he bank at Victoria. I accordingly left Bennett going out
by the Chilcoot and Dyea and took $150,000 in gold and bills. I reached
Victoria in due course and handed over the money." That is all, but in
fact it was a very dangerous journey. He had the stuff in police
kitbags, but those were the days of "Soapy Smith's" gang of ruffians.
Going from Dyea to Skagway, Wood had to threaten to fire on a boat that
was following. Soapy Smith and his toughs were on the wharf at Skagway,
but the determined bearing of Wood and his few men, together with the
presence of the crew of the C.P.R. boat _Tartar_, got them through. It
was a ticklish situation.

A word should be added here as to the famous gold escorts. The practice
was to turn the gold into ingots and send these to the coast under care
of the Mounted Police in small detachments of from two to six men. The
amounts thus carried often ran into tens of thousands and the care of
these valuable loads of gold could only be given to men of the highest
trustworthiness such as these guardians of law and order had always
proven themselves to be. Not a mite ever went missing. It is a fine
thing to quote this as a testimony that strengthens our faith in
humanity. And this splendid incorruptibility was shown by men serving
amidst difficult conditions in trails and rivers in all sorts of weather
for a mere pittance a day.

Inspector A. M. Jarvis speaks about the "continuous roar of the
snow-slides" which one would imagine to be rather disturbing music. He
relates that when he started to collect customs at Dalton cache the
first man to pay was a doctor from St. Thomas, Ontario, who had been
living in the Western States for over twenty years. "The doctor came
over, saluted the flag by taking off his hat, and said it was the first
time he had seen it on British soil in that period." Of a trip taken with
Constables Shook and Cameron on snow-shoes Jarvis says, "The snow was
soft, and despite the snow-shoes we sank deep at every step. The
following afternoon we returned to camp, having been travelling
forty-six hours without blankets and only one meal."

Inspector Cartwright, who relieved Strickland at the White Pass, gives
us a little insight into the problem of keeping warm in rather porous
canvas tents by remarking that wood cost as high as $110.00 a cord. It
was a case of supply and demand. And so in the manner recorded in this
chapter did these pioneer policemen in the Yukon possess the l