alico cap upon his head and his stout and chubby limbs
grew perceptibly. While young he was tied upon his mother's back beneath
her parkie, a stout leather belt confining the same around the woman's
waist to prevent the baby from falling out. There his black eyes winked
and blinked above the little, round mouth which had only lately learned
to smile, and which was beginning to experiment daily among the
difficult mazes of his native dialects. For the child was confronted
with two languages; English, spoken by his father, the Eskimo spoken
by his mother; but he was as yet ignorant of both. Dearly his mother
loved him, and enjoyed his companionship during the long and frequent
absences of his father.

Gold in great quantities had now been discovered on the Seward
Peninsula. Hundreds of people were flocking into the country. Camps were
filling with eager fortune-seekers, and the beach was strewn with tents.

Fur traders had gone into mining. Miners were scattered over the
country, carrying supplies by boat up stream to the sections where they
looked for gold, and where, in many instances, they found it.

The attention of all had been drawn to a stream called Anvil, near the
sea, whose sentinel rock, perched upon a tall hillcrest near, had long
and successfully guarded its wealth of gold and treasure.

It could be hidden and guarded no longer. Men now labored strenuously
with pick and shovel in the bed of the golden stream; nor stopped for
sleeping; while accumulating riches filled their vaults to overflowing.

In a small hut upon the beach lived the Eskimo woman and her boy. Her
husband had sailed with others for the north country, and the two were
unprovided for and alone. With industrious fingers Estella made small
trifles to sell to the white people in camp, many of whom carried heavy
purses and coveted the souvenirs made by the natives.

It was her only way of earning a poor subsistence for herself and boy.
Her father and brothers supplied her with fish in summer and her wants
were not numerous. Like worn out footgear which had served its purpose,
being perhaps well fitting and useful for a time, but after fresh
purchases to be cast aside as worthless, was the native woman now
discarded.

It was summer time in Alaska. Tundra mosses were at their freshest, and
wild flowers bloomed and nodded on every side. It was the time for
fishing, and Estella's relatives came to take her with them on their
annual excursion, w