As the deck-hands cast ashore the light lines attached to the
cable-loops, our young friends were among the first to lay hold and aid
in dragging ashore the heavy cables which made fast the steamer to the
dock-posts. Then they ran back amidships where the gang-plank was put
out. The jingling of the ship's bells and general outcry from those on
the dock or crowding along the rail of the vessel made everything a
scene of confusion. Greetings were passed from ship to shore and back
again. Friends now would meet, cargo would be discharged; touch with the
outer world once more would be had.
"But I don't see Uncle Dick anywhere," said John, ruefully, as he
examined the throng of figures packed along the rail waiting for the
gangway to be made fast.
"Maybe he didn't come," suggested Jesse.
"There he is!" shouted John; "he's waving to us, over there 'midships."
"He's got something under his arm," said Rob, judicially.
A tall, brown-faced man with a wide, white hat and loose gray clothing
edged his way toward the head of the gangway. Catching sight of the
boys, he called out a hearty greeting.
"Have you got it, Uncle Dick?" asked John, excitedly, as at last the
latter reached the dock.
Uncle Dick's answer was to pass to his nephew a certain long package,
which proved to be a fine rifle in a leather case. For the moment all
three boys were so much engaged in examining this that they paid little
attention to what was going on--hurry and confusion, shouting and
laughing and excited talk, mingled with the creak of the hoists and the
rattle of the donkey-engine as the ship's men now began the work of
discharging the cargo of the _Yucatan_. It must be remembered that in
Alaska few things are manufactured, and everything must be shipped in,
fifteen hundred miles or more, from San Francisco, Seattle, and other
points.
"Well, young gentlemen," said Uncle Dick, at last, "you seem gladder to
see that gun than you are to see me."
"No, we're not, sir," rejoined Rob; "but we're pleased enough, even so,
because now each of us has a rifle."
"And no place to use one," answered Uncle Dick.
"Well, we may be able to go inside, hunting, before long," said Jesse,
stoutly. "My father doesn't care if I go with him."
"How would you like to go over to Kadiak with me?" asked Uncle Dick,
directly, looking at them keenly from his gray eyes.
"You don't mean it!" exclaimed Rob. The three gathered round him.
"Are you going over there right away?" asked Jesse, staring up at him.
Uncle Dick nodded. "Same boat," he answered. "I'm going on with the
_Yucatan_ to Seward, and will take the _Nora_ from there to Kadiak.
Chance of your life to spend the summer, if your mothers will say the
word. And not to hurry you any, you've got just about an hour and a
quarter to get ready--that is to say, to get consent and get ready
both."
The three boys hardly stopped to hear the last of his words. They were
off, running at top speed across the long sidewalk toward the town.
Uncle Dick followed them at his leisure, talking and telling the news
to his acquaintances, of whom he had many in the town. He explained to
these that the government work in soundings would be done by the revenue
cutter _Bennington_, along the shores of Kadiak Island, for the next
four months. Now, although to those unfamiliar with Alaska, Valdez may
seem as far away as Kadiak, the latter really is some hundreds of miles
farther to the northwest, and near the base of that long peninsula which
tapers to a point in the Aleutian Islands. A dweller in a coast town in
Alaska knows what goes on immediately about him. There were few in
Valdez who knew more of Kadiak than they did of Kamchatka.
"G'long there, ye young rascals!" called out a hearty voice at the
fleeing boys. Captain John Ryan waved a cap toward them as he came down
the gang-plank. But the boys, usually ready enough to visit with him on
his stops at Valdez, were now too much excited to more than wave their
hands as they disappeared.
"So ye're plannin' to take the rascals along with us, west, are ye?"
asked Captain John Ryan of Uncle Dick. "A summer out there would be the
makin' of the youngsters."
Uncle Dick's eyes wrinkled in a smile as he and the sturdy sea-captain
started on down and walked to the town. At the farther end they were
met by the three boys and by three nice-looking ladies, each
prosperous-looking and well dressed, and each bearing a very anxious
expression of countenance.
"I tell you it's absolutely absurd, Richard," began one of these, as
they approached--"your putting such notions into the heads of these
boys."
"It's all utterly impossible, of course," said Rob's mother, in turn,
her mouth closing tightly as she looked around at her son.
