"OUR RUDDER'S GONE!" 89 



But this illusion vanished quickly. Scarcely a score 

 of people dwelt in the village which ten years earlier had 

 boasted two thousand inhabitants. There was no 

 machine shop, there was no blacksmith or mechanic, 

 there was not even a supply of ordinary, necessary tools 

 or materials with which to make the repairs. As for 

 means of welding the old stock to the rudder again — we 

 presently smiled at the idea. No regular steamers called 

 at this decadent hamlet, and even if the rudder could be 

 repaired or made anew at Nome, which was doubtful, it 

 would take a week to get a boat around to fetch it and 

 deliver it, besides a week or two for doing the work at 

 Nome. To put this chance beyond question the wind 

 began to blow stronger from the southwest so that we 

 could not venture out in the "Abler" with our emer- 

 gency gear. This last the Captain and Ed Bom flatly 

 refused to consider, as it would jeopardize the one's com- 

 mission and the other's insurance. Born, especially, 

 took the whole misfortune with singular calmness, while 

 Kleinschmidt and the rest of us gnawed our lips in help- 

 less anger. 



The "Alaska," a forty-seven ton auxiliary schooner, 

 lay partly hauled on the beach. She had just been pur- 

 chased in Nome by Stefansson for his Arctic expedition, 

 and had managed to reach Teller after they had dis- 

 covered that her propeller was worthless, her clutch in 

 bad shape and her engine in need of overhauUng. She 

 was about sixty feet long, double-ended, high-sided, with 

 two masts and a small rig. The fore and aft decks at 

 the rails, lower midship and tall ugly pilot house over the 

 engine space made her look unusually clumsy. Bunks 

 for three of the crew, two engineers and fifteen men in 

 the cabin, provided for an abundant number. Her 



