cter of the men with whom he is compelled to do business.

The wind had subsided by the next morning and had been of benefit rather
than injury to us, for it had blown the accumulated new snow off the old
trail so that it was possible to perceive and follow it. But what was
our surprise to find, with the recollection of that rattling roof and
swaying building fresh in our minds, that ten miles away there had been
no wind at all! The snow lay undisturbed on every twig and bough from
which the gentlest breeze would have dislodged it. One never ceases to
wonder at what, for want of a better word, must be called the
_localness_ of much of the weather in Alaska--though, for that matter,
in all probability it is characteristic of weather in all countries. The
habit of continual outdoor travel gives scope as well as edge to one's
observation of such things which a life in one place denies. That
wind-storm had cut a clean swath across the Yukon valley. Yet it seems
strange that so violent a disturbance could take place without affecting
and, to some extent, agitating the atmosphere for many miles adjacent.

[Sidenote: SNOW GLASSES]

So, sometimes in snow-storm, sometimes in wind, always on snow-shoes and
often hard put to it to find and follow the trail at all, we struggled
on for two or three days more, sleeping one night at a wood-chopper's
hut, another in a telegraph cabin crowded with foul-mouthed infantrymen
sent out to repair the extensive damage of the recent storm and none too
pleased at the detail, we plodded our weary way up that interminable
river. At last we met the mail-man, that ever-welcome person on the
Alaskan trail, and his track greatly lightened our labour. By his
permission we broke into his padlocked cabin that night by the skilful
application of an axe-edge to a link of the chain, and were more
comfortable than we had been for some time. Past the mouth of the
Koyukuk, past Grimcop, past Lowden, past Melozikaket to Kokrine's and
Mouse Point, we plugged along, making twenty-two miles one day and
thirty another and then dropping again to eighteen. The temperature
dropped to zero, and a keen wind made it necessary to keep the nose
continually covered. At this time of year the covering of the nose
involves a fresh annoyance, for it deflects the breath upward, and the
moisture of it continually condenses on the snow glasses, which means
continual wiping. A stick of some sort of waxy compound to be rubbed
upon