ded.

The beach at Nome, from which most of the gold of that region has been
extracted, was found to make a fine starting field, and, as the country
back of the town is mostly flat "tundra" or moss covered ground, with no
trees to interfere, the flights made by Gerald were the most successful of
his career. He delighted the army officers by taking them up, one at a
time for short flights, and the citizens were so enthusiastic that they
offered the boys almost any price they might name for the airship. Their
affection for it was too great, however, and they refused to sell.

The Scouts were shown every attention, and were taken for a ride on the
"Farthest North" railroad, known as the "Wild Goose" road, leading up to
some of the most important placer mines on the peninsula. The Scout
uniform caught the fancy of some of the young men of the town, and when
the organization had been explained to them they organized two patrols,
and Colonel Snow administered the first degree of the ritual.

In three days the steamer for Seattle was ready to sail, and the boys bid
farewell to their new friends and started on the homeward leg of their
journey. Steaming far to the westward to get around the long reach of the
Alaska Peninsula they sailed a thousand miles south, and at Dutch Harbor
on Unalaska Island they transferred to the line of steamers which was to
take them along the peninsula to Seward. Stopping part of a day on Kodiak
Island, they visited the great salmon canneries at Karluk, where the boys
were told they could catch all the salmon they wanted. They saw the great
fish handled literally by the ton and canned by machinery. The boys
disembarked with the aeroplane at Seward and found the chief and three of
his men awaiting them, with the news that they believed that they had
discovered the cave.

"No can get him. Very high. Most to sky," the chief told Rand, and
indicated in "pigeon" that the cliff was a pinnacle of three spires of
rock standing alone and utterly inaccessible from any side. He said it was
two days' journey by easy trail, and that they would take horses.

Colonel Snow, deciding that the trip would be an interesting experience
for the boys, provided them with pack horses and a trusty guide, in
addition to the Indians. He was opposed at first to their trying to take
the aeroplane into the mountainous regions, but finding that it could be
conveyed by pack horses without trouble, and that the boys had some
pro