,adventures in ,alaska ,by ,s4 ,,hall ,,young1 ,d4,d4 ,alaska ,days with ,john ,muir4 ,illustrated1 #abmo1 cloth4444 ,do you remember ,stickeen1 the canine hero of ,john ,muir's dog story8 ,here is a book by the man who owned ,stickeen and was ,muir's companion on the adventurous trip among the ,alaskan glaciers4 ,this is not only a breezy outdoor book1 full of the wild beauties of the ,alaskan wilderness1 it is also a living portrait of ,john ,muir in the great moments of his career4--,new ,york ,times4 ,i can see only one fault with the book1 it is far too short4 ,i should love to read such a book as big as the dictionary4 ,thank you very much6--,gene ,stratton-,porter4 ,one need not be an admirer of ,john ,muir to be thoroughly entertained by the lively pages4 ,the ,muir of this book is the familiar vibrant personality4 ,this little book1 the record of these trips1 is written in a style animated and vivid without being journalistic--a style not unlike that of the lover of glaciers himself4--,the ,nation4 ,adventures in ,alaska ,by ,s4 ,,hall ,,young ,author of ,alaska ,days with ,john ,muir1 ,the ,klondike ,clan ,,illustrated ,illustration ,,new ,,york ,,chicago ,fleming ,h4 ,revell ,company ,,london ,,and ,,edinburgh ,copyright1 #aiai1 by ,,fleming ,h4 ,,revell ,,company ,new ,york3 #aeh ,fifth ,avenue ,chicago3 #ag ,north ,wabash ,ave4 ,london3 #ba ,paternoster ,square ,edinburgh3 #ge ,princes ,street ,illustration3 ,stalking ,walrus in an ,oomiak ,dr4 ,young's figure is to the left4 ,this is the time he got his ivory for the gavels ,foreword ,the author puts forth this little book of actual adventures in the great new land of ,alaska with the hope that it will afford healthy-minded young people a true idea of some phases of human and animal life there4 ,these stories are picked out of an experience of forty years and selected with a view to both unity and variety4 ,the first three chapters are an attempt to draw in bold outline some dramatic episodes of the author's experience in the second of the three great gold stampedes of the ,northwest4 ,all these struggles for gold have in them richly dramatic elements4 ,life in such camps pulses strongly with all human ambitions1 affections and passions4 ,the missionary1 if he is really to commend himself to the men who rush into the wilderness for gold1 and do them good1 must1 first of all1 prove himself a man1 ready and able to do and suffer everything that falls to the lot of the gold seekers4 ,he must live their life and play the game with them4 ,he must cheerfully put up with the privations they endure1 must take the lead in their healthy sports1 must alleviate their sufferings1 and1 keeping himself free from the deadly gold-lust1 must show that he has in himself and can give to his fellow pioneers something better than gold4 ,his heart must be1 for himself and those about him1 a living fountain of joy and peace4 ,as in his earlier work1 ,the ,klondike ,clan1 the author endeavored to draw a true picture not only of the life and conditions of the first ,northwestern gold-rush1 but also of the minister's aims and field of duty2 so in this short sketch of the second ,stampede his aim has been1 above all things1 truth4 ,every incident is actual history1 and even the names are real4 ,the dog story is also conscientiously true history1 and belongs to one of the minor gold stampedes4 ,the second section of the book--the three bear stories and the walrus story--are also bits of history4 ,every pioneer missionary in ,alaska should be an ardent hunter4 ,the author's life has often depended upon his gun and fishing tackle4 ,for ten years in ,southeastern ,alaska he and his family had no beef or pork or mutton1 but the game--animals1 birds and fish--more than made up for the lack of these4 ,in ,interior ,alaska the same conditions prevail4 ,the wild animals furnish not only the food of the people1 both natives and whites1 but also their winter clothing4 ,life would be unbearable there in sixty-below weather were the inhabitants unable to procure the warm coats provided by kindly ,mother ,nature for the use both of her four-footed and her human children4 ,the ,eskimo faces the hardest conditions of almost any native race in his battle for life2 and yet he is1 perhaps1 the most comfortable of any4 ,he gets his living from the ,arctic seas1 the seal and walrus being his main dependence4 ,from the great walrus he gets meat1 clam chowder1 light and fuel2 its skin makes his foot-wear1 the walls and roof of his house1 and his boats2 its ivory furnishes his tools and implements of the chase4 ,when the author and his friends brought the great supply of walrus meat to the ,eskimo village of ,east ,cape they insured the life and comfort of its inhabitants for the winter4 ,all this is an essential part of a missionary's beneficent work4 ,good service for ,god and humanity is not inconsistent with the joy of the chase4 ,as the author confidently expects that many of his young readers will find their permanent homes in ,the great big1 broad land 'way up yonder1 he hopes this book may prove1 in some degree1 an introduction to the enjoyments and achievements of the life there4 ,s4 ,h4 ,y4 ,new ,york4 ,contents ,i4 ,,the ,,nome ,,stampede #ac ,,ii4 ,,the ,,anvil #cc ,,iii4 ,,bunch-,,grass ,,bill #di ,,iv4 ,,my ,,dogs #gf ,v4 ,,louie ,,paul ,,and ,,the ,,hootz #ajj ,,vi4 ,,old ,,snook ,,and ,,the ,,cow #aab ,,vii4 ,,nina ,,and ,,the ,,bears #aca ,,viii4 ,,the ,,absurd ,,walrus #aec ,illustrations ,,stalking ,,walrus ,,in ,,an ,,oomiak ,frontispiece ,facing page ,,nome1 ,,alaska1 ,,summer ,,of #aijj #bh ,,anvil ,,rock1 ,,overlooking ,,nome #cf ,,the ,,odoriferous ,,but ,,interesting ,,eskimo #dh ,,dr4 ,,young ,,and ,,his ,,dog ,,team #hj ,,fort ,,wrangell1 ,,alaska1 ,,on ,,etolin ,,harbor #ajj ,,native ,,houses1 ,,showing ,,totem ,,poles #aah ,,five ,,kodiak ,,bears #adh ,i ,,the ,,nome ,,stampede ,it was with the excitement of a veteran soldier going into a fresh battle that ,i teetered over the springy plank from the ,rampart shore to the deck of the ,yukon ,river steamboat4 ,my year's outfit of grub and duds1 as the miners would put it1 was aboard4 ,i grasped the hand of ,dr4 ,koonce1 with whom ,i had just floated in an open boat down the ,yukon twelve hundred miles4 ,a fine fellow--,kooncie6 ,we had been camping1 and fishing1 and packing1 and boating together since the first of ,may1 #ahii1 and it was now the middle of ,august4 ,he was to stay at the new mining town of ,rampart1 build a church there and learn the joyous life of a pioneer missionary4 ,what a queer mix-up of men on the crowded decks of the steamboat6 ,wild rumors of a ridiculous sort had reached the ears of gold hunters clear up the two thousand miles of the swift and crooked ,yukon to ,dawson4 ,gold6 ,not snugly reposing in the frozen gravel of deep gulches and canyons cut through the high hills--where respectable and orthodox gold ought to be2 but gold on the wind-swept1 stormy1 treeless1 exposed coast of ,seward ,peninsula--the tongue that impudent young ,alaska sticks out at old ,asia4 ,gold1 like yellow corn-meal1 in the beach-sands of ,bering ,sea1 where nobody could lawfully stake a claim1 but where anybody could go with shovel1 pan and rocker and gather it up4 ,nuggets a-plenty and coarse gold--enticing shallow diggings--in the bed of ,anvil ,creek and other creeks and runlets in the hills1 and the flat tundra about ,nome4 ,the reports of the new strike1 often wild and exaggerated1 came as a life-saver to weary and discouraged thousands of ,klondikers1 who had packed their outfits over the terrible thirty miles of the ,chilcoot ,pass in the fall of '#ig or the spring of '#ih1 sawed the lumber themselves in the armstrong sawmill1 sailed their clumsy boats through the lakes1 shot the rapids of the ,upper ,yukon1 spent the summer of '#ih and the winter that followed surging here and there on wildcat stampedes or putting down dry holes on unprofitable lays1 and were now eagerly snatching at this new straw1 hoping to strike it on the ,nome beach4 ,from ,dawson1 ,forty ,mile1 ,eagle1 ,circle1 ,fort ,yukon2 from wood camps and prospectors' tents along the ,yukon1 and now from ,rampart1 these bearded1 battered1 sun-blistered men came rushing aboard the steamboat4 ,i had engaged a state-room before the steamboat arrived1 but when it came a placard of the company owning the boat menaced us in the office3 ,all reservations cancelled4 ,boat overcrowded4 ,no passengers to be taken at ,rampart4 ,of course there was a mighty howl from the ,rampart men1 nearly half of whom had packed up to go on the boat4 ,i hurried to the purser1 whom ,i knew1 and showed my pass from the manager of the company4 ,can't help it1 ,doctor1 he said in a loud tone1 for the benefit of the bystanders4 ,the boat's past her limit now1 and we're liable for big damages if anything happens4 ,we can't take anybody4 ,presently he slyly pulled my arm1 and ,i followed him to an inner office of the store4 ,get your goods aboard1 he directed4 ,you can spread your blankets on the floor of my office4 ,while ,i was checking off my outfit and seeing it on board1 ,i noticed a lot of the ,rampart men1 with hand-trucks gathered from the various stores1 taking their own outfits aboard1 ignoring the shipping clerk and dumping their goods wherever they found a place to put them4 ,the officers and deck-hands were protesting and swearing1 but the men went right along loading their outfits4 ,presently the captain pulled the whistle rope and ordered the plank drawn in and the cable cast off from the dead man4 ,instantly three men marched to the cable's end1 seized the man who was to cast it off and held him4 ,then fully fifty men with their packs on their backs filed down the plank4 ,the first mate tried to stop them4 ,he even made a move to draw his pistol2 but the foremost man--a big six-footer--threw his arms around him and carried him back against the stairway and held him until the men with their packs were all aboard4 ,it was all done quietly1 and with the utmost good humor4 ,the men grinned up at the swearing1 red-faced captain on the upper deck1 and one shouted1 ,we'll give you a poke of dust1 ,cap41 when we get to ,nome4 ,when all were aboard1 somebody on the bank cast off the cable1 the swift current caught the boat1 the wheel backed1 and we swung around and headed down the ,yukon1 bound for the new strike4 ,whiskers were very much in evidence in that closely packed mob of men that stood around on all the decks1 stepping on each other's feet1 perching on stairways1 boxes1 pole-bunks--anywhere for a resting place4 ,to go from one part of the boat to another was a difficult proposition4 ,the most evident trait of the crowd was its good nature4 ,the deck-hands1 among whom ,i recognized a lawyer friend from ,dawson and a former customs collector from ,juneau1 were gold-seekers like all the rest2 and it was1 ,hello1 ,shorty6 ,ah1 there1 ,dutch6 ,where you goin'1 ,jim8 between them and the newcomers4 ,a rollicking1 happy-go-lucky crowd1 all joyful at being on the way to the new diggings4 ,even the officers of the boat began to smile1 secretly pleased that they had a record-breaking and most profitable load aboard1 and were free from blame for overloading1 because they could not help it4 ,as for me1 ,i was well content1 even to be hustled and jostled and elbow-punched by this horde of scraggly-bearded men of the northwestern wilderness4 ,this was my parish1 my home2 and these were my comrades1 my chums1 my brothers4 ,i was just as sunburned and weather-beaten as they were1 and felt the same tingling of nerves1 the same leap of the blood at the call of fresh adventure4 ,i was dressed in the same sort of rough woolen mackinaw clothes and soft flannel underwear as the men around me4 ,i had left my clerical suit and white shirts and collars behind1 for three reasons3 ,first1 for the sake of economy4 ,these strong1 loose garments did not cost a third as much as broadcloth1 and would wear twice as well4 ,besides1 it would cost a dollar and a half to have a white shirt laundered in ,interior ,alaska 7which1 at that time1 was twice the original cost of the shirt71 and twenty-five cents to do up a collar1 the cost price of which outside was three for a quarter4 ,i could wash my flannel shirts myself4 ,second1 for comfort's sake4 ,the soft wool of these garments was so much warmer and more pliable than a ,prince ,albert suit2 and a starched collar would sear one's neck like fire1 when it was sixty below4 ,my chief reason1 however1 was that ,i wished to create no artificial barriers between my parishioners and myself4 ,i wished to stand on the same social level4 ,i desired these men to feel that ,i was one of them1 and could camp and rustle1 carry a pack1 live on rabbits and rough it generally as deftly and cheerfully as they--live the same outdoor life and endure the same so-called hardships4 ,the view-point of these sour-doughs was shown in a funny way at our first landing place after leaving ,rampart1 which was the little town of ,tanana4 ,when the boat tied up1 the whistle gave three sharp hoots1 showing that the stay would be very short4 ,as soon as the plank was ashore a man ran up it1 and when he reached the deck he called loudly3 ,is there a preacher aboard8 ,is there a preacher aboard8 ,a grizzled old miner1 who did not know me1 pointed to the only man on the steamboat who wore a ,prince ,albert coat and white shirt and collar1 and drawled3 ,wa-al1 that there feller1 he's either a preacher or a gambler2 ,i don't know which4 ,the dressed-up man proved to be a gambler4 ,i made myself known to the anxious man from the village1 followed him ashore and married him to a woman who was waiting in the company's office4 ,that was one voyage of mingled discomfort and pleasure4 ,discomforts and hardships are as you make them and take them4 ,there were a few of that company who grumbled and swore at being crowded1 at being obliged to stand up all day1 to lie on the floor or on the piles of cord-wood at night1 besides being compelled to fairly fight for their meals or to get their food from their own kits4 ,but the majority of these men had been camping and roughing it for two years4 ,many of them had packed heavy loads over the ,chilcoot ,pass in the great ,klondike ,stampede1 had made their own boats and navigated hundreds of miles of unknown and dangerous rivers1 had encountered and overcome thousands of untried experiences4 ,to all of them these little discomforts were trifles to be dismissed with a smile or joke1 and they had contempt for any man who fussed or complained4 ,one of the cheeriest of the crowd aboard the steamboat was a newsboy twelve or thirteen years old4 ,his name was ,joe3 ,i never knew his surname4 ,he had had a very wonderful time4 ,the year before--the summer of #ahih--;he was selling papers in ,seattle4 ,he heard of the high prices paid for newspapers and magazines at the camps of the ,northwest4 ,he bought three or four hundred copies of the ,seattle ,p4 ,i4 7,post ,intelligencer7 and ,times4 ,he paid two and a half and three cents apiece for them1 the selling price at ,seattle being five cents4 ,then he got five or six hundred back numbers of these papers1 from a day to a week old1 for nothing4 ,he also got1 mostly by gift from those who had read them1 three or four hundred of the cheaper magazines1 some new1 some a month or two old4 ,for his whole stock he paid scarcely fifteen dollars4 ,joe smuggled himself and his papers aboard a steamboat bound for ,skagway1 and worked his passage as cabin boy1 waiter and general roustabout4 ,at ,juneau and ,skagway he sold about one-fourth of his papers and magazines--the papers for twenty-five cents each and the ten-cent magazines for fifty cents4 ,he could have sold out1 but hearing that he could get double these prices at ,dawson and down the ,yukon1 held on to his stock4 ,he formed a partnership with an old sour-dough miner1 who helped him get his papers over the ,chilcoot ,pass and down the ,yukon to ,dawson4 ,at the great ,klondike camp he quickly sold out his papers at a dollar each1 and the magazines at a dollar and a half to two and a half4 ,joe spent the winter of #ahih-i at ,dawson1 selling the two papers published in that city and running a general news stand1 in which he sold the reading matter he had sold before but gathered up again from the buyers4 ,sometimes he sold the same magazine four or five times4 ,when the ,nome ,stampede began1 ,joe got into the good graces of the manager of the steamboat company and got free passage down the ,yukon4 ,he shared my wolf-robe on the floor of the purser's room1 and we became great chums4 ,the boy was so bright and quick1 and at the same time so polite and accommodating1 that he made friends everywhere4 ,he was a ,sunday-school boy1 and distributed my little red hymn-books when ,i held service in the social hall of the steamboat on ,sunday1 and his clear soprano sounded sweetly above the bass notes of the men4 ,joe1 ,i asked him one day1 how much money have you made during the last year and a half8 ,well1 he replied1 ,i sent two thousand dollars out home from ,dawson before ,i started down here1 and with what ,i am making on this trip and what ,i hope to make at ,nome1 ,i think ,i'll have five thousand dollars clear when ,i land at ,seattle the last of ,october4 ,that's a dangerous amount of money for a small boy to have1 ,i warned him4 ,have you lost any of it8 ,joe grinned4 ,no1 ,i dassen't4 ,some card sharps tried to get me to gamble at ,dawson4 ,they said ,i could double my money4 ,but my partner the old miner said he'd lick me half to death if ,i ever went near the green tables4 ,i didn't want to1 anyhow4 ,everybody helps me take care of my money4 ,what are you going to do with it8 ,why1 give it all to mother1 of course4 ,she'll use it for me and my sister4 ,i'm going to school as soon as ,i get home4 ,mother works in a store1 but ,i guess this money'll give her a rest4 ,she needs it4 ,a word more about little ,joe before ,i leave him4 ,he made good at ,nome in ,september1 and sailed for ,seattle the last of ,october4 ,the last ,i heard of him1 four or five years later1 he was making his way through the ,university of ,washington1 and still managing newspaper routes in ,seattle4 ,his is a case of exceptional good fortune2 and yet ,i know of a number of boys who have made remarkable sums selling papers in ,alaska4 ,it is a boy's land of opportunity as well as a man's4 ,our voyage to ,st4 ,michael was a tedious one--down the long stretches of the ,lower ,yukon1 worming through the sand-bars and muddy shallows of the interminable delta1 waiting through weary hours for tide and wind to be just right before venturing out on ,bering ,sea4 ,hurrying at last under full steam through the choppy sea1 with the waves washing the lower deck and producing panic1 uproar and swearing among the men packed upon it--we came to the harbor of ,st4 ,michael on the wind-swept1 treeless1 mossy shore of ,norton ,sound4 ,i was still to work my way through a tangle of delays and adventures before ,i could reach my goal--the great new camp at ,nome1 one hundred and thirty miles from ,st4 ,michael4 ,i had first to get my outfit together on the wharf1 counting the boxes and war bags1 pursuing the missing ones to other outfits and proving my claim to them4 ,in the confusion this was a hard job1 but ,i only lost two or three of my boxes4 ,i piled my goods in a corner of the big warehouse of the ,north ,american ,trading and ,transportation ,co41 and set up my tent on the beach1 for ,i was near the end of my money1 and could not pay the high prices charged at the hotels4 ,i got into my camp kit and did my own cooking1 protecting my food as best ,i could against the thievish ,eskimo dogs4 ,then began a search1 which lasted a week1 for means of getting to ,nome4 ,the gold-hunters were putting off every day in whale boats1 ,eskimo oomiaks1 and small sloops and schooners2 but these craft were too small and uncertain for me to risk passage in them4 ,my caution proved wise1 for five or six of these small boats1 after setting out1 were never heard of again4 ,while ,i was waiting1 the ,u4 ,s4 ,revenue ,cutter1 ,bear1 came into the harbor1 and aboard her was ,sheldon ,jackson1 ,superintendent of ,education for ,alaska1 the noted pioneer missionary4 ,he was just returning from a tour of the native schools and reindeer stations4 7,he was the man who had introduced the reindeer into ,alaska from ,siberia to supply the wants of the ,eskimo47 ,hurry on to ,nome1 he counseled me4 ,you were never needed more in all your life4 ,at length there limped into the harbor a little tub-like side-wheel steamboat1 belonging to the ,alaska ,exploration ,company1 whose wharf was a mile and a half distant up the harbor4 ,there was no way of getting my goods across the swampy tundra of ,st4 ,michael ,island to the wharf4 ,on the beach ,i found an abandoned old rowboat with open seams4 ,i procured pieces of boards1 some oakum and pitch1 and set to work to repair the old boat4 ,the steamboat was to sail for ,nome the next forenoon4 ,i worked all night4 ,i made a pair of clumsy oars out of boards4 ,then ,i carried my goods to the leaky boat and rowed them to the dock4 ,it took three trips to transfer my outfit1 and while ,i was rowing back and forth somebody carried off my most valuable war-bag1 containing most of my foot-wear and underclothes--one hundred dollars' worth4 ,i was a tired man when ,i stumbled down the steep stairs into the dark and stuffy hold of the little steamboat2 and much more tired when1 after two and a half days of seasickness1 bobbing up and down in the choppy seas like a man on a bucking broncho1 ,i pulled up the stairs again and let myself down the rope-ladder into the dory which was to take the passengers ashore at ,nome4 ,you can only take what you can carry on your back1 announced the captain4 ,there's a storm coming up and ,i've got to hurry to the lee of ,sledge ,island1 twenty miles away4 ,you'll get your outfits when ,i come back4 ,lucky we're not all down in ,davy ,jones's locker4 ,i strapped my pack-sack1 containing my wolf-robe and a pair of blankets1 on my back1 glad to get ashore on any terms4 ,the dory wallowed heavily in the waves1 the strong wind driving it towards the sandy beach4 ,boats have to anchor from one to two miles offshore at ,nome4 ,when we reached the beach1 a big wave lifted the dory and swung it sideways4 ,the keel struck the sand1 and she turned over1 dumping us all out1 the comber overwhelming us and rolling us over and over like barrels4 ,drenched and battered1 we crawled to land4 ,a heavy rain was falling as ,i staggered up the beach with my water-soaked blankets on my back1 looking for a lodging-house4 ,the beach was lined with tents1 placed without regard to order or the convenience of anybody except the owner of each tent4 ,a few straggling board-shacks were stuck here and there on the swampy tundra4 ,two or three large1 low store buildings represented the various pioneer trading companies4 ,the one street1 which ran parallel to the beach1 was full of mud4 ,the buildings most in evidence were saloons1 generally with dance-hall attachments4 ,the absence of trees1 the leaden1 weeping sky1 the mud1 the swampy tundra1 the want of all light and beauty1 made this reception the dreariest of all my experiences in the new mining camps4 ,but ,i long ago learned that nothing is so bad but that it might be worse4 ,i had not at that time seen ,edmund ,vance ,cook's sturdy lines1 but the spirit of them was in my heart3 ,did you tackle the trouble that came your way ,with a resolute heart