Uncle Dick's answer was to pass to his nephew a certain long package, which proved to be a fine rifle in a leather case. For the moment all three boys were so much engaged in examining this that they paid little attention to what was going on--hurry and confusion, shouting and laughing and excited talk, mingled with the creak of the hoists and the rattle of the donkey-engine as the ship's men now began the work of discharging the cargo of the _Yucatan_. It must be remembered that in Alaska few things are manufactured, and everything must be shipped in, fifteen hundred miles or more, from San Francisco, Seattle, and other points. "Well, young gentlemen," said Uncle Dick, at last, "you seem gladder to see that gun than you are to see me." "No, we're not, sir," rejoined Rob; "but we're pleased enough, even so, because now each of us has a rifle." "And no place to use one," answered Uncle Dick. "Well, we may be able to go inside, hunting, before long," said Jesse, stoutly. "My father doesn't care if I go with him." "How would you like to go over to Kadiak with me?" asked Uncle Dick, directly, looking at them keenly from his gray eyes. "You don't mean it!" exclaimed Rob. The three gathered round him. "Are you going over there right away?" asked Jesse, staring up at him. Uncle Dick nodded. "Same boat," he answered. "I'm going on with the _Yucatan_ to Seward, and will take the _Nora_ from there to Kadiak. Chance of your life to spend the summer, if your mothers will say the word. And not to hurry you any, you've got just about an hour and a quarter to get ready--that is to say, to get consent and get ready both." The three boys hardly stopped to hear the last of his words. They were off, running at top speed across the long sidewalk toward the town. Uncle Dick followed them at his leisure, talking and telling the news to his acquaintances, of whom he had many in the town. He explained to these that the government work in soundings would be done by the revenue cutter _Bennington_, along the shores of Kadiak Island, for the next four months. Now, although to those unfamiliar with Alaska, Valdez may seem as far away as Kadiak, the latter really is some hundreds of miles farther to the northwest, and near the base of that long peninsula which tapers to a point in the Aleutian Islands. A dweller in a coast town in Alaska knows what goes on immediately about him. There were few in Valdez who knew more of Kadiak than they did of Kamchatka. "G'long there, ye young rascals!" called out a hearty voice at the fleeing boys. Captain John Ryan waved a cap toward them as he came down the gang-plank. But the boys, usually ready enough to visit with him on his stops at Valdez, were now too much excited to more than wave their hands as they disappeared. "So ye're plannin' to take the rascals along with us, west, are ye?" asked Captain John Ryan of Uncle Dick. "A summer out there would be the makin' of the youngsters."