C Ihe Ladies c cu. V'VVAN - History and Classics, Department of

I60THE LADIES, THE GWICH'IN, AND THE RATnever expected to nnd another Lazarus, but we missed him, and we missed hislaughter, for, once we had learned how to kindle it, at the end of a long day, thatlaughter would often prove a blessing to the whole party.In the middle of that morning, we heard and then saw a gas boat comingtowards us and there was the Moose, puffing up the river to La Pierre House, withone of the Jackson Brothers on board and also Bishop Stringer, the Bishop ofthe Yukon. We all went ashore to exchange greetings and news and have a friendlychat, The only unfortunate thing about this meeting was that Mr Allington hadto forego his trip and return upriver in the Moose, for he had hoped to come backin that steamboat from Fort Yukon, on this very trip, and he could not nowprolong his absence until she made her second summer journey,We could not help noticing that the bishop had not shaved. I do not know thatI have ever, before or since, consorted with an unshaven bishop, but then we metwith many strange things and persons in the Yukon and after a while we began torealise that none of them were really strange, it was we ourselves who were thestrangers.The party had tied up to the shore during the previous night, on account ofthe head wind. We told Mr Jackson about Lazarus and the boots and the bear, andwe longed to have further talk with the bishop who was a most interesting man,but our little morning party on the beach came to an end all too soon. They gaveus, as a parting gift, a bag of potatoes and a tin of tomatoes. In those days thetinning of tomatoes had not yet become a nne art, but even so, they werewonderful, they tasted as if they were fresh from a garden.Then those friendly people steamed upriver in the Moose and we went paddlingdown in our canoe.