Across the street the big Swede made known his wants. "Squirrel whiskey," yelled the astonished proprietor, "we don't have such a thing, but," in a whisper, "I can fix you up with a little 'Old Crow.'" The Swede shook his head. "I no want to fly," he answered, "I yoost want to yump around avhile." Vancouver Welcomes H.B.C. Arctic Navigators _Captain Henry Hendriksen and Engineer Rudolph Johnson Return to Vancouver after Six Years in the North_ By MRS. JACK HAWKSHAW [Illustration: _Captain Hendriksen (left) and Engineer Johnson (right)_] WHETHER it's because of the climate or because the hearts of those in the West are big, we know not, but the fact is recognized that no branch of the Company's service gives a heartier handshake and welcome to the Company's employees than does Vancouver retail. When Captain Hendriksen and Engineer Johnson dropped in recently after spending six years in the frozen north, they were royally welcomed here as brothers in the H.B.C. Captain Hendriksen and Engineer Johnson operate the H.B.C. gas schooner "Fort McPherson," a boat of fifty tons which, together with the "Ruby" left Vancouver in 1914 to carry provisions to the Company's Western Arctic posts together with lumber and materials for the building of a post at Herschel and Baillie Islands. Fair weather and good luck attended the expedition until it reached Point Barrow where ice was encountered and they were compelled to fall back to Tellar Point, a hundred miles north of Nome, Alaska, before returning south, where the cargo of the "Ruby" was discharged and the "Fort McPherson" beached for the Winter. In July, 1915, the "Ruby" returned from the south, picked up her cargo again, and with the schooner "Fort McPherson," set sail for Herschel Island, arriving there in August, 1915. Since August, 1915, the Company has opened seven fur trade posts in the Western Arctic, the first being at Herschel Island; then followed one at Baillie Island, two hundred fifty miles east of Herschel and since then others have been established at Kittigazuit, Aklavick, Fort Thomson, Three Rivers, Kent's Peninsula and Shingle Point. The "Fort McPherson" is the Company's supply boat which during the Summer distributes the goods sent to Herschel Island and to the small posts in the Arctic. Captain Hendriksen and Engineer Johnson are on their way to Winnipeg on vacation. During their leave of absence, the "Fort McPherson" will remain at Kittigazuit. It is the Captain's intention to continue this trip to the home of his aged mother who is about to celebrate her centenary in Denmark, and whom he has not seen for thirty years. The journey to the coast was, as they term it, an uneventful one, being the same kind of an experience they are accustomed to and which is part of the daily round of all the Company's employees in the Arctic. But to us it reads like a fairy tale.