Copper River 
his leg and possibly his life by his return to 
civilization, doctors, and good nursing. This 
man was a prospector and big-game hunter. 
It was from him that I obtained the first authen- 
tic news of what likelihood of success I might 
expect. He had spent months after moose and 
sheep, bringing out the trophies for the sake of 
the money he could make by selling them. I 
agreed to take him back to Kusiloff with me, 
paying his fare, as he seemed to have next to no 
money for that purpose. I half promised to 
take him with me into the woods, that is to say 
if he were well enough to accompany me. This, 
however, proved to be completely out of the 
question, as it was a matter of sheer impossi- 
bility for him to walk any distance, and I doubted 
the advisability of his returning to the rough 
life of that part of the country at all. 
We had, as fellow-passenger, an American 
named Edgcombe, who had on board a number 
of horses and men. His was an expedition 
which had been sent out by the U.S.A. Govern- 
ment to try and find, or rather to make, a trail 
from Copper River to Dawson City, a distance, 
as the crow flies, of about four hundred miles. 
The purser of this steamer, a drunken little 
blackguard, and, I am ashamed to say, an 
Englishman by birth, was grossly impertinent 
to me one day when in his cups, and threatened 
to shoot me whilst we were at Copper River. 
205 
