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+Project Gutenberg's A Woman who went to Alaska, by May Kellogg Sullivan
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: A Woman who went to Alaska
+
+Author: May Kellogg Sullivan
+
+Release Date: August 26, 2007 [EBook #22409]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WOMAN WHO WENT TO ALASKA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Stephen Blundell and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by the Library of Congress)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: MAY KELLOGG SULLIVAN IN ALASKA DRESS.]
+
+
+
+
+        A WOMAN WHO
+        WENT ----
+        TO ALASKA
+
+
+ By May Kellogg Sullivan
+
+
+       ILLUSTRATED
+
+
+         Boston:
+ James H. Earle & Company
+  178 Washington Street
+
+
+
+
+     _Copyright, 1902_
+ _By MAY KELLOGG SULLIVAN_
+
+   _All Rights Reserved_
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+ CHAPTER                                         PAGE
+
+     I Under Way                                    9
+    II Midnight on a Yukon Steamer                 19
+   III Dawson                                      28
+    IV The Rush                                    36
+     V At The Arctic Circle                        48
+    VI Companions                                  58
+   VII Going to Nome                               78
+  VIII Fresh Danger                                81
+    IX Nome                                        94
+     X The Four Sisters                           109
+    XI Life in a Mining Camp                      131
+   XII Bar-Room Disturbances                      149
+  XIII Off For Golovin Bay                        162
+   XIV Life at Golovin                            184
+    XV Winter in the Mission                      199
+   XVI The Retired Sea Captain                    215
+  XVII How the Long Days Passed                   231
+ XVIII Swarming                                   247
+   XIX New Quarters                               261
+    XX Christmas in Alaska                        275
+   XXI My First Gold Claims                       292
+  XXII The Little Sick Child                      311
+ XXIII Lights and Shadows of the Mining Camp      325
+  XXIV An Unpleasant Adventure                    340
+   XXV Stones and Dynamite                        354
+  XXVI Good-bye to Golovin Bay                    374
+ XXVII Going Outside                              379
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note
+
+    Obvious printer errors have been corrected. All other
+    inconsistencies remain as printed.
+
+    A list of illustrations, though not present in the original, has
+    been provided below:
+
+      MAY KELLOGG SULLIVAN IN ALASKA DRESS.
+      DAWSON, Y. T.
+      CITY HALL AT SKAGWAY.
+      PORCUPINE CANYON, WHITE PASS.
+      MILES CANYON.
+      UPPER YUKON STEAMER.
+      FIVE FINGER RAPIDS.
+      GOING TO DAWSON IN WINTER.
+      A KLONDYKE CLAIM.
+      EAGLE CITY, ON THE YUKON, IN 1899.
+      YUKON STEAMER "HANNAH."
+      FELLOW TRAVELERS.
+      ESKIMOS.
+      UNALASKA.
+      STEAMSHIP ST. PAUL.
+      NOME.
+      LIFE AT NOME.
+      CLAIM NUMBER NINE, ANVIL CREEK.
+      CLAIM NUMBER FOUR, ANVIL CREEK, NOME.
+      MAP OF ALASKA.
+      ESKIMO DOGS.
+      WINTER PROSPECTING.
+      AT CHINIK. THE MISSION.
+      CLAIM ON BONANZA CREEK.
+      ON BONANZA CREEK.
+      SKAGWAY RIVER, FROM THE TRAIN.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+This unpretentious little book is the outcome of my own experiences and
+adventures in Alaska. Two trips, covering a period of eighteen months
+and a distance of over twelve thousand miles were made practically
+alone.
+
+In answer to the oft-repeated question of why I went to Alaska I can
+only give the same reply that so many others give: I wanted to go in
+search of my fortune which had been successfully eluding my grasp for a
+good many years. Neither home nor children claimed my attention. No good
+reason, I thought, stood in the way of my going to Alaska; for my
+husband, traveling constantly at his work had long ago allowed me carte
+blanche as to my inclinations and movements. To be sure, there was no
+money in the bank upon which to draw, and an account with certain
+friends whose kindness and generosity cannot be forgotten, was opened up
+to pay passage money; but so far neither they nor I have regretted
+making the venture.
+
+I had first-class health and made up in endurance what I lacked in
+avoirdupois, along with a firm determination to take up the first honest
+work that presented itself, regardless of choice, and in the meantime to
+secure a few gold claims, the fame of which had for two years reached my
+ears.
+
+In regard to the truthfulness of this record I have tried faithfully to
+relate my experiences as they took place. Not all, of course, have been
+included, for numerous and varied trials came to me, of which I have not
+written, else a far more thrilling story could have been told.
+
+Enough has, however, been noted to give my readers a fair idea of a
+woman's life during a period of eighteen months in a few of the roughest
+mining camps in the world; and that many may be interested, and to some
+extent possibly instructed by the perusal of my little book, is the
+sincere wish of the author.
+
+                                                   MAY KELLOGG SULLIVAN.
+
+
+
+
+A WOMAN WHO WENT--TO ALASKA.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+UNDER WAY.
+
+
+My first trip from California to Alaska was made in the summer of 1899.
+I went alone to Dawson to my father and brother, surprising them greatly
+when I quietly walked up to shake hands with them at their work. The
+amazement of my father knew no bounds,--and yet I could see a lot of
+quiet amusement beneath all when he introduced me to his friends, which
+plainly said:
+
+"Here is my venturesome daughter, who is really a 'chip off the old
+block,' so you must not be surprised at her coming to Alaska."
+
+Father had gone to the Klondyke a year before at the age of sixty-four,
+climbing Chilkoot Pass in the primitive way and "running" Miles Canyon
+and White Horse Rapids in a small boat which came near being swamped in
+the passage.
+
+My brother's entrance to the famous gold fields was made in the same
+dangerous manner a year before; but I had waited until trains over the
+White Pass and Yukon Railroad had been crossing the mountains daily for
+two weeks before myself attempting to get into Alaska's interior. At
+that time it was only a three hours' ride, including stops, over the
+Pass to Lake Bennett, the terminus of this new railroad, the first in
+Alaska. A couple of rude open flat cars with springless seats along the
+sides were all the accommodation we had as passengers from the summit of
+White Pass to Lake Bennett; we having paid handsomely for the privilege
+of riding in this manner and thinking ourselves fortunate, considering
+the fact that our route was, during the entire distance of about
+forty-five miles, strewn with the bleaching bones of earlier argonauts
+and their beasts of burden.
+
+Naturally, my traveling companions interested me exceedingly. There were
+few women. Two ladies with their husbands were going to Dawson on
+business. About eight or ten other women belonging to the rapid class of
+individuals journeyed at the same time. We had all nationalities and
+classes. There were two women from Europe with luggage covered with
+foreign stickers, and a spoken jargon which was neither German nor
+French, but sounded like a clever admixture of both.
+
+Then there was the woman who went by the name of Mrs. Somebody or other
+who wore a seal-skin coat, diamond earrings and silver-mounted umbrella.
+She had been placed in the same stateroom with me on the steamer at
+Seattle, and upon making her preparations to retire for the night had
+offered me a glass of brandy, while imbibing one herself, which I
+energetically, though politely, refused. At midnight a second woman of
+the same caste had been ushered into my room to occupy the third and
+last berth, whereupon next morning I had waited upon the purser of the
+ship, and modestly but firmly requested a change of location. In a
+gentlemanly way he informed me that the only vacant stateroom was a
+small one next the engine room below, but if I could endure the noise
+and wished to take it, I could do so. I preferred the proximity and
+whirr of machinery along with closer quarters to the company of the two
+adventuresses, so while both women slept late next morning I quietly and
+thankfully moved all my belongings below. Here I enjoyed the luxury of a
+room by myself for forty-eight hours, or until we reached Skagway,
+completely oblivious to the fact that never for one instant did the
+pounding of the great engines eight feet distant cease either day or
+night.
+
+[Illustration: DAWSON, Y. T.]
+
+A United States Judge, an English aristocrat and lady, a Seattle lawyer,
+sober, thoughtful and of middle age, who had been introduced to me by a
+friend upon sailing, and who kindly kept me in sight when we changed
+steamers or trains on the trip without specially appearing to do so; a
+nice old gentleman going to search for the body of his son lost in the
+Klondyke River a few weeks before, and a good many rough miners as well
+as nondescripts made up our unique company to Dawson. Some had been over
+the route before when mules and horses had been the only means of
+transportation over the Passes, and stories of the trials and dangers of
+former trips were heard upon deck each day, with accompaniments of oaths
+and slang phrases, and punctuated by splashes of tobacco juice.
+
+On the voyage to Skagway there was little seasickness among the
+passengers, as we kept to the inland passage among the islands. At a
+short distance away we viewed the great Treadwell gold mines on Douglass
+Island, and peered out through a veil of mist and rain at Juneau under
+the hills. Here we left a few of our best and most pleasant passengers,
+and watched the old Indian women drive sharp bargains in curios, beaded
+moccasins, bags, etc., with tourists who were impervious to the great
+rain drops which are here always falling as easily from the clouds as
+leaves from a maple tree in October.
+
+Our landing at Skagway under the towering mountains upon beautiful Lynn
+Canal was more uneventful than our experience in the Customs House at
+that place, for we were about to cross the line into Canadian territory.
+Here we presented an interesting and animated scene. Probably one
+hundred and fifty persons crowded the small station and baggage room,
+each one pushing his way as far as possible toward the officials, who
+with muttered curses hustled the tags upon each box and trunk as it was
+hastily unlocked and examined. Ropes and straps were flung about the
+floor, bags thrown with bunches of keys promiscuously, while transfer
+men perspiring from every pore tumbled great mountains of luggage hither
+and thither.
+
+[Illustration: CITY HALL AT SKAGWAY.]
+
+Two ponderous Germans there were, who, in checked steamer caps enveloped
+in cigar smoke of the best brand, protested vigorously at the opening of
+their trunks by the officers, but their protests seemed only the more to
+whet the appetites of these dignitaries. The big Germans had their
+revenge, however. In the box of one of these men was found with other
+things a lot of Limburger cheese, the pungent odor of which drove the
+women screaming to the doors, and men protesting indignantly after them;
+while those unable to reach the air prayed earnestly for a good stiff
+breeze off Lynn Canal to revive them. The Germans laughed till tears ran
+down their cheeks, and cheerfully paid the duty imposed.
+
+Skagway was interesting chiefly from its historical associations as a
+port where so many struggling men had landed, suffered and passed on
+over that trail of hardship and blood two years before.
+
+Our little narrow gauge coaches were crowded to their utmost, men
+standing in aisles and on platforms, and sitting upon wood boxes and
+hand luggage near the doors.
+
+It was July, and the sight of fresh fruit in the hands of those lunching
+in the next seat almost brought tears to my eyes, for we were now going
+far beyond the land of fruits and all other delicacies.
+
+"Pick it up, old man, pick it up and eat it," said one rough fellow of
+evident experience in Alaska to one who had dropped a cherry upon the
+floor, "for you won't get another while you stay in this country, if it
+is four years!"
+
+"But," said another, "he can eat 'Alaska strawberries' to his heart's
+content, summer and winter, and I'll be bound when he gets home to the
+States he won't thank anyone for puttin' a plate of beans in front of
+him, he'll be that sick of 'em! I et beans or 'Alaska strawberries' for
+nine months one season, day in and day out, and I'm a peaceable man, but
+at the end of that time I'd have put a bullet through the man who
+offered me beans to eat, now you can bet your life on that! Don't never
+insult an old timer by puttin' beans before him, is my advice if you do
+try to sugar-coat 'em by calling 'em strawberries!" and the man thumped
+his old cob pipe with force enough upon the wood box to empty the ashes
+from its bowl and to break it into fragments had it not been well
+seasoned.
+
+Upon the summit of White Pass we alighted from the train and boarded
+another. This time it was the open flat cars, and the Germans came near
+being left. As the conductor shouted "all aboard" they both scrambled,
+with great puffing and blowing owing to their avoirdupois, to the rear
+end of the last car, and with faces purple from exertion plumped
+themselves down almost in the laps of some women who were laughing at
+them.
+
+[Illustration: PORCUPINE CANYON, WHITE PASS.]
+
+We had now a dizzy descent to make to Lake Bennett. Conductor and
+brakeman were on the alert. With their hands upon the brakes these men
+stood with nerves and muscles tense. All talking ceased. Some of us
+thought of home and loved ones, but none flinched. Slowly at first, then
+faster and faster the train rolled over the rails until lakes, hills and
+mountains fairly flew past us as we descended. At last the train's speed
+was slackened, and we moved more leisurely along the foot of the
+mountains. We were in the beautiful green "Meadows" where pretty and
+fragrant wild flowers nodded in clusters among the tall grass.
+
+At Bennett our trunks were again opened, and we left the train. We were
+to take a small steamer down the lakes and river for Dawson. We were no
+longer crowded, as passengers scattered to different boats, some going
+east to Atlin. With little trouble I secured a lodging for one night
+with the stewardess of the small steamer which would carry us as far as
+Miles Canyon or the Camp, Canyon City. From there we were obliged to
+walk five miles over the trail. It was midsummer, and the woods through
+which we passed were green. Wild flowers, grasses and moss carpeted our
+path which lay along the eastern bank of the great gorge called Miles
+Canyon, only at times winding away too far for the roar of its rushing
+waters to reach our ears. No sound of civilization came to us, and no
+life was to be seen unless a crow chanced to fly overhead in search of
+some morsel of food. Large forest trees there were none. Tall, straight
+saplings of poplar, spruce and pine pointed their slender fingers
+heavenward, and seemed proudly to say:
+
+"See what fortitude we have to plant ourselves in this lonely Northland
+with our roots and sap ice-bound most of the year. Do you not admire
+us?" And we did admire wonderingly. Then, again, nearing the banks of
+Miles Canyon we forged our way on up hill and down, across wet spots,
+over boulders and logs, listening to the roar of the mighty torrent
+dashing between towering, many-colored walls of rock, where the volume
+of water one hundred feet in width with a current of fifteen miles an
+hour, and a distance of five-eighths of a mile rushes insistently
+onward, as it has, no doubt, done for ages past. Then at last widening,
+this torrent is no longer confined by precipitous cliffs but between
+sparsely wooded banks, and now passes under the name of "White Horse
+Rapids," from so strangely resembling white horses as the waters are
+dashed over and about the huge boulders in mid-stream. Here many of the
+earlier argonauts found watery graves as they journeyed in small boats
+or rafts down the streams to the Klondyke in their mad haste to reach
+the newly discovered gold fields.
+
+After leaving White Horse Rapids we traveled for days down the river. My
+little stateroom next the galley or kitchen of the steamer was
+frequently like an oven, so great was the heat from the big cooking
+range. The room contained nothing but two berths, made up with blankets
+and upon wire springs, and the door did not boast of a lock of any
+description. Upon application to the purser for a chair I received a
+camp stool. Luckily I had brushes, combs, soap and towels in my bag, for
+none of these things were furnished with the stateroom. In the stern of
+the boat there was a small room where tin wash basins and roller towels
+awaited the pleasure of the women passengers, the water for their
+ablutions being kept in a barrel, upon which hung an old dipper. To
+clean one's teeth over the deck rail might seem to some an unusual
+undertaking, but I soon learned to do this with complacency, it being
+something of gain not to lose sight of passing scenery while performing
+the operation.
+
+[Illustration: MILES CANYON.]
+
+At Lake La Barge we enjoyed a magnificent panorama. Bathed in the rosy
+glow of a departing sunset, this beautiful body of water sparkled like
+diamonds on all sides of us. Around us on every hand lay the green and
+quiet hills. Near the waters' edge they appeared a deep green, but grew
+lighter in the distance. Long bars of crimson, grey and gold streaked
+the western horizon, while higher up tints of purple and pink blended
+harmoniously with the soft blue sky. As the sun slowly settled the
+colors deepened. Darker and darker they grew. The warm soft glow had
+departed, and all was purple and black, including the waters beneath us;
+and as we passed through the northern end or outlet of the lake into
+Thirty Mile River we seemed to be entering a gate, so narrow did the
+entrance to the river appear between the hills.
+
+At night our steamer was frequently tied up to a wood pile along the
+banks of the river. No signs of civilization met our eyes, except,
+perhaps, a rude log hut or cabin among the trees, where at night, his
+solitary candle twinkling in his window and his dogs baying at the moon,
+some lonely settler had established himself.
+
+The Semenow Hills country is a lonely one. Range upon range of rolling,
+partly wooded, hills meet the eye of the traveler until it grows weary
+and seeks relief in sleep.
+
+Five Finger Rapids was the next point of interest on our route, and I am
+here reminded of a short story which is not altogether one of fiction,
+and which is entitled: Midnight on a Yukon Steamer.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+MIDNIGHT ON A YUKON STEAMER.
+
+
+The bright and yellow full moon drifted slowly upward. The sun had just
+set at nine in the evening, casting a warm and beautiful glow over all
+the lonely landscape, for it was the most dreary spot in all the dreary
+wilderness through which the mighty Yukon passes.
+
+The steamer had tied up for wood, and now the brawny stevedores with
+blackened hands and arms were pitching it to the deck.
+
+To the passengers, of whom there were a goodly number, time hung
+heavily, and the younger ones had proposed a dance. Musical instruments
+were not numerous, but such as there were, were brought out, and two
+non-professionals with an accordion and a banjo, were doing their very
+best.
+
+A small number of sober ones were to be seen on deck pacing restlessly
+back and forth, for the ruthless mosquito was distinctly on evidence,
+and threatened to outgeneral the quiet ones, if not the orchestra and
+the hilarious dancers.
+
+On the upper deck, a lady, clad in warm cloak and thick veil, walked
+tirelessly to and fro. A big stump-tailed dog of the Malemute tribe at
+times followed at her heels, but when she had patted his head and
+spoken kindly to him he appeared satisfied, and lay down again with his
+head between his paws. Then sounds from the dancers below, the shrill
+laughter of the women mingled with the strum of the banjo and the wheezy
+accordion seemed to disturb the dog's slumber, and he would again pace
+up and down at the lady's heels.
+
+At times there would come a lull in the tumult, and the click of the
+glasses or crash of a fallen pitcher would make a variety of
+entertainment for the lady and her dog on the upper deck; but the short
+and dusky midnight was well passed before the dancing ceased and partial
+quiet and order were restored.
+
+Two figures remained near the stern of the boat. One, a young woman with
+a profusion of long auburn hair, the other a man with flushed face and
+thick breath.
+
+"I cannot tell now which one it will be," said the girl coquettishly,
+"but if you wait you will see."
+
+"No more waitin' in it," he growled. "I have waited long enough, and too
+long, and you must choose between us now. You know we will soon be at
+'Five Fingers,' and you must be good or they may get you," with a wicked
+leer and clutch at her arm calculated to startle her as she carelessly
+sat on the deck rail.
+
+"I'm not afraid of 'Five Fingers' or any other fingers, and I'm not
+afraid of your two hands either," making her muscles very tense, and
+sitting rigidly upright, "and you can't scare me a bit; I'll do as I
+like, so there!"
+
+By this time the moon shone high above the tops of the tall slender
+pines, and spread its soft light over all the swift and swirling waters.
+To the west, the hills faded first from green to blue, then to purple,
+and lastly to black, silhouetted as they were against the quiet sky.
+
+The swift flowing current pushed the waters up among the weeds and
+bushes along the river's edge and the loose rocks were washed quite
+smooth. Now and then might be heard the bark of a wood-chopper's dog
+stationed outside his master's cabin, and the steady thud of the steamer
+never stopped. At two o'clock it was growing light again, and still the
+young man pleaded with the girl on the deck. She was stubborn and
+silent.
+
+Swiftly now the boat neared the "Five Fingers." Only a few miles
+remained before the huge boulders forming the narrow and tortuous
+channels called the "Five Fingers" would be reached, and the face of the
+pilot was stern. It was a most dangerous piece of water and many boats
+had already been wrecked at this point.
+
+Suddenly above the noise of the waters and the steamer's regular
+breathing there arose on the quiet air a shrill shriek at the stern of
+the boat.
+
+The lady on the upper deck had retired. The captain was sleeping off his
+too frequent potations, and only the pilot on the lookout knew that the
+scream came from a woman; but it was not repeated.
+
+The pilot's assistant was off watch, and his own duty lay at the wheel;
+so it happened that a guilty man who had been standing by the deck rail
+crept silently, unnoticed, and now thoroughly sobered, to his stateroom.
+
+His companion was nowhere to be seen.
+
+A small steamer following next day in the wake of the first boat, came
+to Five Finger Rapids.
+
+"See the pretty red seaweed on the rocks, mamma," cried a little boy,
+pointing to the low ledge on the bank of the east channel.
+
+Those who looked in the direction indicated by the boy saw, as the
+steamer crept carefully up to the whirlpool, a woman's white face in the
+water, above which streamed a mass of long auburn hair, caught firmly on
+the rocks.
+
+Standing by the side of his pilot, the captain's keen eye caught sight
+of the head and hair.
+
+"It's only Dolly Duncan," he said, with a shrug of his shoulders. "No
+one else has such hair; but it's no great loss anyway; there are many
+more of such as she, you know."
+
+[Illustration: UPPER YUKON STEAMER.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+DAWSON.
+
+
+By this time we had passed the Hootalingua, Big Salmon, Little Salmon
+and Lewes rivers, and were nearing the mouth of Pelley River, all
+flowing into one stream from the east and uniting to form the Upper
+Yukon. Many smaller rivers and creeks from the west as well as the east
+empty into this river which gathers momentum and volume constantly until
+it reaches a swiftness of five miles an hour between Five Finger Rapids
+and Fort Selkirk.
+
+This latter fort is an old Canadian Post where mounted police and other
+officers and soldiers are stationed. Never shall I forget my first
+experience at Fort Selkirk. We arrived about one o'clock in the
+afternoon and were told that our steamer would remain there an hour,
+giving us all a chance to run about on shore for a change. Taking my
+sunshade, and attracted by the wide green fields dotted with pretty wild
+flowers of various colors, I rambled around alone for an hour, all the
+time keeping our steamer in plain sight not many hundred yards away.
+Curious to learn the meaning of a group of peculiar stakes driven into
+the ground, some of which were surrounded by rude little fences, I made
+my way in a narrow path through the deep grass to the place, and soon
+discovered an Indian burial ground. There were, perhaps, twenty little
+mounds or graves, a few much sunken below the level as if made long
+years before, but all were marked in some manner by rude head boards.
+
+These were notched, and had at one time been fancifully stained or
+colored by the Ayan Indians, the stains and funny little inscriptions
+being, for the most part, obliterated by the elements. Dainty wild roses
+here nodded gracefully to each other, their pretty blooms being weighted
+down at times by some venturesome, big honey bee or insolent fly; both
+insects with many others, some of them unknown to me, buzzing
+contentedly in the sunshine overhead.
+
+Daisies and buttercups grew wild. Flowering beans and peas trailed their
+sprays upon the ground. Blue bells, paint brush, and other posies fairly
+bewildered me, so surprised was I to find them here in this far
+Northland. Without this happiness and cheer given me by my sweet little
+floral friends I might not have been so well prepared to endure the
+rudeness that was awaiting me.
+
+Upon my return to the steamer I found all in confusion. I could see no
+signs of departure and no one of whom I cared to make inquiries. Men and
+women were coming and going, but none appeared sober, while many with
+flushed faces were loudly laughing and joking. A few Canadian police in
+red coats scattered here and there were fully as rollicking as any,
+and the steamer's captain and purser, arm in arm with a big, burly
+Canadian official, were as drunk as bad liquor could well make them.
+
+[Illustration: FIVE FINGER RAPIDS.]
+
+Going to my stateroom I sat down to read, and, if possible, hide my
+anxiety. As there was no window or other ventilator, and it was a warm
+day, I could not close the door. While sitting thus the doorway was
+darkened, and looking up I saw before me the drunken Canadian official,
+leering at me with a horrible grin, and just about to speak.
+
+At that instant there stepped to his side the tall form of the only
+really sober man on board--the Seattle lawyer, who, in his most
+dignified manner motioned the officer on, and he went; the gentlemanly
+lawyer, tossing his half-consumed cigar overboard in an emphatic way as
+if giving vent to his inward perturbation, marched moodily on. Catching
+a glimpse of his face as he passed, I concluded that the situation was
+fully as bad or worse than I had at first feared. Already we had been
+several hours at Fort Selkirk and should have been miles on toward
+Dawson.
+
+The captain and crew were too drunk to know what they were doing, and
+they were hourly growing more so. Many were gambling and drinking in the
+salon or dining room and others came from the liquor store on shore a
+few rods away. The voices of the women were keyed to the highest pitch
+as they shouted with laughter at the rough jokes or losing games of the
+men, while red-faced, perspiring waiters hurried back and forth with
+trays laden with bottles and glasses. Now and then the crash of a fallen
+pitcher or plate, followed by the shrieks of the women would reach me,
+and looking through the great cracks in the board partition which was
+the only thing separating me from the drunken crowd, I could see most of
+the carousal, for such it now was.
+
+My anxiety increased. I feared the danger of a night on board in a tiny
+stateroom, without lock or weapon, and entirely alone.
+
+"Mr. H----," said I quietly, a little later, to the man from Seattle, as
+I stepped up to him while he smoked near the deck rail. "When do you
+think the steamer will leave this place?"
+
+"Tomorrow, most likely," in a tone of deep disgust.
+
+"Do you not think that the captain will push on tonight?" I asked in
+great anxiety.
+
+"I doubt if there is a man on board with enough sense left to run the
+engine, and the captain--look there!" pointing to a maudlin and
+dishevelled Canadian wearing a captain's cap, and just then trying to
+preserve his equilibrium on a wooden settle near the railing. "It would
+be a blessing if the brute tumbled overboard, and we were well rid of
+him," said the gentleman savagely in a low tone. Then, seeing my
+consternation, he added: "I'll see what can be done, however," and I
+returned to my room.
+
+What should I do! I knew of no place of safety on shore for me during
+the night if the steamer remained, and I dared not stay in my stateroom.
+I had no revolver, no key to my door. I might be murdered before
+morning, and my friends would never know what had become of me. There
+was no one on board to whom I could appeal but the lawyer, and he might
+be powerless to protect me in such a drunken rabble. With a prayer in my
+heart I made my nerves as tense as possible and shut my teeth tightly
+together. It was best to appear unconcerned. I did it. Suggesting away
+all fright from my face I watched proceedings in the dining room through
+the cracks in the wall. It was a sight such as I had never before seen.
+It was six o'clock and dinner was being served by the flushed and
+flustered waiters. Probably a hundred persons sat at the tables in all
+stages of intoxication. Hilarity ran high. Most of them were wildly
+jolly and gushingly full of good will; but all seemed hungry, and the
+odors from the kitchen were appetizing.
+
+I now hoped that the dinner, and especially the hot tea and coffee would
+restore some of these people to their senses in order that they might
+get up steam in the engines and pull out of this terrible place before
+they were too far gone. Dinner was well over in the dining room and I
+had not yet eaten. A waiter passed my door. He stopped.
+
+"Have you eaten dinner?"
+
+"No, I have not."
+
+"Don't you want some?"
+
+"Well, yes. I think I could eat something."
+
+"I'll bring you some." And he was gone.
+
+A few minutes later he entered my stateroom with a big tray, and putting
+it upon the edge of the upper berth he left me. I ate my dinner from the
+tray while standing, and felt better.
+
+An hour afterward the drunken officials had been coaxed into going
+ashore; the furnace in the engine room was crammed with wood; the
+partially sobered pilot resumed his place at the wheel; the captain had
+pulled himself together as best he could under the threats of the lawyer
+from Seattle, and the steamer moved away from the bank, going with the
+current swiftly towards Dawson. Nothing of further importance occurred
+until next morning when our steamer pulled up alongside the dock at
+Dawson. It was Monday morning, the thirtieth of July, 1899, and the
+weather was beautifully clear. I had been fourteen days coming from
+Seattle. Hundreds of people waited upon the dock to see us land, and to
+get a glimpse of a new lot of "Chechakos," as all newcomers are called.
+
+Soon after landing I met upon the street an old Seattle friend of my
+parents, who knew me instantly and directed me to my father. This man's
+kind offer to look up my baggage was accepted, and I trudged down
+through the town towards the Klondyke River, where my father and brother
+lived. I had no difficulty in finding father, and after the first
+surprise and our luncheon were over we proceeded to find my brother at
+his work. His astonishment was as great as my father's, and I cannot
+truthfully state that either of them were overcome with joy at seeing me
+in Dawson. At any other time or place they undoubtedly would have been
+delighted, but they were too well acquainted with conditions to wish
+another member of their family there in what was probably then the
+largest and roughest mining camp in the world. The situation that
+presented itself was this. Instead of finding my relatives comfortably
+settled in a large and commodious log cabin of their own on the banks of
+the Klondyke River, as they had written they were, I found them in the
+act of moving all their belongings into a big covered scow or barge
+drawn close to the river bank and securely fastened. Cooking utensils,
+boxes, bags of provisions consisting of flour, beans and meal, as well
+as canned goods of every description, along with firewood and numerous
+other things, were dumped in one big heap upon the banks of the Klondyke
+River near the barge.
+
+The small sheet iron box with door and lid, called a Yukon stove, had
+been set up close in one corner of the living room, which in size was
+about eight by ten feet. Two bunks, one above the other in the opposite
+corner, had been lately constructed by father, who at the moment of my
+arrival was busy screwing a small drop leaf to the wall to be used as a
+dining table when supported by a couple of rather uncertain adjustable
+legs underneath.
+
+The meaning of all this commotion was not long to find. Father and
+brother had, along with many more as peaceable and law-abiding citizens,
+been ordered out of their log cabins, built at a great out-lay of time,
+money and strength, so that their homes should be pulled down in
+accordance with an order given by the Governor. This land, as the city
+had grown, had increased in value and was coveted by those high in
+authority. No redress was made the settlers, no money was paid them,
+nothing for them but insulting commands and black looks from the
+Canadian police enforcing the order of the governor.
+
+"Never again," said my father repeatedly, "will I build or own a home in
+the Klondyke. This scow will shelter me until I make what money I want,
+and then good-bye to such a country and its oppressive officials."
+
+Other men cursed and swore, and mutterings of a serious nature were
+heard; but there was nothing to be done, and the row of comfortable,
+completed log cabins was torn down, and we settled ourselves elsewhere
+by degrees. A bunk with calico curtains hung around it was made for me,
+and I was constituted cook of the camp. Then such a scouring of tins,
+kettles and pails as I had! Shelves were nailed in place for all such
+utensils, and a spot was found for almost everything, after which the
+struggle was begun to keep these things in their places. Then I baked
+and boiled and stewed and patched and mended, between times writing in
+my note book, sending letters to friends or taking kodak pictures.
+
+I was now living in a new world! Nothing like the town of Dawson had I
+ever seen. Crooked, rough and dirty streets; rude, narrow board walks or
+none at all; dog-teams hauling all manner of loads on small carts, and
+donkeys or "burros" bowing beneath great loads of supplies starting out
+on the trail for the gold mines.
+
+"Don't do that!" shouted a man to me one day, as I attempted to
+"snap-shot" his pack train of twenty horses and mules as they passed us.
+Two of the animals had grown tired and attempted to lie down, thus
+causing the flour sacks with which they were loaded to burst open and
+the flour to fly in clouds around them. "Don't do that," he entreated,
+"for we are having too much trouble!"
+
+Some of the drivers were lashing the mules to make them rise, and this
+spread a panic through most of the train, so that one horse, evidently
+new to the business and not of a serious turn of mind, ran swiftly away,
+kicking up his heels in the dust behind him. There were also hams and
+sides of bacon dangling in greasy yellow covers over the backs of the
+pack animals, along with "grub" boxes and bags of canned goods of every
+description. Pick axes, shovels, gold pans and Yukon stoves with bundles
+of stove pipe tied together with ropes, rolls of blankets, bedding,
+rubber boots, canvas tents, ad infinitum.
+
+There was one method used by "packers," as the drivers of these pack
+trains were called, which worked well in some instances. If the animals
+of his train were all sober and given to honestly doing their work, then
+the halter or rope around the neck of a mule could be tied to the tail
+of the one preceding him, and so on again until they were all really
+hitched together tandem. But woe unto the poor brute who was followed by
+a balky fellow or a shirk! The consequences were, at times, under
+certain circumstances, almost too serious to be recounted in this story,
+at least this can be said of the emphatic language used by the packers
+in such predicament.
+
+One warm, bright day soon after my arrival in Dawson, and when order had
+been brought out of chaos in the scow--our home--I went to call upon an
+old friend, formerly of Seattle. Carrie N. was three or four years
+younger than myself, had been a nurse for a time after the death of her
+husband, but grew tired of that work, and decided in the winter of 1897
+and 1898 to go into the Klondyke. A party of forty men and women going
+to Dawson was made up in Seattle, and she joined them. For weeks they
+were busily engaged in making their preparations. Living near me, as she
+did at the time, I was often with Carrie N. and was much interested in
+her movements and accompanied her to the Alaska steamer the day she
+sailed. It was the little ship "Alki" upon which she went away, and it
+was crowded with passengers and loaded heavily with freight for the trip
+to Dyea, as Skagway and the dreaded White Pass had been voted out of the
+plans of the Seattle party of forty.
+
+[Illustration: GOING TO DAWSON IN WINTER.]
+
+Now in Dawson I called upon Carrie N. eighteen months later, and heard
+her tell the story of her trip to the Klondyke. They had landed, she
+said, at Dyea from the "Alki" with their many tons of provisions and
+supplies, all of which had to be dumped upon the beach where no dock or
+wharf had ever been constructed. Here with dog-teams and sleds, a few
+horses and men "packers," their supplies were hauled up the mountain as
+far as "Sheep Camp," some ten miles up the mountain side. It was early
+springtime and the snow lay deep upon the mountains and in the gorges,
+which, in the vicinity of Chilkoot Pass at the summit of the mountain
+are frightfully high and precipitous.
+
+The weather was not cold, and the moving of this large party of forty
+persons with their entire outfit was progressing as favorably as could
+be expected. A camp had been made at Dyea as the base of operations;
+another was made at Sheep Camp. At each place the women of the party did
+the cooking in tents while men gathered wood, built fires, and brought
+water. Other men worked steadily at the hauling, and most of their
+supplies had already been transported to the upper camp; when there
+occurred a tragedy so frightful as to make itself a part of
+never-to-be-forgotten Alaskan history.
+
+It was on Sunday, and a snow storm was raging, but the weather was warm.
+Hundreds of people thronged the trails both going up and coming down the
+mountain in their effort to quickly transport their outfits over to the
+other side, and thus make the best possible time in reaching the gold
+fields. Here a difference of opinion arose among the people of our
+Seattle party, for some, more daring than the others, wished to push on
+over the summit regardless of the storm; while the more cautious ones
+demurred and held back, thinking it the part of discretion to wait for
+better weather. A few venturesome ones kept to their purpose and started
+on ahead, promising to meet the laggards at Lake Bennett with boats of
+their own making in which to journey down the river and lakes to Dawson.
+
+Their promises were never fulfilled.
+
+While they, in company with hundreds of others as venturesome, trudged
+heavily up the narrow trail, a roar as of an earthquake suddenly sounded
+their death-knell. Swiftly down the mountain side above them tore the
+terrible avalanche, a monster formation of ice, snow and rock, the
+latter loosened and ground off the face of old Chilkoot by the rushing
+force of the moving snowslide urged on by a mighty wind. In an instant's
+time a hundred men and women were brushed, like flies from a ceiling,
+off the face of the mountain into their death below, leaving a space
+cleared of all to the bare earth where only a few seconds before had
+stood the patient toilers on the trail.
+
+Only one thing remained for the living to do, and that was to drop all
+else and rescue, if possible, the dying and engulfed ones. This they
+did. When the wind had died away the snow in the air cleared, and
+hundreds of men threw themselves into the rescue work. Many were injured
+but lived. Some were buried in snow but found their way to light again.
+One man was entirely covered except one arm which he used energetically
+to inform those above him of his whereabouts. He was taken out unharmed,
+and lived to welcome the writer of this to Dawson, where he carted and
+delivered her trunk faithfully.
+
+But Carrie N. had remained at Sheep Camp and was safe. Then her
+experience in nursing stood her in good stead; and while men brought the
+dead to camp, she, with others, for hours performed the services which
+made the bodies ready for burial. It was a heart-rending undertaking and
+required a cool head and steady hand, both of which Carrie N. possessed.
+Two men of her party thus lost their lives, and it was not until days
+afterward that the last of the poor unfortunates were found. Nearly one
+hundred lives were lost in this terrible disaster, but there were
+undoubtedly those whose bodies were never found, and whose death still
+remains a mystery.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE RUSH.
+
+
+Since the discovery of gold by George Carmack on Bonanza Creek in
+September, 1896, the growth of this country has been phenomenal, more
+especially so to the one who has visited and is familiar with Dawson and
+the Klondyke mining section.
+
+As to the entire yield of gold from the Klondyke Creeks, none can say
+except approximately; for the ten per cent. royalty imposed by the
+Canadian government has always met a phase of human nature which prompts
+to concealment and dishonesty, so that a truthful estimate cannot be
+made.
+
+The Canadian Dominion government is very oppressive. Mining laws are
+very arbitrary and strictly enforced. A person wishing to prospect for
+gold must first procure a miner's license, paying ten dollars for it. If
+anything is discovered, and he wishes to locate a claim, he visits the
+recorder's office, states his business, and is told to call again. In
+the meantime, men are sent to examine the locality and if anything of
+value is found, the man wishing to record the claim is told that it is
+already located. The officials seize it. The man has no way of
+ascertaining if the land was properly located, and so has no redress. If
+the claim is thought to be poor, he can locate it by the payment of a
+fifteen dollar fee.
+
+One half of all mining land is reserved for the crown, a quarter or more
+is gobbled by corrupt officials, and a meagre share left for the daring
+miners who, by braving hardship and death, develop the mines and open up
+the country.
+
+"Any one going into the country has no right to cut wood for any
+purpose, or to kill any game or catch any fish, without a license for
+which a fee of ten dollars must be paid. With such a license it is
+unlawful to sell a stick of wood for any purpose, or a pound of fish or
+game." The law is strictly enforced. To do anything, one must have a
+special permit, and for every such permit he must pay roundly.
+
+The story is told of a miner in a hospital who was about to die. He
+requested that the Governor be sent for. Being asked what he wanted with
+the Governor, he replied: "I haven't any permit, and if I should
+undertake to die without a permit, I should get myself arrested."
+
+It is a well-known fact that many claims on Eldorado, Hunker and Bonanza
+Creeks have turned out hundreds of thousands of dollars. One pan of
+gravel on Eldorado Creek yielded $2100. Frank Dinsmore on Bonanza Creek
+took out ninety pounds of solid gold or $24,480 in a single day. On
+Aleck McDonald's claim on Eldorado, one man shoveled in $20,000 in
+twelve hours. McDonald, in two years, dug from the frozen ground
+$2,207,893. Charley Anderson, on Eldorado, panned out $700 in three
+hours. T. S. Lippy is said to have paid the Canadian government $65,000
+in royalties for the year 1898 and Clarence Berry about the same.
+
+On Skukum Gulch $30,000 were taken from two boxes of dirt. Frank
+Phiscator of Michigan, after a few months' work, brought home $100,000
+in gold, selling one-third of his claim interests for $1,333,000, or at
+the rate of $5,000,000 for the whole.
+
+When a man is compelled to pay one thousand dollars out of every ten
+thousand he digs from the ground, he will boast little of large
+"clean-ups"; and for this reason it is hard to estimate the real amount
+of gold extracted from the Klondyke mines.
+
+Captain James Kennedy, an old pioneer and conservative mining man,
+estimates the output for the season of 1899 as $25,000,000, or fifty
+tons of dust and nuggets.
+
+The most commendable thing about the Canadian Government is their strict
+enforcement of order. Stealing is an almost unheard of thing, and petty
+thieving does not exist. Mounted police in their brown uniforms and
+soldiers in their red coats are everywhere seen in and around Dawson,
+and they practice methods, which, to the uninitiated, make them very
+nearly omnipresent.
+
+While walking down street in Dawson one morning about nine o'clock, I
+passed a group of men all wearing sober faces. "They're done for now,"
+said a rough miner, glancing in the direction of the Barracks, where a
+black flag was fluttering at the top of a staff.
+
+"How so?" asked another, just come up to the group.
+
+"Three men hung over there, an hour ago. They're goin' to bury 'em now,"
+and the speaker twitched his thumbs first toward the Barracks, then
+farther east, where a rough stretch of ground lay unused. Here could be
+seen policemen and soldiers, evidently in the midst of some performance
+not on their daily routine.
+
+A number of prisoners wearing the regulation garb of
+convicts,--pantaloons of heavy mackinaw, one leg of yellow and the other
+of black,--were carrying long, rough boxes, while others were digging
+shallow graves.
+
+Upon inquiry I found that what the miner had said was true. Three
+prisoners, two of them Indian murderers, with another man notoriously
+bad, had indeed been hung about eight o'clock that morning in the
+barracks courtyard. In less than two hours afterward they were interred,
+and in as many days they were forgotten.
+
+By the middle of July, 1899, the steamers leaving Dawson on their way
+down the Yukon to St. Michael and the new gold fields at Nome, were well
+filled with those who were anxious to try their luck in Uncle Sam's
+territory where they can breathe, dig, fish, hunt, or die without buying
+a license.
+
+By August the steamers coming from St. Michael brought such glowing
+accounts of the Nome gold fields, that while few people came in, they
+carried as many out as they could accommodate.
+
+By September the rush down the Yukon was tremendous, and of the twelve
+thousand people in Dawson many hundreds left for Nome.
+
+When, after six weeks spent in curiously studying conditions and
+things,--not to say people,--in the great mining camp, it was decided
+that I should accompany my brother down the Yukon to Cape Nome, and so
+"out" home to San Francisco, I felt a very distinct sense of
+disappointment. The novelty of everything, the excitement which came
+each day in some form or other, was as agreeable as the beautiful summer
+weather with the long, quiet evenings only settling into darkness at
+midnight.
+
+In September came the frosts. Men living in tents moved their little
+Yukon stoves inside, and brought fresh sawdust and shavings from the
+mills for their beds. Others packed their few possessions into small
+boats, hauled down their tents, whistled to their dogs, and rolling up
+their sleeves, pulled laboriously up the swift little Klondyke to their
+winter "lays" in the mines.
+
+Hundreds were also leaving for the outside. Steamers, both large and
+small, going to White Horse and Bennett, carried those who had
+joyfully packed their bags and smilingly said good-bye; for they were
+going home to the "States." How we strained our eyes from our cabin
+window or from the higher bank above, to see the people on the decks of
+the out-going boats. How the name of each tug and even freight-carrier
+became a familiar household word, and how many were the conjectures as
+to whether "she" would get through to White Horse Rapids in the low
+water before a freeze-up!
+
+[Illustration: A KLONDYKE CLAIM.]
+
+One day our own steamer came. She was a magnificently equipped river
+boat called the "Hannah," belonging to the Alaska Commercial Company,
+and had cost one hundred thousand dollars. This was to be her last trip
+for the season, and with us it was "home now, or here all winter," and
+we made ready to leave. My kodak had been emptied and filled again,
+calls on acquaintances made, and good-byes said. My battered and broken
+trunk, which, at the hands of the English customs officials had suffered
+much, had now to be repaired and put to a good long test. This box was
+in a state of total collapse; rollers all gone, covering torn and bent,
+screws and nails lost, sides split, bottom entirely dropped out, but it
+must go; so my big brother was wheedled into putting it into some kind
+of shape again, and it came out stronger than before.
+
+No lunches were needed. The cuisine of the Hannah was said to be as
+perfect as could be in this far away corner of the globe, and we trusted
+to that.
+
+On September sixteenth the Hannah sounded her whistle--all was hurry and
+bustle, and such a sight! If hundreds had stood on the docks to welcome
+us as we entered the city, there were thousands now. It was pleasant. We
+felt flattered, especially as the band struck up our own national airs,
+giving us a medley of "Yankee Doodle," "America," "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp,"
+and "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." They felt constrained, however,
+to wind up with "Sweet Marie," and rag-time dances, one old fellow in
+slouch hat and with a few drinks too many, stepping the jigs off in
+lively and comical fashion.
+
+Our pride was perceptibly lessened afterward, when we learned that we
+had on board a dance hall outfit, and the band belonged to the Monte
+Carlo saloon!
+
+We were now in the midst of a group, cosmopolitan beyond our wildest
+dreams. Pushing their way through the crowd to the gangplank came men,
+women and dogs, carrying grips, kodaks, tin cash boxes, musical
+instruments, army sacks, fur robes, and rolls of blankets. Struggling
+under the weight of canvas tents, poles, Yukon stoves and sleds, as well
+as every conceivable thing, they climbed the stairway to the deck. Here,
+and in the main saloon, all was deposited for the time being.
+
+There was a woman with a fine grey cat, for which she had been offered
+fifty dollars, wrapped in a warm shawl, much to pussy's disgust. A
+number of women had dogs and were weeping, probably at leaving other
+canines behind. Several persons carried little grips so heavy that they
+tugged along--evidently "Chechako," or paper money, was more scarce with
+them than dust and nuggets.
+
+As freight, there was a piano, many iron-bound boxes containing gold
+bullion, securely sealed and labeled, and tons of supplies for the
+consumption of the passengers, of whom there were now five hundred.
+
+Then the whistle again sounded--the gangplank was hauled in,
+handkerchiefs fluttered, the band struck up "Home Sweet Home"--we were
+headed down the Yukon River and toward the Arctic Circle.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We had now a journey of seventeen hundred miles before us. We were to
+traverse a country almost unknown to man. We were two of a party of five
+hundred persons, the majority of whom, if not actually desperadoes, were
+reckless and given over to the pursuit of gold regardless of the manner
+of its getting. There were loose characters of the town by hundreds;
+there were gamblers running a variety of games both day and night; there
+were dance house girls and musicians; there were drunks and toughs, and
+one prize fighter. No firearms or knives were seen, though many, no
+doubt, had them.
+
+With the enormous amount of gold on board (for the steamer's safe was
+overflowing, and the purser's room well packed with the precious stuff),
+with the numbers of hard characters we carried, and the now increasing
+remoteness from centres of government, there were dangers, we were
+forced to confess, but which we only admitted in whispers.
+
+Three hours after leaving Dawson we were taking on wood at Forty Mile.
+This is the oldest camp on the Yukon River, and the early home of Jack
+McQuestion. The river banks were lined with canoes; many natives stood
+looking at us from the shore, and while stevedores handled the wood,
+many passengers visited the town. It was not long before they came back
+with hands full of turnips, just pulled from the ground, which, had they
+been the most luscious fruit, could not have been eaten with more
+relish.
+
+I then tried to buy one of a young man, but he had evidently been long
+away from such luxuries, for he refused to sell; afterward, his
+gallantry getting the better of him, he politely offered me one-half of
+the vegetable, which I took with thanks.
+
+As my brother peeled the precious turnip, I asked him how long since he
+had eaten one. "Two years," he promptly replied. Knowing that he was
+especially fond of such things, I ate a small slice, and gave him the
+remainder. It is needless to say he enjoyed it.
+
+To the right of the landing at Forty Mile, just across a small stream
+which runs into the Yukon, is Fort Cudahy, containing the stores and
+warehouses of one of the large companies, as well as a post-office.
+
+[Illustration: EAGLE CITY, ON THE YUKON, IN 1899.]
+
+But we were soon off again, steaming along between hills yellow with
+fading poplar leaves and green streaked with pines. Many rocky spurs
+towered grandly heavenward, with tops, like silvered heads, covered with
+newly fallen snow. The Yukon is here very crooked and narrow, and abrupt
+banks hedged our steamer in on all sides.
+
+Next morning early we arrived at Eagle City, Alaska. We were now in
+Uncle Sam's land, and breathed more freely. We felt at home. We cheered
+and waved our handkerchiefs to the blue uniformed soldiers on the river
+bank who had come to see us.
+
+We went ashore and called upon lieutenant L., lately from his home in
+Connecticut and campaigning in Cuba. Taking us into a log house near by,
+he pointed out forty thousand rounds of ammunition and one hundred and
+fifteen Krag-Jorgensen rifles of the latest pattern.
+
+Here were stationed one hundred and fifteen men, some of them at that
+time out moose hunting and fishing. Captain Ray, an old white-haired
+gentleman, stood outside his cabin door. At Eagle we saw the new
+government barracks just being finished, the logs and shingles having
+been sawed at the government saw-mill near by, at the mouth of Mission
+Creek.
+
+We were particularly struck with the very youthful appearance of our
+soldiers, and their wistful faces as they watched our preparations for
+departure.
+
+The lieutenant had said that life in Cuba, or in almost any old place
+was preferable to that at Eagle, with the long winter staring them in
+the face, and we could see that the poor fellow longed for home. We were
+quite touched, but tried to cheer him as best we could.
+
+Circle City, on a big bend of the river from which it derives its name,
+was reached the following evening. Here all hands crowded over the
+gangplank and into the stores. In less time than it takes to write it,
+these places were filled with miners, each man pulling away at his
+strong, old pipe, the companion of many weary months perhaps; while over
+the counters they handed their gold dust in payment for the "best plug
+cut," chewing gum, candy, or whatever else they saw that looked
+tempting. Here we bought two pairs of beaded moccasins for seven
+dollars.
+
+As a heavy fog settled down upon us, our captain thought best to tie up
+the steamer over night, and did so. Next morning by daylight we saw the
+offices of the United States marshal; both log cabins with dirt roofs,
+upon which bunches of tall weeds were going to seed. We hoped this was
+not symbolical of the state of Uncle Sam's affairs in the interior, but
+feared it might be, as the places seemed deserted.
+
+Many of the one thousand cabins at Circle were now vacant, but it is the
+largest town next to Dawson on the Yukon River.
+
+During the whole of the next day our pilots steered cautiously over the
+Yukon Flats.
+
+This is a stretch of about four hundred miles of low, swampy country,
+where the Yukon evidently loses its courage to run swiftly, for it
+spreads out indolently in all directions between treacherous and
+shifting sand-bars, fairly disheartening to all not familiar with its
+many peculiarities.
+
+We now learned for the first time that we were practically in the hands
+of three pilots, two of whom were Eskimos, one of them on a salary of
+five hundred dollars per month. This man was perfectly familiar with the
+entire river, being an expert pilot, as he proved during this trip to
+the satisfaction of all.
+
+Owing to the near approach of winter, and the extremely low water at
+this point, the captain, crew, and many others, wore anxious faces until
+the Flats were well passed. Should our steamer stick fast on a sand-bar,
+or take fire, we might easily be landed; but to be left in such a bleak
+and barren place, with cold weather approaching, snow beginning to fall,
+no shelter, and only provisions for a few days, with traveling
+companions of the very worst type, and no passing steamers to pick us
+up, we would indeed meet a hard fate, and one even the prospect of which
+was well calculated to make strong men shudder.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+AT THE ARCTIC CIRCLE.
+
+
+We were now at the Arctic Circle. For three days we had no sunshine, and
+flurries of snow were frequent. The mountain tops, as well as the banks
+and sand-bars of the river, were spread with a thin covering of snow;
+enough at least to give a wintry aspect. This added to the leaden sky
+above, made the warmth of big coal fires acceptable indoors, and fur
+coats comfortable on the decks.
+
+At Fort Yukon the low water prevented our landing. We were told,
+however, that the place contained one hundred log houses, as well as an
+old Episcopal Mission, in which Mrs. Bumpus had lived and taught the
+natives for twenty years. Many of the Eskimo girls are trained as
+children's nurses and make very satisfactory ones.
+
+Into the Yukon Flats empty the Porcupine River, Birch Creek and other
+streams. Fort Yukon was established by the Hudson Bay Company many years
+ago, all supplies coming in and shipments of furs going out by way of
+the McKensie River and the great Canadian Lakes.
+
+Toward evening one day, while the stevedores were busy handling wood, we
+went ashore and visited an Eskimo family in their hut. It was built on
+the high river bank among the trees, quite near the steamer's landing.
+On the roof of the hut, there lay, stretched on sticks to dry, a large
+brown bear skin. Near by we saw the head of a freshly killed moose, with
+the hoofs of the animal still bloody.
+
+[Illustration: YUKON STEAMER "HANNAH."]
+
+As we stooped to enter the low door of the cabin, we felt the warmth
+from the fire in the little Yukon stove which was placed in the corner
+of the room. Next to this was a rude table, on which lay a quarter of
+moose meat, looking more or less tempting to travelers living on canned
+goods.
+
+A bed stood in one corner, upon which two or three little children were
+playing, and upon a pile of rags and skins on the floor sat an old
+Eskimo woman, wrinkled and brown. These were her children and
+grandchildren, and she was spending her life on the floor of the cabin,
+watching the little ones play around her, for she was paralyzed.
+
+There were no chairs in the cabin, and but few rude utensils and
+playthings. A box or tin can, which had contained provisions, was now
+and then utilized.
+
+After a few moments with the Eskimos, we backed out into the open air
+again, for the atmosphere of the hut was peculiar, and not altogether
+agreeable to our southern olfactories. It reminded us of Mrs. Peary's
+description of native smells in Greenland.
+
+The short path back to our steamer lay through a poplar grove, and
+under our feet was spread a carpet of brown and yellow leaves, which, in
+the cool night air, smelled ripe and woodsy.
+
+Next came Fort Hamlin, where we again saw some of Uncle Sam's boys, and
+where we trudged out through the soft light snow and took some kodak
+views.
+
+Rampart City was reached in the early evening. One long row of houses
+upon the south bank of the Yukon, near the mouth of the Big Minook Creek
+constitutes the town. Here empty the Little Minook, Alder, Hunter, and
+many other gold-bearing creeks, and a bustling town sprung up only to be
+almost depopulated during the Nome excitement.
+
+By this time several inches of snow had fallen, and the ground was
+freezing. We managed here to climb the slippery steps of the log store
+building in the dusk and buy a pound of ordinary candy, for which we
+paid one dollar.
+
+Again we were in deep water. This time so very smooth that the hills,
+peaks, trees and islands were all mirrored on its surface, and very
+beautiful.
+
+The days were now quite short. About five in the afternoon the electric
+lights were turned on through the steamer, fresh coal again piled on the
+fires, and we reminded ourselves how comfortably we were traveling.
+
+Then the dinner bell rang, and we sat down to dinner. Some attempt at
+decoration had been made, for tall glasses stood in the centre of the
+tables filled with ripe grasses and pretty autumn leaves, but, strange
+to relate, we were more interested in the contents of our soup plates
+and what was to follow. The cold and bracing air during our short walks
+on deck had given us all famous appetites, and we relished everything.
+
+After hot soup with crackers, we ate of fresh fish, three kinds of
+canned meats, baked or boiled potatoes, with one other kind of
+vegetable, canned tomatoes, corn or beans. Side dishes consisted of
+pickles, olives, cheese, sardines, canned fruits, fancy crackers or
+biscuits, and afterward came pudding and pie. These last were made from
+various canned fruits, and with the rice, sago or tapioca pudding,
+formed most enjoyable desserts. On Sunday nuts and raisins or apples
+were added to the menu.
+
+If we ate with keen appetites, we were not too much occupied to take
+note of the passengers around us. Nearly opposite sat a beautiful woman
+with a profusion of auburn hair piled high on her head. She was
+fashionably dressed in black silk or satin, and her white fingers were
+loaded with costly rings. As she handed a dish to the man beside her,
+her diamonds and other gems sparkled brightly. Her companion, much
+older, had a hard and villainous face. A heavy frown of displeasure
+habitually rested upon his brow, and his glance was shifting and
+evasive. He was a professional gambler, kept his game running
+continually, and was going to Nome.
