Wilderness, A Journal of Quiet Adventure in Alaska

, Octob

izzle fell. Then we went to work as artists, Rockwell with his water colors and I with my oils. R

as been a part of this day's work. Hops, potatoes, flour, sugar, raisins, and yeas

and Cor

our hours). It should boil almost dry. Make of the remainder of the water and some milk two cups of cream sauce dissolvin

the condition only that "Fox Island Corn Souffle

chair for myself. It is as c

orld. So little do we feel ourselves related, here in this place, to any one time or to any civilization that at a thought we and our world become whom and what we p

y, Octob

nderful animals. We bathed and I washed the accumulated clothes of several weeks. And to-night Olson came for a long call. He's a

, Octobe

ves an almost unattainable task-and then surpassing it. And I cleared the thicket for a better view of the mountain to the south; and in the

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the recent rains had almost filled. Already we fear the frost. The mountains have been

dustrious, and happy. He i

Octobe

, and afterwards we brought down two mighty trees. (The trees of this part of Alaska are not to be compared with the giants of the Western States. Two

d the steep slopes baffled us at times but we found a way at last to reach the peak of the spur above us. There it was like a pavilion, a round knoll carpeted with moss, a ring of slender, clean-trunked trees; and beyond that nothing near

two more sketches-one a good one. The evening at sundown was more bri

, Octobe

sketch in comfort. I sit on the board with my palette-a box end-secured before me and my picture above it. Rockwell took his punishment so to heart that in the afternoon he read ten pages in his book. All of to-day h

October

hing to write, but that it rained. "Rain like Hell"

oat not strongly managed would be whipped round and round. Olson has been much in to see us, lonely old man! I drop my drawing while he is here and take to stretching canvass, all the while yarning wi

I

er. Rockwell falls down onto the floor in the midst of the race in a fit of laughter. Rockwell's happiness is not complete until I spank him. I grab the struggling creature and throw him down, trying to hold b

gs; and my ideas come crowding along fast. Cooking, somehow, is the least troublesome of all the daily chores. We live, as

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barley, carrots,

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have had not the least little sickness

October

Everyone is in a good humor. The house is wa

inished Anson's "Voyage Around the World" a thrilling book. Late this afternoon it began to clear; the sun shone and w

DER

y, Octob

s-that in bad weather they eat and in fair they abstain. It poured in the morning and we worked indoors. After dinner we all moved a lumber pile that stood on the shore abreast of our cabin to a place nearer Olson's-this only to better our view

height. The farther ranges have for weeks been white. They're beautiful and invite one to go climbing and sliding over their smooth white snowfields.

stars are out, brilli

, Octobe

yard to the beach and burning another huge one. That was a wild sight as night came. It had become a great fire of logs burning steadily and lighting up all the woods around. It is still burning in th

e eying it wisely, then suddenly rushed in only far enough to secure a piece of decoy bait-and fled. Painted to-day ma

OCKWELL'

October

ain coming up as we were about to start in the morning, we waited till afternoon, started, proceeded half a mile, encountered engine trouble, and fi

set on a specially constructed shelf on our front gable. He's a garrulous creature and bites angrily; but he's a youngster and w

ight-but we can never be sure of the weather's constancy

, Octobe

e very first good chance. This morning Olson cleared the limbs from the trees about us to ten or twelve feet from the ground. Only the tall, clean trunks are now between us and our mountains across t

th his many children and me, if I was not dead, and stay. It is hard to write, it is hard to work, wi

ctober th

y living thing must emerge from its house or its hole or its nest to breathe the clean air and exult in it; when men could stand on the hilltops and look far over the green sea and the distant land and delight in the infinite detail of the view, discerning distant ships at sea and remote blue islands, and, over the land, sparkling cities and such enchanting forests and pastures that the spirit

ked, the rest of us, like mad. At five-thirty Olson, resting at last, said: "Well, you've done a great day's work."

testing his motor. The wind must moderate in time. We see it pass our co

to their holes, and to-day finding the porcupine himself. He always returns with some marvelous discovery or new enthusiasm over his explorations. He has bee

NR

October f

time Rockwell rowing like a seasoned oarsman, as indeed he has now a right to be called. We stopped at the camp where we had in August left

ikowsky, till it seemed like old times at home. Then Rockwell with his eyes shut in sleep, consumed a piece of apricot pie and a glass of milk, and we came home bringing along two glasses of wild currant preserve. I read my letters over and then went to

. I have bought a few odd suppli

g man whom we've found congenial and who above all is a friend of a young German mechanic for whom I've a liking. So the four of us sang the evening through, seated before a great open fire. The house is of logs and stands out of the town on the border of the wilderness. There a

October se

ur evening with the German. We have planned with him to signal back and forth from Seward, particularly to send me the news of peace. If I can distinguish, with glasses a high-powered electri

Seward and lighted a bonfire there. Boehm, the German, was regarding us, we presume, through a telescope. On S

rth wind as we crossed from Caine's Head. On the island we found a visitor. There had been two other men but they were gone to Seward the night before. All had been on Monday forced by the rough sea to turn back from attempting to go around the westward cape. The old fellow who is still here told me

ENT

elieve, by the storm, for Olson neglected to cover him. Rockwell, who straight on landing had run there, wept bitte

ctober ei

d the forest around is as black as the abyss. Although it is nearly ten o'clock Rockwell is still awake. It is his birthday-by our choice. His one present, a cheap child's edition of Wood's "Natural History," illustrated, has filled his head with dreams of his beloved wild animals. I began to-night to t

sting hour with them this evening. Olson told me to-day that his age is seventy-one. The smell of fresh bread is in our cabin, for I baked to-day. Baking, wood-cutting, darning of socks, puttin

October

t somehow did violence to the quiet of this place to have others about. Emsweiler slaughtered one of the goats for Olson, so there's now one less of us here. I felled a large tree to-day and later sharpened the cross-cut saw preparato

strange creatures he has devised an interesting method. With eyes closed he prints a name or rather

October

and off all day with wood cutting between. One can't stop going in such wea

risen and illuminates the mountain tops-but we and all our cove are still in the deep shadow of the night. It is most dramatic; the spruces about us deepen the shadow to black whil

elter of our island or one of the outer islands, the while driving steadily seaward. It's a wild night to be out in the bay though doubtless calm at sea. It is such an adventure that we must be on our guard against. As we look

ctober tw

to me far from it. Rockwell has been most of the day at his own animal book, making some strange and beautiful birds. This morning the ground was frozen with a hard crust. It did not thaw throughout the day, and again to-night it is very cold. Winter is at last upo