140 TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 



he still kept a samovar. " I did," he answered, 

 " until the engineer struck." 



Far as the eye could reach, the surrounding tundra 

 was wreathed in flowers. In grim Alaska summer is 

 like a magician who changes as with a wand of 

 gold the harsh face of the earth to a verdant paradise. 

 Every yard brimmed over with blossoms, a blaze of 

 narcissus buttercups made a glowing carpet of 

 gorgeous yellow, the blue of the polemonium and 

 the bluer forget-me-not commingled, a riot of colour 

 tints; every gentle wind wafted the fragrance of this 

 wealth of scented flora, and rustled the nodding 

 plumed heads of the myriad grasses. 



In and out of the flowers white and purple butter- 

 flies flickered on trembling wings, slender, gossamer- 

 pinioned, Ariel-like. 



We carefully examined the Leader's rifle, which 

 was his favourite Mannlicher, and found that a small 

 bit of grit had got into the breech, and thus jammed 

 the bolt action. The trouble was merely a small 

 affair, and was soon rectified by removing the bolt. 

 Fortunately this disaster, which is so common with 

 all magazine rifles, did not entail any loss of life, 

 as has happened before when men will use these rifles 

 for dangerous game. The careful skinning of the 

 bears occupied some hours; the Leader set to work 

 upon the larger bear, and Steve commenced opera- 

 tions on the other. The animals were much the 

 lightest-coloured bears I had seen in Alaska, being 

 of a very pale fawn tint. The baby was much 

 darker, and his fur very frizzy. I had to hold him 



