TWELFTH CHAPTER 

 AFTERTHOUGHTS 



AXT^ILE ideas of Alaska and Yukon Territory- 

 are usually associated with obscure visions 

 of mucklucks and mushing, blizzards and bidar- 

 kas, yet very little of this life was ever apparent 

 to us as we traveled thru. True, the double- 

 ender used by Stampede Mary in her memorable 

 mush to Shushanna (officially spelled Chisana) 

 during the gold rush was pointed out to us, and 

 I believe the sled dog that Billy the Bear traded 

 to Four-Eyed Brown was shown while we were 

 in McCarthy; yet, except for a few such sou- 

 venirs, we saw very little evidence of the actual 

 life of the musher, due, of course, to the fact 

 that our pilgrimage there was during the warm- 

 weather period. We were, however, told various 

 stirring tales of the adventures of those who 

 passed hard winters in that clime. Cap Hubrick 

 and Shorty Gwin vieing with each other in set- 

 ting off the most extravagant displays of super- 

 heated verbal fireworks for our especial enter- 

 tainment. Of course, neither Cap nor Shorty 



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