At least she thought they were miners, for that is what Hauck used to tell Nisikoos, her aunt.

They came after whisky.
Always whisky.

And the Indians came for liquor, too.

It was the chief article that Hauck, her uncle, traded in.

He brought it from the coast, in the winter time--many sledge loads of it; and some of those "miners" who came down from the north carried away much of it.