CHAPTER VIII. 
A STARTLING DISCOVERY. 
I HE hut in which our friends found themselves 
was a small affair, built of spruce boughs, which 
I were laid against a ridge-pole in such a way as to 
form a semi-circular wall. A caribou hide was thrown 
over the upper part of these, on the outside, leaving only 
a small space for the escape of smoke, which hung heav- 
ily in the apex of the hut, rising from embers left in the 
centre by the previous occupants, who had evidently but 
just been hurried out of the guest chamber. 
A dozen split salmon were hanging from the rafters, 
drying in the smoke, at an altitude unpleasantly near the 
noses of the new-comers when they stood up. Every few 
minutes, a native dog, of which there appeared to be 
dozens about the place, would put his head in at the door 
and snarl viciously, until scared away by Carlo, who had 
declared war with the whole canine tribe at the outset. 
" I say, father," remarked Hugh, as the weary five 
threw themselves down at the greatest possible distance 
from the smouldering spruce-knot fire, " there's no danger 
of getting lost in this hotel, any way." 
" Sure, it's the hotel itself is lost," added Teddy, dole- 
102 
