The following day was mild, but the scenery became more Arctic. The steamer passed up the long inlet known as the Lynn Canal, on either side of which rose bold peaks crowned with brilliant snow. Glaciers flowed through the valleys between them,--great frozen rivers which no summer sun could melt. Of these, one of the largest and most graceful was the Davidson glacier on the western side of the strait. Ducks were seen here in countless numbers. Porpoises rolled and played about the vessel, and Roly caught sight of a seal which bobbed above the water at intervals. As they were now nearing the end of the voyage, Mr. Bradford and the boys wrote letters to send back by the purser. Early in the afternoon the course was changed slightly to the west, and the steamer entered Pyramid Harbor, a beautiful circular sheet of water, flanked on the south by high mountains. Near its eastern side rose a pointed mound of pyramidal shape, to which the harbor owed its name. On the southwest shore, under the shadow of the mountains, lay the little settlement, prominent in which was an extensive salmon cannery. In front of the cannery two wharves projected toward the bay,--one high above the beach, designed for use at high tide; the other a slender affair, longer and lower. "There must be very high tides here," said Mr. Bradford, observing the wharves. "Yes," answered a tall, brown-whiskered man who stood near. "Twenty foot, if I ain't mistaken. Reminds me o' the Bay o' Fundy, only there they gen'rally build only one wharf an' give it two stories." The boys recognized in the speaker the man whom they had heard discoursing of icebergs on the previous evening. "The cannery doesn't seem to be running," observed Mr. Bradford. "No," replied the other; "I b'lieve they only run it in summer. There ain't no salmon this time o' year." Mr. Bradford told David to see that everything was ready for landing, and to bring the clothing bags out upon the deck. The steamer had blown her whistle as she entered the harbor, and two men could be seen walking down toward the end of the lower wharf. Mr. Bradford turned his field-glass upon them. Suddenly he uttered an exclamation of surprise and handed the glass to Roly. "Do you know either of those men?" he asked. "Why," said Roly, after he had scrutinized them a moment, "the second one looks like--no, it can't be. I declare, though, it does look like him! Yes, it _is_ Uncle Will! But what a big beard he has!" [Illustration: PYRAMID HARBOR, PYRAMID MOUNTAIN IN THE DISTANCE] David, hearing these exclamations, came running out of the stateroom, and joyfully verified the identification. There could be no doubt that Uncle Will was there, but what had brought him was more than they could conjecture. CHAPTER IV THE FIRST CAMP The "Farallon" was slowly and carefully brought to the end of the lower wharf, though the water was so shallow that her screw stirred up the mud.