108 A YEAR WITH A WHALER^ 



The captain went through his stock of Eskimo 

 boots, made of walrus hide and very elastic, but 

 they were too small. When we entered the re- 

 gion of snow, Louis was still running about the 

 deck barefooted. As a last resort he sewed him- 

 self a pair of canvas shoes — regular meal sacks 

 — and wore them through snow and blizzard and 

 during the cold season when we were in the grip 

 of the Behring Sea ice pack. Up around Beh- 

 ring straits the captain hired an Eskimo to make 

 a pair of walrus hide boots big enough for Louis 

 to wear, and Louis wore them until we got back 

 to San Francisco and went ashore in them. I 

 met him wandering along Pacific Street in his 

 walrus hides. However, he soon found a pair of 

 brogans which he could wear >vith more or less 

 comfort. 



One night while I was knocking about the 

 Barbary Coast with my shipmates yve heard 

 dance music and the sound of revelry coming 

 from behind the swinging doors of the Bow Bells 

 saloon, a free-and-easy resort. We stepped in- 

 side. Waltzing around the room with the grace 

 of a young bowhead out of water was " Big- 



