CHAPTER II 



THE VOYAGE NORTH 



Hence, and bestow your luggage 



The Tempest 



Here in this island we arriv'd 



The Tempest 



ON arriving at the Rainier Grand Hotel in Seattle we 

 found that the Nome City was timed to sail from the 

 Schwabacher Dock on April the 3rd, two days earlier 

 than we had thought. It was a very good thing we 

 turned up when we did. To have missed the boat 

 would have meant a serious alteration in our well-laid 

 plans. 



At Seattle the taking of the census was in progress, 

 or rather the arriving at a conclusion as to the growth 

 of the city since the previous year. We helped to 

 swell the population, and filled in the forms we found 

 placed in our bedrooms. The questions were alarm- 

 ingly of the order known as " leading," the one anent 

 age being most difficult to get over, in spite of a care- 

 fully worded reassuring sentence explaining that the 

 number of the years should remain a mystery for ever 

 save to the powers that be. Another interrogation 

 seemed a trifle intimate, I thought. " How many im- 

 beciles are there in your family ?" As though families 



ever gave away things like that ! The invariable 



26 