+
+At the end of the table sat a tall and pleasant mannered young
+Englishman, with blue eyes and ruddy cheeks. He represented mining
+interests in the Klondyke amounting to millions, and was on his way to
+London. He was fond of wine, and consorted chiefly with those who were
+fast bringing him down to their level.
+
+There was the girl with pretty black eyes, lady-like movements, low
+voice, and exquisite toilettes. A blue-eyed, pretty little blonde, with
+infantile complexion, small hands and feet, and wearing a tailor-made
+suit attracted considerable attention. She was fond of cigarettes and
+smoked many times a day, though she only looked "sweet sixteen." They
+were both dance-house girls.
+
+There was a young and handsome Englishman in the triggest of dude
+toggery, but having a squaw wife and three children, as well as older
+men at the head of similar broods.
+
+The long tables were spread two or three times at each meal, as several
+hundred people were to be fed.
+
+A different class, and a worst one if possible, was met with at these
+late meals. Do you see that short, fat woman over there with the bleared
+eyes, and the neck of a prize fighter? She is a Dawson saloon keeper,
+and is now on her way to Nome.
+
+But there were a number of people on the steamer not properly
+belonging to this set, and after supper a few usually gathered in one
+corner to listen to each other's experiences in the far Northwest. Some
+were tales of hardship, sickness and death; some of hair-breadth escapes
+from the jaws of an Arctic winter, or from shipwreck. One told of
+having, two years before, paid $175 for five sacks of flour in the
+Klondyke; selling the same, a few days later, for $500. Stories of rich
+strikes were related; how one man, while drunk, was persuaded by his
+associates to trade a valuable claim for one apparently worthless; his
+indescribable feelings the next day and until he had prospected the
+so-called worthless claim, when it proved ten times richer than the
+first one.
+
+[Illustration: FELLOW TRAVELERS.]
+
+A little middle-aged Norwegian woman told her story with great gusto.
+She had sailed from Seattle two years before with Mayor Woods'
+expedition, getting as far as a point on the Yukon River two hundred
+miles below Rampart City. Here the low water prevented their going
+farther. She, in company with others, made her way to Rampart as best
+she could, rested and "outfitted" for a trip to Dawson over the ice.
+Finally, with sleds and provisions, eight dogs and four men, she
+started. It was a journey of about eight hundred miles. Before leaving
+Rampart she experimented with fur sleeping bags, and finally made one in
+which she could sleep comfortably on the ice and snow. Rice and tea were
+their staple articles of diet, being more quickly prepared in hasty
+camps at night, and being found most nourishing. After a perilous trip
+of thirty-five days in the dead of winter, they reached Dawson in good
+shape, two days ahead of a party of men with whom a wager had been made.
+With these, and similar stories, we whiled away the long evening hours
+by the fire. Many short stops were made along the river. A few little
+settlements were passed during the night. At Holy Cross and Russian
+Mission we saw flourishing Catholic schools for the natives.
+
+The Yukon was now getting wider and wider, the water was shallow and
+more shallow, then suddenly we felt a heavy jar. The big stern wheel
+refused to move,--we were stuck fast on a sand-bar! Here we remained all
+day, dreading a hard freeze which was liable to settle down upon us at
+any time, fixing our boat and us in the ice indefinitely. But we were
+now in the Aphoon, or eastern mouth of the Yukon, and near enough to
+Behring Sea to get the benefit of the tides; so that in the early
+evening we again heard the thud of the big machines,--the steamer
+quivered,--the stern wheel again revolved,--we had entered the Behring
+Sea!
+
+By four o'clock next morning we were in St. Michael Bay, having covered
+the sixty miles from the mouth of the river during the night. Snow was
+falling heavily through which we saw the lights of the harbor, and a
+number of vessels at anchor. By daylight we counted eleven ships and
+two revenue cutters lying under the lee of the island.
+
+Breakfast was served on board, and an hour later we went ashore. We now
+sought the steamer company's hotel, and had no difficulty in getting
+good rooms and seats at table; for we were still in their care, having
+bought through tickets to San Francisco. Here we were to wait for the
+ocean steamer "Bertha," which was now nearly due from that place, and we
+anxiously watched the weather signs hoping all would be favorable, and
+that she would very soon put in her appearance.
+
+Our hotel was a new frame building of about forty rooms, lighted by
+electricity, having large halls, pleasant double parlors overlooking the
+bay, with a good view of incoming ships from the north. Just across the
+street stood an old block house or fort containing the funny little
+cannon used by the Russians over a hundred years ago. The antiquated
+lock on the door, the hundreds of bullet holes in the outer walls, were
+all quaintly interesting.
+
+Half a mile south were stores, a hotel, another large company's dock,
+and in good weather we tramped over there or north the same distance to
+the headquarters of a third company. These three were small settlements
+by themselves, and constituted, with their employees, natives and dogs,
+the whole population of St. Michael. Good sidewalks connected these
+different stations and commanded fine and extensive views of the
+surrounding water.
+
+St. Michael, as an island, is not large, and is entirely without trees
+or timber. However, there is deep, wet moss or tundra everywhere, as one
+soon discovers to his sorrow if he attempts to leave the plank walks.
+St. Michael Bay, lying between the island and the mainland on the east,
+is a fine body of water. The coast line is well defined with ranges of
+mountains zigzagging their cold and snowy peaks, blue tinted or purple
+during the day, and pink in the setting sun.
+
+St. Michael is the windiest place on earth. After a few days spent in
+studying the native dress of the Eskimos, and in trying to adapt my own
+dress to the freakish breezes I concluded that if I stayed at St.
+Michael I should dress as they did. If I started for the eating room
+with my hat properly placed on hair arranged with ever so much care, a
+heavy beaver cape, and dress of walking length, I was completely
+demoralized in appearance five minutes later on reaching the mess-house.
+With a twisting motion which was so sudden as to totally surprise me, my
+dress was wound around my feet, my cape was flung as if by spiteful
+hands entirely over my head, causing me to step in my confusion from the
+plank walk; while my hat was perched sidewise anywhere above or on my
+shoulder. One unfortunate woman wearing an overskirt covering a striped
+cambric sham, was seen daily struggling, with intense disgust on her
+face, up the steps of the eating house, with her unruly overskirt
+waving wildly in the wind.
+
+But this wind did not keep the Eskimo women and children at home.
+Dressed in their fur parkies, which are a sort of long blouse with hood
+attachment, short skirts and muckluks, or skin boots, they trotted down
+to the beach daily to fish, standing on the wet and slippery rocks,
+regardless of wind, spray or snow. Here they flung their fish lines out
+into the water and hauled the little fish up dexterously; when, with a
+curious twitch they disengaged the finny fellows and tossed them into a
+big pan. Little Eskimo children ran on in front of their mothers, and
+shaggy dogs followed close behind at the smell of the fish.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+COMPANIONS.
+
+
+But there were passengers arriving at St. Michael each day from
+different points bound for Nome.
+
+At last the side-wheeler "Sadie" was to leave for Nome, and what a
+commotion! Men in fur coats, caps and mittens, leading dogs of all
+colors and sizes, some barking, but all hustled along with no thought of
+anything except to reach Cape Nome as quickly as possible. At last they
+were off. A rough, and in some instances a drunken lot, but all
+hopefully happy and sure that they would "strike it rich" in the new
+gold fields. Many, no doubt, were going to their death, many to
+hardships and disappointments undreamed of, while a few would find gold
+almost inexhaustible.
+
+Still we waited day after day for the ocean steamer "Bertha." One Sunday
+morning we looked from the hotel windows to see a clear, cold sky, with
+sun and high wind. About ten o'clock we heard a steamer whistling for
+assistance. She was small and used for errands by one of the steamship
+companies. Still none went to the rescue, as the gale was terrific. A
+steam tug started out, but she passed by on the other side, not caring
+to act the part of good Samaritan to a rival. In a few moments the
+fires of the little steamer were out,--she was sinking. Through a glass
+we saw three men on the roof of the craft--then they clung to the
+smokestack. A larger steamer, though herself disabled, finally reached
+the three drowning men. It was not a moment too soon, for the water was
+icy, the gale fearful. They were then hauled in, almost exhausted and
+frozen.
+
+It was a wild day. Soon after noon, one of the two big covered barges in
+tow by the "Lackme," already loaded for a start for Nome, began to sink.
+The wind came from the north, and little by little the barge became
+unmanageable, until at last she was cut loose and deserted. For an hour
+we watched the barge, until, she too, sank out of sight beneath the
+waters of the bay.
+
+Small steamers still came straggling in from Dawson crowded with
+passengers going to the new gold fields, and our tired cooks and
+stewards in the kitchens were rushed both day and night. Here the price
+of a meal, to all but those having through tickets to San Francisco, was
+one dollar, and fifteen hundred meals a day were frequently served.
+
+In this hotel we waited two weeks, patiently at times, restlessly at
+other times. What would we do if the Bertha failed to appear? Possibly
+she was lost, and now drifting, a worthless derelict, at the mercy of
+the winds! Not another boat would or could carry us, tickets on each one
+having long ago been sold. If we should be frozen in all winter, with
+no way of letting our friends at home know of our whereabouts for six
+months, how terrible would be their anxiety, how hard for us in this
+exposed spot near the Arctic Sea! Many times a day and in the night did
+this emergency present itself to us, and we shuddered. Each day we
+climbed the hill a quarter of a mile away to look, Robinson Crusoe like,
+over the ocean to see if we could discover the "Bertha."
+
+In the meantime, with note book and pencil in hand I often sat in the
+parlor; and, while occupied to a certain extent, I gathered sundry bits
+of information regarding the gold fields in this wonderful new Golconda.
+Two million dollars, it was said, had already been extracted from the
+beach at Nome, and no estimate could be made on what was still there.
+The pay streak ran to the water's edge, and even farther, but just how
+far, no one knew.
+
+Back of this beach spread the tundra, an expanse of marsh, ice and
+water, which extends some four miles inland. The size of the claims
+allowed by law is one thousand three hundred and twenty feet in length,
+and six hundred and sixty feet in width; or about twenty acres of land.
+The insignificant sum of $2.50 is required to be paid the recorder.
+
+In the York District the area allowed for claims is smaller, being five
+hundred feet in width, and the length depending on the geographical
+formation or creek upon which the claim is situated.
+
+North of Nome there are ninety to one hundred miles of gold-bearing
+beach to be worked, and again to the south a vast stretch of like
+character extending to Norton Bay. The tundra, which is nothing but the
+old beach, follows the present shore, and is fully as rich as the
+surf-washed sands. More productive and larger than all is the inland
+region traversed by rivers and creeks that form a veritable network of
+streams, all bordered by gold-producing soil.
+
+Anvil Creek, Sunset Gulch, Snow Gulch and Dexter Creek, near Nome, are
+all exceedingly rich; one claim on Snow Gulch having been sold for
+$185,000, and another for $13,000.
+
+Golovin Bay District is situated eighty-five miles east of Nome City,
+and is large and very rich. Fish River is the principal one in this
+section, and has innumerable small tributaries running into it, most of
+which are also rich in gold.
+
+Casa de Paga is a tributary of the Neukluk River, and very rich. On
+Ophir Creek, claim No. four, above Discovery, $48,000 was taken out in
+nineteen days by the Dusty Diamond Company working seventeen men. On
+number twenty-nine above Discovery on Ophir Creek, seventeen dollars
+were taken out a day per man, who dug out frozen gravel, thawed it by
+the heat of a coal-oil stove, and afterward rocked it.
+
+There was much discussion over the rights of those claiming mining lands
+located by the power of attorney; though the majority of men here
+seemed to believe they would hold good, and many such papers were made
+out in due legal form.
+
+At last, on the morning of October ninth, the "Bertha" really appeared.
+It was a clear, cold day, sunny and calm. I ran in high spirits to the
+top of the hill overlooking the bay to get a good view. Sure enough,
+there lay the "Bertha" on the bright waters as though she had always
+been there. How rejoiced everyone was! How relieved were those who
+intended to remain here because of the additions to the winter's
+supplies, and how rejoiced were those waiting to get away? How we all
+bustled about, packing up, buying papers and magazines just from the
+steamer, sealing and stamping letters, making notes in diaries, taking
+kodak views, saying good-bye to acquaintances, ad infinitum.
+
+All were willing to leave. Finally on the afternoon of the tenth we were
+stowed into the big covered barge which was to take us out to the
+"Bertha." It was cold and draughty inside, so we found a sheltered place
+in the sun on some piles of luggage, and sat there. As the "Bertha" was
+reached, a gangplank was thrown over to the barge, which came as close
+alongside as possible, and up this steep and narrow board we climbed,
+clinging to a rope held by men on both decks.
+
+Our trouble had now begun. We were overjoyed at making a start at last,
+but under what conditions! The river steamer "Hannah" had been a model
+of neatness as compared with this one. On deck there were coops of
+chickens, and pens of live sheep and pigs brought from San Francisco to
+be put off at Nome, as well as a full passenger list for the same place.
+On the way here a landing had been attempted at Nome, but the surf had
+been so tremendous that it could not be accomplished, and passengers
+still occupied the staterooms that we were to have. However, we were
+temporarily sandwiched in, and, about four P. M., said good-bye to St.
+Michael.
+
+It was a lovely day and the waters of the bay were very calm. Along
+shore in the most sheltered places were numbers of river steamers and
+smaller craft being snugly tucked up for the winter. From three tall
+flagstaffs on shore there floated gracefully as many American flags as
+though to wish us well on our long journey out to civilization.
+
+That night on board was simply pandemonium. Hundreds of people had no
+beds, and were obliged to sit or walk about, many sitting in corners on
+the floor, or on piles of luggage or lying under or upon the tables.
+Every seat and berth were taken. Many of the staterooms below were
+filled from floor to ceiling with flour in sacks for Nome, as well as
+every foot of space in passage-ways or pantries. Many men were so
+disorderly from drink that they kept constantly swearing and quarreling,
+and one man, in a brawl, was almost toppled into the sea. To make
+things worse, the stench from the pens of the animals on deck became
+almost unbearable, and the wind came up, making the water rough.
+
+There was no sleep for us that night. We longed to reach Nome that we
+might be rid of some of these objectionable things, and hoped for an
+improvement afterward.
+
+From St. Michael to Nome, the distance is about one hundred and
+twenty-five miles, and the latter place was reached about eight A. M. A
+little before daylight we had been startled by a series of four sudden
+shocks or jars, the first being accompanied by a very distinct creaking
+of timbers of the ship, so that some of us rose and dressed; but the
+ship had apparently sustained no injury, and we proceeded on our way.
+Whether we had struck a rock, or only a sand-bar, we never knew, for the
+ship's men laughed and evaded our questions; but the passengers believed
+that the boat had touched a reef or rock, hidden, perhaps, beneath the
+surface of the sea.
+
+By daylight the animals had been removed to a barge, and soon after
+breakfast the Nome passengers were taken ashore in like manner, for the
+surf was so heavy on the beach, and there being no docks or wharves, it
+was impossible for a large steamer to get nearer.
+
+Away in the distance to the north lay the famous new gold camp of
+Nome. Stretched for miles along the beach could be seen the little white
+tents of the beach miners, back of which lay the town proper, and still
+back, the rolling hills now partly covered with snow. Not a tree or
+shrub could be seen, though we strained our eyes through a strong glass
+in an effort to find them. A few wooden buildings larger than the rest
+were pointed out as the Alaska Commercial Company's warehouses and
+offices, near where the loaded barges were tossed by the huge breakers
+toward the beach.
+
+[Illustration: ESKIMOS.]
+
+Passengers now went ashore to visit the camps, but to my great
+disappointment I was not allowed to do so on account of the tremendous
+surf. When, after watching others, seeing their little boats tossed like
+cockle shells upon the sands, and hearing how thoroughly drenched with
+salt water many of the people were while landing, I gave it up, and
+remained on board.
+
+For five days we lay anchored outside, while stevedores loaded supplies
+from the "Bertha" on barges towed ashore by the side-wheeler "Sadie."
+For hours the wind would blow and the breakers and surf run so high that
+nothing could be done; then at sundown, perhaps, the wind would die
+away, and men were put to work unloading again. The calls of those
+lifting and tugging, the rattle of pulleys and chains, never were
+stilled night or day if the water was passably smooth, and we learned to
+sleep soundly amid all the confusion.
+
+Next morning the steamer "Cleveland" cast anchor near the "Bertha."
+Presently we saw a small boat lowered over the side and two women were
+handed down into it, four men following and seating themselves at the
+oars. The ship on which the women had first sailed had been wrecked on
+St. George's Island; from there they were rescued by the revenue cutter
+"Bear," transferred to the "Cleveland," and were now going ashore at
+Nome, their destination. As they passed us we noticed that they sat
+upright in the middle of the lifeboat, the hoods of their cloaks drawn
+quite over their heads. We were told that one of these women had come to
+meet her lover and be married, and we felt like cheering such heroism.
+
+Next day the bodies of several men were picked up on the beach near
+town. They had started for Cape Prince of Wales in a small boat and been
+overtaken by disaster. Many were dying of fever on shore, and nurses,
+doctors and drugs were in great demand.
+
+Many tales of interest now reached our ears, but not many can here be
+given.
+
+One of the first American children to open his eyes to the light of day
+in this bleak and barren place--Nome City--was Little Willie S. His
+parents lived in a poor board shack or house which his father had built
+just back of the golden beach sands. Here the surf, all foam-tipped,
+spread itself at the rising and falling of the tides, and here the
+miners toiled day after day washing out the precious gold.
+
+It was here that Willie's papa, soon after the baby came, sickened and
+died. He had worked too long in the wind and rain, and they laid him
+under the tundra at the foot of the hill.
+
+For a time the baby grew. The mother and child were now dependent upon
+the community for support, but the burly and generous miners did not
+allow them to want. Willie was a great pet in the mining camp; the men
+being delighted with a peep of his tiny, round face and pink fingers.
+
+The little child could have easily had his weight in gold dust, or
+anything else, had he wanted it. Big, shining nuggets had already been
+given him to cut his teeth upon when the time came, but that time never
+came.
+
+Willie died one day in his mother's arms, while her hot tears fell like
+rain upon his face.
+
+Then they laid him to sleep beside his papa under the tundra, where the
+shining wheat-gold clung to the moss roots and sparkled as brightly as
+the frost and snow which soon covered everything.
+
+When spring came Willie's mamma found the baby's tiny grave, and put
+wild flowers and grasses upon it, and there they nodded their pretty
+heads above the spot where Willie and his papa quietly sleep.
+
+Passengers for San Francisco were now coming on board with their
+luggage. Several men were brought on board on spring beds, being ill
+with no contagious disease. A box containing the body of a man, who had
+shot himself the day before, was placed upon the hurricane deck, lashed
+down, and covered with tarpaulins. Strong boxes of gold bullion, with
+long, stout ropes and boards attached in case of accident, were stowed
+away in as safe a place as could be found. Copies of the first issue of
+the "Nome News" were bought at fifty cents a copy; size, four pages
+about a foot square. Beach sand and pebbles, were handed about in many
+funny receptacles,--pickle jars, tin cans, flour sacks,--any old thing
+would do if only we had the pleasure of seeing the golden sand.
+
+One night about three o'clock the barge brought the last passengers and
+freight. The water was smooth, the moon shone brightly, there was no
+wind, and the captain and his mate gave their orders in quick, stern
+tones. They were in haste to leave. They had lingered here too long
+already. All were soon hustled on board; the "Sadie" and her barges
+moved away; we took a last, long look at Nome as she stretched herself
+on the golden sands of the beach under her electric lights; the "Bertha"
+whistled, stuck her nose into the rollers and steamed away.
+
+A more majestic old body of water than Behring Sea would be hard to
+find; and we remember it with thanksgiving, for we had no storms or
+rough weather during the eight hundred and fifty miles to Unalaska.
+
+Right glad was I that we were fortunate in having a pleasant little
+party of eight or ten persons, and our evenings were spent in visiting,
+spinning yarns, and singing songs, while some hours each day were passed
+on the hurricane deck. Here we became familiar with the sea phrases
+commonly used, and watched the old salts "bracing the mast arms,"
+"hoisting the jibs," or "tacking," and could tell when we had a "cross
+sea," a "beam sea," or a "sou' wester." As we neared Unalaska on the
+Aleutian Islands, the sea became rough, and we had more wind, but we
+joyfully sighted high hills or rocks to the east, and bade good-bye to
+old Behring. For three and a half days he had behaved well, and never
+will we quietly hear him maligned.
+
+Unalaska, sweet isle of the sea! How beautiful she looked to our eyes
+which had only seen water for days! Its bold and rocky cliffs, its
+towering peaks snow capped; its sequestered and winding valleys, and
+bright, sparkling waterfalls; its hillsides in all the artistic shades
+of red, brown, yellow, green, purple, black and white; its water in all
+the tints of blue and azure, reflecting sky that looked
+
+   "As though an angel in his upward flight,
+    Had left his mantle floating in mid-air."
+
+All, all, greeted the eye of the worn voyager most restfully.
+
+Clusters of quaint red buildings were soon seen nestling under the
+mountain--that was Dutch Harbor, and a mile farther on we arrived at the
+dock at Unalaska. We would be here twenty-four hours taking on fresh
+water, coal, and food, they told us, and we all ran out like sheep from
+a pen, or school children at intermission. We drank fresh water from the
+spring under the green hillside; we bought apples and oranges at the
+store, and furs of the furrier; we rowed in a skiff and scampered over
+the hills to Dutch Harbor; we watched jelly-fish and pink star-fish in
+the water; we saw white reindeer apparently as tame as cows browsing on
+the slopes; we visited an old Greek church, and were kept from the very
+holiest place where only men were allowed to go, retaliating when we
+came to the cash box at the door--we dropped nothing in; we climbed the
+highest mountain near by, and staked imaginary gold claims after
+drinking in the beauties of the views which encompassed us; we snapped
+our kodaks repeatedly, and then, having reached the limit of our time
+and strength, wended our way back to the steamer now ready to sail.
+
+Leaving the harbor, we all stayed on deck as long as possible trying to
+fix the grandeur of the scenery in our minds so it could not slip away,
+and then Priest Rock was passed, we had turned about eastward, and were
+in Unimak Pass. Here the wind blew a gale from the west, on account of
+which we were obliged to go below to our staterooms after watching the
+sailors lash everything on the hurricane deck well down in case of
+storm. After a few hours we left the Pass, with its precipitous cliffs,
+its barren and rocky slopes, its cones of extinct volcanoes, its rough
+and deep water, and headed due southeast for "Frisco."
+
+Many unpleasant people and things we found on board as we proceeded, for
+not all of these had been left at Nome; but with a philosopher's
+fortitude we studied to overlook everything disagreeable, and partly
+succeeded. That our efforts were not a complete success was due partly,
+at least, to our early education and large stock of ideality, and we
+were really not so much to blame.
+
+The remainder of our journey was somewhat monotonous, broken only by
+drunken brawls at midnight on deck, waking us from sound slumbers; or
+the sight of a whale spouting during the day. Sometimes a breeze would
+spring up from the wrong direction, rolling us for a few hours, causing
+us to prefer a reclining posture instead of an upright one, and giving
+our complexions a still deeper lemonish cast; sometimes we were well
+inclined to feed the fishes in the sea, and did not; but at all times we
+were thankful that matters were no worse.
+
+Then, after many days out from Unalaska we began to look for land.
+Seagulls and goonies had followed in the wake of our ship, and rested
+themselves each day aloft in the rigging. Sails were now and then seen
+in the distance, like the spreading white wings of enormous swans
+gliding quietly over the bosom of the deep, and we realized that we were
+nearing land. In the darkness one night there came to us a little white
+boat containing three men,--one was a pilot to guide us safely through
+the beautiful Golden Gate; the light on Point Bonita was sighted--we
+were almost home.
+
+We were now six weeks out from Dawson and twenty-one days from Nome; we
+had no storms, accidents or deaths on board, and carried five hundred
+passengers, as well as three million dollars in gold. I had been away
+from home four months without a day's illness, and during my trip
+through Alaska had traveled seventy-five hundred miles, nearly one-half
+of this distance alone.
+
+[Illustration: UNALASKA.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+GOING TO NOME.
+
+
+One beautiful day in the spring of 1900 I sailed again for Alaska--this
+time for Nome from San Francisco. An English family consisting of the
+mother, one son and a daughter were to accompany me, and we had spent
+weeks in making our preparations. We were taking supplies of clothing,
+food, tents and bedding sufficient to last until some of our numerous
+plans of work after our arrival brought in returns. My hope was to meet
+my father there, for he had written that he thought he should go to the
+new gold fields, where he could do beach mining.
+
+I was not above doing any honest work, and felt confident that I could
+make my way if I could gain an entrance into that country. The English
+people were all workers, and I had known them for ten years or more.
+
+Our steamer was the good ship "St. Paul," belonging to the Alaska
+Commercial Company, and was advertised to sail on May twenty-fifth. When
+I laughingly called the attention of one of the owners of the ship to
+the fact that that date fell upon Friday, and many persons objected to
+sailing upon that day, he postponed the starting of the "St. Paul" to
+May twenty-sixth, and we left the dock on Saturday afternoon amid the
+cheers and hand-waving of thousands of people who had come to see the
+big boat off for Nome.
+
+The steamer was well fitted out, spick and span in fresh carpets and
+paint, and crowded to the utmost capacity for comfort. Every stateroom
+was full; each seat at the tables occupied. Not a foot of space above or
+below decks was left unused, but provision was made for all, and the
+ship was well manned.
+
+I was now much gratified to learn that there were many on board whom I
+had met before; that the steward, stewardess and several of the waiters
+had been on duty on the steamer "Bertha" during my trip out from Alaska
+the fall before, while I was upon speaking terms with a dozen or more of
+the passengers with whom I had traveled from the same place. Of
+passengers we had, all told, four hundred and eighty-seven. Of these
+thirty-five were women. There was only one child on board, and that was
+the little black-eyed girl with her Eskimo mother and white father from
+Golovin Bay whom I had seen at St. Michael some months before, and who
+was now going back to her northern home. She wore a sailor suit of navy
+blue serge, trimmed with white braid, and was as coy and cunning as
+ever, not speaking often to strangers, but laughing and running away to
+her mother when addressed.
+
+From the day we sailed from San Francisco until we reached Nome I missed
+no meals in the dining salon, a pace which my English friends and others
+could not follow, for they were uncomfortably ill in the region of their
+digestive apparatus for several days. I slept for hours each day and
+thoroughly enjoyed the trip.
+
+During the nine days' sail from San Francisco to Unalaska, a distance of
+two thousand three hundred and sixty-eight miles, I studied well the
+passengers. We had preachers on board, as well as doctors, lawyers,
+merchants and miners, and there were women going to Nome to start eating
+houses, hotels and mercantile shops. There were several Swedish
+missionaries; one, a zealous young woman from San Francisco, going to
+the Swedish Mission at Golovin Bay.
+
+This young person was pretty and pleasant, and I was glad to make her
+acquaintance as well as that of three other women speaking the same
+tongue and occupying the next stateroom to mine. The last named were
+going to start a restaurant in Nome. As they were sociable, jolly, and
+good sailors for the most part, I enjoyed their society. They had all
+lived in San Francisco for years, and though not related to each other,
+were firm friends of long standing and were uniting their little
+fortunes in the hope of making greater ones.
+
+The young missionary was a friend to the other three, and I found no
+better or more congenial companions on board the ship than these four
+honest, hard-working women, so full of hope, courage and good sense as
+well as Christianity. Little did I then think that these people, placed
+by a seeming chance in an adjoining stateroom, were to be my
+fellow-workers and true friends, not only for the coming months in that
+Arctic land to which we were going, but, as the sequel will show,
+perhaps for years to come.
+
+Not many days had passed when we found that we had on board what few
+steamers can boast of, and that was an orchestra of professional
+musicians among the waiters. These were men going, with all the others,
+to seek their fortunes in the new gold fields, working their passage as
+waiters on the ship to Nome, where they intended to leave it. Three
+evenings in the week these musicians, with the help of several singers
+on board, gave concerts in the dining salon, which, though impromptu,
+were very enjoyable.
+
+A sweet and trained singer was the English girl of our company, and she
+sang many times, accompanied by the stringed instruments of the
+musicians, much to the delight of the assembled passengers. When she
+sang, one evening, in her clear sympathetic voice the selection, "Oh,
+Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight," there was not a dry eye in the room,
+and the mind of many a man went back to his old home and praying mother
+in some far distant state, making him resolve to write oftener to her
+that she might be comforted with a knowledge of his whereabouts and
+welfare. These evenings were sometimes varied by recitations from an
+elocutionist on board; and a practised clog dancer excited the risibles
+of the company to the extent that they usually shouted with laughter at
+his exhibition of flying heels.
+
+Day after day passed. Those who were continually seasick had diversion
+enough. It was useless for us to tell them a pathetic tale of some one,
+who, at some time, had been more ill than they, because they would not
+believe a word of it, and it was equally useless to recommend an
+antidote for mal de mer such as theirs. "No one was ever so ill before,"
+they said. They knew they should die and be buried at sea, and hoped
+they would if that would put an end to their sufferings. We tried at
+last to give them comfort by recommending out of former experiences
+ship's biscuit, dry toast and pop-corn as remedies, but only received
+black looks as our reward. We then concluded that a diet of tea, coffee
+and soup was exactly such a one as the fishes would recommend could they
+speak, these favorite and much used liquids keeping up a continual
+"swishing" in one's interior regions, and causing one to truthfully
+speak of the same as "infernal" instead of internal. But they were all
+tree physical as well as free moral agents and decided these things for
+themselves.
+
+At last we entered the Japan current and the weather was warmer and
+more enjoyable. On Monday, June fourth, we saw from the deck a few
+drifting logs and a quantity of seaweed, and these, with the presence of
+gulls and goonies flying overhead, convinced us that we were nearing
+land.
+
+We were not mistaken. After eating an excellent six o'clock dinner we
+went above to find ourselves between high, rocky cliffs, which loomed up
+into mountains not far distant, and we knew we were again at the
+Aleutian Islands and in the rough waters of Unimak Pass. As we drew
+nearer and entered the harbor so well land-locked, the sun dipped low
+into yellow-red western waters, thereby casting long shadows aslant our
+pathway so delicately shaded in greens.
+
+The little hamlet of Dutch Harbor nestled cosily at the foot of the
+mountains which bordered the bay, and here numbers of ships lay anchored
+at rest. Passing along easily beyond another high mountain, we were soon
+at the dock of Unalaska, beside other great ships in port. Both groups
+of craft were evidently waiting for the ice to clear from Behring Sea
+before proceeding on their way northward, and we counted sixteen ships
+of different kinds and sizes, the majority of them large steamers. All
+were loaded with passengers and freight for Nome. Scout boats had
+already been sent out to investigate and find, if possible, a passage
+through the ice fields, and the return of these scouts with good news
+was anxiously watched and waited for, as the most desired thing at that
+time was a speedy and safe landing on the supposedly golden beach sands
+of Nome.
+
+At Unalaska we spent four days taking on fresh water and coal, during
+which time passengers visited back and forth from the waiting steamers,
+many persons having friends on other boats and each having a curiosity
+to see if they were faring as well or ill as he, comparing notes as to
+the expense of traveling with the different companies, etc. Passengers
+on the "St. Paul" agreed that they had "no kick comin'," which was one
+of the commonest slang phrases, intended to mean that they had no fault
+to find with the Alaska Commercial Company and their steamer "St. Paul."
+All were well cared for and satisfied, as well they might be, with the
+service of the ship's men.
+
+Leaving Unalaska the sun shone clear and cold upon the mountains where
+in places the sides looked black from the late fires started in the deep
+tundra by miscreants. The tops of the mountains were covered with snow.
+Down deep gorges dashed mountain waters of melting snow and ice,
+hurrying to leap off gullied and rocky cliffs into the sea. Their
+progress was never impeded. No tree nor shrub obstructed the way with
+gnarled old trunks, twisted roots, or low hanging branches, for none
+grow in Unalaska, and the bold dignity and grandeur of the mountains is
+never diminished by these lesser objects.
+
+As our ship sailed out into Behring Sea we were closely followed by the
+steamer "George W. Elder," whose master, an old friend of our captain,
+had decided to follow in our wake, he being less familiar than the
+latter with Alaskan waters, and having confidence in the ability of his
+friend to successfully pilot both ships to Cape Nome.
+
+[Illustration: STEAMSHIP ST. PAUL.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+FRESH DANGER.
+
+
+At this plan all the passengers appeared pleased. We were now entering
+upon the most dangerous part of our voyage. No one knew what was before
+us. If our ship should receive serious damage from the ice floes or
+bergs with which we were almost sure to come in contact, it would be
+well if we were accompanied by a sister ship which could render
+assistance. If she were in trouble and we unharmed, we could lend a
+helping hand to her; and so none murmured at the unique arrangement.
+
+Nothing, however, was seen of the much dreaded ice until about noon on
+Sunday, June tenth. The air had been steadily growing colder so that
+woolen clothing and fur wraps were in demand. Men thrust their hands
+into their pockets, or drew on gloves while they stamped their feet upon
+deck to keep themselves warm in the open air. Soon to our right lay a
+great semi-circular field of ice, in places piled high, looking cold,
+jagged and dangerous. In the distance those having field-glasses saw two
+clumsy, slow-moving objects which they could easily distinguish as polar
+bears on floating cakes of ice.
+
+By the latter we were soon surrounded, and were obliged, slowly and
+cautiously, to pick our way through towards the narrowest spot, or where
+the nearest open water could be seen beyond. Floating ice now lay all
+around us, appearing only a few feet above the water; below it the bergs
+extended many times that distance. Sometimes they were small and looked
+harmless enough; but many were large, massive, and full of death-dealing
+power if urged against the sides of a ship by the wind or struck
+accidentally. Carefully we picked our way along, watched as we were by
+every soul aboard the "Elder" following, until we had successfully made
+our way through the ice pack and glided out into the blue waters beyond.
+Then came a great shout from the throats of spectators on both ships,
+and praises for the master and his crew who were doing such good work
+were loudly sung.
+
+Immediately our manoeuvres were repeated by the "Elder," and we watched
+her with interest equal to their own; then as she passed the danger
+point and swung safely through the ice bergs and out, both ships, like
+fresh, uncaged birds, sped lightly and swiftly over the water northward.
+
+In a few hours we were awakened from afternoon naps by the ringing of
+the ship's bell and found ourselves again surrounded by floating bergs.
+A man in the bow was taking soundings with lead and line, calling out
+every few seconds. "No bottom! No bottom!" and then hauling in the lead
+again as the ship crept carefully along. From submerged floes there was
+now the greatest danger, but we gradually drew away from all floating
+ice and sailed safely away as before.
+
+Each Sunday on board the "St. Paul" had been marked by some religious
+service conducted by one of the preachers, while an improvised quartet
+of voices led the singing. June tenth service had been held in the
+forenoon, when a short sermon had followed the singing of a few familiar
+old hymns by the assembled passengers. Now in the early evening, while I
+sat with a few friends in the dining salon rehearsing hymns for the
+coming service, suddenly the ship's bell rang out upon the still night
+air. Instantly there came a jar, a quiver, and all rushed out upon deck
+to see what had happened. We had been rudely jostled by an unseen ice
+floe while the eyes of the pilot had been occupied by the ones visible.
+Several times this happened. We were in the midst of a sea of ice floes.
+There was no visible egress ahead; we must back out, if possible, as we
+had come.
+
+Soon our steamer was stopped for the night, and religious services were
+begun in the dining salon. About one hundred persons were present. Our
+quartet sang five or six selections, "Rock of Ages" and "Throw Out the
+Life-line" among others. The preacher offered prayer, read Scripture
+promises, and spoke feelingly for twenty minutes. He talked of our lives
+being only short spans, the length of which depends upon the will of
+God; and it is the duty of each soul, he said, to be prepared to meet
+its Maker.
+
+It was a solemn moment for all. Outside the ice drifted slowly about,
+thick fog settled over us, the ship's whistle sounded, and night came
+on. The loneliness increased.
+
+When the speaker had closed his remarks he asked that the quartet sing
+"Nearer My God to Thee," and we sang it. Sweet and firm was the voice of
+the English girl now, and when, with uplifted arm and softly spoken
+benediction, the minister dismissed us, it was to go upon deck feeling
+stronger and much comforted.
+
+There was yet no breath of wind stirring. For this we thanked a kind
+Providence, for, had the wind risen, our lives would have been in
+jeopardy indeed. In that case the massive ice cakes would have been
+blown swiftly and heavily about to crush all ships like egg-shells and
+send them to the bottom of the sea.
+
+For breakfast we ate yellow corn-bread and bacon with a relish such as
+it never gave at home, and even those who had been seasick for days were
+beginning to "get away" with their rations. At eight in the morning the
+anchor with its rattling chain was dropped and we lay in an open spot.
+An hour later there was no perceptible motion of the ship, the sea was
+smooth as a carpet, and our tired captain had gone to bed. For
+forty-eight hours he had not slept, nor scarcely left the bridge, and
+the rest was badly needed.
+
+Two days we lay anchored in a dead calm, waiting for the passing ice to
+open a way for us through to Nome. Three ships lay near us, as well as
+two larger ones out farther in the ice-fields; but the fog hung grey and
+persistent over our heads and we could do nothing but wait. Another
+concert was given by the musicians, and as the steamer lay gently
+rocking upon the waters of the great sea, through the open front windows
+there floated out to our sister ship the sweet and pleasing strains of
+the violins and mandolins.
+
+Were they telling in lively allegretto movements of our safe landing on
+golden shores, and of our successful achievements followed by a safe and
+happy return to home and loved ones? Or were the adagios mournfully
+predicting perils, coming disaster and death? Who could tell? For
+myself, I felt that whatever came to me would be in accordance with the
+will and wish of a Higher Power, and it would be all right in any case.
+My choice was, of course, from the human standpoint, for life, happiness
+and success in the pursuit of gold; but this with me was not an
+obstinate nor rebellious sentiment. Should all these good things be
+denied me, I could say, it is well. I felt satisfied that the way for my
+going to Alaska had been wonderfully opened by an Unseen Influence which
+I had been taught from earliest childhood to recognize, and this
+belief, which was a firm and abiding one, held me calm and contented.
+Night after night I slept in my berth as soundly as though at home in my
+bed, and not even the sudden jolt and quiver of the icebergs coming
+often into collision with the ship caused me to waken.
+
+The night of June twelfth, about eleven o'clock, just after having
+retired, but being still awake, I heard a sudden and piercing scream.
+The English madam with me, being still dressed, rushed upon deck to find
+out the cause of the disturbance. Rushing towards her with pale and
+frightened face was her daughter who had been lunching in the dining
+salon. An iceberg of immense proportions and greater height than usual
+had struck the ship with a crash, coming up suddenly and most
+unexpectedly from underneath the fog bank so that the watchful pilot was
+taken unawares. The English girl said the berg, when alongside the ship,
+reached the height of the upper deck and appeared like a huge mountain
+of ice from her place at the window. It was consternation at the sight
+of what was apparently sure and speedy destruction which had caused the
+woman's scream.
+
+Investigation was immediately made of the ship's plates, which, though
+considerably dented by the ice, were still, thanks to a kind Providence,
+intact; and again I settled myself for the night and slept.
+
+Next day men were restless. They wanted to be on their way to Nome. It
+was not for this that they had paid a large price for their tickets and
+assurances that they would arrive early at Nome; and they agreed that
+there was no more danger in steaming ahead than in lying anchored with
+the ice bumping into us and liable to break through the ship's sides at
+any moment.
+
+"Will you sign a petition to the captain asking that he proceed on his
+way to Nome without further delay?" asked a friend of me while the "St.
+Paul" was anchored and the ice still drifting around us.
+
+"They are circulating such a petition, and have a good many signers, or
+those who are willing to sign it, and I wanted to know how you feel
+about it," said my friend.
+
+"What is the matter with the captain? Did they not announce their
+confidence in him by coming aboard this steamer, and has he done
+anything to cause them to lose faith in his ability to pilot them safely
+through? Has he not brought them on their voyage thus far without
+accident?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, yes, certainly."
+
+"Then I, for one, shall abide by the captain's judgment, and remain
+anchored here so long as he sees fit to order it. You can say to the
+others that I will sign no petition," said I.
+
+Whether my decision and firmness in the matter had any weight with
+others, I know not; but the petition was dropped, and the captain
+probably never knew that such a thing had been proposed.
+
+The morning of June thirteenth the sun shone out clear and bright. Great
+fields of ice surrounded us, and many other ships were also hemmed in at
+different places. The "Elder" lay contentedly beside us. It was not so
+cold when the fog had lifted, and the clearer atmosphere made it
+possible to see for many miles over the berg-strewn waters. Men were
+walking restlessly about on deck trying to keep their impatience down
+and their hands and feet warm. They feared that other ships with
+hundreds of passengers would land at Nome before they could, and that
+would mean loss, perhaps in many ways, to them. We were less than two
+hundred miles from Nome and could easily make the run in a day if
+allowed a free sea.
+
+By this time the face of the steward began to show anxiety and he
+watched the horizon with interest. Serving, as he did, nearly fifteen
+hundred meals daily, he feared a shortage of supplies if the ship was
+delayed many days longer. Ten sacks of flour, and fifteen hundred pounds
+of meat were used daily, and other things in proportion. For breakfast
+one day ninety dozen eggs were fed to the people.
+
+High overhead the stars and stripes were now hoisted to announce our joy
+at being delivered from so many dangers, and at leading the way for
+others to follow. No one could pass us, and we would, after all, be
+among the first, if not the very first, to reach Nome.
+
+The captain looked jaded and worn, but happy and relieved, being able
+now to get some of the much-needed rest so long denied him when in the
+ice fields. When congratulated by the passengers upon his skill, for by
+this time they had entirely forgotten their discontent of the previous
+days and were willing to give him and his crew due praise, he smiled and
+thanked them kindly, then went away to rest.
+
+Early next morning anchor was dropped at Nome. At last we had reached
+our destination. We had traveled thirty-one hundred and thirty-nine
+miles in nineteen days and could have done it in much shorter time had
+it not been for the ice. Several small ships lay at anchor before us,
+but we were immediately followed by many large steamers bringing
+thousands of people to Nome. The weather was splendid. Many of the
+passengers were in such haste to reach shore than they left without
+breakfast; but we waited until ten in the morning before boarding the
+"lighter," and I donned a dress suitable to the occasion. This was cut
+short, and was worn with high, stout boots, leggings, warm coat, cap and
+veil, with extra wraps for the trip of two miles to shore.
+
+Certainly we now presented a very unique spectacle. We were really a
+sort of Noah's Ark collection, with the roof of the Ark omitted. Women
+in abbreviated skirts, long rubber boots, golf capes, caps and sweaters;
+men covered in long "raglans," fur coats, "jumpers," or whatever
+happened to be at hand; and all rushing pell-mell in the direction of
+the lighter, by means of which they hoped to land on the golden beach of
+Nome. Baggage there was in stacks. There were boxes, grips, trunks, army
+sacks; everything but babies, bird cages and band wagons. Passage for an
+automobile had been engaged in San Francisco, but at the last moment the
+lady accompanying the big machine was suddenly indisposed and obliged to
+allow the "St. Paul" to sail without her.
+
+The sea was now quite rough. The lighter was brought close alongside.
+The rope ladder was thrown over the side of the ship with its lower end
+dangling upon the lighter's deck, and we were told we could now go
+ashore.
+
+This was the moment for which we had longed, and all were ready, like
+Cassibianca, minus the fire and peanuts. The fat widow of the company
+tied her bonnet more tightly under her chin, clutched at her pudgy
+skirts, and grasping the deck rail, placed her foot upon the rope ladder
+to descend.
+
+"Don't look down!" shouted some one to her, fearing she might grow dizzy
+if she did so.
+
+"Don't hurry; take your time!" called out another.
+
+"Keep cool and you're all right!" instructed another, at which time the
+widow, with fluttering veil, pale face and eyes starting from their
+sockets with fright reached the lowest round of the ladder and stepped
+to the deck of the lighter. Her bonnet was awry, the belt of her dress
+had become unfastened, while her skirts were twisted around her in some
+unaccountable way and her teeth chattering; but she only drew a long
+sigh as she sank in a limp heap upon an army sack marked with big black
+letters, and said gaspingly: "This is terrible!" Others followed her
+example. Some protested they would rather stay on the ship or go back to
+San Francisco than scramble down that "beastly rope ladder" swaying as
+it did back and forth with every motion of the ship to which it was
+attached. For myself, I had never posed as especially courageous, and
+wondered how I should get on. But I said nothing. From watching the
+others I had learned that to "make haste slowly" was a good method to
+follow in the present case, as a misstep without a firm hand grip upon
+the sides of the ladder while descending would be likely to send one
+without warning into the yard wide gulf of boiling waters between the
+ship's side and the lighter, as the barge was literally dancing
+attendance upon the vessel in the rough sea.
+
+Finally everything was ready. All passengers had left the ship. The
+lighter was crowded to the last inch of space; baggage and freight along
+the sides, and passengers in the middle, sitting wherever they could
+find a box or bag upon which to sit. A tug boat made fast to the
+lighter--we said good-bye to the "St. Paul" and moved away.
+
+"We are bidding good-bye to all comforts now!" exclaimed an old Nomeite
+dubiously, "for we won't find any on shore; leastwise not unless it has
+improved more in the last ten months than I think it has. It was a tough
+place enough last summer, and that's no josh either!" looking around him
+at the ladies of the party and evidently wondering what they would think
+of the celebrated mining town.
+
+Many by this time looked sober, but it was not a hard camp that they
+feared. They had expected to find a typical camp with all the attendant
+evils usual in such a place, and now they were almost there. In fact
+they looked out over the heaps of baggage towards shore at the long fine
+of white tents, buildings of every description from a board shack to a
+hotel or large store, and it seemed good in their eyes--very good. For
+some unseen reason, as the barge, following as it did at the end of the
+long line from the tug, rode first upon the top of a big breaker and
+then below in the trough, there was a decided longing on the part of
+some to be on land. It did not much matter where it was--Europe, Asia,
+Africa or "any old place"; but as for this "confounded, zig-zaggin',
+heavin' old hulk which is tryin' its best to take us to Honolulu
+sideways--I want no more of it!" growled one man.
+
+"Give me Nome or I die!" gasped another.
+
+"No more big water in mine for two years, and mebbe by that time they
+will have air ships to fly in," muttered a little man as he lay on his
+back among a pile of bags and gulped at something in his throat he was
+trying to keep down.
+
+So the barge bobbed up and down among the breakers, riding to the crest
+of a wave with a gliding, graceful motion, only to reach out beyond it,
+and then, as the waters underneath receded, dropping heavily with a thud
+and a splash, making one feel that he was being dealt with most
+unceremoniously.
+
+The same thing was again and again repeated, until we rode as close to
+the shore as the tug could take us, then the line was cut, a rope was
+thrown us from shore, and with a steam windlass or other contrivance, we
+were hauled upon the sands.
+
+Then a gangplank was speedily pushed out over the intervening watery
+space which the passengers took their turns in crossing until all stood
+upon the beach; a few, to be sure, with wet feet, damp clothing and
+soggy tempers if some vicious, big breaker in parting had dashed its
+white foam-tipped waters over their heads, but all glad and thankful to
+arrive in Nome at last.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+NOME.
+
+
+The man who had predicted that we would find no comforts in Nome proved
+himself a true prophet. There were none. Crowded, dirty, disorderly,
+full of saloons and gambling houses, with a few fourth-class restaurants
+and one or two mediocre hotels, we found the new mining camp a typical
+one in every respect. Prices were sky high. One even paid for a drink of
+water. Having our newly found Alaska appetites with us, we at once, upon
+landing, made our way to an eating house, the best to be found.
+
+Here a cup of poor tea, a plate of thin soup and questionable meat stew
+with bread were served us upon nicked china, soiled table linen and with
+blackened steel knives and forks, for the enormous sum of one dollar a
+head; which so dumbfounded us that we paid it without a murmur, backed
+out the door and blankly gazed into each other's faces.
+
+"Such prices will ruin us!" gasped the madam.
+
+"That table linen! Ugh!" shuddered the young man.
+
+"Fifteen cents in California for such a meal!" growled the English girl
+in her matter-of-fact way, and with wide distended eyes; while I found
+such amusement in watching the three faces before me that I barely
+found breath to remind them of the two tons of nice things in their own
+packing cases at the landing.
+
+"If only they are soon landed," groaned madam, and we set off at our
+best gait to find the cases.
+
+But we did not succeed. The freight was being unloaded from the ship, we
+were told, as rapidly as it was possible to handle it, but one lighter
+and small tug boat in a very rough sea, unloading a ship two miles off
+the beach, must have time; and we waited. Only two or three lighters
+were to be had at Nome. Other large steamers were being unloaded, and
+hundreds of people were hourly being landed upon the beach. There was no
+shelter for them anywhere, every building was full, and confusion was
+badly confounded. To make matters worse it began to rain. If we could
+only find our freight and get our tents, beds, supplies, etc., we would
+be all right, but it would be impossible that day we found, after making
+repeated excursions through the freight house and numberless inquiries
+at the office.
+
+Something must be done, but what? I now remembered some Dawson
+acquaintances in town made the fall before while coming down the Yukon
+River with my brother. To one family of these I made my way. They were
+in the grocery and bakery business on a prominent corner on First street
+and their signboard caught my eye.
+
+Blessings on the heads of kind Mr. and Mrs. M. of Nome City! They were
+delighted to see me. They lived back of the store in one room, which
+contained their bed, stove, cupboard, baby-organ, table, chairs and
+trunks; but they also owned a one-room shack next door, which was vacant
+for a few days, being already rented to a dentist who would make some
+repairs before taking possession. I could bring my friends and baggage
+into this without charge, if I wished, until we secured our freight,
+Mrs. M. said kindly, and I pressed her hand in real gratitude with many
+thanks.
+
+"I am almost ashamed to show you the room," said the kind little woman,
+as she unlocked the door of the shack and stepped inside, "but it is
+better than no shelter in this rain, and you can have a fire in the
+stove," pointing to a small and rusty coal heater in one corner. "I wish
+I had some blankets or fur robes to lend you, but everything I have is
+in use. You are welcome to bring in as many friends as you like if they
+will share the poor place with you; and you are quite safe here, too,
+for you see the barracks are just opposite," pointing across the muddy
+little alley down which a few boards had been laid for a sidewalk; "and
+the soldiers are here to keep order, though they do sometimes find it
+rather a hard job."
+
+Then I thanked the little woman again most heartily, and, as I took from
+her hands the door-key and stepped outside into the rain to bring my
+waiting friends and baggage from the freight house, I offered a little
+prayer of thanks to our good Father, and hurried away.
+
+[Illustration: NOME.]
+
+At the steamer's landing all was hurly-burly and noise. It was now late
+in the afternoon, still raining at intervals, and muddy under foot,
+though the weather was not cold. Finding my English friends I told them
+of Mrs. M.'s kindness and offer of her room, which they were well
+pleased to accept with me, and we gathered up our luggage and started
+for the place. Passing through the freight house on our way to the
+street, madam said, pointing to the figures of two woman huddled in a
+corner:
+
+"See! Judge R. from the St. Paul has not found a room yet, and Mrs. R.
+and her friend, the nurse, are sitting there, waiting for the judge to
+return! His wife is nearly sick, and they have no idea where they can
+get a room. Judge R. has been looking hours for one without success,"
+she said, in a sympathetic tone.
+
+"Let us speak to them," said I, going over to where the ladies sat.
+
+Hearing their story, and seeing for myself that both women were cold,
+hungry and disheartened, I decided on the spot to share Mrs. M.'s
+hospitality with them; made the proposal, which they very thankfully
+accepted, and we trailed off up the street laden with luggage.
+
+Then madam's son was found, informed of the situation, asked to bring
+Judge R. and a few loaves of bread from the shop, along with the
+remaining luggage, to our new camping place in the little board shack
+near the barracks.
+
+Seeing us arrive, and that the three elderly ladies looked worn and
+travel-stained, Mrs. M. urged us to come into her room and take tea and
+crackers which she had already placed upon the table. This invitation
+the older ladies gladly accepted, while the English girl and myself
+looked after our new lodgings.
+
+Here now was a state of things indeed! The entire stock of luggage for
+seven grown persons was soon deposited in the middle of the floor. The
+room of which the shack consisted was about eight by ten feet square,
+set directly upon the ground, from which the water oozed at every step
+of the foot. Two small windows, a front and back door, with the small
+stove--that was all. These were our accommodations for the night, and
+perhaps several nights and days.
+
+Then we two set to work with a will. We swept the floor, we gathered
+sticks for a fire, we threw boards down outside the door upon which to
+walk instead of in the mud, a pail of water was brought from a hydrant
+after paying twenty-five cents for it, and a box was converted into a
+table. Luggage was sorted, lunch baskets were ransacked, while tin cups,
+coffee pot, knives, forks and spoons were found, with a fresh white
+cloth upon which to spread the food.
+
+When Judge R. finally appeared, it was supper time. He carried a tin
+fry-pan under one arm, a bag containing one dozen eggs, and a few slices
+of ham on a paper plate, for which articles he had paid the goodly sum
+of one dollar and seventy-five cents.
+
+Waving the fry-pan above his old grey head, the jolly judge shouted:
+"See, the conquering hero comes! Oh, but I'm hungry! Say, how in the
+world did you get this place? I hunted four mortal hours and failed to
+find a shack, room, or tent for the night. Four thousand people landed
+here today, and still they come. Jerusalem crickets! What a crowd!
+Everybody is in from Dan to Beersheba! We will have fifteen thousand
+people here soon if they don't stop coming, and no shelter for 'em!"
+Then changing his tone and glancing toward his wife:
+
+"And how is my dear little wifey by this time?" tenderly patting Mrs.
+R.'s white hand, which belonged to a woman tipping the beam at two
+hundred.
+
+"Aren't you glad we came? I am." Then rattling on without giving his
+wife a chance to speak, for her eyes had filled with tears:
+
+"I think I've got a 'case' already. Claim number four on D. Creek jumped
+last winter while owner was away--jumper won't leave--talked with owner
+today--think I'll get the job," said the hopeful old judge, sitting on
+an empty cracker box and eating bread and cheese from his fingers.
+
+"Eat your supper, dear," to his wife, who was taking nothing, "and you
+shall have a bed tonight--the best in Nome City. See! There it is now,"
+pointing to a big roll of dark brown canvas done up with a few varnished
+sticks.
+
+"A folding cot--new patent--good and strong. (It'll need to be strong to
+hold you up, won't it, dearie?) Now, please take your tea like a good
+girl, to brace up your courage. Or would you like a drop of sherry?"
+
+To all this Mrs. R. shook her head, but she did not speak, neither did
+she attempt to eat, for there was a big lump in her throat which
+prevented.
+
+The rest of our party enjoyed the supper. Some sat on boxes, others
+stood up, but we ate ham and eggs, bread, butter and cheese, tea and
+crackers, pickles, jellies and jams, as being the greatest "comforts" we
+could find in the camp, and we made them speedily disappear.
+
+At last the supper things were cleared away, and remaining food repacked
+in the baskets. The patent cot was unrolled, set up and made ready for
+Mrs. R., who was the only one favored with a bed. The others finally
+faced the proposition and prepared, as best they could, their chosen
+floor spaces for their beds.
