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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2377-h.zip b/2377-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a8bb297 --- /dev/null +++ b/2377-h.zip diff --git a/2377-h/2377-h.htm b/2377-h/2377-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2c7afbd --- /dev/null +++ b/2377-h/2377-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6977 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of The Son of the Wolf, by Jack London +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { text-align: center ; + font-size: larger ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Son of the Wolf, by Jack London + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Son of the Wolf + +Author: Jack London + +Posting Date: March 1, 2009 [EBook #2377] +Release Date: October, 2000 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SON OF THE WOLF *** + + + + +Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer. HTML +version by Al Haines. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +The Son of the Wolf +</H1> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Jack London +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +1900 +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3> +Contains +</H3> + +<H4> + <A HREF="#silence">The White Silence</A><BR> + <A HREF="#wolf">The Son of the Wolf</A><BR> + <A HREF="#men">The Men of Forty Mile</A><BR> + <A HREF="#country">In a Far Country</A><BR> + <A HREF="#trail">To the Man on the Trail</A><BR> + <A HREF="#priestly">The Priestly Prerogative</A><BR> + <A HREF="#wisdom">The Wisdom of the Trail</A><BR> + <A HREF="#king">The Wife of a King</A><BR> + <A HREF="#odyssey">An Odyssey of the North</A><BR> +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="silence"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The White Silence +</H3> + +<P> +'Carmen won't last more than a couple of days.' Mason spat out a chunk +of ice and surveyed the poor animal ruefully, then put her foot in his +mouth and proceeded to bite out the ice which clustered cruelly between +the toes. +</P> + +<P> +'I never saw a dog with a highfalutin' name that ever was worth a rap,' +he said, as he concluded his task and shoved her aside. 'They just fade +away and die under the responsibility. Did ye ever see one go wrong +with a sensible name like Cassiar, Siwash, or Husky? No, sir! Take a +look at Shookum here, he's—' Snap! The lean brute flashed up, the +white teeth just missing Mason's throat. +</P> + +<P> +'Ye will, will ye?' A shrewd clout behind the ear with the butt of the +dog whip stretched the animal in the snow, quivering softly, a yellow +slaver dripping from its fangs. +</P> + +<P> +'As I was saying, just look at Shookum here—he's got the spirit. Bet +ye he eats Carmen before the week's out.' 'I'll bank another +proposition against that,' replied Malemute Kid, reversing the frozen +bread placed before the fire to thaw. 'We'll eat Shookum before the +trip is over. What d'ye say, Ruth?' The Indian woman settled the coffee +with a piece of ice, glanced from Malemute Kid to her husband, then at +the dogs, but vouchsafed no reply. It was such a palpable truism that +none was necessary. Two hundred miles of unbroken trail in prospect, +with a scant six days' grub for themselves and none for the dogs, could +admit no other alternative. The two men and the woman grouped about the +fire and began their meager meal. The dogs lay in their harnesses for +it was a midday halt, and watched each mouthful enviously. +</P> + +<P> +'No more lunches after today,' said Malemute Kid. 'And we've got to +keep a close eye on the dogs—they're getting vicious. They'd just as +soon pull a fellow down as not, if they get a chance.' 'And I was +president of an Epworth once, and taught in the Sunday school.' Having +irrelevantly delivered himself of this, Mason fell into a dreamy +contemplation of his steaming moccasins, but was aroused by Ruth +filling his cup. +</P> + +<P> +'Thank God, we've got slathers of tea! I've seen it growing, down in +Tennessee. What wouldn't I give for a hot corn pone just now! Never +mind, Ruth; you won't starve much longer, nor wear moccasins either.' +The woman threw off her gloom at this, and in her eyes welled up a +great love for her white lord—the first white man she had ever +seen—the first man whom she had known to treat a woman as something +better than a mere animal or beast of burden. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, Ruth,' continued her husband, having recourse to the macaronic +jargon in which it was alone possible for them to understand each +other; 'wait till we clean up and pull for the Outside. We'll take the +White Man's canoe and go to the Salt Water. Yes, bad water, rough +water—great mountains dance up and down all the time. And so big, so +far, so far away—you travel ten sleep, twenty sleep, forty sleep'—he +graphically enumerated the days on his fingers—'all the time water, +bad water. Then you come to great village, plenty people, just the same +mosquitoes next summer. Wigwams oh, so high—ten, twenty pines. +</P> + +<P> +'Hi-yu skookum!' He paused impotently, cast an appealing glance at +Malemute Kid, then laboriously placed the twenty pines, end on end, by +sign language. Malemute Kid smiled with cheery cynicism; but Ruth's +eyes were wide with wonder, and with pleasure; for she half believed he +was joking, and such condescension pleased her poor woman's heart. +</P> + +<P> +'And then you step into a—a box, and pouf! up you go.' He tossed his +empty cup in the air by way of illustration and, as he deftly caught +it, cried: 'And biff! down you come. Oh, great medicine men! You go +Fort Yukon. I go Arctic City—twenty-five sleep—big string, all the +time—I catch him string—I say, "Hello, Ruth! How are ye?"—and you +say, "Is that my good husband?"—and I say, "Yes"—and you say, "No can +bake good bread, no more soda"—then I say, "Look in cache, under +flour; good-by." You look and catch plenty soda. All the time you Fort +Yukon, me Arctic City. Hi-yu medicine man!' Ruth smiled so ingenuously +at the fairy story that both men burst into laughter. A row among the +dogs cut short the wonders of the Outside, and by the time the snarling +combatants were separated, she had lashed the sleds and all was ready +for the trail.—'Mush! Baldy! Hi! Mush on!' Mason worked his whip +smartly and, as the dogs whined low in the traces, broke out the sled +with the gee pole. Ruth followed with the second team, leaving Malemute +Kid, who had helped her start, to bring up the rear. Strong man, brute +that he was, capable of felling an ox at a blow, he could not bear to +beat the poor animals, but humored them as a dog driver rarely +does—nay, almost wept with them in their misery. +</P> + +<P> +'Come, mush on there, you poor sore-footed brutes!' he murmured, after +several ineffectual attempts to start the load. But his patience was at +last rewarded, and though whimpering with pain, they hastened to join +their fellows. +</P> + +<P> +No more conversation; the toil of the trail will not permit such +extravagance. +</P> + +<P> +And of all deadening labors, that of the Northland trail is the worst. +Happy is the man who can weather a day's travel at the price of +silence, and that on a beaten track. And of all heartbreaking labors, +that of breaking trail is the worst. At every step the great webbed +shoe sinks till the snow is level with the knee. Then up, straight up, +the deviation of a fraction of an inch being a certain precursor of +disaster, the snowshoe must be lifted till the surface is cleared; then +forward, down, and the other foot is raised perpendicularly for the +matter of half a yard. He who tries this for the first time, if haply +he avoids bringing his shoes in dangerous propinquity and measures not +his length on the treacherous footing, will give up exhausted at the +end of a hundred yards; he who can keep out of the way of the dogs for +a whole day may well crawl into his sleeping bag with a clear +conscience and a pride which passeth all understanding; and he who +travels twenty sleeps on the Long Trail is a man whom the gods may envy. +</P> + +<P> +The afternoon wore on, and with the awe, born of the White Silence, the +voiceless travelers bent to their work. Nature has many tricks +wherewith she convinces man of his finity—the ceaseless flow of the +tides, the fury of the storm, the shock of the earthquake, the long +roll of heaven's artillery—but the most tremendous, the most +stupefying of all, is the passive phase of the White Silence. All +movement ceases, the sky clears, the heavens are as brass; the +slightest whisper seems sacrilege, and man becomes timid, affrighted at +the sound of his own voice. Sole speck of life journeying across the +ghostly wastes of a dead world, he trembles at his audacity, realizes +that his is a maggot's life, nothing more. +</P> + +<P> +Strange thoughts arise unsummoned, and the mystery of all things +strives for utterance. +</P> + +<P> +And the fear of death, of God, of the universe, comes over him—the +hope of the Resurrection and the Life, the yearning for immortality, +the vain striving of the imprisoned essence—it is then, if ever, man +walks alone with God. +</P> + +<P> +So wore the day away. The river took a great bend, and Mason headed his +team for the cutoff across the narrow neck of land. But the dogs balked +at the high bank. Again and again, though Ruth and Malemute Kid were +shoving on the sled, they slipped back. Then came the concerted effort. +The miserable creatures, weak from hunger, exerted their last strength. +Up—up—the sled poised on the top of the bank; but the leader swung +the string of dogs behind him to the right, fouling Mason's snowshoes. +The result was grievous. +</P> + +<P> +Mason was whipped off his feet; one of the dogs fell in the traces; and +the sled toppled back, dragging everything to the bottom again. +</P> + +<P> +Slash! the whip fell among the dogs savagely, especially upon the one +which had fallen. +</P> + +<P> +'Don't,—Mason,' entreated Malemute Kid; 'the poor devil's on its last +legs. Wait and we'll put my team on.' Mason deliberately withheld the +whip till the last word had fallen, then out flashed the long lash, +completely curling about the offending creature's body. +</P> + +<P> +Carmen—for it was Carmen—cowered in the snow, cried piteously, then +rolled over on her side. +</P> + +<P> +It was a tragic moment, a pitiful incident of the trail—a dying dog, +two comrades in anger. +</P> + +<P> +Ruth glanced solicitously from man to man. But Malemute Kid restrained +himself, though there was a world of reproach in his eyes, and, bending +over the dog, cut the traces. No word was spoken. The teams were +doublespanned and the difficulty overcome; the sleds were under way +again, the dying dog dragging herself along in the rear. As long as an +animal can travel, it is not shot, and this last chance is accorded +it—the crawling into camp, if it can, in the hope of a moose being +killed. +</P> + +<P> +Already penitent for his angry action, but too stubborn to make amends, +Mason toiled on at the head of the cavalcade, little dreaming that +danger hovered in the air. The timber clustered thick in the sheltered +bottom, and through this they threaded their way. Fifty feet or more +from the trail towered a lofty pine. For generations it had stood +there, and for generations destiny had had this one end in +view—perhaps the same had been decreed of Mason. +</P> + +<P> +He stooped to fasten the loosened thong of his moccasin. The sleds came +to a halt, and the dogs lay down in the snow without a whimper. The +stillness was weird; not a breath rustled the frost-encrusted forest; +the cold and silence of outer space had chilled the heart and smote the +trembling lips of nature. A sigh pulsed through the air—they did not +seem to actually hear it, but rather felt it, like the premonition of +movement in a motionless void. Then the great tree, burdened with its +weight of years and snow, played its last part in the tragedy of life. +He heard the warning crash and attempted to spring up but, almost +erect, caught the blow squarely on the shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +The sudden danger, the quick death—how often had Malemute Kid faced +it! The pine needles were still quivering as he gave his commands and +sprang into action. Nor did the Indian girl faint or raise her voice in +idle wailing, as might many of her white sisters. At his order, she +threw her weight on the end of a quickly extemporized handspike, easing +the pressure and listening to her husband's groans, while Malemute Kid +attacked the tree with his ax. The steel rang merrily as it bit into +the frozen trunk, each stroke being accompanied by a forced, audible +respiration, the 'Huh!' 'Huh!' of the woodsman. +</P> + +<P> +At last the Kid laid the pitiable thing that was once a man in the +snow. But worse than his comrade's pain was the dumb anguish in the +woman's face, the blended look of hopeful, hopeless query. Little was +said; those of the Northland are early taught the futility of words and +the inestimable value of deeds. With the temperature at sixty-five +below zero, a man cannot lie many minutes in the snow and live. So the +sled lashings were cut, and the sufferer, rolled in furs, laid on a +couch of boughs. Before him roared a fire, built of the very wood which +wrought the mishap. Behind and partially over him was stretched the +primitive fly—a piece of canvas, which caught the radiating heat and +threw it back and down upon him—a trick which men may know who study +physics at the fount. +</P> + +<P> +And men who have shared their bed with death know when the call is +sounded. Mason was terribly crushed. The most cursory examination +revealed it. +</P> + +<P> +His right arm, leg, and back were broken; his limbs were paralyzed from +the hips; and the likelihood of internal injuries was large. An +occasional moan was his only sign of life. +</P> + +<P> +No hope; nothing to be done. The pitiless night crept slowly by—Ruth's +portion, the despairing stoicism of her race, and Malemute Kid adding +new lines to his face of bronze. +</P> + +<P> +In fact, Mason suffered least of all, for he spent his time in eastern +Tennessee, in the Great Smoky Mountains, living over the scenes of his +childhood. And most pathetic was the melody of his long-forgotten +Southern vernacular, as he raved of swimming holes and coon hunts and +watermelon raids. It was as Greek to Ruth, but the Kid understood and +felt—felt as only one can feel who has been shut out for years from +all that civilization means. +</P> + +<P> +Morning brought consciousness to the stricken man, and Malemute Kid +bent closer to catch his whispers. +</P> + +<P> +'You remember when we foregathered on the Tanana, four years come next +ice run? I didn't care so much for her then. It was more like she was +pretty, and there was a smack of excitement about it, I think. But d'ye +know, I've come to think a heap of her. She's been a good wife to me, +always at my shoulder in the pinch. And when it comes to trading, you +know there isn't her equal. D'ye recollect the time she shot the +Moosehorn Rapids to pull you and me off that rock, the bullets whipping +the water like hailstones?—and the time of the famine at +Nuklukyeto?—when she raced the ice run to bring the news? +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, she's been a good wife to me, better'n that other one. Didn't +know I'd been there? +</P> + +<P> +'Never told you, eh? Well, I tried it once, down in the States. That's +why I'm here. Been raised together, too. I came away to give her a +chance for divorce. She got it. +</P> + +<P> +'But that's got nothing to do with Ruth. I had thought of cleaning up +and pulling for the Outside next year—her and I—but it's too late. +Don't send her back to her people, Kid. It's beastly hard for a woman +to go back. Think of it!—nearly four years on our bacon and beans and +flour and dried fruit, and then to go back to her fish and caribou. +It's not good for her to have tried our ways, to come to know they're +better'n her people's, and then return to them. Take care of her, Kid, +why don't you—but no, you always fought shy of them—and you never +told me why you came to this country. Be kind to her, and send her back +to the States as soon as you can. But fix it so she can come +back—liable to get homesick, you know. +</P> + +<P> +'And the youngster—it's drawn us closer, Kid. I only hope it is a boy. +Think of it!—flesh of my flesh, Kid. He mustn't stop in this country. +And if it's a girl, why, she can't. Sell my furs; they'll fetch at +least five thousand, and I've got as much more with the company. And +handle my interests with yours. I think that bench claim will show up. +See that he gets a good schooling; and Kid, above all, don't let him +come back. This country was not made for white men. +</P> + +<P> +'I'm a gone man, Kid. Three or four sleeps at the best. You've got to +go on. You must go on! Remember, it's my wife, it's my boy—O God! I +hope it's a boy! You can't stay by me—and I charge you, a dying man, +to pull on.' +</P> + +<P> +'Give me three days,' pleaded Malemute Kid. 'You may change for the +better; something may turn up.' +</P> + +<P> +'No.' +</P> + +<P> +'Just three days.' +</P> + +<P> +'You must pull on.' +</P> + +<P> +'Two days.' +</P> + +<P> +'It's my wife and my boy, Kid. You would not ask it.' +</P> + +<P> +'One day.' +</P> + +<P> +'No, no! I charge—' +</P> + +<P> +'Only one day. We can shave it through on the grub, and I might knock +over a moose.' +</P> + +<P> +'No—all right; one day, but not a minute more. And, Kid, don't—don't +leave me to face it alone. Just a shot, one pull on the trigger. You +understand. Think of it! Think of it! Flesh of my flesh, and I'll never +live to see him! +</P> + +<P> +'Send Ruth here. I want to say good-by and tell her that she must think +of the boy and not wait till I'm dead. She might refuse to go with you +if I didn't. Goodby, old man; good-by. +</P> + +<P> +'Kid! I say—a—sink a hole above the pup, next to the slide. I panned +out forty cents on my shovel there. +</P> + +<P> +'And, Kid!' He stooped lower to catch the last faint words, the dying +man's surrender of his pride. 'I'm sorry—for—you know—Carmen.' +Leaving the girl crying softly over her man, Malemute Kid slipped into +his parka and snowshoes, tucked his rifle under his arm, and crept away +into the forest. He was no tyro in the stern sorrows of the Northland, +but never had he faced so stiff a problem as this. In the abstract, it +was a plain, mathematical proposition—three possible lives as against +one doomed one. But now he hesitated. For five years, shoulder to +shoulder, on the rivers and trails, in the camps and mines, facing +death by field and flood and famine, had they knitted the bonds of +their comradeship. So close was the tie that he had often been +conscious of a vague jealousy of Ruth, from the first time she had come +between. And now it must be severed by his own hand. +</P> + +<P> +Though he prayed for a moose, just one moose, all game seemed to have +deserted the land, and nightfall found the exhausted man crawling into +camp, lighthanded, heavyhearted. An uproar from the dogs and shrill +cries from Ruth hastened him. +</P> + +<P> +Bursting into the camp, he saw the girl in the midst of the snarling +pack, laying about her with an ax. The dogs had broken the iron rule of +their masters and were rushing the grub. +</P> + +<P> +He joined the issue with his rifle reversed, and the hoary game of +natural selection was played out with all the ruthlessness of its +primeval environment. Rifle and ax went up and down, hit or missed with +monotonous regularity; lithe bodies flashed, with wild eyes and +dripping fangs; and man and beast fought for supremacy to the bitterest +conclusion. Then the beaten brutes crept to the edge of the firelight, +licking their wounds, voicing their misery to the stars. +</P> + +<P> +The whole stock of dried salmon had been devoured, and perhaps five +pounds of flour remained to tide them over two hundred miles of +wilderness. Ruth returned to her husband, while Malemute Kid cut up the +warm body of one of the dogs, the skull of which had been crushed by +the ax. Every portion was carefully put away, save the hide and offal, +which were cast to his fellows of the moment before. +</P> + +<P> +Morning brought fresh trouble. The animals were turning on each other. +Carmen, who still clung to her slender thread of life, was downed by +the pack. The lash fell among them unheeded. They cringed and cried +under the blows, but refused to scatter till the last wretched bit had +disappeared—bones, hide, hair, everything. +</P> + +<P> +Malemute Kid went about his work, listening to Mason, who was back in +Tennessee, delivering tangled discourses and wild exhortations to his +brethren of other days. +</P> + +<P> +Taking advantage of neighboring pines, he worked rapidly, and Ruth +watched him make a cache similar to those sometimes used by hunters to +preserve their meat from the wolverines and dogs. One after the other, +he bent the tops of two small pines toward each other and nearly to the +ground, making them fast with thongs of moosehide. Then he beat the +dogs into submission and harnessed them to two of the sleds, loading +the same with everything but the furs which enveloped Mason. These he +wrapped and lashed tightly about him, fastening either end of the robes +to the bent pines. A single stroke of his hunting knife would release +them and send the body high in the air. +</P> + +<P> +Ruth had received her husband's last wishes and made no struggle. Poor +girl, she had learned the lesson of obedience well. From a child, she +had bowed, and seen all women bow, to the lords of creation, and it did +not seem in the nature of things for woman to resist. The Kid permitted +her one outburst of grief, as she kissed her husband—her own people +had no such custom—then led her to the foremost sled and helped her +into her snowshoes. Blindly, instinctively, she took the gee pole and +whip, and 'mushed' the dogs out on the trail. Then he returned to +Mason, who had fallen into a coma, and long after she was out of sight +crouched by the fire, waiting, hoping, praying for his comrade to die. +</P> + +<P> +It is not pleasant to be alone with painful thoughts in the White +Silence. The silence of gloom is merciful, shrouding one as with +protection and breathing a thousand intangible sympathies; but the +bright White Silence, clear and cold, under steely skies, is pitiless. +</P> + +<P> +An hour passed—two hours—but the man would not die. At high noon the +sun, without raising its rim above the southern horizon, threw a +suggestion of fire athwart the heavens, then quickly drew it back. +Malemute Kid roused and dragged himself to his comrade's side. He cast +one glance about him. The White Silence seemed to sneer, and a great +fear came upon him. There was a sharp report; Mason swung into his +aerial sepulcher, and Malemute Kid lashed the dogs into a wild gallop +as he fled across the snow. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="wolf"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Son of the Wolf +</H3> + +<P> +Man rarely places a proper valuation upon his womankind, at least not +until deprived of them. He has no conception of the subtle atmosphere +exhaled by the sex feminine, so long as he bathes in it; but let it be +withdrawn, and an ever-growing void begins to manifest itself in his +existence, and he becomes hungry, in a vague sort of way, for a +something so indefinite that he cannot characterize it. If his comrades +have no more experience than himself, they will shake their heads +dubiously and dose him with strong physic. But the hunger will continue +and become stronger; he will lose interest in the things of his +everyday life and wax morbid; and one day, when the emptiness has +become unbearable, a revelation will dawn upon him. +</P> + +<P> +In the Yukon country, when this comes to pass, the man usually +provisions a poling boat, if it is summer, and if winter, harnesses his +dogs, and heads for the Southland. A few months later, supposing him to +be possessed of a faith in the country, he returns with a wife to share +with him in that faith, and incidentally in his hardships. This but +serves to show the innate selfishness of man. It also brings us to the +trouble of 'Scruff' Mackenzie, which occurred in the old days, before +the country was stampeded and staked by a tidal-wave of the +che-cha-quas, and when the Klondike's only claim to notice was its +salmon fisheries. +</P> + +<P> +'Scruff' Mackenzie bore the earmarks of a frontier birth and a frontier +life. +</P> + +<P> +His face was stamped with twenty-five years of incessant struggle with +Nature in her wildest moods,—the last two, the wildest and hardest of +all, having been spent in groping for the gold which lies in the shadow +of the Arctic Circle. When the yearning sickness came upon him, he was +not surprised, for he was a practical man and had seen other men thus +stricken. But he showed no sign of his malady, save that he worked +harder. All summer he fought mosquitoes and washed the sure-thing bars +of the Stuart River for a double grubstake. Then he floated a raft of +houselogs down the Yukon to Forty Mile, and put together as comfortable +a cabin as any the camp could boast of. In fact, it showed such cozy +promise that many men elected to be his partner and to come and live +with him. But he crushed their aspirations with rough speech, peculiar +for its strength and brevity, and bought a double supply of grub from +the trading-post. +</P> + +<P> +As has been noted, 'Scruff' Mackenzie was a practical man. If he wanted +a thing he usually got it, but in doing so, went no farther out of his +way than was necessary. Though a son of toil and hardship, he was +averse to a journey of six hundred miles on the ice, a second of two +thousand miles on the ocean, and still a third thousand miles or so to +his last stamping-grounds,—all in the mere quest of a wife. Life was +too short. So he rounded up his dogs, lashed a curious freight to his +sled, and faced across the divide whose westward slopes were drained by +the head-reaches of the Tanana. +</P> + +<P> +He was a sturdy traveler, and his wolf-dogs could work harder and +travel farther on less grub than any other team in the Yukon. Three +weeks later he strode into a hunting-camp of the Upper Tanana Sticks. +They marveled at his temerity; for they had a bad name and had been +known to kill white men for as trifling a thing as a sharp ax or a +broken rifle. +</P> + +<P> +But he went among them single-handed, his bearing being a delicious +composite of humility, familiarity, sang-froid, and insolence. It +required a deft hand and deep knowledge of the barbaric mind +effectually to handle such diverse weapons; but he was a past-master in +the art, knowing when to conciliate and when to threaten with Jove-like +wrath. +</P> + +<P> +He first made obeisance to the Chief Thling-Tinneh, presenting him with +a couple of pounds of black tea and tobacco, and thereby winning his +most cordial regard. Then he mingled with the men and maidens, and that +night gave a potlach. +</P> + +<P> +The snow was beaten down in the form of an oblong, perhaps a hundred +feet in length and quarter as many across. Down the center a long fire +was built, while either side was carpeted with spruce boughs. The +lodges were forsaken, and the fivescore or so members of the tribe gave +tongue to their folk-chants in honor of their guest. +</P> + +<P> +'Scruff' Mackenzie's two years had taught him the not many hundred +words of their vocabulary, and he had likewise conquered their deep +gutturals, their Japanese idioms, constructions, and honorific and +agglutinative particles. So he made oration after their manner, +satisfying their instinctive poetry-love with crude flights of +eloquence and metaphorical contortions. After Thling-Tinneh and the +Shaman had responded in kind, he made trifling presents to the menfolk, +joined in their singing, and proved an expert in their fifty-two-stick +gambling game. +</P> + +<P> +And they smoked his tobacco and were pleased. But among the younger men +there was a defiant attitude, a spirit of braggadocio, easily +understood by the raw insinuations of the toothless squaws and the +giggling of the maidens. They had known few white men, 'Sons of the +Wolf,' but from those few they had learned strange lessons. +</P> + +<P> +Nor had 'Scruff' Mackenzie, for all his seeming carelessness, failed to +note these phenomena. In truth, rolled in his sleeping-furs, he thought +it all over, thought seriously, and emptied many pipes in mapping out a +campaign. One maiden only had caught his fancy,—none other than +Zarinska, daughter to the chief. In features, form, and poise, +answering more nearly to the white man's type of beauty, she was almost +an anomaly among her tribal sisters. He would possess her, make her his +wife, and name her—ah, he would name her Gertrude! Having thus +decided, he rolled over on his side and dropped off to sleep, a true +son of his all-conquering race, a Samson among the Philistines. +</P> + +<P> +It was slow work and a stiff game; but 'Scruff' Mackenzie maneuvered +cunningly, with an unconcern which served to puzzle the Sticks. He took +great care to impress the men that he was a sure shot and a mighty +hunter, and the camp rang with his plaudits when he brought down a +moose at six hundred yards. Of a night he visited in Chief +Thling-Tinneh's lodge of moose and cariboo skins, talking big and +dispensing tobacco with a lavish hand. Nor did he fail to likewise +honor the Shaman; for he realized the medicine-man's influence with his +people, and was anxious to make of him an ally. But that worthy was +high and mighty, refused to be propitiated, and was unerringly marked +down as a prospective enemy. +</P> + +<P> +Though no opening presented for an interview with Zarinska, Mackenzie +stole many a glance to her, giving fair warning of his intent. And well +she knew, yet coquettishly surrounded herself with a ring of women +whenever the men were away and he had a chance. But he was in no hurry; +besides, he knew she could not help but think of him, and a few days of +such thought would only better his suit. +</P> + +<P> +At last, one night, when he deemed the time to be ripe, he abruptly +left the chief's smoky dwelling and hastened to a neighboring lodge. As +usual, she sat with squaws and maidens about her, all engaged in sewing +moccasins and beadwork. They laughed at his entrance, and badinage, +which linked Zarinska to him, ran high. But one after the other they +were unceremoniously bundled into the outer snow, whence they hurried +to spread the tale through all the camp. +</P> + +<P> +His cause was well pleaded, in her tongue, for she did not know his, +and at the end of two hours he rose to go. +</P> + +<P> +'So Zarinska will come to the White Man's lodge? Good! I go now to have +talk with thy father, for he may not be so minded. And I will give him +many tokens; but he must not ask too much. If he say no? Good! Zarinska +shall yet come to the White Man's lodge.' +</P> + +<P> +He had already lifted the skin flap to depart, when a low exclamation +brought him back to the girl's side. She brought herself to her knees +on the bearskin mat, her face aglow with true Eve-light, and shyly +unbuckled his heavy belt. He looked down, perplexed, suspicious, his +ears alert for the slightest sound without. +</P> + +<P> +But her next move disarmed his doubt, and he smiled with pleasure. She +took from her sewing bag a moosehide sheath, brave with bright +beadwork, fantastically designed. She drew his great hunting-knife, +gazed reverently along the keen edge, half tempted to try it with her +thumb, and shot it into place in its new home. Then she slipped the +sheath along the belt to its customary resting-place, just above the +hip. For all the world, it was like a scene of olden time,—a lady and +her knight. +</P> + +<P> +Mackenzie drew her up full height and swept her red lips with his +moustache, the, to her, foreign caress of the Wolf. It was a meeting of +the stone age and the steel; but she was none the less a woman, as her +crimson cheeks and the luminous softness of her eyes attested. +</P> + +<P> +There was a thrill of excitement in the air as 'Scruff' Mackenzie, a +bulky bundle under his arm, threw open the flap of Thling-Tinneh's +tent. Children were running about in the open, dragging dry wood to the +scene of the potlach, a babble of women's voices was growing in +intensity, the young men were consulting in sullen groups, while from +the Shaman's lodge rose the eerie sounds of an incantation. +</P> + +<P> +The chief was alone with his blear-eyed wife, but a glance sufficed to +tell Mackenzie that the news was already told. So he plunged at once +into the business, shifting the beaded sheath prominently to the fore +as advertisement of the betrothal. +</P> + +<P> +'O Thling-Tinneh, mighty chief of the Sticks And the land of the +Tanana, ruler of the salmon and the bear, the moose and the cariboo! +The White Man is before thee with a great purpose. Many moons has his +lodge been empty, and he is lonely. And his heart has eaten itself in +silence, and grown hungry for a woman to sit beside him in his lodge, +to meet him from the hunt with warm fire and good food. He has heard +strange things, the patter of baby moccasins and the sound of +children's voices. And one night a vision came upon him, and he beheld +the Raven, who is thy father, the great Raven, who is the father of all +the Sticks. And the Raven spake to the lonely White Man, saying: "Bind +thou thy moccasins upon thee, and gird thy snow-shoes on, and lash thy +sled with food for many sleeps and fine tokens for the Chief +Thling-Tinneh. For thou shalt turn thy face to where the mid-spring sun +is wont to sink below the land and journey to this great chief's +hunting-grounds. There thou shalt make big presents, and Thling-Tinneh, +who is my son, shall become to thee as a father. In his lodge there is +a maiden into whom I breathed the breath of life for thee. This maiden +shalt thou take to wife." 'O Chief, thus spake the great Raven; thus do +I lay many presents at thy feet; thus am I come to take thy daughter!' +The old man drew his furs about him with crude consciousness of +royalty, but delayed reply while a youngster crept in, delivered a +quick message to appear before the council, and was gone. +</P> + +<P> +'O White Man, whom we have named Moose-Killer, also known as the Wolf, +and the Son of the Wolf! We know thou comest of a mighty race; we are +proud to have thee our potlach-guest; but the king-salmon does not mate +with the dogsalmon, nor the Raven with the Wolf.' 'Not so!' cried +Mackenzie. 'The daughters of the Raven have I met in the camps of the +Wolf,—the squaw of Mortimer, the squaw of Tregidgo, the squaw of +Barnaby, who came two ice-runs back, and I have heard of other squaws, +though my eyes beheld them not.' 'Son, your words are true; but it were +evil mating, like the water with the sand, like the snow-flake with the +sun. But met you one Mason and his squaw' No? +</P> + +<P> +He came ten ice-runs ago,—the first of all the Wolves. And with him +there was a mighty man, straight as a willow-shoot, and tall; strong as +the bald-faced grizzly, with a heart like the full summer moon; his-' +'Oh!' interrupted Mackenzie, recognizing the well-known Northland +figure, 'Malemute Kid!' 'The same,—a mighty man. But saw you aught of +the squaw? She was full sister to Zarinska.' 'Nay, Chief; but I have +heard. Mason—far, far to the north, a spruce-tree, heavy with years, +crushed out his life beneath. But his love was great, and he had much +gold. With this, and her boy, she journeyed countless sleeps toward the +winter's noonday sun, and there she yet lives,—no biting frost, no +snow, no summer's midnight sun, no winter's noonday night.' +</P> + +<P> +A second messenger interrupted with imperative summons from the council. +</P> + +<P> +As Mackenzie threw him into the snow, he caught a glimpse of the +swaying forms before the council-fire, heard the deep basses of the men +in rhythmic chant, and knew the Shaman was fanning the anger of his +people. Time pressed. He turned upon the chief. +</P> + +<P> +'Come! I wish thy child. And now, see! Here are tobacco, tea, many cups +of sugar, warm blankets, handkerchiefs, both good and large; and here, +a true rifle, with many bullets and much powder.' 'Nay,' replied the +old man, struggling against the great wealth spread before him. 'Even +now are my people come together. They will not have this marriage.' +</P> + +<P> +'But thou art chief.' 'Yet do my young men rage because the Wolves have +taken their maidens so that they may not marry.' 'Listen, O +Thling-Tinneh! Ere the night has passed into the day, the Wolf shall +face his dogs to the Mountains of the East and fare forth to the +Country of the Yukon. And Zarinska shall break trail for his dogs.' +'And ere the night has gained its middle, my young men may fling to the +dogs the flesh of the Wolf, and his bones be scattered in the snow till +the springtime lay them bare.' It was threat and counter-threat. +Mackenzie's bronzed face flushed darkly. He raised his voice. The old +squaw, who till now had sat an impassive spectator, made to creep by +him for the door. +</P> + +<P> +The song of the men broke suddenly and there was a hubbub of many +voices as he whirled the old woman roughly to her couch of skins. +</P> + +<P> +'Again I cry—listen, O Thling-Tinneh! The Wolf dies with teeth +fast-locked, and with him there shall sleep ten of thy strongest +men,—men who are needed, for the hunting is not begun, and the fishing +is not many moons away. And again, of what profit should I die? I know +the custom of thy people; thy share of my wealth shall be very small. +Grant me thy child, and it shall all be thine. And yet again, my +brothers will come, and they are many, and their maws are never filled; +and the daughters of the Raven shall bear children in the lodges of the +Wolf. My people are greater than thy people. It is destiny. Grant, and +all this wealth is thine.' Moccasins were crunching the snow without. +Mackenzie threw his rifle to cock, and loosened the twin Colts in his +belt. +</P> + +<P> +'Grant, O Chief!' 'And yet will my people say no.' 'Grant, and the +wealth is thine. Then shall I deal with thy people after.' 'The Wolf +will have it so. I will take his tokens,—but I would warn him.' +Mackenzie passed over the goods, taking care to clog the rifle's +ejector, and capping the bargain with a kaleidoscopic silk kerchief. +The Shaman and half a dozen young braves entered, but he shouldered +boldly among them and passed out. +</P> + +<P> +'Pack!' was his laconic greeting to Zarinska as he passed her lodge and +hurried to harness his dogs. A few minutes later he swept into the +council at the head of the team, the woman by his side. He took his +place at the upper end of the oblong, by the side of the chief. To his +left, a step to the rear, he stationed Zarinska, her proper place. +Besides, the time was ripe for mischief, and there was need to guard +his back. +</P> + +<P> +On either side, the men crouched to the fire, their voices lifted in a +folk-chant out of the forgotten past. Full of strange, halting cadences +and haunting recurrences, it was not beautiful. 'Fearful' may +inadequately express it. At the lower end, under the eye of the Shaman, +danced half a score of women. Stern were his reproofs of those who did +not wholly abandon themselves to the ecstasy of the rite. Half hidden +in their heavy masses of raven hair, all dishevelled and falling to +their waists, they slowly swayed to and fro, their forms rippling to an +ever-changing rhythm. +</P> + +<P> +It was a weird scene; an anachronism. To the south, the nineteenth +century was reeling off the few years of its last decade; here +flourished man primeval, a shade removed from the prehistoric +cave-dweller, forgotten fragment of the Elder World. The tawny +wolf-dogs sat between their skin-clad masters or fought for room, the +firelight cast backward from their red eyes and dripping fangs. The +woods, in ghostly shroud, slept on unheeding. +</P> + +<P> +The White Silence, for the moment driven to the rimming forest, seemed +ever crushing inward; the stars danced with great leaps, as is their +wont in the time of the Great Cold; while the Spirits of the Pole +trailed their robes of glory athwart the heavens. +</P> + +<P> +'Scruff' Mackenzie dimly realized the wild grandeur of the setting as +his eyes ranged down the fur-fringed sides in quest of missing faces. +They rested for a moment on a newborn babe, suckling at its mother's +naked breast. It was forty below,—seven and odd degrees of frost. He +thought of the tender women of his own race and smiled grimly. Yet from +the loins of some such tender woman had he sprung with a kingly +inheritance,—an inheritance which gave to him and his dominance over +the land and sea, over the animals and the peoples of all the zones. +Single-handed against fivescore, girt by the Arctic winter, far from +his own, he felt the prompting of his heritage, the desire to possess, +the wild danger—love, the thrill of battle, the power to conquer or to +die. +</P> + +<P> +The singing and the dancing ceased, and the Shaman flared up in rude +eloquence. +</P> + +<P> +Through the sinuosities of their vast mythology, he worked cunningly +upon the credulity of his people. The case was strong. Opposing the +creative principles as embodied in the Crow and the Raven, he +stigmatized Mackenzie as the Wolf, the fighting and the destructive +principle. Not only was the combat of these forces spiritual, but men +fought, each to his totem. They were the children of Jelchs, the Raven, +the Promethean fire-bringer; Mackenzie was the child of the Wolf, or in +other words, the Devil. For them to bring a truce to this perpetual +warfare, to marry their daughters to the arch-enemy, were treason and +blasphemy of the highest order. No phrase was harsh nor figure vile +enough in branding Mackenzie as a sneaking interloper and emissary of +Satan. There was a subdued, savage roar in the deep chests of his +listeners as he took the swing of his peroration. +</P> + +<P> +'Aye, my brothers, Jelchs is all-powerful! Did he not bring +heaven-borne fire that we might be warm? Did he not draw the sun, moon, +and stars, from their holes that we might see? Did he not teach us that +we might fight the Spirits of Famine and of Frost? But now Jelchs is +angry with his children, and they are grown to a handful, and he will +not help. +</P> + +<P> +'For they have forgotten him, and done evil things, and trod bad +trails, and taken his enemies into their lodges to sit by their fires. +And the Raven is sorrowful at the wickedness of his children; but when +they shall rise up and show they have come back, he will come out of +the darkness to aid them. O brothers! the Fire-Bringer has whispered +messages to thy Shaman; the same shall ye hear. Let the young men take +the young women to their lodges; let them fly at the throat of the +Wolf; let them be undying in their enmity! Then shall their women +become fruitful and they shall multiply into a mighty people! And the +Raven shall lead great tribes of their fathers and their fathers' +fathers from out of the North; and they shall beat back the Wolves till +they are as last year's campfires; and they shall again come to rule +over all the land! 'Tis the message of Jelchs, the Raven.' This +foreshadowing of the Messiah's coming brought a hoarse howl from the +Sticks as they leaped to their feet. Mackenzie slipped the thumbs of +his mittens and waited. There was a clamor for the 'Fox,' not to be +stilled till one of the young men stepped forward to speak. +</P> + +<P> +'Brothers! The Shaman has spoken wisely. The Wolves have taken our +women, and our men are childless. We are grown to a handful. The Wolves +have taken our warm furs and given for them evil spirits which dwell in +bottles, and clothes which come not from the beaver or the lynx, but +are made from the grass. +</P> + +<P> +And they are not warm, and our men die of strange sicknesses. I, the +Fox, have taken no woman to wife; and why? Twice have the maidens which +pleased me gone to the camps of the Wolf. Even now have I laid by skins +of the beaver, of the moose, of the cariboo, that I might win favor in +the eyes of Thling-Tinneh, that I might marry Zarinska, his daughter. +Even now are her snow-shoes bound to her feet, ready to break trail for +the dogs of the Wolf. Nor do I speak for myself alone. +</P> + +<P> +As I have done, so has the Bear. He, too, had fain been the father of +her children, and many skins has he cured thereto. I speak for all the +young men who know not wives. The Wolves are ever hungry. Always do +they take the choice meat at the killing. To the Ravens are left the +leavings. +</P> + +<P> +'There is Gugkla,' he cried, brutally pointing out one of the women, +who was a cripple. +</P> + +<P> +'Her legs are bent like the ribs of a birch canoe. She cannot gather +wood nor carry the meat of the hunters. Did the Wolves choose her?' +'Ai! ai!' vociferated his tribesmen. +</P> + +<P> +'There is Moyri, whose eyes are crossed by the Evil Spirit. Even the +babes are affrighted when they gaze upon her, and it is said the +bald-face gives her the trail. +</P> + +<P> +'Was she chosen?' Again the cruel applause rang out. +</P> + +<P> +'And there sits Pischet. She does not hearken to my words. Never has +she heard the cry of the chit-chat, the voice of her husband, the +babble of her child. +</P> + +<P> +'She lives in the White Silence. Cared the Wolves aught for her? No! +Theirs is the choice of the kill; ours is the leavings. +</P> + +<P> +'Brothers, it shall not be! No more shall the Wolves slink among our +campfires. The time is come.' A great streamer of fire, the aurora +borealis, purple, green, and yellow, shot across the zenith, bridging +horizon to horizon. With head thrown back and arms extended, he swayed +to his climax. +</P> + +<P> +'Behold! The spirits of our fathers have arisen and great deeds are +afoot this night!' He stepped back, and another young man somewhat +diffidently came forward, pushed on by his comrades. He towered a full +head above them, his broad chest defiantly bared to the frost. He swung +tentatively from one foot to the other. +</P> + +<P> +Words halted upon his tongue, and he was ill at ease. His face was +horrible to look upon, for it had at one time been half torn away by +some terrific blow. At last he struck his breast with his clenched +fist, drawing sound as from a drum, and his voice rumbled forth as does +the surf from an ocean cavern. +</P> + +<P> +'I am the Bear,—the Silver-Tip and the Son of the Silver-Tip! When my +voice was yet as a girl's, I slew the lynx, the moose, and the cariboo; +when it whistled like the wolverines from under a cache, I crossed the +Mountains of the South and slew three of the White Rivers; when it +became as the roar of the Chinook, I met the bald-faced grizzly, but +gave no trail.' At this he paused, his hand significantly sweeping +across his hideous scars. +</P> + +<P> +'I am not as the Fox. My tongue is frozen like the river. I cannot make +great talk. My words are few. The Fox says great deeds are afoot this +night. Good! Talk flows from his tongue like the freshets of the +spring, but he is chary of deeds. +</P> + +<P> +'This night shall I do battle with the Wolf. I shall slay him, and +Zarinska shall sit by my fire. The Bear has spoken.' Though pandemonium +raged about him, 'Scruff' Mackenzie held his ground. +</P> + +<P> +Aware how useless was the rifle at close quarters, he slipped both +holsters to the fore, ready for action, and drew his mittens till his +hands were barely shielded by the elbow gauntlets. He knew there was no +hope in attack en masse, but true to his boast, was prepared to die +with teeth fast-locked. But the Bear restrained his comrades, beating +back the more impetuous with his terrible fist. As the tumult began to +die away, Mackenzie shot a glance in the direction of Zarinska. It was +a superb picture. She was leaning forward on her snow-shoes, lips apart +and nostrils quivering, like a tigress about to spring. Her great black +eyes were fixed upon her tribesmen, in fear and defiance. So extreme +the tension, she had forgotten to breathe. With one hand pressed +spasmodically against her breast and the other as tightly gripped about +the dog-whip, she was as turned to stone. Even as he looked, relief +came to her. Her muscles loosened; with a heavy sigh she settled back, +giving him a look of more than love—of worship. +</P> + +<P> +Thling-Tinneh was trying to speak, but his people drowned his voice. +Then Mackenzie strode forward. The Fox opened his mouth to a piercing +yell, but so savagely did Mackenzie whirl upon him that he shrank back, +his larynx all agurgle with suppressed sound. His discomfiture was +greeted with roars of laughter, and served to soothe his fellows to a +listening mood. +</P> + +<P> +'Brothers! The White Man, whom ye have chosen to call the Wolf, came +among you with fair words. He was not like the Innuit; he spoke not +lies. He came as a friend, as one who would be a brother. But your men +have had their say, and the time for soft words is past. +</P> + +<P> +'First, I will tell you that the Shaman has an evil tongue and is a +false prophet, that the messages he spake are not those of the +Fire-Bringer. His ears are locked to the voice of the Raven, and out of +his own head he weaves cunning fancies, and he has made fools of you. +He has no power. +</P> + +<P> +'When the dogs were killed and eaten, and your stomachs were heavy with +untanned hide and strips of moccasins; when the old men died, and the +old women died, and the babes at the dry dugs of the mothers died; when +the land was dark, and ye perished as do the salmon in the fall; aye, +when the famine was upon you, did the Shaman bring reward to your +hunters? did the Shaman put meat in your bellies? Again I say, the +Shaman is without power. Thus I spit upon his face!' Though taken aback +by the sacrilege, there was no uproar. Some of the women were even +frightened, but among the men there was an uplifting, as though in +preparation or anticipation of the miracle. All eyes were turned upon +the two central figures. The priest realized the crucial moment, felt +his power tottering, opened his mouth in denunciation, but fled +backward before the truculent advance, upraised fist, and flashing +eyes, of Mackenzie. He sneered and resumed. +</P> + +<P> +'Was I stricken dead? Did the lightning burn me? Did the stars fall +from the sky and crush me? Pish! I have done with the dog. Now will I +tell you of my people, who are the mightiest of all the peoples, who +rule in all the lands. At first we hunt as I hunt, alone. +</P> + +<P> +'After that we hunt in packs; and at last, like the cariboo-run, we +sweep across all the land. +</P> + +<P> +'Those whom we take into our lodges live; those who will not come die. +Zarinska is a comely maiden, full and strong, fit to become the mother +of Wolves. Though I die, such shall she become; for my brothers are +many, and they will follow the scent of my dogs. +</P> + +<P> +'Listen to the Law of the Wolf: Whoso taketh the life of one Wolf, the +forfeit shall ten of his people pay. In many lands has the price been +paid; in many lands shall it yet be paid. +</P> + +<P> +'Now will I deal with the Fox and the Bear. It seems they have cast +eyes upon the maiden. So? Behold, I have bought her! Thling-Tinneh +leans upon the rifle; the goods of purchase are by his fire. Yet will I +be fair to the young men. To the Fox, whose tongue is dry with many +words, will I give of tobacco five long plugs. +</P> + +<P> +'Thus will his mouth be wetted that he may make much noise in the +council. But to the Bear, of whom I am well proud, will I give of +blankets two; of flour, twenty cups; of tobacco, double that of the +Fox; and if he fare with me over the Mountains of the East, then will I +give him a rifle, mate to Thling-Tinneh's. If not? Good! The Wolf is +weary of speech. Yet once again will he say the Law: Whoso taketh the +life of one Wolf, the forfeit shall ten of his people pay.' +</P> + +<P> +Mackenzie smiled as he stepped back to his old position, but at heart +he was full of trouble. The night was yet dark. The girl came to his +side, and he listened closely as she told of the Bear's battle-tricks +with the knife. +</P> + +<P> +The decision was for war. In a trice, scores of moccasins were widening +the space of beaten snow by the fire. There was much chatter about the +seeming defeat of the Shaman; some averred he had but withheld his +power, while others conned past events and agreed with the Wolf. The +Bear came to the center of the battle-ground, a long naked +hunting-knife of Russian make in his hand. The Fox called attention to +Mackenzie's revolvers; so he stripped his belt, buckling it about +Zarinska, into whose hands he also entrusted his rifle. She shook her +head that she could not shoot,—small chance had a woman to handle such +precious things. +</P> + +<P> +'Then, if danger come by my back, cry aloud, "My husband!" No; thus, +"My husband!"' +</P> + +<P> +He laughed as she repeated it, pinched her cheek, and reentered the +circle. Not only in reach and stature had the Bear the advantage of +him, but his blade was longer by a good two inches. 'Scruff' Mackenzie +had looked into the eyes of men before, and he knew it was a man who +stood against him; yet he quickened to the glint of light on the steel, +to the dominant pulse of his race. +</P> + +<P> +Time and again he was forced to the edge of the fire or the deep snow, +and time and again, with the foot tactics of the pugilist, he worked +back to the center. Not a voice was lifted in encouragement, while his +antagonist was heartened with applause, suggestions, and warnings. But +his teeth only shut the tighter as the knives clashed together, and he +thrust or eluded with a coolness born of conscious strength. At first +he felt compassion for his enemy; but this fled before the primal +instinct of life, which in turn gave way to the lust of slaughter. The +ten thousand years of culture fell from him, and he was a cave-dweller, +doing battle for his female. +</P> + +<P> +Twice he pricked the Bear, getting away unscathed; but the third time +caught, and to save himself, free hands closed on fighting hands, and +they came together. +</P> + +<P> +Then did he realize the tremendous strength of his opponent. His +muscles were knotted in painful lumps, and cords and tendons threatened +to snap with the strain; yet nearer and nearer came the Russian steel. +He tried to break away, but only weakened himself. The fur-clad circle +closed in, certain of and anxious to see the final stroke. But with +wrestler's trick, swinging partly to the side, he struck at his +adversary with his head. Involuntarily the Bear leaned back, disturbing +his center of gravity. Simultaneous with this, Mackenzie tripped +properly and threw his whole weight forward, hurling him clear through +the circle into the deep snow. The Bear floundered out and came back +full tilt. +</P> + +<P> +'O my husband!' Zarinska's voice rang out, vibrant with danger. +</P> + +<P> +To the twang of a bow-string, Mackenzie swept low to the ground, and a +bonebarbed arrow passed over him into the breast of the Bear, whose +momentum carried him over his crouching foe. The next instant Mackenzie +was up and about. The bear lay motionless, but across the fire was the +Shaman, drawing a second arrow. Mackenzie's knife leaped short in the +air. He caught the heavy blade by the point. There was a flash of light +as it spanned the fire. Then the Shaman, the hilt alone appearing +without his throat, swayed and pitched forward into the glowing embers. +</P> + +<P> +Click! Click!—the Fox had possessed himself of Thling-Tinneh's rifle +and was vainly trying to throw a shell into place. But he dropped it at +the sound of Mackenzie's laughter. +</P> + +<P> +'So the Fox has not learned the way of the plaything? He is yet a woman. +</P> + +<P> +'Come! Bring it, that I may show thee!' The Fox hesitated. +</P> + +<P> +'Come, I say!' He slouched forward like a beaten cur. +</P> + +<P> +'Thus, and thus; so the thing is done.' A shell flew into place and the +trigger was at cock as Mackenzie brought it to shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +'The Fox has said great deeds were afoot this night, and he spoke true. +There have been great deeds, yet least among them were those of the +Fox. Is he still intent to take Zarinska to his lodge? Is he minded to +tread the trail already broken by the Shaman and the Bear? +</P> + +<P> +'No? Good!' +</P> + +<P> +Mackenzie turned contemptuously and drew his knife from the priest's +throat. +</P> + +<P> +'Are any of the young men so minded? If so, the Wolf will take them by +two and three till none are left. No? Good! Thling-Tinneh, I now give +thee this rifle a second time. If, in the days to come, thou shouldst +journey to the Country of the Yukon, know thou that there shall always +be a place and much food by the fire of the Wolf. The night is now +passing into the day. I go, but I may come again. And for the last +time, remember the Law of the Wolf!' He was supernatural in their sight +as he rejoined Zarinska. She took her place at the head of the team, +and the dogs swung into motion. A few moments later they were swallowed +up by the ghostly forest. Till now Mackenzie had waited; he slipped +into his snow-shoes to follow. +</P> + +<P> +'Has the Wolf forgotten the five long plugs?' Mackenzie turned upon the +Fox angrily; then the humor of it struck him. +</P> + +<P> +'I will give thee one short plug.' 'As the Wolf sees fit,' meekly +responded the Fox, stretching out his hand. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="men"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Men of Forty Mile +</H3> + +<P> +When Big Jim Belden ventured the apparently innocuous proposition that +mush-ice was 'rather pecooliar,' he little dreamed of what it would +lead to. +</P> + +<P> +Neither did Lon McFane, when he affirmed that anchor-ice was even more +so; nor did Bettles, as he instantly disagreed, declaring the very +existence of such a form to be a bugaboo. +</P> + +<P> +'An' ye'd be tellin' me this,' cried Lon, 'after the years ye've spint +in the land! An' we atin' out the same pot this many's the day!' 'But +the thing's agin reasin,' insisted Bettles. +</P> + +<P> +'Look you, water's warmer than ice—' 'An' little the difference, once +ye break through.' +</P> + +<P> +'Still it's warmer, because it ain't froze. An' you say it freezes on +the bottom?' 'Only the anchor-ice, David, only the anchor-ice. An' have +ye niver drifted along, the water clear as glass, whin suddin, belike a +cloud over the sun, the mushy-ice comes bubblin' up an' up till from +bank to bank an' bind to bind it's drapin' the river like a first +snowfall?' 'Unh, hunh! more'n once when I took a doze at the +steering-oar. But it allus come out the nighest side-channel, an' not +bubblin' up an' up.' 'But with niver a wink at the helm?' +</P> + +<P> +'No; nor you. It's agin reason. I'll leave it to any man!' Bettles +appealed to the circle about the stove, but the fight was on between +himself and Lon McFane. +</P> + +<P> +'Reason or no reason, it's the truth I'm tellin' ye. Last fall, a year +gone, 'twas Sitka Charley and meself saw the sight, droppin' down the +riffle ye'll remember below Fort Reliance. An' regular fall weather it +was—the glint o' the sun on the golden larch an' the quakin' aspens; +an' the glister of light on ivery ripple; an' beyand, the winter an' +the blue haze of the North comin' down hand in hand. It's well ye know +the same, with a fringe to the river an' the ice formin' thick in the +eddies—an' a snap an' sparkle to the air, an' ye a-feelin' it through +all yer blood, a-takin' new lease of life with ivery suck of it. 'Tis +then, me boy, the world grows small an' the wandtherlust lays ye by the +heels. +</P> + +<P> +'But it's meself as wandthers. As I was sayin', we a-paddlin', with +niver a sign of ice, barrin' that by the eddies, when the Injun lifts +his paddle an' sings out, "Lon McFane! Look ye below!" So have I heard, +but niver thought to see! As ye know, Sitka Charley, like meself, niver +drew first breath in the land; so the sight was new. Then we drifted, +with a head over ayther side, peerin' down through the sparkly water. +For the world like the days I spint with the pearlers, watchin' the +coral banks a-growin' the same as so many gardens under the sea. There +it was, the anchor-ice, clingin' an' clusterin' to ivery rock, after +the manner of the white coral. +</P> + +<P> +'But the best of the sight was to come. Just after clearin' the tail of +the riffle, the water turns quick the color of milk, an' the top of it +in wee circles, as when the graylin' rise in the spring, or there's a +splatter of wet from the sky. 'Twas the anchor-ice comin' up. To the +right, to the lift, as far as iver a man cud see, the water was covered +with the same. +</P> + +<P> +An' like so much porridge it was, slickin' along the bark of the canoe, +stickin' like glue to the paddles. It's many's the time I shot the +self-same riffle before, and it's many's the time after, but niver a +wink of the same have I seen. 'Twas the sight of a lifetime.' 'Do +tell!' dryly commented Bettles. 'D'ye think I'd b'lieve such a yarn? +I'd ruther say the glister of light'd gone to your eyes, and the snap +of the air to your tongue.' ''Twas me own eyes that beheld it, an' if +Sitka Charley was here, he'd be the lad to back me.' 'But facts is +facts, an' they ain't no gettin' round 'em. It ain't in the nature of +things for the water furtherest away from the air to freeze first.' +'But me own eyes-' 'Don't git het up over it,' admonished Bettles, as +the quick Celtic anger began to mount. +</P> + +<P> +'Then yer not after belavin' me?' 'Sence you're so blamed forehanded +about it, no; I'd b'lieve nature first, and facts.' +</P> + +<P> +'Is it the lie ye'd be givin' me?' threatened Lon. 'Ye'd better be +askin' that Siwash wife of yours. I'll lave it to her, for the truth I +spake.' Bettles flared up in sudden wrath. The Irishman had unwittingly +wounded him; for his wife was the half-breed daughter of a Russian +fur-trader, married to him in the Greek Mission of Nulato, a thousand +miles or so down the Yukon, thus being of much higher caste than the +common Siwash, or native, wife. It was a mere Northland nuance, which +none but the Northland adventurer may understand. +</P> + +<P> +'I reckon you kin take it that way,' was his deliberate affirmation. +</P> + +<P> +The next instant Lon McFane had stretched him on the floor, the circle +was broken up, and half a dozen men had stepped between. +</P> + +<P> +Bettles came to his feet, wiping the blood from his mouth. 'It hain't +new, this takin' and payin' of blows, and don't you never think but +that this will be squared.' 'An' niver in me life did I take the lie +from mortal man,' was the retort courteous. 'An' it's an avil day I'll +not be to hand, waitin' an' willin' to help ye lift yer debts, barrin' +no manner of way.' +</P> + +<P> +'Still got that 38-55?' Lon nodded. +</P> + +<P> +'But you'd better git a more likely caliber. Mine'll rip holes through +you the size of walnuts.' +</P> + +<P> +'Niver fear; it's me own slugs smell their way with soft noses, an' +they'll spread like flapjacks against the coming out beyand. An' +when'll I have the pleasure of waitin' on ye? The waterhole's a +strikin' locality.' ''Tain't bad. Jest be there in an hour, and you +won't set long on my coming.' Both men mittened and left the Post, +their ears closed to the remonstrances of their comrades. It was such a +little thing; yet with such men, little things, nourished by quick +tempers and stubborn natures, soon blossomed into big things. +</P> + +<P> +Besides, the art of burning to bedrock still lay in the womb of the +future, and the men of Forty-Mile, shut in by the long Arctic winter, +grew high-stomached with overeating and enforced idleness, and became +as irritable as do the bees in the fall of the year when the hives are +overstocked with honey. +</P> + +<P> +There was no law in the land. The mounted police was also a thing of +the future. Each man measured an offense, and meted out the punishment +inasmuch as it affected himself. +</P> + +<P> +Rarely had combined action been necessary, and never in all the dreary +history of the camp had the eighth article of the Decalogue been +violated. +</P> + +<P> +Big Jim Belden called an impromptu meeting. Scruff Mackenzie was placed +as temporary chairman, and a messenger dispatched to solicit Father +Roubeau's good offices. Their position was paradoxical, and they knew +it. By the right of might could they interfere to prevent the duel; yet +such action, while in direct line with their wishes, went counter to +their opinions. While their rough-hewn, obsolete ethics recognized the +individual prerogative of wiping out blow with blow, they could not +bear to think of two good comrades, such as Bettles and McFane, meeting +in deadly battle. Deeming the man who would not fight on provocation a +dastard, when brought to the test it seemed wrong that he should fight. +</P> + +<P> +But a scurry of moccasins and loud cries, rounded off with a +pistol-shot, interrupted the discussion. Then the storm-doors opened +and Malemute Kid entered, a smoking Colt's in his hand, and a merry +light in his eye. +</P> + +<P> +'I got him.' He replaced the empty shell, and added, 'Your dog, +Scruff.' 'Yellow Fang?' +</P> + +<P> +Mackenzie asked. +</P> + +<P> +'No; the lop-eared one.' 'The devil! Nothing the matter with him.' +'Come out and take a look.' 'That's all right after all. Buess he's got +'em, too. Yellow Fang came back this morning and took a chunk out of +him, and came near to making a widower of me. Made a rush for Zarinska, +but she whisked her skirts in his face and escaped with the loss of the +same and a good roll in the snow. Then he took to the woods again. Hope +he don't come back. Lost any yourself?' 'One—the best one of the +pack—Shookum. Started amuck this morning, but didn't get very far. Ran +foul of Sitka Charley's team, and they scattered him all over the +street. And now two of them are loose, and raging mad; so you see he +got his work in. The dog census will be small in the spring if we don't +do something.' +</P> + +<P> +'And the man census, too.' 'How's that? Who's in trouble now?' 'Oh, +Bettles and Lon McFane had an argument, and they'll be down by the +waterhole in a few minutes to settle it.' The incident was repeated for +his benefit, and Malemute Kid, accustomed to an obedience which his +fellow men never failed to render, took charge of the affair. His +quickly formulated plan was explained, and they promised to follow his +lead implicitly. +</P> + +<P> +'So you see,' he concluded, 'we do not actually take away their +privilege of fighting; and yet I don't believe they'll fight when they +see the beauty of the scheme. Life's a game and men the gamblers. +They'll stake their whole pile on the one chance in a thousand. +</P> + +<P> +'Take away that one chance, and—they won't play.' He turned to the man +in charge of the Post. 'Storekeeper, weight out three fathoms of your +best half-inch manila. +</P> + +<P> +'We'll establish a precedent which will last the men of Forty-Mile to +the end of time,' he prophesied. Then he coiled the rope about his arm +and led his followers out of doors, just in time to meet the principals. +</P> + +<P> +'What danged right'd he to fetch my wife in?' thundered Bettles to the +soothing overtures of a friend. ''Twa'n't called for,' he concluded +decisively. ''Twa'n't called for,' he reiterated again and again, +pacing up and down and waiting for Lon McFane. +</P> + +<P> +And Lon McFane—his face was hot and tongue rapid as he flaunted +insurrection in the face of the Church. 'Then, father,' he cried, 'it's +with an aisy heart I'll roll in me flamy blankets, the broad of me back +on a bed of coals. Niver shall it be said that Lon McFane took a lie +'twixt the teeth without iver liftin' a hand! An' I'll not ask a +blessin'. The years have been wild, but it's the heart was in the right +place.' 'But it's not the heart, Lon,' interposed Father Roubeau; 'It's +pride that bids you forth to slay your fellow man.' 'Yer Frinch,' Lon +replied. And then, turning to leave him, 'An' will ye say a mass if the +luck is against me?' But the priest smiled, thrust his moccasined feet +to the fore, and went out upon the white breast of the silent river. A +packed trail, the width of a sixteen-inch sled, led out to the +waterhole. On either side lay the deep, soft snow. The men trod in +single file, without conversation; and the black-stoled priest in their +midst gave to the function the solemn aspect of a funeral. It was a +warm winter's day for Forty-Mile—a day in which the sky, filled with +heaviness, drew closer to the earth, and the mercury sought the +unwonted level of twenty below. But there was no cheer in the warmth. +There was little air in the upper strata, and the clouds hung +motionless, giving sullen promise of an early snowfall. And the earth, +unresponsive, made no preparation, content in its hibernation. +</P> + +<P> +When the waterhole was reached, Bettles, having evidently reviewed the +quarrel during the silent walk, burst out in a final ''Twa'n't called +for,' while Lon McFane kept grim silence. Indignation so choked him +that he could not speak. +</P> + +<P> +Yet deep down, whenever their own wrongs were not uppermost, both men +wondered at their comrades. They had expected opposition, and this +tacit acquiescence hurt them. It seemed more was due them from the men +they had been so close with, and they felt a vague sense of wrong, +rebelling at the thought of so many of their brothers coming out, as on +a gala occasion, without one word of protest, to see them shoot each +other down. It appeared their worth had diminished in the eyes of the +community. The proceedings puzzled them. +</P> + +<P> +'Back to back, David. An' will it be fifty paces to the man, or double +the quantity?' +</P> + +<P> +'Fifty,' was the sanguinary reply, grunted out, yet sharply cut. +</P> + +<P> +But the new manila, not prominently displayed, but casually coiled +about Malemute Kid's arm, caught the quick eye of the Irishman, and +thrilled him with a suspicious fear. +</P> + +<P> +'An' what are ye doin' with the rope?' 'Hurry up!' Malemute Kid glanced +at his watch. +</P> + +<P> +'I've a batch of bread in the cabin, and I don't want it to fall. +Besides, my feet are getting cold.' The rest of the men manifested +their impatience in various suggestive ways. +</P> + +<P> +'But the rope, Kid' It's bran' new, an' sure yer bread's not that heavy +it needs raisin' with the like of that?' Bettles by this time had faced +around. Father Roubeau, the humor of the situation just dawning on him, +hid a smile behind his mittened hand. +</P> + +<P> +'No, Lon; this rope was made for a man.' Malemute Kid could be very +impressive on occasion. +</P> + +<P> +'What man?' Bettles was becoming aware of a personal interest. +</P> + +<P> +'The other man.' 'An' which is the one ye'd mane by that?' 'Listen, +Lon—and you, too, Bettles! We've been talking this little trouble of +yours over, and we've come to one conclusion. We know we have no right +to stop your fighting-' 'True for ye, me lad!' 'And we're not going to. +But this much we can do, and shall do—make this the only duel in the +history of Forty-Mile, set an example for every che-cha-qua that comes +up or down the Yukon. The man who escapes killing shall be hanged to +the nearest tree. Now, go ahead!' +</P> + +<P> +Lon smiled dubiously, then his face lighted up. 'Pace her off, +David—fifty paces, wheel, an' niver a cease firin' till a lad's down +for good. 'Tis their hearts'll niver let them do the deed, an' it's +well ye should know it for a true Yankee bluff.' +</P> + +<P> +He started off with a pleased grin on his face, but Malemute Kid halted +him. +</P> + +<P> +'Lon! It's a long while since you first knew me?' 'Many's the day.' +'And you, Bettles?' +</P> + +<P> +'Five year next June high water.' 'And have you once, in all that time, +known me to break my word' Or heard of me breaking it?' Both men shook +their heads, striving to fathom what lay beyond. +</P> + +<P> +'Well, then, what do you think of a promise made by me?' 'As good as +your bond,' from Bettles. +</P> + +<P> +'The thing to safely sling yer hopes of heaven by,' promptly endorsed +Lon McFane. +</P> + +<P> +'Listen! I, Malemute Kid, give you my word—and you know what that +means that the man who is not shot stretches rope within ten minutes +after the shooting.' He stepped back as Pilate might have done after +washing his hands. +</P> + +<P> +A pause and a silence came over the men of Forty-Mile. The sky drew +still closer, sending down a crystal flight of frost—little geometric +designs, perfect, evanescent as a breath, yet destined to exist till +the returning sun had covered half its northern journey. +</P> + +<P> +Both men had led forlorn hopes in their time—led with a curse or a +jest on their tongues, and in their souls an unswerving faith in the +God of Chance. But that merciful deity had been shut out from the +present deal. They studied the face of Malemute Kid, but they studied +as one might the Sphinx. As the quiet minutes passed, a feeling that +speech was incumbent on them began to grow. At last the howl of a +wolf-dog cracked the silence from the direction of Forty-Mile. The +weird sound swelled with all the pathos of a breaking heart, then died +away in a long-drawn sob. +</P> + +<P> +'Well I be danged!' Bettles turned up the collar of his mackinaw jacket +and stared about him helplessly. +</P> + +<P> +'It's a gloryus game yer runnin', Kid,' cried Lon McFane. 'All the +percentage of the house an' niver a bit to the man that's buckin'. The +Devil himself'd niver tackle such a cinch—and damned if I do.' There +were chuckles, throttled in gurgling throats, and winks brushed away +with the frost which rimed the eyelashes, as the men climbed the +ice-notched bank and started across the street to the Post. But the +long howl had drawn nearer, invested with a new note of menace. A woman +screamed round the corner. There was a cry of, 'Here he comes!' Then an +Indian boy, at the head of half a dozen frightened dogs, racing with +death, dashed into the crowd. And behind came Yellow Fang, a bristle of +hair and a flash of gray. Everybody but the Yankee fled. +</P> + +<P> +The Indian boy had tripped and fallen. Bettles stopped long enough to +grip him by the slack of his furs, then headed for a pile of cordwood +already occupied by a number of his comrades. Yellow Fang, doubling +after one of the dogs, came leaping back. The fleeing animal, free of +the rabies, but crazed with fright, whipped Bettles off his feet and +flashed on up the street. Malemute Kid took a flying shot at Yellow +Fang. The mad dog whirled a half airspring, came down on his back, +then, with a single leap, covered half the distance between himself and +Bettles. +</P> + +<P> +But the fatal spring was intercepted. Lon McFane leaped from the +woodpile, countering him in midair. Over they rolled, Lon holding him +by the throat at arm's length, blinking under the fetid slaver which +sprayed his face. Then Bettles, revolver in hand and coolly waiting a +chance, settled the combat. +</P> + +<P> +''Twas a square game, Kid,' Lon remarked, rising to his feet and +shaking the snow from out his sleeves; 'with a fair percentage to +meself that bucked it.' That night, while Lon McFane sought the +forgiving arms of the Church in the direction of Father Roubeau's +cabin, Malemute Kid talked long to little purpose. +</P> + +<P> +'But would you,' persisted Mackenzie, 'supposing they had fought?' +'Have I ever broken my word?' 'No; but that isn't the point. Answer the +question. Would you?' Malemute Kid straightened up. 'Scruff, I've been +asking myself that question ever since, and—' +</P> + +<P> +'Well?' +</P> + +<P> +'Well, as yet, I haven't found the answer.' +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="country"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +In a Far Country +</H3> + +<P> +When a man journeys into a far country, he must be prepared to forget +many of the things he has learned, and to acquire such customs as are +inherent with existence in the new land; he must abandon the old ideals +and the old gods, and oftentimes he must reverse the very codes by +which his conduct has hitherto been shaped. To those who have the +protean faculty of adaptability, the novelty of such change may even be +a source of pleasure; but to those who happen to be hardened to the +ruts in which they were created, the pressure of the altered +environment is unbearable, and they chafe in body and in spirit under +the new restrictions which they do not understand. This chafing is +bound to act and react, producing divers evils and leading to various +misfortunes. It were better for the man who cannot fit himself to the +new groove to return to his own country; if he delay too long, he will +surely die. +</P> + +<P> +The man who turns his back upon the comforts of an elder civilization, +to face the savage youth, the primordial simplicity of the North, may +estimate success at an inverse ratio to the quantity and quality of his +hopelessly fixed habits. He will soon discover, if he be a fit +candidate, that the material habits are the less important. The +exchange of such things as a dainty menu for rough fare, of the stiff +leather shoe for the soft, shapeless moccasin, of the feather bed for a +couch in the snow, is after all a very easy matter. But his pinch will +come in learning properly to shape his mind's attitude toward all +things, and especially toward his fellow man. For the courtesies of +ordinary life, he must substitute unselfishness, forbearance, and +tolerance. Thus, and thus only, can he gain that pearl of great +price—true comradeship. He must not say 'thank you'; he must mean it +without opening his mouth, and prove it by responding in kind. In +short, he must substitute the deed for the word, the spirit for the +letter. +</P> + +<P> +When the world rang with the tale of Arctic gold, and the lure of the +North gripped the heartstrings of men, Carter Weatherbee threw up his +snug clerkship, turned the half of his savings over to his wife, and +with the remainder bought an outfit. There was no romance in his +nature—the bondage of commerce had crushed all that; he was simply +tired of the ceaseless grind, and wished to risk great hazards in view +of corresponding returns. Like many another fool, disdaining the old +trails used by the Northland pioneers for a score of years, he hurried +to Edmonton in the spring of the year; and there, unluckily for his +soul's welfare, he allied himself with a party of men. +</P> + +<P> +There was nothing unusual about this party, except its plans. Even its +goal, like that of all the other parties, was the Klondike. But the +route it had mapped out to attain that goal took away the breath of the +hardiest native, born and bred to the vicissitudes of the Northwest. +Even Jacques Baptiste, born of a Chippewa woman and a renegade voyageur +(having raised his first whimpers in a deerskin lodge north of the +sixty-fifth parallel, and had the same hushed by blissful sucks of raw +tallow), was surprised. Though he sold his services to them and agreed +to travel even to the never-opening ice, he shook his head ominously +whenever his advice was asked. +</P> + +<P> +Percy Cuthfert's evil star must have been in the ascendant, for he, +too, joined this company of argonauts. He was an ordinary man, with a +bank account as deep as his culture, which is saying a good deal. He +had no reason to embark on such a venture—no reason in the world save +that he suffered from an abnormal development of sentimentality. He +mistook this for the true spirit of romance and adventure. Many another +man has done the like, and made as fatal a mistake. +</P> + +<P> +The first break-up of spring found the party following the ice-run of +Elk River. It was an imposing fleet, for the outfit was large, and they +were accompanied by a disreputable contingent of half-breed voyageurs +with their women and children. Day in and day out, they labored with +the bateaux and canoes, fought mosquitoes and other kindred pests, or +sweated and swore at the portages. Severe toil like this lays a man +naked to the very roots of his soul, and ere Lake Athabasca was lost in +the south, each member of the party had hoisted his true colors. +</P> + +<P> +The two shirks and chronic grumblers were Carter Weatherbee and Percy +Cuthfert. The whole party complained less of its aches and pains than +did either of them. Not once did they volunteer for the thousand and +one petty duties of the camp. A bucket of water to be brought, an extra +armful of wood to be chopped, the dishes to be washed and wiped, a +search to be made through the outfit for some suddenly indispensable +article—and these two effete scions of civilization discovered sprains +or blisters requiring instant attention. +</P> + +<P> +They were the first to turn in at night, with score of tasks yet +undone; the last to turn out in the morning, when the start should be +in readiness before the breakfast was begun. +</P> + +<P> +They were the first to fall to at mealtime, the last to have a hand in +the cooking; the first to dive for a slim delicacy, the last to +discover they had added to their own another man's share. If they +toiled at the oars, they slyly cut the water at each stroke and allowed +the boat's momentum to float up the blade. They thought nobody noticed; +but their comrades swore under their breaths and grew to hate them, +while Jacques Baptiste sneered openly and damned them from morning till +night. But Jacques Baptiste was no gentleman. +</P> + +<P> +At the Great Slave, Hudson Bay dogs were purchased, and the fleet sank +to the guards with its added burden of dried fish and pemican. Then +canoe and bateau answered to the swift current of the Mackenzie, and +they plunged into the Great Barren Ground. Every likely-looking +'feeder' was prospected, but the elusive 'pay-dirt' danced ever to the +north. At the Great Bear, overcome by the common dread of the Unknown +Lands, their voyageurs began to desert, and Fort of Good Hope saw the +last and bravest bending to the towlines as they bucked the current +down which they had so treacherously glided. +</P> + +<P> +Jacques Baptiste alone remained. Had he not sworn to travel even to the +never-opening ice? The lying charts, compiled in main from hearsay, +were now constantly consulted. +</P> + +<P> +And they felt the need of hurry, for the sun had already passed its +northern solstice and was leading the winter south again. Skirting the +shores of the bay, where the Mackenzie disembogues into the Arctic +Ocean, they entered the mouth of the Little Peel River. Then began the +arduous up-stream toil, and the two Incapables fared worse than ever. +Towline and pole, paddle and tumpline, rapids and portages—such +tortures served to give the one a deep disgust for great hazards, and +printed for the other a fiery text on the true romance of adventure. +One day they waxed mutinous, and being vilely cursed by Jacques +Baptiste, turned, as worms sometimes will. But the half-breed thrashed +the twain, and sent them, bruised and bleeding, about their work. It +was the first time either had been manhandled. +</P> + +<P> +Abandoning their river craft at the headwaters of the Little Peel, they +consumed the rest of the summer in the great portage over the Mackenzie +watershed to the West Rat. This little stream fed the Porcupine, which +in turn joined the Yukon where that mighty highway of the North +countermarches on the Arctic Circle. +</P> + +<P> +But they had lost in the race with winter, and one day they tied their +rafts to the thick eddy-ice and hurried their goods ashore. That night +the river jammed and broke several times; the following morning it had +fallen asleep for good. 'We can't be more'n four hundred miles from the +Yukon,' concluded Sloper, multiplying his thumb nails by the scale of +the map. The council, in which the two Incapables had whined to +excellent disadvantage, was drawing to a close. +</P> + +<P> +'Hudson Bay Post, long time ago. No use um now.' Jacques Baptiste's +father had made the trip for the Fur Company in the old days, +incidentally marking the trail with a couple of frozen toes. +</P> + +<P> +Sufferin' cracky!' cried another of the party. 'No whites?' 'Nary +white,' Sloper sententiously affirmed; 'but it's only five hundred more +up the Yukon to Dawson. Call it a rough thousand from here.' Weatherbee +and Cuthfert groaned in chorus. +</P> + +<P> +'How long'll that take, Baptiste?' The half-breed figured for a moment. +'Workum like hell, no man play out, ten—twenty—forty—fifty days. Um +babies come' (designating the Incapables), 'no can tell. Mebbe when +hell freeze over; mebbe not then.' The manufacture of snowshoes and +moccasins ceased. Somebody called the name of an absent member, who +came out of an ancient cabin at the edge of the campfire and joined +them. The cabin was one of the many mysteries which lurk in the vast +recesses of the North. Built when and by whom, no man could tell. +</P> + +<P> +Two graves in the open, piled high with stones, perhaps contained the +secret of those early wanderers. But whose hand had piled the stones? +The moment had come. Jacques Baptiste paused in the fitting of a +harness and pinned the struggling dog in the snow. The cook made mute +protest for delay, threw a handful of bacon into a noisy pot of beans, +then came to attention. Sloper rose to his feet. His body was a +ludicrous contrast to the healthy physiques of the Incapables. Yellow +and weak, fleeing from a South American fever-hole, he had not broken +his flight across the zones, and was still able to toil with men. His +weight was probably ninety pounds, with the heavy hunting knife thrown +in, and his grizzled hair told of a prime which had ceased to be. The +fresh young muscles of either Weatherbee or Cuthfert were equal to ten +times the endeavor of his; yet he could walk them into the earth in a +day's journey. And all this day he had whipped his stronger comrades +into venturing a thousand miles of the stiffest hardship man can +conceive. He was the incarnation of the unrest of his race, and the old +Teutonic stubbornness, dashed with the quick grasp and action of the +Yankee, held the flesh in the bondage of the spirit. +</P> + +<P> +'All those in favor of going on with the dogs as soon as the ice sets, +say ay.' 'Ay!' rang out eight voices—voices destined to string a trail +of oaths along many a hundred miles of pain. +</P> + +<P> +'Contrary minded?' 'No!' For the first time the Incapables were united +without some compromise of personal interests. +</P> + +<P> +'And what are you going to do about it?' Weatherbee added belligerently. +</P> + +<P> +'Majority rule! Majority rule!' clamored the rest of the party. +</P> + +<P> +'I know the expedition is liable to fall through if you don't come,' +Sloper replied sweetly; 'but I guess, if we try real hard, we can +manage to do without you. +</P> + +<P> +What do you say, boys?' The sentiment was cheered to the echo. +</P> + +<P> +'But I say, you know,' Cuthfert ventured apprehensively; 'what's a chap +like me to do?' +</P> + +<P> +'Ain't you coming with us.' 'No—o.' 'Then do as you damn well please. +We won't have nothing to say.' 'Kind o' calkilate yuh might settle it +with that canoodlin' pardner of yourn,' suggested a heavy-going +Westerner from the Dakotas, at the same time pointing out Weatherbee. +'He'll be shore to ask yuh what yur a-goin' to do when it comes to +cookin' an' gatherin' the wood.' 'Then we'll consider it all arranged,' +concluded Sloper. +</P> + +<P> +'We'll pull out tomorrow, if we camp within five miles—just to get +everything in running order and remember if we've forgotten anything.' +The sleds groaned by on their steel-shod runners, and the dogs strained +low in the harnesses in which they were born to die. +</P> + +<P> +Jacques Baptiste paused by the side of Sloper to get a last glimpse of +the cabin. The smoke curled up pathetically from the Yukon stovepipe. +The two Incapables were watching them from the doorway. +</P> + +<P> +Sloper laid his hand on the other's shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +'Jacques Baptiste, did you ever hear of the Kilkenny cats?' The +half-breed shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +'Well, my friend and good comrade, the Kilkenny cats fought till +neither hide, nor hair, nor yowl, was left. You understand?—till +nothing was left. Very good. +</P> + +<P> +Now, these two men don't like work. They'll be all alone in that cabin +all winter—a mighty long, dark winter. Kilkenny cats—well?' The +Frenchman in Baptiste shrugged his shoulders, but the Indian in him was +silent. Nevertheless, it was an eloquent shrug, pregnant with prophecy. +Things prospered in the little cabin at first. The rough badinage of +their comrades had made Weatherbee and Cuthfert conscious of the mutual +responsibility which had devolved upon them; besides, there was not so +much work after all for two healthy men. And the removal of the cruel +whiphand, or in other words the bulldozing half-breed, had brought with +it a joyous reaction. At first, each strove to outdo the other, and +they performed petty tasks with an unction which would have opened the +eyes of their comrades who were now wearing out bodies and souls on the +Long Trail. +</P> + +<P> +All care was banished. The forest, which shouldered in upon them from +three sides, was an inexhaustible woodyard. A few yards from their door +slept the Porcupine, and a hole through its winter robe formed a +bubbling spring of water, crystal clear and painfully cold. But they +soon grew to find fault with even that. The hole would persist in +freezing up, and thus gave them many a miserable hour of ice-chopping. +The unknown builders of the cabin had extended the sidelogs so as to +support a cache at the rear. In this was stored the bulk of the party's +provisions. +</P> + +<P> +Food there was, without stint, for three times the men who were fated +to live upon it. But the most of it was the kind which built up brawn +and sinew, but did not tickle the palate. +</P> + +<P> +True, there was sugar in plenty for two ordinary men; but these two +were little else than children. They early discovered the virtues of +hot water judiciously saturated with sugar, and they prodigally swam +their flapjacks and soaked their crusts in the rich, white syrup. +</P> + +<P> +Then coffee and tea, and especially the dried fruits, made disastrous +inroads upon it. The first words they had were over the sugar question. +And it is a really serious thing when two men, wholly dependent upon +each other for company, begin to quarrel. +</P> + +<P> +Weatherbee loved to discourse blatantly on politics, while Cuthfert, +who had been prone to clip his coupons and let the commonwealth jog on +as best it might, either ignored the subject or delivered himself of +startling epigrams. But the clerk was too obtuse to appreciate the +clever shaping of thought, and this waste of ammunition irritated +Cuthfert. +</P> + +<P> +He had been used to blinding people by his brilliancy, and it worked +him quite a hardship, this loss of an audience. He felt personally +aggrieved and unconsciously held his muttonhead companion responsible +for it. +</P> + +<P> +Save existence, they had nothing in common—came in touch on no single +point. +</P> + +<P> +Weatherbee was a clerk who had known naught but clerking all his life; +Cuthfert was a master of arts, a dabbler in oils, and had written not a +little. The one was a lower-class man who considered himself a +gentleman, and the other was a gentleman who knew himself to be such. +From this it may be remarked that a man can be a gentleman without +possessing the first instinct of true comradeship. The clerk was as +sensuous as the other was aesthetic, and his love adventures, told at +great length and chiefly coined from his imagination, affected the +supersensitive master of arts in the same way as so many whiffs of +sewer gas. He deemed the clerk a filthy, uncultured brute, whose place +was in the muck with the swine, and told him so; and he was +reciprocally informed that he was a milk-and-water sissy and a cad. +Weatherbee could not have defined 'cad' for his life; but it satisfied +its purpose, which after all seems the main point in life. +</P> + +<P> +Weatherbee flatted every third note and sang such songs as 'The Boston +Burglar' and 'the Handsome Cabin Boy,' for hours at a time, while +Cuthfert wept with rage, till he could stand it no longer and fled into +the outer cold. But there was no escape. The intense frost could not be +endured for long at a time, and the little cabin crowded them—beds, +stove, table, and all—into a space of ten by twelve. The very presence +of either became a personal affront to the other, and they lapsed into +sullen silences which increased in length and strength as the days went +by. Occasionally, the flash of an eye or the curl of a lip got the +better of them, though they strove to wholly ignore each other during +these mute periods. +</P> + +<P> +And a great wonder sprang up in the breast of each, as to how God had +ever come to create the other. +</P> + +<P> +With little to do, time became an intolerable burden to them. This +naturally made them still lazier. They sank into a physical lethargy +which there was no escaping, and which made them rebel at the +performance of the smallest chore. One morning when it was his turn to +cook the common breakfast, Weatherbee rolled out of his blankets, and +to the snoring of his companion, lighted first the slush lamp and then +the fire. The kettles were frozen hard, and there was no water in the +cabin with which to wash. But he did not mind that. Waiting for it to +thaw, he sliced the bacon and plunged into the hateful task of +bread-making. Cuthfert had been slyly watching through his half-closed +lids. +</P> + +<P> +Consequently there was a scene, in which they fervently blessed each +other, and agreed, henceforth, that each do his own cooking. A week +later, Cuthfert neglected his morning ablutions, but none the less +complacently ate the meal which he had cooked. Weatherbee grinned. +After that the foolish custom of washing passed out of their lives. +</P> + +<P> +As the sugar-pile and other little luxuries dwindled, they began to be +afraid they were not getting their proper shares, and in order that +they might not be robbed, they fell to gorging themselves. The luxuries +suffered in this gluttonous contest, as did also the men. +</P> + +<P> +In the absence of fresh vegetables and exercise, their blood became +impoverished, and a loathsome, purplish rash crept over their bodies. +Yet they refused to heed the warning. +</P> + +<P> +Next, their muscles and joints began to swell, the flesh turning black, +while their mouths, gums, and lips took on the color of rich cream. +Instead of being drawn together by their misery, each gloated over the +other's symptoms as the scurvy took its course. +</P> + +<P> +They lost all regard for personal appearance, and for that matter, +common decency. The cabin became a pigpen, and never once were the beds +made or fresh pine boughs laid underneath. Yet they could not keep to +their blankets, as they would have wished; for the frost was +inexorable, and the fire box consumed much fuel. The hair of their +heads and faces grew long and shaggy, while their garments would have +disgusted a ragpicker. But they did not care. They were sick, and there +was no one to see; besides, it was very painful to move about. +</P> + +<P> +To all this was added a new trouble—the Fear of the North. This Fear +was the joint child of the Great Cold and the Great Silence, and was +born in the darkness of December, when the sun dipped below the horizon +for good. It affected them according to their natures. +</P> + +<P> +Weatherbee fell prey to the grosser superstitions, and did his best to +resurrect the spirits which slept in the forgotten graves. It was a +fascinating thing, and in his dreams they came to him from out of the +cold, and snuggled into his blankets, and told him of their toils and +troubles ere they died. He shrank away from the clammy contact as they +drew closer and twined their frozen limbs about him, and when they +whispered in his ear of things to come, the cabin rang with his +frightened shrieks. Cuthfert did not understand—for they no longer +spoke—and when thus awakened he invariably grabbed for his revolver. +Then he would sit up in bed, shivering nervously, with the weapon +trained on the unconscious dreamer. Cuthfert deemed the man going mad, +and so came to fear for his life. +</P> + +<P> +His own malady assumed a less concrete form. The mysterious artisan who +had laid the cabin, log by log, had pegged a wind-vane to the +ridgepole. Cuthfert noticed it always pointed south, and one day, +irritated by its steadfastness of purpose, he turned it toward the +east. He watched eagerly, but never a breath came by to disturb it. +Then he turned the vane to the north, swearing never again to touch it +till the wind did blow. But the air frightened him with its unearthly +calm, and he often rose in the middle of the night to see if the vane +had veered—ten degrees would have satisfied him. But no, it poised +above him as unchangeable as fate. +</P> + +<P> +His imagination ran riot, till it became to him a fetish. Sometimes he +followed the path it pointed across the dismal dominions, and allowed +his soul to become saturated with the Fear. He dwelt upon the unseen +and the unknown till the burden of eternity appeared to be crushing +him. Everything in the Northland had that crushing effect—the absence +of life and motion; the darkness; the infinite peace of the brooding +land; the ghastly silence, which made the echo of each heartbeat a +sacrilege; the solemn forest which seemed to guard an awful, +inexpressible something, which neither word nor thought could compass. +</P> + +<P> +The world he had so recently left, with its busy nations and great +enterprises, seemed very far away. Recollections occasionally +obtruded—recollections of marts and galleries and crowded +thoroughfares, of evening dress and social functions, of good men and +dear women he had known—but they were dim memories of a life he had +lived long centuries agone, on some other planet. This phantasm was the +Reality. Standing beneath the wind-vane, his eyes fixed on the polar +skies, he could not bring himself to realize that the Southland really +existed, that at that very moment it was a-roar with life and action. +</P> + +<P> +There was no Southland, no men being born of women, no giving and +taking in marriage. +</P> + +<P> +Beyond his bleak skyline there stretched vast solitudes, and beyond +these still vaster solitudes. +</P> + +<P> +There were no lands of sunshine, heavy with the perfume of flowers. +Such things were only old dreams of paradise. The sunlands of the West +and the spicelands of the East, the smiling Arcadias and blissful +Islands of the Blest—ha! ha! His laughter split the void and shocked +him with its unwonted sound. There was no sun. +</P> + +<P> +This was the Universe, dead and cold and dark, and he its only citizen. +Weatherbee? At such moments Weatherbee did not count. He was a Caliban, +a monstrous phantom, fettered to him for untold ages, the penalty of +some forgotten crime. +</P> + +<P> +He lived with Death among the dead, emasculated by the sense of his own +insignificance, crushed by the passive mastery of the slumbering ages. +The magnitude of all things appalled him. Everything partook of the +superlative save himself—the perfect cessation of wind and motion, the +immensity of the snow-covered wildness, the height of the sky and the +depth of the silence. That wind-vane—if it would only move. If a +thunderbolt would fall, or the forest flare up in flame. +</P> + +<P> +The rolling up of the heavens as a scroll, the crash of Doom—anything, +anything! But no, nothing moved; the Silence crowded in, and the Fear +of the North laid icy fingers on his heart. +</P> + +<P> +Once, like another Crusoe, by the edge of the river he came upon a +track—the faint tracery of a snowshoe rabbit on the delicate +snow-crust. It was a revelation. +</P> + +<P> +There was life in the Northland. He would follow it, look upon it, +gloat over it. +</P> + +<P> +He forgot his swollen muscles, plunging through the deep snow in an +ecstasy of anticipation. The forest swallowed him up, and the brief +midday twilight vanished; but he pursued his quest till exhausted +nature asserted itself and laid him helpless in the snow. +</P> + +<P> +There he groaned and cursed his folly, and knew the track to be the +fancy of his brain; and late that night he dragged himself into the +cabin on hands and knees, his cheeks frozen and a strange numbness +about his feet. Weatherbee grinned malevolently, but made no offer to +help him. He thrust needles into his toes and thawed them out by the +stove. A week later mortification set in. +</P> + +<P> +But the clerk had his own troubles. The dead men came out of their +graves more frequently now, and rarely left him, waking or sleeping. He +grew to wait and dread their coming, never passing the twin cairns +without a shudder. One night they came to him in his sleep and led him +forth to an appointed task. Frightened into inarticulate horror, he +awoke between the heaps of stones and fled wildly to the cabin. But he +had lain there for some time, for his feet and cheeks were also frozen. +</P> + +<P> +Sometimes he became frantic at their insistent presence, and danced +about the cabin, cutting the empty air with an axe, and smashing +everything within reach. +</P> + +<P> +During these ghostly encounters, Cuthfert huddled into his blankets and +followed the madman about with a cocked revolver, ready to shoot him if +he came too near. +</P> + +<P> +But, recovering from one of these spells, the clerk noticed the weapon +trained upon him. +</P> + +<P> +His suspicions were aroused, and thenceforth he, too, lived in fear of +his life. They watched each other closely after that, and faced about +in startled fright whenever either passed behind the other's back. The +apprehensiveness became a mania which controlled them even in their +sleep. Through mutual fear they tacitly let the slush-lamp burn all +night, and saw to a plentiful supply of bacon-grease before retiring. +The slightest movement on the part of one was sufficient to arouse the +other, and many a still watch their gazes countered as they shook +beneath their blankets with fingers on the trigger-guards. +</P> + +<P> +What with the Fear of the North, the mental strain, and the ravages of +the disease, they lost all semblance of humanity, taking on the +appearance of wild beasts, hunted and desperate. Their cheeks and +noses, as an aftermath of the freezing, had turned black. +</P> + +<P> +Their frozen toes had begun to drop away at the first and second +joints. Every movement brought pain, but the fire box was insatiable, +wringing a ransom of torture from their miserable bodies. Day in, day +out, it demanded its food—a veritable pound of flesh—and they dragged +themselves into the forest to chop wood on their knees. Once, crawling +thus in search of dry sticks, unknown to each other they entered a +thicket from opposite sides. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly, without warning, two peering death's-heads confronted each +other. Suffering had so transformed them that recognition was +impossible. They sprang to their feet, shrieking with terror, and +dashed away on their mangled stumps; and falling at the cabin's door, +they clawed and scratched like demons till they discovered their +mistake. +</P> + +<P> +Occasionally they lapsed normal, and during one of these sane +intervals, the chief bone of contention, the sugar, had been divided +equally between them. They guarded their separate sacks, stored up in +the cache, with jealous eyes; for there were but a few cupfuls left, +and they were totally devoid of faith in each other. +</P> + +<P> +But one day Cuthfert made a mistake. Hardly able to move, sick with +pain, with his head swimming and eyes blinded, he crept into the cache, +sugar canister in hand, and mistook Weatherbee's sack for his own. +</P> + +<P> +January had been born but a few days when this occurred. The sun had +some time since passed its lowest southern declination, and at meridian +now threw flaunting streaks of yellow light upon the northern sky. On +the day following his mistake with the sugar-bag, Cuthfert found +himself feeling better, both in body and in spirit. As noontime drew +near and the day brightened, he dragged himself outside to feast on the +evanescent glow, which was to him an earnest of the sun's future +intentions. Weatherbee was also feeling somewhat better, and crawled +out beside him. They propped themselves in the snow beneath the +moveless wind-vane, and waited. +</P> + +<P> +The stillness of death was about them. In other climes, when nature +falls into such moods, there is a subdued air of expectancy, a waiting +for some small voice to take up the broken strain. Not so in the North. +The two men had lived seeming eons in this ghostly peace. +</P> + +<P> +They could remember no song of the past; they could conjure no song of +the future. This unearthly calm had always been—the tranquil silence +of eternity. +</P> + +<P> +Their eyes were fixed upon the north. Unseen, behind their backs, +behind the towering mountains to the south, the sun swept toward the +zenith of another sky than theirs. Sole spectators of the mighty +canvas, they watched the false dawn slowly grow. A faint flame began to +glow and smoulder. It deepened in intensity, ringing the changes of +reddish-yellow, purple, and saffron. So bright did it become that +Cuthfert thought the sun must surely be behind it—a miracle, the sun +rising in the north! Suddenly, without warning and without fading, the +canvas was swept clean. There was no color in the sky. The light had +gone out of the day. +</P> + +<P> +They caught their breaths in half-sobs. But lo! the air was aglint with +particles of scintillating frost, and there, to the north, the +wind-vane lay in vague outline of the snow. +</P> + +<P> +A shadow! A shadow! It was exactly midday. They jerked their heads +hurriedly to the south. A golden rim peeped over the mountain's snowy +shoulder, smiled upon them an instant, then dipped from sight again. +</P> + +<P> +There were tears in their eyes as they sought each other. A strange +softening came over them. They felt irresistibly drawn toward each +other. The sun was coming back again. It would be with them tomorrow, +and the next day, and the next. +</P> + +<P> +And it would stay longer every visit, and a time would come when it +would ride their heaven day and night, never once dropping below the +skyline. There would be no night. +</P> + +<P> +The ice-locked winter would be broken; the winds would blow and the +forests answer; the land would bathe in the blessed sunshine, and life +renew. +</P> + +<P> +Hand in hand, they would quit this horrid dream and journey back to the +Southland. They lurched blindly forward, and their hands met—their +poor maimed hands, swollen and distorted beneath their mittens. +</P> + +<P> +But the promise was destined to remain unfulfilled. The Northland is +the Northland, and men work out their souls by strange rules, which +other men, who have not journeyed into far countries, cannot come to +understand. +</P> + +<P> +An hour later, Cuthfert put a pan of bread into the oven, and fell to +speculating on what the surgeons could do with his feet when he got +back. Home did not seem so very far away now. Weatherbee was rummaging +in the cache. Of a sudden, he raised a whirlwind of blasphemy, which in +turn ceased with startling abruptness. The other man had robbed his +sugar-sack. Still, things might have happened differently, had not the +two dead men come out from under the stones and hushed the hot words in +his throat. They led him quite gently from the cache, which he forgot +to close. That consummation was reached; that something they had +whispered to him in his dreams was about to happen. They guided him +gently, very gently, to the woodpile, where they put the axe in his +hands. +</P> + +<P> +Then they helped him shove open the cabin door, and he felt sure they +shut it after him—at least he heard it slam and the latch fall sharply +into place. And he knew they were waiting just without, waiting for him +to do his task. +</P> + +<P> +'Carter! I say, Carter!' Percy Cuthfert was frightened at the look on +the clerk's face, and he made haste to put the table between them. +</P> + +<P> +Carter Weatherbee followed, without haste and without enthusiasm. There +was neither pity nor passion in his face, but rather the patient, +stolid look of one who has certain work to do and goes about it +methodically. +</P> + +<P> +'I say, what's the matter?' +</P> + +<P> +The clerk dodged back, cutting off his retreat to the door, but never +opening his mouth. +</P> + +<P> +'I say, Carter, I say; let's talk. There's a good chap.' The master of +arts was thinking rapidly, now, shaping a skillful flank movement on +the bed where his Smith & Wesson lay. Keeping his eyes on the madman, +he rolled backward on the bunk, at the same time clutching the pistol. +</P> + +<P> +'Carter!' The powder flashed full in Weatherbee's face, but he swung +his weapon and leaped forward. The axe bit deeply at the base of the +spine, and Percy Cuthfert felt all consciousness of his lower limbs +leave him. Then the clerk fell heavily upon him, clutching him by the +throat with feeble fingers. The sharp bite of the axe had caused +Cuthfert to drop the pistol, and as his lungs panted for release, he +fumbled aimlessly for it among the blankets. Then he remembered. He +slid a hand up the clerk's belt to the sheath-knife; and they drew very +close to each other in that last clinch. +</P> + +<P> +Percy Cuthfert felt his strength leave him. The lower portion of his +body was useless, The inert weight of Weatherbee crushed him—crushed +him and pinned him there like a bear under a trap. The cabin became +filled with a familiar odor, and he knew the bread to be burning. Yet +what did it matter? He would never need it. And there were all of six +cupfuls of sugar in the cache—if he had foreseen this he would not +have been so saving the last several days. Would the wind-vane ever +move? Why not' Had he not seen the sun today? He would go and see. No; +it was impossible to move. He had not thought the clerk so heavy a man. +</P> + +<P> +How quickly the cabin cooled! The fire must be out. The cold was +forcing in. +</P> + +<P> +It must be below zero already, and the ice creeping up the inside of +the door. He could not see it, but his past experience enabled him to +gauge its progress by the cabin's temperature. The lower hinge must be +white ere now. Would the tale of this ever reach the world? How would +his friends take it? They would read it over their coffee, most likely, +and talk it over at the clubs. He could see them very clearly, 'Poor +Old Cuthfert,' they murmured; 'not such a bad sort of a chap, after +all.' He smiled at their eulogies, and passed on in search of a Turkish +bath. It was the same old crowd upon the streets. +</P> + +<P> +Strange, they did not notice his moosehide moccasins and tattered +German socks! He would take a cab. And after the bath a shave would not +be bad. No; he would eat first. +</P> + +<P> +Steak, and potatoes, and green things how fresh it all was! And what +was that? Squares of honey, streaming liquid amber! But why did they +bring so much? Ha! ha! he could never eat it all. +</P> + +<P> +Shine! Why certainly. He put his foot on the box. The bootblack looked +curiously up at him, and he remembered his moosehide moccasins and went +away hastily. +</P> + +<P> +Hark! The wind-vane must be surely spinning. No; a mere singing in his +ears. +</P> + +<P> +That was all—a mere singing. The ice must have passed the latch by +now. More likely the upper hinge was covered. Between the moss-chinked +roof-poles, little points of frost began to appear. How slowly they +grew! No; not so slowly. There was a new one, and there another. +Two—three—four; they were coming too fast to count. There were two +growing together. And there, a third had joined them. +</P> + +<P> +Why, there were no more spots. They had run together and formed a sheet. +</P> + +<P> +Well, he would have company. If Gabriel ever broke the silence of the +North, they would stand together, hand in hand, before the great White +Throne. And God would judge them, God would judge them! +</P> + +<P> +Then Percy Cuthfert closed his eyes and dropped off to sleep. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="trail"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +To the Man on the Trail +</H3> + +<P> +'Dump it in!.' 'But I say, Kid, isn't that going it a little too +strong? Whisky and alcohol's bad enough; but when it comes to brandy +and pepper sauce and-' 'Dump it in. Who's making this punch, anyway?' +And Malemute Kid smiled benignantly through the clouds of steam. 'By +the time you've been in this country as long as I have, my son, and +lived on rabbit tracks and salmon belly, you'll learn that Christmas +comes only once per annum. +</P> + +<P> +And a Christmas without punch is sinking a hole to bedrock with nary a +pay streak.' +</P> + +<P> +'Stack up on that fer a high cyard,' approved Big Jim Belden, who had +come down from his claim on Mazy May to spend Christmas, and who, as +everyone knew, had been living the two months past on straight moose +meat. 'Hain't fergot the hooch we-uns made on the Tanana, hey yeh?' +'Well, I guess yes. Boys, it would have done your hearts good to see +that whole tribe fighting drunk—and all because of a glorious ferment +of sugar and sour dough. That was before your time,' Malemute Kid said +as he turned to Stanley Prince, a young mining expert who had been in +two years. 'No white women in the country then, and Mason wanted to get +married. Ruth's father was chief of the Tananas, and objected, like the +rest of the tribe. Stiff? Why, I used my last pound of sugar; finest +work in that line I ever did in my life. You should have seen the +chase, down the river and across the portage.' 'But the squaw?' asked +Louis Savoy, the tall French Canadian, becoming interested; for he had +heard of this wild deed when at Forty Mile the preceding winter. +</P> + +<P> +Then Malemute Kid, who was a born raconteur, told the unvarnished tale +of the Northland Lochinvar. More than one rough adventurer of the North +felt his heartstrings draw closer and experienced vague yearnings for +the sunnier pastures of the Southland, where life promised something +more than a barren struggle with cold and death. +</P> + +<P> +'We struck the Yukon just behind the first ice run,' he concluded, 'and +the tribe only a quarter of an hour behind. But that saved us; for the +second run broke the jam above and shut them out. When they finally got +into Nuklukyeto, the whole post was ready for them. +</P> + +<P> +'And as to the forgathering, ask Father Roubeau here: he performed the +ceremony.' The Jesuit took the pipe from his lips but could only +express his gratification with patriarchal smiles, while Protestant and +Catholic vigorously applauded. +</P> + +<P> +'By gar!' ejaculated Louis Savoy, who seemed overcome by the romance of +it. 'La petite squaw: mon Mason brav. By gar!' Then, as the first tin +cups of punch went round, Bettles the Unquenchable sprang to his feet +and struck up his favorite drinking song: 'There's Henry Ward Beecher +And Sunday-school teachers, All drink of the sassafras root; But you +bet all the same, If it had its right name, It's the juice of the +forbidden fruit.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, the juice of the forbidden fruit,' roared out the bacchanalian +chorus, 'Oh, the juice of the forbidden fruit; But you bet all the +same, If it had its right name, It's the juice of the forbidden fruit.' +</P> + +<P> +Malemute Kid's frightful concoction did its work; the men of the camps +and trails unbent in its genial glow, and jest and song and tales of +past adventure went round the board. +</P> + +<P> +Aliens from a dozen lands, they toasted each and all. It was the +Englishman, Prince, who pledged 'Uncle Sam, the precocious infant of +the New World'; the Yankee, Bettles, who drank to 'The Queen, God bless +her'; and together, Savoy and Meyers, the German trader, clanged their +cups to Alsace and Lorraine. +</P> + +<P> +Then Malemute Kid arose, cup in hand, and glanced at the greased-paper +window, where the frost stood full three inches thick. 'A health to the +man on trail this night; may his grub hold out; may his dogs keep their +legs; may his matches never miss fire.' Crack! +</P> + +<P> +Crack! heard the familiar music of the dog whip, the whining howl of +the Malemutes, and the crunch of a sled as it drew up to the cabin. +Conversation languished while they waited the issue. +</P> + +<P> +'An old-timer; cares for his dogs and then himself,' whispered Malemute +Kid to Prince as they listened to the snapping jaws and the wolfish +snarls and yelps of pain which proclaimed to their practiced ears that +the stranger was beating back their dogs while he fed his own. +</P> + +<P> +Then came the expected knock, sharp and confident, and the stranger +entered. +</P> + +<P> +Dazzled by the light, he hesitated a moment at the door, giving to all +a chance for scrutiny. He was a striking personage, and a most +picturesque one, in his Arctic dress of wool and fur. Standing six foot +two or three, with proportionate breadth of shoulders and depth of +chest, his smooth-shaven face nipped by the cold to a gleaming pink, +his long lashes and eyebrows white with ice, and the ear and neck flaps +of his great wolfskin cap loosely raised, he seemed, of a verity, the +Frost King, just stepped in out of the night. +</P> + +<P> +Clasped outside his Mackinaw jacket, a beaded belt held two large +Colt's revolvers and a hunting knife, while he carried, in addition to +the inevitable dog whip, a smokeless rifle of the largest bore and +latest pattern. As he came forward, for all his step was firm and +elastic, they could see that fatigue bore heavily upon him. +</P> + +<P> +An awkward silence had fallen, but his hearty 'What cheer, my lads?' +put them quickly at ease, and the next instant Malemute Kid and he had +gripped hands. Though they had never met, each had heard of the other, +and the recognition was mutual. A sweeping introduction and a mug of +punch were forced upon him before he could explain his errand. +</P> + +<P> +How long since that basket sled, with three men and eight dogs, +passed?' he asked. +</P> + +<P> +'An even two days ahead. Are you after them?' 'Yes; my team. Run them +off under my very nose, the cusses. I've gained two days on them +already—pick them up on the next run.' 'Reckon they'll show spunk?' +asked Belden, in order to keep up the conversation, for Malemute Kid +already had the coffeepot on and was busily frying bacon and moose meat. +</P> + +<P> +The stranger significantly tapped his revolvers. +</P> + +<P> +'When'd yeh leave Dawson?' 'Twelve o'clock.' 'Last night?'—as a matter +of course. +</P> + +<P> +'Today.' A murmur of surprise passed round the circle. And well it +might; for it was just midnight, and seventy-five miles of rough river +trail was not to be sneered at for a twelve hours' run. +</P> + +<P> +The talk soon became impersonal, however, harking back to the trails of +childhood. As the young stranger ate of the rude fare Malemute Kid +attentively studied his face. Nor was he long in deciding that it was +fair, honest, and open, and that he liked it. Still youthful, the lines +had been firmly traced by toil and hardship. +</P> + +<P> +Though genial in conversation, and mild when at rest, the blue eyes +gave promise of the hard steel-glitter which comes when called into +action, especially against odds. The heavy jaw and square-cut chin +demonstrated rugged pertinacity and indomitability. Nor, though the +attributes of the lion were there, was there wanting the certain +softness, the hint of womanliness, which bespoke the emotional nature. +</P> + +<P> +'So thet's how me an' the ol' woman got spliced,' said Belden, +concluding the exciting tale of his courtship. '"Here we be, Dad," sez +she. "An' may yeh be damned," sez he to her, an' then to me, "Jim, +yeh—yeh git outen them good duds o' yourn; I want a right peart slice +o' thet forty acre plowed 'fore dinner." An' then he sort o' sniffled +an' kissed her. An' I was thet happy—but he seen me an' roars out, +"Yeh, Jim!" An' yeh bet I dusted fer the barn.' 'Any kids waiting for +you back in the States?' asked the stranger. +</P> + +<P> +'Nope; Sal died 'fore any come. Thet's why I'm here.' Belden +abstractedly began to light his pipe, which had failed to go out, and +then brightened up with, 'How 'bout yerself, stranger—married man?' +For reply, he opened his watch, slipped it from the thong which served +for a chain, and passed it over. Belden picked up the slush lamp, +surveyed the inside of the case critically, and, swearing admiringly to +himself, handed it over to Louis Savoy. With numerous 'By gars!' he +finally surrendered it to Prince, and they noticed that his hands +trembled and his eyes took on a peculiar softness. And so it passed +from horny hand to horny hand—the pasted photograph of a woman, the +clinging kind that such men fancy, with a babe at the breast. Those who +had not yet seen the wonder were keen with curiosity; those who had +became silent and retrospective. They could face the pinch of famine, +the grip of scurvy, or the quick death by field or flood; but the +pictured semblance of a stranger woman and child made women and +children of them all. +</P> + +<P> +'Never have seen the youngster yet—he's a boy, she says, and two years +old,' said the stranger as he received the treasure back. A lingering +moment he gazed upon it, then snapped the case and turned away, but not +quick enough to hide the restrained rush of tears. Malemute Kid led +him to a bunk and bade him turn in. +</P> + +<P> +'Call me at four sharp. Don't fail me,' were his last words, and a +moment later he was breathing in the heaviness of exhausted sleep. +</P> + +<P> +'By Jove! He's a plucky chap,' commented Prince. 'Three hours' sleep +after seventy-five miles with the dogs, and then the trail again. Who +is he, Kid?' 'Jack Westondale. Been in going on three years, with +nothing but the name of working like a horse, and any amount of bad +luck to his credit. I never knew him, but Sitka Charley told me about +him.' 'It seems hard that a man with a sweet young wife like his should +be putting in his years in this Godforsaken hole, where every year +counts two on the outside.' 'The trouble with him is clean grit and +stubbornness. He's cleaned up twice with a stake, but lost it both +times.' Here the conversation was broken off by an uproar from Bettles, +for the effect had begun to wear away. And soon the bleak years of +monotonous grub and deadening toil were being forgotten in rough +merriment. Malemute Kid alone seemed unable to lose himself, and cast +many an anxious look at his watch. Once he put on his mittens and +beaver-skin cap, and, leaving the cabin, fell to rummaging about in the +cache. +</P> + +<P> +Nor could he wait the hour designated; for he was fifteen minutes ahead +of time in rousing his guest. The young giant had stiffened badly, and +brisk rubbing was necessary to bring him to his feet. He tottered +painfully out of the cabin, to find his dogs harnessed and everything +ready for the start. The company wished him good luck and a short +chase, while Father Roubeau, hurriedly blessing him, led the stampede +for the cabin; and small wonder, for it is not good to face +seventy-four degrees below zero with naked ears and hands. +</P> + +<P> +Malemute Kid saw him to the main trail, and there, gripping his hand +heartily, gave him advice. +</P> + +<P> +'You'll find a hundred pounds of salmon eggs on the sled,' he said. +'The dogs will go as far on that as with one hundred and fifty of fish, +and you can't get dog food at Pelly, as you probably expected.' The +stranger started, and his eyes flashed, but he did not interrupt. 'You +can't get an ounce of food for dog or man till you reach Five Fingers, +and that's a stiff two hundred miles. Watch out for open water on the +Thirty Mile River, and be sure you take the big cutoff above Le Barge.' +'How did you know it? Surely the news can't be ahead of me already?' 'I +don't know it; and what's more, I don't want to know it. But you never +owned that team you're chasing. Sitka Charley sold it to them last +spring. But he sized you up to me as square once, and I believe him. +I've seen your face; I like it. And I've seen—why, damn you, hit the +high places for salt water and that wife of yours, and—' Here the Kid +unmittened and jerked out his sack. +</P> + +<P> +'No; I don't need it,' and the tears froze on his cheeks as he +convulsively gripped Malemute Kid's hand. +</P> + +<P> +'Then don't spare the dogs; cut them out of the traces as fast as they +drop; buy them, and think they're cheap at ten dollars a pound. You can +get them at Five Fingers, Little Salmon, and Hootalinqua. And watch out +for wet feet,' was his parting advice. 'Keep a-traveling up to +twenty-five, but if it gets below that, build a fire and change your +socks.' +</P> + +<P> +Fifteen minutes had barely elapsed when the jingle of bells announced +new arrivals. The door opened, and a mounted policeman of the Northwest +Territory entered, followed by two half-breed dog drivers. Like +Westondale, they were heavily armed and showed signs of fatigue. The +half-breeds had been born to the trail and bore it easily; but the +young policeman was badly exhausted. Still, the dogged obstinacy of his +race held him to the pace he had set, and would hold him till he +dropped in his tracks. +</P> + +<P> +'When did Westondale pull out?' he asked. 'He stopped here, didn't he?' +This was supererogatory, for the tracks told their own tale too well. +</P> + +<P> +Malemute Kid had caught Belden's eye, and he, scenting the wind, +replied evasively, 'A right peart while back.' 'Come, my man; speak +up,' the policeman admonished. +</P> + +<P> +'Yeh seem to want him right smart. Hez he ben gittin' cantankerous down +Dawson way?' +</P> + +<P> +'Held up Harry McFarland's for forty thousand; exchanged it at the P.C. +store for a check on Seattle; and who's to stop the cashing of it if we +don't overtake him? When did he pull out?' +</P> + +<P> +Every eye suppressed its excitement, for Malemute Kid had given the +cue, and the young officer encountered wooden faces on every hand. +</P> + +<P> +Striding over to Prince, he put the question to him. Though it hurt +him, gazing into the frank, earnest face of his fellow countryman, he +replied inconsequentially on the state of the trail. +</P> + +<P> +Then he espied Father Roubeau, who could not lie. 'A quarter of an hour +ago,' the priest answered; 'but he had four hours' rest for himself and +dogs.' 'Fifteen minutes' start, and he's fresh! My God!' The poor +fellow staggered back, half fainting from exhaustion and +disappointment, murmuring something about the run from Dawson in ten +hours and the dogs being played out. +</P> + +<P> +Malemute Kid forced a mug of punch upon him; then he turned for the +door, ordering the dog drivers to follow. But the warmth and promise of +rest were too tempting, and they objected strenuously. The Kid was +conversant with their French patois, and followed it anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +They swore that the dogs were gone up; that Siwash and Babette would +have to be shot before the first mile was covered; that the rest were +almost as bad; and that it would be better for all hands to rest up. +</P> + +<P> +'Lend me five dogs?' he asked, turning to Malemute Kid. +</P> + +<P> +But the Kid shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +'I'll sign a check on Captain Constantine for five thousand—here's my +papers—I'm authorized to draw at my own discretion.' +</P> + +<P> +Again the silent refusal. +</P> + +<P> +'Then I'll requisition them in the name of the Queen.' Smiling +incredulously, the Kid glanced at his well-stocked arsenal, and the +Englishman, realizing his impotency, turned for the door. But the dog +drivers still objecting, he whirled upon them fiercely, calling them +women and curs. The swart face of the older half-breed flushed angrily +as he drew himself up and promised in good, round terms that he would +travel his leader off his legs, and would then be delighted to plant +him in the snow. +</P> + +<P> +The young officer—and it required his whole will—walked steadily to +the door, exhibiting a freshness he did not possess. But they all knew +and appreciated his proud effort; nor could he veil the twinges of +agony that shot across his face. Covered with frost, the dogs were +curled up in the snow, and it was almost impossible to get them to +their feet. The poor brutes whined under the stinging lash, for the dog +drivers were angry and cruel; nor till Babette, the leader, was cut +from the traces, could they break out the sled and get under way. +</P> + +<P> +'A dirty scoundrel and a liar!' 'By gar! Him no good!' 'A thief!' +'Worse than an Indian!' +</P> + +<P> +It was evident that they were angry—first at the way they had been +deceived; and second at the outraged ethics of the Northland, where +honesty, above all, was man's prime jewel. +</P> + +<P> +'An' we gave the cuss a hand, after knowin' what he'd did.' All eyes +turned accusingly upon Malemute Kid, who rose from the corner where he +had been making Babette comfortable, and silently emptied the bowl for +a final round of punch. +</P> + +<P> +'It's a cold night, boys—a bitter cold night,' was the irrelevant +commencement of his defense. 'You've all traveled trail, and know what +that stands for. Don't jump a dog when he's down. You've only heard one +side. A whiter man than Jack Westondale never ate from the same pot nor +stretched blanket with you or me. +</P> + +<P> +'Last fall he gave his whole clean-up, forty thousand, to Joe Castrell, +to buy in on Dominion. Today he'd be a millionaire. But, while he +stayed behind at Circle City, taking care of his partner with the +scurvy, what does Castell do? Goes into McFarland's, jumps the limit, +and drops the whole sack. Found him dead in the snow the next day. And +poor Jack laying his plans to go out this winter to his wife and the +boy he's never seen. You'll notice he took exactly what his partner +lost—forty thousand. Well, he's gone out; and what are you going to do +about it?' The Kid glanced round the circle of his judges, noted the +softening of their faces, then raised his mug aloft. 'So a health to +the man on trail this night; may his grub hold out; may his dogs keep +their legs; may his matches never miss fire. +</P> + +<P> +'God prosper him; good luck go with him; and—' 'Confusion to the +Mounted Police!' cried Bettles, to the crash of the empty cups. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="priestly"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Priestly Prerogative +</H3> + +<P> +This is the story of a man who did not appreciate his wife; also, of a +woman who did him too great an honor when she gave herself to him. +Incidentally, it concerns a Jesuit priest who had never been known to +lie. He was an appurtenance, and a very necessary one, to the Yukon +country; but the presence of the other two was merely accidental. They +were specimens of the many strange waifs which ride the breast of a +gold rush or come tailing along behind. +</P> + +<P> +Edwin Bentham and Grace Bentham were waifs; they were also tailing +along behind, for the Klondike rush of '97 had long since swept down +the great river and subsided into the famine-stricken city of Dawson. +When the Yukon shut up shop and went to sleep under a three-foot +ice-sheet, this peripatetic couple found themselves at the Five Finger +Rapids, with the City of Gold still a journey of many sleeps to the +north. +</P> + +<P> +Many cattle had been butchered at this place in the fall of the year, +and the offal made a goodly heap. The three fellow-voyagers of Edwin +Bentham and wife gazed upon this deposit, did a little mental +arithmetic, caught a certain glimpse of a bonanza, and decided to +remain. And all winter they sold sacks of bones and frozen hides to the +famished dog-teams. It was a modest price they asked, a dollar a pound, +just as it came. Six months later, when the sun came back and the Yukon +awoke, they buckled on their heavy moneybelts and journeyed back to the +Southland, where they yet live and lie mightily about the Klondike they +never saw. +</P> + +<P> +But Edwin Bentham—he was an indolent fellow, and had he not been +possessed of a wife, would have gladly joined issued in the dog-meat +speculation. As it was, she played upon his vanity, told him how great +and strong he was, how a man such as he certainly was could overcome +all obstacles and of a surety obtain the Golden Fleece. So he squared +his jaw, sold his share in the bones and hides for a sled and one dog, +and turned his snowshoes to the north. Needless to state, Grace +Bentham's snowshoes never allowed his tracks to grow cold. Nay, ere +their tribulations had seen three days, it was the man who followed in +the rear, and the woman who broke trail in advance. Of course, if +anybody hove in sight, the position was instantly reversed. Thus did +his manhood remain virgin to the travelers who passed like ghosts on +the silent trail. There are such men in this world. +</P> + +<P> +How such a man and such a woman came to take each other for better and +for worse is unimportant to this narrative. These things are familiar +to us all, and those people who do them, or even question them too +closely, are apt to lose a beautiful faith which is known as Eternal +Fitness. +</P> + +<P> +Edwin Bentham was a boy, thrust by mischance into a man's body,—a boy +who could complacently pluck a butterfly, wing from wing, or cower in +abject terror before a lean, nervy fellow, not half his size. He was a +selfish cry-baby, hidden behind a man's mustache and stature, and +glossed over with a skin-deep veneer of culture and conventionality. +Yes; he was a clubman and a society man, the sort that grace social +functions and utter inanities with a charm and unction which is +indescribable; the sort that talk big, and cry over a toothache; the +sort that put more hell into a woman's life by marrying her than can +the most graceless libertine that ever browsed in forbidden pastures. +We meet these men every day, but we rarely know them for what they are. +Second to marrying them, the best way to get this knowledge is to eat +out of the same pot and crawl under the same blanket with them +for—well, say a week; no greater margin is necessary. +</P> + +<P> +To see Grace Bentham, was to see a slender, girlish creature; to know +her, was to know a soul which dwarfed your own, yet retained all the +elements of the eternal feminine. This was the woman who urged and +encouraged her husband in his Northland quest, who broke trail for him +when no one was looking, and cried in secret over her weakling woman's +body. +</P> + +<P> +So journeyed this strangely assorted couple down to old Fort Selkirk, +then through fivescore miles of dismal wilderness to Stuart River. And +when the short day left them, and the man lay down in the snow and +blubbered, it was the woman who lashed him to the sled, bit her lips +with the pain of her aching limbs, and helped the dog haul him to +Malemute Kid's cabin. Malemute Kid was not at home, but Meyers, the +German trader, cooked great moose-steaks and shook up a bed of fresh +pine boughs. Lake, Langham, and Parker, were excited, and not unduly so +when the cause was taken into account. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, Sandy! Say, can you tell a porterhouse from a round? Come out and +lend us a hand, anyway!' This appeal emanated from the cache, where +Langham was vainly struggling with divers quarters of frozen moose. +</P> + +<P> +'Don't you budge from those dishes!' commanded Parker. +</P> + +<P> +'I say, Sandy; there's a good fellow—just run down to the Missouri +Camp and borrow some cinnamon,' begged Lake. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh! oh! hurry up! Why don't—' But the crash of meat and boxes, in the +cache, abruptly quenched this peremptory summons. +</P> + +<P> +'Come now, Sandy; it won't take a minute to go down to the Missouri—' +</P> + +<P> +'You leave him alone,' interrupted Parker. 'How am I to mix the +biscuits if the table isn't cleared off?' +</P> + +<P> +Sandy paused in indecision, till suddenly the fact that he was +Langham's 'man' dawned upon him. Then he apologetically threw down the +greasy dishcloth, and went to his master's rescue. +</P> + +<P> +These promising scions of wealthy progenitors had come to the Northland +in search of laurels, with much money to burn, and a 'man' apiece. +Luckily for their souls, the other two men were up the White River in +search of a mythical quartz-ledge; so Sandy had to grin under the +responsibility of three healthy masters, each of whom was possessed of +peculiar cookery ideas. Twice that morning had a disruption of the +whole camp been imminent, only averted by immense concessions from one +or the other of these knights of the chafing-dish. But at last their +mutual creation, a really dainty dinner, was completed. +</P> + +<P> +Then they sat down to a three-cornered game of 'cut-throat,'—a +proceeding which did away with all casus belli for future hostilities, +and permitted the victor to depart on a most important mission. +</P> + +<P> +This fortune fell to Parker, who parted his hair in the middle, put on +his mittens and bearskin cap, and stepped over to Malemute Kid's cabin. +And when he returned, it was in the company of Grace Bentham and +Malemute Kid,—the former very sorry her husband could not share with +her their hospitality, for he had gone up to look at the Henderson +Creek mines, and the latter still a trifle stiff from breaking trail +down the Stuart River. +</P> + +<P> +Meyers had been asked, but had declined, being deeply engrossed in an +experiment of raising bread from hops. +</P> + +<P> +Well, they could do without the husband; but a woman—why they had not +seen one all winter, and the presence of this one promised a new era in +their lives. +</P> + +<P> +They were college men and gentlemen, these three young fellows, +yearning for the flesh-pots they had been so long denied. Probably +Grace Bentham suffered from a similar hunger; at least, it meant much +to her, the first bright hour in many weeks of darkness. +</P> + +<P> +But that wonderful first course, which claimed the versatile Lake for +its parent, had no sooner been served than there came a loud knock at +the door. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh! Ah! Won't you come in, Mr. Bentham?' said Parker, who had stepped +to see who the newcomer might be. +</P> + +<P> +'Is my wife here?' gruffly responded that worthy. +</P> + +<P> +'Why, yes. We left word with Mr. Meyers.' Parker was exerting his most +dulcet tones, inwardly wondering what the deuce it all meant. 'Won't +you come in? Expecting you at any moment, we reserved a place. And just +in time for the first course, too.' 'Come in, Edwin, dear,' chirped +Grace Bentham from her seat at the table. +</P> + +<P> +Parker naturally stood aside. +</P> + +<P> +'I want my wife,' reiterated Bentham hoarsely, the intonation savoring +disagreeably of ownership. +</P> + +<P> +Parker gasped, was within an ace of driving his fist into the face of +his boorish visitor, but held himself awkwardly in check. Everybody +rose. Lake lost his head and caught himself on the verge of saying, +'Must you go?' Then began the farrago of leave-taking. 'So nice of +you—' 'I am awfully sorry' 'By Jove! how things did brighten—' +'Really now, you—' +</P> + +<P> +'Thank you ever so much—' 'Nice trip to Dawson—' etc., etc. +</P> + +<P> +In this wise the lamb was helped into her jacket and led to the +slaughter. Then the door slammed, and they gazed woefully upon the +deserted table. +</P> + +<P> +'Damn!' Langham had suffered disadvantages in his early training, and +his oaths were weak and monotonous. 'Damn!' he repeated, vaguely +conscious of the incompleteness and vainly struggling for a more virile +term. It is a clever woman who can fill out the many weak places in an +inefficient man, by her own indomitability, re-enforce his vacillating +nature, infuse her ambitious soul into his, and spur him on to great +achievements. And it is indeed a very clever and tactful woman who can +do all this, and do it so subtly that the man receives all the credit +and believes in his inmost heart that everything is due to him and him +alone. +</P> + +<P> +This is what Grace Bentham proceeded to do. Arriving in Dawson with a +few pounds of flour and several letters of introduction, she at once +applied herself to the task of pushing her big baby to the fore. It was +she who melted the stony heart and wrung credit from the rude barbarian +who presided over the destiny of the P. C. Company; yet it was Edwin +Bentham to whom the concession was ostensibly granted. It was she who +dragged her baby up and down creeks, over benches and divides, and on a +dozen wild stampedes; yet everybody remarked what an energetic fellow +that Bentham was. It was she who studied maps, and catechised miners, +and hammered geography and locations into his hollow head, till +everybody marveled at his broad grasp of the country and knowledge of +its conditions. Of course, they said the wife was a brick, and only a +few wise ones appreciated and pitied the brave little woman. +</P> + +<P> +She did the work; he got the credit and reward. In the Northwest +Territory a married woman cannot stake or record a creek, bench, or +quartz claim; so Edwin Bentham went down to the Gold Commissioner and +filed on Bench Claim 23, second tier, of French Hill. And when April +came they were washing out a thousand dollars a day, with many, many +such days in prospect. +</P> + +<P> +At the base of French Hill lay Eldorado Creek, and on a creek claim +stood the cabin of Clyde Wharton. At present he was not washing out a +diurnal thousand dollars; but his dumps grew, shift by shift, and there +would come a time when those dumps would pass through his sluice-boxes, +depositing in the riffles, in the course of half a dozen days, several +hundred thousand dollars. He often sat in that cabin, smoked his pipe, +and dreamed beautiful little dreams,—dreams in which neither the dumps +nor the half-ton of dust in the P. C. Company's big safe, played a part. +</P> + +<P> +And Grace Bentham, as she washed tin dishes in her hillside cabin, +often glanced down into Eldorado Creek, and dreamed,—not of dumps nor +dust, however. They met frequently, as the trail to the one claim +crossed the other, and there is much to talk about in the Northland +spring; but never once, by the light of an eye nor the slip of a +tongue, did they speak their hearts. +</P> + +<P> +This is as it was at first. But one day Edwin Bentham was brutal. All +boys are thus; besides, being a French Hill king now, he began to think +a great deal of himself and to forget all he owed to his wife. On this +day, Wharton heard of it, and waylaid Grace Bentham, and talked wildly. +This made her very happy, though she would not listen, and made him +promise to not say such things again. Her hour had not come. +</P> + +<P> +But the sun swept back on its northern journey, the black of midnight +changed to the steely color of dawn, the snow slipped away, the water +dashed again over the glacial drift, and the wash-up began. Day and +night the yellow clay and scraped bedrock hurried through the swift +sluices, yielding up its ransom to the strong men from the Southland. +</P> + +<P> +And in that time of tumult came Grace Bentham's hour. +</P> + +<P> +To all of us such hours at some time come,—that is, to us who are not +too phlegmatic. +</P> + +<P> +Some people are good, not from inherent love of virtue, but from sheer +laziness. But those of us who know weak moments may understand. +</P> + +<P> +Edwin Bentham was weighing dust over the bar of the saloon at the +Forks—altogether too much of his dust went over that pine board—when +his wife came down the hill and slipped into Clyde Wharton's cabin. +Wharton was not expecting her, but that did not alter the case. And +much subsequent misery and idle waiting might have been avoided, had +not Father Roubeau seen this and turned aside from the main creek +trail. 'My child,—' 'Hold on, Father Roubeau! Though I'm not of your +faith, I respect you; but you can't come in between this woman and me!' +'You know what you are doing?' 'Know! Were you God Almighty, ready to +fling me into eternal fire, I'd bank my will against yours in this +matter.' Wharton had placed Grace on a stool and stood belligerently +before her. +</P> + +<P> +'You sit down on that chair and keep quiet,' he continued, addressing +the Jesuit. 'I'll take my innings now. You can have yours after.' +</P> + +<P> +Father Roubeau bowed courteously and obeyed. He was an easy-going man +and had learned to bide his time. Wharton pulled a stool alongside the +woman's, smothering her hand in his. +</P> + +<P> +'Then you do care for me, and will take me away?' Her face seemed to +reflect the peace of this man, against whom she might draw close for +shelter. +</P> + +<P> +'Dear, don't you remember what I said before? Of course I-' 'But how +can you?—the wash-up?' 'Do you think that worries? Anyway, I'll give +the job to Father Roubeau, here. +</P> + +<P> +'I can trust him to safely bank the dust with the company.' 'To think +of it!—I'll never see him again.' 'A blessing!' 'And to go—O, Clyde, +I can't! I can't!' 'There, there; of course you can, just let me plan +it.—You see, as soon as we get a few traps together, we'll start, +and-' 'Suppose he comes back?' 'I'll break every-' 'No, no! No +fighting, Clyde! Promise me that.' 'All right! I'll just tell the men +to throw him off the claim. They've seen how he's treated you, and +haven't much love for him.' +</P> + +<P> +'You mustn't do that. You mustn't hurt him.' 'What then? Let him come +right in here and take you away before my eyes?' 'No-o,' she half +whispered, stroking his hand softly. +</P> + +<P> +'Then let me run it, and don't worry. I'll see he doesn't get hurt. +Precious lot he cared whether you got hurt or not! We won't go back to +Dawson. I'll send word down for a couple of the boys to outfit and pole +a boat up the Yukon. We'll cross the divide and raft down the Indian +River to meet them. Then—' 'And then?' Her head was on his shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +Their voices sank to softer cadences, each word a caress. The Jesuit +fidgeted nervously. +</P> + +<P> +'And then?' she repeated. +</P> + +<P> +'Why we'll pole up, and up, and up, and portage the White Horse Rapids +and the Box Canon.' 'Yes?' 'And the Sixty-Mile River; then the lakes, +Chilcoot, Dyea, and Salt Water.' 'But, dear, I can't pole a boat.' 'You +little goose! I'll get Sitka Charley; he knows all the good water and +best camps, and he is the best traveler I ever met, if he is an Indian. +All you'll have to do, is to sit in the middle of the boat, and sing +songs, and play Cleopatra, and fight—no, we're in luck; too early for +mosquitoes.' +</P> + +<P> +'And then, O my Antony?' 'And then a steamer, San Francisco, and the +world! Never to come back to this cursed hole again. Think of it! The +world, and ours to choose from! I'll sell out. Why, we're rich! The +Waldworth Syndicate will give me half a million for what's left in the +ground, and I've got twice as much in the dumps and with the P. C. +Company. We'll go to the Fair in Paris in 1900. We'll go to Jerusalem, +if you say so. +</P> + +<P> +'We'll buy an Italian palace, and you can play Cleopatra to your +heart's content. No, you shall be Lucretia, Acte, or anybody your +little heart sees fit to become. But you mustn't, you really mustn't-' +'The wife of Caesar shall be above reproach.' 'Of course, but—' 'But I +won't be your wife, will I, dear?' 'I didn't mean that.' 'But you'll +love me just as much, and never even think—oh! I know you'll be like +other men; you'll grow tired, and—and-' +</P> + +<P> +'How can you? I—' 'Promise me.' 'Yes, yes; I do promise.' 'You say it +so easily, dear; but how do you know?—or I know? I have so little to +give, yet it is so much, and all I have. O, Clyde! promise me you +won't?' +</P> + +<P> +'There, there! You mustn't begin to doubt already. Till death do us +part, you know.' +</P> + +<P> +'Think! I once said that to—to him, and now?' 'And now, little +sweetheart, you're not to bother about such things any more. +</P> + +<P> +Of course, I never, never will, and—' And for the first time, lips +trembled against lips. +</P> + +<P> +Father Roubeau had been watching the main trail through the window, but +could stand the strain no longer. +</P> + +<P> +He cleared his throat and turned around. +</P> + +<P> +'Your turn now, Father!' Wharton's face was flushed with the fire of +his first embrace. +</P> + +<P> +There was an exultant ring to his voice as he abdicated in the other's +favor. He had no doubt as to the result. Neither had Grace, for a smile +played about her mouth as she faced the priest. +</P> + +<P> +'My child,' he began, 'my heart bleeds for you. It is a pretty dream, +but it cannot be.' +</P> + +<P> +'And why, Father? I have said yes.' 'You knew not what you did. You did +not think of the oath you took, before your God, to that man who is +your husband. It remains for me to make you realize the sanctity of +such a pledge.' 'And if I do realize, and yet refuse?' +</P> + +<P> +'Then God' +</P> + +<P> +'Which God? My husband has a God which I care not to worship. There +must be many such.' 'Child! unsay those words! Ah! you do not mean +them. I understand. I, too, have had such moments.' For an instant he +was back in his native France, and a wistful, sad-eyed face came as a +mist between him and the woman before him. +</P> + +<P> +'Then, Father, has my God forsaken me? I am not wicked above women. My +misery with him has been great. Why should it be greater? Why shall I +not grasp at happiness? I cannot, will not, go back to him!' 'Rather is +your God forsaken. Return. Throw your burden upon Him, and the darkness +shall be lifted. O my child,—' 'No; it is useless; I have made my bed +and so shall I lie. I will go on. And if God punishes me, I shall bear +it somehow. You do not understand. You are not a woman.' 'My mother was +a woman.' +</P> + +<P> +'But—' 'And Christ was born of a woman.' She did not answer. A silence +fell. Wharton pulled his mustache impatiently and kept an eye on the +trail. Grace leaned her elbow on the table, her face set with resolve. +The smile had died away. Father Roubeau shifted his ground. +</P> + +<P> +'You have children?' +</P> + +<P> +'At one time I wished—but now—no. And I am thankful.' 'And a mother?' +'Yes.' 'She loves you?' 'Yes.' Her replies were whispers. +</P> + +<P> +'And a brother?—no matter, he is a man. But a sister?' Her head +drooped a quavering 'Yes.' 'Younger? Very much?' 'Seven years.' 'And +you have thought well about this matter? About them? About your mother? +And your sister? She stands on the threshold of her woman's life, and +this wildness of yours may mean much to her. Could you go before her, +look upon her fresh young face, hold her hand in yours, or touch your +cheek to hers?' +</P> + +<P> +To his words, her brain formed vivid images, till she cried out, +'Don't! don't!' and shrank away as do the wolf-dogs from the lash. +</P> + +<P> +'But you must face all this; and better it is to do it now.' In his +eyes, which she could not see, there was a great compassion, but his +face, tense and quivering, showed no relenting. +</P> + +<P> +She raised her head from the table, forced back the tears, struggled +for control. +</P> + +<P> +'I shall go away. They will never see me, and come to forget me. I +shall be to them as dead. And—and I will go with Clyde—today.' It +seemed final. Wharton stepped forward, but the priest waved him back. +</P> + +<P> +'You have wished for children?' A silent 'Yes.' 'And prayed for them?' +'Often.' 'And have you thought, if you should have children?' Father +Roubeau's eyes rested for a moment on the man by the window. +</P> + +<P> +A quick light shot across her face. Then the full import dawned upon +her. She raised her hand appealingly, but he went on. +</P> + +<P> +'Can you picture an innocent babe in your arms? A boy? The world is not +so hard upon a girl. Why, your very breast would turn to gall! And you +could be proud and happy of your boy, as you looked on other +children?—' 'O, have pity! Hush!' 'A scapegoat—' +</P> + +<P> +'Don't! don't! I will go back!' She was at his feet. +</P> + +<P> +'A child to grow up with no thought of evil, and one day the world to +fling a tender name in his face. A child to look back and curse you +from whose loins he sprang!' +</P> + +<P> +'O my God! my God!' She groveled on the floor. The priest sighed and +raised her to her feet. +</P> + +<P> +Wharton pressed forward, but she motioned him away. +</P> + +<P> +'Don't come near me, Clyde! I am going back!' The tears were coursing +pitifully down her face, but she made no effort to wipe them away. +</P> + +<P> +'After all this? You cannot! I will not let you!' 'Don't touch me!' She +shivered and drew back. +</P> + +<P> +'I will! You are mine! Do you hear? You are mine!' Then he whirled upon +the priest. 'O what a fool I was to ever let you wag your silly tongue! +Thank your God you are not a common man, for I'd—but the priestly +prerogative must be exercised, eh? Well, you have exercised it. Now get +out of my house, or I'll forget who and what you are!' Father Roubeau +bowed, took her hand, and started for the door. But Wharton cut them +off. +</P> + +<P> +'Grace! You said you loved me?' 'I did.' 'And you do now?' 'I do.' 'Say +it again.' +</P> + +<P> +'I do love you, Clyde; I do.' 'There, you priest!' he cried. 'You have +heard it, and with those words on her lips you would send her back to +live a lie and a hell with that man?' +</P> + +<P> +But Father Roubeau whisked the woman into the inner room and closed the +door. 'No words!' he whispered to Wharton, as he struck a casual +posture on a stool. 'Remember, for her sake,' he added. +</P> + +<P> +The room echoed to a rough knock at the door; the latch raised and +Edwin Bentham stepped in. +</P> + +<P> +'Seen anything of my wife?' he asked as soon as salutations had been +exchanged. +</P> + +<P> +Two heads nodded negatively. +</P> + +<P> +'I saw her tracks down from the cabin,' he continued tentatively, 'and +they broke off, just opposite here, on the main trail.' His listeners +looked bored. +</P> + +<P> +'And I—I thought—' +</P> + +<P> +'She was here!' thundered Wharton. +</P> + +<P> +The priest silenced him with a look. 'Did you see her tracks leading up +to this cabin, my son?' Wily Father Roubeau—he had taken good care to +obliterate them as he came up the same path an hour before. +</P> + +<P> +'I didn't stop to look, I—' His eyes rested suspiciously on the door +to the other room, then interrogated the priest. The latter shook his +head; but the doubt seemed to linger. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +A priest could not lie. Edwin Bentham had heard this often, and +believed it. +</P> + +<P> +'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, isn'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. +</P> + +<P> +'But I must be going; so good-by.' The door slammed, and from the +window they watched him take his guest 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. +</P> + +<P> +Malemute Kid also had business in the Lower Country, so they journeyed +together. +</P> + +<P> +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 heartbreaking 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. +</P> + +<P> +Malemute Kid wound up his watch. It was midnight. +</P> + +<P> +'Cheer up, old man!' The Kid was evidently gathering up a broken thread. +</P> + +<P> +'God surely will forgive such a lie. Let me give you the word of a man +who strikes a true note: If She have spoken a word, remember thy lips +are sealed, And the brand of the Dog is upon him by whom is the secret +revealed. +</P> + +<P> +If there be trouble to Herward, and a lie of the blackest can clear, +Lie, while thy lips can move or a man is alive to hear.' +</P> + +<P> +Father Roubeau removed his pipe and reflected. 'The man speaks true, +but my soul is not vexed with that. The lie and the penance stand with +God; but—but—' +</P> + +<P> +'What then? Your hands are clean.' 'Not so. Kid, I have thought much, +and yet the thing remains. I knew, and made her go back.' The clear +note of a robin rang out from the wooden bank, a partridge drummed the +call in the distance, a moose lunged noisily in the eddy; but the twain +smoked on in silence. