3 o8 TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 



The little ship was not a patch upon the Nome 

 City, and she was crowded up like the steerage of an 

 emigrant ship even the hold was requisitioned for 

 sleeping accommodation. I don't think any one 

 paid more than his neighbour; it was first come, first 

 served. 



Leaning over the gunwale, watching the interesting 

 scene, to our immense surprise we discovered a 

 friend in the person of a well-known English shikari, 

 a noted shot, returning home after a hunt in the 

 Kenai Peninsula and Sheep Creek district. A dis- 

 tinct acquisition to the passenger list. The sombre 

 peak of Redoubt vanished into the scurrying mists, 

 the melange of passengers, almost entirely of the 

 masculine persuasion, dawdled about the grubby 

 decks in unsettled confusion, and disjointed scraps 

 of conversation floated to me on the freshening 

 breeze. 



" It panned out seventy per cent. " 



That everlasting seventy per cent. ! 



A rough-looking prospector leaned against a deck- 

 house near me. 



" If I can divorce my wife " drifted on the air. 



Cetera desunt. 



But what a peep behind the scenes ! 



Two small American boys ran about the ship, 

 precocious children of a manager of a salmon can- 

 nery, now closed down for the season. 



"Now, Hiram, sit there!" said the harassed 

 mother. " Cyrus, if you hang over the side you'll get 

 yourself drowned. Hiram, give over crying, you 



