found his way to the land-office first.

"I was sitting in the little smoking-room in the place they called
'Hotel' one morning, while Hal was in our room sewing his gold-dust belt
a bit safer inside of his shirt.

"I had changed so much in appearance--with a boyish growth of beard over
my chin, and my hair as long as a poet's--that a villainous-looking man
who came in and asked for whiskey failed to recognize me; but I knew
him at once as being the man who had escaped from our canoe.

"I managed to get out of the room without being seen, and ran to Hal.

"'What do you think! The murderer is downstairs!'

"'Who?--Sit down and talk sensible,' said Hal.

"'One of the Indians who got away from the canoe,' I cried in a hoarse
whisper.

"Old Hal leaped to his feet. He strapped on his belt and swung his gun
over his arm. After making sure his revolver was all right, he crept
downstairs. I was not going to be cheated out of anything as exciting as
this promised to be, so I cautiously followed him.

"The tavern-keeper and by-standers knew Hal well, and, of course, would
stake their all on his word; so when he entered the bar-room and cried:
'Hands up!' to the Indian, everyone took sides with him, and we soon had
the fellow safely bound.

"'Now, let me see those papers you forged for our claims,' snarled Hal,
fishing through the man's dirty pockets, but finding nothing.

"The man's face showed too much elation for an old guide like Hal to be
fooled, and he ordered the boys standing about to help him strip the
Indian, and there--fastened to his back with strips of plaster--were
found the drawings rudely sketched, somewhat like the set of surveys Hal
had already filed.

"They were ripped off and thrown into the fire and the villain was
chained to a post out in the shed with the dogs, with his arms tied
behind him to prevent his escape, until the Sheriff should come in the
morning.

"Hal told the crowd all about the treachery of the Indians, and they
promised to attend to this man after we were gone.

"A public sledge was about to leave for Dyea in a few days, and Hal
engaged seats for himself and me. He paid the tavern-keeper to keep the
dogs until he returned.

"I had refrained from asking Hal about my future while there was any
doubt of our getting to the Coast, but this seemed to be the best time
to speak of it.

"'What you going to do with me?' I asked.

"'We'll skip right down to Juneau, and see if there