and cheerful1 ,or hide your face from the light of day ,with a craven heart and fearful8 ,oh1 a trouble's a ton or a trouble's an ounce1 ,or a trouble is what you make it2 ,and it isn't the fact that you're hurt that counts1 ,but only1 how did you take it6 ,illustration3 ,nome1 ,alaska1 ,summer of #aijj ,a city of tents1 twenty miles long ,i soon found a sign written in charcoal on the lid of a paper box--,lodging4 ,i entered the rough building and found a cheery ,irish woman named ,m',grath4 ,there was no furniture in the house except two or three cheap chairs and a home-made board table4 ,shure1 ye can1 she answered in reply to my question about spending the night there4 ,ye'll spread yer robe an' blankets on the flure1 an' it'll only cost ye a dollar an' four bits4 ,ye'll plaze pay in advance4 ,i took stock of the contents of my pocketbook4 ,there was just five dollars and a quarter left of the thousand dollars with which ,i had started from home on the first of ,may4 ,it was now the first of ,september1 and no more money was due me until the next spring4 ,my food and tent were on the steamboat and would not be likely to come ashore for many days4 ,it was ,sunday evening1 and a whole week must elapse before ,i could take up a collection4 ,i paid my landlady and she put my blankets by her stove to dry4 ,i paid another dollar and a half for a supper of beans and flap-jacks--the first food ,i had tasted for three days4 ,i slept soundly that night on the floor1 without a care or anxiety4 ,the next morning ,i paid another dollar and a half for breakfast1 and could not resist the temptation of purchasing a ,seattle paper 7only three weeks old--what a luxury674 ,i had just twenty-five cents left--and ,i was a stranger in this strange corner of the earth6 ,i could not help laughing at my predicament as ,i entered the ,alaska ,exploration ,company's store4 ,a bearded man standing by the stove bade me good-morning4 ,you seem to be pleased about something1 he said4 ,have you struck it rich8 ,well1 yes6 ,i replied2 a rich joke on me1 and ,i told him of the fix ,i was in4 ,what8 ,you are ,dr4 ,young8 he exclaimed1 shaking me heartily by the hand4 ,why1 ,i'm a ,presbyterian elder from ,san ,francisco4 ,the man's name was ,fickus1 a carpenter1 who had come to ,nome to build the store and warehouses of one of the big companies4 ,he had held the first religious meetings in the new camp and had found quite a circle of ,christian people4 ,he offered to lend me money1 but ,i refused to take it4 ,no1 ,i said1 let us wait and see what happens4 ,something happened very quickly4 ,while we were talking a young man entered the store and came up to me4 ,i understand that you are a minister1 he said4 ,yes1 ,i replied4 ,what can ,i do for you8 ,you can marry me to the best woman in ,alaska4 ,is she here8 ,i asked1 with a triumphant smile at ,fickus4 ,oh1 yes2 she came on the last boat from ,seattle4 ,when do you wish the ceremony to take place8 ,i inquired4 ,right now1 he replied4 ,you can't tie the knot too quickly to suit me4 ,i followed the eager young man1 married him to a nice-looking girl who was waiting in a near-by cabin1 received a wedding-fee of twenty dollars1 and returned to my newly-found friend with the assurance that my wants were supplied until my outfit would come ashore4 ,this was my introduction to the second great gold camp of the ,northwest--the raw1 crazy1 confused stampede of ,nome4 ,,ii ,,the ,,anvil ,the first two great gold camps of the ,northwest were very different1 although largely composed of the same material4 ,in physical features they were most unlike4 ,the ,klondike was in the great1 beautiful1 mountainous1 forested ,interior2 ,nome was on the bleak1 treeless1 low1 exposed coast of ,bering ,sea4 ,to reach the ,klondike you steamed from ,seattle through twelve hundred miles of the wonderful ,inside ,passage1 broke through the chain of snowy mountains by the ,chilcoot ,pass1 and1 in your rough rowboat1 shot down the six hundred miles of the untamed and untameable ,yukon4 ,or else you sailed twenty-three hundred miles over the heaving ,pacific and the choppy ,bering ,sea to ,st4 ,michael1 and then steamed laboriously against the stiff current of the same ,father ,yukon eighteen hundred miles up to ,dawson4 ,to reach ,nome you simply steamed the twenty-three hundred miles of ,pacific ,ocean and ,bering ,sea2 or1 if you were up the ,yukon1 came down it to ,st4 ,michael and across ,norton ,sound a hundred and fifty miles to ,nome4 ,though on the same parallel of north latitude1 the climates of the two camps are very unlike4 ,in the ,klondike you have the light1 dry1 hot air of summer2 the light1 dry1 cold air of winter4 ,there are long periods when the sky is cloudless4 ,in the summer of unbroken day the land drowses1 bathed in warm sunshine and humming with insect life1 no breath of air shaking the aspens2 in the winter of almost unbroken but luminous night1 the ,spirit of the ,north broods like ,james ,whitcomb ,riley's ,lugubrious ,whing-whang1 ,crouching low by the winding creeks1 ,and holding his breath for weeks and weeks4 ,there are no wind-storms in the ,klondike1 and a blanket of fine1 dry snow covers the land in unvarying depth of only a foot or two4 ,on ,seward ,peninsula1 the ,spirit of ,winter breathes hard1 and hurls his snow-laden blasts with fearful velocity over the icy wastes4 ,the snow falls to great depth1 and never lies still in one place4 ,it drifts1 and will cover your house completely under in one night1 and pack so hard that the ,eskimo can drive his reindeer team over your roof in the morning4 ,the air becomes so full of the flying particles that you cannot see the lead-dog of your team4 ,men have lost their way in the streets of ,nome and wandered out on the tundra to their death4 ,there is considerable sunshine in the summer1 and some comparatively still days1 but there is much rain1 and mossy swamps are everywhere4 ,the men at ,nome in the fall of '#ii included many who had been at ,dawson in '#ig1 but conditions were very different4 ,the ,klondike ,stampede was composed of tenderfeet1 not one in twenty of whom had ever mined for anything before--men of the city and village and workshop and farm1 new to wilderness life1 unused to roughing it4 ,those who reached ,nome in '#ii were mostly victims of hard luck4 ,many were ,klondikers who had spent two winters rushing wildly from creek to creek on fake reports1 possessing themselves of a multitude of worthless claims1 eating up the outfits they had brought in with them1 and then working for wages in mines of the lucky ones to buy a passage to the new diggings4 ,many had come down the ,yukon in their own rowboats4 ,but the ,klondike ,stampede was the cause of other smaller but more fruitless stampedes4 ,these were started by steamboat companies1 or by trading companies1 and often by wildcat mining companies1 and were generally cruel hoaxes4 ,scores of small steamboats1 hastily built for the purpose1 went up the ,yukon to the ,koyakuk and other tributaries in the summer of '#ih4 ,other scores of power-schooners and small sailing vessels sailed through ,bering ,strait into the ,arctic ,ocean and through ,kotzebue ,sound to the ,kobuk and ,sewalik ,rivers4 ,almost without exception these eager gold-seekers of '#ih found only disappointment1 endured the savage winter as best they could1 and1 out of money and food1 were making their way back to the ,states1 when news of the marvelous beach diggings at ,nome met them and they flocked thither in hopes of at least making back their grub-stake4 ,as these vessels approached the new camp1 the most prominent landmark which met their eyes was a lone rock in the shape of an anvil1 which crowned the summit of the highest of the hills near the coast4 ,at the base of this hill rich gold diggings were found in a creek4 ,the town which sprung up was first called ,anvil ,city2 but the ,government postal authorities1 looking at the map1 found ,cape ,nome in the vicinity1 and the post-office was named after the ,cape4 ,illustration3 ,anvil ,rock4 ,overlooking ,nome ,for the name ,nome two explanations are given4 ,it is said that the ,american and ,canadian surveyors who were laying out the projected ,western ,union ,telegraph ,line across the ,american and ,asiatic ,continents1 failed to find a name for this cape and wrote it down ,no name1 which was afterwards shortened to ,nome4 ,the more probable explanation is that the surveyors asked an ,eskimo the name of the cape4 ,now the ,eskimo negative is ,no-me1 and the man not understanding1 or not knowing its name said ,no-me4 ,this was written down and put on the map as the name4 ,but ,i like ,anvil1 and spoke and voted for that name at the first town meeting1 held soon after ,i landed at the new camp4 ,for the camp has been a place of hard knocks from the first4 ,rugged men have come there to meet severe conditions and have been hammered and broken by the blows of adversity4 ,others have been shaped and moulded by fiery trial and the bludgeonings of chance4 ,when ,i see that stone anvil ,i think of ,tennyson's inspired lines3 ,for life is not an idle ore1 ,but iron1 dug from central gloom1 ,and heated hot with burning fears1 ,and dipt in baths of hissing tears1 ,and battered with the shocks of doom1 ,to shape and use4 ,i was battered as hard as any one on this anvil of the ,northwest2 but to-day ,i feel nothing but gratitude for the severe experience4 ,i had to wait until ,saturday before the little steamer on which ,i came from ,st4 ,michael returned from the shelter of ,sledge ,island and put my goods ashore4 ,in the meantime ,i had obtained permission to spread my blankets on the floor of the ,alaska ,exploration ,company's store4 ,during that first week we had constant storms4 ,five or six vessels were driven ashore and broken up by the violence of the waves4 ,but ,i was getting my congregation together1 and so was happy4 ,a goodly proportion of ,christian men and women are always found in these gold camps1 and they are very willing workers4 ,before ,sunday came ,i had found an old acquaintance1 ,minor ,bruce1 whom ,i had known fifteen years before when he was a trader in ,southeastern ,alaska4 ,he offered me the use of the loft over his fur store4 ,mr4 ,fickus1 the man from ,san ,francisco1 to whom ,i have made reference in a former chapter1 fixed up some seats4 ,i got my organ carried up the ladder and found singers4 ,judge ,mc,nulty1 a lawyer friend who was handy with crayons1 made fancy posters out of some pasteboard boxes ,i had got from the store4 ,the floor of ,bruce's store was cluttered with ,eskimo mucklucks1 bales of hair-seal skins1 and other unsavory articles2 and an old ,eskimo woman1 who had her lower lip and chin tattooed downwards in streaks after the fashion of these people1 sat among the skins1 chewing walrus hides and shaping them into soles for mucklucks1 while the congregation was gathering4 ,one usher received the people at the store door1 steered them carefully between the bales and skins1 and headed them to another who helped them up the steep stairway1 while a third seated them4 ,we had a good congregation and a rousing meeting4 ,our choir was one of the best ,i ever heard4 ,our organist and leader was ,dr4 ,humphrey1 a dentist1 who had been director of a large chorus and choir2 ,mr4 ,beebe1 our chief baritone1 had sung in the choir of ,st4 ,paul's ,episcopal ,church of ,oakland1 ,cal42 and there were other professionals4 ,i give these details as a typical beginning in a frontier camp4 ,there is always fine talent of all sorts in a new gold town4 ,let me give right here two or three instances of the bread of kindness cast upon the waters and found after many days4 ,nowhere is this ,bible saying oftener realized than in the friendly wilderness4 ,one of the first men ,i met at ,nome was an old ,colorado miner1 whom ,i had known at ,dawson4 ,i had done him some kindness at the ,klondike camp during the illness and after the death of his nephew4 ,when he found me at ,nome he greeted me warmly4 ,you're just the man ,i've been looking for4 ,i know you don't do any mining1 but ,i'm going to do some for you4 ,i expect to go 'outside' in a few days4 ,you come out on the tundra with me to-morrow1 and ,i'll stake some ground for you2 then ,i'll take your papers out with me and try to sell the claims4 ,i went with him and he marked off three claims for me1 which he had already selected4 ,the next spring1 when my long illness had plunged me deeply into debt and ,i was wondering how ,i could pay my obligations1 my old friend returned with a thousand dollars1 from the sale of one of my claims4 ,i paid my doctor's bills and the other debts1 and rejoiced4 ,it was as money thrown down to me from heaven1 in my time of dire need4 ,at ,dawson1 in the summer of '#ih1 ,i helped an old ,g4 ,a4 ,r4 man from ,missouri4 ,he had been sick with the scurvy and was drowned out by the spring freshets and driven to the roof of his cabin1 where ,i found him helpless and half-devoured by mosquitoes4 ,i raised money for his need and sent him out home by one of the first steamboats down the ,yukon4 ,before he left he pressed upon me the only gift he could offer--a fine ,parker shotgun4 ,i took this gun with me when ,i went to stake my claims and bagged a lot of ptarmigan2 and a number of times afterwards ,i shot others of these delicious wild chickens with it4 ,and when ,i was taken ill and my money all spent1 ,i was able to sell the gun for a goodly sum4 ,one more link in this chain of kindness3 ,when my goods came ashore and ,i was able to set up my tent1 ,i found two men1 one a ,norwegian1 the other a ,michigander1 both of whom had just arrived1 without a shelter4 ,i took them into my tent4 ,they helped me to move my goods1 made me a cot and fixed up tables1 box-chairs and shelves for me4 ,the ,norwegian was a very fine cook and baked my shickens for me most deliciously4 ,i kept the men in my tent until they could build a cabin4 ,when ,i became ill they would come to see me1 bringing ptarmigan broth and other delicacies2 and when ,i was convalescing and ravenous the ,norwegian came again and again to my cabin1 bringing shickens for ,mr4 ,zhung1 and roasted them for me1 serving them with his famous nut-butter gravy4 ,in the language of the ,northwest1 ,i didn't do a thing to those chickens4 ,of all places in the world1 ,i think ,alaska is most fruitful in return for little acts of kindness4 ,men such as ,i have just described were pure metal1 and the heavy blows they received on the anvil only made their characters more beautiful and efficient4 ,it was in the metal of the men themselves--what this hard life would do for them4 ,some it made--some it ruined4 ,among the ,lucky ,swedes1 who leaped in a few months from poverty to wealth by the discovery of gold in ,anvil ,creek1 three form a typical illustration4 ,one was a missionary to the ,eskimos1 on a small salary4 ,at first his gold gave him much perplexity and trouble while he was being shaped to fit new conditions2 but he rose finely to the occasion1 gave a large part of his wealth to his church board for building missions and schools among the natives1 and pursued his ,christian way1 honored and beloved1 to broader paths of greater usefulness4 ,a second ,swede was also a missionary1 teaching the little ,eskimos on a salary of six hundred dollars a year4 ,his gold completely turned his head4 ,he fell an easy prey to designing men and women4 ,he became dissipated and broken in body and character4 ,he tried to keep for his own use the gold taken from the claim he had staked in the name of his ,mission4 ,his ,board sued him for their rights4 ,long litigation1 in which he figured as dishonest1 selfish and grasping1 followed1 his church getting only a small part of its dues4 ,the last ,i heard of him he was a mere wreck of a man1 disgraced1 despised and shunned by his former friends4 ,the anvil battering1 the trial by fire1 the hard blows1 proved him base metal4 ,the third man was a ,swedish sailor and longshoreman1 ignorant and low1 living a hand-to-mouth1 sordid life1 with no prospects of honor or wealth4 ,his gold at first plunged him into a wild orgy of gambling and dissipation4 ,he took the typhoid fever and was taken outside4 ,everybody prophesied that he would simply go the pace to complete destruction4 ,but there was true steel in his composition4 ,his moral fiber stiffened4 ,he began to think and study4 ,he broke away from his drunken associates4 ,he sought the companionship of the cultured4 ,a good woman married and educated him4 ,he has become one of ,alaska's wealthiest and most influential citizens1 and his charities abound4 ,the stern anvil shaped him to world-usefulness4 ,it is all in the man6 ,here at ,nome ,i first made the acquaintance of that strange race in which ,i afterwards became so much interested--the ,eskimo4 ,at first they were a source of considerable annoyance4 ,i always felt like laughing aloud when the queer1 fat1 dish-faced1 pudgy folk came in sight4 ,as we had to depend upon driftwood for our fuel1 they would come several times a day1 bringing huge basketfuls of the soggy sticks for sale at fifty cents a basket4 ,they soon learned that ,i was a missionary1 and then they would come rolling along1 forty or fifty of them at a time1 and bunch up in front of my tent4 ,if ,i were cooking dinner they were sure to gather in full force1 and would lift up the flap of my tent1 grinning at me and eyeing every mouthful ,i ate4 ,i did not know enough of their language even to tell them to go away4 ,their rank native odors were overpowering in the hot tent4 ,you could detect the presence of one of those fellows half a mile away if the wind were blowing from him to you4 ,the combined smells of a company of natives1 not one of whom had ever taken a bath in his or her life1 and who lived upon ancient fish and ripe seal blubber--well1 ,i'll stop right here6 ,one evening at a social in our warehouse-church we played the limerick game1 which was then a popular craze4 ,we would take a word and each one would write a verse on it4 ,one of the words was ,esquimaux4 ,a number of the limericks were published in the ,nome ,nugget4 ,with a man's usual egotism ,i can only remember my own1 which ,i saw at intervals for several years in ,eastern periodicals3 ,oh1 look at this queer ,esquimaux6 ,his nose is too pudgy to blaux4 ,his odors are awful2 ,to tell them unlawful4 ,the thought of them fills me with waux4 ,one day ,i was getting dinner in my tent and the usual company of natives watching the performance1 when there came along a couple of men who had just landed and who1 evidently1 had never seen an ,eskimo before4 ,i overheard their conversation4 ,say1 ,jim1 said one1 just look there4 ,did you ever see the like8 7,a pause47 ,say1 do you think them things has souls8 ,we-e-ll1 drawled ,jim1 ,i reckon they must have4 ,they're human bein's4 ,but ,i'll tell you this3 ,if they do1 they've all got to go to heaven1 sure2 for the devil'd never have them around4 ,now let me tell you a sequel3 ,two years afterwards ,i was a ,commissioner from the newly organized ,presbytery of ,yukon to the ,general ,assembly1 which met at ,philadelphia4 ,my fellow ,commissioner from the ,presbytery--the elder who sat by my side--was ,peter ,koonooya1 an ,eskimo elder from ,ukeavik ,church1 ,point ,barrow4 ,ten years earlier1 ,dr4 ,sheldon ,jackson1 then ,superintendent of ,education for ,alaska1 had visited that northernmost point of the ,continent and had started a school and mission4 ,peter ,koonooya was one of the fruits4 ,he was a native of extraordinary intelligence1 a man of property1 owning a fleet of whaling oomiaks4 ,he could read1 write and talk ,english1 was a constant student of the ,bible1 and was considered by the ,presbytery of sufficient intelligence and piety to represent us in the supreme ,council of the ,church4 ,i am quite certain that ,peter always voted exactly right on all questions which were up before that ,assembly2 because he watched me very closely and voted as ,i did4 ,i was able1 then1 and in after years1 to do these gentle1 good-natured natives some good1 and other ,christian teachers have done much more for them4 ,so it comes about that the condition of the ,alaska ,eskimo1 under the influence of the various ,christian missions and schools among them1 as compared with that of their brothers and sisters of the same race across ,bering ,strait in ,asia1 for whom nothing in a ,christian way has been done1 is as day to night4 ,they are pliable metal1 and the ,anvil of the ,northwest is shaping them into vessels and implements of usefulness and honor4 ,illustration3 ,the ,odoriferous but ,interesting ,eskimo ,two of ,dr4 ,young's ,parishioners ,,iii ,,bunch-,,grass ,,bill ,although ,i had often met him on the streets of ,dawson in '#ih1 ,i had not come into hand-shaking contact with ,bunch-grass ,bill until my first week at ,nome4 ,of all the social orders whose members gathered together in clubs for humane work during the epidemic of typhoid fever1 the first to organize1 besides being the strongest and most active1 was the ,odd ,fellows' ,club4 ,it was already organized when ,i arrived and1 as ,i belonged to the order1 ,i was present at the second meeting4 ,the young lawyer who was president of the ,club1 taking me around the little circle of earnest men1 brought me to a black-haired1 black-eyed1 sturdily-built and singularly handsome young ,irishman by the name of ,billy ,murtagh4 ,billy owns and runs the ',beach ,saloon1' and goes by the name of ,bunch-grass ,bill1 introduced our president4 ,i don't know how he got into the ,odd ,fellows1 under rules which bar saloon-keepers and bad men4 ,but he's in1 and we'll not turn him out of the ,club1 at least so long as this distress continues4 ,bill made no reply to this rather uncomplimentary introduction1 but shook hands with ,irish heartiness and looked at me with level gaze4 ,i've seen you in my saloon at ,dawson1 he said4 ,the others laughed1 and the president chided1 ,you oughtn't to give a preacher away like that1 ,bill4 ,taking a closer look at the young man1 a scene at ,dawson a year earlier flashed upon me4 ,i was collecting money to pay the passage on the steamboat bound down the ,yukon of some poor fellows who were broken and sick1 and who must go outside or die4 ,i made the round of the saloons and gambling halls1 and going into one of these places was curtly refused by one of the partners4 ,the other1 who was this young man1 came up and quietly said to the cashier1 ,weigh him out two ounces 7#cb4jj74 ,oh1 ,i remember you now1 and your two ounces1 ,i said to ,bill2 and to the others1 ,i can vouch for his knowing the ,second ,degree of the order1 at least4 ,i was made chairman of the ,relief ,committee of the ,club1 and found work a-plenty cut out for me4 ,although the members of the ,club did not look with indifference upon any case of distress1 yet its prime object was to look up and help the sick ,odd ,fellows4 ,i prepared a bulletin and tacked it up in the stores and saloons1 directing that any cases of distress among the members of the order should be reported to the ,committee4 ,as the typhoid epidemic increased in virulence1 the ,club found its hands full4 ,a day or two after this first meeting1 ,i was passing ,bill's saloon when he called me in4 ,i've just heard of a sick man1 he reported1 and ,i think he's an ,odd ,fellow4 ,then1 after a pause1 he added1 ,but if he isn't that doesn't make a ---- bit of difference4 ,he led the way along the beach for half a mile or more1 to an isolated tent1 where we found the typhoid case4 ,billy stayed until he made