Jim Matson 



some four months afterwards, and learnt that 

 he had gone to Juneau very ill. I also inquired 

 at this latter place when I arrived there, only to 

 hear that he had died a month previously. 



Now, there was at Tyonak an old chap called 

 Captain Matson. He had built himself a very 

 nice shack at the extreme end of the settlement. 

 If you can imagine one of Fenimore Cooper's 

 heroes suddenly endowed with life, you will be 

 able to appreciate this man. He was immensely 

 tall, six feet six at least I felt quite a pigmy 

 when standing alongside him with my puny six 

 feet two inches. He was over seventy, he told 

 me, but was not exactly sure of his age. He had 

 spent the whole of his life in the woods as a 

 frontiersman, and had been wounded seventeen 

 times in various parts of his body, principally 

 when fighting Indians. I happened on him one 

 morning quite by chance, and we became great 

 friends, for I could listen to his yarns by the hour, 

 whilst they had every indication of the truth. 

 If he took to you it was plain sailing, but he was 

 an irascible old man, and was at daggers drawn 

 with the manager or any one to do with the store 

 at the other end of the village, swearing that 

 owing to some grievance he would " shoot them 

 dead " if they put their foot within a certain 

 distance of his shack. He did me a very good 

 turn, and was exceedingly kind to me later on. 



On Dawson's advice I decided to go to Kusi- 



213 