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="wisdom"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Wisdom of the Trail +</H3> + +<P> +Sitka Charley had achieved the impossible. Other Indians might have +known as much of the wisdom of the trail as he did; but he alone knew +the white man's wisdom, the honor of the trail, and the law. But these +things had not come to him in a day. The aboriginal mind is slow to +generalize, and many facts, repeated often, are required to compass an +understanding. Sitka Charley, from boyhood, had been thrown continually +with white men, and as a man he had elected to cast his fortunes with +them, expatriating himself, once and for all, from his own people. Even +then, respecting, almost venerating their power, and pondering over it, +he had yet to divine its secret essence—the honor and the law. And it +was only by the cumulative evidence of years that he had finally come +to understand. Being an alien, when he did know, he knew it better than +the white man himself; being an Indian, he had achieved the impossible. +</P> + +<P> +And of these things had been bred a certain contempt for his own +people—a contempt which he had made it a custom to conceal, but which +now burst forth in a polyglot whirlwind of curses upon the heads of +Kah-Chucte and Gowhee. They cringed before him like a brace of snarling +wolf dogs, too cowardly to spring, too wolfish to cover their fangs. +They were not handsome creatures. Neither was Sitka Charley. All three +were frightful-looking. There was no flesh to their faces; their +cheekbones were massed with hideous scabs which had cracked and frozen +alternately under the intense frost; while their eyes burned luridly +with the light which is born of desperation and hunger. Men so +situated, beyond the pale of the honor and the law, are not to be +trusted. Sitka Charley knew this; and this was why he had forced them +to abandon their rifles with the rest of the camp outfit ten days +before. His rifle and Captain Eppingwell's were the only ones that +remained. +</P> + +<P> +'Come, get a fire started,' he commanded, drawing out the precious +matchbox with its attendant strips of dry birchbark. +</P> + +<P> +The two Indians fell sullenly to the task of gathering dead branches +and underwood. They were weak and paused often, catching themselves, in +the act of stooping, with giddy motions, or staggering to the center of +operations with their knees shaking like castanets. +</P> + +<P> +After each trip they rested for a moment, as though sick and deadly +weary. At times their eyes took on the patient stoicism of dumb +suffering; and again the ego seemed almost burst forth with its wild +cry, 'I, I, I want to exist!'—the dominant note of the whole living +universe. +</P> + +<P> +A light breath of air blew from the south, nipping the exposed portions +of their bodies and driving the frost, in needles of fire, through fur +and flesh to the bones. So, when the fire had grown lusty and thawed a +damp circle in the snow about it, Sitka Charley forced his reluctant +comrades to lend a hand in pitching a fly. It was a primitive affair, +merely a blanket stretched parallel with the fire and to windward of +it, at an angle of perhaps forty-five degrees. This shut out the chill +wind and threw the heat backward and down upon those who were to huddle +in its shelter. Then a layer of green spruce boughs were spread, that +their bodies might not come in contact with the snow. When this task +was completed, Kah-Chucte and Gowhee proceeded to take care of their +feet. Their icebound moccasins were sadly worn by much travel, and the +sharp ice of the river jams had cut them to rags. +</P> + +<P> +Their Siwash socks were similarly conditioned, and when these had been +thawed and removed, the dead-white tips of the toes, in the various +stages of mortification, told their simple tale of the trail. +</P> + +<P> +Leaving the two to the drying of their footgear, Sitka Charley turned +back over the course he had come. He, too, had a mighty longing to sit +by the fire and tend his complaining flesh, but the honor and the law +forbade. He toiled painfully over the frozen field, each step a +protest, every muscle in revolt. Several times, where the open water +between the jams had recently crusted, he was forced to miserably +accelerate his movements as the fragile footing swayed and threatened +beneath him. In such places death was quick and easy; but it was not +his desire to endure no more. +</P> + +<P> +His deepening anxiety vanished as two Indians dragged into view round a +bend in the river. They staggered and panted like men under heavy +burdens; yet the packs on their backs were a matter of but a few +pounds. He questioned them eagerly, and their replies seemed to relieve +him. He hurried on. Next came two white men, supporting between them a +woman. They also behaved as though drunken, and their limbs shook with +weakness. But the woman leaned lightly upon them, choosing to carry +herself forward with her own strength. At the sight of her a flash of +joy cast its fleeting light across Sitka Charley's face. He cherished a +very great regard for Mrs. Eppingwell. He had seen many white women, +but this was the first to travel the trail with him. When Captain +Eppingwell proposed the hazardous undertaking and made him an offer for +his services, he had shaken his head gravely; for it was an unknown +journey through the dismal vastnesses of the Northland, and he knew it +to be of the kind that try to the uttermost the souls of men. +</P> + +<P> +But when he learned that the captain's wife was to accompany them, he +had refused flatly to have anything further to do with it. Had it been +a woman of his own race he would have harbored no objections; but these +women of the Southland—no, no, they were too soft, too tender, for +such enterprises. +</P> + +<P> +Sitka Charley did not know this kind of woman. Five minutes before, he +did not even dream of taking charge of the expedition; but when she +came to him with her wonderful smile and her straight clean English, +and talked to the point, without pleading or persuading, he had +incontinently yielded. Had there been a softness and appeal to mercy in +the eyes, a tremble to the voice, a taking advantage of sex, he would +have stiffened to steel; instead her clear-searching eyes and +clear-ringing voice, her utter frankness and tacit assumption of +equality, had robbed him of his reason. He felt, then, that this was a +new breed of woman; and ere they had been trail mates for many days he +knew why the sons of such women mastered the land and the sea, and why +the sons of his own womankind could not prevail against them. Tender +and soft! Day after day he watched her, muscle-weary, exhausted, +indomitable, and the words beat in upon him in a perennial refrain. +Tender and soft! He knew her feet had been born to easy paths and sunny +lands, strangers to the moccasined pain of the North, unkissed by the +chill lips of the frost, and he watched and marveled at them twinkling +ever through the weary day. +</P> + +<P> +She had always a smile and a word of cheer, from which not even the +meanest packer was excluded. As the way grew darker she seemed to +stiffen and gather greater strength, and when Kah-Chucte and Gowhee, +who had bragged that they knew every landmark of the way as a child did +the skin bails of the tepee, acknowledged that they knew not where they +were, it was she who raised a forgiving voice amid the curses of the +men. She had sung to them that night till they felt the weariness fall +from them and were ready to face the future with fresh hope. And when +the food failed and each scant stint was measured jealously, she it was +who rebelled against the machinations of her husband and Sitka Charley, +and demanded and received a share neither greater nor less than that of +the others. +</P> + +<P> +Sitka Charley was proud to know this woman. A new richness, a greater +breadth, had come into his life with her presence. Hitherto he had been +his own mentor, had turned to right or left at no man's beck; he had +moulded himself according to his own dictates, nourished his manhood +regardless of all save his own opinion. For the first time he had felt +a call from without for the best that was in him, just a glance of +appreciation from the clear-searching eyes, a word of thanks from the +clear-ringing voice, just a slight wreathing of the lips in the +wonderful smile, and he walked with the gods for hours to come. It was +a new stimulant to his manhood; for the first time he thrilled with a +conscious pride in his wisdom of the trail; and between the twain they +ever lifted the sinking hearts of their comrades. The faces of the two +men and the woman brightened as they saw him, for after all he was the +staff they leaned upon. But Sitka Charley, rigid as was his wont, +concealing pain and pleasure impartially beneath an iron exterior, +asked them the welfare of the rest, told the distance to the fire, and +continued on the back-trip. +</P> + +<P> +Next he met a single Indian, unburdened, limping, lips compressed, and +eyes set with the pain of a foot in which the quick fought a losing +battle with the dead. All possible care had been taken of him, but in +the last extremity the weak and unfortunate must perish, and Sitka +Charley deemed his days to be few. The man could not keep up for long, +so he gave him rough cheering words. After that came two more Indians, +to whom he had allotted the task of helping along Joe, the third white +man of the party. They had deserted him. Sitka Charley saw at a glance +the lurking spring in their bodies, and knew they had at last cast off +his mastery. So he was not taken unawares when he ordered them back in +quest of their abandoned charge, and saw the gleam of the hunting +knives that they drew from the sheaths. A pitiful spectacle, three weak +men lifting their puny strength in the face of the mighty vastness; but +the two recoiled under the fierce rifle blows of the one and returned +like beaten dogs to the leash. Two hours later, with Joe reeling +between them and Sitka Charley bringing up the rear, they came to the +fire, where the remainder of the expedition crouched in the shelter of +the fly. +</P> + +<P> +'A few words, my comrades, before we sleep,' Sitka Charley said after +they had devoured their slim rations of unleavened bread. He was +speaking to the Indians in their own tongue, having already given the +import to the whites. 'A few words, my comrades, for your own good, +that ye may yet perchance live. I shall give you the law; on his own +head by the death of him that breaks it. We have passed the Hills of +Silence, and we now travel the head reaches of the Stuart. It may be +one sleep, it may be several, it may be many sleeps, but in time we +shall come among the men of the Yukon, who have much grub. It were well +that we look to the law. Today Kah-Chucte and Gowhee, whom I commanded +to break trail, forgot they were men, and like frightened children ran +away. +</P> + +<P> +'True, they forgot; so let us forget. But hereafter, let them remember. +If it should happen they do not...' He touched his rifle carelessly, +grimly. 'Tomorrow they shall carry the flour and see that the white man +Joe lies not down by the trail. The cups of flour are counted; should +so much as an ounce be wanting at nightfall... Do ye understand? Today +there were others that forgot. Moose Head and Three Salmon left the +white man Joe to lie in the snow. Let them forget no more. With the +light of day shall they go forth and break trail. Ye have heard the +law. Look well, lest ye break it.' Sitka Charley found it beyond him to +keep the line close up. From Moose Head and Three Salmon, who broke +trail in advance, to Kah-Chucte, Gowhee, and Joe, it straggled out over +a mile. Each staggered, fell or rested as he saw fit. +</P> + +<P> +The line of march was a progression through a chain of irregular halts. +Each drew upon the last remnant of his strength and stumbled onward +till it was expended, but in some miraculous way there was always +another last remnant. Each time a man fell it was with the firm belief +that he would rise no more; yet he did rise, and again and again. The +flesh yielded, the will conquered; but each triumph was a tragedy. The +Indian with the frozen foot, no longer erect, crawled forward on hand +and knee. He rarely rested, for he knew the penalty exacted by the +frost. +</P> + +<P> +Even Mrs. Eppingwell's lips were at last set in a stony smile, and her +eyes, seeing, saw not. Often she stopped, pressing a mittened hand to +her heart, gasping and dizzy. +</P> + +<P> +Joe, the white man, had passed beyond the stage of suffering. He no +longer begged to be let alone, prayed to die; but was soothed and +content under the anodyne of delirium. Kah-Chucte and Gowhee dragged +him on roughly, venting upon him many a savage glance or blow. To them +it was the acme of injustice. +</P> + +<P> +Their hearts were bitter with hate, heavy with fear. Why should they +cumber their strength with his weakness? To do so meant death; not to +do so—and they remembered the law of Sitka Charley, and the rifle. +</P> + +<P> +Joe fell with greater frequency as the daylight waned, and so hard was +he to raise that they dropped farther and farther behind. Sometimes all +three pitched into the snow, so weak had the Indians become. Yet on +their backs was life, and strength, and warmth. +</P> + +<P> +Within the flour sacks were all the potentialities of existence. They +could not but think of this, and it was not strange, that which came to +pass. They had fallen by the side of a great timber jam where a +thousand cords of firewood waited the match. Near by was an air hole +through the ice. Kah-Chucte looked on the wood and the water, as did +Gowhee; then they looked at each other. +</P> + +<P> +Never a word was spoken. Gowhee struck a fire; Kah-Chucte filled a tin +cup with water and heated it; Joe babbled of things in another land, in +a tongue they did not understand. +</P> + +<P> +They mixed flour with the warm water till it was a thin paste, and of +this they drank many cups. They did not offer any to Joe; but he did +not mind. He did not mind anything, not even his moccasins, which +scorched and smoked among the coals. +</P> + +<P> +A crystal mist of snow fell about them, softly, caressingly, wrapping +them in clinging robes of white. And their feet would have yet trod +many trails had not destiny brushed the clouds aside and cleared the +air. Nay, ten minutes' delay would have been salvation. +</P> + +<P> +Sitka Charley, looking back, saw the pillared smoke of their fire, and +guessed. And he looked ahead at those who were faithful, and at Mrs. +Eppingwell. 'So, my good comrades, ye have again forgotten that you +were men? Good! Very good. There will be fewer bellies to feed.' Sitka +Charley retied the flour as he spoke, strapping the pack to the one on +his own back. He kicked Joe till the pain broke through the poor +devil's bliss and brought him doddering to his feet. Then he shoved him +out upon the trail and started him on his way. The two Indians +attempted to slip off. +</P> + +<P> +'Hold, Gowhee! And thou, too, Kah-Chucte! Hath the flour given such +strength to thy legs that they may outrun the swift-winged lead? Think +not to cheat the law. Be men for the last time, and be content that ye +die full-stomached. +</P> + +<P> +Come, step up, back to the timber, shoulder to shoulder. Come!' The two +men obeyed, quietly, without fear; for it is the future which pressed +upon the man, not the present. +</P> + +<P> +'Thou, Gowhee, hast a wife and children and a deerskin lodge in the +Chipewyan. What is thy will in the matter?' 'Give thou her of the goods +which are mine by the word of the captain—the blankets, the beads, the +tobacco, the box which makes strange sounds after the manner of the +white men. Say that I did die on the trail, but say not how.' 'And +thou, Kah-Chucte, who hast nor wife nor child?' 'Mine is a sister, the +wife of the factor at Koshim. He beats her, and she is not happy. Give +thou her the goods which are mine by the contract, and tell her it were +well she go back to her own people. Shouldst thou meet the man, and be +so minded, it were a good deed that he should die. He beats her, and +she is afraid.' 'Are ye content to die by the law?' 'We are.' 'Then +good-bye, my good comrades. May ye sit by the well-filled pot, in warm +lodges, ere the day is done.' As he spoke he raised his rifle, and many +echoes broke the silence. Hardly had they died away when other rifles +spoke in the distance. Sitka Charley started. +</P> + +<P> +There had been more than one shot, yet there was but one other rifle in +the party. +</P> + +<P> +He gave a fleeting glance at the men who lay so quietly, smiled +viciously at the wisdom of the trail, and hurried on to meet the men of +the Yukon. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="king"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Wife of a King +</H3> + +<P> +Once when the northland was very young, the social and civic virtues +were remarkably alike for their paucity and their simplicity. When the +burden of domestic duties grew grievous, and the fireside mood expanded +to a constant protest against its bleak loneliness, the adventurers +from the Southland, in lieu of better, paid the stipulated prices and +took unto themselves native wives. It was a foretaste of Paradise to +the women, for it must be confessed that the white rovers gave far +better care and treatment of them than did their Indian copartners. Of +course, the white men themselves were satisfied with such deals, as +were also the Indian men for that matter. Having sold their daughters +and sisters for cotton blankets and obsolete rifles and traded their +warm furs for flimsy calico and bad whisky, the sons of the soil +promptly and cheerfully succumbed to quick consumption and other swift +diseases correlated with the blessings of a superior civilization. +</P> + +<P> +It was in these days of Arcadian simplicity that Cal Galbraith +journeyed through the land and fell sick on the Lower River. It was a +refreshing advent in the lives of the good Sisters of the Holy Cross, +who gave him shelter and medicine; though they little dreamed of the +hot elixir infused into his veins by the touch of their soft hands and +their gentle ministrations. Cal Galbraith, became troubled with strange +thoughts which clamored for attention till he laid eyes on the Mission +girl, Madeline. Yet he gave no sign, biding his time patiently. He +strengthened with the coming spring, and when the sun rode the heavens +in a golden circle, and the joy and throb of life was in all the land, +he gathered his still weak body together and departed. +</P> + +<P> +Now, Madeline, the Mission girl, was an orphan. Her white father had +failed to give a bald-faced grizzly the trail one day, and had died +quickly. Then her Indian mother, having no man to fill the winter +cache, had tried the hazardous experiment of waiting till the +salmon-run on fifty pounds of flour and half as many of bacon. After +that, the baby, Chook-ra, went to live with the good Sisters, and to be +thenceforth known by another name. +</P> + +<P> +But Madeline still had kinsfolk, the nearest being a dissolute uncle +who outraged his vitals with inordinate quantities of the white man's +whisky. He strove daily to walk with the gods, and incidentally, his +feet sought shorter trails to the grave. When sober he suffered +exquisite torture. He had no conscience. To this ancient vagabond Cal +Galbraith duly presented himself, and they consumed many words and much +tobacco in the conversation that followed. Promises were also made; and +in the end the old heathen took a few pounds of dried salmon and his +birch-bark canoe, and paddled away to the Mission of the Holy Cross. +</P> + +<P> +It is not given the world to know what promises he made and what lies +he told—the Sisters never gossip; but when he returned, upon his +swarthy chest there was a brass crucifix, and in his canoe his niece +Madeline. That night there was a grand wedding and a potlach; so that +for two days to follow there was no fishing done by the village. But in +the morning Madeline shook the dust of the Lower River from her +moccasins, and with her husband, in a poling-boat, went to live on the +Upper River in a place known as the Lower Country. And in the years +which followed she was a good wife, sharing her husband's hardships and +cooking his food. And she kept him in straight trails, till he learned +to save his dust and to work mightily. In the end, he struck it rich +and built a cabin in Circle City; and his happiness was such that men +who came to visit him in his home-circle became restless at the sight +of it and envied him greatly. +</P> + +<P> +But the Northland began to mature and social amenities to make their +appearance. +</P> + +<P> +Hitherto, the Southland had sent forth its sons; but it now belched +forth a new exodus—this time of its daughters. Sisters and wives they +were not; but they did not fail to put new ideas in the heads of the +men, and to elevate the tone of things in ways peculiarly their own. No +more did the squaws gather at the dances, go roaring down the center in +the good, old Virginia reels, or make merry with jolly 'Dan Tucker.' +They fell back on their natural stoicism and uncomplainingly watched +the rule of their white sisters from their cabins. +</P> + +<P> +Then another exodus came over the mountains from the prolific Southland. +</P> + +<P> +This time it was of women that became mighty in the land. Their word +was law; their law was steel. They frowned upon the Indian wives, while +the other women became mild and walked humbly. There were cowards who +became ashamed of their ancient covenants with the daughters of the +soil, who looked with a new distaste upon their dark-skinned children; +but there were also others—men—who remained true and proud of their +aboriginal vows. When it became the fashion to divorce the native +wives. Cal Galbraith retained his manhood, and in so doing felt the +heavy hand of the women who had come last, knew least, but who ruled +the land. +</P> + +<P> +One day, the Upper Country, which lies far above Circle City, was +pronounced rich. Dog-teams carried the news to Salt Water; golden +argosies freighted the lure across the North Pacific; wires and cables +sang with the tidings; and the world heard for the first time of the +Klondike River and the Yukon Country. Cal Galbraith had lived the years +quietly. He had been a good husband to Madeline, and she had blessed +him. But somehow discontent fell upon him; he felt vague yearnings for +his own kind, for the life he had been shut out from—a general sort of +desire, which men sometimes feel, to break out and taste the prime of +living. Besides, there drifted down the river wild rumors of the +wonderful El Dorado, glowing descriptions of the city of logs and +tents, and ludicrous accounts of the che-cha-quas who had rushed in and +were stampeding the whole country. +</P> + +<P> +Circle City was dead. The world had moved on up river and become a new +and most marvelous world. +</P> + +<P> +Cal Galbraith grew restless on the edge of things, and wished to see +with his own eyes. +</P> + +<P> +So, after the wash-up, he weighed in a couple of hundred pounds of dust +on the Company's big scales, and took a draft for the same on Dawson. +Then he put Tom Dixon in charge of his mines, kissed Madeline good-by, +promised to be back before the first mush-ice ran, and took passage on +an up-river steamer. +</P> + +<P> +Madeline waited, waited through all the three months of daylight. She +fed the dogs, gave much of her time to Young Cal, watched the short +summer fade away and the sun begin its long journey to the south. And +she prayed much in the manner of the Sisters of the Holy Cross. The +fall came, and with it there was mush-ice on the Yukon, and Circle City +kings returning to the winter's work at their mines, but no Cal +Galbraith. Tom Dixon received a letter, however, for his men sledded up +her winter's supply of dry pine. The Company received a letter for its +dogteams filled her cache with their best provisions, and she was told +that her credit was limitless. +</P> + +<P> +Through all the ages man has been held the chief instigator of the woes +of woman; but in this case the men held their tongues and swore harshly +at one of their number who was away, while the women failed utterly to +emulate them. So, without needless delay, Madeline heard strange tales +of Cal Galbraith's doings; also, of a certain Greek dancer who played +with men as children did with bubbles. Now Madeline was an Indian +woman, and further, she had no woman friend to whom to go for wise +counsel. She prayed and planned by turns, and that night, being quick +of resolve and action, she harnessed the dogs, and with Young Cal +securely lashed to the sled, stole away. +</P> + +<P> +Though the Yukon still ran free, the eddy-ice was growing, and each day +saw the river dwindling to a slushy thread. Save him who has done the +like, no man may know what she endured in traveling a hundred miles on +the rim-ice; nor may they understand the toil and hardship of breaking +the two hundred miles of packed ice which remained after the river +froze for good. But Madeline was an Indian woman, so she did these +things, and one night there came a knock at Malemute Kid's door. +Thereat he fed a team of starving dogs, put a healthy youngster to bed, +and turned his attention to an exhausted woman. He removed her icebound +moccasins while he listened to her tale, and stuck the point of his +knife into her feet that he might see how far they were frozen. +</P> + +<P> +Despite his tremendous virility, Malemute Kid was possessed of a +softer, womanly element, which could win the confidence of a snarling +wolf-dog or draw confessions from the most wintry heart. Nor did he +seek them. Hearts opened to him as spontaneously as flowers to the sun. +Even the priest, Father Roubeau, had been known to confess to him, +while the men and women of the Northland were ever knocking at his +door—a door from which the latch-string hung always out. To Madeline, +he could do no wrong, make no mistake. She had known him from the time +she first cast her lot among the people of her father's race; and to +her half-barbaric mind it seemed that in him was centered the wisdom of +the ages, that between his vision and the future there could be no +intervening veil. +</P> + +<P> +There were false ideals in the land. The social strictures of Dawson +were not synonymous with those of the previous era, and the swift +maturity of the Northland involved much wrong. Malemute Kid was aware +of this, and he had Cal Galbraith's measure accurately. +</P> + +<P> +He knew a hasty word was the father of much evil; besides, he was +minded to teach a great lesson and bring shame upon the man. So Stanley +Prince, the young mining expert, was called into the conference the +following night as was also Lucky Jack Harrington and his violin. That +same night, Bettles, who owed a great debt to Malemute Kid, harnessed +up Cal Galbraith's dogs, lashed Cal Galbraith, Junior, to the sled, and +slipped away in the dark for Stuart River. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H4> + +<P> +'So; one—two—three, one—two—three. Now reverse! No, no! Start up +again, Jack. See—this way.' Prince executed the movement as one should +who has led the cotillion. +</P> + +<P> +'Now; one—two—three, one—two—three. Reverse! Ah! that's better. Try +it again. I say, you know, you mustn't look at your feet. +One—two—three, one—two—three. Shorter steps! You are not hanging to +the gee-pole just now. Try it over. +</P> + +<P> +'There! that's the way. One—two—three, one—two—three.' Round and +round went Prince and Madeline in an interminable waltz. The table and +stools had been shoved over against the wall to increase the room. +Malemute Kid sat on the bunk, chin to knees, greatly interested. Jack +Harrington sat beside him, scraping away on his violin and following +the dancers. +</P> + +<P> +It was a unique situation, the undertaking of these three men with the +woman. +</P> + +<P> +The most pathetic part, perhaps, was the businesslike way in which they +went about it. +</P> + +<P> +No athlete was ever trained more rigidly for a coming contest, nor +wolf-dog for the harness, than was she. But they had good material, for +Madeline, unlike most women of her race, in her childhood had escaped +the carrying of heavy burdens and the toil of the trail. Besides, she +was a clean-limbed, willowy creature, possessed of much grace which had +not hitherto been realized. It was this grace which the men strove to +bring out and knock into shape. +</P> + +<P> +'Trouble with her she learned to dance all wrong,' Prince remarked to +the bunk after having deposited his breathless pupil on the table. +'She's quick at picking up; yet I could do better had she never danced +a step. But say, Kid, I can't understand this.' Prince imitated a +peculiar movement of the shoulders and head—a weakness Madeline +suffered from in walking. +</P> + +<P> +'Lucky for her she was raised in the Mission,' Malemute Kid answered. +'Packing, you know,—the head-strap. Other Indian women have it bad, +but she didn't do any packing till after she married, and then only at +first. Saw hard lines with that husband of hers. They went through the +Forty-Mile famine together.' 'But can we break it?' 'Don't know. +</P> + +<P> +'Perhaps long walks with her trainers will make the riffle. Anyway, +they'll take it out some, won't they, Madeline?' The girl nodded +assent. If Malemute Kid, who knew all things, said so, why it was so. +That was all there was about it. +</P> + +<P> +She had come over to them, anxious to begin again. Harrington surveyed +her in quest of her points much in the same manner men usually do +horses. It certainly was not disappointing, for he asked with sudden +interest, 'What did that beggarly uncle of yours get anyway?' 'One +rifle, one blanket, twenty bottles of hooch. Rifle broke.' She said +this last scornfully, as though disgusted at how low her maiden-value +had been rated. +</P> + +<P> +She spoke fair English, with many peculiarities of her husband's +speech, but there was still perceptible the Indian accent, the +traditional groping after strange gutturals. Even this her instructors +had taken in hand, and with no small success, too. +</P> + +<P> +At the next intermission, Prince discovered a new predicament. +</P> + +<P> +'I say, Kid,' he said, 'we're wrong, all wrong. She can't learn in +moccasins. +</P> + +<P> +'Put her feet into slippers, and then onto that waxed floor—phew!' +Madeline raised a foot and regarded her shapeless house-moccasins +dubiously. In previous winters, both at Circle City and Forty-Mile, she +had danced many a night away with similar footgear, and there had been +nothing the matter. +</P> + +<P> +But now—well, if there was anything wrong it was for Malemute Kid to +know, not her. +</P> + +<P> +But Malemute Kid did know, and he had a good eye for measures; so he +put on his cap and mittens and went down the hill to pay Mrs. +Eppingwell a call. Her husband, Clove Eppingwell, was prominent in the +community as one of the great Government officials. +</P> + +<P> +The Kid had noted her slender little foot one night, at the Governor's +Ball. And as he also knew her to be as sensible as she was pretty, it +was no task to ask of her a certain small favor. +</P> + +<P> +On his return, Madeline withdrew for a moment to the inner room. When +she reappeared Prince was startled. +</P> + +<P> +'By Jove!' he gasped. 'Who'd a' thought it! The little witch! Why my +sister—' 'Is an English girl,' interrupted Malemute Kid, 'with an +English foot. This girl comes of a small-footed race. Moccasins just +broadened her feet healthily, while she did not misshape them by +running with the dogs in her childhood.' But this explanation failed +utterly to allay Prince's admiration. Harrington's commercial instinct +was touched, and as he looked upon the exquisitely turned foot and +ankle, there ran through his mind the sordid list—'One rifle, one +blanket, twenty bottles of hooch.' Madeline was the wife of a king, a +king whose yellow treasure could buy outright a score of fashion's +puppets; yet in all her life her feet had known no gear save red-tanned +moosehide. At first she had looked in awe at the tiny white-satin +slippers; but she had quickly understood the admiration which shone, +manlike, in the eyes of the men. Her face flushed with pride. For the +moment she was drunken with her woman's loveliness; then she murmured, +with increased scorn, 'And one rifle, broke!' So the training went on. +Every day Malemute Kid led the girl out on long walks devoted to the +correction of her carriage and the shortening of her stride. +</P> + +<P> +There was little likelihood of her identity being discovered, for Cal +Galbraith and the rest of the Old-Timers were like lost children among +the many strangers who had rushed into the land. Besides, the frost of +the North has a bitter tongue, and the tender women of the South, to +shield their cheeks from its biting caresses, were prone to the use of +canvas masks. With faces obscured and bodies lost in squirrel-skin +parkas, a mother and daughter, meeting on trail, would pass as +strangers. +</P> + +<P> +The coaching progressed rapidly. At first it had been slow, but later a +sudden acceleration had manifested itself. This began from the moment +Madeline tried on the white-satin slippers, and in so doing found +herself. The pride of her renegade father, apart from any natural +self-esteem she might possess, at that instant received its birth. +Hitherto, she had deemed herself a woman of an alien breed, of inferior +stock, purchased by her lord's favor. Her husband had seemed to her a +god, who had lifted her, through no essential virtues on her part, to +his own godlike level. But she had never forgotten, even when Young Cal +was born, that she was not of his people. As he had been a god, so had +his womenkind been goddesses. She might have contrasted herself with +them, but she had never compared. +</P> + +<P> +It might have been that familiarity bred contempt; however, be that as +it may, she had ultimately come to understand these roving white men, +and to weigh them. +</P> + +<P> +True, her mind was dark to deliberate analysis, but she yet possessed +her woman's clarity of vision in such matters. On the night of the +slippers she had measured the bold, open admiration of her three +man-friends; and for the first time comparison had suggested itself. It +was only a foot and an ankle, but—but comparison could not, in the +nature of things, cease at that point. She judged herself by their +standards till the divinity of her white sisters was shattered. After +all, they were only women, and why should she not exalt herself to +their midst? In doing these things she learned where she lacked and +with the knowledge of her weakness came her strength. And so mightily +did she strive that her three trainers often marveled late into the +night over the eternal mystery of woman. +</P> + +<P> +In this way Thanksgiving Night drew near. At irregular intervals +Bettles sent word down from Stuart River regarding the welfare of Young +Cal. The time of their return was approaching. More than once a casual +caller, hearing dance-music and the rhythmic pulse of feet, entered, +only to find Harrington scraping away and the other two beating time or +arguing noisily over a mooted step. Madeline was never in evidence, +having precipitately fled to the inner room. +</P> + +<P> +On one of these nights Cal Galbraith dropped in. Encouraging news had +just come down from Stuart River, and Madeline had surpassed +herself—not in walk alone, and carriage and grace, but in womanly +roguishness. They had indulged in sharp repartee and she had defended +herself brilliantly; and then, yielding to the intoxication of the +moment, and of her own power, she had bullied, and mastered, and +wheedled, and patronized them with most astonishing success. And +instinctively, involuntarily, they had bowed, not to her beauty, her +wisdom, her wit, but to that indefinable something in woman to which +man yields yet cannot name. +</P> + +<P> +The room was dizzy with sheer delight as she and Prince whirled through +the last dance of the evening. Harrington was throwing in inconceivable +flourishes, while Malemute Kid, utterly abandoned, had seized the broom +and was executing mad gyrations on his own account. +</P> + +<P> +At this instant the door shook with a heavy rap-rap, and their quick +glances noted the lifting of the latch. But they had survived similar +situations before. Harrington never broke a note. Madeline shot through +the waiting door to the inner room. The broom went hurtling under the +bunk, and by the time Cal Galbraith and Louis Savoy got their heads in, +Malemute Kid and Prince were in each other's arms, wildly schottisching +down the room. +</P> + +<P> +As a rule, Indian women do not make a practice of fainting on +provocation, but Madeline came as near to it as she ever had in her +life. For an hour she crouched on the floor, listening to the heavy +voices of the men rumbling up and down in mimic thunder. Like familiar +chords of childhood melodies, every intonation, every trick of her +husband's voice swept in upon her, fluttering her heart and weakening +her knees till she lay half-fainting against the door. It was well she +could neither see nor hear when he took his departure. +</P> + +<P> +'When do you expect to go back to Circle City?' Malemute Kid asked +simply. +</P> + +<P> +'Haven't thought much about it,' he replied. 'Don't think till after +the ice breaks.' 'And Madeline?' +</P> + +<P> +He flushed at the question, and there was a quick droop to his eyes. +Malemute Kid could have despised him for that, had he known men less. +As it was, his gorge rose against the wives and daughters who had come +into the land, and not satisfied with usurping the place of the native +women, had put unclean thoughts in the heads of the men and made them +ashamed. +</P> + +<P> +'I guess she's all right,' the Circle City King answered hastily, and +in an apologetic manner. 'Tom Dixon's got charge of my interests, you +know, and he sees to it that she has everything she wants.' Malemute +Kid laid hand upon his arm and hushed him suddenly. They had stepped +without. Overhead, the aurora, a gorgeous wanton, flaunted miracles of +color; beneath lay the sleeping town. Far below, a solitary dog gave +tongue. +</P> + +<P> +The King again began to speak, but the Kid pressed his hand for +silence. The sound multiplied. Dog after dog took up the strain till +the full-throated chorus swayed the night. +</P> + +<P> +To him who hears for the first time this weird song, is told the first +and greatest secret of the Northland; to him who has heard it often, it +is the solemn knell of lost endeavor. It is the plaint of tortured +souls, for in it is invested the heritage of the North, the suffering +of countless generations—the warning and the requiem to the world's +estrays. +</P> + +<P> +Cal Galbraith shivered slightly as it died away in half-caught sobs. +The Kid read his thoughts openly, and wandered back with him through +all the weary days of famine and disease; and with him was also the +patient Madeline, sharing his pains and perils, never doubting, never +complaining. His mind's retina vibrated to a score of pictures, stern, +clear-cut, and the hand of the past drew back with heavy fingers on his +heart. It was the psychological moment. Malemute Kid was half-tempted +to play his reserve card and win the game; but the lesson was too mild +as yet, and he let it pass. The next instant they had gripped hands, +and the King's beaded moccasins were drawing protests from the outraged +snow as he crunched down the hill. +</P> + +<P> +Madeline in collapse was another woman to the mischievous creature of +an hour before, whose laughter had been so infectious and whose +heightened color and flashing eyes had made her teachers for the while +forget. Weak and nerveless, she sat in the chair just as she had been +dropped there by Prince and Harrington. +</P> + +<P> +Malemute Kid frowned. This would never do. When the time of meeting her +husband came to hand, she must carry things off with high-handed +imperiousness. It was very necessary she should do it after the manner +of white women, else the victory would be no victory at all. So he +talked to her, sternly, without mincing of words, and initiated her +into the weaknesses of his own sex, till she came to understand what +simpletons men were after all, and why the word of their women was law. +</P> + +<P> +A few days before Thanksgiving Night, Malemute Kid made another call on +Mrs. Eppingwell. She promptly overhauled her feminine fripperies, paid +a protracted visit to the dry-goods department of the P. C. Company, +and returned with the Kid to make Madeline's acquaintance. After that +came a period such as the cabin had never seen before, and what with +cutting, and fitting, and basting, and stitching, and numerous other +wonderful and unknowable things, the male conspirators were more often +banished the premises than not. At such times the Opera House opened +its double storm-doors to them. +</P> + +<P> +So often did they put their heads together, and so deeply did they +drink to curious toasts, that the loungers scented unknown creeks of +incalculable richness, and it is known that several checha-quas and at +least one Old-Timer kept their stampeding packs stored behind the bar, +ready to hit the trail at a moment's notice. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Eppingwell was a woman of capacity; so, when she turned Madeline +over to her trainers on Thanksgiving Night she was so transformed that +they were almost afraid of her. Prince wrapped a Hudson Bay blanket +about her with a mock reverence more real than feigned, while Malemute +Kid, whose arm she had taken, found it a severe trial to resume his +wonted mentorship. Harrington, with the list of purchases still running +through his head, dragged along in the rear, nor opened his mouth once +all the way down into the town. When they came to the back door of the +Opera House they took the blanket from Madeline's shoulders and spread +it on the snow. Slipping out of Prince's moccasins, she stepped upon it +in new satin slippers. The masquerade was at its height. She hesitated, +but they jerked open the door and shoved her in. Then they ran around +to come in by the front entrance. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H4> + +<P> +'Where is Freda?' the Old-Timers questioned, while the che-cha-quas +were equally energetic in asking who Freda was. The ballroom buzzed +with her name. +</P> + +<P> +It was on everybody's lips. Grizzled 'sour-dough boys,' day-laborers at +the mines but proud of their degree, either patronized the +spruce-looking tenderfeet and lied eloquently—the 'sour-dough boys' +being specially created to toy with truth—or gave them savage looks of +indignation because of their ignorance. Perhaps forty kings of the +Upper and Lower Countries were on the floor, each deeming himself hot +on the trail and sturdily backing his judgment with the yellow dust of +the realm. An assistant was sent to the man at the scales, upon whom +had fallen the burden of weighing up the sacks, while several of the +gamblers, with the rules of chance at their finger-ends, made up +alluring books on the field and favorites. +</P> + +<P> +Which was Freda? Time and again the 'Greek Dancer' was thought to have +been discovered, but each discovery brought panic to the betting ring +and a frantic registering of new wagers by those who wished to hedge. +Malemute Kid took an interest in the hunt, his advent being hailed +uproariously by the revelers, who knew him to a man. The Kid had a good +eye for the trick of a step, and ear for the lilt of a voice, and his +private choice was a marvelous creature who scintillated as the 'Aurora +Borealis.' But the Greek dancer was too subtle for even his +penetration. The majority of the gold-hunters seemed to have centered +their verdict on the 'Russian Princess,' who was the most graceful in +the room, and hence could be no other than Freda Moloof. +</P> + +<P> +During a quadrille a roar of satisfaction went up. She was discovered. +At previous balls, in the figure, 'all hands round,' Freda had +displayed an inimitable step and variation peculiarly her own. As the +figure was called, the 'Russian Princess' gave the unique rhythm to +limb and body. A chorus of I-told-you-so's shook the squared +roof-beams, when lo! it was noticed that 'Aurora Borealis' and another +masque, the 'Spirit of the Pole,' were performing the same trick +equally well. And when two twin 'Sun-Dogs' and a 'Frost Queen' followed +suit, a second assistant was dispatched to the aid of the man at the +scales. +</P> + +<P> +Bettles came off trail in the midst of the excitement, descending upon +them in a hurricane of frost. His rimed brows turned to cataracts as he +whirled about; his mustache, still frozen, seemed gemmed with diamonds +and turned the light in varicolored rays; while the flying feet slipped +on the chunks of ice which rattled from his moccasins and German socks. +A Northland dance is quite an informal affair, the men of the creeks +and trails having lost whatever fastidiousness they might have at one +time possessed; and only in the high official circles are conventions +at all observed. Here, caste carried no significance. Millionaires and +paupers, dog-drivers and mounted policemen joined hands with 'ladies in +the center,' and swept around the circle performing most remarkable +capers. Primitive in their pleasure, boisterous and rough, they +displayed no rudeness, but rather a crude chivalry more genuine than +the most polished courtesy. +</P> + +<P> +In his quest for the 'Greek Dancer,' Cal Galbraith managed to get into +the same set with the 'Russian Princess,' toward whom popular suspicion +had turned. +</P> + +<P> +But by the time he had guided her through one dance, he was willing not +only to stake his millions that she was not Freda, but that he had had +his arm about her waist before. When or where he could not tell, but +the puzzling sense of familiarity so wrought upon him that he turned +his attention to the discovery of her identity. Malemute Kid might have +aided him instead of occasionally taking the Princess for a few turns +and talking earnestly to her in low tones. But it was Jack Harrington +who paid the 'Russian Princess' the most assiduous court. Once he drew +Cal Galbraith aside and hazarded wild guesses as to who she was, and +explained to him that he was going in to win. That rankled the Circle +City King, for man is not by nature monogamic, and he forgot both +Madeline and Freda in the new quest. +</P> + +<P> +It was soon noised about that the 'Russian Princess' was not Freda +Moloof. Interest deepened. Here was a fresh enigma. They knew Freda +though they could not find her, but here was somebody they had found +and did not know. Even the women could not place her, and they knew +every good dancer in the camp. Many took her for one of the official +clique, indulging in a silly escapade. Not a few asserted she would +disappear before the unmasking. Others were equally positive that she +was the woman-reporter of the Kansas City Star, come to write them up +at ninety dollars per column. And the men at the scales worked busily. +</P> + +<P> +At one o'clock every couple took to the floor. The unmasking began amid +laughter and delight, like that of carefree children. There was no end +of Oh's and Ah's as mask after mask was lifted. The scintillating +'Aurora Borealis' became the brawny negress whose income from washing +the community's clothes ran at about five hundred a month. The twin +'Sun-Dogs' discovered mustaches on their upper lips, and were +recognized as brother Fraction-Kings of El Dorado. In one of the most +prominent sets, and the slowest in uncovering, was Cal Galbraith with +the 'Spirit of the Pole.' Opposite him was Jack Harrington and the +'Russian Princess.' The rest had discovered themselves, yet the 'Greek +Dancer' was still missing. All eyes were upon the group. Cal Galbraith, +in response to their cries, lifted his partner's mask. Freda's +wonderful face and brilliant eyes flashed out upon them. A roar went +up, to be squelched suddenly in the new and absorbing mystery of the +'Russian Princess.' Her face was still hidden, and Jack Harrington was +struggling with her. The dancers tittered on the tiptoes of expectancy. +He crushed her dainty costume roughly, and then—and then the revelers +exploded. The joke was on them. They had danced all night with a +tabooed native woman. +</P> + +<P> +But those that knew, and they were many, ceased abruptly, and a hush +fell upon the room. +</P> + +<P> +Cal Galbraith crossed over with great strides, angrily, and spoke to +Madeline in polyglot Chinook. But she retained her composure, +apparently oblivious to the fact that she was the cynosure of all eyes, +and answered him in English. She showed neither fright nor anger, and +Malemute Kid chuckled at her well-bred equanimity. The King felt +baffled, defeated; his common Siwash wife had passed beyond him. +</P> + +<P> +'Come!' he said finally. 'Come on home.' 'I beg pardon,' she replied; +'I have agreed to go to supper with Mr. Harrington. Besides, there's no +end of dances promised.' +</P> + +<P> +Harrington extended his arm to lead her away. He evinced not the +slightest disinclination toward showing his back, but Malemute Kid had +by this time edged in closer. The Circle City King was stunned. Twice +his hand dropped to his belt, and twice the Kid gathered himself to +spring; but the retreating couple passed through the supper-room door +where canned oysters were spread at five dollars the plate. +</P> + +<P> +The crowd sighed audibly, broke up into couples, and followed them. +Freda pouted and went in with Cal Galbraith; but she had a good heart +and a sure tongue, and she spoiled his oysters for him. What she said +is of no importance, but his face went red and white at intervals, and +he swore repeatedly and savagely at himself. +</P> + +<P> +The supper-room was filled with a pandemonium of voices, which ceased +suddenly as Cal Galbraith stepped over to his wife's table. Since the +unmasking considerable weights of dust had been placed as to the +outcome. Everybody watched with breathless interest. +</P> + +<P> +Harrington's blue eyes were steady, but under the overhanging +tablecloth a Smith & Wesson balanced on his knee. Madeline looked up, +casually, with little interest. +</P> + +<P> +'May—may I have the next round dance with you?' the King stuttered. +</P> + +<P> +The wife of the King glanced at her card and inclined her head. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="odyssey"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +An Odyssey of the North +</H3> + +<P> +The sleds were singing their eternal lament to the creaking of the +harness and the tinkling bells of the leaders; but the men and dogs +were tired and made no sound. The trail was heavy with new-fallen snow, +and they had come far, and the runners, burdened with flint-like +quarters of frozen moose, clung tenaciously to the unpacked surface and +held back with a stubbornness almost human. +</P> + +<P> +Darkness was coming on, but there was no camp to pitch that night. The +snow fell gently through the pulseless air, not in flakes, but in tiny +frost crystals of delicate design. It was very warm—barely ten below +zero—and the men did not mind. Meyers and Bettles had raised their ear +flaps, while Malemute Kid had even taken off his mittens. +</P> + +<P> +The dogs had been fagged out early in the after noon, but they now +began to show new vigor. Among the more astute there was a certain +restlessness—an impatience at the restraint of the traces, an +indecisive quickness of movement, a sniffing of snouts and pricking of +ears. These became incensed at their more phlegmatic brothers, urging +them on with numerous sly nips on their hinder quarters. Those, thus +chidden, also contracted and helped spread the contagion. At last the +leader of the foremost sled uttered a sharp whine of satisfaction, +crouching lower in the snow and throwing himself against the collar. +The rest followed suit. +</P> + +<P> +There was an ingathering of back hands, a tightening of traces; the +sleds leaped forward, and the men clung to the gee poles, violently +accelerating the uplift of their feet that they might escape going +under the runners. The weariness of the day fell from them, and they +whooped encouragement to the dogs. The animals responded with joyous +yelps. They were swinging through the gathering darkness at a rattling +gallop. +</P> + +<P> +'Gee! Gee!' the men cried, each in turn, as their sleds abruptly left +the main trail, heeling over on single runners like luggers on the wind. +</P> + +<P> +Then came a hundred yards' dash to the lighted parchment window, which +told its own story of the home cabin, the roaring Yukon stove, and the +steaming pots of tea. But the home cabin had been invaded. Threescore +huskies chorused defiance, and as many furry forms precipitated +themselves upon the dogs which drew the first sled. The door was flung +open, and a man, clad in the scarlet tunic of the Northwest Police, +waded knee-deep among the furious brutes, calmly and impartially +dispensing soothing justice with the butt end of a dog whip. After that +the men shook hands; and in this wise was Malemute Kid welcomed to his +own cabin by a stranger. +</P> + +<P> +Stanley Prince, who should have welcomed him, and who was responsible +for the Yukon stove and hot tea aforementioned, was busy with his +guests. There were a dozen or so of them, as nondescript a crowd as +ever served the Queen in the enforcement of her laws or the delivery of +her mails. They were of many breeds, but their common life had formed +of them a certain type—a lean and wiry type, with trail-hardened +muscles, and sun-browned faces, and untroubled souls which gazed +frankly forth, clear-eyed and steady. +</P> + +<P> +They drove the dogs of the Queen, wrought fear in the hearts of her +enemies, ate of her meager fare, and were happy. They had seen life, +and done deeds, and lived romances; but they did not know it. +</P> + +<P> +And they were very much at home. Two of them were sprawled upon +Malemute Kid's bunk, singing chansons which their French forebears sang +in the days when first they entered the Northwest land and mated with +its Indian women. Bettles' bunk had suffered a similar invasion, and +three or four lusty voyageurs worked their toes among its blankets as +they listened to the tale of one who had served on the boat brigade +with Wolseley when he fought his way to Khartoum. +</P> + +<P> +And when he tired, a cowboy told of courts and kings and lords and +ladies he had seen when Buffalo Bill toured the capitals of Europe. In +a corner two half-breeds, ancient comrades in a lost campaign, mended +harnesses and talked of the days when the Northwest flamed with +insurrection and Louis Riel was king. +</P> + +<P> +Rough jests and rougher jokes went up and down, and great hazards by +trail and river were spoken of in the light of commonplaces, only to be +recalled by virtue of some grain of humor or ludicrous happening. +Prince was led away by these uncrowned heroes who had seen history +made, who regarded the great and the romantic as but the ordinary and +the incidental in the routine of life. He passed his precious tobacco +among them with lavish disregard, and rusty chains of reminiscence were +loosened, and forgotten odysseys resurrected for his especial benefit. +</P> + +<P> +When conversation dropped and the travelers filled the last pipes and +lashed their tight-rolled sleeping furs. Prince fell back upon his +comrade for further information. +</P> + +<P> +'Well, you know what the cowboy is,' Malemute Kid answered, beginning +to unlace his moccasins; 'and it's not hard to guess the British blood +in his bed partner. As for the rest, they're all children of the +coureurs du bois, mingled with God knows how many other bloods. The two +turning in by the door are the regulation 'breeds' or Boisbrules. That +lad with the worsted breech scarf—notice his eyebrows and the turn of +his jaw—shows a Scotchman wept in his mother's smoky tepee. And that +handsome looking fellow putting the capote under his head is a French +half-breed—you heard him talking; he doesn't like the two Indians +turning in next to him. You see, when the 'breeds' rose under the Riel +the full-bloods kept the peace, and they've not lost much love for one +another since.' 'But I say, what's that glum-looking fellow by the +stove? I'll swear he can't talk English. He hasn't opened his mouth all +night.' 'You're wrong. He knows English well enough. Did you follow his +eyes when he listened? I did. But he's neither kith nor kin to the +others. When they talked their own patois you could see he didn't +understand. I've been wondering myself what he is. Let's find out.' +'Fire a couple of sticks into the stove!' +</P> + +<P> +Malemute Kid commanded, raising his voice and looking squarely at the +man in question. +</P> + +<P> +He obeyed at once. +</P> + +<P> +'Had discipline knocked into him somewhere.' Prince commented in a low +tone. +</P> + +<P> +Malemute Kid nodded, took off his socks, and picked his way among +recumbent men to the stove. There he hung his damp footgear among a +score or so of mates. +</P> + +<P> +'When do you expect to get to Dawson?' he asked tentatively. +</P> + +<P> +The man studied him a moment before replying. 'They say seventy-five +mile. So? Maybe two days.' The very slightest accent was perceptible, +while there was no awkward hesitancy or groping for words. +</P> + +<P> +'Been in the country before?' 'No.' 'Northwest Territory?' 'Yes.' 'Born +there?' 'No.' +</P> + +<P> +'Well, where the devil were you born? You're none of these.' Malemute +Kid swept his hand over the dog drivers, even including the two +policemen who had turned into Prince's bunk. 'Where did you come from? +I've seen faces like yours before, though I can't remember just where.' +'I know you,' he irrelevantly replied, at once turning the drift of +Malemute Kid's questions. +</P> + +<P> +'Where? Ever see me?' 'No; your partner, him priest, Pastilik, long +time ago. Him ask me if I see you, Malemute Kid. Him give me grub. I no +stop long. You hear him speak 'bout me?' 'Oh! you're the fellow that +traded the otter skins for the dogs?' The man nodded, knocked out his +pipe, and signified his disinclination for conversation by rolling up +in his furs. Malemute Kid blew out the slush lamp and crawled under the +blankets with Prince. +</P> + +<P> +'Well, what is he?' 'Don't know—turned me off, somehow, and then shut +up like a clam. +</P> + +<P> +'But he's a fellow to whet your curiosity. I've heard of him. All the +coast wondered about him eight years ago. Sort of mysterious, you know. +He came down out of the North in the dead of winter, many a thousand +miles from here, skirting Bering Sea and traveling as though the devil +were after him. No one ever learned where he came from, but he must +have come far. He was badly travel-worn when he got food from the +Swedish missionary on Golovin Bay and asked the way south. We heard of +all this afterward. Then he abandoned the shore line, heading right +across Norton Sound. Terrible weather, snowstorms and high winds, but +he pulled through where a thousand other men would have died, missing +St. Michaels and making the land at Pastilik. He'd lost all but two +dogs, and was nearly gone with starvation. +</P> + +<P> +'He was so anxious to go on that Father Roubeau fitted him out with +grub; but he couldn't let him have any dogs, for he was only waiting my +arrival, to go on a trip himself. Mr. Ulysses knew too much to start on +without animals, and fretted around for several days. He had on his +sled a bunch of beautifully cured otter skins, sea otters, you know, +worth their weight in gold. There was also at Pastilik an old Shylock +of a Russian trader, who had dogs to kill. Well, they didn't dicker +very long, but when the Strange One headed south again, it was in the +rear of a spanking dog team. Mr. Shylock, by the way, had the otter +skins. I saw them, and they were magnificent. We figured it up and +found the dogs brought him at least five hundred apiece. And it wasn't +as if the Strange One didn't know the value of sea otter; he was an +Indian of some sort, and what little he talked showed he'd been among +white men. +</P> + +<P> +'After the ice passed out of the sea, word came up from Nunivak Island +that he'd gone in there for grub. Then he dropped from sight, and this +is the first heard of him in eight years. Now where did he come from? +and what was he doing there? and why did he come from there? He's +Indian, he's been nobody knows where, and he's had discipline, which is +unusual for an Indian. Another mystery of the North for you to solve, +Prince.' 'Thanks awfully, but I've got too many on hand as it is,' he +replied. +</P> + +<P> +Malemute Kid was already breathing heavily; but the young mining +engineer gazed straight up through the thick darkness, waiting for the +strange orgasm which stirred his blood to die away. And when he did +sleep, his brain worked on, and for the nonce he, too, wandered through +the white unknown, struggled with the dogs on endless trails, and saw +men live, and toil, and die like men. The next morning, hours before +daylight, the dog drivers and policemen pulled out for Dawson. But the +powers that saw to Her Majesty's interests and ruled the destinies of +her lesser creatures gave the mailmen little rest, for a week later +they appeared at Stuart River, heavily burdened with letters for Salt +Water. +</P> + +<P> +However, their dogs had been replaced by fresh ones; but, then, they +were dogs. +</P> + +<P> +The men had expected some sort of a layover in which to rest up; +besides, this Klondike was a new section of the Northland, and they had +wished to see a little something of the Golden City where dust flowed +like water and dance halls rang with never-ending revelry. But they +dried their socks and smoked their evening pipes with much the same +gusto as on their former visit, though one or two bold spirits +speculated on desertion and the possibility of crossing the unexplored +Rockies to the east, and thence, by the Mackenzie Valley, of gaining +their old stamping grounds in the Chippewyan country. +</P> + +<P> +Two or three even decided to return to their homes by that route when +their terms of service had expired, and they began to lay plans +forthwith, looking forward to the hazardous undertaking in much the +same way a city-bred man would to a day's holiday in the woods. +</P> + +<P> +He of the Otter Skins seemed very restless, though he took little +interest in the discussion, and at last he drew Malemute Kid to one +side and talked for some time in low tones. +</P> + +<P> +Prince cast curious eyes in their direction, and the mystery deepened +when they put on caps and mittens and went outside. When they returned, +Malemute Kid placed his gold scales on the table, weighed out the +matter of sixty ounces, and transferred them to the Strange One's sack. +Then the chief of the dog drivers joined the conclave, and certain +business was transacted with him. +</P> + +<P> +The next day the gang went on upriver, but He of the Otter Skins took +several pounds of grub and turned his steps back toward Dawson. +</P> + +<P> +'Didn't know what to make of it,' said Malemute Kid in response to +Prince's queries; 'but the poor beggar wanted to be quit of the service +for some reason or other—at least it seemed a most important one to +him, though he wouldn't let on what. You see, it's just like the army: +he signed for two years, and the only way to get free was to buy +himself out. He couldn't desert and then stay here, and he was just +wild to remain in the country. +</P> + +<P> +'Made up his mind when he got to Dawson, he said; but no one knew him, +hadn't a cent, and I was the only one he'd spoken two words with. So he +talked it over with the lieutenant-governor, and made arrangements in +case he could get the money from me—loan, you know. Said he'd pay back +in the year, and, if I wanted, would put me onto something rich. +Never'd seen it, but he knew it was rich. +</P> + +<P> +'And talk! why, when he got me outside he was ready to weep. Begged and +pleaded; got down in the snow to me till I hauled him out of it. +Palavered around like a crazy man. +</P> + +<P> +'Swore he's worked to this very end for years and years, and couldn't +bear to be disappointed now. Asked him what end, but he wouldn't say. +</P> + +<P> +'Said they might keep him on the other half of the trail and he +wouldn't get to Dawson in two years, and then it would be too late. +Never saw a man take on so in my life. And when I said I'd let him have +it, had to yank him out of the snow again. Told him to consider it in +the light of a grubstake. Think he'd have it? No sir! Swore he'd give +me all he found, make me rich beyond the dreams of avarice, and all +such stuff. Now a man who puts his life and time against a grubstake +ordinarily finds it hard enough to turn over half of what he finds. +Something behind all this, Prince; just you make a note of it. We'll +hear of him if he stays in the country—' 'And if he doesn't?' 'Then my +good nature gets a shock, and I'm sixty some odd ounces out.' The cold +weather had come on with the long nights, and the sun had begun to play +his ancient game of peekaboo along the southern snow line ere aught was +heard of Malemute Kid's grubstake. And then, one bleak morning in early +January, a heavily laden dog train pulled into his cabin below Stuart +River. He of the Otter Skins was there, and with him walked a man such +as the gods have almost forgotten how to fashion. Men never talked of +luck and pluck and five-hundred-dollar dirt without bringing in the +name of Axel Gunderson; nor could tales of nerve or strength or daring +pass up and down the campfire without the summoning of his presence. +And when the conversation flagged, it blazed anew at mention of the +woman who shared his fortunes. +</P> + +<P> +As has been noted, in the making of Axel Gunderson the gods had +remembered their old-time cunning and cast him after the manner of men +who were born when the world was young. Full seven feet he towered in +his picturesque costume which marked a king of Eldorado. His chest, +neck, and limbs were those of a giant. To bear his three hundred pounds +of bone and muscle, his snowshoes were greater by a generous yard than +those of other men. Rough-hewn, with rugged brow and massive jaw and +unflinching eyes of palest blue, his face told the tale of one who knew +but the law of might. Of the yellow of ripe corn silk, his +frost-incrusted hair swept like day across the night and fell far down +his coat of bearskin. +</P> + +<P> +A vague tradition of the sea seemed to cling about him as he swung down +the narrow trail in advance of the dogs; and he brought the butt of his +dog whip against Malemute Kid's door as a Norse sea rover, on southern +foray, might thunder for admittance at the castle gate. +</P> + +<P> +Prince bared his womanly arms and kneaded sour-dough bread, casting, as +he did so, many a glance at the three guests—three guests the like of +which might never come under a man's roof in a lifetime. The Strange +One, whom Malemute Kid had surnamed Ulysses, still fascinated him; but +his interest chiefly gravitated between Axel Gunderson and Axel +Gunderson's wife. She felt the day's journey, for she had softened in +comfortable cabins during the many days since her husband mastered the +wealth of frozen pay streaks, and she was tired. She rested against his +great breast like a slender flower against a wall, replying lazily to +Malemute Kid's good-natured banter, and stirring Prince's blood +strangely with an occasional sweep of her deep, dark eyes. For Prince +was a man, and healthy, and had seen few women in many months. And she +was older than he, and an Indian besides. But she was different from +all native wives he had met: she had traveled—had been in his country +among others, he gathered from the conversation; and she knew most of +the things the women of his own race knew, and much more that it was +not in the nature of things for them to know. She could make a meal of +sun-dried fish or a bed in the snow; yet she teased them with +tantalizing details of many-course dinners, and caused strange internal +dissensions to arise at the mention of various quondam dishes which +they had well-nigh forgotten. She knew the ways of the moose, the bear, +and the little blue fox, and of the wild amphibians of the Northern +seas; she was skilled in the lore of the woods, and the streams, and +the tale writ by man and bird and beast upon the delicate snow crust +was to her an open book; yet Prince caught the appreciative twinkle in +her eye as she read the Rules of the Camp. These rules had been +fathered by the Unquenchable Bettles at a time when his blood ran high, +and were remarkable for the terse simplicity of their humor. +</P> + +<P> +Prince always turned them to the wall before the arrival of ladies; but +who could suspect that this native wife—Well, it was too late now. +</P> + +<P> +This, then, was the wife of Axel Gunderson, a woman whose name and fame +had traveled with her husband's, hand in hand, through all the +Northland. At table, Malemute Kid baited her with the assurance of an +old friend, and Prince shook off the shyness of first acquaintance and +joined in. But she held her own in the unequal contest, while her +husband, slower in wit, ventured naught but applause. And he was very +proud of her; his every look and action revealed the magnitude of the +place she occupied in his life. He of the Otter Skins ate in silence, +forgotten in the merry battle; and long ere the others were done he +pushed back from the table and went out among the dogs. Yet all too +soon his fellow travelers drew on their mittens and parkas and followed +him. +</P> + +<P> +There had been no snow for many days, and the sleds slipped along the +hardpacked Yukon trail as easily as if it had been glare ice. Ulysses +led the first sled; with the second came Prince and Axel Gunderson's +wife; while Malemute Kid and the yellow-haired giant brought up the +third. +</P> + +<P> +'It's only a hunch, Kid,' he said, 'but I think it's straight. He's +never been there, but he tells a good story, and shows a map I heard of +when I was in the Kootenay country years ago. I'd like to have you go +along; but he's a strange one, and swore point-blank to throw it up if +anyone was brought in. But when I come back you'll get first tip, and +I'll stake you next to me, and give you a half share in the town site +besides.' 'No! no!' he cried, as the other strove to interrupt. 'I'm +running this, and before I'm done it'll need two heads. +</P> + +<P> +'If it's all right, why, it'll be a second Cripple Creek, man; do you +hear?—a second Cripple Creek! It's quartz, you know, not placer; and +if we work it right we'll corral the whole thing—millions upon +millions. I've heard of the place before, and so have you. We'll build +a town—thousands of workmen—good waterways—steamship lines—big +carrying trade—light-draught steamers for head reaches—survey a +railroad, perhaps—sawmills—electric-light plant—do our own +banking—commercial company—syndicate—Say! Just you hold your hush +till I get back!' The sleds came to a halt where the trail crossed the +mouth of Stuart River. An unbroken sea of frost, its wide expanse +stretched away into the unknown east. +</P> + +<P> +The snowshoes were withdrawn from the lashings of the sleds. Axel +Gunderson shook hands and stepped to the fore, his great webbed shoes +sinking a fair half yard into the feathery surface and packing the snow +so the dogs should not wallow. His wife fell in behind the last sled, +betraying long practice in the art of handling the awkward footgear. +The stillness was broken with cheery farewells; the dogs whined; and He +of the Otter Skins talked with his whip to a recalcitrant wheeler. +</P> + +<P> +An hour later the train had taken on the likeness of a black pencil +crawling in a long, straight line across a mighty sheet of foolscap. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H4> + +<P> +One night, many weeks later, Malemute Kid and Prince fell to solving +chess problems from the torn page of an ancient magazine. The Kid had +just returned from his Bonanza properties and was resting up +preparatory to a long moose hunt. +</P> + +<P> +Prince, too, had been on creek and trail nearly all winter, and had +grown hungry for a blissful week of cabin life. +</P> + +<P> +'Interpose the black knight, and force the king. No, that won't do. +See, the next move-' +</P> + +<P> +'Why advance the pawn two squares? Bound to take it in transit, and +with the bishop out of the way-' 'But hold on! That leaves a hole, +and-' 'No; it's protected. Go ahead! You'll see it works.' It was very +interesting. Somebody knocked at the door a second time before Malemute +Kid said, 'Come in.' The door swung open. Something staggered in. +</P> + +<P> +Prince caught one square look and sprang to his feet. The horror in his +eyes caused Malemute Kid to whirl about; and he, too, was startled, +though he had seen bad things before. The thing tottered blindly toward +them. Prince edged away till he reached the nail from which hung his +Smith & Wesson. +</P> + +<P> +'My God! what is it?' he whispered to Malemute Kid. +</P> + +<P> +'Don't know. Looks like a case of freezing and no grub,' replied the +Kid, sliding away in the opposite direction. 'Watch out! It may be +mad,' he warned, coming back from closing the door. +</P> + +<P> +The thing advanced to the table. The bright flame of the slush lamp +caught its eye. It was amused, and gave voice to eldritch cackles which +betokened mirth. +</P> + +<P> +Then, suddenly, he—for it was a man—swayed back, with a hitch to his +skin trousers, and began to sing a chantey, such as men lift when they +swing around the capstan circle and the sea snorts in their ears: +Yan-kee ship come down de ri-ib-er, Pull! my bully boys! Pull! D'yeh +want—to know de captain ru-uns her? Pull! my bully boys! Pull! +Jon-a-than Jones ob South Caho-li-in-a, Pull! my bully. He broke off +abruptly, tottered with a wolfish snarl to the meat shelf, and before +they could intercept was tearing with his teeth at a chunk of raw +bacon. The struggle was fierce between him and Malemute Kid; but his +mad strength left him as suddenly as it had come, and he weakly +surrendered the spoil. Between them they got him upon a stool, where he +sprawled with half his body across the table. +</P> + +<P> +A small dose of whiskey strengthened him, so that he could dip a spoon +into the sugar caddy which Malemute Kid placed before him. After his +appetite had been somewhat cloyed, Prince, shuddering as he did so, +passed him a mug of weak beef tea. +</P> + +<P> +The creature's eyes were alight with a somber frenzy, which blazed and +waned with every mouthful. There was very little skin to the face. The +face, for that matter, sunken and emaciated, bore little likeness to +human countenance. +</P> + +<P> +Frost after frost had bitten deeply, each depositing its stratum of +scab upon the half-healed scar that went before. This dry, hard surface +was of a bloody-black color, serrated by grievous cracks wherein the +raw red flesh peeped forth. His skin garments were dirty and in +tatters, and the fur of one side was singed and burned away, showing +where he had lain upon his fire. +</P> + +<P> +Malemute Kid pointed to where the sun-tanned hide had been cut away, +strip by strip—the grim signature of famine. +</P> + +<P> +'Who—are—you?' slowly and distinctly enunciated the Kid. +</P> + +<P> +The man paid no heed. +</P> + +<P> +'Where do you come from?' 'Yan-kee ship come down de ri-ib-er,' was the +quavering response. +</P> + +<P> +'Don't doubt the beggar came down the river,' the Kid said, shaking him +in an endeavor to start a more lucid flow of talk. +</P> + +<P> +But the man shrieked at the contact, clapping a hand to his side in +evident pain. He rose slowly to his feet, half leaning on the table. +</P> + +<P> +'She laughed at me—so—with the hate in her eye; and +she—would—not—come.' His voice died away, and he was sinking back +when Malemute Kid gripped him by the wrist and shouted, 'Who? Who would +not come?' 'She, Unga. She laughed, and struck at me, so, and so. And +then-' 'Yes?' +</P> + +<P> +'And then—' 'And then what?' 'And then he lay very still in the snow a +long time. He is-still in—the—snow.' The two men looked at each other +helplessly. +</P> + +<P> +'Who is in the snow?' 'She, Unga. She looked at me with the hate in her +eye, and then—' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, yes.' 'And then she took the knife, so; and once, twice—she was +weak. I traveled very slow. And there is much gold in that place, very +much gold.' 'Where is Unga?' For all Malemute Kid knew, she might be +dying a mile away. He shook the man savagely, repeating again and +again, 'Where is Unga? Who is Unga?' 'She—is—in—the—snow.' 'Go on!' +The Kid was pressing his wrist cruelly. +</P> + +<P> +'So—I—would—be—in—the snow—but—I—had—a—debt—to—pay. +It—was—heavy—I—had—a-debt—to—pay—a—debt—to—pay I—had-' The +faltering monosyllables ceased as he fumbled in his pouch and drew +forth a buckskin sack. 'A—debt—to—pay—five—pounds—of—gold-grub— +stake—Mal—e—mute—Kid—I—y—' The exhausted head dropped upon the +table; nor could Malemute Kid rouse it again. +</P> + +<P> +'It's Ulysses,' he said quietly, tossing the bag of dust on the table. +'Guess it's all day with Axel Gunderson and the woman. Come on, let's +get him between the blankets. He's Indian; he'll pull through and tell +a tale besides.' As they cut his garments from him, near his right +breast could be seen two unhealed, hard-lipped knife thrusts. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H4> + +<P> +'I will talk of the things which were in my own way; but you will +understand. I will begin at the beginning, and tell of myself and the +woman, and, after that, of the man.' He of the Otter Skins drew over to +the stove as do men who have been deprived of fire and are afraid the +Promethean gift may vanish at any moment. Malemute Kid picked up the +slush lamp and placed it so its light might fall upon the face of the +narrator. Prince slid his body over the edge of the bunk and joined +them. +</P> + +<P> +'I am Naass, a chief, and the son of a chief, born between a sunset and +a rising, on the dark seas, in my father's oomiak. All of a night the +men toiled at the paddles, and the women cast out the waves which threw +in upon us, and we fought with the storm. The salt spray froze upon my +mother's breast till her breath passed with the passing of the tide. +But I—I raised my voice with the wind and the storm, and lived. +</P> + +<P> +'We dwelt in Akatan—' 'Where?' asked Malemute Kid. +</P> + +<P> +'Akatan, which is in the Aleutians; Akatan, beyond Chignik, beyond +Kardalak, beyond Unimak. As I say, we dwelt in Akatan, which lies in +the midst of the sea on the edge of the world. We farmed the salt seas +for the fish, the seal, and the otter; and our homes shouldered about +one another on the rocky strip between the rim of the forest and the +yellow beach where our kayaks lay. We were not many, and the world was +very small. There were strange lands to the east—islands like Akatan; +so we thought all the world was islands and did not mind. +</P> + +<P> +'I was different from my people. In the sands of the beach were the +crooked timbers and wave-warped planks of a boat such as my people +never built; and I remember on the point of the island which overlooked +the ocean three ways there stood a pine tree which never grew there, +smooth and straight and tall. It is said the two men came to that spot, +turn about, through many days, and watched with the passing of the +light. These two men came from out of the sea in the boat which lay in +pieces on the beach. And they were white like you, and weak as the +little children when the seal have gone away and the hunters come home +empty. I know of these things from the old men and the old women, who +got them from their fathers and mothers before them. These strange +white men did not take kindly to our ways at first, but they grew +strong, what of the fish and the oil, and fierce. And they built them +each his own house, and took the pick of our women, and in time +children came. Thus he was born who was to become the father of my +father's father. +</P> + +<P> +'As I said, I was different from my people, for I carried the strong, +strange blood of this white man who came out of the sea. It is said we +had other laws in the days before these men; but they were fierce and +quarrelsome, and fought with our men till there were no more left who +dared to fight. Then they made themselves chiefs, and took away our old +laws, and gave us new ones, insomuch that the man was the son of his +father, and not his mother, as our way had been. They also ruled that +the son, first-born, should have all things which were his father's +before him, and that the brothers and sisters should shift for +themselves. And they gave us other laws. They showed us new ways in the +catching of fish and the killing of bear which were thick in the woods; +and they taught us to lay by bigger stores for the time of famine. And +these things were good. +</P> + +<P> +'But when they had become chiefs, and there were no more men to face +their anger, they fought, these strange white men, each with the other. +And the one whose blood I carry drove his seal spear the length of an +arm through the other's body. Their children took up the fight, and +their children's children; and there was great hatred between them, and +black doings, even to my time, so that in each family but one lived to +pass down the blood of them that went before. Of my blood I was alone; +of the other man's there was but a girl. Unga, who lived with her +mother. Her father and my father did not come back from the fishing one +night; but afterward they washed up to the beach on the big tides, and +they held very close to each other. +</P> + +<P> +'The people wondered, because of the hatred between the houses, and the +old men shook their heads and said the fight would go on when children +were born to her and children to me. They told me this as a boy, till I +came to believe, and to look upon Unga as a foe, who was to be the +mother of children which were to fight with mine. I thought of these +things day by day, and when I grew to a stripling I came to ask why +this should be so. +</P> + +<P> +'And they answered, "We do not know, but that in such way your fathers +did." And I marveled that those which were to come should fight the +battles of those that were gone, and in it I could see no right. But +the people said it must be, and I was only a stripling. +</P> + +<P> +'And they said I must hurry, that my blood might be the older and grow +strong before hers. This was easy, for I was head man, and the people +looked up to me because of the deeds and the laws of my fathers, and +the wealth which was mine. Any maiden would come to me, but I found +none to my liking. And the old men and the mothers of maidens told me +to hurry, for even then were the hunters bidding high to the mother of +Unga; and should her children grow strong before mine, mine would +surely die. +</P> + +<P> +'Nor did I find a maiden till one night coming back from the fishing. +The sunlight was lying, so, low and full in the eyes, the wind free, +and the kayacks racing with the white seas. Of a sudden the kayak of +Unga came driving past me, and she looked upon me, so, with her black +hair flying like a cloud of night and the spray wet on her cheek. As I +say, the sunlight was full in the eyes, and I was a stripling; but +somehow it was all clear, and I knew it to be the call of kind to kind. +</P> + +<P> +'As she whipped ahead she looked back within the space of two +strokes—looked as only the woman Unga could look—and again I knew it +as the call of kind. The people shouted as we ripped past the lazy +oomiaks and left them far behind. But she was quick at the paddle, and +my heart was like the belly of a sail, and I did not gain. The wind +freshened, the sea whitened, and, leaping like the seals on the +windward breech, we roared down the golden pathway of the sun.' Naass +was crouched half out of his stool, in the attitude of one driving a +paddle, as he ran the race anew. Somewhere across the stove he beheld +the tossing kayak and the flying hair of Unga. The voice of the wind +was in his ears, and its salt beat fresh upon his nostrils. +</P> + +<P> +'But she made the shore, and ran up the sand, laughing, to the house of +her mother. And a great thought came to me that night—a thought worthy +of him that was chief over all the people of Akatan. So, when the moon +was up, I went down to the house of her mother, and looked upon the +goods of Yash-Noosh, which were piled by the door—the goods of +Yash-Noosh, a strong hunter who had it in mind to be the father of the +children of Unga. Other young men had piled their goods there and taken +them away again; and each young man had made a pile greater than the +one before. +</P> + +<P> +'And I laughed to the moon and the stars, and went to my own house +where my wealth was stored. And many trips I made, till my pile was +greater by the fingers of one hand than the pile of Yash-Noosh. There +were fish, dried in the sun and smoked; and forty hides of the hair +seal, and half as many of the fur, and each hide was tied at the mouth +and big bellied with oil; and ten skins of bear which I killed in the +woods when they came out in the spring. And there were beads and +blankets and scarlet cloths, such as I got in trade from the people who +lived to the east, and who got them in trade from the people who lived +still beyond in the east. +</P> + +<P> +'And I looked upon the pile of Yash-Noosh and laughed, for I was head +man in Akatan, and my wealth was greater than the wealth of all my +young men, and my fathers had done deeds, and given laws, and put their +names for all time in the mouths of the people. +</P> + +<P> +'So, when the morning came, I went down to the beach, casting out of +the corner of my eye at the house of the mother of Unga. My offer yet +stood untouched. +</P> + +<P> +'And the women smiled, and said sly things one to the other. I +wondered, for never had such a price been offered; and that night I +added more to the pile, and put beside it a kayak of well-tanned skins +which never yet had swam in the sea. But in the day it was yet there, +open to the laughter of all men. The mother of Unga was crafty, and I +grew angry at the shame in which I stood before my people. So that +night I added till it became a great pile, and I hauled up my oomiak, +which was of the value of twenty kayaks. And in the morning there was +no pile. +</P> + +<P> +'Then made I preparation for the wedding, and the people that lived +even to the east came for the food of the feast and the potlatch token. +Unga was older than I by the age of four suns in the way we reckoned +the years. I was only a stripling; but then I was a chief, and the son +of a chief, and it did not matter. +</P> + +<P> +'But a ship shoved her sails above the floor of the ocean, and grew +larger with the breath of the wind. From her scuppers she ran clear +water, and the men were in haste and worked hard at the pumps. On the +bow stood a mighty man, watching the depth of the water and giving +commands with a voice of thunder. His eyes were of the pale blue of the +deep waters, and his head was maned like that of a sea lion. And his +hair was yellow, like the straw of a southern harvest or the manila +rope yarns which sailormen plait. +</P> + +<P> +'Of late years we had seen ships from afar, but this was the first to +come to the beach of Akatan. The feast was broken, and the women and +children fled to the houses, while we men strung our bows and waited +with spears in hand. But when the ship's forefoot smelled the beach the +strange men took no notice of us, being busy with their own work. With +the falling of the tide they careened the schooner and patched a great +hole in her bottom. So the women crept back, and the feast went on. +</P> + +<P> +'When the tide rose, the sea wanderers kedged the schooner to deep +water and then came among us. They bore presents and were friendly; so +I made room for them, and out of the largeness of my heart gave them +tokens such as I gave all the guests, for it was my wedding day, and I +was head man in Akatan. And he with the mane of the sea lion was there, +so tall and strong that one looked to see the earth shake with the fall +of his feet. He looked much and straight at Unga, with his arms folded, +so, and stayed till the sun went away and the stars came out. Then he +went down to his ship. After that I took Unga by the hand and led her +to my own house. And there was singing and great laughter, and the +women said sly things, after the manner of women at such times. But we +did not care. Then the people left us alone and went home. +</P> + +<P> +'The last noise had not died away when the chief of the sea wanderers +came in by the door. And he had with him black bottles, from which we +drank and made merry. You see, I was only a stripling, and had lived +all my days on the edge of the world. So my blood became as fire, and +my heart as light as the froth that flies from the surf to the cliff. +Unga sat silent among the skins in the corner, her eyes wide, for she +seemed to fear. And he with the mane of the sea lion looked upon her +straight and long. Then his men came in with bundles of goods, and he +piled before me wealth such as was not in all Akatan. There were guns, +both large and small, and powder and shot and shell, and bright axes +and knives of steel, and cunning tools, and strange things the like of +which I had never seen. When he showed me by sign that it was all mine, +I thought him a great man to be so free; but he showed me also that +Unga was to go away with him in his ship. +</P> + +<P> +'Do you understand?—that Unga was to go away with him in his ship. The +blood of my fathers flamed hot on the sudden, and I made to drive him +through with my spear. But the spirit of the bottles had stolen the +life from my arm, and he took me by the neck, so, and knocked my head +against the wall of the house. And I was made weak like a newborn +child, and my legs would no more stand under me. +</P> + +<P> +'Unga screamed, and she laid hold of the things of the house with her +hands, till they fell all about us as he dragged her to the door. Then +he took her in his great arms, and when she tore at his yellow hair +laughed with a sound like that of the big bull seal in the rut. +</P> + +<P> +'I crawled to the beach and called upon my people, but they were +afraid. Only Yash-Noosh was a man, and they struck him on the head with +an oar, till he lay with his face in the sand and did not move. And +they raised the sails to the sound of their songs, and the ship went +away on the wind. +</P> + +<P> +'The people said it was good, for there would be no more war of the +bloods in Akatan; but I said never a word, waiting till the time of the +full moon, when I put fish and oil in my kayak and went away to the +east. I saw many islands and many people, and I, who had lived on the +edge, saw that the world was very large. I talked by signs; but they +had not seen a schooner nor a man with the mane of a sea lion, and they +pointed always to the east. And I slept in queer places, and ate odd +things, and met strange faces. Many laughed, for they thought me light +of head; but sometimes old men turned my face to the light and blessed +me, and the eyes of the young women grew soft as they asked me of the +strange ship, and Unga, and the men of the sea. +</P> + +<P> +'And in this manner, through rough seas and great storms, I came to +Unalaska. There were two schooners there, but neither was the one I +sought. So I passed on to the east, with the world growing ever larger, +and in the island of Unamok there was no word of the ship, nor in +Kadiak, nor in Atognak. And so I came one day to a rocky land, where +men dug great holes in the mountain. And there was a schooner, but not +my schooner, and men loaded upon it the rocks which they dug. This I +thought childish, for all the world was made of rocks; but they gave me +food and set me to work. When the schooner was deep in the water, the +captain gave me money and told me to go; but I asked which way he went, +and he pointed south. I made signs that I would go with him, and he +laughed at first, but then, being short of men, took me to help work +the ship. So I came to talk after their manner, and to heave on ropes, +and to reef the stiff sails in sudden squalls, and to take my turn at +the wheel. But it was not strange, for the blood of my fathers was the +blood of the men of the sea. +</P> + +<P> +'I had thought it an easy task to find him I sought, once I got among +his own people; and when we raised the land one day, and passed between +a gateway of the sea to a port, I looked for perhaps as many schooners +as there were fingers to my hands. But the ships lay against the +wharves for miles, packed like so many little fish; and when I went +among them to ask for a man with the mane of a sea lion, they laughed, +and answered me in the tongues of many peoples. And I found that they +hailed from the uttermost parts of the earth. +</P> + +<P> +'And I went into the city to look upon the face of every man. But they +were like the cod when they run thick on the banks, and I could not +count them. And the noise smote upon me till I could not hear, and my +head was dizzy with much movement. So I went on and on, through the +lands which sang in the warm sunshine; where the harvests lay rich on +the plains; and where great cities were fat with men that lived like +women, with false words in their mouths and their hearts black with the +lust of gold. And all the while my people of Akatan hunted and fished, +and were happy in the thought that the world was small. +</P> + +<P> +'But the look in the eyes of Unga coming home from the fishing was with +me always, and I knew I would find her when the time was met. She +walked down quiet lanes in the dusk of the evening, or led me chases +across the thick fields wet with the morning dew, and there was a +promise in her eyes such as only the woman Unga could give. +</P> + +<P> +'So I wandered through a thousand cities. Some were gentle and gave me +food, and others laughed, and still others cursed; but I kept my tongue +between my teeth, and went strange ways and saw strange sights. +Sometimes I, who was a chief and the son of a chief, toiled for +men—men rough of speech and hard as iron, who wrung gold from the +sweat and sorrow of their fellow men. Yet no word did I get of my quest +till I came back to the sea like a homing seal to the rookeries. +</P> + +<P> +'But this was at another port, in another country which lay to the +north. And there I heard dim tales of the yellow-haired sea wanderer, +and I learned that he was a hunter of seals, and that even then he was +abroad on the ocean. +</P> + +<P> +'So I shipped on a seal schooner with the lazy Siwashes, and followed +his trackless trail to the north where the hunt was then warm. And we +were away weary months, and spoke many of the fleet, and heard much of +the wild doings of him I sought; but never once did we raise him above +the sea. We went north, even to the Pribilofs, and killed the seals in +herds on the beach, and brought their warm bodies aboard till our +scuppers ran grease and blood and no man could stand upon the deck. +Then were we chased by a ship of slow steam, which fired upon us with +great guns. But we put sail till the sea was over our decks and washed +them clean, and lost ourselves in a fog. +</P> + +<P> +'It is said, at this time, while we fled with fear at our hearts, that +the yellow-haired sea wanderer put in to the Pribilofs, right to the +factory, and while the part of his men held the servants of the +company, the rest loaded ten thousand green skins from the salt houses. +I say it is said, but I believe; for in the voyages I made on the coast +with never a meeting the northern seas rang with his wildness and +daring, till the three nations which have lands there sought him with +their ships. +</P> + +<P> +'And I heard of Unga, for the captains sang loud in her praise, and she +was always with him. She had learned the ways of his people, they said, +and was happy. But I knew better—knew that her heart harked back to +her own people by the yellow beach of Akatan. +</P> + +<P> +'So, after a long time, I went back to the port which is by a gateway +of the sea, and there I learned that he had gone across the girth of +the great ocean to hunt for the seal to the east of the warm land which +runs south from the Russian seas. +</P> + +<P> +'And I, who was become a sailorman, shipped with men of his own race, +and went after him in the hunt of the seal. And there were few ships +off that new land; but we hung on the flank of the seal pack and +harried it north through all the spring of the year. And when the cows +were heavy with pup and crossed the Russian line, our men grumbled and +were afraid. For there was much fog, and every day men were lost in the +boats. They would not work, so the captain turned the ship back toward +the way it came. But I knew the yellow-haired sea wanderer was +unafraid, and would hang by the pack, even to the Russian Isles, where +few men go. So I took a boat, in the black of night, when the lookout +dozed on the fo'c'slehead, and went alone to the warm, long land. And I +journeyed south to meet the men by Yeddo Bay, who are wild and +unafraid. And the Yoshiwara girls were small, and bright like steel, +and good to look upon; but I could not stop, for I knew that Unga +rolled on the tossing floor by the rookeries of the north. +</P> + +<P> +'The men by Yeddo Bay had met from the ends of the earth, and had +neither gods nor homes, sailing under the flag of the Japanese. And +with them I went to the rich beaches of Copper Island, where our salt +piles became high with skins. +</P> + +<P> +'And in that silent sea we saw no man till we were ready to come away. +Then one day the fog lifted on the edge of a heavy wind, and there +jammed down upon us a schooner, with close in her wake the cloudy +funnels of a Russian man-of-war. We fled away on the beam of the wind, +with the schooner jamming still closer and plunging ahead three feet to +our two. And upon her poop was the man with the mane of the sea lion, +pressing the rails under with the canvas and laughing in his strength +of life. And Unga was there—I knew her on the moment—but he sent her +below when the cannons began to talk across the sea. +</P> + +<P> +As I say, with three feet to our two, till we saw the rudder lift green +at every jump—and I swinging on to the wheel and cursing, with my back +to the Russian shot. For we knew he had it in mind to run before us, +that he might get away while we were caught. And they knocked our masts +out of us till we dragged into the wind like a wounded gull; but he +went on over the edge of the sky line—he and Unga. +</P> + +<P> +'What could we? The fresh hides spoke for themselves. So they took us +to a Russian port, and after that to a lone country, where they set us +to work in the mines to dig salt. And some died, and—and some did not +die.' Naass swept the blanket from his shoulders, disclosing the +gnarled and twisted flesh, marked with the unmistakable striations of +the knout. Prince hastily covered him, for it was not nice to look upon. +</P> + +<P> +'We were there a weary time and sometimes men got away to the south, +but they always came back. So, when we who hailed from Yeddo Bay rose +in the night and took the guns from the guards, we went to the north. +And the land was very large, with plains, soggy with water, and great +forests. And the cold came, with much snow on the ground, and no man +knew the way. Weary months we journeyed through the endless forest—I +do not remember, now, for there was little food and often we lay down +to die. But at last we came to the cold sea, and but three were left to +look upon it. One had shipped from Yeddo as captain, and he knew in his +head the lay of the great lands, and of the place where men may cross +from one to the other on the ice. And he led us—I do not know, it was +so long—till there were but two. When we came to that place we found +five of the strange people which live in that country, and they had +dogs and skins, and we were very poor. We fought in the snow till they +died, and the captain died, and the dogs and skins were mine. Then I +crossed on the ice, which was broken, and once I drifted till a gale +from the west put me upon the shore. And after that, Golovin Bay, +Pastilik, and the priest. Then south, south, to the warm sunlands where +first I wandered. +</P> + +<P> +'But the sea was no longer fruitful, and those who went upon it after +the seal went to little profit and great risk. The fleets scattered, +and the captains and the men had no word of those I sought. So I turned +away from the ocean which never rests, and went among the lands, where +the trees, the houses, and the mountains sit always in one place and do +not move. I journeyed far, and came to learn many things, even to the +way of reading and writing from books. It was well I should do this, +for it came upon me that Unga must know these things, and that someday, +when the time was met—we—you understand, when the time was met. +</P> + +<P> +'So I drifted, like those little fish which raise a sail to the wind +but cannot steer. But my eyes and my ears were open always, and I went +among men who traveled much, for I knew they had but to see those I +sought to remember. At last there came a man, fresh from the mountains, +with pieces of rock in which the free gold stood to the size of peas, +and he had heard, he had met, he knew them. They were rich, he said, +and lived in the place where they drew the gold from the ground. +</P> + +<P> +'It was in a wild country, and very far away; but in time I came to the +camp, hidden between the mountains, where men worked night and day, out +of the sight of the sun. Yet the time was not come. I listened to the +talk of the people. He had gone away—they had gone away—to England, +it was said, in the matter of bringing men with much money together to +form companies. I saw the house they had lived in; more like a palace, +such as one sees in the old countries. In the nighttime I crept in +through a window that I might see in what manner he treated her. I went +from room to room, and in such way thought kings and queens must live, +it was all so very good. And they all said he treated her like a queen, +and many marveled as to what breed of woman she was for there was other +blood in her veins, and she was different from the women of Akatan, and +no one knew her for what she was. Aye, she was a queen; but I was a +chief, and the son of a chief, and I had paid for her an untold price +of skin and boat and bead. +</P> + +<P> +'But why so many words? I was a sailorman, and knew the way of the +ships on the seas. I followed to England, and then to other countries. +Sometimes I heard of them by word of mouth, sometimes I read of them in +the papers; yet never once could I come by them, for they had much +money, and traveled fast, while I was a poor man. Then came trouble +upon them, and their wealth slipped away one day like a curl of smoke. +The papers were full of it at the time; but after that nothing was +said, and I knew they had gone back where more gold could be got from +the ground. +</P> + +<P> +'They had dropped out of the world, being now poor, and so I wandered +from camp to camp, even north to the Kootenay country, where I picked +up the cold scent. They had come and gone, some said this way, and some +that, and still others that they had gone to the country of the Yukon. +And I went this way, and I went that, ever journeying from place to +place, till it seemed I must grow weary of the world which was so +large. But in the Kootenay I traveled a bad trail, and a long trail, +with a breed of the Northwest, who saw fit to die when the famine +pinched. He had been to the Yukon by an unknown way over the mountains, +and when he knew his time was near gave me the map and the secret of a +place where he swore by his gods there was much gold. +</P> + +<P> +'After that all the world began to flock into the north. I was a poor +man; I sold myself to be a driver of dogs. The rest you know. I met him +and her in Dawson. +</P> + +<P> +'She did not know me, for I was only a stripling, and her life had been +large, so she had no time to remember the one who had paid for her an +untold price. +</P> + +<P> +'So? You bought me from my term of service. I went back to bring things +about in my own way, for I had waited long, and now that I had my hand +upon him was in no hurry. +</P> + +<P> +'As I say, I had it in mind to do my own way, for I read back in my +life, through all I had seen and suffered, and remembered the cold and +hunger of the endless forest by the Russian seas. As you know, I led +him into the east—him and Unga—into the east where many have gone and +few returned. I led them to the spot where the bones and the curses of +men lie with the gold which they may not have. +</P> + +<P> +'The way was long and the trail unpacked. Our dogs were many and ate +much; nor could our sleds carry till the break of spring. We must come +back before the river ran free. So here and there we cached grub, that +our sleds might be lightened and there be no chance of famine on the +back trip. At the McQuestion there were three men, and near them we +built a cache, as also did we at the Mayo, where was a hunting camp of +a dozen Pellys which had crossed the divide from the south. +</P> + +<P> +'After that, as we went on into the east, we saw no men; only the +sleeping river, the moveless forest, and the White Silence of the +North. As I say, the way was long and the trail unpacked. Sometimes, in +a day's toil, we made no more than eight miles, or ten, and at night we +slept like dead men. And never once did they dream that I was Naass, +head man of Akatan, the righter of wrongs. +</P> + +<P> +'We now made smaller caches, and in the nighttime it was a small matter +to go back on the trail we had broken and change them in such way that +one might deem the wolverines the thieves. Again there be places where +there is a fall to the river, and the water is unruly, and the ice +makes above and is eaten away beneath. +</P> + +<P> +'In such a spot the sled I drove broke through, and the dogs; and to +him and Unga it was ill luck, but no more. And there was much grub on +that sled, and the dogs the strongest. +</P> + +<P> +'But he laughed, for he was strong of life, and gave the dogs that were +left little grub till we cut them from the harnesses one by one and fed +them to their mates. We would go home light, he said, traveling and +eating from cache to cache, with neither dogs nor sleds; which was +true, for our grub was very short, and the last dog died in the traces +the night we came to the gold and the bones and the curses of men. +</P> + +<P> +'To reach that place—and the map spoke true—in the heart of the great +mountains, we cut ice steps against the wall of a divide. One looked +for a valley beyond, but there was no valley; the snow spread away, +level as the great harvest plains, and here and there about us mighty +mountains shoved their white heads among the stars. And midway on that +strange plain which should have been a valley the earth and the snow +fell away, straight down toward the heart of the world. +</P> + +<P> +'Had we not been sailormen our heads would have swung round with the +sight, but we stood on the dizzy edge that we might see a way to get +down. And on one side, and one side only, the wall had fallen away till +it was like the slope of the decks in a topsail breeze. I do not know +why this thing should be so, but it was so. "It is the mouth of hell," +he said; "let us go down." And we went down. +</P> + +<P> +'And on the bottom there was a cabin, built by some man, of logs which +he had cast down from above. It was a very old cabin, for men had died +there alone at different times, and on pieces of birch bark which were +there we read their last words and their curses. +</P> + +<P> +'One had died of scurvy; another's partner had robbed him of his last +grub and powder and stolen away; a third had been mauled by a baldface +grizzly; a fourth had hunted for game and starved—and so it went, and +they had been loath to leave the gold, and had died by the side of it +in one way or another. And the worthless gold they had gathered +yellowed the floor of the cabin like in a dream. +</P> + +<P> +'But his soul was steady, and his head clear, this man I had led thus +far. "We have nothing to eat," he said, "and we will only look upon +this gold, and see whence it comes and how much there be. Then we will +go away quick, before it gets into our eyes and steals away our +judgment. And in this way we may return in the end, with more grub, and +possess it all." So we looked upon the great vein, which cut the wall +of the pit as a true vein should, and we measured it, and traced it +from above and below, and drove the stakes of the claims and blazed the +trees in token of our rights. Then, our knees shaking with lack of +food, and a sickness in our bellies, and our hearts chugging close to +our mouths, we climbed the mighty wall for the last time and turned our +faces to the back trip. +</P> + +<P> +'The last stretch we dragged Unga between us, and we fell often, but in +the end we made the cache. And lo, there was no grub. It was well done, +for he thought it the wolverines, and damned them and his gods in one +breath. But Unga was brave, and smiled, and put her hand in his, till I +turned away that I might hold myself. "We will rest by the fire," she +said, "till morning, and we will gather strength from our moccasins." +So we cut the tops of our moccasins in strips, and boiled them half of +the night, that we might chew them and swallow them. And in the morning +we talked of our chance. The next cache was five days' journey; we +could not make it. We must find game. +</P> + +<P> +'"We will go forth and hunt," he said. +</P> + +<P> +'"Yes," said I, "we will go forth and hunt." 'And he ruled that Unga +stay by the fire and save her strength. And we went forth, he in quest +of the moose and I to the cache I had changed. But I ate little, so +they might not see in me much strength. And in the night he fell many +times as he drew into camp. And I, too, made to suffer great weakness, +stumbling over my snowshoes as though each step might be my last. And +we gathered strength from our moccasins. +</P> + +<P> +'He was a great man. His soul lifted his body to the last; nor did he +cry aloud, save for the sake of Unga. On the second day I followed him, +that I might not miss the end. And he lay down to rest often. That +night he was near gone; but in the morning he swore weakly and went +forth again. He was like a drunken man, and I looked many times for him +to give up, but his was the strength of the strong, and his soul the +soul of a giant, for he lifted his body through all the weary day. And +he shot two ptarmigan, but would not eat them. He needed no fire; they +meant life; but his thought was for Unga, and he turned toward camp. +</P> + +<P> +'He no longer walked, but crawled on hand and knee through the snow. I +came to him, and read death in his eyes. Even then it was not too late +to eat of the ptarmigan. He cast away his rifle and carried the birds +in his mouth like a dog. I walked by his side, upright. And he looked +at me during the moments he rested, and wondered that I was so strong. +I could see it, though he no longer spoke; and when his lips moved, +they moved without sound. +</P> + +<P> +'As I say, he was a great man, and my heart spoke for softness; but I +read back in my life, and remembered the cold and hunger of the endless +forest by the Russian seas. Besides, Unga was mine, and I had paid for +her an untold price of skin and boat and bead. +</P> + +<P> +'And in this manner we came through the white forest, with the silence +heavy upon us like a damp sea mist. And the ghosts of the past were in +the air and all about us; and I saw the yellow beach of Akatan, and the +kayaks racing home from the fishing, and the houses on the rim of the +forest. And the men who had made themselves chiefs were there, the +lawgivers whose blood I bore and whose blood I had wedded in Unga. Aye, +and Yash-Noosh walked with me, the wet sand in his hair, and his war +spear, broken as he fell upon it, still in his hand. And I knew the +time was meet, and saw in the eyes of Unga the promise. +</P> + +<P> +'As I say, we came thus through the forest, till the smell of the camp +smoke was in our nostrils. And I bent above him, and tore the ptarmigan +from his teeth. +</P> + +<P> +'He turned on his side and rested, the wonder mounting in his eyes, and +the hand which was under slipping slow toward the knife at his hip. But +I took it from him, smiling close in his face. Even then he did not +understand. So I made to drink from black bottles, and to build high +upon the snow a pile—of goods, and to live again the things which had +happened on the night of my marriage. I spoke no word, but he +understood. Yet was he unafraid. There was a sneer to his lips, and +cold anger, and he gathered new strength with the knowledge. It was not +far, but the snow was deep, and he dragged himself very slow. +</P> + +<P> +'Once he lay so long I turned him over and gazed into his eyes. And +sometimes he looked forth, and sometimes death. And when I loosed him +he struggled on again. In this way we came to the fire. Unga was at his +side on the instant. His lips moved without sound; then he pointed at +me, that Unga might understand. And after that he lay in the snow, very +still, for a long while. Even now is he there in the snow. +</P> + +<P> +'I said no word till I had cooked the ptarmigan. Then I spoke to her, +in her own tongue, which she had not heard in many years. She +straightened herself, so, and her eyes were wonder-wide, and she asked +who I was, and where I had learned that speech. +</P> + +<P> +'"I am Naass," I said. +</P> + +<P> +'"You?" she said. "You?" And she crept close that she might look upon +me. +</P> + +<P> +'"Yes," I answered; "I am Naass, head man of Akatan, the last of the +blood, as you are the last of the blood." 'And she laughed. By all the +things I have seen and the deeds I have done may I never hear such a +laugh again. It put the chill to my soul, sitting there in the White +Silence, alone with death and this woman who laughed. +</P> + +<P> +'"Come!" I said, for I thought she wandered. "Eat of the food and let +us be gone. It is a far fetch from here to Akatan." 'But she shoved her +face in his yellow mane, and laughed till it seemed the heavens must +fall about our ears. I had thought she would be overjoyed at the sight +of me, and eager to go back to the memory of old times, but this seemed +a strange form to take. +</P> + +<P> +'"Come!" I cried, taking her strong by the hand. "The way is long and +dark. Let us hurry!" "Where?" she asked, sitting up, and ceasing from +her strange mirth. +</P> + +<P> +'"To Akatan," I answered, intent on the light to grow on her face at +the thought. But it became like his, with a sneer to the lips, and cold +anger. +</P> + +<P> +'"Yes," she said; "we will go, hand in hand, to Akatan, you and I. And +we will live in the dirty huts, and eat of the fish and oil, and bring +forth a spawn—a spawn to be proud of all the days of our life. We will +forget the world and be happy, very happy. It is good, most good. Come! +Let us hurry. Let us go back to Akatan." And she ran her hand through +his yellow hair, and smiled in a way which was not good. And there was +no promise in her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +'I sat silent, and marveled at the strangeness of woman. I went back to +the night when he dragged her from me and she screamed and tore at his +hair—at his hair which now she played with and would not leave. Then I +remembered the price and the long years of waiting; and I gripped her +close, and dragged her away as he had done. And she held back, even as +on that night, and fought like a she-cat for its whelp. And when the +fire was between us and the man. I loosed her, and she sat and +listened. And I told her of all that lay between, of all that had +happened to me on strange seas, of all that I had done in strange +lands; of my weary quest, and the hungry years, and the promise which +had been mine from the first. Aye, I told all, even to what had passed +that day between the man and me, and in the days yet young. And as I +spoke I saw the promise grow in her eyes, full and large like the break +of dawn. And I read pity there, the tenderness of woman, the love, the +heart and the soul of Unga. And I was a stripling again, for the look +was the look of Unga as she ran up the beach, laughing, to the home of +her mother. The stern unrest was gone, and the hunger, and the weary +waiting. +</P> + +<P> +'The time was met. I felt the call of her breast, and it seemed there I +must pillow my head and forget. She opened her arms to me, and I came +against her. Then, sudden, the hate flamed in her eye, her hand was at +my hip. And once, twice, she passed the knife. +</P> + +<P> +'"Dog!" she sneered, as she flung me into the snow. "Swine!" And then +she laughed till the silence cracked, and went back to her dead. +</P> + +<P> +'As I say, once she passed the knife, and twice; but she was weak with +hunger, and it was not meant that I should die. Yet was I minded to +stay in that place, and to close my eyes in the last long sleep with +those whose lives had crossed with mine and led my feet on unknown +trails. But there lay a debt upon me which would not let me rest. +</P> + +<P> +'And the way was long, the cold bitter, and there was little grub. The +Pellys had found no moose, and had robbed my cache. And so had the +three white men, but they lay thin and dead in their cabins as I +passed. After that I do not remember, till I came here, and found food +and fire—much fire.' As he finished, he crouched closely, even +jealously, over the stove. For a long while the slush-lamp shadows +played tragedies upon the wall. +</P> + +<P> +'But Unga!' cried Prince, the vision still strong upon him. +</P> + +<P> +'Unga? She would not eat of the ptarmigan. She lay with her arms about +his neck, her face deep in his yellow hair. I drew the fire close, that +she might not feel the frost, but she crept to the other side. And I +built a fire there; yet it was little good, for she would not eat. And +in this manner they still lie up there in the snow.' +</P> + +<P> +'And you?' asked Malemute Kid. +</P> + +<P> +'I do not know; but Akatan is small, and I have little wish to go back +and live on the edge of the world. Yet is there small use in life. I +can go to Constantine, and he will put irons upon me, and one day they +will tie a piece of rope, so, and I will sleep good. Yet—no; I do not +know.' 'But, Kid,' protested Prince, 'this is murder!' 'Hush!' +commanded Malemute Kid. 'There be things greater than our wisdom, +beyond our justice. The right and the wrong of this we cannot say, and +it is not for us to judge.' Naass drew yet closer to the fire. There +was a great silence, and in each man's eyes many pictures came and went. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +The End +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Son of the Wolf, by Jack London + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SON OF THE WOLF *** + +***** This file should be named 2377-h.htm or 2377-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/7/2377/ + +Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer. HTML +version by Al Haines. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Son of the Wolf + +Author: Jack London + +Posting Date: March 1, 2009 [EBook #2377] +Release Date: October, 2000 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SON OF THE WOLF *** + + + + +Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer. HTML +version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + +The Son of the Wolf + +Jack London + + +1900 + + + +Contains + + The White Silence + The Son of the Wolf + The Men of Forty Mile + In a Far Country + To the Man on the Trail + The Priestly Prerogative + The Wisdom of the Trail + The Wife of a King + An Odyssey of the North + + + + +The White Silence + +'Carmen won't last more than a couple of days.' Mason spat out a chunk +of ice and surveyed the poor animal ruefully, then put her foot in his +mouth and proceeded to bite out the ice which clustered cruelly between +the toes. + +'I never saw a dog with a highfalutin' name that ever was worth a rap,' +he said, as he concluded his task and shoved her aside. 'They just fade +away and die under the responsibility. Did ye ever see one go wrong +with a sensible name like Cassiar, Siwash, or Husky? No, sir! Take a +look at Shookum here, he's--' Snap! The lean brute flashed up, the +white teeth just missing Mason's throat. + +'Ye will, will ye?' A shrewd clout behind the ear with the butt of the +dog whip stretched the animal in the snow, quivering softly, a yellow +slaver dripping from its fangs. + +'As I was saying, just look at Shookum here--he's got the spirit. Bet +ye he eats Carmen before the week's out.' 'I'll bank another +proposition against that,' replied Malemute Kid, reversing the frozen +bread placed before the fire to thaw. 'We'll eat Shookum before the +trip is over. What d'ye say, Ruth?' The Indian woman settled the coffee +with a piece of ice, glanced from Malemute Kid to her husband, then at +the dogs, but vouchsafed no reply. It was such a palpable truism that +none was necessary. Two hundred miles of unbroken trail in prospect, +with a scant six days' grub for themselves and none for the dogs, could +admit no other alternative. The two men and the woman grouped about the +fire and began their meager meal. The dogs lay in their harnesses for +it was a midday halt, and watched each mouthful enviously. + +'No more lunches after today,' said Malemute Kid. 'And we've got to +keep a close eye on the dogs--they're getting vicious. They'd just as +soon pull a fellow down as not, if they get a chance.' 'And I was +president of an Epworth once, and taught in the Sunday school.' Having +irrelevantly delivered himself of this, Mason fell into a dreamy +contemplation of his steaming moccasins, but was aroused by Ruth +filling his cup. + +'Thank God, we've got slathers of tea! I've seen it growing, down in +Tennessee. What wouldn't I give for a hot corn pone just now! Never +mind, Ruth; you won't starve much longer, nor wear moccasins either.' +The woman threw off her gloom at this, and in her eyes welled up a +great love for her white lord--the first white man she had ever +seen--the first man whom she had known to treat a woman as something +better than a mere animal or beast of burden. + +'Yes, Ruth,' continued her husband, having recourse to the macaronic +jargon in which it was alone possible for them to understand each +other; 'wait till we clean up and pull for the Outside. We'll take the +White Man's canoe and go to the Salt Water. Yes, bad water, rough +water--great mountains dance up and down all the time. And so big, so +far, so far away--you travel ten sleep, twenty sleep, forty sleep'--he +graphically enumerated the days on his fingers--'all the time water, +bad water. Then you come to great village, plenty people, just the same +mosquitoes next summer. Wigwams oh, so high--ten, twenty pines. + +'Hi-yu skookum!' He paused impotently, cast an appealing glance at +Malemute Kid, then laboriously placed the twenty pines, end on end, by +sign language. Malemute Kid smiled with cheery cynicism; but Ruth's +eyes were wide with wonder, and with pleasure; for she half believed he +was joking, and such condescension pleased her poor woman's heart. + +'And then you step into a--a box, and pouf! up you go.' He tossed his +empty cup in the air by way of illustration and, as he deftly caught +it, cried: 'And biff! down you come. Oh, great medicine men! You go +Fort Yukon. I go Arctic City--twenty-five sleep--big string, all the +time--I catch him string--I say, "Hello, Ruth! How are ye?"--and you +say, "Is that my good husband?"--and I say, "Yes"--and you say, "No can +bake good bread, no more soda"--then I say, "Look in cache, under +flour; good-by." You look and catch plenty soda. All the time you Fort +Yukon, me Arctic City. Hi-yu medicine man!' Ruth smiled so ingenuously +at the fairy story that both men burst into laughter. A row among the +dogs cut short the wonders of the Outside, and by the time the snarling +combatants were separated, she had lashed the sleds and all was ready +for the trail.--'Mush! Baldy! Hi! Mush on!' Mason worked his whip +smartly and, as the dogs whined low in the traces, broke out the sled +with the gee pole. Ruth followed with the second team, leaving Malemute +Kid, who had helped her start, to bring up the rear. Strong man, brute +that he was, capable of felling an ox at a blow, he could not bear to +beat the poor animals, but humored them as a dog driver rarely +does--nay, almost wept with them in their misery. + +'Come, mush on there, you poor sore-footed brutes!' he murmured, after +several ineffectual attempts to start the load. But his patience was at +last rewarded, and though whimpering with pain, they hastened to join +their fellows. + +No more conversation; the toil of the trail will not permit such +extravagance. + +And of all deadening labors, that of the Northland trail is the worst. +Happy is the man who can weather a day's travel at the price of +silence, and that on a beaten track. And of all heartbreaking labors, +that of breaking trail is the worst. At every step the great webbed +shoe sinks till the snow is level with the knee. Then up, straight up, +the deviation of a fraction of an inch being a certain precursor of +disaster, the snowshoe must be lifted till the surface is cleared; then +forward, down, and the other foot is raised perpendicularly for the +matter of half a yard. He who tries this for the first time, if haply +he avoids bringing his shoes in dangerous propinquity and measures not +his length on the treacherous footing, will give up exhausted at the +end of a hundred yards; he who can keep out of the way of the dogs for +a whole day may well crawl into his sleeping bag with a clear +conscience and a pride which passeth all understanding; and he who +travels twenty sleeps on the Long Trail is a man whom the gods may envy. + +The afternoon wore on, and with the awe, born of the White Silence, the +voiceless travelers bent to their work. Nature has many tricks +wherewith she convinces man of his finity--the ceaseless flow of the +tides, the fury of the storm, the shock of the earthquake, the long +roll of heaven's artillery--but the most tremendous, the most +stupefying of all, is the passive phase of the White Silence. All +movement ceases, the sky clears, the heavens are as brass; the +slightest whisper seems sacrilege, and man becomes timid, affrighted at +the sound of his own voice. Sole speck of life journeying across the +ghostly wastes of a dead world, he trembles at his audacity, realizes +that his is a maggot's life, nothing more. + +Strange thoughts arise unsummoned, and the mystery of all things +strives for utterance. + +And the fear of death, of God, of the universe, comes over him--the +hope of the Resurrection and the Life, the yearning for immortality, +the vain striving of the imprisoned essence--it is then, if ever, man +walks alone with God. + +So wore the day away. The river took a great bend, and Mason headed his +team for the cutoff across the narrow neck of land. But the dogs balked +at the high bank. Again and again, though Ruth and Malemute Kid were +shoving on the sled, they slipped back. Then came the concerted effort. +The miserable creatures, weak from hunger, exerted their last strength. +Up--up--the sled poised on the top of the bank; but the leader swung +the string of dogs behind him to the right, fouling Mason's snowshoes. +The result was grievous. + +Mason was whipped off his feet; one of the dogs fell in the traces; and +the sled toppled back, dragging everything to the bottom again. + +Slash! the whip fell among the dogs savagely, especially upon the one +which had fallen. + +'Don't,--Mason,' entreated Malemute Kid; 'the poor devil's on its last +legs. Wait and we'll put my team on.' Mason deliberately withheld the +whip till the last word had fallen, then out flashed the long lash, +completely curling about the offending creature's body. + +Carmen--for it was Carmen--cowered in the snow, cried piteously, then +rolled over on her side. + +It was a tragic moment, a pitiful incident of the trail--a dying dog, +two comrades in anger. + +Ruth glanced solicitously from man to man. But Malemute Kid restrained +himself, though there was a world of reproach in his eyes, and, bending +over the dog, cut the traces. No word was spoken. The teams were +doublespanned and the difficulty overcome; the sleds were under way +again, the dying dog dragging herself along in the rear. As long as an +animal can travel, it is not shot, and this last chance is accorded +it--the crawling into camp, if it can, in the hope of a moose being +killed. + +Already penitent for his angry action, but too stubborn to make amends, +Mason toiled on at the head of the cavalcade, little dreaming that +danger hovered in the air. The timber clustered thick in the sheltered +bottom, and through this they threaded their way. Fifty feet or more +from the trail towered a lofty pine. For generations it had stood +there, and for generations destiny had had this one end in +view--perhaps the same had been decreed of Mason. + +He stooped to fasten the loosened thong of his moccasin. The sleds came +to a halt, and the dogs lay down in the snow without a whimper. The +stillness was weird; not a breath rustled the frost-encrusted forest; +the cold and silence of outer space had chilled the heart and smote the +trembling lips of nature. A sigh pulsed through the air--they did not +seem to actually hear it, but rather felt it, like the premonition of +movement in a motionless void. Then the great tree, burdened with its +weight of years and snow, played its last part in the tragedy of life. +He heard the warning crash and attempted to spring up but, almost +erect, caught the blow squarely on the shoulder. + +The sudden danger, the quick death--how often had Malemute Kid faced +it! The pine needles were still quivering as he gave his commands and +sprang into action. Nor did the Indian girl faint or raise her voice in +idle wailing, as might many of her white sisters. At his order, she +threw her weight on the end of a quickly extemporized handspike, easing +the pressure and listening to her husband's groans, while Malemute Kid +attacked the tree with his ax. The steel rang merrily as it bit into +the frozen trunk, each stroke being accompanied by a forced, audible +respiration, the 'Huh!' 'Huh!' of the woodsman. + +At last the Kid laid the pitiable thing that was once a man in the +snow. But worse than his comrade's pain was the dumb anguish in the +woman's face, the blended look of hopeful, hopeless query. Little was +said; those of the Northland are early taught the futility of words and +the inestimable value of deeds. With the temperature at sixty-five +below zero, a man cannot lie many minutes in the snow and live. So the +sled lashings were cut, and the sufferer, rolled in furs, laid on a +couch of boughs. Before him roared a fire, built of the very wood which +wrought the mishap. Behind and partially over him was stretched the +primitive fly--a piece of canvas, which caught the radiating heat and +threw it back and down upon him--a trick which men may know who study +physics at the fount. + +And men who have shared their bed with death know when the call is +sounded. Mason was terribly crushed. The most cursory examination +revealed it. + +His right arm, leg, and back were broken; his limbs were paralyzed from +the hips; and the likelihood of internal injuries was large. An +occasional moan was his only sign of life. + +No hope; nothing to be done. The pitiless night crept slowly by--Ruth's +portion, the despairing stoicism of her race, and Malemute Kid adding +new lines to his face of bronze. + +In fact, Mason suffered least of all, for he spent his time in eastern +Tennessee, in the Great Smoky Mountains, living over the scenes of his +childhood. And most pathetic was the melody of his long-forgotten +Southern vernacular, as he raved of swimming holes and coon hunts and +watermelon raids. It was as Greek to Ruth, but the Kid understood and +felt--felt as only one can feel who has been shut out for years from +all that civilization means. + +Morning brought consciousness to the stricken man, and Malemute Kid +bent closer to catch his whispers. + +'You remember when we foregathered on the Tanana, four years come next +ice run? I didn't care so much for her then. It was more like she was +pretty, and there was a smack of excitement about it, I think. But d'ye +know, I've come to think a heap of her. She's been a good wife to me, +always at my shoulder in the pinch. And when it comes to trading, you +know there isn't her equal. D'ye recollect the time she shot the +Moosehorn Rapids to pull you and me off that rock, the bullets whipping +the water like hailstones?--and the time of the famine at +Nuklukyeto?--when she raced the ice run to bring the news? + +'Yes, she's been a good wife to me, better'n that other one. Didn't +know I'd been there? + +'Never told you, eh? Well, I tried it once, down in the States. That's +why I'm here. Been raised together, too. I came away to give her a +chance for divorce. She got it. + +'But that's got nothing to do with Ruth. I had thought of cleaning up +and pulling for the Outside next year--her and I--but it's too late. +Don't send her back to her people, Kid. It's beastly hard for a woman +to go back. Think of it!--nearly four years on our bacon and beans and +flour and dried fruit, and then to go back to her fish and caribou. +It's not good for her to have tried our ways, to come to know they're +better'n her people's, and then return to them. Take care of her, Kid, +why don't you--but no, you always fought shy of them--and you never +told me why you came to this country. Be kind to her, and send her back +to the States as soon as you can. But fix it so she can come +back--liable to get homesick, you know. + +'And the youngster--it's drawn us closer, Kid. I only hope it is a boy. +Think of it!--flesh of my flesh, Kid. He mustn't stop in this country. +And if it's a girl, why, she can't. Sell my furs; they'll fetch at +least five thousand, and I've got as much more with the company. And +handle my interests with yours. I think that bench claim will show up. +See that he gets a good schooling; and Kid, above all, don't let him +come back. This country was not made for white men. + +'I'm a gone man, Kid. Three or four sleeps at the best. You've got to +go on. You must go on! Remember, it's my wife, it's my boy--O God! I +hope it's a boy! You can't stay by me--and I charge you, a dying man, +to pull on.' + +'Give me three days,' pleaded Malemute Kid. 'You may change for the +better; something may turn up.' + +'No.' + +'Just three days.' + +'You must pull on.' + +'Two days.' + +'It's my wife and my boy, Kid. You would not ask it.' + +'One day.' + +'No, no! I charge--' + +'Only one day. We can shave it through on the grub, and I might knock +over a moose.' + +'No--all right; one day, but not a minute more. And, Kid, don't--don't +leave me to face it alone. Just a shot, one pull on the trigger. You +understand. Think of it! Think of it! Flesh of my flesh, and I'll never +live to see him! + +'Send Ruth here. I want to say good-by and tell her that she must think +of the boy and not wait till I'm dead. She might refuse to go with you +if I didn't. Goodby, old man; good-by. + +'Kid! I say--a--sink a hole above the pup, next to the slide. I panned +out forty cents on my shovel there. + +'And, Kid!' He stooped lower to catch the last faint words, the dying +man's surrender of his pride. 'I'm sorry--for--you know--Carmen.' +Leaving the girl crying softly over her man, Malemute Kid slipped into +his parka and snowshoes, tucked his rifle under his arm, and crept away +into the forest. He was no tyro in the stern sorrows of the Northland, +but never had he faced so stiff a problem as this. In the abstract, it +was a plain, mathematical proposition--three possible lives as against +one doomed one. But now he hesitated. For five years, shoulder to +shoulder, on the rivers and trails, in the camps and mines, facing +death by field and flood and famine, had they knitted the bonds of +their comradeship. So close was the tie that he had often been +conscious of a vague jealousy of Ruth, from the first time she had come +between. And now it must be severed by his own hand. + +Though he prayed for a moose, just one moose, all game seemed to have +deserted the land, and nightfall found the exhausted man crawling into +camp, lighthanded, heavyhearted. An uproar from the dogs and shrill +cries from Ruth hastened him. + +Bursting into the camp, he saw the girl in the midst of the snarling +pack, laying about her with an ax. The dogs had broken the iron rule of +their masters and were rushing the grub. + +He joined the issue with his rifle reversed, and the hoary game of +natural selection was played out with all the ruthlessness of its +primeval environment. Rifle and ax went up and down, hit or missed with +monotonous regularity; lithe bodies flashed, with wild eyes and +dripping fangs; and man and beast fought for supremacy to the bitterest +conclusion. Then the beaten brutes crept to the edge of the firelight, +licking their wounds, voicing their misery to the stars. + +The whole stock of dried salmon had been devoured, and perhaps five +pounds of flour remained to tide them over two hundred miles of +wilderness. Ruth returned to her husband, while Malemute Kid cut up the +warm body of one of the dogs, the skull of which had been crushed by +the ax. Every portion was carefully put away, save the hide and offal, +which were cast to his fellows of the moment before. + +Morning brought fresh trouble. The animals were turning on each other. +Carmen, who still clung to her slender thread of life, was downed by +the pack. The lash fell among them unheeded. They cringed and cried +under the blows, but refused to scatter till the last wretched bit had +disappeared--bones, hide, hair, everything. + +Malemute Kid went about his work, listening to Mason, who was back in +Tennessee, delivering tangled discourses and wild exhortations to his +brethren of other days. + +Taking advantage of neighboring pines, he worked rapidly, and Ruth +watched him make a cache similar to those sometimes used by hunters to +preserve their meat from the wolverines and dogs. One after the other, +he bent the tops of two small pines toward each other and nearly to the +ground, making them fast with thongs of moosehide. Then he beat the +dogs into submission and harnessed them to two of the sleds, loading +the same with everything but the furs which enveloped Mason. These he +wrapped and lashed tightly about him, fastening either end of the robes +to the bent pines. A single stroke of his hunting knife would release +them and send the body high in the air. + +Ruth had received her husband's last wishes and made no struggle. Poor +girl, she had learned the lesson of obedience well. From a child, she +had bowed, and seen all women bow, to the lords of creation, and it did +not seem in the nature of things for woman to resist. The Kid permitted +her one outburst of grief, as she kissed her husband--her own people +had no such custom--then led her to the foremost sled and helped her +into her snowshoes. Blindly, instinctively, she took the gee pole and +whip, and 'mushed' the dogs out on the trail. Then he returned to +Mason, who had fallen into a coma, and long after she was out of sight +crouched by the fire, waiting, hoping, praying for his comrade to die. + +It is not pleasant to be alone with painful thoughts in the White +Silence. The silence of gloom is merciful, shrouding one as with +protection and breathing a thousand intangible sympathies; but the +bright White Silence, clear and cold, under steely skies, is pitiless. + +An hour passed--two hours--but the man would not die. At high noon the +sun, without raising its rim above the southern horizon, threw a +suggestion of fire athwart the heavens, then quickly drew it back. +Malemute Kid roused and dragged himself to his comrade's side. He cast +one glance about him. The White Silence seemed to sneer, and a great +fear came upon him. There was a sharp report; Mason swung into his +aerial sepulcher, and Malemute Kid lashed the dogs into a wild gallop +as he fled across the snow. + + + +The Son of the Wolf + +Man rarely places a proper valuation upon his womankind, at least not +until deprived of them. He has no conception of the subtle atmosphere +exhaled by the sex feminine, so long as he bathes in it; but let it be +withdrawn, and an ever-growing void begins to manifest itself in his +existence, and he becomes hungry, in a vague sort of way, for a +something so indefinite that he cannot characterize it. If his comrades +have no more experience than himself, they will shake their heads +dubiously and dose him with strong physic. But the hunger will continue +and become stronger; he will lose interest in the things of his +everyday life and wax morbid; and one day, when the emptiness has +become unbearable, a revelation will dawn upon him. + +In the Yukon country, when this comes to pass, the man usually +provisions a poling boat, if it is summer, and if winter, harnesses his +dogs, and heads for the Southland. A few months later, supposing him to +be possessed of a faith in the country, he returns with a wife to share +with him in that faith, and incidentally in his hardships. This but +serves to show the innate selfishness of man. It also brings us to the +trouble of 'Scruff' Mackenzie, which occurred in the old days, before +the country was stampeded and staked by a tidal-wave of the +che-cha-quas, and when the Klondike's only claim to notice was its +salmon fisheries. + +'Scruff' Mackenzie bore the earmarks of a frontier birth and a frontier +life. + +His face was stamped with twenty-five years of incessant struggle with +Nature in her wildest moods,--the last two, the wildest and hardest of +all, having been spent in groping for the gold which lies in the shadow +of the Arctic Circle. When the yearning sickness came upon him, he was +not surprised, for he was a practical man and had seen other men thus +stricken. But he showed no sign of his malady, save that he worked +harder. All summer he fought mosquitoes and washed the sure-thing bars +of the Stuart River for a double grubstake. Then he floated a raft of +houselogs down the Yukon to Forty Mile, and put together as comfortable +a cabin as any the camp could boast of. In fact, it showed such cozy +promise that many men elected to be his partner and to come and live +with him. But he crushed their aspirations with rough speech, peculiar +for its strength and brevity, and bought a double supply of grub from +the trading-post. + +As has been noted, 'Scruff' Mackenzie was a practical man. If he wanted +a thing he usually got it, but in doing so, went no farther out of his +way than was necessary. Though a son of toil and hardship, he was +averse to a journey of six hundred miles on the ice, a second of two +thousand miles on the ocean, and still a third thousand miles or so to +his last stamping-grounds,--all in the mere quest of a wife. Life was +too short. So he rounded up his dogs, lashed a curious freight to his +sled, and faced across the divide whose westward slopes were drained by +the head-reaches of the Tanana. + +He was a sturdy traveler, and his wolf-dogs could work harder and +travel farther on less grub than any other team in the Yukon. Three +weeks later he strode into a hunting-camp of the Upper Tanana Sticks. +They marveled at his temerity; for they had a bad name and had been +known to kill white men for as trifling a thing as a sharp ax or a +broken rifle. + +But he went among them single-handed, his bearing being a delicious +composite of humility, familiarity, sang-froid, and insolence. It +required a deft hand and deep knowledge of the barbaric mind +effectually to handle such diverse weapons; but he was a past-master in +the art, knowing when to conciliate and when to threaten with Jove-like +wrath. + +He first made obeisance to the Chief Thling-Tinneh, presenting him with +a couple of pounds of black tea and tobacco, and thereby winning his +most cordial regard. Then he mingled with the men and maidens, and that +night gave a potlach. + +The snow was beaten down in the form of an oblong, perhaps a hundred +feet in length and quarter as many across. Down the center a long fire +was built, while either side was carpeted with spruce boughs. The +lodges were forsaken, and the fivescore or so members of the tribe gave +tongue to their folk-chants in honor of their guest. + +'Scruff' Mackenzie's two years had taught him the not many hundred +words of their vocabulary, and he had likewise conquered their deep +gutturals, their Japanese idioms, constructions, and honorific and +agglutinative particles. So he made oration after their manner, +satisfying their instinctive poetry-love with crude flights of +eloquence and metaphorical contortions. After Thling-Tinneh and the +Shaman had responded in kind, he made trifling presents to the menfolk, +joined in their singing, and proved an expert in their fifty-two-stick +gambling game. + +And they smoked his tobacco and were pleased. But among the younger men +there was a defiant attitude, a spirit of braggadocio, easily +understood by the raw insinuations of the toothless squaws and the +giggling of the maidens. They had known few white men, 'Sons of the +Wolf,' but from those few they had learned strange lessons. + +Nor had 'Scruff' Mackenzie, for all his seeming carelessness, failed to +note these phenomena. In truth, rolled in his sleeping-furs, he thought +it all over, thought seriously, and emptied many pipes in mapping out a +campaign. One maiden only had caught his fancy,--none other than +Zarinska, daughter to the chief. In features, form, and poise, +answering more nearly to the white man's type of beauty, she was almost +an anomaly among her tribal sisters. He would possess her, make her his +wife, and name her--ah, he would name her Gertrude! Having thus +decided, he rolled over on his side and dropped off to sleep, a true +son of his all-conquering race, a Samson among the Philistines. + +It was slow work and a stiff game; but 'Scruff' Mackenzie maneuvered +cunningly, with an unconcern which served to puzzle the Sticks. He took +great care to impress the men that he was a sure shot and a mighty +hunter, and the camp rang with his plaudits when he brought down a +moose at six hundred yards. Of a night he visited in Chief +Thling-Tinneh's lodge of moose and cariboo skins, talking big and +dispensing tobacco with a lavish hand. Nor did he fail to likewise +honor the Shaman; for he realized the medicine-man's influence with his +people, and was anxious to make of him an ally. But that worthy was +high and mighty, refused to be propitiated, and was unerringly marked +down as a prospective enemy. + +Though no opening presented for an interview with Zarinska, Mackenzie +stole many a glance to her, giving fair warning of his intent. And well +she knew, yet coquettishly surrounded herself with a ring of women +whenever the men were away and he had a chance. But he was in no hurry; +besides, he knew she could not help but think of him, and a few days of +such thought would only better his suit. + +At last, one night, when he deemed the time to be ripe, he abruptly +left the chief's smoky dwelling and hastened to a neighboring lodge. As +usual, she sat with squaws and maidens about her, all engaged in sewing +moccasins and beadwork. They laughed at his entrance, and badinage, +which linked Zarinska to him, ran high. But one after the other they +were unceremoniously bundled into the outer snow, whence they hurried +to spread the tale through all the camp. + +His cause was well pleaded, in her tongue, for she did not know his, +and at the end of two hours he rose to go. + +'So Zarinska will come to the White Man's lodge? Good! I go now to have +talk with thy father, for he may not be so minded. And I will give him +many tokens; but he must not ask too much. If he say no? Good! Zarinska +shall yet come to the White Man's lodge.' + +He had already lifted the skin flap to depart, when a low exclamation +brought him back to the girl's side. She brought herself to her knees +on the bearskin mat, her face aglow with true Eve-light, and shyly +unbuckled his heavy belt. He looked down, perplexed, suspicious, his +ears alert for the slightest sound without. + +But her next move disarmed his doubt, and he smiled with pleasure. She +took from her sewing bag a moosehide sheath, brave with bright +beadwork, fantastically designed. She drew his great hunting-knife, +gazed reverently along the keen edge, half tempted to try it with her +thumb, and shot it into place in its new home. Then she slipped the +sheath along the belt to its customary resting-place, just above the +hip. For all the world, it was like a scene of olden time,--a lady and +her knight. + +Mackenzie drew her up full height and swept her red lips with his +moustache, the, to her, foreign caress of the Wolf. It was a meeting of +the stone age and the steel; but she was none the less a woman, as her +crimson cheeks and the luminous softness of her eyes attested. + +There was a thrill of excitement in the air as 'Scruff' Mackenzie, a +bulky bundle under his arm, threw open the flap of Thling-Tinneh's +tent. Children were running about in the open, dragging dry wood to the +scene of the potlach, a babble of women's voices was growing in +intensity, the young men were consulting in sullen groups, while from +the Shaman's lodge rose the eerie sounds of an incantation. + +The chief was alone with his blear-eyed wife, but a glance sufficed to +tell Mackenzie that the news was already told. So he plunged at once +into the business, shifting the beaded sheath prominently to the fore +as advertisement of the betrothal. + +'O Thling-Tinneh, mighty chief of the Sticks And the land of the +Tanana, ruler of the salmon and the bear, the moose and the cariboo! +The White Man is before thee with a great purpose. Many moons has his +lodge been empty, and he is lonely. And his heart has eaten itself in +silence, and grown hungry for a woman to sit beside him in his lodge, +to meet him from the hunt with warm fire and good food. He has heard +strange things, the patter of baby moccasins and the sound of +children's voices. And one night a vision came upon him, and he beheld +the Raven, who is thy father, the great Raven, who is the father of all +the Sticks. And the Raven spake to the lonely White Man, saying: "Bind +thou thy moccasins upon thee, and gird thy snow-shoes on, and lash thy +sled with food for many sleeps and fine tokens for the Chief +Thling-Tinneh. For thou shalt turn thy face to where the mid-spring sun +is wont to sink below the land and journey to this great chief's +hunting-grounds. There thou shalt make big presents, and Thling-Tinneh, +who is my son, shall become to thee as a father. In his lodge there is +a maiden into whom I breathed the breath of life for thee. This maiden +shalt thou take to wife." 'O Chief, thus spake the great Raven; thus do +I lay many presents at thy feet; thus am I come to take thy daughter!' +The old man drew his furs about him with crude consciousness of +royalty, but delayed reply while a youngster crept in, delivered a +quick message to appear before the council, and was gone. + +'O White Man, whom we have named Moose-Killer, also known as the Wolf, +and the Son of the Wolf! We know thou comest of a mighty race; we are +proud to have thee our potlach-guest; but the king-salmon does not mate +with the dogsalmon, nor the Raven with the Wolf.' 'Not so!' cried +Mackenzie. 'The daughters of the Raven have I met in the camps of the +Wolf,--the squaw of Mortimer, the squaw of Tregidgo, the squaw of +Barnaby, who came two ice-runs back, and I have heard of other squaws, +though my eyes beheld them not.' 'Son, your words are true; but it were +evil mating, like the water with the sand, like the snow-flake with the +sun. But met you one Mason and his squaw' No? + +He came ten ice-runs ago,--the first of all the Wolves. And with him +there was a mighty man, straight as a willow-shoot, and tall; strong as +the bald-faced grizzly, with a heart like the full summer moon; his-' +'Oh!' interrupted Mackenzie, recognizing the well-known Northland +figure, 'Malemute Kid!' 'The same,--a mighty man. But saw you aught of +the squaw? She was full sister to Zarinska.' 'Nay, Chief; but I have +heard. Mason--far, far to the north, a spruce-tree, heavy with years, +crushed out his life beneath. But his love was great, and he had much +gold. With this, and her boy, she journeyed countless sleeps toward the +winter's noonday sun, and there she yet lives,--no biting frost, no +snow, no summer's midnight sun, no winter's noonday night.' + +A second messenger interrupted with imperative summons from the council. + +As Mackenzie threw him into the snow, he caught a glimpse of the +swaying forms before the council-fire, heard the deep basses of the men +in rhythmic chant, and knew the Shaman was fanning the anger of his +people. Time pressed. He turned upon the chief. + +'Come! I wish thy child. And now, see! Here are tobacco, tea, many cups +of sugar, warm blankets, handkerchiefs, both good and large; and here, +a true rifle, with many bullets and much powder.' 'Nay,' replied the +old man, struggling against the great wealth spread before him. 'Even +now are my people come together. They will not have this marriage.' + +'But thou art chief.' 'Yet do my young men rage because the Wolves have +taken their maidens so that they may not marry.' 'Listen, O +Thling-Tinneh! Ere the night has passed into the day, the Wolf shall +face his dogs to the Mountains of the East and fare forth to the +Country of the Yukon. And Zarinska shall break trail for his dogs.' +'And ere the night has gained its middle, my young men may fling to the +dogs the flesh of the Wolf, and his bones be scattered in the snow till +the springtime lay them bare.' It was threat and counter-threat. +Mackenzie's bronzed face flushed darkly. He raised his voice. The old +squaw, who till now had sat an impassive spectator, made to creep by +him for the door. + +The song of the men broke suddenly and there was a hubbub of many +voices as he whirled the old woman roughly to her couch of skins. + +'Again I cry--listen, O Thling-Tinneh! The Wolf dies with teeth +fast-locked, and with him there shall sleep ten of thy strongest +men,--men who are needed, for the hunting is not begun, and the fishing +is not many moons away. And again, of what profit should I die? I know +the custom of thy people; thy share of my wealth shall be very small. +Grant me thy child, and it shall all be thine. And yet again, my +brothers will come, and they are many, and their maws are never filled; +and the daughters of the Raven shall bear children in the lodges of the +Wolf. My people are greater than thy people. It is destiny. Grant, and +all this wealth is thine.' Moccasins were crunching the snow without. +Mackenzie threw his rifle to cock, and loosened the twin Colts in his +belt. + +'Grant, O Chief!' 'And yet will my people say no.' 'Grant, and the +wealth is thine. Then shall I deal with thy people after.' 'The Wolf +will have it so. I will take his tokens,--but I would warn him.' +Mackenzie passed over the goods, taking care to clog the rifle's +ejector, and capping the bargain with a kaleidoscopic silk kerchief. +The Shaman and half a dozen young braves entered, but he shouldered +boldly among them and passed out. + +'Pack!' was his laconic greeting to Zarinska as he passed her lodge and +hurried to harness his dogs. A few minutes later he swept into the +council at the head of the team, the woman by his side. He took his +place at the upper end of the oblong, by the side of the chief. To his +left, a step to the rear, he stationed Zarinska, her proper place. +Besides, the time was ripe for mischief, and there was need to guard +his back. + +On either side, the men crouched to the fire, their voices lifted in a +folk-chant out of the forgotten past. Full of strange, halting cadences +and haunting recurrences, it was not beautiful. 