Running a Sawmill and a Store Up Country . 293 



hello ticktocalilka," which translated amounts to "No 2dols. 50 cents, 

 no mail bag," or, in other words, he refused to hand out the bag if 

 he didn't get first 2dols. 50 cents down. To make me better 

 understand the position of matters, wily old Pete held out 

 the mail bag. Then I tumbled to it. It was one of those flannelette 

 shirts roughly stitched together in the shape of a bag wherein 

 reposed H.M. mail ! A great shout went up from the group of 

 inconsiderate bystanders, and a smile childlike and bland passed 

 over the classic features of stern Pete as I handed him the dollars ! 



Some other funny stories were accredited to the Grohman store. 

 They weren't necessarily all true, but they were amusing. One 

 was, that having sold to some Chinamen some waste unplaned 

 boards at the price of choice mahogany, that B.B. storekeeper 

 made an extra charge for the knot holes in the boards on hearing 

 that the lumber was required for a coffin for a Chinaman who 

 had died in camp. " You'll be better able to identify the corpse 

 later on when shipping-time comes round, if the coffin has air holes," 

 said he, alluding, of course, to the fact that all Chinamen send their 

 dead back to China, hence are particular as to the identity of 

 their corpses. 



Another unkind tale was about a certain apparently quite 

 unsaleable stock of brass-headed nails. All comes to those that 

 wait. The mountain fever did not draw the line at white men, 

 but occasionally picked up stray Indians. Presently a young 

 buck passed in his chips not far from the Flat, and his people 

 came to me for boards for his last teepee. I told the carpenter 

 to doctor no, the doctor to carpenter a coffin, and to use 

 those brass-headed nails for the job. Instant success, and from 

 that day on brass-headed nails became the height of fashion 

 for the last ceremony for which nails are required. 



Those who have read the present Duchess of Somerset's 

 pleasantly written " Wanderings of a Tenderfoot," in which she 

 describes her adventures in Kootenay, will, perhaps, remember 

 her mentioning the fact that her husband bought a pair of 

 moccasins at the Grohman store, " of which he is very proud." 



