"It's a good thing to know how to cook. I've found it so, many a time, when off on a hunt."

"Mr. Dawson, I'd like to put a proposition to you," burst out Andy. "Of course, if it doesn't suit, all you've got to do is to say no. But I hope you will give it serious consideration." And Andy looked at Chet, as much as to say, "Shall I go ahead?" To which his chum nodded eagerly.

"What is the proposition?"

"That you take Chet and me with you on your trip north. I know you would prefer men, but we are not so young, and each of us is strong and healthy, and we can do about as much as a man. We are both used to cold weather, and to roughing it, and you know we can shoot, and tramp over the ice and snow--and cook. We talked this over between us, and we'd like to go very much. We don't want any pay, or any reward. All we want is our food, and some ammunition, and we are perfectly willing to rough it along with the rest. We are both practically alone in the world, so n.o.body will be worried over us, even if we don't come back alive."

"Yes, but you want to come back, don't you?" asked Barwell Dawson, quizzically.

"Of course. But we realize the danger, and we are ready to face it."

"We'll go wherever you go," broke in Chet. "And we'll do just whatever you want us to do. As Andy says, we are used to roughing it, and I think both of us can stand as much as anybody. Why, I don't know that I've had a sick day in my life."

"And I have been sick very little--none at all since I grew up," added Andy.

The hunter and explorer looked sharply at the two boys. He saw by the clear look in their eyes that they were honest to the core, and in earnest in all they said.

"Well, it is something not to have any family ties," he said. "I have two friends who wish to go along, but both have wives, and one has two children. I don't think it would be fair to take them. I am a bachelor myself, and my relatives do not care what I do. I believe if I died, all some of them would think about would be my money." He added the last words rather bitterly.

"Then you will consider taking us?" pleaded Andy.

"Yes, I will consider it. But I must think it over a week or two before I give you my answer. When a man plans such a trip as this, he cannot be too careful as to who are his companions. I must say I like you lads very much, and I haven't forgotten how you aided me at the cliff. But I must have time to think it over carefully, and make a few inquiries."

With this the lads had to be content, and for the time being the subject was dropped. But later on Barwell Dawson showed his interest by asking them a great number of questions about themselves.

"I think he'll take us along," whispered Chet to Andy, on retiring for the night. "And I sincerely hope he does. It may give me a chance to find out what became of the _Betsey Andrews_ and my father."

"Don't be too sure of our going," answered Andy. "If you are, you may be bitterly disappointed."

In the morning it was decided that the two lads should accompany Barwell Dawson to the lodge he had occupied back of Moose Ridge. They went along gladly, wishing to become better acquainted with the hunter and explorer. The storm had now cleared away entirely, the wind had died down, and the clear sun shone upon the ice and snow with great brilliancy.

On the way the party managed to pick up some small game, and Barwell Dawson showed his skill by hitting a partridge at a great distance. He shot with ease, showing that he was thoroughly familiar with the use of firearms. He even gave the boys "points" for which they were grateful.

"He certainly knows how to shoot," said Andy to Chet. "I don't see how he missed that moose."

"He lost his footing, that's how," was the reply. "The very best of sportsmen miss it sometimes."

"Isn't he a splendid fellow, Chet!"

"The finest I've met. Oh, I do hope he takes us along with him!"

When the lodge was reached the boys built a fire and cooked another appetizing meal, the hunter meanwhile resting his ankle, which was still sore. The reader can rest a.s.sured that Andy and Chet did their best over the meal, for they wanted to let Mr. Dawson know of their real abilities in the culinary line. The repast was as much liked as the other had been.

"If you go with me, I'll have to throw out the man I was going to take for a cook," declared the hunter and explorer. "I don't believe anybody could serve food better than this."

"Oh, we'll do the cooking all right!" declared Chet, enthusiastically.

"Of course there will be a ship's cook," explained Mr. Dawson. "But he won't go along over the ice and snow. He'll have to remain with the sailors on the ship."

"How many will be in the party to leave the ship?" asked Andy.

"I don't know yet--probably five or six, and the Esquimaux."

Having reached Barwell Dawson's lodge, the party settled down for a week, to hunt and to take it comfortably. During that time the hunter and explorer asked Chet much about himself and his father.

"We must try to find out about that whaler as soon as I go back to town," said Barwell Dawson. "Somebody ought to know something about her."

During the week the hunter and the boys became better friends than ever.

The man liked the frank manner of the lads, and Andy and Chet were fascinated by the stories the explorer had to tell.

"I am going down to Portland next week," announced Barwell Dawson one day. "If you both want to go along and see the city, I'll take you, and foot the bill. Then we can go up to the little town where the _Ice King_ is being fitted out, and you can let me know what you think of the ship."

This proposal filled the boys with delight, and they accepted on the spot. Both Andy and Chet made hurried trips to their cabin homes, and came back with the best of their belongings in their grips. Then they helped Barwell Dawson pack up; and two days later started for Pine Run.

There was mild surprise in the village when it was learned the two boys were going away, even though it might be only for a short while. To n.o.body in the village did Barwell Dawson mention his proposed trip to the frozen north.

"They wouldn't understand it, and it would only make me out an object of idle curiosity," he explained to the boys.

From the general storekeeper Andy learned that his Uncle Si had tried to borrow ten dollars, but without success. The storekeeper said Josiah Graham and Mr. A. Q. Hopton had had a bitter quarrel, and parted on bad terms. He did not know where either individual was now.

"Well, let Uncle Si shift for himself," said Andy to Chet. "It will do him good."

"Right you are, Andy. But what a shame that you lost those papers."

"Oh, don't mention them, Chet. It makes me feel bad every time I think of it."

"You ought to go back some day and take another look for them. I'll help you."

"Yes, I intend to go back--if not right away, then when the snow clears off."

"Provided we are not bound north by that time."

"Yes, provided we are not bound for the Pole!"

CHAPTER XIII

BARWELL DAWSON REACHES A DECISION

The trip to Portland proved full of keen interest to both boys, who had spent most of their lives in the backwoods. Barwell Dawson procured rooms for all at a hotel not far from Monument Square, and then he allowed the lads to do all the sightseeing they pleased. They took several trolley trips, and visited many points of interest, not forgetting the big stores, which were as much of a revelation as anything to them.

The hunter and explorer set to work without delay to find out if possible what had become of the whaler, _Betsey Andrews_. At first he could learn little, but one day came a letter from New Bedford, from a maritime agency, stating that the whaler had not been heard of since stopping at Disko Island, off the coast of Greenland, two years before.

It was supposed that she had either been hit by an iceberg, or been sunk in a storm, with all on board. Once a small boat belonging to the whaler had been found washed up on the coast of Greenland, but it had contained no persons, dead or alive.

This news was very disheartening to Chet, and for several days he was not himself at all, and Andy could do little to cheer him up. But it was not as bad as if the youth had not expected something of this sort before, and his hopes soon came back to him.