e top of the ridge, and
were about to descend into the foothills, the Scouts turned, and with
bared heads paid a last tribute to the "First Airship in Alaska."

CHAPTER XVI

HOMEWARD BOUND.

They camped that night on the site of their previous resting place, and at
early morning gathered in their horses, some of which had strayed for
miles, and were soon on their road back to Seward. By journeying rapidly,
most of the trail being down hill, they arrived at the town early in the
afternoon, where they found a despatch from Colonel Snow, asking them to
await him there, as he would return to that port.

With the guide, they put in their time visiting the surrounding country,
and in a trip to the celebrated Columbia glacier, considered the most
beautiful and impressive on Prince William's Sound. It is about four miles
wide, and about three hundred feet high. There are ten other glaciers in
Prince William's Sound which keep its magnificent fiords filled with
icebergs which fall from the glaciers, with the sound of thunder. The
Scouts made a trip over the ice fields of Columbia, which were full enough
of ice bridges and crevasses to furnish many a thrill.

"I wonder if there are any more mammoths on ice under us here," said Don
as they tramped over the snowy surface.

"If there are, we shan't need an airship to get them," responded Rand.

"No," said Jack, "we shall want another kind of ship if we catch any more
of that sort."

Two days later the steamer from Seattle, by way of Cordova and Valdez,
reached Seward and the Colonel was a passenger. He brought with him a
large package of letters from Creston which had been wandering over the
Yukon, and had finally come across from Eagle to Valdez by way of
Fairbanks.

The boys repeated the newsy gossip of their home town, and exchanged their
letters freely. Pepper had three, however, which he read quietly by
himself.

"Come, Pepper," said Jack, "produce."

"These are entirely for private consumption," replied Pepper, turning red,
but with an effort at dignity.

"Pretty much everything you get your hands on seems to be," commented
Dick, and the boys surrounded Pepper with joined hands, singing: "I'll Bet
He's Had a Letter from Home," until the badgered youth tackled his brother
and broke through the line of his tormentors. The Colonel had also found
at Valdez a brief letter from Swiftwater, who announced that he had gotten
hold of what he considered a good clai