him and repeated the cry. Again and again it was passed from one
to another along the half-mile of high sidewalk which led from the dock
to the town. Soon in every corner of the streets of Valdez there
resounded the call: "Steamboat! Steamboat!"

Now there came to the ears of all the low, hoarse boom of the steamer's
whistle. The great vessel was lying out somewhere in the fog, nosing
her way in carefully, taking care not to touch any of the hidden rocks
which line the Alaskan shores. The residents of the town poured out from
dwelling and shop alike, and soon the streets were full, almost the
entire population hurrying over the long trestle to the dock where the
boat must land. The whistle said to them that there were now at hand
cargoes of goods for the merchants, machinery for the new railroad
building inland, necessities and luxuries for every-day life, and, best
of all, letters, books and papers from the outside world. "Outside" in
an Alaskan coast town means the United States. Across the range of
mountains which fence off the coast from the vast interior "outside"
means the coast itself; just as to any town dweller of the Alaska coast
"inside" means somewhere in the icy interior, vast and unexplored.

Among the first to hasten down the long walk from the main street of the
town were two friends of Rob McIntyre--Jesse Wilcox and John Hardy, the
former ten and the latter twelve years of age, each therefore a little
younger than Rob, who himself was now nearly fourteen. These boys might
be called young Alaskans, for although the town of Valdez itself was not
more than a few years old, their fathers had helped found the town and
were prominent in its business affairs. Mr. Hardy was engaged in railway
contracts on the new railroad, and Mr. Wilcox was chief of engineers on
the same road. Rob's father, Mr. McIntyre, owned the leading store,
where all sorts of articles were sold, from shovels and picks to needles
and pins. The three boys, it need not be said, were great cronies, and
many was the hour of sport they had had here in far-away Alaska.

"Hello, Rob!" called John, as he hurried up; "how many fish did you get?
What boat's that, do you think? Do you suppose my uncle Dick's on
board?"

"Hope so," rejoined Rob, now rolling up his fishing-line, and again
kicking his codfish out of the road of the gathering crowd. "He's
probably got something for us if he is."

"How far is she out?" inquired Jesse. "She blows like