ill
light enough to read by.

At ten o'clock it was lighter, and upon the placid waters of Snake
River, only fifteen feet away, lay quiet shadows cast from the opposite
side, clearly and beautifully reflected. A few small steamers lay
further down stream near the river's mouth, row boats were tied along
the edge of the water, and on the Sandspit below us was a camp of
Eskimos, their tiny canoes and larger skin boats being hauled upon shore
beside them for safety. At midnight the sun was almost shining, the air
was salt, fresh and clear, while the sky seemed to hang low and lovingly
above our heads.

After eating a midnight lunch of our own getting of bread and butter
with hot tea, we deposited ourselves, still dressed, upon the tops of
madam's big packing cases, from which had been taken pillows and
blankets, and slept soundly till morning, notwithstanding the fact that
the hammers of hundreds of carpenters were busy around us all night.

Next morning all felt fresh and invigorated. The sun shone brightly. In
the roadstead two miles away lay several newly arrived steamers, their
deep-toned whistles frequently sounding over the intervening waters. It
was a beautiful sight and welcome sound. How easily the long and
graceful breakers rolled and broke upon the sands. With what music the
foam-tipped wavelets spread their edges, like the lace-trimmed ruffles
on some lady's gown, upon the smooth and glistening beach. How the white
tents everywhere looked like doves of peace just alighted, and the
little boats danced up and down on the river. I was glad to be there. I
enjoyed it. Nothing, not even the hard work, the storms, nor the bitter
Arctic winter which came afterwards ever effaced from my memory the
beautiful pictures of river, sea and sky repeatedly displayed during
those first novel and busy days at Nome.

CHAPTER X.

THE FOUR SISTERS.

It was during the first excitement of the gold discoveries in the
Klondyke that four sisters left their home in Chicago and started for
Dawson. They were young, hopeful, ambitious and handsome. They owned a
town lot in the city, but they had not the means with which to erect a
building upon it, and the money would never be forthcoming if they
remained where they were. The ordinary salary of a working woman in
office or store was not sufficient to allow them more than a trifle
above necessary living expenses, and they could see themselves old,
wrinkled and grey before they