"Steamboat! Steamboat!"
Rob McIntyre had been angling for codfish at the top of Valdez dock for
the past half-hour. Now, hearing the hoarse boom of the ocean vessel's
whistle out in the fog-bank which covered the mouth of the harbor, he
pulled in his fishing-line, hurriedly threw together his heap of
flapping fish, and, turning, sent shoreward the cry always welcome to
dwellers in Alaska coast towns.
"Steamboat! Steamboat!" Some one at the freight office on Valdez dock
heard him and repeated the cry. Again and again it was passed from one
to another along the half-mile of high sidewalk which led from the dock
to the town. Soon in every corner of the streets of Valdez there
resounded the call: "Steamboat! Steamboat!"
Now there came to the ears of all the low, hoarse boom of the steamer's
whistle. The great vessel was lying out somewhere in the fog, nosing
her way in carefully, taking care not to touch any of the hidden rocks
which line the Alaskan shores. The residents of the town poured out from
dwelling and shop alike, and soon the streets were full, almost the
entire population hurrying over the long trestle to the dock where the
boat must land. The whistle said to them that there were now at hand
cargoes of goods for the merchants, machinery for the new railroad
building inland, necessities and luxuries for every-day life, and, best
of all, letters, books and papers from the outside world. "Outside" in
an Alaskan coast town means the United States. Across the range of
mountains which fence off the coast from the vast interior "outside"
means the coast itself; just as to any town dweller of the Alaska coast
"inside" means somewhere in the icy interior, vast and unexplored.
Among the first to hasten down the long walk from the main street of the
town were two friends of Rob McIntyre--Jesse Wilcox and John Hardy, the
former ten and the latter twelve years of age, each therefore a little
younger than Rob, who himself was now nearly fourteen. These boys might
be called young Alaskans, for although the town of Valdez itself was not
more than a few years old, their fathers had helped found the town and
were prominent in its business affairs. Mr. Hardy was engaged in railway
contracts on the new railroad, and Mr. Wilcox was chief of engineers on
the same road. Rob's father, Mr. McIntyre, owned the leading store,
where all sorts of articles were sold, from shovels and picks to needles
and pins. The three boys, it need not be said, were great cronies, and
many was the hour of sport they had had here in far-away Alaska.
"Hello, Rob!" called John, as he hurried up; "how many fish did you get?
What boat's that, do you think? Do you suppose my uncle Dick's on
board?"
"Hope so," rejoined Rob, now rolling up his fishing-line, and again
kicking his codfish out of the road of the gathering crowd. "He's
probably got something for us if he is."
"How far is she out?" inquired Jesse. "She blows like the _Yucatan_, but
maybe she's the old _Portland_ coming in."
"If she's the _Portland_ my father might be aboard," said John. "If it's
the _Yucatan_, and Uncle Dick's coming, then we'll get my new rifle,
sure."
"One apiece, then," said Rob. "If each of us had a gun we could all go
hunting together."
"Pack-train just came across the divide yesterday," said Jesse, "and
they had four bear-skins. They got 'em less than thirty miles inland.
The fellow that killed them threw away two skins because they were so
heavy he didn't want to bother to pack 'em. But I don't suppose they'd
let us go bear-hunting yet," said Jesse, hesitatingly.
"The biggest bear in this whole country," began Rob, who was posted on
such matters, "are over toward Kadiak Island. I heard a trader from
Seldovia saying there were a few sea-otters over there, too."
"Wouldn't you like to go over to Kadiak--just once?" said John. "A big
bear-skin or two, and maybe a sea-otter--we could cash in our fur for
enough to buy a mining claim, like enough! My uncle Dick's due to go
over there, too, before long," he ruminated. "You know he's employed on
the government survey, and they're making soundings on that part of the
coast."
Rob drew a long breath. "Well, maybe _sometime_ we could get over
there," he said; and the others nodded, because they had come to look
on him as something of a leader in their out-door expeditions.
"Priddy soon dat fog shall lift," remarked Ole Petersen, an old sailor
who was lounging about the dock. He nodded toward the mouth of the
harbor, where now all could see the heavy veil of mist growing thinner.
Little by little, even as the steady boom of the steamer's whistle came
echoing in, the front of the fog-bank thinned and lifted, showing the
white-capped waves rolling beneath. Suddenly a strong shift of wind
descended from the canyon between two of the many mountain-peaks which
line the bay, and broke the fog into long ribbons of white vapor. The
sun shone through, and its warmth sent the white mist up in twisting
ropes, which faded away in the upper air. At last there came into view
the red-topped smoke-stacks and the gaunt, dark hull of the great ocean
steamer, whose funnels poured forth clouds of black smoke which drifted
toward the farther shore of the bay.
"_Yucatan!_" sang out Rob--and Ole Petersen calmly seconded him with a
nod--"_Yucatan!_"
The gathered population of Valdez--men, women, children, and
dogs--greeted the vessel with a general outcry of welcome.
"In she comes," said Rob; and now, with two more long, hoarse roars from
her giant whistle, the _Yucatan_ slowly forged ahead, and within half an
hour majestically swept up to her moorings at the front of Valdez dock.