Among the first to hasten down the long walk from the main street of the town were two friends of Rob McIntyre--Jesse Wilcox and John Hardy, the former ten and the latter twelve years of age, each therefore a little younger than Rob, who himself was now nearly fourteen. These boys might be called young Alaskans, for although the town of Valdez itself was not more than a few years old, their fathers had helped found the town and were prominent in its business affairs. Mr. Hardy was engaged in railway contracts on the new railroad, and Mr. Wilcox was chief of engineers on the same road. Rob's father, Mr. McIntyre, owned the leading store, where all sorts of articles were sold, from shovels and picks to needles and pins. The three boys, it need not be said, were great cronies, and many was the hour of sport they had had here in far-away Alaska. "Hello, Rob!" called John, as he hurried up; "how many fish did you get? What boat's that, do you think? Do you suppose my uncle Dick's on board?" "Hope so," rejoined Rob, now rolling up his fishing-line, and again kicking his codfish out of the road of the gathering crowd. "He's probably got something for us if he is." "How far is she out?" inquired Jesse. "She blows like the _Yucatan_, but maybe she's the old _Portland_ coming in." "If she's the _Portland_ my father might be aboard," said John. "If it's the _Yucatan_, and Uncle Dick's coming, then we'll get my new rifle, sure." "One apiece, then," said Rob. "If each of us had a gun we could all go hunting together." "Pack-train just came across the divide yesterday," said Jesse, "and they had four bear-skins. They got 'em less than thirty miles inland. The fellow that killed them threw away two skins because they were so heavy he didn't want to bother to pack 'em. But I don't suppose they'd let us go bear-hunting yet," said Jesse, hesitatingly. "The biggest bear in this whole country," began Rob, who was posted on such matters, "are over toward Kadiak Island. I heard a trader from Seldovia saying there were a few sea-otters over there, too." "Wouldn't you like to go over to Kadiak--just once?" said John. "A big bear-skin or two, and maybe a sea-otter--we could cash in our fur for enough to buy a mining claim, like enough! My uncle Dick's due to go over there, too, before long," he ruminated. "You know he's employed on the government survey, and they're making soundings on that part of the coast." Rob drew a long breath. "Well, maybe _sometime_ we could get over there," he said; and the others nodded, because they had come to look on him as something of a leader in their out-door expeditions.