various members of the family had set off to work or to school, Linda came up to Hugh’s room bringing an armful of things for him, a pack such as hunters carry, heavy boots, thick wool socks, a mackinaw coat.
“You will need all these,” she said. “It may be that you will be gone some time.”
She advised him as to which of his own possessions were the most necessary to take with him and showed him how to pack them in the smallest possible space.
“Leave all of your other things here,” she directed, “and most of your money, too; you will have little need of it where you are going and—you might meet Half-Breed Jake in the forest.”
”Does he do that kind of stealing too?” Hugh asked.
“He does every kind,” was her brief reply.
Hugh accomplished the rest of his preparations in silence except for one question.
”Is your brother Oscar old?” he inquired.
Linda laughed.
“I am not so very old myself,” she answered,
