The Journal of a Sporting Nomad 



Edgcombe had a nice cabin on deck, the only 

 decent one on the ship, which he was good 

 enough to ask me to share with him ; my doing 

 so was the cause of the purser's wrath. He 

 became so obnoxious and dangerous that not 

 only did I speak to the skipper, an extremely 

 nice Swede, but we slept with our revolvers on 

 the table by our bunk's side, so as to be ready 

 for emergencies. This purser made himself so 

 disliked on board that a " round robin " was 

 signed by the passengers and sent to the owners 

 of the ship, describing the affair. Whether or 

 not he obtained his discharge I do not know, 

 but I shrewdly suspect that he was told his 

 services were no longer required, for Americans 

 won't have any tomfoolery of that description. 

 Edgcombe left us at Copper River, where his 

 horses were slung overboard, the steamer being 

 beached for that purpose. This place was only 

 a small bay, backed by high cliffs, and on one 

 side by a huge glacier, over which Edgcombe 

 had to transport his horses and packs not a 

 very enviable undertaking ! We found a large 

 number of men, who had been spending some 

 months prospecting for minerals in the sur- 

 rounding country, camped on the beach awaiting 

 our steamer. There must have been three 

 hundred of them, most of whom were only too 

 keen to get back to Seattle, tired of the hard- 

 ships and exposure to which they had been 



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