Father Roubeau breathed a swift, silent prayer, and rose to his feet. "If you doubt me, why-" He made as though to open the door.

A priest could not lie. Edwin Bentham had heard this often, and believed it. "Of course not, Father," he interposed hurriedly. "I was only wondering where my wife had gone, and thought maybe I guess she's up at Mrs. Stanton's on French Gulch. Nice weather, is n't it? Heard the news? Flour's gone down to forty dollars a hundred, and they say the che-cha-quas are flocking down the river in droves. But I must be going; so goodby."

The door slammed, and from the window they watched him take his quest up French Gulch.

A few weeks later, just after the June high-water, two men shot a canoe into mid-stream and made fast to a derelict pine. This tightened the painter and jerked the frail craft along as would a tow-boat. Father Roubeau had been directed to leave the Upper Country and return to his swarthy children at Minook. The white men had come among them, and they were devoting too little time to fishing, and too much to a certain deity whose transient habitat was in countless black bottles. Malemute Kid also had business in the Lower Country, so they journeyed together.

But one, in all the Northland, knew the man Paul Roubeau, and that man was Malemute Kid. Before him alone did the priest cast off the sacerdotal garb and

stand naked. And why not? These two men knew each other. Had they not shared the last morsel of fish, the last pinch of tobacco, the last and inmost thought, on the barren stretches of Bering Sea, in the heart-breaking mazes of the Great Delta, on the terrible winter journey from Point Barrow to the Porcupine?

Father Roubeau puffed heavily at his trail-worn pipe, and gazed on the reddisked sun, poised somberly on the edge of the northern horizon. Malemute Kid wound up his watch. It was midnight.

"Cheer up, old man!" The Kid was evidently gathering up a broken thread. "God surely will forgive such a lie. Let me give you the word of a man who strikes a true note:

"D

VOL. XXXIV — -5

Ella M. Sexton.

UBLIC interest in the com

P petition of architects in making a

plan for the new buildings of the University of California has not at all abated, and the result of the second competition in September is awaited with much impatience. Of the eleven architects who were successful in the first trial all but two have visited the site of the University at Berkeley and are now hard at work on the second competition.

The first competition was a great surprise to people who thought they knew the feeling among architects toward such competitions. They were very ready to demonstrate to a moral certainty their belief that no architect of great standing would

enter such a competition at all. Such men, they said, would scorn to undertake so much labor on a contingency, being fully occupied with work for which they were certain to be well paid. Then, too, architects of reputation would not comsider the prizes offered successful competitors any sufficient inducement, even if confident they would gain the most that was offered. And besides, they would not enter for fear they might not be successful, and the fact that they had tried and failed might become public and damage their reputation. Hence, only a few, and those not the great names in the profession, would be entered in the competition at all, and the result would not be so good

as that to be obtained by giving the commission outright into the hands of any architect of high standing.

The actual result is well known as a general fact, but many details are given in a pamphlet issued by the jury of award, handed me by Regent J. B. Reinstein, the representative of the University on the Committee of Award. It is printed in French, Italian, German, and English, and is, in part, as follows:

From the 17th to the 22d of August, the plans were measured for framing. At the same time the mottoes, on the plans and on all the documents connected therewith, were covered and the letters of identity were placed unopened in the safe-deposit vault of the National Bank of Belgium. The average time required to measure each set of plans was six minutes. Cases found damaged were replaced by new ones. One package contained a pamphlet of photographs with a typewritten description. To exhibit this scheme it was necessary to soak the photographs off the pages of the pamphlet.

One hundred and five packages for the Phoebe Hearst Architectural Plan for the University of California arrived at the office of the United States Consul General at Antwerp. There each case was marked with a number and the date of arrival and insured for 5000 francs for a period of six months. Many of the packages arrived much damaged; all of the large unsealed cases and the letter belonging to one of these had been opened at the Custom House. On July the 10th all of the packages were transferred from the Consul's office and stored in a room at the Musée Royal where they were under the protection of the City of Antwerp. The Musée Royal is fireproof and contains some of the most valuable examples of Dutch and Flemish art.

Later is was found that the pamphlet was only a complement to a set of plans which had arrived at an earlier date.

During the month of September the plans were mounted on stretchers. It took about thirty minutes to mount each set of drawings. From September 26th to September 29th the No. 3 envelopes were opened (Nos. 1 and 2 remained closed); the mottoes on the plans were compared with those on the envelopes and the addresses on envelope No. 2 were written down. This operation lasted about ten minutes per competitor.

After the judgment the plans were cut from the frames, laid in piles, covered and sealed. The designs of the chosen authors were photographed and the others were returned to their cases, which were put into

wooden boxes lest the tin tubes be damaged in transport. By October 15th all of the plans were boxed ready for shipment. Each case was insured for 2500 francs and sent to the address given on envelope No. 2, to be delivered only against a receipt. The railway companies refusing to be responsible for the cases beyond the boundaries of Belgium, it was necessary to correspond with shippers in the various towns to which the plans were to be sent in order that the Committee might be assured that each competitor had received his plans. This caused a delay of several weeks in the delivery of the plans.

It was understood that the authors of the plans wished their work to be seen by no one but the Jury and their names to be unknown. Every effort was made to respect this wish. It was taken for granted that the address on envelope No. 2 gave no clew to the authorship of the plan to which it belonged. An officer of the secret police of the City of Antwerp was always present while the plans were being handled. He put his seal on everything, closed or covered, and kept an account of the time the plans were being worked with. The brigadier, or chief of the guardians of the Museum, was made responsible also. At night, watchmen were

on guard, and the Fire Department furnished firemen whenever and wherever there was need of them. While the plans were exposed special care was taken; policemen guarded all entrances and extra men were present at night.

The doors and windows of rooms where plans were stored were kept locked and sealed and no seal was broken without the officer and witnesses being present. Before being opened, the cases were examined to see if they had been tampered with. When they were closed, a band was pasted over the joint between lid and box and tied with a tape, both ends of which were fastened with sealing wax. Before the box was reopened the seals were examined. While a drawing was on the table for measuring or for mounting, the officer kept it covered, that no employee might see the composition. As soon as a design was fastened to its frame it was covered with a double thickness of paper held down with ribbons tacked down at the corners. A seal covered the tack and joint between the cover and the frame. When a motto under cover was to be inspected, one corner of the covering was raised and then resealed. The mottoes on the descriptions were covered in the same manner as those on the drawings.