gained their self-possession, and promised an early decision. So it
came about that after discussing the matter with their parents they had
another talk with the Colonel when final arrangements were made. The boys,
who had already banked three dividends from the Uncas mine, now a well
paying property, were to outfit themselves, Colonel Snow paying all other
expenses to, in and from Alaska, and allowing them fair wages while
actually engaged on the sawmill work. Their outfits were selected by
Colonel Snow, who had to veto many highly colored and fanciful suggestions
of snowshoes, tents, sleeping bags and heavy furs.

"I have an idea," said the Colonel, "that there will be many days when you
boys will be satisfied with a thin suit of khaki and even yearn for linen.
Even if we should reach the Arctic Circle in winter, you will remember
that our latest Arctic and Antarctic explorers have about discarded furs
for thick woolens. Above all things, don't forget the mosquito nettings."

The night before the Scouts were to leave Creston they were holding a
final meeting at the club-rooms, when Pepper burst forth excitedly:

"N-n-now we c-c-an s-solve it."

"What, your appetite?" asked Jack.

"N-n-no, the ivory mystery."

"What's that; your head?" put in Rand.

"N-n-no," yelped Pepper, whose face now rivaled his locks in color and
whose fists were doubled up. "I mean that ivory--that narwhal's horn.
We're going to Alaska and we can find that cave."

"Faith, that's so. We might get all that ivory," put in Gerald, with
interest.

"I think I heard somewhere, but I'll not be sure about it," suggested the
cautious Don, "that there's more than five hundred and ninety thousand
square miles in Alaska, and I ha'e me doots that we find it the verra
first day."

Despite these gibes, their interest was aroused and the cave, whose mouth
was shaped like the ace of clubs, figured not a little in the imaginations
of the boys, when, followed by the good wishes of relatives, neighbors and
friends, they entrained the next morning like true soldiers in their
patrol uniforms, and from the rear platform of the train, sounded the
Scout salute to their native town upon their bugles.

Four days later they joined Colonel Snow, who had preceded them, in
Seattle, and, after two days of sightseeing in the Washington metropolis,
boarded the "Queen," and at ten o'clock at night, steamed out upon Puget's
Sound, for their long trip of nearly a thousan