+
+All slept in their clothing, for we had no bedding and the night was
+cold. The two men were banished to the outer air, where together they
+smoked and talked of affairs of the day, while we women unbuttoned our
+shoes, took out a few hairpins, cold-creamed our sunburned faces, and
+then, between jokes, stories and giggling, we settled ourselves, with
+much difficulty and hard snuggling, among our bags, raincoats, steamer
+rugs and wraps on the rough board floor for the night.
+
+Coming in later, the judge spread his borrowed fur robe upon the floor
+beside his wife's cot, covered himself with one-half of the same,
+chuckling as he did so.
+
+"I'm glad my bones are well cushioned with fat, and that I'm old and
+tough and like this sort of thing. I say, wife, isn't it jolly?" And the
+portly and sunny old judge dropped off to sleep to keep me awake most of
+the night by his snoring.
+
+If I slept little that night I did not waste my time. My brain was busy
+forming plans of action. It was not wise to have only one plan, for that
+one might fail. Better to have several, and some one of these would
+probably succeed. I felt a good deal of anxiety to know whether my
+father or brother had or would come to Nome. If either or both of them
+came I would have no further difficulty because I would work for and
+with them, but if they did not come what was I to do?
+
+I had little money. I would not go home. I would work. I was a good
+cook, though I had never done such work except for our own home folks. I
+knew that cooking was the kind of service most in demand in this country
+from women, for my travels in Alaska the year before had taught me
+that. I could teach music, and I could paint passably in water colors
+and oils; in fact, I had been a teacher of all three, but in Alaska
+these luxuries were not in demand. I could not expect to do anything in
+these directions, for men and women had come to Nome for gold, expected
+to get lots of it, and that quickly. They had no time for Beethoven's
+sonatas or water color drawings.
+
+It was now an urgent question of food, shelter and work with all, and
+the man or woman who could the quickest devise ways and means, the one
+who saw the needs of the time and place and was able to supply those
+needs, was the one who could make the most money. Of course, being a
+woman, I was unable to do beach mining as could a man, and as many men
+expected to do. Those who brought large outfits and plenty of money with
+them were immediately obliged to hire help, but it was generally a man's
+help, like carpenter work, hauling and handling supplies or machinery,
+making gold washers and sluice boxes, or digging out the gold in the
+creeks. None of these could I do. On the steamer all these things had
+been well talked over among ourselves, for others besides myself were
+wondering which way they should turn when they found themselves in Nome.
+
+As to there being any disgrace connected with work of any sort--it never
+entered my head. From a child I had been taught that work was honorable,
+and especially for a woman housework and cooking were respectable and
+healthy service. So I had no pride whatever in the matter; it was only a
+question of finding the work, and I did not doubt my ability to find it
+somewhere.
+
+On the voyage from San Francisco I had thought well of the three Swedish
+women, and believed they would succeed in their proposed plan of
+restaurant work. I said to myself that if I were obliged to seek work I
+should like to be with them if possible; or, at least, with some of the
+"lucky Swedes," as the rich Anvil Creek mine owners were usually
+designated. These miners all hired cooks for their camps, as they kept
+large numbers of men at work day and night on the Anvil Creek claims,
+the season being so short for placer mining in this country. Anvil Creek
+was only four miles away and the "Star Restaurant," as my friends had
+already named their proposed eating-house, would be headquarters for all
+the Scandinavians on Anvil and the entire district. For this reason, and
+because the three had so many acquaintances who would bring them
+patronage, and because their pleasant faces and agreeable manners always
+made friends for them, I felt sure that they would be able to give me
+work if they chose and I so desired. Then, too, there were the several
+Dawson families of my acquaintance here, and I would find them; possibly
+some of them might give me work if I asked them.
+
+However, the first move to be made was to find our freight and baggage,
+and a spot upon which to pitch our tents, and the sooner that was done
+the better, as the test and cleanest camping places were fast being
+appropriated by the newcomers hourly landing. It was not easy to find a
+clean, dry spot for a tent, as I had found the day before that the
+black, soggy soil was hardly free from frost a foot down, and this made
+it everywhere marshy, as the water could not keep down nor run off where
+it was level. Some one on the steamer who had been in Nome before had
+advised us to pitch our tents on the "Sandspit" at the mouth of Snake
+River, as that was the cleanest, driest and most healthful spot near
+fresh water that we could find; and my mind was made up that it was to
+the Sandspit I would go. Many had been the warnings from friends before
+leaving home about drinking impure water, getting typhoid fever and
+other deadly diseases, and without having any particular fear as to
+these things I still earnestly desired a clean and healthful camping
+place.
+
+This, then, was the way I planned during most of the first night after
+landing at Nome. If I slept it was towards morning, when I had become
+accustomed to the regular and stentorian snores of the old judge; or
+when, for a few moments, after turning in his sleep, his snorts and
+wheezes had not yet reached their loudest pitch; and when my wishes had
+shaped themselves so distinctly into plans for work that I felt relieved
+and full of confidence, and so slept a little.
+
+[Illustration: LIFE AT NOME.]
+
+Next day I looked for my father. At the landing, on the streets, in the
+stores, at all times I was on the lookout, though it was a difficult
+matter to find any one in a crowd such as that in Nome. I saw several
+acquaintances from Dawson the year before, and people from different
+steamers that I knew, but not my father. At nine o'clock next morning
+three of us started out to find the Sandspit, with, if possible, a good
+camping spot to which we could take our freight as soon as it was
+landed, and part of our number was detailed to stay at the landing while
+we investigated. Down through the principal thoroughfare we pushed our
+way, now on plank sidewalk, now in the middle of the street if the walks
+were too crowded; but going to the west end of town till we came to
+Snake River Bridge, where we crossed to the Sandspit. At the toll-gate
+we easily passed, as all women were allowed to go over free, men only
+being charged ten cents toll. Here we quickly found a clean, dry place
+on the river bank a hundred feet below the bridge and two hundred feet
+from the ocean, which we chose for our tents. Now arose the question,
+would any one have any objection to our pitching our tents temporarily?
+Seeing some men striking camp near by we asked them. They told us that
+we could get permission, they thought, from an old captain near by on a
+stranded boat, now being used as an eating-house, and to him we went. He
+was not in.
+
+Going back to the Sandspit, it was decided that I should remain upon
+the spot, while my companions went back to the landing. I was to remain
+there till some of them came back. This I did, sitting on a box in the
+sunshine with my kodak, umbrella and lunch basket beside me for hours.
+When madam returned, saying their search for their freight was still
+unavailing, I left her in my place and again called upon the captain.
+
+Calling the third time at his boat, I found him and secured his ready
+permission to temporarily pitch our tents upon the sands, for he was an
+Alderman with adjoining "town lots," he told us.
+
+By six o'clock that afternoon a part of madam's baggage and freight was
+found, hauled by dog-team through town to the Sandspit and deposited
+upon the ground. Then we bestirred ourselves to get a tent up in which
+we could sleep, as I, for one, was determined not to be kept awake by
+the judge's snores another night if I had to work till morning. The
+others shared my feelings, and we worked like beavers till midnight. By
+that time a small tent had been put up, boxes of bedding unpacked, as
+well as cooking utensils, oil-stoves and foods, so that we could begin
+cooking.
+
+At the continuous daylight we were much pleased. Coming gradually into
+it, as we had done on the steamer, we were prepared for it, but the
+advantage of a continuous day to a busy, hustling camp like this one,
+had not presented itself to us until we ourselves attempted to work half
+the night; then we realized it fully. At nine in the evening a
+beautiful twilight enveloped all, restful to nerves and eyes, but still
+light enough to read by.
+
+At ten o'clock it was lighter, and upon the placid waters of Snake
+River, only fifteen feet away, lay quiet shadows cast from the opposite
+side, clearly and beautifully reflected. A few small steamers lay
+further down stream near the river's mouth, row boats were tied along
+the edge of the water, and on the Sandspit below us was a camp of
+Eskimos, their tiny canoes and larger skin boats being hauled upon shore
+beside them for safety. At midnight the sun was almost shining, the air
+was salt, fresh and clear, while the sky seemed to hang low and lovingly
+above our heads.
+
+After eating a midnight lunch of our own getting of bread and butter
+with hot tea, we deposited ourselves, still dressed, upon the tops of
+madam's big packing cases, from which had been taken pillows and
+blankets, and slept soundly till morning, notwithstanding the fact that
+the hammers of hundreds of carpenters were busy around us all night.
+
+Next morning all felt fresh and invigorated. The sun shone brightly. In
+the roadstead two miles away lay several newly arrived steamers, their
+deep-toned whistles frequently sounding over the intervening waters. It
+was a beautiful sight and welcome sound. How easily the long and
+graceful breakers rolled and broke upon the sands. With what music the
+foam-tipped wavelets spread their edges, like the lace-trimmed ruffles
+on some lady's gown, upon the smooth and glistening beach. How the white
+tents everywhere looked like doves of peace just alighted, and the
+little boats danced up and down on the river. I was glad to be there. I
+enjoyed it. Nothing, not even the hard work, the storms, nor the bitter
+Arctic winter which came afterwards ever effaced from my memory the
+beautiful pictures of river, sea and sky repeatedly displayed during
+those first novel and busy days at Nome.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE FOUR SISTERS.
+
+
+It was during the first excitement of the gold discoveries in the
+Klondyke that four sisters left their home in Chicago and started for
+Dawson. They were young, hopeful, ambitious and handsome. They owned a
+town lot in the city, but they had not the means with which to erect a
+building upon it, and the money would never be forthcoming if they
+remained where they were. The ordinary salary of a working woman in
+office or store was not sufficient to allow them more than a trifle
+above necessary living expenses, and they could see themselves old,
+wrinkled and grey before they could hope to attain their desired object.
+
+Reaching Dawson safely, as they did after weeks of peril and many novel
+experiences, they set to work at what seemed to them at the moment the
+most lucrative labor of which they were capable. They were fitted for
+laundry work only by being well and strong physically, and by having a
+willingness to do whatever they first found to do.
+
+This proved to be work at the wash-tub. Here the four women labored
+month after month with a will, with the result that at the end of a year
+their bank account was not insignificant, they owned several gold
+claims, and in all the mining camp there were none who did not respect
+the four sisters.
+
+Then came their first dark days. It was midsummer. Down among the grass
+roots and between the rocks of the hillside back of the famous camp,
+there trickled numerous fresh water springs, pure and cold when they
+left their sequestered sources among the seams and fissures, but gaining
+nothing of purity when spread out upon the little plain now thickly
+dotted with cabins.
+
+Here in the hurry and rush of the fast growing camp, when fortunes came
+quickly, and men lived at a rapid pace, there was little time for
+sanitary precautions, and so it presently happened that a shadow, like a
+huge black bird of ill omen, suddenly hovered above the camp, sending a
+shudder through its entire length. A tiny germ, so small as to pass
+unnoticed and unheeded by, and yet withal so deadly as to be called a
+plague, crept along, insinuating itself into the streamlets making their
+way as best they could to their father, the Yukon; and the fever laid
+low many victims.
+
+Early and late had the sisters toiled, never in a half-hearted way, but
+untiringly, day after day, until one of their number, being perhaps less
+strong, or more weary from work to which she had been unaccustomed, and
+more susceptible to disease, was stricken with fever, and after only a
+few days' illness, whispered her loving good-byes.
+
+This happened in the summer of 1899, and rumors of the great gold strike
+at Nome now reached Dawson. One sister had been persuaded by a member of
+the Dawson Bar to make for him a happy home during the remainder of his
+life, and she was married.
+
+Again their party numbered the original four, though there were now only
+three sisters.
+
+The excitement in Dawson regarding the new Nome gold fields daily
+increased, and it was stated by reliable steamer men from St. Michael
+that the new strike rivaled that of the Klondyke.
+
+The little party of four decided to go to Nome. In a short time their
+business was arranged, sales made, gold claims placed in charge of
+agents, and everything made in readiness for their journey to Nome.
+
+It was the middle of September. The last boats were leaving Dawson, both
+for points on the Upper Yukon and for St. Michael. People leaving Dawson
+by boat in the fall seldom linger beyond the third or fourth week in
+September, for then the river may freeze at any time and they be
+prisoners in the camp indefinitely.
+
+The lower river steamer "Hannah" was about to push from the dock at
+Dawson when a friend introduced me to the three sisters, and during the
+following days on board an acquaintance sprung up which I much enjoyed.
+Little did we know that this friendship would afterwards be renewed
+nearly two thousand miles away, and under circumstances vastly different
+from any with which we had before become familiar.
+
+Landing safely from the "Hannah" at St. Michael, a few days were spent
+by the sisters waiting for stormy weather to subside, and they then
+sailed for Nome. Here they landed during the last days of September,
+amid falling snow, bleak winds and boiling surf, upon the sands of the
+most inhospitable beach in all that dreary Northland. No tree was to be
+seen. Not a rock under whose friendly shelter one might hide from the
+storms. There was almost no lumber in the camp with which to build
+houses, and no incoming steamers expected. A few rude shacks, tents and
+saloons, with two or three companies' buildings--of these was the town
+composed. Many were rushing for the steamers in waiting, determined only
+upon one thing--to get home to the States. Some carried heavy sacks of
+gold, others went empty-handed. There was the summer's accumulation of
+filth in the camp, too young as yet for cleanly conditions, and these
+brought their sure accompaniment--the fever. Many suffered for weeks
+with it, and then died.
+
+Again came the dread plague to the sisters. Scarcely had they unpacked
+their trunks or found shelter for the winter when the younger of the
+sisters was stricken down. For days she raved in delirium, and all
+feared she would die. Night and day they watched anxiously by her
+bedside. Everything was done for her recovery and comfort that could be
+done in a new and rough camp like the one at Nome; for all who knew the
+beautiful little sister loved her well.
+
+Then came the time when all the long and heavy yellow hair had to be cut
+from the lovely head in obedience to the doctor's orders. But the little
+sister lived. Their prayers were answered, the worst was over, the
+danger past.
+
+Then followed long and weary weeks of convalescing, while the winter
+storms raged outside the little cabin, and the sun retreated farther
+from the Arctic Circle and Nome, but the sisters thanked God, and again
+took courage.
+
+Months after came the welcome springtime. With the earliest fine weather
+and revival of business in the camp the sisters erected a store building
+and warehouse on the beach near by. Into the latter they moved
+temporarily, hoping to rent the store to some of the numerous
+"tenderfeet" sure to arrive on the first passenger steamers.
+
+It was here I found the sisters on my arrival at Nome from San Francisco
+in June, 1900. Little sister was well and strong again, growing a fresh
+crop of roses and lilies on her cheeks, and a new head covering of
+lovely, wavy yellow hair. On her lips she wore the same sweet, old
+smiles, however, and I knew her well by these. Since her recovery from
+the fever the hands of the sisters had not been idle, and they had
+become expert at sewing furs. This had kept them busy as bees all
+winter, and many were the caps, coats, mittens and capes made by their
+industrious fingers, which brought them a good income, while their rooms
+were always the rendezvous of friends than which a jollier lot could not
+be discovered.
+
+Of the good influence going out through the rough mining camp during the
+long and dreary winter from the home of these sweet and Christian women,
+no account has probably ever been kept, except by the recording angel,
+who never forgets.
+
+The day after we landed at Nome I secured work. Not, however, to begin
+immediately, which pleased me well, as I should then have a little time
+to look for father, inspect the camp, study conditions and take notes
+and kodak views.
+
+"Can you cook for a gang of men?" asked Mr. A. kindly smiling down at me
+when I had stopped him on the street and asked for work in his camp for
+the English girl and myself, as we wished to be together.
+
+"Indeed, I can. I will do my very best, Mr. A., and I feel sure we can
+please you. My friend is an extra good cook, as you will discover if you
+give us work. Will you try us?"
+
+"I will," he replied.
+
+"At what wages, please?"
+
+"Five dollars per day, each, with board," promptly answered the
+gentleman whose two gold claims on famous Anvil Creek made him one of
+the richest men in Alaska.
+
+So it was settled. Claim number nine, Anvil, was about seven miles from
+Nome, and one of the most noted claims in the district. Mr. A., a former
+Swedish missionary at Golovin Bay, had, with his doctor brother, voyaged
+to Nome on the "St. Paul" when we did, so we already had a slight
+acquaintance with both gentlemen and were pleased to get the work.
+
+Anvil Creek claims had been worked the summer before. Gold had first
+been discovered in the fall of 1898 by Mr. Hultberg, a Swedish
+missionary, who learned of the precious metal around Nome from the
+Eskimos. His mission was stationed at Golovin Bay, and he notified the
+Swedes, Brynteson, Hagalin, Lindbloom and Linderberg, who in turn saw G.
+W. Price and induced him to go with them, as he was the only one there
+experienced in mining. Price was on his way to Kodiak over the ice by
+dog-team en route to California, as the representative of C. D. Lane,
+the San Francisco mining man and millionaire.
+
+The most of Anvil Creek was staked by this party before they returned to
+the mines at Council City, fifty miles up Fish River from Golovin Bay.
+
+"On July second, 1899, a second cleanup was made on number one above
+Discovery Claim, Anvil Creek, the property of J. Linderberg. The result
+of four men shovelling out of the creek bed from a cut five feet to
+bedrock for twenty hours amounted to fourteen thousand dollars in gold
+dust. The men shovelled all the gravel from the moss down to bedrock
+into the sluice box as it was all pay gravel. The owner refused five
+hundred thousand dollars for the property without considering the
+offer."
+
+Tierney is authority for the statement that this claim produced four
+hundred thousand dollars that season.
+
+From this time the discoverers were known by the sobriquet of the "Lucky
+Swedes," for Anvil Creek was all good, there being no really "poor dirt"
+in it, and number nine, above Discovery Claim, proved itself, the first
+summer, also a banner winner.
+
+It was here that we expected to work, as soon as supplies could be
+hauled to the claim, the monotony of bread making and dish washing to be
+varied by the new and strange sights on an enormously rich gold claim
+not far from the Arctic Circle.
+
+Everywhere around us were carpenter's hammers in operation, and tents
+were rapidly going up. We found great difficulty in reserving ground
+space enough for another tent, as others found the Sandspit as desirable
+for tenting as we did, and elbowed us closely. Along the river's edge
+and the beach near by many were digging and panning in the sands
+searching for "colors." Dog-teams were hauling freight and baggage, with
+their swearing and perspiring drivers at their heels, and while the big
+black-snake whips flourished in air above the dogs or upon their
+straining backs, the tongues of the faithful brutes hung from their
+mouths, and their wide open eyes looked appealingly at bystanders. My
+heart ached for the animals, but there were no humane societies in
+Alaska.
+
+About five o'clock on Sunday afternoon it began to snow. This was the
+first June snowstorm I had ever seen. Our little tent leaked badly, as
+it had been hastily pitched, and the snow melted as it fell. Small
+rivers of water were soon dropping upon our heads. Rain coats, oil
+cloth, and opened umbrellas were utilized to protect the clothing and
+the bedding.
+
+An hour of this experience would have been enough for one time, but
+troubles seldom come singly, and so the wind began to blow. Donning her
+rain coat and rubbers the English girl did her best to tighten ropes and
+make the tent taut, for madam's son had not returned from town.
+Presently, to our great joy, we saw him coming with a loaded dog-team of
+freight, and best of all, with a man friend to assist him, whose strong
+arms and broad shoulders were well fitted to tent pitching. Hastily the
+cart was unloaded and the large canvas tent unrolled and laid upon the
+sand. Stakes were driven, poles adjusted, ropes stretched with much
+straining, as the wind whistled more vigorously, and snow still fell;
+and the two men, both wet and cold, huddled into the little tent for a
+cup of hot tea which was waiting.
+
+Then strong hands opened more boxes and a large oil stove, carpets, rugs
+and many other necessary things were hustled into the new tent, as well
+as trunks, bedding, and the contents of the small tent, with the
+exception of canned goods and such things as water would not injure. The
+sands were clean but wet, and if we were thankful for a stout canvas
+cover over our heads we would have also been glad of a dry place under
+foot. However, carpets and rugs were spread down, stoves lighted, and
+the tent door flap fastened as securely as possible.
+
+As well as we could we arranged all for the night, but we expected to
+sleep little, for the storm was now fearful. Rain, snow and hail, each
+came down by turns, accompanied by a high wind which drove the surf in
+roaring rage upon the beach. How thankful we were that we had chosen
+this spot instead of one directly in reach of the great rollers with
+their mist and spray; though we had the roar and boom of the surf in our
+ears continually. Sometimes it seemed that the wind had lulled, and then
+with increased violence it again screamed above our heads, threatening
+us each moment with disaster.
+
+At midnight a supper of hot macaroni, cocoa, bread, butter and cheese,
+with canned meat and jam, was heartily eaten by all, including the
+visiting friend from Sitka who had assisted. A low box was used for a
+table and we all sat upon the mats, eating from tin cups and plates with
+the keenest appetites.
+
+The weather was now awful. The storm had increased until it seemed each
+moment that the tent would be torn from its fastenings, and we be left
+without any protection whatever. The ropes and stakes had frequently to
+be looked after and made stronger. The snow had turned to rain, which
+beat heavily upon the stout canvas resisting well the water without
+leaking.
+
+By one o'clock the wind showed signs of abating, and we were so much in
+need of sleep, that, all dressed as we were, we rolled ourselves in our
+blankets and dozed on the rugs close to the oil stoves. For an hour I
+lay uneasily dreaming, or listening to the royal cannonading of the
+heavy surf upon the beach. From my diary I quote the following extract:
+
+"Monday, four in the morning, June eighteenth, 1900.--It is four in the
+morning and we are sitting around the oil stoves in the middle of the
+tent. We have just had hot cocoa and crackers. The surf still booms, but
+it does not rain, and the wind has died down. We are better off than
+many people. Tomorrow we will put up the other tent and get more
+settled. We are thankful not to be on the sea beach, where so many are
+camped. A. wishes herself home again. People around our tent all night
+were talking, moving, afraid of the storm, but the big ships are still
+here and they would put out to sea if it were necessary for their
+safety. They say we have smallpox in town from the steamer 'Ohio,' and
+yesterday Mrs. H., who came up on the 'St. Paul,' was reported to be
+dying from pneumonia. The nurse, Mrs. Judge R.'s friend, is caring for
+her. Judge R. and wife are still in Mrs. M.'s shack near the barracks.
+It has been daylight all night. I hope to hear from father soon, and get
+my freight. My friends here have all theirs. The two men are smoking and
+talking while I write, and the Eskimo dogs not far away are howling in
+their usual interesting nightly manner. I will now try to get a little
+more sleep."
+
+We had heard much of beach mining at Nome, but saw little of it. Stories
+were told of men who, in the summer of 1899, had taken hundreds of
+dollars in gold dust from the beach sands by the crudest methods, and
+thousands of men were now flocking into the camp for the purpose of
+doing beach mining. They were sadly disappointed. Not, however, because
+there was no gold in the beach sands, but because it was so
+infinitesimally tiny that they had no means of securing it. No hand
+rocker, copper plate, nor amalgam had been used with success, neither
+did any of the myriads of prospective miners bring anything with them
+which promised better results. Great heaps of machinery called by
+hopeful promoters "gold dredgers" were being daily dumped upon the beach
+from the ships, signboards were covered with pictures of things similar,
+while the papers continually bloomed with advertisements of machines,
+which, if speedily secured by the miners, would, according to the
+imaginative advertiser, soon cause all to literally roll in riches.
+
+One flaming dodger ran in large letters thus: "Calling millions from the
+vasty deep. A fortune in one hundred days. Our dredger will work three
+thousand yards of sand in heavy surf at Cape Nome. It will take out
+twenty-four thousand dollars in a day. You can make more money with us
+than by taking flyers in wild-cat oil schemes, etc." The poster was
+illustrated by a huge machine gotten up on the centipede plan; at least,
+it resembled that hated insect from having attached to its frame two
+sets of wheels of different sizes along the sides like the legs of a
+centipede, but with a steam boiler for a head, and a big pipe for a
+throat from which the salt water was disgorged to wash out this immense
+amount of sand and give the gold to the miner. It did not save the gold.
+
+Thousands of dollars of good, hard-earned money were dumped upon the
+beach in the shape of heavy machines of different kinds, which were
+worse than useless, and only brought bitter disappointment to their
+owners. Men had stripped the beach the summer before of all coarse gold
+which had, perhaps, been ages in washing up from the ocean's bed, or
+down the creeks from the hills, and only the fine, or "flour gold," as
+it was called, remained.
+
+By the newcomers men were cursed for spreading abroad tales of beach
+mining of the year before, but this was unjust, for conditions were not
+the same. The waters bringing the gold to the beach could not, in one
+season, replenish and leave the sands as rich as they had been after
+long years, perhaps ages of action, and blame could not rightly be
+attached to any one. Almost without exception, the men who did the
+cursing were the men who had never been hard workers, and did not intend
+to be, and so, after becoming satisfied that the nuggets were not there
+to be simply picked up and pocketed, they turned, looked backward, and
+went home. It was well for the new camp that they did.
+
+There was also much trouble over real estate. Land was very high in
+price. Some Swedes, who, the year before, had paid seven hundred dollars
+for a town lot three hundred by fifty feet in size, now sold one-half of
+it for ten thousand dollars. It is small wonder, then, where "possession
+is nine points of the law" that men who rightfully claimed ground were
+ready to fight to keep it, and those who were wrongfully in possession
+many times stood guard with firearms.
+
+In pitching our tents upon the sandy beach, especially after gaining
+permission of the old captain who told us we would be in the street if
+ever a street should be opened through on the Sandspit, but that was not
+likely, and he had given us his full and free consent to our camping
+temporarily there next his lots, we expected to have no trouble. Here we
+miscalculated. Though the captain was kind and reasonable, he had a
+partner who was just the reverse, and this person gave us infinite
+trouble.
+
+Scarcely had our first load of baggage been put upon the ground when he
+began to tramp fussily about at all times of day and night. After our
+stakes were driven he would come quietly in the night and pull them up,
+so we would find our canvas flapping in the morning breeze when we
+waked. Or, after we had retired for the night, he would come with some
+other, stand within hearing distance, and threaten us if we did not move
+away.
+
+One morning, upon rising, we found that he had moved a long carpenter's
+bench directly upon the spot next madam's tent, which I was trying to
+reserve for my own tent as soon as I succeeded in getting my things from
+the steamer. This disappointed me much, but I said nothing; and when my
+tent finally came I pitched it on the other side, with my door directly
+opposite hers and only six feet from her entrance.
+
+As to appearance this old man was a jolly sight. He wore long and
+tangled hair which had once been curly, but now hung in unkempt and
+dirty shreds upon his shoulders, while his hat was an antiquated relic
+of a former life in the States. A pair of old trousers generally hung by
+one suspender over a colored shirt, which, the summer before, possibly,
+had had a wash-tub experience, but not later; his footwear was
+altogether unmentionable. He was called well-to-do, and there was no
+necessity for him to cut such an abominable figure, so he soon became a
+by-word, and was designated as "sour dough." At all events, he was sour
+enough, and kept up a continual siege of torment until he received a
+temporary quietus.
+
+We three women were sitting in the tent one morning when there came a
+voice at the door. Going forward to enquire what was wanted, a man said
+gruffly, thrusting a piece of paper into my hand.
+
+"A notice from the chief of police."
+
+"For what?" I inquired.
+
+"For you, to vacate these premises without delay."
+
+"Indeed! Are they to open a street? Will the other campers about here
+move also?" I asked.
+
+"I don't know. My orders are that you shall move immediately. See that
+you do it," said the man rudely.
+
+While holding the paper in my hands I glanced over it hastily, and saw
+the marks of a spurious document. It was poorly constructed, and bore
+no official signs. I recognized it as a counterfeit.
+
+"We have had permission from captain S., one of the aldermen, to put our
+tents here, and we shall stay unless he orders us away," said I stoutly.
+
+"You have permission from captain S.?" he asked in surprise.
+
+"Yes, sir, from captain S. himself, and you can say to the chief of
+police that we shall stay here until the captain orders us to leave,"
+saying which I stepped back into the tent.
+
+The man retreated, muttering to himself as he went, for he was utterly
+routed, and never returned; neither did we hear any more for some time
+about moving our tents. It was as I suspected. Mr. Sourdough had thought
+to frighten us away, and the order from the chief of police was utterly
+bogus.
+
+Some time afterward, when madam attempted to put a floor into her tent,
+"Sourdough" again put in an appearance. He threatened, but she held out,
+when the obstinate and perverse old man trotted off down town and
+secured an officer and four soldiers to come and put her off. The
+officer looked the ground over, inquired if there was room for teams to
+pass if necessary, and seeing her tent in line with many others, he
+turned to the old man and said:
+
+"This tent takes up no more of the street than the others. This lady has
+as much right to be here as any one else. What is the matter with you?
+Let the women alone," and he and his soldiers marched away.
+
+Mr. Sourdough tore his hair. He was wild with anger. The floor of
+madam's tent went down and stayed.
+
+Each day I was in the habit of giving my Swedish friends a call, and
+found them finally ready to set up their restaurant tent. A large floor
+was laid on Second street near the post-office, the large canvas
+stretched over the frame, tables and seats provided, a corner
+partitioned off for a kitchen, dishes placed upon shelves, and they
+began serving meals. At this juncture I happened in one day just before
+noon and found them rushed with work and unable to fill their meal
+orders for lack of help. Mary was peeling potatoes in haste, while
+trying to do other things at the same time, and Ricka and Alma were
+flying like bees.
+
+"Let me peel those potatoes for you," said I, taking the knife from
+Mary's hand; and when she demurred, I told her I really had nothing to
+do, and would be glad to assist.
+
+When the potatoes were peeled, dishes were heaped up to be cleaned, and
+I quickly washed them, feeling that I was of some service, and not
+heeding the surprised looks of a few acquaintances who chanced to catch
+a glimpse of me at work in the kitchen through the door.
+
+This I did each day, coming over after I had eaten my breakfast, and
+rolling up my sleeves to my elbows, drove them deep into the dish pan
+and hot water.
+
+Many were the jolly times we now had. How the jokes flew past each other
+over the puddings, and the crisp pies needed almost no other seasoning.
+How cheerfully "the boys" brought wood and water and counted it reward
+enough if they only received a smile from little Alma. Many a man was
+glad enough, too, to render such service for a meal or lunch of hot
+coffee and doughnuts, especially such good, big, motherly ones as Mary
+made, and there was no lack of men helpers. How the coffee steamed, the
+hot bread and meats smoked, and the soup odors tantalized the
+olfactories of hundreds of "tenderfeet" with their lusty Alaska
+appetites, which were increased by an open air life such as all in those
+days were living.
+
+When at last we were summoned to our work, on Number Nine, the Swedish
+women pressed my hand cordially, leaving a good-sized bill in it at the
+same time, saying: "When you get through on Number Nine come back to us;
+we need you." I thanked them gratefully and said good-bye.
+
+The English girl and myself were soon settled in our little tent with
+its clean new floor on the hillside of claim Number Nine. No tree was to
+be seen on the long, rolling hills, and only an occasional boulder on
+some summit like Anvil Peak, perched as a sentinel above us. A few wild
+flowers bloomed on the tundra, and the waters of the little stream
+gurgled over the soft slate pebbles that strewed its course; but the
+season so far was a dry one, and more water was needed before much could
+be done at sluicing. Miners were not happy at the prospect of a dry
+season, which meant a stoppage of all mining operations, and eagerly
+scanned the heavens for rain indications. A small force of men were at
+work night and day. On Thursday, July twelfth, eleven hundred dollars in
+gold dust was taken from the sluice boxes in the creek, and two days
+afterwards twelve thousand dollars, with which the owner of the claim
+was much dissatisfied, calling them small clean-ups.
+
+A few hundred feet up stream, on Number Ten, the machinery of C. D. Lane
+whirred constantly. On the upper end of Number Nine a small new machine
+called a separator was put in by some men from New York who had taken a
+lay on the claim; but this scheme was not successful.
+
+Seeing men at work prospecting along the "benches," as the banks of a
+stream or hillsides are called by miners, and having a woman's
+proverbial curiosity, after my work was done I climbed the hill to
+investigate. The prospectors had left after digging a hole about six
+feet deep and four square, evidently having satisfied themselves as to
+what the ground contained. Into this hole I descended to feel of the
+cold, wet earth and inspect the walls.
+
+The miners had reached the frost line and gone, taking with them samples
+of pretty white quartz rock, as much of the debris at the bottom of the
+hole plainly showed, but whether it contained gold I knew not. As yet I
+was a tenderfoot; but something satisfactory was without doubt found
+here and in the vicinity, as quartz claims were staked over the placer
+claims the whole length of Anvil Creek that summer.
+
+While rambling about in search of flowers during our afternoon rests, we
+found many interesting spots. To the northwest, over the high, bare
+ridge, lay Snow Gulch, from which fabulous sums had the summer before
+been taken, the blue and winding waters of famous Glacier Creek lying
+just beyond. Walking through the dry, deep tundra over the hills was
+warm, hard work, though we wore short skirts and high, stout boots, and
+womanlike, we were always filled to the brim with questions and ready to
+rest if we chanced to meet any one, which was not often.
+
+Wherever we went, and whatever the hour, we met with no incivility. Hats
+were lifted, and men rested a moment upon their shovels to look after us
+as we passed, while frequently some rough miner swallowed the lump in
+his throat or wiped a tear, as he thought of his wife, daughter or
+sweetheart far away. We were the only women in the mines for miles
+around, but felt no fear whatever, and indeed we were as safe there as
+at home, and there was no occasion for anxiety.
+
+Life was extremely interesting. Our work was not hard the first few
+weeks; after that the force of men was increased. Rich pans of dirt (two
+shovels full to a pan) were daily being brought to light. One pan
+contained seventy-two dollars and seventy-five cents, one eighty-three
+dollars and thirty-five cents. Big, fat nuggets already melted into
+wondrous shapes, but iron rusted, as all Anvil Creek gold is, for some
+reason, was discovered each day. One nugget tipped the scales at
+thirty-nine dollars, one at twenty dollars, and one at fifty dollars,
+with many others of like value.
+
+Wednesday, August eighth, the following entry was made in my diary:
+"Today has been the banner day for gold dust. The night's cleanup of
+twelve hours' work was a big one--three pans full of gold. Later--Still
+more yet. A cleanup of nine thousand dollars and three of the largest
+nuggets I ever saw has just been made this evening. Two of the nuggets
+were long and flat, as large as a tree-toad, and much the shape of one.
+The men took the first load of gold dust to town--seventy-five
+pounds--but the bank was closed before they could get the remainder
+there. The foreman says they are prepared to keep it here safely over
+night, however, and I believe they are, judging by the big protuberances
+on their hip pockets."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+LIFE IN A MINING CAMP.
+
+
+As the rains came to facilitate the sluicing, more men were added to the
+force shovelling in the creeks, and this made our work heavier. An
+exceedingly cranky foreigner, as head cook, presided over the big coal
+range in the mess-house, and we women "played second fiddle," so to
+speak. However, we all had enough hard work, as a midnight supper for
+the second force had to be prepared and regularly served, and at this we
+labored alternately.
+
+Strange to relate, the men at the long tables soon began to exhibit a
+very great partiality for the dishes prepared by the English girl and
+myself, to the end that the foreign fellow's black eyes snapped with
+anger, and he swore deeply under his breath.
+
+"He vill eat vat I gif heem. He moose eat it ven he hoongry, else he
+starve himsel'. I care not he no like it, he get nothing other!" the
+angry man would exclaim, as the untouched plates of the men were scraped
+into the waste box. He would then, fearing that we would cook some dish
+more palatable to the miners, hide the best food, or forbid us to use
+certain ingredients as we wished.
+
+Of the culinary stores provided there never could be a complaint.
+Everything that money could buy in the way of fresh meat, potatoes,
+onions, canned and dried fruits and vegetables, flour, corn and
+oatmeals, were stacked up in the greatest profusion. From canned
+oysters, clams and French sardines, to fine cocoa and cream, all was
+here found in quantities, after being hauled in a wagon behind powerful
+horses over the seven miles of heavy roads from Nome. By the time the
+goods reached camp they were almost worth their weight in gold, but one
+might have supposed them dirt cheap, for we, as hungry miners and cooks,
+were never limited.
+
+Week after week the patient animals and their driver were kept measuring
+the distance between the city and the claim, even though the wet tundra
+in low places grew sodden and boggy, and the wheels repeatedly sank to
+the hubs. At times more horses were attached to haul them out of some
+hole, or if these were not at hand, certain heavy cases were dumped off
+until the reeking, straining brutes had successfully extricated the
+load. Covered with mud and sweat, his high-topped rubber boots each
+weighing a number of pounds, and his stomach too empty to allow of
+conversation, after a long, hard day's work, the driver of this team
+would fling himself upon one of the benches alongside our table and
+say:
+
+"Yes, I'm ready to eat anything. Been caved in for two hours."
+
+This young man, as well as the night foreman, was a cousin of Mr. A.,
+both farmer boys, honest, kind and true. No oaths fell from their lips,
+and no language was used which their own mothers would ever blush to
+hear.
+
+The second of these, the foreman, was dressed also in great rubber
+boots, dark blue sweater, and broad-brimmed felt hat, with a quick eye
+and ear for all around him, though he was a man of few words, which he
+weighed well before using. His hip pocket always contained a loaded
+revolver, and he was obliged to sleep days after being on duty nights.
+
+To eyes so unaccustomed as ours to the sight, how strange it all looked
+at midnight. From the big tent door which faced south and towards Nome
+City we could see the blue waters of Behring Sea away in the distance.
+Great ships lying there at anchor, lately arrived from the outside world
+or just about to leave, laden with treasure, at this long range looked
+like mere dots on the horizon. Between them and us there straggled over
+the beach in a westerly direction, a confused group of objects we well
+knew to be the famous and fast growing camp on the yellow sands. To our
+right, as well as our left, rolled the softly undulating hills, glowing
+in tender tints of purples and greys, or, if the moon hung low above our
+heads, there were warmer and lighter shades which were doubly
+entrancing.
+
+Accompanying the low moon twinkled the silver stars with their olden
+time coyness of expression. Little birds, not knowing when to sleep in
+the endless daylight, hopped among the dewy wild flowers of the tundra,
+calling to their mates or nestlings, twittering a song appropriate to
+the time and place because entirely unfamiliar.
+
+No other sound was to be heard except the picks of the miners at work in
+the stream. No word was spoken unless the foreman gave some order. Those
+sleeping in nearby tents must not be wakened, and besides the men at the
+shovels and picks did no loitering. There were the long sluice boxes to
+be filled with what was once the creek bed, from which the water was now
+turned in another direction to await the morning's cleanup of gold.
+
+At that time the water would be conducted into the long boxes to wash
+away the dirt and gravel, leaving the heavier gold in the bottom. Either
+Mr. A. or his brother, with the foreman, attended to cleaning up the
+gold. When all the dirt and gravel, or rock, had been washed out of the
+sluices, a whisk broom was used to brush the gold into a corner of the
+box, a dustpan conveyed it to broad-mouthed gold pans close at hand, and
+these were carried into the kitchen.
+
+Here the pans were placed upon the iron range, big mush spoons were
+utilized for stirring, and the precious metal was well dried before
+being weighed. As soon as possible afterward it was taken to the Bank of
+Nome. A tall, black horse was purchased for this purpose alone, and
+after a few such trips the intelligent creature most reluctantly
+approached the office where the gold was kept, having learned of the
+grievous burden he would have to bear. Sometimes he would snort, throw
+himself and pull back, and in every way show his unwillingness to
+proceed.
+
+But no shirk was allowed here. The horse was led close to the steps of
+the office tent, and a gunny sack tied in the middle brought out by two
+men and laid over the back of the unwilling beast. A rain coat or
+blanket was flung over the sack, and the man at the halter started for
+town, leading the horse, which walked slowly and resignedly after being
+compelled to go.
+
+A second man, well armed with revolvers like the first, always
+accompanied the pair, and when the three had returned to the claim
+another cleanup awaited them. Enormous sums of money were taken from
+this claim while we were there, averaging ten thousand to twenty
+thousand dollars per day. Seventy men worked for a time when the water
+was at its best, part of that number on the day force and part at night.
+
+In August the west bank of the creek was accidentally pricked and found
+to be far richer than the bed of the stream. Nuggets worth many dollars
+were continually unearthed, the largest one that summer amounting to
+ninety dollars. The richest pans contained sixty-four dollars,
+seventy-two dollars and seventy-five cents and eighty-four dollars, with
+others ranging all the way below.
+
+From a bench claim next to Number Eleven on this creek, and only
+one-fourth of a mile above us, great heaps of gold were taken from the
+ground, no pan carrying less, it was said, than five hundred dollars.
+
+From seventy men to wait upon when the stream was at high water mark, to
+twenty-five when it was lower, at any time our lot was hard. We worked
+with chapped, bleeding hands and aching backs. We worked until our tired
+limbs sometimes refused to carry us further. By the middle of August the
+nights began to grow dark at nine o'clock, and a hold-up or two took
+place on the creek. The weather was rainy and cold, with frosty nights
+between, and as we were all in tents, and these sometimes leaked, which
+did not improve the head cook's temper and he grew almost abusive; we
+retired, went to town, and left him alone to meditate. Here he hastily
+and angrily for a few days longer tossed up nondescript messes for the
+men, which none could eat, and was then discharged in disgrace.
+
+In all there were fifteen placer claims staked on Anvil. Some of these
+were scarcely touched that summer, but from those operated fully two
+million five hundred thousand dollars were taken in three months.
+
+[Illustration: CLAIM NUMBER NINE, ANVIL CREEK.]
+
+During the six weeks we had spent at Number Nine, many improvements had
+been made along the route and in Nome. Where before we had traveled
+seven miles we now walked only two, riding on the new narrow gauge
+railroad, spoken of there as Mr. Lane's, the remainder of the way.
+
+At Discovery Claim, instead of a few straggling tents, there were eating
+houses, saloons, store-houses, a ticket and post-office, and the nucleus
+of a town. The cars we boarded were open, flat cars, with seats along
+the sides, to be sure, but they were crowded at one dollar per head to
+Nome. After waiting a little time for a start, the whistle blew shrilly,
+the conductor shouted "all aboard!" and we trundled along behind a
+smoky, sturdy engine in almost civilized style.
+
+This was the first railroad in Alaska with the exception of the White
+Pass and Yukon road, and will eventually extend to the southern coast
+and Iliamna.
+
+Next morning, after spending the night on the Sandspit with madam, I
+called, bright and early, upon my Swedish friends in their restaurant.
+
+"Good morning, Mrs. Sullivan!" cried Mary in a hearty voice, as she
+stirred the steaming mush on the kitchen range.
+
+"Good morning!" said Ricka more quietly, but with a pleasant, welcoming
+smile. "Did you come from Number Nine?"
+
+"Good morning!" from Alma, as she poured a cup of hot coffee for a
+waiting customer. "Do you want to help us? We have plenty of work."
+
+"That's what I came for," said I, laying aside my hat and coat. "Will
+you lend me an apron till I get mine?" glancing toward the kitchen sink
+full of unwashed dishes, and the cupboard shelves quite demoralized.
+
+"I'll lend you six if you will only help us. We are so busy serving
+meals we cannot take time to get settled," said Mary. "Yes, we moved
+from the tent last week," she said in reply to my question.
+
+"We like this much better. The tent leaked during the hard rains, and
+flapped so much in the wind that we were afraid it would come down upon
+our heads. We have had this kitchen built on, and shall keep open till
+the last boats are gone for the winter. That will be two months longer,
+likely," and Mary talked on as she dished up the griddle cakes and the
+two others waited upon the tables.
+
+I felt quite happy to have found work so soon, and that too among
+friends, and without any particular responsibility attached to the
+position. I would dignify my labor, doing it well and acceptably,
+carrying always a sunny face and pleasing mood. The work was of a kind
+despised by hundreds of women, who, after landing at Nome, had not found
+agreeable and genteel situations, and so had gone back home, or, in
+some cases, done even worse.
+
+To be sure, the pay was not large, the work tiresome, and I would be
+snubbed by many persons, but I had not come to Alaska for my health.
+That was excellent. Then I had good food in sufficient quantities, which
+was always a thing to be considered in that country. I had a purpose in
+view which I never lost. I would get some gold claims.
+
+The Swedish people were brave and fearless, as well as patient and
+strong. I had many acquaintances among them already. I felt they were
+good people to stay with, and they were congenial. To be sure, a few
+spoke English with an accent, and there were no small, white hands among
+them; but if the hearts and lives were clean and true, and so far as I
+could judge they were so, I was satisfied.
+
+The missionaries from Golovin, including the young lady who had come up
+on the "St. Paul," had, with my three friends here, called at Number
+Nine at different times during the six weeks of our stay there. Already
+a plan had been considerably discussed which would take a party of us to
+Golovin to winter, either in the Swedish mission or near it, and of all
+things in mind so far this prospect most pleased me.
+
+We would then be fifty miles from the rich Council City mines on the
+Fish River Creeks, and only half that distance from the Topkok diggings,
+of which we now heard considerable. Every creek within many miles
+around Nome was entirely staked, but in the vicinity of Golovin we might
+hope to secure claims, or, at least, be in a good position to learn of
+new gold strikes if any were made during the coming winter.
+
+"But we will keep a roadhouse if we go there," said Alma, "and be making
+some money. I am sure there will be many people traveling through
+Golovin all winter, and we can make a few dollars that way as well as
+any one else. Then we will not forget how to cook," and the young woman,
+with eyes always open to the main chance for "making money," as she
+called it, laughed at the bare possibility of such a thing.
+
+"We might do that and help in the mission, too, there are so many of us.
+I would like to work in the mission for a change, I think," said Ricka,
+who was very religiously inclined and quiet generally.
+
+"What would you like to do, Mrs. Sullivan?" asked Mary. "You say so
+little, and we talk so much. I want to know what you think."
+
+"Well, there are three of you to talk, and I am only one," said I,
+laughing, as I placed the cups and saucers, all clean and shining, on
+the cupboard shelves. "I should like the mission plan better than
+anything, for I have had some experience in mission work; but if they do
+not need us there, then I should like the roadhouse well enough, though
+I think if eight or ten of us, each having enough supplies for himself
+for the winter, should form a club and live under one roof, we could do
+so more cheaply and comfortably than any other way, and have a real
+jolly, good time in the bargain. These young men, many of them, are
+intending to winter here somewhere, and all hate to cook for themselves,
+I know, while they would gladly get the wood, water, and shovel snow, if
+we did the cooking and housework. None need to work hard, and if a rich
+gold strike were reported, somebody might want to go and do some
+staking. In that way we might get some gold claims," I reasoned, while
+all three listened during a lull in the work.
+
+"That's what we all came to Alaska for--gold claims. I want three,"
+remarked Alma with complacency, "and besides, there is plenty of
+driftwood at Golovin on the beach which we could have for nothing, and
+save buying coal at three dollars a sack as we do here," glancing at the
+scuttle near the range reproachfully, as if the poor, inanimate thing
+was to blame for prices.
+
+Little Alma was keen at a bargain. There was nothing slow about the grey
+matter in her cranium. If there was buying to do, or a commodity to
+sell, Alma was the one of the restaurant firm to do it, enjoying well
+the bargaining, where she was seldom outwitted.
+
+So in the intervals between meals, or at night when the day's work was
+done, we discussed our plans outside the kitchen door next the sea
+beach, watching the shipping in the roadstead, admiring the lovely sky
+tints left by the setting sun, or gazing at the softly rolling breakers
+under a silver-bowed moon.
+
+If we had plenty of hard work, with its not altogether desirable phases,
+we also enjoyed much beside the novelty. Some one we knew was always in
+from the creeks, principally Anvil, to bring latest news, as well as to
+collect the same, and the kitchen as well as the dining-room, was the
+constant rendezvous of friends of one or all of us. Those prospecting
+among the hills or on the beach at some distance from town came in often
+for supplies and to visit the post-office, giving the "Star" a call for
+hot coffee, if not a supper, before leaving. Jokes and stories flew
+about over the tables, and interesting incidents were always occurring.
+Good humor and good cheer flowed on every side along with the cordial
+greeting, and tea and coffee, though nothing stronger in the way of
+drinks was ever placed upon the tables.
+
+In the kitchen we did not lack voluntary assistants when work pushed, or
+there was what we called "a rush." One young man would fill the water
+buckets at a neighboring hydrant, another would bring in coal, and some
+other would carry away refuse.
+
+Happy, indeed, were the great numbers of dogs fed from the "Star"
+kitchen. No beggar was ever turned away. No homeless and discouraged
+soul, whether man or woman, sober or drunken, was allowed to leave as
+forlorn as he entered. Men often sat down at the tables, who, when
+filled with good food and hot drink, in a warm and comfortable room fell
+asleep from the effects of previous stimulants and sank to the floor.
+When this happened some strong and helpful arm assisted such a one with
+friendly advice, to the street.
+
+The two sisters were now our nearest neighbors, the third and married
+one having gone with her husband to live in a new cottage of their own
+in another part of the town. The eldest of the two had kindly offered me
+lodging in the back part of their store building of which our restaurant
+rooms were a half, and from which we were only separated by a board
+partition. This was a temporary arrangement until I could find something
+that suited me close at hand, as I chose to be near my work on account
+of going to my room in the evening after my duties were done. The
+sisters themselves still lived in their large warehouse a few feet back
+from the store, and between it and the surf which rolled ceaselessly
+upon the sands.
+
+I was now more comfortably lodged than since I had landed at Nome. My
+canvas cot, placed in the back of the store, vacant except for a few
+rolls of carpeting, matting and oil cloth on sale by the sisters, stood
+not far from the large coal heater in which fire was kept during the
+day, making the room warm and dry when I came in at night. Near the
+foot of my cot a good window admitted light and sunshine, and a door
+opened upon a flight of six stairs into a tiny square yard before one
+entered the warehouse, where lived the sisters. This latter building was
+made of corrugated iron, on piles, with windows and a door in the south
+end looking directly out upon the water only a few feet away, and was
+fitted cosily enough for the summer, but not intended for anything
+further except storage purposes. A second door in the north end,
+opposite the one in the store, and only separated from it by the little
+yard was the door generally used. At this time lodgings without fire
+were worth dollars a night in crowded Nome, and one's next neighbors
+might prove themselves anything but desirable.
+
+Meanwhile we worked steadily. Many of the Anvil Creek mine owners and
+their men took meals at the "Star" whenever in town. Some of their
+office employees came regularly. Hundreds were "going outside" on boats,
+and all was bustle and excitement. At least twenty-five thousand people
+had landed at Nome during the summer, and fully one-half of them had
+gone home discouraged.
+
+On Sunday, September second, there came up a most terrible storm, which,
+for the velocity of its gales, tremendous downfall of rain, terrific
+surf, accompanied by great loss of life, as well as length of duration,
+had not been equalled for over twenty years. Never before was the
+property loss so great on the Behring Sea coast.
+
+By nine o'clock Sunday morning the large steamers at anchor had put far
+out to sea for safety. The wind rose, the rain poured. The surf was
+growing more rough. At dinner time those who came in reported the dead
+bodies of nine men picked up on the beach. They had attempted to land
+from a steamer, and their small boat was swamped. One of the men drowned
+was the mate of the vessel. For days the storm lasted and our work
+increased. It was not long before the continuous rain had penetrated our
+little kitchen roof and walls, roughly built as they were of boards, and
+from that on we worked in rubber boots and short skirts tucked still
+higher. With the storm at its hardest, I donned a regular "sou'wester,"
+or water proof hat, rather than stand with the rain dripping upon my
+head, and a cape of the same material covered my shoulders.
+
+People living in tents when the storm began--and there were
+thousands--had been washed out, or been obliged to leave them, and could
+not get their own meals. The "Star" swarmed with hundreds who had never
+been there before, as well as those in the habit of coming. Ten days
+passed. Sometimes there would be a lull in the storm for a few hours and
+we hoped it was over, but the surf ran high and could not return before
+the wind again lashed it into fury.
+
+One midnight, when I was sleeping soundly after an unusually hard day's
+duties in the kitchen, there came a hasty knock at my door.
+
+"Let me in quick Mrs. Sullivan, the warehouse, we fear, is going. We
+must come in here. We will bring some more of our things," and little
+sister dropped the armful of clothing she carried and ran back for more.
+
+Sure enough, as I looked, the water surged up under the warehouse to the
+foot of the steps. When she returned with another load I offered to
+dress and assist them, but she said they would only bring the clothing
+and bedding, and I better go back to bed.
+
+Breathlessly the sisters worked for a time, until the tide prevented
+them from again entering the warehouse, and they made their bed near me
+on the floor. When, after watching the waters, they felt satisfied that
+they receded, they retired, weary and troubled, hoping that before
+another high tide the storm would have subsided and the danger would be
+past.
+
+By September twelfth the surf was the worst we had ever seen it, and
+Snake River had overflowed its banks. Most of those on the Sandspit were
+obliged to flee for their lives. Hundreds were homeless on the streets.
+The town's whole water-front was washed away. Tents not only went down
+by hundreds, but buildings of every description were swept away and
+flung by the angry surf high up on the sands.
+
+Anchored lighters and barges were loosened from their moorings and came
+ashore, as did schooners broken and disabled. Dead bodies were each day
+picked up on the beach, which was strewn with wreckage.
+
+One dark night, when the rain had ceased for a time to give place to a
+fearful gale which tossed the maddened waters higher and higher, there
+appeared upon the horizon a dim, portentous shape. At first it was only
+a form, indistinct and uncertain. As we watched longer, it gradually
+assumed the semblance of a ship. Keen eyes soon discerned a huge, black
+hulk, of monstrous size when riding the crest of the breakers, smaller
+and partially lost to sight when buried at intervals in the trough of
+the sea.
+
+A ship was drifting helplessly, entirely at the mercy of the elements,
+and must soon be cast upon the beach at our feet. Approaching swiftly as
+she was, in the heavy sea, as the violence of the wind bore her onward,
+lights appeared as signals of distress, telling of souls on board in
+fearful danger.
+
+In dismay we watched the helpless, on-coming vessel. We were in direct
+line of her path as she was now drifting. If by chance the mountain of
+water should, by an awful upheaval, rear the wreck upon its crest at
+landing, we would be engulfed in a moment of time. No power could save
+the buildings which would be instantly shivered to heaps of floating
+debris.
+
+Should we flee for our lives? Or would the wind, quickly, by some
+miracle, change its course, and thereby send the menacing vessel to one
+side of us or the other? Groups of patrolmen and soldiers everywhere
+watched with anxious eyes, and friends stood with us to encourage and
+assist if needed.
+
+God alone could avert the awful, impending disaster. He could do so, and
+did.
+
+When only a few hundred feet from shore, the huge black mass, rearing
+and tossing like a thing of life in the raging sea, swerved to the west
+by a sudden veer of the wind, and then, amid the roar of breakers angry
+to ferocity, she, with a boom as of cannon in battle, plunged into the
+sands of the beach only a hundred and fifty feet away.
+
+The earth trembled. With one long, quivering motion, like some dumb
+brute in its death struggle, the ship settled, its great timbers parting
+as it did so, and the floods pouring clean over its decks. Then began
+the work of rescuing those on board, which was finally, after many
+hours, successfully accomplished.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+BAR-ROOM DISTURBANCES.
+
+
+"Girls, O girls!" shouted Mary from the kitchen door in order to be
+heard above the waters, "Do come inside!" Then, as we answered her call
+and closed the door behind us, she said: "The danger is over now, and
+you can't help those poor people in the wreck. There are plenty of men
+to do that. See! it is nearly midnight, and we shall have another hard
+day's work tomorrow. Go to bed like good children, do."
