things on its way, for the walls were embellished with trophies from the
big spaces where winds are born. There were skins of polar and Kodiak
bear; of silver and black fox; there were antlered heads set above the
fireplace and on the rough, bark-seamed pillars that supported the
unceiled roof. A frieze of pressed and framed Alaska flora finished the
low gallery which extended around three sides of the hall, and the massive
chairs, like the polished banquet board, were of crocus-yellow Alaska
cedar.

The delegate, who had come out to tide-water over the Fairbanks-Valdez
trail, was describing with considerable heat the rigors of the journey.
The purple parka, which was the regalia of the Circle, seemed to increase
his prominence of front and intensified the color in his face to a sort of
florid ripeness.

"Yes, gentlemen," he continued, thumping the table with a stout hand and
repeating the gesture slowly, while the glasses trembled, "Alaska's crying
need is a railroad; a single finished line from the most northern harbor
open to navigation the whole year--and that is Prince William Sound--
straight through to the Tanana Valley and the upper Yukon. Already the
first problem has been solved; we have pierced the icy barrier of the
Coast Range. All we are waiting for is further right of way; the right to
the forests, that timber may be secured for construction work; the right
to mine coal for immediate use. But, gentlemen, we may grow gray waiting.
What do men four thousand miles away, men who never saw Alaska, care about
our needs?" He leaned back in his chair, while his glance moved from face
to face and rested, half in challenge, on the member at the foot of the
board. "These commissioners appointed off there in Washington," he added.
"These carpet-baggers from the little States beyond the Mississippi!"