228 SPORT AND TRAVEL PAPERS 



mortally wounded his chief opponent. Some of the band had 

 been gathered into the shanty prison, the remainder having 

 retired into the hills to be presently collected and brought down 

 by my host of the hotel as captain of the Civil Guards. Scagway 

 then consisted of rows of very primitive wooden shanties, mostly 

 drinking saloons, supply depots, and transport agencies, erected 

 among huge stumps of trees, all that remained of the once 

 primeval forest. Wonderful advertisements, gigantic in size and 

 gorgeous in colour, were displayed everywhere, but one which 

 excelled all in beauty was painted on an enormous rock close to 

 the harbour recommending " cristallized eggs " to one and all as 

 the best food for the whole of mankind. A huge hen flapping 

 her wings and dancing a pas de-seul, in delight apparently at 

 having been safely delivered of a particularly good-looking and 

 nobly-shaped egg, the whole in colour which would frighten any 

 domestic fowl and no doubt aid in the laying process. 



Of course the White Pass and Yukon Railway was not then 

 built, and all supplies were taken to Lake Bennett by horses and 

 thence by boats ; the remains of 3,000 of these poor pack-horses 

 were even then scattered over the White Pass. 



On Soapy Smith's removal the citizens and visitors of Scagway 

 breathed freely once more; their lives and hard-earned gold 

 were no longer in continued danger, but the news that the 

 dreaded band had been captured had not yet reached a number 

 of very rich miners who had crossed the Chilkoot Pass and just 

 arrived at Dyea on their way home pioneers who two years 

 before had packed in through snow and ice and discovered, 

 and now owned, some of the richest creeks on " Eldorado," 

 " Sulphur," " Bonanza," &c. Having safely brought their 

 golden load so far, they naturally were very anxious to leave by 

 our steamer there were not many boats then but afraid to come 

 to Scagway a few miles away, on account of Soapy Smith and 

 his scoundrels. Overjoyed at being reassured on this point by 

 the arrival at Dyea of the second officer in the steamer's launch, 

 they presently appeared at Scagway, about fourteen of them, 

 attired in their last remaining suit, which evidently had done 

 noble duty, and carrying in their only blanket nuggets innumer- 

 able. They, mostly Irish Americans, were a rough, hardy, 

 unkempt-looking lot ; and no wonder, after two years of such a 

 life in such a climate. Highly delighted at being safe on board, 



