human
A rugged and beautiful country, Graham remarked.
gpt
Is this your first visit to it, Mr. Allinson?
human
No, Andrew replied.
gpt
I was once some distance north, looking for caribou. I'm glad of an opportunity for seeing it again. It gets hold of one.
human
So you know that; you have felt the pull of the lonely North! Curious how it draws some of us, isn't it?
gpt
Have you been up there?
human
Oh, yes; as a young man I served the Hudson Bay. I've been through most of the barrens between Churchill and the Mackenzie. Perhaps that's the grimmest, hardest country white men ever entered; but it's one you can't forget.
gpt
It's undoubtedly hard, said Andrew.
human
We scarcely reached the fringe of it, but I was dressed in rags and worn very thin when we struck Lake Manitoba. I suppose you live at the Landing now?
gpt
I've been there twenty years; built my house myself when there was only a shack or two and a Hudson Bay store. The railroad has changed all that.
human
Mr. Graham is treasurer for the sawmill,
gpt
Didn't you find it tamer than serving the fur company?
human
One can't have everything, Mr. Allinson. I've been content, a willing slave of the desk, only seeing the wilds for a week or two in summer. But I've thought I might make another trip before I get too old.
gpt
I think I understand, Andrew replied;
human
It is grand,
gpt
I wonder if you'd mind telling Mr. Allinson about the silver lode you found? Carnally suggested.
human
I guess he'd be interested.
gpt
It happened a long time ago and I seldom mention it now; in fact, I'll confess that the lode is looked upon as a harmless illusion of mine. My friends call it my Dream Mine. When I was a young man I was stationed at a Hudson Bay factory about four hundred miles north of here and was despatched with two half-breeds and a canoe to carry stores to a band of Indians. No doubt you know that the great Company held sovereign authority over the North for a very long time and the Indians depended on it for their maintenance. Well, we set off with the canoe, paddling and portaging up rivers and across the height of land, toward the south.
human
Then you were working across country toward the headwaters of this river,