dn't we astonish the tourists? But how we should
hate goat by that time! Still, I don't think there is the slightest
chance of our having that experience, for I understand that the
mountain-goats are among the shyest and most difficult to kill of all
wild animals.

"Which being the case," continued Phil, "it won't do for us to live as
though we had goats to squander. Consequently, we must make an effort to
get out of here before our provision is exhausted. As we have no boat in
which to go to Sitka, and the nearest point at which we can obtain one
is Chilkat; that is the place we have got to reach somehow. So I propose
that Serge and I take a prospecting trip into the mountains to-morrow
and see what chance there is for our crossing them."

As no better plan than this was offered, Phil and Serge started early
the following morning on their tedious climb. Each carried a gun, and
they took Musky and Luvtuk with them in the hope of getting a bear, as
Serge had heard that bears were plentiful in those mountains. Nel-te was
left to take care of the hospital, in which Jalap Coombs, with his many
aches, and Amook, with his cut feet, were the patients.

That afternoon was so warm that the door of the little cabin stood wide
open. Before a fire that smouldered on the broad hearth Jalap Coombs
dozed in a big chair, while Nel-te romped with Amook on the floor. Now
the little chap was tantalizing the dog with the fur-seal's tooth,
which, still attached to its buckskin thong, he had taken from his neck.
He would dangle it close to Amook's nose, and when the dog snapped at
it, snatch it away with a shout of laughter.

While the occupants of the cabin were thus engaged the heads of several
Indians were suddenly but cautiously lifted above the beach ridge. After
making certain that no one was in the vicinity of the house, one of
their number swiftly but noiselessly approached it. Crouching under a
side wall, he slowly raised his head.

This Indian was one of a party of Chilkat hunters who had come to
Glacier Bay in pursuit of hair seals, which in the early spring delight
to float lazily about on the drifting ice-cakes. They had camped at the
mouth of Muir Inlet the night before, and during the day had slowly
hunted their way almost to the foot of the great glacier. While there
they discovered a thin spiral of smoke curling from the cabin chimney.
This so aroused their curiosity that they determined to investigate its
cause. They i