'Fearful' may +inadequately express it. At the lower end, under the eye of the Shaman, +danced half a score of women. Stern were his reproofs of those who did +not wholly abandon themselves to the ecstasy of the rite. Half hidden +in their heavy masses of raven hair, all dishevelled and falling to +their waists, they slowly swayed to and fro, their forms rippling to an +ever-changing rhythm. + +It was a weird scene; an anachronism. To the south, the nineteenth +century was reeling off the few years of its last decade; here +flourished man primeval, a shade removed from the prehistoric +cave-dweller, forgotten fragment of the Elder World. The tawny +wolf-dogs sat between their skin-clad masters or fought for room, the +firelight cast backward from their red eyes and dripping fangs. The +woods, in ghostly shroud, slept on unheeding. + +The White Silence, for the moment driven to the rimming forest, seemed +ever crushing inward; the stars danced with great leaps, as is their +wont in the time of the Great Cold; while the Spirits of the Pole +trailed their robes of glory athwart the heavens. + +'Scruff' Mackenzie dimly realized the wild grandeur of the setting as +his eyes ranged down the fur-fringed sides in quest of missing faces. +They rested for a moment on a newborn babe, suckling at its mother's +naked breast. It was forty below,--seven and odd degrees of frost. He +thought of the tender women of his own race and smiled grimly. Yet from +the loins of some such tender woman had he sprung with a kingly +inheritance,--an inheritance which gave to him and his dominance over +the land and sea, over the animals and the peoples of all the zones. +Single-handed against fivescore, girt by the Arctic winter, far from +his own, he felt the prompting of his heritage, the desire to possess, +the wild danger--love, the thrill of battle, the power to conquer or to +die. + +The singing and the dancing ceased, and the Shaman flared up in rude +eloquence. + +Through the sinuosities of their vast mythology, he worked cunningly +upon the credulity of his people. The case was strong. Opposing the +creative principles as embodied in the Crow and the Raven, he +stigmatized Mackenzie as the Wolf, the fighting and the destructive +principle. Not only was the combat of these forces spiritual, but men +fought, each to his totem. They were the children of Jelchs, the Raven, +the Promethean fire-bringer; Mackenzie was the child of the Wolf, or in +other words, the Devil. For them to bring a truce to this perpetual +warfare, to marry their daughters to the arch-enemy, were treason and +blasphemy of the highest order. No phrase was harsh nor figure vile +enough in branding Mackenzie as a sneaking interloper and emissary of +Satan. There was a subdued, savage roar in the deep chests of his +listeners as he took the swing of his peroration. + +'Aye, my brothers, Jelchs is all-powerful! Did he not bring +heaven-borne fire that we might be warm? Did he not draw the sun, moon, +and stars, from their holes that we might see? Did he not teach us that +we might fight the Spirits of Famine and of Frost? But now Jelchs is +angry with his children, and they are grown to a handful, and he will +not help. + +'For they have forgotten him, and done evil things, and trod bad +trails, and taken his enemies into their lodges to sit by their fires. +And the Raven is sorrowful at the wickedness of his children; but when +they shall rise up and show they have come back, he will come out of +the darkness to aid them. O brothers! the Fire-Bringer has whispered +messages to thy Shaman; the same shall ye hear. Let the young men take +the young women to their lodges; let them fly at the throat of the +Wolf; let them be undying in their enmity! Then shall their women +become fruitful and they shall multiply into a mighty people! And the +Raven shall lead great tribes of their fathers and their fathers' +fathers from out of the North; and they shall beat back the Wolves till +they are as last year's campfires; and they shall again come to rule +over all the land! 'Tis the message of Jelchs, the Raven.' This +foreshadowing of the Messiah's coming brought a hoarse howl from the +Sticks as they leaped to their feet. Mackenzie slipped the thumbs of +his mittens and waited. There was a clamor for the 'Fox,' not to be +stilled till one of the young men stepped forward to speak. + +'Brothers! The Shaman has spoken wisely. The Wolves have taken our +women, and our men are childless. We are grown to a handful. The Wolves +have taken our warm furs and given for them evil spirits which dwell in +bottles, and clothes which come not from the beaver or the lynx, but +are made from the grass. + +And they are not warm, and our men die of strange sicknesses. I, the +Fox, have taken no woman to wife; and why? Twice have the maidens which +pleased me gone to the camps of the Wolf. Even now have I laid by skins +of the beaver, of the moose, of the cariboo, that I might win favor in +the eyes of Thling-Tinneh, that I might marry Zarinska, his daughter. +Even now are her snow-shoes bound to her feet, ready to break trail for +the dogs of the Wolf. Nor do I speak for myself alone. + +As I have done, so has the Bear. He, too, had fain been the father of +her children, and many skins has he cured thereto. I speak for all the +young men who know not wives. The Wolves are ever hungry. Always do +they take the choice meat at the killing. To the Ravens are left the +leavings. + +'There is Gugkla,' he cried, brutally pointing out one of the women, +who was a cripple. + +'Her legs are bent like the ribs of a birch canoe. She cannot gather +wood nor carry the meat of the hunters. Did the Wolves choose her?' +'Ai! ai!' vociferated his tribesmen. + +'There is Moyri, whose eyes are crossed by the Evil Spirit. Even the +babes are affrighted when they gaze upon her, and it is said the +bald-face gives her the trail. + +'Was she chosen?' Again the cruel applause rang out. + +'And there sits Pischet. She does not hearken to my words. Never has +she heard the cry of the chit-chat, the voice of her husband, the +babble of her child. + +'She lives in the White Silence. Cared the Wolves aught for her? No! +Theirs is the choice of the kill; ours is the leavings. + +'Brothers, it shall not be! No more shall the Wolves slink among our +campfires. The time is come.' A great streamer of fire, the aurora +borealis, purple, green, and yellow, shot across the zenith, bridging +horizon to horizon. With head thrown back and arms extended, he swayed +to his climax. + +'Behold! The spirits of our fathers have arisen and great deeds are +afoot this night!' He stepped back, and another young man somewhat +diffidently came forward, pushed on by his comrades. He towered a full +head above them, his broad chest defiantly bared to the frost. He swung +tentatively from one foot to the other. + +Words halted upon his tongue, and he was ill at ease. His face was +horrible to look upon, for it had at one time been half torn away by +some terrific blow. At last he struck his breast with his clenched +fist, drawing sound as from a drum, and his voice rumbled forth as does +the surf from an ocean cavern. + +'I am the Bear,--the Silver-Tip and the Son of the Silver-Tip! When my +voice was yet as a girl's, I slew the lynx, the moose, and the cariboo; +when it whistled like the wolverines from under a cache, I crossed the +Mountains of the South and slew three of the White Rivers; when it +became as the roar of the Chinook, I met the bald-faced grizzly, but +gave no trail.' At this he paused, his hand significantly sweeping +across his hideous scars. + +'I am not as the Fox. My tongue is frozen like the river. I cannot make +great talk. My words are few. The Fox says great deeds are afoot this +night. Good! Talk flows from his tongue like the freshets of the +spring, but he is chary of deeds. + +'This night shall I do battle with the Wolf. I shall slay him, and +Zarinska shall sit by my fire. The Bear has spoken.' Though pandemonium +raged about him, 'Scruff' Mackenzie held his ground. + +Aware how useless was the rifle at close quarters, he slipped both +holsters to the fore, ready for action, and drew his mittens till his +hands were barely shielded by the elbow gauntlets. He knew there was no +hope in attack en masse, but true to his boast, was prepared to die +with teeth fast-locked. But the Bear restrained his comrades, beating +back the more impetuous with his terrible fist. As the tumult began to +die away, Mackenzie shot a glance in the direction of Zarinska. It was +a superb picture. She was leaning forward on her snow-shoes, lips apart +and nostrils quivering, like a tigress about to spring. Her great black +eyes were fixed upon her tribesmen, in fear and defiance. So extreme +the tension, she had forgotten to breathe. With one hand pressed +spasmodically against her breast and the other as tightly gripped about +the dog-whip, she was as turned to stone. Even as he looked, relief +came to her. Her muscles loosened; with a heavy sigh she settled back, +giving him a look of more than love--of worship. + +Thling-Tinneh was trying to speak, but his people drowned his voice. +Then Mackenzie strode forward. The Fox opened his mouth to a piercing +yell, but so savagely did Mackenzie whirl upon him that he shrank back, +his larynx all agurgle with suppressed sound. His discomfiture was +greeted with roars of laughter, and served to soothe his fellows to a +listening mood. + +'Brothers! The White Man, whom ye have chosen to call the Wolf, came +among you with fair words. He was not like the Innuit; he spoke not +lies. He came as a friend, as one who would be a brother. But your men +have had their say, and the time for soft words is past. + +'First, I will tell you that the Shaman has an evil tongue and is a +false prophet, that the messages he spake are not those of the +Fire-Bringer. His ears are locked to the voice of the Raven, and out of +his own head he weaves cunning fancies, and he has made fools of you. +He has no power. + +'When the dogs were killed and eaten, and your stomachs were heavy with +untanned hide and strips of moccasins; when the old men died, and the +old women died, and the babes at the dry dugs of the mothers died; when +the land was dark, and ye perished as do the salmon in the fall; aye, +when the famine was upon you, did the Shaman bring reward to your +hunters? did the Shaman put meat in your bellies? Again I say, the +Shaman is without power. Thus I spit upon his face!' Though taken aback +by the sacrilege, there was no uproar. Some of the women were even +frightened, but among the men there was an uplifting, as though in +preparation or anticipation of the miracle. All eyes were turned upon +the two central figures. The priest realized the crucial moment, felt +his power tottering, opened his mouth in denunciation, but fled +backward before the truculent advance, upraised fist, and flashing +eyes, of Mackenzie. He sneered and resumed. + +'Was I stricken dead? Did the lightning burn me? Did the stars fall +from the sky and crush me? Pish! I have done with the dog. Now will I +tell you of my people, who are the mightiest of all the peoples, who +rule in all the lands. At first we hunt as I hunt, alone. + +'After that we hunt in packs; and at last, like the cariboo-run, we +sweep across all the land. + +'Those whom we take into our lodges live; those who will not come die. +Zarinska is a comely maiden, full and strong, fit to become the mother +of Wolves. Though I die, such shall she become; for my brothers are +many, and they will follow the scent of my dogs. + +'Listen to the Law of the Wolf: Whoso taketh the life of one Wolf, the +forfeit shall ten of his people pay. In many lands has the price been +paid; in many lands shall it yet be paid. + +'Now will I deal with the Fox and the Bear. It seems they have cast +eyes upon the maiden. So? Behold, I have bought her! Thling-Tinneh +leans upon the rifle; the goods of purchase are by his fire. Yet will I +be fair to the young men. To the Fox, whose tongue is dry with many +words, will I give of tobacco five long plugs. + +'Thus will his mouth be wetted that he may make much noise in the +council. But to the Bear, of whom I am well proud, will I give of +blankets two; of flour, twenty cups; of tobacco, double that of the +Fox; and if he fare with me over the Mountains of the East, then will I +give him a rifle, mate to Thling-Tinneh's. If not? Good! The Wolf is +weary of speech. Yet once again will he say the Law: Whoso taketh the +life of one Wolf, the forfeit shall ten of his people pay.' + +Mackenzie smiled as he stepped back to his old position, but at heart +he was full of trouble. The night was yet dark. The girl came to his +side, and he listened closely as she told of the Bear's battle-tricks +with the knife. + +The decision was for war. In a trice, scores of moccasins were widening +the space of beaten snow by the fire. There was much chatter about the +seeming defeat of the Shaman; some averred he had but withheld his +power, while others conned past events and agreed with the Wolf. The +Bear came to the center of the battle-ground, a long naked +hunting-knife of Russian make in his hand. The Fox called attention to +Mackenzie's revolvers; so he stripped his belt, buckling it about +Zarinska, into whose hands he also entrusted his rifle. She shook her +head that she could not shoot,--small chance had a woman to handle such +precious things. + +'Then, if danger come by my back, cry aloud, "My husband!" No; thus, +"My husband!"' + +He laughed as she repeated it, pinched her cheek, and reentered the +circle. Not only in reach and stature had the Bear the advantage of +him, but his blade was longer by a good two inches. 'Scruff' Mackenzie +had looked into the eyes of men before, and he knew it was a man who +stood against him; yet he quickened to the glint of light on the steel, +to the dominant pulse of his race. + +Time and again he was forced to the edge of the fire or the deep snow, +and time and again, with the foot tactics of the pugilist, he worked +back to the center. Not a voice was lifted in encouragement, while his +antagonist was heartened with applause, suggestions, and warnings. But +his teeth only shut the tighter as the knives clashed together, and he +thrust or eluded with a coolness born of conscious strength. At first +he felt compassion for his enemy; but this fled before the primal +instinct of life, which in turn gave way to the lust of slaughter. The +ten thousand years of culture fell from him, and he was a cave-dweller, +doing battle for his female. + +Twice he pricked the Bear, getting away unscathed; but the third time +caught, and to save himself, free hands closed on fighting hands, and +they came together. + +Then did he realize the tremendous strength of his opponent. His +muscles were knotted in painful lumps, and cords and tendons threatened +to snap with the strain; yet nearer and nearer came the Russian steel. +He tried to break away, but only weakened himself. The fur-clad circle +closed in, certain of and anxious to see the final stroke. But with +wrestler's trick, swinging partly to the side, he struck at his +adversary with his head. Involuntarily the Bear leaned back, disturbing +his center of gravity. Simultaneous with this, Mackenzie tripped +properly and threw his whole weight forward, hurling him clear through +the circle into the deep snow. The Bear floundered out and came back +full tilt. + +'O my husband!' Zarinska's voice rang out, vibrant with danger. + +To the twang of a bow-string, Mackenzie swept low to the ground, and a +bonebarbed arrow passed over him into the breast of the Bear, whose +momentum carried him over his crouching foe. The next instant Mackenzie +was up and about. The bear lay motionless, but across the fire was the +Shaman, drawing a second arrow. Mackenzie's knife leaped short in the +air. He caught the heavy blade by the point. There was a flash of light +as it spanned the fire. Then the Shaman, the hilt alone appearing +without his throat, swayed and pitched forward into the glowing embers. + +Click! Click!--the Fox had possessed himself of Thling-Tinneh's rifle +and was vainly trying to throw a shell into place. But he dropped it at +the sound of Mackenzie's laughter. + +'So the Fox has not learned the way of the plaything? He is yet a woman. + +'Come! Bring it, that I may show thee!' The Fox hesitated. + +'Come, I say!' He slouched forward like a beaten cur. + +'Thus, and thus; so the thing is done.' A shell flew into place and the +trigger was at cock as Mackenzie brought it to shoulder. + +'The Fox has said great deeds were afoot this night, and he spoke true. +There have been great deeds, yet least among them were those of the +Fox. Is he still intent to take Zarinska to his lodge? Is he minded to +tread the trail already broken by the Shaman and the Bear? + +'No? Good!' + +Mackenzie turned contemptuously and drew his knife from the priest's +throat. + +'Are any of the young men so minded? If so, the Wolf will take them by +two and three till none are left. No? Good! Thling-Tinneh, I now give +thee this rifle a second time. If, in the days to come, thou shouldst +journey to the Country of the Yukon, know thou that there shall always +be a place and much food by the fire of the Wolf. The night is now +passing into the day. I go, but I may come again. And for the last +time, remember the Law of the Wolf!' He was supernatural in their sight +as he rejoined Zarinska. She took her place at the head of the team, +and the dogs swung into motion. A few moments later they were swallowed +up by the ghostly forest. Till now Mackenzie had waited; he slipped +into his snow-shoes to follow. + +'Has the Wolf forgotten the five long plugs?' Mackenzie turned upon the +Fox angrily; then the humor of it struck him. + +'I will give thee one short plug.' 'As the Wolf sees fit,' meekly +responded the Fox, stretching out his hand. + + + +The Men of Forty Mile + +When Big Jim Belden ventured the apparently innocuous proposition that +mush-ice was 'rather pecooliar,' he little dreamed of what it would +lead to. + +Neither did Lon McFane, when he affirmed that anchor-ice was even more +so; nor did Bettles, as he instantly disagreed, declaring the very +existence of such a form to be a bugaboo. + +'An' ye'd be tellin' me this,' cried Lon, 'after the years ye've spint +in the land! An' we atin' out the same pot this many's the day!' 'But +the thing's agin reasin,' insisted Bettles. + +'Look you, water's warmer than ice--' 'An' little the difference, once +ye break through.' + +'Still it's warmer, because it ain't froze. An' you say it freezes on +the bottom?' 'Only the anchor-ice, David, only the anchor-ice. An' have +ye niver drifted along, the water clear as glass, whin suddin, belike a +cloud over the sun, the mushy-ice comes bubblin' up an' up till from +bank to bank an' bind to bind it's drapin' the river like a first +snowfall?' 'Unh, hunh! more'n once when I took a doze at the +steering-oar. But it allus come out the nighest side-channel, an' not +bubblin' up an' up.' 'But with niver a wink at the helm?' + +'No; nor you. It's agin reason. I'll leave it to any man!' Bettles +appealed to the circle about the stove, but the fight was on between +himself and Lon McFane. + +'Reason or no reason, it's the truth I'm tellin' ye. Last fall, a year +gone, 'twas Sitka Charley and meself saw the sight, droppin' down the +riffle ye'll remember below Fort Reliance. An' regular fall weather it +was--the glint o' the sun on the golden larch an' the quakin' aspens; +an' the glister of light on ivery ripple; an' beyand, the winter an' +the blue haze of the North comin' down hand in hand. It's well ye know +the same, with a fringe to the river an' the ice formin' thick in the +eddies--an' a snap an' sparkle to the air, an' ye a-feelin' it through +all yer blood, a-takin' new lease of life with ivery suck of it. 'Tis +then, me boy, the world grows small an' the wandtherlust lays ye by the +heels. + +'But it's meself as wandthers. As I was sayin', we a-paddlin', with +niver a sign of ice, barrin' that by the eddies, when the Injun lifts +his paddle an' sings out, "Lon McFane! Look ye below!" So have I heard, +but niver thought to see! As ye know, Sitka Charley, like meself, niver +drew first breath in the land; so the sight was new. Then we drifted, +with a head over ayther side, peerin' down through the sparkly water. +For the world like the days I spint with the pearlers, watchin' the +coral banks a-growin' the same as so many gardens under the sea. There +it was, the anchor-ice, clingin' an' clusterin' to ivery rock, after +the manner of the white coral. + +'But the best of the sight was to come. Just after clearin' the tail of +the riffle, the water turns quick the color of milk, an' the top of it +in wee circles, as when the graylin' rise in the spring, or there's a +splatter of wet from the sky. 'Twas the anchor-ice comin' up. To the +right, to the lift, as far as iver a man cud see, the water was covered +with the same. + +An' like so much porridge it was, slickin' along the bark of the canoe, +stickin' like glue to the paddles. It's many's the time I shot the +self-same riffle before, and it's many's the time after, but niver a +wink of the same have I seen. 'Twas the sight of a lifetime.' 'Do +tell!' dryly commented Bettles. 'D'ye think I'd b'lieve such a yarn? +I'd ruther say the glister of light'd gone to your eyes, and the snap +of the air to your tongue.' ''Twas me own eyes that beheld it, an' if +Sitka Charley was here, he'd be the lad to back me.' 'But facts is +facts, an' they ain't no gettin' round 'em. It ain't in the nature of +things for the water furtherest away from the air to freeze first.' +'But me own eyes-' 'Don't git het up over it,' admonished Bettles, as +the quick Celtic anger began to mount. + +'Then yer not after belavin' me?' 'Sence you're so blamed forehanded +about it, no; I'd b'lieve nature first, and facts.' + +'Is it the lie ye'd be givin' me?' threatened Lon. 'Ye'd better be +askin' that Siwash wife of yours. I'll lave it to her, for the truth I +spake.' Bettles flared up in sudden wrath. The Irishman had unwittingly +wounded him; for his wife was the half-breed daughter of a Russian +fur-trader, married to him in the Greek Mission of Nulato, a thousand +miles or so down the Yukon, thus being of much higher caste than the +common Siwash, or native, wife. It was a mere Northland nuance, which +none but the Northland adventurer may understand. + +'I reckon you kin take it that way,' was his deliberate affirmation. + +The next instant Lon McFane had stretched him on the floor, the circle +was broken up, and half a dozen men had stepped between. + +Bettles came to his feet, wiping the blood from his mouth. 'It hain't +new, this takin' and payin' of blows, and don't you never think but +that this will be squared.' 'An' niver in me life did I take the lie +from mortal man,' was the retort courteous. 'An' it's an avil day I'll +not be to hand, waitin' an' willin' to help ye lift yer debts, barrin' +no manner of way.' + +'Still got that 38-55?' Lon nodded. + +'But you'd better git a more likely caliber. Mine'll rip holes through +you the size of walnuts.' + +'Niver fear; it's me own slugs smell their way with soft noses, an' +they'll spread like flapjacks against the coming out beyand. An' +when'll I have the pleasure of waitin' on ye? The waterhole's a +strikin' locality.' ''Tain't bad. Jest be there in an hour, and you +won't set long on my coming.' Both men mittened and left the Post, +their ears closed to the remonstrances of their comrades. It was such a +little thing; yet with such men, little things, nourished by quick +tempers and stubborn natures, soon blossomed into big things. + +Besides, the art of burning to bedrock still lay in the womb of the +future, and the men of Forty-Mile, shut in by the long Arctic winter, +grew high-stomached with overeating and enforced idleness, and became +as irritable as do the bees in the fall of the year when the hives are +overstocked with honey. + +There was no law in the land. The mounted police was also a thing of +the future. Each man measured an offense, and meted out the punishment +inasmuch as it affected himself. + +Rarely had combined action been necessary, and never in all the dreary +history of the camp had the eighth article of the Decalogue been +violated. + +Big Jim Belden called an impromptu meeting. Scruff Mackenzie was placed +as temporary chairman, and a messenger dispatched to solicit Father +Roubeau's good offices. Their position was paradoxical, and they knew +it. By the right of might could they interfere to prevent the duel; yet +such action, while in direct line with their wishes, went counter to +their opinions. While their rough-hewn, obsolete ethics recognized the +individual prerogative of wiping out blow with blow, they could not +bear to think of two good comrades, such as Bettles and McFane, meeting +in deadly battle. Deeming the man who would not fight on provocation a +dastard, when brought to the test it seemed wrong that he should fight. + +But a scurry of moccasins and loud cries, rounded off with a +pistol-shot, interrupted the discussion. Then the storm-doors opened +and Malemute Kid entered, a smoking Colt's in his hand, and a merry +light in his eye. + +'I got him.' He replaced the empty shell, and added, 'Your dog, +Scruff.' 'Yellow Fang?' + +Mackenzie asked. + +'No; the lop-eared one.' 'The devil! Nothing the matter with him.' +'Come out and take a look.' 'That's all right after all. Buess he's got +'em, too. Yellow Fang came back this morning and took a chunk out of +him, and came near to making a widower of me. Made a rush for Zarinska, +but she whisked her skirts in his face and escaped with the loss of the +same and a good roll in the snow. Then he took to the woods again. Hope +he don't come back. Lost any yourself?' 'One--the best one of the +pack--Shookum. Started amuck this morning, but didn't get very far. Ran +foul of Sitka Charley's team, and they scattered him all over the +street. And now two of them are loose, and raging mad; so you see he +got his work in. The dog census will be small in the spring if we don't +do something.' + +'And the man census, too.' 'How's that? Who's in trouble now?' 'Oh, +Bettles and Lon McFane had an argument, and they'll be down by the +waterhole in a few minutes to settle it.' The incident was repeated for +his benefit, and Malemute Kid, accustomed to an obedience which his +fellow men never failed to render, took charge of the affair. His +quickly formulated plan was explained, and they promised to follow his +lead implicitly. + +'So you see,' he concluded, 'we do not actually take away their +privilege of fighting; and yet I don't believe they'll fight when they +see the beauty of the scheme. Life's a game and men the gamblers. +They'll stake their whole pile on the one chance in a thousand. + +'Take away that one chance, and--they won't play.' He turned to the man +in charge of the Post. 'Storekeeper, weight out three fathoms of your +best half-inch manila. + +'We'll establish a precedent which will last the men of Forty-Mile to +the end of time,' he prophesied. Then he coiled the rope about his arm +and led his followers out of doors, just in time to meet the principals. + +'What danged right'd he to fetch my wife in?' thundered Bettles to the +soothing overtures of a friend. ''Twa'n't called for,' he concluded +decisively. ''Twa'n't called for,' he reiterated again and again, +pacing up and down and waiting for Lon McFane. + +And Lon McFane--his face was hot and tongue rapid as he flaunted +insurrection in the face of the Church. 'Then, father,' he cried, 'it's +with an aisy heart I'll roll in me flamy blankets, the broad of me back +on a bed of coals. Niver shall it be said that Lon McFane took a lie +'twixt the teeth without iver liftin' a hand! An' I'll not ask a +blessin'. The years have been wild, but it's the heart was in the right +place.' 'But it's not the heart, Lon,' interposed Father Roubeau; 'It's +pride that bids you forth to slay your fellow man.' 'Yer Frinch,' Lon +replied. And then, turning to leave him, 'An' will ye say a mass if the +luck is against me?' But the priest smiled, thrust his moccasined feet +to the fore, and went out upon the white breast of the silent river. A +packed trail, the width of a sixteen-inch sled, led out to the +waterhole. On either side lay the deep, soft snow. The men trod in +single file, without conversation; and the black-stoled priest in their +midst gave to the function the solemn aspect of a funeral. It was a +warm winter's day for Forty-Mile--a day in which the sky, filled with +heaviness, drew closer to the earth, and the mercury sought the +unwonted level of twenty below. But there was no cheer in the warmth. +There was little air in the upper strata, and the clouds hung +motionless, giving sullen promise of an early snowfall. And the earth, +unresponsive, made no preparation, content in its hibernation. + +When the waterhole was reached, Bettles, having evidently reviewed the +quarrel during the silent walk, burst out in a final ''Twa'n't called +for,' while Lon McFane kept grim silence. Indignation so choked him +that he could not speak. + +Yet deep down, whenever their own wrongs were not uppermost, both men +wondered at their comrades. They had expected opposition, and this +tacit acquiescence hurt them. It seemed more was due them from the men +they had been so close with, and they felt a vague sense of wrong, +rebelling at the thought of so many of their brothers coming out, as on +a gala occasion, without one word of protest, to see them shoot each +other down. It appeared their worth had diminished in the eyes of the +community. The proceedings puzzled them. + +'Back to back, David. An' will it be fifty paces to the man, or double +the quantity?' + +'Fifty,' was the sanguinary reply, grunted out, yet sharply cut. + +But the new manila, not prominently displayed, but casually coiled +about Malemute Kid's arm, caught the quick eye of the Irishman, and +thrilled him with a suspicious fear. + +'An' what are ye doin' with the rope?' 'Hurry up!' Malemute Kid glanced +at his watch. + +'I've a batch of bread in the cabin, and I don't want it to fall. +Besides, my feet are getting cold.' The rest of the men manifested +their impatience in various suggestive ways. + +'But the rope, Kid' It's bran' new, an' sure yer bread's not that heavy +it needs raisin' with the like of that?' Bettles by this time had faced +around. Father Roubeau, the humor of the situation just dawning on him, +hid a smile behind his mittened hand. + +'No, Lon; this rope was made for a man.' Malemute Kid could be very +impressive on occasion. + +'What man?' Bettles was becoming aware of a personal interest. + +'The other man.' 'An' which is the one ye'd mane by that?' 'Listen, +Lon--and you, too, Bettles! We've been talking this little trouble of +yours over, and we've come to one conclusion. We know we have no right +to stop your fighting-' 'True for ye, me lad!' 'And we're not going to. +But this much we can do, and shall do--make this the only duel in the +history of Forty-Mile, set an example for every che-cha-qua that comes +up or down the Yukon. The man who escapes killing shall be hanged to +the nearest tree. Now, go ahead!' + +Lon smiled dubiously, then his face lighted up. 'Pace her off, +David--fifty paces, wheel, an' niver a cease firin' till a lad's down +for good. 'Tis their hearts'll niver let them do the deed, an' it's +well ye should know it for a true Yankee bluff.' + +He started off with a pleased grin on his face, but Malemute Kid halted +him. + +'Lon! It's a long while since you first knew me?' 'Many's the day.' +'And you, Bettles?' + +'Five year next June high water.' 'And have you once, in all that time, +known me to break my word' Or heard of me breaking it?' Both men shook +their heads, striving to fathom what lay beyond. + +'Well, then, what do you think of a promise made by me?' 'As good as +your bond,' from Bettles. + +'The thing to safely sling yer hopes of heaven by,' promptly endorsed +Lon McFane. + +'Listen! I, Malemute Kid, give you my word--and you know what that +means that the man who is not shot stretches rope within ten minutes +after the shooting.' He stepped back as Pilate might have done after +washing his hands. + +A pause and a silence came over the men of Forty-Mile. The sky drew +still closer, sending down a crystal flight of frost--little geometric +designs, perfect, evanescent as a breath, yet destined to exist till +the returning sun had covered half its northern journey. + +Both men had led forlorn hopes in their time--led with a curse or a +jest on their tongues, and in their souls an unswerving faith in the +God of Chance. But that merciful deity had been shut out from the +present deal. They studied the face of Malemute Kid, but they studied +as one might the Sphinx. As the quiet minutes passed, a feeling that +speech was incumbent on them began to grow. At last the howl of a +wolf-dog cracked the silence from the direction of Forty-Mile. The +weird sound swelled with all the pathos of a breaking heart, then died +away in a long-drawn sob. + +'Well I be danged!' Bettles turned up the collar of his mackinaw jacket +and stared about him helplessly. + +'It's a gloryus game yer runnin', Kid,' cried Lon McFane. 'All the +percentage of the house an' niver a bit to the man that's buckin'. The +Devil himself'd niver tackle such a cinch--and damned if I do.' There +were chuckles, throttled in gurgling throats, and winks brushed away +with the frost which rimed the eyelashes, as the men climbed the +ice-notched bank and started across the street to the Post. But the +long howl had drawn nearer, invested with a new note of menace. A woman +screamed round the corner. There was a cry of, 'Here he comes!' Then an +Indian boy, at the head of half a dozen frightened dogs, racing with +death, dashed into the crowd. And behind came Yellow Fang, a bristle of +hair and a flash of gray. Everybody but the Yankee fled. + +The Indian boy had tripped and fallen. Bettles stopped long enough to +grip him by the slack of his furs, then headed for a pile of cordwood +already occupied by a number of his comrades. Yellow Fang, doubling +after one of the dogs, came leaping back. The fleeing animal, free of +the rabies, but crazed with fright, whipped Bettles off his feet and +flashed on up the street. Malemute Kid took a flying shot at Yellow +Fang. The mad dog whirled a half airspring, came down on his back, +then, with a single leap, covered half the distance between himself and +Bettles. + +But the fatal spring was intercepted. Lon McFane leaped from the +woodpile, countering him in midair. Over they rolled, Lon holding him +by the throat at arm's length, blinking under the fetid slaver which +sprayed his face. Then Bettles, revolver in hand and coolly waiting a +chance, settled the combat. + +''Twas a square game, Kid,' Lon remarked, rising to his feet and +shaking the snow from out his sleeves; 'with a fair percentage to +meself that bucked it.' That night, while Lon McFane sought the +forgiving arms of the Church in the direction of Father Roubeau's +cabin, Malemute Kid talked long to little purpose. + +'But would you,' persisted Mackenzie, 'supposing they had fought?' +'Have I ever broken my word?' 'No; but that isn't the point. Answer the +question. Would you?' Malemute Kid straightened up. 'Scruff, I've been +asking myself that question ever since, and--' + +'Well?' + +'Well, as yet, I haven't found the answer.' + + + +In a Far Country + +When a man journeys into a far country, he must be prepared to forget +many of the things he has learned, and to acquire such customs as are +inherent with existence in the new land; he must abandon the old ideals +and the old gods, and oftentimes he must reverse the very codes by +which his conduct has hitherto been shaped. To those who have the +protean faculty of adaptability, the novelty of such change may even be +a source of pleasure; but to those who happen to be hardened to the +ruts in which they were created, the pressure of the altered +environment is unbearable, and they chafe in body and in spirit under +the new restrictions which they do not understand. This chafing is +bound to act and react, producing divers evils and leading to various +misfortunes. It were better for the man who cannot fit himself to the +new groove to return to his own country; if he delay too long, he will +surely die. + +The man who turns his back upon the comforts of an elder civilization, +to face the savage youth, the primordial simplicity of the North, may +estimate success at an inverse ratio to the quantity and quality of his +hopelessly fixed habits. He will soon discover, if he be a fit +candidate, that the material habits are the less important. The +exchange of such things as a dainty menu for rough fare, of the stiff +leather shoe for the soft, shapeless moccasin, of the feather bed for a +couch in the snow, is after all a very easy matter. But his pinch will +come in learning properly to shape his mind's attitude toward all +things, and especially toward his fellow man. For the courtesies of +ordinary life, he must substitute unselfishness, forbearance, and +tolerance. Thus, and thus only, can he gain that pearl of great +price--true comradeship. He must not say 'thank you'; he must mean it +without opening his mouth, and prove it by responding in kind. In +short, he must substitute the deed for the word, the spirit for the +letter. + +When the world rang with the tale of Arctic gold, and the lure of the +North gripped the heartstrings of men, Carter Weatherbee threw up his +snug clerkship, turned the half of his savings over to his wife, and +with the remainder bought an outfit. There was no romance in his +nature--the bondage of commerce had crushed all that; he was simply +tired of the ceaseless grind, and wished to risk great hazards in view +of corresponding returns. Like many another fool, disdaining the old +trails used by the Northland pioneers for a score of years, he hurried +to Edmonton in the spring of the year; and there, unluckily for his +soul's welfare, he allied himself with a party of men. + +There was nothing unusual about this party, except its plans. Even its +goal, like that of all the other parties, was the Klondike. But the +route it had mapped out to attain that goal took away the breath of the +hardiest native, born and bred to the vicissitudes of the Northwest. +Even Jacques Baptiste, born of a Chippewa woman and a renegade voyageur +(having raised his first whimpers in a deerskin lodge north of the +sixty-fifth parallel, and had the same hushed by blissful sucks of raw +tallow), was surprised. Though he sold his services to them and agreed +to travel even to the never-opening ice, he shook his head ominously +whenever his advice was asked. + +Percy Cuthfert's evil star must have been in the ascendant, for he, +too, joined this company of argonauts. He was an ordinary man, with a +bank account as deep as his culture, which is saying a good deal. He +had no reason to embark on such a venture--no reason in the world save +that he suffered from an abnormal development of sentimentality. He +mistook this for the true spirit of romance and adventure. Many another +man has done the like, and made as fatal a mistake. + +The first break-up of spring found the party following the ice-run of +Elk River. It was an imposing fleet, for the outfit was large, and they +were accompanied by a disreputable contingent of half-breed voyageurs +with their women and children. Day in and day out, they labored with +the bateaux and canoes, fought mosquitoes and other kindred pests, or +sweated and swore at the portages. Severe toil like this lays a man +naked to the very roots of his soul, and ere Lake Athabasca was lost in +the south, each member of the party had hoisted his true colors. + +The two shirks and chronic grumblers were Carter Weatherbee and Percy +Cuthfert. The whole party complained less of its aches and pains than +did either of them. Not once did they volunteer for the thousand and +one petty duties of the camp. A bucket of water to be brought, an extra +armful of wood to be chopped, the dishes to be washed and wiped, a +search to be made through the outfit for some suddenly indispensable +article--and these two effete scions of civilization discovered sprains +or blisters requiring instant attention. + +They were the first to turn in at night, with score of tasks yet +undone; the last to turn out in the morning, when the start should be +in readiness before the breakfast was begun. + +They were the first to fall to at mealtime, the last to have a hand in +the cooking; the first to dive for a slim delicacy, the last to +discover they had added to their own another man's share. If they +toiled at the oars, they slyly cut the water at each stroke and allowed +the boat's momentum to float up the blade. They thought nobody noticed; +but their comrades swore under their breaths and grew to hate them, +while Jacques Baptiste sneered openly and damned them from morning till +night. But Jacques Baptiste was no gentleman. + +At the Great Slave, Hudson Bay dogs were purchased, and the fleet sank +to the guards with its added burden of dried fish and pemican. Then +canoe and bateau answered to the swift current of the Mackenzie, and +they plunged into the Great Barren Ground. Every likely-looking +'feeder' was prospected, but the elusive 'pay-dirt' danced ever to the +north. At the Great Bear, overcome by the common dread of the Unknown +Lands, their voyageurs began to desert, and Fort of Good Hope saw the +last and bravest bending to the towlines as they bucked the current +down which they had so treacherously glided. + +Jacques Baptiste alone remained. Had he not sworn to travel even to the +never-opening ice? The lying charts, compiled in main from hearsay, +were now constantly consulted. + +And they felt the need of hurry, for the sun had already passed its +northern solstice and was leading the winter south again. Skirting the +shores of the bay, where the Mackenzie disembogues into the Arctic +Ocean, they entered the mouth of the Little Peel River. Then began the +arduous up-stream toil, and the two Incapables fared worse than ever. +Towline and pole, paddle and tumpline, rapids and portages--such +tortures served to give the one a deep disgust for great hazards, and +printed for the other a fiery text on the true romance of adventure. +One day they waxed mutinous, and being vilely cursed by Jacques +Baptiste, turned, as worms sometimes will. But the half-breed thrashed +the twain, and sent them, bruised and bleeding, about their work. It +was the first time either had been manhandled. + +Abandoning their river craft at the headwaters of the Little Peel, they +consumed the rest of the summer in the great portage over the Mackenzie +watershed to the West Rat. This little stream fed the Porcupine, which +in turn joined the Yukon where that mighty highway of the North +countermarches on the Arctic Circle. + +But they had lost in the race with winter, and one day they tied their +rafts to the thick eddy-ice and hurried their goods ashore. That night +the river jammed and broke several times; the following morning it had +fallen asleep for good. 'We can't be more'n four hundred miles from the +Yukon,' concluded Sloper, multiplying his thumb nails by the scale of +the map. The council, in which the two Incapables had whined to +excellent disadvantage, was drawing to a close. + +'Hudson Bay Post, long time ago. No use um now.' Jacques Baptiste's +father had made the trip for the Fur Company in the old days, +incidentally marking the trail with a couple of frozen toes. + +Sufferin' cracky!' cried another of the party. 'No whites?' 'Nary +white,' Sloper sententiously affirmed; 'but it's only five hundred more +up the Yukon to Dawson. Call it a rough thousand from here.' Weatherbee +and Cuthfert groaned in chorus. + +'How long'll that take, Baptiste?' The half-breed figured for a moment. +'Workum like hell, no man play out, ten--twenty--forty--fifty days. Um +babies come' (designating the Incapables), 'no can tell. Mebbe when +hell freeze over; mebbe not then.' The manufacture of snowshoes and +moccasins ceased. Somebody called the name of an absent member, who +came out of an ancient cabin at the edge of the campfire and joined +them. The cabin was one of the many mysteries which lurk in the vast +recesses of the North. Built when and by whom, no man could tell. + +Two graves in the open, piled high with stones, perhaps contained the +secret of those early wanderers. But whose hand had piled the stones? +The moment had come. Jacques Baptiste paused in the fitting of a +harness and pinned the struggling dog in the snow. The cook made mute +protest for delay, threw a handful of bacon into a noisy pot of beans, +then came to attention. Sloper rose to his feet. His body was a +ludicrous contrast to the healthy physiques of the Incapables. Yellow +and weak, fleeing from a South American fever-hole, he had not broken +his flight across the zones, and was still able to toil with men. His +weight was probably ninety pounds, with the heavy hunting knife thrown +in, and his grizzled hair told of a prime which had ceased to be. The +fresh young muscles of either Weatherbee or Cuthfert were equal to ten +times the endeavor of his; yet he could walk them into the earth in a +day's journey. And all this day he had whipped his stronger comrades +into venturing a thousand miles of the stiffest hardship man can +conceive. He was the incarnation of the unrest of his race, and the old +Teutonic stubbornness, dashed with the quick grasp and action of the +Yankee, held the flesh in the bondage of the spirit. + +'All those in favor of going on with the dogs as soon as the ice sets, +say ay.' 'Ay!' rang out eight voices--voices destined to string a trail +of oaths along many a hundred miles of pain. + +'Contrary minded?' 'No!' For the first time the Incapables were united +without some compromise of personal interests. + +'And what are you going to do about it?' Weatherbee added belligerently. + +'Majority rule! Majority rule!' clamored the rest of the party. + +'I know the expedition is liable to fall through if you don't come,' +Sloper replied sweetly; 'but I guess, if we try real hard, we can +manage to do without you. + +What do you say, boys?' The sentiment was cheered to the echo. + +'But I say, you know,' Cuthfert ventured apprehensively; 'what's a chap +like me to do?' + +'Ain't you coming with us.' 'No--o.' 'Then do as you damn well please. +We won't have nothing to say.' 'Kind o' calkilate yuh might settle it +with that canoodlin' pardner of yourn,' suggested a heavy-going +Westerner from the Dakotas, at the same time pointing out Weatherbee. +'He'll be shore to ask yuh what yur a-goin' to do when it comes to +cookin' an' gatherin' the wood.' 'Then we'll consider it all arranged,' +concluded Sloper. + +'We'll pull out tomorrow, if we camp within five miles--just to get +everything in running order and remember if we've forgotten anything.' +The sleds groaned by on their steel-shod runners, and the dogs strained +low in the harnesses in which they were born to die. + +Jacques Baptiste paused by the side of Sloper to get a last glimpse of +the cabin. The smoke curled up pathetically from the Yukon stovepipe. +The two Incapables were watching them from the doorway. + +Sloper laid his hand on the other's shoulder. + +'Jacques Baptiste, did you ever hear of the Kilkenny cats?' The +half-breed shook his head. + +'Well, my friend and good comrade, the Kilkenny cats fought till +neither hide, nor hair, nor yowl, was left. You understand?--till +nothing was left. Very good. + +Now, these two men don't like work. They'll be all alone in that cabin +all winter--a mighty long, dark winter. Kilkenny cats--well?' The +Frenchman in Baptiste shrugged his shoulders, but the Indian in him was +silent. Nevertheless, it was an eloquent shrug, pregnant with prophecy. +Things prospered in the little cabin at first. The rough badinage of +their comrades had made Weatherbee and Cuthfert conscious of the mutual +responsibility which had devolved upon them; besides, there was not so +much work after all for two healthy men. And the removal of the cruel +whiphand, or in other words the bulldozing half-breed, had brought with +it a joyous reaction. At first, each strove to outdo the other, and +they performed petty tasks with an unction which would have opened the +eyes of their comrades who were now wearing out bodies and souls on the +Long Trail. + +All care was banished. The forest, which shouldered in upon them from +three sides, was an inexhaustible woodyard. A few yards from their door +slept the Porcupine, and a hole through its winter robe formed a +bubbling spring of water, crystal clear and painfully cold. But they +soon grew to find fault with even that. The hole would persist in +freezing up, and thus gave them many a miserable hour of ice-chopping. +The unknown builders of the cabin had extended the sidelogs so as to +support a cache at the rear. In this was stored the bulk of the party's +provisions. + +Food there was, without stint, for three times the men who were fated +to live upon it. But the most of it was the kind which built up brawn +and sinew, but did not tickle the palate. + +True, there was sugar in plenty for two ordinary men; but these two +were little else than children. They early discovered the virtues of +hot water judiciously saturated with sugar, and they prodigally swam +their flapjacks and soaked their crusts in the rich, white syrup. + +Then coffee and tea, and especially the dried fruits, made disastrous +inroads upon it. The first words they had were over the sugar question. +And it is a really serious thing when two men, wholly dependent upon +each other for company, begin to quarrel. + +Weatherbee loved to discourse blatantly on politics, while Cuthfert, +who had been prone to clip his coupons and let the commonwealth jog on +as best it might, either ignored the subject or delivered himself of +startling epigrams. But the clerk was too obtuse to appreciate the +clever shaping of thought, and this waste of ammunition irritated +Cuthfert. + +He had been used to blinding people by his brilliancy, and it worked +him quite a hardship, this loss of an audience. He felt personally +aggrieved and unconsciously held his muttonhead companion responsible +for it. + +Save existence, they had nothing in common--came in touch on no single +point. + +Weatherbee was a clerk who had known naught but clerking all his life; +Cuthfert was a master of arts, a dabbler in oils, and had written not a +little. The one was a lower-class man who considered himself a +gentleman, and the other was a gentleman who knew himself to be such. +From this it may be remarked that a man can be a gentleman without +possessing the first instinct of true comradeship. The clerk was as +sensuous as the other was aesthetic, and his love adventures, told at +great length and chiefly coined from his imagination, affected the +supersensitive master of arts in the same way as so many whiffs of +sewer gas. He deemed the clerk a filthy, uncultured brute, whose place +was in the muck with the swine, and told him so; and he was +reciprocally informed that he was a milk-and-water sissy and a cad. +Weatherbee could not have defined 'cad' for his life; but it satisfied +its purpose, which after all seems the main point in life. + +Weatherbee flatted every third note and sang such songs as 'The Boston +Burglar' and 'the Handsome Cabin Boy,' for hours at a time, while +Cuthfert wept with rage, till he could stand it no longer and fled into +the outer cold. But there was no escape. The intense frost could not be +endured for long at a time, and the little cabin crowded them--beds, +stove, table, and all--into a space of ten by twelve. The very presence +of either became a personal affront to the other, and they lapsed into +sullen silences which increased in length and strength as the days went +by. Occasionally, the flash of an eye or the curl of a lip got the +better of them, though they strove to wholly ignore each other during +these mute periods. + +And a great wonder sprang up in the breast of each, as to how God had +ever come to create the other. + +With little to do, time became an intolerable burden to them. This +naturally made them still lazier. They sank into a physical lethargy +which there was no escaping, and which made them rebel at the +performance of the smallest chore. One morning when it was his turn to +cook the common breakfast, Weatherbee rolled out of his blankets, and +to the snoring of his companion, lighted first the slush lamp and then +the fire. The kettles were frozen hard, and there was no water in the +cabin with which to wash. But he did not mind that. Waiting for it to +thaw, he sliced the bacon and plunged into the hateful task of +bread-making. Cuthfert had been slyly watching through his half-closed +lids. + +Consequently there was a scene, in which they fervently blessed each +other, and agreed, henceforth, that each do his own cooking. A week +later, Cuthfert neglected his morning ablutions, but none the less +complacently ate the meal which he had cooked. Weatherbee grinned. +After that the foolish custom of washing passed out of their lives. + +As the sugar-pile and other little luxuries dwindled, they began to be +afraid they were not getting their proper shares, and in order that +they might not be robbed, they fell to gorging themselves. The luxuries +suffered in this gluttonous contest, as did also the men. + +In the absence of fresh vegetables and exercise, their blood became +impoverished, and a loathsome, purplish rash crept over their bodies. +Yet they refused to heed the warning. + +Next, their muscles and joints began to swell, the flesh turning black, +while their mouths, gums, and lips took on the color of rich cream. +Instead of being drawn together by their misery, each gloated over the +other's symptoms as the scurvy took its course. + +They lost all regard for personal appearance, and for that matter, +common decency. The cabin became a pigpen, and never once were the beds +made or fresh pine boughs laid underneath. Yet they could not keep to +their blankets, as they would have wished; for the frost was +inexorable, and the fire box consumed much fuel. The hair of their +heads and faces grew long and shaggy, while their garments would have +disgusted a ragpicker. But they did not care. They were sick, and there +was no one to see; besides, it was very painful to move about. + +To all this was added a new trouble--the Fear of the North. This Fear +was the joint child of the Great Cold and the Great Silence, and was +born in the darkness of December, when the sun dipped below the horizon +for good. It affected them according to their natures. + +Weatherbee fell prey to the grosser superstitions, and did his best to +resurrect the spirits which slept in the forgotten graves. It was a +fascinating thing, and in his dreams they came to him from out of the +cold, and snuggled into his blankets, and told him of their toils and +troubles ere they died. He shrank away from the clammy contact as they +drew closer and twined their frozen limbs about him, and when they +whispered in his ear of things to come, the cabin rang with his +frightened shrieks. Cuthfert did not understand--for they no longer +spoke--and when thus awakened he invariably grabbed for his revolver. +Then he would sit up in bed, shivering nervously, with the weapon +trained on the unconscious dreamer. Cuthfert deemed the man going mad, +and so came to fear for his life. + +His own malady assumed a less concrete form. The mysterious artisan who +had laid the cabin, log by log, had pegged a wind-vane to the +ridgepole. Cuthfert noticed it always pointed south, and one day, +irritated by its steadfastness of purpose, he turned it toward the +east. He watched eagerly, but never a breath came by to disturb it. +Then he turned the vane to the north, swearing never again to touch it +till the wind did blow. But the air frightened him with its unearthly +calm, and he often rose in the middle of the night to see if the vane +had veered--ten degrees would have satisfied him. But no, it poised +above him as unchangeable as fate. + +His imagination ran riot, till it became to him a fetish. Sometimes he +followed the path it pointed across the dismal dominions, and allowed +his soul to become saturated with the Fear. He dwelt upon the unseen +and the unknown till the burden of eternity appeared to be crushing +him. Everything in the Northland had that crushing effect--the absence +of life and motion; the darkness; the infinite peace of the brooding +land; the ghastly silence, which made the echo of each heartbeat a +sacrilege; the solemn forest which seemed to guard an awful, +inexpressible something, which neither word nor thought could compass. + +The world he had so recently left, with its busy nations and great +enterprises, seemed very far away. Recollections occasionally +obtruded--recollections of marts and galleries and crowded +thoroughfares, of evening dress and social functions, of good men and +dear women he had known--but they were dim memories of a life he had +lived long centuries agone, on some other planet. This phantasm was the +Reality. Standing beneath the wind-vane, his eyes fixed on the polar +skies, he could not bring himself to realize that the Southland really +existed, that at that very moment it was a-roar with life and action. + +There was no Southland, no men being born of women, no giving and +taking in marriage. + +Beyond his bleak skyline there stretched vast solitudes, and beyond +these still vaster solitudes. + +There were no lands of sunshine, heavy with the perfume of flowers. +Such things were only old dreams of paradise. The sunlands of the West +and the spicelands of the East, the smiling Arcadias and blissful +Islands of the Blest--ha! ha! His laughter split the void and shocked +him with its unwonted sound. There was no sun. + +This was the Universe, dead and cold and dark, and he its only citizen. +Weatherbee? At such moments Weatherbee did not count. He was a Caliban, +a monstrous phantom, fettered to him for untold ages, the penalty of +some forgotten crime. + +He lived with Death among the dead, emasculated by the sense of his own +insignificance, crushed by the passive mastery of the slumbering ages. +The magnitude of all things appalled him. Everything partook of the +superlative save himself--the perfect cessation of wind and motion, the +immensity of the snow-covered wildness, the height of the sky and the +depth of the silence. That wind-vane--if it would only move. If a +thunderbolt would fall, or the forest flare up in flame. + +The rolling up of the heavens as a scroll, the crash of Doom--anything, +anything! But no, nothing moved; the Silence crowded in, and the Fear +of the North laid icy fingers on his heart. + +Once, like another Crusoe, by the edge of the river he came upon a +track--the faint tracery of a snowshoe rabbit on the delicate +snow-crust. It was a revelation. + +There was life in the Northland. He would follow it, look upon it, +gloat over it. + +He forgot his swollen muscles, plunging through the deep snow in an +ecstasy of anticipation. The forest swallowed him up, and the brief +midday twilight vanished; but he pursued his quest till exhausted +nature asserted itself and laid him helpless in the snow. + +There he groaned and cursed his folly, and knew the track to be the +fancy of his brain; and late that night he dragged himself into the +cabin on hands and knees, his cheeks frozen and a strange numbness +about his feet. Weatherbee grinned malevolently, but made no offer to +help him. He thrust needles into his toes and thawed them out by the +stove. A week later mortification set in. + +But the clerk had his own troubles. The dead men came out of their +graves more frequently now, and rarely left him, waking or sleeping. He +grew to wait and dread their coming, never passing the twin cairns +without a shudder. One night they came to him in his sleep and led him +forth to an appointed task. Frightened into inarticulate horror, he +awoke between the heaps of stones and fled wildly to the cabin. But he +had lain there for some time, for his feet and cheeks were also frozen. + +Sometimes he became frantic at their insistent presence, and danced +about the cabin, cutting the empty air with an axe, and smashing +everything within reach. + +During these ghostly encounters, Cuthfert huddled into his blankets and +followed the madman about with a cocked revolver, ready to shoot him if +he came too near. + +But, recovering from one of these spells, the clerk noticed the weapon +trained upon him. + +His suspicions were aroused, and thenceforth he, too, lived in fear of +his life. They watched each other closely after that, and faced about +in startled fright whenever either passed behind the other's back. The +apprehensiveness became a mania which controlled them even in their +sleep. Through mutual fear they tacitly let the slush-lamp burn all +night, and saw to a plentiful supply of bacon-grease before retiring. +The slightest movement on the part of one was sufficient to arouse the +other, and many a still watch their gazes countered as they shook +beneath their blankets with fingers on the trigger-guards. + +What with the Fear of the North, the mental strain, and the ravages of +the disease, they lost all semblance of humanity, taking on the +appearance of wild beasts, hunted and desperate. Their cheeks and +noses, as an aftermath of the freezing, had turned black. + +Their frozen toes had begun to drop away at the first and second +joints. Every movement brought pain, but the fire box was insatiable, +wringing a ransom of torture from their miserable bodies. Day in, day +out, it demanded its food--a veritable pound of flesh--and they dragged +themselves into the forest to chop wood on their knees. Once, crawling +thus in search of dry sticks, unknown to each other they entered a +thicket from opposite sides. + +Suddenly, without warning, two peering death's-heads confronted each +other. Suffering had so transformed them that recognition was +impossible. They sprang to their feet, shrieking with terror, and +dashed away on their mangled stumps; and falling at the cabin's door, +they clawed and scratched like demons till they discovered their +mistake. + +Occasionally they lapsed normal, and during one of these sane +intervals, the chief bone of contention, the sugar, had been divided +equally between them. They guarded their separate sacks, stored up in +the cache, with jealous eyes; for there were but a few cupfuls left, +and they were totally devoid of faith in each other. + +But one day Cuthfert made a mistake. Hardly able to move, sick with +pain, with his head swimming and eyes blinded, he crept into the cache, +sugar canister in hand, and mistook Weatherbee's sack for his own. + +January had been born but a few days when this occurred. The sun had +some time since passed its lowest southern declination, and at meridian +now threw flaunting streaks of yellow light upon the northern sky. On +the day following his mistake with the sugar-bag, Cuthfert found +himself feeling better, both in body and in spirit. As noontime drew +near and the day brightened, he dragged himself outside to feast on the +evanescent glow, which was to him an earnest of the sun's future +intentions. Weatherbee was also feeling somewhat better, and crawled +out beside him. They propped themselves in the snow beneath the +moveless wind-vane, and waited. + +The stillness of death was about them. In other climes, when nature +falls into such moods, there is a subdued air of expectancy, a waiting +for some small voice to take up the broken strain. Not so in the North. +The two men had lived seeming eons in this ghostly peace. + +They could remember no song of the past; they could conjure no song of +the future. This unearthly calm had always been--the tranquil silence +of eternity. + +Their eyes were fixed upon the north. Unseen, behind their backs, +behind the towering mountains to the south, the sun swept toward the +zenith of another sky than theirs. Sole spectators of the mighty +canvas, they watched the false dawn slowly grow. A faint flame began to +glow and smoulder. It deepened in intensity, ringing the changes of +reddish-yellow, purple, and saffron. So bright did it become that +Cuthfert thought the sun must surely be behind it--a miracle, the sun +rising in the north! Suddenly, without warning and without fading, the +canvas was swept clean. There was no color in the sky. The light had +gone out of the day. + +They caught their breaths in half-sobs. But lo! the air was aglint with +particles of scintillating frost, and there, to the north, the +wind-vane lay in vague outline of the snow. + +A shadow! A shadow! It was exactly midday. They jerked their heads +hurriedly to the south. A golden rim peeped over the mountain's snowy +shoulder, smiled upon them an instant, then dipped from sight again. + +There were tears in their eyes as they sought each other. A strange +softening came over them. They felt irresistibly drawn toward each +other. The sun was coming back again. It would be with them tomorrow, +and the next day, and the next. + +And it would stay longer every visit, and a time would come when it +would ride their heaven day and night, never once dropping below the +skyline. There would be no night. + +The ice-locked winter would be broken; the winds would blow and the +forests answer; the land would bathe in the blessed sunshine, and life +renew. + +Hand in hand, they would quit this horrid dream and journey back to the +Southland. They lurched blindly forward, and their hands met--their +poor maimed hands, swollen and distorted beneath their mittens. + +But the promise was destined to remain unfulfilled. The Northland is +the Northland, and men work out their souls by strange rules, which +other men, who have not journeyed into far countries, cannot come to +understand. + +An hour later, Cuthfert put a pan of bread into the oven, and fell to +speculating on what the surgeons could do with his feet when he got +back. Home did not seem so very far away now. Weatherbee was rummaging +in the cache. Of a sudden, he raised a whirlwind of blasphemy, which in +turn ceased with startling abruptness. The other man had robbed his +sugar-sack. Still, things might have happened differently, had not the +two dead men come out from under the stones and hushed the hot words in +his throat. They led him quite gently from the cache, which he forgot +to close. That consummation was reached; that something they had +whispered to him in his dreams was about to happen. They guided him +gently, very gently, to the woodpile, where they put the axe in his +hands. + +Then they helped him shove open the cabin door, and he felt sure they +shut it after him--at least he heard it slam and the latch fall sharply +into place. And he knew they were waiting just without, waiting for him +to do his task. + +'Carter! I say, Carter!' Percy Cuthfert was frightened at the look on +the clerk's face, and he made haste to put the table between them. + +Carter Weatherbee followed, without haste and without enthusiasm. There +was neither pity nor passion in his face, but rather the patient, +stolid look of one who has certain work to do and goes about it +methodically. + +'I say, what's the matter?' + +The clerk dodged back, cutting off his retreat to the door, but never +opening his mouth. + +'I say, Carter, I say; let's talk. There's a good chap.' The master of +arts was thinking rapidly, now, shaping a skillful flank movement on +the bed where his Smith & Wesson lay. Keeping his eyes on the madman, +he rolled backward on the bunk, at the same time clutching the pistol. + +'Carter!' The powder flashed full in Weatherbee's face, but he swung +his weapon and leaped forward. The axe bit deeply at the base of the +spine, and Percy Cuthfert felt all consciousness of his lower limbs +leave him. Then the clerk fell heavily upon him, clutching him by the +throat with feeble fingers. The sharp bite of the axe had caused +Cuthfert to drop the pistol, and as his lungs panted for release, he +fumbled aimlessly for it among the blankets. Then he remembered. He +slid a hand up the clerk's belt to the sheath-knife; and they drew very +close to each other in that last clinch. + +Percy Cuthfert felt his strength leave him. The lower portion of his +body was useless, The inert weight of Weatherbee crushed him--crushed +him and pinned him there like a bear under a trap. The cabin became +filled with a familiar odor, and he knew the bread to be burning. Yet +what did it matter? He would never need it. And there were all of six +cupfuls of sugar in the cache--if he had foreseen this he would not +have been so saving the last several days. Would the wind-vane ever +move? Why not' Had he not seen the sun today? He would go and see. No; +it was impossible to move. He had not thought the clerk so heavy a man. + +How quickly the cabin cooled! The fire must be out. The cold was +forcing in. + +It must be below zero already, and the ice creeping up the inside of +the door. He could not see it, but his past experience enabled him to +gauge its progress by the cabin's temperature. The lower hinge must be +white ere now. Would the tale of this ever reach the world? How would +his friends take it? They would read it over their coffee, most likely, +and talk it over at the clubs. He could see them very clearly, 'Poor +Old Cuthfert,' they murmured; 'not such a bad sort of a chap, after +all.' He smiled at their eulogies, and passed on in search of a Turkish +bath. It was the same old crowd upon the streets. + +Strange, they did not notice his moosehide moccasins and tattered +German socks! He would take a cab. And after the bath a shave would not +be bad. No; he would eat first. + +Steak, and potatoes, and green things how fresh it all was! And what +was that? Squares of honey, streaming liquid amber! But why did they +bring so much? Ha! ha! he could never eat it all. + +Shine! Why certainly. He put his foot on the box. The bootblack looked +curiously up at him, and he remembered his moosehide moccasins and went +away hastily. + +Hark! The wind-vane must be surely spinning. No; a mere singing in his +ears. + +That was all--a mere singing. The ice must have passed the latch by +now. More likely the upper hinge was covered. Between the moss-chinked +roof-poles, little points of frost began to appear. How slowly they +grew! No; not so slowly. There was a new one, and there another. +Two--three--four; they were coming too fast to count. There were two +growing together. And there, a third had joined them. + +Why, there were no more spots. They had run together and formed a sheet. + +Well, he would have company. If Gabriel ever broke the silence of the +North, they would stand together, hand in hand, before the great White +Throne. And God would judge them, God would judge them! + +Then Percy Cuthfert closed his eyes and dropped off to sleep. + + + +To the Man on the Trail + +'Dump it in!.' 'But I say, Kid, isn't that going it a little too +strong? Whisky and alcohol's bad enough; but when it comes to brandy +and pepper sauce and-' 'Dump it in. Who's making this punch, anyway?' +And Malemute Kid smiled benignantly through the clouds of steam. 'By +the time you've been in this country as long as I have, my son, and +lived on rabbit tracks and salmon belly, you'll learn that Christmas +comes only once per annum. + +And a Christmas without punch is sinking a hole to bedrock with nary a +pay streak.' + +'Stack up on that fer a high cyard,' approved Big Jim Belden, who had +come down from his claim on Mazy May to spend Christmas, and who, as +everyone knew, had been living the two months past on straight moose +meat. 'Hain't fergot the hooch we-uns made on the Tanana, hey yeh?' +'Well, I guess yes. Boys, it would have done your hearts good to see +that whole tribe fighting drunk--and all because of a glorious ferment +of sugar and sour dough. That was before your time,' Malemute Kid said +as he turned to Stanley Prince, a young mining expert who had been in +two years. 'No white women in the country then, and Mason wanted to get +married. Ruth's father was chief of the Tananas, and objected, like the +rest of the tribe. Stiff? Why, I used my last pound of sugar; finest +work in that line I ever did in my life. You should have seen the +chase, down the river and across the portage.' 'But the squaw?' asked +Louis Savoy, the tall French Canadian, becoming interested; for he had +heard of this wild deed when at Forty Mile the preceding winter. + +Then Malemute Kid, who was a born raconteur, told the unvarnished tale +of the Northland Lochinvar. More than one rough adventurer of the North +felt his heartstrings draw closer and experienced vague yearnings for +the sunnier pastures of the Southland, where life promised something +more than a barren struggle with cold and death. + +'We struck the Yukon just behind the first ice run,' he concluded, 'and +the tribe only a quarter of an hour behind. But that saved us; for the +second run broke the jam above and shut them out. When they finally got +into Nuklukyeto, the whole post was ready for them. + +'And as to the forgathering, ask Father Roubeau here: he performed the +ceremony.' The Jesuit took the pipe from his lips but could only +express his gratification with patriarchal smiles, while Protestant and +Catholic vigorously applauded. + +'By gar!' ejaculated Louis Savoy, who seemed overcome by the romance of +it. 'La petite squaw: mon Mason brav. By gar!' Then, as the first tin +cups of punch went round, Bettles the Unquenchable sprang to his feet +and struck up his favorite drinking song: 'There's Henry Ward Beecher +And Sunday-school teachers, All drink of the sassafras root; But you +bet all the same, If it had its right name, It's the juice of the +forbidden fruit.' + +'Oh, the juice of the forbidden fruit,' roared out the bacchanalian +chorus, 'Oh, the juice of the forbidden fruit; But you bet all the +same, If it had its right name, It's the juice of the forbidden fruit.' + +Malemute Kid's frightful concoction did its work; the men of the camps +and trails unbent in its genial glow, and jest and song and tales of +past adventure went round the board. + +Aliens from a dozen lands, they toasted each and all. It was the +Englishman, Prince, who pledged 'Uncle Sam, the precocious infant of +the New World'; the Yankee, Bettles, who drank to 'The Queen, God bless +her'; and together, Savoy and Meyers, the German trader, clanged their +cups to Alsace and Lorraine. + +Then Malemute Kid arose, cup in hand, and glanced at the greased-paper +window, where the frost stood full three inches thick. 'A health to the +man on trail this night; may his grub hold out; may his dogs keep their +legs; may his matches never miss fire.' Crack! + +Crack! heard the familiar music of the dog whip, the whining howl of +the Malemutes, and the crunch of a sled as it drew up to the cabin. +Conversation languished while they waited the issue. + +'An old-timer; cares for his dogs and then himself,' whispered Malemute +Kid to Prince as they listened to the snapping jaws and the wolfish +snarls and yelps of pain which proclaimed to their practiced ears that +the stranger was beating back their dogs while he fed his own. + +Then came the expected knock, sharp and confident, and the stranger +entered. + +Dazzled by the light, he hesitated a moment at the door, giving to all +a chance for scrutiny. He was a striking personage, and a most +picturesque one, in his Arctic dress of wool and fur. Standing six foot +two or three, with proportionate breadth of shoulders and depth of +chest, his smooth-shaven face nipped by the cold to a gleaming pink, +his long lashes and eyebrows white with ice, and the ear and neck flaps +of his great wolfskin cap loosely raised, he seemed, of a verity, the +Frost King, just stepped in out of the night. + +Clasped outside his Mackinaw jacket, a beaded belt held two large +Colt's revolvers and a hunting knife, while he carried, in addition to +the inevitable dog whip, a smokeless rifle of the largest bore and +latest pattern. As he came forward, for all his step was firm and +elastic, they could see that fatigue bore heavily upon him. + +An awkward silence had fallen, but his hearty 'What cheer, my lads?' +put them quickly at ease, and the next instant Malemute Kid and he had +gripped hands. Though they had never met, each had heard of the other, +and the recognition was mutual. A sweeping introduction and a mug of +punch were forced upon him before he could explain his errand. + +How long since that basket sled, with three men and eight dogs, +passed?' he asked. + +'An even two days ahead. Are you after them?' 'Yes; my team. Run them +off under my very nose, the cusses. I've gained two days on them +already--pick them up on the next run.' 'Reckon they'll show spunk?' +asked Belden, in order to keep up the conversation, for Malemute Kid +already had the coffeepot on and was busily frying bacon and moose meat. + +The stranger significantly tapped his revolvers. + +'When'd yeh leave Dawson?' 'Twelve o'clock.' 'Last night?'--as a matter +of course. + +'Today.' A murmur of surprise passed round the circle. And well it +might; for it was just midnight, and seventy-five miles of rough river +trail was not to be sneered at for a twelve hours' run. + +The talk soon became impersonal, however, harking back to the trails of +childhood. As the young stranger ate of the rude fare Malemute Kid +attentively studied his face. Nor was he long in deciding that it was +fair, honest, and open, and that he liked it. Still youthful, the lines +had been firmly traced by toil and hardship. + +Though genial in conversation, and mild when at rest, the blue eyes +gave promise of the hard steel-glitter which comes when called into +action, especially against odds. The heavy jaw and square-cut chin +demonstrated rugged pertinacity and indomitability. Nor, though the +attributes of the lion were there, was there wanting the certain +softness, the hint of womanliness, which bespoke the emotional nature. + +'So thet's how me an' the ol' woman got spliced,' said Belden, +concluding the exciting tale of his courtship. '"Here we be, Dad," sez +she. "An' may yeh be damned," sez he to her, an' then to me, "Jim, +yeh--yeh git outen them good duds o' yourn; I want a right peart slice +o' thet forty acre plowed 'fore dinner." An' then he sort o' sniffled +an' kissed her. An' I was thet happy--but he seen me an' roars out, +"Yeh, Jim!" An' yeh bet I dusted fer the barn.' 'Any kids waiting for +you back in the States?' asked the stranger. + +'Nope; Sal died 'fore any come. Thet's why I'm here.' Belden +abstractedly began to light his pipe, which had failed to go out, and +then brightened up with, 'How 'bout yerself, stranger--married man?' +For reply, he opened his watch, slipped it from the thong which served +for a chain, and passed it over. Belden picked up the slush lamp, +surveyed the inside of the case critically, and, swearing admiringly to +himself, handed it over to Louis Savoy. With numerous 'By gars!' he +finally surrendered it to Prince, and they noticed that his hands +trembled and his eyes took on a peculiar softness. And so it passed +from horny hand to horny hand--the pasted photograph of a woman, the +clinging kind that such men fancy, with a babe at the breast. Those who +had not yet seen the wonder were keen with curiosity; those who had +became silent and retrospective. They could face the pinch of famine, +the grip of scurvy, or the quick death by field or flood; but the +pictured semblance of a stranger woman and child made women and +children of them all. + +'Never have seen the youngster yet--he's a boy, she says, and two years +old,' said the stranger as he received the treasure back. A lingering +moment he gazed upon it, then snapped the case and turned away, but not +quick enough to hide the restrained rush of tears. Malemute Kid led +him to a bunk and bade him turn in. + +'Call me at four sharp. Don't fail me,' were his last words, and a +moment later he was breathing in the heaviness of exhausted sleep. + +'By Jove! He's a plucky chap,' commented Prince. 'Three hours' sleep +after seventy-five miles with the dogs, and then the trail again. Who +is he, Kid?' 'Jack Westondale. Been in going on three years, with +nothing but the name of working like a horse, and any amount of bad +luck to his credit. I never knew him, but Sitka Charley told me about +him.' 'It seems hard that a man with a sweet young wife like his should +be putting in his years in this Godforsaken hole, where every year +counts two on the outside.' 'The trouble with him is clean grit and +stubbornness. He's cleaned up twice with a stake, but lost it both +times.' Here the conversation was broken off by an uproar from Bettles, +for the effect had begun to wear away. And soon the bleak years of +monotonous grub and deadening toil were being forgotten in rough +merriment. Malemute Kid alone seemed unable to lose himself, and cast +many an anxious look at his watch. Once he put on his mittens and +beaver-skin cap, and, leaving the cabin, fell to rummaging about in the +cache. + +Nor could he wait the hour designated; for he was fifteen minutes ahead +of time in rousing his guest. The young giant had stiffened badly, and +brisk rubbing was necessary to bring him to his feet. He tottered +painfully out of the cabin, to find his dogs harnessed and everything +ready for the start. The company wished him good luck and a short +chase, while Father Roubeau, hurriedly blessing him, led the stampede +for the cabin; and small wonder, for it is not good to face +seventy-four degrees below zero with naked ears and hands. + +Malemute Kid saw him to the main trail, and there, gripping his hand +heartily, gave him advice. + +'You'll find a hundred pounds of salmon eggs on the sled,' he said. +'The dogs will go as far on that as with one hundred and fifty of fish, +and you can't get dog food at Pelly, as you probably expected.' The +stranger started, and his eyes flashed, but he did not interrupt. 'You +can't get an ounce of food for dog or man till you reach Five Fingers, +and that's a stiff two hundred miles. Watch out for open water on the +Thirty Mile River, and be sure you take the big cutoff above Le Barge.' +'How did you know it? Surely the news can't be ahead of me already?' 'I +don't know it; and what's more, I don't want to know it. But you never +owned that team you're chasing. Sitka Charley sold it to them last +spring. But he sized you up to me as square once, and I believe him. +I've seen your face; I like it. And I've seen--why, damn you, hit the +high places for salt water and that wife of yours, and--' Here the Kid +unmittened and jerked out his sack. + +'No; I don't need it,' and the tears froze on his cheeks as he +convulsively gripped Malemute Kid's hand. + +'Then don't spare the dogs; cut them out of the traces as fast as they +drop; buy them, and think they're cheap at ten dollars a pound. You can +get them at Five Fingers, Little Salmon, and Hootalinqua. And watch out +for wet feet,' was his parting advice. 'Keep a-traveling up to +twenty-five, but if it gets below that, build a fire and change your +socks.' + +Fifteen minutes had barely elapsed when the jingle of bells announced +new arrivals. The door opened, and a mounted policeman of the Northwest +Territory entered, followed by two half-breed dog drivers. Like +Westondale, they were heavily armed and showed signs of fatigue. The +half-breeds had been born to the trail and bore it easily; but the +young policeman was badly exhausted. Still, the dogged obstinacy of his +race held him to the pace he had set, and would hold him till he +dropped in his tracks. + +'When did Westondale pull out?' he asked. 'He stopped here, didn't he?' +This was supererogatory, for the tracks told their own tale too well. + +Malemute Kid had caught Belden's eye, and he, scenting the wind, +replied evasively, 'A right peart while back.' 'Come, my man; speak +up,' the policeman admonished. + +'Yeh seem to want him right smart. Hez he ben gittin' cantankerous down +Dawson way?' + +'Held up Harry McFarland's for forty thousand; exchanged it at the P.C. +store for a check on Seattle; and who's to stop the cashing of it if we +don't overtake him? When did he pull out?' + +Every eye suppressed its excitement, for Malemute Kid had given the +cue, and the young officer encountered wooden faces on every hand. + +Striding over to Prince, he put the question to him. Though it hurt +him, gazing into the frank, earnest face of his fellow countryman, he +replied inconsequentially on the state of the trail. + +Then he espied Father Roubeau, who could not lie. 'A quarter of an hour +ago,' the priest answered; 'but he had four hours' rest for himself and +dogs.' 'Fifteen minutes' start, and he's fresh! My God!' The poor +fellow staggered back, half fainting from exhaustion and +disappointment, murmuring something about the run from Dawson in ten +hours and the dogs being played out. + +Malemute Kid forced a mug of punch upon him; then he turned for the +door, ordering the dog drivers to follow. But the warmth and promise of +rest were too tempting, and they objected strenuously. The Kid was +conversant with their French patois, and followed it anxiously. + +They swore that the dogs were gone up; that Siwash and Babette would +have to be shot before the first mile was covered; that the rest were +almost as bad; and that it would be better for all hands to rest up. + +'Lend me five dogs?' he asked, turning to Malemute Kid. + +But the Kid shook his head. + +'I'll sign a check on Captain Constantine for five thousand--here's my +papers--I'm authorized to draw at my own discretion.' + +Again the silent refusal. + +'Then I'll requisition them in the name of the Queen.' Smiling +incredulously, the Kid glanced at his well-stocked arsenal, and the +Englishman, realizing his impotency, turned for the door. But the dog +drivers still objecting, he whirled upon them fiercely, calling them +women and curs. The swart face of the older half-breed flushed angrily +as he drew himself up and promised in good, round terms that he would +travel his leader off his legs, and would then be delighted to plant +him in the snow. + +The young officer--and it required his whole will--walked steadily to +the door, exhibiting a freshness he did not possess. But they all knew +and appreciated his proud effort; nor could he veil the twinges of +agony that shot across his face. Covered with frost, the dogs were +curled up in the snow, and it was almost impossible to get them to +their feet. The poor brutes whined under the stinging lash, for the dog +drivers were angry and cruel; nor till Babette, the leader, was cut +from the traces, could they break out the sled and get under way. + +'A dirty scoundrel and a liar!' 'By gar! Him no good!' 'A thief!' +'Worse than an Indian!' + +It was evident that they were angry--first at the way they had been +deceived; and second at the outraged ethics of the Northland, where +honesty, above all, was man's prime jewel. + +'An' we gave the cuss a hand, after knowin' what he'd did.' All eyes +turned accusingly upon Malemute Kid, who rose from the corner where he +had been making Babette comfortable, and silently emptied the bowl for +a final round of punch. + +'It's a cold night, boys--a bitter cold night,' was the irrelevant +commencement of his defense. 'You've all traveled trail, and know what +that stands for. Don't jump a dog when he's down. You've only heard one +side. A whiter man than Jack Westondale never ate from the same pot nor +stretched blanket with you or me. + +'Last fall he gave his whole clean-up, forty thousand, to Joe Castrell, +to buy in on Dominion. Today he'd be a millionaire. But, while he +stayed behind at Circle City, taking care of his partner with the +scurvy, what does Castell do? Goes into McFarland's, jumps the limit, +and drops the whole sack. Found him dead in the snow the next day. And +poor Jack laying his plans to go out this winter to his wife and the +boy he's never seen. You'll notice he took exactly what his partner +lost--forty thousand. Well, he's gone out; and what are you going to do +about it?' The Kid glanced round the circle of his judges, noted the +softening of their faces, then raised his mug aloft. 'So a health to +the man on trail this night; may his grub hold out; may his dogs keep +their legs; may his matches never miss fire. + +'God prosper him; good luck go with him; and--' 'Confusion to the +Mounted Police!' cried Bettles, to the crash of the empty cups. + + + +The Priestly Prerogative + +This is the story of a man who did not appreciate his wife; also, of a +woman who did him too great an honor when she gave herself to him. +Incidentally, it concerns a Jesuit priest who had never been known to +lie. He was an appurtenance, and a very necessary one, to the Yukon +country; but the presence of the other two was merely accidental. They +were specimens of the many strange waifs which ride the breast of a +gold rush or come tailing along behind. + +Edwin Bentham and Grace Bentham were waifs; they were also tailing +along behind, for the Klondike rush of '97 had long since swept down +the great river and subsided into the famine-stricken city of Dawson. +When the Yukon shut up shop and went to sleep under a three-foot +ice-sheet, this peripatetic couple found themselves at the Five Finger +Rapids, with the City of Gold still a journey of many sleeps to the +north. + +Many cattle had been butchered at this place in the fall of the year, +and the offal made a goodly heap. The three fellow-voyagers of Edwin +Bentham and wife gazed upon this deposit, did a little mental +arithmetic, caught a certain glimpse of a bonanza, and decided to +remain. And all winter they sold sacks of bones and frozen hides to the +famished dog-teams. It was a modest price they asked, a dollar a pound, +just as it came. Six months later, when the sun came back and the Yukon +awoke, they buckled on their heavy moneybelts and journeyed back to the +Southland, where they yet live and lie mightily about the Klondike they +never saw. + +But Edwin Bentham--he was an indolent fellow, and had he not been +possessed of a wife, would have gladly joined issued in the dog-meat +speculation. As it was, she played upon his vanity, told him how great +and strong he was, how a man such as he certainly was could overcome +all obstacles and of a surety obtain the Golden Fleece. So he squared +his jaw, sold his share in the bones and hides for a sled and one dog, +and turned his snowshoes to the north. Needless to state, Grace +Bentham's snowshoes never allowed his tracks to grow cold. Nay, ere +their tribulations had seen three days, it was the man who followed in +the rear, and the woman who broke trail in advance. Of course, if +anybody hove in sight, the position was instantly reversed. Thus did +his manhood remain virgin to the travelers who passed like ghosts on +the silent trail. There are such men in this world. + +How such a man and such a woman came to take each other for better and +for worse is unimportant to this narrative. These things are familiar +to us all, and those people who do them, or even question them too +closely, are apt to lose a beautiful faith which is known as Eternal +Fitness. + +Edwin Bentham was a boy, thrust by mischance into a man's body,--a boy +who could complacently pluck a butterfly, wing from wing, or cower in +abject terror before a lean, nervy fellow, not half his size. He was a +selfish cry-baby, hidden behind a man's mustache and stature, and +glossed over with a skin-deep veneer of culture and conventionality. +Yes; he was a clubman and a society man, the sort that grace social +functions and utter inanities with a charm and unction which is +indescribable; the sort that talk big, and cry over a toothache; the +sort that put more hell into a woman's life by marrying her than can +the most graceless libertine that ever browsed in forbidden pastures. +We meet these men every day, but we rarely know them for what they are. +Second to marrying them, the best way to get this knowledge is to eat +out of the same pot and crawl under the same blanket with them +for--well, say a week; no greater margin is necessary. + +To see Grace Bentham, was to see a slender, girlish creature; to know +her, was to know a soul which dwarfed your own, yet retained all the +elements of the eternal feminine. This was the woman who urged and +encouraged her husband in his Northland quest, who broke trail for him +when no one was looking, and cried in secret over her weakling woman's +body. + +So journeyed this strangely assorted couple down to old Fort Selkirk, +then through fivescore miles of dismal wilderness to Stuart River. And +when the short day left them, and the man lay down in the snow and +blubbered, it was the woman who lashed him to the sled, bit her lips +with the pain of her aching limbs, and helped the dog haul him to +Malemute Kid's cabin. Malemute Kid was not at home, but Meyers, the +German trader, cooked great moose-steaks and shook up a bed of fresh +pine boughs. Lake, Langham, and Parker, were excited, and not unduly so +when the cause was taken into account. + +'Oh, Sandy! Say, can you tell a porterhouse from a round? Come out and +lend us a hand, anyway!' This appeal emanated from the cache, where +Langham was vainly struggling with divers quarters of frozen moose. + +'Don't you budge from those dishes!' commanded Parker. + +'I say, Sandy; there's a good fellow--just run down to the Missouri +Camp and borrow some cinnamon,' begged Lake. + +'Oh! oh! hurry up! Why don't--' But the crash of meat and boxes, in the +cache, abruptly quenched this peremptory summons. + +'Come now, Sandy; it won't take a minute to go down to the Missouri--' + +'You leave him alone,' interrupted Parker. 'How am I to mix the +biscuits if the table isn't cleared off?' + +Sandy paused in indecision, till suddenly the fact that he was +Langham's 'man' dawned upon him. Then he apologetically threw down the +greasy dishcloth, and went to his master's rescue. + +These promising scions of wealthy progenitors had come to the Northland +in search of laurels, with much money to burn, and a 'man' apiece. +Luckily for their souls, the other two men were up the White River in +search of a mythical quartz-ledge; so Sandy had to grin under the +responsibility of three healthy masters, each of whom was possessed of +peculiar cookery ideas. Twice that morning had a disruption of the +whole camp been imminent, only averted by immense concessions from one +or the other of these knights of the chafing-dish. But at last their +mutual creation, a really dainty dinner, was completed. + +Then they sat down to a three-cornered game of 'cut-throat,'--a +proceeding which did away with all casus belli for future hostilities, +and permitted the victor to depart on a most important mission. + +This fortune fell to Parker, who parted his hair in the middle, put on +his mittens and bearskin cap, and stepped over to Malemute Kid's cabin. +And when he returned, it was in the company of Grace Bentham and +Malemute Kid,--the former very sorry her husband could not share with +her their hospitality, for he had gone up to look at the Henderson +Creek mines, and the latter still a trifle stiff from breaking trail +down the Stuart River. + +Meyers had been asked, but had declined, being deeply engrossed in an +experiment of raising bread from hops. + +Well, they could do without the husband; but a woman--why they had not +seen one all winter, and the presence of this one promised a new era in +their lives. + +They were college men and gentlemen, these three young fellows, +yearning for the flesh-pots they had been so long denied. Probably +Grace Bentham suffered from a similar hunger; at least, it meant much +to her, the first bright hour in many weeks of darkness. + +But that wonderful first course, which claimed the versatile Lake for +its parent, had no sooner been served than there came a loud knock at +the door. + +'Oh! Ah! Won't you come in, Mr. Bentham?' said Parker, who had stepped +to see who the newcomer might be. + +'Is my wife here?' gruffly responded that worthy. + +'Why, yes. We left word with Mr. Meyers.' Parker was exerting his most +dulcet tones, inwardly wondering what the deuce it all meant. 'Won't +you come in? Expecting you at any moment, we reserved a place. And just +in time for the first course, too.' 'Come in, Edwin, dear,' chirped +Grace Bentham from her seat at the table. + +Parker naturally stood aside. + +'I want my wife,' reiterated Bentham hoarsely, the intonation savoring +disagreeably of ownership. + +Parker gasped, was within an ace of driving his fist into the face of +his boorish visitor, but held himself awkwardly in check. Everybody +rose. Lake lost his head and caught himself on the verge of saying, +'Must you go?' Then began the farrago of leave-taking. 'So nice of +you--' 'I am awfully sorry' 'By Jove! how things did brighten--' +'Really now, you--' + +'Thank you ever so much--' 'Nice trip to Dawson--' etc., etc. + +In this wise the lamb was helped into her jacket and led to the +slaughter. Then the door slammed, and they gazed woefully upon the +deserted table. + +'Damn!' Langham had suffered disadvantages in his early training, and +his oaths were weak and monotonous. 'Damn!' he repeated, vaguely +conscious of the incompleteness and vainly struggling for a more virile +term. It is a clever woman who can fill out the many weak places in an +inefficient man, by her own indomitability, re-enforce his vacillating +nature, infuse her ambitious soul into his, and spur him on to great +achievements. And it is indeed a very clever and tactful woman who can +do all this, and do it so subtly that the man receives all the credit +and believes in his inmost heart that everything is due to him and him +alone. + +This is what Grace Bentham proceeded to do. Arriving in Dawson with a +few pounds of flour and several letters of introduction, she at once +applied herself to the task of pushing her big baby to the fore. It was +she who melted the stony heart and wrung credit from the rude barbarian +who presided over the destiny of the P. C. Company; yet it was Edwin +Bentham to whom the concession was ostensibly granted. It was she who +dragged her baby up and down creeks, over benches and divides, and on a +dozen wild stampedes; yet everybody remarked what an energetic fellow +that Bentham was. It was she who studied maps, and catechised miners, +and hammered geography and locations into his hollow head, till +everybody marveled at his broad grasp of the country and knowledge of +its conditions. Of course, they said the wife was a brick, and only a +few wise ones appreciated and pitied the brave little woman. + +She did the work; he got the credit and reward. In the Northwest +Territory a married woman cannot stake or record a creek, bench, or +quartz claim; so Edwin Bentham went down to the Gold Commissioner and +filed on Bench Claim 23, second tier, of French Hill. And when April +came they were washing out a thousand dollars a day, with many, many +such days in prospect. + +At the base of French Hill lay Eldorado Creek, and on a creek claim +stood the cabin of Clyde Wharton. At present he was not washing out a +diurnal thousand dollars; but his dumps grew, shift by shift, and there +would come a time when those dumps would pass through his sluice-boxes, +depositing in the riffles, in the course of half a dozen days, several +hundred thousand dollars. He often sat in that cabin, smoked his pipe, +and dreamed beautiful little dreams,--dreams in which neither the dumps +nor the half-ton of dust in the P. C. Company's big safe, played a part. + +And Grace Bentham, as she washed tin dishes in her hillside cabin, +often glanced down into Eldorado Creek, and dreamed,--not of dumps nor +dust, however. They met frequently, as the trail to the one claim +crossed the other, and there is much to talk about in the Northland +spring; but never once, by the light of an eye nor the slip of a +tongue, did they speak their hearts. + +This is as it was at first. But one day Edwin Bentham was brutal. All +boys are thus; besides, being a French Hill king now, he began to think +a great deal of himself and to forget all he owed to his wife. On this +day, Wharton heard of it, and waylaid Grace Bentham, and talked wildly. +This made her very happy, though she would not listen, and made him +promise to not say such things again. Her hour had not come. + +But the sun swept back on its northern journey, the black of midnight +changed to the steely color of dawn, the snow slipped away, the water +dashed again over the glacial drift, and the wash-up began. Day and +night the yellow clay and scraped bedrock hurried through the swift +sluices, yielding up its ransom to the strong men from the Southland. + +And in that time of tumult came Grace Bentham's hour. + +To all of us such hours at some time come,--that is, to us who are not +too phlegmatic. + +Some people are good, not from inherent love of virtue, but from sheer +laziness. But those of us who know weak moments may understand. + +Edwin Bentham was weighing dust over the bar of the saloon at the +Forks--altogether too much of his dust went over that pine board--when +his wife came down the hill and slipped into Clyde Wharton's cabin. +Wharton was not expecting her, but that did not alter the case. And +much subsequent misery and idle waiting might have been avoided, had +not Father Roubeau seen this and turned aside from the main creek +trail. 'My child,--' 'Hold on, Father Roubeau! Though I'm not of your +faith, I respect you; but you can't come in between this woman and me!' +'You know what you are doing?' 'Know! Were you God Almighty, ready to +fling me into eternal fire, I'd bank my will against yours in this +matter.' Wharton had placed Grace on a stool and stood belligerently +before her. + +'You sit down on that chair and keep quiet,' he continued, addressing +the Jesuit. 'I'll take my innings now. You can have yours after.' + +Father Roubeau bowed courteously and obeyed. He was an easy-going man +and had learned to bide his time. Wharton pulled a stool alongside the +woman's, smothering her hand in his. + +'Then you do care for me, and will take me away?' Her face seemed to +reflect the peace of this man, against whom she might draw close for +shelter. + +'Dear, don't you remember what I said before? Of course I-' 'But how +can you?--the wash-up?' 'Do you think that worries? Anyway, I'll give +the job to Father Roubeau, here. + +'I can trust him to safely bank the dust with the company.' 'To think +of it!--I'll never see him again.' 'A blessing!' 'And to go--O, Clyde, +I can't! I can't!' 'There, there; of course you can, just let me plan +it.--You see, as soon as we get a few traps together, we'll start, +and-' 'Suppose he comes back?' 'I'll break every-' 'No, no! No +fighting, Clyde! Promise me that.' 'All right! I'll just tell the men +to throw him off the claim. They've seen how he's treated you, and +haven't much love for him.' + +'You mustn't do that. You mustn't hurt him.' 'What then? Let him come +right in here and take you away before my eyes?' 'No-o,' she half +whispered, stroking his hand softly. + +'Then let me run it, and don't worry. I'll see he doesn't get hurt. +Precious lot he cared whether you got hurt or not! We won't go back to +Dawson. I'll send word down for a couple of the boys to outfit and pole +a boat up the Yukon. We'll cross the divide and raft down the Indian +River to meet them. Then--' 'And then?' Her head was on his shoulder. + +Their voices sank to softer cadences, each word a caress. The Jesuit +fidgeted nervously. + +'And then?' she repeated. + +'Why we'll pole up, and up, and up, and portage the White Horse Rapids +and the Box Canon.' 'Yes?' 'And the Sixty-Mile River; then the lakes, +Chilcoot, Dyea, and Salt Water.' 'But, dear, I can't pole a boat.' 'You +little goose! I'll get Sitka Charley; he knows all the good water and +best camps, and he is the best traveler I ever met, if he is an Indian. +All you'll have to do, is to sit in the middle of the boat, and sing +songs, and play Cleopatra, and fight--no, we're in luck; too early for +mosquitoes.' + +'And then, O my Antony?' 'And then a steamer, San Francisco, and the +world! Never to come back to this cursed hole again. Think of it! The +world, and ours to choose from! I'll sell out. Why, we're rich! The +Waldworth Syndicate will give me half a million for what's left in the +ground, and I've got twice as much in the dumps and with the P. C. +Company. We'll go to the Fair in Paris in 1900. We'll go to Jerusalem, +if you say so. + +'We'll buy an Italian palace, and you can play Cleopatra to your +heart's content. No, you shall be Lucretia, Acte, or anybody your +little heart sees fit to become. But you mustn't, you really mustn't-' +'The wife of Caesar shall be above reproach.' 'Of course, but--' 'But I +won't be your wife, will I, dear?' 'I didn't mean that.' 'But you'll +love me just as much, and never even think--oh! I know you'll be like +other men; you'll grow tired, and--and-' + +'How can you? I--' 'Promise me.' 'Yes, yes; I do promise.' 'You say it +so easily, dear; but how do you know?--or I know? I have so little to +give, yet it is so much, and all I have. O, Clyde! promise me you +won't?' + +'There, there! You mustn't begin to doubt already. Till death do us +part, you know.' + +'Think! I once said that to--to him, and now?' 'And now, little +sweetheart, you're not to bother about such things any more. + +Of course, I never, never will, and--' And for the first time, lips +trembled against lips. + +Father Roubeau had been watching the main trail through the window, but +could stand the strain no longer. + +He cleared his throat and turned around. + +'Your turn now, Father!' Wharton's face was flushed with the fire of +his first embrace. + +There was an exultant ring to his voice as he abdicated in the other's +favor. He had no doubt as to the result. Neither had Grace, for a smile +played about her mouth as she faced the priest. + +'My child,' he began, 'my heart bleeds for you. It is a pretty dream, +but it cannot be.' + +'And why, Father? I have said yes.' 'You knew not what you did. You did +not think of the oath you took, before your God, to that man who is +your husband. It remains for me to make you realize the sanctity of +such a pledge.' 'And if I do realize, and yet refuse?' + +'Then God' + +'Which God? My husband has a God which I care not to worship. There +must be many such.' 'Child! unsay those words! Ah! you do not mean +them. I understand. I, too, have had such moments.' For an instant he +was back in his native France, and a wistful, sad-eyed face came as a +mist between him and the woman before him. + +'Then, Father, has my God forsaken me? I am not wicked above women. My +misery with him has been great. Why should it be greater? Why shall I +not grasp at happiness? I cannot, will not, go back to him!' 'Rather is +your God forsaken. Return. Throw your burden upon Him, and the darkness +shall be lifted. O my child,--' 'No; it is useless; I have made my bed +and so shall I lie. I will go on. And if God punishes me, I shall bear +it somehow. You do not understand. You are not a woman.' 'My mother was +a woman.' + +'But--' 'And Christ was born of a woman.' She did not answer. A silence +fell. Wharton pulled his mustache impatiently and kept an eye on the +trail. Grace leaned her elbow on the table, her face set with resolve. +The smile had died away. Father Roubeau shifted his ground. + +'You have children?' + +'At one time I wished--but now--no. And I am thankful.' 'And a mother?' +'Yes.' 'She loves you?' 'Yes.' Her replies were whispers. + +'And a brother?--no matter, he is a man. But a sister?' Her head +drooped a quavering 'Yes.' 'Younger? Very much?' 'Seven years.' 'And +you have thought well about this matter? About them? About your mother? +And your sister? She stands on the threshold of her woman's life, and +this wildness of yours may mean much to her. Could you go before her, +look upon her fresh young face, hold her hand in yours, or touch your +cheek to hers?' + +To his words, her brain formed vivid images, till she cried out, +'Don't! don't!' and shrank away as do the wolf-dogs from the lash. + +'But you must face all this; and better it is to do it now.' In his +eyes, which she could not see, there was a great compassion, but his +face, tense and quivering, showed no relenting. + +She raised her head from the table, forced back the tears, struggled +for control. + +'I shall go away. They will never see me, and come to forget me. I +shall be to them as dead. And--and I will go with Clyde--today.' It +seemed final. Wharton stepped forward, but the priest waved him back. + +'You have wished for children?' A silent 'Yes.' 'And prayed for them?' +'Often.' 'And have you thought, if you should have children?' Father +Roubeau's eyes rested for a moment on the man by the window. + +A quick light shot across her face. Then the full import dawned upon +her. She raised her hand appealingly, but he went on. + +'Can you picture an innocent babe in your arms? A boy? The world is not +so hard upon a girl. Why, your very breast would turn to gall! And you +could be proud and happy of your boy, as you looked on other +children?--' 'O, have pity! Hush!' 'A scapegoat--' + +'Don't! don't! I will go back!' She was at his feet. + +'A child to grow up with no thought of evil, and one day the world to +fling a tender name in his face. A child to look back and curse you +from whose loins he sprang!' + +'O my God! my God!' She groveled on the floor. The priest sighed and +raised her to her feet. + +Wharton pressed forward, but she motioned him away. + +'Don't come near me, Clyde! I am going back!' The tears were coursing +pitifully down her face, but she made no effort to wipe them away. + +'After all this? You cannot! I will not let you!' 'Don't touch me!' She +shivered and drew back. + +'I will! You are mine! Do you hear? You are mine!' Then he whirled upon +the priest. 'O what a fool I was to ever let you wag your silly tongue! +Thank your God you are not a common man, for I'd--but the priestly +prerogative must be exercised, eh? Well, you have exercised it. Now get +out of my house, or I'll forget who and what you are!' Father Roubeau +bowed, took her hand, and started for the door. But Wharton cut them +off. + +'Grace! You said you loved me?' 'I did.' 'And you do now?' 'I do.' 'Say +it again.' + +'I do love you, Clyde; I do.' 'There, you priest!' he cried. 'You have +heard it, and with those words on her lips you would send her back to +live a lie and a hell with that man?' + +But Father Roubeau whisked the woman into the inner room and closed the +door. 'No words!' he whispered to Wharton, as he struck a casual +posture on a stool. 'Remember, for her sake,' he added. + +The room echoed to a rough knock at the door; the latch raised and +Edwin Bentham stepped in. + +'Seen anything of my wife?' he asked as soon as salutations had been +exchanged. + +Two heads nodded negatively. + +'I saw her tracks down from the cabin,' he continued tentatively, 'and +they broke off, just opposite here, on the main trail.' His listeners +looked bored. + +'And I--I thought--' + +'She was here!' thundered Wharton. + +The priest silenced him with a look. 'Did you see her tracks leading up +to this cabin, my son?' Wily Father Roubeau--he had taken good care to +obliterate them as he came up the same path an hour before. + +'I didn't stop to look, I--' His eyes rested suspiciously on the door +to the other room, then interrogated the priest. The latter shook his +head; but the doubt seemed to linger. + +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, isn'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 good-by.' The door slammed, and from the +window they watched him take his guest 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 heartbreaking 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: If She have spoken a word, remember thy lips +are sealed, And the brand of the Dog is upon him by whom is the secret +revealed. + +If there be trouble to Herward, and a lie of the blackest can clear, +Lie, while thy lips can move or a man is alive to hear.' + +Father Roubeau removed his pipe and reflected. 'The man speaks true, +but my soul is not vexed with that. The lie and the penance stand with +God; but--but--' + +'What then? Your hands are clean.' 'Not so. Kid, I have thought much, +and yet the thing remains. I knew, and made her go back.' The clear +note of a robin rang out from the wooden bank, a partridge drummed the +call in the distance, a moose lunged noisily in the eddy; but the twain +smoked on in silence. + + + +The Wisdom of the Trail + +Sitka Charley had achieved the impossible. Other Indians might have +known as much of the wisdom of the trail as he did; but he alone knew +the white man's wisdom, the honor of the trail, and the law. But these +things had not come to him in a day. The aboriginal mind is slow to +generalize, and many facts, repeated often, are required to compass an +understanding. Sitka Charley, from boyhood, had been thrown continually +with white men, and as a man he had elected to cast his fortunes with +them, expatriating himself, once and for all, from his own people. Even +then, respecting, almost venerating their power, and pondering over it, +he had yet to divine its secret essence--the honor and the law. And it +was only by the cumulative evidence of years that he had finally come +to understand. Being an alien, when he did know, he knew it better than +the white man himself; being an Indian, he had achieved the impossible. + +And of these things had been bred a certain contempt for his own +people--a contempt which he had made it a custom to conceal, but which +now burst forth in a polyglot whirlwind of curses upon the heads of +Kah-Chucte and Gowhee. They cringed before him like a brace of snarling +wolf dogs, too cowardly to spring, too wolfish to cover their fangs. +They were not handsome creatures. Neither was Sitka Charley. All three +were frightful-looking. There was no flesh to their faces; their +cheekbones were massed with hideous scabs which had cracked and frozen +alternately under the intense frost; while their eyes burned luridly +with the light which is born of desperation and hunger. Men so +situated, beyond the pale of the honor and the law, are not to be +trusted. Sitka Charley knew this; and this was why he had forced them +to abandon their rifles with the rest of the camp outfit ten days +before. His rifle and Captain Eppingwell's were the only ones that +remained. + +'Come, get a fire started,' he commanded, drawing out the precious +matchbox with its attendant strips of dry birchbark. + +The two Indians fell sullenly to the task of gathering dead branches +and underwood. They were weak and paused often, catching themselves, in +the act of stooping, with giddy motions, or staggering to the center of +operations with their knees shaking like castanets. + +After each trip they rested for a moment, as though sick and deadly +weary. At times their eyes took on the patient stoicism of dumb +suffering; and again the ego seemed almost burst forth with its wild +cry, 'I, I, I want to exist!'--the dominant note of the whole living +universe. + +A light breath of air blew from the south, nipping the exposed portions +of their bodies and driving the frost, in needles of fire, through fur +and flesh to the bones. So, when the fire had grown lusty and thawed a +damp circle in the snow about it, Sitka Charley forced his reluctant +comrades to lend a hand in pitching a fly. It was a primitive affair, +merely a blanket stretched parallel with the fire and to windward of +it, at an angle of perhaps forty-five degrees. This shut out the chill +wind and threw the heat backward and down upon those who were to huddle +in its shelter. Then a layer of green spruce boughs were spread, that +their bodies might not come in contact with the snow. When this task +was completed, Kah-Chucte and Gowhee proceeded to take care of their +feet. Their icebound moccasins were sadly worn by much travel, and the +sharp ice of the river jams had cut them to rags. + +Their Siwash socks were similarly conditioned, and when these had been +thawed and removed, the dead-white tips of the toes, in the various +stages of mortification, told their simple tale of the trail. + +Leaving the two to the drying of their footgear, Sitka Charley turned +back over the course he had come. He, too, had a mighty longing to sit +by the fire and tend his complaining flesh, but the honor and the law +forbade. He toiled painfully over the frozen field, each step a +protest, every muscle in revolt. Several times, where the open water +between the jams had recently crusted, he was forced to miserably +accelerate his movements as the fragile footing swayed and threatened +beneath him. In such places death was quick and easy; but it was not +his desire to endure no more. + +His deepening anxiety vanished as two Indians dragged into view round a +bend in the river. They staggered and panted like men under heavy +burdens; yet the packs on their backs were a matter of but a few +pounds. He questioned them eagerly, and their replies seemed to relieve +him. He hurried on. Next came two white men, supporting between them a +woman. They also behaved as though drunken, and their limbs shook with +weakness. But the woman leaned lightly upon them, choosing to carry +herself forward with her own strength. At the sight of her a flash of +joy cast its fleeting light across Sitka Charley's face. He cherished a +very great regard for Mrs. Eppingwell. He had seen many white women, +but this was the first to travel the trail with him. When Captain +Eppingwell proposed the hazardous undertaking and made him an offer for +his services, he had shaken his head gravely; for it was an unknown +journey through the dismal vastnesses of the Northland, and he knew it +to be of the kind that try to the uttermost the souls of men. + +But when he learned that the captain's wife was to accompany them, he +had refused flatly to have anything further to do with it. Had it been +a woman of his own race he would have harbored no objections; but these +women of the Southland--no, no, they were too soft, too tender, for +such enterprises. + +Sitka Charley did not know this kind of woman. Five minutes before, he +did not even dream of taking charge of the expedition; but when she +came to him with her wonderful smile and her straight clean English, +and talked to the point, without pleading or persuading, he had +incontinently yielded. Had there been a softness and appeal to mercy in +the eyes, a tremble to the voice, a taking advantage of sex, he would +have stiffened to steel; instead her clear-searching eyes and +clear-ringing voice, her utter frankness and tacit assumption of +equality, had robbed him of his reason. He felt, then, that this was a +new breed of woman; and ere they had been trail mates for many days he +knew why the sons of such women mastered the land and the sea, and why +the sons of his own womankind could not prevail against them. Tender +and soft! Day after day he watched her, muscle-weary, exhausted, +indomitable, and the words beat in upon him in a perennial refrain. +Tender and soft! He knew her feet had been born to easy paths and sunny +lands, strangers to the moccasined pain of the North, unkissed by the +chill lips of the frost, and he watched and marveled at them twinkling +ever through the weary day. + +She had always a smile and a word of cheer, from which not even the +meanest packer was excluded. As the way grew darker she seemed to +stiffen and gather greater strength, and when Kah-Chucte and Gowhee, +who had bragged that they knew every landmark of the way as a child did +the skin bails of the tepee, acknowledged that they knew not where they +were, it was she who raised a forgiving voice amid the curses of the +men. She had sung to them that night till they felt the weariness fall +from them and were ready to face the future with fresh hope. And when +the food failed and each scant stint was measured jealously, she it was +who rebelled against the machinations of her husband and Sitka Charley, +and demanded and received a share neither greater nor less than that of +the others. + +Sitka Charley was proud to know this woman. A new richness, a greater +breadth, had come into his life with her presence. Hitherto he had been +his own mentor, had turned to right or left at no man's beck; he had +moulded himself according to his own dictates, nourished his manhood +regardless of all save his own opinion. For the first time he had felt +a call from without for the best that was in him, just a glance of +appreciation from the clear-searching eyes, a word of thanks from the +clear-ringing voice, just a slight wreathing of the lips in the +wonderful smile, and he walked with the gods for hours to come. It was +a new stimulant to his manhood; for the first time he thrilled with a +conscious pride in his wisdom of the trail; and between the twain they +ever lifted the sinking hearts of their comrades. The faces of the two +men and the woman brightened as they saw him, for after all he was the +staff they leaned upon. But Sitka Charley, rigid as was his wont, +concealing pain and pleasure impartially beneath an iron exterior, +asked them the welfare of the rest, told the distance to the fire, and +continued on the back-trip. + +Next he met a single Indian, unburdened, limping, lips compressed, and +eyes set with the pain of a foot in which the quick fought a losing +battle with the dead. All possible care had been taken of him, but in +the last extremity the weak and unfortunate must perish, and Sitka +Charley deemed his days to be few. The man could not keep up for long, +so he gave him rough cheering words. After that came two more Indians, +to whom he had allotted the task of helping along Joe, the third white +man of the party. They had deserted him. Sitka Charley saw at a glance +the lurking spring in their bodies, and knew they had at last cast off +his mastery. So he was not taken unawares when he ordered them back in +quest of their abandoned charge, and saw the gleam of the hunting +knives that they drew from the sheaths. A pitiful spectacle, three weak +men lifting their puny strength in the face of the mighty vastness; but +the two recoiled under the fierce rifle blows of the one and returned +like beaten dogs to the leash. Two hours later, with Joe reeling +between them and Sitka Charley bringing up the rear, they came to the +fire, where the remainder of the expedition crouched in the shelter of +the fly. + +'A few words, my comrades, before we sleep,' Sitka Charley said after +they had devoured their slim rations of unleavened bread. He was +speaking to the Indians in their own tongue, having already given the +import to the whites. 'A few words, my comrades, for your own good, +that ye may yet perchance live. I shall give you the law; on his own +head by the death of him that breaks it. We have passed the Hills of +Silence, and we now travel the head reaches of the Stuart. It may be +one sleep, it may be several, it may be many sleeps, but in time we +shall come among the men of the Yukon, who have much grub. It were well +that we look to the law. Today Kah-Chucte and Gowhee, whom I commanded +to break trail, forgot they were men, and like frightened children ran +away. + +'True, they forgot; so let us forget. But hereafter, let them remember. +If it should happen they do not...' He touched his rifle carelessly, +grimly. 'Tomorrow they shall carry the flour and see that the white man +Joe lies not down by the trail. The cups of flour are counted; should +so much as an ounce be wanting at nightfall... Do ye understand? Today +there were others that forgot. Moose Head and Three Salmon left the +white man Joe to lie in the snow. Let them forget no more. With the +light of day shall they go forth and break trail. Ye have heard the +law. Look well, lest ye break it.' Sitka Charley found it beyond him to +keep the line close up. From Moose Head and Three Salmon, who broke +trail in advance, to Kah-Chucte, Gowhee, and Joe, it straggled out over +a mile. Each staggered, fell or rested as he saw fit. + +The line of march was a progression through a chain of irregular halts. +Each drew upon the last remnant of his strength and stumbled onward +till it was expended, but in some miraculous way there was always +another last remnant. Each time a man fell it was with the firm belief +that he would rise no more; yet he did rise, and again and again. The +flesh yielded, the will conquered; but each triumph was a tragedy. The +Indian with the frozen foot, no longer erect, crawled forward on hand +and knee. He rarely rested, for he knew the penalty exacted by the +frost. + +Even Mrs. Eppingwell's lips were at last set in a stony smile, and her +eyes, seeing, saw not. Often she stopped, pressing a mittened hand to +her heart, gasping and dizzy. + +Joe, the white man, had passed beyond the stage of suffering. He no +longer begged to be let alone, prayed to die; but was soothed and +content under the anodyne of delirium. Kah-Chucte and Gowhee dragged +him on roughly, venting upon him many a savage glance or blow. To them +it was the acme of injustice. + +Their hearts were bitter with hate, heavy with fear. Why should they +cumber their strength with his weakness? To do so meant death; not to +do so--and they remembered the law of Sitka Charley, and the rifle. + +Joe fell with greater frequency as the daylight waned, and so hard was +he to raise that they dropped farther and farther behind. Sometimes all +three pitched into the snow, so weak had the Indians become. Yet on +their backs was life, and strength, and warmth. + +Within the flour sacks were all the potentialities of existence. They +could not but think of this, and it was not strange, that which came to +pass. They had fallen by the side of a great timber jam where a +thousand cords of firewood waited the match. Near by was an air hole +through the ice. Kah-Chucte looked on the wood and the water, as did +Gowhee; then they looked at each other. + +Never a word was spoken. Gowhee struck a fire; Kah-Chucte filled a tin +cup with water and heated it; Joe babbled of things in another land, in +a tongue they did not understand. + +They mixed flour with the warm water till it was a thin paste, and of +this they drank many cups. They did not offer any to Joe; but he did +not mind. He did not mind anything, not even his moccasins, which +scorched and smoked among the coals. + +A crystal mist of snow fell about them, softly, caressingly, wrapping +them in clinging robes of white. And their feet would have yet trod +many trails had not destiny brushed the clouds aside and cleared the +air. Nay, ten minutes' delay would have been salvation. + +Sitka Charley, looking back, saw the pillared smoke of their fire, and +guessed. And he looked ahead at those who were faithful, and at Mrs. +Eppingwell. 'So, my good comrades, ye have again forgotten that you +were men? Good! Very good. There will be fewer bellies to feed.' Sitka +Charley retied the flour as he spoke, strapping the pack to the one on +his own back. He kicked Joe till the pain broke through the poor +devil's bliss and brought him doddering to his feet. Then he shoved him +out upon the trail and started him on his way. The two Indians +attempted to slip off. + +'Hold, Gowhee! And thou, too, Kah-Chucte! Hath the flour given such +strength to thy legs that they may outrun the swift-winged lead? Think +not to cheat the law. Be men for the last time, and be content that ye +die full-stomached. + +Come, step up, back to the timber, shoulder to shoulder. Come!' The two +men obeyed, quietly, without fear; for it is the future which pressed +upon the man, not the present. + +'Thou, Gowhee, hast a wife and children and a deerskin lodge in the +Chipewyan. What is thy will in the matter?' 'Give thou her of the goods +which are mine by the word of the captain--the blankets, the beads, the +tobacco, the box which makes strange sounds after the manner of the +white men. Say that I did die on the trail, but say not how.' 'And +thou, Kah-Chucte, who hast nor wife nor child?' 'Mine is a sister, the +wife of the factor at Koshim. He beats her, and she is not happy. Give +thou her the goods which are mine by the contract, and tell her it were +well she go back to her own people. Shouldst thou meet the man, and be +so minded, it were a good deed that he should die. He beats her, and +she is afraid.' 'Are ye content to die by the law?' 'We are.' 'Then +good-bye, my good comrades. May ye sit by the well-filled pot, in warm +lodges, ere the day is done.' As he spoke he raised his rifle, and many +echoes broke the silence. Hardly had they died away when other rifles +spoke in the distance. Sitka Charley started. + +There had been more than one shot, yet there was but one other rifle in +the party. + +He gave a fleeting glance at the men who lay so quietly, smiled +viciously at the wisdom of the trail, and hurried on to meet the men of +the Yukon. + + + +The Wife of a King + +Once when the northland was very young, the social and civic virtues +were remarkably alike for their paucity and their simplicity. When the +burden of domestic duties grew grievous, and the fireside mood expanded +to a constant protest against its bleak loneliness, the adventurers +from the Southland, in lieu of better, paid the stipulated prices and +took unto themselves native wives. It was a foretaste of Paradise to +the women, for it must be confessed that the white rovers gave far +better care and treatment of them than did their Indian copartners. Of +course, the white men themselves were satisfied with such deals, as +were also the Indian men for that matter. Having sold their daughters +and sisters for cotton blankets and obsolete rifles and traded their +warm furs for flimsy calico and bad whisky, the sons of the soil +promptly and cheerfully succumbed to quick consumption and other swift +diseases correlated with the blessings of a superior civilization. + +It was in these days of Arcadian simplicity that Cal Galbraith +journeyed through the land and fell sick on the Lower River. It was a +refreshing advent in the lives of the good Sisters of the Holy Cross, +who gave him shelter and medicine; though they little dreamed of the +hot elixir infused into his veins by the touch of their soft hands and +their gentle ministrations. Cal Galbraith, became troubled with strange +thoughts which clamored for attention till he laid eyes on the Mission +girl, Madeline. Yet he gave no sign, biding his time patiently. He +strengthened with the coming spring, and when the sun rode the heavens +in a golden circle, and the joy and throb of life was in all the land, +he gathered his still weak body together and departed. + +Now, Madeline, the Mission girl, was an orphan. Her white father had +failed to give a bald-faced grizzly the trail one day, and had died +quickly. Then her Indian mother, having no man to fill the winter +cache, had tried the hazardous experiment of waiting till the +salmon-run on fifty pounds of flour and half as many of bacon. After +that, the baby, Chook-ra, went to live with the good Sisters, and to be +thenceforth known by another name. + +But Madeline still had kinsfolk, the nearest being a dissolute uncle +who outraged his vitals with inordinate quantities of the white man's +whisky. He strove daily to walk with the gods, and incidentally, his +feet sought shorter trails to the grave. When sober he suffered +exquisite torture. He had no conscience. To this ancient vagabond Cal +Galbraith duly presented himself, and they consumed many words and much +tobacco in the conversation that followed. Promises were also made; and +in the end the old heathen took a few pounds of dried salmon and his +birch-bark canoe, and paddled away to the Mission of the Holy Cross. + +It is not given the world to know what promises he made and what lies +he told--the Sisters never gossip; but when he returned, upon his +swarthy chest there was a brass crucifix, and in his canoe his niece +Madeline. That night there was a grand wedding and a potlach; so that +for two days to follow there was no fishing done by the village. But in +the morning Madeline shook the dust of the Lower River from her +moccasins, and with her husband, in a poling-boat, went to live on the +Upper River in a place known as the Lower Country. And in the years +which followed she was a good wife, sharing her husband's hardships and +cooking his food. And she kept him in straight trails, till he learned +to save his dust and to work mightily. In the end, he struck it rich +and built a cabin in Circle City; and his happiness was such that men +who came to visit him in his home-circle became restless at the sight +of it and envied him greatly. + +But the Northland began to mature and social amenities to make their +appearance. + +Hitherto, the Southland had sent forth its sons; but it now belched +forth a new exodus--this time of its daughters. Sisters and wives they +were not; but they did not fail to put new ideas in the heads of the +men, and to elevate the tone of things in ways peculiarly their own. No +more did the squaws gather at the dances, go roaring down the center in +the good, old Virginia reels, or make merry with jolly 'Dan Tucker.' +They fell back on their natural stoicism and uncomplainingly watched +the rule of their white sisters from their cabins. + +Then another exodus came over the mountains from the prolific Southland. + +This time it was of women that became mighty in the land. Their word +was law; their law was steel. They frowned upon the Indian wives, while +the other women became mild and walked humbly. There were cowards who +became ashamed of their ancient covenants with the daughters of the +soil, who looked with a new distaste upon their dark-skinned children; +but there were also others--men--who remained true and proud of their +aboriginal vows. When it became the fashion to divorce the native +wives. Cal Galbraith retained his manhood, and in so doing felt the +heavy hand of the women who had come last, knew least, but who ruled +the land. + +One day, the Upper Country, which lies far above Circle City, was +pronounced rich. Dog-teams carried the news to Salt Water; golden +argosies freighted the lure across the North Pacific; wires and cables +sang with the tidings; and the world heard for the first time of the +Klondike River and the Yukon Country. Cal Galbraith had lived the years +quietly. He had been a good husband to Madeline, and she had blessed +him. But somehow discontent fell upon him; he felt vague yearnings for +his own kind, for the life he had been shut out from--a general sort of +desire, which men sometimes feel, to break out and taste the prime of +living. Besides, there drifted down the river wild rumors of the +wonderful El Dorado, glowing descriptions of the city of logs and +tents, and ludicrous accounts of the che-cha-quas who had rushed in and +were stampeding the whole country. + +Circle City was dead. The world had moved on up river and become a new +and most marvelous world. + +Cal Galbraith grew restless on the edge of things, and wished to see +with his own eyes. + +So, after the wash-up, he weighed in a couple of hundred pounds of dust +on the Company's big scales, and took a draft for the same on Dawson. +Then he put Tom Dixon in charge of his mines, kissed Madeline good-by, +promised to be back before the first mush-ice ran, and took passage on +an up-river steamer. + +Madeline waited, waited through all the three months of daylight. She +fed the dogs, gave much of her time to Young Cal, watched the short +summer fade away and the sun begin its long journey to the south. And +she prayed much in the manner of the Sisters of the Holy Cross. The +fall came, and with it there was mush-ice on the Yukon, and Circle City +kings returning to the winter's work at their mines, but no Cal +Galbraith. Tom Dixon received a letter, however, for his men sledded up +her winter's supply of dry pine. The Company received a letter for its +dogteams filled her cache with their best provisions, and she was told +that her credit was limitless. + +Through all the ages man has been held the chief instigator of the woes +of woman; but in this case the men held their tongues and swore harshly +at one of their number who was away, while the women failed utterly to +emulate them. So, without needless delay, Madeline heard strange tales +of Cal Galbraith's doings; also, of a certain Greek dancer who played +with men as children did with bubbles. Now Madeline was an Indian +woman, and further, she had no woman friend to whom to go for wise +counsel. She prayed and planned by turns, and that night, being quick +of resolve and action, she harnessed the dogs, and with Young Cal +securely lashed to the sled, stole away. + +Though the Yukon still ran free, the eddy-ice was growing, and each day +saw the river dwindling to a slushy thread. Save him who has done the +like, no man may know what she endured in traveling a hundred miles on +the rim-ice; nor may they understand the toil and hardship of breaking +the two hundred miles of packed ice which remained after the river +froze for good. But Madeline was an Indian woman, so she did these +things, and one night there came a knock at Malemute Kid's door. +Thereat he fed a team of starving dogs, put a healthy youngster to bed, +and turned his attention to an exhausted woman. He removed her icebound +moccasins while he listened to her tale, and stuck the point of his +knife into her feet that he might see how far they were frozen. + +Despite his tremendous virility, Malemute Kid was possessed of a +softer, womanly element, which could win the confidence of a snarling +wolf-dog or draw confessions from the most wintry heart. Nor did he +seek them. Hearts opened to him as spontaneously as flowers to the sun. +Even the priest, Father Roubeau, had been known to confess to him, +while the men and women of the Northland were ever knocking at his +door--a door from which the latch-string hung always out. To Madeline, +he could do no wrong, make no mistake. She had known him from the time +she first cast her lot among the people of her father's race; and to +her half-barbaric mind it seemed that in him was centered the wisdom of +the ages, that between his vision and the future there could be no +intervening veil. + +There were false ideals in the land. The social strictures of Dawson +were not synonymous with those of the previous era, and the swift +maturity of the Northland involved much wrong. Malemute Kid was aware +of this, and he had Cal Galbraith's measure accurately. + +He knew a hasty word was the father of much evil; besides, he was +minded to teach a great lesson and bring shame upon the man. So Stanley +Prince, the young mining expert, was called into the conference the +following night as was also Lucky Jack Harrington and his violin. That +same night, Bettles, who owed a great debt to Malemute Kid, harnessed +up Cal Galbraith's dogs, lashed Cal Galbraith, Junior, to the sled, and +slipped away in the dark for Stuart River. + + +II + +'So; one--two--three, one--two--three. Now reverse! No, no! Start up +again, Jack. See--this way.' Prince executed the movement as one should +who has led the cotillion. + +'Now; one--two--three, one--two--three. Reverse! Ah! that's better. Try +it again. I say, you know, you mustn't look at your feet. +One--two--three, one--two--three. Shorter steps! You are not hanging to +the gee-pole just now. Try it over. + +'There! that's the way. One--two--three, one--two--three.' Round and +round went Prince and Madeline in an interminable waltz. The table and +stools had been shoved over against the wall to increase the room. +Malemute Kid sat on the bunk, chin to knees, greatly interested. Jack +Harrington sat beside him, scraping away on his violin and following +the dancers. + +It was a unique situation, the undertaking of these three men with the +woman. + +The most pathetic part, perhaps, was the businesslike way in which they +went about it. + +No athlete was ever trained more rigidly for a coming contest, nor +wolf-dog for the harness, than was she. But they had good material, for +Madeline, unlike most women of her race, in her childhood had escaped +the carrying of heavy burdens and the toil of the trail. Besides, she +was a clean-limbed, willowy creature, possessed of much grace which had +not hitherto been realized. It was this grace which the men strove to +bring out and knock into shape. + +'Trouble with her she learned to dance all wrong,' Prince remarked to +the bunk after having deposited his breathless pupil on the table. +'She's quick at picking up; yet I could do better had she never danced +a step. But say, Kid, I can't understand this.' Prince imitated a +peculiar movement of the shoulders and head--a weakness Madeline +suffered from in walking. + +'Lucky for her she was raised in the Mission,' Malemute Kid answered. +'Packing, you know,--the head-strap. Other Indian women have it bad, +but she didn't do any packing till after she married, and then only at +first. Saw hard lines with that husband of hers. They went through the +Forty-Mile famine together.' 'But can we break it?' 'Don't know. + +'Perhaps long walks with her trainers will make the riffle. Anyway, +they'll take it out some, won't they, Madeline?' The girl nodded +assent. If Malemute Kid, who knew all things, said so, why it was so. +That was all there was about it. + +She had come over to them, anxious to begin again. Harrington surveyed +her in quest of her points much in the same manner men usually do +horses. It certainly was not disappointing, for he asked with sudden +interest, 'What did that beggarly uncle of yours get anyway?' 'One +rifle, one blanket, twenty bottles of hooch. Rifle broke.' She said +this last scornfully, as though disgusted at how low her maiden-value +had been rated. + +She spoke fair English, with many peculiarities of her husband's +speech, but there was still perceptible the Indian accent, the +traditional groping after strange gutturals. Even this her instructors +had taken in hand, and with no small success, too. + +At the next intermission, Prince discovered a new predicament. + +'I say, Kid,' he said, 'we're wrong, all wrong. She can't learn in +moccasins. + +'Put her feet into slippers, and then onto that waxed floor--phew!' +Madeline raised a foot and regarded her shapeless house-moccasins +dubiously. In previous winters, both at Circle City and Forty-Mile, she +had danced many a night away with similar footgear, and there had been +nothing the matter. + +But now--well, if there was anything wrong it was for Malemute Kid to +know, not her. + +But Malemute Kid did know, and he had a good eye for measures; so he +put on his cap and mittens and went down the hill to pay Mrs. +Eppingwell a call. Her husband, Clove Eppingwell, was prominent in the +community as one of the great Government officials. + +The Kid had noted her slender little foot one night, at the Governor's +Ball. And as he also knew her to be as sensible as she was pretty, it +was no task to ask of her a certain small favor. + +On his return, Madeline withdrew for a moment to the inner room. When +she reappeared Prince was startled. + +'By Jove!' he gasped. 'Who'd a' thought it! The little witch! Why my +sister--' 'Is an English girl,' interrupted Malemute Kid, 'with an +English foot. This girl comes of a small-footed race. Moccasins just +broadened her feet healthily, while she did not misshape them by +running with the dogs in her childhood.' But this explanation failed +utterly to allay Prince's admiration. Harrington's commercial instinct +was touched, and as he looked upon the exquisitely turned foot and +ankle, there ran through his mind the sordid list--'One rifle, one +blanket, twenty bottles of hooch.' Madeline was the wife of a king, a +king whose yellow treasure could buy outright a score of fashion's +puppets; yet in all her life her feet had known no gear save red-tanned +moosehide. At first she had looked in awe at the tiny white-satin +slippers; but she had quickly understood the admiration which shone, +manlike, in the eyes of the men. Her face flushed with pride. For the +moment she was drunken with her woman's loveliness; then she murmured, +with increased scorn, 'And one rifle, broke!' So the training went on. +Every day Malemute Kid led the girl out on long walks devoted to the +correction of her carriage and the shortening of her stride. + +There was little likelihood of her identity being discovered, for Cal +Galbraith and the rest of the Old-Timers were like lost children among +the many strangers who had rushed into the land. Besides, the frost of +the North has a bitter tongue, and the tender women of the South, to +shield their cheeks from its biting caresses, were prone to the use of +canvas masks. With faces obscured and bodies lost in squirrel-skin +parkas, a mother and daughter, meeting on trail, would pass as +strangers. + +The coaching progressed rapidly. At first it had been slow, but later a +sudden acceleration had manifested itself. This began from the moment +Madeline tried on the white-satin slippers, and in so doing found +herself. The pride of her renegade father, apart from any natural +self-esteem she might possess, at that instant received its birth. +Hitherto, she had deemed herself a woman of an alien breed, of inferior +stock, purchased by her lord's favor. Her husband had seemed to her a +god, who had lifted her, through no essential virtues on her part, to +his own godlike level. But she had never forgotten, even when Young Cal +was born, that she was not of his people. As he had been a god, so had +his womenkind been goddesses. She might have contrasted herself with +them, but she had never compared. + +It might have been that familiarity bred contempt; however, be that as +it may, she had ultimately come to understand these roving white men, +and to weigh them. + +True, her mind was dark to deliberate analysis, but she yet possessed +her woman's clarity of vision in such matters. On the night of the +slippers she had measured the bold, open admiration of her three +man-friends; and for the first time comparison had suggested itself. It +was only a foot and an ankle, but--but comparison could not, in the +nature of things, cease at that point. She judged herself by their +standards till the divinity of her white sisters was shattered. After +all, they were only women, and why should she not exalt herself to +their midst? In doing these things she learned where she lacked and +with the knowledge of her weakness came her strength. And so mightily +did she strive that her three trainers often marveled late into the +night over the eternal mystery of woman. + +In this way Thanksgiving Night drew near. At irregular intervals +Bettles sent word down from Stuart River regarding the welfare of Young +Cal. The time of their return was approaching. More than once a casual +caller, hearing dance-music and the rhythmic pulse of feet, entered, +only to find Harrington scraping away and the other two beating time or +arguing noisily over a mooted step. Madeline was never in evidence, +having precipitately fled to the inner room. + +On one of these nights Cal Galbraith dropped in. Encouraging news had +just come down from Stuart River, and Madeline had surpassed +herself--not in walk alone, and carriage and grace, but in womanly +roguishness. They had indulged in sharp repartee and she had defended +herself brilliantly; and then, yielding to the intoxication of the +moment, and of her own power, she had bullied, and mastered, and +wheedled, and patronized them with most astonishing success. And +instinctively, involuntarily, they had bowed, not to her beauty, her +wisdom, her wit, but to that indefinable something in woman to which +man yields yet cannot name. + +The room was dizzy with sheer delight as she and Prince whirled through +the last dance of the evening. Harrington was throwing in inconceivable +flourishes, while Malemute Kid, utterly abandoned, had seized the broom +and was executing mad gyrations on his own account. + +At this instant the door shook with a heavy rap-rap, and their quick +glances noted the lifting of the latch. But they had survived similar +situations before. Harrington never broke a note. Madeline shot through +the waiting door to the inner room. The broom went hurtling under the +bunk, and by the time Cal Galbraith and Louis Savoy got their heads in, +Malemute Kid and Prince were in each other's arms, wildly schottisching +down the room. + +As a rule, Indian women do not make a practice of fainting on +provocation, but Madeline came as near to it as she ever had in her +life. For an hour she crouched on the floor, listening to the heavy +voices of the men rumbling up and down in mimic thunder. Like familiar +chords of childhood melodies, every intonation, every trick of her +husband's voice swept in upon her, fluttering her heart and weakening +her knees till she lay half-fainting against the door. It was well she +could neither see nor hear when he took his departure. + +'When do you expect to go back to Circle City?' Malemute Kid asked +simply. + +'Haven't thought much about it,' he replied. 'Don't think till after +the ice breaks.' 'And Madeline?' + +He flushed at the question, and there was a quick droop to his eyes. +Malemute Kid could have despised him for that, had he known men less. +As it was, his gorge rose against the wives and daughters who had come +into the land, and not satisfied with usurping the place of the native +women, had put unclean thoughts in the heads of the men and made them +ashamed. + +'I guess she's all right,' the Circle City King answered hastily, and +in an apologetic manner. 'Tom Dixon's got charge of my interests, you +know, and he sees to it that she has everything she wants.' Malemute +Kid laid hand upon his arm and hushed him suddenly. They had stepped +without. Overhead, the aurora, a gorgeous wanton, flaunted miracles of +color; beneath lay the sleeping town. Far below, a solitary dog gave +tongue. + +The King again began to speak, but the Kid pressed his hand for +silence. The sound multiplied. Dog after dog took up the strain till +the full-throated chorus swayed the night. + +To him who hears for the first time this weird song, is told the first +and greatest secret of the Northland; to him who has heard it often, it +is the solemn knell of lost endeavor. It is the plaint of tortured +souls, for in it is invested the heritage of the North, the suffering +of countless generations--the warning and the requiem to the world's +estrays. + +Cal Galbraith shivered slightly as it died away in half-caught sobs. +The Kid read his thoughts openly, and wandered back with him through +all the weary days of famine and disease; and with him was also the +patient Madeline, sharing his pains and perils, never doubting, never +complaining. His mind's retina vibrated to a score of pictures, stern, +clear-cut, and the hand of the past drew back with heavy fingers on his +heart. It was the psychological moment. Malemute Kid was half-tempted +to play his reserve card and win the game; but the lesson was too mild +as yet, and he let it pass. The next instant they had gripped hands, +and the King's beaded moccasins were drawing protests from the outraged +snow as he crunched down the hill. + +Madeline in collapse was another woman to the mischievous creature of +an hour before, whose laughter had been so infectious and whose +heightened color and flashing eyes had made her teachers for the while +forget. Weak and nerveless, she sat in the chair just as she had been +dropped there by Prince and Harrington. + +Malemute Kid frowned. This would never do. When the time of meeting her +husband came to hand, she must carry things off with high-handed +imperiousness. It was very necessary she should do it after the manner +of white women, else the victory would be no victory at all. So he +talked to her, sternly, without mincing of words, and initiated her +into the weaknesses of his own sex, till she came to understand what +simpletons men were after all, and why the word of their women was law. + +A few days before Thanksgiving Night, Malemute Kid made another call on +Mrs. Eppingwell. She promptly overhauled her feminine fripperies, paid +a protracted visit to the dry-goods department of the P. C. Company, +and returned with the Kid to make Madeline's acquaintance. After that +came a period such as the cabin had never seen before, and what with +cutting, and fitting, and basting, and stitching, and numerous other +wonderful and unknowable things, the male conspirators were more often +banished the premises than not. At such times the Opera House opened +its double storm-doors to them. + +So often did they put their heads together, and so deeply did they +drink to curious toasts, that the loungers scented unknown creeks of +incalculable richness, and it is known that several checha-quas and at +least one Old-Timer kept their stampeding packs stored behind the bar, +ready to hit the trail at a moment's notice. + +Mrs. Eppingwell was a woman of capacity; so, when she turned Madeline +over to her trainers on Thanksgiving Night she was so transformed that +they were almost afraid of her. Prince wrapped a Hudson Bay blanket +about her with a mock reverence more real than feigned, while Malemute +Kid, whose arm she had taken, found it a severe trial to resume his +wonted mentorship. Harrington, with the list of purchases still running +through his head, dragged along in the rear, nor opened his mouth once +all the way down into the town. When they came to the back door of the +Opera House they took the blanket from Madeline's shoulders and spread +it on the snow. Slipping out of Prince's moccasins, she stepped upon it +in new satin slippers. The masquerade was at its height. She hesitated, +but they jerked open the door and shoved her in. Then they ran around +to come in by the front entrance. + + +III + +'Where is Freda?' the Old-Timers questioned, while the che-cha-quas +were equally energetic in asking who Freda was. The ballroom buzzed +with her name. + +It was on everybody's lips. Grizzled 'sour-dough boys,' day-laborers at +the mines but proud of their degree, either patronized the +spruce-looking tenderfeet and lied eloquently--the 'sour-dough boys' +being specially created to toy with truth--or gave them savage looks of +indignation because of their ignorance. Perhaps forty kings of the +Upper and Lower Countries were on the floor, each deeming himself hot +on the trail and sturdily backing his judgment with the yellow dust of +the realm. An assistant was sent to the man at the scales, upon whom +had fallen the burden of weighing up the sacks, while several of the +gamblers, with the rules of chance at their finger-ends, made up +alluring books on the field and favorites. + +Which was Freda? Time and again the 'Greek Dancer' was thought to have +been discovered, but each discovery brought panic to the betting ring +and a frantic registering of new wagers by those who wished to hedge. +Malemute Kid took an interest in the hunt, his advent being hailed +uproariously by the revelers, who knew him to a man. The Kid had a good +eye for the trick of a step, and ear for the lilt of a voice, and his +private choice was a marvelous creature who scintillated as the 'Aurora +Borealis.' But the Greek dancer was too subtle for even his +penetration. The majority of the gold-hunters seemed to have centered +their verdict on the 'Russian Princess,' who was the most graceful in +the room, and hence could be no other than Freda Moloof. + +During a quadrille a roar of satisfaction went up. She was discovered. +At previous balls, in the figure, 'all hands round,' Freda had +displayed an inimitable step and variation peculiarly her own. As the +figure was called, the 'Russian Princess' gave the unique rhythm to +limb and body. A chorus of I-told-you-so's shook the squared +roof-beams, when lo! it was noticed that 'Aurora Borealis' and another +masque, the 'Spirit of the Pole,' were performing the same trick +equally well. And when two twin 'Sun-Dogs' and a 'Frost Queen' followed +suit, a second assistant was dispatched to the aid of the man at the +scales. + +Bettles came off trail in the midst of the excitement, descending upon +them in a hurricane of frost. His rimed brows turned to cataracts as he +whirled about; his mustache, still frozen, seemed gemmed with diamonds +and turned the light in varicolored rays; while the flying feet slipped +on the chunks of ice which rattled from his moccasins and German socks. +A Northland dance is quite an informal affair, the men of the creeks +and trails having lost whatever fastidiousness they might have at one +time possessed; and only in the high official circles are conventions +at all observed. Here, caste carried no significance. Millionaires and +paupers, dog-drivers and mounted policemen joined hands with 'ladies in +the center,' and swept around the circle performing most remarkable +capers. Primitive in their pleasure, boisterous and rough, they +displayed no rudeness, but rather a crude chivalry more genuine than +the most polished courtesy. + +In his quest for the 'Greek Dancer,' Cal Galbraith managed to get into +the same set with the 'Russian Princess,' toward whom popular suspicion +had turned. + +But by the time he had guided her through one dance, he was willing not +only to stake his millions that she was not Freda, but that he had had +his arm about her waist before. When or where he could not tell, but +the puzzling sense of familiarity so wrought upon him that he turned +his attention to the discovery of her identity. Malemute Kid might have +aided him instead of occasionally taking the Princess for a few turns +and talking earnestly to her in low tones. But it was Jack Harrington +who paid the 'Russian Princess' the most assiduous court. Once he drew +Cal Galbraith aside and hazarded wild guesses as to who she was, and +explained to him that he was going in to win. That rankled the Circle +City King, for man is not by nature monogamic, and he forgot both +Madeline and Freda in the new quest. + +It was soon noised about that the 'Russian Princess' was not Freda +Moloof. Interest deepened. Here was a fresh enigma. They knew Freda +though they could not find her, but here was somebody they had found +and did not know. Even the women could not place her, and they knew +every good dancer in the camp. Many took her for one of the official +clique, indulging in a silly escapade. Not a few asserted she would +disappear before the unmasking. Others were equally positive that she +was the woman-reporter of the Kansas City Star, come to write them up +at ninety dollars per column. And the men at the scales worked busily. + +At one o'clock every couple took to the floor. The unmasking began amid +laughter and delight, like that of carefree children. There was no end +of Oh's and Ah's as mask after mask was lifted. The scintillating +'Aurora Borealis' became the brawny negress whose income from washing +the community's clothes ran at about five hundred a month. The twin +'Sun-Dogs' discovered mustaches on their upper lips, and were +recognized as brother Fraction-Kings of El Dorado. In one of the most +prominent sets, and the slowest in uncovering, was Cal Galbraith with +the 'Spirit of the Pole.' Opposite him was Jack Harrington and the +'Russian Princess.' The rest had discovered themselves, yet the 'Greek +Dancer' was still missing. All eyes were upon the group. Cal Galbraith, +in response to their cries, lifted his partner's mask. Freda's +wonderful face and brilliant eyes flashed out upon them. A roar went +up, to be squelched suddenly in the new and absorbing mystery of the +'Russian Princess.' Her face was still hidden, and Jack Harrington was +struggling with her. The dancers tittered on the tiptoes of expectancy. +He crushed her dainty costume roughly, and then--and then the revelers +exploded. The joke was on them. They had danced all night with a +tabooed native woman. + +But those that knew, and they were many, ceased abruptly, and a hush +fell upon the room. + +Cal Galbraith crossed over with great strides, angrily, and spoke to +Madeline in polyglot Chinook. But she retained her composure, +apparently oblivious to the fact that she was the cynosure of all eyes, +and answered him in English. She showed neither fright nor anger, and +Malemute Kid chuckled at her well-bred equanimity. The King felt +baffled, defeated; his common Siwash wife had passed beyond him. + +'Come!' he said finally. 