+
+"How about yourself, ma?" said Ricka, carrying out the farce of mother
+and children as we often did, Mary being the eldest of the four.
+
+"I'm going too, as soon as I get this pancake batter made, for I'm dead
+tired. We will hear the particulars of the wreck at breakfast," replied
+Mary.
+
+"Poor things! How I pity them. What an awful experience for women if
+there were any on board," said sympathetic Ricka, and I left them
+talking it over, to roll into my cot, weary from twelve hours of hard
+work and excitement.
+
+No anxiety, and no thundering of the breakers could now keep me awake,
+and for hours I slept heavily.
+
+Suddenly I was wide awake. No dream or unusual sound had roused me. Some
+new danger must be impending. My pulses throbbed. The clock at the head
+of my cot ticked regularly, and its hands pointed to four. The sisters
+slept peacefully side by side. The whole town seemed resting after the
+intense and continued anxiety caused by the storm, and I wondered why I
+had wakened.
+
+However, something impelled me to get up, and, rising quietly from my
+cot in order not to arouse the others, I went to the south window and
+peered out.
+
+My heart fairly stood still.
+
+The waters were upon us! They had already covered the lower steps at the
+door not six feet from the cot on which I had slept. I stood motionless.
+If I knew that the waters were receding, I would go quietly to bed,
+allowing the others to sleep an hour longer; but if they were rising
+there was no time to lose. None could reckon on the tides now, for all
+previous records had been recently broken. I would wait and watch a few
+minutes, I decided, and I wrapped a blanket around me, for my teeth
+chattered, and I shivered.
+
+How cruel the water looked as I watched it creep closer and closer. How
+quietly now it swept at flood tide up through the piles under the
+warehouse, covering the little back yard and the kitchen steps of the
+restaurant. With the cunning of a thief it was creeping upon us in the
+darkness when we were asleep and helpless.
+
+Would the resistless waters persist in our destruction? Where should we
+go in the storm if obliged to fly for our lives?
+
+Twenty minutes passed.
+
+Another step was covered while I watched--the tide was rising.
+
+Crossing the room now to where my friends lay sleeping, I touched little
+sister upon the shoulder.
+
+"Wake up! Wake up! The tide is coming,--the water is almost at the door!
+I have been watching it for twenty minutes, and I'm sure we ought to be
+dressed," said I, trying to keep my voice steady so as neither to betray
+my fright nor startle them unnecessarily.
+
+Springing from their bed they hurried to the window and looked out.
+
+"I should say so!" exclaimed the younger lady in dismay.
+
+"These treacherous waters will not give us up. They want us, and all we
+possess, and are literally pursuing us, I believe," groaned Miss S., the
+older sister, struggling to get hastily into her clothing. "But we must
+waken the girls," she said, rapping on the intervening wall, and calling
+loudly for the three other women who still slept soundly from fatigue.
+
+With that, we all dressed, and began to pack our belongings; I putting
+my rubber blanket upon the floor and rolling my bedding in that. This I
+tied securely, and dragged to the street door, packing my bags and trunk
+quickly for removal if necessary.
+
+In the restaurant none knew exactly what to do. The water had covered
+the back steps, and the spray was dashing against the kitchen door.
+Underneath, the little cellar, dug in the dry sand weeks before, and
+used as a storing place for tents, chairs, vegetables and coal sacks,
+was filled with water which now came within a foot of the floors. From
+sheer force of habit, Mary began building a fire in the range, and I to
+pack the spoons, knives and forks in a basket for removal. Ricka thought
+this a wise thing to do, but Alma remonstrated.
+
+"The water will not come in. You need not be afraid. If it does, we will
+only run out into the street, leaving everything. Let us get breakfast
+now, the people are coming in to eat," and this very matter-of-fact
+young woman began laying the tables for the morning meal. It was six
+o'clock. The men soon began to pour into the dining room hungry, wet,
+and cold. Many had been out all night assisting in the rescue work or
+patrolling the beach, inspecting each heap of wreckage in search of dead
+bodies and valuables, for many among the missing were supposed to have
+perished in the storm.
+
+Three men engaged in rescuing the survivors of the big wreck of the
+night previous, had been swept from the barge alongside, and gone down
+in the boiling surf. Searching parties were out trying to locate a
+number of men who had started two days before, during a lull in the
+storm, against the warnings of friends, for Topkok to the east. They
+were never again seen.
+
+I had now to find other lodgings, for the sisters needed their room.
+Leaving my work for an hour in the forenoon I tramped about in the mud
+looking everywhere within two blocks of the "Star," for I did not wish
+to go further away.
+
+After calling at a number of places, I was directed to a small hotel or
+lodging house across the street from the "Star," and about one and a
+half blocks further east. A man and his wife kept the house, which
+consisted of eating room and kitchen on the east side of the lower
+floor, and a big bar-room or saloon on the west side. The second floor
+was divided by a long narrow hall into two rows of small rooms for rent
+to lodgers. The woman showed me a little room with one window on the
+west side.
+
+"I wish to rent by the week, as I am expecting to leave town before
+long," said I, after telling her my business, and where I was at work.
+"What rent do you charge?"
+
+"Five dollars per week, unfurnished," said she.
+
+I caught my breath. The room was about eight feet square, and as bare as
+my hand. Not even a shade hung at the window. It was ceiled with boards
+around and overhead. I asked if she would put up a window shade. She
+said she would when her husband returned, as she expected him in a few
+days from Norton Sound.
+
+After talking with the little woman she seemed to wish me to take the
+room, assuring me that there were only quiet, decent people in the
+house, and the saloon below was closed each day at midnight. There was a
+billiard table and piano in the bar-room; but no window shades, shutters
+nor screens of any sort, she said. Her own room was next this one, and
+she was always there after nine o'clock in the evening, so I need not
+feel timid.
+
+Upon reflection, I took the room, and paid the rent. My things could not
+stand in the street, and I must have a place in which to sleep at night.
+It was high and dry, and far enough away from the surf, so that I need
+not fear being washed out. I would not be in my room during the day, and
+it was only for a few weeks anyway. It suited my needs better than
+anything I could find elsewhere, and as for furnishings, I could do
+without.
+
+I went back to my work, and had my baggage and cot sent to the room. I
+could settle things in a few minutes in the evening before retiring.
+
+The surf still boomed upon the beach, and rain and mist continued all
+day, but without wind. For hours the waters kept close to our floors,
+but did not quite reach them. Floating wreckage washed up at our feet,
+and two lighters, loose from their moorings, lodged beside the warehouse
+at the mercy of the surf. We were in constant fear that they would shove
+the warehouse off the piles against our buildings, and that would be,
+without doubt, the finale.
+
+In the meantime there was "a rush" indoors such as we never before had.
+Many carried hearts saddened by the loss of friends or property. Some
+had not slept for days. At the tables, at one time, sat two beggars, and
+a number of millionaires. Some who had reckoned themselves rich a few
+days previous were now beggared. The great wreck of the night before was
+going rapidly to pieces. With a mighty force, the still angry breakers
+dashed high over the decks of the ship. Masts and rigging went down
+hourly, and ropes dangled in mid-air, while men unloading coal and
+lumber worked like beavers at windlass and derrick, which creaked loudly
+above the noise of the waters.
+
+More and more was the ship dismantled. When the storm cleared, and the
+sun came out next day, the scene was one of wondrous grandeur. Nothing
+more magnificent had I ever before beheld. Great masses of water,
+mountain high, rolled continually landward, their snowy crests
+surmounted by veils of mist and spray, delicate as the tracery on some
+frosted window pane. As the sun lifted his head above the horizon,
+throwing his beams widely over all, each mist-veil was instantly
+transformed into a thing of surpassing beauty. It could only be compared
+to strings of diamonds, rubies and pearls. With a fairy's witchery, or a
+magician's spell, the whole face of the waters was changed. Each wrecked
+craft along the shore, partially buried in sand, masts gone, keel
+broken, and anchor dragged, with the surf breaking over all, was
+transformed under the brilliant sunshine, until no painting could be
+more artistically beautiful. Under the fascination of it all we forgot
+the anxiety, the labor, and suspense of the last days and weeks, and
+every moment of interval between work we spent at our door next the
+beach, or after the falling of the tide, further out upon the sands.
+
+Many wrecks lay strewn along the beach. Schooners, barges, and tugs lay
+broken and helpless. Untold quantities of debris, lumber, pieces of
+buildings, tents, boxes, and barrels, all testified to the sad and
+tremendous havoc made by this great storm.
+
+In my little room I rested quietly when my day's work was done. The
+landlady had taken down an old black shawl I had pinned to the window,
+and hung a green cloth shade of ugly color, and too wide by several
+inches. It was better than no shade, and I said nothing. For a bed I had
+my own cot; for a washstand, a box. At the head of my cot stood two
+small boxes, one above the other, and upon these I placed my clock,
+matches, pincushion, brush and combs, while below were stowed away other
+little things. A few nails on the wall held my dresses, but my trunk
+remained packed. A candle, tin wash basin, and bucket completed my room
+furnishings, simple and homely enough to satisfy the asceticism of a
+cloistered nun or monk.
+
+On September twenty-seventh there fell the first snow of the season. A
+little had for days been lying upon the hilltops of Anvil, but none
+nearer. The only fire in my room was an oil lamp upon which I heated
+water upon going home at night; but with plenty of blankets and wool
+clothing I was comfortable with the window open.
+
+One evening while going to my room I heard some one singing in the
+bar-room. I hurried up the stairs on the outside of the building, which
+was the only way of entrance to the second floor, and entered my room.
+Depositing my lighted lantern upon the floor, I listened. The singing
+continued. It was a youthful woman's voice. I would see for myself.
+Going quietly out the door, and down part way to a window crossed by the
+stairs, I sat down upon a step and looked into the room below. It was
+the big bar-room. It was pleasant and warm, with lights and fire. Upon
+the bright green cloth of the billiard table lay a few gay balls, but no
+game was then in progress. The big piano waited open near by. The
+bartender stood behind the bar, backed by rows of bottles, shining
+glasses and trays. A mirror reflected the occupants of the room, some of
+whom were leaning against the counter in various attitudes, but the
+central figure stood facing them.
+
+It was a beautiful young girl who was singing.
+
+A few feet from, and directly in front of the girl, was her companion, a
+well dressed and good looking young man a little older. Both were
+intoxicated, and trying to dance a cake walk, accompanying themselves by
+singing, "I'd Leave my Happy Home for You."
+
+She was singing in a tipsy, disconnected way the senseless ditty,
+swaying back and forth to the imaginary music. Beautiful as a dream,
+with dark hair, and great melting eyes, her skin was like lilies, and
+each cheek a luscious peach. Her tall, graceful figure, clad in long,
+sweeping black draperies, with white jeweled fingers daintily lifting
+her skirts while she stepped backward and forward, made a picture both
+fascinating and horrible.
+
+I sat gazing like one petrified. The girl's laugh rang through the room.
+"I'd Leave my Happy Home for You, ou--ou," she was singing still,
+weaving and swaying now from side to side as if about to fall. Her
+companion approached and attempted to place his arm about her shoulders,
+but she gave him a playful push which sent him sprawling, at which she
+shouted in great glee, dropping her drapery and flinging her lovely arms
+above her head. How the diamonds sparkled on her little hands I How the
+men in the bar-room clapped, swearing she was a good one, and must have
+another drink. Someone gave an order, and the bartender handed out a
+small tray upon which stood slender-necked amber-colored glasses filled
+to the brim.
+
+As the girl quickly tossed off the liquor, I groaned aloud, awaked from
+my trance, and fled to my room, where I bolted the door, and fell upon
+my knees. God forgive her! What a sight! I wanted to rush into the
+bar-room, seize the young girl, and lead her away from the place and her
+companions, but I could not. I had barely enough room for myself. I had
+little money. What could I do for her? Absolutely nothing. If I went in
+and attempted to talk with her it would do no good, for she was drunk,
+and a drunken person cannot reason. The men would jeer at me, and I
+might be ejected from the place.
+
+Finally I went to bed. At midnight the singing and shouting ceased, the
+people dispersed, the bartender put out the lights, and locked the
+doors.
+
+For the first time since reaching Nome, my pillow was wet with tears,
+and I prayed for gold with which to help lift these, my sisters, from
+their awful degradation.
+
+It was well towards midnight, and I had been asleep for some time. My
+subjective mind, ever on the alert as usual, and ready to share
+enjoyment as well as pain with my objective senses, began gradually to
+inform me that there was music in the air. Softly and sweetly, like
+rippling summer waters over mossy stones, the notes floated upward to my
+ears. The hands of an artist lay upon the keyboard of the instrument in
+the room beneath.
+
+I listened drowsily.
+
+With the singing of brooks, I heard the twitter of little birds, the
+rustle of leaves on the trees, and saw the maiden-hair nodding in the
+glen. I was a little child far away in the Badger State. Again I was
+rambling through green fields, and plucking the pretty wild flowers. How
+sweet and tender the blue skies above! How gentle the far-away voice of
+my mother as she called me!
+
+They were singing softly now,--men's voices, well trained, and in
+sweetest harmony:
+
+   "I'm coming, I'm coming,
+      My ear is bending low.
+    I hear the angel's voices calling
+      Old Black Joe."
+
+They sang the whole song through, and I was now wide awake.
+
+Familiar songs and old ballads followed, the master hand at the keys
+accompanying.
+
+"We are going outside on the Ohio tomorrow," said one in an interval of
+the music, "and then, ho! for home again, so I'm happy," and a momentary
+clog dance pounded the board floor.
+
+"Have a drink on it, boys?" asked a generous bystander who had been
+enjoying the music.
+
+"No, thanks, we never drink. Let's have a lively song now for variety,"
+and the musician struck up a coon song, which they sang lustily. Then
+followed "America," "Auld Lang Syne," and "'Mid Pleasures and Palaces,"
+the dear old "Home, Sweet Home" coming with intense sweetness and pathos
+to my listening ear. No sound disturbed the singers, and others filed
+quietly out when they had gone away. "God bless them, and give them a
+safe voyage home to their dear ones," I breathed, with tears slipping
+from under wet lashes, and a great lump in my throat.
+
+"Thank God for those who are above temptation, even in far-away Alaska,"
+and again I turned, and slept peacefully.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+OFF FOR GOLOVIN BAY.
+
+
+By October twelfth the weather began to be quite wintry, with snow
+flurries, cold wind, and a freezing ground. All now felt their time
+short in which to prepare for winter, change residence, and get settled.
+After many days of planning, in which eight or ten persons were
+concerned, it was finally decided that we should go to Golovin Bay. The
+head missionary, and one or two of his assistants from that place, had
+been with us part of the time during the great storm, so we were quite
+well acquainted, and we would be near the Mission.
+
+The "boys," as we called the young men for short, would build a cabin in
+which the funds of the women were also to be pooled. Three of the boys
+had gone, some weeks before, to Golovin to assist in the erection of a
+new Mission Home, twelve miles further down the coast; but as a shipload
+of mission supplies had been lost at sea, including building materials,
+their work was much hampered, and it was not expected that the new home
+would be completed, though sadly needed for the accommodation of the
+constantly increasing numbers of Eskimo children for which it was
+intended.
+
+In this case, no new helpers could be added to the missionary force,
+though Miss L., a tall, intelligent young woman, was to be placed in the
+Home kitchen as cook, and would accompany us to Golovin. It was decided,
+then, that the restaurant be closed immediately before the last boat
+left Nome for Golovin, as it would be impossible to get there after the
+last steamer had gone until the ice was solid, and winter trails were
+good over the hills. Most of us did not care to remain so long where we
+were, and made ready to sail on the small coast steamer "Elk," scheduled
+to leave Nome October eighteenth.
+
+On the evening of the sixteenth the doors of the "Star" were formally
+closed. We had had a rush up to the last moment, and all hands were
+completely tired out. It had been a long pull, and a steady pull, and
+the thought uppermost in the minds of us four women was to get to
+Golovin and rest. Even Alma sighed for a vacation from hard work,
+feeling that the roadhouse, if they opened one, must wait until she was
+rested.
+
+Mary wished to remain at Nome for a while, and come later by dog-team
+when the trails were good. She would take a day after we had gone to
+finish storing away the "Star" outfit for the next summer, and make the
+rooms tidy, afterwards visiting acquaintances, and doing shopping.
+
+For two days after closing the "Star" we were busy as bees, but at a
+change of occupation. We bought food supplies, coal-oil, and warm
+clothing, receiving parcels of the latter, including yarns for winter
+knitting, at the hands of the stewardess of the "St. Paul," who had
+kindly made our purchases in San Francisco at better prices (for us)
+than we found at Nome. Some bought furs, when they could find them,
+though these were scarce and costly, and each person carried his own
+bedding. Letters to the outside were written and posted, mails
+collected, freight and other bills paid, and tickets secured on the
+steamer.
+
+For my own part, I now found some kindly helper with strong arms
+whenever I had a trunk, bag, or box to lift or transfer, and no
+remuneration for services thus rendered beyond a smiling, "thank you
+very much," was ever accepted.
+
+What a strong, hearty, clean, and good-natured lot were these Swedes.
+How helpful, sympathetic, and jolly withal. It was easy for them to see
+the clear, bright side of everything, and to turn an innocent joke on
+themselves occasionally; for one told on another is never so effective
+and enjoyable as a joke on oneself; but there were often those with
+tears in their eyes, and a homesick feeling at their heart upon bidding
+farewell to friends who were leaving for the outside.
+
+With the approach of a long, hard winter in the Arctic, so unknown and
+untried by many, with a distance of thousands of miles of ocean soon to
+roll between them, it was many times difficult to say a careless
+good-bye. For those remaining in Alaska, who could foresee the future?
+Was it to be a fortunate and happy one, or would it disclose only
+misfortune, with, perchance, sickness and death? Would these partings be
+followed by future happy meetings, or were they now final? Who could
+tell?
+
+Among those constantly sailing for the outside were those who left
+regretfully, and those who left joyfully; there was the husband and
+father returning to his loved ones with "pokes," well filled with
+nuggets, and the wherewithal to make them more happy than ever before.
+
+There were those returning to sweethearts who daily watched and waited
+longingly for their home-coming which would be more than joyful. There
+were those leaving who would come again when the long winter was over,
+to renew their search for gold already successfully begun; and they were
+satisfied.
+
+There were many who left the gold fields with discouragement depicted
+upon their every feature. They had been entirely unable to adapt
+themselves to circumstances so different to any they had before known,
+and they had not possessed the foresight and judgment to decide affairs
+when the critical moments came. Perhaps a fondness for home, and dear
+ones, pulled too persistently upon the heartstrings; nothing here
+looked good to them, and they went home disgusted with the whole world.
+Unless a man or woman can quickly adjust himself or herself to changed
+conditions, and has a willingness to turn his or her hand to any
+honorable labor, he would better remain at home, and allow others to go
+to Alaska.
+
+If a man goes there with pockets already well lined, intending to
+operate in mining stocks, he still needs the adjustable spirit, because
+of the new, crude, and compulsory manners of living. He must be able to
+forget the luxury of silver spoons, delicate hands, soft beds, and steam
+heat; enjoying, or at least accommodating himself to the use of tin
+spoons, coarse food, no bed, and less heat, if his place and
+circumstances for a time demand such loss of memory.
+
+A bountiful supply of hopefulness is also necessary, in order, at times,
+to make the darkness and discomfort of the present endurable, and this
+will wonderfully cheer and create patience. Thousands of persons who
+were ill qualified in these and other respects had journeyed to Alaska,
+only to return, homesick, penniless, and completely discouraged, who
+never should have left their home firesides.
+
+Not so with the Swedish people. They are accustomed to a cold climate,
+hard work, and conditions needing patience and perseverance, without
+great luxuries in their homes, and being strong and hearty physically,
+they are well fitted, both by nature and practice, for life in the new
+gold fields of Alaska. There were more reasons than one for their
+success in the far Northwest, and a little study of cause and effect
+would disclose the truth, when it will be found that it was not all
+"luck" which made so many successful.
+
+Our last day at Nome is a confused memory of trunks, boxes, bags,
+barrels, dog-teams, tickets, bills, lunches, tables, dishes, and
+numerous other things. Tramping hurriedly through busy, dirty streets,
+and heavy, sandy beach, with arms loaded with small baggage (we had
+neither parrots nor poodles) making inquiries at stores and offices,
+doing innumerable errands, saying good-byes, and having good-luck wishes
+called after us; and then, when the sun had disappeared for the day, and
+night was almost upon us, we turned our backs upon our summer camp, and
+hastened to our winter home.
+
+At the water's edge small pieces of ice washed up and down with a
+clicking sound upon the sands, as if to give us notice of approaching
+winter, but the ocean was almost as smooth as a floor. No breath of wind
+disturbed the surface, and only a gentle swell came landward at
+intervals to remind us of its still mighty, though hidden, power.
+
+Then we were all in readiness to leave. A little boat was drawn upon the
+sand. Into it all small baggage was tossed. It was then pushed out
+farther by men in high rubber boots standing in the water.
+
+"I cannot get into the boat," laughed Little Alma, "I will get my feet
+wet."
+
+"Not if I can help it," answered a stalwart sailor, who immediately
+picked her up bodily and set her down in the boat, repeating the
+operation three times, in spite of the screams and laughter of Miss L.,
+Ricka and myself. Ricka and I were only of medium height, but Miss L.
+was a good six-footer, and when we were safely in the boat, and she had
+been picked up in the sailor's strong arms, if she did not scream for
+herself, some of us did it for her, thinking she would certainly go head
+first into the water; but no, she was carefully placed, like the rest of
+us, in the boat.
+
+After getting settled, and the final good-byes were waved, the men
+sprang in, those on shore pushed the boat off; we were again on the
+bosom of old Behring Sea. Smaller and fainter grew all forms upon the
+shore. Darker and deeper grew the waters beneath us. The lights of a few
+belated steamers, twinkled in the distance, their reflections, beautiful
+as jewels, quietly fixed upon the placid waters. Like a thing of sense,
+it seemed to me, the great ocean, full of turmoil, rage, and fury so
+recently, it would show us, before we left, how lamblike, upon
+occasions, it could be; and all old scores against it were then and
+there forgotten.
+
+A dark form soon lay just before us. "Where is the 'Elk,'" I asked of
+a sailor rowing, looking about in the gathering darkness which had
+rapidly fallen.
+
+[Illustration: CLAIM NUMBER FOUR, ANVIL CREEK, NOME.]
+
+"There it is," pointing to a black hulk which lay sullenly, without a
+spark of light visible, close to us.
+
+"But do they not know we are coming? Have they no light on board? How
+can we get upon deck?" we asked anxiously.
+
+"O, they will bring a lantern, I guess," laughed the sailor, then
+thinking to put us at our ease, he called lustily as he rested himself
+at his oars. Not getting a reply, he shouted again.
+
+Presently two men appeared with as many lanterns.
+
+"Here, you fellows, get a move on, and help these ladies on board, will
+you? Were you asleep, hey?"
+
+"Wall, no, not 'zactly, sah, but I'se done been working hard today," it
+was the colored cook replying, as he rubbed his sleepy eyes.
+
+"Haul up alongside this dory," said the other man as he put his lantern
+down, "and let the ladies get into that first, then we'll help 'em up
+here."
+
+With that we climbed out as we best could in the darkness, one after
+another, the boys assisting, until we all stood laughing in the little
+cabin, and counted noses.
+
+"Are we all here?" asked Mr. G., who, as usual had a thoughtful care
+over all.
+
+"All here, I think, but the baggage. How about that?" said I.
+
+"I'll see to that," and he was already on deck, while I continued
+counting.
+
+"Alma, Ricka, Miss L., Mr. G., Mr. L., Mr. B., and myself--the lucky
+number of seven. How fortunate we are. We are sure to have good luck.
+Too bad Mary is not here, but then we would not be seven," and we were
+all laughing and talking at the same time.
+
+In the cabin there was only one lamp, and that was swung over the table,
+looking in all its smoky smelliness as if it had hung there for ages
+without a scrubbing. The table was covered with dirty dishes scattered
+upon an oilcloth spread. The room smelled of fish, tobacco, and
+coal-oil, and we were obliged to go to the door now and then for fresh
+air. There was no fire, nor heat, neither was there a place for any.
+Rows of berths in two tiers lined each side of the cabin, but they were
+supplied with mattresses only. Dark curtains hung on wires before the
+berths, and these would furnish us with our only privacy on the trip.
+
+Finally we selected our berths, assorted our luggage, and sat down to
+rest. We were disappointed in the "Elk." She was not a "St. Paul," that
+was certain. The colored cook soon entered. His apologies were profuse.
+
+"Hope de ladies will 'scuze de state ob dis year room, but I'se done
+been mighty busy today, and will hab tings fine tomorer."
+
+"That's all right, Jim, if you only give us a good dinner tomorrow. Can
+you do it?" asked Mr. L.
+
+"Yas, sah, dis chile good cook when de tings are gibben him to cook, but
+when dere's no taters, no fresh meat, no chicken, no fruit, den it's
+mighty hard to set up fine meals. Dat's de truf!" and Jim nodded his
+woolly head emphatically at the frequent undesirable state of his
+larder.
+
+"Prices high heah, sah, but dis old man almos' fru wid de business; de
+las' trip ob de 'Elk' dis summah, an' I'se glad of it," and he
+disappeared in the galley carrying his arms full of dishes.
+
+When the table was cleared and Jim had spread an old and much rumpled
+red cover over it, I took from my basket a small square clock, and
+winding it up with its little key, started it going. It was a musical
+clock I had purchased when in Nome, of a small boy about to leave for
+the outside. It had been given him by a lady, and he had grown tired of
+it, his mind being so much upon his contemplated long journey. He would
+sell it for three dollars, he said, and I paid the money, needing a time
+piece, and having none. So now the little music box ticked off its music
+to the entertainment of all.
+
+However, we were all tired and the place was cold, so after we had taken
+our last look at the lights of Nome, scattered as they were along the
+shore for miles in the darkness, we turned in for the night, all
+dressed as we were, and drew the curtains around us. The long,
+deep-toned whistle of the "Elk," had sounded some time before, and we
+were headed east, making our way quietly over the smooth waters.
+
+Another chapter of our lives had begun. What would the end be, I
+wondered.
+
+During the night I was awakened by men running and shouting on deck. The
+steamer stopped. Somebody went out to inquire the cause. In a little
+while he returned, saying that four men had been picked up, nearly
+frozen, in an open boat which was leaking badly, and they were found
+just in time. Dry clothes, with food and hot drinks, and they would be
+all right again; so I turned over and tried to sleep, but the men
+lounged about, smoking and talking with the captain a good share of the
+night, so that sleep was almost out of the question.
+
+How I wished for fresh air! How I hated the tobacco smoke! But we could
+say nothing, for the men had no beds, no other place to sit, and it was
+too cold on deck. We must be patient, and I was patient, feeling
+thankful that the lives of the four men had been saved, if each one did
+smoke like a volcano and come near choking us to death.
+
+After a while there was another commotion. What now? Their five dogs had
+been left in the leaking dory, which was trailing behind us, the boat
+was swamping, and the animals were almost drowned. They were whining,
+crying, and soaking wet; so the "Elk" was again stopped, the dogs taken
+on board, along with some of the miners' outfits, and we again started
+on our way.
+
+The men said their dory had been blown ten miles out to sea by a wind
+many hours before, and had then sprung a leak, wetting their food, and
+threatening them with destruction, when the "Elk" appeared and took them
+aboard in the night.
+
+"Wall, yes, we had given ourselves up for lost, though none said much
+about it," remarked one of the saved men next day, in speaking of their
+experience. "Some one mentioned God Almighty, I believe, and I could
+almost have spoken to Him myself, but it does look like He had done
+something for us, don't it?" said the miner, laughing quietly, in a
+pleased, relieved way as he finished.
+
+We were exceedingly glad for their deliverance from a watery grave, but
+we pitied ourselves for our discomforts, until we pictured ourselves in
+their forlorn condition, far out from land, at night, in a leaky boat,
+without food and freezing; then I found myself feeling really grateful
+for the privilege of sailing on the "Elk," and not discontented as at
+first. We would get fresh air enough this winter, no doubt, to drive
+away all remembrances of the air in the little steamer's cabin, which
+was cold as well as foul. There were no windows or ports that we could
+see; there was doubtless a closed skylight somewhere, but to keep warm
+even in our berths required management. In my hand luggage I carried a
+bright woolen Indian blanket, a souvenir of St. Michael the year before,
+in which I now rolled myself, already dressed in my warmest clothing and
+heavy coat.
+
+A light-weight grey blanket was loaned me by the cook, who had purloined
+it from the pilot's bunk, he being on duty and not needing it that
+night. This I was rather chary of using, for reasons of my own, but it
+was that or nothing, only the mattress being underneath. On my head I
+wore a pink crocheted affair, called sometimes a "fascinator," which was
+now used simply and solely for service, I assured my friends, and not
+from any lighter motive,--but my feet! How I should keep them
+comfortable while on board was a question. With my feet cold I would be
+perfectly miserable, and although I wore wool hose and high, stout laced
+boots, I soon found on going aboard the "Elk" that to be comfortable I
+must make a change.
+
+I said nothing, but turned the situation well over in mind. At last I
+found a solution. Going to my bags once more, on the aside I drew out my
+new reindeer skin muckluks, or high fur boots, and looked at them. What
+enormous footgear, to be sure. Could I wear those things? I had put five
+good, hard-earned dollars into them, and they were said to be warm and
+very comfortable when worn properly, with hay in the bottoms, and Arctic
+socks over one's hose, but I had no hay and could not get any.
+
+I had the socks in my trunk, but that was in the hold of the ship, or
+somewhere out of my reach. I held the muckluks in my hands, and slowly
+turned them round. Suddenly a bright thought came. I would pull them on
+over my shoes. I did it. They went on easily. I drew the strings
+attached at the back of the ankle forward over the instep, crossed them,
+carried them back, crossed them a second time and tied them in front, in
+order to use up the strings so they would not trip me in walking. Just
+below the knees I pulled a woolen drawstring which was run into the
+green flannel, inch-wide heading, and tied this loosely; then I studied
+them. Shades of my buried ancestry! What a fright! My own mother would
+never know me. I wanted to scream with laughter, but could not, for I
+had performed the operation in a most surreptitious manner, behind
+closed doors (bunk curtains), after the others had retired.
+
+I had no compunctions of conscience as to putting my shoes upon the bed,
+for the mattress was both sombre and lonely, and as for the muckluks,
+they had never been worn by man (and were surely never made for woman).
+The most that I could do was to lie back upon my bed, cram my fascinator
+into my mouth, and struggle to suppress my risibles.
+
+After a time I succeeded, and lay enjoying the new sensation of feet
+and limbs warm and cozy as if in my mother's warm parlor at home; and
+then I slept.
+
+Next morning I kept my berth late. My sleep had been much broken, and
+the place was cold. The bad air had taken my appetite, and there were
+already too many in the small cabin for convenience. Four or five men
+and three women besides our own party of seven, crowded in between the
+dining table and the berths, filled the small cabin quite beyond
+comfort.
+
+The main question in my mind, however, was how to prevent the company
+from seeing my feet. I would put off the evil hour as long as possible,
+for they were sure to laugh heartily when they saw my muckluks, and to
+take them off--I would not. Some one brought me a sandwich finally,
+inquiring at the same time for my health, but I assured them it was
+first class,--I was only resting. Watching my opportunity, toward noon I
+slipped out of my berth quietly and made myself ready for dinner,
+keeping my feet well out of sight, for cook Jim had promised a fine
+spread for the two o'clock meal.
+
+When it came I was ready. It is said that hunger is a good sauce, and I
+believe this is true, for otherwise I could never have eaten the dinner
+that day. Upon a soiled and rumpled white (?) cloth Jim placed his "big
+spread," which consisted of whole jacketed boiled and baked potatoes,
+meat stew (no questions allowed), dried prunes stewed, biscuits, and
+fourth rate butter, with tea and coffee.
+
+[Illustration: MAP OF ALASKA.]
+
+[Illustration: MAP OF ALASKA.]
+
+At only one camp was there a stop made. There were two or three
+passengers on board for Bluff City, a new and prosperous mining camp,
+composed chiefly, though so late in the season, of tents. Lumber and
+supplies of different kinds had to be put off. As the entrance to the
+hold of the ship where the stores were kept was in our cabin, we had
+plenty of fresh air while the doors were all open, along with the
+mustiness from below, for several hours. However, I managed to keep
+pretty comfortable and snug in "fascinator" and muckluks, enveloped as I
+was in my Indian blanket.
+
+Hearing a bluff, hearty voice which sounded familiar, I looked around,
+and in walked a man whom I had seen at St. Michael the fall before. He
+had charge of the eating house there, where my brother and I had taken
+our meals for two weeks. I had not forgotten his kindness in giving me
+sore throat medicine when there had been nothing of the sort to buy, and
+I was suffering.
+
+This man remembered me well, and sat down to chat for a little while
+with us. He was a miner now, and a successful one, he said, for he was
+taking out "big money" from his lay on Daniels Creek, only five minutes'
+walk from the beach. I had been informed of his good fortune before
+meeting him, so was ready with congratulations.
+
+He told me of his cabin building, his winter's stores and fuel, and
+seemed in high spirits. Of course I could not ask him what he meant by
+"big money," or what he had taken from his claim, although it would not
+here, as in the Klondyke, be a breach of etiquette to inquire. After a
+few minutes chat the man bade us good-bye, and descended to the small
+boat alongside, which was to carry him and his freight ashore.
+
+It was nearly dark by this time, and another night must be passed on
+board. Some were complaining of the cold. Others were shuffling their
+feet to get them warm.
+
+"My feet are awfully cold," said Alma, moving them uneasily about.
+"Aren't yours, Mrs. Sullivan?"
+
+"Not at all," I replied, trying to look unconcerned, at the same time
+putting my feet further under my skirts, which were not the very short
+ones I had worn at Nome. "You know what having cold feet in this country
+means, I suppose, Alma?"
+
+"O, I am not in the least homesick, if that is what you mean. I am
+perfectly happy; but--" (here she glanced down upon the floor in the
+direction of my feet) "what have you over your shoes, any way, to keep
+so warm, Mrs. Sullivan?"
+
+There was no help for it, and the muckluks had to come to light, and
+did. At sight of them they all shouted, and Alma laughed till the tears
+ran down her cheeks.
+
+"And you have had these on all day without our seeing them? Where have
+you kept your feet, in your pocket?" she persisted.
+
+"Well, no, not exactly, but of course, under the circumstances, you
+could hardly expect me to hang a signboard out to call attention to
+them, could you?" I laughed.
+
+"I should say not. Will we all look like that in muckluks? Is there
+nothing else we can wear this winter? They will make our feet look so
+awfully large, you see?"
+
+"That's the way we will all look, only a good deal worse, for some of us
+have no skirts to cover them with, as you have," spoke up Mr. G. for the
+first time.
+
+"I thought the 'Elk' leaned to the land side more today than usual,"
+said Mr. B. with a twinkle, "but now it is explained."
+
+"Bad boy! My muckluks were on that side of the ship from the first, only
+they were in my bag for a while. They are no heavier now than they were
+then. You shall have no supper," said I, with mock severity.
+
+So I kept the fur boots on, in spite of their jokes, wondering what they
+would say when I arrived at Golovin and removed my fascinator (another
+surprise I was keeping for them), and contented myself by thinking I had
+the laugh on them, when they complained of cold feet, and my own were so
+perfectly comfortable.
+
+At last, on the morning of October twentieth, with the sun just rising
+over the snowy hills surrounding the water, the cliffs on both sides of
+the entrance standing out clear and sharp in the cold morning light, and
+with one ship already there, we dropped anchor, being in Golovin Bay.
+The settlement, a score of houses, a hotel, a flagstaff or two, and the
+Mission.
+
+I now waked the girls, who turned out of their bunks, dressed as they
+had been since coming on board the "Elk," and we made ready to go
+ashore. We were out in deep water, still some distance from the beach,
+and must again get out into a small boat, probably for the last time
+this year. Not all could get into the boat; we must take turns, but we
+were bundled into it some way, and soon we were upon the sands, a dozen
+feet from dry land. Again we were transferred by one man power, as at
+Nome, to the sands, which were here frozen quite hard, and upon which I
+had the sensation, at first, of walking with a gunboat attached to each
+foot.
+
+Some one conducted us to the Mission House, only a few hundred yards
+from our landing place, while the boat went back to the "Elk" for the
+others. Miss E., who had come up on the "St. Paul" with us, and now the
+housekeeper here, came running out to welcome all cordially. By her we
+were shown into the cozy little parlor, so tidy, bright and warm that we
+immediately felt ourselves again in civilization. Soon Mr. H., the head
+missionary, whom I had already met in Nome, came in with Miss J., the
+teacher of the Mission children. She also had spent some days with us at
+Nome. These all made us very welcome, and our party of seven was soon
+sitting together before a good, smoking hot breakfast, to which we did
+real justice.
+
+When entering the house I had, upon first removing my wraps and
+"fascinator," given my friends another surprise equal to the one of the
+muckluks on the steamer. The day before leaving Nome I had
+(surreptitiously again) made a visit to the hairdresser, and when I left
+her room I appeared another woman. My head now, instead of being covered
+with long, thin hair, done up hastily in a twist at the back, had short
+hair and curled all over, a great improvement, they all voted, when the
+first surprise was over.
+
+My hair, all summer, had been like that of most women when first in
+Alaska, falling out so rapidly that I feared total baldness if something
+was not done to prevent. This was the only sure remedy for the trouble,
+as I knew from former experience, and as I again proved, for it entirely
+stopped coming out. Ricka soon followed my example, and we, with Miss
+J., who had been relieved of her hair by fever the year before, made
+almost a colony of short-haired women, much to the amusement of some of
+our party.
+
+After we had eaten our breakfasts, several of us set to work at writing
+letters to send out to Nome by the "Elk," which would remain a few hours
+unloading freight, as this might be our last opportunity for many weeks,
+or until the winter mails were carried by dog-teams over the trails. We
+fancied our friends on the outside would be glad to hear that we had
+arrived safely at Golovin, and our pens flew rapidly over the paper.
+These letters, finally collected, were placed in the hands of one of the
+"Elk's" crew for mailing at Nome, and the steamer sailed away.
+
+Not all, however, wrote letters. The business head of the "Star" firm
+had not been idle, nor writing letters, and while I wrote Alma was
+deeply engaged, well seconded by Ricka, in making arrangements with Mr.
+H. by which we could remain in this Mission House all winter. Before
+noon it was decided that we should stay, assisting the missionaries all
+in our power until such time as they could move to their new station, as
+soon as the ice was firm enough in the bay to travel upon and the Home
+was far enough toward completion. It was impossible to finish the
+building now, but so far as practicable it would be made habitable, and
+all necessary and movable articles of furniture would be carried to the
+Home, though many large pieces would be left for our use.
+
+This arrangement included our party of seven, Mary at Nome, and the
+three boys at work at this time on the new Home building, and would do
+away with all necessity for building a cabin, lumber being expensive and
+good logs scarce.
+
+This intelligence came just in time for insertion in our home letters
+sent away on the "Elk," and it was a day of rejoicing for at least seven
+persons (Miss L. was to go to the Home, but Mary was to come to us from
+Nome), who already considered themselves a "lucky number."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+LIFE AT GOLOVIN.
+
+
+Our first duty after arriving at Golovin was to look up our freight,
+which seemed to be in a general mix-up. Each person was searching on the
+beach and in the warehouse for something. For my part, I was greatly
+concerned over the probable loss of a case of coal oil, and a box
+containing wool blankets, feather pillow, and other things too precious
+to lose after paying freight, especially as some of the articles could
+not be replaced, and all were useful and necessary. The "Elk's" crew had
+dumped the freight promiscuously upon the frozen sands, considering
+their duty at that point done, and no assurance was given us that the
+freight was all there, or that it was in good condition. The risk was
+all ours. We could find it or lose it--that did not concern the "Elk."
+As we had no idea as to the honesty of the community in which we had
+come to reside, and little confidence in some of the "Elk's" passengers
+who were also receiving freight, we visited the beach a number of times
+during the first two days. While at Nome and packing up to leave I had
+remembered the story of the person who, going to market, put all the
+eggs into one basket, and for that reason, when an accident occurred,
+she lost the whole lot; while, if she had placed them in two baskets,
+one-half might have-been saved. For this reason I then packed my
+blankets in two boxes, and now as one was missing I was glad I had done
+so, for to be entering upon a cold, long winter without woolen blankets
+would be hard lines indeed.
+
+The first day was spent by the boys in hauling baggage and freight into
+the old school house, near the mission, which was to be our store room
+for a time. This building was made of logs, sod and mud plaster, with
+small doors and windows, and thatched roof, now overgrown with grass and
+weeds.
+
+It had long-been deserted, or given over to storing purposes, as the new
+school and church building was put up alongside, and was being used at
+the present time. We would unpack as little as possible, while the
+Mission family remained, as their house was too small to accommodate
+comfortably so many. Mr. H. was like the old woman who lived in a shoe,
+for he really had such a family that he was puzzled as to what
+disposition he should make of them. However, the men were all lodged in
+the new school building, as it was vacation time, and no session; trunks
+and baggage, except bedding, were put in the store house.
+
+The Eskimo children and the women occupied the second floor of the
+mission. Mr. H. had his room on the first floor, oftentimes shared with
+some visiting missionary or friend, and I was the best lodged of all.
+The big velvet couch in the sitting-room by the fire was allotted to me,
+and I slept luxuriously, as well as comfortably. The newest and most
+modern article of furniture in the establishment, this couch, was soft,
+wide, and in a warm, cozy corner of the room.
+
+From being lodged above a bar-room in Nome, I had come to a parlor in
+the Mission, and I was well pleased with the changed atmosphere, as well
+as the reduction of charges; for, whereas I had paid five dollars per
+week for my small, unfurnished room there, I now paid nothing, except
+such help as I could give the women in the house.
+
+I felt, too, that I had earned, by my hard work during the summer, all
+the rest and comfort I could get, and I thoroughly enjoyed the change.
+Where among the drones and laggards is one who can find such sweets as
+well-earned rest and comfort after labor? What satisfaction to feel the
+joy all one's own. None assisted in the earning, and consequently none
+expected a division of reward. It was all my own. If this is
+selfishness, it is surely a refined sort, and excusable.
+
+I was not, however, the only one in the Mission who enjoyed a
+well-earned rest. Each one of our party of seven had worked for months
+as hard and harder than I, and all found a vacation as pleasing, while
+the Mission people had the same round of work and as much as they could
+accomplish all the year round.
+
+The day after our arrival at Golovin was Sunday. The weather was clear
+and sunny, but cold. We were now not only to have a vacation ourselves,
+but could give our working clothes a rest as well, and I took great
+pleasure in unearthing a good black dress which was not abbreviated as
+to length, surprising my friends by my height, after being in short
+skirts so long. It was really Sunday now, and we wore our Sunday clothes
+for the first time in months, not having had an opportunity for Sabbath
+observance in the work we had done at Nome.
+
+To complete our enjoyment of the good day, there was the organ in the
+sitting-room, and upon my first entering the room, and seeing the
+instrument I had drawn a deep sigh of inward delight. To find an organ,
+yes, two of them, for there was also one standing in the schoolroom, or
+little church, was to feel sure of many bright and happy hours during
+the coming winter, and I felt more than ever that for strangers in the
+Arctic world we were, indeed, highly favored.
+
+It was not long before I discovered that with at least two of our party
+of seven music was a passion, for Ricka, as well as Mr. B., could never
+have enough, and it was a pleasure to see the real and unaffected
+delight upon their faces when I played. We were really quite well
+supplied with musical instruments, for there were now in the Mission
+two guitars, one mandolin, a violin and a few harmonicas, besides the
+two organs, while as for vocalists everybody sang from Mr. H. down to
+the Eskimo boys, girls and the baby.
+
+But this day's climax was the three o'clock dinner, prepared by Miss E.
+Could anything be more restful to three tired restaurant workers than to
+sit quietly in easy chairs, allow others to prepare the meal and invite
+them to partake, without having given a thought to the preparation of
+the same, gaining, as we did, a knowledge of what was coming only by the
+pleasant odors proceeding from the kitchen? Certainly not, and the
+increased appetite that comes with this rest is only a part of the
+enjoyment. So when we were seated at the table on Sunday, the second day
+of our arrival at Golovin, before us fresh roast mutton, baked potatoes,
+stewed tomatoes, coffee, bread and butter, with pickles, and a most
+delicious soup made of dried prunes, apricots, raisins and tapioca for
+dessert, we were about the happiest people in Alaska and appreciated it
+immensely. What bread Miss E. did make, with slices as large as saucers,
+not too thin, snowy, but fresh and sweet. What coffee from the big pot,
+with Eagle brand cream from the pint can having two small holes in the
+top, one to admit air and the other to let the cream out. Nothing had
+tasted so good to us since we had come home, as hungry children, from
+school. As then, we were care-free, if only for a little while, and we
+were a jolly, happy crowd.
+
+In the evening, when the children were once in bed, we all gathered in
+the sitting-room for music, stories and plans for the future, including
+the placing of a few new strings on the musical instruments and tuning
+of the same. Mr. H. had gone to the Home the afternoon before, so there
+had been no preaching service as ordinarily in the little schoolhouse
+across the road. The boys were talking of going to the Home across the
+bay next day in a boat, but a wind came up which finally developed into
+a stout southwester, and Monday was a most disagreeable day. Alma worked
+on a fur cap, to practise, she said, on some one before making her own.
+Ricka mended mittens and other garments for the boys, while I sewed on
+night clothes for the little Eskimo baby.
+
+The child was probably between three and four years old, but nobody knew
+exactly, for she was picked up on the beach, half dead, a year before,
+by the missionary, where she was dying of neglect. Her mother was dead,
+and her grandfather was giving her the least attention possible, so that
+she was sickly, dirty and starved. She had well repaid the kind people
+who took her into the Mission, being now fat and healthy, as well as
+quite intelligent. She was a real pet with all the women immediately,
+being the youngest of this brood of twenty youngsters and having many
+cunning little ways. In appearance she looked like a Japanese, as, in
+fact, all Eskimos do, having straight black hair, and eyes shaped much
+like those of these people, while all are short and thick of stature,
+with few exceptions.
+
+Among this score of little natives there were some who were very bright.
+All were called by English names, and Peter, John, Mary, Ellen and
+Susan, as well as Garfield, Lincoln and George Washington, with many
+others, became familiar household words, though the two last named were
+grown men, and now gone out from the Mission into houses of their own.
+
+As to the dressing of these children, it was also in English fashion,
+except for boots, which were always muckluks, and parkies of fur for
+outside garments, including, perhaps, drill parkies for mild weather, or
+to pull on over the furs, when it rained or snowed, to keep out the
+water. As the weather grew more severe, heavy cloth or fur mittens were
+worn, and little calico and gingham waists and dresses were discarded
+for flannel ones.
+
+The children, for weeks after our arrival, ran out often to play,
+bareheaded and without wraps, having frequently to be reminded when the
+weather was severe, to put them on. In the kitchen they had their own
+table, where they were separately served, though at the same time as
+their elders at another table in the room. To preserve the health of the
+little ones, not taking entirely away their native foods of seal meat
+and oil, tom-cod (small fish), reindeer meat and wild game, these were
+fed to them on certain days of the week, as well as other native dishes
+dear to the Eskimo palate, but they were well fed at all times, and grew
+fat and hearty as well as happy.
+
+As we sewed contentedly in the sitting-room on Monday the storm
+continued, snowing and blowing a gale from the southwest, which, though
+not disturbing us even slightly, we felt sure would be bad for those at
+sea and at Nome; our own experiences at that place giving us always a
+large sympathy for others in similar plight. Long afterwards we learned
+that in this storm the "Elk" had been blown ashore at Nome, and was
+pretty thoroughly disabled, if not entirely wrecked, and we wondered if
+poor cook Jim had "done been mighty busy, sah, gittin' tings fixed" ever
+since.
+
+When evening came the children and Baby Bessie were put to bed; work,
+indoors and out, was finished for that day, and we were twelve in the
+sitting-room, as merry a crowd as one could find in all Alaska. Miss J.
+had taken a lesson on the organ in the afternoon and was all interested
+in making progress on that instrument, assuring her friends who declared
+she would never practise her lessons, that she certainly would do so, as
+they would afterwards learn.
+
+The winds might sigh and moan, and whirl the falling snow in the
+darkness as they liked; waters congeal under the fingers of the frost
+king, closing the mouth of innumerable creeks, rivers, and bays; but
+here under cover we had light, health, warmth and food, without a single
+care. In my cozy, soft bed under the blankets, the firelight playing on
+the walls, the fine organ open and ready for use, I lay often with wide
+open eyes, wondering if I were myself or another.
+
+In one corner of the room stood a case containing books enough to supply
+us with reading matter for a year, those printed in Swedish being, of
+course, of no use to me, but a variety of subjects were here presented
+in English, ranging from Drummond's "Natural Law in the Spiritual World"
+to nursery rhymes for the children. Volumes on medicine, law, science,
+travels, stories, ethics and religion--all were here for the instruction
+and edification of inmates of the Mission. In another corner there was a
+large case of medicines, and here were remedies in powders, liquids,
+salves and pills, drawers filled with lint, bandages, cotton, and books
+of instruction teaching the uses of all. Even surgical instruments were
+found here, as well as appliances for emergencies, from broken and
+frozen limbs, mad-dog bites, and "capital operations," to a scratched
+finger or the nose-bleed.
+
+This outfit was for the use of any and all, without charge, who should
+be so unfortunate as to require assistance of this sort in this region.
+Without money and without price, the only case of remedies for many
+miles around, this Mission provided for all suffering ones who applied,
+and during the winter many were relieved and assisted toward recovery.
+
+In the third corner of this room stood the large cabinet organ, nearly
+new, and in good condition. Instruction books, hymnals, "Gospel Hymns,"
+small collections of words without music, Swedish songs--all were here
+in abundance.
+
+The fourth corner contained my couch-bed. A heating stove, made of sheet
+iron, a table with its pretty spread, a large student lamp, easy chairs,
+a pretty ingrain rug covering the floor, window shades and lace
+curtains, with pictures and Scripture texts upon the wall, completed the
+room furnishings, making a homey place, which for years had been a haven
+of refuge for the homeless Eskimo children. Besides these, it had given
+food, shelter and clothing to many a white-faced wanderer, who came
+penniless, hungry and cold, perhaps ill and starving.
+
+About seven years before this unpretending, now weather-beaten house had
+been erected, and the kindly little dark-eyed man put in charge was at
+once at home. He was blessed with rare versatility and patience, as well
+as a great heart of love for all mankind, including the dark-skinned,
+seal-eating races of the Arctic.
+
+From a door-latch to a baby's cradle, from a log-house to a sail-boat
+rigged with runners on the ice, he planned, contrived and executed,
+principally for others, for years. Here we found, in one room, from his
+hands a bedstead, a table, and a washstand commode, all made in white
+wood, of regulation size, shape and pattern, though without paint or
+staining. Relegated now to an upper room, since the velvet couch had
+arrived, was a long, wooden settle, with back, ends and sliding seat,
+the latter to be pushed forward upon legs and made into double bed at
+night.
+
+One day in the winter, when searching for open places under the roof
+through which the snow was sifting, wetting the ceiling of the room
+below, I found in the attic a number of curious things, and among them a
+child's cradle. Not all the thought of the good man had been given to
+the needs of the "grown-ups," but the small, weak and helpless ones of
+his flock had received their equal share of attention. The cradle was
+well made with solid high sides and ends, and curved upper edges,
+swinging low and easily upon its two strong rockers. All was smooth,
+well finished, and rounded, though there was no paint nor varnish, these
+articles being doubtless unprocurable and not deemed strictly essential.
+Near by were the remnants of a white fox robe fitting the cradle. It was
+made of baby fox skin, fine, soft and pretty. A flannel lining with a
+pinked-out edge completed what had once been a lovely cover for baby,
+whether with white face or black, and I fell to wishing I might have
+seen the complete outfit in its former days.
+
+From the rafters of the attic hung articles of wearing apparel of
+curious make and pattern, sometimes of skins of the wild reindeer or
+spotted seal. Of old mittens and muckluks there were numbers, still
+preserved for the good they had done or might yet do at piecing out
+somewhere. There were things for which I had not yet learned the uses,
+but might do so before the cold winter had passed. There were also many
+fur skins, and new articles of value stored in the attic.
+
+Tuesday, October twenty-third, the weather was not cold, but snow fell
+part of the day, and it grew dark about half-past four in the afternoon.
+The gale of Monday had subsided, and the sky was overcast. The steamer
+"Sadie" of the Alaska Commercial Company surprised us by coming into
+Golovin, and again suddenly we fell to letter writing in order to send
+them out by her, remaining several hours as she always did to unload
+freight and baggage, for this would positively be our last steamer.
+Outside the boys worked as industriously as we women. In the old
+log-house, a hundred feet from our door, was the building now used for a
+woodshed. Here, upon a big "double-decker" saw-buck, two of the boys,
+with the big saw between them, worked away, hour after hour, at the
+great logs of driftwood brought from the beach, as this was the only
+kind of fuel here used, and much was needed for the winter fires.
+
+When I had finished my work of sewing, and it grew too dark to thread
+needles, between that hour and the one for the lamp lighting, I was
+usually seated at the organ, and our music was not all Hymns from the
+Hymnals, certainly. There were marches and polkas, and sprightly
+waltzes, too, and nothing was ever tabooed, though these classic
+selections were always omitted on Sunday. None ever minded how long I
+sat at the organ, or how many times a day a certain piece was played,
+and a few could never be sated; but I took good care that my work never
+lagged, and a duty was never neglected for such pleasure, thereby making
+it always the recreation and enjoyable exercise it was intended to be
+and not tiresome.
+
+Miss J. now took a lesson on the instrument each day for a half hour
+after the lamps were lighted, and as she had already had a few lessons,
+and could play a few hymns, she was much interested in acquiring a
+further knowledge which would be helpful in church and Sunday school
+services. Miss E., too, thought of beginning lessons if she could find
+time from her manifold duties as house-mother of the numerous flock, and
+did take a few lessons before they moved away.
+
+In the evening there was always singing, for some were sure to be
+present then, who had been absent during the day. Perhaps Mr. H. had
+arrived with a Christian native from the Home, to spend the night before
+going back on the morrow, with supplies of some sort for the completion
+of his new house. He now headed the two establishments and vibrated
+between them, simply camping at the new place and enjoying everything of
+home life possible in the Mission. At jokes and repartee he was as good
+as the best of them, and always enjoyed a laugh like the youngest.
+
+A level head and firm hand had this Swedish missionary of long
+experience. From a dozen or more years at Yakutat, in southern Alaska,
+where he had done invaluable work for that Mission, he had come about
+two years before to Golovin Bay, and now had, besides the Eskimo
+children in that place, over four hundred government reindeer in charge.
+For these he kept a number of experienced and trusty native drivers, and
+these either lived in his Mission or with their families near at hand,
+as a few of them now were married.
+
+This herd of animals was kept upon the hills where the reindeer moss
+grew in plenty, for they could not, and would not, eat anything else if
+they literally starved to death, and they were now five miles away. To
+remove this great family of a score and more with their belongings over
+the ice, a distance of twelve miles in winter by dog-team, getting
+settled in a large frame building, unplastered, and upon a bleak,
+unprotected shore, was an undertaking which would have discouraged most
+men; especially as a shipload of needed supplies for their new Home,
+including furniture, had been lost at sea, leaving them short of many
+such necessities. But this was not all. The whole reindeer herd and
+their drivers, with their several families, were also to be moved near
+the new Home, and to fresh moss pastures.
