ll. We are all in bad shape. Getting a little weak.

"The trader's goods have been damaged by water. This wet
snow fell more than a foot deep over everything, and the
roof has leaked. Well, we can't stay here long, and we'll
have to travel day and night the best we can. Any accident
now would be very bad for everybody.

"John and Jesse paddle all they can. We all get very cold,
as it seems almost like winter. Stopped to get warm and eat.
Uncle Dick says plenty of tea won't hurt us if we work. We
take turns fair as we know how, the ones paddling who can
stay awake.

"Well, we are nearer to being safe. By traveling all the
time, fifteen and a half hours from Old Crow, we made
Rampart House--not bad time if the distance is correct.
Weather cold. Snow threatening again.

"_Sunday, August 3d._--At Rampart House. One week from the
summit. Two weeks from the mouth of the Rat. Rampart House
looks mighty good to us all. Here there is a Hudson's Bay
post with some goods in stock and a young Englishman running
it. Natives almost starving. No fish yet. The men are just
starting out for caribou, which are now reported thirty
miles north of here. Not much goods left in the
trading-post. Our reception here very chilly. No one seems
to care whether we live or not, and sometimes we have been
so tired we hardly did ourselves.

"The trader tells us it is 240 miles from here to the Yukon,
and it seems a long way. At least we can get warm and dry
here.

"Next day. We slept eighteen hours out of twenty-four.
Weather warming up. Hunters not back, but one Indian caught
a king salmon in a net, so the village is more cheerful.
Everybody shared the salmon, which was a large one, fifty
pounds. These people are Loucheux. Sometimes squaw-men live
in here at Rampart House. More dogs here than I ever saw.
One ate my moccasins last night--the ones that I had extra
soles on. I wish he hadn't done it, because I needed them.

"This is an important post in the North. It is old and well
known, and it has special interest because it is directly on
the International Boundary-line. There is a monument here
which the American surveyors put up not long ago. They were
in here quite a while, but their work of marking out the
International Boundary betw