'Come on home.' 'I beg pardon,' she replied; +'I have agreed to go to supper with Mr. Harrington. Besides, there's no +end of dances promised.' + +Harrington extended his arm to lead her away. He evinced not the +slightest disinclination toward showing his back, but Malemute Kid had +by this time edged in closer. The Circle City King was stunned. Twice +his hand dropped to his belt, and twice the Kid gathered himself to +spring; but the retreating couple passed through the supper-room door +where canned oysters were spread at five dollars the plate. + +The crowd sighed audibly, broke up into couples, and followed them. +Freda pouted and went in with Cal Galbraith; but she had a good heart +and a sure tongue, and she spoiled his oysters for him. What she said +is of no importance, but his face went red and white at intervals, and +he swore repeatedly and savagely at himself. + +The supper-room was filled with a pandemonium of voices, which ceased +suddenly as Cal Galbraith stepped over to his wife's table. Since the +unmasking considerable weights of dust had been placed as to the +outcome. Everybody watched with breathless interest. + +Harrington's blue eyes were steady, but under the overhanging +tablecloth a Smith & Wesson balanced on his knee. Madeline looked up, +casually, with little interest. + +'May--may I have the next round dance with you?' the King stuttered. + +The wife of the King glanced at her card and inclined her head. + + + +An Odyssey of the North + +The sleds were singing their eternal lament to the creaking of the +harness and the tinkling bells of the leaders; but the men and dogs +were tired and made no sound. The trail was heavy with new-fallen snow, +and they had come far, and the runners, burdened with flint-like +quarters of frozen moose, clung tenaciously to the unpacked surface and +held back with a stubbornness almost human. + +Darkness was coming on, but there was no camp to pitch that night. The +snow fell gently through the pulseless air, not in flakes, but in tiny +frost crystals of delicate design. It was very warm--barely ten below +zero--and the men did not mind. Meyers and Bettles had raised their ear +flaps, while Malemute Kid had even taken off his mittens. + +The dogs had been fagged out early in the after noon, but they now +began to show new vigor. Among the more astute there was a certain +restlessness--an impatience at the restraint of the traces, an +indecisive quickness of movement, a sniffing of snouts and pricking of +ears. These became incensed at their more phlegmatic brothers, urging +them on with numerous sly nips on their hinder quarters. Those, thus +chidden, also contracted and helped spread the contagion. At last the +leader of the foremost sled uttered a sharp whine of satisfaction, +crouching lower in the snow and throwing himself against the collar. +The rest followed suit. + +There was an ingathering of back hands, a tightening of traces; the +sleds leaped forward, and the men clung to the gee poles, violently +accelerating the uplift of their feet that they might escape going +under the runners. The weariness of the day fell from them, and they +whooped encouragement to the dogs. The animals responded with joyous +yelps. They were swinging through the gathering darkness at a rattling +gallop. + +'Gee! Gee!' the men cried, each in turn, as their sleds abruptly left +the main trail, heeling over on single runners like luggers on the wind. + +Then came a hundred yards' dash to the lighted parchment window, which +told its own story of the home cabin, the roaring Yukon stove, and the +steaming pots of tea. But the home cabin had been invaded. Threescore +huskies chorused defiance, and as many furry forms precipitated +themselves upon the dogs which drew the first sled. The door was flung +open, and a man, clad in the scarlet tunic of the Northwest Police, +waded knee-deep among the furious brutes, calmly and impartially +dispensing soothing justice with the butt end of a dog whip. After that +the men shook hands; and in this wise was Malemute Kid welcomed to his +own cabin by a stranger. + +Stanley Prince, who should have welcomed him, and who was responsible +for the Yukon stove and hot tea aforementioned, was busy with his +guests. There were a dozen or so of them, as nondescript a crowd as +ever served the Queen in the enforcement of her laws or the delivery of +her mails. They were of many breeds, but their common life had formed +of them a certain type--a lean and wiry type, with trail-hardened +muscles, and sun-browned faces, and untroubled souls which gazed +frankly forth, clear-eyed and steady. + +They drove the dogs of the Queen, wrought fear in the hearts of her +enemies, ate of her meager fare, and were happy. They had seen life, +and done deeds, and lived romances; but they did not know it. + +And they were very much at home. Two of them were sprawled upon +Malemute Kid's bunk, singing chansons which their French forebears sang +in the days when first they entered the Northwest land and mated with +its Indian women. Bettles' bunk had suffered a similar invasion, and +three or four lusty voyageurs worked their toes among its blankets as +they listened to the tale of one who had served on the boat brigade +with Wolseley when he fought his way to Khartoum. + +And when he tired, a cowboy told of courts and kings and lords and +ladies he had seen when Buffalo Bill toured the capitals of Europe. In +a corner two half-breeds, ancient comrades in a lost campaign, mended +harnesses and talked of the days when the Northwest flamed with +insurrection and Louis Riel was king. + +Rough jests and rougher jokes went up and down, and great hazards by +trail and river were spoken of in the light of commonplaces, only to be +recalled by virtue of some grain of humor or ludicrous happening. +Prince was led away by these uncrowned heroes who had seen history +made, who regarded the great and the romantic as but the ordinary and +the incidental in the routine of life. He passed his precious tobacco +among them with lavish disregard, and rusty chains of reminiscence were +loosened, and forgotten odysseys resurrected for his especial benefit. + +When conversation dropped and the travelers filled the last pipes and +lashed their tight-rolled sleeping furs. Prince fell back upon his +comrade for further information. + +'Well, you know what the cowboy is,' Malemute Kid answered, beginning +to unlace his moccasins; 'and it's not hard to guess the British blood +in his bed partner. As for the rest, they're all children of the +coureurs du bois, mingled with God knows how many other bloods. The two +turning in by the door are the regulation 'breeds' or Boisbrules. That +lad with the worsted breech scarf--notice his eyebrows and the turn of +his jaw--shows a Scotchman wept in his mother's smoky tepee. And that +handsome looking fellow putting the capote under his head is a French +half-breed--you heard him talking; he doesn't like the two Indians +turning in next to him. You see, when the 'breeds' rose under the Riel +the full-bloods kept the peace, and they've not lost much love for one +another since.' 'But I say, what's that glum-looking fellow by the +stove? I'll swear he can't talk English. He hasn't opened his mouth all +night.' 'You're wrong. He knows English well enough. Did you follow his +eyes when he listened? I did. But he's neither kith nor kin to the +others. When they talked their own patois you could see he didn't +understand. I've been wondering myself what he is. Let's find out.' +'Fire a couple of sticks into the stove!' + +Malemute Kid commanded, raising his voice and looking squarely at the +man in question. + +He obeyed at once. + +'Had discipline knocked into him somewhere.' Prince commented in a low +tone. + +Malemute Kid nodded, took off his socks, and picked his way among +recumbent men to the stove. There he hung his damp footgear among a +score or so of mates. + +'When do you expect to get to Dawson?' he asked tentatively. + +The man studied him a moment before replying. 'They say seventy-five +mile. So? Maybe two days.' The very slightest accent was perceptible, +while there was no awkward hesitancy or groping for words. + +'Been in the country before?' 'No.' 'Northwest Territory?' 'Yes.' 'Born +there?' 'No.' + +'Well, where the devil were you born? You're none of these.' Malemute +Kid swept his hand over the dog drivers, even including the two +policemen who had turned into Prince's bunk. 'Where did you come from? +I've seen faces like yours before, though I can't remember just where.' +'I know you,' he irrelevantly replied, at once turning the drift of +Malemute Kid's questions. + +'Where? Ever see me?' 'No; your partner, him priest, Pastilik, long +time ago. Him ask me if I see you, Malemute Kid. Him give me grub. I no +stop long. You hear him speak 'bout me?' 'Oh! you're the fellow that +traded the otter skins for the dogs?' The man nodded, knocked out his +pipe, and signified his disinclination for conversation by rolling up +in his furs. Malemute Kid blew out the slush lamp and crawled under the +blankets with Prince. + +'Well, what is he?' 'Don't know--turned me off, somehow, and then shut +up like a clam. + +'But he's a fellow to whet your curiosity. I've heard of him. All the +coast wondered about him eight years ago. Sort of mysterious, you know. +He came down out of the North in the dead of winter, many a thousand +miles from here, skirting Bering Sea and traveling as though the devil +were after him. No one ever learned where he came from, but he must +have come far. He was badly travel-worn when he got food from the +Swedish missionary on Golovin Bay and asked the way south. We heard of +all this afterward. Then he abandoned the shore line, heading right +across Norton Sound. Terrible weather, snowstorms and high winds, but +he pulled through where a thousand other men would have died, missing +St. Michaels and making the land at Pastilik. He'd lost all but two +dogs, and was nearly gone with starvation. + +'He was so anxious to go on that Father Roubeau fitted him out with +grub; but he couldn't let him have any dogs, for he was only waiting my +arrival, to go on a trip himself. Mr. Ulysses knew too much to start on +without animals, and fretted around for several days. He had on his +sled a bunch of beautifully cured otter skins, sea otters, you know, +worth their weight in gold. There was also at Pastilik an old Shylock +of a Russian trader, who had dogs to kill. Well, they didn't dicker +very long, but when the Strange One headed south again, it was in the +rear of a spanking dog team. Mr. Shylock, by the way, had the otter +skins. I saw them, and they were magnificent. We figured it up and +found the dogs brought him at least five hundred apiece. And it wasn't +as if the Strange One didn't know the value of sea otter; he was an +Indian of some sort, and what little he talked showed he'd been among +white men. + +'After the ice passed out of the sea, word came up from Nunivak Island +that he'd gone in there for grub. Then he dropped from sight, and this +is the first heard of him in eight years. Now where did he come from? +and what was he doing there? and why did he come from there? He's +Indian, he's been nobody knows where, and he's had discipline, which is +unusual for an Indian. Another mystery of the North for you to solve, +Prince.' 'Thanks awfully, but I've got too many on hand as it is,' he +replied. + +Malemute Kid was already breathing heavily; but the young mining +engineer gazed straight up through the thick darkness, waiting for the +strange orgasm which stirred his blood to die away. And when he did +sleep, his brain worked on, and for the nonce he, too, wandered through +the white unknown, struggled with the dogs on endless trails, and saw +men live, and toil, and die like men. The next morning, hours before +daylight, the dog drivers and policemen pulled out for Dawson. But the +powers that saw to Her Majesty's interests and ruled the destinies of +her lesser creatures gave the mailmen little rest, for a week later +they appeared at Stuart River, heavily burdened with letters for Salt +Water. + +However, their dogs had been replaced by fresh ones; but, then, they +were dogs. + +The men had expected some sort of a layover in which to rest up; +besides, this Klondike was a new section of the Northland, and they had +wished to see a little something of the Golden City where dust flowed +like water and dance halls rang with never-ending revelry. But they +dried their socks and smoked their evening pipes with much the same +gusto as on their former visit, though one or two bold spirits +speculated on desertion and the possibility of crossing the unexplored +Rockies to the east, and thence, by the Mackenzie Valley, of gaining +their old stamping grounds in the Chippewyan country. + +Two or three even decided to return to their homes by that route when +their terms of service had expired, and they began to lay plans +forthwith, looking forward to the hazardous undertaking in much the +same way a city-bred man would to a day's holiday in the woods. + +He of the Otter Skins seemed very restless, though he took little +interest in the discussion, and at last he drew Malemute Kid to one +side and talked for some time in low tones. + +Prince cast curious eyes in their direction, and the mystery deepened +when they put on caps and mittens and went outside. When they returned, +Malemute Kid placed his gold scales on the table, weighed out the +matter of sixty ounces, and transferred them to the Strange One's sack. +Then the chief of the dog drivers joined the conclave, and certain +business was transacted with him. + +The next day the gang went on upriver, but He of the Otter Skins took +several pounds of grub and turned his steps back toward Dawson. + +'Didn't know what to make of it,' said Malemute Kid in response to +Prince's queries; 'but the poor beggar wanted to be quit of the service +for some reason or other--at least it seemed a most important one to +him, though he wouldn't let on what. You see, it's just like the army: +he signed for two years, and the only way to get free was to buy +himself out. He couldn't desert and then stay here, and he was just +wild to remain in the country. + +'Made up his mind when he got to Dawson, he said; but no one knew him, +hadn't a cent, and I was the only one he'd spoken two words with. So he +talked it over with the lieutenant-governor, and made arrangements in +case he could get the money from me--loan, you know. Said he'd pay back +in the year, and, if I wanted, would put me onto something rich. +Never'd seen it, but he knew it was rich. + +'And talk! why, when he got me outside he was ready to weep. Begged and +pleaded; got down in the snow to me till I hauled him out of it. +Palavered around like a crazy man. + +'Swore he's worked to this very end for years and years, and couldn't +bear to be disappointed now. Asked him what end, but he wouldn't say. + +'Said they might keep him on the other half of the trail and he +wouldn't get to Dawson in two years, and then it would be too late. +Never saw a man take on so in my life. And when I said I'd let him have +it, had to yank him out of the snow again. Told him to consider it in +the light of a grubstake. Think he'd have it? No sir! Swore he'd give +me all he found, make me rich beyond the dreams of avarice, and all +such stuff. Now a man who puts his life and time against a grubstake +ordinarily finds it hard enough to turn over half of what he finds. +Something behind all this, Prince; just you make a note of it. We'll +hear of him if he stays in the country--' 'And if he doesn't?' 'Then my +good nature gets a shock, and I'm sixty some odd ounces out.' The cold +weather had come on with the long nights, and the sun had begun to play +his ancient game of peekaboo along the southern snow line ere aught was +heard of Malemute Kid's grubstake. And then, one bleak morning in early +January, a heavily laden dog train pulled into his cabin below Stuart +River. He of the Otter Skins was there, and with him walked a man such +as the gods have almost forgotten how to fashion. Men never talked of +luck and pluck and five-hundred-dollar dirt without bringing in the +name of Axel Gunderson; nor could tales of nerve or strength or daring +pass up and down the campfire without the summoning of his presence. +And when the conversation flagged, it blazed anew at mention of the +woman who shared his fortunes. + +As has been noted, in the making of Axel Gunderson the gods had +remembered their old-time cunning and cast him after the manner of men +who were born when the world was young. Full seven feet he towered in +his picturesque costume which marked a king of Eldorado. His chest, +neck, and limbs were those of a giant. To bear his three hundred pounds +of bone and muscle, his snowshoes were greater by a generous yard than +those of other men. Rough-hewn, with rugged brow and massive jaw and +unflinching eyes of palest blue, his face told the tale of one who knew +but the law of might. Of the yellow of ripe corn silk, his +frost-incrusted hair swept like day across the night and fell far down +his coat of bearskin. + +A vague tradition of the sea seemed to cling about him as he swung down +the narrow trail in advance of the dogs; and he brought the butt of his +dog whip against Malemute Kid's door as a Norse sea rover, on southern +foray, might thunder for admittance at the castle gate. + +Prince bared his womanly arms and kneaded sour-dough bread, casting, as +he did so, many a glance at the three guests--three guests the like of +which might never come under a man's roof in a lifetime. The Strange +One, whom Malemute Kid had surnamed Ulysses, still fascinated him; but +his interest chiefly gravitated between Axel Gunderson and Axel +Gunderson's wife. She felt the day's journey, for she had softened in +comfortable cabins during the many days since her husband mastered the +wealth of frozen pay streaks, and she was tired. She rested against his +great breast like a slender flower against a wall, replying lazily to +Malemute Kid's good-natured banter, and stirring Prince's blood +strangely with an occasional sweep of her deep, dark eyes. For Prince +was a man, and healthy, and had seen few women in many months. And she +was older than he, and an Indian besides. But she was different from +all native wives he had met: she had traveled--had been in his country +among others, he gathered from the conversation; and she knew most of +the things the women of his own race knew, and much more that it was +not in the nature of things for them to know. She could make a meal of +sun-dried fish or a bed in the snow; yet she teased them with +tantalizing details of many-course dinners, and caused strange internal +dissensions to arise at the mention of various quondam dishes which +they had well-nigh forgotten. She knew the ways of the moose, the bear, +and the little blue fox, and of the wild amphibians of the Northern +seas; she was skilled in the lore of the woods, and the streams, and +the tale writ by man and bird and beast upon the delicate snow crust +was to her an open book; yet Prince caught the appreciative twinkle in +her eye as she read the Rules of the Camp. These rules had been +fathered by the Unquenchable Bettles at a time when his blood ran high, +and were remarkable for the terse simplicity of their humor. + +Prince always turned them to the wall before the arrival of ladies; but +who could suspect that this native wife--Well, it was too late now. + +This, then, was the wife of Axel Gunderson, a woman whose name and fame +had traveled with her husband's, hand in hand, through all the +Northland. At table, Malemute Kid baited her with the assurance of an +old friend, and Prince shook off the shyness of first acquaintance and +joined in. But she held her own in the unequal contest, while her +husband, slower in wit, ventured naught but applause. And he was very +proud of her; his every look and action revealed the magnitude of the +place she occupied in his life. He of the Otter Skins ate in silence, +forgotten in the merry battle; and long ere the others were done he +pushed back from the table and went out among the dogs. Yet all too +soon his fellow travelers drew on their mittens and parkas and followed +him. + +There had been no snow for many days, and the sleds slipped along the +hardpacked Yukon trail as easily as if it had been glare ice. Ulysses +led the first sled; with the second came Prince and Axel Gunderson's +wife; while Malemute Kid and the yellow-haired giant brought up the +third. + +'It's only a hunch, Kid,' he said, 'but I think it's straight. He's +never been there, but he tells a good story, and shows a map I heard of +when I was in the Kootenay country years ago. I'd like to have you go +along; but he's a strange one, and swore point-blank to throw it up if +anyone was brought in. But when I come back you'll get first tip, and +I'll stake you next to me, and give you a half share in the town site +besides.' 'No! no!' he cried, as the other strove to interrupt. 'I'm +running this, and before I'm done it'll need two heads. + +'If it's all right, why, it'll be a second Cripple Creek, man; do you +hear?--a second Cripple Creek! It's quartz, you know, not placer; and +if we work it right we'll corral the whole thing--millions upon +millions. I've heard of the place before, and so have you. We'll build +a town--thousands of workmen--good waterways--steamship lines--big +carrying trade--light-draught steamers for head reaches--survey a +railroad, perhaps--sawmills--electric-light plant--do our own +banking--commercial company--syndicate--Say! Just you hold your hush +till I get back!' The sleds came to a halt where the trail crossed the +mouth of Stuart River. An unbroken sea of frost, its wide expanse +stretched away into the unknown east. + +The snowshoes were withdrawn from the lashings of the sleds. Axel +Gunderson shook hands and stepped to the fore, his great webbed shoes +sinking a fair half yard into the feathery surface and packing the snow +so the dogs should not wallow. His wife fell in behind the last sled, +betraying long practice in the art of handling the awkward footgear. +The stillness was broken with cheery farewells; the dogs whined; and He +of the Otter Skins talked with his whip to a recalcitrant wheeler. + +An hour later the train had taken on the likeness of a black pencil +crawling in a long, straight line across a mighty sheet of foolscap. + + +II + +One night, many weeks later, Malemute Kid and Prince fell to solving +chess problems from the torn page of an ancient magazine. The Kid had +just returned from his Bonanza properties and was resting up +preparatory to a long moose hunt. + +Prince, too, had been on creek and trail nearly all winter, and had +grown hungry for a blissful week of cabin life. + +'Interpose the black knight, and force the king. No, that won't do. +See, the next move-' + +'Why advance the pawn two squares? Bound to take it in transit, and +with the bishop out of the way-' 'But hold on! That leaves a hole, +and-' 'No; it's protected. Go ahead! You'll see it works.' It was very +interesting. Somebody knocked at the door a second time before Malemute +Kid said, 'Come in.' The door swung open. Something staggered in. + +Prince caught one square look and sprang to his feet. The horror in his +eyes caused Malemute Kid to whirl about; and he, too, was startled, +though he had seen bad things before. The thing tottered blindly toward +them. Prince edged away till he reached the nail from which hung his +Smith & Wesson. + +'My God! what is it?' he whispered to Malemute Kid. + +'Don't know. Looks like a case of freezing and no grub,' replied the +Kid, sliding away in the opposite direction. 'Watch out! It may be +mad,' he warned, coming back from closing the door. + +The thing advanced to the table. The bright flame of the slush lamp +caught its eye. It was amused, and gave voice to eldritch cackles which +betokened mirth. + +Then, suddenly, he--for it was a man--swayed back, with a hitch to his +skin trousers, and began to sing a chantey, such as men lift when they +swing around the capstan circle and the sea snorts in their ears: +Yan-kee ship come down de ri-ib-er, Pull! my bully boys! Pull! D'yeh +want--to know de captain ru-uns her? Pull! my bully boys! Pull! +Jon-a-than Jones ob South Caho-li-in-a, Pull! my bully. He broke off +abruptly, tottered with a wolfish snarl to the meat shelf, and before +they could intercept was tearing with his teeth at a chunk of raw +bacon. The struggle was fierce between him and Malemute Kid; but his +mad strength left him as suddenly as it had come, and he weakly +surrendered the spoil. Between them they got him upon a stool, where he +sprawled with half his body across the table. + +A small dose of whiskey strengthened him, so that he could dip a spoon +into the sugar caddy which Malemute Kid placed before him. After his +appetite had been somewhat cloyed, Prince, shuddering as he did so, +passed him a mug of weak beef tea. + +The creature's eyes were alight with a somber frenzy, which blazed and +waned with every mouthful. There was very little skin to the face. The +face, for that matter, sunken and emaciated, bore little likeness to +human countenance. + +Frost after frost had bitten deeply, each depositing its stratum of +scab upon the half-healed scar that went before. This dry, hard surface +was of a bloody-black color, serrated by grievous cracks wherein the +raw red flesh peeped forth. His skin garments were dirty and in +tatters, and the fur of one side was singed and burned away, showing +where he had lain upon his fire. + +Malemute Kid pointed to where the sun-tanned hide had been cut away, +strip by strip--the grim signature of famine. + +'Who--are--you?' slowly and distinctly enunciated the Kid. + +The man paid no heed. + +'Where do you come from?' 'Yan-kee ship come down de ri-ib-er,' was the +quavering response. + +'Don't doubt the beggar came down the river,' the Kid said, shaking him +in an endeavor to start a more lucid flow of talk. + +But the man shrieked at the contact, clapping a hand to his side in +evident pain. He rose slowly to his feet, half leaning on the table. + +'She laughed at me--so--with the hate in her eye; and +she--would--not--come.' His voice died away, and he was sinking back +when Malemute Kid gripped him by the wrist and shouted, 'Who? Who would +not come?' 'She, Unga. She laughed, and struck at me, so, and so. And +then-' 'Yes?' + +'And then--' 'And then what?' 'And then he lay very still in the snow a +long time. He is-still in--the--snow.' The two men looked at each other +helplessly. + +'Who is in the snow?' 'She, Unga. She looked at me with the hate in her +eye, and then--' + +'Yes, yes.' 'And then she took the knife, so; and once, twice--she was +weak. I traveled very slow. And there is much gold in that place, very +much gold.' 'Where is Unga?' For all Malemute Kid knew, she might be +dying a mile away. He shook the man savagely, repeating again and +again, 'Where is Unga? Who is Unga?' 'She--is--in--the--snow.' 'Go on!' +The Kid was pressing his wrist cruelly. + +'So--I--would--be--in--the snow--but--I--had--a--debt--to--pay. +It--was--heavy--I--had--a-debt--to--pay--a--debt--to--pay I--had-' The +faltering monosyllables ceased as he fumbled in his pouch and drew +forth a buckskin sack. 'A--debt--to--pay--five--pounds--of--gold-grub-- +stake--Mal--e--mute--Kid--I--y--' The exhausted head dropped upon the +table; nor could Malemute Kid rouse it again. + +'It's Ulysses,' he said quietly, tossing the bag of dust on the table. +'Guess it's all day with Axel Gunderson and the woman. Come on, let's +get him between the blankets. He's Indian; he'll pull through and tell +a tale besides.' As they cut his garments from him, near his right +breast could be seen two unhealed, hard-lipped knife thrusts. + + +III + +'I will talk of the things which were in my own way; but you will +understand. I will begin at the beginning, and tell of myself and the +woman, and, after that, of the man.' He of the Otter Skins drew over to +the stove as do men who have been deprived of fire and are afraid the +Promethean gift may vanish at any moment. Malemute Kid picked up the +slush lamp and placed it so its light might fall upon the face of the +narrator. Prince slid his body over the edge of the bunk and joined +them. + +'I am Naass, a chief, and the son of a chief, born between a sunset and +a rising, on the dark seas, in my father's oomiak. All of a night the +men toiled at the paddles, and the women cast out the waves which threw +in upon us, and we fought with the storm. The salt spray froze upon my +mother's breast till her breath passed with the passing of the tide. +But I--I raised my voice with the wind and the storm, and lived. + +'We dwelt in Akatan--' 'Where?' asked Malemute Kid. + +'Akatan, which is in the Aleutians; Akatan, beyond Chignik, beyond +Kardalak, beyond Unimak. As I say, we dwelt in Akatan, which lies in +the midst of the sea on the edge of the world. We farmed the salt seas +for the fish, the seal, and the otter; and our homes shouldered about +one another on the rocky strip between the rim of the forest and the +yellow beach where our kayaks lay. We were not many, and the world was +very small. There were strange lands to the east--islands like Akatan; +so we thought all the world was islands and did not mind. + +'I was different from my people. In the sands of the beach were the +crooked timbers and wave-warped planks of a boat such as my people +never built; and I remember on the point of the island which overlooked +the ocean three ways there stood a pine tree which never grew there, +smooth and straight and tall. It is said the two men came to that spot, +turn about, through many days, and watched with the passing of the +light. These two men came from out of the sea in the boat which lay in +pieces on the beach. And they were white like you, and weak as the +little children when the seal have gone away and the hunters come home +empty. I know of these things from the old men and the old women, who +got them from their fathers and mothers before them. These strange +white men did not take kindly to our ways at first, but they grew +strong, what of the fish and the oil, and fierce. And they built them +each his own house, and took the pick of our women, and in time +children came. Thus he was born who was to become the father of my +father's father. + +'As I said, I was different from my people, for I carried the strong, +strange blood of this white man who came out of the sea. It is said we +had other laws in the days before these men; but they were fierce and +quarrelsome, and fought with our men till there were no more left who +dared to fight. Then they made themselves chiefs, and took away our old +laws, and gave us new ones, insomuch that the man was the son of his +father, and not his mother, as our way had been. They also ruled that +the son, first-born, should have all things which were his father's +before him, and that the brothers and sisters should shift for +themselves. And they gave us other laws. They showed us new ways in the +catching of fish and the killing of bear which were thick in the woods; +and they taught us to lay by bigger stores for the time of famine. And +these things were good. + +'But when they had become chiefs, and there were no more men to face +their anger, they fought, these strange white men, each with the other. +And the one whose blood I carry drove his seal spear the length of an +arm through the other's body. Their children took up the fight, and +their children's children; and there was great hatred between them, and +black doings, even to my time, so that in each family but one lived to +pass down the blood of them that went before. Of my blood I was alone; +of the other man's there was but a girl. Unga, who lived with her +mother. Her father and my father did not come back from the fishing one +night; but afterward they washed up to the beach on the big tides, and +they held very close to each other. + +'The people wondered, because of the hatred between the houses, and the +old men shook their heads and said the fight would go on when children +were born to her and children to me. They told me this as a boy, till I +came to believe, and to look upon Unga as a foe, who was to be the +mother of children which were to fight with mine. I thought of these +things day by day, and when I grew to a stripling I came to ask why +this should be so. + +'And they answered, "We do not know, but that in such way your fathers +did." And I marveled that those which were to come should fight the +battles of those that were gone, and in it I could see no right. But +the people said it must be, and I was only a stripling. + +'And they said I must hurry, that my blood might be the older and grow +strong before hers. This was easy, for I was head man, and the people +looked up to me because of the deeds and the laws of my fathers, and +the wealth which was mine. Any maiden would come to me, but I found +none to my liking. And the old men and the mothers of maidens told me +to hurry, for even then were the hunters bidding high to the mother of +Unga; and should her children grow strong before mine, mine would +surely die. + +'Nor did I find a maiden till one night coming back from the fishing. +The sunlight was lying, so, low and full in the eyes, the wind free, +and the kayacks racing with the white seas. Of a sudden the kayak of +Unga came driving past me, and she looked upon me, so, with her black +hair flying like a cloud of night and the spray wet on her cheek. As I +say, the sunlight was full in the eyes, and I was a stripling; but +somehow it was all clear, and I knew it to be the call of kind to kind. + +'As she whipped ahead she looked back within the space of two +strokes--looked as only the woman Unga could look--and again I knew it +as the call of kind. The people shouted as we ripped past the lazy +oomiaks and left them far behind. But she was quick at the paddle, and +my heart was like the belly of a sail, and I did not gain. The wind +freshened, the sea whitened, and, leaping like the seals on the +windward breech, we roared down the golden pathway of the sun.' Naass +was crouched half out of his stool, in the attitude of one driving a +paddle, as he ran the race anew. Somewhere across the stove he beheld +the tossing kayak and the flying hair of Unga. The voice of the wind +was in his ears, and its salt beat fresh upon his nostrils. + +'But she made the shore, and ran up the sand, laughing, to the house of +her mother. And a great thought came to me that night--a thought worthy +of him that was chief over all the people of Akatan. So, when the moon +was up, I went down to the house of her mother, and looked upon the +goods of Yash-Noosh, which were piled by the door--the goods of +Yash-Noosh, a strong hunter who had it in mind to be the father of the +children of Unga. Other young men had piled their goods there and taken +them away again; and each young man had made a pile greater than the +one before. + +'And I laughed to the moon and the stars, and went to my own house +where my wealth was stored. And many trips I made, till my pile was +greater by the fingers of one hand than the pile of Yash-Noosh. There +were fish, dried in the sun and smoked; and forty hides of the hair +seal, and half as many of the fur, and each hide was tied at the mouth +and big bellied with oil; and ten skins of bear which I killed in the +woods when they came out in the spring. And there were beads and +blankets and scarlet cloths, such as I got in trade from the people who +lived to the east, and who got them in trade from the people who lived +still beyond in the east. + +'And I looked upon the pile of Yash-Noosh and laughed, for I was head +man in Akatan, and my wealth was greater than the wealth of all my +young men, and my fathers had done deeds, and given laws, and put their +names for all time in the mouths of the people. + +'So, when the morning came, I went down to the beach, casting out of +the corner of my eye at the house of the mother of Unga. My offer yet +stood untouched. + +'And the women smiled, and said sly things one to the other. I +wondered, for never had such a price been offered; and that night I +added more to the pile, and put beside it a kayak of well-tanned skins +which never yet had swam in the sea. But in the day it was yet there, +open to the laughter of all men. The mother of Unga was crafty, and I +grew angry at the shame in which I stood before my people. So that +night I added till it became a great pile, and I hauled up my oomiak, +which was of the value of twenty kayaks. And in the morning there was +no pile. + +'Then made I preparation for the wedding, and the people that lived +even to the east came for the food of the feast and the potlatch token. +Unga was older than I by the age of four suns in the way we reckoned +the years. I was only a stripling; but then I was a chief, and the son +of a chief, and it did not matter. + +'But a ship shoved her sails above the floor of the ocean, and grew +larger with the breath of the wind. From her scuppers she ran clear +water, and the men were in haste and worked hard at the pumps. On the +bow stood a mighty man, watching the depth of the water and giving +commands with a voice of thunder. His eyes were of the pale blue of the +deep waters, and his head was maned like that of a sea lion. And his +hair was yellow, like the straw of a southern harvest or the manila +rope yarns which sailormen plait. + +'Of late years we had seen ships from afar, but this was the first to +come to the beach of Akatan. The feast was broken, and the women and +children fled to the houses, while we men strung our bows and waited +with spears in hand. But when the ship's forefoot smelled the beach the +strange men took no notice of us, being busy with their own work. With +the falling of the tide they careened the schooner and patched a great +hole in her bottom. So the women crept back, and the feast went on. + +'When the tide rose, the sea wanderers kedged the schooner to deep +water and then came among us. They bore presents and were friendly; so +I made room for them, and out of the largeness of my heart gave them +tokens such as I gave all the guests, for it was my wedding day, and I +was head man in Akatan. And he with the mane of the sea lion was there, +so tall and strong that one looked to see the earth shake with the fall +of his feet. He looked much and straight at Unga, with his arms folded, +so, and stayed till the sun went away and the stars came out. Then he +went down to his ship. After that I took Unga by the hand and led her +to my own house. And there was singing and great laughter, and the +women said sly things, after the manner of women at such times. But we +did not care. Then the people left us alone and went home. + +'The last noise had not died away when the chief of the sea wanderers +came in by the door. And he had with him black bottles, from which we +drank and made merry. You see, I was only a stripling, and had lived +all my days on the edge of the world. So my blood became as fire, and +my heart as light as the froth that flies from the surf to the cliff. +Unga sat silent among the skins in the corner, her eyes wide, for she +seemed to fear. And he with the mane of the sea lion looked upon her +straight and long. Then his men came in with bundles of goods, and he +piled before me wealth such as was not in all Akatan. There were guns, +both large and small, and powder and shot and shell, and bright axes +and knives of steel, and cunning tools, and strange things the like of +which I had never seen. When he showed me by sign that it was all mine, +I thought him a great man to be so free; but he showed me also that +Unga was to go away with him in his ship. + +'Do you understand?--that Unga was to go away with him in his ship. The +blood of my fathers flamed hot on the sudden, and I made to drive him +through with my spear. But the spirit of the bottles had stolen the +life from my arm, and he took me by the neck, so, and knocked my head +against the wall of the house. And I was made weak like a newborn +child, and my legs would no more stand under me. + +'Unga screamed, and she laid hold of the things of the house with her +hands, till they fell all about us as he dragged her to the door. Then +he took her in his great arms, and when she tore at his yellow hair +laughed with a sound like that of the big bull seal in the rut. + +'I crawled to the beach and called upon my people, but they were +afraid. Only Yash-Noosh was a man, and they struck him on the head with +an oar, till he lay with his face in the sand and did not move. And +they raised the sails to the sound of their songs, and the ship went +away on the wind. + +'The people said it was good, for there would be no more war of the +bloods in Akatan; but I said never a word, waiting till the time of the +full moon, when I put fish and oil in my kayak and went away to the +east. I saw many islands and many people, and I, who had lived on the +edge, saw that the world was very large. I talked by signs; but they +had not seen a schooner nor a man with the mane of a sea lion, and they +pointed always to the east. And I slept in queer places, and ate odd +things, and met strange faces. Many laughed, for they thought me light +of head; but sometimes old men turned my face to the light and blessed +me, and the eyes of the young women grew soft as they asked me of the +strange ship, and Unga, and the men of the sea. + +'And in this manner, through rough seas and great storms, I came to +Unalaska. There were two schooners there, but neither was the one I +sought. So I passed on to the east, with the world growing ever larger, +and in the island of Unamok there was no word of the ship, nor in +Kadiak, nor in Atognak. And so I came one day to a rocky land, where +men dug great holes in the mountain. And there was a schooner, but not +my schooner, and men loaded upon it the rocks which they dug. This I +thought childish, for all the world was made of rocks; but they gave me +food and set me to work. When the schooner was deep in the water, the +captain gave me money and told me to go; but I asked which way he went, +and he pointed south. I made signs that I would go with him, and he +laughed at first, but then, being short of men, took me to help work +the ship. So I came to talk after their manner, and to heave on ropes, +and to reef the stiff sails in sudden squalls, and to take my turn at +the wheel. But it was not strange, for the blood of my fathers was the +blood of the men of the sea. + +'I had thought it an easy task to find him I sought, once I got among +his own people; and when we raised the land one day, and passed between +a gateway of the sea to a port, I looked for perhaps as many schooners +as there were fingers to my hands. But the ships lay against the +wharves for miles, packed like so many little fish; and when I went +among them to ask for a man with the mane of a sea lion, they laughed, +and answered me in the tongues of many peoples. And I found that they +hailed from the uttermost parts of the earth. + +'And I went into the city to look upon the face of every man. But they +were like the cod when they run thick on the banks, and I could not +count them. And the noise smote upon me till I could not hear, and my +head was dizzy with much movement. So I went on and on, through the +lands which sang in the warm sunshine; where the harvests lay rich on +the plains; and where great cities were fat with men that lived like +women, with false words in their mouths and their hearts black with the +lust of gold. And all the while my people of Akatan hunted and fished, +and were happy in the thought that the world was small. + +'But the look in the eyes of Unga coming home from the fishing was with +me always, and I knew I would find her when the time was met. She +walked down quiet lanes in the dusk of the evening, or led me chases +across the thick fields wet with the morning dew, and there was a +promise in her eyes such as only the woman Unga could give. + +'So I wandered through a thousand cities. Some were gentle and gave me +food, and others laughed, and still others cursed; but I kept my tongue +between my teeth, and went strange ways and saw strange sights. +Sometimes I, who was a chief and the son of a chief, toiled for +men--men rough of speech and hard as iron, who wrung gold from the +sweat and sorrow of their fellow men. Yet no word did I get of my quest +till I came back to the sea like a homing seal to the rookeries. + +'But this was at another port, in another country which lay to the +north. And there I heard dim tales of the yellow-haired sea wanderer, +and I learned that he was a hunter of seals, and that even then he was +abroad on the ocean. + +'So I shipped on a seal schooner with the lazy Siwashes, and followed +his trackless trail to the north where the hunt was then warm. And we +were away weary months, and spoke many of the fleet, and heard much of +the wild doings of him I sought; but never once did we raise him above +the sea. We went north, even to the Pribilofs, and killed the seals in +herds on the beach, and brought their warm bodies aboard till our +scuppers ran grease and blood and no man could stand upon the deck. +Then were we chased by a ship of slow steam, which fired upon us with +great guns. But we put sail till the sea was over our decks and washed +them clean, and lost ourselves in a fog. + +'It is said, at this time, while we fled with fear at our hearts, that +the yellow-haired sea wanderer put in to the Pribilofs, right to the +factory, and while the part of his men held the servants of the +company, the rest loaded ten thousand green skins from the salt houses. +I say it is said, but I believe; for in the voyages I made on the coast +with never a meeting the northern seas rang with his wildness and +daring, till the three nations which have lands there sought him with +their ships. + +'And I heard of Unga, for the captains sang loud in her praise, and she +was always with him. She had learned the ways of his people, they said, +and was happy. But I knew better--knew that her heart harked back to +her own people by the yellow beach of Akatan. + +'So, after a long time, I went back to the port which is by a gateway +of the sea, and there I learned that he had gone across the girth of +the great ocean to hunt for the seal to the east of the warm land which +runs south from the Russian seas. + +'And I, who was become a sailorman, shipped with men of his own race, +and went after him in the hunt of the seal. And there were few ships +off that new land; but we hung on the flank of the seal pack and +harried it north through all the spring of the year. And when the cows +were heavy with pup and crossed the Russian line, our men grumbled and +were afraid. For there was much fog, and every day men were lost in the +boats. They would not work, so the captain turned the ship back toward +the way it came. But I knew the yellow-haired sea wanderer was +unafraid, and would hang by the pack, even to the Russian Isles, where +few men go. So I took a boat, in the black of night, when the lookout +dozed on the fo'c'slehead, and went alone to the warm, long land. And I +journeyed south to meet the men by Yeddo Bay, who are wild and +unafraid. And the Yoshiwara girls were small, and bright like steel, +and good to look upon; but I could not stop, for I knew that Unga +rolled on the tossing floor by the rookeries of the north. + +'The men by Yeddo Bay had met from the ends of the earth, and had +neither gods nor homes, sailing under the flag of the Japanese. And +with them I went to the rich beaches of Copper Island, where our salt +piles became high with skins. + +'And in that silent sea we saw no man till we were ready to come away. +Then one day the fog lifted on the edge of a heavy wind, and there +jammed down upon us a schooner, with close in her wake the cloudy +funnels of a Russian man-of-war. We fled away on the beam of the wind, +with the schooner jamming still closer and plunging ahead three feet to +our two. And upon her poop was the man with the mane of the sea lion, +pressing the rails under with the canvas and laughing in his strength +of life. And Unga was there--I knew her on the moment--but he sent her +below when the cannons began to talk across the sea. + +As I say, with three feet to our two, till we saw the rudder lift green +at every jump--and I swinging on to the wheel and cursing, with my back +to the Russian shot. For we knew he had it in mind to run before us, +that he might get away while we were caught. And they knocked our masts +out of us till we dragged into the wind like a wounded gull; but he +went on over the edge of the sky line--he and Unga. + +'What could we? The fresh hides spoke for themselves. So they took us +to a Russian port, and after that to a lone country, where they set us +to work in the mines to dig salt. And some died, and--and some did not +die.' Naass swept the blanket from his shoulders, disclosing the +gnarled and twisted flesh, marked with the unmistakable striations of +the knout. Prince hastily covered him, for it was not nice to look upon. + +'We were there a weary time and sometimes men got away to the south, +but they always came back. So, when we who hailed from Yeddo Bay rose +in the night and took the guns from the guards, we went to the north. +And the land was very large, with plains, soggy with water, and great +forests. And the cold came, with much snow on the ground, and no man +knew the way. Weary months we journeyed through the endless forest--I +do not remember, now, for there was little food and often we lay down +to die. But at last we came to the cold sea, and but three were left to +look upon it. One had shipped from Yeddo as captain, and he knew in his +head the lay of the great lands, and of the place where men may cross +from one to the other on the ice. And he led us--I do not know, it was +so long--till there were but two. When we came to that place we found +five of the strange people which live in that country, and they had +dogs and skins, and we were very poor. We fought in the snow till they +died, and the captain died, and the dogs and skins were mine. Then I +crossed on the ice, which was broken, and once I drifted till a gale +from the west put me upon the shore. And after that, Golovin Bay, +Pastilik, and the priest. Then south, south, to the warm sunlands where +first I wandered. + +'But the sea was no longer fruitful, and those who went upon it after +the seal went to little profit and great risk. The fleets scattered, +and the captains and the men had no word of those I sought. So I turned +away from the ocean which never rests, and went among the lands, where +the trees, the houses, and the mountains sit always in one place and do +not move. I journeyed far, and came to learn many things, even to the +way of reading and writing from books. It was well I should do this, +for it came upon me that Unga must know these things, and that someday, +when the time was met--we--you understand, when the time was met. + +'So I drifted, like those little fish which raise a sail to the wind +but cannot steer. But my eyes and my ears were open always, and I went +among men who traveled much, for I knew they had but to see those I +sought to remember. At last there came a man, fresh from the mountains, +with pieces of rock in which the free gold stood to the size of peas, +and he had heard, he had met, he knew them. They were rich, he said, +and lived in the place where they drew the gold from the ground. + +'It was in a wild country, and very far away; but in time I came to the +camp, hidden between the mountains, where men worked night and day, out +of the sight of the sun. Yet the time was not come. I listened to the +talk of the people. He had gone away--they had gone away--to England, +it was said, in the matter of bringing men with much money together to +form companies. I saw the house they had lived in; more like a palace, +such as one sees in the old countries. In the nighttime I crept in +through a window that I might see in what manner he treated her. I went +from room to room, and in such way thought kings and queens must live, +it was all so very good. And they all said he treated her like a queen, +and many marveled as to what breed of woman she was for there was other +blood in her veins, and she was different from the women of Akatan, and +no one knew her for what she was. Aye, she was a queen; but I was a +chief, and the son of a chief, and I had paid for her an untold price +of skin and boat and bead. + +'But why so many words? I was a sailorman, and knew the way of the +ships on the seas. I followed to England, and then to other countries. +Sometimes I heard of them by word of mouth, sometimes I read of them in +the papers; yet never once could I come by them, for they had much +money, and traveled fast, while I was a poor man. Then came trouble +upon them, and their wealth slipped away one day like a curl of smoke. +The papers were full of it at the time; but after that nothing was +said, and I knew they had gone back where more gold could be got from +the ground. + +'They had dropped out of the world, being now poor, and so I wandered +from camp to camp, even north to the Kootenay country, where I picked +up the cold scent. They had come and gone, some said this way, and some +that, and still others that they had gone to the country of the Yukon. +And I went this way, and I went that, ever journeying from place to +place, till it seemed I must grow weary of the world which was so +large. But in the Kootenay I traveled a bad trail, and a long trail, +with a breed of the Northwest, who saw fit to die when the famine +pinched. He had been to the Yukon by an unknown way over the mountains, +and when he knew his time was near gave me the map and the secret of a +place where he swore by his gods there was much gold. + +'After that all the world began to flock into the north. I was a poor +man; I sold myself to be a driver of dogs. The rest you know. I met him +and her in Dawson. + +'She did not know me, for I was only a stripling, and her life had been +large, so she had no time to remember the one who had paid for her an +untold price. + +'So? You bought me from my term of service. I went back to bring things +about in my own way, for I had waited long, and now that I had my hand +upon him was in no hurry. + +'As I say, I had it in mind to do my own way, for I read back in my +life, through all I had seen and suffered, and remembered the cold and +hunger of the endless forest by the Russian seas. As you know, I led +him into the east--him and Unga--into the east where many have gone and +few returned. I led them to the spot where the bones and the curses of +men lie with the gold which they may not have. + +'The way was long and the trail unpacked. Our dogs were many and ate +much; nor could our sleds carry till the break of spring. We must come +back before the river ran free. So here and there we cached grub, that +our sleds might be lightened and there be no chance of famine on the +back trip. At the McQuestion there were three men, and near them we +built a cache, as also did we at the Mayo, where was a hunting camp of +a dozen Pellys which had crossed the divide from the south. + +'After that, as we went on into the east, we saw no men; only the +sleeping river, the moveless forest, and the White Silence of the +North. As I say, the way was long and the trail unpacked. Sometimes, in +a day's toil, we made no more than eight miles, or ten, and at night we +slept like dead men. And never once did they dream that I was Naass, +head man of Akatan, the righter of wrongs. + +'We now made smaller caches, and in the nighttime it was a small matter +to go back on the trail we had broken and change them in such way that +one might deem the wolverines the thieves. Again there be places where +there is a fall to the river, and the water is unruly, and the ice +makes above and is eaten away beneath. + +'In such a spot the sled I drove broke through, and the dogs; and to +him and Unga it was ill luck, but no more. And there was much grub on +that sled, and the dogs the strongest. + +'But he laughed, for he was strong of life, and gave the dogs that were +left little grub till we cut them from the harnesses one by one and fed +them to their mates. We would go home light, he said, traveling and +eating from cache to cache, with neither dogs nor sleds; which was +true, for our grub was very short, and the last dog died in the traces +the night we came to the gold and the bones and the curses of men. + +'To reach that place--and the map spoke true--in the heart of the great +mountains, we cut ice steps against the wall of a divide. One looked +for a valley beyond, but there was no valley; the snow spread away, +level as the great harvest plains, and here and there about us mighty +mountains shoved their white heads among the stars. And midway on that +strange plain which should have been a valley the earth and the snow +fell away, straight down toward the heart of the world. + +'Had we not been sailormen our heads would have swung round with the +sight, but we stood on the dizzy edge that we might see a way to get +down. And on one side, and one side only, the wall had fallen away till +it was like the slope of the decks in a topsail breeze. I do not know +why this thing should be so, but it was so. "It is the mouth of hell," +he said; "let us go down." And we went down. + +'And on the bottom there was a cabin, built by some man, of logs which +he had cast down from above. It was a very old cabin, for men had died +there alone at different times, and on pieces of birch bark which were +there we read their last words and their curses. + +'One had died of scurvy; another's partner had robbed him of his last +grub and powder and stolen away; a third had been mauled by a baldface +grizzly; a fourth had hunted for game and starved--and so it went, and +they had been loath to leave the gold, and had died by the side of it +in one way or another. And the worthless gold they had gathered +yellowed the floor of the cabin like in a dream. + +'But his soul was steady, and his head clear, this man I had led thus +far. "We have nothing to eat," he said, "and we will only look upon +this gold, and see whence it comes and how much there be. Then we will +go away quick, before it gets into our eyes and steals away our +judgment. And in this way we may return in the end, with more grub, and +possess it all." So we looked upon the great vein, which cut the wall +of the pit as a true vein should, and we measured it, and traced it +from above and below, and drove the stakes of the claims and blazed the +trees in token of our rights. Then, our knees shaking with lack of +food, and a sickness in our bellies, and our hearts chugging close to +our mouths, we climbed the mighty wall for the last time and turned our +faces to the back trip. + +'The last stretch we dragged Unga between us, and we fell often, but in +the end we made the cache. And lo, there was no grub. It was well done, +for he thought it the wolverines, and damned them and his gods in one +breath. But Unga was brave, and smiled, and put her hand in his, till I +turned away that I might hold myself. "We will rest by the fire," she +said, "till morning, and we will gather strength from our moccasins." +So we cut the tops of our moccasins in strips, and boiled them half of +the night, that we might chew them and swallow them. And in the morning +we talked of our chance. The next cache was five days' journey; we +could not make it. We must find game. + +'"We will go forth and hunt," he said. + +'"Yes," said I, "we will go forth and hunt." 'And he ruled that Unga +stay by the fire and save her strength. And we went forth, he in quest +of the moose and I to the cache I had changed. But I ate little, so +they might not see in me much strength. And in the night he fell many +times as he drew into camp. And I, too, made to suffer great weakness, +stumbling over my snowshoes as though each step might be my last. And +we gathered strength from our moccasins. + +'He was a great man. His soul lifted his body to the last; nor did he +cry aloud, save for the sake of Unga. On the second day I followed him, +that I might not miss the end. And he lay down to rest often. That +night he was near gone; but in the morning he swore weakly and went +forth again. He was like a drunken man, and I looked many times for him +to give up, but his was the strength of the strong, and his soul the +soul of a giant, for he lifted his body through all the weary day. And +he shot two ptarmigan, but would not eat them. He needed no fire; they +meant life; but his thought was for Unga, and he turned toward camp. + +'He no longer walked, but crawled on hand and knee through the snow. I +came to him, and read death in his eyes. Even then it was not too late +to eat of the ptarmigan. He cast away his rifle and carried the birds +in his mouth like a dog. I walked by his side, upright. And he looked +at me during the moments he rested, and wondered that I was so strong. +I could see it, though he no longer spoke; and when his lips moved, +they moved without sound. + +'As I say, he was a great man, and my heart spoke for softness; but I +read back in my life, and remembered the cold and hunger of the endless +forest by the Russian seas. Besides, Unga was mine, and I had paid for +her an untold price of skin and boat and bead. + +'And in this manner we came through the white forest, with the silence +heavy upon us like a damp sea mist. And the ghosts of the past were in +the air and all about us; and I saw the yellow beach of Akatan, and the +kayaks racing home from the fishing, and the houses on the rim of the +forest. And the men who had made themselves chiefs were there, the +lawgivers whose blood I bore and whose blood I had wedded in Unga. Aye, +and Yash-Noosh walked with me, the wet sand in his hair, and his war +spear, broken as he fell upon it, still in his hand. And I knew the +time was meet, and saw in the eyes of Unga the promise. + +'As I say, we came thus through the forest, till the smell of the camp +smoke was in our nostrils. And I bent above him, and tore the ptarmigan +from his teeth. + +'He turned on his side and rested, the wonder mounting in his eyes, and +the hand which was under slipping slow toward the knife at his hip. But +I took it from him, smiling close in his face. Even then he did not +understand. So I made to drink from black bottles, and to build high +upon the snow a pile--of goods, and to live again the things which had +happened on the night of my marriage. I spoke no word, but he +understood. Yet was he unafraid. There was a sneer to his lips, and +cold anger, and he gathered new strength with the knowledge. It was not +far, but the snow was deep, and he dragged himself very slow. + +'Once he lay so long I turned him over and gazed into his eyes. And +sometimes he looked forth, and sometimes death. And when I loosed him +he struggled on again. In this way we came to the fire. Unga was at his +side on the instant. His lips moved without sound; then he pointed at +me, that Unga might understand. And after that he lay in the snow, very +still, for a long while. Even now is he there in the snow. + +'I said no word till I had cooked the ptarmigan. Then I spoke to her, +in her own tongue, which she had not heard in many years. She +straightened herself, so, and her eyes were wonder-wide, and she asked +who I was, and where I had learned that speech. + +'"I am Naass," I said. + +'"You?" she said. "You?" And she crept close that she might look upon +me. + +'"Yes," I answered; "I am Naass, head man of Akatan, the last of the +blood, as you are the last of the blood." 'And she laughed. By all the +things I have seen and the deeds I have done may I never hear such a +laugh again. It put the chill to my soul, sitting there in the White +Silence, alone with death and this woman who laughed. + +'"Come!" I said, for I thought she wandered. "Eat of the food and let +us be gone. It is a far fetch from here to Akatan." 'But she shoved her +face in his yellow mane, and laughed till it seemed the heavens must +fall about our ears. I had thought she would be overjoyed at the sight +of me, and eager to go back to the memory of old times, but this seemed +a strange form to take. + +'"Come!" I cried, taking her strong by the hand. "The way is long and +dark. Let us hurry!" "Where?" she asked, sitting up, and ceasing from +her strange mirth. + +'"To Akatan," I answered, intent on the light to grow on her face at +the thought. But it became like his, with a sneer to the lips, and cold +anger. + +'"Yes," she said; "we will go, hand in hand, to Akatan, you and I. And +we will live in the dirty huts, and eat of the fish and oil, and bring +forth a spawn--a spawn to be proud of all the days of our life. We will +forget the world and be happy, very happy. It is good, most good. Come! +Let us hurry. Let us go back to Akatan." And she ran her hand through +his yellow hair, and smiled in a way which was not good. And there was +no promise in her eyes. + +'I sat silent, and marveled at the strangeness of woman. I went back to +the night when he dragged her from me and she screamed and tore at his +hair--at his hair which now she played with and would not leave. Then I +remembered the price and the long years of waiting; and I gripped her +close, and dragged her away as he had done. And she held back, even as +on that night, and fought like a she-cat for its whelp. And when the +fire was between us and the man. I loosed her, and she sat and +listened. And I told her of all that lay between, of all that had +happened to me on strange seas, of all that I had done in strange +lands; of my weary quest, and the hungry years, and the promise which +had been mine from the first. Aye, I told all, even to what had passed +that day between the man and me, and in the days yet young. And as I +spoke I saw the promise grow in her eyes, full and large like the break +of dawn. And I read pity there, the tenderness of woman, the love, the +heart and the soul of Unga. And I was a stripling again, for the look +was the look of Unga as she ran up the beach, laughing, to the home of +her mother. The stern unrest was gone, and the hunger, and the weary +waiting. + +'The time was met. I felt the call of her breast, and it seemed there I +must pillow my head and forget. She opened her arms to me, and I came +against her. Then, sudden, the hate flamed in her eye, her hand was at +my hip. And once, twice, she passed the knife. + +'"Dog!" she sneered, as she flung me into the snow. "Swine!" And then +she laughed till the silence cracked, and went back to her dead. + +'As I say, once she passed the knife, and twice; but she was weak with +hunger, and it was not meant that I should die. Yet was I minded to +stay in that place, and to close my eyes in the last long sleep with +those whose lives had crossed with mine and led my feet on unknown +trails. But there lay a debt upon me which would not let me rest. + +'And the way was long, the cold bitter, and there was little grub. The +Pellys had found no moose, and had robbed my cache. And so had the +three white men, but they lay thin and dead in their cabins as I +passed. After that I do not remember, till I came here, and found food +and fire--much fire.' As he finished, he crouched closely, even +jealously, over the stove. For a long while the slush-lamp shadows +played tragedies upon the wall. + +'But Unga!' cried Prince, the vision still strong upon him. + +'Unga? She would not eat of the ptarmigan. She lay with her arms about +his neck, her face deep in his yellow hair. I drew the fire close, that +she might not feel the frost, but she crept to the other side. And I +built a fire there; yet it was little good, for she would not eat. And +in this manner they still lie up there in the snow.' + +'And you?' asked Malemute Kid. + +'I do not know; but Akatan is small, and I have little wish to go back +and live on the edge of the world. Yet is there small use in life. I +can go to Constantine, and he will put irons upon me, and one day they +will tie a piece of rope, so, and I will sleep good. Yet--no; I do not +know.' 'But, Kid,' protested Prince, 'this is murder!' 'Hush!' +commanded Malemute Kid. 'There be things greater than our wisdom, +beyond our justice. The right and the wrong of this we cannot say, and +it is not for us to judge.' Naass drew yet closer to the fire. There +was a great silence, and in each man's eyes many pictures came and went. + + + +The End + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Son of the Wolf, by Jack London + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SON OF THE WOLF *** + +***** This file should be named 2377.txt or 2377.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/7/2377/ + +Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer. HTML +version by Al Haines. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +The Son of the Wolf + +by Jack London + + +Contains + +The White Silence +The Son of the Wolf +The Men of Forty Mile +In a Far Country +To the Man on the Trail +The Priestly Prerogative +The Wisdom of the Trail +The Wife of a King +An Odyssey of the North + + + + +The White Silence + +'Carmen won't last more than a couple of days.' Mason spat out a +chunk of ice and surveyed the poor animal ruefully, then put her +foot in his mouth and proceeded to bite out the ice which +clustered cruelly between the toes. + +'I never saw a dog with a highfalutin' name that ever was worth a +rap,' he said, as he concluded his task and shoved her aside. +'They just fade away and die under the responsibility. Did ye +ever see one go wrong with a sensible name like Cassiar, Siwash, +or Husky? No, sir! Take a look at Shookum here, he's--' Snap! The +lean brute flashed up, the white teeth just missing Mason's +throat. + +'Ye will, will ye?' A shrewd clout behind the ear with the butt +of the dog whip stretched the animal in the snow, quivering +softly, a yellow slaver dripping from its fangs. + +'As I was saying, just look at Shookum here--he's got the spirit. +Bet ye he eats Carmen before the week's out.' 'I'll bank another +proposition against that,' replied Malemute Kid, reversing the +frozen bread placed before the fire to thaw. 'We'll eat Shookum +before the trip is over. What d'ye say, Ruth?' The Indian woman +settled the coffee with a piece of ice, glanced from Malemute Kid +to her husband, then at the dogs, but vouchsafed no reply. It was +such a palpable truism that none was necessary. Two hundred miles +of unbroken trail in prospect, with a scant six days' grub for +themselves and none for the dogs, could admit no other +alternative. The two men and the woman grouped about the fire and +began their meager meal. The dogs lay in their harnesses for it +was a midday halt, and watched each mouthful enviously. + +'No more lunches after today,' said Malemute Kid. 'And we've got +to keep a close eye on the dogs--they're getting vicious. They'd +just as soon pull a fellow down as not, if they get a chance.' +'And I was president of an Epworth once, and taught in the Sunday +school.' Having irrelevantly delivered himself of this, Mason +fell into a dreamy contemplation of his steaming moccasins, but +was aroused by Ruth filling his cup. + +'Thank God, we've got slathers of tea! I've seen it growing, down +in Tennessee. What wouldn't I give for a hot corn pone just now! +Never mind, Ruth; you won't starve much longer, nor wear +moccasins either.' The woman threw off her gloom at this, and in +her eyes welled up a great love for her white lord--the first +white man she had ever seen--the first man whom she had known to +treat a woman as something better than a mere animal or beast of +burden. + +'Yes, Ruth,' continued her husband, having recourse to the +macaronic jargon in which it was alone possible for them to +understand each other; 'wait till we clean up and pull for the +Outside. We'll take the White Man's canoe and go to the Salt +Water. Yes, bad water, rough water--great mountains dance up and +down all the time. And so big, so far, so far away--you travel +ten sleep, twenty sleep, forty sleep'--he graphically enumerated +the days on his fingers--'all the time water, bad water. Then you +come to great village, plenty people, just the same mosquitoes +next summer. Wigwams oh, so high--ten, twenty pines. + +Hi-yu skookum!' He paused impotently, cast an appealing glance at +Malemute Kid, then laboriously placed the twenty pines, end on +end, by sign language. Malemute Kid smiled with cheery cynicism; +but Ruth's eyes were wide with wonder, and with pleasure; for she +half believed he was joking, and such condescension pleased her +poor woman's heart. + +'And then you step into a--a box, and pouf! up you go.' He tossed +his empty cup in the air by way of illustration and, as he deftly +caught it, cried: 'And biff! down you come. Oh, great medicine +men! You go Fort Yukon. I go Arctic City--twenty-five sleep--big +string, all the time--I catch him string--I say, "Hello, Ruth! +How are ye?"--and you say, "Is that my good husband?"--and I say, +"Yes"--and you say, "No can bake good bread, no more soda"--then +I say, "Look in cache, under flour; good-by." You look and catch +plenty soda. All the time you Fort Yukon, me Arctic City. Hi-yu +medicine man!' Ruth smiled so ingenuously at the fairy story that +both men burst into laughter. A row among the dogs cut short the +wonders of the Outside, and by the time the snarling combatants +were separated, she had lashed the sleds and all was ready for +the trail.-- 'Mush! Baldy! Hi! Mush on!' Mason worked his whip +smartly and, as the dogs whined low in the traces, broke out the +sled with the gee pole. Ruth followed with the second team, +leaving Malemute Kid, who had helped her start, to bring up the +rear. Strong man, brute that he was, capable of felling an ox at +a blow, he could not bear to beat the poor animals, but humored +them as a dog driver rarely does--nay, almost wept with them in +their misery. + +'Come, mush on there, you poor sore-footed brutes!' he murmured, +after several ineffectual attempts to start the load. But his +patience was at last rewarded, and though whimpering with pain, +they hastened to join their fellows. + +No more conversation; the toil of the trail will not permit such +extravagance. + +And of all deadening labors, that of the Northland trail is the +worst. Happy is the man who can weather a day's travel at the +price of silence, and that on a beaten track. And of all +heartbreaking labors, that of breaking trail is the worst. At +every step the great webbed shoe sinks till the snow is level +with the knee. Then up, straight up, the deviation of a fraction +of an inch being a certain precursor of disaster, the snowshoe +must be lifted till the surface is cleared; then forward, down, +and the other foot is raised perpendicularly for the matter of +half a yard. He who tries this for the first time, if haply he +avoids bringing his shoes in dangerous propinquity and measures +not his length on the treacherous footing, will give up exhausted +at the end of a hundred yards; he who can keep out of the way of +the dogs for a whole day may well crawl into his sleeping bag +with a clear conscience and a pride which passeth all +understanding; and he who travels twenty sleeps on the Long Trail +is a man whom the gods may envy. + +The afternoon wore on, and with the awe, born of the White +Silence, the voiceless travelers bent to their work. Nature has +many tricks wherewith she convinces man of his finity--the +ceaseless flow of the tides, the fury of the storm, the shock of +the earthquake, the long roll of heaven's artillery--but the most +tremendous, the most stupefying of all, is the passive phase of +the White Silence. All movement ceases, the sky clears, the +heavens are as brass; the slightest whisper seems sacrilege, and +man becomes timid, affrighted at the sound of his own voice. Sole +speck of life journeying across the ghostly wastes of a dead +world, he trembles at his audacity, realizes that his is a +maggot's life, nothing more. + +Strange thoughts arise unsummoned, and the mystery of all things +strives for utterance. + +And the fear of death, of God, of the universe, comes over +him--the hope of the Resurrection and the Life, the yearning for +immortality, the vain striving of the imprisoned essence--it is +then, if ever, man walks alone with God. + +So wore the day away. The river took a great bend, and Mason +headed his team for the cutoff across the narrow neck of land. +But the dogs balked at the high bank. Again and again, though +Ruth and Malemute Kid were shoving on the sled, they slipped +back. Then came the concerted effort. The miserable creatures, +weak from hunger, exerted their last strength. Up--up--the sled +poised on the top of the bank; but the leader swung the string of +dogs behind him to the right, fouling Mason's snowshoes. The +result was grievous. + +Mason was whipped off his feet; one of the dogs fell in the +traces; and the sled toppled back, dragging everything to the +bottom again. + +Slash! the whip fell among the dogs savagely, especially upon the +one which had fallen. + +'Don't,--Mason,' entreated Malemute Kid; 'the poor devil's on its +last legs. Wait and we'll put my team on.' Mason deliberately +withheld the whip till the last word had fallen, then out flashed +the long lash, completely curling about the offending creature's +body. + +Carmen--for it was Carmen--cowered in the snow, cried piteously, +then rolled over on her side. + +It was a tragic moment, a pitiful incident of the trail--a dying +dog, two comrades in anger. + +Ruth glanced solicitously from man to man. But Malemute Kid +restrained himself, though there was a world of reproach in his +eyes, and, bending over the dog, cut the traces. No word was +spoken. The teams were doublespanned and the difficulty overcome; +the sleds were under way again, the dying dog dragging herself +along in the rear. As long as an animal can travel, it is not +shot, and this last chance is accorded it--the crawling into +camp, if it can, in the hope of a moose being killed. + +Already penitent for his angry action, but too stubborn to make +amends, Mason toiled on at the head of the cavalcade, little +dreaming that danger hovered in the air. The timber clustered +thick in the sheltered bottom, and through this they threaded +their way. Fifty feet or more from the trail towered a lofty +pine. For generations it had stood there, and for generations +destiny had had this one end in view--perhaps the same had been +decreed of Mason. + +He stooped to fasten the loosened thong of his moccasin. The +sleds came to a halt, and the dogs lay down in the snow without a +whimper. The stillness was weird; not a breath rustled the +frost-encrusted forest; the cold and silence of outer space had +chilled the heart and smote the trembling lips of nature. A sigh +pulsed through the air--they did not seem to actually hear it, +but rather felt it, like the premonition of movement in a +motionless void. Then the great tree, burdened with its weight of +years and snow, played its last part in the tragedy of life. He +heard the warning crash and attempted to spring up but, almost +erect, caught the blow squarely on the shoulder. + +The sudden danger, the quick death--how often had Malemute Kid +faced it! The pine needles were still quivering as he gave his +commands and sprang into action. Nor did the Indian girl faint or +raise her voice in idle wailing, as might many of her white +sisters. At his order, she threw her weight on the end of a +quickly extemporized handspike, easing the pressure and listening +to her husband's groans, while Malemute Kid attacked the tree +with his ax. The steel rang merrily as it bit into the frozen +trunk, each stroke being accompanied by a forced, audible +respiration, the 'Huh!' 'Huh!' of the woodsman. + +At last the Kid laid the pitiable thing that was once a man in +the snow. But worse than his comrade's pain was the dumb anguish +in the woman's face, the blended look of hopeful, hopeless query. +Little was said; those of the Northland are early taught the +futility of words and the inestimable value of deeds. With the +temperature at sixty-five below zero, a man cannot lie many +minutes in the snow and live. So the sled lashings were cut, and +the sufferer, rolled in furs, laid on a couch of boughs. Before +him roared a fire, built of the very wood which wrought the +mishap. Behind and partially over him was stretched the primitive +fly--a piece of canvas, which caught the radiating heat and threw +it back and down upon hima trick which men may know who study +physics at the fount. + +And men who have shared their bed with death know when the call +is sounded. Mason was terribly crushed. The most cursory +examination revealed it. + +His right arm, leg, and back were broken; his limbs were +paralyzed from the hips; and the likelihood of internal injuries +was large. An occasional moan was his only sign of life. + +No hope; nothing to be done. The pitiless night crept slowly +by--Ruth's portion, the despairing stoicism of her race, and +Malemute Kid adding new lines to his face of bronze. + +In fact, Mason suffered least of all, for he spent his time in +eastern Tennessee, in the Great Smoky Mountains, living over the +scenes of his childhood. And most pathetic was the melody of his +long-forgotten Southern vernacular, as he raved of swimming holes +and coon hunts and watermelon raids. It was as Greek to Ruth, but +the Kid understood and felt--felt as only one can feel who has +been shut out for years from all that civilization means. + +Morning brought consciousness to the stricken man, and Malemute +Kid bent closer to catch his whispers. + +'You remember when we foregathered on the Tanana, four years come +next ice run? I didn't care so much for her then. It was more +like she was pretty, and there was a smack of excitement about +it, I think. But d'ye know, I've come to think a heap of her. +She's been a good wife to me, always at my shoulder in the pinch. +And when it comes to trading, you know there isn't her equal. +D'ye recollect the time she shot the Moosehorn Rapids to pull you +and me off that rock, the bullets whipping the water like +hailstones?- and the time of the famine at Nuklukyeto?--when she +raced the ice run to bring the news? + +Yes, she's been a good wife to me, better'n that other one. +Didn't know I'd been there? + +Never told you, eh? Well, I tried it once, down in the States. +That's why I'm here. Been raised together, too. I came away to +give her a chance for divorce. She got it. + +'But that's got nothing to do with Ruth. I had thought of +cleaning up and pulling for the Outside next year--her and I--but +it's too late. Don't send her back to her people, Kid. It's +beastly hard for a woman to go back. Think of it!--nearly four +years on our bacon and beans and flour and dried fruit, and then +to go back to her fish and caribou. It's not good for her to have +tried our ways, to come to know they're better'n her people's, +and then return to them. Take care of her, Kidwhy don't you--but +no, you always fought shy of them--and you never told me why you +came to this country. Be kind to her, and send her back to the +States as soon as you can. But fix it so she can come +back--liable to get homesick, you know. + +'And the youngster--it's drawn us closer, Kid. I only hope it is +a boy. Think of it!--flesh of my flesh, Kid. He mustn't stop in +this country. And if it's a girl, why, she can't. Sell my furs; +they'll fetch at least five thousand, and I've got as much more +with the company. And handle my interests with yours. I think +that bench claim will show up. See that he gets a good +schooling; and Kid, above all, don't let him come back. This +country was not made for white men. + +'I'm a gone man, Kid. Three or four sleeps at the best. You've +got to go on. You must go on! Remember, it's my wife, it's my +boy--O God! I hope it's a boy! You can't stay by me--and I charge +you, a dying man, to pull on.' + +'Give me three days,' pleaded Malemute Kid. 'You may change for +the better; something may turn up.' + +'No.' + +'Just three days.' + +'You must pull on.' + +'Two days.' + +'It's my wife and my boy, Kid. You would not ask it.' + +'One day.' + +'No, no! I charge-' + +'Only one day. We can shave it through on the grub, and I might +knock over a moose.' + +'No--all right; one day, but not a minute more. And, Kid, +don't--don't leave me to face it alone. Just a shot, one pull on +the trigger. You understand. Think of it! Think of it! Flesh of +my flesh, and I'll never live to see him! + +'Send Ruth here. I want to say good-by and tell her that she must +think of the boy and not wait till I'm dead. She might refuse to +go with you if I didn't. Goodby, old man; good-by. + +'Kid! I say--a--sink a hole above the pup, next to the slide. I +panned out forty cents on my shovel there. + +'And, Kid!' He stooped lower to catch the last faint words, the +dying man's surrender of his pride. 'I'm sorry--for--you +know--Carmen.' Leaving the girl crying softly over her man, +Malemute Kid slipped into his parka and snowshoes, tucked his +rifle under his arm, and crept away into the forest. He was no +tyro in the stern sorrows of the Northland, but never had he +faced so stiff a problem as this. In the abstract, it was a +plain, mathematical propositionthree possible lives as against +one doomed one. But now he hesitated. For five years, shoulder to +shoulder, on the rivers and trails, in the camps and mines, +facing death by field and flood and famine, had they knitted the +bonds of their comradeship. So close was the tie that he had +often been conscious of a vague jealousy of Ruth, from the first +time she had come between. And now it must be severed by his own +hand. + +Though he prayed for a moose, just one moose, all game seemed to +have deserted the land, and nightfall found the exhausted man +crawling into camp, lighthanded, heavyhearted. An uproar from the +dogs and shrill cries from Ruth hastened him. + +Bursting into the camp, he saw the girl in the midst of the +snarling pack, laying about her with an ax. The dogs had broken +the iron rule of their masters and were rushing the grub. + +He joined the issue with his rifle reversed, and the hoary game +of natural selection was played out with all the ruthlessness of +its primeval environment. Rifle and ax went up and down, hit or +missed with monotonous regularity; lithe bodies flashed, with +wild eyes and dripping fangs; and man and beast fought for +supremacy to the bitterest conclusion. Then the beaten brutes +crept to the edge of the firelight, licking their wounds, voicing +their misery to the stars. + +The whole stock of dried salmon had been devoured, and perhaps +five pounds of flour remained to tide them over two hundred miles +of wilderness. Ruth returned to her husband, while Malemute Kid +cut up the warm body of one of the dogs, the skull of which had +been crushed by the ax. Every portion was carefully put away, +save the hide and offal, which were cast to his fellows of the +moment before. + +Morning brought fresh trouble. The animals were turning on each +other. Carmen, who still clung to her slender thread of life, was +downed by the pack. The lash fell among them unheeded. They +cringed and cried under the blows, but refused to scatter till +the last wretched bit had disappeared--bones, hide, hair, +everything. + +Malemute Kid went about his work, listening to Mason, who was +back in Tennessee, delivering tangled discourses and wild +exhortations to his brethren of other days. + +Taking advantage of neighboring pines, he worked rapidly, and +Ruth watched him make a cache similar to those sometimes used by +hunters to preserve their meat from the wolverines and dogs. One +after the other, he bent the tops of two small pines toward each +other and nearly to the ground, making them fast with thongs of +moosehide. Then he beat the dogs into submission and harnessed +them to two of the sleds, loading the same with everything but +the furs which enveloped Mason. These he wrapped and lashed +tightly about him, fastening either end of the robes to the bent +pines. A single stroke of his hunting knife would release them +and send the body high in the air. + +Ruth had received her husband's last wishes and made no +struggle. Poor girl, she had learned the lesson of obedience +well. From a child, she had bowed, and seen all women bow, to the +lords of creation, and it did not seem in the nature of things +for woman to resist. The Kid permitted her one outburst of grief, +as she kissed her husband--her own people had no such +custom--then led her to the foremost sled and helped her into her +snowshoes. Blindly, instinctively, she took the gee pole and +whip, and 'mushed' the dogs out on the trail. Then he returned to +Mason, who had fallen into a coma, and long after she was out of +sight crouched by the fire, waiting, hoping, praying for his +comrade to die. + +It is not pleasant to be alone with painful thoughts in the White +Silence. The silence of gloom is merciful, shrouding one as with +protection and breathing a thousand intangible sympathies; but +the bright White Silence, clear and cold, under steely skies, is +pitiless. + +An hour passed--two hours--but the man would not die. At high +noon the sun, without raising its rim above the southern horizon, +threw a suggestion of fire athwart the heavens, then quickly drew +it back. Malemute Kid roused and dragged himself to his comrade's +side. He cast one glance about him. The White Silence seemed to +sneer, and a great fear came upon him. There was a sharp report; +Mason swung into his aerial sepulcher, and Malemute Kid lashed +the dogs into a wild gallop as he fled across the snow. + + The Son of the Wolf Man rarely places a proper valuation upon +his womankind, at least not until deprived of them. He has no +conception of the subtle atmosphere exhaled by the sex feminine, +so long as he bathes in it; but let it be withdrawn, and an +ever-growing void begins to manifest itself in his existence, and +he becomes hungry, in a vague sort of way, for a something so +indefinite that he cannot characterize it. If his comrades have +no more experience than himself, they will shake their heads +dubiously and dose him with strong physic. But the hunger will +continue and become stronger; he will lose interest in the things +of his everyday life and wax morbid; and one day, when the +emptiness has become unbearable, a revelation will dawn upon him. + +In the Yukon country, when this comes to pass, the man usually +provisions a poling boat, if it is summer, and if winter, +harnesses his dogs, and heads for the Southland. A few months +later, supposing him to be possessed of a faith in the country, +he returns with a wife to share with him in that faith, and +incidentally in his hardships. This but serves to show the innate +selfishness of man. It also brings us to the trouble of 'Scruff' +Mackenzie, which occurred in the old days, before the country was +stampeded and staked by a tidal- wave of the che-cha-quas, and +when the Klondike's only claim to notice was its salmon +fisheries. + +'Scruff' Mackenzie bore the earmarks of a frontier birth and a +frontier life. + +His face was stamped with twenty-five years of incessant struggle +with Nature in her wildest moods,--the last two, the wildest and +hardest of all, having been spent in groping for the gold which +lies in the shadow of the Arctic Circle. When the yearning +sickness came upon him, he was not surprised, for he was a +practical man and had seen other men thus stricken. But he showed +no sign of his malady, save that he worked harder. All summer he +fought mosquitoes and washed the sure-thing bars of the Stuart +River for a double grubstake. Then he floated a raft of houselogs +down the Yukon to Forty Mile, and put together as comfortable a +cabin as any the camp could boast of. In fact, it showed such +cozy promise that many men elected to be his partner and to come +and live with him. But he crushed their aspirations with rough +speech, peculiar for its strength and brevity, and bought a +double supply of grub from the trading-post. + +As has been noted, 'Scruff' Mackenzie was a practical man. If he +wanted a thing he usually got it, but in doing so, went no +farther out of his way than was necessary. Though a son of toil +and hardship, he was averse to a journey of six hundred miles on +the ice, a second of two thousand miles on the ocean, and still a +third thousand miles or so to his last stamping-grounds,--all in +the mere quest of a wife. Life was too short. So he rounded up +his dogs, lashed a curious freight to his sled, and faced across +the divide whose westward slopes were drained by the head-reaches +of the Tanana. + +He was a sturdy traveler, and his wolf-dogs could work harder and +travel farther on less grub than any other team in the Yukon. +Three weeks later he strode into a hunting-camp of the Upper +Tanana Sticks. They marveled at his temerity; for they had a bad +name and had been known to kill white men for as trifling a thing +as a sharp ax or a broken rifle. + +But he went among them single-handed, his bearing being a +delicious composite of humility, familiarity, sang-froid, and +insolence. It required a deft hand and deep knowledge of the +barbaric mind effectually to handle such diverse weapons; but he +was a past-master in the art, knowing when to conciliate and when +to threaten with Jove-like wrath. + +He first made obeisance to the Chief Thling-Tinneh, presenting +him with a couple of pounds of black tea and tobacco, and thereby +winning his most cordial regard. Then he mingled with the men and +maidens, and that night gave a potlach. + +The snow was beaten down in the form of an oblong, perhaps a +hundred feet in length and quarter as many across. Down the +center a long fire was built, while either side was carpeted with +spruce boughs. The lodges were forsaken, and the fivescore or so +members of the tribe gave tongue to their folk-chants in honor of +their guest. + +'Scruff' Mackenzie's two years had taught him the not many +hundred words of their vocabulary, and he had likewise conquered +their deep gutturals, their Japanese idioms, constructions, and +honorific and agglutinative particles. So he made oration after +their manner, satisfying their instinctive poetry-love with crude +flights of eloquence and metaphorical contortions. After +Thling-Tinneh and the Shaman had responded in kind, he made +trifling presents to the menfolk, joined in their singing, and +proved an expert in their fifty-two-stick gambling game. + +And they smoked his tobacco and were pleased. But among the +younger men there was a defiant attitude, a spirit of +braggadocio, easily understood by the raw insinuations of the +toothless squaws and the giggling of the maidens. They had known +few white men, 'Sons of the Wolf,' but from those few they had +learned strange lessons. + +Nor had 'Scruff' Mackenzie, for all his seeming carelessness, +failed to note these phenomena. In truth, rolled in his +sleeping-furs, he thought it all over, thought seriously, and +emptied many pipes in mapping out a campaign. One maiden only +had caught his fancy,--none other than Zarinska, daughter to the +chief. In features, form, and poise, answering more nearly to the +white man's type of beauty, she was almost an anomaly among her +tribal sisters. He would possess her, make her his wife, and name +her--ah, he would name her Gertrude! Having thus decided, he +rolled over on his side and dropped off to sleep, a true son of +his all-conquering race, a Samson among the Philistines. + +It was slow work and a stiff game; but 'Scruff' Mackenzie +maneuvered cunningly, with an unconcern which served to puzzle +the Sticks. He took great care to impress the men that he was a +sure shot and a mighty hunter, and the camp rang with his +plaudits when he brought down a moose at six hundred yards. Of a +night he visited in Chief Thling- Tinneh's lodge of moose and +cariboo skins, talking big and dispensing tobacco with a lavish +hand. Nor did he fail to likewise honor the Shaman; for he +realized the medicine- man's influence with his people, and was +anxious to make of him an ally. But that worthy was high and +mighty, refused to be propitiated, and was unerringly marked down +as a prospective enemy. + +Though no opening presented for an interview with Zarinska, +Mackenzie stole many a glance to her, giving fair warning of his +intent. And well she knew, yet coquettishly surrounded herself +with a ring of women whenever the men were away and he had a +chance. But he was in no hurry; besides, he knew she could not +help but think of him, and a few days of such thought would only +better his suit. + +At last, one night, when he deemed the time to be ripe, he +abruptly left the chief's smoky dwelling and hastened to a +neighboring lodge. As usual, she sat with squaws and maidens +about her, all engaged in sewing moccasins and beadwork. They +laughed at his entrance, and badinage, which linked Zarinska to +him, ran high. But one after the other they were unceremoniously +bundled into the outer snow, whence they hurried to spread the +tale through all the camp. + +His cause was well pleaded, in her tongue, for she did not know +his, and at the end of two hours he rose to go. + +'So Zarinska will come to the White Man's lodge? Good! I go now +to have talk with thy father, for he may not be so minded. And I +will give him many tokens; but he must not ask too much. If he +say no? Good! Zarinska shall yet come to the White Man's lodge.' + +He had already lifted the skin flap to depart, when a low +exclamation brought him back to the girl's side. She brought +herself to her knees on the bearskin mat, her face aglow with +true Eve-light, and shyly unbuckled his heavy belt. He looked +down, perplexed, suspicious, his ears alert for the slightest +sound without. + +But her next move disarmed his doubt, and he smiled with +pleasure. She took from her sewing bag a moosehide sheath, brave +with bright beadwork, fantastically designed. She drew his great +hunting-knife, gazed reverently along the keen edge, half tempted +to try it with her thumb, and shot it into place in its new home. +Then she slipped the sheath along the belt to its customary +resting-place, just above the hip. For all the world, it was +like a scene of olden time,--a lady and her knight. + +Mackenzie drew her up full height and swept her red lips with his +moustache,the, to her, foreign caress of the Wolf. It was a +meeting of the stone age and the steel; but she was none the less +a woman, as her crimson cheeks and the luminous softness of her +eyes attested. + +There was a thrill of excitement in the air as 'Scruff' +Mackenzie, a bulky bundle under his arm, threw open the flap of +Thling-Tinneh's tent. Children were running about in the open, +dragging dry wood to the scene of the potlach, a babble of +women's voices was growing in intensity, the young men were +consulting in sullen groups, while from the Shaman's lodge rose +the eerie sounds of an incantation. + +The chief was alone with his blear-eyed wife, but a glance +sufficed to tell Mackenzie that the news was already told. So he +plunged at once into the business, shifting the beaded sheath +prominently to the fore as advertisement of the betrothal. + +'O Thling-Tinneh, mighty chief of the Sticks And the land of the +Tanana, ruler of the salmon and the bear, the moose and the +cariboo! The White Man is before thee with a great purpose. Many +moons has his lodge been empty, and he is lonely. And his heart +has eaten itself in silence, and grown hungry for a woman to sit +beside him in his lodge, to meet him from the hunt with warm fire +and good food. He has heard strange things, the patter of baby +moccasins and the sound of children's voices. And one night a +vision came upon him, and he beheld the Raven, who is thy father, +the great Raven, who is the father of all the Sticks. And the +Raven spake to the lonely White Man, saying: "Bind thou thy +moccasins upon thee, and gird thy snow-shoes on, and lash thy +sled with food for many sleeps and fine tokens for the Chief +Thling-Tinneh. For thou shalt turn thy face to where the +midspring sun is wont to sink below the land and journey to this +great chief's hunting- grounds. There thou shalt make big +presents, and Thling-Tinneh, who is my son, shall become to thee +as a father. In his lodge there is a maiden into whom I breathed +the breath of life for thee. This maiden shalt thou take to +wife." 'O Chief, thus spake the great Raven; thus do I lay many +presents at thy feet; thus am I come to take thy daughter!' The +old man drew his furs about him with crude consciousness of +royalty, but delayed reply while a youngster crept in, delivered +a quick message to appear before the council, and was gone. + +'O White Man, whom we have named Moose-Killer, also known as the +Wolf, and the Son of the Wolf! We know thou comest of a mighty +race; we are proud to have thee our potlach-guest; but the +king-salmon does not mate with the dogsalmon, nor the Raven with +the Wolf.' 'Not so!' cried Mackenzie. 'The daughters of the Raven +have I met in the camps of the Wolf,--the squaw of Mortimer, the +squaw of Tregidgo, the squaw of Barnaby, who came two ice-runs +back, and I have heard of other squaws, though my eyes beheld +them not.' 'Son, your words are true; but it were evil mating, +like the water with the sand, like the snow-flake with the sun. +But met you one Mason and his squaw' No? + +He came ten ice-runs ago,--the first of all the Wolves. And with +him there was a mighty man, straight as a willow-shoot, and tall; +strong as the bald-faced grizzly, with a heart like the full +summer moon; his-' 'Oh!' interrupted Mackenzie, recognizing the +well- known Northland figure, 'Malemute Kid!' 'The same,--a +mighty man. But saw you aught of the squaw? She was full sister +to Zarinska.' 'Nay, Chief; but I have heard. Mason--far, far to +the north, a spruce-tree, heavy with years, crushed out his life +beneath. But his love was great, and he had much gold. With this, +and her boy, she journeyed countless sleeps toward the winter's +noonday sun, and there she yet lives,--no biting frost, no snow, +no summer's midnight sun, no winter's noonday night.' + +A second messenger interrupted with imperative summons from the +council. + +As Mackenzie threw him into the snow, he caught a glimpse of the +swaying forms before the council-fire, heard the deep basses of +the men in rhythmic chant, and knew the Shaman was fanning the +anger of his people. Time pressed. He turned upon the chief. + +'Come! I wish thy child. And now, see! Here are tobacco, tea, +many cups of sugar, warm blankets, handkerchiefs, both good and +large; and here, a true rifle, with many bullets and much +powder.' 'Nay,' replied the old man, struggling against the great +wealth spread before him. 'Even now are my people come together. +They will not have this marriage.' + +'But thou art chief.' 'Yet do my young men rage because the +Wolves have taken their maidens so that they may not marry.' +'Listen, O Thling-Tinneh! Ere the night has passed into the day, +the Wolf shall face his dogs to the Mountains of the East and +fare forth to the Country of the Yukon. And Zarinska shall break +trail for his dogs.' 'And ere the night has gained its middle, my +young men may fling to the dogs the flesh of the Wolf, and his +bones be scattered in the snow till the springtime lay them +bare.' It was threat and counter-threat. Mackenzie's bronzed face +flushed darkly. He raised his voice. The old squaw, who till now +had sat an impassive spectator, made to creep by him for the +door. + +The song of the men broke suddenly and there was a hubbub of many +voices as he whirled the old woman roughly to her couch of skins. + +'Again I cry--listen, O Thling-Tinneh! The Wolf dies with teeth +fast-locked, and with him there shall sleep ten of thy strongest +men,--men who are needed, for the hunting is not begun, and the +fishing is not many moons away. And again, of what profit should +I die? I know the custom of thy people; thy share of my wealth +shall be very small. Grant me thy child, and it shall all be +thine. And yet again, my brothers will come, and they are many, +and their maws are never filled; and the daughters of the Raven +shall bear children in the lodges of the Wolf. My people are +greater than thy people. It is destiny. Grant, and all this +wealth is thine.' Moccasins were crunching the snow without. +Mackenzie threw his rifle to cock, and loosened the twin Colts in +his belt. + +'Grant, O Chief!' 'And yet will my people say no.' 'Grant, and +the wealth is thine. Then shall I deal with thy people after.' +'The Wolf will have it so. I will take his tokens,--but I would +warn him.' Mackenzie passed over the goods, taking care to clog +the rifle's ejector, and capping the bargain with a kaleidoscopic +silk kerchief. The Shaman and half a dozen young braves entered, +but he shouldered boldly among them and passed out. + +'Pack!' was his laconic greeting to Zarinska as he passed her +lodge and hurried to harness his dogs. A few minutes later he +swept into the council at the head of the team, the woman by his +side. He took his place at the upper end of the oblong, by the +side of the chief. To his left, a step to the rear, he stationed +Zarinska,her proper place. Besides, the time was ripe for +mischief, and there was need to guard his back. + +On either side, the men crouched to the fire, their voices lifted +in a folk-chant out of the forgotten past. Full of strange, +halting cadences and haunting recurrences, it was not beautiful. +'Fearful' may inadequately express it. At the lower end, under +the eye of the Shaman, danced half a score of women. Stern were +his reproofs of those who did not wholly abandon themselves to +the ecstasy of the rite. Half hidden in their heavy masses of +raven hair, all dishevelled and falling to their waists, they +slowly swayed to and fro, their forms rippling to an +ever-changing rhythm. + +It was a weird scene; an anachronism. To the south, the +nineteenth century was reeling off the few years of its last +decade; here flourished man primeval, a shade removed from the +prehistoric cave-dweller, forgotten fragment of the Elder World. +The tawny wolf- dogs sat between their skin-clad masters or +fought for room, the firelight cast backward from their red eyes +and dripping fangs. The woods, in ghostly shroud, slept on +unheeding. + +The White Silence, for the moment driven to the rimming forest, +seemed ever crushing inward; the stars danced with great leaps, +as is their wont in the time of the Great Cold; while the Spirits +of the Pole trailed their robes of glory athwart the heavens. + +'Scruff' Mackenzie dimly realized the wild grandeur of the +setting as his eyes ranged down the fur-fringed sides in quest of +missing faces. They rested for a moment on a newborn babe, +suckling at its mother's naked breast. It was forty +below,--seven and odd degrees of frost. He thought of the tender +women of his own race and smiled grimly. Yet from the loins of +some such tender woman had he sprung with a kingly +inheritance,--an inheritance which gave to him and his dominance +over the land and sea, over the animals and the peoples of all +the zones. Single-handed against fivescore, girt by the Arctic +winter, far from his own, he felt the prompting of his heritage, +the desire to possess, the wild danger--love, the thrill of +battle, the power to conquer or to die. + +The singing and the dancing ceased, and the Shaman flared up in +rude eloquence. + +Through the sinuosities of their vast mythology, he worked +cunningly upon the credulity of his people. The case was strong. +Opposing the creative principles as embodied in the Crow and the +Raven, he stigmatized Mackenzie as the Wolf, the fighting and the +destructive principle. Not only was the combat of these forces +spiritual, but men fought, each to his totem. They were the +children of Jelchs, the Raven, the Promethean fire- bringer; +Mackenzie was the child of the Wolf, or in other words, the +Devil. For them to bring a truce to this perpetual warfare, to +marry their daughters to the arch-enemy, were treason and +blasphemy of the highest order. No phrase was harsh nor figure +vile enough in branding Mackenzie as a sneaking interloper and +emissary of Satan. There was a subdued, savage roar in the deep +chests of his listeners as he took the swing of his peroration. + +'Aye, my brothers, Jelchs is all-powerful! Did he not bring +heaven-borne fire that we might be warm? Did he not draw the sun, +moon, and stars, from their holes that we might see? Did he not +teach us that we might fight the Spirits of Famine and of Frost? +But now Jelchs is angry with his children, and they are grown to +a handful, and he will not help. + +For they have forgotten him, and done evil things, and trod bad +trails, and taken his enemies into their lodges to sit by their +fires. And the Raven is sorrowful at the wickedness of his +children; but when they shall rise up and show they have come +back, he will come out of the darkness to aid them. O brothers! +the Fire-Bringer has whispered messages to thy Shaman; the same +shall ye hear. Let the young men take the young women to their +lodges; let them fly at the throat of the Wolf; let them be +undying in their enmity! Then shall their women become fruitful +and they shall multiply into a mighty people! And the Raven shall +lead great tribes of their fathers and their fathers' fathers +from out of the North; and they shall beat back the Wolves till +they are as last year's campfires; and they shall again come to +rule over all the land! 'Tis the message of Jelchs, the Raven.' +This foreshadowing of the Messiah's coming brought a hoarse howl +from the Sticks as they leaped to their feet. Mackenzie slipped +the thumbs of his mittens and waited. There was a clamor for the +'Fox,' not to be stilled till one of the young men stepped +forward to speak. + +'Brothers! The Shaman has spoken wisely. The Wolves have taken +our women, and our men are childless. We are grown to a handful. +The Wolves have taken our warm furs and given for them evil +spirits which dwell in bottles, and clothes which come not from +the beaver or the lynx, but are made from the grass. + +And they are not warm, and our men die of strange sicknesses. I, +the Fox, have taken no woman to wife; and why? Twice have the +maidens which pleased me gone to the camps of the Wolf. Even now +have I laid by skins of the beaver, of the moose, of the cariboo, +that I might win favor in the eyes of Thling-Tinneh, that I might +marry Zarinska, his daughter. Even now are her snow-shoes bound +to her feet, ready to break trail for the dogs of the Wolf. Nor +do I speak for myself alone. + +As I have done, so has the Bear. He, too, had fain been the +father of her children, and many skins has he cured thereto. I +speak for all the young men who know not wives. The Wolves are +ever hungry. Always do they take the choice meat at the killing. +To the Ravens are left the leavings. + +'There is Gugkla,' he cried, brutally pointing out one of the +women, who was a cripple. + +'Her legs are bent like the ribs of a birch canoe. She cannot +gather wood nor carry the meat of the hunters. Did the Wolves +choose her?' 'Ai! ai!' vociferated his tribesmen. + +'There is Moyri, whose eyes are crossed by the Evil Spirit. Even +the babes are affrighted when they gaze upon her, and it is said +the bald-face gives her the trail. + +Was she chosen?' Again the cruel applause rang out. + +'And there sits Pischet. She does not hearken to my words. Never +has she heard the cry of the chit-chat, the voice of her husband, +the babble of her child. + +She lives in the White Silence. Cared the Wolves aught for her? +No! Theirs is the choice of the kill; ours is the leavings. + +'Brothers, it shall not be! No more shall the Wolves slink among +our campfires. The time is come.' A great streamer of fire, the +aurora borealis, purple, green, and yellow, shot across the +zenith, bridging horizon to horizon. With head thrown back and +arms extended, he swayed to his climax. + +'Behold! The spirits of our fathers have arisen and great deeds +are afoot this night!' He stepped back, and another young man +somewhat diffidently came forward, pushed on by his comrades. He +towered a full head above them, his broad chest defiantly bared +to the frost. He swung tentatively from one foot to the other. + +Words halted upon his tongue, and he was ill at ease. His face +was horrible to look upon, for it had at one time been half torn +away by some terrific blow. At last he struck his breast with his +clenched fist, drawing sound as from a drum, and his voice +rumbled forth as does the surf from an ocean cavern. + +'I am the Bear,--the Silver-Tip and the Son of the Silver-Tip! +When my voice was yet as a girl's, I slew the lynx, the moose, +and the cariboo; when it whistled like the wolverines from under +a cache, I crossed the Mountains of the South and slew three of +the White Rivers; when it became as the roar of the Chinook, I +met the bald-faced grizzly, but gave no trail.' At this he +paused, his hand significantly sweeping across his hideous scars. + +'I am not as the Fox. My tongue is frozen like the river. I +cannot make great talk. My words are few. The Fox says great +deeds are afoot this night. Good! Talk flows from his tongue like +the freshets of the spring, but he is chary of deeds. + +This night shall I do battle with the Wolf. I shall slay him, and +Zarinska shall sit by my fire. The Bear has spoken.' Though +pandemonium raged about him, 'Scruff' Mackenzie held his ground. + +Aware how useless was the rifle at close quarters, he slipped +both holsters to the fore, ready for action, and drew his +mittens till his hands were barely shielded by the elbow +gauntlets. He knew there was no hope in attack en masse, but true +to his boast, was prepared to die with teeth fast-locked. But the +Bear restrained his comrades, beating back the more impetuous +with his terrible fist. As the tumult began to die away, +Mackenzie shot a glance in the direction of Zarinska. It was a +superb picture. She was leaning forward on her snow-shoes, lips +apart and nostrils quivering, like a tigress about to spring. Her +great black eyes were fixed upon her tribesmen, in fear and +defiance. So extreme the tension, she had forgotten to breathe. +With one hand pressed spasmodically against her breast and the +other as tightly gripped about the dog-whip, she was as turned +to stone. Even as he looked, relief came to her. Her muscles +loosened; with a heavy sigh she settled back, giving him a look +of more than love--of worship. + +Thling-Tinneh was trying to speak, but his people drowned his +voice. Then Mackenzie strode forward. The Fox opened his mouth to +a piercing yell, but so savagely did Mackenzie whirl upon him +that he shrank back, his larynx all agurgle with suppressed +sound. His discomfiture was greeted with roars of laughter, and +served to soothe his fellows to a listening mood. + +'Brothers! The White Man, whom ye have chosen to call the Wolf, +came among you with fair words. He was not like the Innuit; he +spoke not lies. He came as a friend, as one who would be a +brother. But your men have had their say, and the time for soft +words is past. + +First, I will tell you that the Shaman has an evil tongue and is +a false prophet, that the messages he spake are not those of the +Fire-Bringer. His ears are locked to the voice of the Raven, and +out of his own head he weaves cunning fancies, and he has made +fools of you. He has no power. + +When the dogs were killed and eaten, and your stomachs were heavy +with untanned hide and strips of moccasins; when the old men +died, and the old women died, and the babes at the dry dugs of +the mothers died; when the land was dark, and ye perished as do +the salmon in the fall; aye, when the famine was upon you, did +the Shaman bring reward to your hunters? did the Shaman put meat +in your bellies? Again I say, the Shaman is without power. Thus I +spit upon his face!' Though taken aback by the sacrilege, there +was no uproar. Some of the women were even frightened, but among +the men there was an uplifting, as though in preparation or +anticipation of the miracle. All eyes were turned upon the two +central figures. The priest realized the crucial moment, felt his +power tottering, opened his mouth in denunciation, but fled +backward before the truculent advance, upraised fist, and +flashing eyes, of Mackenzie. He sneered and resumed. + +Was I stricken dead? Did the lightning burn me? Did the stars +fall from the sky and crush me? Pish! I have done with the dog. +Now will I tell you of my people, who are the mightiest of all +the peoples, who rule in all the lands. At first we hunt as I +hunt, alone. + +After that we hunt in packs; and at last, like the cariboo-run, +we sweep across all the land. + +Those whom we take into our lodges live; those who will not come +die. Zarinska is a comely maiden, full and strong, fit to become +the mother of Wolves. Though I die, such shall she become; for my +brothers are many, and they will follow the scent of my dogs. + +Listen to the Law of the Wolf: Whoso taketh the life of one Wolf, +the forfeit shall ten of his people pay. In many lands has the +price been paid; in many lands shall it yet be paid. + +'Now will I deal with the Fox and the Bear. It seems they have +cast eyes upon the maiden. So? Behold, I have bought her! +Thling-Tinneh leans upon the rifle; the goods of purchase are by +his fire. Yet will I be fair to the young men. To the Fox, whose +tongue is dry with many words, will I give of tobacco five long +plugs. + +Thus will his mouth be wetted that he may make much noise in the +council. But to the Bear, of whom I am well proud, will I give of +blankets two; of flour, twenty cups; of tobacco, double that of +the Fox; and if he fare with me over the Mountains of the East, +then will I give him a rifle, mate to Thling-Tinneh's. If not? +Good! The Wolf is weary of speech. Yet once again will he say the +Law: Whoso taketh the life of one Wolf, the forfeit shall ten of +his people pay.' + +Mackenzie smiled as he stepped back to his old position, but at +heart he was full of trouble. The night was yet dark. The girl +came to his side, and he listened closely as she told of the +Bear's battle-tricks with the knife. + +The decision was for war. In a trice, scores of moccasins were +widening the space of beaten snow by the fire. There was much +chatter about the seeming defeat of the Shaman; some averred he +had but withheld his power, while others conned past events and +agreed with the Wolf. The Bear came to the center of the +battle-ground, a long naked hunting- knife of Russian make in his +hand. The Fox called attention to Mackenzie's revolvers; so he +stripped his belt, buckling it about Zarinska, into whose hands +he also entrusted his rifle. She shook her head that she could +not shoot,--small chance had a woman to handle such precious +things. + +'Then, if danger come by my back, cry aloud, "My husband!" No; +thus, "My husband!"' + +He laughed as she repeated it, pinched her cheek, and reentered +the circle. Not only in reach and stature had the Bear the +advantage of him, but his blade was longer by a good two inches. +'Scruff' Mackenzie had looked into the eyes of men before, and he +knew it was a man who stood against him; yet he quickened to the +glint of light on the steel, to the dominant pulse of his race. + +Time and again he was forced to the edge of the fire or the deep +snow, and time and again, with the foot tactics of the pugilist, +he worked back to the center. Not a voice was lifted in +encouragement, while his antagonist was heartened with applause, +suggestions, and warnings. But his teeth only shut the tighter as +the knives clashed together, and he thrust or eluded with a +coolness born of conscious strength. At first he felt compassion +for his enemy; but this fled before the primal instinct of life, +which in turn gave way to the lust of slaughter. The ten thousand +years of culture fell from him, and he was a cave- dweller, doing +battle for his female. + +Twice he pricked the Bear, getting away unscathed; but the third +time caught, and to save himself, free hands closed on fighting +hands, and they came together. + +Then did he realize the tremendous strength of his opponent. His +muscles were knotted in painful lumps, and cords and tendons +threatened to snap with the strain; yet nearer and nearer came +the Russian steel. He tried to break away, but only weakened +himself. The fur-clad circle closed in, certain of and anxious to +see the final stroke. But with wrestler's trick, swinging partly +to the side, he struck at his adversary with his head. +Involuntarily the Bear leaned back, disturbing his center of +gravity. Simultaneous with this, Mackenzie tripped properly and +threw his whole weight forward, hurling him clear through the +circle into the deep snow. The Bear floundered out and came back +full tilt. + +'O my husband!' Zarinska's voice rang out, vibrant with danger. + +To the twang of a bow-string, Mackenzie swept low to the ground, +and a bonebarbed arrow passed over him into the breast of the +Bear, whose momentum carried him over his crouching foe. The +next instant Mackenzie was up and about. The bear lay +motionless, but across the fire was the Shaman, drawing a second +arrow. Mackenzie's knife leaped short in the air. He caught the +heavy blade by the point. There was a flash of light as it +spanned the fire. Then the Shaman, the hilt alone appearing +without his throat, swayed and pitched forward into the glowing +embers. + +Click! Click!--the Fox had possessed himself of Thling-Tinneh's +rifle and was vainly trying to throw a shell into place. But he +dropped it at the sound of Mackenzie's laughter. + +'So the Fox has not learned the way of the plaything? He is yet a +woman. + +Come! Bring it, that I may show thee!' The Fox hesitated. + +'Come, I say!' He slouched forward like a beaten cur. + +'Thus, and thus; so the thing is done.' A shell flew into place +and the trigger was at cock as Mackenzie brought it to shoulder. + +'The Fox has said great deeds were afoot this night, and he spoke +true. There have been great deeds, yet least among them were +those of the Fox. Is he still intent to take Zarinska to his +lodge? Is he minded to tread the trail already broken by the +Shaman and the Bear? + +No? Good!' + +Mackenzie turned contemptuously and drew his knife from the +priest's throat. + +'Are any of the young men so minded? If so, the Wolf will take +them by two and three till none are left. No? Good! +Thling-Tinneh, I now give thee this rifle a second time. If, in +the days to come, thou shouldst journey to the Country of the +Yukon, know thou that there shall always be a place and much food +by the fire of the Wolf. The night is now passing into the day. I +go, but I may come again. And for the last time, remember the Law +of the Wolf!' He was supernatural in their sight as he rejoined +Zarinska. She took her place at the head of the team, and the +dogs swung into motion. A few moments later they were swallowed +up by the ghostly forest. Till now Mackenzie had waited; he +slipped into his snow-shoes to follow. + +'Has the Wolf forgotten the five long plugs?' Mackenzie turned +upon the Fox angrily; then the humor of it struck him. + +'I will give thee one short plug.' 'As the Wolf sees fit,' meekly +responded the Fox, stretching out his hand. + + + +The Men of Forty Mile When Big Jim Belden ventured the +apparently innocuous proposition that mush-ice was 'rather +pecooliar,' he little dreamed of what it would lead to. + +Neither did Lon McFane, when he affirmed that anchor-ice was even +more so; nor did Bettles, as he instantly disagreed, declaring +the very existence of such a form to be a bugaboo. + +'An' ye'd be tellin' me this,' cried Lon, 'after the years ye've +spint in the land! An' we atin' out the same pot this many's the +day!' 'But the thing's agin reasin,' insisted Bettles. + +'Look you, water's warmer than ice-' 'An' little the difference, +once ye break through.' + +'Still it's warmer, because it ain't froze. An' you say it +freezes on the bottom?' 'Only the anchor-ice, David, only the +anchor-ice. An' have ye niver drifted along, the water clear as +glass, whin suddin, belike a cloud over the sun, the mushy-ice +comes bubblin' up an' up till from bank to bank an' bind to bind +it's drapin' the river like a first snowfall?' 'Unh, hunh! more'n +once when I took a doze at the steering-oar. But it allus come +out the nighest side-channel, an' not bubblin' up an' up.' 'But +with niver a wink at the helm?' + +'No; nor you. It's agin reason. I'll leave it to any man!' +Bettles appealed to the circle about the stove, but the fight was +on between himself and Lon McFane. + +'Reason or no reason, it's the truth I'm tellin' ye. Last fall, a +year gone, 'twas Sitka Charley and meself saw the sight, droppin' +down the riffle ye'll remember below Fort Reliance. An' regular +fall weather it was--the glint o' the sun on the golden larch an' +the quakin' aspens; an' the glister of light on ivery ripple; an' +beyand, the winter an' the blue haze of the North comin' down +hand in hand. It's well ye know the same, with a fringe to the +river an' the ice formin' thick in the eddies--an' a snap an' +sparkle to the air, an' ye a- feelin' it through all yer blood, +atakin' new lease of life with ivery suck of it. 'Tis then, me +boy, the world grows small an' the wandtherlust lays ye by the +heels. + +'But it's meself as wandthers. As I was sayin', we a-paddlin', +with niver a sign of ice, barrin' that by the eddies, when the +Injun lifts his paddle an' sings out, "Lon McFane! + +Look ye below!" So have I heard, but niver thought to see! As ye +know, Sitka Charley, like meself, niver drew first breath in the +land; so the sight was new. Then we drifted, with a head over +ayther side, peerin' down through the sparkly water. For the +world like the days I spint with the pearlers, watchin' the coral +banks a-growin' the same as so many gardens under the sea. + +There it was, the anchor-ice, clingin' an' clusterin' to ivery +rock, after the manner of the white coral. + +'But the best of the sight was to come. Just after clearin' the +tail of the riffle, the water turns quick the color of milk, an' +the top of it in wee circles, as when the graylin' rise in the +spring, or there's a splatter of wet from the sky. 'Twas the +anchor-ice comin' up. To the right, to the lift, as far as iver a +man cud see, the water was covered with the same. + +An' like so much porridge it was, slickin' along the bark of the +canoe, stickin' like glue to the paddles. It's many's the time I +shot the self-same riffle before, and it's many's the time after, +but niver a wink of the same have I seen. 'Twas the sight of a +lifetime.' 'Do tell!' dryly commented Bettles. 'D'ye think I'd +b'lieve such a yarn? I'd ruther say the glister of light'd gone +to your eyes, and the snap of the air to your tongue.' ''Twas me +own eyes that beheld it, an' if Sitka Charley was here, he'd be +the lad to back me.' 'But facts is facts, an' they ain't no +gettin' round 'em. It ain't in the nature of things for the +water furtherest away from the air to freeze first.' 'But me own +eyes-' 'Don't git het up over it,' admonished Bettles, as the +quick Celtic anger began to mount. + +'Then yer not after belavin' me?' 'Sence you're so blamed +forehanded about it, no; I'd b'lieve nature first, and facts.' + +'Is it the lie ye'd be givin' me?' threatened Lon. 'Ye'd better +be askin' that Siwash wife of yours. I'll lave it to her, for the +truth I spake.' Bettles flared up in sudden wrath. The Irishman +had unwittingly wounded him; for his wife was the half-breed +daughter of a Russian fur-trader, married to him in the Greek +Mission of Nulato, a thousand miles or so down the Yukon, thus +being of much higher caste than the common Siwash, or native, +wife. It was a mere Northland nuance, which none but the +Northland adventurer may understand. + +'I reckon you kin take it that way,' was his deliberate +affirmation. + +The next instant Lon McFane had stretched him on the floor, the +circle was broken up, and half a dozen men had stepped between. + +Bettles came to his feet, wiping the blood from his mouth. 'It +hain't new, this takin' and payin' of blows, and don't you never +think but that this will be squared.' 'An' niver in me life did I +take the lie from mortal man,' was the retort courteous. 'An' +it's an avil day I'll not be to hand, waitin' an' willin' to help +ye lift yer debts, barrin' no manner of way.' + +'Still got that 38-55?' Lon nodded. + +'But you'd better git a more likely caliber. Mine'll rip holes +through you the size of walnuts.' + +'Niver fear; it's me own slugs smell their way with soft noses, +an' they'll spread like flapjacks against the coming out beyand. +An' when'll I have the pleasure of waitin' on ye? The waterhole's +a strikin' locality.' ''Tain't bad. Jest be there in an hour, and +you won't set long on my coming.' Both men mittened and left the +Post, their ears closed to the remonstrances of their comrades. +It was such a little thing; yet with such men, little things, +nourished by quick tempers and stubborn natures, soon blossomed +into big things. + +Besides, the art of burning to bedrock still lay in the womb of +the future, and the men of Forty-Mile, shut in by the long Arctic +winter, grew high-stomached with overeating and enforced +idleness, and became as irritable as do the bees in the fall of +the year when the hives are overstocked with honey. + +There was no law in the land. The mounted police was also a thing +of the future. Each man measured an offense, and meted out the +punishment inasmuch as it affected himself. + +Rarely had combined action been necessary, and never in all the +dreary history of the camp had the eighth article of the +Decalogue been violated. + +Big Jim Belden called an impromptu meeting. Scruff Mackenzie was +placed as temporary chairman, and a messenger dispatched to +solicit Father Roubeau's good offices. Their position was +paradoxical, and they knew it. By the right of might could they +interfere to prevent the duel; yet such action, while in direct +line with their wishes, went counter to their opinions. While +their rough-hewn, obsolete ethics recognized the individual +prerogative of wiping out blow with blow, they could not bear to +think of two good comrades, such as Bettles and McFane, meeting +in deadly battle. Deeming the man who would not fight on +provocation a dastard, when brought to the test it seemed wrong +that he should fight. + +But a scurry of moccasins and loud cries, rounded off with a +pistol-shot, interrupted the discussion. Then the storm-doors +opened and Malemute Kid entered, a smoking Colt's in his hand, +and a merry light in his eye. + +'I got him.' He replaced the empty shell, and added, 'Your dog, +Scruff.' 'Yellow Fang?' + +Mackenzie asked. + +'No; the lop-eared one.' 'The devil! Nothing the matter with +him.' 'Come out and take a look.' 'That's all right after all. +Buess he's got 'em, too. Yellow Fang came back this morning and +took a chunk out of him, and came near to making a widower of me. + +Made a rush for Zarinska, but she whisked her skirts in his face +and escaped with the loss of the same and a good roll in the +snow. Then he took to the woods again. + +Hope he don't come back. Lost any yourself?' 'One--the best one +of the pack--Shookum. + +Started amuck this morning, but didn't get very far. Ran foul of +Sitka Charley's team, and they scattered him all over the street. +And now two of them are loose, and raging mad; so you see he got +his work in. The dog census will be small in the spring if we +don't do something.' + +'And the man census, too.' 'How's that? Who's in trouble now?' +'Oh, Bettles and Lon McFane had an argument, and they'll be down +by the waterhole in a few minutes to settle it.' The incident was +repeated for his benefit, and Malemute Kid, accustomed to an +obedience which his fellow men never failed to render, took +charge of the affair. His quickly formulated plan was explained, +and they promised to follow his lead implicitly. + +'So you see,' he concluded, 'we do not actually take away their +privilege of fighting; and yet I don't believe they'll fight when +they see the beauty of the scheme. Life's a game and men the +gamblers. They'll stake their whole pile on the one chance in a +thousand. + +Take away that one chance, and--they won't play.' He turned to +the man in charge of the Post. 'Storekeeper, weight out three +fathoms of your best half-inch manila. + +'We'll establish a precedent which will last the men of +Forty-Mile to the end of time,' he prophesied. Then he coiled the +rope about his arm and led his followers out of doors, just in +time to meet the principals. + +'What danged right'd he to fetch my wife in?' thundered Bettles +to the soothing overtures of a friend. ''Twa'n't called for,' he +concluded decisively. ''Twa'n't called for,' he reiterated again +and again, pacing up and down and waiting for Lon McFane. + +And Lon McFane--his face was hot and tongue rapid as he flaunted +insurrection in the face of the Church. 'Then, father,' he cried, +'it's with an aisy heart I'll roll in me flamy blankets, the +broad of me back on a bed of coals. Niver shall it be said that +Lon McFane took a lie 'twixt the teeth without iver liftin' a +hand! An' I'll not ask a blessin'. The years have been wild, but +it's the heart was in the right place.' 'But it's not the heart, +Lon,' + +interposed Father Roubeau; 'It's pride that bids you forth to +slay your fellow man.' 'Yer Frinch,' Lon replied. And then, +turning to leave him, 'An' will ye say a mass if the luck is +against me?' But the priest smiled, thrust his moccasined feet to +the fore, and went out upon the white breast of the silent river. +A packed trail, the width of a sixteeninch sled, led out to the +waterhole. On either side lay the deep, soft snow. The men trod +in single file, without conversation; and the black-stoled priest +in their midst gave to the function the solemn aspect of a +funeral. It was a warm winter's day for Forty-Mile--a day in +which the sky, filled with heaviness, drew closer to the earth, +and the mercury sought the unwonted level of twenty below. But +there was no cheer in the warmth. There was little air in the +upper strata, and the clouds hung motionless, giving sullen +promise of an early snowfall. And the earth, unresponsive, made +no preparation, content in its hibernation. + +When the waterhole was reached, Bettles, having evidently +reviewed the quarrel during the silent walk, burst out in a final +''Twa'n't called for,' while Lon McFane kept grim silence. +Indignation so choked him that he could not speak. + +Yet deep down, whenever their own wrongs were not uppermost, both +men wondered at their comrades. They had expected opposition, and +this tacit acquiescence hurt them. It seemed more was due them +from the men they had been so close with, and they felt a vague +sense of wrong, rebelling at the thought of so many of their +brothers coming out, as on a gala occasion, without one word of +protest, to see them shoot each other down. It appeared their +worth had diminished in the eyes of the community. The +proceedings puzzled them. + +'Back to back, David. An' will it be fifty paces to the man, or +double the quantity?' + +'Fifty,' was the sanguinary reply, grunted out, yet sharply cut. + +But the new manila, not prominently displayed, but casually +coiled about Malemute Kid's arm, caught the quick eye of the +Irishman, and thrilled him with a suspicious fear. + +'An' what are ye doin' with the rope?' 'Hurry up!' Malemute Kid +glanced at his watch. + +'I've a batch of bread in the cabin, and I don't want it to fall. +Besides, my feet are getting cold.' The rest of the men +manifested their impatience in various suggestive ways. + +'But the rope, Kid' It's bran' new, an' sure yer bread's not that +heavy it needs raisin' with the like of that?' Bettles by this +time had faced around. Father Roubeau, the humor of the situation +just dawning on him, hid a smile behind his mittened hand. + +'No, Lon; this rope was made for a man.' Malemute Kid could be +very impressive on occasion. + +'What man?' Bettles was becoming aware of a personal interest. + +'The other man.' 'An' which is the one ye'd mane by that?' +'Listen, Lon--and you, too, Bettles! We've been talking this +little trouble of yours over, and we've come to one conclusion. +We know we have no right to stop your fighting-' 'True for ye, me +lad!' 'And we're not going to. But this much we can do, and shall +do--make this the only duel in the history of Forty-Mile, set an +example for every che-cha-qua that comes up or down the Yukon. +The man who escapes killing shall be hanged to the nearest tree. +Now, go ahead!' + +Lon smiled dubiously, then his face lighted up. 'Pace her off, +David--fifty paces, wheel, an' niver a cease firin' till a lad's +down for good. 'Tis their hearts'll niver let them do the deed, +an' it's well ye should know it for a true Yankee bluff.' + +He started off with a pleased grin on his face, but Malemute Kid +halted him. + +'Lon! It's a long while since you first knew me?' 'Many's the +day.' 'And you, Bettles?' + +'Five year next June high water.' 'And have you once, in all that +time, known me to break my word' Or heard of me breaking it?' +Both men shook their heads, striving to fathom what lay beyond. + +'Well, then, what do you think of a promise made by me?' 'As good +as your bond,' from Bettles. + +'The thing to safely sling yer hopes of heaven by,' promptly +endorsed Lon McFane. + +'Listen! I, Malemute Kid, give you my word--and you know what +that meansthat the man who is not shot stretches rope within ten +minutes after the shooting.' He stepped back as Pilate might +have done after washing his hands. + +A pause and a silence came over the men of Forty-Mile. The sky +drew still closer, sending down a crystal flight of frost--little +geometric designs, perfect, evanescent as a breath, yet destined +to exist till the returning sun had covered half its northern +journey. + +Both men had led forlorn hopes in their time--led with a curse or +a jest on their tongues, and in their souls an unswerving faith +in the God of Chance. But that merciful deity had been shut out +from the present deal. They studied the face of Malemute Kid, but +they studied as one might the Sphinx. As the quiet minutes +passed, a feeling that speech was incumbent on them began to +grow. At last the howl of a wolf-dog cracked the silence from the +direction of Forty-Mile. The weird sound swelled with all the +pathos of a breaking heart, then died away in a long-drawn sob. + +'Well I be danged!' Bettles turned up the collar of his mackinaw +jacket and stared about him helplessly. + +'It's a gloryus game yer runnin', Kid,' cried Lon McFane. 'All +the percentage of the house an' niver a bit to the man that's +buckin'. The Devil himself'd niver tackle such a cinch--and +damned if I do.' There were chuckles, throttled in gurgling +throats, and winks brushed away with the frost which rimed the +eyelashes, as the men climbed the ice- notched bank and started +across the street to the Post. But the long howl had drawn +nearer, invested with a new note of menace. A woman screamed +round the corner. There was a cry of, 'Here he comes!' Then an +Indian boy, at the head of half a dozen frightened dogs, racing +with death, dashed into the crowd. And behind came Yellow Fang, a +bristle of hair and a flash of gray. Everybody but the Yankee +fled. + +The Indian boy had tripped and fallen. Bettles stopped long +enough to grip him by the slack of his furs, then headed for a +pile of cordwood already occupied by a number of his comrades. +Yellow Fang, doubling after one of the dogs, came leaping back. +The fleeing animal, free of the rabies, but crazed with fright, +whipped Bettles off his feet and flashed on up the street. +Malemute Kid took a flying shot at Yellow Fang. The mad dog +whirled a half airspring, came down on his back, then, with a +single leap, covered half the distance between himself and +Bettles. + +But the fatal spring was intercepted. Lon McFane leaped from the +woodpile, countering him in midair. Over they rolled, Lon holding +him by the throat at arm's length, blinking under the fetid +slaver which sprayed his face. Then Bettles, revolver in hand and +coolly waiting a chance, settled the combat. + +''Twas a square game, Kid,' Lon remarked, rising to his feet and +shaking the snow from out his sleeves; 'with a fair percentage to +meself that bucked it.' That night, while Lon McFane sought the +forgiving arms of the Church in the direction of Father Roubeau's +cabin, Malemute Kid talked long to little purpose. + +'But would you,' persisted Mackenzie, 'supposing they had +fought?' 'Have I ever broken my word?' 'No; but that isn't the +point. Answer the question. Would you?' Malemute Kid +straightened up. 'Scruff, I've been asking myself that question +ever since, and-' + +'Well?' 'Well, as yet, I haven't found the answer.' + + In a Far Country When a man journeys into a far country, he must +be prepared to forget many of the things he has learned, and to +acquire such customs as are inherent with existence in the new +land; he must abandon the old ideals and the old gods, and +oftentimes he must reverse the very codes by which his conduct +has hitherto been shaped. To those who have the protean faculty +of adaptability, the novelty of such change may even be a source +of pleasure; but to those who happen to be hardened to the ruts +in which they were created, the pressure of the altered +environment is unbearable, and they chafe in body and in spirit +under the new restrictions which they do not understand. This +chafing is bound to act and react, producing divers evils and +leading to various misfortunes. It were better for the man who +cannot fit himself to the new groove to return to his own +country; if he delay too long, he will surely die. + +The man who turns his back upon the comforts of an elder +civilization, to face the savage youth, the primordial simplicity +of the North, may estimate success at an inverse ratio to the +quantity and quality of his hopelessly fixed habits. He will +soon discover, if he be a fit candidate, that the material habits +are the less important. The exchange of such things as a dainty +menu for rough fare, of the stiff leather shoe for the soft, +shapeless moccasin, of the feather bed for a couch in the snow, +is after all a very easy matter. But his pinch will come in +learning properly to shape his mind's attitude toward all +things, and especially toward his fellow man. For the courtesies +of ordinary life, he must substitute unselfishness, forbearance, +and tolerance. Thus, and thus only, can he gain that pearl of +great price--true comradeship. He must not say 'thank you'; he +must mean it without opening his mouth, and prove it by +responding in kind. In short, he must substitute the deed for the +word, the spirit for the letter. + +When the world rang with the tale of Arctic gold, and the lure of +the North gripped the heartstrings of men, Carter Weatherbee +threw up his snug clerkship, turned the half of his savings over +to his wife, and with the remainder bought an outfit. There was +no romance in his nature--the bondage of commerce had crushed all +that; he was simply tired of the ceaseless grind, and wished to +risk great hazards in view of corresponding returns. Like many +another fool, disdaining the old trails used by the Northland +pioneers for a score of years, he hurried to Edmonton in the +spring of the year; and there, unluckily for his soul's welfare, +he allied himself with a party of men. + +There was nothing unusual about this party, except its plans. +Even its goal, like that of all the other parties, was the +Klondike. But the route it had mapped out to attain that goal +took away the breath of the hardiest native, born and bred to the +vicissitudes of the Northwest. Even Jacques Baptiste, born of a +Chippewa woman and a renegade voyageur (having raised his first +whimpers in a deerskin lodge north of the sixty-fifth parallel, +and had the same hushed by blissful sucks of raw tallow), was +surprised. Though he sold his services to them and agreed to +travel even to the never-opening ice, he shook his head ominously +whenever his advice was asked. + +Percy Cuthfert's evil star must have been in the ascendant, for +he, too, joined this company of argonauts. He was an ordinary +man, with a bank account as deep as his culture, which is saying +a good deal. He had no reason to embark on such a venture--no +reason in the world save that he suffered from an abnormal +development of sentimentality. He mistook this for the true +spirit of romance and adventure. Many another man has done the +like, and made as fatal a mistake. + +The first break-up of spring found the party following the +ice-run of Elk River. It was an imposing fleet, for the outfit +was large, and they were accompanied by a disreputable contingent +of half-breed voyageurs with their women and children. Day in and +day out, they labored with the bateaux and canoes, fought +mosquitoes and other kindred pests, or sweated and swore at the +portages. Severe toil like this lays a man naked to the very +roots of his soul, and ere Lake Athabasca was lost in the south, +each member of the party had hoisted his true colors. + +The two shirks and chronic grumblers were Carter Weatherbee and +Percy Cuthfert. The whole party complained less of its aches and +pains than did either of them. Not once did they volunteer for +the thousand and one petty duties of the camp. A bucket of water +to be brought, an extra armful of wood to be chopped, the dishes +to be washed and wiped, a search to be made through the outfit +for some suddenly indispensable article--and these two effete +scions of civilization discovered sprains or blisters requiring +instant attention. + +They were the first to turn in at night, with score of tasks yet +undone; the last to turn out in the morning, when the start +should be in readiness before the breakfast was begun. + +They were the first to fall to at mealtime, the last to have a +hand in the cooking; the first to dive for a slim delicacy, the +last to discover they had added to their own another man's share. +If they toiled at the oars, they slyly cut the water at each +stroke and allowed the boat's momentum to float up the blade. +They thought nobody noticed; but their comrades swore under their +breaths and grew to hate them, while Jacques Baptiste sneered +openly and damned them from morning till night. But Jacques +Baptiste was no gentleman. + +At the Great Slave, Hudson Bay dogs were purchased, and the fleet +sank to the guards with its added burden of dried fish and +pemican. Then canoe and bateau answered to the swift current of +the Mackenzie, and they plunged into the Great Barren Ground. +Every likely-looking 'feeder' was prospected, but the elusive +'pay-dirt' danced ever to the north. At the Great Bear, overcome +by the common dread of the Unknown Lands, their voyageurs began +to desert, and Fort of Good Hope saw the last and bravest bending +to the towlines as they bucked the current down which they had so +treacherously glided. + +Jacques Baptiste alone remained. Had he not sworn to travel even +to the never-opening ice? The lying charts, compiled in main from +hearsay, were now constantly consulted. + +And they felt the need of hurry, for the sun had already passed +its northern solstice and was leading the winter south again. +Skirting the shores of the bay, where the Mackenzie disembogues +into the Arctic Ocean, they entered the mouth of the Little Peel +River. Then began the arduous up-stream toil, and the two +Incapables fared worse than ever. Towline and pole, paddle and +tumpline, rapids and portages--such tortures served to give the +one a deep disgust for great hazards, and printed for the other a +fiery text on the true romance of adventure. One day they waxed +mutinous, and being vilely cursed by Jacques Baptiste, turned, as +worms sometimes will. But the half-breed thrashed the twain, and +sent them, bruised and bleeding, about their work. It was the +first time either had been manhandled. + +Abandoning their river craft at the headwaters of the Little +Peel, they consumed the rest of the summer in the great portage +over the Mackenzie watershed to the West Rat. This little stream +fed the Porcupine, which in turn joined the Yukon where that +mighty highway of the North countermarches on the Arctic Circle. + +But they had lost in the race with winter, and one day they tied +their rafts to the thick eddy-ice and hurried their goods ashore. +That night the river jammed and broke several times; the +following morning it had fallen asleep for good. 'We can't be +more'n four hundred miles from the Yukon,' concluded Sloper, +multiplying his thumb nails by the scale of the map. The +council, in which the two Incapables had whined to excellent +disadvantage, was drawing to a close. + +'Hudson Bay Post, long time ago. No use um now.' Jacques +Baptiste's father had made the trip for the Fur Company in the +old days, incidentally marking the trail with a couple of frozen +toes. + +Sufferin' cracky!' cried another of the party. 'No whites?' 'Nary +white,' Sloper sententiously affirmed; 'but it's only five +hundred more up the Yukon to Dawson. Call it a rough thousand +from here.' Weatherbee and Cuthfert groaned in chorus. + +'How long'll that take, Baptiste?' The half-breed figured for a +moment. 'Workum like hell, no man play out, +tentwenty--forty--fifty days. Um babies come' (designating the +Incapables), 'no can tell. Mebbe when hell freeze over; mebbe not +then.' The manufacture of snowshoes and moccasins ceased. +Somebody called the name of an absent member, who came out of an +ancient cabin at the edge of the campfire and joined them. The +cabin was one of the many mysteries which lurk in the vast +recesses of the North. Built when and by whom, no man could tell. + +Two graves in the open, piled high with stones, perhaps contained +the secret of those early wanderers. But whose hand had piled the +stones? The moment had come. Jacques Baptiste paused in the +fitting of a harness and pinned the struggling dog in the snow. +The cook made mute protest for delay, threw a handful of bacon +into a noisy pot of beans, then came to attention. Sloper rose to +his feet. His body was a ludicrous contrast to the healthy +physiques of the Incapables. Yellow and weak, fleeing from a +South American fever-hole, he had not broken his flight across +the zones, and was still able to toil with men. His weight was +probably ninety pounds, with the heavy hunting knife thrown in, +and his grizzled hair told of a prime which had ceased to be. The +fresh young muscles of either Weatherbee or Cuthfert were equal +to ten times the endeavor of his; yet he could walk them into the +earth in a day's journey. And all this day he had whipped his +stronger comrades into venturing a thousand miles of the stiffest +hardship man can conceive. He was the incarnation of the unrest +of his race, and the old Teutonic stubbornness, dashed with the +quick grasp and action of the Yankee, held the flesh in the +bondage of the spirit. + +'All those in favor of going on with the dogs as soon as the ice +sets, say ay.' 'Ay!' rang out eight voices--voices destined to +string a trail of oaths along many a hundred miles of pain. + +'Contrary minded?' 'No!' For the first time the Incapables were +united without some compromise of personal interests. + +'And what are you going to do about it?' Weatherbee added +belligerently. + +'Majority rule! Majority rule!' clamored the rest of the party. + +'I know the expedition is liable to fall through if you don't +come,' Sloper replied sweetly; 'but I guess, if we try real hard, +we can manage to do without you. + +What do you say, boys?' The sentiment was cheered to the echo. + +'But I say, you know,' Cuthfert ventured apprehensively; 'what's +a chap like me to do?' + +'Ain't you coming with us.' 'No--o.' 'Then do as you damn well +please. We won't have nothing to say.' 'Kind o' calkilate yuh +might settle it with that canoodlin' pardner of yourn,' suggested +a heavy-going Westerner from the Dakotas, at the same time +pointing out Weatherbee. 'He'll be shore to ask yuh what yur +a-goin' to do when it comes to cookin' an' gatherin' the wood.' +'Then we'll consider it all arranged,' concluded Sloper. + +'We'll pull out tomorrow, if we camp within five miles--just to +get everything in running order and remember if we've forgotten +anything.' The sleds groaned by on their steel- shod runners, and +the dogs strained low in the harnesses in which they were born to +die. + +Jacques Baptiste paused by the side of Sloper to get a last +glimpse of the cabin. The smoke curled up pathetically from the +Yukon stovepipe. The two Incapables were watching them from the +doorway. + +Sloper laid his hand on the other's shoulder. + +'Jacques Baptiste, did you ever hear of the Kilkenny cats?' The +half-breed shook his head. + +'Well, my friend and good comrade, the Kilkenny cats fought till +neither hide, nor hair, nor yowl, was left. You understand?