ir homes. As the steamer backed out the boys gathered at the
bow and gave him the Scouts' salute and a hearty cheer.

The journey down the lower Yukon, while unimpressive as to scenery, was
pleasant in many respects, as the boys made many acquaintances who were
thoroughly acquainted with the river, along which were many old missions
and Indian villages. At several of these stops were made, and the boys
found many curiosities along the shores. At one place they visited a
museum that contained three of the gigantic ivory tusks of the mammoth of
which they had read a good deal since finding the narwhal's horn.

"Gee," said Gerald, "they must weigh nearly a hundred pounds apiece. If we
ever find that cave with anything in it, it ought to be worth a good
deal."

"Do you suppose that the chief will show up at Seward?" asked Dick.

"Oh, yes; I think so," said Rand. "I think he was very grateful for the
way we treated him, and I understand these Indians are much like ours at
home, and usually remember a favor."

"I don't care so much for the ivory as for the good story we will get out
of it, if the whole thing turns out as we hope."

"There's you newspaper men again," said Don, "always after a good story,
but why not take the ivory too if we find it?"

"Well," put in Pepper, "we'll soon know, for Colonel Snow said last night
that we should remain in St. Michael's only until the Seattle steamer
comes up to take us over to Nome, and he proposes to sail South with her,
when she returns. Then we shall land at Seward, and meet the chief if he
is there, and find out whether he has discovered the location of the
cave."

The travelers were surprised to find the mouth of the Yukon spread out
over an enormous expanse of country before it finally empties into Behring
Sea. The river, about ninety miles from the sea, begins to split up into
separate streams, and is said to have nine or ten mouths.

Behring's Sea is very shallow, and the waters are most of the time very
rough, especially for the flat-bottomed boats that ply upon the Yukon. St.
Michael's lies about seventy miles up the coast from the mouth of the
river which is used by the steamers, and the passage is uncomfortable, not
to say, at times, dangerous.

The ground swell of the shallow sea tested the seamanship of the young
Scouts to the utmost and one or two of them retired to their stateroom,
but as a large proportion of the passengers were affected in the same way
th