et and a considerable piece of bone,
adding, with attempted humor, that it wasn't everybody who carried his
bones about with him in that way. It seemed that he was being made to do
menial work in the kitchen, whereas he was really a millionaire, to
substantiate which this delightful person again resorted to his wardrobe
and drew forth a number of crumpled and dirty mining papers. Appearing
on the scene soon after I had finished reading in "The Crisis" of "Uncle
Billy" (General Sherman), this pitiful result of one battle made an
impression by contrast.

The popular saloons and gambling-houses were crowded, but the stakes
were low (for mining operations had not yet begun, and "dust" was not
coming into camp), and probably half of the attendance was due to the
warmth of these places. All the games were going--roulette, vingt-et-un,
faro, poker, stud-poker, Klondike, and craps. There was usually a
platform in the rear supporting a piano and a phonograph, and serving as
a stage from which sirens would torture the popular ballads, whose agony
penetrated the street.

I should have enjoyed attending the sessions of the court, but the judge
and court staff were then on the high seas, going to hold a short term
at St. Michaels, pursuant to law. In a more or less desperate attempt to
fill in the tedious waiting-time, A---- and I one evening sought
amusement at the "Standard Theater." The entertainment was not
calculated to delight delicate sensibilities.

The glorious Fourth was appropriately celebrated by ample decoration
with the flag throughout the town and a very creditable parade, which,
headed by a company of sturdy regulars from the neighboring military
post, was followed by an A1 fire-engine drawn by fine horses, three
uniformed hose companies, and a score of lively little school-children.
Such are the enterprise and conquering spirit of our people!

VII

UP THE STREAMS--AN EVENING AT JOHNSON'S CAMP

By this time it was certain that Golovin Bay was open. The Klondikers
and Yukoners, a sturdy lot of earnest men and not looking a bit starved,
were pouring into town from St. Michaels, and the report came that ships
at the northwest were unloading at Teller and Grantley Harbor. Nothing
loath, I got away from Nome in the evening of July 5 on the small
steamer _Elmore_, which I did not remember with especial relish. The
floor accommodations had meantime been supplanted by bunks, and the
trip to Golovin Bay, which