--till +nothing was left. Very good. + +Now, these two men don't like work. They'll be all alone in that +cabin all wintera mighty long, dark winter. Kilkenny cats--well?' +The Frenchman in Baptiste shrugged his shoulders, but the Indian +in him was silent. Nevertheless, it was an eloquent shrug, +pregnant with prophecy. Things prospered in the little cabin at +first. The rough badinage of their comrades had made Weatherbee +and Cuthfert conscious of the mutual responsibility which had +devolved upon them; besides, there was not so much work after all +for two healthy men. And the removal of the cruel whiphand, or in +other words the bulldozing half-breed, had brought with it a +joyous reaction. At first, each strove to outdo the other, and +they performed petty tasks with an unction which would have +opened the eyes of their comrades who were now wearing out bodies +and souls on the Long Trail. + +All care was banished. The forest, which shouldered in upon them +from three sides, was an inexhaustible woodyard. A few yards from +their door slept the Porcupine, and a hole through its winter +robe formed a bubbling spring of water, crystal clear and +painfully cold. But they soon grew to find fault with even that. +The hole would persist in freezing up, and thus gave them many a +miserable hour of ice-chopping. The unknown builders of the cabin +had extended the sidelogs so as to support a cache at the rear. +In this was stored the bulk of the party's provisions. + +Food there was, without stint, for three times the men who were +fated to live upon it. But the most of it was the kind which +built up brawn and sinew, but did not tickle the palate. + +True, there was sugar in plenty for two ordinary men; but these +two were little else than children. They early discovered the +virtues of hot water judiciously saturated with sugar, and they +prodigally swam their flapjacks and soaked their crusts in the +rich, white syrup. + +Then coffee and tea, and especially the dried fruits, made +disastrous inroads upon it. The first words they had were over +the sugar question. And it is a really serious thing when two +men, wholly dependent upon each other for company, begin to +quarrel. + +Weatherbee loved to discourse blatantly on politics, while +Cuthfert, who had been prone to clip his coupons and let the +commonwealth jog on as best it might, either ignored the subject +or delivered himself of startling epigrams. But the clerk was too +obtuse to appreciate the clever shaping of thought, and this +waste of ammunition irritated Cuthfert. + +He had been used to blinding people by his brilliancy, and it +worked him quite a hardship, this loss of an audience. He felt +personally aggrieved and unconsciously held his muttonhead +companion responsible for it. + +Save existence, they had nothing in common--came in touch on no +single point. + +Weatherbee was a clerk who had known naught but clerking all his +life; Cuthfert was a master of arts, a dabbler in oils, and had +written not a little. The one was a lower-class man who +considered himself a gentleman, and the other was a gentleman who +knew himself to be such. From this it may be remarked that a man +can be a gentleman without possessing the first instinct of true +comradeship. The clerk was as sensuous as the other was +aesthetic, and his love adventures, told at great length and +chiefly coined from his imagination, affected the supersensitive +master of arts in the same way as so many whiffs of sewer gas. He +deemed the clerk a filthy, uncultured brute, whose place was in +the muck with the swine, and told him so; and he was reciprocally +informed that he was a milk-andwater sissy and a cad. Weatherbee +could not have defined 'cad' for his life; but it satisfied its +purpose, which after all seems the main point in life. + +Weatherbee flatted every third note and sang such songs as 'The +Boston Burglar' and 'the Handsome Cabin Boy,' for hours at a +time, while Cuthfert wept with rage, till he could stand it no +longer and fled into the outer cold. But there was no escape. The +intense frost could not be endured for long at a time, and the +little cabin crowded them--beds, stove, table, and all--into a +space of ten by twelve. The very presence of either became a +personal affront to the other, and they lapsed into sullen +silences which increased in length and strength as the days went +by. Occasionally, the flash of an eye or the curl of a lip got +the better of them, though they strove to wholly ignore each +other during these mute periods. + +And a great wonder sprang up in the breast of each, as to how God +had ever come to create the other. + +With little to do, time became an intolerable burden to them. +This naturally made them still lazier. They sank into a physical +lethargy which there was no escaping, and which made them rebel +at the performance of the smallest chore. One morning when it was +his turn to cook the common breakfast, Weatherbee rolled out of +his blankets, and to the snoring of his companion, lighted first +the slush lamp and then the fire. The kettles were frozen hard, +and there was no water in the cabin with which to wash. But he +did not mind that. Waiting for it to thaw, he sliced the bacon +and plunged into the hateful task of bread-making. Cuthfert had +been slyly watching through his half-closed lids. + +Consequently there was a scene, in which they fervently blessed +each other, and agreed, henceforth, that each do his own +cooking. A week later, Cuthfert neglected his morning ablutions, +but none the less complacently ate the meal which he had cooked. +Weatherbee grinned. After that the foolish custom of washing +passed out of their lives. + +As the sugar-pile and other little luxuries dwindled, they began +to be afraid they were not getting their proper shares, and in +order that they might not be robbed, they fell to gorging +themselves. The luxuries suffered in this gluttonous contest, as +did also the men. + +In the absence of fresh vegetables and exercise, their blood +became impoverished, and a loathsome, purplish rash crept over +their bodies. Yet they refused to heed the warning. + +Next, their muscles and joints began to swell, the flesh turning +black, while their mouths, gums, and lips took on the color of +rich cream. Instead of being drawn together by their misery, each +gloated over the other's symptoms as the scurvy took its course. + +They lost all regard for personal appearance, and for that +matter, common decency. The cabin became a pigpen, and never once +were the beds made or fresh pine boughs laid underneath. Yet they +could not keep to their blankets, as they would have wished; for +the frost was inexorable, and the fire box consumed much fuel. +The hair of their heads and faces grew long and shaggy, while +their garments would have disgusted a ragpicker. But they did not +care. They were sick, and there was no one to see; besides, it +was very painful to move about. + +To all this was added a new trouble--the Fear of the North. This +Fear was the joint child of the Great Cold and the Great Silence, +and was born in the darkness of December, when the sun dipped +below the horizon for good. It affected them according to their +natures. + +Weatherbee fell prey to the grosser superstitions, and did his +best to resurrect the spirits which slept in the forgotten +graves. It was a fascinating thing, and in his dreams they came +to him from out of the cold, and snuggled into his blankets, and +told him of their toils and troubles ere they died. He shrank +away from the clammy contact as they drew closer and twined their +frozen limbs about him, and when they whispered in his ear of +things to come, the cabin rang with his frightened shrieks. +Cuthfert did not understand- for they no longer spoke--and when +thus awakened he invariably grabbed for his revolver. Then he +would sit up in bed, shivering nervously, with the weapon trained +on the unconscious dreamer. Cuthfert deemed the man going mad, +and so came to fear for his life. + +His own malady assumed a less concrete form. The mysterious +artisan who had laid the cabin, log by log, had pegged a +wind-vane to the ridgepole. Cuthfert noticed it always pointed +south, and one day, irritated by its steadfastness of purpose, he +turned it toward the east. He watched eagerly, but never a breath +came by to disturb it. Then he turned the vane to the north, +swearing never again to touch it till the wind did blow. But the +air frightened him with its unearthly calm, and he often rose in +the middle of the night to see if the vane had veered--ten +degrees would have satisfied him. But no, it poised above him as +unchangeable as fate. + +His imagination ran riot, till it became to him a fetish. +Sometimes he followed the path it pointed across the dismal +dominions, and allowed his soul to become saturated with the +Fear. He dwelt upon the unseen and the unknown till the burden of +eternity appeared to be crushing him. Everything in the +Northland had that crushing effect--the absence of life and +motion; the darkness; the infinite peace of the brooding land; +the ghastly silence, which made the echo of each heartbeat a +sacrilege; the solemn forest which seemed to guard an awful, +inexpressible something, which neither word nor thought could +compass. + +The world he had so recently left, with its busy nations and +great enterprises, seemed very far away. Recollections +occasionally obtruded--recollections of marts and galleries and +crowded thoroughfares, of evening dress and social functions, of +good men and dear women he had known--but they were dim memories +of a life he had lived long centuries agone, on some other +planet. This phantasm was the Reality. Standing beneath the +wind- vane, his eyes fixed on the polar skies, he could not bring +himself to realize that the Southland really existed, that at +that very moment it was a-roar with life and action. + +There was no Southland, no men being born of women, no giving and +taking in marriage. + +Beyond his bleak skyline there stretched vast solitudes, and +beyond these still vaster solitudes. + +There were no lands of sunshine, heavy with the perfume of +flowers. Such things were only old dreams of paradise. The +sunlands of the West and the spicelands of the East, the smiling +Arcadias and blissful Islands of the Blest--ha! ha! His laughter +split the void and shocked him with its unwonted sound. There was +no sun. + +This was the Universe, dead and cold and dark, and he its only +citizen. Weatherbee? At such moments Weatherbee did not count. He +was a Caliban, a monstrous phantom, fettered to him for untold +ages, the penalty of some forgotten crime. + +He lived with Death among the dead, emasculated by the sense of +his own insignificance, crushed by the passive mastery of the +slumbering ages. The magnitude of all things appalled him. +Everything partook of the superlative save himself--the perfect +cessation of wind and motion, the immensity of the snow-covered +wildness, the height of the sky and the depth of the silence. +That wind-vaneif it would only move. If a thunderbolt would fall, +or the forest flare up in flame. + +The rolling up of the heavens as a scroll, the crash of +Doom--anything, anything! But no, nothing moved; the Silence +crowded in, and the Fear of the North laid icy fingers on his +heart. + +Once, like another Crusoe, by the edge of the river he came upon +a track--the faint tracery of a snowshoe rabbit on the delicate +snow-crust. It was a revelation. + +There was life in the Northland. He would follow it, look upon +it, gloat over it. + +He forgot his swollen muscles, plunging through the deep snow in +an ecstasy of anticipation. The forest swallowed him up, and the +brief midday twilight vanished; but he pursued his quest till +exhausted nature asserted itself and laid him helpless in the +snow. + +There he groaned and cursed his folly, and knew the track to be +the fancy of his brain; and late that night he dragged himself +into the cabin on hands and knees, his cheeks frozen and a +strange numbness about his feet. Weatherbee grinned +malevolently, but made no offer to help him. He thrust needles +into his toes and thawed them out by the stove. A week later +mortification set in. + +But the clerk had his own troubles. The dead men came out of +their graves more frequently now, and rarely left him, waking or +sleeping. He grew to wait and dread their coming, never passing +the twin cairns without a shudder. One night they came to him in +his sleep and led him forth to an appointed task. Frightened into +inarticulate horror, he awoke between the heaps of stones and +fled wildly to the cabin. But he had lain there for some time, +for his feet and cheeks were also frozen. + +Sometimes he became frantic at their insistent presence, and +danced about the cabin, cutting the empty air with an axe, and +smashing everything within reach. + +During these ghostly encounters, Cuthfert huddled into his +blankets and followed the madman about with a cocked revolver, +ready to shoot him if he came too near. + +But, recovering from one of these spells, the clerk noticed the +weapon trained upon him. + +His suspicions were aroused, and thenceforth he, too, lived in +fear of his life. They watched each other closely after that, and +faced about in startled fright whenever either passed behind the +other's back. The apprehensiveness became a mania which +controlled them even in their sleep. Through mutual fear they +tacitly let the slush-lamp burn all night, and saw to a plentiful +supply of bacon-grease before retiring. The slightest movement on +the part of one was sufficient to arouse the other, and many a +still watch their gazes countered as they shook beneath their +blankets with fingers on the trigger- guards. + +What with the Fear of the North, the mental strain, and the +ravages of the disease, they lost all semblance of humanity, +taking on the appearance of wild beasts, hunted and desperate. +Their cheeks and noses, as an aftermath of the freezing, had +turned black. + +Their frozen toes had begun to drop away at the first and second +joints. Every movement brought pain, but the fire box was +insatiable, wringing a ransom of torture from their miserable +bodies. Day in, day out, it demanded its food--a veritable pound +of flesh--and they dragged themselves into the forest to chop +wood on their knees. Once, crawling thus in search of dry sticks, +unknown to each other they entered a thicket from opposite sides. + +Suddenly, without warning, two peering death's-heads confronted +each other. Suffering had so transformed them that recognition +was impossible. They sprang to their feet, shrieking with terror, +and dashed away on their mangled stumps; and falling at the +cabin's door, they clawed and scratched like demons till they +discovered their mistake. + +Occasionally they lapsed normal, and during one of these sane +intervals, the chief bone of contention, the sugar, had been +divided equally between them. They guarded their separate sacks, +stored up in the cache, with jealous eyes; for there were but a +few cupfuls left, and they were totally devoid of faith in each +other. + +But one day Cuthfert made a mistake. Hardly able to move, sick +with pain, with his head swimming and eyes blinded, he crept into +the cache, sugar canister in hand, and mistook Weatherbee's sack +for his own. + +January had been born but a few days when this occurred. The sun +had some time since passed its lowest southern declination, and +at meridian now threw flaunting streaks of yellow light upon the +northern sky. On the day following his mistake with the sugarbag, +Cuthfert found himself feeling better, both in body and in +spirit. As noontime drew near and the day brightened, he dragged +himself outside to feast on the evanescent glow, which was to him +an earnest of the sun's future intentions. Weatherbee was also +feeling somewhat better, and crawled out beside him. They propped +themselves in the snow beneath the moveless windvane, and waited. + +The stillness of death was about them. In other climes, when +nature falls into such moods, there is a subdued air of +expectancy, a waiting for some small voice to take up the broken +strain. Not so in the North. The two men had lived seeming eons +in this ghostly peace. + +They could remember no song of the past; they could conjure no +song of the future. This unearthly calm had always been--the +tranquil silence of eternity. + +Their eyes were fixed upon the north. Unseen, behind their backs, +behind the towering mountains to the south, the sun swept toward +the zenith of another sky than theirs. Sole spectators of the +mighty canvas, they watched the false dawn slowly grow. A faint +flame began to glow and smoulder. It deepened in intensity, +ringing the changes of reddish- yellow, purple, and saffron. So +bright did it become that Cuthfert thought the sun must surely be +behind it--a miracle, the sun rising in the north! Suddenly, +without warning and without fading, the canvas was swept clean. +There was no color in the sky. The light had gone out of the day. + +They caught their breaths in half-sobs. But lo! the air was +aglint with particles of scintillating frost, and there, to the +north, the wind-vane lay in vague outline of the snow. + +A shadow! A shadow! It was exactly midday. They jerked their +heads hurriedly to the south. A golden rim peeped over the +mountain's snowy shoulder, smiled upon them an instant, then +dipped from sight again. + +There were tears in their eyes as they sought each other. A +strange softening came over them. They felt irresistibly drawn +toward each other. The sun was coming back again. It would be +with them tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. + +And it would stay longer every visit, and a time would come when +it would ride their heaven day and night, never once dropping +below the skyline. There would be no night. + +The ice-locked winter would be broken; the winds would blow and +the forests answer; the land would bathe in the blessed sunshine, +and life renew. + +Hand in hand, they would quit this horrid dream and journey back +to the Southland. They lurched blindly forward, and their hands +met--their poor maimed hands, swollen and distorted beneath their +mittens. + +But the promise was destined to remain unfulfilled. The +Northland is the Northland, and men work out their souls by +strange rules, which other men, who have not journeyed into far +countries, cannot come to understand. + +An hour later, Cuthfert put a pan of bread into the oven, and +fell to speculating on what the surgeons could do with his feet +when he got back. Home did not seem so very far away now. +Weatherbee was rummaging in the cache. Of a sudden, he raised a +whirlwind of blasphemy, which in turn ceased with startling +abruptness. The other man had robbed his sugar-sack. Still, +things might have happened differently, had not the two dead men +come out from under the stones and hushed the hot words in his +throat. They led him quite gently from the cache, which he forgot +to close. That consummation was reached; that something they had +whispered to him in his dreams was about to happen. They guided +him gently, very gently, to the woodpile, where they put the axe +in his hands. + +Then they helped him shove open the cabin door, and he felt sure +they shut it after him- at least he heard it slam and the latch +fall sharply into place. And he knew they were waiting just +without, waiting for him to do his task. + +'Carter! I say, Carter!' Percy Cuthfert was frightened at the +look on the clerk's face, and he made haste to put the table +between them. + +Carter Weatherbee followed, without haste and without enthusiasm. +There was neither pity nor passion in his face, but rather the +patient, stolid look of one who has certain work to do and goes +about it methodically. + +'I say, what's the matter?' + +The clerk dodged back, cutting off his retreat to the door, but +never opening his mouth. + +'I say, Carter, I say; let's talk. There's a good chap.' The +master of arts was thinking rapidly, now, shaping a skillful +flank movement on the bed where his Smith & Wesson lay. Keeping +his eyes on the madman, he rolled backward on the bunk, at the +same time clutching the pistol. + +'Carter!' The powder flashed full in Weatherbee's face, but he +swung his weapon and leaped forward. The axe bit deeply at the +base of the spine, and Percy Cuthfert felt all consciousness of +his lower limbs leave him. Then the clerk fell heavily upon him, +clutching him by the throat with feeble fingers. The sharp bite +of the axe had caused Cuthfert to drop the pistol, and as his +lungs panted for release, he fumbled aimlessly for it among the +blankets. Then he remembered. He slid a hand up the clerk's belt +to the sheath-knife; and they drew very close to each other in +that last clinch. + +Percy Cuthfert felt his strength leave him. The lower portion of +his body was useless, The inert weight of Weatherbee crushed +him--crushed him and pinned him there like a bear under a trap. +The cabin became filled with a familiar odor, and he knew the +bread to be burning. Yet what did it matter? He would never need +it. And there were all of six cupfuls of sugar in the cache--if +he had foreseen this he would not have been so saving the last +several days. Would the wind-vane ever move? Why not' Had he not +seen the sun today? He would go and see. No; it was impossible to +move. He had not thought the clerk so heavy a man. + +How quickly the cabin cooled! The fire must be out. The cold was +forcing in. + +It must be below zero already, and the ice creeping up the inside +of the door. He could not see it, but his past experience enabled +him to gauge its progress by the cabin's temperature. The lower +hinge must be white ere now. Would the tale of this ever reach +the world? How would his friends take it? They would read it over +their coffee, most likely, and talk it over at the clubs. He +could see them very clearly, 'Poor Old Cuthfert,' + +they murmured; 'not such a bad sort of a chap, after all.' He +smiled at their eulogies, and passed on in search of a Turkish +bath. It was the same old crowd upon the streets. + +Strange, they did not notice his moosehide moccasins and tattered +German socks! He would take a cab. And after the bath a shave +would not be bad. No; he would eat first. + +Steak, and potatoes, and green things how fresh it all was! And +what was that? Squares of honey, streaming liquid amber! But why +did they bring so much? Ha! ha! he could never eat it all. + +Shine! Why certainly. He put his foot on the box. The bootblack +looked curiously up at him, and he remembered his moosehide +moccasins and went away hastily. + +Hark! The wind-vane must be surely spinning. No; a mere singing +in his ears. + +That was all--a mere singing. The ice must have passed the latch +by now. More likely the upper hinge was covered. Between the +moss-chinked roof-poles, little points of frost began to appear. +How slowly they grew! No; not so slowly. There was a new one, and +there another. Two--three--four; they were coming too fast to +count. There were two growing together. And there, a third had +joined them. + +Why, there were no more spots. They had run together and formed a +sheet. + +Well, he would have company. If Gabriel ever broke the silence of +the North, they would stand together, hand in hand, before the +great White Throne. And God would judge them, God would judge +them! + +Then Percy Cuthfert closed his eyes and dropped off to sleep. + + To the Man on the Trail 'Dump it in!.' 'But I say, Kid, isn't +that going it a little too strong' Whisky and alcohol's bad +enough; but when it comes to brandy and pepper sauce and-' 'Dump +it in. Who's making this punch, anyway?' And Malemute Kid smiled +benignantly through the clouds of steam. 'By the time you've been +in this country as long as I have, my son, and lived on rabbit +tracks and salmon belly, you'll learn that Christmas comes only +once per annum. + +And a Christmas without punch is sinking a hole to bedrock with +nary a pay streak.' + +'Stack up on that fer a high cyard,' approved Big Jim Belden, who +had come down from his claim on Mazy May to spend Christmas, and +who, as everyone knew, had been living the two months past on +straight moose meat. 'Hain't fergot the hooch we-uns made on the +Tanana, hey yeh?' 'Well, I guess yes. Boys, it would have done +your hearts good to see that whole tribe fighting drunk--and all +because of a glorious ferment of sugar and sour dough. That was +before your time,' Malemute Kid said as he turned to Stanley +Prince, a young mining expert who had been in two years. 'No +white women in the country then, and Mason wanted to get married. +Ruth's father was chief of the Tananas, and objected, like the +rest of the tribe. Stiff? Why, I used my last pound of sugar; +finest work in that line I ever did in my life. You should have +seen the chase, down the river and across the portage.' 'But the +squaw?' asked Louis Savoy, the tall French Canadian, becoming +interested; for he had heard of this wild deed when at Forty Mile +the preceding winter. + +Then Malemute Kid, who was a born raconteur, told the unvarnished +tale of the Northland Lochinvar. More than one rough adventurer +of the North felt his heartstrings draw closer and experienced +vague yearnings for the sunnier pastures of the Southland, where +life promised something more than a barren struggle with cold and +death. + +'We struck the Yukon just behind the first ice run,' he +concluded, 'and the tribe only a quarter of an hour behind. But +that saved us; for the second run broke the jam above and shut +them out. When they finally got into Nuklukyeto, the whole post +was ready for them. + +And as to the forgathering, ask Father Roubeau here: he performed +the ceremony.' The Jesuit took the pipe from his lips but could +only express his gratification with patriarchal smiles, while +Protestant and Catholic vigorously applauded. + +'By gar!' ejaculated Louis Savoy, who seemed overcome by the +romance of it. 'La petite squaw: mon Mason brav. By gar!' Then, +as the first tin cups of punch went round, Bettles the +Unquenchable sprang to his feet and struck up his favorite +drinking song: 'There's Henry Ward Beecher And Sunday-school +teachers, All drink of the sassafras root; But you bet all the +same, If it had its right name, It's the juice of the forbidden +fruit.' + +'Oh, the juice of the forbidden fruit,' roared out the +bacchanalian chorus, 'Oh, the juice of the forbidden fruit; But +you bet all the same, If it had its right name, It's the juice of +the forbidden fruit.' + +Malemute Kid's frightful concoction did its work; the men of the +camps and trails unbent in its genial glow, and jest and song and +tales of past adventure went round the board. + +Aliens from a dozen lands, they toasted each and all. It was the +Englishman, Prince, who pledged 'Uncle Sam, the precocious infant +of the New World'; the Yankee, Bettles, who drank to 'The Queen, +God bless her'; and together, Savoy and Meyers, the German +trader, clanged their cups to Alsace and Lorraine. + +Then Malemute Kid arose, cup in hand, and glanced at the +greased-paper window, where the frost stood full three inches +thick. 'A health to the man on trail this night; may his grub +hold out; may his dogs keep their legs; may his matches never +miss fire.' Crack! + +Crack! heard the familiar music of the dog whip, the whining howl +of the Malemutes, and the crunch of a sled as it drew up to the +cabin. Conversation languished while they waited the issue. + +'An old-timer; cares for his dogs and then himself,' whispered +Malemute Kid to Prince as they listened to the snapping jaws and +the wolfish snarls and yelps of pain which proclaimed to their +practiced ears that the stranger was beating back their dogs +while he fed his own. + +Then came the expected knock, sharp and confident, and the +stranger entered. + +Dazzled by the light, he hesitated a moment at the door, giving +to all a chance for scrutiny. He was a striking personage, and a +most picturesque one, in his Arctic dress of wool and fur. +Standing six foot two or three, with proportionate breadth of +shoulders and depth of chest, his smooth-shaven face nipped by +the cold to a gleaming pink, his long lashes and eyebrows white +with ice, and the ear and neck flaps of his great wolfskin cap +loosely raised, he seemed, of a verity, the Frost King, just +stepped in out of the night. + +Clasped outside his Mackinaw jacket, a beaded belt held two large +Colt's revolvers and a hunting knife, while he carried, in +addition to the inevitable dog whip, a smokeless rifle of the +largest bore and latest pattern. As he came forward, for all his +step was firm and elastic, they could see that fatigue bore +heavily upon him. + +An awkward silence had fallen, but his hearty 'What cheer, my +lads?' put them quickly at ease, and the next instant Malemute +Kid and he had gripped hands. Though they had never met, each had +heard of the other, and the recognition was mutual. A sweeping +introduction and a mug of punch were forced upon him before he +could explain his errand. + +How long since that basket sled, with three men and eight dogs, +passed?' he asked. + +'An even two days ahead. Are you after them?' 'Yes; my team. Run +them off under my very nose, the cusses. I've gained two days on +them already--pick them up on the next run.' 'Reckon they'll show +spunk?' asked Belden, in order to keep up the conversation, for +Malemute Kid already had the coffeepot on and was busily frying +bacon and moose meat. + +The stranger significantly tapped his revolvers. + +'When'd yeh leave Dawson?' 'Twelve o'clock.' 'Last night?'--as a +matter of course. + +'Today.' A murmur of surprise passed round the circle. And well +it might; for it was just midnight, and seventy-five miles of +rough river trail was not to be sneered at for a twelve hours' +run. + +The talk soon became impersonal, however, harking back to the +trails of childhood. As the young stranger ate of the rude fare +Malemute Kid attentively studied his face. Nor was he long in +deciding that it was fair, honest, and open, and that he liked +it. Still youthful, the lines had been firmly traced by toil and +hardship. + +Though genial in conversation, and mild when at rest, the blue +eyes gave promise of the hard steel-glitter which comes when +called into action, especially against odds. The heavy jaw and +square-cut chin demonstrated rugged pertinacity and +indomitability. Nor, though the attributes of the lion were +there, was there wanting the certain softness, the hint of +womanliness, which bespoke the emotional nature. + +'So thet's how me an' the ol' woman got spliced,' said Belden, +concluding the exciting tale of his courtship. '"Here we be, +Dad," sez she. "An' may yeh be damned," sez he to her, an' then +to me, ''Jim, yeh-yeh git outen them good duds o' yourn; I want a +right peart slice o' thet forty acre plowed 'fore dinner." An' +then he sort o' sniffled an' kissed her. An' I was thet +happy--but he seen me an' roars out, ''Yeh, Jim!' An' yeh bet I +dusted fer the barn.' 'Any kids waiting for you back in the +States?' asked the stranger. + +'Nope; Sal died 'fore any come. Thet's why I'm here.' Belden +abstractedly began to light his pipe, which had failed to go out, +and then brightened up with, 'How 'bout yerself, +stranger--married man?' For reply, he opened his watch, slipped +it from the thong which served for a chain, and passed it over. +Belden picked up the slush lamp, surveyed the inside of the case +critically, and, swearing admiringly to himself, handed it over +to Louis Savoy. With numerous 'By gars!' he finally surrendered +it to Prince, and they noticed that his hands trembled and his +eyes took on a peculiar softness. And so it passed from horny +hand to horny hand--the pasted photograph of a woman, the +clinging kind that such men fancy, with a babe at the breast. +Those who had not yet seen the wonder were keen with curiosity; +those who had became silent and retrospective. They could face +the pinch of famine, the grip of scurvy, or the quick death by +field or flood; but the pictured semblance of a stranger woman +and child made women and children of them all. + +'Never have seen the youngster yet--he's a boy, she says, and two +years old,' said the stranger as he received the treasure back. A +lingering moment he gazed upon it, then snapped the case and +turned away, but not quick enough to hide the restrained rush of +tears. Malemute Kid led him to a bunk and bade him turn in. + +'Call me at four sharp. Don't fail me,' were his last words, and +a moment later he was breathing in the heaviness of exhausted +sleep. + +'By Jove! He's a plucky chap,' commented Prince. 'Three hours' +sleep after seventy-five miles with the dogs, and then the trail +again. Who is he, Kid?' 'Jack Westondale. Been in going on three +years, with nothing but the name of working like a horse, and any +amount of bad luck to his credit. I never knew him, but Sitka +Charley told me about him.' 'It seems hard that a man with a +sweet young wife like his should be putting in his years in this +Godforsaken hole, where every year counts two on the outside.' +'The trouble with him is clean grit and stubbornness. He's +cleaned up twice with a stake, but lost it both times.' Here the +conversation was broken off by an uproar from Bettles, for the +effect had begun to wear away. And soon the bleak years of +monotonous grub and deadening toil were being forgotten in rough +merriment. Malemute Kid alone seemed unable to lose himself, and +cast many an anxious look at his watch. Once he put on his +mittens and beaver-skin cap, and, leaving the cabin, fell to +rummaging about in the cache. + +Nor could he wait the hour designated; for he was fifteen minutes +ahead of time in rousing his guest. The young giant had stiffened +badly, and brisk rubbing was necessary to bring him to his feet. +He tottered painfully out of the cabin, to find his dogs +harnessed and everything ready for the start. The company wished +him good luck and a short chase, while Father Roubeau, hurriedly +blessing him, led the stampede for the cabin; and small wonder, +for it is not good to face seventy-four degrees below zero with +naked ears and hands. + +Malemute Kid saw him to the main trail, and there, gripping his +hand heartily, gave him advice. + +'You'll find a hundred pounds of salmon eggs on the sled,' he +said. 'The dogs will go as far on that as with one hundred and +fifty of fish, and you can't get dog food at Pelly, as you +probably expected.' The stranger started, and his eyes flashed, +but he did not interrupt. 'You can't get an ounce of food for dog +or man till you reach Five Fingers, and that's a stiff two +hundred miles. Watch out for open water on the Thirty Mile River, +and be sure you take the big cutoff above Le Barge.' 'How did you +know it? Surely the news can't be ahead of me already?' 'I don't +know it; and what's more, I don't want to know it. + +But you never owned that team you're chasing. Sitka Charley sold +it to them last spring. + +But he sized you up to me as square once, and I believe him. I've +seen your face; I like it. + +And I've seen--why, damn you, hit the high places for salt water +and that wife of yours, and-' Here the Kid unmittened and jerked +out his sack. + +'No; I don't need it,' and the tears froze on his cheeks as he +convulsively gripped Malemute Kid's hand. + +'Then don't spare the dogs; cut them out of the traces as fast as +they drop; buy them, and think they're cheap at ten dollars a +pound. You can get them at Five Fingers, Little Salmon, and +Hootalinqua. And watch out for wet feet,' was his parting advice. +'Keep a- traveling up to twenty-five, but if it gets below that, +build a fire and change your socks.' + +Fifteen minutes had barely elapsed when the jingle of bells +announced new arrivals. The door opened, and a mounted policeman +of the Northwest Territory entered, followed by two half-breed +dog drivers. Like Westondale, they were heavily armed and showed +signs of fatigue. The half-breeds had been borne to the trail and +bore it easily; but the young policeman was badly exhausted. +Still, the dogged obstinacy of his race held him to the pace he +had set, and would hold him till he dropped in his tracks. + +'When did Westondale pull out?' he asked. 'He stopped here, +didn't he?' This was supererogatory, for the tracks told their +own tale too well. + +Malemute Kid had caught Belden's eye, and he, scenting the wind, +replied evasively, 'A right peart while back.' 'Come, my man; +speak up,' the policeman admonished. + +'Yeh seem to want him right smart. Hez he ben gittin' +cantankerous down Dawson way?' + +'Held up Harry McFarland's for forty thousand; exchanged it at +the P.C. store for a check on Seattle; and who's to stop the +cashing of it if we don't overtake him? When did he pull out?' + +Every eye suppressed its excitement, for Malemute Kid had given +the cue, and the young officer encountered wooden faces on every +hand. + +Striding over to Prince, he put the question to him. Though it +hurt him, gazing into the frank, earnest face. of his fellow +countryman, he replied inconsequentially on the state of the +trail. + +Then he espied Father Roubeau, who could not lie. 'A quarter of +an hour ago,' the priest answered; 'but he had four hours' rest +for himself and dogs.' 'Fifteen minutes' start, and he's fresh! +My God!' The poor fellow staggered back, half fainting from +exhaustion and disappointment, murmuring something about the run +from Dawson in ten hours and the dogs being played out. + +Malemute Kid forced a mug of punch upon him; then he turned for +the door, ordering the dog drivers to follow. But the warmth and +promise of rest were too tempting, and they objected strenuously. +The Kid was conversant with their French patois, and followed it +anxiously. + +They swore that the dogs were gone up; that Siwash and Babette +would have to be shot before the first mile was covered; that the +rest were almost as bad; and that it would be better for all +hands to rest up. + +'Lend me five dogs?' he asked, turning to Malemute Kid. + +But the Kid shook his head. + +'I'll sign a check on Captain Constantine for five +thousand--here's my papersI'm authorized to draw at my own +discretion.' + +Again the silent refusal. + +'Then I'll requisition them in the name of the Queen.' Smiling +incredulously, the Kid glanced at his well-stocked arsenal, and +the Englishman, realizing his impotency, turned for the door. But +the dog drivers still objecting, he whirled upon them fiercely, +calling them women and curs. The swart face of the older +half-breed flushed angrily as he drew himself up and promised in +good, round terms that he would travel his leader off his legs, +and would then be delighted to plant him in the snow. + +The young officer--and it required his whole will--walked +steadily to the door, exhibiting a freshness he did not possess. +But they all knew and appreciated his proud effort; nor could he +veil the twinges of agony that shot across his face. Covered with +frost, the dogs were curled up in the snow, and it was almost +impossible to get them to their feet. The poor brutes whined +under the stinging lash, for the dog drivers were angry and +cruel; nor till Babette, the leader, was cut from the traces, +could they break out the sled and get under way. + +'A dirty scoundrel and a liar!' 'By gar! Him no good!' 'A thief!' +'Worse than an Indian!' + +It was evident that they were angry--first at the way they had +been deceived; and second at the outraged ethics of the +Northland, where honesty, above all, was man's prime jewel. + +'An' we gave the cuss a hand, after knowin' what he'd did.' All +eyes turned accusingly upon Malemute Kid, who rose from the +corner where he had been making Babette comfortable, and silently +emptied the bowl for a final round of punch. + +'It's a cold night, boys--a bitter cold night,' was the +irrelevant commencement of his defense. 'You've all traveled +trail, and know what that stands for. Don't jump a dog when he's +down. You've only heard one side. A whiter man than Jack +Westondale never ate from the same pot nor stretched blanket with +you or me. + +Last fall he gave his whole clean-up, forty thousand, to Joe +Castrell, to buy in on Dominion. Today he'd be a millionaire. +But, while he stayed behind at Circle City, taking care of his +partner with the scurvy, what does Castell do? Goes into +McFarland's, jumps the limit, and drops the whole sack. Found him +dead in the snow the next day. And poor Jack laying his plans to +go out this winter to his wife and the boy he's never seen. +You'll notice he took exactly what his partner lostforty +thousand. Well, he's gone out; and what are you going to do about +it?' The Kid glanced round the circle of his judges, noted the +softening of their faces, then raised his mug aloft. 'So a health +to the man on trail this night; may his grub hold out; may his +dogs keep their legs; may his matches never miss fire. + +God prosper him; good luck go with him; and --' 'Confusion to the +Mounted Police!' + +cried Bettles, to the crash of the empty cups. + + The Priestly Prerogative This is the story of a man who did not +appreciate his wife; also, of a woman who did him too great an +honor when she gave herself to him. Incidentally, it concerns a +Jesuit priest who had never been known to lie. He was an +appurtenance, and a very necessary one, to the Yukon country; +but the presence of the other two was merely accidental. They +were specimens of the many strange waifs which ride the breast of +a gold rush or come tailing along behind. + +Edwin Bentham and Grace Bentham were waifs; they were also +tailing along behind, for the Klondike rush of '97 had long since +swept down the great river and subsided into the famine-stricken +city of Dawson. When the Yukon shut up shop and went to sleep +under a three-foot ice-sheet, this peripatetic couple found +themselves at the Five Finger Rapids, with the City of Gold still +a journey of many sleeps to the north. + +Many cattle had been butchered at this place in the fall of the +year, and the offal made a goodly heap. The three fellow-voyagers +of Edwin Bentham and wife gazed upon this deposit, did a little +mental arithmetic, caught a certain glimpse of a bonanza, and +decided to remain. And all winter they sold sacks of bones and +frozen hides to the famished dog- teams. It was a modest price +they asked, a dollar a pound, just as it came. Six months later, +when the sun came back and the Yukon awoke, they buckled on their +heavy moneybelts and journeyed back to the Southland, where they +yet live and lie mightily about the Klondike they never saw. + +But Edwin Bentham--he was an indolent fellow, and had he not been +possessed of a wife, would have gladly joined issued in the +dog-meat speculation. As it was, she played upon his vanity, told +him how great and strong he was, how a man such as he certainly +was could overcome all obstacles and of a surety obtain the +Golden Fleece. So he squared his jaw, sold his share in the bones +and hides for a sled and one dog, and turned his snowshoes to the +north. Needless to state, Grace Bentham's snowshoes never allowed +his tracks to grow cold. Nay, ere their tribulations had seen +three days, it was the man who followed in the rear, and the +woman who broke trail in advance. Of course, if anybody hove in +sight, the position was instantly reversed. Thus did his manhood +remain virgin to the travelers who passed like ghosts on the +silent trail. There are such men in this world. + +How such a man and such a woman came to take each other for +better and for worse is unimportant to this narrative. These +things are familiar to us all, and those people who do them, or +even question them too closely, are apt to lose a beautiful faith +which is known as Eternal Fitness. + +Edwin Bentham was a boy, thrust by mischance into a man's +body,--a boy who could complacently pluck a butterfly, wing from +wing, or cower in abject terror before a lean, nervy fellow, not +half his size. He was a selfish cry-baby, hidden behind a man's +mustache and stature, and glossed over with a skin-deep veneer of +culture and conventionality. Yes; he was a clubman and a society +man,the sort that grace social functions and utter inanities with +a charm and unction which is indescribable; the sort that talk +big, and cry over a toothache; the sort that put more hell into a +woman's life by marrying her than can the most graceless +libertine that ever browsed in forbidden pastures. We meet these +men every day, but we rarely know them for what they are. Second +to marrying them, the best way to get this knowledge is to eat +out of the same pot and crawl under the same blanket with them +for- well, say a week; no greater margin is necessary. + +To see Grace Bentham, was to see a slender, girlish creature; to +know her, was to know a soul which dwarfed your own, yet retained +all the elements of the eternal feminine. This was the woman who +urged and encouraged her husband in his Northland quest, who +broke trail for him when no one was looking, and cried in secret +over her weakling woman's body. + +So journeyed this strangely assorted couple down to old Fort +Selkirk, then through fivescore miles of dismal wilderness to +Stuart River. And when the short day left them, and the man lay +down in the snow and blubbered, it was the woman who lashed him +to the sled, bit her lips with the pain of her aching limbs, and +helped the dog haul him to Malemute Kid's cabin. Malemute Kid +was not at home, but Meyers, the German trader, cooked great +moose-steaks and shook up a bed of fresh pine boughs. Lake, +Langham, and Parker, were excited, and not unduly so when the +cause was taken into account. + +'Oh, Sandy! Say, can you tell a porterhouse from a round? Come +out and lend us a hand, anyway!' This appeal emanated from the +cache, where Langham was vainly struggling with divers quarters +of frozen moose. + +'Don't you budge from those dishes!' commanded Parker. + +'I say, Sandy; there's a good fellow--just run down to the +Missouri Camp and borrow some cinnamon,' begged Lake. + +'Oh! oh! hurry up! Why don't-' But the crash of meat and boxes, +in the cache, abruptly quenched this peremptory summons. + +'Come now, Sandy; it won't take a minute to go down to the +Missouri-' 'You leave him alone,' interrupted Parker. 'How am I +to mix the biscuits if the table isn't cleared off?' + +Sandy paused in indecision, till suddenly the fact that he was +Langham's 'man' dawned upon him. Then he apologetically threw +down the greasy dishcloth, and went to his master's rescue. + +These promising scions of wealthy progenitors had come to the +Northland in search of laurels, with much money to burn, and a +'man' apiece. Luckily for their souls, the other two men were up +the White River in search of a mythical quartzledge; so Sandy had +to grin under the responsibility of three healthy masters, each +of whom was possessed of peculiar cookery ideas. Twice that +morning had a disruption of the whole camp been imminent, only +averted by immense concessions from one or the other of these +knights of the chafing-dish. But at last their mutual creation, a +really dainty dinner, was completed. + +Then they sat down to a three-cornered game of 'cut-throat,'--a +proceeding which did away with all casus belli for future +hostilities, and permitted the victor to depart on a most +important mission. + +This fortune fell to Parker, who parted his hair in the middle, +put on his mittens and bearskin cap, and stepped over to Malemute +Kid's cabin. And when he returned, it was in the company of Grace +Bentham and Malemute Kid,--the former very sorry her husband +could not share with her their hospitality, for he had gone up to +look at the Henderson Creek mines, and the latter still a trifle +stiff from breaking trail down the Stuart River. + +Meyers had been asked, but had declined, being deeply engrossed +in an experiment of raising bread from hops. + +Well, they could do without the husband; but a woman--why they +had not seen one all winter, and the presence of this one +promised a new era in their lives. + +They were college men and gentlemen, these three young fellows, +yearning for the flesh- pots they had been so long denied. +Probably Grace Bentham suffered from a similar hunger; at least, +it meant much to her, the first bright hour in many weeks of +darkness. + +But that wonderful first course, which claimed the versatile Lake +for its parent, had no sooner been served than there came a loud +knock at the door. + +'Oh! Ah! Won't you come in, Mr. Bentham?' said Parker, who had +stepped to see who the newcomer might be. + +'Is my wife here?' gruffly responded that worthy. + +'Why, yes. We left word with Mr. Meyers.' Parker was exerting his +most dulcet tones, inwardly wondering what the deuce it all +meant. 'Won't you come in? Expecting you at any moment, we +reserved a place. And just in time for the first course, too.' +'Come in, Edwin, dear,' chirped Grace Bentham from her seat at +the table. + +Parker naturally stood aside. + +'I want my wife,' reiterated Bentham hoarsely, the intonation +savoring disagreeably of ownership. + +Parker gasped, was within an ace of driving his fist into the +face of his boorish visitor, but held himself awkwardly in check. +Everybody rose. Lake lost his head and caught himself on the +verge of saying, 'Must you go?' Then began the farrago of +leave-taking. 'So nice of you-' 'I am awfully sorry' 'By Jove! +how things did brighten-' 'Really now, you-' + +'Thank you ever so much-' 'Nice trip to Dawson-' etc., etc. + +In this wise the lamb was helped into her jacket and led to the +slaughter. Then the door slammed, and they gazed woefully upon +the deserted table. + +'Damn!' Langham had suffered disadvantages in his early training, +and his oaths were weak and monotonous. 'Damn!' he repeated, +vaguely conscious of the incompleteness and vainly struggling for +a more virile term. It is a clever woman who can fill out the +many weak places in an inefficient man, by her own +indomitability, re-enforce his vacillating nature, infuse her +ambitious soul into his, and spur him on to great achievements. +And it is indeed a very clever and tactful woman who can do all +this, and do it so subtly that the man receives all the credit +and believes in his inmost heart that everything is due to him +and him alone. + +This is what Grace Bentham proceeded to do. Arriving in Dawson +with a few pounds of flour and several letters of introduction, +she at once applied herself to the task of pushing her big baby +to the fore. It was she who melted the stony heart and wrung +credit from the rude barbarian who presided over the destiny of +the P. C. Company; yet it was Edwin Bentham to whom the +concession was ostensibly granted. It was she who dragged her +baby up and down creeks, over benches and divides, and on a dozen +wild stampedes; yet everybody remarked what an energetic fellow +that Bentham was. It was she who studied maps, and catechised +miners, and hammered geography and locations into his hollow +head, till everybody marveled at his broad grasp of the country +and knowledge of its conditions. Of course, they said the wife +was a brick, and only a few wise ones appreciated and pitied the +brave little woman. + +She did the work; he got the credit and reward. In the Northwest +Territory a married woman cannot stake or record a creek, bench, +or quartz claim; so Edwin Bentham went down to the Gold +Commissioner and filed on Bench Claim 23, second tier, of French +Hill. And when April came they were washing out a thousand +dollars a day, with many, many such days in prospect. + +At the base of French Hill lay Eldorado Creek, and on a creek +claim stood the cabin of Clyde Wharton. At present he was not +washing out a diurnal thousand dollars; but his dumps grew, shift +by shift, and there would come a time when those dumps would pass +through his sluice-boxes, depositing in the riffles, in the +course of half a dozen days, several hundred thousand dollars. He +often sat in that cabin, smoked his pipe, and dreamed beautiful +little dreams,--dreams in which neither the dumps nor the +half-ton of dust in the P. C. Company's big safe, played a part. + +And Grace Bentham, as she washed tin dishes in her hillside +cabin, often glanced down into Eldorado Creek, and dreamed,--not +of dumps nor dust, however. They met frequently, as the trail to +the one claim crossed the other, and there is much to talk about +in the Northland spring; but never once, by the light of an eye +nor the slip of a tongue, did they speak their hearts. + +This is as it was at first. But one day Edwin Bentham was brutal. +All boys are thus; besides, being a French Hill king now, he +began to think a great deal of himself and to forget all he owed +to his wife. On this day, Wharton heard of it, and waylaid Grace +Bentham, and talked wildly. This made her very happy, though she +would not listen, and made him promise to not say such things +again. Her hour had not come. + +But the sun swept back on its northern journey, the black of +midnight changed to the steely color of dawn, the snow slipped +away, the water dashed again over the glacial drift, and the +wash-up began. Day and night the yellow clay and scraped bedrock +hurried through the swift sluices, yielding up its ransom to the +strong men from the Southland. + +And in that time of tumult came Grace Bentham's hour. + +To all of us such hours at some time come,--that is, to us who +are not too phlegmatic. + +Some people are good, not from inherent love of virtue, but from +sheer laziness. But those of us who know weak moments may +understand. + +Edwin Bentham was weighing dust over the bar of the saloon at the +Forks--altogether too much of his dust went over that pine +board--when his wife came down the hill and slipped into Clyde +Wharton's cabin. Wharton was not expecting her, but that did not +alter the case. And much subsequent misery and idle waiting might +have been avoided, had not Father Roubeau seen this and turned +aside from the main creek trail. 'My child,-' 'Hold on, Father +Roubeau! Though I'm not of your faith, I respect you; but you +can't come in between this woman and me!' 'You know what you are +doing?' 'Know! Were you God Almighty, ready to fling me into +eternal fire, I'd bank my will against yours in this matter.' +Wharton had placed Grace on a stool and stood belligerently +before her. + +'You sit down on that chair and keep quiet,' he continued, +addressing the Jesuit. 'I'll take my innings now. You can have +yours after.' + +Father Roubeau bowed courteously and obeyed. He was an easy-going +man and had learned to bide his time. Wharton pulled a stool +alongside the woman's, smothering her hand in his. + +'Then you do care for me, and will take me away?' Her face seemed +to reflect the peace of this man, against whom she might draw +close for shelter. + +'Dear, don't you remember what I said before? Of course I-' 'But +how can you?--the wash-up?' 'Do you think that worries? Anyway, +I'll give the job to Father Roubeau, here. + +I can trust him to safely bank the dust with the company.' 'To +think of it!--I'll never see him again.' 'A blessing!' 'And to +go--O, Clyde, I can't! I can't!' 'There, there; of course you +can. just let me plan it.--You see, as soon as we get a few traps +together, we'll start, and-' 'Suppose he comes back?' 'I'll break +every-' 'No, no! No fighting, Clyde! Promise me that.' 'All +right! I'll just tell the men to throw him off the claim. They've +seen how he's treated you, and haven't much love for him.' + +'You mustn't do that. You mustn't hurt him.' 'What then? Let him +come right in here and take you away before my eyes?' 'No-o,' she +half whispered, stroking his hand softly. + +'Then let me run it, and don't worry. I'll see he doesn't get +hurt. Precious lot he cared whether you got hurt or not! We won't +go back to Dawson. I'll send word down for a couple of the boys +to outfit and pole a boat up the Yukon. We'll cross the divide +and raft down the Indian River to meet them. Then-' 'And then?' +Her head was on his shoulder. + +Their voices sank to softer cadences, each word a caress. The +Jesuit fidgeted nervously. + +'And then?' she repeated. + +'Why we'll pole up, and up, and up, and portage the White Horse +Rapids and the Box Canon.' 'Yes?' 'And the Sixty-Mile River; then +the lakes, Chilcoot, Dyea, and Salt Water.' 'But, dear, I can't +pole a boat.' 'You little goose! I'll get Sitka Charley; he knows +all the good water and best camps, and he is the best traveler I +ever met, if he is an Indian. All you'll have to do, is to sit in +the middle of the boat, and sing songs, and play Cleopatra, and +fight--no, we're in luck; too early for mosquitoes.' + +'And then, O my Antony?' 'And then a steamer, San Francisco, and +the world! Never to come back to this cursed hole again. Think of +it! The world, and ours to choose from! I'll sell out. Why, we're +rich! The Waldworth Syndicate will give me half a million for +what's left in the ground, and I've got twice as much in the +dumps and with the P. C. + +Company. We'll go to the Fair in Paris in 1900. We'll go to +Jerusalem, if you say so. + +We'll buy an Italian palace, and you can play Cleopatra to your +heart's content. No, you shall be Lucretia, Acte, or anybody your +little heart sees fit to become. But you mustn't, you really +mustn't-' 'The wife of Caesar shall be above reproach.' 'Of +course, but-' 'But I won't be your wife, will I, dear?' 'I didn't +mean that.' 'But you'll love me just as much, and never even +think--oh! I know you'll be like other men; you'll grow tired, +and--and-' + +'How can you? I-' 'Promise me.' 'Yes, yes; I do promise.' 'You +say it so easily, dear; but how do you know?--or I know? I have +so little to give, yet it is so much, and all I have. O, Clyde! +promise me you won't?' + +'There, there! You musn't begin to doubt already. Till death do +us part, you know.' + +'Think! I once said that to--to him, and now?' 'And now, little +sweetheart, you're not to bother about such things any more. + +Of course, I never, never will, and-' And for the first time, +lips trembled against lips. + +Father Roubeau had been watching the main trail through the +window, but could stand the strain no longer. + +He cleared his throat and turned around. + +'Your turn now, Father!' Wharton's face was flushed with the fire +of his first embrace. + +There was an exultant ring to his voice as he abdicated in the +other's favor. He had no doubt as to the result. Neither had +Grace, for a smile played about her mouth as she faced the +priest. + +'My child,' he began, 'my heart bleeds for you. It is a pretty +dream, but it cannot be.' + +'And why, Father? I have said yes.' 'You knew not what you did. +You did not think of the oath you took, before your God, to that +man who is your husband. It remains for me to make you realize +the sanctity of such a pledge.' 'And if I do realize, and yet +refuse?' + +'Then God' + +'Which God? My husband has a God which I care not to worship. +There must be many such.' 'Child! unsay those words! Ah! you do +not mean them. I understand. I, too, have had such moments.' For +an instant he was back in his native France, and a wistful, sad- +eyed face came as a mist between him and the woman before him. + +'Then, Father, has my God forsaken me? I am not wicked above +women. My misery with him has been great. Why should it be +greater? Why shall I not grasp at happiness? I cannot, will not, +go back to him!' 'Rather is your God forsaken. Return. Throw your +burden upon Him, and the darkness shall be lifted. O my child,-' +'No; it is useless; I have made my bed and so shall I lie. I will +go on. And if God punishes me, I shall bear it somehow. You do +not understand. You are not a woman.' 'My mother was a woman.' + +'But-' 'And Christ was born of a woman.' She did not answer. A +silence fell. Wharton pulled his mustache impatiently and kept an +eye on the trail. Grace leaned her elbow on the table, her face +set with resolve. The smile had died away. Father Roubeau shifted +his ground. + +'You have children?' + +'At one time I wished--but now--no. And I am thankful.' 'And a +mother?' 'Yes.' 'She loves you?' 'Yes.' Her replies were +whispers. + +And a brother?--no matter, he is a man. But a sister?' Her head +drooped a quavering 'Yes.' 'Younger? Very much?' 'Seven years.' +'And you have thought well about this matter? About them? About +your mother? And your sister? She stands on the threshold of her +woman's life, and this wildness of yours may mean much to her. +Could you go before her, look upon her fresh young face, hold her +hand in yours, or touch your cheek to hers?' + +To his words, her brain formed vivid images, till she cried out, +'Don't! don't!' and shrank away as do the wolf-dogs from the +lash. + +'But you must face all this; and better it is to do it now.' In +his eyes, which she could not see, there was a great compassion, +but his face, tense and quivering, showed no relenting. + +She raised her head from the table, forced back the tears, +struggled for control. + +'I shall go away. They will never see me, and come to forget me. +I shall be to them as dead. And--and I will go with +Clyde--today.' It seemed final. Wharton stepped forward, but the +priest waved him back. + +'You have wished for children?' A silent 'Yes.' 'And prayed for +them?' 'Often.' 'And have you thought, if you should have +children?' Father Roubeau's eyes rested for a moment on the man +by the window. + +A quick light shot across her face. Then the full import dawned +upon her. She raised her hand appealingly, but he went on. + +'Can you picture an innocent babe in your arms,' A boy? The world +is not so hard upon a girl. Why, your very breast would turn to +gall! And you could be proud and happy of your boy, as you looked +on other children?-' 'O, have pity! Hush!' 'A scapegoat-' + +'Don't! don't! I will go back!' She was at his feet. + +'A child to grow up with no thought of evil, and one day the +world to fling a tender name in his face. A child to look back +and curse you from whose loins he sprang!' + +'O my God! my God!' She groveled on the floor. The priest sighed +and raised her to her feet. + +Wharton pressed forward, but she motioned him away. + +'Don't come near me, Clyde! I am going back!' The tears were +coursing pitifully down her face, but she made no effort to wipe +them away. + +'After all this? You cannot! I will not let you!' 'Don't touch +me!' She shivered and drew back. + +'I will! You are mine! Do you hear? You are mine!' Then he +whirled upon the priest. 'O what a fool I was to ever let you wag +your silly tongue! Thank your God you are not a common man, for +I'd--but the priestly prerogative must be exercised, eh? Well, +you have exercised it. Now get out of my house, or I'll forget +who and what you are!' Father Roubeau bowed, took her hand, and +started for the door. But Wharton cut them off. + +'Grace! You said you loved me?' 'I did.' 'And you do now?' 'I +do.' 'Say it again.' + +'I do love you, Clyde; I do.' 'There, you priest!' he cried. 'You +have heard it, and with those words on her lips you would send +her back to live a lie and a hell with that man?' + +But Father Roubeau whisked the woman into the inner room and +closed the door. 'No words!' he whispered to Wharton, as he +struck a casual posture on a stool. 'Remember, for her sake,' he +added. + +The room echoed to a rough knock at the door; the latch raised +and Edwin Bentham stepped in. + +'Seen anything of my wife?' he asked as soon as salutations had +been exchanged. + +Two heads nodded negatively. + +'I saw her tracks down from the cabin,' he continued +tentatively, 'and they broke off, just opposite here, on the main +trail.' His listeners looked bored. + +'And I--I thought-' + +'She was here!' thundered Wharton. + +The priest silenced him with a look. 'Did you see her tracks +leading up to this cabin, my son?' Wily Father Roubeau--he had +taken good care to obliterate them as he came up the same path an +hour before. + +'I didn't stop to look, I -' His eyes rested suspiciously on the +door to the other room, then interrogated the priest. The latter +shook his head; but the doubt seemed to linger. + +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, isn'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 good-by.' 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 heartbreaking 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: If She have spoken a word, +remember thy lips are sealed, And the brand of the Dog is upon +him by whom is the secret revealed. + +If there be trouble to Herward, and a lie of the blackest can +clear, Lie, while thy lips can move or a man is alive to hear.' + +Father Roubeau removed his pipe and reflected. 'The man speaks +true, but my soul is not vexed with that. The lie and the penance +stand with God; but--but-' + +'What then? Your hands are clean.' 'Not so. Kid, I have thought +much, and yet the thing remains. I knew, and made her go back.' +The clear note of a robin rang out from the wooden bank, a +partridge drummed the call in the distance, a moose lunged +noisily in the eddy; but the twain smoked on in silence. + + The Wisdom of the Trail Sitka Charley had achieved the +impossible. Other Indians might have known as much of the wisdom +of the trail as he did; but he alone knew the white man's wisdom, +the honor of the trail, and the law. But these things had not +come to him in a day. The aboriginal mind is slow to generalize, +and many facts, repeated often, are required to compass an +understanding. Sitka Charley, from boyhood, had been thrown +continually with white men, and as a man he had elected to cast +his fortunes with them, expatriating himself, once and for all, +from his own people. Even then, respecting, almost venerating +their power, and pondering over it, he had yet to divine its +secret essence--the honor and the law. And it was only by the +cumulative evidence of years that he had finally come to +understand. Being an alien, when he did know, he knew it better +than the white man himself; being an Indian, he had achieved the +impossible. + +And of these things had been bred a certain contempt for his own +people--a contempt which he had made it a custom to conceal, but +which now burst forth in a polyglot whirlwind of curses upon the +heads of Kah-Chucte and Gowhee. They cringed before him like a +brace of snarling wolf dogs, too cowardly to spring, too wolfish +to cover their fangs. They were not handsome creatures. Neither +was Sitka Charley. All three were frightful-looking. There was no +flesh to their faces; their cheekbones were massed with hideous +scabs which had cracked and frozen alternately under the intense +frost; while their eyes burned luridly with the light which is +born of desperation and hunger. Men so situated, beyond the pale +of the honor and the law, are not to be trusted. Sitka Charley +knew this; and this was why he had forced them to abandon their +rifles with the rest of the camp outfit ten days before. His +rifle and Captain Eppingwell's were the only ones that remained. + +'Come, get a fire started,' he commanded, drawing out the +precious matchbox with its attendant strips of dry birchbark. + +The two Indians fell sullenly to the task of gathering dead +branches and underwood. They were weak and paused often, catching +themselves, in the act of stooping, with giddy motions, or +staggering to the center of operations with their knees shaking +like castanets. + +After each trip they rested for a moment, as though sick and +deadly weary. At times their eyes took on the patient stoicism of +dumb suffering; and again the ego seemed almost burst forth with +its wild cry, 'I, I, I want to exist!'--the dominant note of the +whole living universe. + +A light breath of air blew from the south, nipping the exposed +portions of their bodies and driving the frost, in needles of +fire, through fur and flesh to the bones. So, when the fire had +grown lusty and thawed a damp circle in the snow about it, Sitka +Charley forced his reluctant comrades to lend a hand in pitching +a fly. It was a primitive affair, merely a blanket stretched +parallel with the fire and to windward of it, at an angle of +perhaps forty- five degrees. This shut out the chill wind and +threw the heat backward and down upon those who were to huddle in +its shelter. Then a layer of green spruce boughs were spread, +that their bodies might not come in contact with the snow. When +this task was completed, Kah-Chucte and Gowhee proceeded to take +care of their feet. Their icebound mocassins were sadly worn by +much travel, and the sharp ice of the river jams had cut them to +rags. + +Their Siwash socks were similarly conditioned, and when these had +been thawed and removed, the dead-white tips of the toes, in the +various stages of mortification, told their simple tale of the +trail. + +Leaving the two to the drying of their footgear, Sitka Charley +turned back over the course he had come. He, too, had a mighty +longing to sit by the fire and tend his complaining flesh, but +the honor and the law forbade. He toiled painfully over the +frozen field, each step a protest, every muscle in revolt. +Several times, where the open water between the jams had recently +crusted, he was forced to miserably accelerate his movements as +the fragile footing swayed and threatened beneath him. In such +places death was quick and easy; but it was not his desire to +endure no more. + +His deepening anxiety vanished as two Indians dragged into view +round a bend in the river. They staggered and panted like men +under heavy burdens; yet the packs on their backs were a matter +of but a few pounds. He questioned them eagerly, and their +replies seemed to relieve him. He hurried on. Next came two white +men, supporting between them a woman. They also behaved as though +drunken, and their limbs shook with weakness. But the woman +leaned lightly upon them, choosing to carry herself forward with +her own strength. At the sight of her a flash of joy cast its +fleeting light across Sitka Charley's face. He cherished a very +great regard for Mrs. Eppingwell. He had seen many white women, +but this was the first to travel the trail with him. When Captain +Eppingwell proposed the hazardous undertaking and made him an +offer for his services, he had shaken his head gravely; for it +was an unknown journey through the dismal vastnesses of the +Northland, and he knew it to be of the kind that try to the +uttermost the souls of men. + +But when he learned that the captain's wife was to accompany +them, he had refused flatly to have anything further to do with +it. Had it been a woman of his own race he would have harbored no +objections; but these women of the Southland--no, no, they were +too soft, too tender, for such enterprises. + +Sitka Charley did not know this kind of woman. Five minutes +before, he did not even dream of taking charge of the +expedition; but when she came to him with her wonderful smile and +her straight clean English, and talked to the point, without +pleading or persuading, he had incontinently yielded. Had there +been a softness and appeal to mercy in the eyes, a tremble to the +voice, a taking advantage of sex, he would have stiffened to +steel; instead her clear-searching eyes and clear-ringing voice, +her utter frankness and tacit assumption of equality, had robbed +him of his reason. He felt, then, that this was a new breed of +woman; and ere they had been trail mates for many days he knew +why the sons of such women mastered the land and the sea, and why +the sons of his own womankind could not prevail against them. +Tender and soft! Day after day he watched her, muscle-weary, +exhausted, indomitable, and the words beat in upon him in a +perennial refrain. Tender and soft! He knew her feet had been +born to easy paths and sunny lands, strangers to the moccasined +pain of the North, unkissed by the chill lips of the frost, and +he watched and marveled at them twinkling ever through the weary +day. + +She had always a smile and a word of cheer, from which not even +the meanest packer was excluded. As the way grew darker she +seemed to stiffen and gather greater strength, and when +Kah-Chucte and Gowhee, who had bragged that they knew every +landmark of the way as a child did the skin bails of the tepee, +acknowledged that they knew not where they were, it was she who +raised a forgiving voice amid the curses of the men. She had +sung to them that night till they felt the weariness fall from +them and were ready to face the future with fresh hope. And when +the food failed and each scant stint was measured jealously, she +it was who rebelled against the machinations of her husband and +Sitka Charley, and demanded and received a share neither greater +nor less than that of the others. + +Sitka Charley was proud to know this woman. A new richness, a +greater breadth, had come into his life with her presence. +Hitherto he had been his own mentor, had turned to right or left +at no man's beck; he had moulded himself according to his own +dictates, nourished his manhood regardless of all save his own +opinion. For the first time he had felt a call from without for +the best that was in him. just a glance of appreciation from the +clear-searching eyes, a word of thanks from the clear-ringing +voice, just a slight wreathing of the lips in the wonderful +smile, and he walked with the gods for hours to come. It was a +new stimulant to his manhood; for the first time he thrilled with +a conscious pride in his wisdom of the trail; and between the +twain they ever lifted the sinking hearts of their comrades. The +faces of the two men and the woman brightened as they saw him, +for after all he was the staff they leaned upon. But Sitka +Charley, rigid as was his wont, concealing pain and pleasure +impartially beneath an iron exterior, asked them the welfare of +the rest, told the distance to the fire, and continued on the +back-trip. + +Next he met a single Indian, unburdened, limping, lips +compressed, and eyes set with the pain of a foot in which the +quick fought a losing battle with the dead. All possible care had +been taken of him, but in the last extremity the weak and +unfortunate must perish, and Sitka Charley deemed his days to be +few. The man could not keep up for long, so he gave him rough +cheering words. After that came two more Indians, to whom he had +allotted the task of helping along Joe, the third white man of +the party. They had deserted him. Sitka Charley saw at a glance +the lurking spring in their bodies, and knew they had at last +cast off his mastery. So he was not taken unawares when he +ordered them back in quest of their abandoned charge, and saw the +gleam of the hunting knives that they drew from the sheaths. A +pitiful spectacle, three weak men lifting their puny strength in +the face of the mighty vastness; but the two recoiled under the +fierce rifle blows of the one and returned like beaten dogs to +the leash. Two hours later, with Joe reeling between them and +Sitka Charley bringing up the rear, they came to the fire, where +the remainder of the expedition crouched in the shelter of the +fly. + +'A few words, my comrades, before we sleep,' Sitka Charley said +after they had devoured their slim rations of unleavened bread. +He was speaking to the Indians in their own tongue, having +already given the import to the whites. 'A few words, my +comrades, for your own good, that ye may yet perchance live. I +shall give you the law; on his own head by the death of him that +breaks it. We have passed the Hills of Silence, and we now travel +the head reaches of the Stuart. It may be one sleep, it may be +several, it may be many sleeps, but in time we shall come among +the men of the Yukon, who have much grub. It were well that we +look to the law. Today Kah-Chucte and Gowhee, whom I commanded to +break trail, forgot they were men, and like frightened children +ran away. + +True, they forgot; so let us forget. But hereafter, let them +remember. If it should happen they do not...' He touched his +rifle carelessly, grimly. 'Tomorrow they shall carry the flour +and see that the white man Joe lies not down by the trail. The +cups of flour are counted; should so much as an ounce be wanting +at nightfall... Do ye understand? Today there were others that +forgot. Moose Head and Three Salmon left the white man Joe to lie +in the snow. Let them forget no more. With the light of day shall +they go forth and break trail. Ye have heard the law. Look well, +lest ye break it.' Sitka Charley found it beyond him to keep the +line close up. From Moose Head and Three Salmon, who broke trail +in advance, to Kah-Chucte, Gowhee, and Joe, it straggled out over +a mile. Each staggered, fell or rested as he saw fit. + +The line of march was a progression through a chain of irregular +halts. Each drew upon the last remnant of his strength and +stumbled onward till it was expended, but in some miraculous way +there was always another last remnant. Each time a man fell it +was with the firm belief that he would rise no more; yet he did +rise, and again and again. The flesh yielded, the will conquered; +but each triumph was a tragedy. The Indian with the frozen foot, +no longer erect, crawled forward on hand and knee. He rarely +rested, for he knew the penalty exacted by the frost. + +Even Mrs. Eppingwell's lips were at last set in a stony smile, +and her eyes, seeing, saw not. Often she stopped, pressing a +mittened hand to her heart, gasping and dizzy. + +Joe, the white man, had passed beyond the stage of suffering. He +no longer begged to be let alone, prayed to die; but was soothed +and content under the anodyne of delirium. Kah- Chucte and Gowhee +dragged him on roughly, venting upon him many a savage glance or +blow. To them it was the acme of injustice. + +Their hearts were bitter with hate, heavy with fear. Why should +they cumber their strength with his weakness? To do so meant +death; not to do so--and they remembered the law of Sitka +Charley, and the rifle. + +Joe fell with greater frequency as the daylight waned, and so +hard was he to raise that they dropped farther and farther +behind. Sometimes all three pitched into the snow, so weak had +the Indians become. Yet on their backs was life, and strength, +and warmth. + +Within the flour sacks were all the potentialities of existence. +They could not but think of this, and it was not strange, that +which came to pass. They had fallen by the side of a great timber +jam where a thousand cords of firewood waited the match. Near by +was an air hole through the ice. Kah-Chucte looked on the wood +and the water, as did Gowhee; then they looked at each other. + +Never a word was spoken. Gowhee struck a fire; Kah-Chucte filled +a tin cup with water and heated it; Joe babbled of things in +another land, in a tongue they did not understand. + +They mixed flour with the warm water till it was a thin paste, +and of this they drank many cups. They did not offer any to Joe; +but he did not mind. He did not mind anything, not even his +moccasins, which scorched and smoked among the coals. + +A crystal mist of snow fell about them, softly, caressingly, +wrapping them in clinging robes of white. And their feet would +have yet trod many trails had not destiny brushed the clouds +aside and cleared the air. Nay, ten minutes' delay would have +been salvation. + +Sitka Charley, looking back, saw the pillared smoke of their +fire, and guessed. And he looked ahead at those who were +faithful, and at Mrs. Eppingwell. 'So, my good comrades, ye have +again forgotten that you were men? Good! Very good. There will be +fewer bellies to feed.' Sitka Charley retied the flour as he +spoke, strapping the pack to the one on his own back. He kicked +Joe till the pain broke through the poor devil's bliss and +brought him doddering to his feet. Then he shoved him out upon +the trail and started him on his way. The two Indians attempted +to slip off. + +'Hold, Gowhee! And thou, too, Kah-Chucte! Hath the flour given +such strength to thy legs that they may outrun the swift-winged +lead? Think not to cheat the law. Be men for the last time, and +be content that ye die full-stomached. + +Come, step up, back to the timber, shoulder to shoulder. Come!' +The two men obeyed, quietly, without fear; for it is the future +which pressed upon the man, not the present. + +'Thou, Gowhee, hast a wife and children and a deerskin lodge in +the Chipewyan. What is thy will in the matter?' 'Give thou her of +the goods which are mine by the word of the captain--the +blankets, the beads, the tobacco, the box which makes strange +sounds after the manner of the white men. Say that I did die on +the trail, but say not how.' 'And thou, Kah-Chucte, who hast nor +wife nor child?' 'Mine is a sister, the wife of the factor at +Koshim. He beats her, and she is not happy. Give thou her the +goods which are mine by the contract, and tell her it were well +she go back to her own people. Shouldst thou meet the man, and be +so minded, it were a good deed that he should die. He beats her, +and she is afraid.' 'Are ye content to die by the law?' 'We are.' +'Then good-bye, my good comrades. May ye sit by the well-filled +pot, in warm lodges, ere the day is done.' As he spoke he raised +his rifle, and many echoes broke the silence. Hardly had they +died away when other rifles spoke in the distance. Sitka Charley +started. + +There had been more than one shot, yet there was but one other +rifle in the party. + +He gave a fleeting glance at the men who lay so quietly, smiled +viciously at the wisdom of the trail, and hurried on to meet the +men of the Yukon. + + The Wife of a King Once when the northland was very young, the +social and civic virtues were remarkably alike for their paucity +and their simplicity. When the burden of domestic duties grew +grievous, and the fireside mood expanded to a constant protest +against its bleak loneliness, the adventurers from the Southland, +in lieu of better, paid the stipulated prices and took unto +themselves native wives. It was a foretaste of Paradise to the +women, for it must be confessed that the white rovers gave far +better care and treatment of them than did their Indian +copartners. Of course, the white men themselves were satisfied +with such deals, as were also the Indian men for that matter. +Having sold their daughters and sisters for cotton blankets and +obsolete rifles and traded their warm furs for flimsy calico and +bad whisky, the sons of the soil promptly and cheerfully +succumbed to quick consumption and other swift diseases +correlated with the blessings of a superior civilization. + +It was in these days of Arcadian simplicity that Cal Galbraith +journeyed through the land and fell sick on the Lower River. It +was a refreshing advent in the lives of the good Sisters of the +Holy Cross, who gave him shelter and medicine; though they little +dreamed of the hot elixir infused into his veins by the touch of +their soft hands and their gentle ministrations. Cal Galbraith, +became troubled with strange thoughts which clamored for +attention till he laid eyes on the Mission girl, Madeline. Yet he +gave no sign, biding his time patiently. He strengthened with the +coming spring, and when the sun rode the heavens in a golden +circle, and the joy and throb of life was in all the land, he +gathered his still weak body together and departed. + +Now, Madeline, the Mission girl, was an orphan. Her white father +had failed to give a bald-faced grizzly the trail one day, and +had died quickly. Then her Indian mother, having no man to fill +the winter cache, had tried the hazardous experiment of waiting +till the salmon-run on fifty pounds of flour and half as many of +bacon. After that, the baby, Chook-ra, went to live with the good +Sisters, and to be thenceforth known by another name. + +But Madeline still had kinsfolk, the nearest being a dissolute +uncle who outraged his vitals with inordinate quantities of the +white man's whisky. He strove daily to walk with the gods, and +incidentally, his feet sought shorter trails to the grave. When +sober he suffered exquisite torture. He had no conscience. To +this ancient vagabond Cal Galbraith duly presented himself, and +they consumed many words and much tobacco in the conversation +that followed. Promises were also made; and in the end the old +heathen took a few pounds of dried salmon and his birch-bark +canoe, and paddled away to the Mission of the Holy Cross. + +It is not given the world to know what promises he made and what +lies he toldthe Sisters never gossip; but when he returned, upon +his swarthy chest there was a brass crucifix, and in his canoe +his niece Madeline. That night there was a grand wedding and a +potlach; so that for two days to follow there was no fishing done +by the village. But in the morning Madeline shook the dust of the +Lower River from her moccasins, and with her husband, in a +poling-boat, went to live on the Upper River in a place known as +the Lower Country. And in the years which followed she was a good +wife, sharing her husband's hardships and cooking his food. And +she kept him in straight trails, till he learned to save his dust +and to work mightily. In the end, he struck it rich and built a +cabin in Circle City; and his happiness was such that men who +came to visit him in his home-circle became restless at the sight +of it and envied him greatly. + +But the Northland began to mature and social amenities to make +their appearance. + +Hitherto, the Southland had sent forth its sons; but it now +belched forth a new exodus- this time of its daughters. Sisters +and wives they were not; but they did not fail to put new ideas +in the heads of the men, and to elevate the tone of things in +ways peculiarly their own. No more did the squaws gather at the +dances, go roaring down the center in the good, old Virginia +reels, or make merry with jolly 'Dan Tucker.' They fell back on +their natural stoicism and uncomplainingly watched the rule of +their white sisters from their cabins. + +Then another exodus came over the mountains from the prolific +Southland. + +This time it was of women that became mighty in the land. Their +word was law; their law was steel. They frowned upon the Indian +wives, while the other women became mild and walked humbly. There +were cowards who became ashamed of their ancient covenants with +the daughters of the soil, who looked with a new distaste upon +their dark-skinned children; but there were also others--men--who +remained true and proud of their aboriginal vows. When it became +the fashion to divorce the native wives. Cal Galbraith retained +his manhood, and in so doing felt the heavy hand of the women who +had come last, knew least, but who ruled the land. + +One day, the Upper Country, which lies far above Circle City, was +pronounced rich. Dog- teams carried the news to Salt Water; +golden argosies freighted the lure across the North Pacific; +wires and cables sang with the tidings; and the world heard for +the first time of the Klondike River and the Yukon Country. Cal +Galbraith had lived the years quietly. He had been a good husband +to Madeline, and she had blessed him. But somehow discontent fell +upon him; he felt vague yearnings for his own kind, for the life +he had been shut out from--a general sort of desire, which men +sometimes feel, to break out and taste the prime of living. +Besides, there drifted down the river wild rumors of the +wonderful El Dorado, glowing descriptions of the city of logs and +tents, and ludicrous accounts of the che-cha- quas who had rushed +in and were stampeding the whole country. + +Circle City was dead. The world had moved on up river and become +a new and most marvelous world. + +Cal Galbraith grew restless on the edge of things, and wished to +see with his own eyes. + +So, after the wash-up, he weighed in a couple of hundred pounds +of dust on the Company's big scales, and took a draft for the +same on Dawson. Then he put Tom Dixon in charge of his mines, +kissed Madeline good-by, promised to be back before the first +mush-ice ran, and took passage on an up-river steamer. + +Madeline waited, waited through all the three months of daylight. +She fed the dogs, gave much of her time to Young Cal, watched the +short summer fade away and the sun begin its long journey to the +south. And she prayed much in the manner of the Sisters of the +Holy Cross. The fall came, and with it there was mush-ice on the +Yukon, and Circle City kings returning to the winter's work at +their mines, but no Cal Galbraith. Tom Dixon received a letter, +however, for his men sledded up her winter's supply of dry pine. +The Company received a letter for its dogteams filled her cache +with their best provisions, and she was told that her credit was +limitless. + +Through all the ages man has been held the chief instigator of +the woes of woman; but in this case the men held their tongues +and swore harshly at one of their number who was away, while the +women failed utterly to emulate them. So, without needless delay, +Madeline heard strange tales of Cal Galbraith's doings; also, of +a certain Greek dancer who played with men as children did with +bubbles. Now Madeline was an Indian woman, and further, she had +no woman friend to whom to go for wise counsel. She prayed and +planned by turns, and that night, being quick of resolve and +action, she harnessed the dogs, and with Young Cal securely +lashed to the sled, stole away. + +Though the Yukon still ran free, the eddy-ice was growing, and +each day saw the river dwindling to a slushy thread. Save him who +has done the like, no man may know what she endured in traveling +a hundred miles on the rim-ice; nor may they understand the toil +and hardship of breaking the two hundred miles of packed ice +which remained after the river froze for good. But Madeline was +an Indian woman, so she did these things, and one night there +came a knock at Malemute Kid's door. Thereat he fed a team of +starving dogs, put a healthy youngster to bed, and turned his +attention to an exhausted woman. He removed her icebound +moccasins while he listened to her tale, and stuck the point of +his knife into her feet that he might see how far they were +frozen. + +Despite his tremendous virility, Malemute Kid was possessed of a +softer, womanly element, which could win the confidence of a +snarling wolf-dog or draw confessions from the most wintry heart. +Nor did he seek them. Hearts opened to him as spontaneously as +flowers to the sun. Even the priest, Father Roubeau, had been +known to confess to him, while the men and women of the Northland +were ever knocking at his door--a door from which the +latch-string hung always out. To Madeline, he could do no wrong, +make no mistake. She had known him from the time she first cast +her lot among the people of her father's race; and to her +half-barbaric mind it seemed that in him was centered the wisdom +of the ages, that between his vision and the future there could +be no intervening veil. + +There were false ideals in the land. The social strictures of +Dawson were not synonymous with those of the previous era, and +the swift maturity of the Northland involved much wrong. Malemute +Kid was aware of this, and he had Cal Galbraith's measure +accurately. + +He knew a hasty word was the father of much evil; besides, he was +minded to teach a great lesson and bring shame upon the man. So +Stanley Prince, the young mining expert, was called into the +conference the following night as was also Lucky Jack Harrington +and his violin. That same night, Bettles, who owed a great debt +to Malemute Kid, harnessed up Cal Galbraith's dogs, lashed Cal +Galbraith, Junior, to the sled, and slipped away in the dark for +Stuart River. + +II 'So; one--two--three, one--two--three. Now reverse! No, no! +Start up again, Jack. See--this way.' Prince executed the +movement as one should who has led the cotillion. + +'Now; one--two--three, one--two--three. Reverse! Ah! that's +better. Try it again. I say, you know, you mustn't look at your +feet. One--two--three, one--twothree. Shorter steps! You are not +hanging to the gee-pole just now. Try it over. + +There! that's the way. One--two--three, one--two--three.' Round +and round went Prince and Madeline in an interminable waltz. The +table and stools had been shoved over against the wall to +increase the room. Malemute Kid sat on the bunk, chin to knees, +greatly interested. Jack Harrington sat beside him, scraping away +on his violin and following the dancers. + +It was a unique situation, the undertaking of these three men +with the woman. + +The most pathetic part, perhaps, was the businesslike way in +which they went about it. + +No athlete was ever trained more rigidly for a coming contest, +nor wolf-dog for the harness, than was she. But they had good +material, for Madeline, unlike most women of her race, in her +childhood had escaped the carrying of heavy burdens and the toil +of the trail. Besides, she was a clean-limbed, willowy creature, +possessed of much grace which had not hitherto been realized. It +was this grace which the men strove to bring out and knock into +shape. + +'Trouble with her she learned to dance all wrong,' Prince +remarked to the bunk after having deposited his breathless pupil +on the table. 'She's quick at picking up; yet I could do better +had she never danced a step. But say, Kid, I can't understand +this.' Prince imitated a peculiar movement of the shoulders and +head--a weakness Madeline suffered from in walking. + +'Lucky for her she was raised in the Mission,' Malemute Kid +answered. 'Packing, you know,--the head-strap. Other Indian women +have it bad, but she didn't do any packing till after she +married, and then only at first. Saw hard lines with that husband +of hers. They went through the Forty-Mile famine together.' 'But +can we break it?' 'Don't know. + +Perhaps long walks with her trainers will make the riffle. +Anyway, they'll take it out some, won't they, Madeline?' The girl +nodded assent. If Malemute Kid, who knew all things, said so, why +it was so. That was all there was about it. + +She had come over to them, anxious to begin again. Harrington +surveyed her in quest of her points much in the same manner men +usually do horses. It certainly was not disappointing, for he +asked with sudden interest, 'What did that beggarly uncle of +yours get anyway?' 'One rifle, one blanket, twenty bottles of +hooch. Rifle broke.' She said this last scornfully, as though +disgusted at how low her maiden-value had been rated. + +She spoke fair English, with many peculiarities of her husband's +speech, but there was still perceptible the Indian accent, the +traditional groping after strange gutturals. Even this her +instructors had taken in hand, and with no small success, too. + +At the next intermission, Prince discovered a new predicament. + +'I say, Kid,' he said, 'we're wrong, all wrong. She can't learn +in moccasins. + +Put her feet into slippers, and then onto that waxed +floor--phew!' Madeline raised a foot and regarded her shapeless +house-moccasins dubiously. In previous winters, both at Circle +City and Forty-Mile, she had danced many a night away with +similar footgear, and there had been nothing the matter. + +But now--well, if there was anything wrong it was for Malemute +Kid to know, not her. + +But Malemute Kid did know, and he had a good eye for measures; so +he put on his cap and mittens and went down the hill to pay Mrs. +Eppingwell a call. Her husband, Clove Eppingwell, was prominent +in the community as one of the great Government officials. + +The Kid had noted her slender little foot one night, at the +Governor's Ball. And as he also knew her to be as sensible as she +was pretty, it was no task to ask of her a certain small favor. + +On his return, Madeline withdrew for a moment to the inner room. +When she reappeared Prince was startled. + +'By Jove!' he gasped. 'Who'd a' thought it! The little witch! Why +my sister-' 'Is an English girl,' interrupted Malemute Kid, 'with +an English foot. This girl comes of a small-footed race. +Moccasins just broadened her feet healthily, while she did not +misshape them by running with the dogs in her childhood.' But +this explanation failed utterly to allay Prince's admiration. +Harrington's commercial instinct was touched, and as he looked +upon the exquisitely turned foot and ankle, there ran through his +mind the sordid list--'One rifle, one blanket, twenty bottles of +hooch.' Madeline was the wife of a king, a king whose yellow +treasure could buy outright a score of fashion's puppets; yet in +all her life her feet had known no gear save red-tanned +moosehide. At first she had looked in awe at the tiny white-satin +slippers; but she had quickly understood the admiration which +shone, manlike, in the eyes of the men. Her face flushed with +pride. For the moment she was drunken with her woman's +loveliness; then she murmured, with increased scorn, 'And one +rifle, broke!' So the training went on. Every day Malemute Kid +led the girl out on long walks devoted to the correction of her +carriage and the shortening of her stride. + +There was little likelihood of her identity being discovered, for +Cal Galbraith and the rest of the Old-Timers were like lost +children among the many strangers who had rushed into the land. +Besides, the frost of the North has a bitter tongue, and the +tender women of the South, to shield their cheeks from its biting +caresses, were prone to the use of canvas masks. With faces +obscured and bodies lost in squirrel-skin parkas, a mother and +daughter, meeting on trail, would pass as strangers. + +The coaching progressed rapidly. At first it had been slow, but +later a sudden acceleration had manifested itself. This began +from the moment Madeline tried on the white-satin slippers, and +in so doing found herself. The pride of her renegade father, +apart from any natural self-esteem she might possess, at that +instant received its birth. Hitherto, she had deemed herself a +woman of an alien breed, of inferior stock, purchased by her +lord's favor. Her husband had seemed to her a god, who had lifted +her, through no essential virtues on her part, to his own godlike +level. But she had never forgotten, even when Young Cal was born, +that she was not of his people. As he had been a god, so had his +womenkind been goddesses. She might have contrasted herself with +them, but she had never compared. + +It might have been that familiarity bred contempt; however, be +that as it may, she had ultimately come to understand these +roving white men, and to weigh them. + +True, her mind was dark to deliberate analysis, but she yet +possessed her woman's clarity of vision in such matters. On the +night of the slippers she had measured the bold, open admiration +of her three man-friends; and for the first time comparison had +suggested itself. It was only a foot and an ankle, but--but +comparison could not, in the nature of things, cease at that +point. She judged herself by their standards till the divinity of +her white sisters was shattered. After all, they were only women, +and why should she not exalt herself to their midst? In doing +these things she learned where she lacked and with the knowledge +of her weakness came her strength. And so mightily did she strive +that her three trainers often marveled late into the night over +the eternal mystery of woman. + +In this way Thanksgiving Night drew near. At irregular intervals +Bettles sent word down from Stuart River regarding the welfare of +Young Cal. The time of their return was approaching. More than +once a casual caller, hearing dance-music and the rhythmic pulse +of feet, entered, only to find Harrington scraping away and the +other two beating time or arguing noisily over a mooted step. +Madeline was never in evidence, having precipitately fled to the +inner room. + +On one of these nights Cal Galbraith dropped in. Encouraging news +had just come down from Stuart River, and Madeline had surpassed +herself--not in walk alone, and carriage and grace, but in +womanly roguishness. They had indulged in sharp repartee and she +had defended herself brilliantly; and then, yielding to the +intoxication of the moment, and of her own power, she had +bullied, and mastered, and wheedled, and patronized them with +most astonishing success. And instinctively, involuntarily, they +had bowed, not to her beauty, her wisdom, her wit, but to that +indefinable something in woman to which man yields yet cannot +name. + +The room was dizzy with sheer delight as she and Prince whirled +through the last dance of the evening. Harrington was throwing in +inconceivable flourishes, while Malemute Kid, utterly abandoned, +had seized the broom and was executing mad gyrations on his own +account. + +At this instant the door shook with a heavy rap-rap, and their +quick glances noted the lifting of the latch. But they had +survived similar situations before. Harrington never broke a +note. Madeline shot through the waiting door to the inner room. +The broom went hurtling under the bunk, and by the time Cal +Galbraith and Louis Savoy got their heads in, Malemute Kid and +Prince were in each other's arms, wildly schottisching down the +room. + +As a rule, Indian women do not make a practice of fainting on +provocation, but Madeline came as near to it as she ever had in +her life. For an hour she crouched on the floor, listening to +the heavy voices of the men rumbling up and down in mimic +thunder. Like familiar chords of childhood melodies, every +intonation, every trick of her husband's voice swept in upon her, +fluttering her heart and weakening her knees till she lay half- +fainting against the door. It was well she could neither see nor +hear when he took his departure. + +'When do you expect to go back to Circle City?' Malemute Kid +asked simply. + +'Haven't thought much about it,' he replied. 'Don't think till +after the ice breaks.' 'And Madeline?' + +He flushed at the question, and there was a quick droop to his +eyes. Malemute Kid could have despised him for that, had he known +men less. As it was, his gorge rose against the wives and +daughters who had come into the land, and not satisfied with +usurping the place of the native women, had put unclean thoughts +in the heads of the men and made them ashamed. + +'I guess she's all right,' the Circle City King answered hastily, +and in an apologetic manner. 'Tom Dixon's got charge of my +interests, you know, and he sees to it that she has everything +she wants.' Malemute Kid laid hand upon his arm and hushed him +suddenly. They had stepped without. Overhead, the aurora, a +gorgeous wanton, flaunted miracles of color; beneath lay the +sleeping town. Far below, a solitary dog gave tongue. + +The King again began to speak, but the Kid pressed his hand for +silence. The sound multiplied. Dog after dog took up the strain +till the full-throated chorus swayed the night. + +To him who hears for the first time this weird song, is told the +first and greatest secret of the Northland; to him who has heard +it often, it is the solemn knell of lost endeavor. It is the +plaint of tortured souls, for in it is invested the heritage of +the North, the suffering of countless generations--the warning +and the requiem to the world's estrays. + +Cal Galbraith shivered slightly as it died away in half-caught +sobs. The Kid read his thoughts openly, and wandered back with +him through all the weary days of famine and disease; and with +him was also the patient Madeline, sharing his pains and perils, +never doubting, never complaining. His mind's retina vibrated to +a score of pictures, stern, clear-cut, and the hand of the past +drew back with heavy fingers on his heart. It was the +psychological moment. Malemute Kid was halftempted to play his +reserve card and win the game; but the lesson was too mild as +yet, and he let it pass. The next instant they had gripped hands, +and the King's beaded moccasins were drawing protests from the +outraged snow as he crunched down the hill. + +Madeline in collapse was another woman to the mischievous +creature of an hour before, whose laughter had been so infectious +and whose heightened color and flashing eyes had made her +teachers for the while forget. Weak and nerveless, she sat in the +chair just as she had been dropped there by Prince and +Harrington. + +Malemute Kid frowned. This would never do. When the time of +meeting her husband came to hand, she must carry things off with +high-handed imperiousness. It was very necessary she should do it +after the manner of white women, else the victory would be no +victory at all. So he talked to her, sternly, without mincing of +words, and initiated her into the weaknesses of his own sex, till +she came to understand what simpletons men were after all, and +why the word of their women was law. + +A few days before Thanksgiving Night, Malemute Kid made another +call on Mrs. + +Eppingwell. She promptly overhauled her feminine fripperies, paid +a protracted visit to the dry-goods department of the P. C. +Company, and returned with the Kid to make Madeline's +acquaintance. After that came a period such as the cabin had +never seen before, and what with cutting, and fitting, and +basting, and stitching, and numerous other wonderful and +unknowable things, the male conspirators were more often banished +the premises than not. At such times the Opera House opened its +double storm-doors to them. + +So often did they put their heads together, and so deeply did +they drink to curious toasts, that the loungers scented unknown +creeks of incalculable richness, and it is known that several +checha-quas and at least one Old-Timer kept their stampeding +packs stored behind the bar, ready to hit the trail at a moment's +notice. + +Mrs. Eppingwell was a woman of capacity; so, when she turned +Madeline over to her trainers on Thanksgiving Night she was so +transformed that they were almost afraid of her. Prince wrapped a +Hudson Bay blanket about her with a mock reverence more real than +feigned, while Malemute Kid, whose arm she had taken, found it a +severe trial to resume his wonted mentorship. Harrington, with +the list of purchases still running through his head, dragged +along in the rear, nor opened his mouth once all the way down +into the town. When they came to the back door of the Opera House +they took the blanket from Madeline's shoulders and spread it on +the snow. Slipping out of Prince's moccasins, she stepped upon it +in new satin slippers. The masquerade was at its height. She +hesitated, but they jerked open the door and shoved her in. Then +they ran around to come in by the front entrance. + +III 'Where is Freda?' the Old-Timers questioned, while the +che-cha-quas were equally energetic in asking who Freda was. The +ballroom buzzed with her name. + +It was on everybody's lips. Grizzled 'sour-dough boys,' +day-laborers at the mines but proud of their degree, either +patronized the spruce-looking tenderfeet and lied eloquently- the +'sour-dough boys' being specially created to toy with truth--or +gave them savage looks of indignation because of their ignorance. +Perhaps forty kings of the Upper and Lower Countries were on the +floor, each deeming himself hot on the trail and sturdily backing +his judgment with the yellow dust of the realm. An assistant was +sent to the man at the scales, upon whom had fallen the burden of +weighing up the sacks, while several of the gamblers, with the +rules of chance at their finger-ends, made up alluring books on +the field and favorites. + +Which was Freda? Time and again the 'Greek Dancer' was thought to +have been discovered, but each discovery brought panic to the +betting ring and a frantic registering of new wagers by those who +wished to hedge. Malemute Kid took an interest in the hunt, his +advent being hailed uproariously by the revelers, who knew him to +a man. The Kid had a good eye for the trick of a step, and ear +for the lilt of a voice, and his private choice was a marvelous +creature who scintillated as the 'Aurora Borealis.' But the Greek +dancer was too subtle for even his penetration. The majority of +the gold-hunters seemed to have centered their verdict on the +'Russian Princess,' who was the most graceful in the room, and +hence could be no other than Freda Moloof. + +During a quadrille a roar of satisfaction went up. She was +discovered. At previous balls, in the figure, 'all hands round,' +Freda had displayed an inimitable step and variation peculiarly +her own. As the figure was called, the 'Russian Princess' gave +the unique rhythm to limb and body. A chorus of I-told-you-so's +shook the squared roof-beams, when lo! it was noticed that +'Aurora Borealis' and another masque, the 'Spirit of the Pole,' +were performing the same trick equally well. And when two twin +'Sun-Dogs' and a 'Frost Queen' followed suit, a second assistant +was dispatched to the aid of the man at the scales. + +Bettles came off trail in the midst of the excitement, descending +upon them in a hurricane of frost. His rimed brows turned to +cataracts as he whirled about; his mustache, still frozen, seemed +gemmed with diamonds and turned the light in varicolored rays; +while the flying feet slipped on the chunks of ice which rattled +from his moccasins and German socks. A Northland dance is quite +an informal affair, the men of the creeks and trails having lost +whatever fastidiousness they might have at one time possessed; +and only in the high official circles are conventions at all +observed. Here, caste carried no significance. Millionaires and +paupers, dog-drivers and mounted policemen joined hands with +'ladies in the center,' and swept around the circle performing +most remarkable capers. Primitive in their pleasure, boisterous +and rough, they displayed no rudeness, but rather a crude +chivalry more genuine than the most polished courtesy. + +In his quest for the 'Greek Dancer,' Cal Galbraith managed to get +into the same set with the 'Russian Princess,' toward whom +popular suspicion had turned. + +But by the time he had guided her through one dance, he was +willing not only to stake his millions that she was not Freda, +but that he had had his arm about her waist before. When or where +he could not tell, but the puzzling sense of familiarity so +wrought upon him that he turned his attention to the discovery +of her identity. Malemute Kid might have aided him instead of +occasionally taking the Princess for a few turns and talking +earnestly to her in low tones. But it was Jack Harrington who +paid the 'Russian Princess' the most assiduous court. Once he +drew Cal Galbraith aside and hazarded wild guesses as to who she +was, and explained to him that he was going in to win. That +rankled the Circle City King, for man is not by nature monogamic, +and he forgot both Madeline and Freda in the new quest. + +It was soon noised about that the 'Russian Princess' was not +Freda Moloof. Interest deepened. Here was a fresh enigma. They +knew Freda though they could not find her, but here was somebody +they had found and did not know. Even the women could not place +her, and they knew every good dancer in the camp. Many took her +for one of the official clique, indulging in a silly escapade. +Not a few asserted she would disappear before the unmasking. +Others were equally positive that she was the woman-reporter of +the Kansas City Star, come to write them up at ninety dollars per +column. And the men at the scales worked busily. + +At one o'clock every couple took to the floor. The unmasking +began amid laughter and delight, like that of carefree children. +There was no end of Oh's and Ah's as mask after mask was lifted. +The scintillating 'Aurora Borealis' became the brawny negress +whose income from washing the community's clothes ran at about +five hundred a month. The twin 'Sun-Dogs' discovered mustaches on +their upper lips, and were recognized as brother Fraction-Kings +of El Dorado. In one of the most prominent sets, and the slowest +in uncovering, was Cal Galbraith with the 'Spirit of the Pole.' +Opposite him was Jack Harrington and the 'Russian Princess.' The +rest had discovered themselves, yet the 'Greek Dancer' was still +missing. All eyes were upon the group. Cal Galbraith, in response +to their cries, lifted his partner's mask. Freda's wonderful face +and brilliant eyes flashed out upon them. A roar went up, to be +squelched suddenly in the new and absorbing mystery of the +'Russian Princess.' Her face was still hidden, and Jack +Harrington was struggling with her. The dancers tittered on the +tiptoes of expectancy. He crushed her dainty costume roughly, and +then--and then the revelers exploded. The joke was on them. They +had danced all night with a tabooed native woman. + +But those that knew, and they were many, ceased abruptly, and a +hush fell upon the room. + +Cal Galbraith crossed over with great strides, angrily, and spoke +to Madeline in polyglot Chinook. But she retained her composure, +apparently oblivious to the fact that she was the cynosure of all +eyes, and answered him in English. She showed neither fright nor +anger, and Malemute Kid chuckled at her well-bred equanimity. The +King felt baffled, defeated; his common Siwash wife had passed +beyond him. + +'Come!' he said finally. 'Come on home.' 'I beg pardon,' she +replied; 'I have agreed to go to supper with Mr. Harrington. +Besides, there's no end of dances promised.' + +Harrington extended his arm to lead her away. He evinced not the +slightest disinclination toward showing his back, but Malemute +Kid had by this time edged in closer. The Circle City King was +stunned. Twice his hand dropped to his belt, and twice the Kid +gathered himself to spring; but the retreating couple passed +through the supper-room door where canned oysters were spread at +five dollars the plate. + +The crowd sighed audibly, broke up into couples, and followed +them. Freda pouted and went in with Cal Galbraith; but she had a +good heart and a sure tongue, and she spoiled his oysters for +him. What she said is of no importance, but his face went red and +white at intervals, and he swore repeatedly and savagely at +himself. + +The supper-room was filled with a pandemonium of voices, which +ceased suddenly as Cal Galbraith stepped over to his wife's +table. Since the unmasking considerable weights of dust had been +placed as to the outcome. Everybody watched with breathless +interest. + +Harrington's blue eyes were steady, but under the overhanging +tablecloth a Smith & Wesson balanced on his knee. Madeline looked +up, casually, with little interest. + +'May--may I have the next round dance with you?' the King +stuttered. + +The wife of the King glanced at her card and inclined her head. + + An Odyssey of the North The sleds were singing their eternal +lament to the creaking of the harness and the tinkling bells of +the leaders; but the men and dogs were tired and made no sound. +The trail was heavy with new-fallen snow, and they had come far, +and the runners, burdened with flint- like quarters of frozen +moose, clung tenaciously to the unpacked surface and held back +with a stubbornness almost human. + +Darkness was coming on, but there was no camp to pitch that +night. The snow fell gently through the pulseless air, not in +flakes, but in tiny frost crystals of delicate design. It was +very warm--barely ten below zero--and the men did not mind. +Meyers and Bettles had raised their ear flaps, while Malemute Kid +had even taken off his mittens. + +The dogs had been fagged out early in the after noon, but they +now began to show new vigor. Among the more astute there was a +certain restlessness--an impatience at the restraint of the +traces, an indecisive quickness of movement, a sniffing of snouts +and pricking of ears. These became incensed at their more +phlegmatic brothers, urging them on with numerous sly nips on +their hinder quarters. Those, thus chidden, also contracted and +helped spread the contagion. At last the leader of the foremost +sled uttered a sharp whine of satisfaction, crouching lower in +the snow and throwing himself against the collar. The rest +followed suit. + +There was an ingathering of back hands, a tightening of traces; +the sleds leaped forward, and the men clung to the gee poles, +violently accelerating the uplift of their feet that they might +escape going under the runners. The weariness of the day fell +from them, and they whooped encouragement to the dogs. The +animals responded with joyous yelps. They were swinging through +the gathering darkness at a rattling gallop. + +'Gee! Gee!' the men cried, each in turn, as their sleds abruptly +left the main trail, heeling over on single runners like luggers +on the wind. + +Then came a hundred yards' dash to the lighted parchment window, +which told its own story of the home cabin, the roaring Yukon +stove, and the steaming pots of tea. But the home cabin had been +invaded. Threescore huskies chorused defiance, and as many furry +forms precipitated themselves upon the dogs which drew the first +sled. The door was flung open, and a man, clad in the scarlet +tunic of the Northwest Police, waded knee-deep among the furious +brutes, calmly and impartially dispensing soothing justice with +the butt end of a dog whip. After that the men shook hands; and +in this wise was Malemute Kid welcomed to his own cabin by a +stranger. + +Stanley Prince, who should have welcomed him, and who was +responsible for the Yukon stove and hot tea aforementioned, was +busy with his guests. There were a dozen or so of them, as +nondescript a crowd as ever served the Queen in the enforcement +of her laws or the delivery of her mails. They were of many +breeds, but their common life had formed of them a certain +type--a lean and wiry type, with trail-hardened muscles, and sun- +browned faces, and untroubled souls which gazed frankly forth, +clear-eyed and steady. + +They drove the dogs of the Queen, wrought fear in the hearts of +her enemies, ate of her meager fare, and were happy. They had +seen life, and done deeds, and lived romances; but they did not +know it. + +And they were very much at home. Two of them were sprawled upon +Malemute Kid's bunk, singing chansons which their French +forebears sang in the days when first they entered the Northwest +land and mated with its Indian women. Bettles' bunk had suffered +a similar invasion, and three or four lusty voyageurs worked +their toes among its blankets as they listened to the tale of one +who had served on the boat brigade with Wolseley when he fought +his way to Khartoum. + +And when he tired, a cowboy told of courts and kings and lords +and ladies he had seen when Buffalo Bill toured the capitals of +Europe. In a corner two half-breeds, ancient comrades in a lost +campaign, mended harnesses and talked of the days when the +Northwest flamed with insurrection and Louis Riel was king. + +Rough jests and rougher jokes went up and down, and great hazards +by trail and river were spoken of in the light of commonplaces, +only to be recalled by virtue of some grain of humor or ludicrous +happening. Prince was led away by these uncrowned heroes who had +seen history made, who regarded the great and the romantic as but +the ordinary and the incidental in the routine of life. He passed +his precious tobacco among them with lavish disregard, and rusty +chains of reminiscence were loosened, and forgotten odysseys +resurrected for his especial benefit. + +When conversation dropped and the travelers filled the last pipes +and lashed their tight- rolled sleeping furs. Prince fell back +upon his comrade for further information. + +'Well, you know what the cowboy is,' Malemute Kid answered, +beginning to unlace his moccasins; 'and it's not hard to guess +the British blood in his bed partner. As for the rest, they're +all children of the coureurs du bois, mingled with God knows how +many other bloods. The two turning in by the door are the +regulation 'breeds' or Boisbrules. That lad with the worsted +breech scarf--notice his eyebrows and the turn of his jaw--shows +a Scotchman wept in his mother's smoky tepee. And that handsome +looking fellow putting the capote under his head is a French +half-breed--you heard him talking; he doesn't like the two +Indians turning in next to him. You see, when the 'breeds' rose +under the Riel the full-bloods kept the peace, and they've not +lost much love for one another since.' 'But I say, what's that +glum-looking fellow by the stove? I'll swear he can't talk +English. He hasn't opened his mouth all night.' 'You're wrong. He +knows English well enough. Did you follow his eyes when he +listened? I did. But he's neither kith nor kin to the others. + +When they talked their own patois you could see he didn't +understand. I've been wondering myself what he is. Let's find +out.' 'Fire a couple of sticks into the stove!' + +Malemute Kid commanded, raising his voice and looking squarely at +the man in question. + +He obeyed at once. + +'Had discipline knocked into him somewhere.' Prince commented in +a low tone. + +Malemute Kid nodded, took off his socks, and picked his way among +recumbent men to the stove. There he hung his damp footgear among +a score or so of mates. + +'When do you expect to get to Dawson?' he asked tentatively. + +The man studied him a moment before replying. 'They say +seventy-five mile. + +So? Maybe two days.' The very slightest accent was perceptible, +while there was no awkward hesitancy or groping for words. + +'Been in the country before?' 'No.' 'Northwest Territory?' 'Yes.' +'Born there?' 'No.' + +'Well, where the devil were you born? You're none of these.' +Malemute Kid swept his hand over the dog drivers, even including +the two policemen who had turned into Prince's bunk. 'Where did +you come from? I've seen faces like yours before, though I can't +remember just where.' 'I know you,' he irrelevantly replied, at +once turning the drift of Malemute Kid's questions. + +'Where? Ever see me?' 'No; your partner, him priest, Pastilik, +long time ago. Him ask me if I see you, Malemute Kid. Him give me +grub. I no stop long. You hear him speak 'bout me?' 'Oh! you're +the fellow that traded the otter skins for the dogs?' The man +nodded, knocked out his pipe, and signified his disinclination +for conversation by rolling up in his furs. Malemute Kid blew out +the slush lamp and crawled under the blankets with Prince. + +'Well, what is he?' 'Don't know--turned me off, somehow, and then +shut up like a clam. + +But he's a fellow to whet your curiosity. I've heard of him. All +the coast wondered about him eight years ago. Sort of +mysterious, you know. He came down out of the North in the dead +of winter, many a thousand miles from here, skirting Bering Sea +and traveling as though the devil were after him. No one ever +learned where he came from, but he must have come far. He was +badly travel-worn when he got food from the Swedish missionary +on Golovin Bay and asked the way south. We heard of all this +afterward. Then he abandoned the shore line, heading right across +Norton Sound. Terrible weather, snowstorms and high winds, but he +pulled through where a thousand other men would have died, +missing St. Michaels and making the land at Pastilik. He'd lost +all but two dogs, and was nearly gone with starvation. + +'He was so anxious to go on that Father Roubeau fitted him out +with grub; but he couldn't let him have any dogs, for he was only +waiting my arrival, to go on a trip himself. Mr. Ulysses knew too +much to start on without animals, and fretted around for several +days. He had on his sled a bunch of beautifully cured otter +skins, sea otters, you know, worth their weight in gold. There +was also at Pastilik an old Shylock of a Russian trader, who had +dogs to kill. Well, they didn't dicker very long, but when the +Strange One headed south again, it was in the rear of a spanking +dog team. Mr. Shylock, by the way, had the otter skins. I saw +them, and they were magnificent. We figured it up and found the +dogs brought him at least five hundred apiece. And it wasn't as +if the Strange One didn't know the value of sea otter; he was an +Indian of some sort, and what little he talked showed he'd been +among white men. + +'After the ice passed out of the sea, word came up from Nunivak +Island that he'd gone in there for grub. Then he dropped from +sight, and this is the first heard of him in eight years. Now +where did he come from? and what was he doing there? and why did +he come from there? He's Indian, he's been nobody knows where, +and he's had discipline, which is unusual for an Indian. Another +mystery of the North for you to solve, Prince.' 'Thanks awfully, +but I've got too many on hand as it is,' he replied. + +Malemute Kid was already breathing heavily; but the young mining +engineer gazed straight up through the thick darkness, waiting +for the strange orgasm which stirred his blood to die away. And +when he did sleep, his brain worked on, and for the nonce he, +too, wandered through the white unknown, struggled with the dogs +on endless trails, and saw men live, and toil, and die like men. +The next morning, hours before daylight, the dog drivers and +policemen pulled out for Dawson. But the powers that saw to Her +Majesty's interests and ruled the destinies of her lesser +creatures gave the mailmen little rest, for a week later they +appeared at Stuart River, heavily burdened with letters for Salt +Water. + +However, their dogs had been replaced by fresh ones; but, then, +they were dogs. + +The men had expected some sort of a layover in which to rest up; +besides, this Klondike was a new section of the Northland, and +they had wished to see a little something of the Golden City +where dust flowed like water and dance halls rang with +never-ending revelry. But they dried their socks and smoked their +evening pipes with much the same gusto as on their former visit, +though one or two bold spirits speculated on desertion and the +possibility of crossing the unexplored Rockies to the east, and +thence, by the Mackenzie Valley, of gaining their old stamping +grounds in the Chippewyan country. + +Two or three even decided to return to their homes by that route +when their terms of service had expired, and they began to lay +plans forthwith, looking forward to the hazardous undertaking in +much the same way a city-bred man would to a day's holiday in the +woods. + +He of the Otter Skins seemed very restless, though he took little +interest in the discussion, and at last he drew Malemute Kid to +one side and talked for some time in low tones. + +Prince cast curious eyes in their direction, and the mystery +deepened when they put on caps and mittens and went outside. When +they returned, Malemute Kid placed his gold scales on the table, +weighed out the matter of sixty ounces, and transferred them to +the Strange One's sack. Then the chief of the dog drivers joined +the conclave, and certain business was transacted with him. + +The next day the gang went on upriver, but He of the Otter Skins +took several pounds of grub and turned his steps back toward +Dawson. + +'Didn't know what to make of it,' said Malemute Kid in response +to Prince's queries; 'but the poor beggar wanted to be quit of +the service for some reason or other--at least it seemed a most +important one to him, though he wouldn't let on what. You see, +it's just like the army: he signed for two years, and the only +way to get free was to buy himself out. He couldn't desert and +then stay here, and he was just wild to remain in the country. + +Made up his mind when he got to Dawson, he said; but no one knew +him, hadn't a cent, and I was the only one he'd spoken two words +with. So he talked it over with the lieutenant-governor, and made +arrangements in case he could get the money from me- loan, you +know. Said he'd pay back in the year, and, if I wanted, would put +me onto something rich. Never'd seen it, but he knew it was rich. + +'And talk! why, when he got me outside he was ready to weep. +Begged and pleaded; got down in the snow to me till I hauled him +out of it. Palavered around like a crazy man. + +Swore he's worked to this very end for years and years, and +couldn't bear to be disappointed now. Asked him what end, but he +wouldn't say. + +Said they might keep him on the other half of the trail and he +wouldn't get to Dawson in two years, and then it would be too +late. Never saw a man take on so in my life. And when I said I'd +let him have it, had to yank him out of the snow again. Told him +to consider it in the light of a grubstake. Think he'd have it? +No sir! Swore he'd give me all he found, make me rich beyond the +dreams of avarice, and all such stuff. Now a man who puts his +life and time against a grubstake ordinarily finds it hard enough +to turn over half of what he finds. Something behind all this, +Prince; just you make a note of it. We'll hear of him if he stays +in the country-' 'And if he doesn't?' 'Then my good nature gets a +shock, and I'm sixty some odd ounces out.' The cold weather had +come on with the long nights, and the sun had begun to play his +ancient game of peekaboo along the southern snow line ere aught +was heard of Malemute Kid's grubstake. And then, one bleak +morning in early January, a heavily laden dog train pulled into +his cabin below Stuart River. He of the Otter Skins was there, +and with him walked a man such as the gods have almost forgotten +how to fashion. Men never talked of luck and pluck and five- +hundreddollar dirt without bringing in the name of Axel +Gunderson; nor could tales of nerve or strength or daring pass up +and down the campfire without the summoning of his presence. And +when the conversation flagged, it blazed anew at mention of the +woman who shared his fortunes. + +As has been noted, in the making of Axel Gunderson the gods had +remembered their old- time cunning and cast him after the manner +of men who were born when the world was young. Full seven feet he +towered in his picturesque costume which marked a king of +Eldorado. His chest, neck, and limbs were those of a giant. To +bear his three hundred pounds of bone and muscle, his snowshoes +were greater by a generous yard than those of other men. +Rough-hewn, with rugged brow and massive jaw and unflinching eyes +of palest blue, his face told the tale of one who knew but the +law of might. Of the yellow of ripe corn silk, his +frost-incrusted hair swept like day across the night and fell +far down his coat of bearskin. + +A vague tradition of the sea seemed to cling about him as he +swung down the narrow trail in advance of the dogs; and he +brought the butt of his dog whip against Malemute Kid's door as a +Norse sea rover, on southern foray, might thunder for admittance +at the castle gate. + +Prince bared his womanly arms and kneaded sour-dough bread, +casting, as he did so, many a glance at the three guests--three +guests the like of which might never come under a man's roof in a +lifetime. The Strange One, whom Malemute Kid had surnamed +Ulysses, still fascinated him; but his interest chiefly +gravitated between Axel Gunderson and Axel Gunderson's wife. She +felt the day's journey, for she had softened in comfortable +cabins during the many days since her husband mastered the wealth +of frozen pay streaks, and she was tired. She rested against his +great breast like a slender flower against a wall, replying +lazily to Malemute Kid's good-natured banter, and stirring +Prince's blood strangely with an occasional sweep of her deep, +dark eyes. For Prince was a man, and healthy, and had seen few +women in many months. And she was older than he, and an Indian +besides. But she was different from all native wives he had met: +she had traveled--had been in his country among others, he +gathered from the conversation; and she knew most of the things +the women of his own race knew, and much more that it was not in +the nature of things for them to know. She could make a meal of +sun-dried fish or a bed in the snow; yet she teased them with +tantalizing details of many-course dinners, and caused strange +internal dissensions to arise at the mention of various quondam +dishes which they had well-nigh forgotten. She knew the ways of +the moose, the bear, and the little blue fox, and of the wild +amphibians of the Northern seas; she was skilled in the lore of +the woods, and the streams, and the tale writ by man and bird and +beast upon the delicate snow crust was to her an open book; yet +Prince caught the appreciative twinkle in her eye as she read the +Rules of the Camp. These rules had been fathered by the +Unquenchable Bettles at a time when his blood ran high, and were +remarkable for the terse simplicity of their humor. + +Prince always turned them to the wall before the arrival of +ladies; but who could suspect that this native wife--Well, it +was too late now. + +This, then, was the wife of Axel Gunderson, a woman whose name +and fame had traveled with her husband's, hand in hand, through +all the Northland. At table, Malemute Kid baited her with the +assurance of an old friend, and Prince shook off the shyness of +first acquaintance and joined in. But she held her own in the +unequal contest, while her husband, slower in wit, ventured +naught but applause. And he was very proud of her; his every look +and action revealed the magnitude of the place she occupied in +his life. He of the Otter Skins ate in silence, forgotten in the +merry battle; and long ere the others were done he pushed back +from the table and went out among the dogs. Yet all too soon his +fellow travelers drew on their mittens and parkas and followed +him. + +There had been no snow for many days, and the sleds slipped along +the hardpacked Yukon trail as easily as if it had been glare ice. +Ulysses led the first sled; with the second came Prince and Axel +Gunderson's wife; while Malemute Kid and the yellow-haired giant +brought up the third. + +'It's only a hunch, Kid,' he said, 'but I think it's straight. +He's never been there, but he tells a good story, and shows a map +I heard of when I was in the Kootenay country years ago. I'd like +to have you go along; but he's a strange one, and swore +point-blank to throw it up if anyone was brought in. But when I +come back you'll get first tip, and I'll stake you next to me, +and give you a half share in the town site besides.' 'No! no!' he +cried, as the other strove to interrupt. 'I'm running this, and +before I'm done it'll need two heads. + +If it's all right, why, it'll be a second Cripple Creek, man; do +you hear?--a second Cripple Creek! It's quartz, you know, not +placer; and if we work it right we'll corral the whole +thing--millions upon millions. I've heard of the place before, +and so have you. We'll build a town--thousands of workmen--good +waterways--steamship lines--big carrying trade--lightdraught +steamers for head reaches--survey a railroad, perhaps--sawmills- +electriclight plant--do our own banking--commercial +company--syndicate--Say! Just you hold your hush till I get +back!' The sleds came to a halt where the trail crossed the mouth +of Stuart River. An unbroken sea of frost, its wide expanse +stretched away into the unknown east. + +The snowshoes were withdrawn from the lashings of the sleds. Axel +Gunderson shook hands and stepped to the fore, his great webbed +shoes sinking a fair half yard into the feathery surface and +packing the snow so the dogs should not wallow. His wife fell in +behind the last sled, betraying long practice in the art of +handling the awkward footgear, The stillness was broken with +cheery farewells; the dogs whined; and He of the Otter Skins +talked with his whip to a recalcitrant wheeler. + +An hour later the train had taken on the likeness of a black +pencil crawling in a long, straight line across a mighty sheet of +foolscap. + +II One night, many weeks later, Malemute Kid and Prince fell to +solving chess problems from the torn page of an ancient magazine. +The Kid had just returned from his Bonanza properties and was +resting up preparatory to a long moose hunt. + +Prince, too, had been on creek and trail nearly all winter, and +had grown hungry for a blissful week of cabin life. + +'Interpose the black knight, and force the king. No, that won't +do. See, the next move-' + +'Why advance the pawn two squares? Bound to take it in transit, +and with the bishop out of the way-' 'But hold on! That leaves a +hole, and-' 'No; it's protected. Go ahead! You'll see it works.' +It was very interesting. Somebody knocked at the door a second +time before Malemute Kid said, 'Come in.' The door swung open. +Something staggered in. + +Prince caught one square look and sprang to his feet. The horror +in his eyes caused Malemute Kid to whirl about; and he, too, was +startled, though he had seen bad things before. The thing +tottered blindly toward them. Prince edged away till he reached +the nail from which hung his Smith & Wesson. + +'My God! what is it?' he whispered to Malemute Kid. + +'Don't know. Looks like a case of freezing and no grub,' replied +the Kid, sliding away in the opposite direction. 'Watch out! It +may be mad,' he warned, coming back from closing the door. + +The thing advanced to the table. The bright flame of the slush +lamp caught its eye. It was amused, and gave voice to eldritch +cackles which betokened mirth. + +Then, suddenly, he--for it was a man--swayed back, with a hitch +to his skin trousers, and began to sing a chantey, such as men +lift when they swing around the capstan circle and the sea +snorts in their ears: Yan-kee ship come down de ri-ib-er, Pull! +my bully boys! Pull! D'yeh want--to know de captain ru-uns her? +Pull! my bully boys! Pull! Jon-a-than Jones ob South +Caho-li-in-a, Pull! my bullyHe broke off abruptly, tottered with +a wolfish snarl to the meat shelf, and before they could +intercept was tearing with his teeth at a chunk of raw bacon. The +struggle was fierce between him and Malemute Kid; but his mad +strength left him as suddenly as it had come, and he weakly +surrendered the spoil. Between them they got him upon a stool, +where he sprawled with half his body across the table. + +A small dose of whiskey strengthened him, so that he could dip a +spoon into the sugar caddy which Malemute Kid placed before him. +After his appetite had been somewhat cloyed, Prince, shuddering +as he did so, passed him a mug of weak beef tea. + +The creature's eyes were alight with a somber frenzy, which +blazed and waned with every mouthful. There was very little skin +to the face. The face, for that matter, sunken and emaciated, +bore little likeness to human countenance. + +Frost after frost had bitten deeply, each depositing its stratum +of scab upon the half- healed scar that went before. This dry, +hard surface was of a bloody-black color, serrated by grievous +cracks wherein the raw red flesh peeped forth. His skin garments +were dirty and in tatters, and the fur of one side was singed and +burned away, showing where he had lain upon his fire. + +Malemute Kid pointed to where the sun-tanned hide had been cut +away, strip by strip--the grim signature of famine. + +'Who--are--you?' slowly and distinctly enunciated the Kid. + +The man paid no heed. + +'Where do you come from?' 'Yan-kee ship come down de ri-ib-er,' +was the quavering response. + +'Don't doubt the beggar came down the river,' the Kid said, +shaking him in an endeavor to start a more lucid flow of talk. + +But the man shrieked at the contact, clapping a hand to his side +in evident pain. He rose slowly to his feet, half leaning on the +table. + +'She laughed at me--so--with the hate in her eye; and +she--would--not--come.' His voice died away, and he was sinking +back when Malemute Kid gripped him by the wrist and shouted, +'Who? Who would not come?' 'She, Unga. She laughed, and struck at +me, so, and so. And then-' 'Yes?' + +'And then-' 'And then what?' 'And then he lay very still in the +snow a long time. He is- still in--the--snow.' The two men looked +at each other helplessly. + +'Who is in the snow?' 'She, Unga. She looked at me with the hate +in her eye, and then-' + +'Yes, yes.' 'And then she took the knife, so; and once, +twice--she was weak. I traveled very slow. And there is much gold +in that place, very much gold.' 'Where is Unga?' For all Malemute +Kid knew, she might be dying a mile away. He shook the man +savagely, repeating again and again, 'Where is Unga? Who is +Unga?' 'She--is--in--the--snow.' 'Go on!' The Kid was pressing +his wrist cruelly. + +'So--I--would--be--in--the snow--but--I--had--a--debt--to--pay. +It--was--heavy--Ihad--a- debt--to--pay--a--debt--to--pay I--had-' +The faltering monosyllables ceased as he fumbled in his pouch and +drew forth a buckskin sack. +'A--debt--to--payfive--pounds--of--gold- +grub--stake--Mal--e--mute--Kid--I-' The exhausted head dropped +upon the table; nor could Malemute Kid rouse it again. + +'It's Ulysses,' he said quietly, tossing the bag of dust on the +table. 'Guess it's all day with Axel Gunderson and the woman. +Come on, let's get him between the blankets. He's Indian; he'll +pull through and tell a tale besides.' As they cut his garments +from him, near his right breast could be seen two unhealed, +hard-lipped knife thrusts. + +III 'I will talk of the things which were in my own way; but you +will understand. + +I will begin at the beginning, and tell of myself and the woman, +and, after that, of the man.' He of the Otter Skins drew over to +the stove as do men who have been deprived of fire and are afraid +the Promethean gift may vanish at any moment. Malemute Kid picked +up the slush lamp and placed it so its light might fall upon the +face of the narrator. Prince slid his body over the edge of the +bunk and joined them. + +'I am Naass, a chief, and the son of a chief, born between a +sunset and a rising, on the dark seas, in my father's oomiak. All +of a night the men toiled at the paddles, and the women cast out +the waves which threw in upon us, and we fought with the storm. +The salt spray froze upon my mother's breast till her breath +passed with the passing of the tide. But I--I raised my voice +with the wind and the storm, and lived. + +'We dwelt in Akatan-' 'Where?' asked Malemute Kid. + +'Akatan, which is in the Aleutians; Akatan, beyond Chignik, +beyond Kardalak, beyond Unimak. As I say, we dwelt in Akatan, +which lies in the midst of the sea on the edge of the world. We +farmed the salt seas for the fish, the seal, and the otter; and +our homes shouldered about one another on the rocky strip between +the rim of the forest and the yellow beach where our kayaks lay. +We were not many, and the world was very small. + +There were strange lands to the east--islands like Akatan; so we +thought all the world was islands and did not mind. + +'I was different from my people. In the sands of the beach were +the crooked timbers and wave-warped planks of a boat such as my +people never built; and I remember on the point of the island +which overlooked the ocean three ways there stood a pine tree +which never grew there, smooth and straight and tall. It is said +the two men came to that spot, turn about, through many days, and +watched with the passing of the light. These two men came from +out of the sea in the boat which lay in pieces on the beach. And +they were white like you, and weak as the little children when +the seal have gone away and the hunters come home empty. I know +of these things from the old men and the old women, who got them +from their fathers and mothers before them. These strange white +men did not take kindly to our ways at first, but they grew +strong, what of the fish and the oil, and fierce. And they built +them each his own house, and took the pick of our women, and in +time children came. Thus he was born who was to become the father +of my father's father. + +'As I said, I was different from my people, for I carried the +strong, strange blood of this white man who came out of the sea. +It is said we had other laws in the days before these men; but +they were fierce and quarrelsome, and fought with our men till +there were no more left who dared to fight. Then they made +themselves chiefs, and took away our old laws, and gave us new +ones, insomuch that the man was the son of his father, and not +his mother, as our way had been. They also ruled that the son, +first-born, should have all things which were his father's +before him, and that the brothers and sisters should shift for +themselves. And they gave us other laws. They showed us new ways +in the catching of fish and the killing of bear which were thick +in the woods; and they taught us to lay by bigger stores for the +time of famine. And these things were good. + +'But when they had become chiefs, and there were no more men to +face their anger, they fought, these strange white men, each with +the other. And the one whose blood I carry drove his seal spear +the length of an arm through the other's body. Their children +took up the fight, and their children's children; and there was +great hatred between them, and black doings, even to my time, so +that in each family but one lived to pass down the blood of them +that went before. Of my blood I was alone; of the other man's +there was but a girl. Unga, who lived with her mother. Her father +and my father did not come back from the fishing one night; but +afterward they washed up to the beach on the big tides, and they +held very close to each other. + +'The people wondered, because of the hatred between the houses, +and the old men shook their heads and said the fight would go on +when children were born to her and children to me. They told me +this as a boy, till I came to believe, and to look upon Unga as a +foe, who was to be the mother of children which were to fight +with mine. I thought of these things day by day, and when I grew +to a stripling I came to ask why this should be so. + +And they answered, "We do not know, but that in such way your +fathers did." And I marveled that those which were to come +should fight the battles of those that were gone, and in it I +could see no right. But the people said it must be, and I was +only a stripling. + +'And they said I must hurry, that my blood might be the older and +grow strong before hers. This was easy, for I was head man, and +the people looked up to me because of the deeds and the laws of +my fathers, and the wealth which was mine. Any maiden would come +to me, but I found none to my liking. And the old men and the +mothers of maidens told me to hurry, for even then were the +hunters bidding high to the mother of Unga; and should her +children grow strong before mine, mine would surely die. + +'Nor did I find a maiden till one night coming back from the +fishing. The sunlight was lying, so, low and full in the eyes, +the wind free, and the kayacks racing with the white seas. Of a +sudden the kayak of Unga came driving past me, and she looked +upon me, so, with her black hair flying like a cloud of night and +the spray wet on her cheek. As I say, the sunlight was full in +the eyes, and I was a stripling; but somehow it was all clear, +and I knew it to be the call of kind to kind. + +As she whipped ahead she looked back within the space of two +strokes--looked as only the woman Unga could look--and again I +knew it as the call of kind. The people shouted as we ripped past +the lazy oomiaks and left them far behind. But she was quick at +the paddle, and my heart was like the belly of a sail, and I did +not gain. The wind freshened, the sea whitened, and, leaping like +the seals on the windward breech, we roared down the golden +pathway of the sun.' Naass was crouched half out of his stool, in +the attitude of one driving a paddle, as he ran the race anew. +Somewhere across the stove he beheld the tossing kayak and the +flying hair of Unga. The voice of the wind was in his ears, and +its salt beat fresh upon his nostrils. + +'But she made the shore, and ran up the sand, laughing, to the +house of her mother. And a great thought came to me that night--a +thought worthy of him that was chief over all the people of +Akatan. So, when the moon was up, I went down to the house of her +mother, and looked upon the goods of Yash-Noosh, which were piled +by the door--the goods of Yash-Noosh, a strong hunter who had it +in mind to be the father of the children of Unga. + +Other young men had piled their goods there and taken them away +again; and each young man had made a pile greater than the one +before. + +'And I laughed to the moon and the stars, and went to my own +house where my wealth was stored. And many trips I made, till my +pile was greater by the fingers of one hand than the pile of +Yash-Noosh. There were fish, dried in the sun and smoked; and +forty hides of the hair seal, and half as many of the fur, and +each hide was tied at the mouth and big bellied with oil; and ten +skins of bear which I killed in the woods when they came out in +the spring. And there were beads and blankets and scarlet cloths, +such as I got in trade from the people who lived to the east, and +who got them in trade from the people who lived still beyond in +the east. + +And I looked upon the pile of Yash-Noosh and laughed, for I was +head man in Akatan, and my wealth was greater than the wealth of +all my young men, and my fathers had done deeds, and given laws, +and put their names for all time in the mouths of the people. + +'So, when the morning came, I went down to the beach, casting out +of the corner of my eye at the house of the mother of Unga. My +offer yet stood untouched. + +And the women smiled, and said sly things one to the other. I +wondered, for never had such a price been offered; and that night +I added more to the pile, and put beside it a kayak of +well-tanned skins which never yet had swam in the sea. But in the +day it was yet there, open to the laughter of all men. The mother +of Unga was crafty, and I grew angry at the shame in which I +stood before my people. So that night I added till it became a +great pile, and I hauled up my oomiak, which was of the value of +twenty kayaks. And in the morning there was no pile. + +'Then made I preparation for the wedding, and the people that +lived even to the east came for the food of the feast and the +potlatch token. Unga was older than I by the age of four suns in +the way we reckoned the years. I was only a stripling; but then I +was a chief, and the son of a chief, and it did not matter. + +'But a ship shoved her sails above the floor of the ocean, and +grew larger with the breath of the wind. From her scuppers she +ran clear water, and the men were in haste and worked hard at the +pumps. On the bow stood a mighty man, watching the depth of the +water and giving commands with a voice of thunder. His eyes were +of the pale blue of the deep waters, and his head was maned like +that of a sea lion. And his hair was yellow, like the straw of a +southern harvest or the manila rope yarns which sailormen plait. + +'Of late years we had seen ships from afar, but this was the +first to come to the beach of Akatan. The feast was broken, and +the women and children fled to the houses, while we men strung +our bows and waited with spears in hand. But when the ship's +forefoot smelled the beach the strange men took no notice of us, +being busy with their own work. + +With the falling of the tide they careened the schooner and +patched a great hole in her bottom. So the women crept back, and +the feast went on. + +'When the tide rose, the sea wanderers kedged the schooner to +deep water and then came among us. They bore presents and were +friendly; so I made room for them, and out of the largeness of my +heart gave them tokens such as I gave all the guests, for it was +my wedding day, and I was head man in Akatan. And he with the +mane of the sea lion was there, so tall and strong that one +looked to see the earth shake with the fall of his feet. He +looked much and straight at Unga, with his arms folded, so, and +stayed till the sun went away and the stars came out. + +Then he went down to his ship. After that I took Unga by the hand +and led her to my own house. And there was singing and great +laughter, and the women said sly things, after the manner of +women at such times. But we did not care. Then the people left us +alone and went home. + +'The last noise had not died away when the chief of the sea +wanderers came in by the door. And he had with him black +bottles, from which we drank and made merry. You see, I was only +a stripling, and had lived all my days on the edge of the world. +So my blood became as fire, and my heart as light as the froth +that flies from the surf to the cliff. Unga sat silent among the +skins in the corner, her eyes wide, for she seemed to fear. And +he with the mane of the sea lion looked upon her straight and +long. Then his men came in with bundles of goods, and he piled +before me wealth such as was not in all Akatan. + +There were guns, both large and small, and powder and shot and +shell, and bright axes and knives of steel, and cunning tools, +and strange things the like of which I had never seen. + +When he showed me by sign that it was all mine, I thought him a +great man to be so free; but he showed me also that Unga was to +go away with him in his ship. + +Do you understand?