Part 15 (1/2)

”Not here,” the agent replied. ”The Federal Courts look after that.”

”But I thought you were a judge,” the boy protested. ”Who administers justice on the islands?”

”The chief agent,” was the reply. ”He is a magistrate. All the natives are employees of the Fisheries Bureau. He has a lot of authority over them. Obviously! But any really grave case is tried at Valdez, because that's the nearest Federal court from here. Sealing questions, too, are so confused with international issues that we don't undertake to decide them.”

”And what will happen to the schooner?”

”A prize crew will be put aboard. Take her to Unalaska. The revenue cutter will pick them up afterwards. Probably start for Valdez without delay. Captain Murchison said this morning that he wanted to go along.”

”I wonder if I'll have to go?” said Colin. ”I'm sure I don't want to, at least, not yet. There's ever so much more that I want to find out about seals, and I've hardly started. If I'm ever lucky enough to get into the Bureau of Fisheries, I hope I shall have a chance to get something to do on this fur seal service.”

”Fur seal's very important. But only a small part of the Bureau of Fisheries,” the agent said, and outlined to Colin the general workings of the Bureau, in which he showed the practical value of the work.

”I know. I want to join the Bureau,” the boy persisted, ”not only because I think there's more fun in it than in anything else, but because I like everything about it.”

”What do your folks say about the plan?” the Fisheries agent queried.

”They know I want it,” the lad replied, ”but I never felt that I knew enough about the Bureau to say that I didn't care to do anything else.

Father's always wanted me to take up lumbering or forestry or sawmills or something to do with timber. He's quite a big lumberman, you know.

But, some way, that never appealed to me.”

”Your father ought to know,” the other said. ”Obviously! And if he owns timber lands, I think it's up to you to be a help. Lots of interesting angles to the lumber business. And if the timber lands are going to descend to you, you'll have to look after them, anyway.”

”But they won't,” objected Colin; ”that's just it. In about ten years that timber will be all cut off. I'm pretty sure Father will let me join the Bureau,” the boy continued, ”because he's wild about fis.h.i.+ng himself. Why, just now, he's down at Santa Catalina, angling for big game.”

”Some difference between the Fisheries Bureau and angling for sport,”

the agent warned him. ”I've been in the business all my life. But I've never even learned to cast a fly! It's a serious business, and down in Was.h.i.+ngton you'll find that the value of the work to the people of the United States is the chief aim of the Bureau.”

”It may be serious, but I should think that there is always something new. And, anyway,” Colin said enthusiastically, ”fishes are ever so much more interesting than animals. There are such heaps of different kinds, too!”

”The interest in work depends on how you look at it,” soberly responded the agent. ”Obviously! But don't think the Bureau is experimenting with every kind of fish in the ocean. There are only a few food fishes or forms with commercial value that are exploited at all.”

”But you were describing to me, only yesterday, the way they handle millions of baby fishes annually. I've just got to get into the Bureau.”

”Go ahead, then. I don't doubt we'll be glad to have you. I've done my best to show you what you'll have to face,” the official declared, ”and if you're still eager for it, why, go in and win. There's always a place somewhere for the chap who is really anxious to work.”

At supper that day, the decision was announced that the revenue cutter would start for Valdez next morning, and Colin had to scramble around in a hurry to take a last look at the seals, to get a small crate made for the blue fox pup, which he was going to send home for his younger brother to look after, and to put into a small trunk he had got from one of the villagers the few things he had saved from the wreck and had been able to buy in the village.

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, Ma.s.s. 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 Ugas.h.i.+k River or some other of the famous salmon streams of Alaska.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NATIVE SALMON TRAP ON AN ALASKAN RIVER.

_Courtesy of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MODERN SALMON TRAP ON AN ALASKAN RIVER.

_Courtesy of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries._]