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 I08 THE FUR COUNTRY. was the first to break the silence, during which he had not removed his eyes from his rival's face. " This fox is mine, sir," he said quietly. " It is if you killed it ! " replied the other in good English, but with a slightly foreign accent. " Excuse me, sir," replied Hobson rather sharply, " it is mine in any case." The stranger smiled scornfully at this lofty reply, so exactly what he expected from an agent of the Hudson's Bay Company, which claims supremacy over all the northern districts, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. " Do you mean to say," he said at last, gracefully toying with his gun, **that you consider the Hudson's Bay Company mistress of the whole of North America % " "Of course I do," said Hobson; " and if, as I imagine, you belong to an American company " " To the St Louis Fur Company," replied the stranger with a bow. " I think," added the Lieutenant, " that you will find it difficult to show the grants entitling you to any privileges here." " Grants ! privileges ! " cried the Canadian scornfully, *' old world terms which are out of place in America ! " " You are not now on American but on English ground," replied the Lieutenant proudly. " This is no time for such a discussion," said the hunter rather warmly. " We all know the old claims made by the English in general, and the Hudson's Bay Company in particular, to these bunting grounds ; but I expect coming events will soon alter this state of things, and America will be America from the Straits of Jilagellan to the North Pole ! " '• I do not agree with you," replied Hobson dryly. " Well, sir, however that may be," said the Canadian, *' let us suffer this international question to remain in abeyance for the present. Whatever rights the Company may arrogate to itself, it is very clear that in the extreme north of the continent, and especially on the coast, the territory belongs to whoever occupies it. You have founded a factory on Cape Bathurst, therefore we will respect your domain, and you on your side will avoid ours, when the St Louis fur- traders have established their projected fort at another point on the northern shore of Aniericji."