sure that the man was well cared for in the charge of friends and a good physician4 ,then he took me aside and slipped a twenty-dollar gold piece into my hand4 ,use that for him1 he directed4 ,the next day ,i had to raise a hundred and fifty dollars to send an old miner who was poor and crippled outside4 ,i marched at once to the ,beach ,saloon4 ,billy1 ,i said1 this old-timer has blown in all his dust for booze2 and it's up to you who have got it from him to take care of him now4 ,that's right1 he promptly answered4 ,there's ten saloons2 what would be my share8 ,an ounce1 ,i replied1 passing him the paper4 ,he weighed out the gold dust4 ,wait a while before going on4 ,i'll pass the word down the line1 he said4 ,half an hour afterwards ,i stopped again at his door4 ,they're all ready1 reported ,bill4 ,if any of them guys don't come across1 just tell me4 ,they all came across1 and thereafter1 until ,i left ,nome1 all the saloon-keepers met every demand ,i made upon them without question4 ,when a man had been impoverished or made sick through drink ,i went to the saloons1 only1 for his relief4 ,in other cases ,i made a general canvass4 ,when collecting money for church purposes ,i went to everybody1 except the saloon-keepers and their following4 ,the day before my second meeting with the ,odd ,fellows' ,club--a rainy1 blustering day--,i came to ,bunch-grass ,bill with a greater demand4 ,it is you ,i want this time1 ,billy1 not just your money1 ,i said4 ,there is a sick ,odd ,fellow in a tent almost a mile from here4 ,he is alone and lying in a puddle of water4 ,get your gum-boots and find three or four other stout men and come with me4 ,bill agreed at once1 found a man to tend his bar1 secured a squad of strong and willing men1 a stretcher from the army post and a good physician and went with me on the errand of mercy4 ,he worked all day in the mud and rain4 ,he carried the sick man to the warehouse which we had turned into a temporary hospital1 visited all the stores in an attempt to find mattresses1 and1 failing in that1 bought eight large reindeer skins and piled them on the floor for a bed1 bought underwear1 dry blankets and other comforts for the sick man1 and laid in a supply of delicacies for the use of the hospital4 ,in all1 he spent over fifty dollars and a whole day of strenuous work upon the case4 ,when ,i asked him at dusk if he were not tired he laughed3 ,never had a better time in all my life4 ,that night was the regular weekly meeting of the ,club4 ,i made my report1 which was quite long1 and mentioned many distressing cases1 showing an alarming increase of the typhoid4 ,then ,i asked for a rotary relief committee of three to be chosen at every other meeting1 and a permanent relief committee of two4 ,i've found the biggest-hearted man in all ,alaska1 ,i said4 ,his business and mine are not quite the same4 ,in fact ,i have been all my life fighting saloons and saloon-keepers1 and ,i expect to keep on fighting them until ,i die4 ,but this man's heart of love for his fellow-men fights his business harder than ,i can4 ,then ,i related some of the things ,billy had done during the past week1 and ended my speech by asking that he be put on the permanent relief committee with me4 ,we two will find the sick and cut out the work for the rest of you1 ,i promised4 ,the ,club applauded1 much to the confusion of ,bill1 who tried his best to shrink out of sight4 ,one of the boys reported next morning4 ,say1 ,doctor1 he began1 you sure scared ,bunch-grass ,bill near to death last night4 ,tickled1 too4 ,he asked us all to come in and have one on him4 ,he doesn't know anything else to do when he feels good4 ',that's a new one on me1' he said4 ',i never had anything to do with a preacher in my life4 ,didn't like 'em4 ,kept shy of 'em4 ,but if ,father ,young sees fit to come into my saloon--and he's in it every day--,i'll go with him wherever he wants me to go--even if it's to his church4' ,that touched me1 for ,i could sense something of the sacrifice it would involve4 ,it would be far easier for ,bill to start on a three-thousand-mile winter mush on snow-shoes1 over unbroken trails1 than to step inside of a ,protestant meeting-house4 ,from that time on1 ,bill was my right hand4 ,as the number of typhoid victims increased1 he made his saloon an intelligence office1 finding and reporting to me all new cases4 ,the example of the ,odd ,fellows stimulated the various social orders represented in the camp--the ,masons1 ,knights of ,pythias1 ,elks1 ,eagles1 and others--to a like humane work2 and ,bill looked up their sick members and reported to their committees4 ,he saw that all the sick had medical attention1 and guaranteed the payment of scores of doctor's bills4 ,each steamboat that left ,nome for the outside carried a number of convalescents and broken-down and moneyless men1 and funds had to be raised for their passage4 ,bill headed nearly all of these subscription lists1 as well as those for fitting up the four temporary hospitals we opened and filled with sick men4 ,being for over six weeks the only clergyman in that whole region1 ,i conducted all the funerals4 ,one week ,i had eleven--all typhoid cases4 ,bill attended them all1 looking after the digging of the graves and making coffins1 and often acting as undertaker4 ,now1 ,i am not setting up my saloon friend as a saint4 ,quite the contrary4 ,i suppose he had been guilty of every crime mentioned in the ,decalogue4 ,he had never known any home life1 but had knocked about from camp to camp of the western frontiers ever since boyhood4 ,his ideas of morality1 therefore1 were very vague4 ,he was said to have been run out of several towns in ,montana and ,idaho4 ,he had a violent temper and1 as the phrase went1 was quick on the trigger4 ,rumor said that he had the blood of more than one man on his hands2 although it was claimed1 in every case1 that he had not sought the quarrel4 ,he sold whiskey and drank it1 gambled and swore habitually without a thought of any of these things being wrong4 ,he was simply an uncultured1 ignorant1 rough-and-ready1 ,irish-,american backwoodsman4 ,but to those of us in the raw camp of ,nome who witnessed ,bill's untiring kindness and self-sacrifice during those weeks of distress1 his faults faded into the background behind the light of his many good deeds4 ,st4 ,peter says1 ,charity covers a multitude of sins1 and surely ,bill's charity abounded overwhelmingly1 putting out of sight much of the evil in his life4 ,as for me1 ,i shall always think of him as one of the most loyal1 devoted friends ,i ever had1 and the saver of my life4 ,for after seven weeks of most strenuous and wearing work1 ,i was suddenly stricken down with the typhoid myself4 ,the blow came when ,i was fairly drowned in the multitude of my duties4 ,i was raising the money to send out on the steamboat four or five men who must leave the country or die--poor fellows whose vitality was so low that they could not combat the cold and storms of a ,nome winter4 ,i was also preparing another warehouse-hospital4 ,so great was the demand for space for the care of the sick that ,i had felt compelled to take into my own ten-by-twelve tent three men sick with the disease4 ,so crowded was the tent that ,i had to sleep under the bed of one of them4 ,billy ,murtagh and others of the ,odd ,fellows' ,club warned me against thus exposing myself to the infection1 but there seemed to be no other way4 ,billy brought me all his remaining ,apollinaris water that ,i might not have to drink the impure seepage of the tundra4 ,some of the brothers carried me pails of water from the one well which had been recently put down4 ,while ,i was in the midst of the canvass for funds1 and in the bustle of preparation for the departure of the last steamboats1 ,i had a terrific headache for several days4 ,i was besieged day and night by friends of sick men for places to put the stricken ones where they could be cared for4 ,the life of a number of these men seemed to depend on my keeping on my feet4 ,i had no time to be sick4 ,i kept away from ,billy and my other friends1 for fear they might forcibly interfere4 ,but one of the ,odd ,fellows saw me as ,i was coming out of a store with a subscription paper in my hand4 ,he looked at me for a moment and hurried to the ,beach ,saloon4 ,bill1 he shouted1 get a doctor1 quick1 and go to the parson4 ,i saw him just now staggering along with his face as red as fire and his hand to his head4 ,he's got the fever1 sure4 ,billy came running down the beach with ,dr4 ,davy at his heels and caught me as ,i was entering my tent4 ,without ceremony they picked up the sick man who was in my cot and carried him to another tent near by4 ,then1 in spite of my protests1 they undressed me and laid me in my blankets4 ,i was half delirious and stubborn4 ,i fought them4 ,this is all nonsense1 ,doctor1 ,i protested4 ,i have only a headache4 ,there is no time to fool away4 ,these men must go out on this steamboat1 and the money is not raised4 ,let me alone4 ,dr4 ,davy finished his examination and turned to ,bunch-grass ,bill4 ,he has a bad case of typhoid1 was his verdict1 and ought to have been in bed three or four days ago4 ,find a house to put him in and a woman to nurse him4 ,bill had one of the softest and sweetest voices ,i ever heard4 ,he came to me and laid his cool hand on my forehead4 ,don't you worry about those men1 ,father1 he said gently4 ,i'll attend to that4 ,now who do you want to nurse you8 ,mrs4 ,perrigo1 ,i replied4 ,she has just built a new cabin4 ,i helped her with it4 ,her husband is recovering from the fever4 ,soon the good woman was in my tent1 eager to serve4 ,i was carried through a driving snow-storm to her cabin4 ,it was a rude affair built of rough boards set upright and battened with narrow1 half-inch strips4 ,a single thickness of building-paper poorly supplemented the inch boards4 ,but cold and uncomfortable as it was1 it was the only available shelter4 ,i had them bring my tent and make a storm-shed of it in front of the door4 ,there1 for more than two months1 ,i was to lie helpless4 ,my friends told me afterwards of the consternation that my illness caused4 ,i was chairman of all the general relief committees--those of the town council1 the citizens1 the mission1 the ,odd ,fellows4 ,that the leader should thus be laid aside seemed a greater calamity than was actually the case4 ,for ,mr4 ,wirt of the ,congregational ,church arrived with lumber to erect a hospital1 and ,raymond ,robins1 a young man of great earnestness and talent1 who has since arisen to national prominence1 came with him to help in ,christian work4 ,the night after ,i was taken to the ,perrigo cabin1 there was a meeting of the ,odd ,fellows' ,club4 ,billy ,murtagh was present and made his first public speech4 ,as my illness and the general situation was discussed he rose to his feet1 the tears streaming down his face4 ,he seemed unconscious of them--or1 at least1 unashamed4 ,fellers1 he faltered1 ,i'm hard hit4 ,this gets me where ,i live4 ,now ,i'll tell you this3 you fellers can look after the other sick folks1 and call on me when you need any money4 ,but ,i want you to leave ,father ,young to me4 ,i've adopted him4 ,he's my father4 ,all ,i've got is his4 ,if there's anything in this camp he needs1 he's goin' to have it4 ,ah1 that long1 desperate fight for life6 ,the stunning pain in my head1 the high fever1 the delirium1 the nervous terror1 the deadly weakness1 the emaciation1 the chills and nausea6 ,i was badly handicapped in my fight4 ,the two months of wearing work and strain which preceded my illness had exhausted me1 body and mind--there was no vital reserve to draw upon4 ,i was in a little1 cold shanty1 twelve feet square1 crowded and unhealthy4 ,two people besides myself must live in that tiny room--sleep there1 cook there4 ,the savage arctic winter raged against us1 howling his vengeance upon our impudence in thus braving him1 unprepared4 ,he made every nail-head inside the house a knob of frost4 ,when my blankets1 damp with the steam of cooking1 touched the wall1 he clamped them so tight one must tear the fabric in pulling it free4 ,he made my clothing1 stowed under the cot1 a solid lump of ice4 ,he asphyxiated us with foul gases when the door was closed1 and filled the room instantly with fine snow from the condensation of the moisture when it was opened4 ,he charged constantly upon the thin shell of the house with his high ,october and ,november winds1 shaking it wildly and threatening to bowl it over4 ,he drove1 in horizontal sheets1 the fine1 flour-like snow1 shooting it through batten-crevice1 door-crack and keyhole2 and1 finding myriad small apertures in the shake roof1 sifted it down upon my face4 ,he piled it in fantastic whirls around the house1 selecting the side on which our one small window was1 to bank it highest1 so that he might shut out our light4 ,he sent the red spirit in the thermometer tube down1 down1 down--ten below zero1 twenty1 thirty when it stormed1 and forty1 fifty1 sixty below when it was still1 and the black death-mist brooded over the icy wastes and men breathed ice-splinters instead of air4 ,the fuel supply for the ,nome camp was very poor and scanty4 ,men were digging old1 sodden logs of driftwood out of the snow1 and hauling this sorry fire-wood twenty miles by hand4 ,coal was scarce and sold by the ton for #aej4jj1 or by the bucket for ten cents a pound4 ,having had experience with typhoid epidemics and other sicknesses in the ,klondike ,stampede1 ,i had laid in a good supply of nice foods for the sick1 such as malted milk1 the best brands of condensed milk1 tapioca1 farina1 and other delicacies2 but all of these had been given away before my own illness1 and there was a scarcity of such articles in the stores4 ,but my friends1 women and men1--indeed1 everybody in the camp seemed interested in me and anxious to do something for me--arose to meet all these emergencies and ministered to mine infirmities4 ,the ,odd ,fellows supplemented the efforts of the convalescent1 but still shaky ,perrigo1 and cut the wind-packed snow into bricks and built it around the house1 until it looked like a veritable ,eskimo igloo4 ,it was much warmer after this was done4 ,the doctors at ,nome all prescribed a diet of milk and whiskey for their fever patients4 ,upon the news of my illness circulating in the camp a dozen bottles of different brands were at once sent to me4 ,billy came1 examined1 smelled at1 and tasted these liquors1 with the air of an expert4 ,then he bundled all the bottles into a gunny sack and carried them away1 saying1 ,he's not going to have any of this dope4 ,i've got some of the pure stuff1 made in ,ireland4 ,and he brought me an ample supply for all my needs1 and a gallon of pure alcohol for sponge-baths4 ,the ,odd ,fellows organized wood-cutting bees for my benefit1 and daily carried water from the well for ,mrs4 ,perrigo's use4 ,the women collected food and milk from their own stores and those of others1 and brought them to me4 ,the fellowship of the wilderness1 the finest in the world1 had its full exercise for my benefit there at ,nome4 ,i doubt if there was a person in all that great camp who would not have given me cheerfully his last can of milk4 ,as the fever progressed and my condition grew more serious1 the daily visitors were restricted to two--,mrs4 ,strong and ,bunch-grass ,bill4 ,the lady looked after matters of business1 my letters1 and information about other sick people4 ,billy1 with his soft1 low voice and gentle manner1 hovered over me1 sitting for hours at my bedside1 lifting me in his two big hands with infinite care and deftness4 ,never did son care for father with more tender solicitude and fuller devotion than did this ,irish ,catholic saloon-keeper1 this bad man of the western frontier1 for me--a ,protestant preacher4 ,there were many malamute dogs at ,nome1 great1 beautiful1 wolf-like beasts1 and the malamute chorus was much in evidence in the late hours of the night4 ,one1 in particular1 which was tied up not far from ,perrigo's cabin1 tuned up regularly every morning at three o'clock with his high-pitched tremolo1 waking every dog within a mile1 until all were howling1 and keeping it up till daylight4 ,there was no sleep possible for me while this concert was in progress1 and ,i used to lie awake for hours1 waiting fearfully for the leader to begin1 and to cower in my robes with nervous chills coursing down my spine at every renewal of the long-drawn cadence1 ,oo-o-o-o-o1 oo-o-o-o-o1 ow1 ow1 ow1 ow4 ,my fever would always rise with the commencement of this discordant chorus and increase as long as it continued1 and the doctor on his morning visit would find me exhausted and trembling4 ,the words of ,clarence would chase each other through my brain3 ,with that1 methought1 a legion of foul fiends ,environ'd me1 and howled in mine ears ,such hideous cries1 that1 with the very noise ,i trembling wak'd1 and1 for a season after ,could not believe but what ,i was in hell4 ,mrs4 ,perrigo told ,billy of the nuisance4 ,he stayed up that night until the leading canine musician shrieked his solo to the moon4 ,he followed up the sound until he found the dog1 roused the grumbling owner1 paid the high price asked for the animal1 led him down the beach half a mile1 and shot him4 ,an errand of an opposite character also fell to ,billy's lot4 ,the barracks which housed a squadron of ,united ,states soldiers was less than a block from the cabin in which ,i lay4 ,every night at eleven o'clock a bugle of remarkable sweetness and expression would blow ,taps4 ,i would listen for the soothing melody1 and when it would sound ,i would turn over in my robe and obey its command1 ,go-o-o to sle-e-ep4 ,lieutenant ,craig1 the commander of the post1 ordered the discontinuance of ,taps1 thinking it would disturb me and the other sick people4 ,that night ,i waited1 as usual1 for the good-night bugle1 and when it did not sound ,i grew anxious and distraught4 ,i thought my watch was wrong or the bugler must be sick4 ,i grew excited1 restless and feverish1 and passed a sleepless night1 missing my accustomed lullaby4 ,we told ,billy2 he went to see the ,lieutenant1 and the next night the lovely1 soothing phrase sounded forth on the still night air1 and ,i slept4 ,,taps4 ,music ,another cause of nervousness and anxiety arose1 requiring the efforts of both ,mrs4 ,strong and ,billy ,murtagh to solve the difficulty4 ,i was paying my nurse1 ,mrs4 ,perrigo1 five dollars a day1 which was almost all she and her husband had to live on4 ,they had been eating for a year and a half a food outfit designed for only a single season1 and there was but little of it left4 ,mr4 ,perrigo1 who was a ,yankee tintype-picture peddler and knew no other trade1 had tried his best to be a gold-miner2 but1 in common with the rest of the forlorn ,kobuckers1 had made nothing at all4 ,his wife1 who had been a bookkeeper in ,boston1 valiantly took up the trades of waitress1 washerwoman and cook in the ,arctic wilderness1 but there was but little money in that disappointed crowd4 ,almost immediately after landing on the golden sands of ,nome in ,august ,mr4 ,perrigo was stricken with the fever4 ,with the fearful prices that prevailed1 my five dollars a day was little enough to feed them and meet the monthly payments on their house4 ,i had accumulated #abe4jj--mostly wedding fees--when ,i was taken sick4 ,it melted away like a spoonful of sugar in a cup of hot coffee4 ,every ,monday ,i must have thirty-five dollars for my faithful nurse4 ,i placed in ,mrs4 ,strong's hands for sale my ,parker shotgun1 my typewriter1 my gold-scales1 my extra overcoat1 all gifts from friends4 ,she got good prices for them1 and for the few articles ,i could spare from my food supply--but still the phantom weekly payment menaced me4 ,when ,i closed my eyes the figures--#ce4jj--;big and lurid--stared at me1 and in my delirious dreams became red goblins1 mocking me4 ,a splendid woman1 member of the church which assumed my salary1 had given me two beautiful wolf robes4 ,i was lying in the heavier one4 ,i delivered the other to ,mrs4 ,strong4 ,sell it for me1 ,i requested4 ,you ought to get fifty or sixty dollars for it4 ,a week passed--then another4 ,mrs4 ,strong reported she was holding the robe for a higher price4 ,the crisis ,i had dreaded had arrived4 ,my money was gone4 ,i had none to meet next ,monday's payment4 ,sell the robe for what it will bring1 ,i directed ,mrs4 ,strong4 ,i must have the money4 ,i'll sell it on ,saturday1 she promised4 ,monday morning ,mrs4 ,strong marched in with a large canvas money-bag in her hand4 ,with ,mrs4 ,perrigo's assistance she counted out the money1 which was mostly in silver coins4 ,then she wrote in large figures1 #aeh4ej1 and pinned the paper on the wall by my head4 ,where on earth did you get that money8 ,i cried4 ,why1 for the robe1 of course4 ,you never got all that for it4 ,yes1 ,i did1 she affirmed4 ,then the truth dawned upon me4 ,mrs4 ,strong6 ,i exclaimed1 you raffled the robe6 ,yes1 she laughed4 ,what are you going to do about it8 ,then she explained4 ,finding it impossible to get a fair price for the fur blanket she and ,bunch-grass ,bill had laid their heads together4 ,they knew that ,i would not consent to a raffle1 so they kept the matter quiet4 ,bill displayed the robe in front of his saloon4 ,shares were offered at fifty cents each4 ,my lady friends of the mission sold tickets4 ,bill bought fifty and others of my friends did almost as well4 ,their purpose if they won the robe was to give it back to me4 ,what could ,i do8 ,to rebuke their kindly deception would be ungracious indeed4 ,with brimming eyes ,i thanked my friends1 and ,mrs4 ,perrigo got her money4 ,but the greatest of ,bunch-grass ,bill's many acts of kindness towards me remains to be told4 ,as ,dr4 ,davy had said from the first1 mine was a bad case4 ,i had seven and a half weeks of high fever before it broke1 whereas the usual limit of fever was three weeks4 ,i reached the extreme of emaciation and weakness4 ,i could hardly lift my hand4 ,when they bundled me in a blanket like a baby and hung me on the hook of a big steelyard ,i weighed sixty pounds6 ,i was long in the ,valley of the ,shadow of ,death and reached its utmost boundary1 until the very waters of the dark river lapped my feet4 ,well1 ,bill1 said ,dr4 ,davy with a sigh1 as he was returning one morning from his call upon me1 and stopped1 as was his custom1 to report to the ,beach ,saloon1 ,i'm afraid it's about over4 ,i don't think ,dr4 ,young can last much longer4 ,he can retain nothing on his stomach4 ,we've tried all the brands of condensed milk in the camp to no avail4 ,everything comes up the instant it is swallowed4 ,there are many internal complications1 and he may go off any hour in one of those deathly convulsive chills4 ,big ,wilbur1 who reported the scene to me afterwards1 said that ,bill's face went white as chalk1 and then flushed red as fire4 ,he jumped at the doctor as though he were going to assault him4 ,by ,god1 he cried1 he's not goin' to die4 ,we'll not let him1 ,doc4 ,see here3 ,when ,i had the fever at ,dawson1 what saved me was cow's milk4 ,now1 there's a cow here4 ,you come with me1 and we'll go see her4 ,that cow1 explained ,wilbur1 was a wonderful animal4 ,her owner sold twenty gallons of milk a day from her1 and she didn't look as if she gave one4 ,bill knew the owner was doping the milk with condensed milk and corn-starch and water and other stuff4 ,so he strapped on his two big guns4 ,he's great for bluff1 is ,bill4 ,doc4 and ,i went along to see the fun4 ,we found the owner in the stable 'tending to his cow4 ,bill didn't beat around the bush any4 ',you look here' he said4 ',your cow's givin' too darned much milk4 ,now this man ,i want it for is my father1 an' he's got enough microbes in him already4 ,doc4 here1 analyzed your milk2 didn't you1 ,doc8' 7,doc4 ,davy was game1 and nodded47 ',he says you put tundra water and all kinds of dope in it4 ,i'm goin' to keep tab on you1 an' if you dope my milk--well1 you know me6 ,it don't make no difference what you charge--a dollar a bottle or five dollars a bottle--my father's got to have pure milk4 ,understand8' ,for three months ,billy went to the stable every day and superintended the milking4 ,at a cost to him1 sometimes1 of three dollars for a pint bottle1 and never less than a dollar a bottle1 the bad man brought me every day1 with his own hands1 a bottle of fresh milk4 ,when ,bill and the doctor came in with that first bottle ,mrs4 ,perrigo carefully raised my head and gave me a brimming glass of the rich milk4 ,i drank it all and dropped off to sleep4 ,i needed no more whiskey4 ,the turning point of my illness was that glass of cow's milk4 ,bill's big bluff saved my life6 ,to show the rough1 yet fine sentiment of the man1 let me tell one last word about the lone cow4 ,she went dry before spring1 and1 as the camp was crazy for fresh meat1 the owner butchered her4 ,one of the ,odd ,fellows told me4 ,said he1 ,bill just went wild when he heard of it1 and we had all we could do to keep him from going gunning for the man who killed the cow that saved your life4 ,why1 that man would lay down his life for you1 and laugh while he was doin' it4 ,i would ,i could tell of ,bunch-grass ,bill's conversion and entire reformation1 but this is a true story1 and ,i never heard that he ever got so far as that4 ,this much1 however1 ,i am proud to tell4 ,one day in the spring of #aijj1 when the army of gold-seekers was beginning to land on the ,golden ,beach1 ,i was standing with ,bill near his saloon4 ,on a sudden impulse ,i spoke to him4 ,billy1 ,i said1 ,i love you1 but ,i don't like your business4 ,it's a bad business4 ,see what it has done to lots of good fellows around here4 ,you are too big for that game4 ,i wish you'd drop it and do something that's clean--that doesn't hurt anybody4 ,bill made no reply1 and ,i supposed my words had been fruitless4 ,but in a few weeks one of my friends informed me that ,bill had sold out and had gone to gold-mining4 ,that's good6 ,i exclaimed4 ,did he give any reason8 ,yes1 the man replied1 ,bill said you told him to4 ,when ,i was returning to ,alaska in #aija1 ,i bought a nice buffalo smoking-set at the ,pan-,american ,exposition and took it to ,alaska for ,bunch-grass ,bill4 ,i did not see him1 as he was mining at a distance1 but ,i heard of his pride and pleasure as he displayed the gift and talked affectionately of ,father ,young4 ,he left ,alaska that summer1 and ,i have heard vaguely of his presence in the ,nevada gold-fields4 ,but wherever he is1 ,i pray that ,god may bless and save the ,irish saloon-keeper1 who loved me and saved my life4 ,,iv ,,my ,,dogs ,mushing with dogs in ,alaska is the worst and the best mode of traveling in all the world--the most joyful and the most exasperating--according to the angle from which you look at it4 ,once ,i was preaching a series of sermons on the ,ten ,commandments to the miners at ,council1 a town on ,seward ,peninsula eighty-five miles east of ,nome4 ,i had come to the ,third ,commandment2 and ,i bore down pretty hard upon the useless and foolish habit of profane swearing4 ,when ,i was going home from the meeting1 a group of young men stood on the corner waiting for me4 ,come over here1 ,doctor1 called one of the men4 ,i have a bet with ,jim1 and ,i want you to decide it4 ,i crossed over to the jolly group4 ,what is your bet8 ,i asked4 ,why1 he replied1 ,i've bet ,jim five dollars that you have never mushed a dog-team4 ,well1 you've lost1 ,i answered4 ,i have driven dogs many times--and never found it necessary to swear at them1 either4 ,before ,i go on with my story1 perhaps ,i would better explain that word mush1 as it is used in the ,northwest4 ,the word is never used in ,alaska as you use it in the ,east1 to denote porridge1 or some sort of cereal4 ,there we say oatmeal or corn-meal1 or simply cereal4 ,in ,alaska the word has but one use4 ,it is a corruption of the ,french marchez1 marche1 which the ,canadian coureurs du bois1 or travelers of the woods1 shout at their dogs when urging them along the trail4 ,from marche to mush is easy4 ,so now1 throughout the great ,northwest1 ,canadian or ,alaskan1 when a man is traveling he is on a mush4 ,when he is speaking to his dogs1 either to drive them out of the house or to urge them along the trail1 he shouts mush6 ,if he be a good traveler1 he is a great musher4 ,of all the pet names they used to give me up there1 the one of which ,i was proudest was ,the ,mushing ,parson4 ,they tell a story1 which has the ear-marks of truth1 which illustrates this universal use of the word mush in the ,northwest4 ,two miners1 who for years had been in the mining camps of ,alaska1 at last came outside to ,seattle4 ,in the morning they went to a restaurant for breakfast and took seats at a table4 ,a rather cross-looking waitress came to take their order4 ,mush8 she asked4 ,the miners looked at one another in surprise and alarm4 ,the woman waited a while1 and when they did not answer she supposed they were deaf and had not heard her question4 ,mush8 she screamed4 ,the two men arose and fled4 ,when they got safely to the sidewalk1 one said to the other1 ,now1 what the ,sam ,hill did she fire us for8 ,there are three principal breeds of native dogs found in ,alaska--the ,husky1 the ,malamute and the ,siberian ,dog--all descendants of wolves1 with wolfish traits and the wolf's warm coat and powers of endurance4 ,of these the ,malamute is the largest1 descended1 as he is1 from the great gray wolves of the ,arctic regions4 ,the ,husky seems to be derived from the red wolf of the ,mc,kenzie ,river ,valley2 while the ,siberian ,dog has for ancestor the smaller1 shorter-legged1 heavier-furred ,arctic wolf of the ,siberian coast4 ,the smaller and more worthless dogs of the southern ,alaska ,coast1 if descended from wolves1 must have the coyote as their progenitor--having his lighter and slimmer body and his sneaking1 thievish1 cowardly disposition4 ,everywhere1 however1 the dog is largely what his master makes him1 and these northern wolf-dogs have greatly improved since they have fallen into the hands of white masters4 ,more intelligent breeding1 greater care in feeding and more careful training1 have made them what they are--the finest1 most enduring and most dependable sleigh-dogs in the world4 ,the dog is by all odds the most valuable animal of the ,northwest to the white miner and settler4 ,he is the miner's horse1 bicycle1 automobile1 locomotive1 all in one4 ,life in those wilds would be almost unendurable without him4 ,the miners appreciate this1 and cases of cruelty and mistreatment are very rare4 ,in the days of the early gold stampedes the cheechackos or tenderfeet1 who knew but little about life in the wilderness1 and still less about the dogs of the wilderness1 sometimes were guilty of abusing their dogs2 but this very seldom occurred1 and the old-timers always frowned upon1 and sometimes punished1 cases of cruelty4 ,i remember once holding1 with joy1 the coat of one of these old-timers at ,dawson in the strenuous winter of #ahig-h1 while he administered a very beautiful and artistic thrashing to a newcomer who was guilty of beating his dogs with a heavy chain and knocking out the eye of one of them4 ,but ,i cannot better give you an idea of what dog-mushing in the ,northwest is than by sketching a trip ,i took to a meeting of the ,presbytery of ,yukon in ,march1 #aiab4 ,i was at ,iditarod1 a new gold-mining town in the western interior of ,alaska4 ,the meeting was to be held at ,cordova on the southern coast1 seven hundred and twenty miles distant4 ,to reach ,cordova ,i must cross four mountain ranges--the ,western1 the ,alaska1 the ,chugach and the ,kenai ,ranges2 and traverse four great river valleys--the ,yukon1 the ,kuskoquim1 the ,susitna and the ,matanuska4 ,there was first a very rough stretch of rudely marked trail five hundred and twenty miles to ,seward4 ,there ,i would take a steamboat two hundred miles to ,cordova4 ,let us betake ourselves together to this big miner's camp1 and talk the matter over in the free1 familiar way of the ,northwest3 ,a young fellow of ,scotch descent hailing from the north of ,ireland1 ,william ,breeze1 known far and wide as an experienced dog musher1 is to be my companion on this trip4 ,he is bound for ,susitna1 three hundred miles from ,iditarod1 on a prospecting trip1 and will take care of my dogs1 boil their feed at night and do the heaviest part of the work4 ,illustration3 ,dr4 ,young and his ,dog ,team ,iditarod1 ,february1 #aiab ,and now let me introduce you to my team4 ,it is one of the finest teams in all the ,north4 ,there are five pups of the same litter1 now six or seven years old4 ,they are a cross between the ,mc,kenzie ,river husky and the shepherd dog1 and have the long hair and hardy endurance of the former and the sagacity1 intelligence and affection of the latter4 ,being brothers1 they know each other and are taught to work together1 although this fact does not hinder them from engaging in a general free-for-all fight now and again4 ,however1 if attacked by strange dogs the whole five work together beautifully1 centering their forces with ,napoleonic strategy and beating the enemy in detail4 ,the leader is black1 white and tan1 marked like a shepherd dog4 ,he has been named ,nigger1 but ,i have changed his name simply to ,leader4 ,it sounds enough like the original to please him and keep him going4 ,he is a splendid leader4 ,he has a swift1 swinging pace1 and can keep the trail when it is covered a foot deep by fresh snow and there is no external sign of it4 ,he has that intelligence which leads him to avoid dangers1 and he will stop and look back at you if there is a hole in the ice or a dangerous slide1 awaiting your orders and co-operation before he essays the difficult problem4 ,his knowledge of ,gee and ,haw is perfect1 the tone in which you pronounce these words and the force with which you utter them telling him just how far to the right1 or to the left1 he is to swing4 ,gee6 spoken in a short1 explosive1 loud tone will turn him square to the right1 while ,ge-e-e1 ge-e-e-e1 in soft lengthened syllables1 will make him veer slowly and gradually4 ,his sense of responsibility is very great1 and his censorship of the conduct of his fellow teamsters very severe4 ,he will not tolerate any shirking on their part and takes keen delight in their correction when they deserve it4 ,but he will fly at your throat if you touch him with the whip4 ,the swing dogs just behind him are ,moose and ,ring1 colored like ,irish setters4 ,they have exactly the same gait1 are the same size1 and almost the same coloring1 ,ring a little lighter than ,moose and with a white collar around his neck which suggested his name4 ,moose is a little gentleman1 the loveliest dog ,i have ever known4 ,his traces are always taut1 and when you utter his name he will jump right up into the air1 straining on his collar4 ,he knows the words of command as well as the leader1 and has never1 perhaps1 been touched with the whip4 ,i think chastisement would break his heart1 for he would know it was unmerited4 ,he is my pet1 the one dog of the team that ,i allow in my cabin1 and my companion in my short journeys through the camp4 ,he is remarkably clean and dainty in his habits1 his coat shining like polished bronze4 ,he would guard my person or my coat with his life1 the most faithful1 intelligent and affectionate dog ,i have ever had4 ,i love that dog4 ,ring is also willing1 but has not the intelligence or the good nature of ,moose4 ,he is a scrapper and apt to embroil the rest of the team in a general fight4 ,but he will work all day at his highest tension4 ,teddy and ,sheep1 the wheel dogs1 are not so valuable as the other three4 ,teddy has the longest hair and the lightest weight of any1 and the least strength2 but he is a willing little fellow and a very keen hunter4 ,make a noise like a squirrel or a bird1 and he will prick up his ears and dash down the path after the game1 and when a real rabbit or ptarmigan crosses his path he will tear madly along until the game is passed4 ,you can fool him every minute of the day1 and ,breeze has a way of imitating the little birds that keeps ,teddy working his hardest4 ,sheep is a malingerer4 ,he is a clown1 and so comical that you cannot help laughing at him1 even when you know he deserves a good thrashing4 ,he is fat1 heavy and awkward4 ,in color he is a light1 tawny yellow1 with long hair like ,teddy1 but labors under the serious disability of having a different gait from the others4 ,they are pacers2 he is a trotter4 ,when they are swinging rhythmically along at a five-mile gait1 ,sheep has to lope1 his trot not being equal to the occasion4 ,he has a way of playing off sick or fagged2 but if game appears1 he forgets all about his pretenses1 his lameness is all gone in a second and he is the keenest of the team4 ,also1 when nearing the camp he forgets his weariness and pulls harder than any of the team4 ,it is necessary to let him see the whip constantly1 and occasionally to feel it1 and he is the only one of the team that necessitates its use at all4 ,about once a day1 on the trail1 a funny scene has to be enacted4 ,we may be laboring up a long hill1 or wallowing through deep snow1 the difficult ascent requiring every man and dog to do his best4 ,sheep will get tired1 and1 with a backward look at me to see if ,i am noticing1 will let his traces slacken4 ,i give him a touch of the whip1 and1 although he can hardly feel the lash through his thick coat1 he yelps and pulls manfully for a short distance2 but presently his trace chain sags again4 ,soon ,leader notices the heavier pulling and1 knowing where the blame lies1 turns his head1 shows his teeth and growls at ,sheep1 who jumps into his collar and pulls like a good fellow4 ,soon he forgets and lets up again1 getting a fiercer growl from ,leader4 ,a third time he is a slacker4 ,then ,leader stops and begins to swing around carefully so as not to tangle the harness4 ,moose and ,ring and ,teddy all stand still and look at ,sheep4 ,that unfortunate trotter lies down on his back with his feet in the air and begins to howl in anguish4 ,i sit down on the sled and wait--,i know what is coming4 ,leader reaches ,sheep and for about a minute there is a bedlam of savage growls from ,leader and piercing shrieks from ,sheep4 ,i notice that ,leader does not take the culprit by the throat1 but only pinches the loose hide on his breast and side4 ,that cannot injure him1 so ,i am not uneasy4 ,the punishment over1 ,leader resumes his place4 ,sheep gets up and shakes himself with an air of relief4 ,i take the handle-bars and call ,mush4 ,for the rest of the day ,sheep pulls for all he is worth2 but the next day he forgets and has to be trounced again4 ,i am conscious that this story may have a fishy flavor for some of my readers1 but ,i can assure them it is true4 ,but mine are all fine little dogs1 not as large as the malamute1 but with more courage1 spirit and intelligence4 ,the long hair protects them from the cold and they will cuddle down in the snow contentedly1 curled up like little shrimps1 and let it cover them4 ,we must take along enough feed for the dogs1 to last them from salmon stream to salmon stream4 ,the staple of their feed is dried salmon2 it goes a long way for its weight4 ,we start with a hundred pounds of it1 and fifty pounds of rice and tallow4 ,this1 boiled into a savory mess and served once a day 7when they stop for the night71 keeps the dogs fat and hearty4 ,we shall replenish the supply at intervals1 for five dogs will eat an immense amount of food1 and must have all that they can eat at their daily meal4 ,the sled is a basket-sleigh with handle-bars and brake at the back and a gee-pole in front1 with an extra rope when we have to neck it to help the dogs4 ,my wolf-robe is spread on the floor of the sleigh for my accommodation in the brief intervals of riding4 ,for dog mushing in ,alaska does not mean luxuriously riding in your sleigh wrapped up in your fur robe while the dogs haul you along the trail4 ,when ,dr4 ,egbert ,koonce sledded twelve hundred miles from ,rampart to ,valdez in #aijb on his way to the ,general ,assembly1 ,i told the ,assembly of the feat4 ,a good friend from ,philadelphia said3 ,it must after all be a really luxurious way of traveling1 wrapped up in your furs and reclining in a comfortable sleigh behind your dogs4 ,i turned to ,koonce and asked him how much of that twelve hundred miles he rode4 ,about two miles1 he replied4 ,i shall ride more than this on my way to ,seward1 but there will not be many places where ,i can ride half a mile at a stretch without getting out and running behind the dogs4 ,the beauty of dog mushing is that you are compelled to work as hard as the dogs4 ,you are not on a well-beaten boulevard2 you are wending your way around trees and stumps1 over hummocks1 up and down hills1 along the sides of the mountains1 and must keep your hands on the handle-bars1 lifting the sled on the trail when it runs off and often breaking the trail ahead with your snow-shoes4 ,when the dogs are on fairly good roads they swing along uninterruptedly and you run your best behind4 ,if there are two of you1 one holds the handle-bars and the other sprints along1 either in front or behind the sleigh4 ,you will get pretty tired the first two or three days1 but after your muscles become hardened and you get your second wind1 you can run at your keenest gait two or three miles at a time4 ,but let us get started4 ,all preparations are made1 the supply of dog-feed loaded1 our robes and blankets put aboard1 heavy canvas corded around the load and our snow-shoes strapped on top4 ,we shall not need a gun1 for there will be plenty of game to be had at the roadhouses1 and we shall not have time to bother with hunting4 ,we have a long journey to make and everything must bend to getting over the ground4 ,that ribbon of the trail must be unwound for five hundred and twenty miles4 ,a company of warm and sympathetic friends foregather to bid us good-bye1 and off we go4 ,the trail is well beaten from ,iditarod to ,flat ,city1 seven and a half miles1 and ,i get aboard1 with ,breeze at the handle-bars4 ,my huskies leap into the harness at the word of command and we make a flying start4 ,they are just as keen to go as we are1 and seem to enjoy it as well4 ,i ride perhaps half a mile then jump off without stopping the team1 and run ahead of the dogs up the long hill4 ,i soon find my fur parka too heavy1 and discard it for the lighter one made of drilling1 in which ,i do the rest of my mushing to the end of the trail4 ,moccasins are on my feet1 for the trail must be taken flat-footed if one is to have reasonable comfort4 ,after two or three miles we leave the broad road and strike the trail through the wilderness4 ,our sled is twenty-one inches wide1 light and shod with steel1 and the trail1 henceforth1 will be about twenty-four inches in width1 sometimes sunken deep1 where snow has not recently fallen and the trail has been well beaten1 sometimes only a trace along the snow where the wind has blown it clean and where the trail is hard4 ,we soon begin to labor up the first divide4 ,no more riding now4 ,the trail is hard enough to dispense with snow-shoes1 but heavy enough to make us both walk and labor4 ,i strike the trail ahead1 leaving ,breeze to the handle-bars4 ,i begin to feel the joy of it4 ,the keen1 light1 dry air is like wine4 ,the trail winds through the woods1 along the edges of gorges1 then up a steep mountain4 ,now the timber ceases and we have rounded1 wind-swept summits4 ,i leave the dogs far behind1 for it is heavy pulling up the steep4 ,their bells tinkle faintly from below4 ,i gain nearly a mile on them before they round the summit4 ,i strike my lope down the farther side1 but soon hear the bells as they charge down upon me and pass me1 swinging on towards the roadhouse4 ,we only make twenty miles the first day1 for it was nearly noon when we started1 and we are glad to stop at ,bonanza ,roadhouse as dusk is coming on4 ,how good the moose meat tastes6 ,how sweet the beds of hard boards and blankets6 ,the luxury of rest we enjoy to the full4 ,the dogs are fed1 our moccasins and socks hung up to dry1 and we crawl in our bunks with sighs of relief4 ,there is no floor in the roadhouse2 all the lumber has been whipsawed by hand1 the furniture manufactured out of boxes and stumps1 the utensils of the rudest4 ,but the luxury of splendid meat and good sour-dough bread and coffee makes us feel that we have all that goes to make life desirable4 ,an early morning start is necessary4 ,we eat our breakfast by candle-light1 fill up our thermos bottle with hot coffee1 take a big hunk of roasted meat for lunch1 and hit the trail by daylight4 ,twenty-six miles to-day--to ,moorecreek ,roadhouse4 ,snow begins to fall1 and soon the trail is obliterated by the fast-coming feathery flakes4 ,now the snow-shoes must be unstrapped and one of us break the trail ahead4 ,we take turns and swing along at a three and a half mile gait4 ,this is real work1 and we reach the roadhouse in the middle of the afternoon1 but not so tired as on the preceding day4 ,these are samples of the journey throughout2 but oh1 the variety6--no two miles alike--and the panorama of beauty that unfolds before us6 ,each fir tree flings a bridal veil1 ,a bridal veil of shimmering white1 ,like stately maidens tall and bright1 ,slow marching as to solemn rite ,beside the ribbon of the trail4 ,notice the beauty of the frost sparkling on the trees4 ,the wonderful law that gives its own distinct varieties of frost crystals to each species of tree1 fir1 spruce1 birch1 cottonwood or alder1 is exemplified so plainly here that1 after the first examination1 you can tell the kind of tree under the frost crystals by the shade of silver4 ,the mountains tower above you1 wind-swept1 waving snow-banners4 ,the vastness of that white hush awes and thrills you4 ,a rough sound would be blasphemy in the solemn silence4 ,the whole landscape is a poem4 ,to relate even the leading incidents of this joy-mush of three weeks would take up too much space4 ,the longest distance we traveled in any one day was fifty-five miles2 while our hardest and longest day's struggle through drifted snow and over a steep mountain pass yielded us only twelve miles of trail4 ,in most of the roadhouses ,i found old friends1 and1 in several of them1 ,christian people who had been members of missions ,i had established in new mining camps4 ,what grand times we had together6 ,no fellowship is so warm and sweet as that of the wilderness4 ,of many adventures on the trail ,i can give but two4 ,one morning1 about half-way from ,iditarod to ,seward1 we left the fine cabin of ,french ,joe1 on the ,south ,fork of the ,kuskoquim ,river1 under the two beautiful peaks1 ,mts4 ,egypt and ,pyramid4 ,we were making for ,rainy ,pass over the ,alaskan ,range4 ,what follows is an extract from an account ,i wrote at the time4 ,the day out from ,joe's ,i meet with my first disaster4 ,we have nineteen miles of absolutely clear ice on the ,south ,fork of the ,kuskoquim4 ,the river is full of air-holes and open riffles4 ,the dogs swing along at a ripping pace1 