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Crawford is doing his best with her, for he seems to have more influence with her than any of the rest of us. He has a greatt deal of patience with her. It seems as though a good horsewhip would do more than anything else in the way of persuasion, hut I am sure we will not resort to that. "

On October 28th, "The seamstress this morning refused to work but after some persuasion by Crawford she finally went to work in a rather sulky manner. "

So far we have been telling the story of the troubles with Ada Blackjack chiefly from the pages originally removed from Knight's diary by Mr. Noice and returned to Mr. J. I. Knight in February after thet had been held from us for about five months (Mr. Noice should have given them to me on the day of my landing in New York when I had my first and only interview with him since he returned from Wrangell Island). In the entry for November 2nd we come to what must remain a blank in our story for the entry is on a page that was so mutilated by Mr. Noicethat eight lines cannot be read. We are using a photograph of this page as one of our illustrations so that the reader can see for himself as much as we have been able to see. It is, of course, only an inference that the eight lines here erased are part of the story of the troublesome seamstress.

On November 15th, "Crawford had some trouble with the woman but I was away at the time and do not know the details so will leave to Crawford to set down in his diary." That part of this unpleasant story, and the many more pleasant and more important things which Crawford recorded, were all lost in the manner we shall have told tell in the last chapter of this book.

, November 16th, "The seamstress is not doing anything to-day and refuses to say a word." On November 20th, "I asked (Ada Blackjack) if she came along with the intention of marrying one of us and she replied that she had. She went on to say that .... she was willing to marry any one of us. Rather a gloomy statement for us! This may all sound funny to the reader but I can assure him or her that it is not funny for the four of us to have a foolish female howling and refusing to work and eating all our good grub. Heaven only knows what she is liable to do to herself or to one of us. To be continually watching her gets rather monotonous."

On November 21st, "The seamstress was told by me not to leave camp but to do certain sewing, but just as it was getting dark she came to the trapping camp, tired out. She said that she wanted to see Crawford and Maurer and say hello. She evidently has hopes yet of 'getting a man.' We brought her home on the sled." On November 22nd, the diary says that,"When Galle arose this morning he found that sometime during the night the foolish female had left with a lantern for the other camp [the hunting camp about eight miles away - at this stage Crawford and Maurer were living there

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while Knight and Galle were at the main camp.] When I got there Crawford andI decided that I would not take her back home on the sled and that he would not allow her in their tent. Crawford and I told her explicitly yesterday not to leave the main camp again, but as she has done so she would either have to walk back or sleep out all night. She came home at 7:30 P.M. tired out. She surely understands what she is told for she talks, reads and writes English very well, but she seems to have her mind set on doing the opposite of what she is supposed to do.”

On November 23rd, "The seamstress refused to patch a pair of boots to-day, so I tied her to the flagpole until she promised to repair them. Kindness failing to accelerate, I am trying something more forceful."

November 24th, "Before leaving csmp in the morning I told our seamstress to make some skin socks and mittens and told her to start scraping a deer skin. When I returned from out on the ice I found her gone, where I could not ascertain. I hitched up the dogs and put up a pole with a box nailed to it halfway between this camp and the other camp. I then went to the other camp with some traps and incidentals for them and returned home, bringing a load of wood with me. When I arrived at camp I found Galle home and the seamstress just arrived. She said that she had been out on the ice wandering around following a fox track. That is all I could get out of her. Consequently she went supperless to bed. She will not work and sits about and disobeys orders and eats up our food and is being paid fifty dollars a month for doing the opposite always. Sometimes I think she is a little touched in the head and other times just plain ornery."

November 25th, "On arriving arising found the woman gone again and followed her tracks towards the trapping camp for a short distance. If she does not come home to-night or in the morning I will hitch up the dogs and go to the other camp to see ifshe is there. It looks as though it will take one man to watch her constantly, for if anything serious happens to her it will be a reflection on Mr. Stefansson and us when we get back to Nome."

