and the sun hung low in the
southern sky when at last the schooner crept into one of the many inlets
that indent the coast of Southern Alaska. There was just wind enough to
carry her in around a long, foam-lapped point, and soon afterwards they
let the anchor go in four fathoms of water. Their haven was a sheltered
arm of the sea with a river mouth not far away. There was no sign of
life anywhere and the ragged cedars that crept close down to the beach
stood out in somber spires against the gleaming snow.

The cold was not particularly severe when the _Selache_ arrived, but
when Dampier went ashore next morning to pick a log from which they
could hew a mast the temperature suddenly fell, and that night the drift
ice from the river mouth closed in on them. When the late daylight broke
the schooner was frozen fast, and they knew it would be several months
before she moved again. It was before the gold rush, and in winter
Alaska was practically cut off from all communication with the south. No
man would have attempted to traverse the tremendous snow-wrapped
desolation of almost impassable hills and trackless forests that lay
between them and the nearest of the commercial factories on the north,
or the canneries on the other hand. Besides, the canneries were shut up
in winter time. They were prisoners, and could only wait with what
patience they could muster until the thaw set them free again.

CHAPTER XVIII

A DELICATE ERRAND

There was a sharp frost outside, and the prairie was white with a thin
sprinkle of snow, when a little party sat down to supper in the Hastings
homestead, one Saturday evening. Hastings sat at the head of the table,
Mrs. Hastings at the foot with her little daughters, and Agatha,
Sproatly, and Winifred between them. Sproatly and Winifred had just
driven over from the railroad settlement, as they did now and then, and
that was why the meal, which was usually served early in the evening,
had been delayed an hour or so. The two hired men, whom Mrs. Hastings
had not kept waiting, had gone out to some task in the barn or stables.

Sproatly took a bundle of papers out of his pocket and laid them on the
table. There had been a remarkable change in his appearance, for he now
wore store clothes, and the skin coat he had taken off when he came in
was a new one. It occurred to Mrs. Hastings that there was a certain
significance in this, though Sproatly had changed his occupation some
time before, a