MEETING OF THE WILD MEN 189 



policeman on the wharf and emitted a string of vile oaths. But 

 he never came back. 



"When the notorious 'Soapy' Smith was killed at Skagway, 

 Alaska, his gang of desperadoes was promptly broken up and 

 word came to Dawson that some of them were headed for 

 the Canadian side. They were gathered in as soon as they 

 crossed the line, denuded of weapons, and sent back. Not one 

 of the gang eluded the vigilance of the police. 



"The law against carrying concealed weapons was a big 

 factor in keeping the peace. Comparatively few men took 

 advantage of their legal right to carry a revolver in sight. I 

 remember seeing an open box in a pawnshop containing the 

 most amazing collection of weapons I had ever set eyes on — 

 revolvers with silver handles, pistols of carved ivory, anti- 

 quated breech-loaders, weapons of fantastic design, and, prob- 

 ably, of equally fantastic history, strange implements of death 

 that had come from all climes and bespoke adventures on all 

 the seven seas. 



'"Where did you get the lot.^' I asked the proprietor. 



" 'They all sell their shooting irons. No use for them here. 

 I get 'em for practically nothing. Help yourself if you have 

 any fancy that way. I'll make you a present of anything you 

 want.' 



"So much for the wild Yukon of the novelists! Instead of 

 lurching into the dance hall and blazing away at the ceiling, 

 picture the 'old-timer', the hgo-dened miner of a hundred camps, 

 planking down his pistols on the counter of the pawnshop and 

 asking 'How much.^' That's the truer picture." 



As part of my boyhood education was derived from the study 

 of American illustrated magazines, I was led by those periodi- 

 cals to believe that the North American wilderness was in- 

 habited by wild and wooUy men bedecked with firearms, and 

 ever since I have been on the lookout for just such characters. 

 Now while I cannot speak for the Western States, I can at least 