On November 26th, "Hitched up dogs and went to trapping camp to see if the woman had gone there. Arrived and found that she had not been seen. Crawford decided to return to main camp with me and look for her to-morrow. Galle arrived from the westward as we got home, stating that he had found her tracks going west along the beach. They followed the beach from the camp about four miles and then zigzagged northwest for four or fivemiles farther where Galle turned back. Where he left the tracks to return they were going north-northwest. As far as we can determine she took no food with her but we think she took a nightgown and a suit of underwear. All day yesterday the weather was bad, blowing a light gale from the east with drifting snow which continued during the night. Crawford and I will follow the tracks to-morrow with the dog team."

November 27th, "Crawford and I hitched up the dogs this morning and followed the tracks Galle had found yesterday. After traveling just an hour west we saw something dark on the harbor to

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the west and by the aid of the glasses we saw that it was the lost one. She was walking very slowly toward camp with her usual camp clothing on, over which was a double Siberian native reindeer suit, making her lookl like from a distance, an inverted sack of potatoes. Under her outer garments was a suit of underwear and a nightgown. We bundled her on the sled and brought her home where she now sits moping. Crawford tried to ascertain what her object in leaving was and where she had been, but to no avail. She did say, however, that she had taken a few hard bread with her, and she did not seem to be very hungry when she arrived here."

On November 28th, “The woman has done practically nothing today except wash a few dishes. Crawford asked her this morning if she intended to run away again and she said "Maybe." She wanted to go to the other camp with us as usual but when we said no, she was as usual disappointed."

On November 29th, "All of us have one pair of skin socks apiece and all have, excepting Galle, a pair of skin mittens apiece. For the last two days the female has absolutely refused to make a pair of mitts for Galle and to-night she goes to bed supperless. A few minutes ago Galle caught her stealing some hard bread and I refused to let her eat it. She is certainly a trial to one's patience."

November 30th, "Galle went to his traps but got nothing. He returned to camp just a few minutes before I did and found the native woman just leaving camp. She had with her heavy woolen shirt-waist that she had brought from Nome. She told Galle that she was going to the mountains. Of course, he told her to remain at camp. She also stated to Galle that she wouldnot go to the other camp again."

It is to be inferred from the diary that although they were going through the form of keeping Ada Blackjack on sh ort rations, it was form only - she ate what she wanted daytimes when the men were away and sometimes she got up to eat at night. Most of the time the "short rations" therefore meant only that she did not have her meals with the others. This is brought out definitely in the entry for December 1st: "As I was leaving camp this morning the woman had to be forcibly thrown off the sled, altho yesterday she stated that she would not go to the other camp again. She still refuses to work and therefore is going without meals, altho Galle and I know that she has all she wants to eat while we are gone." December 2nd, "The woman just sits and mopes and still refuses to do anything." December 3rd, "The woman is still moping, [smAxlx] Will not answer us when we speak to her." December 4th, "The female is still moping, and I endeavored in vain to-day to find the reason." December 5th, "Nothing but mopes from the woman." December 6th, "No change in the female." December 7th, "No charge in the 'Seamstress.' "

The entry for December 11th is incomplete. The bottom portion of the page, consisting of about five lines, was torn out of the diary by Mr. Noice and was among the other pages which he

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eventually returned to Mr. Knight. However, the entry for that day did not end with the portion torn off but ran over to the next page and here Mr. Noice has erased the first line. We quote the entry as we have it, showing the break that comes where the line has been erased. "We still refuse to give the woman a thing to eat. She continues to steal grub (hard bread,mostly) and refuses to work. I think, however, she is__________________"

In the entry for December 12th Mr. Noice has erased two-thirds of a line, and in that for December 14th he has erased an entire line. These may or may not have concerned the difficulties with Ada Blackjack.

Corning bark to the restored pages, we have under date of December 16th, "When Galle arrived home from his traps he found the woman andher two suit cases ready to depart for the mountains. As I arrived home, some time later, she came back, minus the suit cases but with a pack on her back of things she had removed from the aforesaid suit cases. She had cached them inland somewhere. Galle found as she was leaving that she had a great amount of dried figs and some hard bread which he let her have. We refused to let her in the house unless she would promise to sew, and as she would not promise she is outside in an old snowhouse I made some time ago. The weather is warm and calm and no harm can befall her."

