TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 13 



of the Arctic regions. To have a ship of one's own, 

 even a rough-and-ready affair, on an expedition to 

 Alaska is the next best thing to possessing the magic 

 carpet of the Arabian Nights. We should have but 

 to command, and could land on any shore, or inlet, 

 that we chose. We had five replies to our advertise- 

 ment. 



Each owner of a sealer described his property 

 as a veritable Lusitania, and, presumably to clinch 

 matters, one of our correspondents enclosed the 

 photograph of his skipper, a piece of quaintness 

 which amused us vastly. The skipper in his pictured 

 presentment was a really personable man, and ought 

 to have pleaded in eloquent silence. Of course a man 

 might be a good sailor with any sort of a face. 

 Besides, photographs fib so. One cannot rely on 

 pictures at all. Even Henry VIII found that out. 

 Do you remember what happened to Henry VIII ? 

 The people of England wanted to make the succes- 

 sion doubly sure, and so did old Hal, but he hadn't 

 a wife at the time. Anne of Cleves was thought to 

 be a good political move, and Henry said he would 

 like to see her. The people of England were not to 

 be caught out like that. They knew their Hal. A 

 beautiful portrait was prepared, so flattering that 

 Anne would not have recognized herself. The bluff 

 one was charmed. "Send her along at once," he 



said. When he saw her But history luckily 



does not cuss in print. 



I like a good-looking face, I do confess, but in 

 the case of a skipper good navigation counts more, 



