FROM ICY CAPE BACK TO CIVILIZATION 381 



thin wooden partition I heard people in the bar discussing 

 my appearance; some thought they knew me and mentioned 

 names. But then some one else came in who knew better, 

 who had found Mr. Holm, who stayed with some friends, and 

 from him learned where I came from, that I had travelled 

 all the way from Flaxman Island, and had been two and a half 

 months on the trail. 



A quiet followed, and the next I heard was " To hell you 

 say not a miner ? " and then they came in, took a seat close 

 to mine, and stared at the man who had been travelling through 

 the night all the way from the far north, and., wonder of wonders, 

 who was neither looking for gold nor trading. Nothing else 

 would probably have surprised them, but a man in this country 

 who was not a miner was an incredible sight. 



All at once the attention of the whole room was attracted by 

 an exclamation of surprise and pain, and we all jumped up, 

 to find a man writhing on the floor with his abdomen cut open, 

 while another was standing over him brandishing a bloody 

 knife. In the twinkling of an eye the man was struck down, 

 his knife was taken from him, and he was carried away to gaol 

 another proof that I had come to a white man's country. 

 When everything was comparatively quiet again, a man sitting 

 close to me, and one of those who had been discussing me, 

 turned round, and by way of introduction said, " Well, partner, 

 you see you have reached civilization." I could not deny it ; it 

 was all there, even to a judge and a marshal. At last I turned 

 in, lulled to sleep by the tones of half a dozen phonographs, 

 mingled with the jingle of glasses and the hoarse cries of 

 drunken men. And during my sleep I dreamt of the last 

 Christmas, woke up and felt ashamed of myself for having been 

 so preoccupied with these many new things as to forget my 

 friend, Mr. Leffingwell, who was sitting at Flaxman Island 

 keeping Christmas all alone with the natives. 



I stayed in Candle until December 29 and had a very pleasant 

 time. Everybody was kind to me, invited me to dine at their 

 really splendid homes, and I came, furs and all. By way of 

 dressing I pulled off my fur coat and came in my shirt sleeves, 

 which were clean and did not smell so strongly as my furs. 

 Mr. Evans and Dr. Whitiger, Mr. Herron and Mr. Ryberg, 

 were particularly kind, and so was Mrs. Noise, who also invited 



