September 4， 1927<br >Even though it was barely eight o clock and the sun had<br >just come up， practically the whole town of Eagle had<br >turned out to see the pack train off. Counting the In-<br >dians， who d come down ~rom their fish camp for the<br >dance the previous night， t~ere must have been close to<br >a hundred people gathere/~ around--miners in hip-<br >length boots， old sourdoughs in battered Stetsons， even<br >women and children. In a few minutes I d be leaving，<br >going off into the wilderness， and I was kind of excited.<br >I was scared too， and I must have showed it， because<br >Mrs. Rooney asked me if I was feeling well.<br > "Yes， ma am，" I said. "I feel just fine."<br > "You look a little pale. You re not afraid of the<br > "No. I guess I just didn t expect there d be all these<br >people，" I said.<br > Mrs. Rooney dismissed them with a wave of her<br >hand. "One thing you ll learn is that it doesn t take<br >much to collect a crowd in Alaska. As for the trip， you<br >don t have a thing to worry about. It s only ninety<br >miles and you ll be perfectly safe. Mr. Strong will take<br >good care of you."<br > But it really wasn t the crowd that was bothering<br >me. Hardly anybody was paying any attention to me.<br >!<br ><br >