e crash of broken
glass, angry oaths, and the slamming of doors reaches my ears so
frequently as to cause little surprise, the French cooks in the kitchen
adding their share to the disturbance. In a distant part of the hotel
lies the little sick girl, her cot rolled each night close to the
bedside of her mother, who tries to soothe her in her pain, Mollie and
the wicked little Eskimo servant being the only women besides myself in
the house. The noise and confusion increases down stairs, and I shall
sleep little tonight. I will look at my revolver and see that its
contents have not been removed.

May fifteenth: Here I am alone with the little children, a bad native
girl, and a gang of the worst men in Alaska, Mollie having gone out
hunting. At midnight Sim, Mellie and several others left for a dance at
White Mountain, but it was two o'clock in the morning before the house
was quiet. While I lay perfectly still, and trying to sleep, a man's
stealthy footstep passed my door. He walked in his stocking feet--bare
floors and walls echo the slightest sound, and my ears are keen. Was it
a friend or foe? What was his object? My heart beat with a heavy thud,
but I remembered the loaded revolver under my bed, and thanked God for
it.

After a long time I slept a fitful, uneasy sleep for an hour, and
dressed myself as usual at half-past six o'clock, feeling badly for want
of needed sleep. Afterwards I washed, dressed and fed the children,
amusing and entertaining them in my accustomed way. Ageetuk's house
being closed, little Charlie is kept here all the time, Polly looking
after him nights. A saloon keeper named Fitts, villainous in reality as
well as in looks, is hanging around continually, wearing the blackest of
looks at every one, having been in trouble nearly all winter, and
closing out his saloon a few weeks ago. A big Dutchman, burly as a
blacksmith and well soaked in whiskey, lounges about in blue denim and
skull cap, winking his bleared eyes at Polly and swearing soundly at his
native wife when she steps inside the doors to look after him.

All went well for a while today after Mollie's leaving, Jennie coaxing
to be carried to her grandmother's for a visit, to which I consented,
until Charlie and I sat down to supper, which I had spread, as is my
habit, in the living room. During the day I had turned matters well over
in mind, and decided, with Mollie's advice, to sleep in her bed
alongside of Jennie's cot, and to have