that looked so good as them deer.
There we was, a dirty, unsightly mob so near to death that we had lost
about all resemblance to humanity, and not a single human feelin' left for
each other. It was every man for himself and mighty little that he could
do, then.

"That feller Jarvis was the man for the job. That relief expedition was
received very much as I hear explorers are met by the savagest tribes of
Africa, and if it hadn't been for the nerve of those three officers at the
head of it, they would have lost their lives and the provision they had
brought would not have lasted three weeks. But those fellows took command
at once; headed off a mutiny, distributed the provisions daily and for
months ran that gang, made up of the off-scourings of the seas, by reg'lar
army discipline.

"For the months before the ice broke up, and vessels could come after us,
he governed with a mighty stiff hand, and every man who was fed by
government relief, and thay wan't nothin' else, was compelled to live up
to regulations of cleanliness and daily exercise, which is the only thing
that will save a man's health in that deadly Arctic climate where the bill
o' fare is only about one line long, and a healthy body is the only thing
that will save a man's mind from that deadly depression that ends in
insanity. When the ships come finally, that mob of whaler men was cleaner
and healthier than they ever were in their lives before and they had a
mighty lot of love and respect for Jarvis and the officers with him.

"It was about the biggest sacrifice a man ever made, that voluntary trip
of Jarvis, and I believe that Congress, after thinkin' a long time about
it finally acknowledged it by votin' him some kind of a medal. As for me I
hain't been able to look a poor little reindeer in the face since."

With his vessel a splintered derelict in the ice of the Arctic sea,
Swiftwater had taken to mining and had covered a good part of Alaska in
his wanderings.

Col. Snow had noticed with considerable interest the growing intimacy
between his young charges and the miner and had taken occasion himself to
have several talks with the ancient "sourdough" as Swiftwater insisted on
calling himself. The Colonel had found among the army officers returning
to their posts in the North several old friends of his army days and had
taken the opportunity to make some inquiries as to the miner with
evidently satisfactory results. These army officers Col. Snow took