ere was very little disposition to deride the unfortunates, as had been
done on the trip up the "Inside Passage." They arrived safely, however,
and were again accorded a warm welcome by Colonel Snow's comrades of the
army, who at once took them to the post, which is the chief institution of
importance in the small town.

St. Michael's is situated on an island which constitutes a military
reservation of the United States. Russia, in 1833, established a trading
post there, and one of the curiosities of the place is the old Russian
block house, a relic of primitive ideas in warfare. The town is the point
of departure for the Yukon River steamers, and the aeroplane and the other
luggage was taken off here to be placed on the Seattle steamer, which was
to take them over to the Seward Peninsula, the other side of Norton
Sound.

There are two small Indian villages on the island, and the boys spent part
of a day in the inspection of these, buying large quantities of
curiosities and looking on with interest at a "potlatch," an institution
which means the entertainment of a man's neighbors so long as his goods
hold out, and the host generally finds himself ready for a receiver by the
time the entertainment ends.

The officers of the post were greatly interested in the aeroplane, and it
was uncrated for their inspection, but stormy conditions on Behring's Sea
during their stay prevented a flight.

Two days after their arrival, the steamer from Seattle to Nome came along
and they embarked and steamed the 112 miles across Norton's Sound to Nome,
the metropolis of that great northwestern section of Alaska that borders
on the Arctic Ocean and extends within forty miles of Asia. There is no
harbor at Nome, and the ships must lie about a mile off shore, while
passengers and freight are taken in on flatboats, from which everything is
raised on an elevator by a gigantic crane, and swung in shore.

Nome is one of the largest cities of Alaska, having a summer population of
nearly 8,000. It is a lively, public-spirited place, and the army officers
and business men greeted with enthusiasm the proposal of an airship
exhibition.

Colonel Snow was especially in favor of it, as the army had already begun
to take a great interest in aviation, and the officers desired an
opportunity to inspect the workings of the machine. A popular subscription
was decided on for the boys, and a sum amounting to about fifteen hundred
dollars was quickly provi