It should be said to Captain Hanks’ credit that he paid his mate and crew of five men the highest going wages, and treated them well and kindly.  So long as they attended strictly to their duties he was their friend.  They were provided with the best of food and they appreciated the good treatment and were loyal to Captain Hanks’ interest and very much attached to the Maid of the North, as seamen are to a good ship that for several voyages has been their home.

So it was that the mate made his suggestions so freely.  If Captain Hanks were to quit the trade he knew that it would be many a day before he secured another such berth, and his solicitude was therefore not alone in the captain’s interests but was largely a matter of looking out for himself.

The voyage just completed had not, in fact, been a very profitable one, for the previous winter had been a poor year for the trappers that they dealt with, just as it had been farther north in Eskimo Bay, and Skipper Sam had good reason for feeling discouraged.

It was early in August now, and the Maid of the North was entering Halifax Harbour with the expectation of tying up at her berth the next morning.  If she were to go north it would be necessary for her to be fitted out for the voyage immediately in order to reach her winter quarters before the ice began to form in the bays.

The two men ate their supper and both went on deck to smoke their pipes.  Skipper Sam had no more to say about the proposed undertaking until late in the evening, when he called the mate to his cabin, where he had retired after his smoke, and there the mate found him poring over a chart.

“D’ye know anything about this coast?” the skipper asked, without looking up.

The mate glanced over his shoulder.

“Not much, sir.  I was down on a fishin’ cruise once when I was a lad.”

“Well, how far down ought we t’ go, d’ ye think, before we lays up?”

“I think, sir, we should go north o’ Indian Harbour.  Th’ farther north we gets, th’ more fur we’ll pick up.”

“Well,” said the skipper, standing up, “I’m goin’ t’ sail just as quick as I can fit out.  Ship th’ crew on th’ best terms ye can.  We got t’ move smart, fer I wants time t’ run well down before th’ ice catches us.”

“All right, sir.”

Thus it happened that the Maid of the North, spick and span, with a new coat of paint on the outside, and a good stock of provisions and articles of trade in her hold, sailed out of Halifax Harbour and turned her prow to the northward on the first day of September, and was plowing her way to the Labrador at the very time that Bob Gray with his mother and Emily were returning so disconsolate to Wolf Bight after hearing the verdict of the mail boat doctor, and Bob was making the plans that carried him into the interior.

The Maid of the North called at many harbours by the way and the fame of Captain Hanks spread amongst the livyeres, as the native Labradormen are called.  He told them what fabulous prices he would pay them for their furs in the spring when he came south, with open water, and they promised him to a man to reserve the bulk of their catch for him, and all had visions of coming wealth.