258 
IN FORBIDDEN SEAS 
down over the high bluff on to the beach, and down 
by the sand-dunes. Three hours or so later, as he 
again appeared on the beach and hailed the schooner, 
I sent a boat and brought him off. He was a hunter, 
m American, belonging to a schooner lying in a 
small bay some three miles farther up the straits, 
and had come across the high land to reach a 
swamp on the southern side of our bay, in the hope 
of shooting some wild-duck there. After dispensing 
the usual hospitality and exchanging hunting news, 
he prepared to leave, asking me to put him ashore 
on the north side of the bay, as it would save him 
some distance. When about to get into the boat, 
he remarked : “ I’ve lost my dog ; and if you should 
see him on the beach, I wish you would take him 
aboard, and when we meet in the Bering Sea I can 
get him again.” I asked him how and where he 
had lost him. He said: “ Well, it was mighty 
curious. You see, when I got down about them 
sand-dunes there ”—pointing towards the spot where 
my dog had got her fright—“ the darned dog, who 
was trotting quietly alongside me, suddenly seed 
somethin’ that scared the critter so much that he 
started off hell-bent-for-election, and run up that 
canyon there as if forty thousand devils were after 
him. I whistled, and ran after him, and followed 
him up; but he kept goin’, and is goin’ yet, I guess, 
judging from the way he was leggin’ it, and I ain’t 
seen him since.” I then told him what had hap¬ 
pened to my own dog, but he could suggest no 
probable solution of the mystery. We remained 
until the next morning, but saw no sign of his dog. 
The cause of this intense fear still remains a 
mystery. I have told this story to several people. 
