254 HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



would be ready to meet them. The "Bat" was on hand, 

 but the lake was rough and her skipper wished to 

 postpone our starting. However, by noon we were off 

 in the hard rain with the wind against us. Our two 

 boats towed behind pretty well after the cargoes had 

 been shifted to let them ride the waves, and we made 

 good weather of it up the lake to the road-house at mile 

 23| on the railroad. 



Instead of having to wait at the station here as we 

 expected until we could get a special car up from Seward, 

 we learned that one had gone up the road and was 

 expected to return in about a half hour. As quickly as 

 possible, therefore, I divided among Bill, Alex and 

 Fritz the grub which we had left over and some of the 

 larger things that I did not want to take down the rail- 

 way, and we all boarded the car when it came. 



Darkness had fallen before we got over the divide 

 and the rivers were swollen with rain. A telephone 

 message had been received at Roosevelt from Seward 

 saying that there was a washout at Resurrection Bridge, 

 which had been repaired since we first came up. Accord- 

 ingly, when we reached that point the crew got off the 

 car and with lanterns went ahead to come back and 

 report that all was right. Slowly we went across the 

 bridge and proceeded cautiously toward the town with a 

 large headlight blazing out into the darkness. 



The telephone message, as it afterward turned out, 

 had intended to convey the information that a washout 

 had occurred on the line between Seward and the bridge 

 over Resurrection River. We were going slowly along 

 when suddenly the car lurched as if it had run over 

 something, rolled from side to side and lamps fell out 

 of the roof on the heads of the passengers. It felt as if 



I 