digging their toe nails into the hard ice1 the sled slipping sideways and sliding dangerously near to the open places4 ,breeze often has to run ahead at full speed to choose a route1 for there is no trail on the ice4 ,half-way up the river ,i get gay1 as ,breeze calls it4 ,i leave the handle-bars to find a route1 and fall down hard on the smooth ice4 ,a sharp pang strikes through the small of my back as if from a spear-thrust4 ,i get up and go along1 thinking the pain will cease1 but soon ,i realize that ,i am in the grip of an old enemy1 lumbago4 ,from this point on to ,seward ,i cannot make a move without pain1 sometimes so great that ,i gasp for breath4 ,at night in the roadhouse ,i have great trouble in getting into my bunk1 and sometimes ,breeze has to lift me out in the morning4 ,were ,i at home ,i would be in bed for a couple of weeks with doctors and nurses fussing over me1 but it is just as well that ,i cannot stop4 ,i take the philosophy of an old fellow in the ,rainy ,pass ,roadhouse near the summit of the range1 who says the best cure for a lame back is to keep on a-mushin'6 ,beyond ,rainy ,pass we drop into the canyon of ,happy ,river1 and here we have our famous moose-hunt4 ,soon after we enter the gorge we come upon its tracks--a big bull-moose4 ,we have already traveled nearly thirty miles to-day1 and are anxious to make the roadhouse twelve or fifteen miles further on2 and now1 here comes this big1 blundering beast to poke our trail full of deep holes and excite our dogs4 ,he is running ahead of us4 ,the snow is five or six feet deep and he goes in almost to his back at every step4 ,the walls of the canyon are sheer and he cannot escape up its side4 ,the river turns and winds1 and here and there are little patches of level ground1 thick with large spruce trees4 ,for three miles we do not catch sight of the moose1 but our dogs show that he is on ahead4 ,in spite of my lame back ,i have to struggle on in front of them and bat ,leader in the face with my cap1 ,breeze standing on the brake to keep them from running away4 ,the moose tracks fill our trail for a while1 smashing it all to pieces1 then veer sideways to a little patch of woods1 and the dogs go pell-mell in the moose track1 burying our sled out of sight in the deep snow4 ,then we have to haul them around and lift the sled on the track again1 and try to get them along the trail4 ,three miles down the river we catch sight of the big moose1 and the dogs go wild4 ,sheep1 who has been disposed to malinger1 is the worst of the lot4 ,he forgets all his maladies and weariness and dashes forward1 but ,leader will not leave the track and swings along as best he can1 except when the moose is in full sight4 ,then ,i have to bat him in the face to keep the team in bounds4 ,our bells are tingling1 our dogs barking and we are shouting4 ,it is a fearsome thing to the bull-moose1 this animated machine that is charging down the river at him4 ,so on he struggles through the deep snow1 spoiling our trail and filling my companion's mind with blasphemous thoughts which occasionally break out in expression1 in spite of his respect for my cloth4 ,four miles of this moose-hunt1 with the big brute growing more tired and we more anxious to pass him4 ,instead of our hunting the moose he is haunting us4 ,at last1 around a little point of woods1 we see him lying down in the middle of the river right ahead of us4 ,the dogs break bounds and almost upset me as they dash down the trail with ,breeze standing on the brake and yelling ,whoa6 ,the weary bull-moose staggers to his feet again and makes the edge of the woods1 but there lies down again4 ,the trail veers right up to him4 ,i run ahead and take ,leader and ,ring1 one in each hand1 and ,breeze does the same with ,teddy and ,sheep4 ,moose is more tractable and we can control him with our voices4 ,we drag the dogs bodily with the sled behind1 pass the big brute1 his long face not a rod from us1 and then1 setting ,leader on the trail again1 we urge them down five miles further to ,happy ,river ,roadhouse4 ,that was one hunt in which ,i was glad to lose the game4 ,four hundred miles from our starting point we put up at the ,pioneer ,roadhouse in the little town of ,knik at the head of ,cook's ,inlet4 ,this was one of half a dozen small towns around ,knik ,arm and ,turn-again ,arm1 the two prongs of ,cook's ,inlet4 ,these towns had been in existence for fifteen or twenty years1 with gold-miners and their families living there2 and yet1 here at ,knik1 ,i preached the first sermon that had ever been preached in a region larger than the state of ,pennsylvania6 ,this visit led to the establishment of a number of missions in that region1 which is now traversed by the new ,government railroad4 ,the towns of ,anchorage and ,matanuska have sprung into existence and a thriving population of railroad builders1 coal miners1 gold miners1 farmers and men of other trades and professions has settled there4 ,i left ,iditarod on ,march fifth4 ,i swung into ,seward at nine o'clock on the morning of ,march twenty-eighth and was heartily greeted and entertained by ,rev4 ,l4 ,s4 ,pedersen1 pastor of the ,methodist ,church4 ,he was a photographer as well as a preacher1 and took the picture of my arrival4 ,in spite of their hard work1 my dogs were fatter and fuller of pep than when we started4 ,i fairly cried when ,i bade my team good-bye at ,seward1 taking each beautiful head in my arms and talking to them all4 ,they seemed to feel the parting as keenly as ,i1 for there was a general chorus of mournful howls as ,i turned away4 ,i never saw my splendid dogs again1 for the man who engaged to take them back to ,iditarod failed to keep to his bargain1 and ,i had to give them to the man who cared for and fed them at ,susitna4 ,i shall never find another team like them4 ,notwithstanding the heaviness of the trail1 the bitter struggles over mountains and through deep snows1 not to mention the pains of lumbago1 ,i look back upon that trip and other trips like it with joyful recollection and longing to repeat the experience4 ,i would rather take a trip through that beautiful wilderness1 with my dogs1 than travel luxuriously around the world on palatial steamboats4 ,there is more fun in dog-mushing4 ,v ,,louie ,,paul ,,and ,,the ,,hootz ,oh1 'e's bad feller1 dat hootz1 exclaimed ,louie ,paul1 our half-breed ,stickeen young man1 the blood of his ,french father sparkling in his eyes and gesturing in his hands and shoulders4 ',e's devil1 'im4 ,dat's no swear--dat's truf4 ,bad spirit got him1 sure4 ,quonsum sallix 7,always mad74 ',e no savvy scare1 no savvy love1 no savvy die4 ',e's devil1 dat's all4 ,louie's handsome face and coal-black eyes were alive with excitement1 as he danced about his big bundle of tseek 7black bear7 skins1 which he had just brought into ,stevens' store at ,fort ,wrangell1 and was unwrapping1 preparatory to bartering4 ,his outburst of language was called out by a question of mine4 ,i had been noticing with surprise that among the great numbers of black bear skins that were being brought into the ,wrangell stores daily by the ,indians1 were none of the big brown bear--the hootz4 ,i knew these brown bears to be very plentiful up the ,stickeen and ,iskoot ,rivers where ,louie had been hunting4 ,at this season 7it was in early ,may7 both species of bears1 having wakened from their long winter's sleep1 were roaming the banks of the streams restlessly day and night1 making up in their fierce activity for their six months of torpor4 ,their coats were at their best--long1 silky1 glistening1 thick and soft4 ,the skins of the black bear ,louie had brought were prime4 ,they were more than black4 ,their ebony surfaces shone and sparkled1 beneath our handling1 like black diamonds4 ,illustration3 ,fort ,wrangell1 ,alaska1 on ,etolin ,harbor ,to the left may be seen the first ,protestant ,church in ,alaska1 built by ,dr4 ,young1 #ahgi ,i knew that the skins of the hootz would be equally beautiful and twice as large as those of the tseek4 ,they would not be tawny at this season1 but a rich1 velvety brown1 the color of the ,irish setter's coat4 ,in my canoe trips and steamboat voyages up the ,stickeen ,i had seen more brown bears than black1 standing boldly out on the bank to watch the sputtering steamboat1 or grubbing for roots and worms in the green patches up the mountain slopes4 ,why don't you shoot the big bears8 ,i asked ,louie4 ,i saw four in a bunch the other day4 ,don't you see any in your hunting trips8 ,oh1 yes1 he confessed1 me plenty see hootz4 ,all time me see heem4 ,yestaday me see tree--big fellers2 stand up1 all same man4 ,what's the matter1 then8 ,i pressed him4 ,are you afraid of them8 ,yes1 you bet you boots1 ,i scare of heem4 ,i no shame scare about hootz4 ,s'pose ,i big fool1 ,i no scare2 ,i shoot heem4--,you never see me again no mo'4 ,louie ,paul had two claims to special distinction4 ,first1 he was a very expert and successful bear hunter2 and1 second1 he was the husband of the star pupil of ,mrs4 ,mc,farland's ,home for ,girls1--,tilly1 the handsomest and brightest of the girls whom we had rescued from the vileness1 squalor and sin of heathen life1 and were training to be examples and teachers of ,christian civilization to their tribe4 ,i had taken ,louie and ,tilly the preceding fall and established them at ,tongas1 one hundred miles south of ,wrangell1 outfitting ,tilly with school books1 ,bibles1 ,sunday-school supplies1 etc41 and paying her a salary as teacher to that wild tribe4 ,louie's task was to keep up the fires for the school1 and to cook for his wife and supply her needs4 ,he had stayed at home faithfully during the winter1 procuring the venison1 ducks1 geese1 fish1 clams1 crabs1 and other articles of food they needed1 and making himself useful around the branch mission1 even occasionally leading in prayer1 and exhorting the people4 ,but the trapper's call of the wild sounded in the early spring--a call he could not resist4 ,so here he was1 having left ,tilly to cook her own meals and make her own fires1 while he explored the streams1 bayous and lakes in his small canoe1 pursuing the elusive plantigrades4 ,the natives of ,alaska at that time were handicapped in their hunting by an order of the ,government which forbade the ,indians to own or use breech-loading guns4 ,this order was enforced among our peaceful ,alaska natives1 who had never had a serious trouble with the whites1 while the ,sioux1 ,apaches and ,nez ,perces1 who were often on the war-path1 had all the ,winchester1 ,henry and ,enfield rifles they wanted4 ,the natives of ,alaska at that time--the early eighties--had only breech-loading1 smooth-bore ,hudson ,bay muskets2 and their round bullets had not much penetrating power4 ,they were all right for deer1 but you might fill a hootz full of those big1 round balls and he would still have strength to tear you to pieces4 ,the more you pester them big bear with them old-fashioned smooth-bores1 said one of the old white hunters at ,fort ,wrangell1 the madder he gits4 ,louie ,paul looked so much more like a white man than like an ,indian1 and talked ,english so fluently1 that ,i had persuaded the collector of customs--the only civil officer we had in that region--to permit me to lend ,louie my new #de-ge ,winchester repeating rifle4 ,the repeater was a hard-shooting1 accurate gun1 chambering twelve cartridges in the magazine--the most efficient rifle made at that time4 ,louie was a fine shot1 and the possession of this rifle gave him a great superiority over all the other ,indian bear-hunters4 ,he made more money in his three or four weeks of hunting in the spring than ,tilly earned by her winter's teaching4 ,i should think you would not be afraid of a brown bear when you have my ,winchester1 ,i urged4 ,you could put half a dozen balls clean through him before he could get to you4 ,louie shook his curly head doubtfully4 ,mebby so2 mebby not4 ,then his face lit up with a broad grin4 ,mebby so ,i be lak ,buck4 ,you hear about ,buck an' ,kokaekish8 ,no1 ,i replied1 scenting a story4 ,what about them8 ,i knew both these men4 ,kokaekish was a fine old ,indian1 the father of one of our best boys1 whose ,christian name was ,louis ,kellogg1 but whose ,indian name was ,kokaek4 ,the name1 ,kokaekish1 means ,kokaek's ,father1 illustrating the curious custom of the ,thlingets of naming parents after their children4 ,buck was a ,french ,canadian1 ,alex ,choquette--a white man who had married a ,stickeen woman and had been adopted into the tribe4 ,he had seemingly become in heart and life an ,indian1 talking the language of his tribe1 thinking their thoughts and pursuing their customs4 ,how thoroughly he had become ,indianized was evidenced by the language of ,shustaak--the old heathen chief who had adopted ,buck4 ,wuck1 he said1 delate siwash4 ,yacka tolo konaway nesika kopa klemenhoot4 7,buck is a genuine ,indian4 ,he can beat all the rest of us lying47 ,true to this definition of him1 ,buck had built his log house--a combined dwelling-house1 hotel and store--thirty miles up the ,stickeen ,river1 opposite the ,great ,glacier1 right on the boundary line between ,alaska and ,british ,columbia4 ,here he sold blankets1 guns1 groceries and whiskey to the white miners and to the ,indians4 ,when the ,canadian authorities attempted to arrest him for his illicit traffic he claimed to be on the ,american side4 ,when the ,alaska custom officers went after him1 he was a ,canadian4 ,thus for years he had carried on his crooked business and escaped punishment4 ,you know ,buck1 ,louie began1 he worse siwash dan anybody2 but he alltam make fun odder ,injun4 ,one day ,kokaekish come ,buck store1 buy powder4 ',where you come8' ,buck say4 ',iskoot1' say ,kokaekish1 'make dry dog salmon4 ,now too many hootz1 me come back4' ,buck laugh4 ',eehya-a-ah6 ,you shawat-too 7woman-heart72 you coward6 ,what for you 'fraid hootz8 ,s'pose me1 ,i shootem all4' ,buck much laugh4 ,kokaekish1 he shame4 ,he head hang down1 so4 ,buck more laugh4 ,bimeby ,kokaekish say1 ',buck1 you strong heart4 ,you want killem hootz8' ,buck big bluff4 ',sure' he say4 ',you show me hootz1 me shootem quick4' ',all light1 come along4 ,me showem you hootz now4' ,kokaekish go he canoe4 ,buck shame for back out4 ,he get ,winchester1 all same you rifle4 ',where you go8' ',no far4 ,ict tintin1 nesika clap4' 7,one hour1 we find47 ,dey go up ,iskoot1 mebby tree mile4 ,fin' leetle stream4 ,plenty humpback an' dog salmon dere4 ,flap1 flap1 splash in shallow place4 ,all roun' de grass all flat--plenty tail1 fin1 bone4 ,buck look4 ,he scare1 but shame go back4 ,leetle hill dere by de creek4 ,plenty bush4 ,kokaekish an' ,buck go up2 sit down2 wait4 ,pitty soon sitkum polakly 7half night--twilight71 ,kokaekish ketch ,buck arm4 ,whisper1 ',hootz come4' ,buck look4 ,bear all same house--delate hya-a-as6 7very big71 come down creek4 ,swing slow an' lazy4 ,go in water2 slap out big salmon on bank pitty near two man2 go an' eatem4 ,kokaekish whisper1 ',why you no shootem1 ,buck8 ,you brave man6 ,you much want killem hootz4 ,shootem quick6' ,buck scare stiff4 ',sh-sh-sh6 you ol' fool6' he say4 ,he toof clap all same medicine-man rattle2 water come out on he face2 he shake like ,cottonwood leaf4 ,kokaekish laugh4 ',more hootz come1' he say4 ,nodder big bear come2 growl1 gr-r-r6 go fishin'4 ,den she-bear an' two leetle feller come4 ,mamma ketch salmon2 leetle bear play2 run up-hill mos' on top man4 ,nodder bear come4 ,six ,hootz2 ketch salmon2 scrap2 one chase nodder2 play4 ,buck not quite die4 ,he lie flat down4 ,he's finger count he's bead2 he play ,maly2 he shake4 ,kokaekish much laugh4 ,he rub it in4 ',you brave man1 ,buck4 ,you white man--no scare nuttin'4 ,you want see hootz4 ,me fin' heem4 ,why you no shootem8' ,bimeby delate polakly 7quite dark74 ,all hootz go leetle way up creek4 ,kokaekish shake ,buck4 ',mebby so1 you no want more hootz1 we go now4' ,dey walk han' an' foot--all same dog4 ,buck fo'get he's rifle4 ,dey fin' canoe2 paddle quick ,buck house4 ,now all ,injun put shame on ,buck face4 ',hey1 ,buck1 you want shootem hootz8 ,you white man2 you brave2 no scare nuttin'4 ,how many hootz you kill8' ,buck delate shame4 ,mos' keel hese'f4 ,mebby so1 ,i lak dat4 ,no1 ,louie1 ,i replied when we had done laughing1 you are not like ,buck4 ,you would keep your nerve1 and at least account for some of the brown bears4 ,well1 he ventured doubtfully1 dis ,winshesser mighty fine gun4 ,i t'ink ,i try hootz nex' tam4 ,a week afterwards ,louie came to my house in great excitement4 ,he knocked repeatedly before ,i could get to the door4 ,mista ,yuy1 he almost shouted1 you come see my hootz skin4 ,my firs'2 my las' too4 ,i went with him to the store where several fine black bear skins were displayed to an admiring group of whites and natives4 ,with them was an enormous brown bear skin1 the largest ,i had ever seen4 ,the fur was beautiful--rich in color1 thick and glossy2 but it was bloody and badly mussed4 ,turning it over ,i saw that the skin was full of holes--fairly riddled4 ,i counted seventeen perforations4 ,the larger and more ragged of the holes marked the exit of the balls that had ranged clear through the bear4 ,why1 ,louie1 ,i exclaimed1 what did you mean by spoiling this fine skin8 ,it is like a sieve4 ,you have taken away more than half its value by shooting it up like that4 ,louie danced about like a monkey--head1 hands1 feet1 his whole body gesturing1 his voice rising higher and louder as he went on with his story4 ,you lissen me6 ,i see dis big feller stan' up all same man4 ,open place2 no big tree4 ,maybe hunner ya'd4 ,i say me1 ',louie1 you betta draw good bead dis tam4 ,you shoot heem straight troo de heart1 keel heem dead fust shot4' ,i shoot2 he fall down4 ,klosh tumtum 7good heart71 me4 ,i put de gun on shoul'er4 ,den ,i look4 ,i 'stonish4 ,de hootz1 he git up queek2 he come straight fo' me4 ,i shoot queek2 he fall down2 he git up2 he come for me4 ,i shoot2 ,i shoot2 ,i shoot2 he fall down2 he fall down2 he git up2 he come for me4 ,you betcha boots ,i hit heem ev'y tam4 ,i scare to miss4 ,i forgit how many catridge4 ,i shoot2 ,i shoot2 ,i say1 ',dat's de las'2 now he git me2 dat's de las'2 now he git me4' ,i git awful scare4 ,i t'ink1 ',tilly widow now fo' sure4 ,nobody git wood fo' her no mo'4'--,dat bear git close--right here6 ,he jus' goin' grab me4 ,i mos' fall down2 ,i so scare4 ,i try once mo'4 ,i put my gun agains' he's head4 ,i shoot2 he fall down2 he don' git up no mo'4 ,my las' catridge4 ,i put ten ball t'rough heem4 ,no-mo'-hootz-fo'-me6 ,,vi ,,old ,,snook ,,and ,,the ,,cow ,in the early missionary days at ,fort ,wrangell ,i had to be a little of everything to those grown-up1 naughty1 forest-wise but world-foolish children of the islands whom we called ,thlingets and ,hydas4 ,i had to be carpenter1 and show them how to build better houses4 ,i had to be undertaker1 and teach them to make coffins and bury their dead decently4 ,i had to be farmer1 showing them how to raise turnips1 potatoes1 cabbage and peas4 ,once ,i gave a package of turnip seed to an old ,indian woman4 ,towards the close of the season ,i went to see her garden4 ,i found that she had dug a big hole and put all the turnip seed in it4 ,you can imagine the result4 ,among other things1 ,i had to be doctor and surgeon to those people4 ,i had never taken a course at a medical school and knew very little about medicine or surgery4 ,but ,i had books and studied them and did the best ,i could4 ,the hardest surgical cases ,i had were the result of little love-taps by old ,mr4 ,hootz1 the big brown bear4 ,this bear is almost identical1 except in color1 with ursus horribilis1 the grizzly--he is as large and ferocious and as hard to kill4 ,farther west in ,alaska he has the true grizzly color and is called the silver-tip2 but in ,southeastern ,alaska he is a rich brown1 the female being much lighter in color than the male4 ,once the ,indians brought to me a man who had been foolish enough to shoot a hootz with his smooth-bore musket4 ,the bear charged on the ,indian1 gave him one tap with his paw and went away4 ,the poor man presented a horrible appearance4 ,one eye was torn out1 the skin of one side of his face torn loose and hanging down on his shoulder1 the cheek laid entirely open4 ,i did my best for him1 washed his awful wound1 replaced the skin on his face and took many stitches2 but ,i couldn't make a pretty man of him4 ,another ,indian was hunting in the spring when he came across a little brown cub1 and thought he would have a fine pet4 ,he had just caught the little fellow and was trying to hush its cries1 when suddenly the mother-bear came on him like an avalanche and he was knocked senseless4 ,when he came to1 hours afterwards1 he was unable to move4 ,the bear had torn off much of his scalp with the first blow1 and then had bitten and chewed him from head to foot1 injuring his spine1 so that he could never walk again4 ,i dressed twenty-one wounds which the angry she-bear had given him4 ,but the greatest example of the strength and ferocity of the hootz of which ,i ever knew was afforded by the adventure of an ,irishman--a gold-prospector1 whom we called ,big ,mike4 ,he was a giant in stature--over six feet1 broad and stalwart1 physically the king of the ,cassiar miners4 ,he was a good-natured1 happy-go-lucky fellow1 a typical gold-prospector1 making money very fast at times and spending it just as fast4 ,like the most of the miners of the ,cassiar region 7which was reached by traveling by steamboat from ,victoria to ,fort ,wrangell1 then by canoe or river steamboat up the ,stickeen ,river a hundred and fifty miles1 then across country by pack-train from one hundred to two hundred miles1 according to the location of the diggings71 ,mike made ,fort ,wrangell his stopping place to and from the ,cassiar1 sometimes wintering there4 ,one day ,dave ,flannery1 another ,irishman1 whose ,stickeen wife was a member of my mission1 came hurriedly up to my house4 ,i wish you'd come down and see ,big ,mike1 he said2 he's hurrt bad4 ,i found ,mike in one of the miners' shanties on the beach1 lying on a bed1 entirely helpless4 ,he could only use his arms1 his legs being paralyzed4 ,this was the story he told me3 ,me an' me partner1 ,steve1 he began1 has been prospectin' up the ,iskoot4 7,a tributary of the ,stickeen which runs into it about twenty-five miles from its mouth47 ,ye know the ,iskoot--a domd bad river--little flat islands thick as spots on a burrd-dog--th' river swift an' shaller--lots av quick-sands an' rocks everywhere--th' shores an' th' islands all matted thick wid trays an' underbrush--big fallen trays lyin' across one anodher an' odher trays growin' out av thim--an' alders1 willows1 divil-clubs and salmon-berry bushes thicker'n hair on a cat4 ,well1 me an' ,steve set up our tint by a trickle av cold water in a side gulch1 an' thought to spind th' sayson prospectin'4 ,th' thickets an' brush has scared off prospectors1 an' it's new counthry4 ,a wake ago ,oi made up me pack for four or five days' prospectin'--blankets1 fly tint1 an' some grub1 wid gold-pan1 pick1 shovel an' coffee-pot on top4 ,afther an hour o' harrd worrk ,oi'd got mebby half a moil from camp1 when ,oi come to ,sathan's own pile o' logs an' brush1 stuck up ev'ry-which-way1 wid bushes an' divil-clubs atween4 ,ye cuddn't see a yarrd4 ,oi tackled it as well as ,oi cud wid me pack1 an' got onto th' top log4 ,th' brush wuz that thick ,oi cuddn't see pwhat wuz undher me4 ,oi tuk hold av a limb an' swung down into th' bushes4 ,but before ,i touched th' groun'--gr-r-r--woof6 somethin' of fur an' iron was all over an' aroun' me2 me breath was squshed