114 THE RED MOUNTAIN OF ALASKA. 
Flossie, on the other hand, was full of life and spirits. 
She had just passed her sixteenth birthday, and presented 
a fair picture of healthful girlhood. Her soft hair blew 
out in golden wisps above a pair of honest, sparkling, 
blue eyes, and fell over her shoulders in a thick, shining, 
brown braid. Her nose was just turned up enough to be 
a bit saucy, and her lips and dimpled cheeks were as win- 
some helpmates to the before-mentioned features as one 
could wish to see. 
" Don't feel blue, mamma," said the girl, nestling to 
her mother's side, and throwing an arm around her in 
that pretty, half-protecting way that growing daughters 
have. " We'll soon be there, and see them all. I wonder 
if Hugh has grown ! And little Nat — I expect he's a 
great, tall boy, brown as an Indian." 
" I shall be glad when we see your Uncle Richard, 
Flossie," returned the older lady. 
" There ! — you're tired of taking care of me ! " laughed 
Florence. " You'll be glad to send me off with the boys, 
so you can ^ talk sensible ' with father and uncle ! " 
" I don't care much about the minerals and the great 
fortune he wrote of," continued Mrs. Dutton, hardly 
noticing the girl's interruption. " The main thing is to 
get them all back alive and well. We've money enough 
to make us comfortable already." 
Here the attention of both was attracted to a school of 
dolphins, who curved in and out of the waves close 
beside the vessel, flashing brilliantly in the sunlight. 
