None of them ever wore soled boots that would admit of hobnails.

It was plain to the boys, therefore, that the men who made the tracks were not natives of the country.
Early in the summer a lumber company had begun the erection of a camp at Grampus River, which lay twenty miles to the southward from The Jug, and on the opposite side of Eskimo Bay.

A steamship had brought in men and supplies, and all summer men had been building camps and preparing for lumbering operations during the coming winter.
It was the first steamer to enter the Bay, and its advent had been an occasion of much curiosity on the part of the people.

Many of them made excursions to Grampus River to see the strangers at work.

Thomas had made such an excursion with David and Andy.