects
discussed were dogs and dog-driving; and when I questioned him as to
the loading of sleds, he answered:

"Usually, in extremely cold weather, the Company allots dogs not more
than seventy-five pounds each, but in milder weather they can handily
haul a hundred pounds, and toward spring, when sleds slide easily, they
often manage more than that." Then dreamily puffing at his pipe he
added: "I remember when six dog-trains of four dogs each hauled from
Fort Chipewyan on Lake Athabasca to Fort Vermillion on the Peace River
loads that averaged six hundred and fifty pounds per sled--not
including the grub for the men and dogs and the men's dunnage. Then,
again, William Irving with Chief Factor Camsell's dogs brought to Fort