The trip down to the Aleutian Islands and through its straits was a delight to Colin, and he became quite excited when he learned that the second lieutenant had for years been attached to a revenue cutter which had a wharf at the Fisheries Bureau station at Woods Hole, Mass. This officer, who had a brother in the Bureau, was only too glad to talk to the boy about the service, and Colin monopolized his spare time on the journey. And when, one day, his friend depicted the immensity of the great salmon drives of the Alaskan rivers, the lad grew so excited that the lieutenant laughingly told him he expected some fine morning to find that he had jumped overboard and had started swimming for the Ugashik River or some other of the famous salmon streams of Alaska.
Native Salmon Trap on an Alaskan River.
Courtesy of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries.
Modern Salmon Trap on an Alaskan River.
Courtesy of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries.
Shortly before they arrived at Valdez, the lieutenant of the cutter called the boy aside.