CHAPTER XI. 



On Kettle River Okonagan Smith and his Lonely Ranch The 

 Great Northern Boundary Trials and Tribulations " Fool 

 Hens " Through Fallen Trees An Arduous Journey. 



hundred miles up the river was a 

 cabin built by three noted trappers and 

 mountaineers Farrell, McLaughlin, and 

 Dore. Beyond this cabin was an unex- 

 plored wilderness where no white man was ever known 

 to have been and where few Indians had ever wan- 

 dered. An unbroken forest stretched away hundreds 

 of miles to the far north to the foot of the white- 

 topped mountains, on whose slopes vast herds of deer 

 and caribou were supposed to roam, and where bears, 

 wolves, and mountain lions were thought to be in 

 countless numbers. The white crags and peaks of 

 the mountains were supposed to be the home of goats 

 and sheep. All this was surmise, however, for man 

 had never been there to report. Caribou had come 

 down as far as the trappers' cabin during the coldest 

 weather of the winter before, and five had been killed 

 and many seen near the camp. Immense droves of 

 gray wolves had ranged about the cabin, while 

 wolverines and bears had left many tracks. 



All these stories indicated that the trip would be 

 interesting, to say the least ; but Dyche had heard too 



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