out o' me2 somethin' was tearin' the cords out o' me neck an' shouldher1 an' me back was bruk intoirly4 ,oi've some repitation as a sthrong man1 an' ,oi've niver met th' man ,oi cuddent down in a fair wrassle2 but this thing thut had me didn't play fair4 ,he tuk a foul hold o' me when ,oi wasn't lookin'1 an' niver guv me a chanst to break ut4 ,whin ,oi swung down me left arrum wuz straight up1 aholt av th' limb1 an' the right wan wuz steadyin' me pack4 ,th' brute pinned that fast1 an' ,oi cud no more move it than a baby cud lift a ton4 ,when ,oi got me sinses gathered togither1 an' knowed ,oi wuz in the clutches av a bear1 me dandher riz an' ,oi thought av me knoif4 ',twas in a scabbard on me roight hip1 an' that han' was hild toight agin me pack4 ,me blankets saved me ribs from bein' all stove in4 ,oi tried to twist aroun' an' git me knoif wid me lift han'1 but it was loik a mouse thryin' to pry off th' paws av a cat4 ,me fate wuz aff th' groun' an' ,oi had no purchase4 ,at las' ,oi got ahold av th' handle av th' knoif4 ,jist as ,oi felt me sinses lavin' me ,oi got th' knoif an' begun to dig it wid all me strent into th' bear's belly1 workin' upwards an' thryin' fer his heart4 ,thin ev'rythin' wint black4 ,whin ,oi come to th' sun was hoigh4 ,ut must o' bin tree hours ,oi laid there sinseless4 ,oi throied to git up1 but me legs wuz dead4 ,oi cud pull mesilf up a little wid me arrms1 an' there ,oi saw fur th' furrst toim th' baste thut bruk me4 ,he wuz lyin' besoid me1 stone dead4 ',twas all th' joy ,oi had4 ,well1 there ,oi wuz1 undher all th' logs an' brush1 an' down in a little hollow in th' muck--an' helpless4 ',twas too fur away to make ,steve hear4 ,oi hollered as best ,oi cud1 but 'twas no use4 ,th' bear hadn't left me much breath4 ,then ,oi thought ,oi'd thry annyhow4 ,me arrums wuz good1 an' th' bushes wuz thick1 so ,oi begun to pull meself along troo th' muck by me hands1 usin' me knoif whin th' bushes blocked me4 ,it tuck me two hours to gain th' top av th' hill in soight av th' camp1 an' anither to make a flag av a bit o' ma shurrt an' wave it on a pole so that ,steve cud see it4 ,he drug me down to camp1 put me in th' canoe1 an' here ,oi am wid all th' man squose out av me1 bad cess to th' bear4 ,ef anny one says anny man c'n fight anny bear wid his two han's an' bate it1 tell 'im from me he's a loiarr4 ,we raised a purse and sent ,big ,mike on the monthly steamboat to ,victoria4 ,he lived several years4 ,they gave him the position of watchman on the wharves1 and we used to see him--a pathetic figure1 creeping slowly about the dock1 first with a pair of crutches and then with a cane4 ,he was never a man again1 after his encounter with the hootz4 ,illustration3 ,native ,houses1 ,showing ,totem ,poles ,in such a house ,snook lived ,but although the hootz was so strong and so fierce there was in almost every ,indian tribe one who would attack and kill him4 ,in the ,stickeen tribe this man's name was ,snook4 ,tilly1 our star pupil and my interpreter1 proudly pointed him out1 one day when ,i was down in the ,indian village1 as her granduncle and the head of the family4 ,i had never before seen ,snook4 ,he never came to church or to my house4 ,he must have been sixty or sixty-five years old--a great1 stalwart1 big-boned savage with a huge head and a tremendous jaw4 ,he was almost always absent from ,fort ,wrangell1 hunting in the mountains or fishing among the islands4 ,my gran'fader1 the greatest hootz-hunter in the world1 was ,tilly's introduction4 ,it was on the occasion of a visit with ,tilly to the community house of her family4 ,as she spoke she went behind the carved totemic corner post which supported the roof1 and brought forth old ,snook's most valuable and proudest possession4 ,it was a beautiful spear4 ,the shaft was of crabapple wood and eight feet long1 thick enough for a good grip1 and polished until it shone like brown granite4 ,it was carved all over with the totemic images of the eagle and the brown bear1 the totems of ,snook's family4 ,the head was made of a large steel rasp and was a foot and a half long1 five inches across in the widest place1 finely pointed1 the edges sharp as a razor4 ,the handle of the spear-head was let into the end of the shaft in a very ingenious way1 and secured by many tightly wrapped turns of a cord of deer-sinew4 ,it was a most perfect and ferocious weapon4 ,i learned that the chief of another tribe had offered a slave1 whose value was five hundred blankets1 for the spear1 and his offer had been refused4 ,all efforts to get ,snook to talk about his hunting exploits were unavailing4 ,he only grunted and went on with some carving with which he was occupied4 ,but ,sam ,tahtain1 a member of ,snook's family1 who was noted for his powers of oratory1 described most graphically1 in a mixture of ,chinook1 ,thlinget and bad ,english1 ,snook's way of killing the big bears4 ,he acted it so perfectly that even if ,i had not understood a word1 the scene would have stood out very vividly before my mental vision4 ,he showed the hootz grubbing among mossy logs and flirting the salmon out of a swift mountain stream2 then ,snook came in sight1 creeping stealthily through the forest1 a flintlock musket in one hand1 his spear in the other4 ,from that point the story grew more animated and the gestures more rapid to the climax4 ,i can best tell it in the present tense3 ,the bear hears a stick snap and catches a faint human odor2 he stands up on his hind feet to investigate4 ,his lips are drawn back from his big teeth1 and he snarls a question4 ,the man dodges behind a tree2 creeps closer--cautiously flits from tree to tree--moves slowly out from a sheltering trunk--sinks on one knee--raises his gun--aims4 ,bang6 from the gun1--wah-a-ah-gr-r-r6 from the bear4 ,the bear whirls round and round1 biting his wound2 then he charges straight for the man1 his teeth champing1 his jaws slavering4 ,the man throws away the gun and takes his spear in both hands4 ,he steps boldly out in the open and stands still1 his left foot advanced1 his spear slanting upwards1 braced for the shock4 ,the bear comes galumphing on1 his hair on end1 his sideways strut showing his anger and his readiness for the battle4 ,when within a few feet of the man the bear stops short with a startling ,woof6 and stands upright on his hind feet4 ,the man knows this habit of the hootz1 and seizes the opportunity4 ,he springs forward before the bear is steadied on his two feet and thrusts mightily with his spear4 ,the bear strikes viciously at the man and howls hoarsely4 ,a stream of red gushes out from the wide wound4 ,now the bear attacks1 his fangs gleaming1 his long claws standing stiffly out4 ,he jumps and strikes and slashes with his teeth at the man4 ,the man is alert--firm and sure on his feet--quick as lightning1 yet steady4 ,he dodges and leaps about the bear1 feinting and thrusting4 ,again and again the spear goes home4 ,the froth from the bear's jaws is bloody now1 while the man's face is covered with drops of sweat4 ,the breath of both comes in gasps4 ,the air seems full of violent motion and raucous sounds4 ,at every fresh wound the bear howls--wa-a-ah--this changes immediately to a vicious growl as he rears on his hind feet again and rushes to the fray4 ,the man begins to shout his war-cry--hoohooh--hoohooh--as he jabs his terrible weapon into the bear's breast4 ,the bear is visibly weakening4 ,his eyes grow dim1 his rushes and blows have less steel and lightning in them4 ,the man begins to taunt him1 ,oh1 you big-chief hootz--,i thought you brave man--strong man4 ,you no brave--no strong4 ,you just like baby4 ,why you no stand up1 fight like man8 ,at last the bear1 sick and faint with loss of blood1 but game to the end1 stands with paws outstretched1 swaying like a drunken man4 ,the man comes close1 and1 bending back to gain force for his blow1 thrusts upward and forward with all his strength1 striking just under the bear's breast bone and buries the spear-head1 splitting the heart in two4 ,over on his back topples the great beast1 his paws feebly twitching1 his last breath bringing with it a great rush of blood4 ,the man1 as soon as he can recover breath1 puts his foot on the bear's neck1 singing in quaint minor strain a brief song of triumph4 ,then he hastens to prop the bear's mouth open with a stick1 to let his spirit go forth in peace1 and he also places between the dying jaws a piece of dried salmon1 that the bear may not lack food when he goes to join the hoots-kwany--the bear-people1 in that spirit land of forests and mountains to which all brown bears1 good and bad1 must go4 ,sam ,tahtain was a little man1 in striking contrast with his giant brother1 ,snook1 but he entered into his recital with infinite energy1 dancing about the floor1 striking and thrusting1 acting the bear's part and then the man's1 shouting and growling out his words2 and when he had finished1 his own face was bathed in perspiration4 ,his acting was an artless piece of art1 very perfect in its way2 and it certainly thrilled the ,indians who had drawn around in an eager circle as the recitation proceeded1 their fervent indrawn exclamations of wonder and admiration supplying the most genuine applause4 ,but ,i must confess that the antics of the little man1 and his evident pride in his own performance1 struck me as irresistibly funny2 and ,i could not help recalling a verse ,i had learned when a boy3 ,little man with the wild1 wild eye1 ,man with the long1 long hair1 ,why do you dance about the floor8 ,why do you beat the air8 ,why do you howl and mutter so8 ,why do you shake your fist8 ,said the little man1 in a deep1 deep voice1 ,i'm an el-o-cu-tion-ist6 ,but the ,indians saw nothing funny in ,sam's oratory--it thrilled them through and through4 ,even old ,snook1 the hero of the story1 ceased his carving1 fixing his eyes intently on the speaker1 and rewarding him with a fervent ,kluh-yukeh6 ,to exactly translate that exclamation will require a paraphrase--,my1 but that was good6 ,but ,tilly thought only of the glory of her granduncle4 ,her eyes shone with pride1 and she whispered to me1 ,isn't my gran'fader1 ,snook1 just the bravest man you ever heard of8 ,why1 he isn't afraid of anything4 ,the other ,indians also yielded ,snook the palm for courage and strength4 ,they looked upon him as a sort of ,indian superman1 lauding him in their speeches1 and being careful not to offend him4 ,he was the hero of the ,stickeens4 ,and1 indeed1 ,i was much of the same opinion4 ,certainly a man who would stand up1 single-handed1 to a grizzly and kill him with a spear1 must have unqualified nerve and courage4 ,surely nothing on earth could frighten a mighty bear-hunter like that4 ,well1 listen4 ,a few days after this visit to ,snook's house ,i was sitting in my house1 which was within the stockade of the old fort4 ,the posts of this stockade1 some twelve feet high and firmly spiked together1 had been put in place about sixteen years before1 when the fort was first established4 ,although many of the posts were rotting1 the circle enclosing the parade ground1 barracks1 hospital and officers' quarters was still unbroken4 ,our house was one of the old officers' dwellings and not far from the gateway which led up the beach towards the ,indian village of temporary houses in which the foreign ,indians--those from distant tribes--encamped4 ,on the other side of the fort another gateway led down the beach1 through the town with its stores and white man's houses1 to the large community houses of the ,stickeens4 ,to go from one ,indian town to the other you had to pass through the fort4 ,it was a lovely1 sunny day in midsummer4 ,everything was peaceful about the old fort4 ,school was in session in the old hospital1 our little children were playing on the grass1 and our old cow1 ,spot1 was feeding in the gateway4 ,this cow was a little black and white ,holstein which the ladies of ,pennsylvania had purchased for ,mrs4 ,young's training-school1 and to supply our babies and the native babies with fresh milk4 ,she was the first cow which had been brought to ,fort ,wrangell1 and was a great curiosity and wonder to the ,indians4 ,the ,thlingets had no name for cattle1 because these animals were not known in ,alaska2 so they adopted the ,chinook name--moosmoos--and1 owing to the ,thlingets' inability to pronounce any consonant that brings the lips together1 they called it wusoos4 ,our little wusoos was gentle and tame as a kitten4 ,our children used to hang onto her tail1 and feed her bunches of grass and leaves of cabbage4 ,once ,i came upon a group that made me laugh4 ,spot was lying down and placidly chewing her cud2 ,abby1 aged five1 was seated between the cow's horns2 while ,alaska 7,lassie71 who was three1 with her little dog1 ,jettie1 in her arms1 was sprawling on ,spot's back4 ,this peaceful summer's morning the cow was cropping the grass by the gate4 ,suddenly the silence was shattered by a strong ,indian voice1 pitched high through fear1 calling to me3 ,uh-eedydashee2 uh-eedydashee1 uh-,ankow2 uh-eedydashee6 7,help me2 help me1 my chief2 help me67 ,i ran quickly out of the house and through the gateway in the direction of the cries1 which were growing more agonizing4 ,i thought somebody was being murdered4 ,i rushed past ,spot1 who was calmly munching grass1 undisturbed by the hullabaloo4 ,at first ,i could see nobody2 then ,i discovered the huge bulk of old ,snook1 the hootz-hunter1 crouching behind a stump4 ,his face was as pale as its coating of smoke and grease would permit1 and he was shaking like a leaf4 ,why1 ,snook6 ,i cried in ,thlinget1 what's the matter8 ,is anything wrong in the ,indian village8 ,he pointed a trembling finger towards the cow and quavered1 ,drive that thing away6 ,the thought of that famous old bear-hunter1 scared to death at my gentle old cow1 was too much for me1 and ,i burst into a roar of laughter4 ,when ,i had recovered my powers of speech and locomotion ,i walked to ,spot and put my arm over her neck4 ,this is a shawat wusoos 7a woman cow71 ,i explained4 ,she will not hurt anybody4 ,see how kind and gentle she is4 ,snook was unconvinced4 ,his eyes were fixed in fascinated terror upon ,spot1 and he dodged at every motion of her head4 ,eehya-a-ah6 he answered in contempt1 she knows white man2 she doesn't know ,indian4 ,see the sharp horns on her head6 and he refused to come away from the shelter of the stump until ,i had driven ,spot away some distance2 and even then he sidled past1 eyeing her apprehensively and then hurrying through the gateway and across the parade ground with the air of one who has escaped deadly peril4 ,the memory of ,snook and the cow has often braced me up when ,i was tempted to retreat from the path of duty1 because ,i did not know what was in the gateway1 or because of unfamiliar obstacles4 ,it is the unknown that terrifies us4 ,if we march right up to the bugaboos that stand across our way1 we will find the terrible horned monster change into something no more harmful than a gentle old cow4 ,,vii ,,nina ,,and ,,the ,,bears ,all these stories are true1 in their essential points4 ,in some of them1 however1 ,i have to change or suppress the names of persons and towns1 because the characters introduced are still living1 and might not like publicity4 ,that is the case in this story4 ,ever since the great gold stampede of #ahig into the ,klondike1 it has been my duty1 as it certainly has been my pleasure1 to follow the new gold stampedes into different parts of ,alaska1 and be at the beginning of most of the new gold camps and towns of the great ,territory of the ,northwest4 ,of course ,i began preaching as soon as ,i arrived at one of these camps1 holding my first services on log piles1 under the trees1 in tents or saloons or lodging houses--wherever ,i could gather together a congregation4 ,always1 the next thing was to start a ,sunday-school1 if there were any children in the camp1 or at least a ,bible class1 if there were only grown people4 ,i always had hymn-books and a baby-organ along1 and was sure of finding people to play the organ and sing4 ,the gold-seekers are not all roughs and toughs1 as some people think1 but just such people as may be seen in the ,states1 and a large proportion of them are ,christians4 ,one of the greatest of these gold stampedes occurred in the heart of ,alaska--in the center of a great wilderness until then unexplored4 ,a rich vein of gold was struck deep down in the frozen ground4 ,the news spread1 and soon thousands of eager gold-seekers from all parts of ,alaska1 from the ,pacific ,states1 from ,canada1 and later from all parts of the ,united ,states came over the mountains from the coast1 down the ,yukon from ,dawson ,city1 up the ,yukon from ,nome and from other directions2 traveling by steamboat1 poling boat and canoe on the rivers1 and with dog-sled1 horse-sled and hand-sled in the winter over the mountains1 and with packs on their backs and guns in their hands in the summer4 ,of course ,i was with the crowd4 ,i never liked to miss the fun of a great scramble like that4 ,when ,i got to the big new camp ,i set up my tent and began to prepare a preaching-place and to advertise a meeting for the next ,sunday by putting up posters on stumps and trees4 ,i also called the children to come and be organized into a ,sunday-school4 ,about twenty children came the first ,sunday4 ,among them was a pretty little ,swedish girl1 named ,nina4 ,she had blue eyes1 flaxen hair and rosy cheeks1 and was about twelve years old4 ,she won my heart at once1 and soon we were great chums4 ,she was so bright and pleasant and sweet1 and such a fearless and intelligent outdoor girl1 that one could not help loving her4 ,she was always at ,sunday-school and church1 always knew her lessons1 and sang so heartily and tunefully that people turned their heads to see her1 and her sunny smile drew answering smiles even from care-worn faces4 ,i soon found that among ,nina's accomplishments she was already a good shot with both rifle and shotgun2 and when the snow began to fall in ,october ,i took her with me on a couple of rabbit-hunts1 and her glee at getting the biggest bag of snow-shoe rabbits was very enjoyable4 ,rabbits formed our principal meat-supply that winter4 ,when the cold weather of ,november covered the rivers1 creeks and lakes with ice and carpeted the hills and valleys with snow1 a big stampede occurred away from the town of log houses into which the camp of tents had grown4 ,almost every one who had a dog-team and sled packed up an outfit of food1 blankets1 tent and sheet-iron stove1 and mushed away into the mountains1 prospecting for gold4 ,if no dogs were available1 two men1 or sometimes a man and his wife1 would harness themselves to a sled with their outfit aboard1 and1 depending upon their guns for their meat supply1 would cheerily set forth into the trackless wild1 following the water-courses until they found a likely-looking creek1 when they would halt and build a snug log cabin1 and spend the winter prospecting4 ,to those who had courage1 some knowledge of woodcraft and love of nature1 this adventurous life was very enticing4 ,thousands of men in ,alaska1 to this day1 spend their summers in the towns1 working at their trades or professions1 and then1 on the approach of winter1 invest the money they have earned in an outfit of provisions1 tools and ammunition1 and bury themselves in the wilderness again4 ,it is a great life2 and ,i have often felt strongly tempted to leave everything and join these brave spirits for a winter's stay in the ,mc,kinley range of mountains4 ,one day1 about the middle of ,november of that year1 little ,nina came into our house and threw herself into our arms1 crying as if her heart would break4 ,why1 ,nina dear1 asked my wife1 what is the matter8 ,is any one sick or dead8 ,oh1 no1 she sobbed1 but ,i can't come to ,sunday-school any more4 ,papa and ,mamma and ,i are going away off into the mountains to-morrow1 and we'll never come back here again4 ,we petted and soothed her1 the best comfort ,i could give her being the thought of the great hunting adventures that were before her4 ,so the wilderness swallowed up my brave little friend1 and for eight years ,i had no word of her4 ,by that time ,i was at another large gold camp1 in a distant part of the great ,yukon ,valley4 ,i was the only minister in a region larger than ,pennsylvania4 ,my parish extended from two to five hundred miles in different directions from the camp in which ,i wintered4 ,that winter ,i traveled with my dogs between two and three thousand miles1 in preaching and exploring trips4 ,magazines1 papers and books sent me by churches1 ,sunday-schools1 ,boys' ,scouts1 and women's missionary societies1 ,i found three hundred miles from my central reading room1 in miners' and trappers' cabins and in roadhouses to which ,i had sent them4 ,about the middle of the winter ,i was delighted to get a letter from ,nina4 ,it was written from a point about two hundred and fifty miles distant1 in that great game-stocked region which lies west of the ,alaska ,range1 of which ,mt4 ,mc,kinley1 ,the ,top of the ,continent1 is the highest peak4 ,it was a cheery1 girlish letter--just such an one as ,i might have expected from ,nina--grown-up4 ,it told me of her marriage1 two years before1 to a young man whom ,i had known--one who had loved her when she was a little girl1 had followed her and her parents to the western wilderness1 waited patiently for her to grow up1 and1 now that they were married1 seemed to her all that was admirable and complete in manhood4 ,it was her one romance and was very sweet and perfect4 ,nina and her husband were living in a large cabin on one of the trails that led from the ,interior to the ,coast4 ,nina called it a roadhouse1 and1 though low and dark1 with only poles for floor1 and pole-bunks for beds1 it was fitted for the accommodation of a dozen travelers4 ,nina was queen of a wide realm4 ,her cabin was a hundred and twenty-five miles from that of the nearest white woman4 ,they were two hundred miles from the nearest store4 ,they were in the heart of the richest game region of ,north ,america--the western foot-hills of the ,alaska ,range4 ,they were prospectors for gold in the summer2 farmers1 raising their own potatoes and vegetables and wheat for their chickens2 trappers during the winter2 hunters all the time2 and hotel-keepers during the six months when snow and frozen streams and lakes lured travelers along the lonely trail4 ,there was in ,nina's letter1 however1 no hint of loneliness2 rather a joyful tone of contentment1 as one of ,god's favored creatures2 and of comradeship with the things about her--the mountains1 the forests and the myriads of animals1 small and great4 ,she invited me to come and make them a long visit and have a big hunt4 ,her letter also spoke of the one need in her life that ,i could supply--,bibles1 books and magazines4 ,very few travelers came my way who had passed ,nina's that winter1 but from most of them ,i heard of my little chum1 and always in terms of enthusiastic praise4 ,i am a city man1 said a young lawyer from ,seattle1 and am in this wild land just long enough to make my stake and get back to the rattle of the street-cars4 ,the 'call of the wild' has no allurement for me4 ,there is just one thing that could make me settle down in ,alaska1 and that is to find such a mate as that little woman4 ,know her8 repeated a rugged1 black-eyed man of thirty whom ,i had met on the ,chilcoot ,pass in '#ig4 ,who doesn't8 ,say2 she's a great woman4 ,why1 ,i'd go out of my way a hundred miles1 any time1 just to see her smile1 and to taste her grouse-pie or