l
"swishing" in one's interior regions, and causing one to truthfully
speak of the same as "infernal" instead of internal. But they were all
tree physical as well as free moral agents and decided these things for
themselves.

At last we entered the Japan current and the weather was warmer and
more enjoyable. On Monday, June fourth, we saw from the deck a few
drifting logs and a quantity of seaweed, and these, with the presence of
gulls and goonies flying overhead, convinced us that we were nearing
land.

We were not mistaken. After eating an excellent six o'clock dinner we
went above to find ourselves between high, rocky cliffs, which loomed up
into mountains not far distant, and we knew we were again at the
Aleutian Islands and in the rough waters of Unimak Pass. As we drew
nearer and entered the harbor so well land-locked, the sun dipped low
into yellow-red western waters, thereby casting long shadows aslant our
pathway so delicately shaded in greens.

The little hamlet of Dutch Harbor nestled cosily at the foot of the
mountains which bordered the bay, and here numbers of ships lay anchored
at rest. Passing along easily beyond another high mountain, we were soon
at the dock of Unalaska, beside other great ships in port. Both groups
of craft were evidently waiting for the ice to clear from Behring Sea
before proceeding on their way northward, and we counted sixteen ships
of different kinds and sizes, the majority of them large steamers. All
were loaded with passengers and freight for Nome. Scout boats had
already been sent out to investigate and find, if possible, a passage
through the ice fields, and the return of these scouts with good news
was anxiously watched and waited for, as the most desired thing at that
time was a speedy and safe landing on the supposedly golden beach sands
of Nome.

At Unalaska we spent four days taking on fresh water and coal, during
which time passengers visited back and forth from the waiting steamers,
many persons having friends on other boats and each having a curiosity
to see if they were faring as well or ill as he, comparing notes as to
the expense of traveling with the different companies, etc. Passengers
on the "St. Paul" agreed that they had "no kick comin'," which was one
of the commonest slang phrases, intended to mean that they had no fault
to find with the Alaska Commercial Company and their steamer "St. Paul."
All were well cared for and satisfied, as well they might be,