Page:Hendryx--Connie Morgan with the Mounted.djvu/277

Rh the loophole for a peep at the four dejected-looking figures that stood in a row before the cabin.

"Ahoy!" called one of the men. "We want somethin' to eat. An' we don't want no fish neither! We hain't no dogs!"

"It ain't what a man wants, it's what he gets that makes him fat," grinned the boy. "You'll eat snow, or fish. And you won't get fish unless you work for it. There's the nose of an old sled sticking out of the snow at the corner of the cabin. Dig it out and drag it up in front of the door. And while you're doing it, I'll boil your fish."

"Look-a here!" roared one of the men. "We knows our rights. Ef ye're a Mounted ye hain't got no right to starve prisoners nor make 'em work neither."

"Prisoners!" exclaimed Connie in feigned astonishment. "I haven't got any prisoners. You fellows are free to come and go as you like. I'm not holding you."

"But we hain't got no grub, nor blankets."

"Well, I'm giving you a chance to earn some grub. If you want to eat you can dig that sled out. And if you don't you can go swimming, or do whatever you want to do."