The three boys took off their hats and gave a cheer as they saw him standing there smiling.
"How are you, Uncle Dick?" they all cried; and so eager were they that they could scarcely wait for the gang-plank to be run out.
Their uncle, Mr. Richard Wilcox, at that time employed in the engineering department of one of the Dominion railways, laughed rather happily as he bunched them in his arms when they came ashore. There was little chance for him to say anything for some time, so eager were the boys in their greeting of him.
"Well, you're all here!" said he at length, breaking away to shake hands with Alex and Moise, who smiled very happily also, now coming up the bank. "How have they done, Alex?"
"Fine!" said the old hunter. "Couldn't have been better!"
"This was good boys, all right," affirmed Moise. "We'll save her life plenty tam, but she's good boy!"
"Did you have any trouble getting across, Alex?" asked Uncle Dick.
"Plenty, I should say!" said Alex, smiling. "But we came through it. The boys have acted like sportsmen, and I couldn't say more."
"I suppose perhaps you got some game then, eh?"
All three now began to speak at once excitedly, and so fast that they could scarcely be understood.
"Did you really get a grizzly?" inquired Uncle Dick of Alex, after a while.
"Yes, sir, and a very good one. And a black bear too, and a moose, and some sheep, and a lot of small stuff like that. They're hunters and travelers. We gave them a 'lob-stick' to mark their journey--far back in the Rockies."
"Well, Alaska will have to look to its laurels!" said Uncle Dick, taking a long breath and pretending not to be proud of them. "It seems to me you must have been pretty busy shooting things, from all I can learn, young men."
"Oh, we know the country," interrupted Rob, "and we've got a map--we could build a railroad across there if we had to."
"Well, to tell the truth, I'm mighty glad you got through all right," said Uncle Dick. "I've been thinking that maybe I oughtn't to have let you try that trip, for it's dangerous enough for men. But everything's well that ends well, and here you are, safe and sound. You'll have to be getting out of here before long, though, in order to make Valdez in time for your fall school--you'd be running wild if I left you on the trail any longer.