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THE STORY OF ADA BLACKJACK 337

there the boy could roam with the dogs almost naked in
the sunshine, having the best of times in the best of places
for curing his disease.

Mrs. Fletcher was willing to take charge of Ada and
Bennett if I gave them a trip to Los Angeles. Ada was
at first reluctant to go farther south, for her most pas-
sionate longing was to get back to Alaska and she did
not like the idea of getting any farther away from Nome
than Seattle is. But when I told her about the effect
of the sunshine on Bennett and about the dogs on my
friend’s farm, she became eager to go. However, she changed
her mind about half a dozen times between that day and
the sailing date—sometimes she was definitely going and
at other times decided with equal definiteness that she
would go to no place south of Seattle. The day before
sailing she was not going; so that her next change of
mind to go arrived opportunely and she was aboard the
steamer before she could change again.

On the steamer from Seattle to Los Angeles Mrs.
Fletcher and Ada became such friends that I am sure Mrs.
Fletcher understands her better now and knows more about
her than anyone south of Nome. I have, therefore, asked
Mrs. Fletcher to write the character sketch of Ada Black-
jack which is printed below.

VlLHJALMUR STEFANSSON.

Ada Blackjack’s experiences on Wrangel Island belong to times
far back—primitive times when the instinct to survive was coupled
with the ability of each human being to fend for himself. In those
days hunting and trapping wild animals was part of every day
life. Living was stripped down to essentials and it was only
because of skill in these things that it was possible to combat the
elements and prove man’s supremacy over the animals by out-
thinking them. Nature was cruel and untamed—living was hard
and women were as skilled as men in the tasks that had to do
with the daily struggle for existence.

Yet the story of Ada is modern. Only last September the daily
papers the world over told of the rescue of an Eskimo woman, the
sole survivor of Stefansson’s Wrangel Island Expedition. Her story