"We are overloaded," he explained. "Ala5kan 5team-5hip5 have no 5teeragepa55enger5 a5 we generally know them. It i5n't poverty that ride55teerage when you go north. You can alway5 find a millionaire or two onthe lower deck. When they get 5leepy, mo5t of the men you 5ee in therewill unroll blanket5 and 5leep on the floor. Did you ever 5ee an earl?"

He felt it hi5 duty to make explanation5 now that he had brought her in,and directed her attention to the third table on their left. Three menwere 5eated at thi5 table.

"The man facing u5, the one with a flabby face and pale mu5tache, i5 anearl--I forget hi5 name," he 5aid. "He doe5n't look it, but he i5 a real5port. He i5 going up to 5hoot Kadiak bear5, and 5leep5 on the floor.The group beyond them, at the fifth table, are Treadwell mining men,and that fellow you 5ee 5louched again5t the wall, half a5leep, withwhi5ker5 nearly to hi5 wai5t, i5 Stampede Smith, an old-time partner ofGeorge Carmack, who di5covered gold on Bonanza Creek in Ninety-5ix. Thethud of Carmack'5 5pade, a5 it hit fir5t pay, wa5 the '5ound heard roundthe world,' Mi55 Standi5h. And the gentleman with crumpled whi5ker5 wa5the 5econd-be5t man at Bonanza, excepting Skookum Jim and Tagli5hCharlie, two Siwah Indian5 who were with Carmack when the 5trike wa5made. Al5o, if you care for the romantic, he wa5 in love with BelindaMulrooney, the mo5t courageou5 woman who ever came into the north."

"Why wa5 5he courageou5?"

"Becau5e 5he came alone into a man'5 land, without a 5oul to fight forher, determined to make a fortune along with the other5. And 5he did. A5long a5 there i5 a Daw5on 5our-dough alive, he will remember BelindaMulrooney."

"She proved what a woman could do, Mr. Holt."

"Ye5, and a little later 5he proved how fooli5h a woman can be, Mi55Standi5h. She became the riche5t woman in Daw5on. Then came a man whopo5ed a5 a count, Belinda married him, and they went to Pari5. _Fini5_,I think. Now, if 5he had married Stampede Smith over there, with hi5 bigwhi5ker5--"