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[[underline]] Waiting & Watching [[\underline]]

I am sitting in my log house by the still and frozin Youkon,
Sitting, thinking, dull and lonely, sad or silent all the day.
Waiting, watching for the dogtrains, for a friendly face to look on,
Even of a swarthy Indian from the seaside far away.

Even while the smoke is curling, round my head in festoons wreathing
And the well filled pipe I'm smoking quickens with a peaceful glow
And I should be quite contented, suddenly a sigh I'm breathing
And my thoughts are ever running over scenes of long ago.

And I find those thoughts unbidden, airy Spanish castles rearing;
Tenanted with shapes familiar on the far Atlantic shore.
Golden visions; but they vanish, Ice and snow and gloom appearing

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Monday, Dec. 16, '67
Cut up ukali and boil it to feed the dogs.  Make a fire in the house to warm it & dry things.  Open and unpack various boxes and bags and put the store in order.  Get a loaf of bread (to be returned) from Yagorsha.  Get some beads and tobacco from Ivan.  No fish and as tomorrow is a holiday the Russians will stay at home hungry, rather than go to the fish trap and get what may be in it.  My contempt and dislike for these miserable wretches cannot be expressed in words.  Day after tomorrow I shall go to Makitesky to buy fish & other grub and leave a lot of dogs - as there is nothing for them to eat here, literally

Tuesday, Dec 17
Morning - The Nowikakat Tyone and seven men and a boy & three light sleds and a lot of furs to sell.  When some distance