--that Unga was to go away with him in his +ship. The blood of my fathers flamed hot on the sudden, and I +made to drive him through with my spear. But the spirit of the +bottles had stolen the life from my arm, and he took me by the +neck, so, and knocked my head against the wall of the house. And +I was made weak like a newborn child, and my legs would no more +stand under me. + +Unga screamed, and she laid hold of the things of the house with +her hands, till they fell all about us as he dragged her to the +door. Then he took her in his great arms, and when she tore at +his yellow hair laughed with a sound like that of the big bull +seal in the rut. + +'I crawled to the beach and called upon my people, but they were +afraid. Only Yash- Noosh was a man, and they struck him on the +head with an oar, till he lay with his face in the sand and did +not move. And they raised the sails to the sound of their songs, +and the ship went away on the wind. + +'The people said it was good, for there would be no more war of +the bloods in Akatan; but I said never a word, waiting till the +time of the full moon, when I put fish and oil in my kayak and +went away to the east. I saw many islands and many people, and I, +who had lived on the edge, saw that the world was very large. I +talked by signs; but they had not seen a schooner nor a man with +the mane of a sea lion, and they pointed always to the east. And +I slept in queer places, and ate odd things, and met strange +faces. Many laughed, for they thought me light of head; but +sometimes old men turned my face to the light and blessed me, and +the eyes of the young women grew soft as they asked me of the +strange ship, and Unga, and the men of the sea. + +'And in this manner, through rough seas and great storms, I came +to Unalaska. There were two schooners there, but neither was the +one I sought. So I passed on to the east, with the world growing +ever larger, and in the island of Unamok there was no word of the +ship, nor in Kadiak, nor in Atognak. And so I came one day to a +rocky land, where men dug great holes in the mountain. And there +was a schooner, but not my schooner, and men loaded upon it the +rocks which they dug. This I thought childish, for all the world +was made of rocks; but they gave me food and set me to work. When +the schooner was deep in the water, the captain gave me money and +told me to go; but I asked which way he went, and he pointed +south. I made signs that I would go with him, and he laughed at +first, but then, being short of men, took me to help work the +ship. So I came to talk after their manner, and to heave on +ropes, and to reef the stiff sails in sudden squalls, and to take +my turn at the wheel. But it was not strange, for the blood of my +fathers was the blood of the men of the sea. + +'I had thought it an easy task to find him I sought, once I got +among his own people; and when we raised the land one day, and +passed between a gateway of the sea to a port, I looked for +perhaps as many schooners as there were fingers to my hands. But +the ships lay against the wharves for miles, packed like so many +little fish; and when I went among them to ask for a man with the +mane of a sea lion, they laughed, and answered me in the tongues +of many peoples. And I found that they hailed from the uttermost +parts of the earth. + +'And I went into the city to look upon the face of every man. But +they were like the cod when they run thick on the banks, and I +could not count them. And the noise smote upon me till I could +not hear, and my head was dizzy with much movement. So I went on +and on, through the lands which sang in the warm sunshine; where +the harvests lay rich on the plains; and where great cities were +fat with men that lived like women, with false words in their +mouths and their hearts black with the lust of gold. And all the +while my people of Akatan hunted and fished, and were happy in +the thought that the world was small. + +'But the look in the eyes of Unga coming home from the fishing +was with me always, and I knew I would find her when the time was +met. She walked down quiet lanes in the dusk of the evening, or +led me chases across the thick fields wet with the morning dew, +and there was a promise in her eyes such as only the woman Unga +could give. + +'So I wandered through a thousand cities. Some were gentle and +gave me food, and others laughed, and still others cursed; but I +kept my tongue between my teeth, and went strange ways and saw +strange sights. Sometimes I, who was a chief and the son of a +chief, toiled for men--men rough of speech and hard as iron, who +wrung gold from the sweat and sorrow of their fellow men. Yet no +word did I get of my quest till I came back to the sea like a +homing seal to the rookeries. + +But this was at another port, in another country which lay to the +north. And there I heard dim tales of the yellow-haired sea +wanderer, and I learned that he was a hunter of seals, and that +even then he was abroad on the ocean. + +'So I shipped on a seal schooner with the lazy Siwashes, and +followed his trackless trail to the north where the hunt was then +warm. And we were away weary months, and spoke many of the fleet, +and heard much of the wild doings of him I sought; but never once +did we raise him above the sea. We went north, even to the +Pribilofs, and killed the seals in herds on the beach, and +brought their warm bodies aboard till our scuppers ran grease and +blood and no man could stand upon the deck. Then were we chased +by a ship of slow steam, which fired upon us with great guns. But +we put sail till the sea was over our decks and washed them +clean, and lost ourselves in a fog. + +'It is said, at this time, while we fled with fear at our +hearts, that the yellowhaired sea wanderer put in to the +Pribilofs, right to the factory, and while the part of his men +held the servants of the company, the rest loaded ten thousand +green skins from the salt houses. I say it is said, but I +believe; for in the voyages I made on the coast with never a +meeting the northern seas rang with his wildness and daring, till +the three nations which have lands there sought him with their +ships. + +And I heard of Unga, for the captains sang loud in her praise, +and she was always with him. She had learned the ways of his +people, they said, and was happy. But I knew better- knew that +her heart harked back to her own people by the yellow beach of +Akatan. + +'So, after a long time, I went back to the port which is by a +gateway of the sea, and there I learned that he had gone across +the girth of the great ocean to hunt for the seal to the east of +the warm land which runs south from the Russian seas. + +And I, who was become a sailorman, shipped with men of his own +race, and went after him in the hunt of the seal. And there were +few ships off that new land; but we hung on the flank of the +seal pack and harried it north through all the spring of the +year. And when the cows were heavy with pup and crossed the +Russian line, our men grumbled and were afraid. For there was +much fog, and every day men were lost in the boats. They would +not work, so the captain turned the ship back toward the way it +came. But I knew the yellow- haired sea wanderer was unafraid, +and would hang by the pack, even to the Russian Isles, where few +men go. So I took a boat, in the black of night, when the lookout +dozed on the fo'c'slehead, and went alone to the warm, long land. +And I journeyed south to meet the men by Yeddo Bay, who are wild +and unafraid. And the Yoshiwara girls were small, and bright like +steel, and good to look upon; but I could not stop, for I knew +that Unga rolled on the tossing floor by the rookeries of the +north. + +'The men by Yeddo Bay had met from the ends of the earth, and had +neither gods nor homes, sailing under the flag of the Japanese. +And with them I went to the rich beaches of Copper Island, where +our salt piles became high with skins. + +And in that silent sea we saw no man till we were ready to come +away. Then one day the fog lifted on the edge of a heavy wind, +and there jammed down upon us a schooner, with close in her wake +the cloudy funnels of a Russian man-of-war. We fled away on the +beam of the wind, with the schooner jamming still closer and +plunging ahead three feet to our two. And upon her poop was the +man with the mane of the sea lion, pressing the rails under with +the canvas and laughing in his strength of life. And Unga was +there--I knew her on the moment--but he sent her below when the +cannons began to talk across the sea. + +As I say, with three feet to our two, till we saw the rudder lift +green at every jump--and I swinging on to the wheel and cursing, +with my back to the Russian shot. For we knew he had it in mind +to run before us, that he might get away while we were caught. +And they knocked our masts out of us till we dragged into the +wind like a wounded gull; but he went on over the edge of the sky +line--he and Unga. + +'What could we? The fresh hides spoke for themselves. So they +took us to a Russian port, and after that to a lone country, +where they set us to work in the mines to dig salt. And some +died, and--and some did not die.' Naass swept the blanket from +his shoulders, disclosing the gnarled and twisted flesh, marked +with the unmistakable striations of the knout. Prince hastily +covered him, for it was not nice to look upon. + +'We were there a weary time and sometimes men got away to the +south, but they always came back. So, when we who hailed from +Yeddo Bay rose in the night and took the guns from the guards, we +went to the north. And the land was very large, with plains, +soggy with water, and great forests. And the cold came, with much +snow on the ground, and no man knew the way. Weary months we +journeyed through the endless forest--I do not remember, now, for +there was little food and often we lay down to die. But at last +we came to the cold sea, and but three were left to look upon it. +One had shipped from Yeddo as captain, and he knew in his head +the lay of the great lands, and of the place where men may cross +from one to the other on the ice. And he led us--I do not know, +it was so long--till there were but two. When we came to that +place we found five of the strange people which live in that +country, and they had dogs and skins, and we were very poor. We +fought in the snow till they died, and the captain died, and the +dogs and skins were mine. Then I crossed on the ice, which was +broken, and once I drifted till a gale from the west put me upon +the shore. And after that, Golovin Bay, Pastilik, and the priest. + +Then south, south, to the warm sunlands where first I wandered. + +'But the sea was no longer fruitful, and those who went upon it +after the seal went to little profit and great risk. The fleets +scattered, and the captains and the men had no word of those I +sought. So I turned away from the ocean which never rests, and +went among the lands, where the trees, the houses, and the +mountains sit always in one place and do not move. I journeyed +far, and came to learn many things, even to the way of reading +and writing from books. It was well I should do this, for it came +upon me that Unga must know these things, and that someday, when +the time was met--we--you understand, when the time was met. + +'So I drifted, like those little fish which raise a sail to the +wind but cannot steer. But my eyes and my ears were open always, +and I went among men who traveled much, for I knew they had but +to see those I sought to remember. At last there came a man, +fresh from the mountains, with pieces of rock in which the free +gold stood to the size of peas, and he had heard, he had met, he +knew them. They were rich, he said, and lived in the place where +they drew the gold from the ground. + +'It was in a wild country, and very far away; but in time I came +to the camp, hidden between the mountains, where men worked night +and day, out of the sight of the sun. Yet the time was not come. +I listened to the talk of the people. He had gone away--they had +gone away--to England, it was said, in the matter of bringing men +with much money together to form companies. I saw the house they +had lived in; more like a palace, such as one sees in the old +countries. In the nighttime I crept in through a window that I +might see in what manner he treated her. I went from room to +room, and in such way thought kings and queens must live, it was +all so very good. And they all said he treated her like a queen, +and many marveled as to what breed of woman she was for there was +other blood in her veins, and she was different from the women of +Akatan, and no one knew her for what she was. Aye, she was a +queen; but I was a chief, and the son of a chief, and I had paid +for her an untold price of skin and boat and bead. + +'But why so many words? I was a sailorman, and knew the way of +the ships on the seas. I followed to England, and then to other +countries. Sometimes I heard of them by word of mouth, sometimes +I read of them in the papers; yet never once could I come by +them, for they had much money, and traveled fast, while I was a +poor man. Then came trouble upon them, and their wealth slipped +away one day like a curl of smoke. The papers were full of it at +the time; but after that nothing was said, and I knew they had +gone back where more gold could be got from the ground. + +'They had dropped out of the world, being now poor, and so I +wandered from camp to camp, even north to the Kootenay country, +where I picked up the cold scent. They had come and gone, some +said this way, and some that, and still others that they had gone +to the country of the Yukon. And I went this way, and I went +that, ever journeying from place to place, till it seemed I must +grow weary of the world which was so large. But in the Kootenay I +traveled a bad trail, and a long trail, with a breed of the +Northwest, who saw fit to die when the famine pinched. He had +been to the Yukon by an unknown way over the mountains, and when +he knew his time was near gave me the map and the secret of a +place where he swore by his gods there was much gold. + +'After that all the world began to flock into the north. I was a +poor man; I sold myself to be a driver of dogs. The rest you +know. I met him and her in Dawson. + +She did not know me, for I was only a stripling, and her life had +been large, so she had no time to remember the one who had paid +for her an untold price. + +'So? You bought me from my term of service. I went back to bring +things about in my own way, for I had waited long, and now that I +had my hand upon him was in no hurry. + +As I say, I had it in mind to do my own way, for I read back in +my life, through all I had seen and suffered, and remembered the +cold and hunger of the endless forest by the Russian seas. As you +know, I led him into the easthim and Unga--into the east where +many have gone and few returned. I led them to the spot where the +bones and the curses of men lie with the gold which they may not +have. + +'The way was long and the trail unpacked. Our dogs were many and +ate much; nor could our sleds carry till the break of spring. We +must come back before the river ran free. So here and there we +cached grub, that our sleds might be lightened and there be no +chance of famine on the back trip. At the McQuestion there were +three men, and near them we built a cache, as also did we at the +Mayo, where was a hunting camp of a dozen Pellys which had +crossed the divide from the south. + +After that, as we went on into the east, we saw no men; only the +sleeping river, the moveless forest, and the White Silence of the +North. As I say, the way was long and the trail unpacked. +Sometimes, in a day's toil, we made no more than eight miles, or +ten, and at night we slept like dead men. And never once did they +dream that I was Naass, head man of Akatan, the righter of +wrongs. + +'We now made smaller caches, and in the nighttime it was a small +matter to go back on the trail we had broken and change them in +such way that one might deem the wolverines the thieves. Again +there be places where there is a fall to the river, and the water +is unruly, and the ice makes above and is eaten away beneath. + +In such a spot the sled I drove broke through, and the dogs; and +to him and Unga it was ill luck, but no more. And there was much +grub on that sled, and the dogs the strongest. + +But he laughed, for he was strong of life, and gave the dogs that +were left little grub till we cut them from the harnesses one by +one and fed them to their mates. We would go home light, he said, +traveling and eating from cache to cache, with neither dogs nor +sleds; which was true, for our grub was very short, and the last +dog died in the traces the night we came to the gold and the +bones and the curses of men. + +'To reach that place--and the map spoke true--in the heart of the +great mountains, we cut ice steps against the wall of a divide. +One looked for a valley beyond, but there was no valley; the snow +spread away, level as the great harvest plains, and here and +there about us mighty mountains shoved their white heads among +the stars. And midway on that strange plain which should have +been a valley the earth and the snow fell away, straight down +toward the heart of the world. + +Had we not been sailormen our heads would have swung round with +the sight, but we stood on the dizzy edge that we might see a way +to get down. And on one side, and one side only, the wall had +fallen away till it was like the slope of the decks in a topsail +breeze. I do not know why this thing should be so, but it was so. +"It is the mouth of hell," he said; "let us go down." And we went +down. + +'And on the bottom there was a cabin, built by some man, of logs +which he had cast down from above. It was a very old cabin, for +men had died there alone at different times, and on pieces of +birch bark which were there we read their last words and their +curses. + +One had died of scurvy; another's partner had robbed him of his +last grub and powder and stolen away; a third had been mauled by +a baldface grizzly; a fourth had hunted for game and starved--and +so it went, and they had been loath to leave the gold, and had +died by the side of it in one way or another. And the worthless +gold they had gathered yellowed the floor of the cabin like in a +dream. + +'But his soul was steady, and his head clear, this man I had led +thus far. "We have nothing to eat," he said, "and we will only +look upon this gold, and see whence it comes and how much there +be. Then we will go away quick, before it gets into our eyes and +steals away our judgment. And in this way we may return in the +end, with more grub, and possess it all." So we looked upon the +great vein, which cut the wall of the pit as a true vein should, +and we measured it, and traced it from above and below, and drove +the stakes of the claims and blazed the trees in token of our +rights. Then, our knees shaking with lack of food, and a sickness +in our bellies, and our hearts chugging close to our mouths, we +climbed the mighty wall for the last time and turned our faces to +the back trip. + +'The last stretch we dragged Unga between us, and we fell often, +but in the end we made the cache. And lo, there was no grub. It +was well done, for he thought it the wolverines, and damned them +and his gods in one breath. But Unga was brave, and smiled, and +put her hand in his, till I turned away that I might hold myself. +"We will rest by the fire," she said, "till morning, and we will +gather strength from our moccasins." So we cut the tops of our +moccasins in strips, and boiled them half of the night, that we +might chew them and swallow them. And in the morning we talked of +our chance. The next cache was five days' journey; we could not +make it. We must find game. + +'"We will go forth and hunt," he said. + +'"Yes," said I, "we will go forth and hunt." 'And he ruled that +Unga stay by the fire and save her strength. And we went forth, +he in quest of the moose and I to the cache I had changed. But I +ate little, so they might not see in me much strength. And in the +night he fell many times as he drew into camp. And I, too, made +to suffer great weakness, stumbling over my snowshoes as though +each step might be my last. And we gathered strength from our +moccasins. + +'He was a great man. His soul lifted his body to the last; nor +did he cry aloud, save for the sake of Unga. On the second day I +followed him, that I might not miss the end. And he lay down to +rest often. That night he was near gone; but in the morning he +swore weakly and went forth again. He was like a drunken man, and +I looked many times for him to give up, but his was the strength +of the strong, and his soul the soul of a giant, for he lifted +his body through all the weary day. And he shot two ptarmigan, +but would not eat them. He needed no fire; they meant life; but +his thought was for Unga, and he turned toward camp. + +He no longer walked, but crawled on hand and knee through the +snow. I came to him, and read death in his eyes. Even then it +was not too late to eat of the ptarmigan. He cast away his rifle +and carried the birds in his mouth like a dog. I walked by his +side, upright. And he looked at me during the moments he rested, +and wondered that I was so strong. I could see it, though he no +longer spoke; and when his lips moved, they moved without sound. + +As I say, he was a great man, and my heart spoke for softness; +but I read back in my life, and remembered the cold and hunger of +the endless forest by the Russian seas. Besides, Unga was mine, +and I had paid for her an untold price of skin and boat and bead. + +'And in this manner we came through the white forest, with the +silence heavy upon us like a damp sea mist. And the ghosts of the +past were in the air and all about us; and I saw the yellow beach +of Akatan, and the kayaks racing home from the fishing, and the +houses on the rim of the forest. And the men who had made +themselves chiefs were there, the lawgivers whose blood I bore +and whose blood I had wedded in Unga. Aye, and Yash- Noosh walked +with me, the wet sand in his hair, and his war spear, broken as +he fell upon it, still in his hand. And I knew the time was meet, +and saw in the eyes of Unga the promise. + +'As I say, we came thus through the forest, till the smell of the +camp smoke was in our nostrils. And I bent above him, and tore +the ptarmigan from his teeth. + +He turned on his side and rested, the wonder mounting in his +eyes, and the hand which was under slipping slow toward the knife +at his hip. But I took it from him, smiling close in his face. +Even then he did not understand. So I made to drink from black +bottles, and to build high upon the snow a pile--of goods, and to +live again the things which had happened on the night of my +marriage. I spoke no word, but he understood. Yet was he +unafraid. There was a sneer to his lips, and cold anger, and he +gathered new strength with the knowledge. It was not far, but the +snow was deep, and he dragged himself very slow. + +Once he lay so long I turned him over and gazed into his eyes. +And sometimes he looked forth, and sometimes death. And when I +loosed him he struggled on again. In this way we came to the +fire. Unga was at his side on the instant. His lips moved +without sound; then he pointed at me, that Unga might understand. +And after that he lay in the snow, very still, for a long while. +Even now is he there in the snow. + +'I said no word till I had cooked the ptarmigan. Then I spoke to +her, in her own tongue, which she had not heard in many years. +She straightened herself, so, and her eyes were wonder-wide, and +she asked who I was, and where I had learned that speech. + +'"I am Naass," I said. + +'"You?" she said. "You?" And she crept close that she might look +upon me. + +'"Yes," I answered; "I am Naass, head man of Akatan, the last of +the blood, as you are the last of the blood." 'And she laughed. +By all the things I have seen and the deeds I have done may I +never hear such a laugh again. It put the chill to my soul, +sitting there in the White Silence, alone with death and this +woman who laughed. + +'"Come!" I said, for I thought she wandered. "Eat of the food and +let us be gone. It is a far fetch from here to Akatan." 'But she +shoved her face in his yellow mane, and laughed till it seemed +the heavens must fall about our ears. I had thought she would be +overjoyed at the sight of me, and eager to go back to the memory +of old times, but this seemed a strange form to take. + +'"Come!' I cried, taking her strong by the hand. "The way is long +and dark. + +Let us hurry!' '"Where?" she asked, sitting up, and ceasing from +her strange mirth. + +'"To Akatan," I answered, intent on the light to grow on her face +at the thought. But it became like his, with a sneer to the lips, +and cold anger. + +'"Yes,' she said; "we will go, hand in hand, to Akatan, you and +I. And we will live in the dirty huts, and eat of the fish and +oil, and bring forth a spawn--a spawn to be proud of all the days +of our life. We will forget the world and be happy, very happy. +It is good, most good. Come! Let us hurry. Let us go back to +Akatan." 'And she ran her hand through his yellow hair, and +smiled in a way which was not good. And there was no promise in +her eyes. + +'I sat silent, and marveled at the strangeness of woman. I went +back to the night when he dragged her from me and she screamed +and tore at his hair--at his hair which now she played with and +would not leave. Then I remembered the price and the long years +of waiting; and I gripped her close, and dragged her away as he +had done. And she held back, even as on that night, and fought +like a she-cat for its whelp. And when the fire was between us +and the man. I loosed her, and she sat and listened. And I told +her of all that lay between, of all that had happened to me on +strange seas, of all that I had done in strange lands; of my +weary quest, and the hungry years, and the promise which had been +mine from the first. Aye, I told all, even to what had passed +that day between the man and me, and in the days yet young. And +as I spoke I saw the promise grow in her eyes, full and large +like the break of dawn. And I read pity there, the tenderness of +woman, the love, the heart and the soul of Unga. And I was a +stripling again, for the look was the look of Unga as she ran up +the beach, laughing, to the home of her mother. The stern unrest +was gone, and the hunger, and the weary waiting. + +The time was met. I felt the call of her breast, and it seemed +there I must pillow my head and forget. She opened her arms to +me, and I came against her. Then, sudden, the hate flamed in her +eye, her hand was at my hip. And once, twice, she passed the +knife. + +'"Dog!" she sneered, as she flung me into the snow. "Swine!" And +then she laughed till the silence cracked, and went back to her +dead. + +'As I say, once she passed the knife, and twice; but she was weak +with hunger, and it was not meant that I should die. Yet was I +minded to stay in that place, and to close my eyes in the last +long sleep with those whose lives had crossed with mine and led +my feet on unknown trails. But there lay a debt upon me which +would not let me rest. + +'And the way was long, the cold bitter, and there was little +grub. The Pellys had found no moose, and had robbed my cache. And +so had the three white men, but they lay thin and dead in their +cabins as I passed. After that I do not remember, till I came +here, and found food and fire--much fire.' As he finished, he +crouched closely, even jealously, over the stove. For a long +while the slush-lamp shadows played tragedies upon the wall. + +'But Unga!' cried Prince, the vision still strong upon him. + +'Unga? She would not eat of the ptarmigan. She lay with her arms +about his neck, her face deep in his yellow hair. I drew the fire +close, that she might not feel the frost, but she crept to the +other side. And I built a fire there; yet it was little good, for +she would not eat. And in this manner they still lie up there in +the snow.' + +'And you?' asked Malemute Kid. + +'I do not know; but Akatan is small, and I have little wish to go +back and live on the edge of the world. Yet is there small use in +life. I can go to Constantine, and he will put irons upon me, and +one day they will tie a piece of rope, so, and I will sleep good. +Yet--no; I do not know.' 'But, Kid,' protested Prince, 'this is +murder!' 'Hush!' commanded Malemute Kid. 'There be things greater +than our wisdom, beyond our justice. The right and the wrong of +this we cannot say, and it is not for us to judge.' Naass drew +yet closer to the fire. There was a great silence, and in each +man's eyes many pictures came and went. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext The Son of the Wolf, Jack London + diff --git a/old/snwlf10.zip b/old/snwlf10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1f98fa5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/snwlf10.zip diff --git a/old/snwlf10h.htm b/old/snwlf10h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c875a16 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/snwlf10h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5856 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<title>New File</title> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= +"text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> +<style type="text/css"> +<!-- +body {margin:10%; text-align:justify} +blockquote {font-size:14pt} +P {font-size:14pt} +--> +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Son of the Wolf, +<br>by Jack London</h1> + +<pre> +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Son of the Wolf + +Author: Jack London + +Release Date: October, 2000 [EBook #2377] +[Most recently updated: February 17, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, SON OF THE WOLF *** + + + + +</pre> + +<h3>The Son of the Wolf</h3> + +<h4>by Jack London</h4> + +<h3>Contains</h3> + +<p>The White Silence</p> + +<p>The Son of the Wolf</p> + +<p>The Men of Forty Mile</p> + +<p>In a Far Country</p> + +<p>To the Man on the Trail</p> + +<p>The Priestly Prerogative</p> + +<p>The Wisdom of the Trail</p> + +<p>The Wife of a King</p> + +<p>An Odyssey of the North</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2 align="center">The White Silence</h2> + +<p>'Carmen won't last more than a couple of days.' Mason spat out +a chunk of ice and surveyed the poor animal ruefully, then put +her foot in his mouth and proceeded to bite out the ice which +clustered cruelly between the toes.</p> + +<p>'I never saw a dog with a highfalutin' name that ever was +worth a rap,' he said, as he concluded his task and shoved her +aside. 'They just fade away and die under the responsibility. Did +ye ever see one go wrong with a sensible name like Cassiar, +Siwash, or Husky? No, sir! Take a look at Shookum here, he's--' +Snap! The lean brute flashed up, the white teeth just missing +Mason's throat.</p> + +<p>'Ye will, will ye?' A shrewd clout behind the ear with the +butt of the dog whip stretched the animal in the snow, quivering +softly, a yellow slaver dripping from its fangs.</p> + +<p>'As I was saying, just look at Shookum here--he's got the +spirit. Bet ye he eats Carmen before the week's out.' 'I'll bank +another proposition against that,' replied Malemute Kid, +reversing the frozen bread placed before the fire to thaw. 'We'll +eat Shookum before the trip is over. What d'ye say, Ruth?' The +Indian woman settled the coffee with a piece of ice, glanced from +Malemute Kid to her husband, then at the dogs, but vouchsafed no +reply. It was such a palpable truism that none was necessary. Two +hundred miles of unbroken trail in prospect, with a scant six +days' grub for themselves and none for the dogs, could admit no +other alternative. The two men and the woman grouped about the +fire and began their meager meal. The dogs lay in their harnesses +for it was a midday halt, and watched each mouthful enviously</p> + +<p>'No more lunches after today,' said Malemute Kid. 'And we've +got to keep a close eye on the dogs--they're getting vicious. +They'd just as soon pull a fellow down as not, if they get a +chance.' 'And I was president of an Epworth once, and taught in +the Sunday school.' Having irrelevantly delivered himself of +this, Mason fell into a dreamy contemplation of his steaming +moccasins, but was aroused by Ruth filling his cup.</p> + +<p>'Thank God, we've got slathers of tea! I've seen it growing, +down in Tennessee. What wouldn't I give for a hot corn pone just +now! Never mind, Ruth; you won't starve much longer, nor wear +moccasins either.' The woman threw off her gloom at this, and in +her eyes welled up a great love for her white lord--the first +white man she had ever seen--the first man whom she had known to +treat a woman as something better than a mere animal or beast of +burden.</p> + +<p>'Yes, Ruth,' continued her husband, having recourse to the +macaronic jargon in which it was alone possible for them to +understand each other; 'wait till we clean up and pull for the +Outside. We'll take the White Man's canoe and go to the Salt +Water. Yes, bad water, rough water--great mountains dance up and +down all the time. And so big, so far, so far away--you travel +ten sleep, twenty sleep, forty sleep'--he graphically enumerated +the days on his fingers--'all the time water, bad water. Then you +come to great village, plenty people, just the same mosquitoes +next summer. Wigwams oh, so high--ten, twenty pines.</p> + +<p>Hi-yu skookum!' He paused impotently, cast an appealing glance +at Malemute Kid, then laboriously placed the twenty pines, end on +end, by sign language. Malemute Kid smiled with cheery cynicism; +but Ruth's eyes were wide with wonder, and with pleasure; for she +half believed he was joking, and such condescension pleased her +poor woman's heart.</p> + +<p>'And then you step into a--a box, and pouf! up you go.' He +tossed his empty cup in the air by way of illustration and, as he +deftly caught it, cried: 'And biff! down you come. Oh, great +medicine men! You go Fort Yukon. I go Arctic City--twenty-five +sleep--big string, all the time--I catch him string--I say, +"Hello, Ruth! How are ye?"--and you say, "Is that my good +husband?"--and I say, "Yes"--and you say, "No can bake good +bread, no more soda"--then I say, "Look in cache, under flour; +good-by." You look and catch plenty soda. All the time you Fort +Yukon, me Arctic City. Hi-yu medicine man!' Ruth smiled so +ingenuously at the fairy story that both men burst into laughter. +A row among the dogs cut short the wonders of the Outside, and by +the time the snarling combatants were separated, she had lashed +the sleds and all was ready for the trail.-- 'Mush! Baldy! Hi! +Mush on!' Mason worked his whip smartly and, as the dogs whined +low in the traces, broke out the sled with the gee pole. Ruth +followed with the second team, leaving Malemute Kid, who had +helped her start, to bring up the rear. Strong man, brute that he +was, capable of felling an ox at a blow, he could not bear to +beat the poor animals, but humored them as a dog driver rarely +does--nay, almost wept with them in their misery.</p> + +<p>'Come, mush on there, you poor sore-footed brutes!' he +murmured, after several ineffectual attempts to start the load. +But his patience was at last rewarded, and though whimpering with +pain, they hastened to join their fellows.</p> + +<p>No more conversation; the toil of the trail will not permit +such extravagance.</p> + +<p>And of all deadening labors, that of the Northland trail is +the worst. Happy is the man who can weather a day's travel at the +price of silence, and that on a beaten track. And of all +heartbreaking labors, that of breaking trail is the worst. At +every step the great webbed shoe sinks till the snow is level +with the knee. Then up, straight up, the deviation of a fraction +of an inch being a certain precursor of disaster, the snowshoe +must be lifted till the surface is cleared; then forward, down, +and the other foot is raised perpendicularly for the matter of +half a yard. He who tries this for the first time, if haply he +avoids bringing his shoes in dangerous propinquity and measures +not his length on the treacherous footing, will give up exhausted +at the end of a hundred yards; he who can keep out of the way of +the dogs for a whole day may well crawl into his sleeping bag +with a clear conscience and a pride which passeth all +understanding; and he who travels twenty sleeps on the Long Trail +is a man whom the gods may envy.</p> + +<p>The afternoon wore on, and with the awe, born of the White +Silence, the voiceless travelers bent to their work. Nature has +many tricks wherewith she convinces man of his finity--the +ceaseless flow of the tides, the fury of the storm, the shock of +the earthquake, the long roll of heaven's artillery--but the most +tremendous, the most stupefying of all, is the passive phase of +the White Silence. All movement ceases, the sky clears, the +heavens are as brass; the slightest whisper seems sacrilege, and +man becomes timid, affrighted at the sound of his own voice. Sole +speck of life journeying across the ghostly wastes of a dead +world, he trembles at his audacity, realizes that his is a +maggot's life, nothing more.</p> + +<p>Strange thoughts arise unsummoned, and the mystery of all +things strives for utterance.</p> + +<p>And the fear of death, of God, of the universe, comes over +him--the hope of the Resurrection and the Life, the yearning for +immortality, the vain striving of the imprisoned essence--it is +then, if ever, man walks alone with God.</p> + +<p>So wore the day away. The river took a great bend, and Mason +headed his team for the cutoff across the narrow neck of land. +But the dogs balked at the high bank. Again and again, though +Ruth and Malemute Kid were shoving on the sled, they slipped +back. Then came the concerted effort. The miserable creatures, +weak from hunger, exerted their last strength. Up--up--the sled +poised on the top of the bank; but the leader swung the string of +dogs behind him to the right, fouling Mason's snowshoes. The +result was grievous.</p> + +<p>Mason was whipped off his feet; one of the dogs fell in the +traces; and the sled toppled back, dragging everything to the +bottom again.</p> + +<p>Slash! the whip fell among the dogs savagely, especially upon +the one which had fallen.</p> + +<p>'Don't,--Mason,' entreated Malemute Kid; 'the poor devil's on +its last legs. Wait and we'll put my team on.' Mason deliberately +withheld the whip till the last word had fallen, then out flashed +the long lash, completely curling about the offending creature's +body.</p> + +<p>Carmen--for it was Carmen--cowered in the snow, cried +piteously, then rolled over on her side.</p> + +<p>It was a tragic moment, a pitiful incident of the trail--a +dying dog, two comrades in anger.</p> + +<p>Ruth glanced solicitously from man to man. But Malemute Kid +restrained himself, though there was a world of reproach in his +eyes, and, bending over the dog, cut the traces. No word was +spoken. The teams were doublespanned and the difficulty overcome; +the sleds were under way again, the dying dog dragging herself +along in the rear. As long as an animal can travel, it is not +shot, and this last chance is accorded it--the crawling into +camp, if it can, in the hope of a moose being killed.</p> + +<p>Already penitent for his angry action, but too stubborn to +make amends, Mason toiled on at the head of the cavalcade, little +dreaming that danger hovered in the air. The timber clustered +thick in the sheltered bottom, and through this they threaded +their way. Fifty feet or more from the trail towered a lofty +pine. For generations it had stood there, and for generations +destiny had had this one end in view--perhaps the same had been +decreed of Mason.</p> + +<p>He stooped to fasten the loosened thong of his moccasin. The +sleds came to a halt, and the dogs lay down in the snow without a +whimper. The stillness was weird; not a breath rustled the +frost-encrusted forest; the cold and silence of outer space had +chilled the heart and smote the trembling lips of nature. A sigh +pulsed through the air--they did not seem to actually hear it, +but rather felt it, like the premonition of movement in a +motionless void. Then the great tree, burdened with its weight of +years and snow, played its last part in the tragedy of life. He +heard the warning crash and attempted to spring up but, almost +erect, caught the blow squarely on the shoulder.</p> + +<p>The sudden danger, the quick death--how often had Malemute Kid +faced it! The pine needles were still quivering as he gave his +commands and sprang into action. Nor did the Indian girl faint or +raise her voice in idle wailing, as might many of her white +sisters. At his order, she threw her weight on the end of a +quickly extemporized handspike, easing the pressure and listening +to her husband's groans, while Malemute Kid attacked the tree +with his ax. The steel rang merrily as it bit into the frozen +trunk, each stroke being accompanied by a forced, audible +respiration, the 'Huh!' 'Huh!' of the woodsman.</p> + +<p>At last the Kid laid the pitiable thing that was once a man in +the snow. But worse than his comrade's pain was the dumb anguish +in the woman's face, the blended look of hopeful, hopeless query. +Little was said; those of the Northland are early taught the +futility of words and the inestimable value of deeds. With the +temperature at sixty-five below zero, a man cannot lie many +minutes in the snow and live. So the sled lashings were cut, and +the sufferer, rolled in furs, laid on a couch of boughs. Before +him roared a fire, built of the very wood which wrought the +mishap. Behind and partially over him was stretched the primitive +fly--a piece of canvas, which caught the radiating heat and threw +it back and down upon hima trick which men may know who study +physics at the fount.</p> + +<p>And men who have shared their bed with death know when the +call is sounded. Mason was terribly crushed. The most cursory +examination revealed it.</p> + +<p>His right arm, leg, and back were broken; his limbs were +paralyzed from the hips; and the likelihood of internal injuries +was large. An occasional moan was his only sign of life.</p> + +<p>No hope; nothing to be done. The pitiless night crept slowly +by--Ruth's portion, the despairing stoicism of her race, and +Malemute Kid adding new lines to his face of bronze.</p> + +<p>In fact, Mason suffered least of all, for he spent his time in +eastern Tennessee, in the Great Smoky Mountains, living over the +scenes of his childhood. And most pathetic was the melody of his +long-forgotten Southern vernacular, as he raved of swimming holes +and coon hunts and watermelon raids. It was as Greek to Ruth, but +the Kid understood and felt--felt as only one can feel who has +been shut out for years from all that civilization means.</p> + +<p>Morning brought consciousness to the stricken man, and +Malemute Kid bent closer to catch his whispers.</p> + +<p>'You remember when we foregathered on the Tanana, four years +come next ice run? I didn't care so much for her then. It was +more like she was pretty, and there was a smack of excitement +about it, I think. But d'ye know, I've come to think a heap of +her. She's been a good wife to me, always at my shoulder in the +pinch. And when it comes to trading, you know there isn't her +equal. D'ye recollect the time she shot the Moosehorn Rapids to +pull you and me off that rock, the bullets whipping the water +like hailstones?- and the time of the famine at Nuklukyeto?--when +she raced the ice run to bring the news?</p> + +<p>Yes, she's been a good wife to me, better'n that other one. +Didn't know I'd been there?</p> + +<p>Never told you, eh? Well, I tried it once, down in the States. +That's why I'm here. Been raised together, too. I came away to +give her a chance for divorce. She got it.</p> + +<p>'But that's got nothing to do with Ruth. I had thought of +cleaning up and pulling for the Outside next year--her and I--but +it's too late. Don't send her back to her people, Kid. It's +beastly hard for a woman to go back. Think of it!--nearly four +years on our bacon and beans and flour and dried fruit, and then +to go back to her fish and caribou. It's not good for her to have +tried our ways, to come to know they're better'n her people's, +and then return to them. Take care of her, Kidwhy don't you--but +no, you always fought shy of them--and you never told me why you +came to this country. Be kind to her, and send her back to the +States as soon as you can. But fix it so she can come +back--liable to get homesick, you know.</p> + +<p>'And the youngster--it's drawn us closer, Kid. I only hope it +is a boy. Think of it!--flesh of my flesh, Kid. He mustn't stop +in this country. And if it's a girl, why, she can't. Sell my +furs; they'll fetch at least five thousand, and I've got as much +more with the company. And handle my interests with yours. I +think that bench claim will show up. See that he gets a good +schooling; and Kid, above all, don't let him come back. This +country was not made for white men.</p> + +<p>'I'm a gone man, Kid. Three or four sleeps at the best. You've +got to go on. You must go on! Remember, it's my wife, it's my +boy--O God! I hope it's a boy! You can't stay by me--and I charge +you, a dying man, to pull on.'</p> + +<p>'Give me three days,' pleaded Malemute Kid. 'You may change +for the better; something may turn up.'</p> + +<p>'No.'</p> + +<p>'Just three days.'</p> + +<p>'You must pull on.'</p> + +<p>'Two days.'</p> + +<p>'It's my wife and my boy, Kid. You would not ask it.'</p> + +<p>'One day.'</p> + +<p>'No, no! I charge-'</p> + +<p>'Only one day. We can shave it through on the grub, and I +might knock over a moose.'</p> + +<p>'No--all right; one day, but not a minute more. And, Kid, +don't--don't leave me to face it alone. Just a shot, one pull on +the trigger. You understand. Think of it! Think of it! Flesh of +my flesh, and I'll never live to see him!</p> + +<p>'Send Ruth here. I want to say good-by and tell her that she +must think of the boy and not wait till I'm dead. She might +refuse to go with you if I didn't. Goodby, old man; good-by.</p> + +<p>'Kid! I say--a--sink a hole above the pup, next to the slide. +I panned out forty cents on my shovel there.</p> + +<p>'And, Kid!' He stooped lower to catch the last faint words, +the dying man's surrender of his pride. 'I'm sorry--for--you +know--Carmen.' Leaving the girl crying softly over her man, +Malemute Kid slipped into his parka and snowshoes, tucked his +rifle under his arm, and crept away into the forest. He was no +tyro in the stern sorrows of the Northland, but never had he +faced so stiff a problem as this. In the abstract, it was a +plain, mathematical propositionthree possible lives as against +one doomed one. But now he hesitated. For five years, shoulder to +shoulder, on the rivers and trails, in the camps and mines, +facing death by field and flood and famine, had they knitted the +bonds of their comradeship. So close was the tie that he had +often been conscious of a vague jealousy of Ruth, from the first +time she had come between. And now it must be severed by his own +hand.</p> + +<p>Though he prayed for a moose, just one moose, all game seemed +to have deserted the land, and nightfall found the exhausted man +crawling into camp, lighthanded, heavyhearted. An uproar from the +dogs and shrill cries from Ruth hastened him.</p> + +<p>Bursting into the camp, he saw the girl in the midst of the +snarling pack, laying about her with an ax. The dogs had broken +the iron rule of their masters and were rushing the grub.</p> + +<p>He joined the issue with his rifle reversed, and the hoary +game of natural selection was played out with all the +ruthlessness of its primeval environment. Rifle and ax went up +and down, hit or missed with monotonous regularity; lithe bodies +flashed, with wild eyes and dripping fangs; and man and beast +fought for supremacy to the bitterest conclusion. Then the beaten +brutes crept to the edge of the firelight, licking their wounds, +voicing their misery to the stars.</p> + +<p>The whole stock of dried salmon had been devoured, and perhaps +five pounds of flour remained to tide them over two hundred miles +of wilderness. Ruth returned to her husband, while Malemute Kid +cut up the warm body of one of the dogs, the skull of which had +been crushed by the ax. Every portion was carefully put away, +save the hide and offal, which were cast to his fellows of the +moment before.</p> + +<p>Morning brought fresh trouble. The animals were turning on +each other. Carmen, who still clung to her slender thread of +life, was downed by the pack. The lash fell among them unheeded. +They cringed and cried under the blows, but refused to scatter +till the last wretched bit had disappeared--bones, hide, hair, +everything.</p> + +<p>Malemute Kid went about his work, listening to Mason, who was +back in Tennessee, delivering tangled discourses and wild +exhortations to his brethren of other days.</p> + +<p>Taking advantage of neighboring pines, he worked rapidly, and +Ruth watched him make a cache similar to those sometimes used by +hunters to preserve their meat from the wolverines and dogs. One +after the other, he bent the tops of two small pines toward each +other and nearly to the ground, making them fast with thongs of +moosehide. Then he beat the dogs into submission and harnessed +them to two of the sleds, loading the same with everything but +the furs which enveloped Mason. These he wrapped and lashed +tightly about him, fastening either end of the robes to the bent +pines. A single stroke of his hunting knife would release them +and send the body high in the air.</p> + +<p>Ruth had received her husband's last wishes and made no +struggle. Poor girl, she had learned the lesson of obedience +well. From a child, she had bowed, and seen all women bow, to the +lords of creation, and it did not seem in the nature of things +for woman to resist. The Kid permitted her one outburst of grief, +as she kissed her husband--her own people had no such +custom--then led her to the foremost sled and helped her into her +snowshoes. Blindly, instinctively, she took the gee pole and +whip, and 'mushed' the dogs out on the trail. Then he returned to +Mason, who had fallen into a coma, and long after she was out of +sight crouched by the fire, waiting, hoping, praying for his +comrade to die.</p> + +<p>It is not pleasant to be alone with painful thoughts in the +White Silence. The silence of gloom is merciful, shrouding one as +with protection and breathing a thousand intangible sympathies; +but the bright White Silence, clear and cold, under steely skies, +is pitiless.</p> + +<p>An hour passed--two hours--but the man would not die. At high +noon the sun, without raising its rim above the southern horizon, +threw a suggestion of fire athwart the heavens, then quickly drew +it back. Malemute Kid roused and dragged himself to his comrade's +side. He cast one glance about him. The White Silence seemed to +sneer, and a great fear came upon him. There was a sharp report; +Mason swung into his aerial sepulcher, and Malemute Kid lashed +the dogs into a wild gallop as he fled across the snow.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2 align="center">The Son of the Wolf</h2> + +<p> </p> + +<p>Man rarely places a proper valuation upon his womankind, at +least not until deprived of them. He has no conception of the +subtle atmosphere exhaled by the sex feminine, so long as he +bathes in it; but let it be withdrawn, and an ever-growing void +begins to manifest itself in his existence, and he becomes +hungry, in a vague sort of way, for a something so indefinite +that he cannot characterize it. If his comrades have no more +experience than himself, they will shake their heads dubiously +and dose him with strong physic. But the hunger will continue and +become stronger; he will lose interest in the things of his +everyday life and wax morbid; and one day, when the emptiness has +become unbearable, a revelation will dawn upon him.</p> + +<p>In the Yukon country, when this comes to pass, the man usually +provisions a poling boat, if it is summer, and if winter, +harnesses his dogs, and heads for the Southland. A few months +later, supposing him to be possessed of a faith in the country, +he returns with a wife to share with him in that faith, and +incidentally in his hardships. This but serves to show the innate +selfishness of man. It also brings us to the trouble of 'Scruff' +Mackenzie, which occurred in the old days, before the country was +stampeded and staked by a tidal- wave of the che-cha-quas, and +when the Klondike's only claim to notice was its salmon +fisheries.</p> + +<p>'Scruff' Mackenzie bore the earmarks of a frontier birth and a +frontier life.</p> + +<p>His face was stamped with twenty-five years of incessant +struggle with Nature in her wildest moods,--the last two, the +wildest and hardest of all, having been spent in groping for the +gold which lies in the shadow of the Arctic Circle. When the +yearning sickness came upon him, he was not surprised, for he was +a practical man and had seen other men thus stricken. But he +showed no sign of his malady, save that he worked harder. All +summer he fought mosquitoes and washed the sure-thing bars of the +Stuart River for a double grubstake. Then he floated a raft of +houselogs down the Yukon to Forty Mile, and put together as +comfortable a cabin as any the camp could boast of. In fact, it +showed such cozy promise that many men elected to be his partner +and to come and live with him. But he crushed their aspirations +with rough speech, peculiar for its strength and brevity, and +bought a double supply of grub from the trading-post.</p> + +<p>As has been noted, 'Scruff' Mackenzie was a practical man. If +he wanted a thing he usually got it, but in doing so, went no +farther out of his way than was necessary. Though a son of toil +and hardship, he was averse to a journey of six hundred miles on +the ice, a second of two thousand miles on the ocean, and still a +third thousand miles or so to his last stamping-grounds,--all in +the mere quest of a wife. Life was too short. So he rounded up +his dogs, lashed a curious freight to his sled, and faced across +the divide whose westward slopes were drained by the head-reaches +of the Tanana.</p> + +<p>He was a sturdy traveler, and his wolf-dogs could work harder +and travel farther on less grub than any other team in the Yukon. +Three weeks later he strode into a hunting-camp of the Upper +Tanana Sticks. They marveled at his temerity; for they had a bad +name and had been known to kill white men for as trifling a thing +as a sharp ax or a broken rifle.</p> + +<p>But he went among them single-handed, his bearing being a +delicious composite of humility, familiarity, sang-froid, and +insolence. It required a deft hand and deep knowledge of the +barbaric mind effectually to handle such diverse weapons; but he +was a past-master in the art, knowing when to conciliate and when +to threaten with Jove-like wrath.</p> + +<p>He first made obeisance to the Chief Thling-Tinneh, presenting +him with a couple of pounds of black tea and tobacco, and thereby +winning his most cordial regard. Then he mingled with the men and +maidens, and that night gave a potlach.</p> + +<p>The snow was beaten down in the form of an oblong, perhaps a +hundred feet in length and quarter as many across. Down the +center a long fire was built, while either side was carpeted with +spruce boughs. The lodges were forsaken, and the fivescore or so +members of the tribe gave tongue to their folk-chants in honor of +their guest.</p> + +<p>'Scruff' Mackenzie's two years had taught him the not many +hundred words of their vocabulary, and he had likewise conquered +their deep gutturals, their Japanese idioms, constructions, and +honorific and agglutinative particles. So he made oration after +their manner, satisfying their instinctive poetry-love with crude +flights of eloquence and metaphorical contortions. After +Thling-Tinneh and the Shaman had responded in kind, he made +trifling presents to the menfolk, joined in their singing, and +proved an expert in their fifty-two-stick gambling game.</p> + +<p>And they smoked his tobacco and were pleased. But among the +younger men there was a defiant attitude, a spirit of +braggadocio, easily understood by the raw insinuations of the +toothless squaws and the giggling of the maidens. They had known +few white men, 'Sons of the Wolf,' but from those few they had +learned strange lessons.</p> + +<p>Nor had 'Scruff' Mackenzie, for all his seeming carelessness, +failed to note these phenomena. In truth, rolled in his +sleeping-furs, he thought it all over, thought seriously, and +emptied many pipes in mapping out a campaign. One maiden only had +caught his fancy,--none other than Zarinska, daughter to the +chief. In features, form, and poise, answering more nearly to the +white man's type of beauty, she was almost an anomaly among her +tribal sisters. He would possess her, make her his wife, and name +her--ah, he would name her Gertrude! Having thus decided, he +rolled over on his side and dropped off to sleep, a true son of +his all-conquering race, a Samson among the Philistines.</p> + +<p>It was slow work and a stiff game; but 'Scruff' Mackenzie +maneuvered cunningly, with an unconcern which served to puzzle +the Sticks. He took great care to impress the men that he was a +sure shot and a mighty hunter, and the camp rang with his +plaudits when he brought down a moose at six hundred yards. Of a +night he visited in Chief Thling- Tinneh's lodge of moose and +cariboo skins, talking big and dispensing tobacco with a lavish +hand. Nor did he fail to likewise honor the Shaman; for he +realized the medicine- man's influence with his people, and was +anxious to make of him an ally. But that worthy was high and +mighty, refused to be propitiated, and was unerringly marked down +as a prospective enemy.</p> + +<p>Though no opening presented for an interview with Zarinska, +Mackenzie stole many a glance to her, giving fair warning of his +intent. And well she knew, yet coquettishly surrounded herself +with a ring of women whenever the men were away and he had a +chance. But he was in no hurry; besides, he knew she could not +help but think of him, and a few days of such thought would only +better his suit.</p> + +<p>At last, one night, when he deemed the time to be ripe, he +abruptly left the chief's smoky dwelling and hastened to a +neighboring lodge. As usual, she sat with squaws and maidens +about her, all engaged in sewing moccasins and beadwork. They +laughed at his entrance, and badinage, which linked Zarinska to +him, ran high. But one after the other they were unceremoniously +bundled into the outer snow, whence they hurried to spread the +tale through all the camp.</p> + +<p>His cause was well pleaded, in her tongue, for she did not +know his, and at the end of two hours he rose to go.</p> + +<p>'So Zarinska will come to the White Man's lodge? Good! I go +now to have talk with thy father, for he may not be so minded. +And I will give him many tokens; but he must not ask too much. If +he say no? Good! Zarinska shall yet come to the White Man's +lodge.'</p> + +<p>He had already lifted the skin flap to depart, when a low +exclamation brought him back to the girl's side. She brought +herself to her knees on the bearskin mat, her face aglow with +true Eve-light, and shyly unbuckled his heavy belt. He looked +down, perplexed, suspicious, his ears alert for the slightest +sound without.</p> + +<p>But her next move disarmed his doubt, and he smiled with +pleasure. She took from her sewing bag a moosehide sheath, brave +with bright beadwork, fantastically designed. She drew his great +hunting-knife, gazed reverently along the keen edge, half tempted +to try it with her thumb, and shot it into place in its new home. +Then she slipped the sheath along the belt to its customary +resting-place, just above the hip. For all the world, it was like +a scene of olden time,--a lady and her knight.</p> + +<p>Mackenzie drew her up full height and swept her red lips with +his moustache,the, to her, foreign caress of the Wolf. It was a +meeting of the stone age and the steel; but she was none the less +a woman, as her crimson cheeks and the luminous softness of her +eyes attested.</p> + +<p>There was a thrill of excitement in the air as 'Scruff' +Mackenzie, a bulky bundle under his arm, threw open the flap of +Thling-Tinneh's tent. Children were running about in the open, +dragging dry wood to the scene of the potlach, a babble of +women's voices was growing in intensity, the young men were +consulting in sullen groups, while from the Shaman's lodge rose +the eerie sounds of an incantation.</p> + +<p>The chief was alone with his blear-eyed wife, but a glance +sufficed to tell Mackenzie that the news was already told. So he +plunged at once into the business, shifting the beaded sheath +prominently to the fore as advertisement of the betrothal.</p> + +<p>'O Thling-Tinneh, mighty chief of the Sticks And the land of +the Tanana, ruler of the salmon and the bear, the moose and the +cariboo! The White Man is before thee with a great purpose. Many +moons has his lodge been empty, and he is lonely. And his heart +has eaten itself in silence, and grown hungry for a woman to sit +beside him in his lodge, to meet him from the hunt with warm fire +and good food. He has heard strange things, the patter of baby +moccasins and the sound of children's voices. And one night a +vision came upon him, and he beheld the Raven, who is thy father, +the great Raven, who is the father of all the Sticks. And the +Raven spake to the lonely White Man, saying: "Bind thou thy +moccasins upon thee, and gird thy snow-shoes on, and lash thy +sled with food for many sleeps and fine tokens for the Chief +Thling-Tinneh. For thou shalt turn thy face to where the +midspring sun is wont to sink below the land and journey to this +great chief's hunting- grounds. There thou shalt make big +presents, and Thling-Tinneh, who is my son, shall become to thee +as a father. In his lodge there is a maiden into whom I breathed +the breath of life for thee. This maiden shalt thou take to +wife." 'O Chief, thus spake the great Raven; thus do I lay many +presents at thy feet; thus am I come to take thy daughter!' The +old man drew his furs about him with crude consciousness of +royalty, but delayed reply while a youngster crept in, delivered +a quick message to appear before the council, and was gone.</p> + +<p>'O White Man, whom we have named Moose-Killer, also known as +the Wolf, and the Son of the Wolf! We know thou comest of a +mighty race; we are proud to have thee our potlach-guest; but the +king-salmon does not mate with the dogsalmon, nor the Raven with +the Wolf.' 'Not so!' cried Mackenzie. 'The daughters of the Raven +have I met in the camps of the Wolf,--the squaw of Mortimer, the +squaw of Tregidgo, the squaw of Barnaby, who came two ice-runs +back, and I have heard of other squaws, though my eyes beheld +them not.' 'Son, your words are true; but it were evil mating, +like the water with the sand, like the snow-flake with the sun. +But met you one Mason and his squaw' No?</p> + +<p>He came ten ice-runs ago,--the first of all the Wolves. And +with him there was a mighty man, straight as a willow-shoot, and +tall; strong as the bald-faced grizzly, with a heart like the +full summer moon; his-' 'Oh!' interrupted Mackenzie, recognizing +the well- known Northland figure, 'Malemute Kid!' 'The same,--a +mighty man. But saw you aught of the squaw? She was full sister +to Zarinska.' 'Nay, Chief; but I have heard. Mason--far, far to +the north, a spruce-tree, heavy with years, crushed out his life +beneath. But his love was great, and he had much gold. With this, +and her boy, she journeyed countless sleeps toward the winter's +noonday sun, and there she yet lives,--no biting frost, no snow, +no summer's midnight sun, no winter's noonday night.'</p> + +<p>A second messenger interrupted with imperative summons from +the council.</p> + +<p>As Mackenzie threw him into the snow, he caught a glimpse of +the swaying forms before the council-fire, heard the deep basses +of the men in rhythmic chant, and knew the Shaman was fanning the +anger of his people. Time pressed. He turned upon the chief.</p> + +<p>'Come! I wish thy child. And now, see! Here are tobacco, tea, +many cups of sugar, warm blankets, handkerchiefs, both good and +large; and here, a true rifle, with many bullets and much +powder.' 'Nay,' replied the old man, struggling against the great +wealth spread before him. 'Even now are my people come together. +They will not have this marriage.'</p> + +<p>'But thou art chief.' 'Yet do my young men rage because the +Wolves have taken their maidens so that they may not marry.' +'Listen, O Thling-Tinneh! Ere the night has passed into the day, +the Wolf shall face his dogs to the Mountains of the East and +fare forth to the Country of the Yukon. And Zarinska shall break +trail for his dogs.' 'And ere the night has gained its middle, my +young men may fling to the dogs the flesh of the Wolf, and his +bones be scattered in the snow till the springtime lay them +bare.' It was threat and counter-threat. Mackenzie's bronzed face +flushed darkly. He raised his voice. The old squaw, who till now +had sat an impassive spectator, made to creep by him for the +door.</p> + +<p>The song of the men broke suddenly and there was a hubbub of +many voices as he whirled the old woman roughly to her couch of +skins.</p> + +<p>'Again I cry--listen, O Thling-Tinneh! The Wolf dies with +teeth fast-locked, and with him there shall sleep ten of thy +strongest men,--men who are needed, for the hunting is not begun, +and the fishing is not many moons away. And again, of what profit +should I die? I know the custom of thy people; thy share of my +wealth shall be very small. Grant me thy child, and it shall all +be thine. And yet again, my brothers will come, and they are +many, and their maws are never filled; and the daughters of the +Raven shall bear children in the lodges of the Wolf. My people +are greater than thy people. It is destiny. Grant, and all this +wealth is thine.' Moccasins were crunching the snow without. +Mackenzie threw his rifle to cock, and loosened the twin Colts in +his belt.</p> + +<p>'Grant, O Chief!' 'And yet will my people say no.' 'Grant, and +the wealth is thine. Then shall I deal with thy people after.' +'The Wolf will have it so. I will take his tokens,--but I would +warn him.' Mackenzie passed over the goods, taking care to clog +the rifle's ejector, and capping the bargain with a kaleidoscopic +silk kerchief. The Shaman and half a dozen young braves entered, +but he shouldered boldly among them and passed out.</p> + +<p>'Pack!' was his laconic greeting to Zarinska as he passed her +lodge and hurried to harness his dogs. A few minutes later he +swept into the council at the head of the team, the woman by his +side. He took his place at the upper end of the oblong, by the +side of the chief. To his left, a step to the rear, he stationed +Zarinska,her proper place. Besides, the time was ripe for +mischief, and there was need to guard his back.</p> + +<p>On either side, the men crouched to the fire, their voices +lifted in a folk-chant out of the forgotten past. Full of +strange, halting cadences and haunting recurrences, it was not +beautiful. 'Fearful' may inadequately express it. At the lower +end, under the eye of the Shaman, danced half a score of women. +Stern were his reproofs of those who did not wholly abandon +themselves to the ecstasy of the rite. Half hidden in their heavy +masses of raven hair, all dishevelled and falling to their +waists, they slowly swayed to and fro, their forms rippling to an +ever-changing rhythm.</p> + +<p>It was a weird scene; an anachronism. To the south, the +nineteenth century was reeling off the few years of its last +decade; here flourished man primeval, a shade removed from the +prehistoric cave-dweller, forgotten fragment of the Elder World. +The tawny wolf- dogs sat between their skin-clad masters or +fought for room, the firelight cast backward from their red eyes +and dripping fangs. The woods, in ghostly shroud, slept on +unheeding.</p> + +<p>The White Silence, for the moment driven to the rimming +forest, seemed ever crushing inward; the stars danced with great +leaps, as is their wont in the time of the Great Cold; while the +Spirits of the Pole trailed their robes of glory athwart the +heavens.</p> + +<p>'Scruff' Mackenzie dimly realized the wild grandeur of the +setting as his eyes ranged down the fur-fringed sides in quest of +missing faces. They rested for a moment on a newborn babe, +suckling at its mother's naked breast. It was forty below,--seven +and odd degrees of frost. He thought of the tender women of his +own race and smiled grimly. Yet from the loins of some such +tender woman had he sprung with a kingly inheritance,--an +inheritance which gave to him and his dominance over the land and +sea, over the animals and the peoples of all the zones. +Single-handed against fivescore, girt by the Arctic winter, far +from his own, he felt the prompting of his heritage, the desire +to possess, the wild danger--love, the thrill of battle, the +power to conquer or to die.</p> + +<p>The singing and the dancing ceased, and the Shaman flared up +in rude eloquence.</p> + +<p>Through the sinuosities of their vast mythology, he worked +cunningly upon the credulity of his people. The case was strong. +Opposing the creative principles as embodied in the Crow and the +Raven, he stigmatized Mackenzie as the Wolf, the fighting and the +destructive principle. Not only was the combat of these forces +spiritual, but men fought, each to his totem. They were the +children of Jelchs, the Raven, the Promethean fire- bringer; +Mackenzie was the child of the Wolf, or in other words, the +Devil. For them to bring a truce to this perpetual warfare, to +marry their daughters to the arch-enemy, were treason and +blasphemy of the highest order. No phrase was harsh nor figure +vile enough in branding Mackenzie as a sneaking interloper and +emissary of Satan. There was a subdued, savage roar in the deep +chests of his listeners as he took the swing of his +peroration.</p> + +<p>'Aye, my brothers, Jelchs is all-powerful! Did he not bring +heaven-borne fire that we might be warm? Did he not draw the sun, +moon, and stars, from their holes that we might see? Did he not +teach us that we might fight the Spirits of Famine and of Frost? +But now Jelchs is angry with his children, and they are grown to +a handful, and he will not help.</p> + +<p>For they have forgotten him, and done evil things, and trod +bad trails, and taken his enemies into their lodges to sit by +their fires. And the Raven is sorrowful at the wickedness of his +children; but when they shall rise up and show they have come +back, he will come out of the darkness to aid them. O brothers! +the Fire-Bringer has whispered messages to thy Shaman; the same +shall ye hear. Let the young men take the young women to their +lodges; let them fly at the throat of the Wolf; let them be +undying in their enmity! Then shall their women become fruitful +and they shall multiply into a mighty people! And the Raven shall +lead great tribes of their fathers and their fathers' fathers +from out of the North; and they shall beat back the Wolves till +they are as last year's campfires; and they shall again come to +rule over all the land! 'Tis the message of Jelchs, the Raven.' +This foreshadowing of the Messiah's coming brought a hoarse howl +from the Sticks as they leaped to their feet. Mackenzie slipped +the thumbs of his mittens and waited. There was a clamor for the +'Fox,' not to be stilled till one of the young men stepped +forward to speak.</p> + +<p>'Brothers! The Shaman has spoken wisely. The Wolves have taken +our women, and our men are childless. We are grown to a handful. +The Wolves have taken our warm furs and given for them evil +spirits which dwell in bottles, and clothes which come not from +the beaver or the lynx, but are made from the grass.</p> + +<p>And they are not warm, and our men die of strange sicknesses. +I, the Fox, have taken no woman to wife; and why? Twice have the +maidens which pleased me gone to the camps of the Wolf. Even now +have I laid by skins of the beaver, of the moose, of the cariboo, +that I might win favor in the eyes of Thling-Tinneh, that I might +marry Zarinska, his daughter. Even now are her snow-shoes bound +to her feet, ready to break trail for the dogs of the Wolf. Nor +do I speak for myself alone.</p> + +<p>As I have done, so has the Bear. He, too, had fain been the +father of her children, and many skins has he cured thereto. I +speak for all the young men who know not wives. The Wolves are +ever hungry. Always do they take the choice meat at the killing. +To the Ravens are left the leavings.</p> + +<p>'There is Gugkla,' he cried, brutally pointing out one of the +women, who was a cripple.</p> + +<p>'Her legs are bent like the ribs of a birch canoe. She cannot +gather wood nor carry the meat of the hunters. Did the Wolves +choose her?' 'Ai! ai!' vociferated his tribesmen.</p> + +<p>'There is Moyri, whose eyes are crossed by the Evil Spirit. +Even the babes are affrighted when they gaze upon her, and it is +said the bald-face gives her the trail.</p> + +<p>Was she chosen?' Again the cruel applause rang out.</p> + +<p>'And there sits Pischet. She does not hearken to my words. +Never has she heard the cry of the chit-chat, the voice of her +husband, the babble of her child.</p> + +<p>She lives in the White Silence. Cared the Wolves aught for +her? No! Theirs is the choice of the kill; ours is the +leavings.</p> + +<p>'Brothers, it shall not be! No more shall the Wolves slink +among our campfires. The time is come.' A great streamer of fire, +the aurora borealis, purple, green, and yellow, shot across the +zenith, bridging horizon to horizon. With head thrown back and +arms extended, he swayed to his climax.</p> + +<p>'Behold! The spirits of our fathers have arisen and great +deeds are afoot this night!' He stepped back, and another young +man somewhat diffidently came forward, pushed on by his comrades. +He towered a full head above them, his broad chest defiantly +bared to the frost. He swung tentatively from one foot to the +other.</p> + +<p>Words halted upon his tongue, and he was ill at ease. His face +was horrible to look upon, for it had at one time been half torn +away by some terrific blow. At last he struck his breast with his +clenched fist, drawing sound as from a drum, and his voice +rumbled forth as does the surf from an ocean cavern.</p> + +<p>'I am the Bear,--the Silver-Tip and the Son of the Silver-Tip! +When my voice was yet as a girl's, I slew the lynx, the moose, +and the cariboo; when it whistled like the wolverines from under +a cache, I crossed the Mountains of the South and slew three of +the White Rivers; when it became as the roar of the Chinook, I +met the bald-faced grizzly, but gave no trail.' At this he +paused, his hand significantly sweeping across his hideous +scars.</p> + +<p>'I am not as the Fox. My tongue is frozen like the river. I +cannot make great talk. My words are few. The Fox says great +deeds are afoot this night. Good! Talk flows from his tongue like +the freshets of the spring, but he is chary of deeds.</p> + +<p>This night shall I do battle with the Wolf. I shall slay him, +and Zarinska shall sit by my fire. The Bear has spoken.' Though +pandemonium raged about him, 'Scruff' Mackenzie held his +ground.</p> + +<p>Aware how useless was the rifle at close quarters, he slipped +both holsters to the fore, ready for action, and drew his mittens +till his hands were barely shielded by the elbow gauntlets. He +knew there was no hope in attack en masse, but true to his boast, +was prepared to die with teeth fast-locked. But the Bear +restrained his comrades, beating back the more impetuous with his +terrible fist. As the tumult began to die away, Mackenzie shot a +glance in the direction of Zarinska. It was a superb picture. She +was leaning forward on her snow-shoes, lips apart and nostrils +quivering, like a tigress about to spring. Her great black eyes +were fixed upon her tribesmen, in fear and defiance. So extreme +the tension, she had forgotten to breathe. With one hand pressed +spasmodically against her breast and the other as tightly gripped +about the dog-whip, she was as turned to stone. Even as he +looked, relief came to her. Her muscles loosened; with a heavy +sigh she settled back, giving him a look of more than love--of +worship.</p> + +<p>Thling-Tinneh was trying to speak, but his people drowned his +voice. Then Mackenzie strode forward. The Fox opened his mouth to +a piercing yell, but so savagely did Mackenzie whirl upon him +that he shrank back, his larynx all agurgle with suppressed +sound. His discomfiture was greeted with roars of laughter, and +served to soothe his fellows to a listening mood.</p> + +<p>'Brothers! The White Man, whom ye have chosen to call the +Wolf, came among you with fair words. He was not like the Innuit; +he spoke not lies. He came as a friend, as one who would be a +brother. But your men have had their say, and the time for soft +words is past.</p> + +<p>First, I will tell you that the Shaman has an evil tongue and +is a false prophet, that the messages he spake are not those of +the Fire-Bringer. His ears are locked to the voice of the Raven, +and out of his own head he weaves cunning fancies, and he has +made fools of you. He has no power.</p> + +<p>When the dogs were killed and eaten, and your stomachs were +heavy with untanned hide and strips of moccasins; when the old +men died, and the old women died, and the babes at the dry dugs +of the mothers died; when the land was dark, and ye perished as +do the salmon in the fall; aye, when the famine was upon you, did +the Shaman bring reward to your hunters? did the Shaman put meat +in your bellies? Again I say, the Shaman is without power. Thus I +spit upon his face!' Though taken aback by the sacrilege, there +was no uproar. Some of the women were even frightened, but among +the men there was an uplifting, as though in preparation or +anticipation of the miracle. All eyes were turned upon the two +central figures. The priest realized the crucial moment, felt his +power tottering, opened his mouth in denunciation, but fled +backward before the truculent advance, upraised fist, and +flashing eyes, of Mackenzie. He sneered and resumed.</p> + +<p>Was I stricken dead? Did the lightning burn me? Did the stars +fall from the sky and crush me? Pish! I have done with the dog. +Now will I tell you of my people, who are the mightiest of all +the peoples, who rule in all the lands. At first we hunt as I +hunt, alone.</p> + +<p>After that we hunt in packs; and at last, like the +cariboo-run, we sweep across all the land.</p> + +<p>Those whom we take into our lodges live; those who will not +come die. Zarinska is a comely maiden, full and strong, fit to +become the mother of Wolves. Though I die, such shall she become; +for my brothers are many, and they will follow the scent of my +dogs.</p> + +<p>Listen to the Law of the Wolf: Whoso taketh the life of one +Wolf, the forfeit shall ten of his people pay. In many lands has +the price been paid; in many lands shall it yet be paid.</p> + +<p>'Now will I deal with the Fox and the Bear. It seems they have +cast eyes upon the maiden. So? Behold, I have bought her! +Thling-Tinneh leans upon the rifle; the goods of purchase are by +his fire. Yet will I be fair to the young men. To the Fox, whose +tongue is dry with many words, will I give of tobacco five long +plugs.</p> + +<p>Thus will his mouth be wetted that he may make much noise in +the council. But to the Bear, of whom I am well proud, will I +give of blankets two; of flour, twenty cups; of tobacco, double +that of the Fox; and if he fare with me over the Mountains of the +East, then will I give him a rifle, mate to Thling-Tinneh's. If +not? Good! The Wolf is weary of speech. Yet once again will he +say the Law: Whoso taketh the life of one Wolf, the forfeit shall +ten of his people pay.'</p> + +<p>Mackenzie smiled as he stepped back to his old position, but +at heart he was full of trouble. The night was yet dark. The girl +came to his side, and he listened closely as she told of the +Bear's battle-tricks with the knife.</p> + +<p>The decision was for war. In a trice, scores of moccasins were +widening the space of beaten snow by the fire. There was much +chatter about the seeming defeat of the Shaman; some averred he +had but withheld his power, while others conned past events and +agreed with the Wolf. The Bear came to the center of the +battle-ground, a long naked hunting- knife of Russian make in his +hand. The Fox called attention to Mackenzie's revolvers; so he +stripped his belt, buckling it about Zarinska, into whose hands +he also entrusted his rifle. She shook her head that she could +not shoot,--small chance had a woman to handle such precious +things.</p> + +<p>'Then, if danger come by my back, cry aloud, "My husband!" No; +thus, "My husband!"'</p> + +<p>He laughed as she repeated it, pinched her cheek, and +reentered the circle. Not only in reach and stature had the Bear +the advantage of him, but his blade was longer by a good two +inches. 'Scruff' Mackenzie had looked into the eyes of men +before, and he knew it was a man who stood against him; yet he +quickened to the glint of light on the steel, to the dominant +pulse of his race.</p> + +<p>Time and again he was forced to the edge of the fire or the +deep snow, and time and again, with the foot tactics of the +pugilist, he worked back to the center. Not a voice was lifted in +encouragement, while his antagonist was heartened with applause, +suggestions, and warnings. But his teeth only shut the tighter as +the knives clashed together, and he thrust or eluded with a +coolness born of conscious strength. At first he felt compassion +for his enemy; but this fled before the primal instinct of life, +which in turn gave way to the lust of slaughter. The ten thousand +years of culture fell from him, and he was a cave- dweller, doing +battle for his female.</p> + +<p>Twice he pricked the Bear, getting away unscathed; but the +third time caught, and to save himself, free hands closed on +fighting hands, and they came together.</p> + +<p>Then did he realize the tremendous strength of his opponent. +His muscles were knotted in painful lumps, and cords and tendons +threatened to snap with the strain; yet nearer and nearer came +the Russian steel. He tried to break away, but only weakened +himself. The fur-clad circle closed in, certain of and anxious to +see the final stroke. But with wrestler's trick, swinging partly +to the side, he struck at his adversary with his head. +Involuntarily the Bear leaned back, disturbing his center of +gravity. Simultaneous with this, Mackenzie tripped properly and +threw his whole weight forward, hurling him clear through the +circle into the deep snow. The Bear floundered out and came back +full tilt.</p> + +<p>'O my husband!' Zarinska's voice rang out, vibrant with +danger.</p> + +<p>To the twang of a bow-string, Mackenzie swept low to the +ground, and a bonebarbed arrow passed over him into the breast of +the Bear, whose momentum carried him over his crouching foe. The +next instant Mackenzie was up and about. The bear lay motionless, +but across the fire was the Shaman, drawing a second arrow. +Mackenzie's knife leaped short in the air. He caught the heavy +blade by the point. There was a flash of light as it spanned the +fire. Then the Shaman, the hilt alone appearing without his +throat, swayed and pitched forward into the glowing embers.</p> + +<p>Click! Click!--the Fox had possessed himself of +Thling-Tinneh's rifle and was vainly trying to throw a shell into +place. But he dropped it at the sound of Mackenzie's +laughter.</p> + +<p>'So the Fox has not learned the way of the plaything? He is +yet a woman.</p> + +<p>Come! Bring it, that I may show thee!' The Fox hesitated.</p> + +<p>'Come, I say!' He slouched forward like a beaten cur.</p> + +<p>'Thus, and thus; so the thing is done.' A shell flew into +place and the trigger was at cock as Mackenzie brought it to +shoulder.</p> + +<p>'The Fox has said great deeds were afoot this night, and he +spoke true. There have been great deeds, yet least among them +were those of the Fox. Is he still intent to take Zarinska to his +lodge? Is he minded to tread the trail already broken by the +Shaman and the Bear?</p> + +<p>No? Good!'</p> + +<p>Mackenzie turned contemptuously and drew his knife from the +priest's throat.</p> + +<p>'Are any of the young men so minded? If so, the Wolf will take +them by two and three till none are left. No? Good! +Thling-Tinneh, I now give thee this rifle a second time. If, in +the days to come, thou shouldst journey to the Country of the +Yukon, know thou that there shall always be a place and much food +by the fire of the Wolf. The night is now passing into the day. I +go, but I may come again. And for the last time, remember the Law +of the Wolf!' He was supernatural in their sight as he rejoined +Zarinska. She took her place at the head of the team, and the +dogs swung into motion. A few moments later they were swallowed +up by the ghostly forest. Till now Mackenzie had waited; he +slipped into his snow-shoes to follow.</p> + +<p>'Has the Wolf forgotten the five long plugs?' Mackenzie turned +upon the Fox angrily; then the humor of it struck him.</p> + +<p>'I will give thee one short plug.' 'As the Wolf sees fit,' +meekly responded the Fox, stretching out his hand.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2 align="center">The Men of Forty Mile</h2> + +<p> </p> + +<p>When Big Jim Belden ventured the apparently innocuous +proposition that mush-ice was 'rather pecooliar,' he little +dreamed of what it would lead to.</p> + +<p>Neither did Lon McFane, when he affirmed that anchor-ice was +even more so; nor did Bettles, as he instantly disagreed, +declaring the very existence of such a form to be a bugaboo.</p> + +<p>'An' ye'd be tellin' me this,' cried Lon, 'after the years +ye've spint in the land! An' we atin' out the same pot this +many's the day!' 'But the thing's agin reasin,' insisted +Bettles.</p> + +<p>'Look you, water's warmer than ice-' 'An' little the +difference, once ye break through.'</p> + +<p>'Still it's warmer, because it ain't froze. An' you say it +freezes on the bottom?' 'Only the anchor-ice, David, only the +anchor-ice. An' have ye niver drifted along, the water clear as +glass, whin suddin, belike a cloud over the sun, the mushy-ice +comes bubblin' up an' up till from bank to bank an' bind to bind +it's drapin' the river like a first snowfall?' 'Unh, hunh! more'n +once when I took a doze at the steering-oar. But it allus come +out the nighest side-channel, an' not bubblin' up an' up.' 'But +with niver a wink at the helm?'</p> + +<p>'No; nor you. It's agin reason. I'll leave it to any man!' +Bettles appealed to the circle about the stove, but the fight was +on between himself and Lon McFane.</p> + +<p>'Reason or no reason, it's the truth I'm tellin' ye. Last +fall, a year gone, 'twas Sitka Charley and meself saw the sight, +droppin' down the riffle ye'll remember below Fort Reliance. An' +regular fall weather it was--the glint o' the sun on the golden +larch an' the quakin' aspens; an' the glister of light on ivery +ripple; an' beyand, the winter an' the blue haze of the North +comin' down hand in hand. It's well ye know the same, with a +fringe to the river an' the ice formin' thick in the eddies--an' +a snap an' sparkle to the air, an' ye a- feelin' it through all +yer blood, atakin' new lease of life with ivery suck of it. 'Tis +then, me boy, the world grows small an' the wandtherlust lays ye +by the heels.</p> + +<p>'But it's meself as wandthers. As I was sayin', we a-paddlin', +with niver a sign of ice, barrin' that by the eddies, when the +Injun lifts his paddle an' sings out, "Lon McFane!</p> + +<p>Look ye below!" So have I heard, but niver thought to see! As +ye know, Sitka Charley, like meself, niver drew first breath in +the land; so the sight was new. Then we drifted, with a head over +ayther side, peerin' down through the sparkly water. For the +world like the days I spint with the pearlers, watchin' the coral +banks a-growin' the same as so many gardens under the sea.</p> + +<p>There it was, the anchor-ice, clingin' an' clusterin' to ivery +rock, after the manner of the white coral.</p> + +<p>'But the best of the sight was to come. Just after clearin' +the tail of the riffle, the water turns quick the color of milk, +an' the top of it in wee circles, as when the graylin' rise in +the spring, or there's a splatter of wet from the sky. 'Twas the +anchor-ice comin' up. To the right, to the lift, as far as iver a +man cud see, the water was covered with the same.</p> + +<p>An' like so much porridge it was, slickin' along the bark of +the canoe, stickin' like glue to the paddles. It's many's the +time I shot the self-same riffle before, and it's many's the time +after, but niver a wink of the same have I seen. 'Twas the sight +of a lifetime.' 'Do tell!' dryly commented Bettles. 'D'ye think +I'd b'lieve such a yarn? I'd ruther say the glister of light'd +gone to your eyes, and the snap of the air to your tongue.' +''Twas me own eyes that beheld it, an' if Sitka Charley was here, +he'd be the lad to back me.' 'But facts is facts, an' they ain't +no gettin' round 'em. It ain't in the nature of things for the +water furtherest away from the air to freeze first.' 'But me own +eyes-' 'Don't git het up over it,' admonished Bettles, as the +quick Celtic anger began to mount.</p> + +<p>'Then yer not after belavin' me?' 'Sence you're so blamed +forehanded about it, no; I'd b'lieve nature first, and +facts.'</p> + +<p>'Is it the lie ye'd be givin' me?' threatened Lon. 'Ye'd +better be askin' that Siwash wife of yours. I'll lave it to her, +for the truth I spake.' Bettles flared up in sudden wrath. The +Irishman had unwittingly wounded him; for his wife was the +half-breed daughter of a Russian fur-trader, married to him in +the Greek Mission of Nulato, a thousand miles or so down the +Yukon, thus being of much higher caste than the common Siwash, or +native, wife. It was a mere Northland nuance, which none but the +Northland adventurer may understand.</p> + +<p>'I reckon you kin take it that way,' was his deliberate +affirmation.</p> + +<p>The next instant Lon McFane had stretched him on the floor, +the circle was broken up, and half a dozen men had stepped +between.</p> + +<p>Bettles came to his feet, wiping the blood from his mouth. 'It +hain't new, this takin' and payin' of blows, and don't you never +think but that this will be squared.' 'An' niver in me life did I +take the lie from mortal man,' was the retort courteous. 'An' +it's an avil day I'll not be to hand, waitin' an' willin' to help +ye lift yer debts, barrin' no manner of way.'</p> + +<p>'Still got that 38-55?' Lon nodded.</p> + +<p>'But you'd better git a more likely caliber. Mine'll rip holes +through you the size of walnuts.'</p> + +<p>'Niver fear; it's me own slugs smell their way with soft +noses, an' they'll spread like flapjacks against the coming out +beyand. An' when'll I have the pleasure of waitin' on ye? The +waterhole's a strikin' locality.' ''Tain't bad. Jest be there in +an hour, and you won't set long on my coming.' Both men mittened +and left the Post, their ears closed to the remonstrances of +their comrades. It was such a little thing; yet with such men, +little things, nourished by quick tempers and stubborn natures, +soon blossomed into big things.</p> + +<p>Besides, the art of burning to bedrock still lay in the womb +of the future, and the men of Forty-Mile, shut in by the long +Arctic winter, grew high-stomached with overeating and enforced +idleness, and became as irritable as do the bees in the fall of +the year when the hives are overstocked with honey.</p> + +<p>There was no law in the land. The mounted police was also a +thing of the future. Each man measured an offense, and meted out +the punishment inasmuch as it affected himself.</p> + +<p>Rarely had combined action been necessary, and never in all +the dreary history of the camp had the eighth article of the +Decalogue been violated.</p> + +<p>Big Jim Belden called an impromptu meeting. Scruff Mackenzie +was placed as temporary chairman, and a messenger dispatched to +solicit Father Roubeau's good offices. Their position was +paradoxical, and they knew it. By the right of might could they +interfere to prevent the duel; yet such action, while in direct +line with their wishes, went counter to their opinions. While +their rough-hewn, obsolete ethics recognized the individual +prerogative of wiping out blow with blow, they could not bear to +think of two good comrades, such as Bettles and McFane, meeting +in deadly battle. Deeming the man who would not fight on +provocation a dastard, when brought to the test it seemed wrong +that he should fight.</p> + +<p>But a scurry of moccasins and loud cries, rounded off with a +pistol-shot, interrupted the discussion. Then the storm-doors +opened and Malemute Kid entered, a smoking Colt's in his hand, +and a merry light in his eye.</p> + +<p>'I got him.' He replaced the empty shell, and added, 'Your +dog, Scruff.' 'Yellow Fang?'</p> + +<p>Mackenzie asked.</p> + +<p>'No; the lop-eared one.' 'The devil! Nothing the matter with +him.' 'Come out and take a look.' 'That's all right after all. +Buess he's got 'em, too. Yellow Fang came back this morning and +took a chunk out of him, and came near to making a widower of +me.</p> + +<p>Made a rush for Zarinska, but she whisked her skirts in his +face and escaped with the loss of the same and a good roll in the +snow. Then he took to the woods again.</p> + +<p>Hope he don't come back. Lost any yourself?' 'One--the best +one of the pack--Shookum.</p> + +<p>Started amuck this morning, but didn't get very far. Ran foul +of Sitka Charley's team, and they scattered him all over the +street. And now two of them are loose, and raging mad; so you see +he got his work in. The dog census will be small in the spring if +we don't do something.'</p> + +<p>'And the man census, too.' 'How's that? Who's in trouble now?' +'Oh, Bettles and Lon McFane had an argument, and they'll be down +by the waterhole in a few minutes to settle it.' The incident was +repeated for his benefit, and Malemute Kid, accustomed to an +obedience which his fellow men never failed to render, took +charge of the affair. His quickly formulated plan was explained, +and they promised to follow his lead implicitly.</p> + +<p>'So you see,' he concluded, 'we do not actually take away +their privilege of fighting; and yet I don't believe they'll +fight when they see the beauty of the scheme. Life's a game and +men the gamblers. They'll stake their whole pile on the one +chance in a thousand.</p> + +<p>Take away that one chance, and--they won't play.' He turned to +the man in charge of the Post. 'Storekeeper, weight out three +fathoms of your best half-inch manila.</p> + +<p>'We'll establish a precedent which will last the men of +Forty-Mile to the end of time,' he prophesied. Then he coiled the +rope about his arm and led his followers out of doors, just in +time to meet the principals.</p> + +<p>'What danged right'd he to fetch my wife in?' thundered +Bettles to the soothing overtures of a friend. ''Twa'n't called +for,' he concluded decisively. ''Twa'n't called for,' he +reiterated again and again, pacing up and down and waiting for +Lon McFane.</p> + +<p>And Lon McFane--his face was hot and tongue rapid as he +flaunted insurrection in the face of the Church. 'Then, father,' +he cried, 'it's with an aisy heart I'll roll in me flamy +blankets, the broad of me back on a bed of coals. Niver shall it +be said that Lon McFane took a lie 'twixt the teeth without iver +liftin' a hand! An' I'll not ask a blessin'. The years have been +wild, but it's the heart was in the right place.' 'But it's not +the heart, Lon,'</p> + +<p>interposed Father Roubeau; 'It's pride that bids you forth to +slay your fellow man.' 'Yer Frinch,' Lon replied. And then, +turning to leave him, 'An' will ye say a mass if the luck is +against me?' But the priest smiled, thrust his moccasined feet to +the fore, and went out upon the white breast of the silent river. +A packed trail, the width of a sixteeninch sled, led out to the +waterhole. On either side lay the deep, soft snow. The men trod +in single file, without conversation; and the black-stoled priest +in their midst gave to the function the solemn aspect of a +funeral. It was a warm winter's day for Forty-Mile--a day in +which the sky, filled with heaviness, drew closer to the earth, +and the mercury sought the unwonted level of twenty below. But +there was no cheer in the warmth. There was little air in the +upper strata, and the clouds hung motionless, giving sullen +promise of an early snowfall. And the earth, unresponsive, made +no preparation, content in its hibernation.</p> + +<p>When the waterhole was reached, Bettles, having evidently +reviewed the quarrel during the silent walk, burst out in a final +''Twa'n't called for,' while Lon McFane kept grim silence. +Indignation so choked him that he could not speak.</p> + +<p>Yet deep down, whenever their own wrongs were not uppermost, +both men wondered at their comrades. They had expected +opposition, and this tacit acquiescence hurt them. It seemed more +was due them from the men they had been so close with, and they +felt a vague sense of wrong, rebelling at the thought of so many +of their brothers coming out, as on a gala occasion, without one +word of protest, to see them shoot each other down. It appeared +their worth had diminished in the eyes of the community. The +proceedings puzzled them.</p> + +<p>'Back to back, David. An' will it be fifty paces to the man, +or double the quantity?'</p> + +<p>'Fifty,' was the sanguinary reply, grunted out, yet sharply +cut.</p> + +<p>But the new manila, not prominently displayed, but casually +coiled about Malemute Kid's arm, caught the quick eye of the +Irishman, and thrilled him with a suspicious fear.</p> + +<p>'An' what are ye doin' with the rope?' 'Hurry up!' Malemute +Kid glanced at his watch.</p> + +<p>'I've a batch of bread in the cabin, and I don't want it to +fall. Besides, my feet are getting cold.' The rest of the men +manifested their impatience in various suggestive ways.</p> + +<p>'But the rope, Kid' It's bran' new, an' sure yer bread's not +that heavy it needs raisin' with the like of that?' Bettles by +this time had faced around. Father Roubeau, the humor of the +situation just dawning on him, hid a smile behind his mittened +hand.</p> + +<p>'No, Lon; this rope was made for a man.' Malemute Kid could be +very impressive on occasion.</p> + +<p>'What man?' Bettles was becoming aware of a personal +interest.</p> + +<p>'The other man.' 'An' which is the one ye'd mane by that?' +'Listen, Lon--and you, too, Bettles! We've been talking this +little trouble of yours over, and we've come to one conclusion. +We know we have no right to stop your fighting-' 'True for ye, me +lad!' 'And we're not going to. But this much we can do, and shall +do--make this the only duel in the history of Forty-Mile, set an +example for every che-cha-qua that comes up or down the Yukon. +The man who escapes killing shall be hanged to the nearest tree. +Now, go ahead!'</p> + +<p>Lon smiled dubiously, then his face lighted up. 'Pace her off, +David--fifty paces, wheel, an' niver a cease firin' till a lad's +down for good. 'Tis their hearts'll niver let them do the deed, +an' it's well ye should know it for a true Yankee bluff.'</p> + +<p>He started off with a pleased grin on his face, but Malemute +Kid halted him.</p> + +<p>'Lon! It's a long while since you first knew me?' 'Many's the +day.' 'And you, Bettles?'</p> + +<p>'Five year next June high water.' 'And have you once, in all +that time, known me to break my word' Or heard of me breaking +it?' Both men shook their heads, striving to fathom what lay +beyond.</p> + +<p>'Well, then, what do you think of a promise made by me?' 'As +good as your bond,' from Bettles.</p> + +<p>'The thing to safely sling yer hopes of heaven by,' promptly +endorsed Lon McFane.</p> + +<p>'Listen! I, Malemute Kid, give you my word--and you know what +that meansthat the man who is not shot stretches rope within ten +minutes after the shooting.' He stepped back as Pilate might have +done after washing his hands.</p> + +<p>A pause and a silence came over the men of Forty-Mile. The sky +drew still closer, sending down a crystal flight of frost--little +geometric designs, perfect, evanescent as a breath, yet destined +to exist till the returning sun had covered half its northern +journey.</p> + +<p>Both men had led forlorn hopes in their time--led with a curse +or a jest on their tongues, and in their souls an unswerving +faith in the God of Chance. But that merciful deity had been shut +out from the present deal. They studied the face of Malemute Kid, +but they studied as one might the Sphinx. As the quiet minutes +passed, a feeling that speech was incumbent on them began to +grow. At last the howl of a wolf-dog cracked the silence from the +direction of Forty-Mile. The weird sound swelled with all the +pathos of a breaking heart, then died away in a long-drawn +sob.</p> + +<p>'Well I be danged!' Bettles turned up the collar of his +mackinaw jacket and stared about him helplessly.</p> + +<p>'It's a gloryus game yer runnin', Kid,' cried Lon McFane. 'All +the percentage of the house an' niver a bit to the man that's +buckin'. The Devil himself'd niver tackle such a cinch--and +damned if I do.' There were chuckles, throttled in gurgling +throats, and winks brushed away with the frost which rimed the +eyelashes, as the men climbed the ice- notched bank and started +across the street to the Post. But the long howl had drawn +nearer, invested with a new note of menace. A woman screamed +round the corner. There was a cry of, 'Here he comes!' Then an +Indian boy, at the head of half a dozen frightened dogs, racing +with death, dashed into the crowd. And behind came Yellow Fang, a +bristle of hair and a flash of gray. Everybody but the Yankee +fled.</p> + +<p>The Indian boy had tripped and fallen. Bettles stopped long +enough to grip him by the slack of his furs, then headed for a +pile of cordwood already occupied by a number of his comrades. +Yellow Fang, doubling after one of the dogs, came leaping back. +The fleeing animal, free of the rabies, but crazed with fright, +whipped Bettles off his feet and flashed on up the street. +Malemute Kid took a flying shot at Yellow Fang. The mad dog +whirled a half airspring, came down on his back, then, with a +single leap, covered half the distance between himself and +Bettles.</p> + +<p>But the fatal spring was intercepted. Lon McFane leaped from +the woodpile, countering him in midair. Over they rolled, Lon +holding him by the throat at arm's length, blinking under the +fetid slaver which sprayed his face. Then Bettles, revolver in +hand and coolly waiting a chance, settled the combat.</p> + +<p>''Twas a square game, Kid,' Lon remarked, rising to his feet +and shaking the snow from out his sleeves; 'with a fair +percentage to meself that bucked it.' That night, while Lon +McFane sought the forgiving arms of the Church in the direction +of Father Roubeau's cabin, Malemute Kid talked long to little +purpose.</p> + +<p>'But would you,' persisted Mackenzie, 'supposing they had +fought?' 'Have I ever broken my word?' 'No; but that isn't the +point. Answer the question. Would you?' Malemute Kid straightened +up. 'Scruff, I've been asking myself that question ever since, +and-'</p> + +<p>'Well?' 'Well, as yet, I haven't found the answer.'</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2 align="center">In a Far Country</h2> + +<p> </p> + +<p>When a man journeys into a far country, he must be prepared to +forget many of the things he has learned, and to acquire such +customs as are inherent with existence in the new land; he must +abandon the old ideals and the old gods, and oftentimes he must +reverse the very codes by which his conduct has hitherto been +shaped. To those who have the protean faculty of adaptability, +the novelty of such change may even be a source of pleasure; but +to those who happen to be hardened to the ruts in which they were +created, the pressure of the altered environment is unbearable, +and they chafe in body and in spirit under the new restrictions +which they do not understand. This chafing is bound to act and +react, producing divers evils and leading to various misfortunes. +It were better for the man who cannot fit himself to the new +groove to return to his own country; if he delay too long, he +will surely die.</p> + +<p>The man who turns his back upon the comforts of an elder +civilization, to face the savage youth, the primordial simplicity +of the North, may estimate success at an inverse ratio to the +quantity and quality of his hopelessly fixed habits. He will soon +discover, if he be a fit candidate, that the material habits are +the less important. The exchange of such things as a dainty menu +for rough fare, of the stiff leather shoe for the soft, shapeless +moccasin, of the feather bed for a couch in the snow, is after +all a very easy matter. But his pinch will come in learning +properly to shape his mind's attitude toward all things, and +especially toward his fellow man. For the courtesies of ordinary +life, he must substitute unselfishness, forbearance, and +tolerance. Thus, and thus only, can he gain that pearl of great +price--true comradeship. He must not say 'thank you'; he must +mean it without opening his mouth, and prove it by responding in +kind. In short, he must substitute the deed for the word, the +spirit for the letter.</p> + +<p>When the world rang with the tale of Arctic gold, and the lure +of the North gripped the heartstrings of men, Carter Weatherbee +threw up his snug clerkship, turned the half of his savings over +to his wife, and with the remainder bought an outfit. There was +no romance in his nature--the bondage of commerce had crushed all +that; he was simply tired of the ceaseless grind, and wished to +risk great hazards in view of corresponding returns. Like many +another fool, disdaining the old trails used by the Northland +pioneers for a score of years, he hurried to Edmonton in the +spring of the year; and there, unluckily for his soul's welfare, +he allied himself with a party of men.</p> + +<p>There was nothing unusual about this party, except its plans. +Even its goal, like that of all the other parties, was the +Klondike. But the route it had mapped out to attain that goal +took away the breath of the hardiest native, born and bred to the +vicissitudes of the Northwest. Even Jacques Baptiste, born of a +Chippewa woman and a renegade voyageur (having raised his first +whimpers in a deerskin lodge north of the sixty-fifth parallel, +and had the same hushed by blissful sucks of raw tallow), was +surprised. Though he sold his services to them and agreed to +travel even to the never-opening ice, he shook his head ominously +whenever his advice was asked.</p> + +<p>Percy Cuthfert's evil star must have been in the ascendant, +for he, too, joined this company of argonauts. He was an ordinary +man, with a bank account as deep as his culture, which is saying +a good deal. He had no reason to embark on such a venture--no +reason in the world save that he suffered from an abnormal +development of sentimentality. He mistook this for the true +spirit of romance and adventure. Many another man has done the +like, and made as fatal a mistake.</p> + +<p>The first break-up of spring found the party following the +ice-run of Elk River. It was an imposing fleet, for the outfit +was large, and they were accompanied by a disreputable contingent +of half-breed voyageurs with their women and children. Day in and +day out, they labored with the bateaux and canoes, fought +mosquitoes and other kindred pests, or sweated and swore at the +portages. Severe toil like this lays a man naked to the very +roots of his soul, and ere Lake Athabasca was lost in the south, +each member of the party had hoisted his true colors.</p> + +<p>The two shirks and chronic grumblers were Carter Weatherbee +and Percy Cuthfert. The whole party complained less of its aches +and pains than did either of them. Not once did they volunteer +for the thousand and one petty duties of the camp. A bucket of +water to be brought, an extra armful of wood to be chopped, the +dishes to be washed and wiped, a search to be made through the +outfit for some suddenly indispensable article--and these two +effete scions of civilization discovered sprains or blisters +requiring instant attention.</p> + +<p>They were the first to turn in at night, with score of tasks +yet undone; the last to turn out in the morning, when the start +should be in readiness before the breakfast was begun.</p> + +<p>They were the first to fall to at mealtime, the last to have a +hand in the cooking; the first to dive for a slim delicacy, the +last to discover they had added to their own another man's share. +If they toiled at the oars, they slyly cut the water at each +stroke and allowed the boat's momentum to float up the blade. +They thought nobody noticed; but their comrades swore under their +breaths and grew to hate them, while Jacques Baptiste sneered +openly and damned them from morning till night. But Jacques +Baptiste was no gentleman.</p> + +<p>At the Great Slave, Hudson Bay dogs were purchased, and the +fleet sank to the guards with its added burden of dried fish and +pemican. Then canoe and bateau answered to the swift current of +the Mackenzie, and they plunged into the Great Barren Ground. +Every likely-looking 'feeder' was prospected, but the elusive +'pay-dirt' danced ever to the north. At the Great Bear, overcome +by the common dread of the Unknown Lands, their voyageurs began +to desert, and Fort of Good Hope saw the last and bravest bending +to the towlines as they bucked the current down which they had so +treacherously glided.</p> + +<p>Jacques Baptiste alone remained. Had he not sworn to travel +even to the never-opening ice? The lying charts, compiled in main +from hearsay, were now constantly consulted.</p> + +<p>And they felt the need of hurry, for the sun had already +passed its northern solstice and was leading the winter south +again. Skirting the shores of the bay, where the Mackenzie +disembogues into the Arctic Ocean, they entered the mouth of the +Little Peel River. Then began the arduous up-stream toil, and the +two Incapables fared worse than ever. Towline and pole, paddle +and tumpline, rapids and portages--such tortures served to give +the one a deep disgust for great hazards, and printed for the +other a fiery text on the true romance of adventure. One day they +waxed mutinous, and being vilely cursed by Jacques Baptiste, +turned, as worms sometimes will. But the half-breed thrashed the +twain, and sent them, bruised and bleeding, about their work. It +was the first time either had been manhandled.</p> + +<p>Abandoning their river craft at the headwaters of the Little +Peel, they consumed the rest of the summer in the great portage +over the Mackenzie watershed to the West Rat. This little stream +fed the Porcupine, which in turn joined the Yukon where that +mighty highway of the North countermarches on the Arctic +Circle.</p> + +<p>But they had lost in the race with winter, and one day they +tied their rafts to the thick eddy-ice and hurried their goods +ashore. That night the river jammed and broke several times; the +following morning it had fallen asleep for good. 'We can't be +more'n four hundred miles from the Yukon,' concluded Sloper, +multiplying his thumb nails by the scale of the map. The council, +in which the two Incapables had whined to excellent disadvantage, +was drawing to a close.</p> + +<p>'Hudson Bay Post, long time ago. No use um now.' Jacques +Baptiste's father had made the trip for the Fur Company in the +old days, incidentally marking the trail with a couple of frozen +toes.</p> + +<p>Sufferin' cracky!' cried another of the party. 'No whites?' +'Nary white,' Sloper sententiously affirmed; 'but it's only five +hundred more up the Yukon to Dawson. Call it a rough thousand +from here.' Weatherbee and Cuthfert groaned in chorus.</p> + +<p>'How long'll that take, Baptiste?' The half-breed figured for +a moment. 'Workum like hell, no man play out, +tentwenty--forty--fifty days. Um babies come' (designating the +Incapables), 'no can tell. Mebbe when hell freeze over; mebbe not +then.' The manufacture of snowshoes and moccasins ceased. +Somebody called the name of an absent member, who came out of an +ancient cabin at the edge of the campfire and joined them. The +cabin was one of the many mysteries which lurk in the vast +recesses of the North. Built when and by whom, no man could +tell.</p> + +<p>Two graves in the open, piled high with stones, perhaps +contained the secret of those early wanderers. But whose hand had +piled the stones? The moment had come. Jacques Baptiste paused in +the fitting of a harness and pinned the struggling dog in the +snow. The cook made mute protest for delay, threw a handful of +bacon into a noisy pot of beans, then came to attention. Sloper +rose to his feet. His body was a ludicrous contrast to the +healthy physiques of the Incapables. Yellow and weak, fleeing +from a South American fever-hole, he had not broken his flight +across the zones, and was still able to toil with men. His weight +was probably ninety pounds, with the heavy hunting knife thrown +in, and his grizzled hair told of a prime which had ceased to be. +The fresh young muscles of either Weatherbee or Cuthfert were +equal to ten times the endeavor of his; yet he could walk them +into the earth in a day's journey. And all this day he had +whipped his stronger comrades into venturing a thousand miles of +the stiffest hardship man can conceive. He was the incarnation of +the unrest of his race, and the old Teutonic stubbornness, dashed +with the quick grasp and action of the Yankee, held the flesh in +the bondage of the spirit.</p> + +<p>'All those in favor of going on with the dogs as soon as the +ice sets, say ay.' 'Ay!' rang out eight voices--voices destined +to string a trail of oaths along many a hundred miles of +pain.</p> + +<p>'Contrary minded?' 'No!' For the first time the Incapables +were united without some compromise of personal interests.</p> + +<p>'And what are you going to do about it?' Weatherbee added +belligerently.</p> + +<p>'Majority rule! Majority rule!' clamored the rest of the +party.</p> + +<p>'I know the expedition is liable to fall through if you don't +come,' Sloper replied sweetly; 'but I guess, if we try real hard, +we can manage to do without you.</p> + +<p>What do you say, boys?' The sentiment was cheered to the +echo.</p> + +<p>'But I say, you know,' Cuthfert ventured apprehensively; +'what's a chap like me to do?'</p> + +<p>'Ain't you coming with us.' 'No--o.' 'Then do as you damn well +please. We won't have nothing to say.' 'Kind o' calkilate yuh +might settle it with that canoodlin' pardner of yourn,' suggested +a heavy-going Westerner from the Dakotas, at the same time +pointing out Weatherbee. 'He'll be shore to ask yuh what yur +a-goin' to do when it comes to cookin' an' gatherin' the wood.' +'Then we'll consider it all arranged,' concluded Sloper.</p> + +<p>'We'll pull out tomorrow, if we camp within five miles--just +to get everything in running order and remember if we've +forgotten anything.' The sleds groaned by on their steel- shod +runners, and the dogs strained low in the harnesses in which they +were born to die.</p> + +<p>Jacques Baptiste paused by the side of Sloper to get a last +glimpse of the cabin. The smoke curled up pathetically from the +Yukon stovepipe. The two Incapables were watching them from the +doorway.</p> + +<p>Sloper laid his hand on the other's shoulder.</p> + +<p>'Jacques Baptiste, did you ever hear of the Kilkenny cats?' +The half-breed shook his head.</p> + +<p>'Well, my friend and good comrade, the Kilkenny cats fought +till neither hide, nor hair, nor yowl, was left. You +understand?--till nothing was left. Very good.</p> + +<p>Now, these two men don't like work. They'll be all alone in +that cabin all wintera mighty long, dark winter. Kilkenny +cats--well?' The Frenchman in Baptiste shrugged his shoulders, +but the Indian in him was silent. Nevertheless, it was an +eloquent shrug, pregnant with prophecy. Things prospered in the +little cabin at first. The rough badinage of their comrades had +made Weatherbee and Cuthfert conscious of the mutual +responsibility which had devolved upon them; besides, there was +not so much work after all for two healthy men. And the removal +of the cruel whiphand, or in other words the bulldozing +half-breed, had brought with it a joyous reaction. At first, each +strove to outdo the other, and they performed petty tasks with an +unction which would have opened the eyes of their comrades who +were now wearing out bodies and souls on the Long Trail.</p> + +<p>All care was banished. The forest, which shouldered in upon +them from three sides, was an inexhaustible woodyard. A few yards +from their door slept the Porcupine, and a hole through its +winter robe formed a bubbling spring of water, crystal clear and +painfully cold. But they soon grew to find fault with even that. +The hole would persist in freezing up, and thus gave them many a +miserable hour of ice-chopping. The unknown builders of the cabin +had extended the sidelogs so as to support a cache at the rear. +In this was stored the bulk of the party's provisions.</p> + +<p>Food there was, without stint, for three times the men who +were fated to live upon it. But the most of it was the kind which +built up brawn and sinew, but did not tickle the palate.</p> + +<p>True, there was sugar in plenty for two ordinary men; but +these two were little else than children. They early discovered +the virtues of hot water judiciously saturated with sugar, and +they prodigally swam their flapjacks and soaked their crusts in +the rich, white syrup.</p> + +<p>Then coffee and tea, and especially the dried fruits, made +disastrous inroads upon it. The first words they had were over +the sugar question. And it is a really serious thing when two +men, wholly dependent upon each other for company, begin to +quarrel.</p> + +<p>Weatherbee loved to discourse blatantly on politics, while +Cuthfert, who had been prone to clip his coupons and let the +commonwealth jog on as best it might, either ignored the subject +or delivered himself of startling epigrams. But the clerk was too +obtuse to appreciate the clever shaping of thought, and this +waste of ammunition irritated Cuthfert.</p> + +<p>He had been used to blinding people by his brilliancy, and it +worked him quite a hardship, this loss of an audience. He felt +personally aggrieved and unconsciously held his muttonhead +companion responsible for it.</p> + +<p>Save existence, they had nothing in common--came in touch on +no single point.</p> + +<p>Weatherbee was a clerk who had known naught but clerking all +his life; Cuthfert was a master of arts, a dabbler in oils, and +had written not a little. The one was a lower-class man who +considered himself a gentleman, and the other was a gentleman who +knew himself to be such. From this it may be remarked that a man +can be a gentleman without possessing the first instinct of true +comradeship. The clerk was as sensuous as the other was +aesthetic, and his love adventures, told at great length and +chiefly coined from his imagination, affected the supersensitive +master of arts in the same way as so many whiffs of sewer gas. He +deemed the clerk a filthy, uncultured brute, whose place was in +the muck with the swine, and told him so; and he was reciprocally +informed that he was a milk-andwater sissy and a cad. Weatherbee +could not have defined 'cad' for his life; but it satisfied its +purpose, which after all seems the main point in life.</p> + +<p>Weatherbee flatted every third note and sang such songs as +'The Boston Burglar' and 'the Handsome Cabin Boy,' for hours at a +time, while Cuthfert wept with rage, till he could stand it no +longer and fled into the outer cold. But there was no escape. The +intense frost could not be endured for long at a time, and the +little cabin crowded them--beds, stove, table, and all--into a +space of ten by twelve. The very presence of either became a +personal affront to the other, and they lapsed into sullen +silences which increased in length and strength as the days went +by. Occasionally, the flash of an eye or the curl of a lip got +the better of them, though they strove to wholly ignore each +other during these mute periods.</p> + +<p>And a great wonder sprang up in the breast of each, as to how +God had ever come to create the other.</p> + +<p>With little to do, time became an intolerable burden to them. +This naturally made them still lazier. They sank into a physical +lethargy which there was no escaping, and which made them rebel +at the performance of the smallest chore. One morning when it was +his turn to cook the common breakfast, Weatherbee rolled out of +his blankets, and to the snoring of his companion, lighted first +the slush lamp and then the fire. The kettles were frozen hard, +and there was no water in the cabin with which to wash. But he +did not mind that. Waiting for it to thaw, he sliced the bacon +and plunged into the hateful task of bread-making. Cuthfert had +been slyly watching through his half-closed lids.</p> + +<p>Consequently there was a scene, in which they fervently +blessed each other, and agreed, henceforth, that each do his own +cooking. A week later, Cuthfert neglected his morning ablutions, +but none the less complacently ate the meal which he had cooked. +Weatherbee grinned. After that the foolish custom of washing +passed out of their lives.</p> + +<p>As the sugar-pile and other little luxuries dwindled, they +began to be afraid they were not getting their proper shares, and +in order that they might not be robbed, they fell to gorging +themselves. The luxuries suffered in this gluttonous contest, as +did also the men.</p> + +<p>In the absence of fresh vegetables and exercise, their blood +became impoverished, and a loathsome, purplish rash crept over +their bodies. Yet they refused to heed the warning.</p> + +<p>Next, their muscles and joints began to swell, the flesh +turning black, while their mouths, gums, and lips took on the +color of rich cream. Instead of being drawn together by their +misery, each gloated over the other's symptoms as the scurvy took +its course.</p> + +<p>They lost all regard for personal appearance, and for that +matter, common decency. The cabin became a pigpen, and never once +were the beds made or fresh pine boughs laid underneath. Yet they +could not keep to their blankets, as they would have wished; for +the frost was inexorable, and the fire box consumed much fuel. +The hair of their heads and faces grew long and shaggy, while +their garments would have disgusted a ragpicker. But they did not +care. They were sick, and there was no one to see; besides, it +was very painful to move about.</p> + +<p>To all this was added a new trouble--the Fear of the North. +This Fear was the joint child of the Great Cold and the Great +Silence, and was born in the darkness of December, when the sun +dipped below the horizon for good. It affected them according to +their natures.</p> + +<p>Weatherbee fell prey to the grosser superstitions, and did his +best to resurrect the spirits which slept in the forgotten +graves. It was a fascinating thing, and in his dreams they came +to him from out of the cold, and snuggled into his blankets, and +told him of their toils and troubles ere they died. He shrank +away from the clammy contact as they drew closer and twined their +frozen limbs about him, and when they whispered in his ear of +things to come, the cabin rang with his frightened shrieks. +Cuthfert did not understand- for they no longer spoke--and when +thus awakened he invariably grabbed for his revolver. Then he +would sit up in bed, shivering nervously, with the weapon trained +on the unconscious dreamer. Cuthfert deemed the man going mad, +and so came to fear for his life.</p> + +<p>His own malady assumed a less concrete form. The mysterious +artisan who had laid the cabin, log by log, had pegged a +wind-vane to the ridgepole. Cuthfert noticed it always pointed +south, and one day, irritated by its steadfastness of purpose, he +turned it toward the east. He watched eagerly, but never a breath +came by to disturb it. Then he turned the vane to the north, +swearing never again to touch it till the wind did blow. But the +air frightened him with its unearthly calm, and he often rose in +the middle of the night to see if the vane had veered--ten +degrees would have satisfied him. But no, it poised above him as +unchangeable as fate.</p> + +<p>His imagination ran riot, till it became to him a fetish. +Sometimes he followed the path it pointed across the dismal +dominions, and allowed his soul to become saturated with the +Fear. He dwelt upon the unseen and the unknown till the burden of +eternity appeared to be crushing him. Everything in the Northland +had that crushing effect--the absence of life and motion; the +darkness; the infinite peace of the brooding land; the ghastly +silence, which made the echo of each heartbeat a sacrilege; the +solemn forest which seemed to guard an awful, inexpressible +something, which neither word nor thought could compass.</p> + +<p>The world he had so recently left, with its busy nations and +great enterprises, seemed very far away. Recollections +occasionally obtruded--recollections of marts and galleries and +crowded thoroughfares, of evening dress and social functions, of +good men and dear women he had known--but they were dim memories +of a life he had lived long centuries agone, on some other +planet. This phantasm was the Reality. Standing beneath the wind- +vane, his eyes fixed on the polar skies, he could not bring +himself to realize that the Southland really existed, that at +that very moment it was a-roar with life and action.</p> + +<p>There was no Southland, no men being born of women, no giving +and taking in marriage.</p> + +<p>Beyond his bleak skyline there stretched vast solitudes, and +beyond these still vaster solitudes.</p> + +<p>There were no lands of sunshine, heavy with the perfume of +flowers. Such things were only old dreams of paradise. The +sunlands of the West and the spicelands of the East, the smiling +Arcadias and blissful Islands of the Blest--ha! ha! His laughter +split the void and shocked him with its unwonted sound. There was +no sun.</p> + +<p>This was the Universe, dead and cold and dark, and he its only +citizen. Weatherbee? At such moments Weatherbee did not count. He +was a Caliban, a monstrous phantom, fettered to him for untold +ages, the penalty of some forgotten crime.</p> + +<p>He lived with Death among the dead, emasculated by the sense +of his own insignificance, crushed by the passive mastery of the +slumbering ages. The magnitude of all things appalled him. +Everything partook of the superlative save himself--the perfect +cessation of wind and motion, the immensity of the snow-covered +wildness, the height of the sky and the depth of the silence. +That wind-vaneif it would only move. If a thunderbolt would fall, +or the forest flare up in flame.</p> + +<p>The rolling up of the heavens as a scroll, the crash of +Doom--anything, anything! But no, nothing moved; the Silence +crowded in, and the Fear of the North laid icy fingers on his +heart.</p> + +<p>Once, like another Crusoe, by the edge of the river he came +upon a track--the faint tracery of a snowshoe rabbit on the +delicate snow-crust. It was a revelation.</p> + +<p>There was life in the Northland. He would follow it, look upon +it, gloat over it.</p> + +<p>He forgot his swollen muscles, plunging through the deep snow +in an ecstasy of anticipation. The forest swallowed him up, and +the brief midday twilight vanished; but he pursued his quest till +exhausted nature asserted itself and laid him helpless in the +snow.</p> + +<p>There he groaned and cursed his folly, and knew the track to +be the fancy of his brain; and late that night he dragged himself +into the cabin on hands and knees, his cheeks frozen and a +strange numbness about his feet. Weatherbee grinned malevolently, +but made no offer to help him. He thrust needles into his toes +and thawed them out by the stove. A week later mortification set +in.</p> + +<p>But the clerk had his own troubles. The dead men came out of +their graves more frequently now, and rarely left him, waking or +sleeping. He grew to wait and dread their coming, never passing +the twin cairns without a shudder. One night they came to him in +his sleep and led him forth to an appointed task. Frightened into +inarticulate horror, he awoke between the heaps of stones and +fled wildly to the cabin. But he had lain there for some time, +for his feet and cheeks were also frozen.</p> + +<p>Sometimes he became frantic at their insistent presence, and +danced about the cabin, cutting the empty air with an axe, and +smashing everything within reach.</p> + +<p>During these ghostly encounters, Cuthfert huddled into his +blankets and followed the madman about with a cocked revolver, +ready to shoot him if he came too near.</p> + +<p>But, recovering from one of these spells, the clerk noticed +the weapon trained upon him.</p> + +<p>His suspicions were aroused, and thenceforth he, too, lived in +fear of his life. They watched each other closely after that, and +faced about in startled fright whenever either passed behind the +other's back. The apprehensiveness became a mania which +controlled them even in their sleep. Through mutual fear they +tacitly let the slush-lamp burn all night, and saw to a plentiful +supply of bacon-grease before retiring. The slightest movement on +the part of one was sufficient to arouse the other, and many a +still watch their gazes countered as they shook beneath their +blankets with fingers on the trigger- guards.</p> + +<p>What with the Fear of the North, the mental strain, and the +ravages of the disease, they lost all semblance of humanity, +taking on the appearance of wild beasts, hunted and desperate. +Their cheeks and noses, as an aftermath of the freezing, had +turned black.</p> + +<p>Their frozen toes had begun to drop away at the first and +second joints. Every movement brought pain, but the fire box was +insatiable, wringing a ransom of torture from their miserable +bodies. Day in, day out, it demanded its food--a veritable pound +of flesh--and they dragged themselves into the forest to chop +wood on their knees. Once, crawling thus in search of dry sticks, +unknown to each other they entered a thicket from opposite +sides.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, without warning, two peering death's-heads +confronted each other. Suffering had so transformed them that +recognition was impossible. They sprang to their feet, shrieking +with terror, and dashed away on their mangled stumps; and falling +at the cabin's door, they clawed and scratched like demons till +they discovered their mistake.</p> + +<p>Occasionally they lapsed normal, and during one of these sane +intervals, the chief bone of contention, the sugar, had been +divided equally between them. They guarded their separate sacks, +stored up in the cache, with jealous eyes; for there were but a +few cupfuls left, and they were totally devoid of faith in each +other.</p> + +<p>But one day Cuthfert made a mistake. Hardly able to move, sick +with pain, with his head swimming and eyes blinded, he crept into +the cache, sugar canister in hand, and mistook Weatherbee's sack +for his own.</p> + +<p>January had been born but a few days when this occurred. The +sun had some time since passed its lowest southern declination, +and at meridian now threw flaunting streaks of yellow light upon +the northern sky. On the day following his mistake with the +sugarbag, Cuthfert found himself feeling better, both in body and +in spirit. As noontime drew near and the day brightened, he +dragged himself outside to feast on the evanescent glow, which +was to him an earnest of the sun's future intentions. Weatherbee +was also feeling somewhat better, and crawled out beside him. +They propped themselves in the snow beneath the moveless +windvane, and waited.</p> + +<p>The stillness of death was about them. In other climes, when +nature falls into such moods, there is a subdued air of +expectancy, a waiting for some small voice to take up the broken +strain. Not so in the North. The two men had lived seeming eons +in this ghostly peace.</p> + +<p>They could remember no song of the past; they could conjure no +song of the future. This unearthly calm had always been--the +tranquil silence of eternity.</p> + +<p>Their eyes were fixed upon the north. Unseen, behind their +backs, behind the towering mountains to the south, the sun swept +toward the zenith of another sky than theirs. Sole spectators of +the mighty canvas, they watched the false dawn slowly grow. A +faint flame began to glow and smoulder. It deepened in intensity, +ringing the changes of reddish- yellow, purple, and saffron. So +bright did it become that Cuthfert thought the sun must surely be +behind it--a miracle, the sun rising in the north! Suddenly, +without warning and without fading, the canvas was swept clean. +There was no color in the sky. The light had gone out of the +day.</p> + +<p>They caught their breaths in half-sobs. But lo! the air was +aglint with particles of scintillating frost, and there, to the +north, the wind-vane lay in vague outline of the snow.</p> + +<p>A shadow! A shadow! It was exactly midday. They jerked their +heads hurriedly to the south. A golden rim peeped over the +mountain's snowy shoulder, smiled upon them an instant, then +dipped from sight again.</p> + +<p>There were tears in their eyes as they sought each other. A +strange softening came over them. They felt irresistibly drawn +toward each other. The sun was coming back again. It would be +with them tomorrow, and the next day, and the next.</p> + +<p>And it would stay longer every visit, and a time would come +when it would ride their heaven day and night, never once +dropping below the skyline. There would be no night.</p> + +<p>The ice-locked winter would be broken; the winds would blow +and the forests answer; the land would bathe in the blessed +sunshine, and life renew.</p> + +<p>Hand in hand, they would quit this horrid dream and journey +back to the Southland. They lurched blindly forward, and their +hands met--their poor maimed hands, swollen and distorted beneath +their mittens.</p> + +<p>But the promise was destined to remain unfulfilled. The +Northland is the Northland, and men work out their souls by +strange rules, which other men, who have not journeyed into far +countries, cannot come to understand.</p> + +<p>An hour later, Cuthfert put a pan of bread into the oven, and +fell to speculating on what the surgeons could do with his feet +when he got back. Home did not seem so very far away now. +Weatherbee was rummaging in the cache. Of a sudden, he raised a +whirlwind of blasphemy, which in turn ceased with startling +abruptness. The other man had robbed his sugar-sack. Still, +things might have happened differently, had not the two dead men +come out from under the stones and hushed the hot words in his +throat. They led him quite gently from the cache, which he forgot +to close. That consummation was reached; that something they had +whispered to him in his dreams was about to happen. They guided +him gently, very gently, to the woodpile, where they put the axe +in his hands.</p> + +<p>Then they helped him shove open the cabin door, and he felt +sure they shut it after him- at least he heard it slam and the +latch fall sharply into place. And he knew they were waiting just +without, waiting for him to do his task.</p> + +<p>'Carter! I say, Carter!' Percy Cuthfert was frightened at the +look on the clerk's face, and he made haste to put the table +between them.</p> + +<p>Carter Weatherbee followed, without haste and without +enthusiasm. There was neither pity nor passion in his face, but +rather the patient, stolid look of one who has certain work to do +and goes about it methodically.</p> + +<p>'I say, what's the matter?'</p> + +<p>The clerk dodged back, cutting off his retreat to the door, +but never opening his mouth.</p> + +<p>'I say, Carter, I say; let's talk. There's a good chap.' The +master of arts was thinking rapidly, now, shaping a skillful +flank movement on the bed where his Smith & Wesson lay. +Keeping his eyes on the madman, he rolled backward on the bunk, +at the same time clutching the pistol.</p> + +<p>'Carter!' The powder flashed full in Weatherbee's face, but he +swung his weapon and leaped forward. The axe bit deeply at the +base of the spine, and Percy Cuthfert felt all consciousness of +his lower limbs leave him. Then the clerk fell heavily upon him, +clutching him by the throat with feeble fingers. The sharp bite +of the axe had caused Cuthfert to drop the pistol, and as his +lungs panted for release, he fumbled aimlessly for it among the +blankets. Then he remembered. He slid a hand up the clerk's belt +to the sheath-knife; and they drew very close to each other in +that last clinch.</p> + +<p>Percy Cuthfert felt his strength leave him. The lower portion +of his body was useless, The inert weight of Weatherbee crushed +him--crushed him and pinned him there like a bear under a trap. +The cabin became filled with a familiar odor, and he knew the +bread to be burning. Yet what did it matter? He would never need +it. And there were all of six cupfuls of sugar in the cache--if +he had foreseen this he would not have been so saving the last +several days. Would the wind-vane ever move? Why not' Had he not +seen the sun today? He would go and see. No; it was impossible to +move. He had not thought the clerk so heavy a man.</p> + +<p>How quickly the cabin cooled! The fire must be out. The cold +was forcing in.</p> + +<p>It must be below zero already, and the ice creeping up the +inside of the door. He could not see it, but his past experience +enabled him to gauge its progress by the cabin's temperature. The +lower hinge must be white ere now. Would the tale of this ever +reach the world? How would his friends take it? They would read +it over their coffee, most likely, and talk it over at the clubs. +He could see them very clearly, 'Poor Old Cuthfert,'</p> + +<p>they murmured; 'not such a bad sort of a chap, after all.' He +smiled at their eulogies, and passed on in search of a Turkish +bath. It was the same old crowd upon the streets.</p> + +<p>Strange, they did not notice his moosehide moccasins and +tattered German socks! He would take a cab. And after the bath a +shave would not be bad. No; he would eat first.</p> + +<p>Steak, and potatoes, and green things how fresh it all was! +And what was that? Squares of honey, streaming liquid amber! But +why did they bring so much? Ha! ha! he could never eat it +all.</p> + +<p>Shine! Why certainly. He put his foot on the box. The +bootblack looked curiously up at him, and he remembered his +moosehide moccasins and went away hastily.</p> + +<p>Hark! The wind-vane must be surely spinning. No; a mere +singing in his ears.</p> + +<p>That was all--a mere singing. The ice must have passed the +latch by now. More likely the upper hinge was covered. Between +the moss-chinked roof-poles, little points of frost began to +appear. How slowly they grew! No; not so slowly. There was a new +one, and there another. Two--three--four; they were coming too +fast to count. There were two growing together. And there, a +third had joined them.</p> + +<p>Why, there were no more spots. They had run together and +formed a sheet.</p> + +<p>Well, he would have company. If Gabriel ever broke the silence +of the North, they would stand together, hand in hand, before the +great White Throne. And God would judge them, God would judge +them!</p> + +<p>Then Percy Cuthfert closed his eyes and dropped off to +sleep.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2 align="center">To the Man on the Trail</h2> + +<p> </p> + +<p>'Dump it in!.' 'But I say, Kid, isn't that going it a little +too strong' Whisky and alcohol's bad enough; but when it comes to +brandy and pepper sauce and-' 'Dump it in. Who's making this +punch, anyway?' And Malemute Kid smiled benignantly through the +clouds of steam. 'By the time you've been in this country as long +as I have, my son, and lived on rabbit tracks and salmon belly, +you'll learn that Christmas comes only once per annum.</p> + +<p>And a Christmas without punch is sinking a hole to bedrock +with nary a pay streak.'</p> + +<p>'Stack up on that fer a high cyard,' approved Big Jim Belden, +who had come down from his claim on Mazy May to spend Christmas, +and who, as everyone knew, had been living the two months past on +straight moose meat. 'Hain't fergot the hooch we-uns made on the +Tanana, hey yeh?' 'Well, I guess yes. Boys, it would have done +your hearts good to see that whole tribe fighting drunk--and all +because of a glorious ferment of sugar and sour dough. That was +before your time,' Malemute Kid said as he turned to Stanley +Prince, a young mining expert who had been in two years. 'No +white women in the country then, and Mason wanted to get married. +Ruth's father was chief of the Tananas, and objected, like the +rest of the tribe. Stiff? Why, I used my last pound of sugar; +finest work in that line I ever did in my life. You should have +seen the chase, down the river and across the portage.' 'But the +squaw?' asked Louis Savoy, the tall French Canadian, becoming +interested; for he had heard of this wild deed when at Forty Mile +the preceding winter.</p> + +<p>Then Malemute Kid, who was a born raconteur, told the +unvarnished tale of the Northland Lochinvar. More than one rough +adventurer of the North felt his heartstrings draw closer and +experienced vague yearnings for the sunnier pastures of the +Southland, where life promised something more than a barren +struggle with cold and death.</p> + +<p>'We struck the Yukon just behind the first ice run,' he +concluded, 'and the tribe only a quarter of an hour behind. But +that saved us; for the second run broke the jam above and shut +them out. When they finally got into Nuklukyeto, the whole post +was ready for them.</p> + +<p>And as to the forgathering, ask Father Roubeau here: he +performed the ceremony.' The Jesuit took the pipe from his lips +but could only express his gratification with patriarchal smiles, +while Protestant and Catholic vigorously applauded.</p> + +<p>'By gar!' ejaculated Louis Savoy, who seemed overcome by the +romance of it. 'La petite squaw: mon Mason brav. By gar!' Then, +as the first tin cups of punch went round, Bettles the +Unquenchable sprang to his feet and struck up his favorite +drinking song: 'There's Henry Ward Beecher And Sunday-school +teachers, All drink of the sassafras root; But you bet all the +same, If it had its right name, It's the juice of the forbidden +fruit.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, the juice of the forbidden fruit,' roared out the +bacchanalian chorus, 'Oh, the juice of the forbidden fruit; But +you bet all the same, If it had its right name, It's the juice of +the forbidden fruit.'</p> + +<p>Malemute Kid's frightful concoction did its work; the men of +the camps and trails unbent in its genial glow, and jest and song +and tales of past adventure went round the board.</p> + +<p>Aliens from a dozen lands, they toasted each and all. It was +the Englishman, Prince, who pledged 'Uncle Sam, the precocious +infant of the New World'; the Yankee, Bettles, who drank to 'The +Queen, God bless her'; and together, Savoy and Meyers, the German +trader, clanged their cups to Alsace and Lorraine.</p> + +<p>Then Malemute Kid arose, cup in hand, and glanced at the +greased-paper window, where the frost stood full three inches +thick. 'A health to the man on trail this night; may his grub +hold out; may his dogs keep their legs; may his matches never +miss fire.' Crack!</p> + +<p>Crack! heard the familiar music of the dog whip, the whining +howl of the Malemutes, and the crunch of a sled as it drew up to +the cabin. Conversation languished while they waited the +issue.</p> + +<p>'An old-timer; cares for his dogs and then himself,' whispered +Malemute Kid to Prince as they listened to the snapping jaws and +the wolfish snarls and yelps of pain which proclaimed to their +practiced ears that the stranger was beating back their dogs +while he fed his own.</p> + +<p>Then came the expected knock, sharp and confident, and the +stranger entered.</p> + +<p>Dazzled by the light, he hesitated a moment at the door, +giving to all a chance for scrutiny. He was a striking personage, +and a most picturesque one, in his Arctic dress of wool and fur. +Standing six foot two or three, with proportionate breadth of +shoulders and depth of chest, his smooth-shaven face nipped by +the cold to a gleaming pink, his long lashes and eyebrows white +with ice, and the ear and neck flaps of his great wolfskin cap +loosely raised, he seemed, of a verity, the Frost King, just +stepped in out of the night.</p> + +<p>Clasped outside his Mackinaw jacket, a beaded belt held two +large Colt's revolvers and a hunting knife, while he carried, in +addition to the inevitable dog whip, a smokeless rifle of the +largest bore and latest pattern. As he came forward, for all his +step was firm and elastic, they could see that fatigue bore +heavily upon him.</p> + +<p>An awkward silence had fallen, but his hearty 'What cheer, my +lads?' put them quickly at ease, and the next instant Malemute +Kid and he had gripped hands. Though they had never met, each had +heard of the other, and the recognition was mutual. A sweeping +introduction and a mug of punch were forced upon him before he +could explain his errand.</p> + +<p>How long since that basket sled, with three men and eight +dogs, passed?' he asked.</p> + +<p>'An even two days ahead. Are you after them?' 'Yes; my team. +Run them off under my very nose, the cusses. I've gained two days +on them already--pick them up on the next run.' 'Reckon they'll +show spunk?' asked Belden, in order to keep up the conversation, +for Malemute Kid already had the coffeepot on and was busily +frying bacon and moose meat.</p> + +<p>The stranger significantly tapped his revolvers.</p> + +<p>'When'd yeh leave Dawson?' 'Twelve o'clock.' 'Last night?'--as +a matter of course.</p> + +<p>'Today.' A murmur of surprise passed round the circle. And +well it might; for it was just midnight, and seventy-five miles +of rough river trail was not to be sneered at for a twelve hours' +run.</p> + +<p>The talk soon became impersonal, however, harking back to the +trails of childhood. As the young stranger ate of the rude fare +Malemute Kid attentively studied his face. Nor was he long in +deciding that it was fair, honest, and open, and that he liked +it. Still youthful, the lines had been firmly traced by toil and +hardship.</p> + +<p>Though genial in conversation, and mild when at rest, the blue +eyes gave promise of the hard steel-glitter which comes when +called into action, especially against odds. The heavy jaw and +square-cut chin demonstrated rugged pertinacity and +indomitability. Nor, though the attributes of the lion were +there, was there wanting the certain softness, the hint of +womanliness, which bespoke the emotional nature.</p> + +<p>'So thet's how me an' the ol' woman got spliced,' said Belden, +concluding the exciting tale of his courtship. '"Here we be, +Dad," sez she. "An' may yeh be damned," sez he to her, an' then +to me, ''Jim, yeh-yeh git outen them good duds o' yourn; I want a +right peart slice o' thet forty acre plowed 'fore dinner." An' +then he sort o' sniffled an' kissed her. An' I was thet +happy--but he seen me an' roars out, ''Yeh, Jim!' An' yeh bet I +dusted fer the barn.' 'Any kids waiting for you back in the +States?' asked the stranger.</p> + +<p>'Nope; Sal died 'fore any come. Thet's why I'm here.' Belden +abstractedly began to light his pipe, which had failed to go out, +and then brightened up with, 'How 'bout yerself, +stranger--married man?' For reply, he opened his watch, slipped +it from the thong which served for a chain, and passed it over. +Belden picked up the slush lamp, surveyed the inside of the case +critically, and, swearing admiringly to himself, handed it over +to Louis Savoy. With numerous 'By gars!' he finally surrendered +it to Prince, and they noticed that his hands trembled and his +eyes took on a peculiar softness. And so it passed from horny +hand to horny hand--the pasted photograph of a woman, the +clinging kind that such men fancy, with a babe at the breast. +Those who had not yet seen the wonder were keen with curiosity; +those who had became silent and retrospective. They could face +the pinch of famine, the grip of scurvy, or the quick death by +field or flood; but the pictured semblance of a stranger woman +and child made women and children of them all.</p> + +<p>'Never have seen the youngster yet--he's a boy, she says, and +two years old,' said the stranger as he received the treasure +back. A lingering moment he gazed upon it, then snapped the case +and turned away, but not quick enough to hide the restrained rush +of tears. Malemute Kid led him to a bunk and bade him turn +in.</p> + +<p>'Call me at four sharp. Don't fail me,' were his last words, +and a moment later he was breathing in the heaviness of exhausted +sleep.</p> + +<p>'By Jove! He's a plucky chap,' commented Prince. 'Three hours' +sleep after seventy-five miles with the dogs, and then the trail +again. Who is he, Kid?' 'Jack Westondale. Been in going on three +years, with nothing but the name of working like a horse, and any +amount of bad luck to his credit. I never knew him, but Sitka +Charley told me about him.' 'It seems hard that a man with a +sweet young wife like his should be putting in his years in this +Godforsaken hole, where every year counts two on the outside.' +'The trouble with him is clean grit and stubbornness. He's +cleaned up twice with a stake, but lost it both times.' Here the +conversation was broken off by an uproar from Bettles, for the +effect had begun to wear away. And soon the bleak years of +monotonous grub and deadening toil were being forgotten in rough +merriment. Malemute Kid alone seemed unable to lose himself, and +cast many an anxious look at his watch. Once he put on his +mittens and beaver-skin cap, and, leaving the cabin, fell to +rummaging about in the cache.</p> + +<p>Nor could he wait the hour designated; for he was fifteen +minutes ahead of time in rousing his guest. The young giant had +stiffened badly, and brisk rubbing was necessary to bring him to +his feet. He tottered painfully out of the cabin, to find his +dogs harnessed and everything ready for the start. The company +wished him good luck and a short chase, while Father Roubeau, +hurriedly blessing him, led the stampede for the cabin; and small +wonder, for it is not good to face seventy-four degrees below +zero with naked ears and hands.</p> + +<p>Malemute Kid saw him to the main trail, and there, gripping +his hand heartily, gave him advice.</p> + +<p>'You'll find a hundred pounds of salmon eggs on the sled,' he +said. 'The dogs will go as far on that as with one hundred and +fifty of fish, and you can't get dog food at Pelly, as you +probably expected.' The stranger started, and his eyes flashed, +but he did not interrupt. 'You can't get an ounce of food for dog +or man till you reach Five Fingers, and that's a stiff two +hundred miles. Watch out for open water on the Thirty Mile River, +and be sure you take the big cutoff above Le Barge.' 'How did you +know it? Surely the news can't be ahead of me already?' 'I don't +know it; and what's more, I don't want to know it.</p> + +<p>But you never owned that team you're chasing. Sitka Charley +sold it to them last spring.</p> + +<p>But he sized you up to me as square once, and I believe him. +I've seen your face; I like it.</p> + +<p>And I've seen--why, damn you, hit the high places for salt +water and that wife of yours, and-' Here the Kid unmittened and +jerked out his sack.</p> + +<p>'No; I don't need it,' and the tears froze on his cheeks as he +convulsively gripped Malemute Kid's hand.</p> + +<p>'Then don't spare the dogs; cut them out of the traces as fast +as they drop; buy them, and think they're cheap at ten dollars a +pound. You can get them at Five Fingers, Little Salmon, and +Hootalinqua. And watch out for wet feet,' was his parting advice. +'Keep a- traveling up to twenty-five, but if it gets below that, +build a fire and change your socks.'</p> + +<p>Fifteen minutes had barely elapsed when the jingle of bells +announced new arrivals. The door opened, and a mounted policeman +of the Northwest Territory entered, followed by two half-breed +dog drivers. Like Westondale, they were heavily armed and showed +signs of fatigue. The half-breeds had been borne to the trail and +bore it easily; but the young policeman was badly exhausted. +Still, the dogged obstinacy of his race held him to the pace he +had set, and would hold him till he dropped in his tracks.</p> + +<p>'When did Westondale pull out?' he asked. 'He stopped here, +didn't he?' This was supererogatory, for the tracks told their +own tale too well.</p> + +<p>Malemute Kid had caught Belden's eye, and he, scenting the +wind, replied evasively, 'A right peart while back.' 'Come, my +man; speak up,' the policeman admonished.</p> + +<p>'Yeh seem to want him right smart. Hez he ben gittin' +cantankerous down Dawson way?'</p> + +<p>'Held up Harry McFarland's for forty thousand; exchanged it at +the P.C. store for a check on Seattle; and who's to stop the +cashing of it if we don't overtake him? When did he pull +out?'</p> + +<p>Every eye suppressed its excitement, for Malemute Kid had +given the cue, and the young officer encountered wooden faces on +every hand.</p> + +<p>Striding over to Prince, he put the question to him. Though it +hurt him, gazing into the frank, earnest face. of his fellow +countryman, he replied inconsequentially on the state of the +trail.</p> + +<p>Then he espied Father Roubeau, who could not lie. 'A quarter +of an hour ago,' the priest answered; 'but he had four hours' +rest for himself and dogs.' 'Fifteen minutes' start, and he's +fresh! My God!' The poor fellow staggered back, half fainting +from exhaustion and disappointment, murmuring something about the +run from Dawson in ten hours and the dogs being played out.</p> + +<p>Malemute Kid forced a mug of punch upon him; then he turned +for the door, ordering the dog drivers to follow. But the warmth +and promise of rest were too tempting, and they objected +strenuously. The Kid was conversant with their French patois, and +followed it anxiously.</p> + +<p>They swore that the dogs were gone up; that Siwash and Babette +would have to be shot before the first mile was covered; that the +rest were almost as bad; and that it would be better for all +hands to rest up.</p> + +<p>'Lend me five dogs?' he asked, turning to Malemute Kid.</p> + +<p>But the Kid shook his head.</p> + +<p>'I'll sign a check on Captain Constantine for five +thousand--here's my papersI'm authorized to draw at my own +discretion.'</p> + +<p>Again the silent refusal.</p> + +<p>'Then I'll requisition them in the name of the Queen.' Smiling +incredulously, the Kid glanced at his well-stocked arsenal, and +the Englishman, realizing his impotency, turned for the door. But +the dog drivers still objecting, he whirled upon them fiercely, +calling them women and curs. The swart face of the older +half-breed flushed angrily as he drew himself up and promised in +good, round terms that he would travel his leader off his legs, +and would then be delighted to plant him in the snow.</p> + +<p>The young officer--and it required his whole will--walked +steadily to the door, exhibiting a freshness he did not possess. +But they all knew and appreciated his proud effort; nor could he +veil the twinges of agony that shot across his face. Covered with +frost, the dogs were curled up in the snow, and it was almost +impossible to get them to their feet. The poor brutes whined +under the stinging lash, for the dog drivers were angry and +cruel; nor till Babette, the leader, was cut from the traces, +could they break out the sled and get under way.</p> + +<p>'A dirty scoundrel and a liar!' 'By gar! Him no good!' 'A +thief!' 'Worse than an Indian!'</p> + +<p>It was evident that they were angry--first at the way they had +been deceived; and second at the outraged ethics of the +Northland, where honesty, above all, was man's prime jewel.</p> + +<p>'An' we gave the cuss a hand, after knowin' what he'd did.' +All eyes turned accusingly upon Malemute Kid, who rose from the +corner where he had been making Babette comfortable, and silently +emptied the bowl for a final round of punch.</p> + +<p>'It's a cold night, boys--a bitter cold night,' was the +irrelevant commencement of his defense. 'You've all traveled +trail, and know what that stands for. Don't jump a dog when he's +down. You've only heard one side. A whiter man than Jack +Westondale never ate from the same pot nor stretched blanket with +you or me.</p> + +<p>Last fall he gave his whole clean-up, forty thousand, to Joe +Castrell, to buy in on Dominion. Today he'd be a millionaire. +But, while he stayed behind at Circle City, taking care of his +partner with the scurvy, what does Castell do? Goes into +McFarland's, jumps the limit, and drops the whole sack. Found him +dead in the snow the next day. And poor Jack laying his plans to +go out this winter to his wife and the boy he's never seen. +You'll notice he took exactly what his partner lostforty +thousand. Well, he's gone out; and what are you going to do about +it?' The Kid glanced round the circle of his judges, noted the +softening of their faces, then raised his mug aloft. 'So a health +to the man on trail this night; may his grub hold out; may his +dogs keep their legs; may his matches never miss fire.</p> + +<p>God prosper him; good luck go with him; and --' 'Confusion to +the Mounted Police!'</p> + +<p>cried Bettles, to the crash of the empty cups.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2 align="center">The Priestly Prerogative</h2> + +<p> </p> + +<p>This is the story of a man who did not appreciate his wife; +also, of a woman who did him too great an honor when she gave +herself to him. Incidentally, it concerns a Jesuit priest who had +never been known to lie. He was an appurtenance, and a very +necessary one, to the Yukon country; but the presence of the +other two was merely accidental. They were specimens of the many +strange waifs which ride the breast of a gold rush or come +tailing along behind.</p> + +<p>Edwin Bentham and Grace Bentham were waifs; they were also +tailing along behind, for the Klondike rush of '97 had long since +swept down the great river and subsided into the famine-stricken +city of Dawson. When the Yukon shut up shop and went to sleep +under a three-foot ice-sheet, this peripatetic couple found +themselves at the Five Finger Rapids, with the City of Gold still +a journey of many sleeps to the north.</p> + +<p>Many cattle had been butchered at this place in the fall of +the year, and the offal made a goodly heap. The three +fellow-voyagers of Edwin Bentham and wife gazed upon this +deposit, did a little mental arithmetic, caught a certain glimpse +of a bonanza, and decided to remain. And all winter they sold +sacks of bones and frozen hides to the famished dog- teams. It +was a modest price they asked, a dollar a pound, just as it came. +Six months later, when the sun came back and the Yukon awoke, +they buckled on their heavy moneybelts and journeyed back to the +Southland, where they yet live and lie mightily about the +Klondike they never saw.</p> + +<p>But Edwin Bentham--he was an indolent fellow, and had he not +been possessed of a wife, would have gladly joined issued in the +dog-meat speculation. As it was, she played upon his vanity, told +him how great and strong he was, how a man such as he certainly +was could overcome all obstacles and of a surety obtain the +Golden Fleece. So he squared his jaw, sold his share in the bones +and hides for a sled and one dog, and turned his snowshoes to the +north. Needless to state, Grace Bentham's snowshoes never allowed +his tracks to grow cold. Nay, ere their tribulations had seen +three days, it was the man who followed in the rear, and the +woman who broke trail in advance. Of course, if anybody hove in +sight, the position was instantly reversed. Thus did his manhood +remain virgin to the travelers who passed like ghosts on the +silent trail. There are such men in this world.</p> + +<p>How such a man and such a woman came to take each other for +better and for worse is unimportant to this narrative. These +things are familiar to us all, and those people who do them, or +even question them too closely, are apt to lose a beautiful faith +which is known as Eternal Fitness.</p> + +<p>Edwin Bentham was a boy, thrust by mischance into a man's +body,--a boy who could complacently pluck a butterfly, wing from +wing, or cower in abject terror before a lean, nervy fellow, not +half his size. He was a selfish cry-baby, hidden behind a man's +mustache and stature, and glossed over with a skin-deep veneer of +culture and conventionality. Yes; he was a clubman and a society +man,the sort that grace social functions and utter inanities with +a charm and unction which is indescribable; the sort that talk +big, and cry over a toothache; the sort that put more hell into a +woman's life by marrying her than can the most graceless +libertine that ever browsed in forbidden pastures. We meet these +men every day, but we rarely know them for what they are. Second +to marrying them, the best way to get this knowledge is to eat +out of the same pot and crawl under the same blanket with them +for- well, say a week; no greater margin is necessary.</p> + +<p>To see Grace Bentham, was to see a slender, girlish creature; +to know her, was to know a soul which dwarfed your own, yet +retained all the elements of the eternal feminine. This was the +woman who urged and encouraged her husband in his Northland +quest, who broke trail for him when no one was looking, and cried +in secret over her weakling woman's body.</p> + +<p>So journeyed this strangely assorted couple down to old Fort +Selkirk, then through fivescore miles of dismal wilderness to +Stuart River. And when the short day left them, and the man lay +down in the snow and blubbered, it was the woman who lashed him +to the sled, bit her lips with the pain of her aching limbs, and +helped the dog haul him to Malemute Kid's cabin. Malemute Kid was +not at home, but Meyers, the German trader, cooked great +moose-steaks and shook up a bed of fresh pine boughs. Lake, +Langham, and Parker, were excited, and not unduly so when the +cause was taken into account.</p> + +<p>'Oh, Sandy! Say, can you tell a porterhouse from a round? Come +out and lend us a hand, anyway!' This appeal emanated from the +cache, where Langham was vainly struggling with divers quarters +of frozen moose.