Mrs. Wilcox said less, but kept her hand on Jesse's shoulder. "What
would you do at night with no one to see you safe in bed, my son?" said
she, at length.
"Oh, mother!" began Jesse, shamefacedly.
"I'll take care of the boys," said Uncle Dick, at length. "I won't
mollycoddle them, and they will have to shift for themselves, but I'll
see that they get through all right. Think it over, good people. It will
be the making of the kids."
"Oh, well now, Richard," began Mrs. Hardy, once more, "how do we know
when you are coming back?"
"You don't know. I don't know myself."
"But these boys have to go to school."
"Oh, I'll get them back in time for the fall term. Boats are coming down
from Kadiak every month or so."
"But they say the storms out that way are perfectly frightful," began
Mrs. McIntyre.
"We'll not be in any storms. The cutter _Bennington_ anchors in the
harbors, and, besides, the boys will be ashore in town at Kadiak. You
don't suppose that Uncle Sam will let me have them around underfoot all
the time, do you? I'll have something else to do."
"But what could the boys do, then?" inquired Mrs. McIntyre.
"Nothing much. Hunt seals and otters and whales and bears, and a few
little things like that--catch more codfish and salmon than they ever
thought of around here--go boat-riding with the Aleuts--"
"In those tippy bidarkas?"
"Tippy bidarkas," nodded Uncle Dick; "and go egg-hunting on the gull
rocks, and all sorts of things. Why, they'd have the time of their
lives, that's all."
"But not one of the boys has a father at home now to advise in the
matter," hesitated Jesse's mother. "They are all inside, and won't be
back for a week."
"They'll all be back just a week too late," answered Uncle Dick. "In
about three-quarters of an hour from now, as Captain Ryan here will
advise you, we start; and these boys, I think, will be on board the
_Yucatan_ headed for Kadiak. You want to remember that this is Alaska,
and that these are Alaskan boys. They've got to grow up knowing how to
take care of themselves in this country. They're not sissies, with red
morocco shoes and long yellow curls--they're the stuff we've got to make
men out of up here. How'd Alaska ever have been found, in the first
place, if there hadn't been real men raised from real boys?"
"Oh, well!" began Mrs. McIntyre; and each of the other ladies echoed,
"Oh, _well_!"
"Oh, _well_!" echoed Uncle Dick. "I'll tell you what: you had better
hurry back home and get their blankets rolled, and an extra pair of
shirts and some spare socks thrown together. And, boys, the best thing
you can do is to go down to the store and get some ammunition. We can
get all the grub we want from the ship's stores out at Kadiak. Now,
excuse me, ladies, but don't take my time arguing this matter, because
I've got several things to do; and the boat's going to start inside of
an hour, and we're going to start with her!"
Sure enough, when at last the heavy boom of the _Yucatan's_ warning
whistle caused the window glass along the main street to tremble, a
little party once more wended its way down the sidewalk toward the
wharf. Uncle Dick led the way, earnestly talking with three very grave
and anxious mothers. Behind him, perfectly happy, and shouting excitedly
to one another, came Rob, Jesse, and John. Each carried a rifle in its
case, and each looked excitedly now and then at the wagon which was
carrying their bundles of luggage to the wharf.
"All aboard!" called the mate at the head of the gang-plank, laying hold
of the side lines and waiting to pull it in. Again came the heavy
whistle of the ocean steamer. The little group now broke apart; and in a
moment the boys, somewhat sobered now, were waving their farewells to
the mothers, who stood, anxious and tearful, on the dock.
"Cast off, there!" came the hoarse order from the captain's bridge.
"Ay, ay, sir!" rejoined the mate, repeating the command to the dock
hands. Slowly the great propeller began to churn the green water astern
into white. The bow of the great vessel slowly swung, and majestically
she headed on her way out to the mouth of the bay. Clouds of white
gulls followed her, dipping and soaring. Once more her whistle saluted
the town from which she departed, its note echoing deeply from the steep
fronts of the adjacent mountains. The wheelsman laid the course straight
for the mouth of the gap between the outer mountains which marked the
mouth of the bay. In less than an hour the bold headlands were passed.
Beyond rolled the white-topped swells of the sea, across which lay none
might tell how much of adventure.
"Now," said Rob, turning to his friends, "maybe we'll see something of
the world."