AND SO— HOME 249 



for Unimak Pass. We ran down Behring Sea 

 with a g^le of wind sweeping us before it and 

 great billows bearing us along. When we bore 

 up for the dangerous passage which had given 

 us such a scare in the spring, we were headed 

 straight for it, and we went through into the Pa- 

 cific without pulling a rope. It was another re- 

 markable example of the navigating skill of 

 whaling captains. We had aimed at Unimak 

 Pass when 700 miles away and had scored a 

 bull's-eye. 



Again the " roaring forties " lived up to their 

 name and buffeted us with gale and storm. The 

 first land we sighted after leaving the Fox 

 Islands was the wooded hills of northern Cali- 

 fornia. I shall never forget how beautiful those 

 hills appeared and what a welcome they seemed 

 to hold out. They were my own country again 

 the United States — ^home. My eyes grew misf^ 

 as I gazed at them and I felt much as a small 

 boy might feel who, after long absence, sees his 

 mother's arms open to him. The tug that picked 

 us up outside of Golden Gate at sundown one 

 day seemed like a long lost friend. It was long 



