121
XI. At the Mercy of the Pest. 136
XII. Alaska's First Airship. 150
XIII. Down the River to Nome. 158
XIV. On the Seward Peninsula. 168
XV. The Mammoth's Tusks. 179
XVI. Homeward Bound. 189

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BOY SCOUTS ON
THE YUKON

CHAPTER I.

THE "INSIDE PASSAGE."

"Ar-r-rouse ye--r-r-rouse ye, me merry, merry men," boomed the voice of
Gerald Moore, with a slightly Celtic roll of the "r's," as he drummed
impatiently on the shutter of the cabin window, while his companion, Jack
Blake, performed a similar tattoo on the adjoining window. "Faith, and it
was daylight hours ago, and ye don't know what ye're missing."

The shutter slid back, and the pleasant, if rather drowsy face of Randolph
Peyton peered forth, and behind his shoulder that of Donald Graeme.

"Daylight, did ye say?" remarked the latter. "It's my opinion it's been
daylight all night, for it surely wasn't dark when we retired, and we've
only been in bed a few minutes."

The scene was the outside cabin deck of the well-appointed steamer "Queen"
of the Alaska Steamship Company, which was plowing her way through the
quiet waters of the "Inside Passage," on her way to the land of the Yukon
and the Klondike.

The hour was only four in the morning, but the sun was high, and the day
in those high latitudes was well begun.

"No regrets, Don, you sleepyhead," said Gerald. "You've already had seven
hours' sleep, and on this trip one ought not to go to bed at all."

By this time, Jack had succeeded in arousing his brother, Pepper Blake,
and the latter's bunk mate, Dick Wilson, who gazed out a little
resentfully, as they threw back the sash, but whose faces quickly
brightened at the scene that met their eyes.

"Yes," said Jack, "there's mighty little darkness up here at this time of
year, and I suppose Don thinks it's an awful waste of good daylight
turning it on while we sleep."

"Ye'll see more than this 'wasted' when ye get further north, and I
suppose Don will sit up all night to save it," replied Gerald.

This reference to be cautious and prudent, not to say economical, nature
of the canny Scot, raised a laugh, and the four who had been routed out of
their bunks, through the energy of Jack, who, brought up in a newspaper
office and atmosphere, hated to let anything unusual get away f