+
+Near the Home was a good-sized creek of fresh and pure water, which ran
+singing along through the hills to the ocean, and for this reason the
+site had been selected and built upon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+WINTER IN THE MISSION.
+
+
+The first few garments I made for Little Bessie were not a great
+success. I had told Miss E. that I would be delighted to assist her in
+any way that I could, never dreaming what would come; and she being more
+in need of warm clothing for the children than anything else, with rolls
+of uncut flannels, and baskets piled high with materials to be made into
+underwear, said immediately that I might help with their sewing.
+
+She then brought a piece of Canton flannel, and the shears, and put them
+into my hands, saying that I might make two pairs of night-trowsers for
+the baby. My heart sank within me in a moment. I made a desperate effort
+to collect myself, however, and quietly asked if she had a pattern. No,
+she had none. The child, she said, kicked the cover off her in the night
+so often, and the weather was growing so cold, that she and Miss J.
+thought a garment of the trouser description, taking in the feet at the
+same time, would very well answer her needs, and this I was requested to
+originate, pattern and all. Whatever should I do? I could more easily
+have climbed Mt. McKinley! If she had told me to concoct a new pudding,
+write an essay, or make a trip to Kotzebue, I should not have been so
+much dismayed; but to make a garment like that, out of "whole cloth," so
+to speak, from my own design--that was really an utter impossibility.
+
+"O, well," she said, "I am sure you can do this well enough. It is not
+such a very particular job; just make something in which to keep the
+child warm nights, you know. That is all I care for," kindly added she,
+as she closed the door behind her and went back to the kitchen.
+
+Finally I appealed to Alma. She was busy. She had never cut out anything
+of the sort, neither had Ricka nor Miss L., but I being a married woman
+was supposed to have a superior knowledge of all such things. I admitted
+that I might have a theory on the subject, but a "working hypothesis,"
+alas, I had none.
+
+Still I hung around Alma, who was an expert dressmaker of years'
+standing in San Francisco.
+
+"No, I can't cut them out, really; but why don't you make a pattern from
+some garment on hand?"
+
+Here was an idea. Something to build upon.
+
+"But there are the feet, and the waist?" I said still anxiously.
+
+"O, build them on to your pattern," she said carelessly; as if anyone
+with half an eye and one hand could do that sort of building, and she
+left the room for more important matters.
+
+There was nothing else for me to do. I secured a suit of the baby's
+clothing throughout, and, taking the cloth, the shears, and an old
+newspaper, I went upstairs to Miss J.'s room and closed the door. I
+wanted to be alone. I longed to have my dear old mother there for just
+one short hour, for in that time I felt certain she would have cut out
+these as well as other garments, enough to keep us for weeks sewing, as
+her own babies had kept her at one time.
+
+However, there was no help for me, and I went to work. For an hour I cut
+and whittled on that old newspaper, along with a number of others,
+before I got a pattern that I fancied might do. Then I submitted it to
+Miss J. herself, who told me to go ahead and cut it out. It appeared all
+right, so far as she could see. Then I cut, and basted, and tried the
+garment on Bessie. It was too wide across the chest, too short in the
+legs, and the feet were monstrosities. What was to be done, I asked of
+the others?
+
+"Make new feet, and sew them on around the ankle," said Miss J.,
+thoughtfully, surveying her little charge from all sides, as the child
+stood first on one foot, then on the other, "then you can lengthen the
+legs a little if you want to," careful not to offend by criticising
+abruptly, but still feeling that the height of the gearing should be
+increased.
+
+"Dear me, that's easy enough," suggested Alma, "just put a wide box
+plait down the front, like that in a shirtwaist, and it will be all
+right."
+
+"The back can be taken out in the placket," and Ricka folded and lapped
+the cloth on the little child's shoulders, and then we called Miss E.
+from the kitchen. After making a few suggestions in a very conservative
+way, as if they did not come readily because the garment was just about
+right; she left the room hastily, saying her bread would burn in the
+oven; and I thought I heard her giggling with Miss L. in Swedish until
+she ran away out into the woodshed, ostensibly for an armful of wood;
+though if her bread were already burning I wondered what she wanted of
+more fire.
+
+I did not blame her; I laughed too. The little child looked exceedingly
+funny as she stood there in that wonderful garment, with black eyes
+shining like beads, and face perfectly unsmiling, as she nearly always
+looks, wondering why it was we were laughing.
+
+October twenty-fourth the boys worked all day at making the house more
+comfortable for winter, nailing tar paper upon the north side, where
+some clapboards were missing, putting on storm or double windows outside
+of the others, and filling the cracks with putty. A couple of the boys
+also worked at hauling supplies of apples and potatoes from the
+warehouse by dog-team, putting the eatables into the cellar under the
+kitchen, which was well packed in with hay. This cellar was a rude one,
+and in summer frequently filled with water from the surface and the hill
+above the house, making it not altogether wholesome at times, but by
+management, it was still being used for some things, and of course, in
+cold weather, it made no difference, for everything was solidly frozen.
+
+Snow enough had fallen by this time, a little coming quietly down every
+few hours, to make fair roads for the sleds, the ground being quite
+hard; while Fish River and adjoining creeks were fast freezing over, as
+were also the waters of the bay.
+
+In the evening Mr. H. came in, and we all gathered in the sitting room,
+some sewing, some mending, but all chatting pleasantly. The missionary
+had just been informed, he told us, of a gold strike on the Kuskokquim
+River, some one having only recently returned from St. Michael, and
+brought the report. From that place men were leaving for the new
+diggings each day, and it might or might not prove a bona fide strike.
+With reindeer, on a good winter trail, this distance would not be a
+formidable trip, Mr. H. told us.
+
+This was the information we wanted to hear, and it probably started a
+train of golden dreams that night in more than one head, which was long
+in stopping, especially when he informed us that every acre of land
+around us was then staked out in quartz claims, though no extensive
+prospecting had yet been done, and we were pleased at finding ourselves
+"so near" even though we were "yet so far."
+
+Today was a birthday for Mr. G., and he was teased unmercifully for his
+age, but would not give it, so those who had known him the longest tried
+their best to figure it out from incidents in his life and from
+narratives of his own, and made it out to their satisfaction as about
+thirty-two years, though he refused (like a woman) to the very last, to
+tell them if they were guessing correctly.
+
+The next day it still snowed a little at intervals between clouds and
+sunshine, and all "tenderfeet" were more comfortable indoors. Miss E.
+and Ricka had gone the day before with the boys and Mr. H. to the Home
+on a scow-load of lumber, though we feared it was pretty cold for them
+without shelter on the water; but with the wind in the right direction,
+they wanted to attempt it, and so started. They were to look the new
+building over for the first time, Miss E. being much interested in the
+inside arrangement of rooms, naturally, as it was to be her home and
+field of labor, and rightly thinking a womanly suggestion, perhaps,
+might make the kitchens more handy.
+
+In their absence the rest of us continued our sewing, Miss L. taking
+Miss E.'s place in the kitchen, with help from the larger Eskimo girls
+at dish washing. The latter were docile and smiling, and one little girl
+called Ellen was always exceedingly careful to put each cup and saucer,
+spoon and dish in its proper place after drying it, showing a
+commendable systematic instinct, which Miss E. was trying to foster.
+
+Between times, their school not yet being in session, they played about,
+either up in their rooms if it was too stormy outside, or out of doors
+if the weather permitted; though, for that matter, they seldom hesitated
+to do anything they wished on account of the weather, as it was not so
+cold to the natives as to us. They played with balls, both large and
+small, and sleds of all descriptions; and if the latter were not to be
+had, or all in use, a barrel stave or board would be made to answer the
+same purpose. It was a rush past the window down the hill, first by a
+pair of muckluked feet, then a barrel stave and a boy, sometimes little
+Pete, and sometimes John. One barrel stave would hold only one coaster,
+and there were usually enough for the boys, but if by chance the little
+girls laid hands upon the sleds before they did, the staves were then
+their only resource. If a child rolled, by accident, upon the ground, it
+never seemed to matter, for in furs he was well protected. The snow was
+soft, and he, being as much at home there as anywhere, seemed rather to
+like it.
+
+If he was seen to fall, it was the signal for some other to roll and
+tumble him, keeping him under as long as possible, and it was a frequent
+sight to see three or four small boys tumbling about like kittens,
+locked in each other's arms, and all kicking and shouting
+good-naturedly. Snowballing, too, was their delight, and their balls
+were not always velvety, either, as the one stopping its course could
+affirm.
+
+These children did little quarreling. I cannot remember seeing Eskimo
+boys angry or fighting, a thing quite noticeable among them, for nowhere
+in the world, perhaps, could the same number of white children be found
+living so quietly and harmoniously together as did these twelve little
+dark-faced Eskimos in the Mission.
+
+Our days were now growing much shorter, and it was necessary to light
+the lamps at four o'clock in the afternoon, the sun having set some time
+before. The sunset skies were lovely in bright and tender colors,
+reflecting themselves as they did in the water of the bay, and tinting
+delicately all surrounding hilltops. What a beautiful sight it was, and
+how sadly we remembered that very soon the water would have disappeared
+under the solid ice, there to remain for long months imprisoned. Little
+did we then know that the heavenly beauty of the Arctic sky is never
+lacking, but close upon the departure of one season, another, no less
+beautiful, takes its place.
+
+Diary of October twenty-sixth: Alma and I called today upon two
+neighbors in the old schoolhouse next the church, by name Dr. H. and
+wife. They claim to have come from Dawson not very long ago, being
+shipwrecked on the way, and losing their outfit. She seems a chatty,
+pleasant little body, and inclined to make the best of everything, her
+hard lot included, and she is baking and selling bread to the miners.
+She is a brave little woman, and could teach many a pampered and
+helpless one lessons of great usefulness and patience. Miss L. is ill
+with quincy and suffering very much, so Alma makes the bread.
+
+I have just made four large aprons for Miss J., cutting them out and
+making them, and they look really well, so I am quite proud of myself,
+especially as Ricka has "set up" my knitting on needles for me, and I am
+going to make some hose. I usually knit evenings, between times at the
+organ, for my new yarn received from San Francisco is very nice, and
+will make warm winter stockings.
+
+Saturday, October twenty-seventh: We have four inches of snow on the
+ground, and more coming. Miss L. is quite ill with her throat, and did
+not get up today. Alma, too, is very pouty, with a swollen, pudgy face,
+and feels badly. They both say they think they took cold coming from
+Nome on the "Elk," and I don't doubt it, for I would have done so myself
+only for my great caution in taking care of my newly shingled head and
+in applying a thorough dose of fur muckluks to my feet, but, thanks to
+them, I am the most "chipper" one at present.
+
+Miss J. had Dr. H. examine Bessie today, and he says she has bronchitis,
+but told the teacher what to do for her.
+
+The two girls came back from the Home with Mr. H. and Mr. L. about four
+o'clock after we had begun to be worried about them. They were hungry,
+and Alma and I got dinner for them, when Mr. H. started back immediately
+in a small boat alone, after it had begun to grow dark. We begged him
+not to attempt it, but he insisted on going, as he must be there
+tomorrow to push the work on the building, and the ice is floating, so
+he fears it will freeze the bay over. The sun shone out beautifully for
+three or four hours, and it is just one week today since we landed in
+Golovin, a most pleasant week to us all (pattern making not included).
+
+Later.--I helped with the housework and made two more aprons for Miss J.
+There is nothing like feeling of some use in the world, is there?
+
+Sunday, October twenty-eight: A clear, bright morning, growing cloudy
+about noon, and dark at four in the afternoon, when lamps were lighted.
+We had a long, restful day indoors, both Miss E. and Ricka being very
+lame from their long walk of fifteen miles over the stony beach and
+tundra covered hills from the Home, Mr. H.'s boat being too small for
+four persons. By water the distance is called a dozen miles, but by land
+and on foot it is much farther, as the girls have found by sad
+experience; and they were very glad it was Sunday, and they could rest.
+Miss E. said laughingly that we would play we were at home in the States
+again, and so she spread the breakfast table daintily in the
+sitting-room, with white cover, pretty embroidered centre-piece, and
+snowy napkins, bringing real comfort to our hearts, accustomed as we had
+been for so many months to bare necessities and none of the luxuries. A
+fashionable breakfast hour for Sunday in the States was also affected in
+order to make the plan complete, and because the mornings, growing
+darker as they are continually doing, nobody felt in haste to leave
+their beds. Of course every one wore his Sunday clothes and I put on my
+very best waist of olive green satin with a good black skirt, which had
+a little train, thereby effectively hiding my uncouth feet, still clad
+as they are in the ungainly muckluks.
+
+The ice is moving in the bay, and we hear that still another steamer may
+come in, so we can send mail out to Nome, and write to have in
+readiness. There have been no church services today, as Mr. H. is away
+at the Home, but we had music and singing frequently, and Swedish hymns
+all evening, which I play, but do not understand.
+
+Monday, October twenty-ninth: This has been a bright, sunny morning
+until a little after noon, when it grew cloudy, as it often does. Miss
+E. was still very lame from her long tramp of last Saturday, and Ricka
+and I assisted in the kitchen. Alma has cut out a pretty brown cloth
+dress for Miss J. and is making it. Miss L.'s throat is better, and she
+is out of her room again, after a siege of severe suffering with
+quinsy, which caused a gathering. About nine in the evening Mr. H. came
+in from the Home, having walked the whole distance, a boat being now
+unsafe in the floating ice. After drinking some hot coffee, he related
+to us his adventure of Friday night in the Peterborough canoe. He had
+left us quite late in the afternoon of that day to go to the Home, and
+it was already beginning to grow dark. For a while, he said, he found
+open water, and made good time at the paddle, but presently found
+himself alongside of and soon after crowded by floating ice.
+
+It was young ice, and he did not have much fear of it. He kept on
+paddling, but finally found himself entirely surrounded, and manage as
+he would, he could not free his canoe. A breeze came up from the north,
+which pushed him along with the ice out toward sea, for he was near the
+mouth of the bay. There was nothing to do but wait. For an hour he
+waited.
+
+It was well on towards midnight, and he could see no escape. The
+missionary, in relating the incident to us, did not dwell upon this part
+of his story, but he said he had given himself up for lost, and only
+prayed and waited. By and by the breeze died away, the ice quietly
+parted, and drifted away from him, and he paddled safely ashore.
+
+Tuesday, October thirty: A brand new experience today--that of watching
+the natives and others fish through the ice. Little holes are made in
+the ice, which is now quite strong in the north end of the bay near the
+cliff, and the Eskimos sit there patiently for hours, fishing for
+tom-cod. These are small fish, but quite tasty, one of the principal
+means of subsistence for the natives, and are also much used by others.
+No pole is needed on the line except a short one of three or four feet,
+and when a bite is felt by the fisherman, the line is quickly drawn out,
+given a sudden twitch, which frees the tom-cod, and he is summarily
+dispatched with a few raps from the fishing stick kept at hand for the
+purpose.
+
+Several river boats, including small steamers, are laid up under the
+cliff for the winter, dismantled of loose gear and light machinery, and
+I did get a few views which should prove of some value. The weather was
+good all day, the sun setting at three in the afternoon, and it being
+nearly dark an hour later. Mr. H. dressed himself from top to toe in
+furs, hitched three dogs to a sled, took a lunch for himself, a few
+supplies of eatables for the Home camp to which he was going, and
+started out, on a longer, but we trusted a less venturesome and
+dangerous route than by Peterborough canoe. Our evening was pleasantly,
+and at the same time more or less profitably spent by our party in the
+sitting-room, Alma sewing on Miss J.'s new dress, Ricka and I knitting,
+and the others either mending or busying themselves at something. This
+something frequently covers a good deal of ground, for with one or two
+of the boys it means pranks or roguishness of some sort, which really
+enlivens the whole household and keeps our risibles from growing rusty
+by disuse.
+
+Wednesday, October thirty-one: I find no difficulty in running the
+sewing machine here, which is a new and good one, and I like to use it
+very well. Just how they could get along without it is more than I can
+tell, with so much sewing to do for each of the children, not to mention
+the others who are waiting to come into the Mission at the earliest
+possible moment. During the day Mr. L. busied himself usefully in
+several ways as he always does, and finally mended Miss J.'s guitar.
+After supper we counted ourselves and found six women and a lot of
+children, but he was the only man in the establishment, the others being
+at the Home, and we hazed him considerably, all of which was taken most
+good-naturedly. The bay is freezing more and more each day, with an
+increasing depth of snow upon the ground.
+
+A very unpleasant day as to weather was Friday, November second. Snow,
+high tide, and wind from the south, which blew the water further yet
+upon the beach; but we sewed all day, though I did not get much
+accomplished. I gave Miss E. her first lesson on the organ today. Alma
+is making herself a new dress skirt, as she has Miss J.'s wool dress
+nearly finished, and it looks exceedingly well, fitting, as some one
+remarks, "like the paper on the wall." Alma likes dressmaking, and does
+it well, but draws the line at baby clothes.
+
+Each day Miss J., the teacher, is now holding a little prayer meeting in
+the kitchen for the natives. When the supper is cleared away, one of the
+boys goes out and rings the bell, which is only a big, iron triangle
+hung under three posts in the ground. A piece of iron is picked up and
+put through the triangle, hitting it on both sides, and making a
+ringing, vibrating sound which calls in the natives, who come
+immediately, just as they are, and range themselves on the benches along
+the walls. Those who can sing sit at the long table upon which are the
+lamps and English song books, those used being principally Gospel songs.
+One of the grown boys called Ivan is a very fair singer, and loves music
+of all kinds. He is the interpreter for all meetings, understanding
+English and speaking it quite well. None of the Eskimos are taught
+Swedish--nothing but English.
+
+Miss J. reads a song which she wishes them to learn, and Ivan interprets
+it into Eskimo, verse by verse, afterwards singing it. Tunes are learned
+more quickly than words, but they get the meaning from Ivan. Then Miss
+J. reads the Scripture, Ivan interpreting verse by verse. She next
+offers prayer in English, and calls upon some older native Christian to
+pray in his language, after which they sing several songs with which
+they are familiar. Having selected beforehand some passage from the
+Bible, she reads and expounds that, being interpreted by Ivan; there is
+a short benediction and the meeting is over. They seem to like very well
+to come, and are never eager to go, but say little, not being great
+talkers, even in their own tongue.
+
+When the last Eskimo has departed, and the children are settled in bed,
+the cozy hour of the day has arrived. For a good, old-fashioned tale of
+love, fright and adventure, there is no time like a winter's night, when
+the wind shrieks down the chimney and whirling snow cuddles into corners
+and crannies. When supper is over, and the kitchen is well cleared, the
+women of the house may take their yarn and bright needles, while the men
+toast their feet at the fire and spin--other yarns, without needles,
+which are, perhaps, not so essential, but far more entertaining to
+listeners.
+
+This is what we did that winter at Chinik, the home of the Eskimo, in
+that far away spot near the Arctic Sea. There were tales of the Norsemen
+and Vikings, told by their hardy descendants sitting beside us, as well
+as the stories of Ituk and Moses, the aged, called "Uncle," Punni
+Churah, big Koki, and "Lowri."
+
+To the verity of the following narrative all these and many others can
+willingly vouch.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE RETIRED SEA CAPTAIN.
+
+
+Many years ago, close under the shadow of old Plymouth Rock, there was
+born one day a fair-skinned, blue-eyed baby. Whether from heredity, or
+environment, or both, the reason of his spirit will perhaps never
+plainly appear, but as the child grew into manhood he seemed filled with
+the same adventurous aspirations which had actuated his forefathers,
+causing them to leave their homes in old England, and come to foreign
+shores. Scarcely had he passed into his teens before he was devouring
+tales of pirates, and kindred old sea yarns, and his heart was fired
+with ambition to own a vessel and sail the high seas. Not that he
+thirsted for a pirate's life, but a seafaring man's adventures he longed
+for and decided he must have.
+
+Under these conditions a close application at his desk in the village
+school was an unheard-of consequence; and, having repeatedly smarted
+under the schoolmaster's ferule, not to mention his good mother's
+switches plucked from the big lilac bush by her door, he decided to run
+away to the great harbor, and ship upon some vessel bound for a foreign
+land.
+
+This he did. Then followed the usual hard, rough life of a boy among
+sailors in distant ports; the knotted rope's end, the lip blackening
+language and curses, storms, shipwrecks and misfortunes; all followed as
+a part of the life so hastily chosen by the adventurous young lad, until
+he acquired familiarity with all that appertained thereto, and he was a
+man.
+
+Years passed. To say that fortune never came to him would not be true,
+because she is always a fickle dame, and cannot change her character for
+sailor men. So it came about that he finally stood on the captain's
+bridge of different sorts of craft, and gave orders to those beneath
+him.
+
+And a typical sea captain was he. Gruff when occasion required,
+rollicking as any when it pleased him, he was generous to a fault, and a
+man of naturally good impulses. If he drank, he was never tipsy; if he
+swore, he always had reason; and thus he excused himself when he thought
+of his good old mother's early Bible teaching.
+
+From Montevideo to Canton, from Gibraltar to San Francisco, from Cape of
+Good Hope to the Arctic Ocean; thus ran his itinerary year after year.
+Crossing Behring Strait from Siberia in the summer of 18--, he landed,
+with his little crew, at Cape Prince of Wales, for the purpose of
+trading with the natives. The furs of the animals of this region were
+found to be exceptionally fine, thick and glossy, and the Eskimos easily
+parted with them. For flour, tobacco and woolen cloth they willingly
+gave their furs to the sailors, who looked admiringly upon the skins of
+the polar bear, sea otter, beaver, silver, black and white fox, as well
+as those of many other animals. These furs were sold in San Francisco,
+and other trips were made to the Arctic Northwest.
+
+Along the south coast of the Seward Peninsula there are few bays or
+natural harbors. Golovin Bay is one of them. Here for many years the
+Eskimos have subsisted upon the fine fish and game. The flesh and oils
+of the white whale, seal and walrus being principally sought for, the
+natives came to this bay from all directions.
+
+After many years of wandering, and when the ambitions of the captain for
+a seafaring life had been satisfied, an incident occurred which changed
+the current of his life and decided him to settle permanently at Golovin
+Bay.
+
+During his visits on the peninsula his attention had been directed to a
+bright and intelligent young Eskimo woman, lithe and lively, a good
+swimmer, trapper and hunter. Like a typical Indian, she had a clear,
+keen eye, steady nerves and common sense. She was a good gunner and
+seldom missed her mark. She was fearless on land or sea, loved her free
+out-door life, and was a true child of nature. Her name was Mollie.
+
+One day in the early springtime, nearly a dozen years ago, when the
+winter's ice was still imprisoned in the bays and sounds of Behring
+Sea, though the warm sun had for weeks been shining and already seams
+appeared upon the ice in many places, the captain attempted the trip by
+dog-team from St. Michael to Golovin Bay. With him were four trusty
+natives, and three dog-teams, the animals being of the hardy Eskimo
+breed, and well-nigh impervious to cold, their long, thick hair making
+an effective protection.
+
+His men were experienced, knowing the country perfectly, including a
+knowledge of winter trails and methods of traveling such as all Eskimos
+possess, and though the weather was not just what the captain might have
+wished, he decided to make the start, and left St. Michael in good shape
+for the long trip. The strong sleds with high-back handle bar and railed
+sides were firmly packed with freight, which was securely lashed down.
+The dogs were driven in pairs, eleven to a sled, the eleventh being in
+each case a fine leader and called such, besides having his own Eskimo
+name, as did also the four men who were warmly dressed in furs from head
+to foot. These natives were familiar with little English, but as the
+captain had made himself acquainted with their language they had no
+difficulty in making each other understood.
+
+Early in the evening of that day they reached the Mission station of
+Unalaklik, on the mainland, about fifty miles northeast of the island,
+where they spent the night. In this settlement were white traders, as
+well as missionaries and numbers of Eskimos, it being an old port of
+considerable importance.
+
+In the cold grey morning light Punni Churah and the men called to the
+malemutes, patting their furry heads and talking kindly to them, for
+many a weary, long mile of snow trail stretched northward for them that
+day before they could rest and eat. Only at night, when their day's work
+was done, were these faithful creatures ever fed on seal, fish, whale,
+or walrus meat, for otherwise they would be drowsy, and not willing to
+travel; so they were called early from their snow beds in a drift or
+hollow, where they liked best to sleep, and made ready for the start.
+
+Dressed in their squirrel skin parkies, with wide-bordered hoods upon
+their heads, reindeer muckluks on their feet and mittens of skin upon
+their hands, stood Ah Chugor Ruk, Ung Kah Ah Ruk, Iamkiluk and Punni
+Churah, long lashed whips in hand, and waiting.
+
+On one of the sleds, dressed and enveloped in furs, sat the captain,
+before giving the order to start. At the word from him, the dogs sprang
+to their collars, the little bells jingled, and away they all dashed.
+Team after team, over the well-trodden trail they went, keeping up a
+continuous and sprightly trot for hours, while behind at the handle bars
+ran the natives, and rocks, hills and mountains were passed all
+unnoticed.
+
+That night another Eskimo village was reached, and sixty miles of snow
+trail were left behind. Shaktolik lay on the shore southeast of a
+portage which would have to be made over a small point of land jutting
+out into Norton Bay.
+
+During the night a storm came up which would necessarily much impede
+their progress, being called in the western world a "blizzard." This
+storm fiend, once met, is never forgotten. None but the man in the
+Arctic has seen him. None know so well how to elude him. Like a Peele,
+or a "tremblor" this Arctic king gathers his forces, more mighty than
+armies in battle, and sweeps all opponents before him. To resist means
+death. To crouch, cower or bow down to this implacable lord of the polar
+world is the only way to evade his wrath when he rides abroad, and woe
+to the man who thinks otherwise.
+
+Not long had the wind and snow been blowing when the little train
+prepared to move. Ahead they could see the sled tracks of other
+"mushers" (travelers by dog-team), and the captain concluded to hurry
+along, notwithstanding that Ah Chugor Ruk shook his head, and spat
+tobacco juice upon the ground, and Ung Kah Ah Ruk demurred stoutly in
+few words. Punni Churah thought as the rest, but would go ahead if the
+captain so ordered, and they headed northwest for the portage.
+
+On the dogs trotted for hours. The snow and sleet were blinding, the
+wind had risen to a gale. The dogs traveled less rapidly now, and their
+faces were covered with frost, the moisture freezing as they breathed.
+
+By this time the natives wanted to camp where they were, or head about
+northeast for another Eskimo village called Ungaliktulik, which would
+make the journey longer by twenty-five miles, but the captain decided to
+keep on as they were going.
+
+By the middle of the afternoon the gale had increased to fury, causing
+the thermometer to fall with great rapidity, while the snow was
+blinding. The dogs were curling up in the wind like leaves before a
+blaze.
+
+Ah Chugor Ruk was ahead with his team. His leader suddenly halted.
+
+"Muk-a-muk!" cried the Eskimo.
+
+"Muk!" echoed Punni Churah, running up alongside to look, and then back
+to the captain's sled, where he shouted something loudly in order to be
+heard above the storm.
+
+An ice crack crossed their trail. There was no help for it. There it
+lay, dark and cold--the dreaded water.
+
+In the blinding blizzard they could not see the width of the chasm. It
+was too wide for them to bridge; it was death to remain where they
+were--they must turn back, and they did so. The wind was not now in
+their faces as before, which made traveling some easier, but they had
+not gone far when: "Muk-a-muk!" from Punni this time, who was ahead.
+
+Again the dogs stopped. Again Punni Churah came back, and reported.
+
+They were adrift on a cake of ice. Wind from the northeast was blowing a
+hurricane, carrying them on their ice cake directly out to sea; but the
+snow was drifting in hummocks, and in one of them the natives began
+digging a hole for a hut. When this was of sufficient size, they pitched
+a sled cover of canvas over it, made the sleighs fast outside, and
+crawled underneath. Once inside their temporary igloo, they made a fire
+of white drilling and bacon, taken from the sled loads of merchandise;
+melted snow for water, and boiled coffee, being nearly famished. Then
+for hours they all slept heavily, the dogs being huddled together in the
+snow, as is their habit, but the blizzard raged frightfully, and drove
+the dogs nearer the men in the hut.
+
+Crawling upon the canvas for more warmth, the poor, freezing creatures,
+struggling for shelter, with the weight of their bodies caused the hut
+to collapse, and all fell, in one writhing heap, upon the heads of the
+unfortunates below. Howling, barking, struggling to free themselves from
+the tangle, the pack of brutes added torment to the lot of the men; but
+the storm raged with such terrific force that all lay as they fell,
+until morning, under the snow.
+
+None now disputed the storm king's sway. All were laid low before him.
+With the united fury of fiends of Hades, he laughed in demoniacal glee
+at the desperation of the Arctic travelers under his heel. The whole
+world was now his. Far from the icy and unknown wastes of the interior,
+around the great Circle and Rockies, riding above the heads of rivers
+and mountains, he came from the Koyuk and Koyukuk. Like a child at play,
+as if weary of so long holding them in his cold embrace, he drove the
+massive ice floes out into ocean, only, perhaps, in childish fitfulness,
+to bring them back directly, by gales quite contrary.
+
+When morning dawned, the captain and his men crawled out of the crushed
+snow hut, and, with hard work, made a new cave in the snow drift,
+burying the sleighs in the old one. The dogs were starving, and, to
+appease their appetites, were purloining bacon from the sled's stores;
+but Providence, for once, was kind to them, and a large, fat seal of
+several hundred pounds weight was shot that day on the edge of the ice
+cake upon which they were camped, and this gave them food and fuel. Dogs
+and natives were then well fed on the fresh seal meat and blubber, their
+natural and favorite viands. From tin dishes upon the sleds, the natives
+made little stoves, or lamps, using drilling for wicks, seal oil for
+fuel, and their coffee was made. Among the stores on the sleds were
+canned goods, beans, sausages, flour and other things, and on these the
+captain subsisted.
+
+Day after day passed. The storm gradually died away, and the sun came
+out. Then watches were set to keep a lookout, and the captain took his
+turn with his men. Walking about in the cold morning air, he could see
+the mainland to the northwest, many miles away, and his heart sank
+within him. Would he ever put his foot upon that shore again? How long
+could they live on the ice cake if they floated far out in the Behring
+Sea? To him the outlook was growing darker each day, though the natives
+seemed not to be troubled.
+
+Nearly two weeks passed. One night the captain was awakened by a hand on
+his shoulder. It was Ung Kah Ah Ruk. The wind, he said, was blowing
+steadily from the southwest, and if it continued they might be able to
+reach the shore ice and the mainland. Anxiously together then they
+watched and waited for long, weary hours, getting the sleds loaded, and
+in readiness for a start; then, with bitterest disappointment, they
+found the wind again changed to the southwest, which would carry them
+out to sea as before.
+
+What were they to do? This might be their best and only chance to
+escape. The shore ice lay near them, but, as yet, beyond their reach.
+This treacherous wind might continue for days and even weeks. From
+experience they knew that the wind blew where he listed, regardless of
+the forlorn creatures under him, and with the thermometer at forty
+degrees below zero, as it was, swimming was out of the question. The
+crack appeared a dozen or so feet in width, and escape was only
+possible by reaching the other side.
+
+Their strait was a desperate one. The captain decided to make the leap.
+Removing his furs, he rolled them tightly, and threw them across the
+chasm. It was now a positive dash for life, as without his furs he would
+soon perish with the cold.
+
+He made the run and leaped. At that instant one of the natives, from
+intense interest, or from a desire to assist, gave a loud Eskimo whoop,
+which startled the captain, and he missed his footing, falling forward
+upon the ice, but with his lower limbs in the water.
+
+The natives now bestirred themselves and threw to the captain a large
+hunting knife and rifle, attached to their long sled lashings. With a
+good deal of exertion, the captain crawled upon the ice, and with the
+knife he chopped a hole, and inserted the rifle barrel, fastening the
+lashings to it and holding it firmly in place. The natives then pulled
+with united strength on the line, bringing the ice cake slowly up toward
+the captain until within a few feet of the shore ice, when, using a sled
+for a bridge, they and the dogs crossed safely over, without so much as
+wetting their feet. To all, this was a matter for great rejoicing, and
+no regretful farewells were given to the ice floe which had been their
+prison house so long. They were not yet out of danger, however, for the
+shore ice upon which they stood might, in the gale, at any moment be
+loosened and carry them, like the other, out into the ocean. So with all
+haste possible, they proceeded to get away. Punni Churah brought the
+captain's fur sleeping bag and robes, in which he was stowed away in one
+of the sleds, though his wet clothing was now frozen. There was no time
+nor place to make a change, with the thermometer nearly forty degrees
+below zero.
+
+Hours afterward they reached the mainland. How good once more to step
+foot on terra firma! The dogs barked, and the natives hallooed
+cheerfully to each other, for they were now going home. A deserted
+native village was soon entered, an igloo in passable condition taken
+possession of, and the dogs tied up for the night.
+
+The natives now worked rapidly and cheerfully, two putting up their camp
+stove, another bringing snow for water with which to make the coffee,
+and Punni Churah looking after the captain, who tried to remove his
+clothing, but to no purpose. Muckluks and trousers were frozen together,
+and as fast as the ice melted sufficiently they were cut away. Contrary
+to his expectations, he was not severely frozen, a white patch, the size
+of his hand, appearing upon each limb above the knee. With these they
+did the best they could, and dry clothing from the sleds was put on.
+
+Their supper that night was a feast of rejoicing. They were now on the
+home trail, and would soon be among friends. One more day of travel and
+their long, hazardous, and eventful trip of two hundred miles over an
+Arctic waste would be successfully accomplished. As they rolled
+themselves in their furs at midnight for a few hours of needed rest and
+sleep, they could almost fancy themselves at home again and happy. The
+dogs huddled in the snow outside, now and then barking in their usual
+way, but the tired men in the igloo did not hear them, for their sleep
+was oblivion, after the strain of the last two weeks.
+
+Next morning, after traveling for several hours, a halt was made, and a
+lunch was taken in an Eskimo camp; but the captain, by this time, was
+suffering from exposure and frosted limbs, the trail was bad, and he
+concluded to hurry on ahead of the teams. The way was familiar, and only
+one low mountain, called the Portage, was to be crossed. It was early in
+the day, and his teams would follow immediately; so on his snowshoes the
+captain hastened toward home.
+
+God help the man who travels alone in the Arctic in winter! Little
+matters it if the sun shines brightly at starting, and the sky appears
+clear as a summer pool. In one short hour the aspect of all may be
+changed, heavens overcast, snow flying, and wind rapidly driving. Under
+the gathering darkness and whirling snowflakes the narrow trail is soon
+obscured, or entirely obliterated, the icy wind congeals the traveler's
+breath and courage simultaneously, he becomes confused and goes round
+and round in a circle, until, benumbed by the frost, he sinks down to
+die. This was what now happened to the captain.
+
+Another storm was upon him when he reached the hill portage, and as he
+expected his natives momentarily, and beyond this point the trail was
+good, so that he could ride behind the dogs, he waited until they should
+come up to him. Hour after hour he waited. Night came on, and the
+blizzard increased in severity. Hungry, cold and already frost-bitten,
+he must spend the night on the mountain alone. Still he listened for the
+bells on the malemutes, and the calls of his Eskimo drivers.
+
+They did not come. Nothing but snow, and the shriek of that storm king
+whose rage he had so recently encountered while drifting to sea on the
+ice floe, and from whom only cruelty was ever expected, now whistled in
+his ears.
+
+He knew he must keep on walking, so removing his snowshoes he stuck one
+in the snow drift and fastened a seal rope at the top. Taking the end of
+this in his hand, he circled round and round for hours to keep himself
+moving. At last he grew weary, and closed his eyes, still walking as
+before. It was more pleasant to keep his eyes closed, for then he saw
+visions of bright, warm rooms, blazing fires and cozy couches, and
+smelled the odors of appetizing foods. There were flowers, sweet music
+and children, and he was again in far-off sunny lands.
+
+He grew drowsy. He would only rest a little in a soft white drift, and
+then go on again. Making a place in the bank with the snowshoe, while
+the wind whistled horribly and the whirling snow bewildered him, he lay
+down to----
+
+Some men, one night, drove their dog-teams into Chinik. They had come
+from St. Michael, two hundred miles over the trail. They said the
+captain and his party left there many days before them, and by this they
+were surely dead, unless drifted out to sea, which really meant the same
+thing, as no man could live upon the ice during the recent great
+blizzard. An Eskimo woman heard what they said. She was a cousin to
+Punni Churah, but she said nothing.
+
+An hour later, the woman and two men with dogs and sleds left Chinik for
+the Portage, going east. It was storming, but it was not dark, and they
+knew each foot of the way. At first, on the level, the woman rode in one
+of the sleds, but when it grew hilly, she trudged behind. Her sharp eyes
+now keenly searched every dark or obscure spot along the hillside trail.
+The wind lessened somewhat, and the moon came out behind the clouds.
+
+The dogs finally stopped, throwing back their heads and howling; then,
+in more excitement, gave the short, quick bark of the chase.
+
+The natives began poking about with sticks in the drifts, and Mollie
+(for it was she) soon found the unconscious man in the snow.
+
+Quick work then they made of the return trip. They were only a few miles
+from home now, and the malemutes seemed to comprehend. Every nerve in
+their bodies tingled. Every tiny bell on their harnesses jingled, and
+the fleet-footed natives sped rapidly behind. The dogs needed no
+guidance, for they were going home, and well knew it. The voice of big
+Ituk, as he gave out his Eskimo calls, the sleigh-bells, and the creak
+of the sled runners over the frosty snow, were the only sounds heard on
+the clear morning air.
+
+The life of the captain was saved.
+
+The sequel of his story is not long. With the best care known to a
+native woman, brought up near and inside a Mission station, the captain
+was tended and brought back to life, though weeks passed before he was
+well. In fact, he was never strong again, and, needing a life-long
+nurse, decided, with Mollie's consent, to take her for his wife, and so
+the missionary married them. Then they settled permanently at Golovin
+Bay, where a trading post was already established, and where they are
+living happily to this day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+HOW THE LONG DAYS PASSED.
+
+
+On Saturday, November third, began a great sewing of fur caps,
+children's clothes, and also garments for the teacher. For the caps, a
+pattern had to be made before beginning, but Alma and not I did it.
+About four in the afternoon Mr. H., Mr. G. and Mr. B. came in from the
+Home, having worked all day at collecting driftwood as they came along,
+piling it upon end so it will not be buried in the snow, for that is the
+only fuel we will have this winter, and it must be gathered and hauled
+by the boys.
+
+While in the sitting room after supper three gentlemen and the wife of
+one of them called to spend the evening from the A. E. Company's
+establishment. One was the manager and head of the company's store here,
+another was his clerk, and the man and his wife were neighbors.
+
+We soon found out that the young clerk had been up the Koyuk River
+prospecting, and wanted to go again. The boys want to go there
+themselves, and we gathered considerable information from our callers
+regarding the country, manner of getting there, the best route, etc.,
+and spent a pleasant evening, as they seemed also to do.
+
+Sunday, November fourth, was marked as the first time of holding church
+service in the schoolhouse since our arrival, and a good number were
+present. Twenty-two Eskimos and ten white people made a cozy little
+audience for Mr. H. and his interpreter, Ivan. I played the organ, and
+they all sang from Gospel songs. For some reason a lump would come up in
+my throat when I played the old home songs that I had so many times
+played under widely differing circumstances, thousands of miles away;
+but under the current of sadness there was one also of thanksgiving for
+protection and guidance all the way.
+
+It was a motley crowd listening to the preacher that day, from various
+and widely separated countries, Sweden, Norway, Finland, United States,
+Alaska and possibly some others, were represented at this service as
+well as at the one of the evening held in the Mission House which needed
+no extra lights nor warming. A few more natives came in at this time,
+and Mollie, the captain's wife, was there with her mother. Again I
+played the instrument, while the rest sang. The little sitting-room and
+hall were crowded, seats having been brought in from the kitchen, and
+some were standing at the doors. One old Eskimo woman seemed in deep
+trouble, for she wiped her eyes a great deal, and she, with some others,
+were very dirty, at least if odors tell stories without lying.
+
+Monday, November fifth: This has been a fine day, and brought with it a
+new lot of experiences. I took a few kodak views of a dog-team and
+fur-dressed people in front of the Mission. After supper four neighbors
+came (the same who called on us the other evening) with their horse to
+take us out for a moonlight ride, and it proved a very novel one. A big,
+grey horse, with long legs supporting his great hulk, and carrying him
+away up above us as we sat on the sled; the conveyance, a home-made
+"bob" sled upon which had been placed rough boards piled with hay and
+fur robes for the comfort of passengers, and the harness home-made like
+the "rig," was ingeniously constructed of odds and ends of old rope of
+different colors which the men assured us, when interrogated upon the
+point, were perfectly strong and secure.
+
+In it were knots, loops, twists, and coils, with traces spliced at great
+length in order to keep us clear of the horse's heels, but which
+frequently got him entangled, so that he had to be released by the
+footman (the clerk). When this occurred, the latter, with an Indian
+war-whoop, leaped off the sledge, flourished and cracked his big "black
+snake" whip in air to encourage the animal to run faster, and I, sitting
+with the driver on the front seat, gripped for dear life the board upon
+which I sat. No Jehu, I feel sure, ever drove as did our driver tonight,
+assisted by the whooping footman with his black snake. Through drifts
+and over the pond, which was frozen, down steep banks to the beach,
+through snow deep and still deeper, helter-skelter they drove,
+skurrying, shouting, urging the poor beast on until he was wild of eye,
+short of breath, weary in limb, and reeking.
+
+Overhead the air was clear as crystal, stars bright, and a perfect full
+moon shining with brilliant whiteness over all. Only the jingle of the
+bells upon the horse, the shrieks of our footman and driver, and the
+laughter of the passengers on the "bob" broke the stillness of the
+quiet, frosty air, which, in its intense purity and lightness seemed
+fairly to vibrate with electricity as we breathed.
+
+November sixth: I have spent the day at making a warm winter hood for
+myself. Finding that Mr. H. had grey squirrel skins, I bought six of him
+for twenty-five cents apiece, for a lining for hood and mittens. The
+hood I made pretty large every way, sewing two red fox tails around the
+face for a border to keep the wind off my face, as is the Eskimo
+fashion.
+
+During the day G. and B. went out over the beach to collect driftwood
+for winter, and G. came home finally without his companion. It was
+thought that B. went on to the Home, as he found himself not so far from
+that as from the Mission, where he would probably remain all night, and
+come over next day. Two natives, with as many reindeer and sleds, came
+for flour and other things, taking Mr. H.'s trunk of clothing with them
+for the missionary. The little Eskimos were delighted to see the deer,
+and ran out to them, petting and talking to them. Then they rattled on
+among themselves about the animals, inspecting and feeling of their
+horns, patting their fat sides, calling their names, and showing their
+pleasure at seeing the pretty creatures in various ways. I did not know
+which were of most interest, the deer with long, branching antlers,
+sleek spotted sides and funny heads, or the group of odd little Eskimo
+children, with their plump dark faces, dressed in furry parkies and
+boots, tumbling gleefully around in the snow.
+
+Wednesday, November seventh: The weather is beautifully clear and sunny
+today, with charming sky effects at sunrise and sunset. Red, yellow and
+crimson lines stretched far along the eastern horizon, cut by vertical
+ones of lighter tints, until a big golden ball climbed up higher, and by
+his increased strength warmed the whole snowy landscape. A few hours
+later, this great yellow ball, looking bright and clear-cut, like
+copper, sank gently beneath the long banks of purple-red clouds massed
+in artistic and majestic confusion. Everything, at this time, was
+enveloped in the cooler, quieter tints of purple and blue, and hills,
+peaks, and icy bay all lay bathed in exquisite color.
+
+The two Eskimos brought the reindeer back from the Home today, stopped
+for lunch, and then went on their way to the herd again. Ricka, Alma
+and Miss J. went out as far as the cliff for a ride on the sleds behind
+the deer, but I felt safer indoors. Ricka says when the animals dashed
+over the big bank, out upon the ice near the cliff, she thought her last
+hour had come. At first the deer trotted steadily along on the trail,
+but going faster and faster they rushed headlong through the drifts,
+dragging the sleds on one runner, and tearing up the snow like a
+blizzard as they went, until it seemed to the two girls, unused to such
+riding as they were, that the animals were running away, and they would
+be certainly killed.
+
+Miss J. was quite used to this kind of traveling, and made no outcry,
+but Alma and Ricka finally got the natives to stop the deer and let them
+get off and walk home, saying it might be great fun when one was
+accustomed to it.
+
+The sleds used by the natives are called reindeer sleds because made
+especially for use when driving deer. They are close to the ground, and
+very strongly built, as they could not otherwise stand the wear and tear
+of such "rapid transit." Side rails are put on, but no high handle-bar
+at the back, and when a load is placed upon the sled it is lashed
+securely on with ropes or thongs made of seal or walrus hide; otherwise
+there would be no load before the journey was completed.
+
+Mr. H. says he has long experience with them, but never feels quite sure
+that an animal will do what is wanted of him, though when driven by
+natives who are well used to their tricks and antics, especially if the
+animals have reached mature age, they make good travelers, and get over
+the ground very fast. A hundred miles a day is nothing to them if the
+snow is not too deep and their load reasonable.
+
+Men and dog-teams are coming into camp from Nome each day now, and say
+that the trails are in first-class condition. We hope for mail soon from
+Nome. Mr. H. came, bringing with him a Swedish preacher who is wintering
+here, though not officially connected with the Mission. He is a sweet
+singer, liking well to accompany his Swedish songs upon the guitar or
+organ, for he plays both instruments.
+
+Mr. L. left at six in the morning for the Home, walked there and back,
+and arrived at six in the evening. He went to ask Mr. H. if he and the
+others could have reindeer with which to go to Koyuk River on a
+prospecting trip. He gave his consent and they think of starting next
+week. They think there may be some good creek up there that would do to
+stake, and the clerk is going with them.
+
+We have jolly times each evening singing, visiting and knitting. My
+black stocking grows under my needles a few inches each day, and will be
+warm and comfortable footwear under my muckluks surely.
+
+November eighth: Some ptarmigan were brought in today, which are the
+first birds of the kind I have seen, and they are beautiful. They look
+like snow-white doves, only larger, with silky feathers and lovely
+wings. They are soon to be cooked, for they are the Arctic winter birds
+and make good eating. We are all blessed with ravenous appetites.
+
+A man was killed with a club last night in a drunken brawl, in a hotel
+near by. He only lived a few hours after getting hurt, but it is said
+that the other killed him in self defense. Both the United States
+marshal and the commissioner were away at the time. It is a pity they
+were not at home, for the affair, perhaps, would then have been
+prevented. There are probably not more than one hundred white persons in
+the camp altogether, but there must be fully half as many Eskimos, and
+they are always coming and going. There are several saloons (one kept by
+a woman), a large hotel and one or two smaller ones, besides two or
+three company's stores and a few log cabins and native huts, besides the
+Mission.
+
+The boys want to get off as soon as possible for Koyuk, but fear they
+will have to go to Nome for camp stoves and pipe, as there are none to
+buy here. They brought wood from the beach today on the sleds, and there
+is no lack of fuel here, nor of strong, willing arms to gather it. It
+seems a long, long time to wait without hearing from the home folks. I
+wonder how it seems to them. I only wish they could see how comfortably
+and happily we are situated, and what jolly times we have, for it would
+do their hearts good. Few are so favored in all Alaska, of that I am
+certain.
+
+Saturday, November tenth: I have sewed all day on a canvas coat for Mr.
+B., Alma helping with the cutting. He wants it to put on over his fur
+parkie to keep the snow and rain off it, and has himself made the loops
+and fastenings. He whittled out the buttons from small pieces of wood,
+twisted cord to loop over them, and put them all firmly on the coat so
+that it looks well, and will be serviceable. I put a good-sized hood of
+the same, with a fur border around the face, on the coat, and it will be
+a good garment to hunt ptarmigan in, for it is the color of snow, and
+the birds cannot see him.
+
+The visiting preacher has had an experience in being in the water, and
+from it has contracted rheumatism in one limb, which he is nursing, so
+he sits by the fire and plays and sings for us while we sew. He is very
+pleasant, and all seem to like him. The weather is not cold and Miss J.
+and Mr. H. started out with reindeer for the Home at seven in the
+morning. It was a singular sight to see them when leaving. All the
+little natives in fur parkies stood around, watching. The two sleds were
+loaded with baggage, and Miss J. sat on the top of one of them, holding
+the rope that went under the body of the deer and around his Head and
+horns for a harness. This deer was tied to the back of the sled in
+front of him, and Mr. H. went ahead having hold of the rope that was
+fastened to the first deer.
+
+Sunday, November eleventh: We are having a heavy and wet snow storm. All
+stayed in until three in the afternoon, when we attended church service
+in the schoolhouse. I played the organ, the Swedish preacher read the
+Scriptures, and Ivan interpreted. We sang hymns and songs, and the hour
+was enjoyed by all, though the preacher did not feel quite well enough
+acquainted with the English to preach in that tongue, and Mr. H. was
+away. There were about twenty natives present, and ten or twelve white
+people, Miss E. remaining at home to get the dinner. I went in thought
+over the great waters to my southern home, where today the churches are
+decorated with palms and floral beauties, and I saw the friends in their
+accustomed seats--but I was not there. Thousands of miles away to the
+frozen north we have come, and little do we know if we shall ever see
+home again. Tears came to my eyes, but I kept them hidden, for none
+shall say I am homesick; I am glad to be here. I have faith to believe
+that the Father's loving watch-care will be still further extended, and
+I shall reach my homeland and friends some time in the future.
+
+November thirteenth: Weather is warm, wet, and sunny. Water is running
+in the bay and snow is soft under foot. I worked this afternoon on a
+mitten pattern for myself, assisted by Alma. Evidently pattern making
+was intended for others to do, for though my spirit is as willing as
+possible, the flesh is very weak in that direction; but I did finally
+get a mitten, thumb and all, that looks not half bad. This was banner
+day for my laundry work, and my handkerchiefs have been ironed for the
+first time since I sailed from San Francisco. Heretofore I was in luck
+to get a time and place in which to wash them. At half-past four o'clock
+in the afternoon, when it was too dark to sew longer, Alma, Ricka and I
+went out upon the beach to meet the boys who had been gathering wood,
+and we walked a half mile over the rough trail of ice blocks, drifts and
+hummocks.
+
+We floundered on through all until we saw them coming, and then sat
+resting on some logs until they came up. Two of Mr. H.'s dogs, Fido and
+Muckaleta, had followed us, and ran at our heels playing in the snow,
+which was more than one foot deep in places. The boys had found a long
+ladder on the beach, probably from some wreck, and they had brought it
+on the sled with the wood. It was most difficult work hauling the sled
+over the uneven trail, and all were puffing and perspiring when they
+reached home.
+
+A little prayer meeting was afterwards held in the kitchen during which
+Mr. H. and Miss J. came in from the Home with reindeer, tired and
+hungry. We spent a pleasant evening visiting, singing and knitting.
+
+A man has come from Nome, and says that the steamer bringing Mission
+supplies from San Francisco was obliged during the last hard storm to
+throw some of its cargo overboard, and part of the Mission's stores were
+thus lost. All are sorry to hear this, as it means a shortage of
+necessary things, like furniture for the Home, where much is needed.
+
+November fourteenth: Miss J. has taken in two more little Eskimos, a
+girl and a boy. First of all, she cuts their hair close to their heads,
+then each has a good bath in the tub, and they are dressed in clean
+clothing from head to foot, and fed plentifully. This was their program,
+and they look very happy after it, and evidently feel as well and look
+better. This boy seems to be about ten years old, and the girl a little
+older, but it is not customary among the Eskimos to keep account of
+their ages, and so nobody really knows how old any one is.
+
+Alma has cut over a big reindeer skin parkie for the visiting preacher,
+and a fur sleeping bag for Miss J., while Ricka has made a fine cap for
+Mr. H. of dog's skin, lined with cloth. This morning when the men went
+out to the hills where their two reindeer had been tied in the moss, the
+animals were gone, and Ivan returned fearing that they had been stolen,
+but when Mr. H., G. and B. went to look, they found no men's footprints,
+and concluded that they had broken away and gone back to the herd, as
+their tracks went in that direction. Mr. H. went on after them, and the
+two boys came home wet with perspiration from floundering about in the
+deep, soft snow, and wearing their heavy rubber boots. I gave them
+coffee when they got back.
+
+I have sewed on my new mittens, and done some knitting, besides tending
+the baby, who runs quickly from one thing to another like any other
+mischievous child, getting into first one thing, and then some other,
+which must be coaxed away from her by management. I usually do this by
+giving her some new plaything, if I can possibly find any article she
+has never yet had. A box of needles, buttons and thread she likes best
+of anything I have yet found, and a grand reckoning day will come before
+long when Alma finds the little Eskimo has been amusing herself with her
+property.
+
+Mr. G. found a part of somebody's outfit, consisting of clothing and tin
+dishes, on the beach today. Miss J. held a little meeting again in the
+kitchen for the natives after supper, and is very happy over having the
+two new little Eskimos.
+
+This is our fourth week in the Mission, and pleasant and happy ones they
+have been, at least, if there have been vexations to some, they have
+succeeded admirably in keeping them out of sight.
+
+November fifteenth: The weather is still warm, wet and slippery under
+foot. This morning a young man called from Nome, with a letter from
+Mary, saying she is coming by dog-team as soon as the trails are good.
+
+The commissioner called today to get the preacher to officiate at the
+funeral of the man who was killed, but it was postponed until tomorrow,
+because the grave could not be finished before dark. The commissioner
+sat for half an hour, and chatted in the sitting room.
+
+November sixteenth: All hands are at work now for the children, and
+overalls, waists and shirts for the little boys as well as garments for
+the girls are on the docket. The big boys fished, and got smelt and
+tom-cod. B. sewed at mittens for himself, and G. took the church organ
+to pieces to clean and repair it. Mr. M., who has been at work on the
+Home, has come here to spend the winter. I wish he would set to work and
+catch some of the mice which infest the house, and run over me when I am
+asleep in the night time.
+
+A meeting for the natives in the house again tonight, and the doors had
+to be left open on account of the pungent seal oil perfume from the
+garments of the Eskimos.
+
+The man who was killed was buried today in the edge of the little
+graveyard on the hillside. The Swedish preacher was asked to go to the
+grave, and he did so, reading a Psalm, and offering a prayer. Only four
+or five men were present. It is a stony, lonely place, without a tree in
+sight; the few scattering graves having only wooden slabs for head
+boards. Being just above the beach, the spot commands a view of the bay
+in front, but it is now all a snow and ice desert, and the most dreary
+place imaginable. Very little was known of the murdered man, and no good
+could be said of him, but it is supposed that he has a wife and children
+somewhere.
+
+What a dreadful ending! Will his family ever know what has become of
+him, and is his mother still living? If so, I hope they may never learn
+of his horrid death and worthless life in Alaska. He was never conscious
+for a moment after being hurt, so they know nothing as to where to write
+to his relatives. It makes one shudder to think of it! He may have been
+a good and bright child, beloved by parents and brothers, but the drink
+curse claimed him for its own.
+
+The weather is clear, with sunshine and frost. The visiting preacher has
+been making himself useful for a few days by helping us in cutting out
+overalls and blouses for the Eskimo boys. Down on his knees upon the
+floor, with shears, rolls of denim, and a pair of small trousers to
+pattern by, he has wielded the little steel instrument to good purpose,
+and encouraged and assisted us greatly.