roast sheep4 ,tell you what she did this last trip3 ,as ,i swung into the edge of their clearin' a pair of sharp-tailed grouse flew up to the top of a dry spruce1 a hundred yards from the cabin4 ,nina was complainin' that she had no makin's of grouse pie in the house1 knowin' my likin' for the same4 ,i told her about the two ,i'd scared up4 ',lend me a shotgun1' ,i said1 'and ,i'll go back and try for a shot at them4' ,we stepped to the door for a look4 ,there set the two grouse on the spruce1 lookin' like robins agin the sky4 ,nina took down a twenty-two rifle from the wall and put some 'extra-long' shells in the magazine4 ,i thought she was goin' to give the gun to me1 and ,i planned to sneak back till ,i got under the birds before riskin' a shot2 but she stood in the doorway and swung the rifle up quick and easy4 ,crack1 crack6 and dogged if them chickens didn't come tumblin' right down4 ,i never seen such shootin'4 ,then she slipped on her snow-shoes and went and got the grouse and made me my pie4 ,she's sure a little bit of 'all right4' ,i asked him if he had seen the magazines and ,bibles ,i had sent her4 ,with a sheepish grin he took out of his pocket a little red ,testament1 and handed it to me4 ,i saw his name on the fly-leaf with her initials under it4 ,first ,i've carried since ,i was a kid1 he confessed4 ,and she made me promise to read it6 ,a woman that can be a bright little ,christian in a place like that1 and a dead game sport1 too1 can make me do most anything4 ,joe ,nina's husband is a lucky guy4 ,naturally such reports as these made me all the more anxious to see this queen of the wilderness again4 ,the necessity of taking a seven-hundred-mile trip to the ,coast in ,march gave me the opportunity4 ,oh1 boys1 you'll never know the real joy of living till you take a winter trip with dog-sled in ,alaska4 ,the keen1 fine air1 lung-filling1 invigorating2 your dogs yelping with eagerness1 their feet twinkling1 the sled screaming its delight2 frost-diamonds sparkling from every branch1 frost-symphonies played by the ice-harps under your feet2 your own struggle1 achievement1 triumph1 against and over the cold1 the difficulties of the trail1 the long miles4 ,the morning breaks1 the stars grow pale1 ,your huskies leap1 shrill shrieks the sled2 ,you follow free with flying tread2 ,a joy to live6 ,what joy6 to thread ,the fluted ribbon of the trail4 ,it was near the sunset of a beautiful1 bright day that ,i swung into ,joe's clearing4 ,for three days ,i had been headed almost directly towards ,dinali--,the ,great ,one1 and ,dinah's ,wife 7,mt4 ,mc,kinley and ,mt4 ,foraker74 ,higher and higher these majestic mountains heaved their mighty shoulders4 ,the country became more broken and rugged4 ,lesser mountains raised their white heads all around me4 ,only a few inches of snow covered the ground instead of the six to ten feet that prevailed farther west4 ,the character of the trees had changed--more birch1 cottonwood and other deciduous timber2 less tamarack1 hemlock and swamp spruce4 ,signs of abundant life were everywhere4 ,fox1 wolf1 lynx and wolverine tracks criss-crossed the snow in all directions2 great moose tracks going in a straight line1 and the imprint of thousands of caribou hoofs crossing and obliterating each other1 but keeping in the same general direction showed the presence of abundance of big game2 while grouse1 ptarmigan and rabbit tracks were so numerous that my dogs were kept excited and on the keen jump every minute4 ,on the bank of a small river1 in a clearing of a couple of acres cut out of a forest of great fir and cedar trees1 stood ,joe's log-cabin roadhouse4 ,enough of the big trees had been left standing to shade the house4 ,in front of it were a dozen cozy log dog-kennels1 and behind it was a garden enclosed in a picket and wire fence4 ,as soon as ,leader's bells gave shrill notice of my arrival the door flew open1 a bright little figure in gingham and moccasins1 with yellow hair flying and blue eyes sparkling1 rushed at me1 and ,i received the first good hug that ,i had experienced since leaving my wife and daughters in the ,east a year before4 ,a cheery voice cried1 ,oh1 you dear old man1 you4 ,i've been watching for you every day for two weeks4 ,i was so afraid you weren't coming6 ,joe's welcome1 though not so demonstrative1 was none the less hearty4 ,it was worth dog-mushing two hundred and fifty miles to have such a reception4 ,as soon as ,i stepped into the house ,i was made keenly aware that ,i was in the home of hunters and trappers4 ,in all my wide experience of wilderness homes ,i had never seen one like this4 ,the long1 low cabin had two rooms4 ,the smaller was kitchen and dining-room1 having a sheet-iron range and home-made tables1 shelves and chairs4 ,the larger room had a good sized sheet-iron heating stove in the center1 and was almost filled with bunks in tiers of three each1 built in double rows the length of the room4 ,a little chamber enclosed with snowy caribou buck-skin1 the skins sewn together most skillfully with sinew thread1 was ,nina's bedroom4 ,the poles which formed the floors had been hewn and laid so carefully that they looked like boards4 ,the tables and shelves were of whipsawed lumber1 every article showing painstaking skill4 ,joe and ,i made the cabin and everything in and about it1 all ourselves1 ,nina boasted4 ,what6 ,i exclaimed1 you two rolled up these heavy logs1 without any help8 ,yes1 indeed4 ,we used block-and-tackle4 ,it isn't so hard when you know how2 and it was great fun4 ,but the lumber for the doors and tables and window-sash--it's so true and smooth and beautiful2 how did you get that8 ,i asked4 ,whipsawed and hand-planed it all1 she replied4 ,you see1 we came here two years ago this month1 just after we were married4 ,the ,government was surveying this trail1 and we thought we'd build this roadhouse and pick up a few dollars taking care of travelers4 ,but chiefly we chose this place because it was so beautiful and such a game country4 ,then it has never been prospected for gold4 ,joe and ,i each had a good dog-team and sled when we were married4 ,we loaded the sleds with tools1 hardware1 stoves and dishes1 glass for the windows1 some flour1 sugar1 beans and a few other groceries1 and brought our traps and plenty of ammunition for our guns4 ,it was hard breaking trail through the deep snow on the east side of the ,alaska ,range1 but nice going on this side4 ,we mushed the two hundred and fifty miles from the coast in two weeks2 and had some time for trapping before warm weather4 ,how do you get 'outside' in the summer time8 ,i inquired4 ,we can't1 and we don't need to4 ,we spent that first summer building this house1 making garden1 gathering berries1 drying fish1 hunting and getting ready for the winter4 ,almost all our wants are supplied right here4 ,from the middle of ,april till the middle of ,october we don't see a human being1 except now and then an ,indian1 or a stray prospector4 ,what a lonesome life6 ,i exclaimed4 ,now1 ,doctor1 ,i know you don't mean that1 protested ,nina4 ,why1 this is the most companionable place in the world4 ,it is full of friendly creatures4 ,the winter before ,i was married ,i spent three months in ,san ,francisco4 ,i nearly died1 ,i was so lonely and homesick4 ,i'd meet thousands of people on the streets every day1 and not get a word or smile from one of them4 ,i wouldn't give my little ',red' for the whole crowd4 ,who's ,red8 ,i asked4 ,nina leaned forward and made a squeaking noise with her lips4 ,instantly a little furry creature of a bright scarlet color1 with a short tail1 jumped out of a box in the corner1 ran to her and up her hand and arm to her shoulder and then down to her knee1 where he stood stiffly erect like a soldier at attention4 ,he was so quick and comical in his motions and so full of tricks that he kept us laughing4 ,i had three ,reds1 explained ,nina1 but a weasel got two of them before ,i got the weasel4 ,i have had many other pets besides the wood-mice4 ,there isn't a creature in all the forest that would do me harm unless ,i hurt it first4 ,and ,i don't have a grudge against any of them1 except the hawks and owls that come after my chickens4 ,the most striking feature about the cabin1 however1 was the abundance and variety of furs and other trophies of the chase4 ,adorning and almost covering one end of the room was an enormous moose head4 ,at the other end was a wonderful caribou head4 ,over the windows were beautiful heads of the white mountain sheep1 the bighorn of the ,northwest4 ,but the pelts6 ,great bunches of mink1 marten1 fisher1 otter1 muskrat and beaver2 scores of red fox1 with here and there a priceless black or silver fox2 lynx1 wolf1 wolverine and black bear4 ,we have four lines of traps1 each five miles long1 explained ,nina2 and ,joe and ,i each take two lines every other day1 spending the alternate days caring for the skins4 ,we are making bear traps now1 getting ready for ,bruin when he comes out of his den4 ,we have about four thousand dollars' worth of furs caught this winter1 and we'll make it five before warm weather4 ,but the most imposing objects of all in the cabin were two tremendous rugs--the skins of the ursus gigas or ,kodiak bear--the largest of existing carnivorous mammals4 ,joe had learned something of taxidermy1 and the heads were nicely preserved1 the big teeth and claws showing1 the skins being lined with red blankets4 ,the largest of these rugs was over twelve feet long1 the distance from nose to tail over ten feet1 the lateral spread being almost as great4 ,the fur was a rich brown in color1 deep1 thick and soft4 ,at my exclamation of wonder and admiration1 ,joe began eagerly to tell me the story of the rugs2 but his wife stopped him4 ,better wait till after supper1 ,joe1 she said4 ,ah1 that supper6 ,the supreme physical pleasure of it lingers in my memory still4 ,moose soup with potatoes1 turnips1 carrots and onions from their garden in it2 fresh grayling1 caught in the fall and frozen2 ruffed grouse pie2 roast mountain sheep--the best meat that grows2 omelet made of eggs laid that day2 moose-nose cheese1 delicately pickled2 fine sour-dough bread with raspberry jam and currant jelly2 pie made of fresh blueberries1 the berries having been picked in the fall and preserved by the simple process of pouring water on them and letting them freeze4 ,all of these viands1 except the bread1 being the products of ,nina's labor or marksmanship1 made them doubly sweet4 ,where else in the world could you get a meal like that--or the appetite to devour it all8 ,well1 began ,joe1 when1 sated1 ,i lay back in the easy-chair curiously fashioned of moose horns1 while the young couple washed the dishes1 ,i'm mighty proud of them rugs4 ,they're ,nina's1 both of 'em1 and ,i reckon there's no other girl in the world would of tackled the job she did1 and got away with it4 ,it scares me every time ,i think of it1 and ,i don't know whether ,i'd oughter scold her or pet her up4 ,nonsense6 protested his wife2 you know you'd have done exactly as ,i did if you'd been here4 ,maybe ,i would1 he retorted1 but ,i wouldn't of let you take that risk4 ,illustration3 ,five ,kodiak ,bears ,the bear to the right is twice the size of a ,grizzly ,it was the first of last ,november1 he resumed4 ,i'd taken the two sleds and all the dogs1 as soon as ,i thought the ice was strong enough1 and ,i'd gone two hundred miles to the store at ,ophir to lay in our winter's outfit4 ,the ice towards the coast wasn't strong enough to make safe mushin'1 and ,nina was all alone here for more'n three weeks4 ,i knowed she would make the reg'lar round of the traps and keep things goin' just as usual4 ,she's never learned to be afraid--that girl4 ,well1 one mornin' she was gettin' breakfast1 when she heard a little noise outside4 ,she opened the door1 and there1 within twenty-five feet of her1 were three big ,kodiak bears4 ,two of them stood up on their hin' feet when she opened the door1 while the other kept smellin' around for grub4 ,goodness1 ,nina6 ,i exclaimed4 ,what was your first thought when you saw the big brutes so close8 ,well1 she answered1 smiling1 my first thought was1 ',what beautiful rugs those are on the backs of the bears6 ,i want those rugs4' ,yes1 ,joe went on1 and so she stepped slowly back1 inch by inch into the house1 and softly closed the door so as not to scare the bears--they as big as a house and her such a leetle mite of a thing4 ,she took down that #cj-dj ,winchester1 there1 and filled the magazine full 7it chambers ten72 and then she done a plumb foolish thing4 ,i know darned well what ,i'd 'a' done4 ,i'd 'a' poked the moss out between the logs1 there1 and stuck my rifle through and had some 'vantage4 ,what did ,nina do8 ,i asked4 ,why1 she threw the door wide open and stepped right out in front of it4 ,up came all three bears1 this time1 on their hind feet4 ,nina's lightnin' on the snap shot1 and before the big he-bear was straightened up he got it right between the eyes4 ,down he tumbled1 and the other two was out of sight around the kennel there before she could throw another shell into the gun and aim4 ,joe pointed to a log dog-house about two rods in front of the door4 ,nina raced pell-mell past the kennel to get another shot1 and there she saw the big she-bear1 standin' up behind the dog-house1 awaitin' for her1 not a gun's length away4 ,nina swung around and fired pointblank into the bear's breast4 ,it went down on all-fours and came for her with open mouth4 ,there was nothing for it but to keep on shootin'4 ,she worked the lever of her gun mighty fast4 ,she put five bullets into the beast before she quieted it4 ,she never saw the third bear again4 ,why1 ,nina6 ,i cried1 as soon as ,i could get my breath4 ,you foolish child6 ,your escape was miraculous6 ,it frightens me to hear ,joe tell of it4 ,weren't you dreadfully scared when you saw that great brute jump at you like that8 ,oh1 no1 laughed the girl4 ,i was too busy to get scared4 ,but ,i was awfully provoked because the other one got away4 ,other details of ,nina's great adventure followed--how it took her three days to skin the two bears1 she having to climb a tree to adjust the block and tackle so as to move the heavy carcases2 and how ,joe blubbered when he got home and saw them1 and knew the peril his beloved had encountered4 ,nina is an exceptional woman1 but still she is truly a type4 ,there is something in that great1 big1 broad land1 way up yonder1 that stiffens the moral fiber1 enlarges the spirit and makes the people unafraid4 ,the white settlers of ,alaska1 while by no means all saints1 are as a class the strongest1 bravest and most resourceful people ,i know4 ,i have not heard from my brave little chum for several years4 ,i presume she is still living her joyous1 fearless1 ,christian life in what ,john ,muir used to call my beautiful1 fruitful wilderness4 ,here's to her2 ,god bless her6 ,,viii ,,the ,,absurd ,,walrus ,lewis ,carroll's famous lines about the ,walrus and the ,carpenter will always hold their place at the very top of humorous poems4 ,for besides being funny they have a quality of truth which the careless reader little suspects3 ,the time has come1 the walrus said1 ,to talk of many things1 ,of shoes and ships and sealing wax1 ,of cabbages and kings2 ,and why the sea is boiling hot1 ,and whether pigs have wings4 ,the very few men who have been acquainted with the walrus in his native haunts know that the author of ,alice in ,wonderland in these verses hits the nail on the head1 and1 perhaps unwittingly1 gives an insight into the true character of the walrus as the most inconsistent1 grotesque and absurd of all beasts4 ,it was my good fortune the summer of #aiac to be one of a company of six hunters on board the three-masted power schooner1 ,p4 ,j4 ,abler1 which sailed along the ,alaskan and ,siberian coasts for six thousand miles and pounded its way northward into the ,arctic ice-pack to within sixteen degrees of the ,pole4 ,the ship itself was of unusual pattern4 ,her owner called her the ,mudhen4 ,her three masts stood stiff and straight in a row and were the same height4 ,her lines were not particularly elegant1 and her small engine could only push her through calm seas at the rate of five miles an hour4 ,but she was a comfortable ship and had one quality in particular which overbalanced all the drawbacks and made her the boat for us--she was built for bucking ice4 ,she had extra heavy timbers1 especially about her bow4 ,in spite of her slowness1 she was an ideal craft for venturing into ,arctic ice-floes4 ,she would come at a good speed1 bow on1 against a huge berg and bring up with a jar that would shake her as a rat shaken by a terrier1 and send your plate of polar bear meat into your lap4 ,then she would recover from her backward bounce and calmly proceed on her way undented and unharmed4 ,mr4 ,scull of ,philadelphia1 who has sailed the world over1 could never get used to bumping the ice4 ,he and ,i would be bent over the chess board1 absorbed in a difficult situation1 when--bang6 would go the schooner against the ice1 and recoil1 trembling like a hound4 ,i would grab for the tottering chessmen1 while ,scull would jump right into the air with his hair standing straight up on each side of his bald pate like the ears of a horned owl4 ,he would rush frantically out of the cabin door1 lean far over the vessel's side1 train his big eye-glasses on the ship's bow and watch for signs of her filling4 ,then he would come back muttering strange words in any of the five or six languages of which he is the master1 and resume his study of the game1 only to repeat the performance at the next bump4 ,oh6 he would say1 it hurts me more than it hurts the ship2 which was undoubtedly true4 ,i always had better luck in chess with ,scull when we were bucking ice4 ,the personnel of our party was like some landscapes1 varied and interesting4 ,the commander of the expedition and its manager1 was ,captain ,kleinschmidt1 sailor1 miner1 hunter1 author and moving-picture man4 ,he chartered the ,abler and hired her crew1 who were as cosmopolitan as it is possible for crew to be--the captain1 a ,swede2 the mate1 a ,dane2 the engineers 7brothers7 ,german-,americans2 the cook1 a ,jap2 the crew composed of one ,american1 one ,russian and five ,eskimos4 ,there were two taxidermists to take care of the birdskins1 bugs1 mammals1 etc41 collected4 ,of the four hunters1 who1 with ,captain ,kleinschmidt1 financed the expedition1 three were from ,philadelphia3 ,scull1 our polyglot interpreter1 a publisher of books2 ,collins1 a manufacturer2 and ,lovering1 a young man who had lived part of his life in ,wyoming4 ,the fourth1 ,dr4 ,elting1 was a surgeon of reputation from ,albany1 ,n4 ,y4 ,all were experienced hunters1 ,scull and ,collins having followed trails in ,africa and ,america1 ,dr4 ,elting in the ,western ,states and ,canada1 and ,lovering in the ,west4 ,as for myself1 the guest without responsibility or care1 taken along1 as the captain said1 to lend dignity to the expedition1 you can call me by my common names3 ,the ,sour-dough ,preacher1 ,the ,mushing ,parson1 ,the ,alaska ,sky-,pilot1 or any of half a dozen ,northwestern cognomens1 of all of which ,i am equally proud4 ,my object in joining this expedition was1 first1 to have a big hunt and a grand rest4 ,but1 more than the outing1 ,i valued the privilege of exploring ground untrodden by the missionary1 and1 if possible1 doing something towards bringing the ,gospel to the heathen ,eskimo of the ,alaskan and ,siberian shores4 ,we were all out for a lark1 glad beyond expression to be hundreds of miles from a telegram or newspaper1 to be able to wear our dirty clothes and eat in our shirtsleeves without shame2 to forget that such things existed as automobiles or stiff collars or dinner parties4 ,we had four months of a royal good time--along the ,asiatic ,coast after ,siberian sheep1 on the ,alaska ,peninsula for caribou and brown bears1 on ,kenai ,peninsula after moose1 white sheep and black bear1 among the islands of the ,southern ,alaska ,coast and ,bering ,sea with the bird and seal rookeries1 and pursuing polar bear amid the ice-floes of the ,arctic ,ocean4 ,we visited many ,eskimo villages2 we shot for the museums hundreds of varieties of birds on the ,siberian and ,alaskan ,coasts2 we captured new species of beetles1 moths1 butterflies and other insects2 the camera fiends and moving-picture man reveled in novel scenes1 animate and inanimate4 ,we buffeted storms1 pounded ice and sailed sunny seas4 ,but the climax of our joyous outing was the three or four days we spent among the walrus herds off the ,northern ,siberian ,coast4 ,scull and ,collins1 who had hunted everything in ,africa from dikdik to rhinoceros1 declared that none of their experiences in that continent approached in thrilling interest their days with the walrus herds4 ,for the walrus is sui generis3 there is no other mammal at all like him in appearance1 habits1 habitat or characteristics4 ,he is the least known or written about of all the larger animals4 ,no thorough study has ever been made of him4 ,more is known of the habits of the extinct woolly elephant--the mammoth1 whose bones1 tusks1 and even hair and skin we find on the ,alaskan ,coast--than the walrus4 ,and what has been written and the common ideas concerning this animal are so erroneous as to be funny4 ,a century or so ago a naturalist-traveler1 writing about the ,eskimos and the morse1 as the walrus was then called1 said that the tusks of the animal are for the purpose of pulling himself up the icy mountains where he lives2 that his habit is to thus work his way up to the top of the dizziest peak2 that the ,eskimos pursue him there and cut holes through the thick skin of his flippers unknown to the huge pachyderm1 whose hide is impervious to sensation4 ,then1 having passed strong ropes through these holes and tied them to the jutting crags1 they raise a hullabaloo1 and the walrus1 alarmed1 precipitating himself down the mountain1 jerks off his skin1 which the ,eskimos then use in the construction of their boats and houses4 ,the year before our hunt1 a ,california gentleman1 interested in ,captain ,k4's moving pictures1 asked him whether the walrus brought forth their young alive or laid eggs and hatched them4 ,in ,may1 #aiac1 when discussing my proposed outing with some of my ministerial brethren1 at the ,general ,assembly at ,atlanta1 a good ,doctor of ,divinity tried to deter me from undertaking it because of its dangerous character4 ,is it not true1 ,dr4 ,young1 he asked with great solicitude1 that the walrus sometimes devours human flesh8 ,i patiently explained that the walrus has no incisors1 no teeth at all but flat grinders1 level with the gums and far back in the jaws1 and therefore he cannot rend or eat anything so very tough as a missionary2 and that moreover his mouth is situated back of a narrow opening of three or four inches in width between his tusks1 so that nothing bulky can enter it4 ,he might drown me but he couldn't eat me6 ,the ,d4 ,d4 listened with open skepticism and put this poser3 ,how then can he devour his prey8 ,what prey8 ,i asked4 ,why1 the seals and salmon and other large sea animals on which he feeds4 ,again ,i sternly suppressed my rising emotions3 ,but he doesn't eat these things4 ,he couldn't catch them and doesn't want them4 ,he is only a clam-eater4 ,his tusks are not spears1 but an admirably constructed clam-hoe4 ,he could not live without them2 and his stiff whiskers form a fine brush to clean the clams of mud before he dines off them4 ,the good brother glanced from one to another of the listening group