On December 17th, "The woman was allowed to come in the house this morning and after sitting around in the same old way, I told her that she would have to sleep outsi de after this if she did not work. A few minutes after she came to me and asked me what she should make. I told her mitts and socks and she started getting sinew ready for sewing. She worked at that until supper and I told her she could also eat__________________. " Here three lines have been erased by Mr. Noice. The entry continues, "now sewing industriously. Hope it lasts, but think it doubtful."

But Knight's hope was grant ed and hereafter most of the entries are very creditable to Ada Blackjack. On December 18th the diary says, "The woman has worked industriously all day scraping skins." December 19th, "The woman is working industriously, but is very slow. Finished a pair of mittens for Galle to-day." December 20th, "The woman is very industrious and has been very gay all day, especially after I told her that Crawford and Maurer would be down for Xmas." December 21st, "The woman is working like a Trojan and arose this morning at 6 o'clock to bake bread." December 22nd, "The woman is doing wonderfully well." December 23rd, "Hie woman is doing wonderfully well, baking, cooking, washing dishes, and sewing." December 27th, "The seamstress is doing very well and is cheerful."

In the entry for January 10th, 1922, we have: "The woman is again on a strike, accompanied by a deluge of tears. Why? None of us know. "

In the entry for January 12th four lines have been erased. In that for January 14th two and one-half lines have been erased but the following was not removed: "The weather is warmand she will be all right. I am sure she is the most stubborn creature I have ever known."

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On January 17th the diary tells us "The woman is working fine," and on January 19th we have this fragment "The seamstress complains of a headache and when I gave her some 'Aspirin' _____", after which three and one-half lines|have been erased. Three lines have also been erased from the entry for January 20th.

These erasures by Mr. Noice are the more exasperating and less defensible because Knight made it plain in the entry for September 29th (quoted above) that he was deliberately putting down the very xxxxxx things he wanted all men to know about this difficult situation. Any sympathy with Mr. Noice one might have had on the ground that he Any sympathy with Mr. Noice one might have had on the ground that he was trying to protect the woman, disappears when we remember that he himself was the first to publish some of these things, that he has tried to publish others, and that he has charged Ada Blackjack in print with worse far motives and actions than there is any just reason to deduce from any evidence we have.

From this time on the troubles with Ada Blackjack seem to have largely ceased. January 23rd we have, "The woman is working O.K. to-day." January 25th, "Woman doing O.K."

On February 9th, "The woman has been working diligently for a long time and excepting an occasional spell of crying seems to be contented." February 25th, "For the last few days the woman has been doing all the cooking, dishwashing and scullery work besides sewing and mending, and doing it very well. She surely is the most inconsistent body I have ever known."

There is no further mention of Ada Blackjack until May 27th when Knight says, "I have not said anything much for a long time about the seamstress but will take the time now to say that she is doing as well as anyone could wish. Altho we did not bring her along for cook and dishwasher she insists upon doing that work and also sews when necessary. She is homesick and says that she wants to get back to ’Home and mother," Nome, and as long as she, is as useful as she is now I am sure we will all miss her when she goes next summer (???) (Provided the ship comes)." From "when she goes next summer" followed by question marks it seems most likely the party had previously discussed shipping her out the summer 1922 if they could, but that her later good conduct had begun to incline them to 'wanting to have her stay with the expedition.

The next reference is June 29th, "I wish to state here that the seamstress is doing wonderfully well and is cheerful."

The next we hear of Ada Blackjack is in the entry for November 1st, "For a long time I have said nothing about our seamstress. She is very quiet and rather downhearted over the fact that the ship did not show up, but she keeps busy and is at present making a pair of fancy moose-hide mittens (probably for Crawford)."

On January 21st, 1923, we have: "The woman is busy making clothing. It has been decided that Crawford, Maurer and Galle will attempt in a few days to go to Nome via Siberia. I will remain here as camp keeper for the reason that I think I would be unwise to attempt the said trip. See my entry for January 12th. The only objection to this plan as far as I am concerned is that