noon
When this pin was thrust through the hole in the oar , the great sweep hung almost balanced , and the steersman who used it to guide the unwieldy craft forced the blade of the oar back and forth against the current with the force of his body . The boys found it almost impossible to lift one of the oars . `` I can see now , '' panted Roy , as he looked over the tree-like sweep , `` where experience comes in . '' At the noon meal , Count Zept reported that Athabasca Landing was certainly a live town . He explained that he had met the most important man in town , the sergeant of the mounted police , and that he had been introduced to many of the influential merchants . He had examined the store of the Revillon Freres and was somewhat disappointed in his inability to secure a black fox skin which he had promised to send to his sister . The Revillon Freres being the well-known rival of the Hudson 's Bay Company , young Zept in his disappointment had also gone to the Hudson 's Bay store , but there he had been equally unsuccessful , although at both places he saw plenty of baled skins .