+
+With their new clothes, the children are all quite well pleased, for
+they are fresh and sweet. The missionaries are trying very hard to teach
+them cleanliness among other things, and they sometimes come and stand
+in the doorway and look at us sewing, their faces always good natured,
+and showing more or less curiosity. When told to run away to play, they
+obey quickly, and little Pete and the others like to keep the wood boxes
+filled to help us. The older girls being from ten to twelve years of
+age, are often caring for and amusing Bessie, and she is fond of them,
+until, like any other child, she cannot have her own way, and then she
+disapproves of them by kicking and screaming till Miss J. comes to
+settle the business.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+SWARMING.
+
+
+Arctic explorers have always found it a difficult matter to keep
+pleasantly and profitably employed during the long winter months, and I
+have often wondered how it would be with ourselves. So far, there seems
+to be no scarcity of employment for all hands, neither is there any
+prospect of it. For the men there is always the beach-wood to collect,
+haul and saw up into firewood, not to mention the splitting with an axe,
+which is, I believe, as hard work as any of it, and there is water to
+bring in barrels each day or two from Chinik Creek, a mile away, for
+drinking and cooking purposes. The barrels are put upon sleds and hauled
+by the men themselves, or by the dogs if they happen to be here, and are
+not at work. As to the reindeer, of course there can be no such thing as
+making them haul either wood or water, for none could be found steady
+enough, and should the experiment be tried, there are ten chances to one
+that not a stick of wood would remain upon the sleds, nor a drop of
+water in the barrels, while the distance between creek and Mission was
+being made.
+
+Of course there is always enough for women to do if they are
+housekeeping, and with sewing, knitting and what recreation we take out
+of doors, we fill in the time very well. It is much better and
+pleasanter to be employed, and the time passes much more rapidly than
+when one is idle, and I for one enjoy the change of work and the
+winter's outlook immensely. Compared to what we have done in Nome during
+the summer, this is child's play, and the boys who have worked at real
+mining say the same thing.
+
+November seventeenth: We have had our first lady visitor today who came
+from White Mountain about fifteen miles away. She is the lady doctor who
+brought Miss J. through typhoid fever last fall, and is much at home
+here. She was sent for by a sick woman in the hotel, and will spend the
+night with Miss J., who is very kind to her. The visiting preacher left
+for the Home this morning very early, going with a native and reindeer.
+Mr. L. and B. were called in to the jury trial of the murderer who
+killed the man in the hotel the other night, and they got home late. The
+girls were out upon the ice in the evening for exercise, getting tired
+of being indoors all day long, and needing fresh air. When all were in
+at half-past eleven in the evening, coffee and crackers were taken by
+all but me, but I have had to leave off drinking coffee, taking hot
+water with cream and sugar instead. B. says he thinks the latter too
+stimulating.
+
+[Illustration: ESKIMO DOGS.]
+
+This has been a bright and cold Sunday for November eighteenth. Mr. H.
+walked in to nine o'clock breakfast from the Home, coming by dog-team,
+and looked well dressed and smiling. No service was held until evening,
+so we went out for a walk upon the hill behind the house. B. and L. left
+us to go and examine some wood that natives were hauling away from the
+beach, thinking it was some of theirs, for each stick is marked, so they
+know their own; but it proved not to be their wood, and the two then
+came home another way.
+
+While out, we walked through the small burial ground, and saw the
+new-made grave of the murdered man. O, how desolate was that spot! A few
+mounds, stones, snow and bleak winds forever blowing. Here we read a
+headboard, upon which was the name and age of good old Dr. Bingham of
+New England, who died here years ago, and whose wife planted wild roses
+upon the grave. I wonder if we will see them in bloom next summer, or
+will we be under the snow ourselves like these others.
+
+For our dinner today we ate fried tom-cod, baked potatoes, tomatoes,
+pickles, bread and butter, and rice pudding. I feel positive that
+nothing could have tasted better to our home folks in the States who
+have more fruit and vegetables than did this plain and homely meal to
+us, eaten with the heartiest appetites gotten out of doors while walking
+in the snow. The ice in the bay is getting firmer, and will continue to
+grow thicker all winter, being in the spring at breaking-up time many
+feet through, no doubt, as it was in Minnesota in the Red River of the
+North when I lived there. I am glad that I am a cold climate creature,
+and was born in winter in a wintry state, for I will be sure to endure
+Alaska weather better than I otherwise would.
+
+This evening we had service again in the church or schoolhouse, and the
+room was quite filled. The woman doctor was there, also the storekeeper
+and the United States Marshal, besides our own family, and a good many
+natives. Mr. H. preached, and was interpreted in Eskimo as usual. I wish
+some of my fastidious friends on the outside could have seen the
+cosmopolitan company of tonight.
+
+The refined and serious face of the storekeeper, the black-eyed doctor
+(woman), the fair-faced Swedes, and the square-jawed, determined
+official, made a striking contrast to the Eskimos dressed in fur
+parkies, and smelling of seal oil. Many of the latter continually carry
+small children on their backs underneath their parkies, a heavy belt or
+girdle of some sort keeping the youngster from falling to the ground,
+but the smaller ones are seldom brought out in the evening. These women
+squat upon the floor as often as they sit upon a chair, and when a baby
+cries from hunger he is promptly fed on ahmahmuk, (mother's milk,)
+regardless of the assembled company. With an Eskimo mother nothing
+comes before the child's wishes, and if the latter only succeeds in
+making his desires known to her, she will obey them to the letter. That
+there are unruly Eskimo youngsters, goes without saying, as a child does
+not need a white skin to help him understand this, and arrange his
+tactics accordingly.
+
+The Mission is crowded to its utmost, but I believe the hearts of the
+good missionaries are made of elastic.
+
+When we reached the house after service this evening we heard that a
+mail was expected, and would leave for Dawson tomorrow, so we set to
+work to write letters, and then found it all a mistake, for it is only
+going to Nome from Unalaklik, and we were all disappointed.
+
+The weather today, November seventeenth, is a great surprise to us. It
+is raining, and so icy underfoot as to be positively dangerous to life
+and limb. I had occasion to go out for a while this forenoon, and knew
+no better than to wear my muckluks, which are smooth as glass on the
+bottoms. To make things more lively, the wind blew a gale from the
+northeast.
+
+When I left the house, I was going in the same direction as the wind,
+and though I nearly fell many times I kept stubbornly on, determined not
+to be vanquished. On my return--then came the "tug of war." Near the
+warehouse a gust of wind took me unawares, and, whisk! in a minute I
+was sprawling flat upon the ice. I had gone out with my Indian blanket
+over my head and shoulders, and this blew out like a sail, upsetting my
+tall and slippery footed craft, and bumping me ignominiously.
+
+I now tried to rise, but could not. Turn as I would, using my hands to
+steady me, I only made a vain effort to get upon my feet, as I slipped
+each time quite flat again. Thinking to turn first, and get upon my
+knees, I tried that, but rolled like a fuzzy caterpillar in a ball upon
+the ice. Then, alas, I regret to relate it, but I really began to feel a
+little vexed. I began calling loudly, supposing that someone in the
+house would hear me, and come to my assistance; but the wind carried my
+voice away faster than I could throw it, and that availed me nothing. At
+no other time since my arrival at the Mission I felt certain had there
+been so long a lull between the passing of its inmates through its
+doors; but now, because of my present strait, they all remained indoors.
+
+In the meantime I had thrown my hands out suddenly into water which
+stood in little pools in depressions of the ice around me, and I lay
+there getting more vexed than ever. Again I tried to rise, but failed. A
+stranger would suppose me tipsy, to be sure, and I glanced around to
+make certain no one saw me. Finally the door opened, and Miss L. came
+out.
+
+"What is the matter?" and she began laughing at my predicament.
+
+"Matter enough!" I shouted. "Can't you see? I can't get up to save my
+life. Do come and help me," and I began struggling upon my slippery bed
+again to convince her.
+
+Still she only laughed, standing in the wind with her hands upon her
+hips in order to keep her balance.
+
+"Do come and help me," I begged, "or go in and send one of the boys, for
+I shall stay here all day if you do not."
+
+When she had her laugh out, she came forward and assisted me to my feet,
+and into the house, where I finally smoothed my ruffled feathers, and
+recovered my equanimity, telling Miss L. I would pay her back in her own
+coin when I got the opportunity.
+
+A native has come with reindeer to carry a load of goods to the Home,
+but cannot leave on account of the icy trail until tomorrow, or whenever
+it freezes again.
+
+Today is November twenty-first, and the weather is still soft and bad
+under foot, so the family cannot move to the Home until the trail is in
+better condition. B. shot more ptarmigan, and we had a dinner of them,
+which was excellent. They almost seem too pretty to kill, but fresh meat
+is scarce nowadays, and we must take it when we can get it.
+
+November twenty-second has come, and with it colder weather. It is five
+degrees below zero, and the sun shines. The doctor from White Mountain
+has been helping Miss J. pack her large medicine chest ready for moving,
+as many of these supplies will be left in this house.
+
+Since the days are colder we have most beautiful skies at sunrise,
+though we now keep the lamps burning until half-past eight in the
+morning.
+
+We have heard that the Nome mail is in, but it brought nothing to me. We
+are writing letters to send out the first chance we get, whenever that
+will be, but nobody knows so far.
+
+The Commissioner called today and told us of a new strike at the
+headwaters of Fish River; a man and woman coming down to record a bunch
+of twenty claims having given the information. The woman runs a
+roadhouse on the Neukluk River, and wants to take an Eskimo boy to
+raise, and teach to work--probably it is mostly the latter, though she
+seemed a kindly person. Miss J. told her that she had no boy to give
+away.
+
+The Marshal and the man in the old schoolhouse started with dogs to
+Norton Bay today for a short trip, so we hear. The wife of the man went
+with small Eskimo boys to the bay to fish for tom-cod.
+
+Alma is making a fur sleeping bag of reindeer skins for the teacher, so
+when she travels she can have it to sleep in nights. It is very heavy
+to hold and handle while sewing.
+
+Two men called who have been shipwrecked in Norton Bay, and told of the
+H. family, consisting of the father, mother, and little daughter whom I
+have seen in Nome. They lost all their clothing, but saved part of their
+"grub," and we have made up a package of clothing to send to the woman
+and child by the men who are going back there. In the darkness, one
+night, they say the schooner "Lady George" went aground on the mud flats
+of Norton Bay, the tide rising soon after, and all having to flee for
+their lives to nearby ice, from which they went ashore to a log hut long
+ago deserted. The child, who is about twelve years old, is now without
+clothing, and winter is coming on.
+
+The fates are hard on some people, surely, and this little girl lately
+from San Francisco, the public school, and piano lessons, is left with
+her parents in an Arctic wilderness in winter without clothing or
+shelter, except a poor broken hut, and a few men's garments generously
+donated. The men say that her mother is almost wild over it, and they
+thought at first that she would go insane, but the brave little child
+does all she can do to comfort her mother, and the men begged us to send
+them some things. Among the clothing we sent I put in a few school
+books, a slate, some pencils, and a Bible, which may be of use in
+lonely hours. They may read the good book now if they never have
+before. They are Swedish people.
+
+It is three degrees below zero today, November twenty-fifth, clear,
+bright and cold. Mr. H. came with a man and his dog-teams to move the
+whole family tomorrow to the Home. All are delighted to go there, as we
+are to remain here. The shipwrecked men called again to tell us more
+fully about their experiences, and are now going back to their camp.
+They certainly had an awful time, but they are glad and thankful to have
+come out alive, and we are also glad for their sakes.
+
+Two of the Commissioners have been here, one from fifty miles away,
+wanting to buy a reindeer for his Thanksgiving dinner, but Mr. H. would
+not sell one. He has been very urgent, and called a number of times, but
+Mr. H. is firm in refusing. Our good dinner today was made up of mutton
+stew with onions, baked potatoes, tomatoes, fruit soup, bread, butter
+and coffee. I have taken a few kodak views today of Miss J. and the
+Eskimo baby, Bessie, and hope they will be good.
+
+November twenty-sixth: It is ten degrees below zero, but the whole
+household was up early this morning to move over the ice to the new
+Home. Four big dog sleds were piled high with household things, the baby
+was tucked into a fur sleeping-bag with only her head out, at which she
+howled lustily, Miss J. running beside the team to comfort her, while
+Mr. H., his assistant and Ivan, with Mr. G. of our party, ran ahead of
+the dogs. Breakfast was eaten at eight o'clock in the morning, and all
+was hurly burly and excitement till they had gone. Ricka, Alma and I ran
+out to the beach to see them off upon the ice, as then they would have
+fair traveling, but we were afraid they would tip everything over at the
+bank where the drifts are high, and blocks of ice piled in places.
+Everything was lashed tightly down, however, and no accident occurred.
+All the children but Bessie ran alongside the sleds to keep warm, and
+they had lunches with them to eat when they were hungry. When the
+smaller ones grew tired, I suppose they rode for a while on the sleds.
+It was eleven o'clock in the morning, and the bright sun shone directly
+in our faces as we stood waving good-bye to them, really sorry to see
+them leave us. The hills, almost bare of snow, lay pink and lovely under
+the sunshine.
+
+After lunch M. went out, slipped on the ice and fractured his collar
+bone. The Dawson man in the old schoolhouse, (who claims to be a
+doctor), brought him indoors, but poor M. was pretty pale. The man, with
+G.'s help, attended to his hurt, put his arm in a sling, and he is lying
+on the lounge looking serious, but not discontented nor suffering
+severely.
+
+We were not to have so small a family many hours, as we found at about
+five o'clock in the afternoon today, when there was a great commotion at
+the door. There were men's voices, a woman's jolly laughter, and the
+quick barking of dogs, glad to reach their journey's end, and when we
+opened the door to those knocking, there were Mary and two friends from
+Nome with their dog-teams. In they came, laughing, talking and brushing
+the frost off their parkies, glad to get here, and hungry from
+traveling, so we gave them a warm welcome, and good hot coffee and
+supper.
+
+Then Mary, (real Viking that she is, and from Tromso, in Norway,)
+related the story of her journey by dog-team. Eighty-five miles, they
+call it, from Nome by water to Chinik, but overland it is probably
+farther. Nights were spent in the roadhouses, she said, but there was
+little sleep to be had in them, for they were crowded and noisy, and she
+was thankful the trip was now ended, and she had safely arrived.
+
+The two young men who came with her seem nice, honest fellows, and I am
+acquainted with one of them from seeing him at the "Star" many times,
+where he often ground coffee to help evenings, or chatted in the kitchen
+when we worked.
+
+From Nome they had brought two sled loads, on one of them a cook stove
+for the winter, as the big range in use here now will go later to the
+Home, besides which they had food supplies and stove pipes.
+
+At night Mr. L. came back from the reindeer station, saying that they
+can have four reindeer for their prospecting trip to the Koyuk River,
+and they are making up their party to go there.
+
+November twenty-seventh: I was washing the dishes this morning in the
+kitchen, when Mr. L. came quietly to say he will take my attorney paper
+and stake a gold claim for me. He will do his best, he says, for me as
+well as the others, for which I cordially thanked him, and flew on wings
+to get the desired paper made out, as the others were also doing.
+
+At half-past three o'clock in the afternoon today the lamps were
+lighted, and at four o'clock in the afternoon a mail got in from Nome,
+but brought no letters for me, as all steamers have long since stopped
+running, and I am not corresponding with any one at Nome. I wonder when
+I will hear from my home folks?
+
+Our legal documents cost us each $2.50.
+
+November twenty-eighth: This has been a fine day out of doors, and a
+busy one indoors. Mr. H. with a man and two natives came with the
+dog-teams to take what household stuff they could carry, and they took
+the organ with the rest. I hated to see it go, but we are to have the
+one in the church, which G. has just cleaned and brought into the house,
+as the frost in that building is bad for it. They loaded their sleds,
+then ate a lunch at half-past eleven o'clock in the morning, and
+started. The two boys from Nome also left for that place, they being
+quite rested, as well as their dogs. Drilling parkies they wore to
+"mush" in, their furs and other traps being lashed to the sleds; and
+bidding us good-bye, one ran ahead, and the other behind the dogs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+NEW QUARTERS.
+
+
+After thinking for some time of doing so, I finally decided to call at
+the hotel and ask the captain and his wife if I might not teach their
+little black-eyed girl English, as Miss J.'s leaving deprives her of a
+teacher. The woman was not in when I called, but the child's father
+seemed to think favorably of my plan, and said he would consult with his
+wife, so I hope to get the child for a pupil.
+
+B. and G. have moved all their things into the house from the
+schoolroom, and Ricka hung the clothes she has been all day washing out
+there to dry. There is a small stove in which a fire is often made to
+dry them more quickly. It is most convenient to have such a place for
+drying clothes, as it is impossible to get them dry outside on the lines
+in the frost and snow.
+
+We spent the evening pleasantly together in the sitting room, listening
+to B.'s jokes, and Mary's stories of Nome and the "trail."
+
+For our Thanksgiving dinner we had canned turkey, potatoes, tomatoes,
+pickles, fruit, soup, bread, butter, and coffee, trying hard not to
+think of our home friends and their roast turkeys and cranberries.
+However, the dinner was a good one for Alaska, eaten with relish, and
+all were jolly and very thankful, even M., with his sore collar-bone,
+laughing with the rest.
+
+November thirtieth: Mr. H. came with a man, two natives, seven reindeer
+and four sleds to take more furniture away. They all ate dinner here,
+and I took some kodak views of the animals with Alma, Ricka, Mary, G.
+and a native driver in the sunshine in front of the Mission. Mary goes
+up to the animals and pets them, as does Ricka, but I keep a good way
+off from their horns, as they look ugly, and one old deer has lost his
+antlers, with the exception of one bare, straight one a yard long,
+which, with an angry beast behind it, would, however, be strong enough
+to toss a person in mid-air if the creature was so minded.
+
+There has been some hitch in the arrangements of the men going to the
+Koyuk River, and there is a delay, but they will get off some day,
+because L. never gives up anything he attempts to do, and I like him for
+that. If more people were like this, they being always certain that they
+were started in the right direction, the world would be the better for
+it.
+
+December first: Mr. B. is making bunks in two rooms upstairs, as the
+house is so full all the time. This will give quite a little more
+lodging room, for cots cannot be provided for all, neither is there
+room for so many, but with bunks, one above another, it will furnish
+lodgings for all who come.
+
+Our two fisher women went out again this afternoon, and got tom-cod
+through the ice by the cliff, near the snow-buried river steamers.
+
+About four o'clock in the afternoon I called on the captain's wife, and
+found her sewing furs. For her helper she had her cousin Alice, the coy,
+plump Eskimo girl, who traveled to San Francisco with her last year.
+Both women sat upon fur rugs on the floor, as is their custom when
+sewing, and they were sorting bright beads, and cutting moosehide into
+moccasins and gauntlet gloves, to be decorated with beads in the fashion
+of the Yukon River Indians.
+
+I had no difficulty in arranging for lessons with the captain's wife,
+who would also study with her little girl, she said, and she showed me
+school books, slates, etc., they had already been using. If their piano
+were only here, the child, who is a pretty little thing, with a sweet
+smile, might take music lessons, but it cannot be brought over the
+winter trail.
+
+We had snow today, but no church service. We rested, sang, read, ate and
+slept. A fine dinner of reindeer roast, with good gravy, mashed
+potatoes, etc., for our two o'clock meal, was eaten and well relished;
+but in spite of all the day seemed a long one for some reason. We wonder
+how things are going on the outside and if the friends we love but
+cannot hear from are well, happy, and think sometimes of us.
+
+The Commissioner came to say that he would bring the Recorder, or
+Commissioner, from the Koyuk district with him to call this evening, and
+he did so. The latter is a middle-aged man, whose family lives in
+Minneapolis, Minnesota, he himself being a native born Norwegian, but
+having lived in the States for twenty years. They brought two United
+States marshals with them, and one of them played on the guitar quite
+well, though I thought I detected a scent of the bottle when he sang his
+songs. He has a good voice, but untrained.
+
+Yesterday it was fifteen degrees below zero, but grew warmer toward
+night, and began snowing. Today it snowed quite hard until dark. Along
+the shore huge blocks of ice lay heaped promiscuously, and deep drifts
+rolled smoothly everywhere. When I grew tired walking I stopped a moment
+and listened. There was no sound but the beating of my own heart. This
+then was our new Arctic world. How wonderfully beautiful it was in its
+purity and stillness. Look whichever way I would, all was perfect
+whiteness and silence. When I walked the snow scarcely creaked under my
+feet. Above, beneath, around, it was everywhere the same. It was a
+solemn stillness, but ineffably sweet and tender. It was good to live. A
+feeling of sweetest peace and happiness swept over me, and tears sprang
+to my eyes. Was this heaven? It almost seemed like it, but glancing
+toward the grave of the murdered man on the hillside I remembered that
+this could not be. Farther down the shore line, when I started to go
+home, I saw the smoke of the cabins, through the veil of the snowflakes.
+
+[Illustration: WINTER PROSPECTING.]
+
+While giving Jennie her lessons this afternoon the Commissioner came in
+to say that he would like me to do some copying for him, for as yet he
+has no clerk, and needs one. I told him I would do the work if I might
+take it home, and could get a quiet corner by myself. I hardly see how I
+am to manage that while there are so many people in the house, but I
+shall try it, for I would like to earn the money.
+
+This morning it was three degrees above zero; yesterday it was fifteen
+below.
+
+A full moon hung high in the sky this morning until nine o'clock.
+Weather is warm and beautiful, with rosy clouds at sunrise, but it grew
+colder by noon.
+
+Among other things Mary has brought from Nome is her little hand sewing
+machine, which is an old-fashioned thing, to be fastened to a table and
+the wheel turned by hand. It was brought from the old country, and looks
+quite well worn, but is still useful and far better than no machine, if
+it does have a chain stitch which is liable to rip easily. We have a lot
+of amusement with this machine, for when Alma is sewing and one of the
+boys happens to be idle about her she makes him turn the wheel while
+she guides the cloth and watches the needle.
+
+Others besides myself are wearing muckluks by this time, though not all
+have come to them, the felt shoes being worn in the house some by the
+girls until severe cold forces them into the native boots of reindeer
+skin.
+
+In her rooms at the hotel Mollie sits with Alice each day on the fur
+rugs, cutting, sewing and beading moccasins and moosehide gloves. A
+regular workshop it is. Boxes of thread, beads, scraps of fur, whole
+otter skins, paper patterns, shears, bits of hair and fur scattered upon
+the floor, and the walls covered with hanging fur garments; this is the
+sewing-room of the captain's wife as it is now each day when I go there.
+The room contains two large windows, one on the north side and one on
+the west, at which hang calico curtains tied back with blue ribbons in
+daytime. These women work very rapidly, with the thimble upon the first
+finger and by pushing the three-cornered skin needle deftly through
+skins they are sewing. The thread they use for this work is made by them
+from the sinews of reindeer, and takes hours of patient picking and
+rolling between fingers and palms to get spliced and properly twisted,
+but when finished is very strong and lasting. Their sewing and bead work
+is quite pretty and unique, and is done with exceeding neatness and
+care, though not much attention is bestowed upon colors.
+
+Friday, December seventh, has been a busy day all round. L. and B.
+started off early after breakfast on a prospecting trip, and the girls
+kept at their sewing. Mr. H. came from the Home to get the sewing
+machine and some lumber, and was packing up nearly all day, so that we
+are still quite unsettled, but it is much pleasanter for him to come to
+a warm house and where he gets hot meals after his twelve miles over the
+ice with the deer or dogs.
+
+He left here at four in the afternoon and had been gone only an hour
+when Mr. F. and another man came from Nome, on the way to the Koyuk.
+Getting well warmed and eating a hearty supper, which was much enjoyed
+after some days on the trail, they started with two reindeer and as many
+sleds for the Home, which is on the way to Koyuk. Another hour passed
+and two women and their guide from White Mountain came in, these
+belonging to the same party as the last men going to the Koyuk, and
+these three had to remain over night as it was too late to push on
+further. The men brought their fur robes and blankets from their sleds,
+threw them into the bunks in the west room, and called it a good lodging
+place compared to the cramped and disorderly roadhouses upon the trails.
+
+December eighth: We had a fire fright this morning, which was not
+enjoyed by any one in the Mission. Mary had gotten up early, and two
+fires were already going, one in the kitchen range and one in the
+sitting room heater near my bed. It was still dark at half-past seven
+and I was awake, thinking seriously of dressing myself, though there was
+no hurry, for Mary was the only one yet up, when I saw a shower of large
+sparks of fire or burning cinders falling to the ground outside the
+window. I rushed into the kitchen telling Mary what I had seen, and she
+ran outside and looked up toward the chimney. Fire, smoke and cinders
+poured out in a stream, but she satisfied herself it was soot burning in
+the sitting-room chimney.
+
+Coming in, she pulled most of the wood from the heater, scattered salt
+upon the coals, and by this time all in the house were down stairs,
+asking what had happened.
+
+M. says he will also take my attorney paper and stake a claim for me, as
+he has decided to go to the Koyuk with the men who came last night from
+Nome. They have a horse, but as it is almost worn to the bone and nearly
+starved, they hardly think he can travel much farther. M. wants me to
+get him some location notices from the Commissioner when I see him. When
+coming home from Jennie's lesson this afternoon I was turning the corner
+of the hotel when the wind took me backward toward the bay for thirty
+feet or more, and deposited me against an old wheelbarrow turned bottom
+upwards in the snow. To this I clung desperately, keeping my presence of
+mind enough to realize my danger if blown out upon the ice fifty feet
+away and below me, where I would be unable to make myself either seen
+or heard in the blinding storm and would soon be buried in the snow
+drifts and frozen.
+
+In my right hand I carried my small leather handbag containing a dozen
+or more deeds and other documents to be recorded for the Commissioner,
+and if the wind blew this from my hand for an instant I was surely
+undone, for it would never be recovered. I now clung to the barrow until
+I had regained my breath and then made a quick dash for the lee or south
+side of the hotel out of the gale, and into the living-room again. Here
+I sat down to rest, trembling and breathless, to consider the best way
+to get home. It was now dark, the snow blinding, and the gale from the
+northeast fearful. A stout young Eskimo sat near me, and I finally asked
+him to take me home, to which he consented.
+
+The Mission was only a few hundred feet away, but to reach it we had to
+go directly into the teeth of the storm, which was coming from the
+northeast.
+
+Not six feet ahead of us could we see, but I trusted to the sense of my
+Eskimo guide to lead me safely home, and he did it. Motioning me to
+follow him, he proceeded to pass through the building and out the east
+end entrance, notwithstanding that he led me directly through the
+bar-room of the hotel, where the idlers stared wonderingly at me. Once
+outside the door, he grasped my right arm firmly and we started, but he
+kept his body a little ahead of me, and with side turned from the
+blizzard instead of facing it.
+
+In this sidelong way we struggled on with all our strength, through snow
+drifts, against the elements in the darkness, with breath blown from our
+bodies, and eyes blinded by whirling snow. Now and again I was forced to
+stop to gain breath for a fresh struggle, and when we reached the
+Mission we staggered into the door as if drunken. I now found that all
+my clothing was blown so full of fine snow that the latter seemed fairly
+a part of the cloth, would not be shaken out, and only a thorough drying
+would answer. A good, hot cup of coffee was handed to each of us, and my
+Eskimo guide sat until rested, but I think I shall take Alma's sage
+advice, and in future remain at home during blizzards.
+
+Of course M. and the other men could not leave for the Koyuk as they
+intended, but they do not appear to be discontented at having to remain
+under our roof longer, as they seem to be enjoying themselves very well,
+and say it is all really home-like here in the Mission.
+
+I am working on the Recorder's books, and like the work fairly well.
+
+This is a stormy Sunday, December ninth, but the weather is not so bad
+as yesterday, and B. and L. came back from the Home. We have eight men
+here today, including the two young fellows who have been at work on the
+Home building, and who came over from Nome weeks before the rest of us.
+This is the first time they have been here since we arrived. They, too,
+are Swedes, as are all these men but M., who is a Finlander.
+
+For dinner we had reindeer roast with flour gravy, potatoes, plum
+butter, rye and white bread and butter, coffee and tapioca pudding. The
+potatoes taste pretty sweet from being frozen, but are better than none.
+We have had music from the guitar, mandolin and organ, besides vocal
+exercise without limit, and with all this I found time to do some Sunday
+reading in Drummond's Year Book, and have well enjoyed the day.
+
+The thermometer registers thirteen degrees below zero, and at half-past
+eight in the evening the wind was not blowing much; enough blizzard for
+this time certainly.
+
+While talking with one of the men from Nome I asked if he supposed there
+was gold in the Koyuk country, and he thought there was. As he was up
+there all last summer, he ought to know the prospects. It appears that
+there is a split in his party, or a disagreement of some kind, as is
+quite the fashion in Alaska, and some of the men are to remain behind.
+As soon as the weather clears sufficiently they will go to the Home, and
+from there leave for Koyuk River.
+
+Monday, December tenth: The Commissioner, the Marshal, and three of
+their friends came in to spend the evening with us, and one of the
+strangers sang well, accompanying himself on the organ. He also belongs
+to a party made up to go to Koyuk, but failed to reach that point, and
+they are staying in Chinik.
+
+I bought two red fox skins today for ten dollars, but will have to pay
+five dollars more for their cleaning by a native woman, to whom I have
+given them for that purpose. It is the only kind of fur I can find of
+which to make a coat, and I must have one of skins, as the wind goes
+straight through cloth, no matter how thick it is.
+
+Six of our household went out today to get wood with the old horse and
+sled, but the poor creature would not go, probably because it could not.
+They had to unload a good many times and were gone five hours. Alma and
+Ricka went with the four boys for an outing, but all came home tired and
+voting the horse a great failure.
+
+This morning our house was astir very early, and the men were getting
+ready to "mush on" towards the Koyuk. Mr. L. goes with the Marshal, the
+clerk, and two others, taking seven dogs and sleds loaded with
+provisions. It is a sight to see the preparations. There are sacks of
+frozen tom-cod for the dogs, tents, Yukon stoves, tin dishes, snow
+shoes, sleeping bags and robes, coffee pots, axes, picks, gold pans and
+boxes, cans and bags of grub, ad infinitum.
+
+G. and B. stay behind to make another camp stove but will leave soon
+for Nome. B. cleaned his gun today, and looked after his ammunition.
+
+[Illustration: AT CHINIK. THE MISSION.]
+
+Wednesday, December twelfth: Our sunset was very lovely today at one in
+the afternoon, and at three o'clock, when I began with little Jennie's
+lessons, we had to light the lamp. I usually go into the sewing-room for
+a little while either before or after the lesson to watch the women sew
+furs.
+
+Alice, the younger, is as quiet as a mouse, but the captain's wife is a
+little more talkative, though not particularly given to conversation.
+Now and then, while she sews, something is said with which she does not
+agree, and she bites her thread off with a snap, with some terse remark
+offsetting the other, or with a bit of cynicism, which, with a quick
+glance of her black eyes and curl of the lip, is well calculated to
+settle forever the offender; for the captain's wife is as keen as a
+briar, and reads human nature quickly. I should say she is gifted with
+wonderful intuitive powers, and these have been sharpened by her
+constant effort to understand the words and lives of those around her,
+these being to such an extent English speaking people, while she is an
+Eskimo. Let none flatter themselves that they can deceive Mollie, for
+they would better abandon that idea before they begin. She impresses me
+as a thoroughly good and honest woman, and I am getting to respect her
+greatly.
+
+Two of the boys from the Home spent the night in the Mission, and helped
+with sawing wood all forenoon today. They went from Nome to assist at
+building the Home, and came over here for the first time yesterday. They
+are jolly fellows, and used often to assist us in the "Star" at Nome,
+one always lightening our load of work by his cheery voice and pleasant,
+hopeful smile. He, too, is a sweet singer, and a great favorite with
+all. After a lunch they started to mush back to the Home over the ice,
+promising to come again at Christmas. B. and G. finally got started on
+their long, cold trip to Nome on business.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+CHRISTMAS IN ALASKA.
+
+
+Thursday, December thirteenth: The old Eskimo whom I call "grandpa" came
+from the Home with one of Mr. H.'s assistants for a load of supplies for
+the place, and arrived in time for breakfast at half-past nine. They
+loaded up the sleds, took hot coffee, and started back at eleven in the
+morning. Mr. M. came back alone before noon, having given up his trip to
+the Koyuk because his shoulder hurts him. The old horse had finally to
+be killed, and Mr. M. decided that he did not want to take his place at
+hauling, so turned back after selling part of his supplies to the
+others. The weather is fine indeed. A little snow is falling this
+afternoon, but there was a beautiful sky at sunrise and sunset, the
+latter at half-past one o'clock.
+
+While giving Jennie her lesson today I was introduced for the first time
+to little Charlie, who spends a good deal of time with Jennie. He is
+four years old, and a bright and beautiful child. His papa is an
+Englishman, and his Eskimo mother is dead. After the lesson I read
+stories to the two children, holding the little boy upon my lap, while
+Jennie sat beside us in the lamplight, her big black eyes shining like
+stars. She wore a brown serge dress, trimmed with narrow red trimming,
+her hair neatly braided in two braids down her back, and tied with red
+ribbons. Both children wore little reindeer muckluks on their feet, the
+boy being dressed in flannel blouse waist and knee pants. They are a
+very pretty pair of children.
+
+Such a charming, soft-tinted, red, purple and blue sky today, stretching
+along in bars above the snow-topped mountains. It makes one glad to be
+here, and feel full of pity for those who cannot enjoy it with us. It is
+good to enjoy everything possible as one goes along, for nobody knows
+how long anything will hold out and what will come next. At noon two
+hungry Eskimo children came, dirty, forlorn and cold, and we fed them.
+
+Mr. H. came again toward evening with reindeer to get a load of
+supplies, and the girls and M. went fishing. They had great sport, all
+dressed in fur, with short fish poles, hooks, bait and gunny sack for
+the game, coming in frosty and rosy after dark, and calling for hot
+coffee.
+
+I am quite interested in getting the fox skins for my coat. I have paid
+the Eskimo girl five dollars for tanning my fur skins, and hope to have
+a warm coat. My first three skins cost me twelve dollars, the next two
+ten dollars, and now five dollars for tanning, but I have a lining, and
+Mollie will make it for me next week.
+
+After supper we had a caller who has been here once before with others.
+He is a finely trained baritone singer, and comes from one of the
+Southern States. He sang and played entertainingly on the organ for an
+hour, while we sewed and knitted as we do each evening.
+
+Saturday, December fifteenth: Eight weeks today since we landed at
+Golovin Bay. Weather good, skies beautiful, but days are short. Sunset
+at half-past one in the afternoon; sunrise about ten in the morning.
+
+The Commissioner came with legal documents and customary jokes, and I
+try to get the copying done in between times. He is going to Nome for
+Christmas, and wants the papers all finished before he leaves. He is
+considered a very "rapid" young man, and looks like it.
+
+Sunday, December sixteenth: We had breakfast today at sunrise (ten in
+the morning) and I went for a walk alone upon the ice in a southerly
+direction, where the natives were fishing. There was a good trail which
+has been made by a horse-team hauling wood from the other shore, and the
+air was fine, so that I enjoyed it very much, though my hood was soon
+frosty around my face. For a while I watched the natives haul tom-cod up
+through the ice holes, but having no place to sit except upon the ice,
+as they did, I returned after having been gone two hours, and was soon
+dressed for dinner in Sunday suit.
+
+After dinner Mr. H. arrived with the teacher to hold an evening service
+in the kitchen, the latter taking Ricka and Mary with her to call upon
+some native families, two of whose members were sick. When they returned
+Ricka was full of laughter at the way they had entered the native
+igloos, especially Mary, who is a large woman and could barely squeeze
+in through the small opening called by courtesy a door. Ricka says it
+was more like crawling through a hole than anything else, and at one
+time Mary was so tightly jammed in that she wondered seriously how she
+was ever to get out.
+
+"Ugh!" said Ricka, when Mary related the incident, "that was not the
+worst of it. I wanted to keep the good dinner I had eaten, but the smell
+of the igloo almost made me lose it then and there, and as I was inside
+already, and Mary stuck fast in the door so I could not get out, we were
+both in a bad plight. When I tried to help her she would not let me, but
+only laughed at me."
+
+"Next time we will send Mrs. Sullivan," said Alma, laughing.
+
+"And you go along with me," said I, knowing that I could stand as long
+as Alma the smell of the Eskimo huts and their seal oil. So that was
+settled, Miss J., I presume, thinking us all very foolish to make so
+much fuss over a little thing like that in Alaska.
+
+This evening, when the kitchen was filled with natives, their service
+had begun, and while some of us sat in the sitting-room to leave more
+chairs for the others, there came a knock at the door, and in walked the
+Commissioner and the young baritone singer, who was persuaded to sing a
+few solos after the meeting was through in the kitchen.
+
+Monday, December seventeenth: Mollie is cutting my fur coat for me, but
+says I must have one or two more skins to make it large enough. She says
+she is too busy to study before Christmas, but will afterwards. The
+Commissioner brought more copying for me to do, and told me I could have
+the money for my work at any time. Some tell me he never pays anything
+he owes, and that I must look sharp or I will not get anything. The
+other Commissioner has invited me to go to a New Year's party at
+Council, fifty miles away, saying he will take me there and back behind
+his best dogs, but I refused, telling him that I never dance, and that I
+am a married woman. At that he laughed, said he was also married, with a
+wife in the States, but that does not debar him from having a good time.
+
+Word comes of a new gold strike not far away, but I think we are not
+really sure that it is bona fide, and must not put too much dependence
+on what we hear. The Commissioner comes with his copying, and is full of
+jokes.
+
+Wednesday, December nineteenth: A man came from the Home yesterday who
+has persuaded M. to go with him on a short staking expedition. They
+think they know of a new "find" very near home, and I ran over to the
+Recorder's to get two attorney papers made out for them to take as they
+say they will stake for the girls and me. The Commissioner paid me
+twenty dollars on copying, and said he would settle the remainder when
+he got back from Nome, as he and the other Commissioner were just
+setting out with a dog-team for that place. I have had to buy another
+fox skin for my coat, making twenty-seven dollars paid out on the
+garment thus far.
+
+Right sorry I was today that Mr. H. carried away the big velvet couch
+yesterday that I have slept on nights since coming here, and I tried
+last night the wooden settle brought down from upstairs to the
+sitting-room. I found it a most uncomfortable thing to sleep on, as my
+feet hung at least six inches over the end of the lounge, and they were
+icy when I wakened in the morning. I then decided to go upstairs to one
+of the canvas bunks in the northeast room, and I find it much better
+every way. The bunk is long, wide and warm enough with a reindeer skin
+under me, and all my blankets and comforters over me, while I have the
+room alone, temporarily, at least.
+
+Saturday, December twenty-second: This is the middle shortest day of
+winter, and a fine one, too, though we had not more than three and a
+half hours daylight. The skies are beautiful, with many bright colors
+blended in a most wonderful way.
+
+The girls are hard at work cooking for Christmas, and while the boys
+were all away today and we needed wood brought into the house, I rigged
+myself in rag-time costume and fetched several loads in my arms. How the
+girls laughed when they saw me, and declared they would fetch the kodak,
+but I ran away again.
+
+This afternoon M. and the other man returned from their little trip,
+looking bright and happy over having staked some claims for themselves
+and us not very far away. These are our first claims staked, and we
+naturally feel more than usually set up, though the men say of course
+there may be nothing of value in them.
+
+When I went to give Jennie her lesson I heard her father and another man
+talking of a party of five persons who have been taken out to sea on the
+ice, near Topkok. They started about three days ago from here, and one
+was the sick woman who has been at the hotel, all on their way to Nome
+by dog-team.
+
+There were two women and three men, two dog-teams and sleds. They were
+crossing the ice between two points of land while upon the winter trail
+to Nome, the wind had loosened the ice, and when they tried to get upon
+shore again they found it impossible, and they were blown directly out
+to sea. Without food or shelter, and with the nights as cold as they
+are, how can they live on the ice at sea? Some men have arrived bringing
+the news, and say that two men went out in a boat to their rescue, but
+broke their oars, the ice closed in on them, they were soaked through,
+and were obliged to use their best efforts to save themselves.
+
+The following night was very cold, and all think the unfortunates must
+have perished. What a terrible fate, and one that may happen to any one
+traveling in this country, though it does seem as if this ice should
+soon freeze solidly.
+
+Sunday, December twenty-third: Soon after breakfast today a man came to
+our door asking for iodine, or remedies for a dog bite. A mad dog had
+rushed upon a man sleeping in a tent in the night and bitten him quite
+severely upon the hands and leg. Mary and I put on our furs immediately
+and started out with the man, who piloted us into a small saloon, where
+the poor fellow sat by the stove with a white and pinched face.
+
+Several other men were standing about, after having done all they could
+for the injured man, but Mary washed the torn flesh in strong carbolic
+acid water, and tied it up in sterilized bandages, for which he seemed
+very thankful.
+
+The little saloon was neat and clean, containing a big stove, six or
+eight bunks across the back end, and a long table, upon which were
+spread tin plates, cups and spoons. A short bar ran along one side by
+the door. The men said that the mad dog had been shot immediately after
+the accident, but there were others around in the camp, they feared.
+
+I could easily see that the injured man was badly frightened as to the
+after-effects of the dog bite, and both Mary and I did all in our power
+to suggest away his fear, knowing well that this was as harmful as the
+injury. I told him that the missionary, Mr. H., had had a great deal of
+experience with such accidents, but never yet had seen a person thus
+bitten suffer from hydrophobia, which appeared to comfort him greatly.
+
+When we left the place he seemed more cheerful, though still very pale,
+and Mary promised to come again to see him. He belongs to a party of
+three men bound for Koyuk River. The young man who sings so well
+sometimes at the Mission is one of the three, but the other I have not
+yet seen.
+
+Later on Mary and I called upon Alice, the Eskimo girl, who lives with
+her mother, near the hotel, and who is suffering with quinsy. I found
+Jennie and Charlie there, and took them out for a walk down on the
+beach, where the little girl's aunt was cutting ice. As we passed the A.
+E. Store I noticed a dog lying on the porch having a bloody mouth, but
+as he lay quietly I did not think much about it. After we had passed
+down the trail for a block or so, I heard a commotion behind us, and
+looking back saw a young man rush out into the trail and shoot a dog,
+the one, as I afterwards learned, that I had seen on the porch. It had
+been mad, and snapping around all day, but the men could not find it
+earlier, and the two little children and I had passed within a few feet
+of it without being conscious of danger.
+
+Mr. H. came in to supper, also two others from the camp of the
+shipwrecked people, thirty miles away to the east of us. At supper one
+of the men offered to stake some claims for us over near their camp,
+where they think there is gold. They took our names on paper, and said
+that after prospecting, if they found gold, they would let us into the
+strike before any others. They will remain over night, and leave early
+in the morning. Mr. H. and Mary called after supper to see the man who
+was bitten by the mad dog, and found him looking better, and not so
+worried as this morning. His friend was playing on the banjo, and all
+were sitting quietly around the fire.
+
+Monday, December twenty-fourth: The two boys, G. and B., came in late
+last evening, tired and hungry, from the Nome trail, glad to arrive at
+home in time for Christmas.
+
+Early this morning Mary dressed herself up hideously as Santa Claus,
+bringing a big box of presents in while we sat at the breakfast table
+and distributing them. Of course there were the regulation number of
+fake packages, containing funny things for the boys, but each one had a
+present of something, and I had a souvenir spoon just from Nome, an
+ivory paper knife of Eskimo make from the girls, and later a white silk
+handkerchief.
+
+Going into the sitting-room after breakfast, we were met by the fumes
+of burnt cork, hair or cotton, and upon inquiry were told that Santa
+Claus had had a little mishap; his whiskers had been singed by coming
+into contact with the lamp chimney and that it had delayed matters
+somewhat until Ricka, his assistant, could find more cotton on the
+medicine shelves; but the end of all was hearty laughter and a jolly
+good time; an effort to forget, for the present, the day in our own
+homes thousands of miles away.
+
+This morning, before noon, all in the Mission went to the Home to the
+Christmas tree and exercises, leaving me alone to keep house, the first
+time this has happened in Alaska. Mr. H. had left the dog-teams, two
+reindeer, and three sleds, with which they were to drive over, and a
+merry party they were. When they had gone I worked for some time at
+getting the rooms in order, and making all as tidy and snug as possible,
+but I had no holly berries nor greens with which to decorate. All was
+snowy and white out of doors, and a cheerful fire inside was most to be
+desired. In the afternoon I gave Jennie her lesson as usual. I am
+invited to eat Christmas dinner tomorrow with Mollie, the captain and
+little Jennie, and shall accept. A good many in camp have been invited,
+I understand, and I am wondering what kind of a gathering it will be.
+
+Tuesday, December twenty-fifth: Christmas Day, and I was alone in the
+Mission all night, so I had to build my own fires this morning. I did
+not get up until ten o'clock, as it was cold and dark, and I had
+nothing especial to do. There is plenty of wood and water, and
+everything in the house, so I do not have to go out of doors for
+anything.
+
+By noon I had finished my work, put on my best dress, and sat down at
+the organ to play. I went over all the church music and voluntaries I
+could find at hand, read a number of psalms aloud, and as far as
+possible for one person I went through my Christmas exercises.
+
+If a certain longing for things and people far away came near possessing
+me, I would not allow it to make me miserable, for longing is not
+necessarily unhappiness, and I had set my mind like a flint against
+being dissatisfied with my present state. With what knowledge I possess
+of the laws of auto-suggestion, I have so far since my arrival in Alaska
+managed the ego within most successfully, and tears and discontent are
+not encouraged nor allowed.
+
+We are creatures of voluntary habits, as well as involuntary ones, and
+habitual discontent and discouragement, gnawing at one's vitals are
+truly death-dealing. The study of human nature is, in Alaska,
+particularly interesting in these directions, to the one with his mind's
+eye open to such things, and I am resolved, come what will, that I will
+keep the upper hand of my spirit, that it shall do as I direct, and not
+harbor "blues" nor discouragement.
+
+About two in the afternoon in came M. and one of the visiting Swedes,
+after having walked from the Home, where they had attended the Christmas
+party, and they were well covered with icicles. I prepared a hot lunch
+for them, and ate something myself. Later a native was sent by Mollie to
+fetch me over to the hotel to dinner, it being dark, and as I was
+already dressed for the occasion, I went with him.
+
+When I arrived at the dining-room they were just seated at table, and
+the waiters were bringing in the first course. Twenty-five persons sat
+at the Christmas board, at one end of which sat the captain as host with
+his wife and little Jennie at his left. At his right sat the young
+musician, who had entertained us at the Mission several times with his
+singing, and the storekeeper, but with a place between them reserved for
+me.
+
+After a quiet Christmas greeting to those around me, I took my seat, and
+the dinner was then served. A bottle of wine was ordered by the host for
+me, and brought by the waiter, who placed it with a glass beside my
+plate. At each plate there had already been placed the same
+accompaniments to the dinner, with which great care had been taken by
+the two French cooks in the kitchen, and upon which no expense had been
+spared by the captain, who was host. While the waiters were serving the
+courses, and conversation around the table near me became quite general,
+on the aside I studied the company. It was cosmopolitan to the last
+degree. Opposite me sat the hostess (Mollie) with her little Jennie,
+dressed in their very best, the woman wearing a fashionable trained
+skirt, pink silk waist and diamond brooch, while the little child wore
+light tan cloth in city fashion, and looked very pretty. Below them sat
+the regular boarders at the hotel, hotel clerk, the bartender, miners,
+traders and the woman who kept the saloon. The latter appeared about
+thirty years of age, dark, petite and pretty, richly and becomingly
+gowned in garments which might have come along with her native tongue
+from Paris. On our side of the long table, and opposite this woman, sat
+the only other white woman besides myself present, and she, with her
+husband, the two neighbors who had given us our first sleigh ride behind
+the grey horse. On this side sat more miners and the few travelers who
+happened to be at the hotel at this time. The clerk, next his employer,
+who sat at my right, and the musician on my left, completed the number
+of guests, with the exception of the one at the farther end of the
+board, opposite the host. This was a young man in a heavy fur coat, his
+head drooping low over his plate.
+
+"Don't let H. fall upon the floor, boys," said the captain, as he saw
+the pitiable plight of the young man. "Poor fellow, he has been
+celebrating Christmas with a vengeance, and it was too much for him,
+evidently. It don't take much to knock him out, though, and this wine,"
+taking up his wine glass and looking through the liquid it contained,
+"won't hurt a baby."
+
+"Do you never take wine?" politely inquired the musician of me, as he
+noticed that my wine glass remained untouched, and a glass of cold water
+was my only beverage.
+
+"I never do," said I firmly, but with a smile, as I noticed that both he
+and the gentleman at my right barely touched theirs, while others drank
+freely.
+
+"Waiter, bring Mellie another bottle of that wine," called the
+bartender, from the other side of the table, "those bottles don't hold
+nothin' anyway, and a woman who can't empty more'n one of 'em ain't
+much," and a second bottle was handed the female dispenser of grog, a
+connoisseur of long standing, and one who could "stand up" under as much
+as the next person. By this time the woman opposite her was considerably
+along the road to hilarity, and shouts and laughter came from both,
+called forth by the jests of their companions alongside.
+
+Meanwhile the dinner progressed. The turkey was bona fide bird, and not
+a few gull's bones from a tin quart can, while the cake and ice cream
+with which my meal was ended, were all that could be desired in Alaska.
+All voted that the cooks had "done themselves proud," and no one could
+say that Christmas dinners could not be served in Chinik.
+
+Before rising from the table, at the close of the meal, toasts to the
+host and hostess were drunk by those at the bottles, and Christmas
+presents were distributed to many, principally to members of the family
+and from boarders of the house. There were silk handkerchiefs, red
+neckties, "boiled shirts," and mittens, and in some instances moosehide
+gloves and moccasins, made by the Eskimo hostess herself, while "Mellie"
+came in for a share, including a large black bottle of "choice
+Burgundy."
+
+Upon leaving the dining table, the company separated, most of the men
+going into the bar-room and store, while the family and invited guests
+repaired to the living-room. Here a good-sized Christmas tree had been
+arranged for Jennie and Charlie, and their presents were displayed and
+talked over. In the meantime, the long dining table was cleared and
+spread again for the Eskimos, who soon flocked into the room in numbers.
+
+Some one proposed that we go to the Mission and have some songs by the
+musician, to which all assented, and nine of us, including the captain,
+his wife and Jennie, started over about half-past eight o'clock. There
+we found the rooms bright and warm, the two men keeping house in my
+absence having escaped to the upper rooms on hearing the party
+approaching. Here a pleasant hour or two were passed in listening to the
+songs of the musician, who always accompanies himself on his
+instrument, whether banjo or organ. He sang the "Lost Chord," "Old
+Kentucky Home," and many other dear old songs, closing with "God Be With
+You Till We Meet Again," and the doxology. After that they pulled on
+their parkies and fur coats and went out into the snow storm (for by
+this time the snow was falling heavily), and to their homes, while I sat
+down alone in the firelight to review the events of the day--my first
+Christmas Day in Alaska. How different from any other I have ever spent.
+What a disclosure of the shady side of human nature this is,--and yet
+there is some good intermingled with it all.
+
+Many here cannot endure the stress of the current, nor pull against it,
+and so float easily on towards the rapids and destruction. Here is a
+field for the Christian worker, though Mr. H. says he moved his little
+flock twelve miles across the bay in order to get it farther away from
+this iniquitous camp.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+MY FIRST GOLD CLAIMS.
+
+
+Christmas is over for another year, and this is December twenty-sixth
+with its daily winter routine. After I had given the two men their
+breakfast, I went out for a walk upon the beach. A few snowflakes fell
+upon my face as I walked, and it was not cold but pleasant. There was a
+red and glowing, eastern sky, but no sunshine, and I looked out over the
+ice to see if possibly the girls were returning. Seeing nothing of them,
+I went home again. About two o'clock M. came in, saying that they could
+be seen far out upon the ice, and we must build the fires and get dinner
+started, which we then did. Soon Alma came riding on a reindeer sled,
+with a native driver, getting in ahead of the others, who arrived half
+an hour later.
+
+Mr. H. has come with two of his assistants and Miss E. by reindeer team
+from the Home on their way to the station, where the animals are herded
+in the hills, and all had a good lunch. After spending two hours in
+packing, talking and resting, they left again, Miss E. on a sled behind
+a reindeer, which was driven by a native, and which tore up the snow in
+clouds as he dashed over the ice northward to the hills. I ran out upon
+the cliff to see them on their way, being quite contented that it was
+not myself.
+
+I have learned that the five persons who drifted out to sea on the ice
+were brought back by the wind and tide, and escaped safely to land,
+after being at sea several days, but were unharmed, and went on to Nome.
+I was very glad to hear this, as they have had a narrow escape from
+death.
+
+Friday, December twenty-eighth: The musician and his friend who was
+bitten by the mad dog called this forenoon at the Mission to get the
+man's wounds dressed by Mary, the nurse. His hands are much better, but
+the wounded leg may yet give him trouble. Mary did her best for the man,
+who seems to be growing more cheerful, and we do all possible to
+encourage and help him, lending him reading matter of various kinds with
+which to pass his time. A good many are going to the New Year's party at
+Council, among them the captain and his wife, and the musician; but I
+shall not go, though both commissioners have urged me to accept their
+invitations, and did not enjoy overmuch my refusals. I was playing ball
+with Jennie and Charlie before our lessons today when the party started
+out with the dog-teams, for the nights are very moonlight and clear, and
+they can travel for many hours. A cousin of Mollie's, by name Ageetuk,
+went with her. Jennie is to stay with her auntie until her mamma's
+return, and I will give her the afternoon lessons just the same, only at
+her auntie's house. When the lesson was finished I led Charlie to
+Ageetuk's house, where her mother cares for him in the night time, and
+left Jennie with her auntie, Apuk. This woman has a neat little cabin of
+three small rooms, furnished in comfortable fashion, with a pretty
+Brussels rug covering the floor of her best room, in which is a white
+iron bedstead, a good small table with a pretty cover, a large lamp,
+white dimity curtains at the windows over the shades, and in the next
+room there are white dishes upon the shelves.
+
+Sunday, December thirtieth: It is ten weeks yesterday since we arrived
+at Golovin, or Chinik, as is the Eskimo name for the settlement, and
+pronounced Cheenik, a creek of the same name flowing into the bay a mile
+east of this camp. During the day I went to look after Jennie and
+brought the child home with me, giving her candy and nuts, and playing
+for her on the organ.
+
+This evening we all went out upon the ice for a walk. We took the trail
+to White Mountain, going in a northwesterly direction, and enjoyed it
+very much. We passed the cliff, and the boats, the snow creaking at
+every step, and the moonlight clear and beautiful. We were out for two
+hours, and felt better for the fresh air and exercise. All old timers
+say that it is bad for one's health to remain indoors too much in
+Alaska, and people should get out every day for exercise. There is far
+more danger of getting scurvy by remaining in the house too much than
+from any kinds of food we have to eat, and none of us wish to be ill
+with that troublesome disease.
+
+About five o'clock Miss E. came in with a native from the station where
+the reindeer are kept, having grown tired of staying in a native hut
+with the Eskimo women while the missionary was busy at work. She started
+early this morning when the weather was fine. Lincoln, the experienced
+native who came with her, knew the way perfectly, and they expected to
+make the twelve or fifteen miles and get into the Mission early, but the
+weather suddenly changed, as it knows so well how to do in this country,
+the wind blew, snow fell and drifted and though they came safely through
+the hills, they lost their way upon the bay while crossing to Chinik,
+and wandered for hours in the snow storm.
