s at Victoria or Port Townsend, and our
mouths fairly watered for news.

We took a little run into the sea and got lost in a fog; but the pilot
whistled for the landmarks, and Echo answered; so that by the time the
fog was ready to roll away, like a snowy drop-curtain, we knew just
where we were, and ran quietly into a nook that looked as if it would
fit us like a bootjack. The atmosphere grew smoky; forest fires painted
the sky with burnt umber, and through this veil the sun shone like a
copper shield. Then a gorgeous moonlight followed. There was blood upon
that moon, and all the shores were like veins in moss-agate and the sea
like oil. We wound in and out, in and out, among dreamy islands; touched
for a little while at Nanaimo, where we should have taken in a cargo of
coal for Portland, whither the _Ancon_ was bound; but Captain Carroll
kindly put us all ashore first and then returned for his freight.

We hated to sleep that night, and did not sleep very much. But when we
awakened it was uncommonly quiet; and upon going on deck--lo! we were at
Victoria. What a quiet, pretty spot! What a restful and temperate
climate! What jutting shores, soft hills, fine drives, old-countrified
houses and porters' lodges and cottages, with homely flowers in the
door-yards and homely people in the doors!--homely I mean in the
handsomest sense, for I can not imagine the artificial long survives in
that community.

How dear to us seemed civilization after our wanderings in the
wilderness! We bought newspapers and devoured them; ran in and out of
shops just for the fun of it and because our liberty was so dear to us
then. News? We were fairly staggered with the abundance of it, and
exchanged it with one another in the most fraternal fashion, sharing our
joys and sorrows with the whole ship's company. And deaths? What a lot
of these, and how startling when they come so unexpectedly and in such
numbers! Why is it, I wonder, that so many people die when we are away
somewhere beyond reach of communication?

But enough of this. A few jolly hours on shore, a few drives in the
suburbs and strolls in the town, and we headed for Port Townsend and the
United States, where we parted company with the good old ship that
carried us safely to and fro. And there we ended the Alaskan voyage
gladly enough, but not without regret; for, though uneventful, I can
truly say it was one of the pleasantest voyages of my life; and one
that--thanks to every on