with a look that plainly said3 ,how sad it is that such shameless prevaricators will even slip into the ministry2 and walked off muttering something about consulting authorities4 ,illustrating my own roving habits1 while a pioneer missionary in ,alaska1 ,i have sometimes said1 using a common simile1 that ,i had no more home than a jack-rabbit4 ,i am changing this now to a stronger expression2 no more home than a walrus4 ,he is the most constantly on the move of all the vagabonds4 ,even when sleeping he is moving1 for the only home the poor fellow has is the ice-cakes which form in the ,arctic ,ocean and ,bering ,sea1 entirely filling the former and in the winter crowding down the latter to about fifty-eight degrees1 north latitude4 ,the walrus herds1 for the greater part of the year1 keep on the borders of this great field of ice4 ,in the summer when the ,bering ,sea ice melts and also that of the southern part of the ,arctic ,ocean1 the walrus keeps on the flat ice-cakes which float over the great clam beds of these shallow seas4 ,as the ice forms in the fall and the ice-floes extend southward he sets out on a long swim ahead of the fast freezing ice1 resting occasionally on the ,siberian shore1 the ,diomedes1 ,st4 ,lawrence1 ,st4 ,matthews and other islands4 ,when the ice-field has extended to its southern limit he resumes his ice-house-boat habit and returns north in the spring4 ,so little is known of the life history of the walrus that ,i am unable to speak with confidence1 but the young are evidently brought forth very early in the spring1 ,april or ,may1 and float with their mothers 7the females and young herding together71 up into the ,arctic ,ocean as far as the shoals off ,wrangle ,island1 one hundred and fifty miles north of the ,siberian ,coast4 ,there the little ones are guarded by the cows1 which during the summer months are the only really dangerous walrus ever met with4 ,were the walrus the ferocious and combatant animal he is sometimes depicted1 it would be a risky thing indeed to hunt him in skin boats or any other small craft4 ,imagine three or four tons of muscular fierceness1 armed with strong1 sharp1 spearlike tusks1 charging at you4 ,the front part of his head is a solid mass of tough bone more than a foot thick4 ,he could strike his tusks through your boat and sink it in an instant1 or hook them over the edge and upset you1 spearing you one by one in the water4 ,but the huge pachyderm is the most timid and good-natured of animals4 ,it is only when the female fears for the safety of her young that she shows anything like ferocity4 ,in #aiaa ,captain ,kleinschmidt was taking moving pictures of the walrus herds4 ,he had two catamarans1 made by lashing two kyaks together with firm cross pieces4 ,in the foremost craft two ,eskimo hunters with their spears were paddling ahead1 to slip up on the herds and harpoon them at the proper time1 while the moving-picture man was in the other craft to take pictures of the herds and of the whole performance4 ,a herd of cows and their young had been frightened from an ice-cake into the water4 ,suddenly one of these cows thrust her tusks forward1 the sign of a charge3 ,look out6 cried ,k4 to the ,eskimo as the cow dived4 ,they made frantic efforts to paddle their kyaks to the nearest berg1 but the cow came up under the craft and slashed with her tusks one of the kyaks1 ripping the bottom and filling it with water4 ,the other kyak of the catamaran tilted dangerously1 the ,eskimo in the sinking one throwing himself upon it1 and the two frightened natives made their escape to the ice-cake4 ,coming to the surface again the cow sighted ,captain ,k4's catamaran1 thrust her tusks forward again and dived2 he saw her body deep in the water coming toward him and thought his time had come2 but luckily when she struck the canoe had veered and received only a glancing blow4 ,she came to the surface within a yard of the picture man1 who had his rifle ready and thrust it against her brain and pulled the trigger1 which ended that affair4 ,but it was a perilous adventure1 and one is liable to meet with such if he is so rash as to venture among the herds of the cows with their young4 ,during this hunt of ours1 although we saw great herds aggregating hundreds of walrus1 we did not see a cow or calf among them2 only the big bulls herded together and occasionally a solitary one4 ,after passing ,cape ,prince of ,wales into the ,arctic ,ocean we had a week of battling with winds and tide before we got into the ice-pack well up towards ,wrangell and ,herald ,islands4 ,we had another week of pounding ice1 poking through the narrow leads1 constantly turning and running the other way in our effort to get to the shores where the walrus herds would feed4 ,we had fun with the polar bears1 but1 with one exception1 saw no walrus for nearly two weeks of this strenuous fight4 ,this one exception was a big old bull that we sighted reposing in solitary dignity on an ice-cake in the midst of this vast white solitude4 ,captain ,k4 took ,dr4 ,elting with him in the kyaks which we manufactured into a catamaran1 and while the ,abler lay off and on the two hunters whom we watched through our field-glasses made their sinuous way behind ice hummocks through the narrow leads and around the jamming cakes of the ice-field4 ,we saw them at last seemingly right upon the walrus1 on the same cake4 ,the big fellow was fast asleep in the uneasy fashion that all walrus and seal have of sleeping2 that is1 every two or three minutes they will raise their heads and move them back and forth1 during which time the hunters must keep perfectly still and if possible behind the ice-cakes4 ,the walrus1 however1 has not the keen sight of the seal1 and is more easily approached4 ,our hunters moored their skin boat on the ice-cake close to the walrus1 crept up behind a hummock right upon him1 and ,dr4 ,elting put his bullet into the brain of the beast1 which is situated in his neck1 and not in what appears to be his head4 ,it was an easy and not very exciting triumph4 ,what possessed this old bull to lie there alone scores of miles from his companions1 ,i do not know4 ,he may have been there two or three weeks on that one ice-cake1 as the ,eskimos tell us this is sometimes their habit4 ,it was not until ,august eighteenth that we got sight of our first walrus herd1 and then for three days we were right in the midst of them4 ,we had been driven by buffeting winds and threatening ice-packs away from the vicinity of the islands far westward along the ,siberian coast and were perhaps thirty or forty miles from land4 ,the cry was raised from the crow's nest3 ,walrus6 ,the appearance of the herd as we approached it was very unlike anything imagined by those who had not hitherto seen these animals4 ,all sorts of comparisons crowd upon one's imagination when trying to describe them4 ,some of them look like huge caterpillars and have an exactly similar motion1 except that their antenn are bent downward instead of upward4 ,sometimes when bunched up they look like immense squirrels4 ,sometimes when scratching themselves with their flippers they have the languid movements of a fashionable lady fanning herself2 and again1 when two are sparring at each other1 they have the fierce mien of gladiators4 ,but always there is that particularly comical edge about them that impels to irresistible laughter1 as when one approaches a cage of monkeys4 ,their attitudes and motions are so unexpected and ridiculous4 ,i did little hunting myself but went with the other hunters in the oomiak or large skin boat2 and ,i believe ,i got more enjoyment than any one else of the party2 for ,i was not doing the killing1 and was enjoying equally the misses and the hits of the others and1 above all1 the study of these huge and interesting brutes4 ,many of my preconceived notions1 obtained by reading and by hearsay1 were put to flight during those three or four days4 ,only a few years ago a report to the ,smithsonian ,institute was published in which it was stated that the walrus were very watchful and wary1 and that when reposing on the ice-cake they selected a large bull to climb the highest pinnacle and keep watch for foes1 and that when he grew weary of his vigil and wished to sleep he would prod the bull next to him with his tusks and let him take his turn while the former watchman took a nap4 ,it was thus inferred that the walrus scanned the region of ice with eagle eyes and had a system of signalling similar to the organized human gunboats or armies4 ,but this is all nonsense4 ,the fact is that the walrus cannot see more than ten or twelve feet at the most1 and even at that distance ,i doubt whether he can distinguish more than the mere outlines of any object4 ,his eyes are the eyes of a fish1 small and rudely constructed and exceptionally nearsighted4 ,they are made for use in the dim depths of the sea4 ,when the sun shines the walrus shut their eyes and apparently cannot open them4 ,when alarmed they rush into the water and then come up and will crowd within five or six feet of the moving-picture man or hunter1 bulging their eyes like those of a crab in frantic attempts to see their foe4 ,we clad ourselves in white muslin parkas1 and got our oomiaks or kyaks boldly up under the noses of these great beasts with them staring down upon us4 ,the only thing we had to guard against was their getting our wind4 ,if we kept to leeward of them we were always out of their sight4 ,the strange bulging of the eyes when excited gives a most grotesque appearance to the countenance of these walrus1 as ordinarily their eyes are deep sunken in their heads4 ,let me sketch a picture from life3 ,it is the twentieth of ,august4 ,we are in the vicinity of ,cape ,north on the ,northern ,siberian coast4 ,we are twenty or thirty miles offshore4 ,the day is warm1 sunny1 still4 ,the ship is tied to a large iceberg2 a wilderness of floating ice-cakes stretches in every direction to the horizon4 ,in some places these are massed together2 again there will be little open places1 and ragged leads1 but everywhere ice1 ice1 ice4 ,and it is all in motion2 a slow heaving and grinding of the floe1 and the tidal currents moving in different directions and with varied rapidity1 but all trending northwest1 the landscape--or seascape--changing every minute4 ,there are herds of walrus all around us1 some numerous1 containing two or three hundred on one cake of ice1 others small2 here a group of four or five big bulls on a cake just large enough to hold them2 then fifteen or twenty on a wider berg with little hummocks1 up the slopes of which the big brutes crowd4 ,scull and ,lovering have taken the kyak-catamaran and are paddling to the nearest bunch of walrus not five hundred yards from the ship4 ,captain ,k4 has launched the big skin boat1 or oomiak1 and is perched on the high stern1 steering4 ,his aeroscope moving-picture machine and graphlex camera1 his field-glass and rifle are by him4 ,eskimo ,prank and ,i are in front of him with our paddles2 while ,dr4 ,elting and ,collins are in the bow1 with paddles in their hands and their big ,ross and ,mannlicher rifles close by4 ,we corkscrew our way through the ice1 steering past a bunch of walrus on a small cake4 ,small ice--lose um quick1 says ,prank4 ,we are heading to a herd of twenty or thirty1 with some big tuskers among them4 ,we keep to the leeward of them1 for the sense of smell seems to be their one keen sense1 and even that does not compare in acuteness with the nose of the polar bear or the caribou4 ,captain ,k4 and ,eskimo ,prank are the only ones in our party who are perfectly calm and unexcited1 and they seem to the rest of us rash and careless4 ,the boat is steered right in sight of the herd1 and we are getting close to them4 ,now the big1 ugly heads of five or six which have been digging clams come up right alongside of us4 ,suddenly their heads rise high out of the water and their sunken eyes bulge out as they stare up into our faces4 ,it takes a whole minute's scrutiny to satisfy them that we are enemies1 and they go down with great splashing and blowing to come up again almost in the same place and stare at us again4 ,so we are escorted up to the edge of the ice-cake on which the herd reposes4 ,as a precaution against discovery we list the oomiak so that its side protects us from their sight4 ,we range alongside the cake2 ,prank and ,i hold it steady by clutching spurs of ice4 ,the captain with his picture machines1 and the hunters with their guns crawl out on the ice4 ,they are clad in white parkas--but there is plenty to see about them in all conscience1 and they make plenty of noise4 ,we are only twenty or thirty feet from the nearest walrus4 ,two or three big bulls are on the hummock right above us4 ,the captain and the hunters maneuver about1 cautiously but sometimes in plain sight1 and discuss1 in voices clearly audible three times the distance1 the question as to which have the best tusks1 which lie most favorably for a good shot1 in which hump of the neck the brain lies and just where to shoot4 ,the captain gets his bulky aeroscope placed and sets the engine to buzzing and clacking4 ,the hunters are waiting for the beasts to turn just right so as to expose the brain4 ,for the brain of a walrus is as small as that of a rhinoceros in proportion to its size--about as big as one's two fists1--and you must know just where it is1 and place your ball right through it1 or your game will flop and flounder in his dying struggles and roll into the sea and you'll lose him4 ,hence the nervous care and uncertainty of the hunters4 ,for ten or fifteen minutes we wait for the chance1 the favorable moment4 ,but about that foolish sentinel story3 ,a beast that cannot tell an oomiak full of bipeds1 or these same bipeds with guns or cameras from a fellow walrus at the distance of ten yards1 doesn't plan and place a relay of watchmen4 ,we learned from close and long observation that the walrus couldn't see us in the sunshine--their eyes were shut1 or nearly so1 and dim when open4 ,neither can they hear well4 ,they have no external ear at all1 only a tiny hole which requires close observation to discover4 ,even the near roar of a heavy rifle does not always alarm them1 and hunters with smaller rifles have killed one after another of a whole herd until all were slain1 without causing a stampede4 ,of course the repeated shots of two or three rifles close at hand will generally cause them to rush into the water1 but even that does not always scare them4 ,a heavy shot near by will bring all heads up1 but if it is not repeated they will soon go to sleep again4 ,but what a thrilling time it was for me as ,i sat in the boat or on the ice-cake and watched the drama6 ,it was far more comedy than tragedy4 ,the great beasts1 as heavy as elephants1 were lying in bunches or rolling around like a lot of huge1 fat hogs4 ,here a great bull with long tusks was lying on his back and scratching himself against an ice hummock1 wriggling and squirming like a ,newfoundland dog4 ,another was curled up in an impossible heap and scratching the top of his head with his hind flipper4 ,another was making his way through a bunch of sleeping comrades1 rolling them around or scrambling over them and fighting those that resented his intrusion4 ,some were swimming about the landing place of low ice and trying to scramble onto the cake1 and these would disturb a whole bunch of the lazy animals and there would be trouble4 ,and the noises they made were as various and interesting as their positions4 ,one huge fellow1 so close to me that ,i could have punched him with a bamboo fishing-rod1 shook his head slowly from side to side with shut eyes and groaned with a dismal falling cadence1 for all the world like a fat old man with the rheumatism3 ,o-o-o-h3 ,d-e-a-r me1 d-e-a-r me2 this world's a wilderness of woe6 ,another was optimistic1 and his was a sigh of infinite content4 ,a-a-h-h6 he said1 what a nice1 soft1 warm bed this ice-cake is6 ,how fat and delicious those clams were6 ,and ,i don't believe there is one of those horrible1 malodorous little human bipeds with his deadly bang-stick within a hundred miles of us4 ,and there we were within twenty feet of him1 trying to locate his brain-pan6 ,some grunted like pigs in sheer laziness4 ,others barked sharply as they prodded each other with their strong1 sharp tusks3 ,get off my stomach1 you lazy son of a clam-digger6 ,wow6 ,wow6 ,two of them were sparring like gladiators1 raising their heads high and roaring defiance2 but it was all good nature1 for in a minute they were lying asleep1 one with his head across the other's neck4 ,all their movements1 attitudes and voices had such a droll element2 all were so irresistibly funny that ,i wanted to lie down on my back and roar with laughter4 ,but our hunters wanted big heads and tusks as trophies2 our ,eskimos desired some hides to make their oomiaks and to cover their houses2 and we wanted tons of meat for the women and children of the ,siberian villages4 ,and so after a while the rifles roared and roared again and again1 and the hunters moved close up1 working their levers fast4 ,the mad scramble of the walrus for the water was a most grotesque sight4 ,they charged blindly ahead whichever way they happened to be lying1 humping up their backs as they drew their hind flippers under them and stretching out again1 just like the woolly bear caterpillars ,i used to tease when a boy4 ,those that escaped the volley splashed heavily into the water and dived deep1 but presently they were all at the surface again1 blowing and coughing1 bunching in masses1 crowding close to the feet of the moving-picture man1 stretching their heads six feet out of the water1 popping and rolling their ochre-colored eyes in frantic efforts to see4 ,then one would get a whiff of the dreaded man-scent and would go down with a mighty splash and snort1 and the whole crowd would follow suit1 soon to come up and repeat the performance five or six times before they could finally get it into their slow brains that this was a dangerous neighborhood4 ,we had four most interesting days among the walrus1 and the hunters were sated with sport and trophies4 ,my wishes were more modest4 ,i had announced to ,dr4 ,john ,timothy ,stone1 the ,moderator of the ,atlanta ,general ,assembly1 #aiac1 that my grand object in going on this hunt was to kill a walrus myself1 get his tusks and have a couple of ivory gavels made out of them1 that ,i might present them to the outgoing and incoming moderators of the next ,general ,assembly1 which was to meet in ,chicago1 #aiad4 ,i got my walrus in this fashion3 ,captain ,k41 ,dr4 ,elting and ,i were in the oomiak with ,eskimo ,prank4 ,dr4 ,e4 had got a fine head1 and we were cruising about1 when we spied a bunch of seven or eight big walrus on a hummocky berg near the edge of the ice-floe4 ,the swell of the open ocean came in here with considerable force1 and long1 smooth topped billows heaved among the ice-floes1 washing far up on the shelving bergs4 ,we pushed our boat into a narrow passage and the swell took it and landed the bow on the ice right in the midst of the walrus4 ,the captain and the doctor took the hazardous chance and leaped on the ice1 placing the muzzles of their rifles almost against the heads of their selection4 ,i was not quick enough to make the jump1 but as the oomiak surged back with the receding wave ,i saw a walrus charging down the sloping ice diagonally from me4 ,both he and ,i were moving rapidly and in opposite directions and ,i could only take a hasty wing shot4 ,it was the most difficult shot of all my experience4 ,i was standing uncertainly in the plunging oomiak1 swaying and tottering as the light craft shot down the receding wave away from the iceberg2 while the frightened walrus was humping himself for all he was worth1 trying frantically to get off the ice-floe into the ocean1 his head bobbing up and down with his rapid motion4 ,i was wobbling in one direction and he in another1 and the space between us was widening fast4 ,there was no time to be lost4 ,balancing most unsteadily1 ,i swung up my rifle for a snap shot4 ,it was a great moment4 ,i had little hope of hitting the mark2 but my walrus fell to the crack of the rifle1 with his nose in the water4 ,a delay of one-tenth of a second and ,i would have lost him4 ,i had my gavels4 ,the closing scene of our walrus drama was a comedy scene1 and possessed what every drama ought to have--human interest4 ,we had pounded our way southeast again through the fast thickening ice-floe driven upon us by a strong northwest wind4 ,at one time to the least experienced of the party it seemed as if there was no possible way out1 as if we must spend the winter on the bleak shore of ,northern ,siberia4 ,but always the narrow leads opened before us1 and after two or three days of slow and careful work through the ice we emerged from it1 and before a strong1 fair wind we bowled along towards ,bering ,strait4 ,the early morning of ,august twenty-fifth found us anchored in the harbor of ,east ,cape1 after a hard struggle against wind and tide4 ,here is a large ,eskimo village4 ,the ,tchukchees1 or reindeer-herding ,eskimos do not roam as far north as this1 and these were the seal and walrus hunters4 ,they depend almost entirely for their food upon the sea1 and a shortage of these animals sometimes causes starvation4 ,this village is situated behind a high bluff1 but it is not well sheltered1 and a fierce wind offshore caused the ship to tug violently at her anchor1 and made landing difficult4 ,captain ,k4 and the ,eskimos got a boat ashore and secured a stout line to the ship4 ,then the eight or nine great carcases on our deck were heaved by the donkey engine into the sea4 ,they would float by this time4 ,they were not spoiled at all in the estimation of the ,eskimo1 only ripe4 ,they were tied to the line and then a large crowd of ,eskimos took hold1 ran up the beach and so towed the meat ashore4 ,then1 what a scene6 ,out from every one of those large balloon-framed1 skin-covered houses poured the men1 women and children1 shouting1 screaming1 hurrying in joy and excitement4 ,the men with high waterproof mukluks were cutting up the carcases1 and men and women would seize the hunks of meat and rush away to their houses1 pursued by scores of wolfish dogs which leaped and snapped at the meat4 ,occasionally the dogs would succeed in getting away with a large chunk1 when instantly there would be a general mix-up from which some of the dogs would emerge limping and howling4 ,there was a dog-fight every five minutes4 ,the moving-picture man and the camera fiends moved about taking the crowd4 ,the men with old ivory ornaments1 white ivory implements1 and other curios to sell besieged the white men4 ,in all the houses cooking was going on1 and many were chewing on the raw blubber4 ,it was a day of days to these poor people1 and for the first time on our voyage of pleasure we felt ourselves benefactors to the human race4 ,the calendar of these ,eskimos will date from to-day1 said the only ,american white man who lives in ,east ,cape village4 ,they will count time all winter from the day of the big feed of walrus meat4 ,but better than the meat for their bodies which we procured for these poor people of the ,arctic shore1 was the ,bread of ,life that ,i was able to direct to several ,eskimo towns1 from the knowledge gained in this great walrus hunt4 ,printed in the ,united ,states of ,america ,,transcriber',s ,,note3 ,obvious printer errors have been corrected4 ,otherwise1 the author's original spelling1 punctuation and hyphenation have been left intact4