ry composition,
well suited to the ankles of a chaingang, so heavy were they; and from
spotless white shirt fronts there shone jewels (?) of enormous size and
cheapness.

Above the din was heard at short intervals on the steamer's deck the
rattle of machinery, dropping huge, freight-laden nets or baskets into
the hold. Upon the wharves hustled blackened stevedores, flushed and
panting, reeking with perspiration and tobacco juice, but straining,
tugging, lifting until one could almost imagine he heard their muscles
snap; resolutely and steadily laboring hour after hour, until at last,
wearied beyond further endurance, they gave way to others who sprang
energetically into their places.

It was little past midsummer. A large ship of the collier class, lately
fitted in the roughest possible manner for carrying passengers to
Alaska, lay alongside the dock in the great town of S. Hundreds of
people waited on shore to catch the latest glimpse of friends about to
leave them, while a round thousand of those eager to "strike it rich" in
the new Klondyke swarmed over the vessel.

Of these, many, no doubt, would never return. It was a sad day, and
brightened only by that hope without which the world would be undone.

Upon their arrival in the quiet little sea of Lynn three days later all
hands were cheered because this indicated the end of their uncomfortable
voyage; and even if new discomforts awaited them, they would, at least,
be those occurring on shore and under broad heavens, in pure, cool air,
where the fetid atmosphere of ship's steerage quarters was unknown.

But alas! When the dense fog lifted, and the sun with diffidence peeped
through its grey and watery veil, the sight that met the eyes of the
expectant argonauts was grand but not reassuring. Mountains rose to
wondrous heights above and on all sides of them, while those directly in
front, and barring them from their desired route and destination in
sheer contrariety loomed heaven-high, as though they would rend the
azure sky with their jagged and snowy peaks. Steep and precipitous rose
the sides of those giant hills directly from the water's edge except
where, at the foot of the Grand Canyon, trending northward, a small
tract of wet and boggy land dejectedly spread itself. Between this and
the anchored vessel upon the decks of which stood the thousand would-be
miners the waters of old Lynn rose and fell with an ocean's pulsing, at
the same time quietly moving in t