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mean?" Kit inquired.
We had all been vaguely aware of such a state of things; but not till
now had we been brought face to face with it.
"It would be the worst kind of folly for us to go out of port alone," I
couldn't help saying.
"Of course it would," replied Kit.
"I'm well aware of that," said Raed. "We shall have to learn seamanship
somehow."

"Besides," remarked Wade, "sailing a vessel wouldn't be very light nor
very pleasant work for us, I'm thinking. If we could afford to hire a
good skipper, it would be better."
"We shall have to hire one till we learn how to manage a vessel
ourselves," replied Raed.
"And not only a skipper, but sailors as well," said Kit. "What shall we
be able to do the first week out, especially if it be rough weather?"
"Do you suppose we shall be much seasick?" Wade asked suddenly.
"Very likely we shall be sick, when it's rough, for a while," said Raed.
"We must expect it, and get over it the best way we can."
"Now, suppose we are able to hire a schooner such as we want, with a
skipper, and a crew of five or six," he continued: "where shall we make
our first cruise?"
"Along the coast of Maine," I suggested. "From Casco Bay to Eastport.
Several yachts were down there last summer. Found good fishing. Had
a fine time. There are harbors all along, so that they could go in every
night."
"Just the place for our first voyage!" exclaimed Wade.
"It seems to me," replied Raed, "that if we hire a good stanch schooner
and skipper, with a crew, we might do something more than just cruise
along the coast of Maine, fish a little, and then come back."
"So it does to me," said Kit. "We should never get on our polar voyage
at that rate. If we are going into all this expense, let's go up as far as the
'Banks' of Newfoundland, anyway."
"And why not a little farther," said Raed, "if the weather was good, and
we met with no accident? If everything went well, why not sail on up to
the entrance of Hudson Straits, and get a peep at the Esquimaux?"
"Raed never'll be satisfied till he gets into Hudson Bay," laughed Wade.

"What is there so attractive about Hudson Bay? I can't imagine."
"Because," said Raed, "it's an almost unknown sea. Ever since it was
first discovered by the noble navigator, who perished somewhere along
its shores, it has been shut up from the world in the hands of a few
selfish individuals, who got the charter of the Hudson-bay Company
from the King of England. They own it and all the country about it and
run it for their own profit only. About that great bay there is a
coast-line of more than two thousand miles, with Indian tribes on its
shores as wild and savage as when Columbus first came to America.
Just think of the adventure and wild scenery one might witness on a
voyage round there! It's a shame we Americans can't go in there if we
want to. The idea of letting half a dozen little red-faced men in London
rule, hold, and keep everybody else out of that great region! It's a
disgrace to us. Their old charter ought to have been taken away from
them long ago. I don't know that I shall go there this year, nor next: but
I mean to go into that bay sometime, and sail round there, and trade and
talk with the savages as much as I choose; and, if the company
undertakes to hinder me, I'll fight for it; for they've no moral right nor
business to keep us out."
"Good on your head!" cried Kit, patting him encouragingly.
"A war with England seems to be imminent!" exclaimed Wade.
"Methinks I hear the boom of cannon!"
Raed looked dubious a moment, but immediately began to laugh. He is
rather apt to fly off on such tangents. We have to sprinkle him with
ridicule a little: that always brings him out of it all right again.
"Well," said he, "waiving that subject, what say for going as far north
as Hudson Straits, if everything should work favorably?"
We had none of us anything to urge against this.
"But we must not forget that we have not yet hired a vessel," added Kit.
"No," said Raed; "and the sooner we find out what we can do, the

better."
That afternoon Wade and I went down to the wharves to make inquiries.
Raed and Kit went out to Gloucester, it being quite probable that some
sort of a craft might be found out of employ there. Wade and I were
unable to see