in any case.
My choice was, of course, from the human standpoint, for life, happiness
and success in the pursuit of gold; but this with me was not an
obstinate nor rebellious sentiment. Should all these good things be
denied me, I could say, it is well. I felt satisfied that the way for my
going to Alaska had been wonderfully opened by an Unseen Influence which
I had been taught from earliest childhood to recognize, and this
belief, which was a firm and abiding one, held me calm and contented.
Night after night I slept in my berth as soundly as though at home in my
bed, and not even the sudden jolt and quiver of the icebergs coming
often into collision with the ship caused me to waken.

The night of June twelfth, about eleven o'clock, just after having
retired, but being still awake, I heard a sudden and piercing scream.
The English madam with me, being still dressed, rushed upon deck to find
out the cause of the disturbance. Rushing towards her with pale and
frightened face was her daughter who had been lunching in the dining
salon. An iceberg of immense proportions and greater height than usual
had struck the ship with a crash, coming up suddenly and most
unexpectedly from underneath the fog bank so that the watchful pilot was
taken unawares. The English girl said the berg, when alongside the ship,
reached the height of the upper deck and appeared like a huge mountain
of ice from her place at the window. It was consternation at the sight
of what was apparently sure and speedy destruction which had caused the
woman's scream.

Investigation was immediately made of the ship's plates, which, though
considerably dented by the ice, were still, thanks to a kind Providence,
intact; and again I settled myself for the night and slept.

Next day men were restless. They wanted to be on their way to Nome. It
was not for this that they had paid a large price for their tickets and
assurances that they would arrive early at Nome; and they agreed that
there was no more danger in steaming ahead than in lying anchored with
the ice bumping into us and liable to break through the ship's sides at
any moment.

"Will you sign a petition to the captain asking that he proceed on his
way to Nome without further delay?" asked a friend of me while the "St.
Paul" was anchored and the ice still drifting around us.

"They are circulating such a petition, and have a good many signers, or
those who are willing to sign it, and I wanted to know ho