256 THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE KARLUK 
when the man from Koliuchin Island came in and 
said, “Me want money to bring you here.” 
“Not a cent!” I answered. He was silent for 
some time. Then I decided that I would show him 
that I could be a good sport, so I said I would give 
him five dollars. I showed him the fortv-five dol- 
•/ 
lars that I carried with me and said that if he had 
taken me to East Cape he would have had the four 
ten-dollar bills. He said never a word but took 
the five-dollar bill that I handed over to him and 
without waiting to thank me started back over the 
road. And now we had no sledge. 
That night I made a bargain with another native 
to get us to Mr. Olsen’s place, giving him as pay a 
snow-knife, a small pickaxe and two steel drills. 
We left at early dawn the next morning, travelling 
with all our goods and chattels on the sledge. Our 
dogs were harnessed with his, though they were so 
tired that they could barely keep up. 
About noon we reached Mr. Olsen’s place. Mr. 
Olsen, I found, was a naturalized American citizen, 
thirty-eight years old, a trader known all up and 
down the coast. He was the agent of Mr. Olaf 
Swenson of Seattle, who was later to play so im¬ 
portant a part in the rescue of our men. 
The summer before he had learned of our ex¬ 
pedition from Mr. Swenson and others who had 
been up to Koliuchin Bay with supplies. It was 