</p> + +<p>'Don't you budge from those dishes!' commanded Parker.</p> + +<p>'I say, Sandy; there's a good fellow--just run down to the +Missouri Camp and borrow some cinnamon,' begged Lake.</p> + +<p>'Oh! oh! hurry up! Why don't-' But the crash of meat and +boxes, in the cache, abruptly quenched this peremptory +summons.</p> + +<p>'Come now, Sandy; it won't take a minute to go down to the +Missouri-' 'You leave him alone,' interrupted Parker. 'How am I +to mix the biscuits if the table isn't cleared off?'</p> + +<p>Sandy paused in indecision, till suddenly the fact that he was +Langham's 'man' dawned upon him. Then he apologetically threw +down the greasy dishcloth, and went to his master's rescue.</p> + +<p>These promising scions of wealthy progenitors had come to the +Northland in search of laurels, with much money to burn, and a +'man' apiece. Luckily for their souls, the other two men were up +the White River in search of a mythical quartzledge; so Sandy had +to grin under the responsibility of three healthy masters, each +of whom was possessed of peculiar cookery ideas. Twice that +morning had a disruption of the whole camp been imminent, only +averted by immense concessions from one or the other of these +knights of the chafing-dish. But at last their mutual creation, a +really dainty dinner, was completed.</p> + +<p>Then they sat down to a three-cornered game of +'cut-throat,'--a proceeding which did away with all casus belli +for future hostilities, and permitted the victor to depart on a +most important mission.</p> + +<p>This fortune fell to Parker, who parted his hair in the +middle, put on his mittens and bearskin cap, and stepped over to +Malemute Kid's cabin. And when he returned, it was in the company +of Grace Bentham and Malemute Kid,--the former very sorry her +husband could not share with her their hospitality, for he had +gone up to look at the Henderson Creek mines, and the latter +still a trifle stiff from breaking trail down the Stuart +River.</p> + +<p>Meyers had been asked, but had declined, being deeply +engrossed in an experiment of raising bread from hops.</p> + +<p>Well, they could do without the husband; but a woman--why they +had not seen one all winter, and the presence of this one +promised a new era in their lives.</p> + +<p>They were college men and gentlemen, these three young +fellows, yearning for the flesh- pots they had been so long +denied. Probably Grace Bentham suffered from a similar hunger; at +least, it meant much to her, the first bright hour in many weeks +of darkness.</p> + +<p>But that wonderful first course, which claimed the versatile +Lake for its parent, had no sooner been served than there came a +loud knock at the door.</p> + +<p>'Oh! Ah! Won't you come in, Mr. Bentham?' said Parker, who had +stepped to see who the newcomer might be.</p> + +<p>'Is my wife here?' gruffly responded that worthy.</p> + +<p>'Why, yes. We left word with Mr. Meyers.' Parker was exerting +his most dulcet tones, inwardly wondering what the deuce it all +meant. 'Won't you come in? Expecting you at any moment, we +reserved a place. And just in time for the first course, too.' +'Come in, Edwin, dear,' chirped Grace Bentham from her seat at +the table.</p> + +<p>Parker naturally stood aside.</p> + +<p>'I want my wife,' reiterated Bentham hoarsely, the intonation +savoring disagreeably of ownership.</p> + +<p>Parker gasped, was within an ace of driving his fist into the +face of his boorish visitor, but held himself awkwardly in check. +Everybody rose. Lake lost his head and caught himself on the +verge of saying, 'Must you go?' Then began the farrago of +leave-taking. 'So nice of you-' 'I am awfully sorry' 'By Jove! +how things did brighten-' 'Really now, you-'</p> + +<p>'Thank you ever so much-' 'Nice trip to Dawson-' etc., +etc.</p> + +<p>In this wise the lamb was helped into her jacket and led to +the slaughter. Then the door slammed, and they gazed woefully +upon the deserted table.</p> + +<p>'Damn!' Langham had suffered disadvantages in his early +training, and his oaths were weak and monotonous. 'Damn!' he +repeated, vaguely conscious of the incompleteness and vainly +struggling for a more virile term. It is a clever woman who can +fill out the many weak places in an inefficient man, by her own +indomitability, re-enforce his vacillating nature, infuse her +ambitious soul into his, and spur him on to great achievements. +And it is indeed a very clever and tactful woman who can do all +this, and do it so subtly that the man receives all the credit +and believes in his inmost heart that everything is due to him +and him alone.</p> + +<p>This is what Grace Bentham proceeded to do. Arriving in Dawson +with a few pounds of flour and several letters of introduction, +she at once applied herself to the task of pushing her big baby +to the fore. It was she who melted the stony heart and wrung +credit from the rude barbarian who presided over the destiny of +the P. C. Company; yet it was Edwin Bentham to whom the +concession was ostensibly granted. It was she who dragged her +baby up and down creeks, over benches and divides, and on a dozen +wild stampedes; yet everybody remarked what an energetic fellow +that Bentham was. It was she who studied maps, and catechised +miners, and hammered geography and locations into his hollow +head, till everybody marveled at his broad grasp of the country +and knowledge of its conditions. Of course, they said the wife +was a brick, and only a few wise ones appreciated and pitied the +brave little woman.</p> + +<p>She did the work; he got the credit and reward. In the +Northwest Territory a married woman cannot stake or record a +creek, bench, or quartz claim; so Edwin Bentham went down to the +Gold Commissioner and filed on Bench Claim 23, second tier, of +French Hill. And when April came they were washing out a thousand +dollars a day, with many, many such days in prospect.</p> + +<p>At the base of French Hill lay Eldorado Creek, and on a creek +claim stood the cabin of Clyde Wharton. At present he was not +washing out a diurnal thousand dollars; but his dumps grew, shift +by shift, and there would come a time when those dumps would pass +through his sluice-boxes, depositing in the riffles, in the +course of half a dozen days, several hundred thousand dollars. He +often sat in that cabin, smoked his pipe, and dreamed beautiful +little dreams,--dreams in which neither the dumps nor the +half-ton of dust in the P. C. Company's big safe, played a +part.</p> + +<p>And Grace Bentham, as she washed tin dishes in her hillside +cabin, often glanced down into Eldorado Creek, and dreamed,--not +of dumps nor dust, however. They met frequently, as the trail to +the one claim crossed the other, and there is much to talk about +in the Northland spring; but never once, by the light of an eye +nor the slip of a tongue, did they speak their hearts.</p> + +<p>This is as it was at first. But one day Edwin Bentham was +brutal. All boys are thus; besides, being a French Hill king now, +he began to think a great deal of himself and to forget all he +owed to his wife. On this day, Wharton heard of it, and waylaid +Grace Bentham, and talked wildly. This made her very happy, +though she would not listen, and made him promise to not say such +things again. Her hour had not come.</p> + +<p>But the sun swept back on its northern journey, the black of +midnight changed to the steely color of dawn, the snow slipped +away, the water dashed again over the glacial drift, and the +wash-up began. Day and night the yellow clay and scraped bedrock +hurried through the swift sluices, yielding up its ransom to the +strong men from the Southland.</p> + +<p>And in that time of tumult came Grace Bentham's hour.</p> + +<p>To all of us such hours at some time come,--that is, to us who +are not too phlegmatic.</p> + +<p>Some people are good, not from inherent love of virtue, but +from sheer laziness. But those of us who know weak moments may +understand.</p> + +<p>Edwin Bentham was weighing dust over the bar of the saloon at +the Forks--altogether too much of his dust went over that pine +board--when his wife came down the hill and slipped into Clyde +Wharton's cabin. Wharton was not expecting her, but that did not +alter the case. And much subsequent misery and idle waiting might +have been avoided, had not Father Roubeau seen this and turned +aside from the main creek trail. 'My child,-' 'Hold on, Father +Roubeau! Though I'm not of your faith, I respect you; but you +can't come in between this woman and me!' 'You know what you are +doing?' 'Know! Were you God Almighty, ready to fling me into +eternal fire, I'd bank my will against yours in this matter.' +Wharton had placed Grace on a stool and stood belligerently +before her.</p> + +<p>'You sit down on that chair and keep quiet,' he continued, +addressing the Jesuit. 'I'll take my innings now. You can have +yours after.'</p> + +<p>Father Roubeau bowed courteously and obeyed. He was an +easy-going man and had learned to bide his time. Wharton pulled a +stool alongside the woman's, smothering her hand in his.</p> + +<p>'Then you do care for me, and will take me away?' Her face +seemed to reflect the peace of this man, against whom she might +draw close for shelter.</p> + +<p>'Dear, don't you remember what I said before? Of course I-' +'But how can you?--the wash-up?' 'Do you think that worries? +Anyway, I'll give the job to Father Roubeau, here.</p> + +<p>I can trust him to safely bank the dust with the company.' 'To +think of it!--I'll never see him again.' 'A blessing!' 'And to +go--O, Clyde, I can't! I can't!' 'There, there; of course you +can. just let me plan it.--You see, as soon as we get a few traps +together, we'll start, and-' 'Suppose he comes back?' 'I'll break +every-' 'No, no! No fighting, Clyde! Promise me that.' 'All +right! I'll just tell the men to throw him off the claim. They've +seen how he's treated you, and haven't much love for him.'</p> + +<p>'You mustn't do that. You mustn't hurt him.' 'What then? Let +him come right in here and take you away before my eyes?' 'No-o,' +she half whispered, stroking his hand softly.</p> + +<p>'Then let me run it, and don't worry. I'll see he doesn't get +hurt. Precious lot he cared whether you got hurt or not! We won't +go back to Dawson. I'll send word down for a couple of the boys +to outfit and pole a boat up the Yukon. We'll cross the divide +and raft down the Indian River to meet them. Then-' 'And then?' +Her head was on his shoulder.</p> + +<p>Their voices sank to softer cadences, each word a caress. The +Jesuit fidgeted nervously.</p> + +<p>'And then?' she repeated.</p> + +<p>'Why we'll pole up, and up, and up, and portage the White +Horse Rapids and the Box Canon.' 'Yes?' 'And the Sixty-Mile +River; then the lakes, Chilcoot, Dyea, and Salt Water.' 'But, +dear, I can't pole a boat.' 'You little goose! I'll get Sitka +Charley; he knows all the good water and best camps, and he is +the best traveler I ever met, if he is an Indian. All you'll have +to do, is to sit in the middle of the boat, and sing songs, and +play Cleopatra, and fight--no, we're in luck; too early for +mosquitoes.'</p> + +<p>'And then, O my Antony?' 'And then a steamer, San Francisco, +and the world! Never to come back to this cursed hole again. +Think of it! The world, and ours to choose from! I'll sell out. +Why, we're rich! The Waldworth Syndicate will give me half a +million for what's left in the ground, and I've got twice as much +in the dumps and with the P. C.</p> + +<p>Company. We'll go to the Fair in Paris in 1900. We'll go to +Jerusalem, if you say so.</p> + +<p>We'll buy an Italian palace, and you can play Cleopatra to +your heart's content. No, you shall be Lucretia, Acte, or anybody +your little heart sees fit to become. But you mustn't, you really +mustn't-' 'The wife of Caesar shall be above reproach.' 'Of +course, but-' 'But I won't be your wife, will I, dear?' 'I didn't +mean that.' 'But you'll love me just as much, and never even +think--oh! I know you'll be like other men; you'll grow tired, +and--and-'</p> + +<p>'How can you? I-' 'Promise me.' 'Yes, yes; I do promise.' 'You +say it so easily, dear; but how do you know?--or I know? I have +so little to give, yet it is so much, and all I have. O, Clyde! +promise me you won't?'</p> + +<p>'There, there! You musn't begin to doubt already. Till death +do us part, you know.'</p> + +<p>'Think! I once said that to--to him, and now?' 'And now, +little sweetheart, you're not to bother about such things any +more.</p> + +<p>Of course, I never, never will, and-' And for the first time, +lips trembled against lips.</p> + +<p>Father Roubeau had been watching the main trail through the +window, but could stand the strain no longer.</p> + +<p>He cleared his throat and turned around.</p> + +<p>'Your turn now, Father!' Wharton's face was flushed with the +fire of his first embrace.</p> + +<p>There was an exultant ring to his voice as he abdicated in the +other's favor. He had no doubt as to the result. Neither had +Grace, for a smile played about her mouth as she faced the +priest.</p> + +<p>'My child,' he began, 'my heart bleeds for you. It is a pretty +dream, but it cannot be.'</p> + +<p>'And why, Father? I have said yes.' 'You knew not what you +did. You did not think of the oath you took, before your God, to +that man who is your husband. It remains for me to make you +realize the sanctity of such a pledge.' 'And if I do realize, and +yet refuse?'</p> + +<p>'Then God'</p> + +<p>'Which God? My husband has a God which I care not to worship. +There must be many such.' 'Child! unsay those words! Ah! you do +not mean them. I understand. I, too, have had such moments.' For +an instant he was back in his native France, and a wistful, sad- +eyed face came as a mist between him and the woman before +him.</p> + +<p>'Then, Father, has my God forsaken me? I am not wicked above +women. My misery with him has been great. Why should it be +greater? Why shall I not grasp at happiness? I cannot, will not, +go back to him!' 'Rather is your God forsaken. Return. Throw your +burden upon Him, and the darkness shall be lifted. O my child,-' +'No; it is useless; I have made my bed and so shall I lie. I will +go on. And if God punishes me, I shall bear it somehow. You do +not understand. You are not a woman.' 'My mother was a +woman.'</p> + +<p>'But-' 'And Christ was born of a woman.' She did not answer. A +silence fell. Wharton pulled his mustache impatiently and kept an +eye on the trail. Grace leaned her elbow on the table, her face +set with resolve. The smile had died away. Father Roubeau shifted +his ground.</p> + +<p>'You have children?'</p> + +<p>'At one time I wished--but now--no. And I am thankful.' 'And a +mother?' 'Yes.' 'She loves you?' 'Yes.' Her replies were +whispers.</p> + +<p>And a brother?--no matter, he is a man. But a sister?' Her +head drooped a quavering 'Yes.' 'Younger? Very much?' 'Seven +years.' 'And you have thought well about this matter? About them? +About your mother? And your sister? She stands on the threshold +of her woman's life, and this wildness of yours may mean much to +her. Could you go before her, look upon her fresh young face, +hold her hand in yours, or touch your cheek to hers?'</p> + +<p>To his words, her brain formed vivid images, till she cried +out, 'Don't! don't!' and shrank away as do the wolf-dogs from the +lash.</p> + +<p>'But you must face all this; and better it is to do it now.' +In his eyes, which she could not see, there was a great +compassion, but his face, tense and quivering, showed no +relenting.</p> + +<p>She raised her head from the table, forced back the tears, +struggled for control.</p> + +<p>'I shall go away. They will never see me, and come to forget +me. I shall be to them as dead. And--and I will go with +Clyde--today.' It seemed final. Wharton stepped forward, but the +priest waved him back.</p> + +<p>'You have wished for children?' A silent 'Yes.' 'And prayed +for them?' 'Often.' 'And have you thought, if you should have +children?' Father Roubeau's eyes rested for a moment on the man +by the window.</p> + +<p>A quick light shot across her face. Then the full import +dawned upon her. She raised her hand appealingly, but he went +on.</p> + +<p>'Can you picture an innocent babe in your arms,' A boy? The +world is not so hard upon a girl. Why, your very breast would +turn to gall! And you could be proud and happy of your boy, as +you looked on other children?-' 'O, have pity! Hush!' 'A +scapegoat-'</p> + +<p>'Don't! don't! I will go back!' She was at his feet.</p> + +<p>'A child to grow up with no thought of evil, and one day the +world to fling a tender name in his face. A child to look back +and curse you from whose loins he sprang!'</p> + +<p>'O my God! my God!' She groveled on the floor. The priest +sighed and raised her to her feet.</p> + +<p>Wharton pressed forward, but she motioned him away.</p> + +<p>'Don't come near me, Clyde! I am going back!' The tears were +coursing pitifully down her face, but she made no effort to wipe +them away.</p> + +<p>'After all this? You cannot! I will not let you!' 'Don't touch +me!' She shivered and drew back.</p> + +<p>'I will! You are mine! Do you hear? You are mine!' Then he +whirled upon the priest. 'O what a fool I was to ever let you wag +your silly tongue! Thank your God you are not a common man, for +I'd--but the priestly prerogative must be exercised, eh? Well, +you have exercised it. Now get out of my house, or I'll forget +who and what you are!' Father Roubeau bowed, took her hand, and +started for the door. But Wharton cut them off.</p> + +<p>'Grace! You said you loved me?' 'I did.' 'And you do now?' 'I +do.' 'Say it again.'</p> + +<p>'I do love you, Clyde; I do.' 'There, you priest!' he cried. +'You have heard it, and with those words on her lips you would +send her back to live a lie and a hell with that man?'</p> + +<p>But Father Roubeau whisked the woman into the inner room and +closed the door. 'No words!' he whispered to Wharton, as he +struck a casual posture on a stool. 'Remember, for her sake,' he +added.</p> + +<p>The room echoed to a rough knock at the door; the latch raised +and Edwin Bentham stepped in.</p> + +<p>'Seen anything of my wife?' he asked as soon as salutations +had been exchanged.</p> + +<p>Two heads nodded negatively.</p> + +<p>'I saw her tracks down from the cabin,' he continued +tentatively, 'and they broke off, just opposite here, on the main +trail.' His listeners looked bored.</p> + +<p>'And I--I thought-'</p> + +<p>'She was here!' thundered Wharton.</p> + +<p>The priest silenced him with a look. 'Did you see her tracks +leading up to this cabin, my son?' Wily Father Roubeau--he had +taken good care to obliterate them as he came up the same path an +hour before.</p> + +<p>'I didn't stop to look, I -' His eyes rested suspiciously on +the door to the other room, then interrogated the priest. The +latter shook his head; but the doubt seemed to linger.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A priest could not lie. Edwin Bentham had heard this often, +and believed it.</p> + +<p>'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, isn'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.</p> + +<p>But I must be going; so good-by.' 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.</p> + +<p>Malemute Kid also had business in the Lower Country, so they +journeyed together.</p> + +<p>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 heartbreaking 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.</p> + +<p>Malemute Kid wound up his watch. It was midnight.</p> + +<p>'Cheer up, old man!' The Kid was evidently gathering up a +broken thread.</p> + +<p>'God surely will forgive such a lie. Let me give you the word +of a man who strikes a true note: If She have spoken a word, +remember thy lips are sealed, And the brand of the Dog is upon +him by whom is the secret revealed.</p> + +<p>If there be trouble to Herward, and a lie of the blackest can +clear, Lie, while thy lips can move or a man is alive to +hear.'</p> + +<p>Father Roubeau removed his pipe and reflected. 'The man speaks +true, but my soul is not vexed with that. The lie and the penance +stand with God; but--but-'</p> + +<p>'What then? Your hands are clean.' 'Not so. Kid, I have +thought much, and yet the thing remains. I knew, and made her go +back.' The clear note of a robin rang out from the wooden bank, a +partridge drummed the call in the distance, a moose lunged +noisily in the eddy; but the twain smoked on in silence.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2 align="center">The Wisdom of the Trail</h2> + +<p> </p> + +<p>Sitka Charley had achieved the impossible. Other Indians might +have known as much of the wisdom of the trail as he did; but he +alone knew the white man's wisdom, the honor of the trail, and +the law. But these things had not come to him in a day. The +aboriginal mind is slow to generalize, and many facts, repeated +often, are required to compass an understanding. Sitka Charley, +from boyhood, had been thrown continually with white men, and as +a man he had elected to cast his fortunes with them, expatriating +himself, once and for all, from his own people. Even then, +respecting, almost venerating their power, and pondering over it, +he had yet to divine its secret essence--the honor and the law. +And it was only by the cumulative evidence of years that he had +finally come to understand. Being an alien, when he did know, he +knew it better than the white man himself; being an Indian, he +had achieved the impossible.</p> + +<p>And of these things had been bred a certain contempt for his +own people--a contempt which he had made it a custom to conceal, +but which now burst forth in a polyglot whirlwind of curses upon +the heads of Kah-Chucte and Gowhee. They cringed before him like +a brace of snarling wolf dogs, too cowardly to spring, too +wolfish to cover their fangs. They were not handsome creatures. +Neither was Sitka Charley. All three were frightful-looking. +There was no flesh to their faces; their cheekbones were massed +with hideous scabs which had cracked and frozen alternately under +the intense frost; while their eyes burned luridly with the light +which is born of desperation and hunger. Men so situated, beyond +the pale of the honor and the law, are not to be trusted. Sitka +Charley knew this; and this was why he had forced them to abandon +their rifles with the rest of the camp outfit ten days before. +His rifle and Captain Eppingwell's were the only ones that +remained.</p> + +<p>'Come, get a fire started,' he commanded, drawing out the +precious matchbox with its attendant strips of dry birchbark.</p> + +<p>The two Indians fell sullenly to the task of gathering dead +branches and underwood. They were weak and paused often, catching +themselves, in the act of stooping, with giddy motions, or +staggering to the center of operations with their knees shaking +like castanets.</p> + +<p>After each trip they rested for a moment, as though sick and +deadly weary. At times their eyes took on the patient stoicism of +dumb suffering; and again the ego seemed almost burst forth with +its wild cry, 'I, I, I want to exist!'--the dominant note of the +whole living universe.</p> + +<p>A light breath of air blew from the south, nipping the exposed +portions of their bodies and driving the frost, in needles of +fire, through fur and flesh to the bones. So, when the fire had +grown lusty and thawed a damp circle in the snow about it, Sitka +Charley forced his reluctant comrades to lend a hand in pitching +a fly. It was a primitive affair, merely a blanket stretched +parallel with the fire and to windward of it, at an angle of +perhaps forty- five degrees. This shut out the chill wind and +threw the heat backward and down upon those who were to huddle in +its shelter. Then a layer of green spruce boughs were spread, +that their bodies might not come in contact with the snow. When +this task was completed, Kah-Chucte and Gowhee proceeded to take +care of their feet. Their icebound mocassins were sadly worn by +much travel, and the sharp ice of the river jams had cut them to +rags.</p> + +<p>Their Siwash socks were similarly conditioned, and when these +had been thawed and removed, the dead-white tips of the toes, in +the various stages of mortification, told their simple tale of +the trail.</p> + +<p>Leaving the two to the drying of their footgear, Sitka Charley +turned back over the course he had come. He, too, had a mighty +longing to sit by the fire and tend his complaining flesh, but +the honor and the law forbade. He toiled painfully over the +frozen field, each step a protest, every muscle in revolt. +Several times, where the open water between the jams had recently +crusted, he was forced to miserably accelerate his movements as +the fragile footing swayed and threatened beneath him. In such +places death was quick and easy; but it was not his desire to +endure no more.</p> + +<p>His deepening anxiety vanished as two Indians dragged into +view round a bend in the river. They staggered and panted like +men under heavy burdens; yet the packs on their backs were a +matter of but a few pounds. He questioned them eagerly, and their +replies seemed to relieve him. He hurried on. Next came two white +men, supporting between them a woman. They also behaved as though +drunken, and their limbs shook with weakness. But the woman +leaned lightly upon them, choosing to carry herself forward with +her own strength. At the sight of her a flash of joy cast its +fleeting light across Sitka Charley's face. He cherished a very +great regard for Mrs. Eppingwell. He had seen many white women, +but this was the first to travel the trail with him. When Captain +Eppingwell proposed the hazardous undertaking and made him an +offer for his services, he had shaken his head gravely; for it +was an unknown journey through the dismal vastnesses of the +Northland, and he knew it to be of the kind that try to the +uttermost the souls of men.</p> + +<p>But when he learned that the captain's wife was to accompany +them, he had refused flatly to have anything further to do with +it. Had it been a woman of his own race he would have harbored no +objections; but these women of the Southland--no, no, they were +too soft, too tender, for such enterprises.</p> + +<p>Sitka Charley did not know this kind of woman. Five minutes +before, he did not even dream of taking charge of the expedition; +but when she came to him with her wonderful smile and her +straight clean English, and talked to the point, without pleading +or persuading, he had incontinently yielded. Had there been a +softness and appeal to mercy in the eyes, a tremble to the voice, +a taking advantage of sex, he would have stiffened to steel; +instead her clear-searching eyes and clear-ringing voice, her +utter frankness and tacit assumption of equality, had robbed him +of his reason. He felt, then, that this was a new breed of woman; +and ere they had been trail mates for many days he knew why the +sons of such women mastered the land and the sea, and why the +sons of his own womankind could not prevail against them. Tender +and soft! Day after day he watched her, muscle-weary, exhausted, +indomitable, and the words beat in upon him in a perennial +refrain. Tender and soft! He knew her feet had been born to easy +paths and sunny lands, strangers to the moccasined pain of the +North, unkissed by the chill lips of the frost, and he watched +and marveled at them twinkling ever through the weary day.</p> + +<p>She had always a smile and a word of cheer, from which not +even the meanest packer was excluded. As the way grew darker she +seemed to stiffen and gather greater strength, and when +Kah-Chucte and Gowhee, who had bragged that they knew every +landmark of the way as a child did the skin bails of the tepee, +acknowledged that they knew not where they were, it was she who +raised a forgiving voice amid the curses of the men. She had sung +to them that night till they felt the weariness fall from them +and were ready to face the future with fresh hope. And when the +food failed and each scant stint was measured jealously, she it +was who rebelled against the machinations of her husband and +Sitka Charley, and demanded and received a share neither greater +nor less than that of the others.</p> + +<p>Sitka Charley was proud to know this woman. A new richness, a +greater breadth, had come into his life with her presence. +Hitherto he had been his own mentor, had turned to right or left +at no man's beck; he had moulded himself according to his own +dictates, nourished his manhood regardless of all save his own +opinion. For the first time he had felt a call from without for +the best that was in him. just a glance of appreciation from the +clear-searching eyes, a word of thanks from the clear-ringing +voice, just a slight wreathing of the lips in the wonderful +smile, and he walked with the gods for hours to come. It was a +new stimulant to his manhood; for the first time he thrilled with +a conscious pride in his wisdom of the trail; and between the +twain they ever lifted the sinking hearts of their comrades. The +faces of the two men and the woman brightened as they saw him, +for after all he was the staff they leaned upon. But Sitka +Charley, rigid as was his wont, concealing pain and pleasure +impartially beneath an iron exterior, asked them the welfare of +the rest, told the distance to the fire, and continued on the +back-trip.</p> + +<p>Next he met a single Indian, unburdened, limping, lips +compressed, and eyes set with the pain of a foot in which the +quick fought a losing battle with the dead. All possible care had +been taken of him, but in the last extremity the weak and +unfortunate must perish, and Sitka Charley deemed his days to be +few. The man could not keep up for long, so he gave him rough +cheering words. After that came two more Indians, to whom he had +allotted the task of helping along Joe, the third white man of +the party. They had deserted him. Sitka Charley saw at a glance +the lurking spring in their bodies, and knew they had at last +cast off his mastery. So he was not taken unawares when he +ordered them back in quest of their abandoned charge, and saw the +gleam of the hunting knives that they drew from the sheaths. A +pitiful spectacle, three weak men lifting their puny strength in +the face of the mighty vastness; but the two recoiled under the +fierce rifle blows of the one and returned like beaten dogs to +the leash. Two hours later, with Joe reeling between them and +Sitka Charley bringing up the rear, they came to the fire, where +the remainder of the expedition crouched in the shelter of the +fly.</p> + +<p>'A few words, my comrades, before we sleep,' Sitka Charley +said after they had devoured their slim rations of unleavened +bread. He was speaking to the Indians in their own tongue, having +already given the import to the whites. 'A few words, my +comrades, for your own good, that ye may yet perchance live. I +shall give you the law; on his own head by the death of him that +breaks it. We have passed the Hills of Silence, and we now travel +the head reaches of the Stuart. It may be one sleep, it may be +several, it may be many sleeps, but in time we shall come among +the men of the Yukon, who have much grub. It were well that we +look to the law. Today Kah-Chucte and Gowhee, whom I commanded to +break trail, forgot they were men, and like frightened children +ran away.</p> + +<p>True, they forgot; so let us forget. But hereafter, let them +remember. If it should happen they do not...' He touched his +rifle carelessly, grimly. 'Tomorrow they shall carry the flour +and see that the white man Joe lies not down by the trail. The +cups of flour are counted; should so much as an ounce be wanting +at nightfall... Do ye understand? Today there were others that +forgot. Moose Head and Three Salmon left the white man Joe to lie +in the snow. Let them forget no more. With the light of day shall +they go forth and break trail. Ye have heard the law. Look well, +lest ye break it.' Sitka Charley found it beyond him to keep the +line close up. From Moose Head and Three Salmon, who broke trail +in advance, to Kah-Chucte, Gowhee, and Joe, it straggled out over +a mile. Each staggered, fell or rested as he saw fit.</p> + +<p>The line of march was a progression through a chain of +irregular halts. Each drew upon the last remnant of his strength +and stumbled onward till it was expended, but in some miraculous +way there was always another last remnant. Each time a man fell +it was with the firm belief that he would rise no more; yet he +did rise, and again and again. The flesh yielded, the will +conquered; but each triumph was a tragedy. The Indian with the +frozen foot, no longer erect, crawled forward on hand and knee. +He rarely rested, for he knew the penalty exacted by the +frost.</p> + +<p>Even Mrs. Eppingwell's lips were at last set in a stony smile, +and her eyes, seeing, saw not. Often she stopped, pressing a +mittened hand to her heart, gasping and dizzy.</p> + +<p>Joe, the white man, had passed beyond the stage of suffering. +He no longer begged to be let alone, prayed to die; but was +soothed and content under the anodyne of delirium. Kah- Chucte +and Gowhee dragged him on roughly, venting upon him many a savage +glance or blow. To them it was the acme of injustice.</p> + +<p>Their hearts were bitter with hate, heavy with fear. Why +should they cumber their strength with his weakness? To do so +meant death; not to do so--and they remembered the law of Sitka +Charley, and the rifle.</p> + +<p>Joe fell with greater frequency as the daylight waned, and so +hard was he to raise that they dropped farther and farther +behind. Sometimes all three pitched into the snow, so weak had +the Indians become. Yet on their backs was life, and strength, +and warmth.</p> + +<p>Within the flour sacks were all the potentialities of +existence. They could not but think of this, and it was not +strange, that which came to pass. They had fallen by the side of +a great timber jam where a thousand cords of firewood waited the +match. Near by was an air hole through the ice. Kah-Chucte looked +on the wood and the water, as did Gowhee; then they looked at +each other.</p> + +<p>Never a word was spoken. Gowhee struck a fire; Kah-Chucte +filled a tin cup with water and heated it; Joe babbled of things +in another land, in a tongue they did not understand.</p> + +<p>They mixed flour with the warm water till it was a thin paste, +and of this they drank many cups. They did not offer any to Joe; +but he did not mind. He did not mind anything, not even his +moccasins, which scorched and smoked among the coals.</p> + +<p>A crystal mist of snow fell about them, softly, caressingly, +wrapping them in clinging robes of white. And their feet would +have yet trod many trails had not destiny brushed the clouds +aside and cleared the air. Nay, ten minutes' delay would have +been salvation.</p> + +<p>Sitka Charley, looking back, saw the pillared smoke of their +fire, and guessed. And he looked ahead at those who were +faithful, and at Mrs. Eppingwell. 'So, my good comrades, ye have +again forgotten that you were men? Good! Very good. There will be +fewer bellies to feed.' Sitka Charley retied the flour as he +spoke, strapping the pack to the one on his own back. He kicked +Joe till the pain broke through the poor devil's bliss and +brought him doddering to his feet. Then he shoved him out upon +the trail and started him on his way. The two Indians attempted +to slip off.</p> + +<p>'Hold, Gowhee! And thou, too, Kah-Chucte! Hath the flour given +such strength to thy legs that they may outrun the swift-winged +lead? Think not to cheat the law. Be men for the last time, and +be content that ye die full-stomached.</p> + +<p>Come, step up, back to the timber, shoulder to shoulder. +Come!' The two men obeyed, quietly, without fear; for it is the +future which pressed upon the man, not the present.</p> + +<p>'Thou, Gowhee, hast a wife and children and a deerskin lodge +in the Chipewyan. What is thy will in the matter?' 'Give thou her +of the goods which are mine by the word of the captain--the +blankets, the beads, the tobacco, the box which makes strange +sounds after the manner of the white men. Say that I did die on +the trail, but say not how.' 'And thou, Kah-Chucte, who hast nor +wife nor child?' 'Mine is a sister, the wife of the factor at +Koshim. He beats her, and she is not happy. Give thou her the +goods which are mine by the contract, and tell her it were well +she go back to her own people. Shouldst thou meet the man, and be +so minded, it were a good deed that he should die. He beats her, +and she is afraid.' 'Are ye content to die by the law?' 'We are.' +'Then good-bye, my good comrades. May ye sit by the well-filled +pot, in warm lodges, ere the day is done.' As he spoke he raised +his rifle, and many echoes broke the silence. Hardly had they +died away when other rifles spoke in the distance. Sitka Charley +started.</p> + +<p>There had been more than one shot, yet there was but one other +rifle in the party.</p> + +<p>He gave a fleeting glance at the men who lay so quietly, +smiled viciously at the wisdom of the trail, and hurried on to +meet the men of the Yukon.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2 align="center">The Wife of a King</h2> + +<p> </p> + +<p>Once when the northland was very young, the social and civic +virtues were remarkably alike for their paucity and their +simplicity. When the burden of domestic duties grew grievous, and +the fireside mood expanded to a constant protest against its +bleak loneliness, the adventurers from the Southland, in lieu of +better, paid the stipulated prices and took unto themselves +native wives. It was a foretaste of Paradise to the women, for it +must be confessed that the white rovers gave far better care and +treatment of them than did their Indian copartners. Of course, +the white men themselves were satisfied with such deals, as were +also the Indian men for that matter. Having sold their daughters +and sisters for cotton blankets and obsolete rifles and traded +their warm furs for flimsy calico and bad whisky, the sons of the +soil promptly and cheerfully succumbed to quick consumption and +other swift diseases correlated with the blessings of a superior +civilization.</p> + +<p>It was in these days of Arcadian simplicity that Cal Galbraith +journeyed through the land and fell sick on the Lower River. It +was a refreshing advent in the lives of the good Sisters of the +Holy Cross, who gave him shelter and medicine; though they little +dreamed of the hot elixir infused into his veins by the touch of +their soft hands and their gentle ministrations. Cal Galbraith, +became troubled with strange thoughts which clamored for +attention till he laid eyes on the Mission girl, Madeline. Yet he +gave no sign, biding his time patiently. He strengthened with the +coming spring, and when the sun rode the heavens in a golden +circle, and the joy and throb of life was in all the land, he +gathered his still weak body together and departed.</p> + +<p>Now, Madeline, the Mission girl, was an orphan. Her white +father had failed to give a bald-faced grizzly the trail one day, +and had died quickly. Then her Indian mother, having no man to +fill the winter cache, had tried the hazardous experiment of +waiting till the salmon-run on fifty pounds of flour and half as +many of bacon. After that, the baby, Chook-ra, went to live with +the good Sisters, and to be thenceforth known by another +name.</p> + +<p>But Madeline still had kinsfolk, the nearest being a dissolute +uncle who outraged his vitals with inordinate quantities of the +white man's whisky. He strove daily to walk with the gods, and +incidentally, his feet sought shorter trails to the grave. When +sober he suffered exquisite torture. He had no conscience. To +this ancient vagabond Cal Galbraith duly presented himself, and +they consumed many words and much tobacco in the conversation +that followed. Promises were also made; and in the end the old +heathen took a few pounds of dried salmon and his birch-bark +canoe, and paddled away to the Mission of the Holy Cross.</p> + +<p>It is not given the world to know what promises he made and +what lies he toldthe Sisters never gossip; but when he returned, +upon his swarthy chest there was a brass crucifix, and in his +canoe his niece Madeline. That night there was a grand wedding +and a potlach; so that for two days to follow there was no +fishing done by the village. But in the morning Madeline shook +the dust of the Lower River from her moccasins, and with her +husband, in a poling-boat, went to live on the Upper River in a +place known as the Lower Country. And in the years which followed +she was a good wife, sharing her husband's hardships and cooking +his food. And she kept him in straight trails, till he learned to +save his dust and to work mightily. In the end, he struck it rich +and built a cabin in Circle City; and his happiness was such that +men who came to visit him in his home-circle became restless at +the sight of it and envied him greatly.</p> + +<p>But the Northland began to mature and social amenities to make +their appearance.</p> + +<p>Hitherto, the Southland had sent forth its sons; but it now +belched forth a new exodus- this time of its daughters. Sisters +and wives they were not; but they did not fail to put new ideas +in the heads of the men, and to elevate the tone of things in +ways peculiarly their own. No more did the squaws gather at the +dances, go roaring down the center in the good, old Virginia +reels, or make merry with jolly 'Dan Tucker.' They fell back on +their natural stoicism and uncomplainingly watched the rule of +their white sisters from their cabins.</p> + +<p>Then another exodus came over the mountains from the prolific +Southland.</p> + +<p>This time it was of women that became mighty in the land. +Their word was law; their law was steel. They frowned upon the +Indian wives, while the other women became mild and walked +humbly. There were cowards who became ashamed of their ancient +covenants with the daughters of the soil, who looked with a new +distaste upon their dark-skinned children; but there were also +others--men--who remained true and proud of their aboriginal +vows. When it became the fashion to divorce the native wives. Cal +Galbraith retained his manhood, and in so doing felt the heavy +hand of the women who had come last, knew least, but who ruled +the land.</p> + +<p>One day, the Upper Country, which lies far above Circle City, +was pronounced rich. Dog- teams carried the news to Salt Water; +golden argosies freighted the lure across the North Pacific; +wires and cables sang with the tidings; and the world heard for +the first time of the Klondike River and the Yukon Country. Cal +Galbraith had lived the years quietly. He had been a good husband +to Madeline, and she had blessed him. But somehow discontent fell +upon him; he felt vague yearnings for his own kind, for the life +he had been shut out from--a general sort of desire, which men +sometimes feel, to break out and taste the prime of living. +Besides, there drifted down the river wild rumors of the +wonderful El Dorado, glowing descriptions of the city of logs and +tents, and ludicrous accounts of the che-cha- quas who had rushed +in and were stampeding the whole country.</p> + +<p>Circle City was dead. The world had moved on up river and +become a new and most marvelous world.</p> + +<p>Cal Galbraith grew restless on the edge of things, and wished +to see with his own eyes.</p> + +<p>So, after the wash-up, he weighed in a couple of hundred +pounds of dust on the Company's big scales, and took a draft for +the same on Dawson. Then he put Tom Dixon in charge of his mines, +kissed Madeline good-by, promised to be back before the first +mush-ice ran, and took passage on an up-river steamer.</p> + +<p>Madeline waited, waited through all the three months of +daylight. She fed the dogs, gave much of her time to Young Cal, +watched the short summer fade away and the sun begin its long +journey to the south. And she prayed much in the manner of the +Sisters of the Holy Cross. The fall came, and with it there was +mush-ice on the Yukon, and Circle City kings returning to the +winter's work at their mines, but no Cal Galbraith. Tom Dixon +received a letter, however, for his men sledded up her winter's +supply of dry pine. The Company received a letter for its +dogteams filled her cache with their best provisions, and she was +told that her credit was limitless.</p> + +<p>Through all the ages man has been held the chief instigator of +the woes of woman; but in this case the men held their tongues +and swore harshly at one of their number who was away, while the +women failed utterly to emulate them. So, without needless delay, +Madeline heard strange tales of Cal Galbraith's doings; also, of +a certain Greek dancer who played with men as children did with +bubbles. Now Madeline was an Indian woman, and further, she had +no woman friend to whom to go for wise counsel. She prayed and +planned by turns, and that night, being quick of resolve and +action, she harnessed the dogs, and with Young Cal securely +lashed to the sled, stole away.</p> + +<p>Though the Yukon still ran free, the eddy-ice was growing, and +each day saw the river dwindling to a slushy thread. Save him who +has done the like, no man may know what she endured in traveling +a hundred miles on the rim-ice; nor may they understand the toil +and hardship of breaking the two hundred miles of packed ice +which remained after the river froze for good. But Madeline was +an Indian woman, so she did these things, and one night there +came a knock at Malemute Kid's door. Thereat he fed a team of +starving dogs, put a healthy youngster to bed, and turned his +attention to an exhausted woman. He removed her icebound +moccasins while he listened to her tale, and stuck the point of +his knife into her feet that he might see how far they were +frozen.</p> + +<p>Despite his tremendous virility, Malemute Kid was possessed of +a softer, womanly element, which could win the confidence of a +snarling wolf-dog or draw confessions from the most wintry heart. +Nor did he seek them. Hearts opened to him as spontaneously as +flowers to the sun. Even the priest, Father Roubeau, had been +known to confess to him, while the men and women of the Northland +were ever knocking at his door--a door from which the +latch-string hung always out. To Madeline, he could do no wrong, +make no mistake. She had known him from the time she first cast +her lot among the people of her father's race; and to her +half-barbaric mind it seemed that in him was centered the wisdom +of the ages, that between his vision and the future there could +be no intervening veil.</p> + +<p>There were false ideals in the land. The social strictures of +Dawson were not synonymous with those of the previous era, and +the swift maturity of the Northland involved much wrong. Malemute +Kid was aware of this, and he had Cal Galbraith's measure +accurately.</p> + +<p>He knew a hasty word was the father of much evil; besides, he +was minded to teach a great lesson and bring shame upon the man. +So Stanley Prince, the young mining expert, was called into the +conference the following night as was also Lucky Jack Harrington +and his violin. That same night, Bettles, who owed a great debt +to Malemute Kid, harnessed up Cal Galbraith's dogs, lashed Cal +Galbraith, Junior, to the sled, and slipped away in the dark for +Stuart River.</p> + +<p>II 'So; one--two--three, one--two--three. Now reverse! No, no! +Start up again, Jack. See--this way.' Prince executed the +movement as one should who has led the cotillion.</p> + +<p>'Now; one--two--three, one--two--three. Reverse! Ah! that's +better. Try it again. I say, you know, you mustn't look at your +feet. One--two--three, one--twothree. Shorter steps! You are not +hanging to the gee-pole just now. Try it over.</p> + +<p>There! that's the way. One--two--three, one--two--three.' +Round and round went Prince and Madeline in an interminable +waltz. The table and stools had been shoved over against the wall +to increase the room. Malemute Kid sat on the bunk, chin to +knees, greatly interested. Jack Harrington sat beside him, +scraping away on his violin and following the dancers.</p> + +<p>It was a unique situation, the undertaking of these three men +with the woman.</p> + +<p>The most pathetic part, perhaps, was the businesslike way in +which they went about it.</p> + +<p>No athlete was ever trained more rigidly for a coming contest, +nor wolf-dog for the harness, than was she. But they had good +material, for Madeline, unlike most women of her race, in her +childhood had escaped the carrying of heavy burdens and the toil +of the trail. Besides, she was a clean-limbed, willowy creature, +possessed of much grace which had not hitherto been realized. It +was this grace which the men strove to bring out and knock into +shape.</p> + +<p>'Trouble with her she learned to dance all wrong,' Prince +remarked to the bunk after having deposited his breathless pupil +on the table. 'She's quick at picking up; yet I could do better +had she never danced a step. But say, Kid, I can't understand +this.' Prince imitated a peculiar movement of the shoulders and +head--a weakness Madeline suffered from in walking.</p> + +<p>'Lucky for her she was raised in the Mission,' Malemute Kid +answered. 'Packing, you know,--the head-strap. Other Indian women +have it bad, but she didn't do any packing till after she +married, and then only at first. Saw hard lines with that husband +of hers. They went through the Forty-Mile famine together.' 'But +can we break it?' 'Don't know.</p> + +<p>Perhaps long walks with her trainers will make the riffle. +Anyway, they'll take it out some, won't they, Madeline?' The girl +nodded assent. If Malemute Kid, who knew all things, said so, why +it was so. That was all there was about it.</p> + +<p>She had come over to them, anxious to begin again. Harrington +surveyed her in quest of her points much in the same manner men +usually do horses. It certainly was not disappointing, for he +asked with sudden interest, 'What did that beggarly uncle of +yours get anyway?' 'One rifle, one blanket, twenty bottles of +hooch. Rifle broke.' She said this last scornfully, as though +disgusted at how low her maiden-value had been rated.</p> + +<p>She spoke fair English, with many peculiarities of her +husband's speech, but there was still perceptible the Indian +accent, the traditional groping after strange gutturals. Even +this her instructors had taken in hand, and with no small +success, too.</p> + +<p>At the next intermission, Prince discovered a new +predicament.</p> + +<p>'I say, Kid,' he said, 'we're wrong, all wrong. She can't +learn in moccasins.</p> + +<p>Put her feet into slippers, and then onto that waxed +floor--phew!' Madeline raised a foot and regarded her shapeless +house-moccasins dubiously. In previous winters, both at Circle +City and Forty-Mile, she had danced many a night away with +similar footgear, and there had been nothing the matter.</p> + +<p>But now--well, if there was anything wrong it was for Malemute +Kid to know, not her.</p> + +<p>But Malemute Kid did know, and he had a good eye for measures; +so he put on his cap and mittens and went down the hill to pay +Mrs. Eppingwell a call. Her husband, Clove Eppingwell, was +prominent in the community as one of the great Government +officials.</p> + +<p>The Kid had noted her slender little foot one night, at the +Governor's Ball. And as he also knew her to be as sensible as she +was pretty, it was no task to ask of her a certain small +favor.</p> + +<p>On his return, Madeline withdrew for a moment to the inner +room. When she reappeared Prince was startled.</p> + +<p>'By Jove!' he gasped. 'Who'd a' thought it! The little witch! +Why my sister-' 'Is an English girl,' interrupted Malemute Kid, +'with an English foot. This girl comes of a small-footed race. +Moccasins just broadened her feet healthily, while she did not +misshape them by running with the dogs in her childhood.' But +this explanation failed utterly to allay Prince's admiration. +Harrington's commercial instinct was touched, and as he looked +upon the exquisitely turned foot and ankle, there ran through his +mind the sordid list--'One rifle, one blanket, twenty bottles of +hooch.' Madeline was the wife of a king, a king whose yellow +treasure could buy outright a score of fashion's puppets; yet in +all her life her feet had known no gear save red-tanned +moosehide. At first she had looked in awe at the tiny white-satin +slippers; but she had quickly understood the admiration which +shone, manlike, in the eyes of the men. Her face flushed with +pride. For the moment she was drunken with her woman's +loveliness; then she murmured, with increased scorn, 'And one +rifle, broke!' So the training went on. Every day Malemute Kid +led the girl out on long walks devoted to the correction of her +carriage and the shortening of her stride.</p> + +<p>There was little likelihood of her identity being discovered, +for Cal Galbraith and the rest of the Old-Timers were like lost +children among the many strangers who had rushed into the land. +Besides, the frost of the North has a bitter tongue, and the +tender women of the South, to shield their cheeks from its biting +caresses, were prone to the use of canvas masks. With faces +obscured and bodies lost in squirrel-skin parkas, a mother and +daughter, meeting on trail, would pass as strangers.</p> + +<p>The coaching progressed rapidly. At first it had been slow, +but later a sudden acceleration had manifested itself. This began +from the moment Madeline tried on the white-satin slippers, and +in so doing found herself. The pride of her renegade father, +apart from any natural self-esteem she might possess, at that +instant received its birth. Hitherto, she had deemed herself a +woman of an alien breed, of inferior stock, purchased by her +lord's favor. Her husband had seemed to her a god, who had lifted +her, through no essential virtues on her part, to his own godlike +level. But she had never forgotten, even when Young Cal was born, +that she was not of his people. As he had been a god, so had his +womenkind been goddesses. She might have contrasted herself with +them, but she had never compared.</p> + +<p>It might have been that familiarity bred contempt; however, be +that as it may, she had ultimately come to understand these +roving white men, and to weigh them.</p> + +<p>True, her mind was dark to deliberate analysis, but she yet +possessed her woman's clarity of vision in such matters. On the +night of the slippers she had measured the bold, open admiration +of her three man-friends; and for the first time comparison had +suggested itself. It was only a foot and an ankle, but--but +comparison could not, in the nature of things, cease at that +point. She judged herself by their standards till the divinity of +her white sisters was shattered. After all, they were only women, +and why should she not exalt herself to their midst? In doing +these things she learned where she lacked and with the knowledge +of her weakness came her strength. And so mightily did she strive +that her three trainers often marveled late into the night over +the eternal mystery of woman.</p> + +<p>In this way Thanksgiving Night drew near. At irregular +intervals Bettles sent word down from Stuart River regarding the +welfare of Young Cal. The time of their return was approaching. +More than once a casual caller, hearing dance-music and the +rhythmic pulse of feet, entered, only to find Harrington scraping +away and the other two beating time or arguing noisily over a +mooted step. Madeline was never in evidence, having precipitately +fled to the inner room.</p> + +<p>On one of these nights Cal Galbraith dropped in. Encouraging +news had just come down from Stuart River, and Madeline had +surpassed herself--not in walk alone, and carriage and grace, but +in womanly roguishness. They had indulged in sharp repartee and +she had defended herself brilliantly; and then, yielding to the +intoxication of the moment, and of her own power, she had +bullied, and mastered, and wheedled, and patronized them with +most astonishing success. And instinctively, involuntarily, they +had bowed, not to her beauty, her wisdom, her wit, but to that +indefinable something in woman to which man yields yet cannot +name.</p> + +<p>The room was dizzy with sheer delight as she and Prince +whirled through the last dance of the evening. Harrington was +throwing in inconceivable flourishes, while Malemute Kid, utterly +abandoned, had seized the broom and was executing mad gyrations +on his own account.</p> + +<p>At this instant the door shook with a heavy rap-rap, and their +quick glances noted the lifting of the latch. But they had +survived similar situations before. Harrington never broke a +note. Madeline shot through the waiting door to the inner room. +The broom went hurtling under the bunk, and by the time Cal +Galbraith and Louis Savoy got their heads in, Malemute Kid and +Prince were in each other's arms, wildly schottisching down the +room.</p> + +<p>As a rule, Indian women do not make a practice of fainting on +provocation, but Madeline came as near to it as she ever had in +her life. For an hour she crouched on the floor, listening to the +heavy voices of the men rumbling up and down in mimic thunder. +Like familiar chords of childhood melodies, every intonation, +every trick of her husband's voice swept in upon her, fluttering +her heart and weakening her knees till she lay half- fainting +against the door. It was well she could neither see nor hear when +he took his departure.</p> + +<p>'When do you expect to go back to Circle City?' Malemute Kid +asked simply.</p> + +<p>'Haven't thought much about it,' he replied. 'Don't think till +after the ice breaks.' 'And Madeline?'</p> + +<p>He flushed at the question, and there was a quick droop to his +eyes. Malemute Kid could have despised him for that, had he known +men less. As it was, his gorge rose against the wives and +daughters who had come into the land, and not satisfied with +usurping the place of the native women, had put unclean thoughts +in the heads of the men and made them ashamed.</p> + +<p>'I guess she's all right,' the Circle City King answered +hastily, and in an apologetic manner. 'Tom Dixon's got charge of +my interests, you know, and he sees to it that she has everything +she wants.' Malemute Kid laid hand upon his arm and hushed him +suddenly. They had stepped without. Overhead, the aurora, a +gorgeous wanton, flaunted miracles of color; beneath lay the +sleeping town. Far below, a solitary dog gave tongue.</p> + +<p>The King again began to speak, but the Kid pressed his hand +for silence. The sound multiplied. Dog after dog took up the +strain till the full-throated chorus swayed the night.</p> + +<p>To him who hears for the first time this weird song, is told +the first and greatest secret of the Northland; to him who has +heard it often, it is the solemn knell of lost endeavor. It is +the plaint of tortured souls, for in it is invested the heritage +of the North, the suffering of countless generations--the warning +and the requiem to the world's estrays.</p> + +<p>Cal Galbraith shivered slightly as it died away in half-caught +sobs. The Kid read his thoughts openly, and wandered back with +him through all the weary days of famine and disease; and with +him was also the patient Madeline, sharing his pains and perils, +never doubting, never complaining. His mind's retina vibrated to +a score of pictures, stern, clear-cut, and the hand of the past +drew back with heavy fingers on his heart. It was the +psychological moment. Malemute Kid was halftempted to play his +reserve card and win the game; but the lesson was too mild as +yet, and he let it pass. The next instant they had gripped hands, +and the King's beaded moccasins were drawing protests from the +outraged snow as he crunched down the hill.</p> + +<p>Madeline in collapse was another woman to the mischievous +creature of an hour before, whose laughter had been so infectious +and whose heightened color and flashing eyes had made her +teachers for the while forget. Weak and nerveless, she sat in the +chair just as she had been dropped there by Prince and +Harrington.</p> + +<p>Malemute Kid frowned. This would never do. When the time of +meeting her husband came to hand, she must carry things off with +high-handed imperiousness. It was very necessary she should do it +after the manner of white women, else the victory would be no +victory at all. So he talked to her, sternly, without mincing of +words, and initiated her into the weaknesses of his own sex, till +she came to understand what simpletons men were after all, and +why the word of their women was law.</p> + +<p>A few days before Thanksgiving Night, Malemute Kid made +another call on Mrs.</p> + +<p>Eppingwell. She promptly overhauled her feminine fripperies, +paid a protracted visit to the dry-goods department of the P. C. +Company, and returned with the Kid to make Madeline's +acquaintance. After that came a period such as the cabin had +never seen before, and what with cutting, and fitting, and +basting, and stitching, and numerous other wonderful and +unknowable things, the male conspirators were more often banished +the premises than not. At such times the Opera House opened its +double storm-doors to them.</p> + +<p>So often did they put their heads together, and so deeply did +they drink to curious toasts, that the loungers scented unknown +creeks of incalculable richness, and it is known that several +checha-quas and at least one Old-Timer kept their stampeding +packs stored behind the bar, ready to hit the trail at a moment's +notice.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Eppingwell was a woman of capacity; so, when she turned +Madeline over to her trainers on Thanksgiving Night she was so +transformed that they were almost afraid of her. Prince wrapped a +Hudson Bay blanket about her with a mock reverence more real than +feigned, while Malemute Kid, whose arm she had taken, found it a +severe trial to resume his wonted mentorship. Harrington, with +the list of purchases still running through his head, dragged +along in the rear, nor opened his mouth once all the way down +into the town. When they came to the back door of the Opera House +they took the blanket from Madeline's shoulders and spread it on +the snow. Slipping out of Prince's moccasins, she stepped upon it +in new satin slippers. The masquerade was at its height. She +hesitated, but they jerked open the door and shoved her in. Then +they ran around to come in by the front entrance.</p> + +<p>III 'Where is Freda?' the Old-Timers questioned, while the +che-cha-quas were equally energetic in asking who Freda was. The +ballroom buzzed with her name.</p> + +<p>It was on everybody's lips. Grizzled 'sour-dough boys,' +day-laborers at the mines but proud of their degree, either +patronized the spruce-looking tenderfeet and lied eloquently- the +'sour-dough boys' being specially created to toy with truth--or +gave them savage looks of indignation because of their ignorance. +Perhaps forty kings of the Upper and Lower Countries were on the +floor, each deeming himself hot on the trail and sturdily backing +his judgment with the yellow dust of the realm. An assistant was +sent to the man at the scales, upon whom had fallen the burden of +weighing up the sacks, while several of the gamblers, with the +rules of chance at their finger-ends, made up alluring books on +the field and favorites.</p> + +<p>Which was Freda? Time and again the 'Greek Dancer' was thought +to have been discovered, but each discovery brought panic to the +betting ring and a frantic registering of new wagers by those who +wished to hedge. Malemute Kid took an interest in the hunt, his +advent being hailed uproariously by the revelers, who knew him to +a man. The Kid had a good eye for the trick of a step, and ear +for the lilt of a voice, and his private choice was a marvelous +creature who scintillated as the 'Aurora Borealis.' But the Greek +dancer was too subtle for even his penetration. The majority of +the gold-hunters seemed to have centered their verdict on the +'Russian Princess,' who was the most graceful in the room, and +hence could be no other than Freda Moloof.</p> + +<p>During a quadrille a roar of satisfaction went up. She was +discovered. At previous balls, in the figure, 'all hands round,' +Freda had displayed an inimitable step and variation peculiarly +her own. As the figure was called, the 'Russian Princess' gave +the unique rhythm to limb and body. A chorus of I-told-you-so's +shook the squared roof-beams, when lo! it was noticed that +'Aurora Borealis' and another masque, the 'Spirit of the Pole,' +were performing the same trick equally well. And when two twin +'Sun-Dogs' and a 'Frost Queen' followed suit, a second assistant +was dispatched to the aid of the man at the scales.</p> + +<p>Bettles came off trail in the midst of the excitement, +descending upon them in a hurricane of frost. His rimed brows +turned to cataracts as he whirled about; his mustache, still +frozen, seemed gemmed with diamonds and turned the light in +varicolored rays; while the flying feet slipped on the chunks of +ice which rattled from his moccasins and German socks. A +Northland dance is quite an informal affair, the men of the +creeks and trails having lost whatever fastidiousness they might +have at one time possessed; and only in the high official circles +are conventions at all observed. Here, caste carried no +significance. Millionaires and paupers, dog-drivers and mounted +policemen joined hands with 'ladies in the center,' and swept +around the circle performing most remarkable capers. Primitive in +their pleasure, boisterous and rough, they displayed no rudeness, +but rather a crude chivalry more genuine than the most polished +courtesy.</p> + +<p>In his quest for the 'Greek Dancer,' Cal Galbraith managed to +get into the same set with the 'Russian Princess,' toward whom +popular suspicion had turned.</p> + +<p>But by the time he had guided her through one dance, he was +willing not only to stake his millions that she was not Freda, +but that he had had his arm about her waist before. When or where +he could not tell, but the puzzling sense of familiarity so +wrought upon him that he turned his attention to the discovery of +her identity. Malemute Kid might have aided him instead of +occasionally taking the Princess for a few turns and talking +earnestly to her in low tones. But it was Jack Harrington who +paid the 'Russian Princess' the most assiduous court. Once he +drew Cal Galbraith aside and hazarded wild guesses as to who she +was, and explained to him that he was going in to win. That +rankled the Circle City King, for man is not by nature monogamic, +and he forgot both Madeline and Freda in the new quest.</p> + +<p>It was soon noised about that the 'Russian Princess' was not +Freda Moloof. Interest deepened. Here was a fresh enigma. They +knew Freda though they could not find her, but here was somebody +they had found and did not know. Even the women could not place +her, and they knew every good dancer in the camp. Many took her +for one of the official clique, indulging in a silly escapade. +Not a few asserted she would disappear before the unmasking. +Others were equally positive that she was the woman-reporter of +the Kansas City Star, come to write them up at ninety dollars per +column. And the men at the scales worked busily.</p> + +<p>At one o'clock every couple took to the floor. The unmasking +began amid laughter and delight, like that of carefree children. +There was no end of Oh's and Ah's as mask after mask was lifted. +The scintillating 'Aurora Borealis' became the brawny negress +whose income from washing the community's clothes ran at about +five hundred a month. The twin 'Sun-Dogs' discovered mustaches on +their upper lips, and were recognized as brother Fraction-Kings +of El Dorado. In one of the most prominent sets, and the slowest +in uncovering, was Cal Galbraith with the 'Spirit of the Pole.' +Opposite him was Jack Harrington and the 'Russian Princess.' The +rest had discovered themselves, yet the 'Greek Dancer' was still +missing. All eyes were upon the group. Cal Galbraith, in response +to their cries, lifted his partner's mask. Freda's wonderful face +and brilliant eyes flashed out upon them. A roar went up, to be +squelched suddenly in the new and absorbing mystery of the +'Russian Princess.' Her face was still hidden, and Jack +Harrington was struggling with her. The dancers tittered on the +tiptoes of expectancy. He crushed her dainty costume roughly, and +then--and then the revelers exploded. The joke was on them. They +had danced all night with a tabooed native woman.</p> + +<p>But those that knew, and they were many, ceased abruptly, and +a hush fell upon the room.</p> + +<p>Cal Galbraith crossed over with great strides, angrily, and +spoke to Madeline in polyglot Chinook. But she retained her +composure, apparently oblivious to the fact that she was the +cynosure of all eyes, and answered him in English. She showed +neither fright nor anger, and Malemute Kid chuckled at her +well-bred equanimity. The King felt baffled, defeated; his common +Siwash wife had passed beyond him.</p> + +<p>'Come!' he said finally. 'Come on home.' 'I beg pardon,' she +replied; 'I have agreed to go to supper with Mr. Harrington. +Besides, there's no end of dances promised.'</p> + +<p>Harrington extended his arm to lead her away. He evinced not +the slightest disinclination toward showing his back, but +Malemute Kid had by this time edged in closer. The Circle City +King was stunned. Twice his hand dropped to his belt, and twice +the Kid gathered himself to spring; but the retreating couple +passed through the supper-room door where canned oysters were +spread at five dollars the plate.</p> + +<p>The crowd sighed audibly, broke up into couples, and followed +them. Freda pouted and went in with Cal Galbraith; but she had a +good heart and a sure tongue, and she spoiled his oysters for +him. What she said is of no importance, but his face went red and +white at intervals, and he swore repeatedly and savagely at +himself.</p> + +<p>The supper-room was filled with a pandemonium of voices, which +ceased suddenly as Cal Galbraith stepped over to his wife's +table. Since the unmasking considerable weights of dust had been +placed as to the outcome. Everybody watched with breathless +interest.</p> + +<p>Harrington's blue eyes were steady, but under the overhanging +tablecloth a Smith & Wesson balanced on his knee. Madeline +looked up, casually, with little interest.</p> + +<p>'May--may I have the next round dance with you?' the King +stuttered.</p> + +<p>The wife of the King glanced at her card and inclined her +head.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2 align="center">An Odyssey of the North</h2> + +<p> </p> + +<p>The sleds were singing their eternal lament to the creaking of +the harness and the tinkling bells of the leaders; but the men +and dogs were tired and made no sound. The trail was heavy with +new-fallen snow, and they had come far, and the runners, burdened +with flint- like quarters of frozen moose, clung tenaciously to +the unpacked surface and held back with a stubbornness almost +human.</p> + +<p>Darkness was coming on, but there was no camp to pitch that +night. The snow fell gently through the pulseless air, not in +flakes, but in tiny frost crystals of delicate design. It was +very warm--barely ten below zero--and the men did not mind. +Meyers and Bettles had raised their ear flaps, while Malemute Kid +had even taken off his mittens.</p> + +<p>The dogs had been fagged out early in the after noon, but they +now began to show new vigor. Among the more astute there was a +certain restlessness--an impatience at the restraint of the +traces, an indecisive quickness of movement, a sniffing of snouts +and pricking of ears. These became incensed at their more +phlegmatic brothers, urging them on with numerous sly nips on +their hinder quarters. Those, thus chidden, also contracted and +helped spread the contagion. At last the leader of the foremost +sled uttered a sharp whine of satisfaction, crouching lower in +the snow and throwing himself against the collar. The rest +followed suit.</p> + +<p>There was an ingathering of back hands, a tightening of +traces; the sleds leaped forward, and the men clung to the gee +poles, violently accelerating the uplift of their feet that they +might escape going under the runners. The weariness of the day +fell from them, and they whooped encouragement to the dogs. The +animals responded with joyous yelps. They were swinging through +the gathering darkness at a rattling gallop.</p> + +<p>'Gee! Gee!' the men cried, each in turn, as their sleds +abruptly left the main trail, heeling over on single runners like +luggers on the wind.</p> + +<p>Then came a hundred yards' dash to the lighted parchment +window, which told its own story of the home cabin, the roaring +Yukon stove, and the steaming pots of tea. But the home cabin had +been invaded. Threescore huskies chorused defiance, and as many +furry forms precipitated themselves upon the dogs which drew the +first sled. The door was flung open, and a man, clad in the +scarlet tunic of the Northwest Police, waded knee-deep among the +furious brutes, calmly and impartially dispensing soothing +justice with the butt end of a dog whip. After that the men shook +hands; and in this wise was Malemute Kid welcomed to his own +cabin by a stranger.</p> + +<p>Stanley Prince, who should have welcomed him, and who was +responsible for the Yukon stove and hot tea aforementioned, was +busy with his guests. There were a dozen or so of them, as +nondescript a crowd as ever served the Queen in the enforcement +of her laws or the delivery of her mails. They were of many +breeds, but their common life had formed of them a certain +type--a lean and wiry type, with trail-hardened muscles, and sun- +browned faces, and untroubled souls which gazed frankly forth, +clear-eyed and steady.</p> + +<p>They drove the dogs of the Queen, wrought fear in the hearts +of her enemies, ate of her meager fare, and were happy. They had +seen life, and done deeds, and lived romances; but they did not +know it.</p> + +<p>And they were very much at home. Two of them were sprawled +upon Malemute Kid's bunk, singing chansons which their French +forebears sang in the days when first they entered the Northwest +land and mated with its Indian women. Bettles' bunk had suffered +a similar invasion, and three or four lusty voyageurs worked +their toes among its blankets as they listened to the tale of one +who had served on the boat brigade with Wolseley when he fought +his way to Khartoum.</p> + +<p>And when he tired, a cowboy told of courts and kings and lords +and ladies he had seen when Buffalo Bill toured the capitals of +Europe. In a corner two half-breeds, ancient comrades in a lost +campaign, mended harnesses and talked of the days when the +Northwest flamed with insurrection and Louis Riel was king.</p> + +<p>Rough jests and rougher jokes went up and down, and great +hazards by trail and river were spoken of in the light of +commonplaces, only to be recalled by virtue of some grain of +humor or ludicrous happening. Prince was led away by these +uncrowned heroes who had seen history made, who regarded the +great and the romantic as but the ordinary and the incidental in +the routine of life. He passed his precious tobacco among them +with lavish disregard, and rusty chains of reminiscence were +loosened, and forgotten odysseys resurrected for his especial +benefit.</p> + +<p>When conversation dropped and the travelers filled the last +pipes and lashed their tight- rolled sleeping furs. Prince fell +back upon his comrade for further information.</p> + +<p>'Well, you know what the cowboy is,' Malemute Kid answered, +beginning to unlace his moccasins; 'and it's not hard to guess +the British blood in his bed partner. As for the rest, they're +all children of the coureurs du bois, mingled with God knows how +many other bloods. The two turning in by the door are the +regulation 'breeds' or Boisbrules. That lad with the worsted +breech scarf--notice his eyebrows and the turn of his jaw--shows +a Scotchman wept in his mother's smoky tepee. And that handsome +looking fellow putting the capote under his head is a French +half-breed--you heard him talking; he doesn't like the two +Indians turning in next to him. You see, when the 'breeds' rose +under the Riel the full-bloods kept the peace, and they've not +lost much love for one another since.' 'But I say, what's that +glum-looking fellow by the stove? I'll swear he can't talk +English. He hasn't opened his mouth all night.' 'You're wrong. He +knows English well enough. Did you follow his eyes when he +listened? I did. But he's neither kith nor kin to the others.</p> + +<p>When they talked their own patois you could see he didn't +understand. I've been wondering myself what he is. Let's find +out.' 'Fire a couple of sticks into the stove!'</p> + +<p>Malemute Kid commanded, raising his voice and looking squarely +at the man in question.</p> + +<p>He obeyed at once.</p> + +<p>'Had discipline knocked into him somewhere.' Prince commented +in a low tone.</p> + +<p>Malemute Kid nodded, took off his socks, and picked his way +among recumbent men to the stove. There he hung his damp footgear +among a score or so of mates.</p> + +<p>'When do you expect to get to Dawson?' he asked +tentatively.</p> + +<p>The man studied him a moment before replying. 'They say +seventy-five mile.</p> + +<p>So? Maybe two days.' The very slightest accent was +perceptible, while there was no awkward hesitancy or groping for +words.</p> + +<p>'Been in the country before?' 'No.' 'Northwest Territory?' +'Yes.' 'Born there?' 'No.'</p> + +<p>'Well, where the devil were you born? You're none of these.' +Malemute Kid swept his hand over the dog drivers, even including +the two policemen who had turned into Prince's bunk. 'Where did +you come from? I've seen faces like yours before, though I can't +remember just where.' 'I know you,' he irrelevantly replied, at +once turning the drift of Malemute Kid's questions.</p> + +<p>'Where? Ever see me?' 'No; your partner, him priest, Pastilik, +long time ago. Him ask me if I see you, Malemute Kid. Him give me +grub. I no stop long. You hear him speak 'bout me?' 'Oh! you're +the fellow that traded the otter skins for the dogs?' The man +nodded, knocked out his pipe, and signified his disinclination +for conversation by rolling up in his furs. Malemute Kid blew out +the slush lamp and crawled under the blankets with Prince.</p> + +<p>'Well, what is he?' 'Don't know--turned me off, somehow, and +then shut up like a clam.</p> + +<p>But he's a fellow to whet your curiosity. I've heard of him. +All the coast wondered about him eight years ago. Sort of +mysterious, you know. He came down out of the North in the dead +of winter, many a thousand miles from here, skirting Bering Sea +and traveling as though the devil were after him. No one ever +learned where he came from, but he must have come far. He was +badly travel-worn when he got food from the Swedish missionary on +Golovin Bay and asked the way south. We heard of all this +afterward. Then he abandoned the shore line, heading right across +Norton Sound. Terrible weather, snowstorms and high winds, but he +pulled through where a thousand other men would have died, +missing St. Michaels and making the land at Pastilik. He'd lost +all but two dogs, and was nearly gone with starvation.</p> + +<p>'He was so anxious to go on that Father Roubeau fitted him out +with grub; but he couldn't let him have any dogs, for he was only +waiting my arrival, to go on a trip himself. Mr. Ulysses knew too +much to start on without animals, and fretted around for several +days. He had on his sled a bunch of beautifully cured otter +skins, sea otters, you know, worth their weight in gold. There +was also at Pastilik an old Shylock of a Russian trader, who had +dogs to kill. Well, they didn't dicker very long, but when the +Strange One headed south again, it was in the rear of a spanking +dog team. Mr. Shylock, by the way, had the otter skins. I saw +them, and they were magnificent. We figured it up and found the +dogs brought him at least five hundred apiece. And it wasn't as +if the Strange One didn't know the value of sea otter; he was an +Indian of some sort, and what little he talked showed he'd been +among white men.</p> + +<p>'After the ice passed out of the sea, word came up from +Nunivak Island that he'd gone in there for grub. Then he dropped +from sight, and this is the first heard of him in eight years. +Now where did he come from? and what was he doing there? and why +did he come from there? He's Indian, he's been nobody knows +where, and he's had discipline, which is unusual for an Indian. +Another mystery of the North for you to solve, Prince.' 'Thanks +awfully, but I've got too many on hand as it is,' he replied.</p> + +<p>Malemute Kid was already breathing heavily; but the young +mining engineer gazed straight up through the thick darkness, +waiting for the strange orgasm which stirred his blood to die +away. And when he did sleep, his brain worked on, and for the +nonce he, too, wandered through the white unknown, struggled with +the dogs on endless trails, and saw men live, and toil, and die +like men. The next morning, hours before daylight, the dog +drivers and policemen pulled out for Dawson. But the powers that +saw to Her Majesty's interests and ruled the destinies of her +lesser creatures gave the mailmen little rest, for a week later +they appeared at Stuart River, heavily burdened with letters for +Salt Water.</p> + +<p>However, their dogs had been replaced by fresh ones; but, +then, they were dogs.</p> + +<p>The men had expected some sort of a layover in which to rest +up; besides, this Klondike was a new section of the Northland, +and they had wished to see a little something of the Golden City +where dust flowed like water and dance halls rang with +never-ending revelry. But they dried their socks and smoked their +evening pipes with much the same gusto as on their former visit, +though one or two bold spirits speculated on desertion and the +possibility of crossing the unexplored Rockies to the east, and +thence, by the Mackenzie Valley, of gaining their old stamping +grounds in the Chippewyan country.</p> + +<p>Two or three even decided to return to their homes by that +route when their terms of service had expired, and they began to +lay plans forthwith, looking forward to the hazardous undertaking +in much the same way a city-bred man would to a day's holiday in +the woods.</p> + +<p>He of the Otter Skins seemed very restless, though he took +little interest in the discussion, and at last he drew Malemute +Kid to one side and talked for some time in low tones.</p> + +<p>Prince cast curious eyes in their direction, and the mystery +deepened when they put on caps and mittens and went outside. When +they returned, Malemute Kid placed his gold scales on the table, +weighed out the matter of sixty ounces, and transferred them to +the Strange One's sack. Then the chief of the dog drivers joined +the conclave, and certain business was transacted with him.</p> + +<p>The next day the gang went on upriver, but He of the Otter +Skins took several pounds of grub and turned his steps back +toward Dawson.</p> + +<p>'Didn't know what to make of it,' said Malemute Kid in +response to Prince's queries; 'but the poor beggar wanted to be +quit of the service for some reason or other--at least it seemed +a most important one to him, though he wouldn't let on what. You +see, it's just like the army: he signed for two years, and the +only way to get free was to buy himself out. He couldn't desert +and then stay here, and he was just wild to remain in the +country.</p> + +<p>Made up his mind when he got to Dawson, he said; but no one +knew him, hadn't a cent, and I was the only one he'd spoken two +words with. So he talked it over with the lieutenant-governor, +and made arrangements in case he could get the money from me- +loan, you know. Said he'd pay back in the year, and, if I wanted, +would put me onto something rich. Never'd seen it, but he knew it +was rich.</p> + +<p>'And talk! why, when he got me outside he was ready to weep. +Begged and pleaded; got down in the snow to me till I hauled him +out of it. Palavered around like a crazy man.</p> + +<p>Swore he's worked to this very end for years and years, and +couldn't bear to be disappointed now. Asked him what end, but he +wouldn't say.</p> + +<p>Said they might keep him on the other half of the trail and he +wouldn't get to Dawson in two years, and then it would be too +late. Never saw a man take on so in my life. And when I said I'd +let him have it, had to yank him out of the snow again. Told him +to consider it in the light of a grubstake. Think he'd have it? +No sir! Swore he'd give me all he found, make me rich beyond the +dreams of avarice, and all such stuff. Now a man who puts his +life and time against a grubstake ordinarily finds it hard enough +to turn over half of what he finds. Something behind all this, +Prince; just you make a note of it. We'll hear of him if he stays +in the country-' 'And if he doesn't?' 'Then my good nature gets a +shock, and I'm sixty some odd ounces out.' The cold weather had +come on with the long nights, and the sun had begun to play his +ancient game of peekaboo along the southern snow line ere aught +was heard of Malemute Kid's grubstake. And then, one bleak +morning in early January, a heavily laden dog train pulled into +his cabin below Stuart River. He of the Otter Skins was there, +and with him walked a man such as the gods have almost forgotten +how to fashion. Men never talked of luck and pluck and five- +hundreddollar dirt without bringing in the name of Axel +Gunderson; nor could tales of nerve or strength or daring pass up +and down the campfire without the summoning of his presence. And +when the conversation flagged, it blazed anew at mention of the +woman who shared his fortunes.</p> + +<p>As has been noted, in the making of Axel Gunderson the gods +had remembered their old- time cunning and cast him after the +manner of men who were born when the world was young. Full seven +feet he towered in his picturesque costume which marked a king of +Eldorado. His chest, neck, and limbs were those of a giant. To +bear his three hundred pounds of bone and muscle, his snowshoes +were greater by a generous yard than those of other men. +Rough-hewn, with rugged brow and massive jaw and unflinching eyes +of palest blue, his face told the tale of one who knew but the +law of might. Of the yellow of ripe corn silk, his +frost-incrusted hair swept like day across the night and fell far +down his coat of bearskin.</p> + +<p>A vague tradition of the sea seemed to cling about him as he +swung down the narrow trail in advance of the dogs; and he +brought the butt of his dog whip against Malemute Kid's door as a +Norse sea rover, on southern foray, might thunder for admittance +at the castle gate.</p> + +<p>Prince bared his womanly arms and kneaded sour-dough bread, +casting, as he did so, many a glance at the three guests--three +guests the like of which might never come under a man's roof in a +lifetime. The Strange One, whom Malemute Kid had surnamed +Ulysses, still fascinated him; but his interest chiefly +gravitated between Axel Gunderson and Axel Gunderson's wife. She +felt the day's journey, for she had softened in comfortable +cabins during the many days since her husband mastered the wealth +of frozen pay streaks, and she was tired. She rested against his +great breast like a slender flower against a wall, replying +lazily to Malemute Kid's good-natured banter, and stirring +Prince's blood strangely with an occasional sweep of her deep, +dark eyes. For Prince was a man, and healthy, and had seen few +women in many months. And she was older than he, and an Indian +besides. But she was different from all native wives he had met: +she had traveled--had been in his country among others, he +gathered from the conversation; and she knew most of the things +the women of his own race knew, and much more that it was not in +the nature of things for them to know. She could make a meal of +sun-dried fish or a bed in the snow; yet she teased them with +tantalizing details of many-course dinners, and caused strange +internal dissensions to arise at the mention of various quondam +dishes which they had well-nigh forgotten. She knew the ways of +the moose, the bear, and the little blue fox, and of the wild +amphibians of the Northern seas; she was skilled in the lore of +the woods, and the streams, and the tale writ by man and bird and +beast upon the delicate snow crust was to her an open book; yet +Prince caught the appreciative twinkle in her eye as she read the +Rules of the Camp. These rules had been fathered by the +Unquenchable Bettles at a time when his blood ran high, and were +remarkable for the terse simplicity of their humor.</p> + +<p>Prince always turned them to the wall before the arrival of +ladies; but who could suspect that this native wife--Well, it was +too late now.</p> + +<p>This, then, was the wife of Axel Gunderson, a woman whose name +and fame had traveled with her husband's, hand in hand, through +all the Northland. At table, Malemute Kid baited her with the +assurance of an old friend, and Prince shook off the shyness of +first acquaintance and joined in. But she held her own in the +unequal contest, while her husband, slower in wit, ventured +naught but applause. And he was very proud of her; his every look +and action revealed the magnitude of the place she occupied in +his life. He of the Otter Skins ate in silence, forgotten in the +merry battle; and long ere the others were done he pushed back +from the table and went out among the dogs. Yet all too soon his +fellow travelers drew on their mittens and parkas and followed +him.</p> + +<p>There had been no snow for many days, and the sleds slipped +along the hardpacked Yukon trail as easily as if it had been +glare ice. Ulysses led the first sled; with the second came +Prince and Axel Gunderson's wife; while Malemute Kid and the +yellow-haired giant brought up the third.</p> + +<p>'It's only a hunch, Kid,' he said, 'but I think it's straight. +He's never been there, but he tells a good story, and shows a map +I heard of when I was in the Kootenay country years ago. I'd like +to have you go along; but he's a strange one, and swore +point-blank to throw it up if anyone was brought in. But when I +come back you'll get first tip, and I'll stake you next to me, +and give you a half share in the town site besides.' 'No! no!' he +cried, as the other strove to interrupt. 'I'm running this, and +before I'm done it'll need two heads.</p> + +<p>If it's all right, why, it'll be a second Cripple Creek, man; +do you hear?--a second Cripple Creek! It's quartz, you know, not +placer; and if we work it right we'll corral the whole +thing--millions upon millions. I've heard of the place before, +and so have you. We'll build a town--thousands of workmen--good +waterways--steamship lines--big carrying trade--lightdraught +steamers for head reaches--survey a railroad, perhaps--sawmills- +electriclight plant--do our own banking--commercial +company--syndicate--Say! Just you hold your hush till I get +back!' The sleds came to a halt where the trail crossed the mouth +of Stuart River. An unbroken sea of frost, its wide expanse +stretched away into the unknown east.</p> + +<p>The snowshoes were withdrawn from the lashings of the sleds. +Axel Gunderson shook hands and stepped to the fore, his great +webbed shoes sinking a fair half yard into the feathery surface +and packing the snow so the dogs should not wallow. His wife fell +in behind the last sled, betraying long practice in the art of +handling the awkward footgear, The stillness was broken with +cheery farewells; the dogs whined; and He of the Otter Skins +talked with his whip to a recalcitrant wheeler.</p> + +<p>An hour later the train had taken on the likeness of a black +pencil crawling in a long, straight line across a mighty sheet of +foolscap.</p> + +<p>II One night, many weeks later, Malemute Kid and Prince fell +to solving chess problems from the torn page of an ancient +magazine. The Kid had just returned from his Bonanza properties +and was resting up preparatory to a long moose hunt.</p> + +<p>Prince, too, had been on creek and trail nearly all winter, +and had grown hungry for a blissful week of cabin life.</p> + +<p>'Interpose the black knight, and force the king. No, that +won't do. See, the next move-'</p> + +<p>'Why advance the pawn two squares? Bound to take it in +transit, and with the bishop out of the way-' 'But hold on! That +leaves a hole, and-' 'No; it's protected. Go ahead! You'll see it +works.' It was very interesting. Somebody knocked at the door a +second time before Malemute Kid said, 'Come in.' The door swung +open. Something staggered in.</p> + +<p>Prince caught one square look and sprang to his feet. The +horror in his eyes caused Malemute Kid to whirl about; and he, +too, was startled, though he had seen bad things before. The +thing tottered blindly toward them. Prince edged away till he +reached the nail from which hung his Smith & Wesson.</p> + +<p>'My God! what is it?' he whispered to Malemute Kid.</p> + +<p>'Don't know. Looks like a case of freezing and no grub,' +replied the Kid, sliding away in the opposite direction. 'Watch +out! It may be mad,' he warned, coming back from closing the +door.</p> + +<p>The thing advanced to the table. The bright flame of the slush +lamp caught its eye. It was amused, and gave voice to eldritch +cackles which betokened mirth.</p> + +<p>Then, suddenly, he--for it was a man--swayed back, with a +hitch to his skin trousers, and began to sing a chantey, such as +men lift when they swing around the capstan circle and the sea +snorts in their ears: Yan-kee ship come down de ri-ib-er, Pull! +my bully boys! Pull! D'yeh want--to know de captain ru-uns her? +Pull! my bully boys! Pull! Jon-a-than Jones ob South +Caho-li-in-a, Pull! my bullyHe broke off abruptly, tottered with +a wolfish snarl to the meat shelf, and before they could +intercept was tearing with his teeth at a chunk of raw bacon. The +struggle was fierce between him and Malemute Kid; but his mad +strength left him as suddenly as it had come, and he weakly +surrendered the spoil. Between them they got him upon a stool, +where he sprawled with half his body across the table.</p> + +<p>A small dose of whiskey strengthened him, so that he could dip +a spoon into the sugar caddy which Malemute Kid placed before +him. After his appetite had been somewhat cloyed, Prince, +shuddering as he did so, passed him a mug of weak beef tea.</p> + +<p>The creature's eyes were alight with a somber frenzy, which +blazed and waned with every mouthful. There was very little skin +to the face. The face, for that matter, sunken and emaciated, +bore little likeness to human countenance.</p> + +<p>Frost after frost had bitten deeply, each depositing its +stratum of scab upon the half- healed scar that went before. This +dry, hard surface was of a bloody-black color, serrated by +grievous cracks wherein the raw red flesh peeped forth. His skin +garments were dirty and in tatters, and the fur of one side was +singed and burned away, showing where he had lain upon his +fire.</p> + +<p>Malemute Kid pointed to where the sun-tanned hide had been cut +away, strip by strip--the grim signature of famine.</p> + +<p>'Who--are--you?' slowly and distinctly enunciated the Kid.</p> + +<p>The man paid no heed.</p> + +<p>'Where do you come from?' 'Yan-kee ship come down de +ri-ib-er,' was the quavering response.</p> + +<p>'Don't doubt the beggar came down the river,' the Kid said, +shaking him in an endeavor to start a more lucid flow of +talk.</p> + +<p>But the man shrieked at the contact, clapping a hand to his +side in evident pain. He rose slowly to his feet, half leaning on +the table.</p> + +<p>'She laughed at me--so--with the hate in her eye; and +she--would--not--come.' His voice died away, and he was sinking +back when Malemute Kid gripped him by the wrist and shouted, +'Who? Who would not come?' 'She, Unga. She laughed, and struck at +me, so, and so. And then-' 'Yes?'</p> + +<p>'And then-' 'And then what?' 'And then he lay very still in +the snow a long time. He is- still in--the--snow.' The two men +looked at each other helplessly.</p> + +<p>'Who is in the snow?' 'She, Unga. She looked at me with the +hate in her eye, and then-'</p> + +<p>'Yes, yes.' 'And then she took the knife, so; and once, +twice--she was weak. I traveled very slow. And there is much gold +in that place, very much gold.' 'Where is Unga?' For all Malemute +Kid knew, she might be dying a mile away. He shook the man +savagely, repeating again and again, 'Where is Unga? Who is +Unga?' 'She--is--in--the--snow.' 'Go on!' The Kid was pressing +his wrist cruelly.</p> + +<p>'So--I--would--be--in--the +snow--but--I--had--a--debt--to--pay. It--was--heavy--Ihad--a- +debt--to--pay--a--debt--to--pay I--had-' The faltering +monosyllables ceased as he fumbled in his pouch and drew forth a +buckskin sack. 'A--debt--to--payfive--pounds--of--gold- +grub--stake--Mal--e--mute--Kid--I-' The exhausted head dropped +upon the table; nor could Malemute Kid rouse it again.</p> + +<p>'It's Ulysses,' he said quietly, tossing the bag of dust on +the table. 'Guess it's all day with Axel Gunderson and the woman. +Come on, let's get him between the blankets. He's Indian; he'll +pull through and tell a tale besides.' As they cut his garments +from him, near his right breast could be seen two unhealed, +hard-lipped knife thrusts.</p> + +<p>III 'I will talk of the things which were in my own way; but +you will understand.</p> + +<p>I will begin at the beginning, and tell of myself and the +woman, and, after that, of the man.' He of the Otter Skins drew +over to the stove as do men who have been deprived of fire and +are afraid the Promethean gift may vanish at any moment. Malemute +Kid picked up the slush lamp and placed it so its light might +fall upon the face of the narrator. Prince slid his body over the +edge of the bunk and joined them.</p> + +<p>'I am Naass, a chief, and the son of a chief, born between a +sunset and a rising, on the dark seas, in my father's oomiak. All +of a night the men toiled at the paddles, and the women cast out +the waves which threw in upon us, and we fought with the storm. +The salt spray froze upon my mother's breast till her breath +passed with the passing of the tide. But I--I raised my voice +with the wind and the storm, and lived.</p> + +<p>'We dwelt in Akatan-' 'Where?' asked Malemute Kid.</p> + +<p>'Akatan, which is in the Aleutians; Akatan, beyond Chignik, +beyond Kardalak, beyond Unimak. As I say, we dwelt in Akatan, +which lies in the midst of the sea on the edge of the world. We +farmed the salt seas for the fish, the seal, and the otter; and +our homes shouldered about one another on the rocky strip between +the rim of the forest and the yellow beach where our kayaks lay. +We were not many, and the world was very small.</p> + +<p>There were strange lands to the east--islands like Akatan; so +we thought all the world was islands and did not mind.</p> + +<p>'I was different from my people. In the sands of the beach +were the crooked timbers and wave-warped planks of a boat such as +my people never built; and I remember on the point of the island +which overlooked the ocean three ways there stood a pine tree +which never grew there, smooth and straight and tall. It is said +the two men came to that spot, turn about, through many days, and +watched with the passing of the light. These two men came from +out of the sea in the boat which lay in pieces on the beach. And +they were white like you, and weak as the little children when +the seal have gone away and the hunters come home empty. I know +of these things from the old men and the old women, who got them +from their fathers and mothers before them. These strange white +men did not take kindly to our ways at first, but they grew +strong, what of the fish and the oil, and fierce. And they built +them each his own house, and took the pick of our women, and in +time children came. Thus he was born who was to become the father +of my father's father.</p> + +<p>'As I said, I was different from my people, for I carried the +strong, strange blood of this white man who came out of the sea. +It is said we had other laws in the days before these men; but +they were fierce and quarrelsome, and fought with our men till +there were no more left who dared to fight. Then they made +themselves chiefs, and took away our old laws, and gave us new +ones, insomuch that the man was the son of his father, and not +his mother, as our way had been. They also ruled that the son, +first-born, should have all things which were his father's before +him, and that the brothers and sisters should shift for +themselves. And they gave us other laws. They showed us new ways +in the catching of fish and the killing of bear which were thick +in the woods; and they taught us to lay by bigger stores for the +time of famine. And these things were good.</p> + +<p>'But when they had become chiefs, and there were no more men +to face their anger, they fought, these strange white men, each +with the other. And the one whose blood I carry drove his seal +spear the length of an arm through the other's body. Their +children took up the fight, and their children's children; and +there was great hatred between them, and black doings, even to my +time, so that in each family but one lived to pass down the blood +of them that went before. Of my blood I was alone; of the other +man's there was but a girl. Unga, who lived with her mother. Her +father and my father did not come back from the fishing one +night; but afterward they washed up to the beach on the big +tides, and they held very close to each other.</p> + +<p>'The people wondered, because of the hatred between the +houses, and the old men shook their heads and said the fight +would go on when children were born to her and children to me. +They told me this as a boy, till I came to believe, and to look +upon Unga as a foe, who was to be the mother of children which +were to fight with mine. I thought of these things day by day, +and when I grew to a stripling I came to ask why this should be +so.</p> + +<p>And they answered, "We do not know, but that in such way your +fathers did." And I marveled that those which were to come should +fight the battles of those that were gone, and in it I could see +no right. But the people said it must be, and I was only a +stripling.</p> + +<p>'And they said I must hurry, that my blood might be the older +and grow strong before hers. This was easy, for I was head man, +and the people looked up to me because of the deeds and the laws +of my fathers, and the wealth which was mine. Any maiden would +come to me, but I found none to my liking. And the old men and +the mothers of maidens told me to hurry, for even then were the +hunters bidding high to the mother of Unga; and should her +children grow strong before mine, mine would surely die.</p> + +<p>'Nor did I find a maiden till one night coming back from the +fishing. The sunlight was lying, so, low and full in the eyes, +the wind free, and the kayacks racing with the white seas. Of a +sudden the kayak of Unga came driving past me, and she looked +upon me, so, with her black hair flying like a cloud of night and +the spray wet on her cheek. As I say, the sunlight was full in +the eyes, and I was a stripling; but somehow it was all clear, +and I knew it to be the call of kind to kind.</p> + +<p>As she whipped ahead she looked back within the space of two +strokes--looked as only the woman Unga could look--and again I +knew it as the call of kind. The people shouted as we ripped past +the lazy oomiaks and left them far behind. But she was quick at +the paddle, and my heart was like the belly of a sail, and I did +not gain. The wind freshened, the sea whitened, and, leaping like +the seals on the windward breech, we roared down the golden +pathway of the sun.' Naass was crouched half out of his stool, in +the attitude of one driving a paddle, as he ran the race anew. +Somewhere across the stove he beheld the tossing kayak and the +flying hair of Unga. The voice of the wind was in his ears, and +its salt beat fresh upon his nostrils.</p> + +<p>'But she made the shore, and ran up the sand, laughing, to the +house of her mother. And a great thought came to me that night--a +thought worthy of him that was chief over all the people of +Akatan. So, when the moon was up, I went down to the house of her +mother, and looked upon the goods of Yash-Noosh, which were piled +by the door--the goods of Yash-Noosh, a strong hunter who had it +in mind to be the father of the children of Unga.</p> + +<p>Other young men had piled their goods there and taken them +away again; and each young man had made a pile greater than the +one before.</p> + +<p>'And I laughed to the moon and the stars, and went to my own +house where my wealth was stored. And many trips I made, till my +pile was greater by the fingers of one hand than the pile of +Yash-Noosh. There were fish, dried in the sun and smoked; and +forty hides of the hair seal, and half as many of the fur, and +each hide was tied at the mouth and big bellied with oil; and ten +skins of bear which I killed in the woods when they came out in +the spring. And there were beads and blankets and scarlet cloths, +such as I got in trade from the people who lived to the east, and +who got them in trade from the people who lived still beyond in +the east.</p> + +<p>And I looked upon the pile of Yash-Noosh and laughed, for I +was head man in Akatan, and my wealth was greater than the wealth +of all my young men, and my fathers had done deeds, and given +laws, and put their names for all time in the mouths of the +people.</p> + +<p>'So, when the morning came, I went down to the beach, casting +out of the corner of my eye at the house of the mother of Unga. +My offer yet stood untouched.</p> + +<p>And the women smiled, and said sly things one to the other. I +wondered, for never had such a price been offered; and that night +I added more to the pile, and put beside it a kayak of +well-tanned skins which never yet had swam in the sea. But in the +day it was yet there, open to the laughter of all men. The mother +of Unga was crafty, and I grew angry at the shame in which I +stood before my people. So that night I added till it became a +great pile, and I hauled up my oomiak, which was of the value of +twenty kayaks. And in the morning there was no pile.</p> + +<p>'Then made I preparation for the wedding, and the people that +lived even to the east came for the food of the feast and the +potlatch token. Unga was older than I by the age of four suns in +the way we reckoned the years. I was only a stripling; but then I +was a chief, and the son of a chief, and it did not matter.</p> + +<p>'But a ship shoved her sails above the floor of the ocean, and +grew larger with the breath of the wind. From her scuppers she +ran clear water, and the men were in haste and worked hard at the +pumps. On the bow stood a mighty man, watching the depth of the +water and giving commands with a voice of thunder. His eyes were +of the pale blue of the deep waters, and his head was maned like +that of a sea lion. And his hair was yellow, like the straw of a +southern harvest or the manila rope yarns which sailormen +plait.</p> + +<p>'Of late years we had seen ships from afar, but this was the +first to come to the beach of Akatan. The feast was broken, and +the women and children fled to the houses, while we men strung +our bows and waited with spears in hand. But when the ship's +forefoot smelled the beach the strange men took no notice of us, +being busy with their own work.</p> + +<p>With the falling of the tide they careened the schooner and +patched a great hole in her bottom. So the women crept back, and +the feast went on.</p> + +<p>'When the tide rose, the sea wanderers kedged the schooner to +deep water and then came among us. They bore presents and were +friendly; so I made room for them, and out of the largeness of my +heart gave them tokens such as I gave all the guests, for it was +my wedding day, and I was head man in Akatan. And he with the +mane of the sea lion was there, so tall and strong that one +looked to see the earth shake with the fall of his feet. He +looked much and straight at Unga, with his arms folded, so, and +stayed till the sun went away and the stars came out.</p> + +<p>Then he went down to his ship. After that I took Unga by the +hand and led her to my own house. And there was singing and great +laughter, and the women said sly things, after the manner of +women at such times. But we did not care. Then the people left us +alone and went home.</p> + +<p>'The last noise had not died away when the chief of the sea +wanderers came in by the door. And he had with him black bottles, +from which we drank and made merry. You see, I was only a +stripling, and had lived all my days on the edge of the world. So +my blood became as fire, and my heart as light as the froth that +flies from the surf to the cliff. Unga sat silent among the skins +in the corner, her eyes wide, for she seemed to fear. And he with +the mane of the sea lion looked upon her straight and long. Then +his men came in with bundles of goods, and he piled before me +wealth such as was not in all Akatan.</p> + +<p>There were guns, both large and small, and powder and shot and +shell, and bright axes and knives of steel, and cunning tools, +and strange things the like of which I had never seen.</p> + +<p>When he showed me by sign that it was all mine, I thought him +a great man to be so free; but he showed me also that Unga was to +go away with him in his ship.</p> + +<p>Do you understand?--that Unga was to go away with him in his +ship. The blood of my fathers flamed hot on the sudden, and I +made to drive him through with my spear. But the spirit of the +bottles had stolen the life from my arm, and he took me by the +neck, so, and knocked my head against the wall of the house. And +I was made weak like a newborn child, and my legs would no more +stand under me.</p> + +<p>Unga screamed, and she laid hold of the things of the house +with her hands, till they fell all about us as he dragged her to +the door. Then he took her in his great arms, and when she tore +at his yellow hair laughed with a sound like that of the big bull +seal in the rut.</p> + +<p>'I crawled to the beach and called upon my people, but they +were afraid. Only Yash- Noosh was a man, and they struck him on +the head with an oar, till he lay with his face in the sand and +did not move. And they raised the sails to the sound of their +songs, and the ship went away on the wind.</p> + +<p>'The people said it was good, for there would be no more war +of the bloods in Akatan; but I said never a word, waiting till +the time of the full moon, when I put fish and oil in my kayak +and went away to the east. I saw many islands and many people, +and I, who had lived on the edge, saw that the world was very +large. I talked by signs; but they had not seen a schooner nor a +man with the mane of a sea lion, and they pointed always to the +east. And I slept in queer places, and ate odd things, and met +strange faces. Many laughed, for they thought me light of head; +but sometimes old men turned my face to the light and blessed me, +and the eyes of the young women grew soft as they asked me of the +strange ship, and Unga, and the men of the sea.</p> + +<p>'And in this manner, through rough seas and great storms, I +came to Unalaska. There were two schooners there, but neither was +the one I sought. So I passed on to the east, with the world +growing ever larger, and in the island of Unamok there was no +word of the ship, nor in Kadiak, nor in Atognak. And so I came +one day to a rocky land, where men dug great holes in the +mountain. And there was a schooner, but not my schooner, and men +loaded upon it the rocks which they dug. This I thought childish, +for all the world was made of rocks; but they gave me food and +set me to work. When the schooner was deep in the water, the +captain gave me money and told me to go; but I asked which way he +went, and he pointed south. I made signs that I would go with +him, and he laughed at first, but then, being short of men, took +me to help work the ship. So I came to talk after their manner, +and to heave on ropes, and to reef the stiff sails in sudden +squalls, and to take my turn at the wheel. But it was not +strange, for the blood of my fathers was the blood of the men of +the sea.</p> + +<p>'I had thought it an easy task to find him I sought, once I +got among his own people; and when we raised the land one day, +and passed between a gateway of the sea to a port, I looked for +perhaps as many schooners as there were fingers to my hands. But +the ships lay against the wharves for miles, packed like so many +little fish; and when I went among them to ask for a man with the +mane of a sea lion, they laughed, and answered me in the tongues +of many peoples. And I found that they hailed from the uttermost +parts of the earth.</p> + +<p>'And I went into the city to look upon the face of every man. +But they were like the cod when they run thick on the banks, and +I could not count them. And the noise smote upon me till I could +not hear, and my head was dizzy with much movement. So I went on +and on, through the lands which sang in the warm sunshine; where +the harvests lay rich on the plains; and where great cities were +fat with men that lived like women, with false words in their +mouths and their hearts black with the lust of gold. And all the +while my people of Akatan hunted and fished, and were happy in +the thought that the world was small.</p> + +<p>'But the look in the eyes of Unga coming home from the fishing +was with me always, and I knew I would find her when the time was +met. She walked down quiet lanes in the dusk of the evening, or +led me chases across the thick fields wet with the morning dew, +and there was a promise in her eyes such as only the woman Unga +could give.</p> + +<p>'So I wandered through a thousand cities. Some were gentle and +gave me food, and others laughed, and still others cursed; but I +kept my tongue between my teeth, and went strange ways and saw +strange sights. Sometimes I, who was a chief and the son of a +chief, toiled for men--men rough of speech and hard as iron, who +wrung gold from the sweat and sorrow of their fellow men. Yet no +word did I get of my quest till I came back to the sea like a +homing seal to the rookeries.</p> + +<p>But this was at another port, in another country which lay to +the north. And there I heard dim tales of the yellow-haired sea +wanderer, and I learned that he was a hunter of seals, and that +even then he was abroad on the ocean.</p> + +<p>'So I shipped on a seal schooner with the lazy Siwashes, and +followed his trackless trail to the north where the hunt was then +warm. And we were away weary months, and spoke many of the fleet, +and heard much of the wild doings of him I sought; but never once +did we raise him above the sea. We went north, even to the +Pribilofs, and killed the seals in herds on the beach, and +brought their warm bodies aboard till our scuppers ran grease and +blood and no man could stand upon the deck. Then were we chased +by a ship of slow steam, which fired upon us with great guns. But +we put sail till the sea was over our decks and washed them +clean, and lost ourselves in a fog.</p> + +<p>'It is said, at this time, while we fled with fear at our +hearts, that the yellowhaired sea wanderer put in to the +Pribilofs, right to the factory, and while the part of his men +held the servants of the company, the rest loaded ten thousand +green skins from the salt houses. I say it is said, but I +believe; for in the voyages I made on the coast with never a +meeting the northern seas rang with his wildness and daring, till +the three nations which have lands there sought him with their +ships.</p> + +<p>And I heard of Unga, for the captains sang loud in her praise, +and she was always with him. She had learned the ways of his +people, they said, and was happy. But I knew better- knew that +her heart harked back to her own people by the yellow beach of +Akatan.</p> + +<p>'So, after a long time, I went back to the port which is by a +gateway of the sea, and there I learned that he had gone across +the girth of the great ocean to hunt for the seal to the east of +the warm land which runs south from the Russian seas.</p> + +<p>And I, who was become a sailorman, shipped with men of his own +race, and went after him in the hunt of the seal. And there were +few ships off that new land; but we hung on the flank of the seal +pack and harried it north through all the spring of the year. And +when the cows were heavy with pup and crossed the Russian line, +our men grumbled and were afraid. For there was much fog, and +every day men were lost in the boats. They would not work, so the +captain turned the ship back toward the way it came. But I knew +the yellow- haired sea wanderer was unafraid, and would hang by +the pack, even to the Russian Isles, where few men go. So I took +a boat, in the black of night, when the lookout dozed on the +fo'c'slehead, and went alone to the warm, long land. And I +journeyed south to meet the men by Yeddo Bay, who are wild and +unafraid. And the Yoshiwara girls were small, and bright like +steel, and good to look upon; but I could not stop, for I knew +that Unga rolled on the tossing floor by the rookeries of the +north.</p> + +<p>'The men by Yeddo Bay had met from the ends of the earth, and +had neither gods nor homes, sailing under the flag of the +Japanese. And with them I went to the rich beaches of Copper +Island, where our salt piles became high with skins.</p> + +<p>And in that silent sea we saw no man till we were ready to +come away. Then one day the fog lifted on the edge of a heavy +wind, and there jammed down upon us a schooner, with close in her +wake the cloudy funnels of a Russian man-of-war. We fled away on +the beam of the wind, with the schooner jamming still closer and +plunging ahead three feet to our two. And upon her poop was the +man with the mane of the sea lion, pressing the rails under with +the canvas and laughing in his strength of life. And Unga was +there--I knew her on the moment--but he sent her below when the +cannons began to talk across the sea.</p> + +<p>As I say, with three feet to our two, till we saw the rudder +lift green at every jump--and I swinging on to the wheel and +cursing, with my back to the Russian shot. For we knew he had it +in mind to run before us, that he might get away while we were +caught. And they knocked our masts out of us till we dragged into +the wind like a wounded gull; but he went on over the edge of the +sky line--he and Unga.</p> + +<p>'What could we? The fresh hides spoke for themselves. So they +took us to a Russian port, and after that to a lone country, +where they set us to work in the mines to dig salt. And some +died, and--and some did not die.' Naass swept the blanket from +his shoulders, disclosing the gnarled and twisted flesh, marked +with the unmistakable striations of the knout. Prince hastily +covered him, for it was not nice to look upon.</p> + +<p>'We were there a weary time and sometimes men got away to the +south, but they always came back. So, when we who hailed from +Yeddo Bay rose in the night and took the guns from the guards, we +went to the north. And the land was very large, with plains, +soggy with water, and great forests. And the cold came, with much +snow on the ground, and no man knew the way. Weary months we +journeyed through the endless forest--I do not remember, now, for +there was little food and often we lay down to die. But at last +we came to the cold sea, and but three were left to look upon it. +One had shipped from Yeddo as captain, and he knew in his head +the lay of the great lands, and of the place where men may cross +from one to the other on the ice. And he led us--I do not know, +it was so long--till there were but two. When we came to that +place we found five of the strange people which live in that +country, and they had dogs and skins, and we were very poor. We +fought in the snow till they died, and the captain died, and the +dogs and skins were mine. Then I crossed on the ice, which was +broken, and once I drifted till a gale from the west put me upon +the shore. And after that, Golovin Bay, Pastilik, and the +priest.</p> + +<p>Then south, south, to the warm sunlands where first I +wandered.</p> + +<p>'But the sea was no longer fruitful, and those who went upon +it after the seal went to little profit and great risk. The +fleets scattered, and the captains and the men had no word of +those I sought. So I turned away from the ocean which never +rests, and went among the lands, where the trees, the houses, and +the mountains sit always in one place and do not move. I +journeyed far, and came to learn many things, even to the way of +reading and writing from books. It was well I should do this, for +it came upon me that Unga must know these things, and that +someday, when the time was met--we--you understand, when the time +was met.</p> + +<p>'So I drifted, like those little fish which raise a sail to +the wind but cannot steer. But my eyes and my ears were open +always, and I went among men who traveled much, for I knew they +had but to see those I sought to remember. At last there came a +man, fresh from the mountains, with pieces of rock in which the +free gold stood to the size of peas, and he had heard, he had +met, he knew them. They were rich, he said, and lived in the +place where they drew the gold from the ground.</p> + +<p>'It was in a wild country, and very far away; but in time I +came to the camp, hidden between the mountains, where men worked +night and day, out of the sight of the sun. Yet the time was not +come. I listened to the talk of the people. He had gone +away--they had gone away--to England, it was said, in the matter +of bringing men with much money together to form companies. I saw +the house they had lived in; more like a palace, such as one sees +in the old countries. In the nighttime I crept in through a +window that I might see in what manner he treated her. I went +from room to room, and in such way thought kings and queens must +live, it was all so very good. And they all said he treated her +like a queen, and many marveled as to what breed of woman she was +for there was other blood in her veins, and she was different +from the women of Akatan, and no one knew her for what she was. +Aye, she was a queen; but I was a chief, and the son of a chief, +and I had paid for her an untold price of skin and boat and +bead.</p> + +<p>'But why so many words? I was a sailorman, and knew the way of +the ships on the seas. I followed to England, and then to other +countries. Sometimes I heard of them by word of mouth, sometimes +I read of them in the papers; yet never once could I come by +them, for they had much money, and traveled fast, while I was a +poor man. Then came trouble upon them, and their wealth slipped +away one day like a curl of smoke. The papers were full of it at +the time; but after that nothing was said, and I knew they had +gone back where more gold could be got from the ground.</p> + +<p>'They had dropped out of the world, being now poor, and so I +wandered from camp to camp, even north to the Kootenay country, +where I picked up the cold scent. They had come and gone, some +said this way, and some that, and still others that they had gone +to the country of the Yukon. And I went this way, and I went +that, ever journeying from place to place, till it seemed I must +grow weary of the world which was so large. But in the Kootenay I +traveled a bad trail, and a long trail, with a breed of the +Northwest, who saw fit to die when the famine pinched. He had +been to the Yukon by an unknown way over the mountains, and when +he knew his time was near gave me the map and the secret of a +place where he swore by his gods there was much gold.</p> + +<p>'After that all the world began to flock into the north. I was +a poor man; I sold myself to be a driver of dogs. The rest you +know. I met him and her in Dawson.</p> + +<p>She did not know me, for I was only a stripling, and her life +had been large, so she had no time to remember the one who had +paid for her an untold price.</p> + +<p>'So? You bought me from my term of service. I went back to +bring things about in my own way, for I had waited long, and now +that I had my hand upon him was in no hurry.</p> + +<p>As I say, I had it in mind to do my own way, for I read back +in my life, through all I had seen and suffered, and remembered +the cold and hunger of the endless forest by the Russian seas. As +you know, I led him into the easthim and Unga--into the east +where many have gone and few returned. I led them to the spot +where the bones and the curses of men lie with the gold which +they may not have.</p> + +<p>'The way was long and the trail unpacked. Our dogs were many +and ate much; nor could our sleds carry till the break of spring. +We must come back before the river ran free. So here and there we +cached grub, that our sleds might be lightened and there be no +chance of famine on the back trip. At the McQuestion there were +three men, and near them we built a cache, as also did we at the +Mayo, where was a hunting camp of a dozen Pellys which had +crossed the divide from the south.</p> + +<p>After that, as we went on into the east, we saw no men; only +the sleeping river, the moveless forest, and the White Silence of +the North. As I say, the way was long and the trail unpacked. +Sometimes, in a day's toil, we made no more than eight miles, or +ten, and at night we slept like dead men. And never once did they +dream that I was Naass, head man of Akatan, the righter of +wrongs.</p> + +<p>'We now made smaller caches, and in the nighttime it was a +small matter to go back on the trail we had broken and change +them in such way that one might deem the wolverines the thieves. +Again there be places where there is a fall to the river, and the +water is unruly, and the ice makes above and is eaten away +beneath.</p> + +<p>In such a spot the sled I drove broke through, and the dogs; +and to him and Unga it was ill luck, but no more. And there was +much grub on that sled, and the dogs the strongest.</p> + +<p>But he laughed, for he was strong of life, and gave the dogs +that were left little grub till we cut them from the harnesses +one by one and fed them to their mates. We would go home light, +he said, traveling and eating from cache to cache, with neither +dogs nor sleds; which was true, for our grub was very short, and +the last dog died in the traces the night we came to the gold and +the bones and the curses of men.</p> + +<p>'To reach that place--and the map spoke true--in the heart of +the great mountains, we cut ice steps against the wall of a +divide. One looked for a valley beyond, but there was no valley; +the snow spread away, level as the great harvest plains, and here +and there about us mighty mountains shoved their white heads +among the stars. And midway on that strange plain which should +have been a valley the earth and the snow fell away, straight +down toward the heart of the world.</p> + +<p>Had we not been sailormen our heads would have swung round +with the sight, but we stood on the dizzy edge that we might see +a way to get down. And on one side, and one side only, the wall +had fallen away till it was like the slope of the decks in a +topsail breeze. I do not know why this thing should be so, but it +was so. "It is the mouth of hell," he said; "let us go down." And +we went down.</p> + +<p>'And on the bottom there was a cabin, built by some man, of +logs which he had cast down from above. It was a very old cabin, +for men had died there alone at different times, and on pieces of +birch bark which were there we read their last words and their +curses.</p> + +<p>One had died of scurvy; another's partner had robbed him of +his last grub and powder and stolen away; a third had been mauled +by a baldface grizzly; a fourth had hunted for game and +starved--and so it went, and they had been loath to leave the +gold, and had died by the side of it in one way or another. And +the worthless gold they had gathered yellowed the floor of the +cabin like in a dream.</p> + +<p>'But his soul was steady, and his head clear, this man I had +led thus far. "We have nothing to eat," he said, "and we will +only look upon this gold, and see whence it comes and how much +there be. Then we will go away quick, before it gets into our +eyes and steals away our judgment. And in this way we may return +in the end, with more grub, and possess it all." So we looked +upon the great vein, which cut the wall of the pit as a true vein +should, and we measured it, and traced it from above and below, +and drove the stakes of the claims and blazed the trees in token +of our rights. Then, our knees shaking with lack of food, and a +sickness in our bellies, and our hearts chugging close to our +mouths, we climbed the mighty wall for the last time and turned +our faces to the back trip.</p> + +<p>'The last stretch we dragged Unga between us, and we fell +often, but in the end we made the cache. And lo, there was no +grub. It was well done, for he thought it the wolverines, and +damned them and his gods in one breath. But Unga was brave, and +smiled, and put her hand in his, till I turned away that I might +hold myself. "We will rest by the fire," she said, "till morning, +and we will gather strength from our moccasins." So we cut the +tops of our moccasins in strips, and boiled them half of the +night, that we might chew them and swallow them. And in the +morning we talked of our chance. The next cache was five days' +journey; we could not make it. We must find game.</p> + +<p>'"We will go forth and hunt," he said.</p> + +<p>'"Yes," said I, "we will go forth and hunt." 'And he ruled +that Unga stay by the fire and save her strength. And we went +forth, he in quest of the moose and I to the cache I had changed. +But I ate little, so they might not see in me much strength. And +in the night he fell many times as he drew into camp. And I, too, +made to suffer great weakness, stumbling over my snowshoes as +though each step might be my last. And we gathered strength from +our moccasins.</p> + +<p>'He was a great man. His soul lifted his body to the last; nor +did he cry aloud, save for the sake of Unga. On the second day I +followed him, that I might not miss the end. And he lay down to +rest often. That night he was near gone; but in the morning he +swore weakly and went forth again. He was like a drunken man, and +I looked many times for him to give up, but his was the strength +of the strong, and his soul the soul of a giant, for he lifted +his body through all the weary day. And he shot two ptarmigan, +but would not eat them. He needed no fire; they meant life; but +his thought was for Unga, and he turned toward camp.</p> + +<p>He no longer walked, but crawled on hand and knee through the +snow. I came to him, and read death in his eyes. Even then it was +not too late to eat of the ptarmigan. He cast away his rifle and +carried the birds in his mouth like a dog. I walked by his side, +upright. And he looked at me during the moments he rested, and +wondered that I was so strong. I could see it, though he no +longer spoke; and when his lips moved, they moved without +sound.</p> + +<p>As I say, he was a great man, and my heart spoke for softness; +but I read back in my life, and remembered the cold and hunger of +the endless forest by the Russian seas. Besides, Unga was mine, +and I had paid for her an untold price of skin and boat and +bead.</p> + +<p>'And in this manner we came through the white forest, with the +silence heavy upon us like a damp sea mist. And the ghosts of the +past were in the air and all about us; and I saw the yellow beach +of Akatan, and the kayaks racing home from the fishing, and the +houses on the rim of the forest. And the men who had made +themselves chiefs were there, the lawgivers whose blood I bore +and whose blood I had wedded in Unga. Aye, and Yash- Noosh walked +with me, the wet sand in his hair, and his war spear, broken as +he fell upon it, still in his hand. And I knew the time was meet, +and saw in the eyes of Unga the promise.</p> + +<p>'As I say, we came thus through the forest, till the smell of +the camp smoke was in our nostrils. And I bent above him, and +tore the ptarmigan from his teeth.</p> + +<p>He turned on his side and rested, the wonder mounting in his +eyes, and the hand which was under slipping slow toward the knife +at his hip. But I took it from him, smiling close in his face. +Even then he did not understand. So I made to drink from black +bottles, and to build high upon the snow a pile--of goods, and to +live again the things which had happened on the night of my +marriage. I spoke no word, but he understood. Yet was he +unafraid. There was a sneer to his lips, and cold anger, and he +gathered new strength with the knowledge. It was not far, but the +snow was deep, and he dragged himself very slow.</p> + +<p>Once he lay so long I turned him over and gazed into his eyes. +And sometimes he looked forth, and sometimes death. And when I +loosed him he struggled on again. In this way we came to the +fire. Unga was at his side on the instant. His lips moved without +sound; then he pointed at me, that Unga might understand. And +after that he lay in the snow, very still, for a long while. Even +now is he there in the snow.</p> + +<p>'I said no word till I had cooked the ptarmigan. Then I spoke +to her, in her own tongue, which she had not heard in many years. +She straightened herself, so, and her eyes were wonder-wide, and +she asked who I was, and where I had learned that speech.</p> + +<p>'"I am Naass," I said.</p> + +<p>'"You?" she said. "You?" And she crept close that she might +look upon me.</p> + +<p>'"Yes," I answered; "I am Naass, head man of Akatan, the last +of the blood, as you are the last of the blood." 'And she +laughed. By all the things I have seen and the deeds I have done +may I never hear such a laugh again. It put the chill to my soul, +sitting there in the White Silence, alone with death and this +woman who laughed.</p> + +<p>'"Come!" I said, for I thought she wandered. "Eat of the food +and let us be gone. It is a far fetch from here to Akatan." 'But +she shoved her face in his yellow mane, and laughed till it +seemed the heavens must fall about our ears. I had thought she +would be overjoyed at the sight of me, and eager to go back to +the memory of old times, but this seemed a strange form to +take.</p> + +<p>'"Come!' I cried, taking her strong by the hand. "The way is +long and dark.</p> + +<p>Let us hurry!' '"Where?" she asked, sitting up, and ceasing +from her strange mirth.</p> + +<p>'"To Akatan," I answered, intent on the light to grow on her +face at the thought. But it became like his, with a sneer to the +lips, and cold anger.</p> + +<p>'"Yes,' she said; "we will go, hand in hand, to Akatan, you +and I. And we will live in the dirty huts, and eat of the fish +and oil, and bring forth a spawn--a spawn to be proud of all the +days of our life. We will forget the world and be happy, very +happy. It is good, most good. Come! Let us hurry. Let us go back +to Akatan." 'And she ran her hand through his yellow hair, and +smiled in a way which was not good. And there was no promise in +her eyes.</p> + +<p>'I sat silent, and marveled at the strangeness of woman. I +went back to the night when he dragged her from me and she +screamed and tore at his hair--at his hair which now she played +with and would not leave. Then I remembered the price and the +long years of waiting; and I gripped her close, and dragged her +away as he had done. And she held back, even as on that night, +and fought like a she-cat for its whelp. And when the fire was +between us and the man. I loosed her, and she sat and listened. +And I told her of all that lay between, of all that had happened +to me on strange seas, of all that I had done in strange lands; +of my weary quest, and the hungry years, and the promise which +had been mine from the first. Aye, I told all, even to what had +passed that day between the man and me, and in the days yet +young. And as I spoke I saw the promise grow in her eyes, full +and large like the break of dawn. And I read pity there, the +tenderness of woman, the love, the heart and the soul of Unga. +And I was a stripling again, for the look was the look of Unga as +she ran up the beach, laughing, to the home of her mother. The +stern unrest was gone, and the hunger, and the weary waiting.</p> + +<p>The time was met. I felt the call of her breast, and it seemed +there I must pillow my head and forget. She opened her arms to +me, and I came against her. Then, sudden, the hate flamed in her +eye, her hand was at my hip. And once, twice, she passed the +knife.</p> + +<p>'"Dog!" she sneered, as she flung me into the snow. "Swine!" +And then she laughed till the silence cracked, and went back to +her dead.</p> + +<p>'As I say, once she passed the knife, and twice; but she was +weak with hunger, and it was not meant that I should die. Yet was +I minded to stay in that place, and to close my eyes in the last +long sleep with those whose lives had crossed with mine and led +my feet on unknown trails. But there lay a debt upon me which +would not let me rest.</p> + +<p>'And the way was long, the cold bitter, and there was little +grub. The Pellys had found no moose, and had robbed my cache. And +so had the three white men, but they lay thin and dead in their +cabins as I passed. After that I do not remember, till I came +here, and found food and fire--much fire.' As he finished, he +crouched closely, even jealously, over the stove. For a long +while the slush-lamp shadows played tragedies upon the wall.</p> + +<p>'But Unga!' cried Prince, the vision still strong upon +him.</p> + +<p>'Unga? She would not eat of the ptarmigan. She lay with her +arms about his neck, her face deep in his yellow hair. I drew the +fire close, that she might not feel the frost, but she crept to +the other side. And I built a fire there; yet it was little good, +for she would not eat. And in this manner they still lie up there +in the snow.'</p> + +<p>'And you?' asked Malemute Kid.</p> + +<p>'I do not know; but Akatan is small, and I have little wish to +go back and live on the edge of the world. Yet is there small use +in life. I can go to Constantine, and he will put irons upon me, +and one day they will tie a piece of rope, so, and I will sleep +good. Yet--no; I do not know.' 'But, Kid,' protested Prince, +'this is murder!' 'Hush!' commanded Malemute Kid. 'There be +things greater than our wisdom, beyond our justice. The right and +the wrong of this we cannot say, and it is not for us to judge.' +Naass drew yet closer to the fire. There was a great silence, and +in each man's eyes many pictures came and went.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<pre> +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, SON OF THE WOLF *** + +This file should be named snwlf10h.htm or snwlf10h.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, snwlf11h.htm +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, snwlf10ah.htm + + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Son of the Wolf + +Author: Jack London + +Release Date: October, 2000 [EBook #2377] +[This file was last updated on May 11, 2003] + +Edition: 11 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SON OF THE WOLF *** + + + + + + + + + + +The Son of the Wolf +Jack London + +1900 + +Contains +The White Silence +The Son of the Wolf +The Men of Forty Mile +In a Far Country +To the Man on the Trail +The Priestly Prerogative +The Wisdom of the Trail +The Wife of a King +An Odyssey of the North + + + +The White Silence + +'Carmen won't last more than a couple of days.' Mason spat out a +chunk of ice and surveyed the poor animal ruefully, then put her +foot in his mouth and proceeded to bite out the ice which +clustered cruelly between the toes. + +'I never saw a dog with a highfalutin' name that ever was worth a +rap,' he said, as he concluded his task and shoved her aside. +'They just fade away and die under the responsibility. Did ye +ever see one go wrong with a sensible name like Cassiar, Siwash, +or Husky? No, sir! Take a look at Shookum here, he's--' Snap! The +lean brute flashed up, the white teeth just missing Mason's +throat. + +'Ye will, will ye?' A shrewd clout behind the ear with the butt +of the dog whip stretched the animal in the snow, quivering +softly, a yellow slaver dripping from its fangs. + +'As I was saying, just look at Shookum here--he's got the spirit. +Bet ye he eats Carmen before the week's out.' 'I'll bank another +proposition against that,' replied Malemute Kid, reversing the +frozen bread placed before the fire to thaw. 'We'll eat Shookum +before the trip is over. What d'ye say, Ruth?' The Indian woman +settled the coffee with a piece of ice, glanced from Malemute Kid +to her husband, then at the dogs, but vouchsafed no reply. It was +such a palpable truism that none was necessary. Two hundred miles +of unbroken trail in prospect, with a scant six days' grub for +themselves and none for the dogs, could admit no other alternative. +The two men and the woman grouped about the fire and began their +meager meal. The dogs lay in their harnesses for it was a midday +halt, and watched each mouthful enviously. + +'No more lunches after today,' said Malemute Kid. 'And we've got +to keep a close eye on the dogs--they're getting vicious. They'd +just as soon pull a fellow down as not, if they get a chance.' +'And I was president of an Epworth once, and taught in the Sunday +school.' Having irrelevantly delivered himself of this, Mason +fell into a dreamy contemplation of his steaming moccasins, but +was aroused by Ruth filling his cup. + +'Thank God, we've got slathers of tea! I've seen it growing, down +in Tennessee. What wouldn't I give for a hot corn pone just now! +Never mind, Ruth; you won't starve much longer, nor wear +moccasins either.' The woman threw off her gloom at this, and in +her eyes welled up a great love for her white lord--the first +white man she had ever seen--the first man whom she had known to +treat a woman as something better than a mere animal or beast of +burden. + +'Yes, Ruth,' continued her husband, having recourse to the +macaronic jargon in which it was alone possible for them to +understand each other; 'wait till we clean up and pull for the +Outside. We'll take the White Man's canoe and go to the Salt +Water. Yes, bad water, rough water--great mountains dance up and +down all the time. And so big, so far, so far away--you travel +ten sleep, twenty sleep, forty sleep'--he graphically enumerated +the days on his fingers--'all the time water, bad water. Then you +come to great village, plenty people, just the same mosquitoes +next summer. Wigwams oh, so high--ten, twenty pines. + +'Hi-yu skookum!' He paused impotently, cast an appealing glance +at Malemute Kid, then laboriously placed the twenty pines, end on +end, by sign language. Malemute Kid smiled with cheery cynicism; +but Ruth's eyes were wide with wonder, and with pleasure; for she +half believed he was joking, and such condescension pleased her +poor woman's heart. + +'And then you step into a--a box, and pouf! up you go.' He tossed +his empty cup in the air by way of illustration and, as he deftly +caught it, cried: 'And biff! down you come. Oh, great medicine +men! You go Fort Yukon. I go Arctic City--twenty-five sleep--big +string, all the time--I catch him string--I say, "Hello, Ruth! +How are ye?"--and you say, "Is that my good husband?"--and I say, +"Yes"--and you say, "No can bake good bread, no more soda"--then +I say, "Look in cache, under flour; good-by." You look and catch +plenty soda. All the time you Fort Yukon, me Arctic City. Hi-yu +medicine man!' Ruth smiled so ingenuously at the fairy story that +both men burst into laughter. A row among the dogs cut short the +wonders of the Outside, and by the time the snarling combatants +were separated, she had lashed the sleds and all was ready for +the trail.--'Mush! Baldy! Hi! Mush on!' Mason worked his whip +smartly and, as the dogs whined low in the traces, broke out the +sled with the gee pole. Ruth followed with the second team, +leaving Malemute Kid, who had helped her start, to bring up the +rear. Strong man, brute that he was, capable of felling an ox at +a blow, he could not bear to beat the poor animals, but humored +them as a dog driver rarely does--nay, almost wept with them in +their misery. + +'Come, mush on there, you poor sore-footed brutes!' he murmured, +after several ineffectual attempts to start the load. But his +patience was at last rewarded, and though whimpering with pain, +they hastened to join their fellows. + +No more conversation; the toil of the trail will not permit such +extravagance. + +And of all deadening labors, that of the Northland trail is the +worst. Happy is the man who can weather a day's travel at the +price of silence, and that on a beaten track. And of all +heartbreaking labors, that of breaking trail is the worst. At +every step the great webbed shoe sinks till the snow is level +with the knee. Then up, straight up, the deviation of a fraction +of an inch being a certain precursor of disaster, the snowshoe +must be lifted till the surface is cleared; then forward, down, +and the other foot is raised perpendicularly for the matter of +half a yard. He who tries this for the first time, if haply he +avoids bringing his shoes in dangerous propinquity and measures +not his length on the treacherous footing, will give up exhausted +at the end of a hundred yards; he who can keep out of the way of +the dogs for a whole day may well crawl into his sleeping bag +with a clear conscience and a pride which passeth all +understanding; and he who travels twenty sleeps on the Long Trail +is a man whom the gods may envy. + +The afternoon wore on, and with the awe, born of the White +Silence, the voiceless travelers bent to their work. Nature has +many tricks wherewith she convinces man of his finity--the +ceaseless flow of the tides, the fury of the storm, the shock of +the earthquake, the long roll of heaven's artillery--but the most +tremendous, the most stupefying of all, is the passive phase of +the White Silence. All movement ceases, the sky clears, the +heavens are as brass; the slightest whisper seems sacrilege, and +man becomes timid, affrighted at the sound of his own voice. Sole +speck of life journeying across the ghostly wastes of a dead +world, he trembles at his audacity, realizes that his is a +maggot's life, nothing more. + +Strange thoughts arise unsummoned, and the mystery of all things +strives for utterance. + +And the fear of death, of God, of the universe, comes over +him--the hope of the Resurrection and the Life, the yearning for +immortality, the vain striving of the imprisoned essence--it is +then, if ever, man walks alone with God. + +So wore the day away. The river took a great bend, and Mason +headed his team for the cutoff across the narrow neck of land. +But the dogs balked at the high bank. Again and again, though +Ruth and Malemute Kid were shoving on the sled, they slipped +back. Then came the concerted effort. The miserable creatures, +weak from hunger, exerted their last strength. Up--up--the sled +poised on the top of the bank; but the leader swung the string of +dogs behind him to the right, fouling Mason's snowshoes. The +result was grievous. + +Mason was whipped off his feet; one of the dogs fell in the +traces; and the sled toppled back, dragging everything to the +bottom again. + +Slash! the whip fell among the dogs savagely, especially upon the +one which had fallen. + +'Don't,--Mason,' entreated Malemute Kid; 'the poor devil's on its +last legs. Wait and we'll put my team on.' Mason deliberately +withheld the whip till the last word had fallen, then out flashed +the long lash, completely curling about the offending creature's +body. + +Carmen--for it was Carmen--cowered in the snow, cried piteously, +then rolled over on her side. + +It was a tragic moment, a pitiful incident of the trail--a dying +dog, two comrades in anger. + +Ruth glanced solicitously from man to man. But Malemute Kid +restrained himself, though there was a world of reproach in his +eyes, and, bending over the dog, cut the traces. No word was +spoken. The teams were doublespanned and the difficulty overcome; +the sleds were under way again, the dying dog dragging herself +along in the rear. As long as an animal can travel, it is not +shot, and this last chance is accorded it--the crawling into +camp, if it can, in the hope of a moose being killed. + +Already penitent for his angry action, but too stubborn to make +amends, Mason toiled on at the head of the cavalcade, little +dreaming that danger hovered in the air. The timber clustered +thick in the sheltered bottom, and through this they threaded +their way. Fifty feet or more from the trail towered a lofty +pine. For generations it had stood there, and for generations +destiny had had this one end in view--perhaps the same had been +decreed of Mason. + +He stooped to fasten the loosened thong of his moccasin. The +sleds came to a halt, and the dogs lay down in the snow without a +whimper. The stillness was weird; not a breath rustled the +frost-encrusted forest; the cold and silence of outer space had +chilled the heart and smote the trembling lips of nature. A sigh +pulsed through the air--they did not seem to actually hear it, +but rather felt it, like the premonition of movement in a +motionless void. Then the great tree, burdened with its weight of +years and snow, played its last part in the tragedy of life. He +heard the warning crash and attempted to spring up but, almost +erect, caught the blow squarely on the shoulder. + +The sudden danger, the quick death--how often had Malemute Kid +faced it! The pine needles were still quivering as he gave his +commands and sprang into action. Nor did the Indian girl faint or +raise her voice in idle wailing, as might many of her white +sisters. At his order, she threw her weight on the end of a +quickly extemporized handspike, easing the pressure and listening +to her husband's groans, while Malemute Kid attacked the tree +with his ax. The steel rang merrily as it bit into the frozen +trunk, each stroke being accompanied by a forced, audible +respiration, the 'Huh!' 'Huh!' of the woodsman. + +At last the Kid laid the pitiable thing that was once a man in +the snow. But worse than his comrade's pain was the dumb anguish +in the woman's face, the blended look of hopeful, hopeless query. +Little was said; those of the Northland are early taught the +futility of words and the inestimable value of deeds. With the +temperature at sixty-five below zero, a man cannot lie many +minutes in the snow and live. So the sled lashings were cut, and +the sufferer, rolled in furs, laid on a couch of boughs. Before +him roared a fire, built of the very wood which wrought the +mishap. Behind and partially over him was stretched the primitive +fly--a piece of canvas, which caught the radiating heat and threw +it back and down upon him--a trick which men may know who study +physics at the fount. + +And men who have shared their bed with death know when the call +is sounded. Mason was terribly crushed. The most cursory +examination revealed it. + +His right arm, leg, and back were broken; his limbs were +paralyzed from the hips; and the likelihood of internal injuries +was large. An occasional moan was his only sign of life. + +No hope; nothing to be done. The pitiless night crept slowly +by--Ruth's portion, the despairing stoicism of her race, and +Malemute Kid adding new lines to his face of bronze. + +In fact, Mason suffered least of all, for he spent his time in +eastern Tennessee, in the Great Smoky Mountains, living over the +scenes of his childhood. And most pathetic was the melody of his +long-forgotten Southern vernacular, as he raved of swimming holes +and coon hunts and watermelon raids. It was as Greek to Ruth, but +the Kid understood and felt--felt as only one can feel who has +been shut out for years from all that civilization means. + +Morning brought consciousness to the stricken man, and Malemute +Kid bent closer to catch his whispers. + +'You remember when we foregathered on the Tanana, four years come +next ice run? I didn't care so much for her then. It was more +like she was pretty, and there was a smack of excitement about +it, I think. But d'ye know, I've come to think a heap of her. +She's been a good wife to me, always at my shoulder in the pinch. +And when it comes to trading, you know there isn't her equal. +D'ye recollect the time she shot the Moosehorn Rapids to pull you +and me off that rock, the bullets whipping the water like +hailstones?--and the time of the famine at Nuklukyeto?--when she +raced the ice run to bring the news? + +'Yes, she's been a good wife to me, better'n that other one. +Didn't know I'd been there? + +'Never told you, eh? Well, I tried it once, down in the States. +That's why I'm here. Been raised together, too. I came away to +give her a chance for divorce. She got it. + +'But that's got nothing to do with Ruth. I had thought of +cleaning up and pulling for the Outside next year--her and I--but +it's too late. Don't send her back to her people, Kid. It's +beastly hard for a woman to go back. Think of it!--nearly four +years on our bacon and beans and flour and dried fruit, and then +to go back to her fish and caribou. It's not good for her to have +tried our ways, to come to know they're better'n her people's, +and then return to them. Take care of her, Kid, why don't you--but +no, you always fought shy of them--and you never told me why you +came to this country. Be kind to her, and send her back to the +States as soon as you can. But fix it so she can come back--liable +to get homesick, you know. + +'And the youngster--it's drawn us closer, Kid. I only hope it is +a boy. Think of it!--flesh of my flesh, Kid. He mustn't stop in +this country. And if it's a girl, why, she can't. Sell my furs; +they'll fetch at least five thousand, and I've got as much more +with the company. And handle my interests with yours. I think +that bench claim will show up. See that he gets a good schooling; +and Kid, above all, don't let him come back. This country was not +made for white men. + +'I'm a gone man, Kid. Three or four sleeps at the best. You've +got to go on. You must go on! Remember, it's my wife, it's my +boy--O God! I hope it's a boy! You can't stay by me--and I charge +you, a dying man, to pull on.' + +'Give me three days,' pleaded Malemute Kid. 'You may change for +the better; something may turn up.' + +'No.' + +'Just three days.' + +'You must pull on.' + +'Two days.' + +'It's my wife and my boy, Kid. You would not ask it.' + +'One day.' + +'No, no! I charge--' + +'Only one day. We can shave it through on the grub, and I might +knock over a moose.' + +'No--all right; one day, but not a minute more. And, Kid, +don't--don't leave me to face it alone. Just a shot, one pull on +the trigger. You understand. Think of it! Think of it! Flesh of +my flesh, and I'll never live to see him! + +'Send Ruth here. I want to say good-by and tell her that she must +think of the boy and not wait till I'm dead. She might refuse to +go with you if I didn't. Goodby, old man; good-by. + +'Kid! I say--a--sink a hole above the pup, next to the slide. I +panned out forty cents on my shovel there. + +'And, Kid!' He stooped lower to catch the last faint words, the +dying man's surrender of his pride. 