38 THE UPPER YUKON 



"Yes, sir," he replied. "I can't make them 

 there slippers no less." 



"Don't you take anything off for minis- 

 ters?" 



"Hell, no; there's nothin' to take off." 



I turned towards the door as if I was going 

 to leave. 



He at once called to me: "Say, I'll tell ye 

 what I'll do, if you'll buy this pair of slippers, 

 I'll wrap them up in the last edition of our 

 town paper, which costs five cents." 



This was assented to. The "town paper" 

 was produced and duly wrapped around the 

 slippers. The whistle of the boat sounded 

 the signal that she was about to leave, and 

 we hurried back to her, and when aboard we 

 eagerly looked through the little paper to get 

 the news contained in this "last" edition. It 

 was now close to the middle of August, and 

 the date of the paper was February first. It 

 was evidently the very "last" edition, as one 

 of the passengers said the paper had ceased 

 its publication on that particular day. That 

 man was not so stupid as he looked. 



In due course of time we arrived at Skag- 

 way, several hours late. The train for White 

 Horse had waited for us, so that there was 

 much hurrying to and fro to get aboard the 