+
+Having no lunch, tent, nor compass, and no extra furs, they found
+themselves in a disagreeable plight, especially as the snow was very
+soft and wet. They kept on traveling, however, until they were satisfied
+that they were going in circles, as do all when lost in a snow storm,
+and were making no progress; then they halted.
+
+Here they were overtaken by two white men, lost like themselves, who,
+when the matter had been talked over, would not follow the native,
+thinking they knew better than he the way to Chinik, and they went off
+by themselves. Miss E. says that both she and Lincoln had given up hope
+of getting here today, but she knelt upon the ice and prayed that they
+might find their way safely, then trusted that they would do so, and
+started. After going on for a time in the storm, they saw a small,
+deserted cabin not far from them which Lincoln instantly recognized as
+one upon the point of land only a quarter of a mile west of Chinik, and
+they were happy.
+
+They soon came into the Mission, full of gratitude, though wet, tired
+and hungry, for it is so warm that there is water on the ice in places,
+and the snow is very heavy. They had only one deer with them.
+
+The two lost men came into camp an hour after Miss E. arrived, having
+gone past the cabin and camp, and southward too far in their reckoning.
+It is never safe to travel without a compass of some sort in this
+country. Mr. H. and his two men have, besides attending to the herd,
+staked some gold claims while away, not far from our claims. The wind
+has died down, and there is no snow falling tonight at half-past eight.
+
+This is New Year's Eve, and the girls and boys are singing, and having a
+good time in the sitting-room while I write. We are going to sit up to
+watch the old year out and the new year in, and have a little song
+service at midnight.
+
+This is the last day of nineteen hundred, and a memorable year it has
+been. How many new scenes and how great the changes through which we
+have passed! What will the New Year bring? Where will we be next year at
+this time? It is probably better that we do not know the future.
+
+New Year's Day, nineteen hundred and one. This has been a good day all
+around, after our midnight watch meeting, when seven of the eight
+persons present took a part, and we sang many songs with the organ. At
+half-past twelve I retired, but the others remained up until two
+o'clock.
+
+This evening the storekeeper and two others from White Mountain called
+to see if we did not care to go out coasting on the hill behind the
+Mission, and five or six of us went. When we got to the top of the hill
+the wind was so strong that I could hardly stand, and after a few trips
+down the Hill we gave it up, part of our number going out to walk upon
+the ice, and the rest of us going indoors. The men were invited into the
+Mission, and stayed for an hour, chatting pleasantly, as there is no
+place for them to go except to the saloons. It is a great pity that
+there is no reading room with papers and books for the miners, with the
+long winter before them, and nothing to do. There is a crying need for
+something in this line, and if they do not employ their time pleasantly
+and profitably, they will spend it unprofitably in some saloon or
+gambling place. I wish I had a thousand good magazines to scatter, but I
+have none.
+
+I gave Jennie her lesson, and amused both children for a time this
+afternoon. Yesterday the snow drifted badly, and I fear the people who
+went to Council will not have a good trail on the way home.
+
+January second: It is pleasant to have a corner by myself in which to
+write and be sometimes alone. The little northeast corner room where I
+sleep has a tile pipe coming up from the kitchen, making the room warm
+enough except in the coldest weather. It has a north window with no
+double one outside, and when the wind comes from the north I expect it
+will be extremely cold. From this window I can see (when the glass is
+free from frost) out upon the trail to Nome and White Mountain. Today
+there is water on the ice, and it has been raining and blowing. Three of
+the boys returned from a four days' prospecting trip to the west, and as
+two of them had been sick the whole time since they left here, they came
+in wet, tired and hungry, without having much good luck to relate. I
+told them it was something to get back at all again, and they agreed
+heartily, while eating a hot supper. An hour later and Mr. H. with the
+visiting preacher came in from the reindeer station, and their staking
+trip, in the same condition as the three boys had been; so a supper for
+them was also prepared.
+
+Our kitchen looks like a junk shop these days, and a wet one at that,
+for the numbers of muckluks, fur parkies, mittens, and other garments
+hung around the stove to dry are almost past counting, and the odor is
+stifling; but the clothing must be dried somewhere, and there is no
+other place. An engine room would be the very best spot I know for
+drying so many wet furs, and I wish we had one here.
+
+In speaking to one of the men today about prospecting my claim, I told
+him I would furnish the grub, but he said very kindly, "I wouldn't take
+any grub from you. I've got enough, and shall be at work there any way,
+so it won't take long to sink some holes in your claim," which I thought
+was very good of him. I hope they will "strike it" rich.
+
+January third: A wet, sloppy, snowy day, our "January thaw," Mr. H.
+says. I took the two children out on the sled upon the ice and pushed at
+the handle-bars until I was reeking with perspiration, afterwards giving
+Jennie her lesson at her auntie's.
+
+There are twelve of us under the Mission roof tonight, including Miss E.
+and the native.
+
+January fourth: These are great days. We have a houseful of men, nine in
+all, and some are getting ready to leave tomorrow to do some staking of
+claims up near the station. M. said if the musician were only here, and
+they could get a dog-team, he would like to get him to go with him on a
+staking trip not far away. This man returned soon afterward, and M.
+wanted me to ask him if he would go. I did so, and he replied that he
+would go, and furnish dogs if possible; but the ones he tried to get
+were engaged, and that plan fell through, much to his discouragement.
+Learning this, I determined to go to the captain at the hotel, and see
+if I could procure dogs from him for the trip. He said yes, I could have
+his best dogs, and that a mail carrier is here resting who will lend us
+his dogs, so that was all arranged.
+
+Location papers then had to be written out, grub boxes packed, a tent
+looked up, and many things attended to before they left, so that others
+in camp got an inkling of what was being done and wanted to go along.
+Then M. and the musician decided to put off going until midnight, when
+they would sneak quietly out of camp with their dogs and scamper away
+among the hills without the others knowing it, but it could not be done,
+and two or three sleds followed them at midnight in the moonlight, as is
+the custom with Alaska "stampeders."
+
+January fifth: Mollie asked me today to go with her to visit her fox
+traps, and I immediately decided to go. We started about half-past one
+in the afternoon, on foot past the cliff, but when we had gone a short
+distance Mollie stopped to call back to the house. Some native boys were
+cutting wood at the north door, and she motioned one to come to her.
+When he came, she spoke to him in Eskimo, and he, assenting to what she
+said, ran back again.
+
+"I tell Muky to come with dog-team, bring us home, you get tired by and
+by," she said thoughtfully, as we trudged on again over and through the
+snow. The woman wore a reindeer parkie, short skirt, and muckluks, and
+carried a gun on her shoulder. The snow was quite a foot deep, with a
+crust on top which we broke at almost every step, and which made it hard
+walking. On we "mushed," past the cliff, the boats, and out upon the
+ice. The traps had been set by Mollie a week before on the northeast
+shore of the bay among a few low bushes, and this was our objective
+point. When we reached the first trap, which was buried in snow, but
+found by a certain shrub which Mollie had in some way marked and now
+recognized, I threw myself upon the snow to rest and watch her
+movements.
+
+Around us we saw plenty of ptarmigan tracks, but no signs of foxes. A
+foot below the snow's surface, Mollie found her trap, and proceeded to
+reset it. Carefully covering the trap with a very little light snow and
+smoothing it nicely over, she chipped off bits of reindeer meat from a
+scrap she had brought with her, scattering them invitingly around.
+
+The scene about us was a very quiet one and wintry in the extreme. Long,
+low hills stretched out on every side of the bay, and the whole earth
+was a great snow heap. The sky and cloud effects were charming, fading
+sunshine on the hilltops making them softly pink, and very lovely; but
+with deep reddish purple tints over all as the sun-ball disappeared.
+
+One after another, four fox traps in different places were reset by
+Mollie, while I mushed on behind her.
+
+At last we saw the dog-team and Muky coming on the bay. Five dogs he had
+hitched to his sled, and each wore a tiny bell at its throat, making a
+pretty din as they trotted. When the woman had finished her trapping, we
+both climbed into the sled, the native running and calling to the dogs,
+and they started for home. It was not a long ride, probably not more
+than a mile and a half as we went, but while tramping through the snow
+crust to the traps it seemed much longer.
+
+I now thoroughly enjoyed the novel ride. In the dusky twilight the dogs
+trotted cheerfully homeward, obeying the musical calls of their driver,
+and the little bells jingled merrily. Darker and more purple grew the
+skies until they tinted the snow over which we were passing, and by the
+time we had halted before the hotel door it was really night.
+
+By the clock it was fifteen minutes past four and the thermometer
+registered fifteen degrees below zero. Then we toasted our feet before
+the big heater, removed and shook out our frosty furs, and answered the
+two children's questions. To these Mollie gave her explanations in
+Eskimo, and I told of the ptarmigan tracks I had seen on the snow
+drifts.
+
+Sunday, January sixth: Yesterday I moved into the little southeast room
+which was formerly Miss J.'s. It has pretty paper on the walls, and a
+small heater in one corner, besides a single cot, and I soon settled
+quite comfortably. The room with the bunks was needed for the men, of
+whom there are so many most of the time. The room I now have has a south
+window, but not a double one, and gets heavy with frost, which remains
+on the panes; but I can have a fire when I want one, as the stove burns
+chips and short wood, of which there are always quantities in the shed.
+B. tells me to use all the wood I want, as there is no shortage of fuel,
+nor men to haul and cut it, which I think is very kind. A little fire
+while I am dressing nights and mornings, however, is all I shall try to
+keep burning.
+
+Miss J. came with Ivan, bringing several native children to visit their
+parents for a few hours, but took them back with her after supper when
+the meeting was over, which she had held in the kitchen. We had sixteen
+to supper, including natives. Afterward we went down to the beach to see
+the party off for the Home. Ivan led the dogs, five in number, hitched
+to the big sled. Miss J. ran alongside, the visiting preacher at the
+handle bar, and the little children on the sled. After watching them
+off, we came home and then took a walk of a mile out upon the ice on the
+White Mountain trail, which was in fairly good condition. There were
+six of us. When we got back to the house, I played by request on the
+organ, for the three Swedish visitors from Council.
+
+The weather is bright and beautiful, and sixteen degrees below zero.
+
+Monday, January seventh: The boys came in from their stampede to the
+creeks, and M. says they staked us all rich if there is anything good in
+the ground. My claim is Number Ten, below Discovery, on H. Creek, and
+sounds well, if nothing more. Of course we women are all much elated,
+and talk of "our claims" very glibly, but a few sunken prospect holes
+will tell the story of success or failure better than anything else.
+
+This has been a busy day in the house until I went at half-past two in
+the afternoon to Mollie's to find her ill in bed with a very bad throat.
+I gave Jennie and Charlie two hours of my time, and went home, to return
+in the evening at Mollie's request. The poor woman was suffering
+severely, and I did what I could for her, rubbing her throat with
+camphorated oil and turpentine and wrapping it in thick, hot flannels.
+Then I assisted her to bed, rubbing her aching bones, and left her less
+feverish than when I went in. The thermometer is above zero, and the
+weather is pleasant.
+
+Two men from Topkok came in to see the Recorder's books, and searched
+all through them without finding what they wanted and expected to find,
+and then went away with sober and disappointed faces. "Curses not loud
+but deep" come to our ears each day about the Commissioner's work of
+recording, and many say he is now deep in dissipation at Nome, instead
+of attending here to his business as he should. Miners declare him
+unfitted in every way for his position, and affirm that they will depose
+him from office.
+
+I went out this morning and bought a student lamp at the store, paying
+six dollars and a half for it. This, with my case of coal oil, will
+light my room nicely, besides giving a good deal of heat.
+
+The Marshal and men are home from the Koyuk River, after four weeks of
+winter "mushing," and say nothing about their trip. They did not manage
+to pull harmoniously together, and Mr. L. returned before them.
+
+January ninth: When I went today to the hotel to teach my pupils, I
+found the men in the room cleaning the big heater, and ashes and dirt
+drove us out of the place, so we went upstairs to another room in which
+Mollie sometimes sews, and where we found her at work on a white parkie
+for the musician. I played with Jennie for a time before the lesson, and
+Ageetuk came in on an errand, while Polly, the Eskimo servant, jabbered
+in a funny way and wabbled over the floor like a duck, as is her habit
+when walking. This girl is short, fat and shapeless, with beady black
+eyes, and a crafty expression, certainly not to be relied on if there is
+truth in physiognomy.
+
+At the hotel all is excitement and bustle, getting the men off for the
+Kuskokquim River, where the new strikes are reported. Strong new sleds
+have been made by the natives, grub is being packed and dogs gotten into
+condition, besides a thousand other things which must be done before the
+expedition is ready to start. Seeing them make such extensive
+preparations reminded me that perhaps I might get the men to carry my
+paper and stake something for me, so, plucking up my courage, I asked
+the promoter of the expedition, whom I know, if I could do this, and was
+readily given permission. In a few minutes paper, pen and ink were
+brought in, a clerk was instructed to draw up the paper in proper shape,
+which he did, and it was signed and witnessed in due form, Mollie
+subscribing her name as one of the witnesses. For this I tendered my
+heartiest thanks, and ran home with a light heart, already imagining
+myself a lucky claim owner in a new and rich gold section on the
+Kuskokquim. The party of five men are to leave tomorrow morning for the
+long trip of several hundred miles over the ice and snow.
+
+Mollie advises me to have another pair of muckluks made smaller, and to
+keep these I am wearing for traveling, when I will wear more inside
+them, so I will take my materials over tomorrow and she will have Alice
+cut and sew them for me. I hope they will not make my feet look so
+clumsy as do these, my first ones.
+
+January tenth: This was a cold and windy morning, so the men at the
+hotel could not start out for the Kuskokquim as they intended. Some men
+came to the Mission to see if they could rent the old schoolhouse to
+live in, the doctor and his plucky little wife having left some weeks
+ago for a camp many miles east of Chinik. After looking it over, the men
+have concluded to take it, and move in soon. There are no buildings to
+buy or rent in this camp, nor anything with which to build, so it is
+hard lines for strangers coming to Chinik. This afternoon Alma went over
+with me to the hotel to stitch on Mollie's sewing machine, and I carried
+the deerskin for my new footgear which Alice will make acceptably, no
+doubt, as she is very expert.
+
+Mr. H., two natives and two white men, were here to supper tonight on
+their way to Nome by dog-team, and are wishing to start at three in the
+morning in order to make the trip in two days. M. and L. are also here,
+so we had seven men to supper. We had fried ham, beans, stewed prunes,
+tea, and bread and butter.
+
+This morning it was two degrees below zero, with a strong, cold wind;
+tonight it is fourteen degrees below zero with no wind, and is warmer
+now than then. No moonlight till nearly morning, but the stars shine
+brightly.
+
+January eleventh: Mary sat up all night baking bread, and starting the
+men off for Nome between three and four in the morning. I got up at
+nine o'clock and enjoyed the magnificent sunrise. I went out with Ricka
+while she tried at the three stores to find a lining for her fur coat,
+but one clerk told us that no provision for women was made by the
+companies, and they had nothing on their shelves she wanted. At the
+hotel store she found some dark green calico at twenty-five cents a
+yard, which she was obliged to take for her lining.
+
+While I gave Jennie her lesson her mother came from her hunting, and had
+shot six ptarmigan, having hurt her finger on the trigger of the gun.
+Mollie studies a little while each day, when Jennie has finished her
+lesson.
+
+There is a sick Eskimo woman here now who was brought in from the
+reindeer camp yesterday, and Mollie has her upstairs in the sewing room
+on a cot. Mary, the nurse, went over with me to see her, and says she
+has rheumatic fever. She seems to be suffering very much, and cannot
+move her hands or limbs.
+
+January twelfth: At eight o'clock today the thermometer stood at
+forty-one degrees below zero, but registered thirty-two degrees during
+the middle of the day, and the houses are not so warm as they have been.
+
+When I called for Jennie at the hotel today I found her crying with pain
+in her leg, so she could not take a lesson, but I sent out for little
+Charlie who came running to me with outstretched arms. He is a dear
+little child, and I am getting very fond of him. It is some weeks since
+Jennie first began crying occasionally with pain, and her parents cannot
+understand it, unless it is caused by a fall she had on the steamer
+coming from San Francisco last summer, and of which they thought nothing
+at the time. I sincerely hope she is not going to be very ill, with no
+doctor nearer than White Mountain. The sick woman still suffers, though
+they are doing what they can for her. The captain requested me to bring
+our medical books over, or send them, that he can look up remedies and
+treatment of rheumatic fever, for that is what she no doubt has.
+
+While seated at the organ an hour later, in came the storekeeper and his
+clerk, followed soon after by the captain and musician. Then we had
+music and solos by the last named gentleman, and the knitting needles
+kept rapidly flying. At eleven o'clock they went out into the intense
+cold, which sparkled like diamonds, but which pinched like nippers the
+exposed faces and hands.
+
+Here is another cold, quiet day, with the thermometer at thirty-five
+degrees below zero, and it is a first class one to spend by the fire. We
+have read, slept, eaten, and fed the fires; with only one man, three
+girls and myself in the house. At ten in the evening G. and B. came in
+from a five days "mushing" trip on the trails, being nearly starved and
+frozen. They were covered with snow and icicles, their shirts and coats
+stiff with frost from steam of their bodies, as they ran behind the
+sled to keep warm. A hot supper of chicken (canned), coffee, and bread
+and butter was prepared in haste for them, and they toasted themselves
+until bedtime.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+THE LITTLE SICK CHILD.
+
+
+The winter is rapidly passing, and so far without monotony, though what
+it will bring to us before spring remains to be seen. Little Jennie has
+been suffering more and more with her leg of late, and her papa sent for
+the doctor at White Mountain, who came today by dog-team. The child's
+mother has had a spring cot made for her, and she was put to bed by the
+doctor, who says the knee trouble is a very serious one, and she must
+have good nursing, attention being also paid to her diet. The Eskimos
+are all exceedingly fond of seal and reindeer meat, and Jennie's Auntie
+Apuk or grandmother will often bring choice tidbits to the child at
+bedtime, or between meals, when she ought not to eat anything, much less
+such hearty food. When the little child sees the good things, she, of
+course, wants them, and having been humored in every whim, she must
+still be, she thinks, especially when she is ill. A problem then is here
+presented which I may help to solve for them. Jennie and I are growing
+very fond of each other, and she will do some things for me which she
+will not do for others who have obeyed her wishes so long. I begin by
+round-about coaxing and reasoning, and get some other idea into her
+mind, until the plate of seal meat is partially forgotten, and does not
+seem so attractive at nine in the evening as when presented with loving
+smiles by her old grandmother, who does sometimes resent the
+alternative, but is still exceedingly solicitous that the little girl
+should recover. As grandmother understands English imperfectly, Mollie
+is obliged to reiterate the doctor's orders in Eskimo, making them as
+imperative as possible, and the poor old Eskimo woman goes home with the
+promise that Jennie shall have some of the dainties at meal-time on the
+morrow.
+
+In appearance grandmother is still somewhat rugged, being a large woman,
+with an intelligent face, which expresses very forcibly her inner
+feelings, and being, probably, somewhere between sixty and seventy years
+of age. Her husband, who has been dead only a year or two, was much
+beloved by her, and no reference to him is ever made in her presence,
+without a flow of tears from her eyes. Her love of home and kindred
+seems very strong, and her devotion to little Jennie amounts almost to
+idolatry, so the solicitude expressed by the good woman is only a part
+of what she really feels, but which is shown in hundreds of ways. When
+the doctor settled the little girl in her bed she adjusted a heavy
+weight to the foot on the limb which has given her so much trouble, and
+now the grief of Mollie and her mother is unbounded. Poor old
+grandmother wipes her eyes continually, leaving the house quickly at
+times to rush home and mourn alone, as she is so constrained to do, her
+sorrow for her darling's sufferings being very sincere. Later she comes
+in after doing her best at courage building, tiptoes her way in to see
+if her pet is sleeping or awake, and bringing something if possible,
+with which to amuse or interest the invalid. However great is the grief
+of the women, that of the child's papa is equally sad to see, and he,
+poor man, is forced to face the probability of a long and dreary winter,
+if not a lifetime of suffering for his darling child. One cannot help
+seeing his misery, though he tries like a Trojan to hide it, and keeps
+as cheerful as possible to encourage others. He is always an invalid
+himself.
+
+The main topic of interest to Jennie now is the little stranger who has
+come to live with her Auntie Apuk, and whom she is so desirous of seeing
+that she almost forgets her trouble and suffering, asking constantly
+about its size, color, eyes, hair, hands and feet. She counts the days
+before she can see it, and puzzles greatly over the fact of its not
+possessing a name, her big black eyes getting larger and blacker as she
+wonders where one will be found. Little Charlie is allowed in to see
+Jennie at times, and wonders greatly to find her always in bed, asking
+many questions in his childish Eskimo treble, and patting her hand
+sympathetically while standing at her side.
+
+"Mamma," said he the other day to Mollie in Eskimo, with a pleased smile
+on his face, and when the two were alone, "the ladie loves me."
+
+"How do you know?" asked Mollie.
+
+"Because," he said shyly, putting his little arms about her neck,
+"because she kissed me." Whereupon Mollie did the same, and assured him
+of her own love, always providing, of course, that he was a good boy,
+and did what papa and mamma told him to do.
+
+This conversation Mollie reported to me a few days after it took place,
+and I assured her with tears welling up in my eyes that the little child
+had made no mistake. Strange action of the subjective mind of one person
+over another, even to the understanding by this Eskimo baby of a
+stranger heart, and that one so unresponsive as mine. The child,
+deprived as he was of an own mother's love, still hungered and thirsted
+for it, and he was quick to discern in my eyes and voice the secret for
+which he was looking. How I should enjoy giving my whole time to these
+two children, and they really do need me to teach and care for them; but
+I am dividing myself between them and the Mission, and the winter days
+are very short.
+
+The thermometer today registered fourteen degrees below zero, against
+twenty-eight yesterday and thirty below the day before that.
+
+Mr. H. has returned from Nome, bringing me a package of kodak films sent
+from Oakland, Cal., last August, and which I never expected to receive
+after so long a time. I was delighted to get them, and now I can kodak
+this whole district, above and below.
+
+Mollie is trying to study English a little, but with many interruptions
+on every hand. The big living room is light and warm, our only study
+place, and yet the rendezvous of all who care to drop in, regardless of
+invitations, making it somewhat difficult for us to concentrate our
+attention on the lessons. The Marshal, the bartender, the clerks, cooks,
+miners, natives, strangers and all come into this room to chat, see and
+inquire for Jennie, play with Charlie, and get warm by the fire. Here is
+an opportunity of a lifetime to study human nature, and I am glad, for
+it is a subject always full of interest to me, though I frequently feel
+literally choked with tobacco smoke, and wish often for a private
+sitting-room.
+
+Sunday, January twentieth: We are snuggled indoors by the fires under
+the most terrible blizzard of the season so far, with furious gales,
+falling and drifting snow, and intense cold. It is impossible to keep
+the house as warm as usual, and I have eaten my meals today dressed in
+my fur coat, my seat at table being at the end with my back close to the
+frosty north window. Though this is the place of honor at the board, and
+the missionary's seat when he eats in the Mission, still it is a chilly
+berth on occasions, and this is decidedly one.
+
+The dining-room contains, besides the north window, one on the south
+side as well, and though both are covered with storm windows, the frost
+and ice is several inches thick upon the panes, precluding any
+possibility of receiving light from either quarter unless the sun shines
+very brightly indeed, and then only a subdued light is admitted. During
+the night the house shook constantly in the terrific gale, rattling
+loose boards and shingles, and I was kept awake for several hours.
+
+At night I am in the habit of tossing my fur coat upon my bed for the
+warmth there is in it, as I am not the possessor of a fur robe, as all
+persons should be who winter here. Furs are the only things to keep the
+intense cold out in such weather as we are now having, but with some
+management I get along fairly well.
+
+A reindeer skin not in use from the attic makes my bed soft and warm
+underneath, my coat over my blankets answers the same purpose, and the
+white fox baby robe from the old wooden cradle upstairs makes a soft,
+warm rug on the floor upon which to step out in the morning. Wool
+slippers are never off my feet when my muckluks are resting, and I
+manage by keeping a supply of kindlings and small wood in my box by the
+stove, to have a warm fire by which to dress.
+
+These days we do not often rise early, and ten o'clock frequently finds
+us at breakfast, but we retire correspondingly late, and midnight is
+quite a customary hour lately. Today we passed the time in eating,
+sleeping, singing, and reading. A visiting Swedish preacher came over a
+few days ago from the Home, and is storm-bound in the Mission. He is a
+large, heavy man, with a hearty voice and hand grip, and is a graduate
+of Yale College, using the best of English, having filled one of the
+vacant Nome pulpits for several weeks last fall before coming to
+Golovin.
+
+Today he has read one of Talmage's sermons to us, and we have sung
+Gospel songs galore, in both Swedish and English, with myself as
+organist. When this is tired of, the smaller instruments are taken out,
+and Ricka has the greatest difficulty in preventing Alma from amusing
+the assembled company with her mandolin solo, "Johnny Get Your Hair
+Cut," the young lady's red lips growing quite prominent while she
+insists upon playing it.
+
+"Good music is always acceptable, Ricka, and on Sunday as well as on any
+other day, so I cannot see why you will not let me play as I want to. I
+do not think it a sin to play on the mandolin on Sunday. Do you, Pastor
+F.?" asked Alma of the preacher, appealingly, and in all innocence.
+
+What could he say to her? He laughed.
+
+"O, no," said Ricka, "I do not say that mandolin music is sinful on
+Sunday, and if you would play 'Nearer My God to Thee,' or some such
+piece, and not play 'Johnny,' I should not object." And she now looked
+at the preacher and me for reinforcements.
+
+Alma is not, however, easily put down, and the contest usually winds up
+with Ricka going into the kitchen where she cannot hear the silly
+strains of "Johnny," which Alma is picking abstractedly from the strings
+of the instrument, while the preacher continues his reading, and I go
+off to my room.
+
+Mr. Q., a Swedish missionary, and his native preacher called Rock, have
+arrived from Unalaklik, with the two visiting preachers at the Home, and
+they held an evening service in the schoolhouse, which was fairly well
+attended. There were seven white men, the three women in this house and
+myself, besides many natives of both sexes. Grandmother was there with
+Alice, Ageetuk and others, and the missionary spoke well and feelingly
+in English, interpreted by Rock into Eskimo. One of the preachers sang a
+solo, and presided at the organ. Some of the native women present had
+with them their babies, and these, away from home in the evening,
+contrary to their usual habit, cried and nestled around a good deal, and
+had to be comforted in various ways, both substantial and otherwise,
+during the evening; but the speakers were accustomed to all that, and
+were thankful to have as listeners the poor mothers, who probably could
+not have come without the youngsters.
+
+Considerable will power and auto-suggestion is needed to enable me to
+endure the fumes of seal oil along with other smells which are
+constantly arising from the furs and bodies of the Eskimos, made damp,
+perhaps, by the snow which has lodged upon them before entering the
+room. Fire we must have. Those who are continually with the natives in
+these gatherings do get "acclimated," but I am having a hard struggle
+along these lines.
+
+The three Swedish and one Eskimo preacher left today for the Home, after
+I had taken a kodak view of them, and their dog-team. As the wind blew
+cold and stiffly from the northwest, they hoisted a sail made of an old
+blanket upon their sled.
+
+There are many who are ingenious, and who are glad to help the sick
+child, Jennie, pass her time pleasantly, and among them is the musician.
+Being a clever artist as well as musician, he goes often to sit beside
+Jennie, and then slate and pencils are brought out, and the drawing
+begins. Indian heads, Eskimo children in fur parkies, summer landscapes,
+anything and everything takes its turn upon the slate, which appears a
+real kaleidoscope under the artist's hands. Jennie often laughs till the
+tears run down her face at some comical drawing or story, or the
+musician's efforts to speak Eskimo as she does, and both enjoy
+themselves immensely.
+
+Yesterday Mollie went out to hunt for ptarmigan. She is exceedingly
+fond of gunning, has great success, and she and the child relish these
+tasty birds better than anything else at this season. Ageetuk also is a
+good hunter and trapper, and brought in two red foxes from her traps
+yesterday, when she came home from her outing with Mollie. Little
+Charlie ran up to Mollie on her return from her hunt, and cried in a
+mixture of Eskimo and English:
+
+"Foxes peeluk, Mamma?" meaning to ask if she did not secure any animals,
+appearing disappointed when told by his mamma (for such she calls
+herself to the child) that she did not find anything today but
+ptarmigan.
+
+It was twenty degrees below zero this morning, and the sun was
+beautifully bright. The days are growing longer, and it is quite light
+at eight o'clock in the morning. The short days have never been tiresome
+to me because we have not lacked for fuel and lights, and have kept
+occupied.
+
+One of the Commissioners and two or three other men have been trying for
+a long time to get their meals here, but the girls have pleaded too
+little room, and other excuses, until now the Commissioner has returned,
+and renewed his requests. Today he came over and left word that he and
+two others would be here to six o'clock supper, at which the girls were
+wrathy.
+
+"I guess he will wait a long time before I cook his meals for him,"
+sputtered Alma, who disliked the coming of the official to the house,
+and under no consideration would she consent to board him.
+
+"My time is too short to cook for a man like that," declared Mary, with
+a toss of her head, as she settled herself in the big arm chair in the
+sitting room, and poor Ricka, whose turn it was this week to prepare the
+meals, found herself in the embarrassing position of compulsory cook for
+at least two of the men she most heartily despised in the camp, and this
+too under the displeasure of both Alma and Mary.
+
+"What shall I do?" groaned Ricka, appealing to me in her extremity.
+"Will you sit at table with them tonight, Mrs. Sullivan? because Alma
+and Mary will not, and I must pour the coffee. O, dear, what shall I
+have for supper?" and the poor girl looked fairly bowed down with
+anxiety.
+
+"O, never mind them, Ricka," said I, "just give them what you had
+intended to give the rest of us. I suppose they think this is a
+roadhouse, and, if so, they can as well board here as others; but if
+Alma refuses to take them, I do not see what they can do but keep away,"
+argued I, knowing both Alma and Mary too well by this time to expect
+them to change their verdict, as, indeed, I had no desire for them to
+do.
+
+"I'm sure it is not a roadhouse for men of their class," growled Alma,
+biting her thread off with a snap, for she was sewing on Mollie's dress,
+and did not wish to be hindered. "I'll not eat my supper tonight till
+they have eaten; will you, Mary?"
+
+"Indeed, I will not," was the reply from a pair of very set lips, at
+which Ricka and I retired to the kitchen to consult together, and
+prepare the much-talked-of meal.
+
+Then I proceeded to spread the table with a white cloth and napkins,
+arrange the best chairs, and make the kitchen as presentable as I could
+with lamps, while Ricka went to work at the range. We had a passable
+supper, but not nearly so good as we usually have, for the official had
+not only taken us by surprise, but had come unbidden, and was not, (by
+the express orders of the business head of the restaurant firm), to be
+made welcome.
+
+At any rate, Ricka and I did the best we could under the circumstances,
+the meal passed in some way, and the official then renewed his request
+to be allowed to take all his meals in the Mission, meeting with nothing
+but an unqualified refusal, much to his evident disappointment.
+
+I doubt very much now the probability of my getting any more copying to
+do for him, as he says I could have persuaded Alma to board him if I had
+been so inclined; but then I never was so inclined, and have about
+decided that I do not want his work at any price.
+
+January twenty-fifth: This has been a very cold, windy day, but three of
+the men came in from prospecting on the creeks, and have little to
+report. To think of living in tents, or even native igloos, in such
+weather for any length of time whatever, is enough to freeze one's
+marrow, and I think the men deserve to "strike it rich" to repay them
+for so much discomfort and suffering. Mr. L. and B. walked to the Home
+and back today--twenty-four miles in the cold. I bought two more fox
+skins of the storekeeper with which to make my coat longer.
+
+Mr. H. and Miss J. came to hold a meeting in the kitchen for the
+natives, and Mollie interpreted for them, as Ivan was not present. They
+all enjoy singing very much, and are trying to learn some new songs.
+Contrary to my expectations, they learn the tunes before they do the
+words, which are English, of course.
+
+Later the musician came over and sang and played for an hour and a half
+at the organ, which all in the house enjoyed; but he is worried about
+his friend, who was bitten by the mad-dog, and is in poor health, he
+told us tonight. They have lately moved into the old schoolhouse, and
+like there better than their former lodgings, which were very cold.
+There are three of them in the schoolhouse, or rather cabin, for it is
+an old log building, with dirt roof, upon which the grass and weeds grow
+tall in summer, and under the eaves of the new schoolhouse, a frame
+structure with a small pointed tower.
+
+Sunday, January twenty-seventh: The missionaries held a meeting in the
+sitting room this forenoon at which the Commissioner was present, not
+because he was interested in the service, Alma says. I suppose he had
+nothing else to do, and happened to get up earlier than usual. I
+presided at the organ, and Miss J. led the singing. The day was a very
+bright one, but the thermometer registered thirty degrees below zero.
+
+The missionaries have taken Alma with them to visit for a few days, and
+do some sewing at the Home. We all ran out upon the ice with them, but
+did not go far, as it was very cold. For a low mercury these people do
+not stay indoors, but go about as they like dressed from top to toe in
+furs, and do not suffer; but let the wind blow a stiff gale, and it is
+not the same proposition.
+
+Four men came from the camp of the shipwrecked people, the father of
+Freda, the little girl, being one. They say the child and her mother are
+well, and as comfortable as they can be made for the present, but in the
+spring they will go back to Nome.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF THE MINING CAMP.
+
+
+Again the boys are starting for the Koyuk River country. Although it is
+the twenty-eighth of January, and between twenty-five and thirty degrees
+below zero, nothing can deter Mr. L., who has made up his mind to go to
+the headwaters of the big river regardless of weather. L., B. and a
+native are to compose the party, and this time they are going with
+reindeer. They will take with them a tent, stove, fur sleeping bags,
+matches, "grub," guns and ammunition, not to mention fry pans and a few
+tins for cooking purposes. Then they must each take a change of wearing
+apparel in case of accident, and make the loads as light as possible. B.
+has made it a point to look well at his guns and cartridges, and has
+been for days cleaning, rubbing and polishing, while hunting knives have
+also received attention. The party may have, in some way, to depend upon
+these weapons for their lives before their return.
+
+January twenty-ninth: Twenty-five degrees below zero, but without wind,
+and the boys have started off on their long trip up the Koyuk. The
+reindeer were fresh and lively, and when everything was loaded and
+lashed upon the three sleds, the animals were hitched to them, when,
+presto! the scene was changed in a moment. Each deer ran in several
+directions at the same time as if demented, overturning sleds and men,
+tossing up the snow like dust under their hoofs, and flinging their
+antlers about like implements of battle. Now each man was put to his
+wit's end to keep hold of the rope attached to the horns of the deer he
+was driving, and we who had gone out upon the ice to watch the departure
+feared greatly for the lives of the men interested.
+
+At one time Mr. H., who was kindly assisting, was flung upon the ground,
+while a rearing, plunging animal was poised in mid-air above him; and I
+uttered a shriek of terror at the sight, thinking he would be instantly
+killed. However, he was upon his feet in an instant, and pursuing the
+animals, still clinging to the rope, as the deer must never, under any
+consideration, be allowed to get away with the loaded sleds.
+
+When one of the boys attempted to sit upon a load, holding the rope as a
+guide in his hands, there would be a whisk, a whirl, and quicker than a
+flash over would go the load, sled and man, rolling over and over like a
+football on a college campus.
+
+At this time the sun shone out brightly, tinting rosily the distant
+hills, and spreading a carpet of light under our feet upon the
+ice-covered surface of the bay. The clear, cold air we breathed was
+fairly exhilarating, sparkling like diamonds in the sun-beams, and
+causing the feathery snowflakes under our feet to crackle with a
+delightful crispness.
+
+When the elasticity of the reindeer's spirits had been somewhat lessened
+by exercise, a real start was made, and we watched them until only small
+dots on the distant trail could be distinguished.
+
+Something unpleasant has happened. M., the Finlander, told me this
+morning that he wants the room I occupy upstairs, and, of course, I will
+have to give it up. As the other rooms upstairs must be left for the
+men, of whom there are such numbers, there is no place for me except on
+the old wooden settle in the sitting room. To be sure, this is in a warm
+corner, but there are many and serious inconveniences, one being that I
+must of necessity be the last one to retire, and this is usually
+midnight.
+
+For some time past I have been turning over in my mind the advisability
+of asking for the situation of nurse and teacher to Jennie and Charlie,
+and living in the hotel. Supplies are growing shorter in the Mission as
+the weeks go by, and my own are about exhausted, as is also my money.
+The children need me, and there is plenty of room in the hotel, though I
+am not fond of living in one.
+
+I have consulted Mr. H., who sees no harm in my doing this if I want to.
+Meals are one dollar each everywhere in Chinik, and most kinds of
+"grub" one dollar a pound, while for a lodging the same is charged. To
+earn my board and room in the hotel by teaching and taking care of the
+two children I should be making an equivalent to four dollars a day, and
+I could have a room, at last, to myself. This is the way I have figured
+it out; whether Mollie and the Captain will see it in the same light
+remains to be seen.
+
+Later: I ran over to see Mollie and her husband, and to present my plan
+to them. They both assented quickly, the Captain saying he does not want
+Jennie to stop her studies, and she is fond of having me with her.
+Besides, her mother wants to spend a good deal of time out hunting and
+trapping, as she thinks it better for Jennie, Charlie and herself to
+have fresh game, of which they are so fond, than to eat canned meats. I
+think it is better for them, and shall not object to some of the same
+fare myself when it is plenty. I am very glad, indeed, of the
+opportunity to earn my board and room in this way, for my work will only
+be with and for the two children, and I love them very much.
+
+January thirtieth: A bad storm came up this afternoon with wind and
+snow. At the Mission one of the newcomers is making two strong reindeer
+sleds. He says he is used to Alaska winters, has been up into the
+Kotzebue Sound country, and is now going again with reindeer as soon as
+his sleds are finished. He is exceedingly fond of music, and enjoys my
+playing. I wonder if he will offer to stake a claim for me! I will not
+ask him.
+
+January thirty-first: This terrible storm continues with snow drifting
+badly, and with wind most bitter cold. What about the boys on the Koyuk
+trail? I fear they will freeze to death. I have finished six drill
+parkies for the storekeeper, but cannot get them to him in the blizzard.
+
+February first: I found when calling upon Jennie today that her mother
+was sick in bed with a very bad throat, so I spent most of the day and
+evening there. I did all I could for Jennie as well as Mollie, doing my
+best to amuse the child, who is still strapped down on her bed, and must
+find the day long, though she has a good deal of company. I had a
+first-class six o'clock dinner at the hotel tonight,--that is, for
+Alaska, at this season of the year.
+
+February second: This is my birthday, and I have been thinking of my
+dear old mother so far away, who never forgets the date of her only
+daughter's birth, even if I do. I should like to see her, or, at least,
+have her know how well I am situated, and how contented I am, with a
+prospect before me which is as bright as that of most persons in this
+vicinity. If I could send my mother a telegram of a dozen words, I think
+they would read like this: "I am well and happy, with fair prospects.
+God is good." I think that would cheer her considerably.
+
+It is beginning to seem a little like spring, and the water is running
+down the walls and off the windows in rivers upon the floors of the
+Mission, which we are glad are bare of carpets; the snow having sifted
+into the attic and melted. The warm rain comes down at intervals, and we
+are hoping for an early spring.
+
+Mollie is really very sick, and must have a doctor, her throat being
+terribly swollen on one side. The pain and fever is intense, and though
+we are doing all we know how to do, she gets no better. Some men started
+out for the doctor at White Mountain, but there was too much water on
+the ice, and they returned.
+
+February sixth: The man who made the two reindeer sleds for his Kotzebue
+trip has gone at last with two loads and three reindeer. He wanted his
+drill parkie hood bordered with fur, as I had done some belonging to
+others, and I furnished the fox tails, and sewed them on for him.
+
+"Shall I stake a claim for you?" asked the man with a smile the day
+before he left the Mission.
+
+"O, I would like it so much!" said I, really delighted. "I did not wish
+to ask you, because I thought you had promised so many."
+
+"So I have," he replied, "but I guess I can stake for one more, and if I
+find anything good I will remember you."
+
+"Shall I have a paper made out?" I inquired, feeling it would be safer
+and better from a business point of view to do so.
+
+"You may if you like. I will take it," said he; and I thanked him very
+cordially, and hastened to the Commissioner to have the paper drawn up.
+It did not take long, and the man has taken it, and gone. Being an old
+mail carrier and stampeder of experience in this country, he ought to
+know how to travel, and, being a Norwegian, he is well used to the snow
+and the cold. He says he always travels alone, though I told him he
+might sometime get lost in a storm and freeze to death, at which he only
+laughed, and said he was not at all afraid. Two years afterwards he was
+frozen to death on the trail near Teller City, northwest of Nome. He was
+an expert on snowshoes or ski, both of which he learned to use when a
+boy in Norway.
+
+February tenth: The two young men, B. and L., have returned from the
+Koyuk trip, having been able to travel only three days of the eleven
+since they left here on account of blizzards, but they will not give it
+up in this way.
+
+Mollie and Jennie are better, the doctor having been here two days. For
+the little invalid there is nothing of such interest as Apuk's baby, and
+as the child is well wrapped and brought in often to see her, she is
+highly delighted. She holds the baby in her arms, and hushes it to sleep
+as any old woman might, lifting a warning finger if one enters the room
+with noise, for fear of waking it. Little Charlie cries with whooping
+cough a great deal and is taken to Ageetuk's house when he gets
+troublesome, as he worries both Mollie and Jennie. Under no
+consideration is Charlie to come near enough to Jennie to give her the
+whooping-cough, for she coughs badly already. She and I make paper dolls
+by the dozen, and cloth dresses for her real dolls, which, so late in
+the season, are getting quite dilapidated and look as though they had
+been in the wars.
+
+Many natives are now bringing beautiful furs into camp for sale, and
+among others one man brought a cross fox which was black, tipped with
+yellow, another which was a lovely brown, and a black fox valued at two
+hundred dollars which the owner refused to sell for less, though offered
+one hundred for it. I have never seen more lovely furs anywhere, and I
+longed to possess them.
+
+It seems almost like having a hospital here now, for we have another
+patient added to our sick list. Joe, the cook, is ill, and thinks he
+will die, though the doctor smiles quizzically as she doses him,
+thinking as she does so that a few days in bed and away from the saloons
+will be as beneficial as her prescriptions.
+
+Today the hills surrounding the bay were lovely in the warm sunshine
+both morning and evening, pink tinted in the sunrise and purple as
+night approached.
+
+Mail came in by dog-team from Nome, going to Dawson and the outside, so
+I mailed several letters. I wonder if they will be carried two thousand
+miles by dogs--the whole length of the Yukon, and finally reach Skagway
+and Seattle.
+
+What a wicked world this is anyway! My two fox skins were stolen from
+the living room of the hotel last night, where I hung them, not far from
+the stove, after having had them tanned, and forgetting to take them to
+my room. I can get no trace of them, and am exceedingly sorry to lose
+them. The captain thinks the skins will be returned, but I do not.
+
+The Commissioner from Council came into the hotel, and he, with the
+resident official, proceeded to celebrate the occasion by getting
+uproariously drunk, or going, as it is here called, "on a toot," which
+is very truthfully expressive, to say the least.
+
+February eighteenth: The doctor went home several days ago. Mollie is
+better, and wore, at the Sunday dinner yesterday, her new grey plaid
+dress made by Alma, which fits well and looks quite stylish. I sat with
+her at the long table which was filled with guests, employees and
+boarders--a public place for me, which I do not like over much, but what
+can I do? The two Commissioners are sobered, look sickly, and more or
+less repentant; the resident official declaring to me he would now quit
+drinking entirely, and buy me a new silk dress if he is ever seen to
+take liquor again.
+
+I had nothing to say to him, except to look disgusted, and he took that
+as a rebuke. The other Commissioner was exceedingly polite to me when he
+came into the living room to bid all good-bye, and said if, at any time,
+there was anything in the way of business transactions he could do for
+me, to let him know; he would be delighted--as if I would ever ask any
+favor of him!
+
+The weather is blustery, like March in Wisconsin. Mollie asked me to go
+upstairs with her, look at rooms, and select one for myself, which I
+did, deciding to take a small unfurnished one (except for a spring cot,
+mirror, and granite wash bowl and pitcher), as this will be easily
+warmed by my big lamp, and it has a west window, through which I will
+get the afternoon sun.
+
+I cleaned the floor, and tacked up a white tablecloth which I had in my
+trunk, for a curtain; spread my one deer skin rug upon the floor, made
+up the cot bed with my blankets, opened my trunk, hung up a few
+garments, and was settled. This is the first spring bed I have slept
+upon since Mr. H. took the velvet couch away from the Mission. I found
+the boarded walls very damp, as was also the floor after cleaning, but
+my large lamp, kept burning for two hours, dried them sufficiently, and
+I am quite well satisfied.
+
+Ageetuk has been papering the sewing-room with fresh wall paper, and it
+looks better, but it has made a good deal of confusion all round, and
+there are numbers of people, both native and white, coming and going all
+day long.
+
+February twenty-third: Yesterday was Washington's Birthday, but quiet
+here. Today Mollie and I took Jennie and Charlie out on a sled with Muky
+to push behind at the handle-bar through the soft, deep snow. Mollie sat
+upon the sled, and rode down hill twice with the children, Muky hopping
+on behind; but I took a few kodak views of them, which I hope will be
+good. I also received some mail from the outside which was written last
+November.
+
+Some of the men in the hotel have tried to play what they call "a joke"
+on me. The steward of the house has a key which unfastens the lock on my
+door, as well as others; so they went into my room and tied a string to
+the foot of my bed, first boring a hole through the boards into the
+hall, and running the string through it. This string, I suppose, they
+intended to pull in the night and frighten me; but Mollie and I happened
+to go up there for something and found it.
+
+I was indignant, but everybody of whom Mollie inquired denied knowing
+anything of it, and I said very little. Going to my trunk afterwards, I
+found that the lock had been picked and broken,--a pretty severe "joke,"
+and one I do not relish, as now I have no place in which to keep
+anything from these men. If they enter my room whenever they choose in
+the daytime, what is to prevent them when I am asleep? I took Mollie
+upstairs and showed her the broken lock, and she stooped to brush some
+white hairs from her dark wool skirt.
+
+"Where they come from?" she asked suddenly. Then, picking at the
+reindeer skin upon the floor under her feet, she said, nodding her head
+decidedly, "I know. He--Sim--come to me in sewing-room,--hair all same
+this on two knees of blank pants. I say, 'Where you get white reindeer
+hair on you, Sim?' He say, 'I don't know.' Sim make hole in wall, and
+string on bed for you, Mrs. Sullivan. He make lock peeluk, too," and
+Mollie's face wore a serious and worried expression.
+
+"O, well, Mollie," said I, "don't worry. I shall say nothing to any of
+the men as they are mad at me now."
+
+Mollie nodded significantly and said: "Your fox skins peeluk, Mrs.
+Sullivan. Sim knows where--he never tell--sell for whiskey, maybe," and
+Mollie turned to go, as though he were a hopeless case, and beyond her
+government.
+
+"Yes, Mollie, I think so; but you can not help what these bad men do. I
+know that, and do not blame you."
+
+"My husband very sorry 'bout fox skins. He cannot find--he no blame,"
+and she seemed to fear that I would attach some blame to the captain.
+
+"No, indeed, Mollie, I don't think your husband can help what they do. I
+should not have left my fox skins hanging in that room, and will be
+careful in future, but if they come into my room they may steal other
+things, and I do not like it."
+
+"I know, I know,--Sim no good--Joe no good--Bub no good," and she went
+away in a very depressed state of mind to Jennie and Apuk's baby.
+
+Of course Mollie told all to the captain, who immediately accused the
+men in the bar-room, and they all swore vengeance upon me from that on,
+so I suppose they will do all they can to torment me.
+
+We are having a sensation in Chinik. The "bloomin' Commissioner" is
+about to be deposed from office, for unfitness, neglect of duty, and
+dissipation; and a petition is being handed around the camp by the
+Marshal, praying the Nome authorities that he be retained. The honest
+storekeeper refused to sign it, as have many of the Swedes. The
+Commissioner swears by all that is good and great to quit drinking, and
+be decent. Time will tell--but I have no faith in him.
+
+Mollie goes often these days to look for foxes and to shoot ptarmigan,
+taking with her a dog-team, and a native boy or two with their guns.
+When it is bright and sunny, I take the two little children out in the
+fur robes on the sled, with a native to push the latter, and I enjoy the
+outing fully as well as they. Jennie is put to bed again on her return,
+and the weight--a sand bag--attached to her foot, according to the
+doctor's orders.
+
+The weather is very springlike, and we have wind "emeliktuk," as little
+Charlie says when he has a plenty of anything. Snow storms are
+sandwiched nicely in between, but many "mushers" are on the trails.
+Mollie gets now and then a fox, either white or crossed, and one day she
+brought in a black one.
+
+Liquor is doing its fiendish work in camp each hour of the twenty-four.
+Some are going rapidly down the broad road to destruction; a few turn
+their backs upon it, and seek the straighter way. Some half dozen of the
+men headed by Sim and Bub are drinking heavily most of the time,
+gambling between spells for the money with which to buy the poison.
+
+Very late one night a party of drunken men pounded with their fists upon
+my door.
+
+"She's in--hic--there, boys," said one of the men in a halting way
+customary with tipplers.
+
+"Bust in the door!" blurted another.
+
+"Drive her out'n here, Bub, ye fool!" yawned another, almost too sleepy
+for utterance.
+
+In the meantime I lay perfectly still. Not a sound escaped me, for
+although my heart beat like a sledge hammer, and I was trembling all
+over, I knew it was best not to speak. After a little more parleying
+they all went off to finish their "spree" elsewhere. Next day I reported
+the affair to the captain, who, with his wife, in their ground floor
+apartments in the farther end of the building, had not heard the noise
+of the night before. Of course the men were now furious, denying
+everything, calling me a "liar," ad infinitum.
+
+A fine-looking young man, a dentist and doctor, claiming to come from an
+eastern city, while sitting at the table last evening, after much insane
+gibberish, fell back intoxicated upon the floor, and lay insensible for
+some time. He was finally, when the others had finished eating, dragged
+off to bed in a most inglorious condition, to suffer later for his
+dissipation. O, how my heart ached for his dear old mother so far away!
+If she had seen him as I saw him, I think she would have died. It is
+better for her to believe him dead than to know the truth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+AN UNPLEASANT ADVENTURE.
+
+
+When Sunday comes, Jennie and I always wear our best clothes, neither
+sewing, studying, nor doing any work, but we read Bible stories, learn
+verses, look at pictures, and keep the big music box going a good share
+of the time. Sometimes if it is bright and warm, I take the two children
+out for a ride, and Jennie likes to call upon her grandmother.
+
+The long front porch of the hotel has been opened again, the sides
+having been taken off, and the ice and snow cut away from the steps, so
+the little ones often play upon the porch in the sun for an hour or two.
+There are now a number of little puppies to be fed and brought up, some
+of them of pure Eskimo breed, and Charlie likes to frolic with them by
+the hour. They are very cunning, especially when Mollie puts a little
+harness which she has made upon each one, making them pull the sticks of
+wood she fastens behind in order to teach them to haul a load. Mollie is
+frequently gone for two days hunting, and if she does not find what she
+looks for the first day she sleeps upon her sled a few hours rolled in
+her furs, then rises and "mushes" on again.
+
+Far and near she is known and respected, and the name of "Mollie" in
+this country is the synonym of all that is brave, true and womanly;
+hunting and trapping being for an Eskimo woman some of the most
+legitimate of pursuits. The name of Angahsheock, which means a leader of
+women in her native tongue, was given her by her parents, as those who
+know her acknowledge.
+
+In severe contrast to the character of Mollie is Polly, who has
+developed an insane jealousy of me on the children's account, and who
+never loses an opportunity to annoy and insult me, much to my surprise.
+One day she will hide my books, pour soup over my dress in the kitchen,
+slam the door in my face, and make jeering remarks in Eskimo, causing
+the native boys to giggle; and worst of all, telling Charlie in her
+language that I will kill and eat him, thus making him scream when I
+attempt to wash or dress him.
+
+However, there is another and principal reason for her ill treatment of
+me, which is far reaching, for Polly and Sim are cronies, and the girl
+does what he tells her to do, and that is to torment me as much as
+possible.
+
+For these reasons and others I decided some time ago to carry my meals
+into the living room on a tray when I give the children theirs;
+especially when Mollie is away, and the rough element does not feel the
+restraint of her presence at table. There are no other white women in
+the house, unless, perhaps, one comes in from the trail with the men for
+a day, and these are, as a rule, not the kind of women to inspire the
+respect of any one. So I spread Charlie's and my food upon a small
+table, and Jennie's on her own tray, for after each little outing she is
+strapped and weighted down in bed as before, and we would be very happy
+if it were not for Polly, Sim, and a few other "toughs" in the hotel and
+vicinity.
+
+Each day I manage, when Jennie is busy with Apuk's baby, O Duk Dok, the
+deaf girl, grandmother, and her other numerous Eskimo friends, to slip
+away and run out for a little fresh air, and into the Mission for a few
+minutes. Then I sit down at the organ for a while, or hear of those
+coming and going on the trails, perhaps climbing the hill behind the
+Mission for more exercise before going back to Jennie.
+
+The first week in April has been pleasant, and sunny for the most of the
+time, but last night the eighth of the month, the thermometer, with a
+high wind, fell to thirty degrees below zero, and froze ice two inches
+thick in my room upstairs.
+
+Mr. L. and B. have returned from their Koyuk trip, having staked one
+creek upon which they found colors, and which they were informed by
+natives was a gold bearing creek. Their supply of grub would not allow
+them to remain longer. They have staked a claim for me, with the
+others. Number Fourteen, above Discovery, is mine, but they do not give
+out the name of the creek until they have been up there and staked
+another stream near the first one. When I get my papers recorded I shall
+feel quite proud of this, my best claim, perhaps, so far; and I am
+thankful and quite happy, except for the disagreeable features of hotel
+life, which I am always hoping will be soon changed. So long, however,
+as the deadly liquor is sold in almost every store and cabin, the cause
+of disturbances will remain, and men's active brains, continually fired
+with poison as they are, will concoct schemes diabolical enough to shame
+a Mephistopheles.
+
+Today, after due deliberation regarding the matter, I asked B., on the
+aside, if he would lend me a revolver. He gave me a quick and searching
+look.
+
+"Do you want it loaded?" he asked.
+
+"Yes, please, and I will call after supper for it," said I, in a low
+tone, while going out the door.
+
+Early this morning, putting on my furs and carrying a small shoe box
+under my arm, I ran over to the Mission. In the hall I was met by B., to
+whom I handed the box. He took it quietly and went directly to his room,
+reappearing in a moment and handing it back to me, saying significantly
+as he did so: "Three doses of that are better than one, if any are
+needed," which remark I understood without further explanation.
+
+I have brought the box to my room and have placed it under the head of
+my cot upon the floor, where, in case of emergency, it may be of
+service. It is not a pretty plaything, and will not be used as such by
+me, but I shall feel safer to know it is near at hand.
