One understands that the Hudson's Bay directors were jealous of their game preserves." "Furs paid better than silver," Thirlwell agreed.

"They didn't want miners with dynamite and noisy machines to invade the solitudes and frighten the wild animals away." "My father, going south on a holiday, met my mother and gave up his post when they were married.

She had a little money, enough to open a small store, and for her sake he started business in a new wooden town.

He did not like the towns, and I know when I got older that he often longed for the wild North, but although the place grew and the business prospered, he could not spare the time and money to look for the lode.

He wanted to give my brother a good education and start him well, and after a time I was sent to a university." "That explains something," Thirlwell remarked, and then pulling himself up, added: "If you take proper appliances, a prospecting expedition costs much.