THE MARCH OF THE WHITE GUARD

By Gilbert Parker



"Ask Mr. Hume to come here for a moment, Gosse," said Field, the chief
factor, as he turned from the frosty window of his office at Fort
Providence, one of the Hudson's Bay Company's posts. The servant, or more
properly, Orderly-Sergeant Gosse, late of the Scots Guards, departed on
his errand, glancing curiously at his master's face as he did so. The
chief factor, as he turned round, unclasped his hands from behind him,
took a few steps forward, then standing still in the centre of the room,
read carefully through a letter which he had held in the fingers of his
right hand for the last ten minutes as he scanned the wastes of snow
stretching away beyond Great Slave Lake to the arctic circle. He
meditated a moment, went back to the window, looked out again, shook his
head negatively, and with a sigh, walked over to the huge fireplace. He
stood thoughtfully considering the floor until the door opened and
sub-factor Jaspar Hume entered.

The factor looked up and said: "Hume, I've something here that's been
worrying me a bit. This letter came in the monthly batch this morning. It
is from a woman. The company sends another commending the cause of the
woman and urging us to do all that is possible to meet her wishes. It
seems that her husband is a civil engineer of considerable fame. He had a
commission to explore the Coppermine region and a portion of the Barren
Grounds. He was to be gone six months. He has been gone a year. He left
Fort Good Hope, skirted Great Bear Lake, and reached the Coppermine
River. Then he sent back all of the Indians who accompanied him but two,