+
+Little did I know when I selected my room the day Mollie brought me
+upstairs that on the other side of the board partition slept the man who
+had killed another in the early winter; and, though the murderer has so
+far never molested me in any way, still he sometimes gets what they call
+"crazy drunk," and is as liable to kill some other as he was to kill the
+first; then, too, thin board walls have ears, and I have heard the
+mutterings and threats of these wretches for a number of weeks.
+
+I have been exceedingly sorry for a month past to see the preparations
+my friends, the Swedish women in the Mission, are making to go to Nome,
+and now they expect to start tomorrow. They must be in town to put
+everything in readiness for the opening of the "Star" when the first
+steamers arrive from the outside. The weather is bright and pretty cold
+today, making the trails good, but in a thaw they are bad and are now
+liable to break up at any time. Quite a party will go to Nome, Mr. L.,
+M. and others, and they will travel with dogs. I dread to see my Swedish
+friends, the only white women in this camp with whom I can be friendly,
+leave Chinik, for I shall then be more alone than ever. If this
+tiresome ice in the bay would only move out so the boats could get in,
+we should have others, but there is no telling when that will be. Many
+are now betting on the breaking up of the ice, and all hope it will be
+very soon.
+
+May second: My Swedish friends left very early today for Nome, and only
+Miss L. from the Home is there, sweeping out the place; but B. and the
+visiting preacher will go with her to the Home today, closing the
+hospitable doors of the Mission for a time. This evening they held a
+meeting for the natives in camp, and I attended, but it seemed like a
+funeral without the friends now "mushing" on the Nome trail.
+
+A woman has come to live at Mellie's, and is a study in beaver coat,
+dyed brown hair (which should be grey, according to her age), and with,
+it is reported, a bank account of one hundred and fifty thousand
+dollars, after having lived in Alaska nearly five years. She is called a
+good "stampeder," has a pleasant, smiling face, but is usually
+designated "notorious."
+
+May tenth: Mollie went out early with Muky, her dog-team and guns, to
+escort Ageetuk, Alice and Punni Churah, with their mother, who is
+Mollie's aunt, to their new hunting camp in the mountains. At seven in
+the evening Mollie returned with wet feet. Tomorrow she will take a net,
+and some other things they have forgotten. They have gone to take their
+annual spring vacation and hunt grey squirrels for a month, living in a
+hut in the meantime. The weather is warm and springlike.
+
+May thirteenth: The captain has been obliged to go to Nome on business,
+weak and ill though he is, and has been for months. It did not seem to
+me that he could live through the winter, and he is far too weak to take
+this long trip over the trail, but he says he is obliged to go, and will
+return at the earliest possible moment. He has taken Fred, the Russian
+boy, and a team of nine dogs, leaving after supper, and intending to
+travel night and day, as we now have no darkness.
+
+The dissipated men around camp, idle and drunken most of the time, with
+nothing to occupy their attention after the long, tedious winter, still
+spend their hours in gossiping, swearing, drinking, and gambling,
+knowing no day and no night, but making both hideous to those around
+them. As a destroyer of man's self-respect, independence, and dignity,
+there is nothing to compare with the accursed liquor. There are numbers
+of instances in camp proving the truth of this statement. There is the
+English clergyman's tall and handsome son, well educated, musical and of
+agreeable manners--fitted to grace the best society, but--liquor is to
+blame for his present condition, which is about as low as man can sink.
+
+It is ten in the evening and I am in my little room upstairs, the only
+white woman in the camp except Mellie and two like her. Down stairs in
+the bar-room the men are singing, first coon songs and then church
+hymns, with all the drunken energy they can muster. The crash of broken
+glass, angry oaths, and the slamming of doors reaches my ears so
+frequently as to cause little surprise, the French cooks in the kitchen
+adding their share to the disturbance. In a distant part of the hotel
+lies the little sick girl, her cot rolled each night close to the
+bedside of her mother, who tries to soothe her in her pain, Mollie and
+the wicked little Eskimo servant being the only women besides myself in
+the house. The noise and confusion increases down stairs, and I shall
+sleep little tonight. I will look at my revolver and see that its
+contents have not been removed.
+
+May fifteenth: Here I am alone with the little children, a bad native
+girl, and a gang of the worst men in Alaska, Mollie having gone out
+hunting. At midnight Sim, Mellie and several others left for a dance at
+White Mountain, but it was two o'clock in the morning before the house
+was quiet. While I lay perfectly still, and trying to sleep, a man's
+stealthy footstep passed my door. He walked in his stocking feet--bare
+floors and walls echo the slightest sound, and my ears are keen. Was it
+a friend or foe? What was his object? My heart beat with a heavy thud,
+but I remembered the loaded revolver under my bed, and thanked God for
+it.
+
+After a long time I slept a fitful, uneasy sleep for an hour, and
+dressed myself as usual at half-past six o'clock, feeling badly for want
+of needed sleep. Afterwards I washed, dressed and fed the children,
+amusing and entertaining them in my accustomed way. Ageetuk's house
+being closed, little Charlie is kept here all the time, Polly looking
+after him nights. A saloon keeper named Fitts, villainous in reality as
+well as in looks, is hanging around continually, wearing the blackest of
+looks at every one, having been in trouble nearly all winter, and
+closing out his saloon a few weeks ago. A big Dutchman, burly as a
+blacksmith and well soaked in whiskey, lounges about in blue denim and
+skull cap, winking his bleared eyes at Polly and swearing soundly at his
+native wife when she steps inside the doors to look after him.
+
+All went well for a while today after Mollie's leaving, Jennie coaxing
+to be carried to her grandmother's for a visit, to which I consented,
+until Charlie and I sat down to supper, which I had spread, as is my
+habit, in the living room. During the day I had turned matters well over
+in mind, and decided, with Mollie's advice, to sleep in her bed
+alongside of Jennie's cot, and to have grandmother stay with us, locking
+the doors of the rooms, as they should be. To my consternation, when I
+chanced to look for the keys in the doors, there were none, showing
+plainly that they had been removed.
+
+This looked like a trap. There was nothing to do, much as I disliked
+it, but to ask for the keys, as I would never spend the night in the
+house without them. Soon afterward the steward entered, and I very
+calmly and politely asked for the door keys of the two rooms, saying
+that I would spend the night with Jennie. With cool insolence he replied
+that he would lock them himself.
+
+Again the trap. I made no reply. I saw that he had been drinking--that
+he was not himself, and that it was useless to argue with him.
+
+After waiting for an answer, and getting none, the man went out
+carelessly, leaving the door ajar behind him. At that moment the supper
+bell rang and he, with others, sat down to the table.
+
+"She wants the keys to the doors, she says," drawled the man I had
+spoken with regarding them.
+
+"What did ye tell her?" demanded one of the ruffians.
+
+"I told her I would lock the doors myself," said the fellow.
+
+"What does she want of keys? Who is she afraid of? It must be you, Bub;
+'tain't me," said one.
+
+"You're a liar!" shouted Bub. "It's the genial dispenser of booze here
+beside me she's afraid of."
+
+"I'll see to her after supper, you bet!" shouted an official voice, at
+which I shuddered. A general hubbub now ensued; among others I could
+distinguish the word "black-snake whip," but I had heard enough.
+
+I was planning as I listened. Leaning forward I kissed the little child
+beside me, and said softly, "Eat all your supper, dear, and then go to
+Polly. 'Sully' is going to grandma's."
+
+Throwing a light wrap over my head, I ran out of the front door, and
+around the west end of the house, careful not to pass the dining-room
+windows, where the men would see me, and hastened to grandmother's
+cabin, knowing that I should there find Jennie. Grandmother lived alone
+except for O Duk Dok, the deaf girl, and they must give me shelter for
+the night.
+
+Here I found Jennie quite happy, with her deaf friend sitting on the
+edge of the bed beside her, while her grandmother was busy with her
+work.
+
+In a few words I explained to the old woman the situation, and I was
+made welcome, Jennie being pleased to remain in the cabin all night. I
+knew Polly would put Charlie to bed when the time came, and the boy was
+safe enough where he was. I did not believe the gang would disturb me in
+grandmothers' cabin, but I feared they would loot my room in my absence.
+
+Here Jennie could assist me. I now asked her to have O Duk Dok go out
+for the native named Koki, and bring him to me, which she did, the deaf
+girl understanding by the motion of the child's lips what was being
+said.
+
+O Duk Dok then drew on her parkie, and went out.
+
+"Koki," said I, when the native had entered the room a few minutes
+later, and closed the door behind him, "will you go to my room--Number
+three--in the hotel, and get some things for me?"
+
+"Yes," was the laconic reply of the man.
+
+"Here is the key of the door. Between the mattresses of the bed you will
+find two books, and in the shoe box on the floor there is a revolver.
+Bring them to me under your parkie so no one shall see what you have.
+Take this little key, lock my trunk and be sure you fasten the door
+behind you. You won't forget?"
+
+"All right. I no forget," and Koki grinned, and went out.
+
+He did not forget. In about twenty minutes he returned, bringing the
+keys, revolver, and diaries which I had kept hidden for fear the lawless
+fellows might find and destroy them.
+
+I now felt much relieved. I did not think the gang would come to the
+cabin, but in case they did there was the revolver, and grandmother's
+two doors had locks, which if not the very strongest, were better than
+none, and I fastened them immediately after Koki's departure.
+
+May eighteenth: The night I slept in grandmother's cabin with Jennie
+passed quietly for us. I slept in my clothes and muckluks, an old quilt
+and fur parkie on some boards being my bed, though grandmother finally
+gave me a double blanket for covering when I asked for it.
+
+It was long past midnight before we slept. The child was restless, and
+urged her grandmother to tell her Eskimo stories. O Duk Dok slept
+heavily, unconscious of all around her. My own senses were on the alert.
+I listened intently to catch every sound, but we were too far away from
+the hotel to hear the carousal that I well knew was there in progress.
+The mushers from the dance were hourly expected home, and would then add
+their part to the midnight orgies. The low droning of the old Eskimo
+woman, telling her tales of the Innuits, of the Polar bear, the seal and
+the walrus, of the birds, their habits and nestlings; this was the only
+sound I heard.
+
+After a time the others slept and I went to the window and looked out.
+At my right, only a stone's throw away, was the Mission, its windows and
+doors all fastened, and its occupants gone. I felt a heart-sinking
+sensation as I thought of the friends who were there lately. Across the
+way was the old schoolhouse, in which were the musician, his partner and
+the deaf man, who had been bitten by the mad dog. They were within
+calling distance, and for that I felt thankful. I had dreaded the night
+in the cabin for fear that I should suffer for fresh air, but seeing a
+broken pane of glass into which some cloth had been stuffed, I removed
+the latter, and allowed the pure air to enter. Of course the place was
+scented with seal oil, but grandmother's cabin was comparatively tidy
+and clean.
+
+Next morning, when we knew that breakfast was over, we went in a body to
+the hotel, grandmother carrying Jennie on her back, according to Eskimo
+custom. Some of the men were still sleeping off their dissipation of the
+night before. Nothing was said about our remaining away, and the Eskimo
+women spent the day with us. Others also came, called quietly in to see
+Jennie, and remained to the meals I was glad to give them for their
+company.
+
+When six o'clock arrived, and still we saw nothing of Mollie, I felt
+anxious. If she did not return it meant another night in the native hut
+for us. Eight, nine, ten o'clock--thank God! She had come at last. I
+could have hugged her for joy. She had nearly one hundred ptarmigan,
+enough to last till the captain came home, and would not leave us again
+alone.
+
+Later: The captain returned from Nome, having made the trip of
+eighty-five miles and back by dog-team in four days and nights, a very
+quick trip indeed. The "toughs" have subsided, and are on their good
+behavior for the present, at least, fearing what the captain will say
+and do when their last doings are reported, but I understand that most
+of them are mortally offended at my remaining at grandmother's, as no
+one takes offense so easily as a rogue when his honesty is doubted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+STONES AND DYNAMITE.
+
+
+The last week of May has finally come, and with it real spring weather.
+The children play out in the sand heap on the south side of the house
+for hours together, enjoying the warm sunshine and pleasant air, the
+little girl clothed from head to foot in furs. Never has a springtime
+been so welcome to me, perhaps because in striking contrast to the long,
+cold winter through which we have just passed. From the hillside behind
+the Mission, the snow is slowly disappearing, first from the most
+exposed spots and rocks, the gullies keeping their drifts and ice
+longer. Mosses are everywhere peeping cheerfully up at me in all their
+tints of gorgeous green, some that I found recently being tipped with
+the daintiest of little red cups. This, with other treasures, I brought
+in my basket to Jennie when I returned from my daily walk upon the hill,
+and together we studied them closely under the magnifying glass.
+
+To examine the treasures brought in by Mollie, however, we needed no
+glass. They are sand-pipers, ptarmigan, squirrels, and occasionally a
+wild goose, shot, perhaps, in the act of flying over the hunter's head,
+as these birds are now often seen and heard going north. In the evening
+I see from my window the neighboring Eskimo children playing with their
+sleds, and sometimes they light a bonfire, shouting and chattering in
+their own unique way. All "mushers" now travel at night when the trail
+is frozen, as it is too soft in the daytime, and the glare of the sun
+often causes snow-blindness. Then, too, there is water on the ice in
+places, which we are glad to see, and pools of the same are standing
+around the Mission and schoolhouse. I can no longer go out in my
+muckluks, but must wear my long rubber boots and short skirts.
+
+Today I went out for an hour, walking to Chinik Creek over the tundra,
+from which the snow has almost disappeared, and returned by the hill-top
+path. The tundra was beautiful with mosses, birds were singing, and the
+rushing and roaring of the creek waters fairly made my head swim, they
+were such unusual sounds. The water was cutting a channel in the sands
+where it empties into the bay. Here it was flowing over the ice, helping
+to loosen the edge and allow it to drift out to sea.
+
+There is little change in the manners and dispositions of the rough men
+in camp. There are the same things with which to contend day after day,
+the same annoyances and trials to endure, with new ones in addition
+quite frequently.
+
+June has come at last, and all the world should be happy, but, alas,
+there is always some worm in the bud to do the blasting. This morning
+about three o'clock I was wakened by the sound of drunken voices outside
+my window, followed by stones hurled against the side of the house.
+Quickly rising, I cautiously peeped out from behind the curtain, but was
+not surprised at what I saw. There, about a hundred feet away, were four
+men, all well known to me as members of the gang, and all in the most
+advanced stages of intoxication. On the step of a neighboring cabin sat
+the murderer, Ford, hugging in a maudlin way a big black bottle.
+
+On the ground, in the dirt, there rolled two young men, the Englishman
+underneath, and Big Bub over him. Sim, the leader, had aimed four stones
+at my window, but missed it, and felt the need of more stimulant, so he
+took the bottle from Ford, carried it to the lumber pile, a few feet
+away, sat down, put it to his lips and drank heavily. Again and again he
+tipped up the bottle while he drank, but finally threw it away empty.
+Then, with much exertion, he stooped to pick up a stone.
+
+He was aiming at my window. I dodged into a corner, but the box
+washstand stood partly in my way. Would he hit his mark? I did not
+believe it. He was too drunk. Crack! came the stone against the house.
+
+I waited. Another followed. In the meantime the other men had paid no
+attention to him, as Ford was watching the two tumblers, the lumber
+pile being between them and Sim; and the three started for the front
+door around the south side of the house. Sim followed them. I now hoped
+he would forget his stone throwing. When they were all out of sight I
+breathed more freely. Surely now the trouble was over, I thought, and I
+threw off my fur coat which I had hastily pulled on over my wrapper,
+crept into bed and covered my head with the blankets.
+
+I now thought quickly. Even if Sim should forget to throw more stones,
+would he not soon come upstairs and perhaps give me more trouble? Would
+it not be better to dress myself and be prepared for any emergency? I
+was hurriedly deliberating upon the matter--my head still covered with
+the blankets--when there was a loud crash and shivered glass covered the
+floor and the bed clothes. Instantly throwing the latter back, I looked
+around me. I could see no stone, and I had heard none fall upon the
+floor, but it must be there somewhere.
+
+I now stepped carefully out of bed, in order to avoid the glass, my feet
+being already in knit, wool slippers, with thick, warm soles--and again
+looked out.
+
+There was no one to be seen. Sim had done his dastardly work, and gone
+indoors. Would this end it? My teeth shattered, and I felt cold. I must
+keep my nerve, however, and I did so, dressing myself carefully even to
+my stout shoes which I laced up in front and tied. Then I drew on my
+fur coat and sat down to wait.
+
+Below the four men were poking around in the kitchen, trying to find
+something to eat or drink. It was not long before I heard them coming
+upstairs, and all tumbled into the next room, which was occupied by
+Ford.
+
+If they came to molest me further there was yet one way of escape which
+I would try before using my revolver. The weapon I did not want to use
+unless driven to it. There was the staging outside my window which had
+never been removed since the house was built, the year before. I could
+very easily step out upon it, and walk to the end of the house, but then
+I must either jump or remain, for there was no ladder. This staging was,
+perhaps, twenty feet from the ground, and the latter frozen. To slide
+down a post would tear my hands fearfully.
+
+I had not long to wait. To go peaceably to bed seemed to be the last
+thing these men thought of, and one picked up a gun, which, for hunting
+purposes, every man in the house kept close at hand.
+
+"I zay, now, Bub, put up zat gun. Zis ain't no place for shootin',"
+drawled a thick, sleepy voice which I recognized instantly.
+
+"Shut yer gab! Who's hurtin' you?" answered Bub, the biggest of the
+four, and one of the ugliest when intoxicated.
+
+"Mrs. Sullivan's in the next room. You wouldn't shoot her, would you?"
+asked Sim sneeringly in a loud tone, for he could stand up under great
+quantities of liquor.
+
+"Sh! Keep still a minute, you fool!" in a harsh whisper from Bub.
+
+I was now thankful that I was dressed. I waited no longer. Opening the
+door I ran down stairs to Mollie and the captain, knocking loudly upon
+their door.
+
+"Hang those brutes!" exclaimed the captain angrily, when I had finished
+telling him what had happened. "What is the matter with them, any way?"
+
+"Whiskey," said I. "They are all as drunk as pirates."
+
+"Show me your room and window," demanded the captain, who by this time
+had gotten into some of his clothing, and stepped into the living room
+where I was.
+
+I then led the way upstairs, and threw open my door. What a sight!
+Broken glass covered the floor and bed, the cool morning air pouring in
+through the broken pane of which there was little left in the sash.
+
+That was enough for the captain. He made straight for the next room,
+where all was now perfectly still, only Ford remaining in it, the others
+having had sense enough to sneak off to their own places, after hearing
+me run down stairs to report.
+
+Seizing my blankets I closed and locked the door and made my way down
+stairs to Mollie. Above we could hear the captain's voice in angry
+altercation with the men, they denying everything, of course, even the
+stone throwing, with the window as evidence against them. It was
+half-past four and I had slept little. There was no fire in the house,
+and I was cold; so, throwing down a few skins in a corner of the
+sewing-room, with my blankets upon them, I covered myself to get warm.
+
+At last the house was once more quiet, and I slept for an hour, only to
+meet black and angry looks from the men all day, accompanied by threats
+and curses, though I said nothing to them. I picked up the stone from my
+reindeer rug, where it had fallen after shattering the window pane, and
+it lay only two feet from my head. It was about the size of an egg.
+
+Of course it is impossible for me to leave Chinik, as the winter trails
+are broken up, the ice has not left the bay, and no steamers can enter;
+so we are practically prisoners. O, how I long to get away from this
+terrible place! Never since I came to Chinik have I given these men one
+cross word, and yet they hate me with a bitter, jealous hatred, such as
+I have never before seen. Some weeks ago I pinned a slip of paper into
+my Bible, upon which I have written the address of my parents, in case
+anything should happen to me. O, to be once more safe at home with them!
+God grant that I may be before many months shall have passed.
+
+A splendid warm, bright day, June thirteenth, the most of which the
+children and I have spent upon the sandy beach in front of the hotel.
+Little Jennie lies and plays on the warm, dry sand, though, of course,
+she does not stand on her feet nor walk. Other small Eskimos come to
+play with them, for Charlie is always on hand for a play spell on the
+sand, and I doze and read under my umbrella in the meantime, with an eye
+always upon them. They make sand pies, native igloos, and many imaginary
+things and places, but more than any other thing is my mind upon the
+coming of the steamers, when I hope to get away.
+
+Mollie came in last night from a seal hunt upon the ice, and she, with
+the three native boys, secured a white seal, and eight others, but did
+not bring all with them. There is a great deal of water on the ice at
+this time, and none but natives like to travel upon it. Ducks and geese
+are flying northward in flocks above our heads, and we feast daily upon
+them. They are very large and tasty, and the cook knows well how to
+serve them.
+
+We now see a line of blue water out beyond the ice, and even distinguish
+white breakers in the distance. Today I took a field glass, and climbing
+the hill behind the Mission to look as far out as possible, strained my
+eyes to see a steamer. As I stood upon the point to get a better view,
+the whole world around seemed waking from a long, long sleep.
+
+At my left was Chinik Creek, pouring its rushing waters out over the bay
+ice with a cheerful, rapid roaring. Farther away south stretched the
+Darby Cape into blue water which looked like indigo, surmounted by long
+rolling breakers with combs of white, all being fully fourteen miles
+away. To the northwest of the sand-spit upon which Chinik is built, and
+which cuts Golovin Bay almost in two, the Fish River is also emptying
+itself, as is Keechawik Creek and other smaller streams. Over all the
+welcome sunshine is flooded, warming the buds and roots on the hillside,
+and making all beautiful.
+
+June seventeenth: This is Bunker Hill Day in New England, and the men
+have been celebrating on their own account, setting off a fifty pounds
+box of dynamite in the neighborhood to frighten the women, I suppose.
+The shock was terrific, breaking windows, lamp shades, and jarring
+bottles and other articles off the shelves. Jennie was dreadfully
+frightened, and screamed for a few minutes, while the living room soon
+filled with men inquiring the cause of the explosion. By and by a man
+came in saying that another box of giant powder would be set off, but
+with that the Marshal left the room with a determined face, and we heard
+no more dynamiting. The men, as usual, were intoxicated.
+
+I have just had a pleasant little outing at the Home, going with Mollie,
+who invited me to go with her. She was going out seal hunting on the
+ice, would leave me at the Home for a short visit, and pick me up on her
+return. Ageetuk and grandmother would take good care of Jennie for so
+short a time, and I needed the change, so I ran up to my room, threw
+some things hastily into a small bag to take with me, locked my trunk,
+(I had long ago put a package consisting of papers and diaries into the
+safe in the kind storekeeper's care), dressed myself in my shortest
+skirts and longest rubber boots, and we started. The weather was too
+warm for furs in sunshine, or while running behind a sled, so I wore a
+thick jacket, black straw hat with thick veil, and kid gloves.
+
+We left the hotel about half-past seven o'clock in the evening, but with
+the sun still high and warm. Mollie had her small sled and three dogs,
+with Muky and Punni Churah and their guns. The other sled was a large
+one, and to it were hitched seven good dogs, accompanied by Ituk and
+Koki. Upon the sleds were furs, guns, bags and fishing tackle. Along
+shore there was considerable water on the ice, in a few spots the latter
+had disappeared, and we could see the sandy beach, but farther east the
+ice was firmer, and Mollie, who made for the best looking places, led
+the way, I running closely in her footsteps.
+
+Behind us came the men and teams, the calls of the Eskimos to their dogs
+sounding musically on the quiet evening air. Mollie and I were now
+leaping over water-filled cracks or lanes in the ice, she having assured
+me that after getting away from the shore it would be better traveling,
+and we could ride on the sleds when we were tired, but I felt
+considerable pride in keeping up with her, and soon grew very warm from
+the stiff exercise, unaccustomed as I was, while she was well used to
+it.
+
+After we had left the shore some distance behind us we halted for the
+sleds to come up, Mollie seating herself upon the small one, I waiting
+for the other a little later. There I ran at the handle-bars for a time,
+but at last I threw myself upon the sled among the furs, and pulled a
+parkie over me. We were now in the water a foot deep most of the time,
+the dogs picking their way along over the narrowest water lanes, Ituk
+and Koki shouting to them to gee and haw, and with Eskimo calls and
+whip-snapping, urging them on continually.
+
+Soon we left the smaller sled behind; Mollie, Muky and Punni making the
+air ring with laughter and Eskimo songs. As we started out from home the
+sun shone brightly upon us, but as we left the land at our backs, and
+made our way farther out upon the bay, the sun dropped lower and lower,
+the sky became a mass of crimson and yellow, and the whole world seemed
+modestly blushing.
+
+Along the east shore the rolling hills lay almost bare of snow, the
+brown tundra appearing softly and most artistically colored. To the
+north the mountains were still tipped with snow, as was also the
+promontory--Cape Darby, at the extreme southeast point. This was spotted
+and streaked with white, its rocky cliff black in shadow by contrast.
+Our eyes eagerly scanned the horizon for steamers, and a schooner had
+been reported off Darby loaded with fresh fruits and vegetables, but we
+could not see it.
+
+By and by we were past most of the water lanes, and the ice was better.
+At half-past nine o'clock in the evening the sky was exceedingly grand,
+and a song of gratitude welled up in my heart, for this was another
+world from the one we had just left, and I no longer wondered at
+Mollie's love of hunting in the fresh air, under the beautiful skies,
+and with her freedom to travel wherever she liked.
+
+With her I felt perfectly safe. No harm could come to me when Mollie led
+the way, and my confidence in the native men was equally strong; for
+were they not as familiar with ice and water as with land? I soon saw
+that we were headed toward the island, though I did not know why, and by
+this time Mollie was far ahead, also that we were being followed by a
+dog-team from Chinik, which puzzled me, for I had not heard that others
+were going out hunting for seal, or starting for the Home, which was my
+destination.
+
+When we reached the north end of the small island Mollie ran up the path
+like a deer, I following, as did the natives, leaving the dogs to rest
+upon the ice. From a hole in the rocks Koki now hauled his kyak or
+small skin boat, where he had left it from a former trip, and dragging
+it down upon the ice, he lashed it upon the small sled to be carried
+still farther.
+
+The dog-team, which I had seen following in the distance, had now come
+up with us, and I heard one man say to the other: "There is Mrs.
+Sullivan," but I did not recognize the voice. When they came nearer, we
+found it to be two men from camp who were going out to the schooners to
+buy fruit and vegetables, and they wanted to get a dog belonging to them
+which Mollie had borrowed and had hitched into her team. A change of
+dogs was then made, and we started--Mollie and I on her big sled, the
+other two following.
+
+We now skirted the rocky cliffs, and found the ice hummocky between
+great, deep cracks where the water was no longer white, but dark and
+forbidding. Sometimes Koki suddenly started the dogs to one side to
+avoid dark-looking holes in the ice, the dogs leaping over seams which
+quickly lay beneath us as the fore and hinder parts of our sled bridged
+the crevasse of ugly water.
+
+Now the sled swayed from side to side as the dogs made sudden curves or
+dashes, then a big hummock of ice and snow had to be crossed, and one
+end of the sled went up while the other went down. I was holding to the
+side rails with both hands, and knowing that the sled was a good, strong
+one, I had no fear of its breaking, but my feet were cold in my rubber
+boots, and I had drawn some furs over me.
+
+Mollie is not a great talker, she seldom explains anything, and one has
+only to wait and see the outcome of her movements, and this I did, when
+she suddenly with Ituk left the sleds and climbed the rocks of the
+island again on the south side. Then I saw them gathering sticks and
+small driftwood, and knew that they would make a fire upon the ice at
+midnight, while preparing to hunt for seals.
+
+Coming to a rough place, with high-piled ice between great, ugly seams
+over which the sagacious dogs dragged the sleds always in a straight
+line, not slantwise, I climbed out, and Mollie and Ituk came with their
+driftwood, which they threw upon the sled; the two men making for the
+schooner forging ahead in the direction of Cape Darby.
+
+Ituk and Muky now made ready to go with me to the Home, a half mile away
+to the east where they were also to get some bread, this important item
+having been forgotten in the hurry of departure from Chinik. In the
+meantime Mollie, not to lose a moment of time, as is her method, had
+gotten out her fishing tackle and was already fishing for tom-cod
+through a hole in the ice. Bidding her Beoqua (good-bye), we started for
+the Home, Ituk politely taking my little bag, and Muky leaping lightly
+over the rocks toward the mainland. Along the shore of the island I was
+fearful of cutting my boots on the jagged rocks and rubble thickly
+strewn over the sands, and had to proceed cautiously for a time, but
+Ituk, perceiving my difficulty, led to a smoother path, and we were soon
+on the mainland, and upon the soft tundra, when it was only a few
+minutes walk to the Home.
+
+It was eleven o'clock in the evening, and we found the missionaries just
+returned from a trip to the schooner, where they had secured fresh
+potatoes and onions. The smell and taste of an onion was never so good
+to me before, and the potatoes were the first we had seen in six months.
+
+I had been in the Home in the early spring for a day, and now, as then,
+met with a warm welcome from the missionaries. They now had double the
+number of native children they had in Chinik, and their house is large
+and commodious, though unfinished.
+
+I was assigned the velvet couch upon which I had spent a good many
+nights, and the two natives returned to Mollie after securing some bread
+from Miss E. for their lunches.
+
+Next day we visited, and I rested considerably, finding again how good
+it was to be in a safe and quiet place with no fear of stone throwers or
+giant powder.
+
+About half-past ten o'clock in the evening, just after the sun had set,
+we started on our return trip, Mollie having arrived with her dog-teams
+and natives. The sunset sky was exceedingly beautiful, but beneath our
+feet we had only very bad ice and water. Near the island great ice cakes
+were floating, interspersed with dark seams and lanes wider than we had
+before seen. Sometimes I rode on one of the sleds or walked, ran or
+leaped over the water holes to keep up with the rest until too tired and
+heated, when I threw myself upon a sled again; but as we proceeded we
+found firmer ice and less water. Mollie and I had both to ride upon one
+sled now, for Ituk had lashed the kyak upon the little one, and they
+were one dog short, as an animal had run away while they were eating
+supper at the Home. Finally, pitying the dogs upon the large sled, who
+seemed to have a heavy load (although only one seal, as they had met
+with little success in hunting), I motioned to Ituk to wait for me,
+which he did.
+
+"Ituk," I called, as I came nearer, "let me ride in the kyak, will you?"
+
+"You ride in kyak?" asked the man in surprise.
+
+"Yes, let me get in, I will hold on tight," and, as he made no
+objection, I climbed upon the boat, crept into the hole made for that
+purpose and sat down.
+
+"All right, Ituk; I am ready," I said.
+
+The man laughed, cracked his whip, and the dogs started.
+
+I had not before realized that I would be sitting so high up, and that
+at each dip in a crack or depression of the ice, when the sled runner
+ran a little higher than the other, I should stand a grand chance of
+being spilled into the water, but my feet were so cold in my rubber
+boots that I was thinking to get them under cover would be agreeable,
+and though Ituk probably well knew what the outcome of my ride would be,
+he very patiently agreed to allow me to try it.
+
+We had not gone far when our dogs made a sudden dash or turn, the
+right-hand runner slipped lengthwise into a seam, and over we went,
+sled, kyak, woman and all upon the ice in a sorry heap. The dogs halted
+instantly, and Ituk, who had been running on the left-hand side of them,
+came back at my call.
+
+"O, Ituk, come here and help me! I cannot get out of the kyak," I cried
+lustily. "I will not get into it again," and I rubbed my wrist upon
+which the skin had been slightly bruised, and he assisted me to my feet.
+
+The native laughed.
+
+"Kyak no good--riding--heap better run," he said.
+
+"That's so, Ituk, but my feet are very cold."
+
+"Get warm quick--you running," was his reply, and we started on again.
+
+When five or six miles from Chinik the water became more troublesome,
+and our progress was slow. We were wading through holes, leaping over
+seams, and treading through slush and water. It was colder than the
+night before, a thin skin of ice was forming, but not firm enough to
+hold one up. I was cold and cuddled into the sled with Mollie, but the
+two natives running alongside were continually sitting upon the rail to
+get a short ride instead of walking, thus loading the sled too heavily
+upon one side, and we were soon all tumbled into water a foot deep.
+
+As I went over I threw out my arm to save myself, and my sleeve was
+soaked through in an instant. Koki and Muky thought it great fun, and
+laughed and shouted in glee, but to me it was a little too serious. My
+clothes were wet through on my right side, and I was now obliged to run
+whether I wanted to do so or not, for we were fully a mile from home. My
+gloves and handkerchief were soaked with water, and I threw them away,
+thrusting my hands into my jacket pockets and running to keep up with
+the others.
+
+We were now wading and leaping across frequent lanes, and were more in
+the water than upon the ice. The sharp eyes of the natives had discerned
+the shore line well bordered by open water, and they were wondering how
+they would get across. Finally we could get no farther, and were a
+hundred feet from the beach.
+
+"Dogs can swim," said Mollie, sententiously, as was her habit.
+
+"How will you and I get on shore, Mollie?" I asked anxiously.
+
+"Ituk, big man,--he carry you, may be," answered Mollie, roguishly, with
+a twinkle.
+
+"But," I continued seriously, "how deep is the water, anyway, Koki?"
+seeing that he had been wading in to find out.
+
+"Him not much deep. We walk all right,--'bout up here," and the native
+placed his hand half way between his knee and thigh to show the depth,
+then walking a little farther down towards the hotel he seemed to find a
+better place, and called for all to follow, which we did.
+
+The men waded across to the shore, stepping upon stones which now and
+then, at this point, were embedded in the sand, Mollie boldly following
+their example. All wore high-skin boots, coming far above their knees,
+and water-tight, but my rubber-boots had never been put to a test like
+this, only coming a little above my knees, where the soft tops were
+confined by a drawstring, and this water was very cold, as I had good
+reason to know.
+
+However, there was nothing to do but go on, first watching the others,
+and then plunging boldly in. I drew my boot-tops higher, fastened the
+strings securely, picked up my short skirts and wound them closely about
+me, but not in a manner to impede my progress, and stepped in.
+
+By this time the dogs and men were upon the sands, and making for home,
+only a few rods away, but I took my time, walking slowly in order that
+the water should not slop over the tops of my boots, and we finally
+reached the beach and the house safely.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+GOOD-BYE TO GOLOVIN BAY.
+
+
+On the morning of the twenty-sixth of June I awoke to find that the ice
+had drifted out to sea in the night, eight days after Mollie and I had
+taken our twelve miles trip across the bay and return. Then came hard
+rain and wind, that, for several days, blew the ice back into the bay,
+first to one side, and then to the other, so that the steamers waiting
+to come in could not do so for fear of the drifting floes. By the
+thirtieth of June schooners were coming into the bay with passengers and
+freight, and the coast steamers, "Elmore" and "Dora," had begun to make
+regular trips to and from Nome.
+
+With them came mails from the outside, with newspapers and tidings of
+friends in the States. Then our fingers trembled at opening our letters
+until we found that all our dear ones were well, and we heartily thanked
+the Lord. There were other white women in camp by this time, and many
+strangers at the hotel, among others, officials, and those in authority.
+
+Since the stone-throwing episode the Marshal had been doing duty as
+watchman, sleeping during the day and guarding the house nights, the
+heavy iron "bracelets" in his inner coat pocket weighing scarcely more
+than the loaded revolver in his belt.
+
+Our little sick girl being obliged now to keep her bed continually, with
+no more playing in the sand and sunshine, although her cough had left
+her, was still the same sweet, patient child she had been through all
+her illness, and my whole time was given to her. Before one of the sunny
+south windows of the living room we placed her cot each morning, and
+here she received her numerous friends, both Eskimo and white, and their
+names were legion. They came from the east, west, north and south, all
+sorry to know of her illness, and bringing presents with them.
+
+Sometimes it was a little live bird or squirrel, a delicious salmon
+trout or wild fowl for her supper; sometimes it was candy, nuts, or
+fresh fruit from Nome, and with everything she was well pleased and
+joyous. Friends soon came in from the outside, bringing city dolls
+dressed in ribbons and laces; there were tiny dishes, chairs, tables,--a
+hundred things dear to a little girl's heart, and all pleased her
+immensely, but all were laid quickly aside for a basket of wild flowers
+or mosses, for a fish, bird, animal or baby, showing plainly her taste
+for the things of nature in preference to art. Her love for her
+birthplace, with its hills, streams and ocean is a sincere one, and,
+young as she is, and having seen the great city by the Golden Gate,
+with many of its wonders, she is happiest in Chinik.
+
+Here lives her dear, old grandmother, her cousins and aunts, not to
+mention the little calico-capped baby belonging to Apuk, for which she
+has a whole heartful of love, and the sight of which is better to her
+than medicine.
+
+During the month of July we eagerly watched the incoming steamers, and
+welcomed all new comers who landed in Chinik. Many were simply passing
+through on their way up Fish River to the mines, and praise of the land
+of the "Ophir" gold was sung on all sides. A few remained for the
+summer. Here men built boats, and rowed away to Keechawik and Neukluk,
+carrying supplies for hunting or prospecting.
+
+The captain's vegetable garden in the sand was growing rapidly, and was
+watched with eager eyes by everyone. We ate lettuce and radishes, picked
+fresh from the garden beds where they had been sown by the captain's own
+hands, and we found Ageetuk and Mollie to be quite famous cooks. Nothing
+so delicious as their salads (for the French cooks had long ago gone,
+the hotel management being changed, and Mollie had a nice little kitchen
+of her own), and with fresh salmon trout, wild fowl, fresh meats and
+vegetables, we made up for many months of winter dieting.
+
+All this time I longed to get away. I was going each day to the hill-top
+to watch for the steamers which would bring the letters for which I
+waited. Affairs connected with my gold claims were, with much anxiety
+and trouble, arranged as well as possible, and when I boarded the
+steamer, I would carry with me, at least, three deeds to as many claims,
+with a fair prospect of others; but I could not decide to remain another
+winter. I was determined to go to St. Michael, up the Yukon to Dawson,
+and "outside," and laid my plans accordingly. Letters from my father and
+brother in Dawson had been received.
+
+[Illustration: CLAIM ON BONANZA CREEK.]
+
+How my heart ached when I thought of leaving the little sick girl and
+Charlie, the latter now grown wilful, but still so bright and pretty. I
+wanted to take both with me, but, no, I could not.
+
+The little girl's work was not ended. Hers is a wonderful mission, and
+she is surely about to fulfill it. Born as she was in a rough mining
+camp at the foot of the barren hills, she was given the Eskimo name of
+Yahkuk, meaning a little hill, and she, like an oasis in a desert place,
+is left here to cheer, love, and help others.
+
+Many times I have seen evidence of the sweet and gentle influences going
+out from the life of little Yahkuk as she lies upon her cot of pain. A
+tall, brown miner enters the living room, goes to the little bed by the
+window, speaks softly, and, bending over the tiny girl, kisses her. Then
+her big, black eyes glance brightly into blue ones looking down from
+above, full red lips part in a cordial smile, while the one solitary
+dimple in the smooth, round cheek pricks its way still deeper, and small
+arms go up around his neck. When the man turns, his face wears a soft
+and tender expression as though he were looking at some beautiful sight
+far away, and, perhaps, he is. God grant that the sweet memory of that
+little child's kiss may be so lasting that all their lives, he and
+others, may be purer and better men.
+
+When August came I sailed away. The "Dora" had entered the bay in the
+morning and found my trunk packed and waiting; it was then only the work
+of a little time to make ready to leave. To my good missionary friends I
+had already said good-bye, and the captain and Mollie were kindly
+regretful. With tears in my eyes, but with real pain in my heart I bade
+Jennie good-bye, and stepped into the little boat which was to carry me
+to the "Dora."
+
+Farewell, then, to Chinik, the home of the north wind and blizzard.
+Farewell to the ice fields of Golovin, so tardy in leaving in summer,
+and to Keechawik and Chinik, whose clear rushing waters so cheered us in
+spring time. Farewell to the moss-covered hills and paths thickly
+bordered with blossoms. Farewell to my white-faced friends, and to the
+dark-skinned ones, "Beoqua."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+GOING OUTSIDE.
+
+   "Do I sleep? Do I dream?
+      Do I wonder and doubt?
+    Are things what they seem?
+      Or are visions about?"
+
+
+I was now actually on my way home. It was not a dream, for here I was on
+board the snug little ocean steamer "Dora," belonging to the Alaska
+Commercial Company, and I was on my way to St. Michael and Dawson. For
+ocean travel our steamer was a perfect one in all its appointments,
+being staunch and reliable, with accommodating officers. After taking a
+last look at Chinik, I went to my stateroom. Only one stop was made
+before we reached St. Michael, that being at Port Denbeigh, a new mining
+camp where for some hours freight was unloaded. In about twenty-two
+hours from the time we left Chinik we were in St. Michael harbor,
+climbing down upon a covered barge which took us ashore.
+
+It was nearly two years since I had first landed at this dock,--then in
+a snow storm, now in the rain,--then with my brother, now alone. Not at
+all like Nome is this quiet little hamlet of St. Michael by the sea.
+Neither saloons nor disorderly places are allowed upon the island. What
+was formerly a canteen for soldiers was now a small but tidy restaurant,
+where I ate a good dinner of beef-steak with an appetite allowable in
+Alaska.
+
+Upon the streets and about the barracks were many boys in blue, while
+the hotel parlors swarmed at dinner time with officers and their wives
+and daughters, all richly and fashionably attired. At the parlor piano
+two ladies performed a duet, while the silken skirts of others rustled
+in an aristocratic manner over the thick carpet, and gentlemen in dress
+suits and gold-laced uniforms gracefully posed and chatted.
+
+For my own part, a little homesick feeling had to be resolutely put down
+as I pulled on my old rain coat, and with umbrella and handbag trudged
+out in the darkness and rain to look for my baggage. I had already
+secured my transportation at the steamship office, where, at the hands
+of the kindly manager of the Alaska Commercial Company's affairs in this
+country I had received the most courteous treatment I could desire. With
+little delay I found my trunk and went on board the Yukon steamer T. C.
+Power.
+
+Some months before a consolidation of the three largest transportation
+companies in Alaska had been effected, including the Alaska Commercial
+Company, and I was now traveling with the latter under the name of the
+Northern Commercial Company, but I felt a security like that of being
+in charge of an old and trustworthy friend, and was quite content.
+
+I had a long journey before me. We should reach Dawson in fourteen days
+unless we met with delays, but a fast rising wind warned us that we
+might encounter something of the sort where we were, and we did. For two
+days and nights our steamer lay under the lee of the island, not daring
+to venture out in the teeth of the gale which buffeted us. Straining,
+creaking, swaying, first one way and then the other, we lay waiting for
+the storm to abate. No river steamer with stern wheel and of shallow
+draught, could safely weather the rough sea for sixty miles to the
+Yukon's mouth, and we tried to be patient.
+
+Early on the morning of the third day we started, and for twelve hours
+we ploughed our way through the waters with bow now deep in the trough
+of the sea, now lifted high in mid-air, to be met the next moment by an
+uprising roller, which, with a boom and a jar, sent a quiver through the
+whole vessel.
+
+When at last the Yukon was reached, another obstacle appeared and we
+stuck fast on a sand bar. Soon two other steamers lay alongside,
+waiting, as did we, for a high tide to float us.
+
+By night we lay in a dead calm. Indians in canoes came with fish and
+curios to sell, and we watched the lights of the other steamers.
+
+When the high tide came, we floated off the bar, but the scene was one
+of dull monotony, and it was not until the day following that we came
+into the hill country, and I was permitted to again see the dear trees I
+loved so well, not one of which I had seen since leaving California.
+
+At Anvik there came on board a little missionary teacher bound for
+Philadelphia, who had spent seven years with the natives in this
+Episcopal Mission without a vacation, and her stories were interesting
+in the extreme.
+
+Our days were uneventful. A broken stern wheel, enforced rests upon sand
+bars, frequent stops at wood yards with a few moments run upon shore in
+which to gather autumn leaves, and get a sniff of the woods, this was
+our life upon the Yukon steamer for many days. After a while the nights
+grew too dark for safe progress, and the boat was tied up until
+daylight.
+
+Russian Mission, Tanana, Rampart, Fort Yukon and the Flats were passed,
+and the days wore tediously on. We were literally worming our way up
+stream, with low water and dark nights to contend with, but a second
+summer was upon us with warm, bright sunshine, and the hills were
+brilliantly colored.
+
+One morning we approached the towering Roquett Rock, so named by
+Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka in his explorations down the Yukon years
+before, and connected with which is an Indian legend of some interest.
+
+This immense rock (so the story runs) once formed a part of the western
+shore of the Yukon, and was one of a pair of towering cliffs of about
+the same size, and with similar characteristics. Here the two huge
+cliffs lived for many geological periods in wedded bliss as man and
+wife, until finally family dissensions invaded the rocky household, and
+ended by the stony-hearted husband kicking his wrangling wife into the
+distant plain, and changing the course of the great river so that it
+flowed between them, to emphasize the perpetual divorce. The cliff and
+the rock are still known as "the old man" and "the old woman," the
+latter standing in isolation upon a low, flat island with the muddy
+Yukon flowing on both sides.
+
+At this time of the year the days in Alaska grow perceptibly shorter,
+and we were not surprised to find dusky twilight at five in the
+afternoon, and to notice the eerie loneliness of the dark, sweet scented
+woods a few hours later, when the steamer lay tied to the river's bank.
+
+One night after dinner a number of passengers sat idly about in the
+saloon of our steamer. Many had grown tired of cards, or had lost their
+money, and, finding themselves pitted against more lucky players, had
+called a halt and looked for other occupation. Miners lounged about,
+chatting of the gold mines, their summer's work and experiences. Big
+Curly and his little black-eyed wife listened attentively for a time.
+
+The old miner was a born story teller, and knew a good yarn when he
+heard it. The boat was tied up for the night, and all was quiet around
+us. It was the time and place for a story.
+
+At last Big Curly hitched his chair out farther from the wall, and
+placed his feet comfortably upon the rungs; then, shifting his tobacco
+from one cheek to the other, he asked if any one present had heard the
+story of Nelson and the ghost. No one had heard it, and, after some
+coaxing, this is the tale he told.
+
+
+The Ghost of Forty Mile.
+
+Alaska has long smiled over old Indian legends, but Yukon men are still
+puzzling over the nocturnal rambles of the ghost of a murdered man in
+the Forty Mile District. Following the excitement of the discovery of
+Bonanza Bar and the sensational riches of Franklin Gulch came the murder
+of an old Frenchman named La Salle. Tanana Indians committed the crime
+in 1886. They crossed the mountains to Forty Mile, and killed La Salle
+in his cabin at the mouth of O'Brian Creek. With axes and bludgeons the
+old Frenchman's head was crushed beyond recognition.
+
+Three months later the snow lay thick upon the ground. Upon the branches
+of trees it persistently hung, each added layer clinging tenaciously
+because there was no breath of wind to send it to the ground.
+Occasionally a dead twig, weighted too heavily by the increasing fall
+of snow, broke suddenly and dropped noiselessly into a bed of feathery
+flakes, thus joining its sleeping companions, the leaves.
+
+[Illustration: ON BONANZA CREEK.]
+
+It was in January that two men might have been seen following their
+dog-teams down a frozen stream emptying into Forty Mile River. They
+wished to reach the mouth of the creek before they halted for the night.
+They had heard of a cabin in which they planned to spend the night,
+although it was a deserted one, and they were almost at the desired
+point.
+
+The men were Swedes. They were strong and hardy fellows, and although
+frost covered their clothing and hung in icicles about their faces, they
+ran contentedly behind the dog-teams in the semi-darkness, as only the
+snow-light remained.
+
+"Hello!" called out Swanson finally to his companion. "Is that the
+place, do you think?" pointing to the dim shape of a log cabin a little
+ahead.
+
+"Guess it is, but we'll find out. I'm nearly starved, and must stop
+soon, any way," said Nelson decidedly. "It's no use for us to travel
+further tonight."
+
+"So I think," was the reply, as the dogs halted before the door, and the
+men entered the cabin. Here they found a good-sized room, containing one
+window. There was evidently a room on the other side, but with no
+connecting door, the two cabins having been built together to save
+laying one wall.
+
+"This is good enough for me, and much warmer than a tent--we'll stay
+here till morning, and take the dogs inside," said kind-hearted Nelson,
+already unhitching the dogs from a sled.
+
+Swanson did the same. The next moment their small store was carried into
+the cabin, wood was collected, and a cheery fire soon roared up the
+chimney.
+
+After the men had eaten their supper and the dogs had been fed, pipes
+were brought out; and, stretching themselves upon their fur sleeping
+bags before the fire, the miners smoked and chatted while resting their
+weary limbs.
+
+Suddenly, in the midnight stillness they heard a strange noise in the
+other part of the cabin. Some one was moaning and crying for help. There
+was no mistaking the sound, and both men were wide awake and intently
+listening.
+
+It was the cry of some one in distress. The sounds grew more blood
+curdling. Nelson, unable to restrain himself longer, ran outside to
+investigate. Going to the window he looked inside. The sight he beheld
+congealed his blood, and fastened him to the spot as in a trance. This
+was the image of a man surrounded by a cloud of white, mist-like
+phosphorescent light, a deep scar standing out like a bleeding gash down
+the side of the head. Then the forgotten story of the murdered La Salle
+came to his mind, and for several minutes he was chained to the spot by
+the terror of the spectacle.
+
+The apparition was half lying upon the floor, with arm uplifted, as if
+warding off a blow from some deadly instrument. Finally, in the
+desperation of his terror, Nelson called his partner to come to his
+assistance. Upon the approach of his companion he summoned enough
+courage to step to the door at the other end of the cabin, and try to
+open it. It was held fast by some superhuman agency, which allowed the
+door to be only partly opened.
+
+Swanson, at sight of the ghostly visitor, was not so badly overcome as
+his friend, and having an inquisitive turn of mind, wished to find if
+the apparition really existed. He called out, demanding to be told who
+was there, but no answer came.
+
+Still the mysterious, unearthly noises came through the cabin door. No
+soughing of the wind could make such sounds had a tempest been blowing,
+but a deathly stillness prevailed, and no breath of air stirred.
+
+Then it was that Swanson gathered all that was left of his fast
+disappearing courage, and said: "In the name of the Father, Son and Holy
+Spirit, are you demon, man or ghost?"
+
+Suddenly the door opened and in the uncertain, misty light the
+apparition raised its hands to the stars as if in prayer, then it grew
+dark and the ghostly visitor vanished as if the earth had engulfed it
+forever.
+
+While turning this tale over in mind later, I came to the conclusion,
+which seems a reasonable one, that some fortunate miner had, in all
+probability, hidden an amount of golden treasure in or about the cabin
+on the creek, and wishing to keep others away, had circulated the ghost
+story with good effect.
+
+When Eagle City was reached I telegraphed my brother to meet me at the
+steamer's dock in Dawson, and my message was sent by one of Uncle Sam's
+boys in blue in charge of the office.
+
+The town had grown considerably in the two years since I visited it, and
+now boasted new government buildings, officer's quarters, and a
+Presbyterian church, besides new stores and shops.
+
+After Cudahy and Forty Mile, came Dawson, and we steamed up to the
+city's dock in the morning fog, and were met by the usual multitude of
+people, I having been seventeen days out from Golovin Bay. There, among
+others, waited my brother and his little son, and my joy at meeting them
+was great. Landing, it was only a walk of a few minutes to my kind old
+father, and my brother's wife was not far away.
+
+I was now practically at home, for home is where our dear ones are, and
+surroundings are matters of small moment.
+
+Three happy weeks followed, I went everywhere and noted well the
+improvements in the camp since I last saw it. It was now a cleaner town
+every way, with better order, good roads and bridges, new government
+buildings, post-office and fine large schoolhouse. New frame churches
+replaced the old log ones in most cases. There was the governor's new
+palatial residence which would never be graced by the presence of its
+mistress as she and her babe had gone down to death a few weeks before
+in the Islander disaster in Lynn Canal; and there was the same steady
+stream of gold from the wondrous Klondyke Creeks, which I was now
+determined to visit.
+
+[Illustration: SKAGWAY RIVER, FROM THE TRAIN.]
+
+One bright, warm day, taking the hand of the small boy of the family, my
+sister and I started for Bonanza Creek. We were bound for the house of a
+friend who had invited us, and we would remain over night, as the
+distance was five miles. My kodak and three big red apples weighed
+little in our hands, and we turned toward the Klondyke River in high
+spirits.
+
+For a mile the road was bordered with log cabins on the hillside, with
+the famous little river flowing on the other. We crossed the fine
+Ogilvie Bridge, and soon found ourselves upon Bonanza Creek, the stream
+which, with the Eldorado, had given to the world perhaps the major part
+of golden Klondyke treasure up to this date. Following the trail by a
+short cut we crossed shaky foot bridges, rested upon logs along the
+trail, and picked our way over boggy spots until our limbs were weary.
+
+Everywhere there were evidences of the industry of the miners, but the
+claims and cabins looked deserted. Only in a few instances were men at
+work near the mouth of the creek. Many people were going to and from
+Dawson, and bicycles and wagons were numerous.
+
+When we reached our destination we had walked five miles in the hot
+sunshine, and were hungry and warm, but a warm welcome from Mr. and Mrs.
+M., as well as a good dinner, awaited us.
+
+After resting a while we were shown around the premises. Three log
+cabins were being built in a row upon the hillside, the one finished
+being already occupied by the M. family. Tunnels were being made in the
+mountain by Mr. M., as well as other claim owners near by, and across
+the gulch mining operations were in full blast. On the M. claim
+preparations were being made for winter work, and it was expected that a
+valuable dump would be taken out before spring. For three hundred feet
+one tunnel entered the mountain back of the cabins, and we were invited
+to go into it.
+
+Putting on our warmest wraps, with candles in hand, we followed our
+guide, the proprietor, for some distance. It was like walking in a
+refrigerator, for the walls and floor of the tunnel were solidly frozen
+and sparkled with ice. Whether the bright specks we saw were always
+frost, we did not enquire, etiquette forbidding too much curiosity, but
+from the satisfied nods and smiles we understood that it was a good
+claim, though only recently purchased by Mr. M., a handful of pudgy gold
+nuggets being shown us which fairly made our eyes water (because they
+did not belong to us).
+
+Here we lodged all night, enjoying a graphophone entertainment in the
+evening. The next morning my kodak was brought out, and before leaving
+for home I had several views to carry with me.
+
+Our walk back to Dawson was much easier than the one out to the claim.
+
+From this on, we made ready to leave Dawson for Seattle, and were soon
+upon our way. Again I was forced to say good-bye to my father and
+brother, though they would follow us a month later, and together, my
+sister and I, stood with the little boy on the deck of the steamer,
+waving our good-byes.
+
+We now traveled in luxury. We occupied a large and elegant stateroom,
+ate first-class meals, and had nothing to do but enjoy ourselves. To
+change from steamer to steam cars at White Horse, which was now a good
+mining town, was the work of an hour's time, while a day's ride to
+Bennett and over the White Pass to Skagway was a real pleasure.
+
+We found the quiet little port of Skagway swarming with people rushing
+for the steamers, and as if to give us variety we had considerable
+difficulty in finding our trunks in the custom's house, and in getting
+upon the steamer in the darkness of the late evening; but at last it was
+all successfully accomplished, and we took our last look at Skagway.
+
+Eleven days after leaving Dawson we reached our journey's end, and
+landed in Seattle, our home coming being a source of delight to our dear
+waiting ones, as well as to ourselves; our safe arrival being another
+positive proof of the mercy and goodness of God.
+
+
+[Decoration]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's A Woman who went to Alaska, by May Kellogg Sullivan
+
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