THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 683 



past their place some days before and who ought to be now at 

 Fort Yukon. They felt quite certain that Dr. Burke would start 

 instantly on a journey north. I might have stayed longer under 

 the care of Mrs. Schultz, which was as efficient as any care I might 

 expect in the hospital, but I hurried ahead to save Dr. Burke the 

 trouble of corning far to meet me. It was easy now to engage 

 local help and Constable Brockie and his men turned back here 

 with my grateful thanks and the news of my recovery. This news 

 would be surprising to the people at Herschel Island except as they 

 were prepared for it by what Mr. Fry might have said when he re- 

 turned from Stokes Point. 



A local team and driver were engaged to take me on down to 

 Rampart House, where Dan Cadzow welcomed me even more 

 warmly now than he had eleven years before when I ended here 

 my journey on a raft down the Porcupine River. He related that 

 when the Indian carrying my message had arrived at Rampart 

 House his dogs had been so tired and the journey going so slowly 

 that Harry Anthony, another friend from the Porcupine trip of 

 1907, had undertaken to hurry the message on. Cadzow felt sure 

 that Anthony would have traveled at least twice as fast as the 

 Indians and that Dr. Burke was now on his way north. Still, 

 with intent to lessen Dr. Burke's trouble, I delayed at Rampart 

 House as little as possible and hurried on till we met the Doctor's 

 party at Old Rampart, thirty miles below. 



My first meeting with Dr. Burke was a foretaste of the com- 

 fortable time I was going to spend under his care at Fort Yukon. 

 One of my first questions, characteristic of typhoid convalescents, 

 was what I should eat and how much. The answer could not have 

 been more satisfactory. "Eat whatever you like, as much as you 

 can, and the oftener the better." 



There are certainly no people in the world more hospitable or 

 thoughtful than the pioneers of Alaska. They are just far enough 

 from the outside world not to be weaned from the delicacies of 

 the cities, with which they yet have the greatest trouble in keeping 

 themselves supplied. Chickens and eggs, fresh fruits and vegeta- 

 bles are considered by them necessities and are valued beyond 

 anything that can be appreciated farther south. Spring was ap- 

 proaching, and thinking that I must be longing for these things 

 as many times more than they as I had been longer without them, 

 every family at Fort Yukon had contributed some delicacy for 

 Dr. Burke to carry to Herschel Island. One woman had sent a 

 dozen apples, another a roast chicken, and so on, with all the things 



