62 THE UPPER YUKON 



was indulging in. He went gaily along for a 

 quarter of an hour or so, when he drifted to 

 talk on the subject of ornithology and soon be- 

 came almost hopelessly involved in some clas- 

 sical Latin names. I excused myself for in- 

 terrupting him, and asked him what relation 

 the incident that he was narrating had to do 

 with "the hypothenuse of a rectangular tri- 

 angle." 



He stared with wide open mouth, and was 

 undoubtedly painfully staggered for a while. 

 Then he slowly said that he hadn't given any 

 thought to that subject but that he would at 

 once "take it under consideration." 



Two of the men were so much overcome 

 with this "solar plexus" blow, that they had to 

 get up, "go-away-off," and have a laugh loud 

 and long, where he could not hear them. 



In spite of this young man's harmless pro- 

 pensity for the use of large words he is very 

 popular among the men of the community. 

 He is kind-hearted and is helpful to every one 

 who seeks his aid and advice, and, moreover, 

 he is an unusually well-informed and interest- 

 ing man. 



Early this morning we saw a great volume 

 of dense smoke on the very top of a mountain 

 covered with timber, and near the foot of the 



