CHAPTER XVIII. 
A LESSON IN BRIDGE-MAKING. 
HITS far we have followed the fortunes of the 
Button party almost step by step. But. I hear 
you say, what has become of Solomon, the 
Yankee hunter and backwoods philosopher ? It seems 
to us that you have left him out entirely. 
Not so, boy and girl readers ; Solomon has left himself 
out. During the adventure at Fort Selkirk he was recon- 
noitring the vicinity of the peninsula, regardless of rain 
or lightning. He accompanied the lieutenant's party as 
far as the White River camp, and, learning that they 
had decided to wait there several days, petitioned for a 
leave of absence. Solomon, like most of his countrymen, 
was an uneasy mortal. He wanted to prospect a little, 
he said, on his own account, nearer the mountains. He 
agreed to meet them at Fort Yukon. 
The long-limbed hunter was better than his word. He 
joined the united party at their first camp below the 
White River, and now the expedition was complete in its 
quota of members. 
The raft swept bravely down-stream without further 
molestation from the Indians, who seemed to have been 
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