"While the Loon Laughed"
George li* Liasury
The weird, diabolical laughter of a loon sounded forth from the night
shrouded center of the lake, followed by the noise of the splach of some fish
leaping above the water in playful abandon, Along the bank where the spruce
grew thickest a large fire was burning,its light casting a yellow circular ra
diance about the neighboring trees and a short distance on the lake* s sufface#
• Again the loon’s diabolical laughter' sounded weirdly, followed in turn
by the sp3esh of the leaping fish* About the camp fire 'the men moved uneasily*
glancing at the sane time with apprehension toward the place from which the
loon1s laughter came. They were newly arrived in Alaska, being mostly replac
ments on their first tour of duty as soldiers of Uncle Sam, with the exception
of one, Pedro, an old timer who hat undertaken to guide them on their first
outing to the lake for a day’s fishing and a night’s camp upon its edge. They
had been telling tales of their experiences, some of France during the War,
some of Siberia and. the hectic days ani nights in Vladivostok, while others
told of the Border and Mexico.
"Sandy”• Gilbert was in the midst of a tale of the 6.0ssafcks of Ussuri,
Siberia, when,interrupted by the sou^d uf the loon*s laughter shattering the
quietude of the night, breaking his story short, he turned toward Pedro and
asked him what that awful noise was# nedro cleared his throat, expectorated
thoughtfully toward the fire, glanced in the direction in which the loon’s
laughter and the sound of the splashing fish came, straightened up and said:
"Sandy, that’s an Alaskan Fish-Hunting-Skinx, a small animal which very
much resembles a squirrel only larger# It hunts mostly at night and is not
dangerous to humans, in fact it is very timid of hunters. The peculiar features
of this skinx is that it has webbing between its toes, like’ a duck, and its
tail, instead o)f being furry like a squirrel* s, is like a rat’s, only harder
like a bone, "/hen it hunts,, it climbs a tree, goes out on a branch which hangs
over the lake and crouches there, it then lets out a yell likevou just heard,
the fish comes to the surface to shee what the strange noise is£ and the skinx
then dives out of the tree, landing along side the fish which it bangs over
the head with his hard bony tail# It then grabs the stunned fish and swims
ashore with it, where it kills aid eats it# It’s a queer animal."
"Believe ako, I'll say it is," said Sandy. Then turning towards the
others, he exclaimed, "A skinx.i .Well, can you beat thatl"
'They, being newly arrived and credulous, made no:. reply, but the loon,
laughed again from the night shrouded center of the lake.
ALASKAN PAPER PUBLISHED IN'SEATTLE: - .
"The Alaska Weekly", a newspaper dealing with Alaska and through cor
respondents and exchanges covering the whole territory, has appeared in Seattle
under the editorial pilotage of E. W* Knight. The ^hilkoot Post takes pleasure
in placing the "Weekly" on its exchange litft so that we can clip an occasional
item about the other parts of the Territory and so that the world "Outside" and
other Alaskans may know of the doings of Alaska's garrison, especially of itfe
worl'dh record breaking shooting of the rifle, automatic rifle and pistol.
Incidently we take it that E.W»Knight is the "Ernie" Knight who formerly
was city editor of the Tacoma Ledger and one of the best trained of the many
good news hounds turned out by the University of Washington's school of jour
nalism in its youthful days under "Dad" Sheridan (now of the Chicago Tribune)
and Frank Kane. At any rate, the first copy of the Alaska Weekly to come under
our scissors would prove of supreme interest to anyone concerned with Alaska.
The address of the paper its Pioneer Building, Seattle; its subscription rate
tfS.OO per year, in advance (payable, we take it, in cash, dust or nuggets.)