Return to Tyonak 
when I was pushing the boat’s stern off she went 
into the rough water broadside on, and shipped 
quite a lot of water, but she was well held above 
by the rope, a turn of which had been taken 
round the bole of a tree lest it should be dragged 
from the men’s hands. This was the worst 
place we had to encounter, although many 
other places had to be taken with great care. 
The trip from the Indian shack to the village 
of Kenai took us just over twelve hours—we 
were up at the house just as it was getting dark, 
the gear being brought up by the Indians. The 
skins and heads were hung up in a lock-up 
house on the beach. 
Next day I heard that my schooner had 
arrived to take me up to Tyonak, and I went 
down to interview the owner, who I thought 
looked somewhat “ tough,” as though he had 
been making a night of it. In answer to my 
inquiry as to when he proposed to sail, he said, 
“This afternoon, if it will suit you.” 
Now that the time had come to say good-bye 
to Hunter I was sad. We had been the very best 
of friends during all these long months, and I 
had got to like his straight honest ways of speech ; 
one gets to know a man very well when you 
spend several months in his company. 
It did not take long to get my belongings 
on that dirty schooner. The cabin was a poky, 
beastly hole with two bunks, that were taken 
275 
