these few days together, and walked the
decks till late each night, for he had much to tell me. He had at last
written his story of Stickeen; and was working on books treating of the
Big Trees, the National Parks and the glaciers of Alaska.

At Wrangell, as we went ashore, we were greeted by joyful exclamations
from the little company of old Stickeen Indians we found on the dock.
That sharp intaking of the breath which is the Thlinget's note of
surprise and delight, and the words _Nuknate Ankow ka Glate Ankow_
(Priest Chief and Ice Chief) passed along the line. Death had made many
gaps in the old circle of friends, both white and native, but the
welcome from those who remained warmed our hearts.

From Wrangell northward the steamboat followed the route of our canoe
voyage of 1880 through Wrangell Narrows into Prince Frederick Sound,
past Norris Glacier and Holkham Bay into Stevens Passage, past Taku Bay
to Juneau and on to Lynn Canal--then on the track of our voyage of 1879
up to Haines and beyond fifteen miles to that new, chaotic camp in the
woods called Skagway.

The two or three days which it took _The Queen_ to discharge her load of
passengers and cargo of their outfits were spent by Muir and his
scientific companions in roaming the forests and mountains about Skagway
and examining the flora of that region. They kept mostly off the trail
of the struggling, straggling army of _Cheechakoes_ (newcomers) who
were blunderingly trying to get their goods and themselves across the
rugged, jagged mountains on their way to the promised land of gold; but
Muir found time to spend some hours with me in my camp under a hemlock,
where he ate again of my cooking over a camp-fire.

"You are going on a strange journey this time, my friend," he admonished
me. "I don't envy you. You'll have a hard time keeping your heart light
and simple in the midst of this crowd of madmen. Instead of the music of
the wind among the spruce-tops and the tinkling of the waterfalls, your
ears will be filled with the oaths and groans of these poor, deluded,
self-burdened men. Keep close to Nature's heart, yourself; and break
clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the
woods. Wash your spirit clean from the earth-stains of this sordid,
gold-seeking crowd in God's pure air. It will help you in your efforts
to bring to these men something better than gold. Don't lose your
freedom and your love of the Earth as God made it."