San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-04-07

fixed on q peetilIg cIlHs against which
the whit. ed aud Numbered two miles
away, an. laked mountains that tower.
ed Will sterious in disordered ranks
behind: er seen rugged grandeur such
as the nor have since. And out Of
their 49, )uded Businesses l watched the
Apr ..~a lis come skurrying like ghosts
Of g yer e ooisterous North Pacific, en-
veto 81 mes in their wintry folds.
IS try leakin' like basket, jim :;
yor .,- -op yer oars aud help bail her
out
.,.....- bailer2"
..l der yer seat2"
..a amt none aboard"
,n.' ~satiOn reused me from nv reyerie
", Aer. ID a mile from shore, and about the
s,r.. d..r., &c from the steamer. The wafer
was more han six inches deep in the bottom
ort.e BOA and it was pouring in now at every
iorl H.. dory had stood beside the smoke
stack on &c steamers deck during the whole
VOYAGE, its timbers had shrunk fearfuy.
Pull ith all yer might fer shore |"
The cry startled the oarsmen, and they gave
away wiki a will. But it was too late; the
boat filling rapidly. hung to my rife and
sacDe and began wondering how long a swim
mcr could live in such an icy sea-
Suddenly one burly, low-browed rover, Jim
Murphy dropped his oars.
We've got Jonah aboard" he muttered.
+ viii a superstitous glance toward my end of
tie boat.
Heave him out !" cried another
My heart stopped beating for moment, until
! glanced over my shoulder and saw that all
eyes were fixed, not upon me, but upon China
man who sat behind me.
1t was Mong Eo the foreman Of the Chinese
gang or the China boss" as he was called
He was a broad-faced, well.built fellow, with a
strong chin and intelligent eyes, and was neatly
dressed in American clothes; his queue was
bound around his head He was the mental
superior of nne-tenths of the white men on the
expedition and spoke English quite well. My
chum, Charlie Smith, and had had several
interesting talks with him during the voyage.
He's a hoodoo," muttered Jim. faint no
Use tryn to get nowhere with him aboard"
Make the havthen swim ashore" suggested
Nike Molony, the COOPER with a threatening
movement toward the Chinaman. Mike always
backed anything that Jim said or did.
MOng Ho leaned against the gunwale, mo-
tionless and silent; but there was fire in his
restless almond eyes that meant, TO those who
could read it: " There will be more than one
wet man if | 60 overheard"
Stop your silly nonsense and bail the dory
out with your hatsl'
The angry voice Of my chum drew all eyes
toward him; at the same time he set the ex-
ample with his own hat.
Fortunately Charles idea took with the fish.
ermen. Water dogs though they WERE the
situation had now grown serious enough to
alarm even them, and they forgot their super.
suuous race hatred for time. All hats went
to work with a will, and enough of the water
was baled out TO let us almost reach the shore.
But when we got into the roll Of the breakers
in the shallow water the dory was swamped,
and everybody was drenched
We were lucky to save everything" said I.
after had dragged my waterlogged satche out
upon the beach.
I'D "a been willin' to lose every bit of the
stuff aboard" replied Jim Murphy, g if we could
a drownded that sneakin Chiny."
1t was amid such associates that Charlie
Smith and l arrived at the Alimak salmon can
merry, on the coast of Alaska peninsula, where |
was TO be store-kecper and he book-keeper We
had been schoolmates together, and seventeen
days before had shipped from San Francisco in
quest of experience. Thus far we had had our
somachs full Of experience, and painfully empty
otherwise.
We found the cannery to be long, low
frame shell of building, that looked like
machne.shop inside. A snow.drft lay along its
northern side; the huge accumulation had been
even with the comb of the roof but the last
week in April had come and it was now only
on a level with the caves.
The house in which we were destined to live
for the next six months was as fimsy as the
Cauucry The icy wind from the glaciers in
the mountains above whisted through its crew
ices and yet there was not stove in the build
Ing except in the kitchen. Even soft coal costs
sixteen dollars ton there, and not tree is to
b. seen within four hundred miles OF Almak
Its needless TO say that we did good deal of
&.',ml- before the brief Alaskan summer came
aE-lnr long in June.
Chan bunk was upstairs with the fisher.
men, lime was on the lower floor in the store
In tac.. my boudoir was store, office and bed
room al. canbined, and was only ten feet square
at that 4 bare wooden bunk, dry.goods box
laid on one side for counter, barrel capped
with salmon case by way Of desk-these
were my sole articles Of furniture. The sides
e. i Ia
were piled chaotic stock that included black
= sou westers, blue wooden underwear, plug to-
bacco, sugar, rubber boors soap, molasses, and
6sh-oil
had not been in the place ten minutes before
my first customer appeared
Be you the store-keeper ?"