ig coal
range in the mess-house, and we women "played second fiddle," so to
speak. However, we all had enough hard work, as a midnight supper for
the second force had to be prepared and regularly served, and at this we
labored alternately.

Strange to relate, the men at the long tables soon began to exhibit a
very great partiality for the dishes prepared by the English girl and
myself, to the end that the foreign fellow's black eyes snapped with
anger, and he swore deeply under his breath.

"He vill eat vat I gif heem. He moose eat it ven he hoongry, else he
starve himsel'. I care not he no like it, he get nothing other!" the
angry man would exclaim, as the untouched plates of the men were scraped
into the waste box. He would then, fearing that we would cook some dish
more palatable to the miners, hide the best food, or forbid us to use
certain ingredients as we wished.

Of the culinary stores provided there never could be a complaint.
Everything that money could buy in the way of fresh meat, potatoes,
onions, canned and dried fruits and vegetables, flour, corn and
oatmeals, were stacked up in the greatest profusion. From canned
oysters, clams and French sardines, to fine cocoa and cream, all was
here found in quantities, after being hauled in a wagon behind powerful
horses over the seven miles of heavy roads from Nome. By the time the
goods reached camp they were almost worth their weight in gold, but one
might have supposed them dirt cheap, for we, as hungry miners and cooks,
were never limited.

Week after week the patient animals and their driver were kept measuring
the distance between the city and the claim, even though the wet tundra
in low places grew sodden and boggy, and the wheels repeatedly sank to
the hubs. At times more horses were attached to haul them out of some
hole, or if these were not at hand, certain heavy cases were dumped off
until the reeking, straining brutes had successfully extricated the
load. Covered with mud and sweat, his high-topped rubber boots each
weighing a number of pounds, and his stomach too empty to allow of
conversation, after a long, hard day's work, the driver of this team
would fling himself upon one of the benches alongside our table and
say:

"Yes, I'm ready to eat anything. Been caved in for two hours."

This young man, as well as the night foreman, was a cousin of Mr. A.,
both farmer boys, honest, kind and true. No oaths fell from their lips,
and no language was u