er
the intervening country at a speed of nearly sixty miles an hour, and
after the lapse of about twenty minutes returned, and dropping slowly in
spirals, glided gently to earth within a score of feet of the spot from
which he had risen.

Soon after their return to Skagway the mysterious "piano case" was brought
out of storage and unpacked, a vacant but fenced lot was rented and the
first aeroplane that Alaska had ever seen was soon put together, and was
in process of being tuned up.

As has been told in a previous volume, the Creston Patrol of Boy Scouts
had become fairly proficient airmen, having constructed a glider which in
a contest had won for them a motor with which they later equipped an
airship. Gerald, especially, had shown himself a most capable and
courageous aviator, and only a short time before coming to Alaska had
received from the Aeronautical Society his license as a full fledged air
pilot. Needless to say their exhibition was the notable event of the year,
and it added as well a goodly sum to the boys' exchequer.

Citizens and visitors were delighted with the exhibition, and begged for
another day of the same thing, but Colonel Snow was anxious to be on his
way to the Klondike country, and could not allow the boys more time. The
sum realized was not only satisfactory to the town officials, but the
share coming to the boys went a considerable way toward providing funds
for their trip down the Yukon.

The aeroplane was loosely crated for the journey, and early in the month
of July the Scouts took the train for their second trip from Skagway to
White Horse. Upon their arrival at the end of their three hours' journey,
Colonel Snow, Rand and Swiftwater repaired to a nearby Siwash village, to
which the wounded chief had been conveyed upon their return from Gold
Creek and found him nearly recovered from his injury.

He showed considerable satisfaction at meeting them, and was evidently
very grateful to Swiftwater and the boys for their kindness to him. He
said the return of the ancient tribal relic had greatly rejoiced the
members of the tribe, and had aroused great interest among the older men
in the old legends attached to the heirloom. These had to do with a great
wealth of ivory which had been stored in a cave at the top of a cliff
during a tribal war over a hundred years before, and that this cave was in
the mountains which "ended near the Great Water." As near as Swiftwater
could make out the mount