1 66 BIG GAME SHOOTING IN ALASKA chap. 



approached the harbour of Unga. Captain Redfern said, 

 " The last time we came in here I had a bit of a scrap with 

 one of the passengers aboard, who thought he was boss of the 

 ship, but he soon found he was not." As he spoke I looked 

 below, attracted by hearing some one kindly offer to knock 

 some other person's head right off The trouble seemed to 

 be between a burly fisherman and the first mate. The latter 

 being only a small light-weight, and surrounded by about a 

 dozen fishermen, the captain said we had better go and see fair 

 play, as there was certain to be trouble. I cannot say if he 

 was very long in persuading me, but we finally rushed down 

 the gangway, throwing off our coats as we went. The mate 

 and fisherman had started at it hammer and tongs before we 

 got there, and telling me to look after the interests of the 

 fisherman, whilst he attended to his mate, the captain and I 

 started clearing a ring for them as best we could. It was 

 not long before various members of the crew came rushing 

 on deck from below. The decks were as slippery as glass 

 owing to a thick fine rain which was falling, and as neither of 

 the combatants showed much science, they went tumbling all 

 over the place. Once as the fisherman went down a small 

 steward, who was a bosom friend of the mate's, took the 

 opportunity of rushing in and kicking the prostrate man in the 

 ribs. It was clearly my duty as a second to stop this, and 

 promptly tripping up the offender, I dragged him back into 

 his proper place amongst the spectators. At the same 

 moment a huge fisherman about 6 feet 2 inches tall rushed 

 to the assistance of his comrade. Before the captain could 

 interfere, this man was met by one of the ship's stokers, who 

 had a face like a bull -dog, and a fist like a leg of mutton. 

 Turning quickly, he landed the big man fairly on the jaw, 

 sending him over like a skittle to a distance of about five or 



