CONCLUSION 



425 



we could, eating, reading old papers, talking and smoking, and 

 looking down the trail, eagerly watching for the first sign of our 

 driver, who had gone back for his sledge. Another stage with 

 passengers from the " outside " arrived at about 2 P.M., and the 



MOUNT DRUM SEEN FROM COPPER-CENTRE ROAD-HOUSE. 



woman who owned the house, helped by her daughter, had hard 

 work to feed her numerous snowbound guests. 



At last our driver came back, but the horses were nearly dead, 

 and starting was out of the question ; so we stayed one more 

 night at the place with the pleasant but very inappropriate 

 name. We were eighteen people, five of whom were women, 

 and our quarters were, to say the least of it, very cramped. We 

 passed as much of the night as we could, sitting round the 

 red-hot stove, cursing our bad luck, the snow, the trail in general, 

 and the Alaskan one in particular. The men were all " old- 

 timers " and had known the country for years, but they had 

 not yet learned to take the trail as it came. Still it helped 

 us to pass the weary hours, and after we had talked knowingly 

 about politics and a religious debate had been started with 

 scant success, we took up the last resource, "swopping lies," 

 a favourite occupation of Alaskan travellers. The inventive 