'I'm sorry--for--you +know--Carmen.' Leaving the girl crying softly over her man, +Malemute Kid slipped into his parka and snowshoes, tucked his +rifle under his arm, and crept away into the forest. He was no +tyro in the stern sorrows of the Northland, but never had he +faced so stiff a problem as this. In the abstract, it was a +plain, mathematical proposition--three possible lives as against +one doomed one. But now he hesitated. For five years, shoulder to +shoulder, on the rivers and trails, in the camps and mines, +facing death by field and flood and famine, had they knitted the +bonds of their comradeship. So close was the tie that he had +often been conscious of a vague jealousy of Ruth, from the first +time she had come between. And now it must be severed by his own +hand. + +Though he prayed for a moose, just one moose, all game seemed to +have deserted the land, and nightfall found the exhausted man +crawling into camp, lighthanded, heavyhearted. An uproar from the +dogs and shrill cries from Ruth hastened him. + +Bursting into the camp, he saw the girl in the midst of the +snarling pack, laying about her with an ax. The dogs had broken +the iron rule of their masters and were rushing the grub. + +He joined the issue with his rifle reversed, and the hoary game +of natural selection was played out with all the ruthlessness of +its primeval environment. Rifle and ax went up and down, hit or +missed with monotonous regularity; lithe bodies flashed, with +wild eyes and dripping fangs; and man and beast fought for +supremacy to the bitterest conclusion. Then the beaten brutes +crept to the edge of the firelight, licking their wounds, voicing +their misery to the stars. + +The whole stock of dried salmon had been devoured, and perhaps +five pounds of flour remained to tide them over two hundred miles +of wilderness. Ruth returned to her husband, while Malemute Kid +cut up the warm body of one of the dogs, the skull of which had +been crushed by the ax. Every portion was carefully put away, +save the hide and offal, which were cast to his fellows of the +moment before. + +Morning brought fresh trouble. The animals were turning on each +other. Carmen, who still clung to her slender thread of life, was +downed by the pack. The lash fell among them unheeded. They +cringed and cried under the blows, but refused to scatter till +the last wretched bit had disappeared--bones, hide, hair, +everything. + +Malemute Kid went about his work, listening to Mason, who was +back in Tennessee, delivering tangled discourses and wild +exhortations to his brethren of other days. + +Taking advantage of neighboring pines, he worked rapidly, and +Ruth watched him make a cache similar to those sometimes used by +hunters to preserve their meat from the wolverines and dogs. One +after the other, he bent the tops of two small pines toward each +other and nearly to the ground, making them fast with thongs of +moosehide. Then he beat the dogs into submission and harnessed +them to two of the sleds, loading the same with everything but +the furs which enveloped Mason. These he wrapped and lashed +tightly about him, fastening either end of the robes to the bent +pines. A single stroke of his hunting knife would release them +and send the body high in the air. + +Ruth had received her husband's last wishes and made no struggle. +Poor girl, she had learned the lesson of obedience well. From a +child, she had bowed, and seen all women bow, to the lords of +creation, and it did not seem in the nature of things for woman +to resist. The Kid permitted her one outburst of grief, as she +kissed her husband--her own people had no such custom--then led +her to the foremost sled and helped her into her snowshoes. +Blindly, instinctively, she took the gee pole and whip, and +'mushed' the dogs out on the trail. Then he returned to Mason, +who had fallen into a coma, and long after she was out of sight +crouched by the fire, waiting, hoping, praying for his comrade to +die. + +It is not pleasant to be alone with painful thoughts in the White +Silence. The silence of gloom is merciful, shrouding one as with +protection and breathing a thousand intangible sympathies; but +the bright White Silence, clear and cold, under steely skies, is +pitiless. + +An hour passed--two hours--but the man would not die. At high +noon the sun, without raising its rim above the southern horizon, +threw a suggestion of fire athwart the heavens, then quickly drew +it back. Malemute Kid roused and dragged himself to his comrade's +side. He cast one glance about him. The White Silence seemed to +sneer, and a great fear came upon him. There was a sharp report; +Mason swung into his aerial sepulcher, and Malemute Kid lashed +the dogs into a wild gallop as he fled across the snow. + + + +The Son of the Wolf + +Man rarely places a proper valuation upon his womankind, at least +not until deprived of them. He has no conception of the subtle +atmosphere exhaled by the sex feminine, so long as he bathes in +it; but let it be withdrawn, and an ever-growing void begins to +manifest itself in his existence, and he becomes hungry, in a +vague sort of way, for a something so indefinite that he cannot +characterize it. If his comrades have no more experience than +himself, they will shake their heads dubiously and dose him with +strong physic. But the hunger will continue and become stronger; +he will lose interest in the things of his everyday life and wax +morbid; and one day, when the emptiness has become unbearable, a +revelation will dawn upon him. + +In the Yukon country, when this comes to pass, the man usually +provisions a poling boat, if it is summer, and if winter, +harnesses his dogs, and heads for the Southland. A few months +later, supposing him to be possessed of a faith in the country, +he returns with a wife to share with him in that faith, and +incidentally in his hardships. This but serves to show the innate +selfishness of man. It also brings us to the trouble of 'Scruff' +Mackenzie, which occurred in the old days, before the country was +stampeded and staked by a tidal-wave of the che-cha-quas, and +when the Klondike's only claim to notice was its salmon +fisheries. + +'Scruff' Mackenzie bore the earmarks of a frontier birth and a +frontier life. + +His face was stamped with twenty-five years of incessant struggle +with Nature in her wildest moods,--the last two, the wildest and +hardest of all, having been spent in groping for the gold which +lies in the shadow of the Arctic Circle. When the yearning +sickness came upon him, he was not surprised, for he was a +practical man and had seen other men thus stricken. But he showed +no sign of his malady, save that he worked harder. All summer he +fought mosquitoes and washed the sure-thing bars of the Stuart +River for a double grubstake. Then he floated a raft of houselogs +down the Yukon to Forty Mile, and put together as comfortable a +cabin as any the camp could boast of. In fact, it showed such +cozy promise that many men elected to be his partner and to come +and live with him. But he crushed their aspirations with rough +speech, peculiar for its strength and brevity, and bought a +double supply of grub from the trading-post. + +As has been noted, 'Scruff' Mackenzie was a practical man. If he +wanted a thing he usually got it, but in doing so, went no +farther out of his way than was necessary. Though a son of toil +and hardship, he was averse to a journey of six hundred miles on +the ice, a second of two thousand miles on the ocean, and still a +third thousand miles or so to his last stamping-grounds,--all in +the mere quest of a wife. Life was too short. So he rounded up +his dogs, lashed a curious freight to his sled, and faced across +the divide whose westward slopes were drained by the head-reaches +of the Tanana. + +He was a sturdy traveler, and his wolf-dogs could work harder and +travel farther on less grub than any other team in the Yukon. +Three weeks later he strode into a hunting-camp of the Upper +Tanana Sticks. They marveled at his temerity; for they had a bad +name and had been known to kill white men for as trifling a thing +as a sharp ax or a broken rifle. + +But he went among them single-handed, his bearing being a +delicious composite of humility, familiarity, sang-froid, and +insolence. It required a deft hand and deep knowledge of the +barbaric mind effectually to handle such diverse weapons; but he +was a past-master in the art, knowing when to conciliate and when +to threaten with Jove-like wrath. + +He first made obeisance to the Chief Thling-Tinneh, presenting +him with a couple of pounds of black tea and tobacco, and thereby +winning his most cordial regard. Then he mingled with the men and +maidens, and that night gave a potlach. + +The snow was beaten down in the form of an oblong, perhaps a +hundred feet in length and quarter as many across. Down the +center a long fire was built, while either side was carpeted with +spruce boughs. The lodges were forsaken, and the fivescore or so +members of the tribe gave tongue to their folk-chants in honor of +their guest. + +'Scruff' Mackenzie's two years had taught him the not many +hundred words of their vocabulary, and he had likewise conquered +their deep gutturals, their Japanese idioms, constructions, and +honorific and agglutinative particles. So he made oration after +their manner, satisfying their instinctive poetry-love with crude +flights of eloquence and metaphorical contortions. After +Thling-Tinneh and the Shaman had responded in kind, he made +trifling presents to the menfolk, joined in their singing, and +proved an expert in their fifty-two-stick gambling game. + +And they smoked his tobacco and were pleased. But among the +younger men there was a defiant attitude, a spirit of braggadocio, +easily understood by the raw insinuations of the toothless squaws +and the giggling of the maidens. They had known few white men, +'Sons of the Wolf,' but from those few they had learned strange +lessons. + +Nor had 'Scruff' Mackenzie, for all his seeming carelessness, +failed to note these phenomena. In truth, rolled in his +sleeping-furs, he thought it all over, thought seriously, and +emptied many pipes in mapping out a campaign. One maiden only had +caught his fancy,--none other than Zarinska, daughter to the +chief. In features, form, and poise, answering more nearly to the +white man's type of beauty, she was almost an anomaly among her +tribal sisters. He would possess her, make her his wife, and name +her--ah, he would name her Gertrude! Having thus decided, he +rolled over on his side and dropped off to sleep, a true son of +his all-conquering race, a Samson among the Philistines. + +It was slow work and a stiff game; but 'Scruff' Mackenzie +maneuvered cunningly, with an unconcern which served to puzzle +the Sticks. He took great care to impress the men that he was a +sure shot and a mighty hunter, and the camp rang with his +plaudits when he brought down a moose at six hundred yards. Of a +night he visited in Chief Thling-Tinneh's lodge of moose and +cariboo skins, talking big and dispensing tobacco with a lavish +hand. Nor did he fail to likewise honor the Shaman; for he +realized the medicine-man's influence with his people, and was +anxious to make of him an ally. But that worthy was high and +mighty, refused to be propitiated, and was unerringly marked down +as a prospective enemy. + +Though no opening presented for an interview with Zarinska, +Mackenzie stole many a glance to her, giving fair warning of his +intent. And well she knew, yet coquettishly surrounded herself +with a ring of women whenever the men were away and he had a +chance. But he was in no hurry; besides, he knew she could not +help but think of him, and a few days of such thought would only +better his suit. + +At last, one night, when he deemed the time to be ripe, he +abruptly left the chief's smoky dwelling and hastened to a +neighboring lodge. As usual, she sat with squaws and maidens +about her, all engaged in sewing moccasins and beadwork. They +laughed at his entrance, and badinage, which linked Zarinska to +him, ran high. But one after the other they were unceremoniously +bundled into the outer snow, whence they hurried to spread the +tale through all the camp. + +His cause was well pleaded, in her tongue, for she did not know +his, and at the end of two hours he rose to go. + +'So Zarinska will come to the White Man's lodge? Good! I go now +to have talk with thy father, for he may not be so minded. And I +will give him many tokens; but he must not ask too much. If he +say no? Good! Zarinska shall yet come to the White Man's lodge.' + +He had already lifted the skin flap to depart, when a low +exclamation brought him back to the girl's side. She brought +herself to her knees on the bearskin mat, her face aglow with +true Eve-light, and shyly unbuckled his heavy belt. He looked +down, perplexed, suspicious, his ears alert for the slightest +sound without. + +But her next move disarmed his doubt, and he smiled with +pleasure. She took from her sewing bag a moosehide sheath, brave +with bright beadwork, fantastically designed. She drew his great +hunting-knife, gazed reverently along the keen edge, half tempted +to try it with her thumb, and shot it into place in its new home. +Then she slipped the sheath along the belt to its customary +resting-place, just above the hip. For all the world, it was like +a scene of olden time,--a lady and her knight. + +Mackenzie drew her up full height and swept her red lips with his +moustache,the, to her, foreign caress of the Wolf. It was a +meeting of the stone age and the steel; but she was none the less +a woman, as her crimson cheeks and the luminous softness of her +eyes attested. + +There was a thrill of excitement in the air as 'Scruff' +Mackenzie, a bulky bundle under his arm, threw open the flap of +Thling-Tinneh's tent. Children were running about in the open, +dragging dry wood to the scene of the potlach, a babble of +women's voices was growing in intensity, the young men were +consulting in sullen groups, while from the Shaman's lodge rose +the eerie sounds of an incantation. + +The chief was alone with his blear-eyed wife, but a glance +sufficed to tell Mackenzie that the news was already told. So he +plunged at once into the business, shifting the beaded sheath +prominently to the fore as advertisement of the betrothal. + +'O Thling-Tinneh, mighty chief of the Sticks And the land of the +Tanana, ruler of the salmon and the bear, the moose and the +cariboo! The White Man is before thee with a great purpose. Many +moons has his lodge been empty, and he is lonely. And his heart +has eaten itself in silence, and grown hungry for a woman to sit +beside him in his lodge, to meet him from the hunt with warm fire +and good food. He has heard strange things, the patter of baby +moccasins and the sound of children's voices. And one night a +vision came upon him, and he beheld the Raven, who is thy father, +the great Raven, who is the father of all the Sticks. And the +Raven spake to the lonely White Man, saying: "Bind thou thy +moccasins upon thee, and gird thy snow-shoes on, and lash thy +sled with food for many sleeps and fine tokens for the Chief +Thling-Tinneh. For thou shalt turn thy face to where the +mid-spring sun is wont to sink below the land and journey to +this great chief's hunting-grounds. There thou shalt make big +presents, and Thling-Tinneh, who is my son, shall become to thee +as a father. In his lodge there is a maiden into whom I breathed +the breath of life for thee. This maiden shalt thou take to +wife." 'O Chief, thus spake the great Raven; thus do I lay many +presents at thy feet; thus am I come to take thy daughter!' The +old man drew his furs about him with crude consciousness of +royalty, but delayed reply while a youngster crept in, delivered +a quick message to appear before the council, and was gone. + +'O White Man, whom we have named Moose-Killer, also known as the +Wolf, and the Son of the Wolf! We know thou comest of a mighty +race; we are proud to have thee our potlach-guest; but the +king-salmon does not mate with the dogsalmon, nor the Raven with +the Wolf.' 'Not so!' cried Mackenzie. 'The daughters of the Raven +have I met in the camps of the Wolf,--the squaw of Mortimer, the +squaw of Tregidgo, the squaw of Barnaby, who came two ice-runs +back, and I have heard of other squaws, though my eyes beheld +them not.' 'Son, your words are true; but it were evil mating, +like the water with the sand, like the snow-flake with the sun. +But met you one Mason and his squaw' No? + +He came ten ice-runs ago,--the first of all the Wolves. And with +him there was a mighty man, straight as a willow-shoot, and tall; +strong as the bald-faced grizzly, with a heart like the full +summer moon; his-' 'Oh!' interrupted Mackenzie, recognizing the +well-known Northland figure, 'Malemute Kid!' 'The same,--a mighty +man. But saw you aught of the squaw? She was full sister to +Zarinska.' 'Nay, Chief; but I have heard. Mason--far, far to the +north, a spruce-tree, heavy with years, crushed out his life +beneath. But his love was great, and he had much gold. With this, +and her boy, she journeyed countless sleeps toward the winter's +noonday sun, and there she yet lives,--no biting frost, no snow, +no summer's midnight sun, no winter's noonday night.' + +A second messenger interrupted with imperative summons from the +council. + +As Mackenzie threw him into the snow, he caught a glimpse of the +swaying forms before the council-fire, heard the deep basses of +the men in rhythmic chant, and knew the Shaman was fanning the +anger of his people. Time pressed. He turned upon the chief. + +'Come! I wish thy child. And now, see! Here are tobacco, tea, +many cups of sugar, warm blankets, handkerchiefs, both good and +large; and here, a true rifle, with many bullets and much +powder.' 'Nay,' replied the old man, struggling against the great +wealth spread before him. 'Even now are my people come together. +They will not have this marriage.' + +'But thou art chief.' 'Yet do my young men rage because the +Wolves have taken their maidens so that they may not marry.' +'Listen, O Thling-Tinneh! Ere the night has passed into the day, +the Wolf shall face his dogs to the Mountains of the East and +fare forth to the Country of the Yukon. And Zarinska shall break +trail for his dogs.' 'And ere the night has gained its middle, my +young men may fling to the dogs the flesh of the Wolf, and his +bones be scattered in the snow till the springtime lay them +bare.' It was threat and counter-threat. Mackenzie's bronzed face +flushed darkly. He raised his voice. The old squaw, who till now +had sat an impassive spectator, made to creep by him for the +door. + +The song of the men broke suddenly and there was a hubbub of many +voices as he whirled the old woman roughly to her couch of skins. + +'Again I cry--listen, O Thling-Tinneh! The Wolf dies with teeth +fast-locked, and with him there shall sleep ten of thy strongest +men,--men who are needed, for the hunting is not begun, and the +fishing is not many moons away. And again, of what profit should +I die? I know the custom of thy people; thy share of my wealth +shall be very small. Grant me thy child, and it shall all be +thine. And yet again, my brothers will come, and they are many, +and their maws are never filled; and the daughters of the Raven +shall bear children in the lodges of the Wolf. My people are +greater than thy people. It is destiny. Grant, and all this +wealth is thine.' Moccasins were crunching the snow without. +Mackenzie threw his rifle to cock, and loosened the twin Colts in +his belt. + +'Grant, O Chief!' 'And yet will my people say no.' 'Grant, and +the wealth is thine. Then shall I deal with thy people after.' +'The Wolf will have it so. I will take his tokens,--but I would +warn him.' Mackenzie passed over the goods, taking care to clog +the rifle's ejector, and capping the bargain with a kaleidoscopic +silk kerchief. The Shaman and half a dozen young braves entered, +but he shouldered boldly among them and passed out. + +'Pack!' was his laconic greeting to Zarinska as he passed her +lodge and hurried to harness his dogs. A few minutes later he +swept into the council at the head of the team, the woman by his +side. He took his place at the upper end of the oblong, by the +side of the chief. To his left, a step to the rear, he stationed +Zarinska, her proper place. Besides, the time was ripe for +mischief, and there was need to guard his back. + +On either side, the men crouched to the fire, their voices lifted +in a folk-chant out of the forgotten past. Full of strange, +halting cadences and haunting recurrences, it was not beautiful. +'Fearful' may inadequately express it. At the lower end, under +the eye of the Shaman, danced half a score of women. Stern were +his reproofs of those who did not wholly abandon themselves to +the ecstasy of the rite. Half hidden in their heavy masses of +raven hair, all dishevelled and falling to their waists, they +slowly swayed to and fro, their forms rippling to an +ever-changing rhythm. + +It was a weird scene; an anachronism. To the south, the +nineteenth century was reeling off the few years of its last +decade; here flourished man primeval, a shade removed from the +prehistoric cave-dweller, forgotten fragment of the Elder World. +The tawny wolf-dogs sat between their skin-clad masters or fought +for room, the firelight cast backward from their red eyes and +dripping fangs. The woods, in ghostly shroud, slept on unheeding. + +The White Silence, for the moment driven to the rimming forest, +seemed ever crushing inward; the stars danced with great leaps, +as is their wont in the time of the Great Cold; while the Spirits +of the Pole trailed their robes of glory athwart the heavens. + +'Scruff' Mackenzie dimly realized the wild grandeur of the +setting as his eyes ranged down the fur-fringed sides in quest of +missing faces. They rested for a moment on a newborn babe, +suckling at its mother's naked breast. It was forty below,--seven +and odd degrees of frost. He thought of the tender women of his +own race and smiled grimly. Yet from the loins of some such +tender woman had he sprung with a kingly inheritance,--an +inheritance which gave to him and his dominance over the land and +sea, over the animals and the peoples of all the zones. +Single-handed against fivescore, girt by the Arctic winter, far +from his own, he felt the prompting of his heritage, the desire +to possess, the wild danger--love, the thrill of battle, the +power to conquer or to die. + +The singing and the dancing ceased, and the Shaman flared up in +rude eloquence. + +Through the sinuosities of their vast mythology, he worked +cunningly upon the credulity of his people. The case was strong. +Opposing the creative principles as embodied in the Crow and the +Raven, he stigmatized Mackenzie as the Wolf, the fighting and the +destructive principle. Not only was the combat of these forces +spiritual, but men fought, each to his totem. They were the +children of Jelchs, the Raven, the Promethean fire-bringer; +Mackenzie was the child of the Wolf, or in other words, the +Devil. For them to bring a truce to this perpetual warfare, to +marry their daughters to the arch-enemy, were treason and +blasphemy of the highest order. No phrase was harsh nor figure +vile enough in branding Mackenzie as a sneaking interloper and +emissary of Satan. There was a subdued, savage roar in the deep +chests of his listeners as he took the swing of his peroration. + +'Aye, my brothers, Jelchs is all-powerful! Did he not bring +heaven-borne fire that we might be warm? Did he not draw the sun, +moon, and stars, from their holes that we might see? Did he not +teach us that we might fight the Spirits of Famine and of Frost? +But now Jelchs is angry with his children, and they are grown to +a handful, and he will not help. + +'For they have forgotten him, and done evil things, and trod bad +trails, and taken his enemies into their lodges to sit by their +fires. And the Raven is sorrowful at the wickedness of his +children; but when they shall rise up and show they have come +back, he will come out of the darkness to aid them. O brothers! +the Fire-Bringer has whispered messages to thy Shaman; the same +shall ye hear. Let the young men take the young women to their +lodges; let them fly at the throat of the Wolf; let them be +undying in their enmity! Then shall their women become fruitful +and they shall multiply into a mighty people! And the Raven shall +lead great tribes of their fathers and their fathers' fathers +from out of the North; and they shall beat back the Wolves till +they are as last year's campfires; and they shall again come to +rule over all the land! 'Tis the message of Jelchs, the Raven.' +This foreshadowing of the Messiah's coming brought a hoarse howl +from the Sticks as they leaped to their feet. Mackenzie slipped +the thumbs of his mittens and waited. There was a clamor for the +'Fox,' not to be stilled till one of the young men stepped +forward to speak. + +'Brothers! The Shaman has spoken wisely. The Wolves have taken +our women, and our men are childless. We are grown to a handful. +The Wolves have taken our warm furs and given for them evil +spirits which dwell in bottles, and clothes which come not from +the beaver or the lynx, but are made from the grass. + +And they are not warm, and our men die of strange sicknesses. I, +the Fox, have taken no woman to wife; and why? Twice have the +maidens which pleased me gone to the camps of the Wolf. Even now +have I laid by skins of the beaver, of the moose, of the cariboo, +that I might win favor in the eyes of Thling-Tinneh, that I might +marry Zarinska, his daughter. Even now are her snow-shoes bound +to her feet, ready to break trail for the dogs of the Wolf. Nor +do I speak for myself alone. + +As I have done, so has the Bear. He, too, had fain been the +father of her children, and many skins has he cured thereto. I +speak for all the young men who know not wives. The Wolves are +ever hungry. Always do they take the choice meat at the killing. +To the Ravens are left the leavings. + +'There is Gugkla,' he cried, brutally pointing out one of the +women, who was a cripple. + +'Her legs are bent like the ribs of a birch canoe. She cannot +gather wood nor carry the meat of the hunters. Did the Wolves +choose her?' 'Ai! ai!' vociferated his tribesmen. + +'There is Moyri, whose eyes are crossed by the Evil Spirit. Even +the babes are affrighted when they gaze upon her, and it is said +the bald-face gives her the trail. + +'Was she chosen?' Again the cruel applause rang out. + +'And there sits Pischet. She does not hearken to my words. Never +has she heard the cry of the chit-chat, the voice of her husband, +the babble of her child. + +'She lives in the White Silence. Cared the Wolves aught for her? +No! Theirs is the choice of the kill; ours is the leavings. + +'Brothers, it shall not be! No more shall the Wolves slink among +our campfires. The time is come.' A great streamer of fire, the +aurora borealis, purple, green, and yellow, shot across the +zenith, bridging horizon to horizon. With head thrown back and +arms extended, he swayed to his climax. + +'Behold! The spirits of our fathers have arisen and great deeds +are afoot this night!' He stepped back, and another young man +somewhat diffidently came forward, pushed on by his comrades. He +towered a full head above them, his broad chest defiantly bared +to the frost. He swung tentatively from one foot to the other. + +Words halted upon his tongue, and he was ill at ease. His face +was horrible to look upon, for it had at one time been half torn +away by some terrific blow. At last he struck his breast with his +clenched fist, drawing sound as from a drum, and his voice +rumbled forth as does the surf from an ocean cavern. + +'I am the Bear,--the Silver-Tip and the Son of the Silver-Tip! +When my voice was yet as a girl's, I slew the lynx, the moose, +and the cariboo; when it whistled like the wolverines from under +a cache, I crossed the Mountains of the South and slew three of +the White Rivers; when it became as the roar of the Chinook, I +met the bald-faced grizzly, but gave no trail.' At this he +paused, his hand significantly sweeping across his hideous scars. + +'I am not as the Fox. My tongue is frozen like the river. I +cannot make great talk. My words are few. The Fox says great +deeds are afoot this night. Good! Talk flows from his tongue like +the freshets of the spring, but he is chary of deeds. + +'This night shall I do battle with the Wolf. I shall slay him, and +Zarinska shall sit by my fire. The Bear has spoken.' Though +pandemonium raged about him, 'Scruff' Mackenzie held his ground. + +Aware how useless was the rifle at close quarters, he slipped +both holsters to the fore, ready for action, and drew his mittens +till his hands were barely shielded by the elbow gauntlets. He +knew there was no hope in attack en masse, but true to his boast, +was prepared to die with teeth fast-locked. But the Bear +restrained his comrades, beating back the more impetuous with his +terrible fist. As the tumult began to die away, Mackenzie shot a +glance in the direction of Zarinska. It was a superb picture. She +was leaning forward on her snow-shoes, lips apart and nostrils +quivering, like a tigress about to spring. Her great black eyes +were fixed upon her tribesmen, in fear and defiance. So extreme +the tension, she had forgotten to breathe. With one hand pressed +spasmodically against her breast and the other as tightly gripped +about the dog-whip, she was as turned to stone. Even as he +looked, relief came to her. Her muscles loosened; with a heavy +sigh she settled back, giving him a look of more than love--of +worship. + +Thling-Tinneh was trying to speak, but his people drowned his +voice. Then Mackenzie strode forward. The Fox opened his mouth to +a piercing yell, but so savagely did Mackenzie whirl upon him +that he shrank back, his larynx all agurgle with suppressed +sound. His discomfiture was greeted with roars of laughter, and +served to soothe his fellows to a listening mood. + +'Brothers! The White Man, whom ye have chosen to call the Wolf, +came among you with fair words. He was not like the Innuit; he +spoke not lies. He came as a friend, as one who would be a +brother. But your men have had their say, and the time for soft +words is past. + +'First, I will tell you that the Shaman has an evil tongue and is +a false prophet, that the messages he spake are not those of the +Fire-Bringer. His ears are locked to the voice of the Raven, and +out of his own head he weaves cunning fancies, and he has made +fools of you. He has no power. + +'When the dogs were killed and eaten, and your stomachs were heavy +with untanned hide and strips of moccasins; when the old men +died, and the old women died, and the babes at the dry dugs of +the mothers died; when the land was dark, and ye perished as do +the salmon in the fall; aye, when the famine was upon you, did +the Shaman bring reward to your hunters? did the Shaman put meat +in your bellies? Again I say, the Shaman is without power. Thus I +spit upon his face!' Though taken aback by the sacrilege, there +was no uproar. Some of the women were even frightened, but among +the men there was an uplifting, as though in preparation or +anticipation of the miracle. All eyes were turned upon the two +central figures. The priest realized the crucial moment, felt his +power tottering, opened his mouth in denunciation, but fled +backward before the truculent advance, upraised fist, and +flashing eyes, of Mackenzie. He sneered and resumed. + +'Was I stricken dead? Did the lightning burn me? Did the stars +fall from the sky and crush me? Pish! I have done with the dog. +Now will I tell you of my people, who are the mightiest of all +the peoples, who rule in all the lands. At first we hunt as I +hunt, alone. + +'After that we hunt in packs; and at last, like the cariboo-run, +we sweep across all the land. + +'Those whom we take into our lodges live; those who will not come +die. Zarinska is a comely maiden, full and strong, fit to become +the mother of Wolves. Though I die, such shall she become; for my +brothers are many, and they will follow the scent of my dogs. + +'Listen to the Law of the Wolf: Whoso taketh the life of one Wolf, +the forfeit shall ten of his people pay. In many lands has the +price been paid; in many lands shall it yet be paid. + +'Now will I deal with the Fox and the Bear. It seems they have +cast eyes upon the maiden. So? Behold, I have bought her! +Thling-Tinneh leans upon the rifle; the goods of purchase are by +his fire. Yet will I be fair to the young men. To the Fox, whose +tongue is dry with many words, will I give of tobacco five long +plugs. + +'Thus will his mouth be wetted that he may make much noise in the +council. But to the Bear, of whom I am well proud, will I give of +blankets two; of flour, twenty cups; of tobacco, double that of +the Fox; and if he fare with me over the Mountains of the East, +then will I give him a rifle, mate to Thling-Tinneh's. If not? +Good! The Wolf is weary of speech. Yet once again will he say the +Law: Whoso taketh the life of one Wolf, the forfeit shall ten of +his people pay.' + +Mackenzie smiled as he stepped back to his old position, but at +heart he was full of trouble. The night was yet dark. The girl +came to his side, and he listened closely as she told of the +Bear's battle-tricks with the knife. + +The decision was for war. In a trice, scores of moccasins were +widening the space of beaten snow by the fire. There was much +chatter about the seeming defeat of the Shaman; some averred he +had but withheld his power, while others conned past events and +agreed with the Wolf. The Bear came to the center of the +battle-ground, a long naked hunting-knife of Russian make in his +hand. The Fox called attention to Mackenzie's revolvers; so he +stripped his belt, buckling it about Zarinska, into whose hands +he also entrusted his rifle. She shook her head that she could +not shoot,--small chance had a woman to handle such precious +things. + +'Then, if danger come by my back, cry aloud, "My husband!" No; +thus, "My husband!"' + +He laughed as she repeated it, pinched her cheek, and reentered +the circle. Not only in reach and stature had the Bear the +advantage of him, but his blade was longer by a good two inches. +'Scruff' Mackenzie had looked into the eyes of men before, and he +knew it was a man who stood against him; yet he quickened to the +glint of light on the steel, to the dominant pulse of his race. + +Time and again he was forced to the edge of the fire or the deep +snow, and time and again, with the foot tactics of the pugilist, +he worked back to the center. Not a voice was lifted in +encouragement, while his antagonist was heartened with applause, +suggestions, and warnings. But his teeth only shut the tighter as +the knives clashed together, and he thrust or eluded with a +coolness born of conscious strength. At first he felt compassion +for his enemy; but this fled before the primal instinct of life, +which in turn gave way to the lust of slaughter. The ten thousand +years of culture fell from him, and he was a cave-dweller, doing +battle for his female. + +Twice he pricked the Bear, getting away unscathed; but the third +time caught, and to save himself, free hands closed on fighting +hands, and they came together. + +Then did he realize the tremendous strength of his opponent. His +muscles were knotted in painful lumps, and cords and tendons +threatened to snap with the strain; yet nearer and nearer came +the Russian steel. He tried to break away, but only weakened +himself. The fur-clad circle closed in, certain of and anxious to +see the final stroke. But with wrestler's trick, swinging partly +to the side, he struck at his adversary with his head. +Involuntarily the Bear leaned back, disturbing his center of +gravity. Simultaneous with this, Mackenzie tripped properly and +threw his whole weight forward, hurling him clear through the +circle into the deep snow. The Bear floundered out and came back +full tilt. + +'O my husband!' Zarinska's voice rang out, vibrant with danger. + +To the twang of a bow-string, Mackenzie swept low to the ground, +and a bonebarbed arrow passed over him into the breast of the +Bear, whose momentum carried him over his crouching foe. The next +instant Mackenzie was up and about. The bear lay motionless, but +across the fire was the Shaman, drawing a second arrow. +Mackenzie's knife leaped short in the air. He caught the heavy +blade by the point. There was a flash of light as it spanned the +fire. Then the Shaman, the hilt alone appearing without his +throat, swayed and pitched forward into the glowing embers. + +Click! Click!--the Fox had possessed himself of Thling-Tinneh's +rifle and was vainly trying to throw a shell into place. But he +dropped it at the sound of Mackenzie's laughter. + +'So the Fox has not learned the way of the plaything? He is yet a +woman. + +'Come! Bring it, that I may show thee!' The Fox hesitated. + +'Come, I say!' He slouched forward like a beaten cur. + +'Thus, and thus; so the thing is done.' A shell flew into place +and the trigger was at cock as Mackenzie brought it to shoulder. + +'The Fox has said great deeds were afoot this night, and he spoke +true. There have been great deeds, yet least among them were +those of the Fox. Is he still intent to take Zarinska to his +lodge? Is he minded to tread the trail already broken by the +Shaman and the Bear? + +'No? Good!' + +Mackenzie turned contemptuously and drew his knife from the +priest's throat. + +'Are any of the young men so minded? If so, the Wolf will take +them by two and three till none are left. No? Good! +Thling-Tinneh, I now give thee this rifle a second time. If, in +the days to come, thou shouldst journey to the Country of the +Yukon, know thou that there shall always be a place and much food +by the fire of the Wolf. The night is now passing into the day. I +go, but I may come again. And for the last time, remember the Law +of the Wolf!' He was supernatural in their sight as he rejoined +Zarinska. She took her place at the head of the team, and the +dogs swung into motion. A few moments later they were swallowed +up by the ghostly forest. Till now Mackenzie had waited; he +slipped into his snow-shoes to follow. + +'Has the Wolf forgotten the five long plugs?' Mackenzie turned +upon the Fox angrily; then the humor of it struck him. + +'I will give thee one short plug.' 'As the Wolf sees fit,' meekly +responded the Fox, stretching out his hand. + + + +The Men of Forty Mile + +When Big Jim Belden ventured the apparently innocuous proposition +that mush-ice was 'rather pecooliar,' he little dreamed of what +it would lead to. + +Neither did Lon McFane, when he affirmed that anchor-ice was even +more so; nor did Bettles, as he instantly disagreed, declaring +the very existence of such a form to be a bugaboo. + +'An' ye'd be tellin' me this,' cried Lon, 'after the years ye've +spint in the land! An' we atin' out the same pot this many's the +day!' 'But the thing's agin reasin,' insisted Bettles. + +'Look you, water's warmer than ice--' 'An' little the difference, +once ye break through.' + +'Still it's warmer, because it ain't froze. An' you say it +freezes on the bottom?' 'Only the anchor-ice, David, only the +anchor-ice. An' have ye niver drifted along, the water clear as +glass, whin suddin, belike a cloud over the sun, the mushy-ice +comes bubblin' up an' up till from bank to bank an' bind to bind +it's drapin' the river like a first snowfall?' 'Unh, hunh! more'n +once when I took a doze at the steering-oar. But it allus come +out the nighest side-channel, an' not bubblin' up an' up.' 'But +with niver a wink at the helm?' + +'No; nor you. It's agin reason. I'll leave it to any man!' +Bettles appealed to the circle about the stove, but the fight was +on between himself and Lon McFane. + +'Reason or no reason, it's the truth I'm tellin' ye. Last fall, a +year gone, 'twas Sitka Charley and meself saw the sight, droppin' +down the riffle ye'll remember below Fort Reliance. An' regular +fall weather it was--the glint o' the sun on the golden larch an' +the quakin' aspens; an' the glister of light on ivery ripple; an' +beyand, the winter an' the blue haze of the North comin' down +hand in hand. It's well ye know the same, with a fringe to the +river an' the ice formin' thick in the eddies--an' a snap an' +sparkle to the air, an' ye a-feelin' it through all yer blood, +a-takin' new lease of life with ivery suck of it. 'Tis then, me +boy, the world grows small an' the wandtherlust lays ye by the +heels. + +'But it's meself as wandthers. As I was sayin', we a-paddlin', +with niver a sign of ice, barrin' that by the eddies, when the +Injun lifts his paddle an' sings out, "Lon McFane! Look ye +below!" So have I heard, but niver thought to see! As ye know, +Sitka Charley, like meself, niver drew first breath in the land; +so the sight was new. Then we drifted, with a head over ayther +side, peerin' down through the sparkly water. For the world like +the days I spint with the pearlers, watchin' the coral banks +a-growin' the same as so many gardens under the sea. There it +was, the anchor-ice, clingin' an' clusterin' to ivery rock, after +the manner of the white coral. + +'But the best of the sight was to come. Just after clearin' the +tail of the riffle, the water turns quick the color of milk, an' +the top of it in wee circles, as when the graylin' rise in the +spring, or there's a splatter of wet from the sky. 'Twas the +anchor-ice comin' up. To the right, to the lift, as far as iver a +man cud see, the water was covered with the same. + +An' like so much porridge it was, slickin' along the bark of the +canoe, stickin' like glue to the paddles. It's many's the time I +shot the self-same riffle before, and it's many's the time after, +but niver a wink of the same have I seen. 'Twas the sight of a +lifetime.' 'Do tell!' dryly commented Bettles. 'D'ye think I'd +b'lieve such a yarn? I'd ruther say the glister of light'd gone +to your eyes, and the snap of the air to your tongue.' ''Twas me +own eyes that beheld it, an' if Sitka Charley was here, he'd be +the lad to back me.' 'But facts is facts, an' they ain't no +gettin' round 'em. It ain't in the nature of things for the water +furtherest away from the air to freeze first.' 'But me own eyes-' +'Don't git het up over it,' admonished Bettles, as the quick +Celtic anger began to mount. + +'Then yer not after belavin' me?' 'Sence you're so blamed +forehanded about it, no; I'd b'lieve nature first, and facts.' + +'Is it the lie ye'd be givin' me?' threatened Lon. 'Ye'd better +be askin' that Siwash wife of yours. I'll lave it to her, for the +truth I spake.' Bettles flared up in sudden wrath. The Irishman +had unwittingly wounded him; for his wife was the half-breed +daughter of a Russian fur-trader, married to him in the Greek +Mission of Nulato, a thousand miles or so down the Yukon, thus +being of much higher caste than the common Siwash, or native, +wife. It was a mere Northland nuance, which none but the +Northland adventurer may understand. + +'I reckon you kin take it that way,' was his deliberate +affirmation. + +The next instant Lon McFane had stretched him on the floor, the +circle was broken up, and half a dozen men had stepped between. + +Bettles came to his feet, wiping the blood from his mouth. 'It +hain't new, this takin' and payin' of blows, and don't you never +think but that this will be squared.' 'An' niver in me life did I +take the lie from mortal man,' was the retort courteous. 'An' +it's an avil day I'll not be to hand, waitin' an' willin' to help +ye lift yer debts, barrin' no manner of way.' + +'Still got that 38-55?' Lon nodded. + +'But you'd better git a more likely caliber. Mine'll rip holes +through you the size of walnuts.' + +'Niver fear; it's me own slugs smell their way with soft noses, +an' they'll spread like flapjacks against the coming out beyand. +An' when'll I have the pleasure of waitin' on ye? The waterhole's +a strikin' locality.' ''Tain't bad. Jest be there in an hour, and +you won't set long on my coming.' Both men mittened and left the +Post, their ears closed to the remonstrances of their comrades. +It was such a little thing; yet with such men, little things, +nourished by quick tempers and stubborn natures, soon blossomed +into big things. + +Besides, the art of burning to bedrock still lay in the womb of +the future, and the men of Forty-Mile, shut in by the long Arctic +winter, grew high-stomached with overeating and enforced +idleness, and became as irritable as do the bees in the fall of +the year when the hives are overstocked with honey. + +There was no law in the land. The mounted police was also a thing +of the future. Each man measured an offense, and meted out the +punishment inasmuch as it affected himself. + +Rarely had combined action been necessary, and never in all the +dreary history of the camp had the eighth article of the +Decalogue been violated. + +Big Jim Belden called an impromptu meeting. Scruff Mackenzie was +placed as temporary chairman, and a messenger dispatched to +solicit Father Roubeau's good offices. Their position was +paradoxical, and they knew it. By the right of might could they +interfere to prevent the duel; yet such action, while in direct +line with their wishes, went counter to their opinions. While +their rough-hewn, obsolete ethics recognized the individual +prerogative of wiping out blow with blow, they could not bear to +think of two good comrades, such as Bettles and McFane, meeting +in deadly battle. Deeming the man who would not fight on +provocation a dastard, when brought to the test it seemed wrong +that he should fight. + +But a scurry of moccasins and loud cries, rounded off with a +pistol-shot, interrupted the discussion. Then the storm-doors +opened and Malemute Kid entered, a smoking Colt's in his hand, +and a merry light in his eye. + +'I got him.' He replaced the empty shell, and added, 'Your dog, +Scruff.' 'Yellow Fang?' + +Mackenzie asked. + +'No; the lop-eared one.' 'The devil! Nothing the matter with +him.' 'Come out and take a look.' 'That's all right after all. +Buess he's got 'em, too. Yellow Fang came back this morning and +took a chunk out of him, and came near to making a widower of me. +Made a rush for Zarinska, but she whisked her skirts in his face +and escaped with the loss of the same and a good roll in the +snow. Then he took to the woods again. Hope he don't come back. +Lost any yourself?' 'One--the best one of the pack--Shookum. +Started amuck this morning, but didn't get very far. Ran foul of +Sitka Charley's team, and they scattered him all over the street. +And now two of them are loose, and raging mad; so you see he got +his work in. The dog census will be small in the spring if we +don't do something.' + +'And the man census, too.' 'How's that? Who's in trouble now?' +'Oh, Bettles and Lon McFane had an argument, and they'll be down +by the waterhole in a few minutes to settle it.' The incident was +repeated for his benefit, and Malemute Kid, accustomed to an +obedience which his fellow men never failed to render, took +charge of the affair. His quickly formulated plan was explained, +and they promised to follow his lead implicitly. + +'So you see,' he concluded, 'we do not actually take away their +privilege of fighting; and yet I don't believe they'll fight when +they see the beauty of the scheme. Life's a game and men the +gamblers. They'll stake their whole pile on the one chance in a +thousand. + +'Take away that one chance, and--they won't play.' He turned to +the man in charge of the Post. 'Storekeeper, weight out three +fathoms of your best half-inch manila. + +'We'll establish a precedent which will last the men of +Forty-Mile to the end of time,' he prophesied. Then he coiled the +rope about his arm and led his followers out of doors, just in +time to meet the principals. + +'What danged right'd he to fetch my wife in?' thundered Bettles +to the soothing overtures of a friend. ''Twa'n't called for,' he +concluded decisively. ''Twa'n't called for,' he reiterated again +and again, pacing up and down and waiting for Lon McFane. + +And Lon McFane--his face was hot and tongue rapid as he flaunted +insurrection in the face of the Church. 'Then, father,' he cried, +'it's with an aisy heart I'll roll in me flamy blankets, the +broad of me back on a bed of coals. Niver shall it be said that +Lon McFane took a lie 'twixt the teeth without iver liftin' a +hand! An' I'll not ask a blessin'. The years have been wild, but +it's the heart was in the right place.' 'But it's not the heart, +Lon,' interposed Father Roubeau; 'It's pride that bids you forth +to slay your fellow man.' 'Yer Frinch,' Lon replied. And then, +turning to leave him, 'An' will ye say a mass if the luck is +against me?' But the priest smiled, thrust his moccasined feet to +the fore, and went out upon the white breast of the silent river. +A packed trail, the width of a sixteen-inch sled, led out to the +waterhole. On either side lay the deep, soft snow. The men trod +in single file, without conversation; and the black-stoled priest +in their midst gave to the function the solemn aspect of a +funeral. It was a warm winter's day for Forty-Mile--a day in +which the sky, filled with heaviness, drew closer to the earth, +and the mercury sought the unwonted level of twenty below. But +there was no cheer in the warmth. There was little air in the +upper strata, and the clouds hung motionless, giving sullen +promise of an early snowfall. And the earth, unresponsive, made +no preparation, content in its hibernation. + +When the waterhole was reached, Bettles, having evidently +reviewed the quarrel during the silent walk, burst out in a final +''Twa'n't called for,' while Lon McFane kept grim silence. +Indignation so choked him that he could not speak. + +Yet deep down, whenever their own wrongs were not uppermost, both +men wondered at their comrades. They had expected opposition, and +this tacit acquiescence hurt them. It seemed more was due them +from the men they had been so close with, and they felt a vague +sense of wrong, rebelling at the thought of so many of their +brothers coming out, as on a gala occasion, without one word of +protest, to see them shoot each other down. It appeared their +worth had diminished in the eyes of the community. The +proceedings puzzled them. + +'Back to back, David. An' will it be fifty paces to the man, or +double the quantity?' + +'Fifty,' was the sanguinary reply, grunted out, yet sharply cut. + +But the new manila, not prominently displayed, but casually +coiled about Malemute Kid's arm, caught the quick eye of the +Irishman, and thrilled him with a suspicious fear. + +'An' what are ye doin' with the rope?' 'Hurry up!' Malemute Kid +glanced at his watch. + +'I've a batch of bread in the cabin, and I don't want it to fall. +Besides, my feet are getting cold.' The rest of the men +manifested their impatience in various suggestive ways. + +'But the rope, Kid' It's bran' new, an' sure yer bread's not that +heavy it needs raisin' with the like of that?' Bettles by this +time had faced around. Father Roubeau, the humor of the situation +just dawning on him, hid a smile behind his mittened hand. + +'No, Lon; this rope was made for a man.' Malemute Kid could be +very impressive on occasion. + +'What man?' Bettles was becoming aware of a personal interest. + +'The other man.' 'An' which is the one ye'd mane by that?' +'Listen, Lon--and you, too, Bettles! We've been talking this +little trouble of yours over, and we've come to one conclusion. +We know we have no right to stop your fighting-' 'True for ye, me +lad!' 'And we're not going to. But this much we can do, and shall +do--make this the only duel in the history of Forty-Mile, set an +example for every che-cha-qua that comes up or down the Yukon. +The man who escapes killing shall be hanged to the nearest tree. +Now, go ahead!' + +Lon smiled dubiously, then his face lighted up. 'Pace her off, +David--fifty paces, wheel, an' niver a cease firin' till a lad's +down for good. 'Tis their hearts'll niver let them do the deed, +an' it's well ye should know it for a true Yankee bluff.' + +He started off with a pleased grin on his face, but Malemute Kid +halted him. + +'Lon! It's a long while since you first knew me?' 'Many's the +day.' 'And you, Bettles?' + +'Five year next June high water.' 'And have you once, in all that +time, known me to break my word' Or heard of me breaking it?' +Both men shook their heads, striving to fathom what lay beyond. + +'Well, then, what do you think of a promise made by me?' 'As good +as your bond,' from Bettles. + +'The thing to safely sling yer hopes of heaven by,' promptly +endorsed Lon McFane. + +'Listen! I, Malemute Kid, give you my word--and you know what +that means that the man who is not shot stretches rope within ten +minutes after the shooting.' He stepped back as Pilate might have +done after washing his hands. + +A pause and a silence came over the men of Forty-Mile. The sky +drew still closer, sending down a crystal flight of frost--little +geometric designs, perfect, evanescent as a breath, yet destined +to exist till the returning sun had covered half its northern +journey. + +Both men had led forlorn hopes in their time--led with a curse or +a jest on their tongues, and in their souls an unswerving faith +in the God of Chance. But that merciful deity had been shut out +from the present deal. They studied the face of Malemute Kid, but +they studied as one might the Sphinx. As the quiet minutes +passed, a feeling that speech was incumbent on them began to +grow. At last the howl of a wolf-dog cracked the silence from the +direction of Forty-Mile. The weird sound swelled with all the +pathos of a breaking heart, then died away in a long-drawn sob. + +'Well I be danged!' Bettles turned up the collar of his mackinaw +jacket and stared about him helplessly. + +'It's a gloryus game yer runnin', Kid,' cried Lon McFane. 'All +the percentage of the house an' niver a bit to the man that's +buckin'. The Devil himself'd niver tackle such a cinch--and +damned if I do.' There were chuckles, throttled in gurgling +throats, and winks brushed away with the frost which rimed the +eyelashes, as the men climbed the ice-notched bank and started +across the street to the Post. But the long howl had drawn +nearer, invested with a new note of menace. A woman screamed +round the corner. There was a cry of, 'Here he comes!' Then an +Indian boy, at the head of half a dozen frightened dogs, racing +with death, dashed into the crowd. And behind came Yellow Fang, a +bristle of hair and a flash of gray. Everybody but the Yankee +fled. + +The Indian boy had tripped and fallen. Bettles stopped long +enough to grip him by the slack of his furs, then headed for a +pile of cordwood already occupied by a number of his comrades. +Yellow Fang, doubling after one of the dogs, came leaping back. +The fleeing animal, free of the rabies, but crazed with fright, +whipped Bettles off his feet and flashed on up the street. +Malemute Kid took a flying shot at Yellow Fang. The mad dog +whirled a half airspring, came down on his back, then, with a +single leap, covered half the distance between himself and +Bettles. + +But the fatal spring was intercepted. Lon McFane leaped from the +woodpile, countering him in midair. Over they rolled, Lon holding +him by the throat at arm's length, blinking under the fetid +slaver which sprayed his face. Then Bettles, revolver in hand and +coolly waiting a chance, settled the combat. + +''Twas a square game, Kid,' Lon remarked, rising to his feet and +shaking the snow from out his sleeves; 'with a fair percentage to +meself that bucked it.' That night, while Lon McFane sought the +forgiving arms of the Church in the direction of Father Roubeau's +cabin, Malemute Kid talked long to little purpose. + +'But would you,' persisted Mackenzie, 'supposing they had +fought?' 'Have I ever broken my word?' 'No; but that isn't the +point. Answer the question. Would you?' Malemute Kid straightened +up. 'Scruff, I've been asking myself that question ever since, +and--' + +'Well?' + +'Well, as yet, I haven't found the answer.' + + + +In a Far Country + +When a man journeys into a far country, he must be prepared to +forget many of the things he has learned, and to acquire such +customs as are inherent with existence in the new land; he must +abandon the old ideals and the old gods, and oftentimes he must +reverse the very codes by which his conduct has hitherto been +shaped. To those who have the protean faculty of adaptability, +the novelty of such change may even be a source of pleasure; but +to those who happen to be hardened to the ruts in which they were +created, the pressure of the altered environment is unbearable, +and they chafe in body and in spirit under the new restrictions +which they do not understand. This chafing is bound to act and +react, producing divers evils and leading to various misfortunes. +It were better for the man who cannot fit himself to the new +groove to return to his own country; if he delay too long, he +will surely die. + +The man who turns his back upon the comforts of an elder +civilization, to face the savage youth, the primordial simplicity +of the North, may estimate success at an inverse ratio to the +quantity and quality of his hopelessly fixed habits. He will soon +discover, if he be a fit candidate, that the material habits are +the less important. The exchange of such things as a dainty menu +for rough fare, of the stiff leather shoe for the soft, shapeless +moccasin, of the feather bed for a couch in the snow, is after +all a very easy matter. But his pinch will come in learning +properly to shape his mind's attitude toward all things, and +especially toward his fellow man. For the courtesies of ordinary +life, he must substitute unselfishness, forbearance, and +tolerance. Thus, and thus only, can he gain that pearl of great +price--true comradeship. He must not say 'thank you'; he must +mean it without opening his mouth, and prove it by responding in +kind. In short, he must substitute the deed for the word, the +spirit for the letter. + +When the world rang with the tale of Arctic gold, and the lure of +the North gripped the heartstrings of men, Carter Weatherbee +threw up his snug clerkship, turned the half of his savings over +to his wife, and with the remainder bought an outfit. There was +no romance in his nature--the bondage of commerce had crushed all +that; he was simply tired of the ceaseless grind, and wished to +risk great hazards in view of corresponding returns. Like many +another fool, disdaining the old trails used by the Northland +pioneers for a score of years, he hurried to Edmonton in the +spring of the year; and there, unluckily for his soul's welfare, +he allied himself with a party of men. + +There was nothing unusual about this party, except its plans. +Even its goal, like that of all the other parties, was the +Klondike. But the route it had mapped out to attain that goal +took away the breath of the hardiest native, born and bred to the +vicissitudes of the Northwest. Even Jacques Baptiste, born of a +Chippewa woman and a renegade voyageur (having raised his first +whimpers in a deerskin lodge north of the sixty-fifth parallel, +and had the same hushed by blissful sucks of raw tallow), was +surprised. Though he sold his services to them and agreed to +travel even to the never-opening ice, he shook his head ominously +whenever his advice was asked. + +Percy Cuthfert's evil star must have been in the ascendant, for +he, too, joined this company of argonauts. He was an ordinary +man, with a bank account as deep as his culture, which is saying +a good deal. He had no reason to embark on such a venture--no +reason in the world save that he suffered from an abnormal +development of sentimentality. He mistook this for the true +spirit of romance and adventure. Many another man has done the +like, and made as fatal a mistake. + +The first break-up of spring found the party following the +ice-run of Elk River. It was an imposing fleet, for the outfit +was large, and they were accompanied by a disreputable contingent +of half-breed voyageurs with their women and children. Day in and +day out, they labored with the bateaux and canoes, fought +mosquitoes and other kindred pests, or sweated and swore at the +portages. Severe toil like this lays a man naked to the very +roots of his soul, and ere Lake Athabasca was lost in the south, +each member of the party had hoisted his true colors. + +The two shirks and chronic grumblers were Carter Weatherbee and +Percy Cuthfert. The whole party complained less of its aches and +pains than did either of them. Not once did they volunteer for +the thousand and one petty duties of the camp. A bucket of water +to be brought, an extra armful of wood to be chopped, the dishes +to be washed and wiped, a search to be made through the outfit +for some suddenly indispensable article--and these two effete +scions of civilization discovered sprains or blisters requiring +instant attention. + +They were the first to turn in at night, with score of tasks yet +undone; the last to turn out in the morning, when the start +should be in readiness before the breakfast was begun. + +They were the first to fall to at mealtime, the last to have a +hand in the cooking; the first to dive for a slim delicacy, the +last to discover they had added to their own another man's share. +If they toiled at the oars, they slyly cut the water at each +stroke and allowed the boat's momentum to float up the blade. +They thought nobody noticed; but their comrades swore under their +breaths and grew to hate them, while Jacques Baptiste sneered +openly and damned them from morning till night. But Jacques +Baptiste was no gentleman. + +At the Great Slave, Hudson Bay dogs were purchased, and the fleet +sank to the guards with its added burden of dried fish and +pemican. Then canoe and bateau answered to the swift current of +the Mackenzie, and they plunged into the Great Barren Ground. +Every likely-looking 'feeder' was prospected, but the elusive +'pay-dirt' danced ever to the north. At the Great Bear, overcome +by the common dread of the Unknown Lands, their voyageurs began +to desert, and Fort of Good Hope saw the last and bravest bending +to the towlines as they bucked the current down which they had so +treacherously glided. + +Jacques Baptiste alone remained. Had he not sworn to travel even +to the never-opening ice? The lying charts, compiled in main from +hearsay, were now constantly consulted. + +And they felt the need of hurry, for the sun had already passed +its northern solstice and was leading the winter south again. +Skirting the shores of the bay, where the Mackenzie disembogues +into the Arctic Ocean, they entered the mouth of the Little Peel +River. Then began the arduous up-stream toil, and the two +Incapables fared worse than ever. Towline and pole, paddle and +tumpline, rapids and portages--such tortures served to give the +one a deep disgust for great hazards, and printed for the other a +fiery text on the true romance of adventure. One day they waxed +mutinous, and being vilely cursed by Jacques Baptiste, turned, as +worms sometimes will. But the half-breed thrashed the twain, and +sent them, bruised and bleeding, about their work. It was the +first time either had been manhandled. + +Abandoning their river craft at the headwaters of the Little +Peel, they consumed the rest of the summer in the great portage +over the Mackenzie watershed to the West Rat. This little stream +fed the Porcupine, which in turn joined the Yukon where that +mighty highway of the North countermarches on the Arctic Circle. + +But they had lost in the race with winter, and one day they tied +their rafts to the thick eddy-ice and hurried their goods ashore. +That night the river jammed and broke several times; the +following morning it had fallen asleep for good. 'We can't be +more'n four hundred miles from the Yukon,' concluded Sloper, +multiplying his thumb nails by the scale of the map. The council, +in which the two Incapables had whined to excellent disadvantage, +was drawing to a close. + +'Hudson Bay Post, long time ago. No use um now.' Jacques +Baptiste's father had made the trip for the Fur Company in the +old days, incidentally marking the trail with a couple of frozen +toes. + +Sufferin' cracky!' cried another of the party. 'No whites?' 'Nary +white,' Sloper sententiously affirmed; 'but it's only five +hundred more up the Yukon to Dawson. Call it a rough thousand +from here.' Weatherbee and Cuthfert groaned in chorus. + +'How long'll that take, Baptiste?' The half-breed figured for a +moment. 'Workum like hell, no man play out, ten--twenty--forty +--fifty days. Um babies come' (designating the Incapables), 'no +can tell. Mebbe when hell freeze over; mebbe not then.' The +manufacture of snowshoes and moccasins ceased. Somebody called the +name of an absent member, who came out of an ancient cabin at the +edge of the campfire and joined them. The cabin was one of the +many mysteries which lurk in the vast recesses of the North. Built +when and by whom, no man could tell. + +Two graves in the open, piled high with stones, perhaps contained +the secret of those early wanderers. But whose hand had piled the +stones? The moment had come. Jacques Baptiste paused in the +fitting of a harness and pinned the struggling dog in the snow. +The cook made mute protest for delay, threw a handful of bacon +into a noisy pot of beans, then came to attention. Sloper rose to +his feet. His body was a ludicrous contrast to the healthy +physiques of the Incapables. Yellow and weak, fleeing from a +South American fever-hole, he had not broken his flight across +the zones, and was still able to toil with men. His weight was +probably ninety pounds, with the heavy hunting knife thrown in, +and his grizzled hair told of a prime which had ceased to be. The +fresh young muscles of either Weatherbee or Cuthfert were equal +to ten times the endeavor of his; yet he could walk them into the +earth in a day's journey. And all this day he had whipped his +stronger comrades into venturing a thousand miles of the stiffest +hardship man can conceive. He was the incarnation of the unrest +of his race, and the old Teutonic stubbornness, dashed with the +quick grasp and action of the Yankee, held the flesh in the +bondage of the spirit. + +'All those in favor of going on with the dogs as soon as the ice +sets, say ay.' 'Ay!' rang out eight voices--voices destined to +string a trail of oaths along many a hundred miles of pain. + +'Contrary minded?' 'No!' For the first time the Incapables were +united without some compromise of personal interests. + +'And what are you going to do about it?' Weatherbee added +belligerently. + +'Majority rule! Majority rule!' clamored the rest of the party. + +'I know the expedition is liable to fall through if you don't +come,' Sloper replied sweetly; 'but I guess, if we try real hard, +we can manage to do without you. + +What do you say, boys?' The sentiment was cheered to the echo. + +'But I say, you know,' Cuthfert ventured apprehensively; 'what's +a chap like me to do?' + +'Ain't you coming with us.' 'No--o.' 'Then do as you damn well +please. We won't have nothing to say.' 'Kind o' calkilate yuh +might settle it with that canoodlin' pardner of yourn,' suggested +a heavy-going Westerner from the Dakotas, at the same time +pointing out Weatherbee. 'He'll be shore to ask yuh what yur +a-goin' to do when it comes to cookin' an' gatherin' the wood.' +'Then we'll consider it all arranged,' concluded Sloper. + +'We'll pull out tomorrow, if we camp within five miles--just to +get everything in running order and remember if we've forgotten +anything.' The sleds groaned by on their steel-shod runners, and +the dogs strained low in the harnesses in which they were born to +die. + +Jacques Baptiste paused by the side of Sloper to get a last +glimpse of the cabin. The smoke curled up pathetically from the +Yukon stovepipe. The two Incapables were watching them from the +doorway. + +Sloper laid his hand on the other's shoulder. + +'Jacques Baptiste, did you ever hear of the Kilkenny cats?' The +half-breed shook his head. + +'Well, my friend and good comrade, the Kilkenny cats fought till +neither hide, nor hair, nor yowl, was left. You understand?--till +nothing was left. Very good. + +Now, these two men don't like work. They'll be all alone in that +cabin all winter--a mighty long, dark winter. Kilkenny cats--well?' +The Frenchman in Baptiste shrugged his shoulders, but the Indian +in him was silent. Nevertheless, it was an eloquent shrug, +pregnant with prophecy. Things prospered in the little cabin at +first. The rough badinage of their comrades had made Weatherbee +and Cuthfert conscious of the mutual responsibility which had +devolved upon them; besides, there was not so much work after all +for two healthy men. And the removal of the cruel whiphand, or in +other words the bulldozing half-breed, had brought with it a +joyous reaction. At first, each strove to outdo the other, and +they performed petty tasks with an unction which would have +opened the eyes of their comrades who were now wearing out bodies +and souls on the Long Trail. + +All care was banished. The forest, which shouldered in upon them +from three sides, was an inexhaustible woodyard. A few yards from +their door slept the Porcupine, and a hole through its winter +robe formed a bubbling spring of water, crystal clear and +painfully cold. But they soon grew to find fault with even that. +The hole would persist in freezing up, and thus gave them many a +miserable hour of ice-chopping. The unknown builders of the cabin +had extended the sidelogs so as to support a cache at the rear. +In this was stored the bulk of the party's provisions. + +Food there was, without stint, for three times the men who were +fated to live upon it. But the most of it was the kind which +built up brawn and sinew, but did not tickle the palate. + +True, there was sugar in plenty for two ordinary men; but these +two were little else than children. They early discovered the +virtues of hot water judiciously saturated with sugar, and they +prodigally swam their flapjacks and soaked their crusts in the +rich, white syrup. + +Then coffee and tea, and especially the dried fruits, made +disastrous inroads upon it. The first words they had were over +the sugar question. And it is a really serious thing when two +men, wholly dependent upon each other for company, begin to +quarrel. + +Weatherbee loved to discourse blatantly on politics, while +Cuthfert, who had been prone to clip his coupons and let the +commonwealth jog on as best it might, either ignored the subject +or delivered himself of startling epigrams. But the clerk was too +obtuse to appreciate the clever shaping of thought, and this +waste of ammunition irritated Cuthfert. + +He had been used to blinding people by his brilliancy, and it +worked him quite a hardship, this loss of an audience. He felt +personally aggrieved and unconsciously held his muttonhead +companion responsible for it. + +Save existence, they had nothing in common--came in touch on no +single point. + +Weatherbee was a clerk who had known naught but clerking all his +life; Cuthfert was a master of arts, a dabbler in oils, and had +written not a little. The one was a lower-class man who +considered himself a gentleman, and the other was a gentleman who +knew himself to be such. From this it may be remarked that a man +can be a gentleman without possessing the first instinct of true +comradeship. The clerk was as sensuous as the other was +aesthetic, and his love adventures, told at great length and +chiefly coined from his imagination, affected the supersensitive +master of arts in the same way as so many whiffs of sewer gas. He +deemed the clerk a filthy, uncultured brute, whose place was in +the muck with the swine, and told him so; and he was reciprocally +informed that he was a milk-and-water sissy and a cad. Weatherbee +could not have defined 'cad' for his life; but it satisfied its +purpose, which after all seems the main point in life. + +Weatherbee flatted every third note and sang such songs as 'The +Boston Burglar' and 'the Handsome Cabin Boy,' for hours at a +time, while Cuthfert wept with rage, till he could stand it no +longer and fled into the outer cold. But there was no escape. The +intense frost could not be endured for long at a time, and the +little cabin crowded them--beds, stove, table, and all--into a +space of ten by twelve. The very presence of either became a +personal affront to the other, and they lapsed into sullen +silences which increased in length and strength as the days went +by. Occasionally, the flash of an eye or the curl of a lip got +the better of them, though they strove to wholly ignore each +other during these mute periods. + +And a great wonder sprang up in the breast of each, as to how God +had ever come to create the other. + +With little to do, time became an intolerable burden to them. +This naturally made them still lazier. They sank into a physical +lethargy which there was no escaping, and which made them rebel +at the performance of the smallest chore. One morning when it was +his turn to cook the common breakfast, Weatherbee rolled out of +his blankets, and to the snoring of his companion, lighted first +the slush lamp and then the fire. The kettles were frozen hard, +and there was no water in the cabin with which to wash. But he +did not mind that. Waiting for it to thaw, he sliced the bacon +and plunged into the hateful task of bread-making. Cuthfert had +been slyly watching through his half-closed lids. + +Consequently there was a scene, in which they fervently blessed +each other, and agreed, henceforth, that each do his own cooking. +A week later, Cuthfert neglected his morning ablutions, but none +the less complacently ate the meal which he had cooked. +Weatherbee grinned. After that the foolish custom of washing +passed out of their lives. + +As the sugar-pile and other little luxuries dwindled, they began +to be afraid they were not getting their proper shares, and in +order that they might not be robbed, they fell to gorging +themselves. The luxuries suffered in this gluttonous contest, as +did also the men. + +In the absence of fresh vegetables and exercise, their blood +became impoverished, and a loathsome, purplish rash crept over +their bodies. Yet they refused to heed the warning. + +Next, their muscles and joints began to swell, the flesh turning +black, while their mouths, gums, and lips took on the color of +rich cream. Instead of being drawn together by their misery, each +gloated over the other's symptoms as the scurvy took its course. + +They lost all regard for personal appearance, and for that +matter, common decency. The cabin became a pigpen, and never once +were the beds made or fresh pine boughs laid underneath. Yet they +could not keep to their blankets, as they would have wished; for +the frost was inexorable, and the fire box consumed much fuel. +The hair of their heads and faces grew long and shaggy, while +their garments would have disgusted a ragpicker. But they did not +care. They were sick, and there was no one to see; besides, it +was very painful to move about. + +To all this was added a new trouble--the Fear of the North. This +Fear was the joint child of the Great Cold and the Great Silence, +and was born in the darkness of December, when the sun dipped +below the horizon for good. It affected them according to their +natures. + +Weatherbee fell prey to the grosser superstitions, and did his +best to resurrect the spirits which slept in the forgotten +graves. It was a fascinating thing, and in his dreams they came +to him from out of the cold, and snuggled into his blankets, and +told him of their toils and troubles ere they died. He shrank +away from the clammy contact as they drew closer and twined their +frozen limbs about him, and when they whispered in his ear of +things to come, the cabin rang with his frightened shrieks. +Cuthfert did not understand--for they no longer spoke--and when +thus awakened he invariably grabbed for his revolver. Then he +would sit up in bed, shivering nervously, with the weapon trained +on the unconscious dreamer. Cuthfert deemed the man going mad, +and so came to fear for his life. + +His own malady assumed a less concrete form. The mysterious +artisan who had laid the cabin, log by log, had pegged a +wind-vane to the ridgepole. Cuthfert noticed it always pointed +south, and one day, irritated by its steadfastness of purpose, he +turned it toward the east. He watched eagerly, but never a breath +came by to disturb it. Then he turned the vane to the north, +swearing never again to touch it till the wind did blow. But the +air frightened him with its unearthly calm, and he often rose in +the middle of the night to see if the vane had veered--ten +degrees would have satisfied him. But no, it poised above him as +unchangeable as fate. + +His imagination ran riot, till it became to him a fetish. +Sometimes he followed the path it pointed across the dismal +dominions, and allowed his soul to become saturated with the +Fear. He dwelt upon the unseen and the unknown till the burden of +eternity appeared to be crushing him. Everything in the Northland +had that crushing effect--the absence of life and motion; the +darkness; the infinite peace of the brooding land; the ghastly +silence, which made the echo of each heartbeat a sacrilege; the +solemn forest which seemed to guard an awful, inexpressible +something, which neither word nor thought could compass. + +The world he had so recently left, with its busy nations and +great enterprises, seemed very far away. Recollections +occasionally obtruded--recollections of marts and galleries and +crowded thoroughfares, of evening dress and social functions, of +good men and dear women he had known--but they were dim memories +of a life he had lived long centuries agone, on some other +planet. This phantasm was the Reality. Standing beneath the +wind-vane, his eyes fixed on the polar skies, he could not bring +himself to realize that the Southland really existed, that at +that very moment it was a-roar with life and action. + +There was no Southland, no men being born of women, no giving and +taking in marriage. + +Beyond his bleak skyline there stretched vast solitudes, and +beyond these still vaster solitudes. + +There were no lands of sunshine, heavy with the perfume of +flowers. Such things were only old dreams of paradise. The +sunlands of the West and the spicelands of the East, the smiling +Arcadias and blissful Islands of the Blest--ha! ha! His laughter +split the void and shocked him with its unwonted sound. There was +no sun. + +This was the Universe, dead and cold and dark, and he its only +citizen. Weatherbee? At such moments Weatherbee did not count. He +was a Caliban, a monstrous phantom, fettered to him for untold +ages, the penalty of some forgotten crime. + +He lived with Death among the dead, emasculated by the sense of +his own insignificance, crushed by the passive mastery of the +slumbering ages. The magnitude of all things appalled him. +Everything partook of the superlative save himself--the perfect +cessation of wind and motion, the immensity of the snow-covered +wildness, the height of the sky and the depth of the silence. +That wind-vane--if it would only move. If a thunderbolt would fall, +or the forest flare up in flame. + +The rolling up of the heavens as a scroll, the crash of +Doom--anything, anything! But no, nothing moved; the Silence +crowded in, and the Fear of the North laid icy fingers on his +heart. + +Once, like another Crusoe, by the edge of the river he came upon +a track--the faint tracery of a snowshoe rabbit on the delicate +snow-crust. It was a revelation. + +There was life in the Northland. He would follow it, look upon +it, gloat over it. + +He forgot his swollen muscles, plunging through the deep snow in +an ecstasy of anticipation. The forest swallowed him up, and the +brief midday twilight vanished; but he pursued his quest till +exhausted nature asserted itself and laid him helpless in the +snow. + +There he groaned and cursed his folly, and knew the track to be +the fancy of his brain; and late that night he dragged himself +into the cabin on hands and knees, his cheeks frozen and a +strange numbness about his feet. Weatherbee grinned malevolently, +but made no offer to help him. He thrust needles into his toes +and thawed them out by the stove. A week later mortification set +in. + +But the clerk had his own troubles. The dead men came out of +their graves more frequently now, and rarely left him, waking or +sleeping. He grew to wait and dread their coming, never passing +the twin cairns without a shudder. One night they came to him in +his sleep and led him forth to an appointed task. Frightened into +inarticulate horror, he awoke between the heaps of stones and +fled wildly to the cabin. But he had lain there for some time, +for his feet and cheeks were also frozen. + +Sometimes he became frantic at their insistent presence, and +danced about the cabin, cutting the empty air with an axe, and +smashing everything within reach. + +During these ghostly encounters, Cuthfert huddled into his +blankets and followed the madman about with a cocked revolver, +ready to shoot him if he came too near. + +But, recovering from one of these spells, the clerk noticed the +weapon trained upon him. + +His suspicions were aroused, and thenceforth he, too, lived in +fear of his life. They watched each other closely after that, and +faced about in startled fright whenever either passed behind the +other's back. The apprehensiveness became a mania which +controlled them even in their sleep. Through mutual fear they +tacitly let the slush-lamp burn all night, and saw to a plentiful +supply of bacon-grease before retiring. The slightest movement on +the part of one was sufficient to arouse the other, and many a +still watch their gazes countered as they shook beneath their +blankets with fingers on the trigger-guards. + +What with the Fear of the North, the mental strain, and the +ravages of the disease, they lost all semblance of humanity, +taking on the appearance of wild beasts, hunted and desperate. +Their cheeks and noses, as an aftermath of the freezing, had +turned black. + +Their frozen toes had begun to drop away at the first and second +joints. Every movement brought pain, but the fire box was +insatiable, wringing a ransom of torture from their miserable +bodies. Day in, day out, it demanded its food--a veritable pound +of flesh--and they dragged themselves into the forest to chop +wood on their knees. Once, crawling thus in search of dry sticks, +unknown to each other they entered a thicket from opposite sides. + +Suddenly, without warning, two peering death's-heads confronted +each other. Suffering had so transformed them that recognition +was impossible. They sprang to their feet, shrieking with terror, +and dashed away on their mangled stumps; and falling at the +cabin's door, they clawed and scratched like demons till they +discovered their mistake. + +Occasionally they lapsed normal, and during one of these sane +intervals, the chief bone of contention, the sugar, had been +divided equally between them. They guarded their separate sacks, +stored up in the cache, with jealous eyes; for there were but a +few cupfuls left, and they were totally devoid of faith in each +other. + +But one day Cuthfert made a mistake. Hardly able to move, sick +with pain, with his head swimming and eyes blinded, he crept into +the cache, sugar canister in hand, and mistook Weatherbee's sack +for his own. + +January had been born but a few days when this occurred. The sun +had some time since passed its lowest southern declination, and +at meridian now threw flaunting streaks of yellow light upon the +northern sky. On the day following his mistake with the sugar-bag, +Cuthfert found himself feeling better, both in body and in +spirit. As noontime drew near and the day brightened, he dragged +himself outside to feast on the evanescent glow, which was to him +an earnest of the sun's future intentions. Weatherbee was also +feeling somewhat better, and crawled out beside him. They propped +themselves in the snow beneath the moveless wind-vane, and waited. + +The stillness of death was about them. In other climes, when +nature falls into such moods, there is a subdued air of +expectancy, a waiting for some small voice to take up the broken +strain. Not so in the North. The two men had lived seeming eons +in this ghostly peace. + +They could remember no song of the past; they could conjure no +song of the future. This unearthly calm had always been--the +tranquil silence of eternity. + +Their eyes were fixed upon the north. Unseen, behind their backs, +behind the towering mountains to the south, the sun swept toward +the zenith of another sky than theirs. Sole spectators of the +mighty canvas, they watched the false dawn slowly grow. A faint +flame began to glow and smoulder. It deepened in intensity, +ringing the changes of reddish-yellow, purple, and saffron. So +bright did it become that Cuthfert thought the sun must surely be +behind it--a miracle, the sun rising in the north! Suddenly, +without warning and without fading, the canvas was swept clean. +There was no color in the sky. The light had gone out of the day. + +They caught their breaths in half-sobs. But lo! the air was +aglint with particles of scintillating frost, and there, to the +north, the wind-vane lay in vague outline of the snow. + +A shadow! A shadow! It was exactly midday. They jerked their +heads hurriedly to the south. A golden rim peeped over the +mountain's snowy shoulder, smiled upon them an instant, then +dipped from sight again. + +There were tears in their eyes as they sought each other. A +strange softening came over them. They felt irresistibly drawn +toward each other. The sun was coming back again. It would be +with them tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. + +And it would stay longer every visit, and a time would come when +it would ride their heaven day and night, never once dropping +below the skyline. There would be no night. + +The ice-locked winter would be broken; the winds would blow and +the forests answer; the land would bathe in the blessed sunshine, +and life renew. + +Hand in hand, they would quit this horrid dream and journey back +to the Southland. They lurched blindly forward, and their hands +met--their poor maimed hands, swollen and distorted beneath their +mittens. + +But the promise was destined to remain unfulfilled. The Northland +is the Northland, and men work out their souls by strange rules, +which other men, who have not journeyed into far countries, +cannot come to understand. + +An hour later, Cuthfert put a pan of bread into the oven, and +fell to speculating on what the surgeons could do with his feet +when he got back. Home did not seem so very far away now. +Weatherbee was rummaging in the cache. Of a sudden, he raised a +whirlwind of blasphemy, which in turn ceased with startling +abruptness. The other man had robbed his sugar-sack. Still, +things might have happened differently, had not the two dead men +come out from under the stones and hushed the hot words in his +throat. They led him quite gently from the cache, which he forgot +to close. That consummation was reached; that something they had +whispered to him in his dreams was about to happen. They guided +him gently, very gently, to the woodpile, where they put the axe +in his hands. + +Then they helped him shove open the cabin door, and he felt sure +they shut it after him--at least he heard it slam and the latch +fall sharply into place. And he knew they were waiting just +without, waiting for him to do his task. + +'Carter! I say, Carter!' Percy Cuthfert was frightened at the +look on the clerk's face, and he made haste to put the table +between them. + +Carter Weatherbee followed, without haste and without enthusiasm. +There was neither pity nor passion in his face, but rather the +patient, stolid look of one who has certain work to do and goes +about it methodically. + +'I say, what's the matter?' + +The clerk dodged back, cutting off his retreat to the door, but +never opening his mouth. + +'I say, Carter, I say; let's talk. There's a good chap.' The +master of arts was thinking rapidly, now, shaping a skillful +flank movement on the bed where his Smith & Wesson lay. Keeping +his eyes on the madman, he rolled backward on the bunk, at the +same time clutching the pistol. + +'Carter!' The powder flashed full in Weatherbee's face, but he +swung his weapon and leaped forward. The axe bit deeply at the +base of the spine, and Percy Cuthfert felt all consciousness of +his lower limbs leave him. Then the clerk fell heavily upon him, +clutching him by the throat with feeble fingers. The sharp bite +of the axe had caused Cuthfert to drop the pistol, and as his +lungs panted for release, he fumbled aimlessly for it among the +blankets. Then he remembered. He slid a hand up the clerk's belt +to the sheath-knife; and they drew very close to each other in +that last clinch. + +Percy Cuthfert felt his strength leave him. The lower portion of +his body was useless, The inert weight of Weatherbee crushed +him--crushed him and pinned him there like a bear under a trap. +The cabin became filled with a familiar odor, and he knew the +bread to be burning. Yet what did it matter? He would never need +it. And there were all of six cupfuls of sugar in the cache--if +he had foreseen this he would not have been so saving the last +several days. Would the wind-vane ever move? Why not' Had he not +seen the sun today? He would go and see. No; it was impossible to +move. He had not thought the clerk so heavy a man. + +How quickly the cabin cooled! The fire must be out. The cold was +forcing in. + +It must be below zero already, and the ice creeping up the inside +of the door. He could not see it, but his past experience enabled +him to gauge its progress by the cabin's temperature. The lower +hinge must be white ere now. Would the tale of this ever reach +the world? How would his friends take it? They would read it over +their coffee, most likely, and talk it over at the clubs. He +could see them very clearly, 'Poor Old Cuthfert,' they murmured; +'not such a bad sort of a chap, after all.' He smiled at their +eulogies, and passed on in search of a Turkish bath. It was the +same old crowd upon the streets. + +Strange, they did not notice his moosehide moccasins and tattered +German socks! He would take a cab. And after the bath a shave +would not be bad. No; he would eat first. + +Steak, and potatoes, and green things how fresh it all was! And +what was that? Squares of honey, streaming liquid amber! But why +did they bring so much? Ha! ha! he could never eat it all. + +Shine! Why certainly. He put his foot on the box. The bootblack +looked curiously up at him, and he remembered his moosehide +moccasins and went away hastily. + +Hark! The wind-vane must be surely spinning. No; a mere singing +in his ears. + +That was all--a mere singing. The ice must have passed the latch +by now. More likely the upper hinge was covered. Between the +moss-chinked roof-poles, little points of frost began to appear. +How slowly they grew! No; not so slowly. There was a new one, and +there another. Two--three--four; they were coming too fast to +count. There were two growing together. And there, a third had +joined them. + +Why, there were no more spots. They had run together and formed a +sheet. + +Well, he would have company. If Gabriel ever broke the silence of +the North, they would stand together, hand in hand, before the +great White Throne. And God would judge them, God would judge +them! + +Then Percy Cuthfert closed his eyes and dropped off to sleep. + + + +To the Man on the Trail + +'Dump it in!.' 'But I say, Kid, isn't that going it a little too +strong? Whisky and alcohol's bad enough; but when it comes to +brandy and pepper sauce and-' 'Dump it in. Who's making this +punch, anyway?' And Malemute Kid smiled benignantly through the +clouds of steam. 'By the time you've been in this country as long +as I have, my son, and lived on rabbit tracks and salmon belly, +you'll learn that Christmas comes only once per annum. + +And a Christmas without punch is sinking a hole to bedrock with +nary a pay streak.' + +'Stack up on that fer a high cyard,' approved Big Jim Belden, who +had come down from his claim on Mazy May to spend Christmas, and +who, as everyone knew, had been living the two months past on +straight moose meat. 'Hain't fergot the hooch we-uns made on the +Tanana, hey yeh?' 'Well, I guess yes. Boys, it would have done +your hearts good to see that whole tribe fighting drunk--and all +because of a glorious ferment of sugar and sour dough. That was +before your time,' Malemute Kid said as he turned to Stanley +Prince, a young mining expert who had been in two years. 'No +white women in the country then, and Mason wanted to get married. +Ruth's father was chief of the Tananas, and objected, like the +rest of the tribe. Stiff? Why, I used my last pound of sugar; +finest work in that line I ever did in my life. You should have +seen the chase, down the river and across the portage.' 'But the +squaw?' asked Louis Savoy, the tall French Canadian, becoming +interested; for he had heard of this wild deed when at Forty Mile +the preceding winter. + +Then Malemute Kid, who was a born raconteur, told the unvarnished +tale of the Northland Lochinvar. More than one rough adventurer +of the North felt his heartstrings draw closer and experienced +vague yearnings for the sunnier pastures of the Southland, where +life promised something more than a barren struggle with cold and +death. + +'We struck the Yukon just behind the first ice run,' he +concluded, 'and the tribe only a quarter of an hour behind. But +that saved us; for the second run broke the jam above and shut +them out. When they finally got into Nuklukyeto, the whole post +was ready for them. + +'And as to the forgathering, ask Father Roubeau here: he performed +the ceremony.' The Jesuit took the pipe from his lips but could +only express his gratification with patriarchal smiles, while +Protestant and Catholic vigorously applauded. + +'By gar!' ejaculated Louis Savoy, who seemed overcome by the +romance of it. 'La petite squaw: mon Mason brav. By gar!' Then, +as the first tin cups of punch went round, Bettles the +Unquenchable sprang to his feet and struck up his favorite +drinking song: 'There's Henry Ward Beecher And Sunday-school +teachers, All drink of the sassafras root; But you bet all the +same, If it had its right name, It's the juice of the forbidden +fruit.' + +'Oh, the juice of the forbidden fruit,' roared out the +bacchanalian chorus, 'Oh, the juice of the forbidden fruit; But +you bet all the same, If it had its right name, It's the juice of +the forbidden fruit.' + +Malemute Kid's frightful concoction did its work; the men of the +camps and trails unbent in its genial glow, and jest and song and +tales of past adventure went round the board. + +Aliens from a dozen lands, they toasted each and all. It was the +Englishman, Prince, who pledged 'Uncle Sam, the precocious infant +of the New World'; the Yankee, Bettles, who drank to 'The Queen, +God bless her'; and together, Savoy and Meyers, the German +trader, clanged their cups to Alsace and Lorraine. + +Then Malemute Kid arose, cup in hand, and glanced at the +greased-paper window, where the frost stood full three inches +thick. 'A health to the man on trail this night; may his grub +hold out; may his dogs keep their legs; may his matches never +miss fire.' Crack! + +Crack! heard the familiar music of the dog whip, the whining howl +of the Malemutes, and the crunch of a sled as it drew up to the +cabin. Conversation languished while they waited the issue. + +'An old-timer; cares for his dogs and then himself,' whispered +Malemute Kid to Prince as they listened to the snapping jaws and +the wolfish snarls and yelps of pain which proclaimed to their +practiced ears that the stranger was beating back their dogs +while he fed his own. + +Then came the expected knock, sharp and confident, and the +stranger entered. + +Dazzled by the light, he hesitated a moment at the door, giving +to all a chance for scrutiny. He was a striking personage, and a +most picturesque one, in his Arctic dress of wool and fur. +Standing six foot two or three, with proportionate breadth of +shoulders and depth of chest, his smooth-shaven face nipped by +the cold to a gleaming pink, his long lashes and eyebrows white +with ice, and the ear and neck flaps of his great wolfskin cap +loosely raised, he seemed, of a verity, the Frost King, just +stepped in out of the night. + +Clasped outside his Mackinaw jacket, a beaded belt held two large +Colt's revolvers and a hunting knife, while he carried, in +addition to the inevitable dog whip, a smokeless rifle of the +largest bore and latest pattern. As he came forward, for all his +step was firm and elastic, they could see that fatigue bore +heavily upon him. + +An awkward silence had fallen, but his hearty 'What cheer, my +lads?' put them quickly at ease, and the next instant Malemute +Kid and he had gripped hands. Though they had never met, each had +heard of the other, and the recognition was mutual. A sweeping +introduction and a mug of punch were forced upon him before he +could explain his errand. + +How long since that basket sled, with three men and eight dogs, +passed?' he asked. + +'An even two days ahead. Are you after them?' 'Yes; my team. Run +them off under my very nose, the cusses. I've gained two days on +them already--pick them up on the next run.' 'Reckon they'll show +spunk?' asked Belden, in order to keep up the conversation, for +Malemute Kid already had the coffeepot on and was busily frying +bacon and moose meat. + +The stranger significantly tapped his revolvers. + +'When'd yeh leave Dawson?' 'Twelve o'clock.' 'Last night?'--as a +matter of course. + +'Today.' A murmur of surprise passed round the circle. And well +it might; for it was just midnight, and seventy-five miles of +rough river trail was not to be sneered at for a twelve hours' +run. + +The talk soon became impersonal, however, harking back to the +trails of childhood. As the young stranger ate of the rude fare +Malemute Kid attentively studied his face. Nor was he long in +deciding that it was fair, honest, and open, and that he liked +it. Still youthful, the lines had been firmly traced by toil and +hardship. + +Though genial in conversation, and mild when at rest, the blue +eyes gave promise of the hard steel-glitter which comes when +called into action, especially against odds. The heavy jaw and +square-cut chin demonstrated rugged pertinacity and +indomitability. Nor, though the attributes of the lion were +there, was there wanting the certain softness, the hint of +womanliness, which bespoke the emotional nature. + +'So thet's how me an' the ol' woman got spliced,' said Belden, +concluding the exciting tale of his courtship. '"Here we be, +Dad," sez she. "An' may yeh be damned," sez he to her, an' then +to me, "Jim, yeh--yeh git outen them good duds o' yourn; I want a +right peart slice o' thet forty acre plowed 'fore dinner." An' +then he sort o' sniffled an' kissed her. An' I was thet +happy--but he seen me an' roars out, "Yeh, Jim!" An' yeh bet I +dusted fer the barn.' 'Any kids waiting for you back in the +States?' asked the stranger. + +'Nope; Sal died 'fore any come. Thet's why I'm here.' Belden +abstractedly began to light his pipe, which had failed to go out, +and then brightened up with, 'How 'bout yerself, +stranger--married man?' For reply, he opened his watch, slipped +it from the thong which served for a chain, and passed it over. +Belden picked up the slush lamp, surveyed the inside of the case +critically, and, swearing admiringly to himself, handed it over +to Louis Savoy. With numerous 'By gars!' he finally surrendered +it to Prince, and they noticed that his hands trembled and his +eyes took on a peculiar softness. And so it passed from horny +hand to horny hand--the pasted photograph of a woman, the +clinging kind that such men fancy, with a babe at the breast. +Those who had not yet seen the wonder were keen with curiosity; +those who had became silent and retrospective. They could face +the pinch of famine, the grip of scurvy, or the quick death by +field or flood; but the pictured semblance of a stranger woman +and child made women and children of them all. + +'Never have seen the youngster yet--he's a boy, she says, and two +years old,' said the stranger as he received the treasure back. A +lingering moment he gazed upon it, then snapped the case and +turned away, but not quick enough to hide the restrained rush of +tears. Malemute Kid led him to a bunk and bade him turn in. + +'Call me at four sharp. Don't fail me,' were his last words, and +a moment later he was breathing in the heaviness of exhausted +sleep. + +'By Jove! He's a plucky chap,' commented Prince. 'Three hours' +sleep after seventy-five miles with the dogs, and then the trail +again. Who is he, Kid?' 'Jack Westondale. Been in going on three +years, with nothing but the name of working like a horse, and any +amount of bad luck to his credit. I never knew him, but Sitka +Charley told me about him.' 'It seems hard that a man with a +sweet young wife like his should be putting in his years in this +Godforsaken hole, where every year counts two on the outside.' +'The trouble with him is clean grit and stubbornness. He's +cleaned up twice with a stake, but lost it both times.' Here the +conversation was broken off by an uproar from Bettles, for the +effect had begun to wear away. And soon the bleak years of +monotonous grub and deadening toil were being forgotten in rough +merriment. Malemute Kid alone seemed unable to lose himself, and +cast many an anxious look at his watch. Once he put on his +mittens and beaver-skin cap, and, leaving the cabin, fell to +rummaging about in the cache. + +Nor could he wait the hour designated; for he was fifteen minutes +ahead of time in rousing his guest. The young giant had stiffened +badly, and brisk rubbing was necessary to bring him to his feet. +He tottered painfully out of the cabin, to find his dogs +harnessed and everything ready for the start. The company wished +him good luck and a short chase, while Father Roubeau, hurriedly +blessing him, led the stampede for the cabin; and small wonder, +for it is not good to face seventy-four degrees below zero with +naked ears and hands. + +Malemute Kid saw him to the main trail, and there, gripping his +hand heartily, gave him advice. + +'You'll find a hundred pounds of salmon eggs on the sled,' he +said. 'The dogs will go as far on that as with one hundred and +fifty of fish, and you can't get dog food at Pelly, as you +probably expected.' The stranger started, and his eyes flashed, +but he did not interrupt. 'You can't get an ounce of food for dog +or man till you reach Five Fingers, and that's a stiff two +hundred miles. Watch out for open water on the Thirty Mile River, +and be sure you take the big cutoff above Le Barge.' 'How did you +know it? Surely the news can't be ahead of me already?' 'I don't +know it; and what's more, I don't want to know it. But you never +owned that team you're chasing. Sitka Charley sold it to them +last spring. But he sized you up to me as square once, and I +believe him. I've seen your face; I like it. And I've seen--why, +damn you, hit the high places for salt water and that wife of +yours, and--' Here the Kid unmittened and jerked out his sack. + +'No; I don't need it,' and the tears froze on his cheeks as he +convulsively gripped Malemute Kid's hand. + +'Then don't spare the dogs; cut them out of the traces as fast as +they drop; buy them, and think they're cheap at ten dollars a +pound. You can get them at Five Fingers, Little Salmon, and +Hootalinqua. And watch out for wet feet,' was his parting advice. +'Keep a-traveling up to twenty-five, but if it gets below that, +build a fire and change your socks.' + +Fifteen minutes had barely elapsed when the jingle of bells +announced new arrivals. The door opened, and a mounted policeman +of the Northwest Territory entered, followed by two half-breed +dog drivers. Like Westondale, they were heavily armed and showed +signs of fatigue. The half-breeds had been borne to the trail and +bore it easily; but the young policeman was badly exhausted. +Still, the dogged obstinacy of his race held him to the pace he +had set, and would hold him till he dropped in his tracks. + +'When did Westondale pull out?' he asked. 'He stopped here, +didn't he?' This was supererogatory, for the tracks told their +own tale too well. + +Malemute Kid had caught Belden's eye, and he, scenting the wind, +replied evasively, 'A right peart while back.' 'Come, my man; +speak up,' the policeman admonished. + +'Yeh seem to want him right smart. Hez he ben gittin' +cantankerous down Dawson way?' + +'Held up Harry McFarland's for forty thousand; exchanged it at +the P.C. store for a check on Seattle; and who's to stop the +cashing of it if we don't overtake him? When did he pull out?' + +Every eye suppressed its excitement, for Malemute Kid had given +the cue, and the young officer encountered wooden faces on every +hand. + +Striding over to Prince, he put the question to him. Though it +hurt him, gazing into the frank, earnest face of his fellow +countryman, he replied inconsequentially on the state of the +trail. + +Then he espied Father Roubeau, who could not lie. 'A quarter of +an hour ago,' the priest answered; 'but he had four hours' rest +for himself and dogs.' 'Fifteen minutes' start, and he's fresh! +My God!' The poor fellow staggered back, half fainting from +exhaustion and disappointment, murmuring something about the run +from Dawson in ten hours and the dogs being played out. + +Malemute Kid forced a mug of punch upon him; then he turned for +the door, ordering the dog drivers to follow. But the warmth and +promise of rest were too tempting, and they objected strenuously. +The Kid was conversant with their French patois, and followed it +anxiously. + +They swore that the dogs were gone up; that Siwash and Babette +would have to be shot before the first mile was covered; that the +rest were almost as bad; and that it would be better for all +hands to rest up. + +'Lend me five dogs?' he asked, turning to Malemute Kid. + +But the Kid shook his head. + +'I'll sign a check on Captain Constantine for five +thousand--here's my papers--I'm authorized to draw at my own +discretion.' + +Again the silent refusal. + +'Then I'll requisition them in the name of the Queen.' Smiling +incredulously, the Kid glanced at his well-stocked arsenal, and +the Englishman, realizing his impotency, turned for the door. But +the dog drivers still objecting, he whirled upon them fiercely, +calling them women and curs. The swart face of the older +half-breed flushed angrily as he drew himself up and promised in +good, round terms that he would travel his leader off his legs, +and would then be delighted to plant him in the snow. + +The young officer--and it required his whole will--walked +steadily to the door, exhibiting a freshness he did not possess. +But they all knew and appreciated his proud effort; nor could he +veil the twinges of agony that shot across his face. Covered with +frost, the dogs were curled up in the snow, and it was almost +impossible to get them to their feet. The poor brutes whined +under the stinging lash, for the dog drivers were angry and +cruel; nor till Babette, the leader, was cut from the traces, +could they break out the sled and get under way. + +'A dirty scoundrel and a liar!' 'By gar! Him no good!' 'A thief!' +'Worse than an Indian!' + +It was evident that they were angry--first at the way they had +been deceived; and second at the outraged ethics of the +Northland, where honesty, above all, was man's prime jewel. + +'An' we gave the cuss a hand, after knowin' what he'd did.' All +eyes turned accusingly upon Malemute Kid, who rose from the +corner where he had been making Babette comfortable, and silently +emptied the bowl for a final round of punch. + +'It's a cold night, boys--a bitter cold night,' was the +irrelevant commencement of his defense. 'You've all traveled +trail, and know what that stands for. Don't jump a dog when he's +down. You've only heard one side. A whiter man than Jack +Westondale never ate from the same pot nor stretched blanket with +you or me. + +'Last fall he gave his whole clean-up, forty thousand, to Joe +Castrell, to buy in on Dominion. Today he'd be a millionaire. +But, while he stayed behind at Circle City, taking care of his +partner with the scurvy, what does Castell do? Goes into +McFarland's, jumps the limit, and drops the whole sack. Found him +dead in the snow the next day. And poor Jack laying his plans to +go out this winter to his wife and the boy he's never seen. +You'll notice he took exactly what his partner lost--forty +thousand. Well, he's gone out; and what are you going to do about +it?' The Kid glanced round the circle of his judges, noted the +softening of their faces, then raised his mug aloft. 'So a health +to the man on trail this night; may his grub hold out; may his +dogs keep their legs; may his matches never miss fire. + +'God prosper him; good luck go with him; and--' 'Confusion to the +Mounted Police!' cried Bettles, to the crash of the empty cups. + + + +The Priestly Prerogative + +This is the story of a man who did not appreciate his wife; also, +of a woman who did him too great an honor when she gave herself +to him. Incidentally, it concerns a Jesuit priest who had never +been known to lie. He was an appurtenance, and a very necessary +one, to the Yukon country; but the presence of the other two was +merely accidental. They were specimens of the many strange waifs +which ride the breast of a gold rush or come tailing along +behind. + +Edwin Bentham and Grace Bentham were waifs; they were also +tailing along behind, for the Klondike rush of '97 had long since +swept down the great river and subsided into the famine-stricken +city of Dawson. When the Yukon shut up shop and went to sleep +under a three-foot ice-sheet, this peripatetic couple found +themselves at the Five Finger Rapids, with the City of Gold still +a journey of many sleeps to the north. + +Many cattle had been butchered at this place in the fall of the +year, and the offal made a goodly heap. The three fellow-voyagers +of Edwin Bentham and wife gazed upon this deposit, did a little +mental arithmetic, caught a certain glimpse of a bonanza, and +decided to remain. And all winter they sold sacks of bones and +frozen hides to the famished dog-teams. It was a modest price +they asked, a dollar a pound, just as it came. Six months later, +when the sun came back and the Yukon awoke, they buckled on their +heavy moneybelts and journeyed back to the Southland, where they +yet live and lie mightily about the Klondike they never saw. + +But Edwin Bentham--he was an indolent fellow, and had he not been +possessed of a wife, would have gladly joined issued in the +dog-meat speculation. As it was, she played upon his vanity, told +him how great and strong he was, how a man such as he certainly +was could overcome all obstacles and of a surety obtain the +Golden Fleece. So he squared his jaw, sold his share in the bones +and hides for a sled and one dog, and turned his snowshoes to the +north. Needless to state, Grace Bentham's snowshoes never allowed +his tracks to grow cold. Nay, ere their tribulations had seen +three days, it was the man who followed in the rear, and the +woman who broke trail in advance. Of course, if anybody hove in +sight, the position was instantly reversed. Thus did his manhood +remain virgin to the travelers who passed like ghosts on the +silent trail. There are such men in this world. + +How such a man and such a woman came to take each other for +better and for worse is unimportant to this narrative. These +things are familiar to us all, and those people who do them, or +even question them too closely, are apt to lose a beautiful faith +which is known as Eternal Fitness. + +Edwin Bentham was a boy, thrust by mischance into a man's +body,--a boy who could complacently pluck a butterfly, wing from +wing, or cower in abject terror before a lean, nervy fellow, not +half his size. He was a selfish cry-baby, hidden behind a man's +mustache and stature, and glossed over with a skin-deep veneer of +culture and conventionality. Yes; he was a clubman and a society +man, the sort that grace social functions and utter inanities with +a charm and unction which is indescribable; the sort that talk +big, and cry over a toothache; the sort that put more hell into a +woman's life by marrying her than can the most graceless +libertine that ever browsed in forbidden pastures. We meet these +men every day, but we rarely know them for what they are. Second +to marrying them, the best way to get this knowledge is to eat +out of the same pot and crawl under the same blanket with them +for--well, say a week; no greater margin is necessary. + +To see Grace Bentham, was to see a slender, girlish creature; to +know her, was to know a soul which dwarfed your own, yet retained +all the elements of the eternal feminine. This was the woman who +urged and encouraged her husband in his Northland quest, who +broke trail for him when no one was looking, and cried in secret +over her weakling woman's body. + +So journeyed this strangely assorted couple down to old Fort +Selkirk, then through fivescore miles of dismal wilderness to +Stuart River. And when the short day left them, and the man lay +down in the snow and blubbered, it was the woman who lashed him +to the sled, bit her lips with the pain of her aching limbs, and +helped the dog haul him to Malemute Kid's cabin. Malemute Kid was +not at home, but Meyers, the German trader, cooked great +moose-steaks and shook up a bed of fresh pine boughs. Lake, +Langham, and Parker, were excited, and not unduly so when the +cause was taken into account. + +'Oh, Sandy! Say, can you tell a porterhouse from a round? Come +out and lend us a hand, anyway!' This appeal emanated from the +cache, where Langham was vainly struggling with divers quarters +of frozen moose. + +'Don't you budge from those dishes!' commanded Parker. + +'I say, Sandy; there's a good fellow--just run down to the +Missouri Camp and borrow some cinnamon,' begged Lake. + +'Oh! oh! hurry up! Why don't--' But the crash of meat and boxes, +in the cache, abruptly quenched this peremptory summons. + +'Come now, Sandy; it won't take a minute to go down to the +Missouri--' 'You leave him alone,' interrupted Parker. 'How am I +to mix the biscuits if the table isn't cleared off?' + +Sandy paused in indecision, till suddenly the fact that he was +Langham's 'man' dawned upon him. Then he apologetically threw +down the greasy dishcloth, and went to his master's rescue. + +These promising scions of wealthy progenitors had come to the +Northland in search of laurels, with much money to burn, and a +'man' apiece. Luckily for their souls, the other two men were up +the White River in search of a mythical quartz-ledge; so Sandy +had to grin under the responsibility of three healthy masters, +each of whom was possessed of peculiar cookery ideas. Twice that +morning had a disruption of the whole camp been imminent, only +averted by immense concessions from one or the other of these +knights of the chafing-dish. But at last their mutual creation, a +really dainty dinner, was completed. + +Then they sat down to a three-cornered game of 'cut-throat,'--a +proceeding which did away with all casus belli for future +hostilities, and permitted the victor to depart on a most +important mission. + +This fortune fell to Parker, who parted his hair in the middle, +put on his mittens and bearskin cap, and stepped over to Malemute +Kid's cabin. And when he returned, it was in the company of Grace +Bentham and Malemute Kid,--the former very sorry her husband +could not share with her their hospitality, for he had gone up to +look at the Henderson Creek mines, and the latter still a trifle +stiff from breaking trail down the Stuart River. + +Meyers had been asked, but had declined, being deeply engrossed +in an experiment of raising bread from hops. + +Well, they could do without the husband; but a woman--why they +had not seen one all winter, and the presence of this one +promised a new era in their lives. + +They were college men and gentlemen, these three young fellows, +yearning for the flesh-pots they had been so long denied. +Probably Grace Bentham suffered from a similar hunger; at least, +it meant much to her, the first bright hour in many weeks of +darkness. + +But that wonderful first course, which claimed the versatile Lake +for its parent, had no sooner been served than there came a loud +knock at the door. + +'Oh! Ah! Won't you come in, Mr. Bentham?' said Parker, who had +stepped to see who the newcomer might be. + +'Is my wife here?' gruffly responded that worthy. + +'Why, yes. We left word with Mr. Meyers.' Parker was exerting his +most dulcet tones, inwardly wondering what the deuce it all +meant. 'Won't you come in? Expecting you at any moment, we +reserved a place. And just in time for the first course, too.' +'Come in, Edwin, dear,' chirped Grace Bentham from her seat at +the table. + +Parker naturally stood aside. + +'I want my wife,' reiterated Bentham hoarsely, the intonation +savoring disagreeably of ownership. + +Parker gasped, was within an ace of driving his fist into the +face of his boorish visitor, but held himself awkwardly in check. +Everybody rose. Lake lost his head and caught himself on the +verge of saying, 'Must you go?' Then began the farrago of +leave-taking. 'So nice of you--' 'I am awfully sorry' 'By Jove! +how things did brighten--' 'Really now, you--' + +'Thank you ever so much--' 'Nice trip to Dawson--' etc., etc. + +In this wise the lamb was helped into her jacket and led to the +slaughter. Then the door slammed, and they gazed woefully upon +the deserted table. + +'Damn!' Langham had suffered disadvantages in his early training, +and his oaths were weak and monotonous. 'Damn!' he repeated, +vaguely conscious of the incompleteness and vainly struggling for +a more virile term. It is a clever woman who can fill out the +many weak places in an inefficient man, by her own indomitability, +re-enforce his vacillating nature, infuse her ambitious soul into +his, and spur him on to great achievements. And it is indeed a +very clever and tactful woman who can do all this, and do it so +subtly that the man receives all the credit and believes in his +inmost heart that everything is due to him and him alone. + +This is what Grace Bentham proceeded to do. Arriving in Dawson +with a few pounds of flour and several letters of introduction, +she at once applied herself to the task of pushing her big baby +to the fore. It was she who melted the stony heart and wrung +credit from the rude barbarian who presided over the destiny of +the P. C. Company; yet it was Edwin Bentham to whom the +concession was ostensibly granted. It was she who dragged her +baby up and down creeks, over benches and divides, and on a dozen +wild stampedes; yet everybody remarked what an energetic fellow +that Bentham was. It was she who studied maps, and catechised +miners, and hammered geography and locations into his hollow +head, till everybody marveled at his broad grasp of the country +and knowledge of its conditions. Of course, they said the wife +was a brick, and only a few wise ones appreciated and pitied the +brave little woman. + +She did the work; he got the credit and reward. In the Northwest +Territory a married woman cannot stake or record a creek, bench, +or quartz claim; so Edwin Bentham went down to the Gold +Commissioner and filed on Bench Claim 23, second tier, of French +Hill. And when April came they were washing out a thousand +dollars a day, with many, many such days in prospect. + +At the base of French Hill lay Eldorado Creek, and on a creek +claim stood the cabin of Clyde Wharton. At present he was not +washing out a diurnal thousand dollars; but his dumps grew, shift +by shift, and there would come a time when those dumps would pass +through his sluice-boxes, depositing in the riffles, in the +course of half a dozen days, several hundred thousand dollars. He +often sat in that cabin, smoked his pipe, and dreamed beautiful +little dreams,--dreams in which neither the dumps nor the +half-ton of dust in the P. C. Company's big safe, played a part. + +And Grace Bentham, as she washed tin dishes in her hillside +cabin, often glanced down into Eldorado Creek, and dreamed,--not +of dumps nor dust, however. They met frequently, as the trail to +the one claim crossed the other, and there is much to talk about +in the Northland spring; but never once, by the light of an eye +nor the slip of a tongue, did they speak their hearts. + +This is as it was at first. But one day Edwin Bentham was brutal. +All boys are thus; besides, being a French Hill king now, he +began to think a great deal of himself and to forget all he owed +to his wife. On this day, Wharton heard of it, and waylaid Grace +Bentham, and talked wildly. This made her very happy, though she +would not listen, and made him promise to not say such things +again. Her hour had not come. + +But the sun swept back on its northern journey, the black of +midnight changed to the steely color of dawn, the snow slipped +away, the water dashed again over the glacial drift, and the +wash-up began. Day and night the yellow clay and scraped bedrock +hurried through the swift sluices, yielding up its ransom to the +strong men from the Southland. + +And in that time of tumult came Grace Bentham's hour. + +To all of us such hours at some time come,--that is, to us who +are not too phlegmatic. + +Some people are good, not from inherent love of virtue, but from +sheer laziness. But those of us who know weak moments may +understand. + +Edwin Bentham was weighing dust over the bar of the saloon at the +Forks--altogether too much of his dust went over that pine +board--when his wife came down the hill and slipped into Clyde +Wharton's cabin. Wharton was not expecting her, but that did not +alter the case. And much subsequent misery and idle waiting might +have been avoided, had not Father Roubeau seen this and turned +aside from the main creek trail. 'My child,--' 'Hold on, Father +Roubeau! Though I'm not of your faith, I respect you; but you +can't come in between this woman and me!' 'You know what you are +doing?' 'Know! Were you God Almighty, ready to fling me into +eternal fire, I'd bank my will against yours in this matter.' +Wharton had placed Grace on a stool and stood belligerently +before her. + +'You sit down on that chair and keep quiet,' he continued, +addressing the Jesuit. 'I'll take my innings now. You can have +yours after.' + +Father Roubeau bowed courteously and obeyed. He was an easy-going +man and had learned to bide his time. Wharton pulled a stool +alongside the woman's, smothering her hand in his. + +'Then you do care for me, and will take me away?' Her face seemed +to reflect the peace of this man, against whom she might draw +close for shelter. + +'Dear, don't you remember what I said before? Of course I-' 'But +how can you?--the wash-up?' 'Do you think that worries? Anyway, +I'll give the job to Father Roubeau, here. + +'I can trust him to safely bank the dust with the company.' 'To +think of it!--I'll never see him again.' 'A blessing!' 'And to +go--O, Clyde, I can't! I can't!' 'There, there; of course you +can, just let me plan it.--You see, as soon as we get a few traps +together, we'll start, and-' 'Suppose he comes back?' 'I'll break +every-' 'No, no! No fighting, Clyde! Promise me that.' 'All +right! I'll just tell the men to throw him off the claim. They've +seen how he's treated you, and haven't much love for him.' + +'You mustn't do that. You mustn't hurt him.' 'What then? Let him +come right in here and take you away before my eyes?' 'No-o,' she +half whispered, stroking his hand softly. + +'Then let me run it, and don't worry. I'll see he doesn't get +hurt. Precious lot he cared whether you got hurt or not! We won't +go back to Dawson. I'll send word down for a couple of the boys +to outfit and pole a boat up the Yukon. We'll cross the divide +and raft down the Indian River to meet them. Then--' 'And then?' +Her head was on his shoulder. + +Their voices sank to softer cadences, each word a caress. The +Jesuit fidgeted nervously. + +'And then?' she repeated. + +'Why we'll pole up, and up, and up, and portage the White Horse +Rapids and the Box Canon.' 'Yes?' 'And the Sixty-Mile River; then +the lakes, Chilcoot, Dyea, and Salt Water.' 'But, dear, I can't +pole a boat.' 'You little goose! I'll get Sitka Charley; he knows +all the good water and best camps, and he is the best traveler I +ever met, if he is an Indian. All you'll have to do, is to sit in +the middle of the boat, and sing songs, and play Cleopatra, and +fight--no, we're in luck; too early for mosquitoes.' + +'And then, O my Antony?' 'And then a steamer, San Francisco, and +the world! Never to come back to this cursed hole again. Think of +it! The world, and ours to choose from! I'll sell out. Why, we're +rich! The Waldworth Syndicate will give me half a million for +what's left in the ground, and I've got twice as much in the +dumps and with the P. C. Company. We'll go to the Fair in Paris +in 1900. We'll go to Jerusalem, if you say so. + +'We'll buy an Italian palace, and you can play Cleopatra to your +heart's content. No, you shall be Lucretia, Acte, or anybody your +little heart sees fit to become. But you mustn't, you really +mustn't-' 'The wife of Caesar shall be above reproach.' 'Of +course, but--' 'But I won't be your wife, will I, dear?' 'I +didn't mean that.' 'But you'll love me just as much, and never +even think--oh! I know you'll be like other men; you'll grow +tired, and--and-' + +'How can you? I--' 'Promise me.' 'Yes, yes; I do promise.' 'You +say it so easily, dear; but how do you know?--or I know? I have +so little to give, yet it is so much, and all I have. O, Clyde! +promise me you won't?' + +'There, there! You musn't begin to doubt already. Till death do +us part, you know.' + +'Think! I once said that to--to him, and now?' 'And now, little +sweetheart, you're not to bother about such things any more. + +Of course, I never, never will, and--' And for the first time, +lips trembled against lips. + +Father Roubeau had been watching the main trail through the +window, but could stand the strain no longer. + +He cleared his throat and turned around. + +'Your turn now, Father!' Wharton's face was flushed with the fire +of his first embrace. + +There was an exultant ring to his voice as he abdicated in the +other's favor. He had no doubt as to the result. Neither had +Grace, for a smile played about her mouth as she faced the +priest. + +'My child,' he began, 'my heart bleeds for you. It is a pretty +dream, but it cannot be.' + +'And why, Father? I have said yes.' 'You knew not what you did. +You did not think of the oath you took, before your God, to that +man who is your husband. It remains for me to make you realize +the sanctity of such a pledge.' 'And if I do realize, and yet +refuse?' + +'Then God' + +'Which God? My husband has a God which I care not to worship. +There must be many such.' 'Child! unsay those words! Ah! you do +not mean them. I understand. I, too, have had such moments.' For +an instant he was back in his native France, and a wistful, +sad-eyed face came as a mist between him and the woman before +him. + +'Then, Father, has my God forsaken me? I am not wicked above +women. My misery with him has been great. Why should it be +greater? Why shall I not grasp at happiness? I cannot, will not, +go back to him!' 'Rather is your God forsaken. Return. Throw your +burden upon Him, and the darkness shall be lifted. O my child,--' +'No; it is useless; I have made my bed and so shall I lie. I will +go on. And if God punishes me, I shall bear it somehow. You do +not understand. You are not a woman.' 'My mother was a woman.' + +'But--' 'And Christ was born of a woman.' She did not answer. A +silence fell. Wharton pulled his mustache impatiently and kept an +eye on the trail. Grace leaned her elbow on the table, her face +set with resolve. The smile had died away. Father Roubeau shifted +his ground. + +'You have children?' + +'At one time I wished--but now--no. And I am thankful.' 'And a +mother?' 'Yes.' 'She loves you?' 'Yes.' Her replies were +whispers. + +'And a brother?--no matter, he is a man. But a sister?' Her head +drooped a quavering 'Yes.' 'Younger? Very much?' 'Seven years.' +'And you have thought well about this matter? About them? About +your mother? And your sister? She stands on the threshold of her +woman's life, and this wildness of yours may mean much to her. +Could you go before her, look upon her fresh young face, hold her +hand in yours, or touch your cheek to hers?' + +To his words, her brain formed vivid images, till she cried out, +'Don't! don't!' and shrank away as do the wolf-dogs from the +lash. + +'But you must face all this; and better it is to do it now.' In +his eyes, which she could not see, there was a great compassion, +but his face, tense and quivering, showed no relenting. + +She raised her head from the table, forced back the tears, +struggled for control. + +'I shall go away. They will never see me, and come to forget me. +I shall be to them as dead. And--and I will go with Clyde--today.' +It seemed final. Wharton stepped forward, but the priest waved him +back. + +'You have wished for children?' A silent 'Yes.' 'And prayed for +them?' 'Often.' 'And have you thought, if you should have +children?' Father Roubeau's eyes rested for a moment on the man +by the window. + +A quick light shot across her face. Then the full import dawned +upon her. She raised her hand appealingly, but he went on. + +'Can you picture an innocent babe in your arms? A boy? The world +is not so hard upon a girl. Why, your very breast would turn to +gall! And you could be proud and happy of your boy, as you looked +on other children?--' 'O, have pity! Hush!' 'A scapegoat--' + +'Don't! don't! I will go back!' She was at his feet. + +'A child to grow up with no thought of evil, and one day the +world to fling a tender name in his face. A child to look back +and curse you from whose loins he sprang!' + +'O my God! my God!' She groveled on the floor. The priest sighed +and raised her to her feet. + +Wharton pressed forward, but she motioned him away. + +'Don't come near me, Clyde! I am going back!' The tears were +coursing pitifully down her face, but she made no effort to wipe +them away. + +'After all this? You cannot! I will not let you!' 'Don't touch +me!' She shivered and drew back. + +'I will! You are mine! Do you hear? You are mine!' Then he +whirled upon the priest. 'O what a fool I was to ever let you wag +your silly tongue! Thank your God you are not a common man, for +I'd--but the priestly prerogative must be exercised, eh? Well, +you have exercised it. Now get out of my house, or I'll forget +who and what you are!' Father Roubeau bowed, took her hand, and +started for the door. But Wharton cut them off. + +'Grace! You said you loved me?' 'I did.' 'And you do now?' 'I +do.' 'Say it again.' + +'I do love you, Clyde; I do.' 'There, you priest!' he cried. 'You +have heard it, and with those words on her lips you would send +her back to live a lie and a hell with that man?' + +But Father Roubeau whisked the woman into the inner room and +closed the door. 'No words!' he whispered to Wharton, as he +struck a casual posture on a stool. 'Remember, for her sake,' he +added. + +The room echoed to a rough knock at the door; the latch raised +and Edwin Bentham stepped in. + +'Seen anything of my wife?' he asked as soon as salutations had +been exchanged. + +Two heads nodded negatively. + +'I saw her tracks down from the cabin,' he continued tentatively, +'and they broke off, just opposite here, on the main trail.' His +listeners looked bored. + +'And I--I thought--' + +'She was here!' thundered Wharton. + +The priest silenced him with a look. 'Did you see her tracks +leading up to this cabin, my son?' Wily Father Roubeau--he had +taken good care to obliterate them as he came up the same path an +hour before. + +'I didn't stop to look, I--' His eyes rested suspiciously on the +door to the other room, then interrogated the priest. The latter +shook his head; but the doubt seemed to linger. + +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, isn'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 good-by.' The door slammed, and from the +window they watched him take his guest 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 heartbreaking 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: If She have spoken a word, +remember thy lips are sealed, And the brand of the Dog is upon +him by whom is the secret revealed. + +If there be trouble to Herward, and a lie of the blackest can +clear, Lie, while thy lips can move or a man is alive to hear.' + +Father Roubeau removed his pipe and reflected. 'The man speaks +true, but my soul is not vexed with that. The lie and the penance +stand with God; but--but--' + +'What then? Your hands are clean.' 'Not so. Kid, I have thought +much, and yet the thing remains. I knew, and made her go back.' +The clear note of a robin rang out from the wooden bank, a +partridge drummed the call in the distance, a moose lunged +noisily in the eddy; but the twain smoked on in silence. + + + +The Wisdom of the Trail + +Sitka Charley had achieved the impossible. Other Indians might +have known as much of the wisdom of the trail as he did; but he +alone knew the white man's wisdom, the honor of the trail, and +the law. But these things had not come to him in a day. The +aboriginal mind is slow to generalize, and many facts, repeated +often, are required to compass an understanding. Sitka Charley, +from boyhood, had been thrown continually with white men, and as +a man he had elected to cast his fortunes with them, expatriating +himself, once and for all, from his own people. Even then, +respecting, almost venerating their power, and pondering over it, +he had yet to divine its secret essence--the honor and the law. +And it was only by the cumulative evidence of years that he had +finally come to understand. Being an alien, when he did know, he +knew it better than the white man himself; being an Indian, he +had achieved the impossible. + +And of these things had been bred a certain contempt for his own +people--a contempt which he had made it a custom to conceal, but +which now burst forth in a polyglot whirlwind of curses upon the +heads of Kah-Chucte and Gowhee. They cringed before him like a +brace of snarling wolf dogs, too cowardly to spring, too wolfish +to cover their fangs. They were not handsome creatures. Neither +was Sitka Charley. All three were frightful-looking. There was no +flesh to their faces; their cheekbones were massed with hideous +scabs which had cracked and frozen alternately under the intense +frost; while their eyes burned luridly with the light which is +born of desperation and hunger. Men so situated, beyond the pale +of the honor and the law, are not to be trusted. Sitka Charley +knew this; and this was why he had forced them to abandon their +rifles with the rest of the camp outfit ten days before. His +rifle and Captain Eppingwell's were the only ones that remained. + +'Come, get a fire started,' he commanded, drawing out the +precious matchbox with its attendant strips of dry birchbark. + +The two Indians fell sullenly to the task of gathering dead +branches and underwood. They were weak and paused often, catching +themselves, in the act of stooping, with giddy motions, or +staggering to the center of operations with their knees shaking +like castanets. + +After each trip they rested for a moment, as though sick and +deadly weary. At times their eyes took on the patient stoicism of +dumb suffering; and again the ego seemed almost burst forth with +its wild cry, 'I, I, I want to exist!'--the dominant note of the +whole living universe. + +A light breath of air blew from the south, nipping the exposed +portions of their bodies and driving the frost, in needles of +fire, through fur and flesh to the bones. So, when the fire had +grown lusty and thawed a damp circle in the snow about it, Sitka +Charley forced his reluctant comrades to lend a hand in pitching +a fly. It was a primitive affair, merely a blanket stretched +parallel with the fire and to windward of it, at an angle of +perhaps forty-five degrees. This shut out the chill wind and +threw the heat backward and down upon those who were to huddle in +its shelter. Then a layer of green spruce boughs were spread, +that their bodies might not come in contact with the snow. When +this task was completed, Kah-Chucte and Gowhee proceeded to take +care of their feet. Their icebound moccasins were sadly worn by +much travel, and the sharp ice of the river jams had cut them to +rags. + +Their Siwash socks were similarly conditioned, and when these had +been thawed and removed, the dead-white tips of the toes, in the +various stages of mortification, told their simple tale of the +trail. + +Leaving the two to the drying of their footgear, Sitka Charley +turned back over the course he had come. He, too, had a mighty +longing to sit by the fire and tend his complaining flesh, but +the honor and the law forbade. He toiled painfully over the +frozen field, each step a protest, every muscle in revolt. +Several times, where the open water between the jams had recently +crusted, he was forced to miserably accelerate his movements as +the fragile footing swayed and threatened beneath him. In such +places death was quick and easy; but it was not his desire to +endure no more. + +His deepening anxiety vanished as two Indians dragged into view +round a bend in the river. They staggered and panted like men +under heavy burdens; yet the packs on their backs were a matter +of but a few pounds. He questioned them eagerly, and their +replies seemed to relieve him. He hurried on. Next came two white +men, supporting between them a woman. They also behaved as though +drunken, and their limbs shook with weakness. But the woman +leaned lightly upon them, choosing to carry herself forward with +her own strength. At the sight of her a flash of joy cast its +fleeting light across Sitka Charley's face. He cherished a very +great regard for Mrs. Eppingwell. He had seen many white women, +but this was the first to travel the trail with him. When Captain +Eppingwell proposed the hazardous undertaking and made him an +offer for his services, he had shaken his head gravely; for it +was an unknown journey through the dismal vastnesses of the +Northland, and he knew it to be of the kind that try to the +uttermost the souls of men. + +But when he learned that the captain's wife was to accompany +them, he had refused flatly to have anything further to do with +it. Had it been a woman of his own race he would have harbored no +objections; but these women of the Southland--no, no, they were +too soft, too tender, for such enterprises. + +Sitka Charley did not know this kind of woman. Five minutes +before, he did not even dream of taking charge of the expedition; +but when she came to him with her wonderful smile and her +straight clean English, and talked to the point, without pleading +or persuading, he had incontinently yielded. Had there been a +softness and appeal to mercy in the eyes, a tremble to the voice, +a taking advantage of sex, he would have stiffened to steel; +instead her clear-searching eyes and clear-ringing voice, her +utter frankness and tacit assumption of equality, had robbed him +of his reason. He felt, then, that this was a new breed of woman; +and ere they had been trail mates for many days he knew why the +sons of such women mastered the land and the sea, and why the +sons of his own womankind could not prevail against them. Tender +and soft! Day after day he watched her, muscle-weary, exhausted, +indomitable, and the words beat in upon him in a perennial +refrain. Tender and soft! He knew her feet had been born to easy +paths and sunny lands, strangers to the moccasined pain of the +North, unkissed by the chill lips of the frost, and he watched +and marveled at them twinkling ever through the weary day. + +She had always a smile and a word of cheer, from which not even +the meanest packer was excluded. As the way grew darker she +seemed to stiffen and gather greater strength, and when +Kah-Chucte and Gowhee, who had bragged that they knew every +landmark of the way as a child did the skin bails of the tepee, +acknowledged that they knew not where they were, it was she who +raised a forgiving voice amid the curses of the men. She had sung +to them that night till they felt the weariness fall from them +and were ready to face the future with fresh hope. And when the +food failed and each scant stint was measured jealously, she it +was who rebelled against the machinations of her husband and +Sitka Charley, and demanded and received a share neither greater +nor less than that of the others. + +Sitka Charley was proud to know this woman. A new richness, a +greater breadth, had come into his life with her presence. +Hitherto he had been his own mentor, had turned to right or left +at no man's beck; he had moulded himself according to his own +dictates, nourished his manhood regardless of all save his own +opinion. For the first time he had felt a call from without for +the best that was in him, just a glance of appreciation from the +clear-searching eyes, a word of thanks from the clear-ringing +voice, just a slight wreathing of the lips in the wonderful +smile, and he walked with the gods for hours to come. It was a +new stimulant to his manhood; for the first time he thrilled with +a conscious pride in his wisdom of the trail; and between the +twain they ever lifted the sinking hearts of their comrades. The +faces of the two men and the woman brightened as they saw him, +for after all he was the staff they leaned upon. But Sitka +Charley, rigid as was his wont, concealing pain and pleasure +impartially beneath an iron exterior, asked them the welfare of +the rest, told the distance to the fire, and continued on the +back-trip. + +Next he met a single Indian, unburdened, limping, lips +compressed, and eyes set with the pain of a foot in which the +quick fought a losing battle with the dead. All possible care had +been taken of him, but in the last extremity the weak and +unfortunate must perish, and Sitka Charley deemed his days to be +few. The man could not keep up for long, so he gave him rough +cheering words. After that came two more Indians, to whom he had +allotted the task of helping along Joe, the third white man of +the party. They had deserted him. Sitka Charley saw at a glance +the lurking spring in their bodies, and knew they had at last +cast off his mastery. So he was not taken unawares when he +ordered them back in quest of their abandoned charge, and saw the +gleam of the hunting knives that they drew from the sheaths. A +pitiful spectacle, three weak men lifting their puny strength in +the face of the mighty vastness; but the two recoiled under the +fierce rifle blows of the one and returned like beaten dogs to +the leash. Two hours later, with Joe reeling between them and +Sitka Charley bringing up the rear, they came to the fire, where +the remainder of the expedition crouched in the shelter of the +fly. + +'A few words, my comrades, before we sleep,' Sitka Charley said +after they had devoured their slim rations of unleavened bread. +He was speaking to the Indians in their own tongue, having +already given the import to the whites. 'A few words, my +comrades, for your own good, that ye may yet perchance live. I +shall give you the law; on his own head by the death of him that +breaks it. We have passed the Hills of Silence, and we now travel +the head reaches of the Stuart. It may be one sleep, it may be +several, it may be many sleeps, but in time we shall come among +the men of the Yukon, who have much grub. It were well that we +look to the law. Today Kah-Chucte and Gowhee, whom I commanded to +break trail, forgot they were men, and like frightened children +ran away. + +'True, they forgot; so let us forget. But hereafter, let them +remember. If it should happen they do not...' He touched his +rifle carelessly, grimly. 'Tomorrow they shall carry the flour +and see that the white man Joe lies not down by the trail. The +cups of flour are counted; should so much as an ounce be wanting +at nightfall... Do ye understand? Today there were others that +forgot. Moose Head and Three Salmon left the white man Joe to lie +in the snow. Let them forget no more. With the light of day shall +they go forth and break trail. Ye have heard the law. Look well, +lest ye break it.' Sitka Charley found it beyond him to keep the +line close up. From Moose Head and Three Salmon, who broke trail +in advance, to Kah-Chucte, Gowhee, and Joe, it straggled out over +a mile. Each staggered, fell or rested as he saw fit. + +The line of march was a progression through a chain of irregular +halts. Each drew upon the last remnant of his strength and +stumbled onward till it was expended, but in some miraculous way +there was always another last remnant. Each time a man fell it +was with the firm belief that he would rise no more; yet he did +rise, and again and again. The flesh yielded, the will conquered; +but each triumph was a tragedy. The Indian with the frozen foot, +no longer erect, crawled forward on hand and knee. He rarely +rested, for he knew the penalty exacted by the frost. + +Even Mrs. Eppingwell's lips were at last set in a stony smile, +and her eyes, seeing, saw not. Often she stopped, pressing a +mittened hand to her heart, gasping and dizzy. + +Joe, the white man, had passed beyond the stage of suffering. He +no longer begged to be let alone, prayed to die; but was soothed +and content under the anodyne of delirium. Kah-Chucte and Gowhee +dragged him on roughly, venting upon him many a savage glance or +blow. To them it was the acme of injustice. + +Their hearts were bitter with hate, heavy with fear. Why should +they cumber their strength with his weakness? To do so meant +death; not to do so--and they remembered the law of Sitka +Charley, and the rifle. + +Joe fell with greater frequency as the daylight waned, and so +hard was he to raise that they dropped farther and farther +behind. Sometimes all three pitched into the snow, so weak had +the Indians become. Yet on their backs was life, and strength, +and warmth. + +Within the flour sacks were all the potentialities of existence. +They could not but think of this, and it was not strange, that +which came to pass. They had fallen by the side of a great timber +jam where a thousand cords of firewood waited the match. Near by +was an air hole through the ice. Kah-Chucte looked on the wood +and the water, as did Gowhee; then they looked at each other. + +Never a word was spoken. Gowhee struck a fire; Kah-Chucte filled +a tin cup with water and heated it; Joe babbled of things in +another land, in a tongue they did not understand. + +They mixed flour with the warm water till it was a thin paste, +and of this they drank many cups. They did not offer any to Joe; +but he did not mind. He did not mind anything, not even his +moccasins, which scorched and smoked among the coals. + +A crystal mist of snow fell about them, softly, caressingly, +wrapping them in clinging robes of white. And their feet would +have yet trod many trails had not destiny brushed the clouds +aside and cleared the air. Nay, ten minutes' delay would have +been salvation. + +Sitka Charley, looking back, saw the pillared smoke of their +fire, and guessed. And he looked ahead at those who were +faithful, and at Mrs. Eppingwell. 'So, my good comrades, ye have +again forgotten that you were men? Good! Very good. There will be +fewer bellies to feed.' Sitka Charley retied the flour as he +spoke, strapping the pack to the one on his own back. He kicked +Joe till the pain broke through the poor devil's bliss and +brought him doddering to his feet. Then he shoved him out upon +the trail and started him on his way. The two Indians attempted +to slip off. + +'Hold, Gowhee! And thou, too, Kah-Chucte! Hath the flour given +such strength to thy legs that they may outrun the swift-winged +lead? Think not to cheat the law. Be men for the last time, and +be content that ye die full-stomached. + +Come, step up, back to the timber, shoulder to shoulder. Come!' +The two men obeyed, quietly, without fear; for it is the future +which pressed upon the man, not the present. + +'Thou, Gowhee, hast a wife and children and a deerskin lodge in +the Chipewyan. What is thy will in the matter?' 'Give thou her of +the goods which are mine by the word of the captain--the +blankets, the beads, the tobacco, the box which makes strange +sounds after the manner of the white men. Say that I did die on +the trail, but say not how.' 'And thou, Kah-Chucte, who hast nor +wife nor child?' 'Mine is a sister, the wife of the factor at +Koshim. He beats her, and she is not happy. Give thou her the +goods which are mine by the contract, and tell her it were well +she go back to her own people. Shouldst thou meet the man, and be +so minded, it were a good deed that he should die. He beats her, +and she is afraid.' 'Are ye content to die by the law?' 'We are.' +'Then good-bye, my good comrades. May ye sit by the well-filled +pot, in warm lodges, ere the day is done.' As he spoke he raised +his rifle, and many echoes broke the silence. Hardly had they +died away when other rifles spoke in the distance. Sitka Charley +started. + +There had been more than one shot, yet there was but one other +rifle in the party. + +He gave a fleeting glance at the men who lay so quietly, smiled +viciously at the wisdom of the trail, and hurried on to meet the +men of the Yukon. + + + +The Wife of a King + +Once when the northland was very young, the social and civic +virtues were remarkably alike for their paucity and their +simplicity. When the burden of domestic duties grew grievous, and +the fireside mood expanded to a constant protest against its +bleak loneliness, the adventurers from the Southland, in lieu of +better, paid the stipulated prices and took unto themselves +native wives. It was a foretaste of Paradise to the women, for it +must be confessed that the white rovers gave far better care and +treatment of them than did their Indian copartners. Of course, +the white men themselves were satisfied with such deals, as were +also the Indian men for that matter. Having sold their daughters +and sisters for cotton blankets and obsolete rifles and traded +their warm furs for flimsy calico and bad whisky, the sons of the +soil promptly and cheerfully succumbed to quick consumption and +other swift diseases correlated with the blessings of a superior +civilization. + +It was in these days of Arcadian simplicity that Cal Galbraith +journeyed through the land and fell sick on the Lower River. It +was a refreshing advent in the lives of the good Sisters of the +Holy Cross, who gave him shelter and medicine; though they little +dreamed of the hot elixir infused into his veins by the touch of +their soft hands and their gentle ministrations. Cal Galbraith, +became troubled with strange thoughts which clamored for +attention till he laid eyes on the Mission girl, Madeline. Yet he +gave no sign, biding his time patiently. He strengthened with the +coming spring, and when the sun rode the heavens in a golden +circle, and the joy and throb of life was in all the land, he +gathered his still weak body together and departed. + +Now, Madeline, the Mission girl, was an orphan. Her white father +had failed to give a bald-faced grizzly the trail one day, and +had died quickly. Then her Indian mother, having no man to fill +the winter cache, had tried the hazardous experiment of waiting +till the salmon-run on fifty pounds of flour and half as many of +bacon. After that, the baby, Chook-ra, went to live with the good +Sisters, and to be thenceforth known by another name. + +But Madeline still had kinsfolk, the nearest being a dissolute +uncle who outraged his vitals with inordinate quantities of the +white man's whisky. He strove daily to walk with the gods, and +incidentally, his feet sought shorter trails to the grave. When +sober he suffered exquisite torture. He had no conscience. To +this ancient vagabond Cal Galbraith duly presented himself, and +they consumed many words and much tobacco in the conversation +that followed. Promises were also made; and in the end the old +heathen took a few pounds of dried salmon and his birch-bark +canoe, and paddled away to the Mission of the Holy Cross. + +It is not given the world to know what promises he made and what +lies he told--the Sisters never gossip; but when he returned, upon +his swarthy chest there was a brass crucifix, and in his canoe +his niece Madeline. That night there was a grand wedding and a +potlach; so that for two days to follow there was no fishing done +by the village. But in the morning Madeline shook the dust of the +Lower River from her moccasins, and with her husband, in a +poling-boat, went to live on the Upper River in a place known as +the Lower Country. And in the years which followed she was a good +wife, sharing her husband's hardships and cooking his food. And +she kept him in straight trails, till he learned to save his dust +and to work mightily. In the end, he struck it rich and built a +cabin in Circle City; and his happiness was such that men who +came to visit him in his home-circle became restless at the sight +of it and envied him greatly. + +But the Northland began to mature and social amenities to make +their appearance. + +Hitherto, the Southland had sent forth its sons; but it now +belched forth a new exodus--this time of its daughters. Sisters +and wives they were not; but they did not fail to put new ideas +in the heads of the men, and to elevate the tone of things in +ways peculiarly their own. No more did the squaws gather at the +dances, go roaring down the center in the good, old Virginia +reels, or make merry with jolly 'Dan Tucker.' They fell back on +their natural stoicism and uncomplainingly watched the rule of +their white sisters from their cabins. + +Then another exodus came over the mountains from the prolific +Southland. + +This time it was of women that became mighty in the land. Their +word was law; their law was steel. They frowned upon the Indian +wives, while the other women became mild and walked humbly. There +were cowards who became ashamed of their ancient covenants with +the daughters of the soil, who looked with a new distaste upon +their dark-skinned children; but there were also others--men--who +remained true and proud of their aboriginal vows. When it became +the fashion to divorce the native wives. Cal Galbraith retained +his manhood, and in so doing felt the heavy hand of the women who +had come last, knew least, but who ruled the land. + +One day, the Upper Country, which lies far above Circle City, was +pronounced rich. Dog-teams carried the news to Salt Water; golden +argosies freighted the lure across the North Pacific; wires and +cables sang with the tidings; and the world heard for the first +time of the Klondike River and the Yukon Country. Cal Galbraith +had lived the years quietly. He had been a good husband to +Madeline, and she had blessed him. But somehow discontent fell +upon him; he felt vague yearnings for his own kind, for the life +he had been shut out from--a general sort of desire, which men +sometimes feel, to break out and taste the prime of living. +Besides, there drifted down the river wild rumors of the +wonderful El Dorado, glowing descriptions of the city of logs and +tents, and ludicrous accounts of the che-cha-quas who had rushed +in and were stampeding the whole country. + +Circle City was dead. The world had moved on up river and become +a new and most marvelous world. + +Cal Galbraith grew restless on the edge of things, and wished to +see with his own eyes. + +So, after the wash-up, he weighed in a couple of hundred pounds +of dust on the Company's big scales, and took a draft for the +same on Dawson. Then he put Tom Dixon in charge of his mines, +kissed Madeline good-by, promised to be back before the first +mush-ice ran, and took passage on an up-river steamer. + +Madeline waited, waited through all the three months of daylight. +She fed the dogs, gave much of her time to Young Cal, watched the +short summer fade away and the sun begin its long journey to the +south. And she prayed much in the manner of the Sisters of the +Holy Cross. The fall came, and with it there was mush-ice on the +Yukon, and Circle City kings returning to the winter's work at +their mines, but no Cal Galbraith. Tom Dixon received a letter, +however, for his men sledded up her winter's supply of dry pine. +The Company received a letter for its dogteams filled her cache +with their best provisions, and she was told that her credit was +limitless. + +Through all the ages man has been held the chief instigator of +the woes of woman; but in this case the men held their tongues +and swore harshly at one of their number who was away, while the +women failed utterly to emulate them. So, without needless delay, +Madeline heard strange tales of Cal Galbraith's doings; also, of +a certain Greek dancer who played with men as children did with +bubbles. Now Madeline was an Indian woman, and further, she had +no woman friend to whom to go for wise counsel. She prayed and +planned by turns, and that night, being quick of resolve and +action, she harnessed the dogs, and with Young Cal securely +lashed to the sled, stole away. + +Though the Yukon still ran free, the eddy-ice was growing, and +each day saw the river dwindling to a slushy thread. Save him who +has done the like, no man may know what she endured in traveling +a hundred miles on the rim-ice; nor may they understand the toil +and hardship of breaking the two hundred miles of packed ice +which remained after the river froze for good. But Madeline was +an Indian woman, so she did these things, and one night there +came a knock at Malemute Kid's door. Thereat he fed a team of +starving dogs, put a healthy youngster to bed, and turned his +attention to an exhausted woman. He removed her icebound +moccasins while he listened to her tale, and stuck the point of +his knife into her feet that he might see how far they were +frozen. + +Despite his tremendous virility, Malemute Kid was possessed of a +softer, womanly element, which could win the confidence of a +snarling wolf-dog or draw confessions from the most wintry heart. +Nor did he seek them. Hearts opened to him as spontaneously as +flowers to the sun. Even the priest, Father Roubeau, had been +known to confess to him, while the men and women of the Northland +were ever knocking at his door--a door from which the latch-string +hung always out. To Madeline, he could do no wrong, make no +mistake. She had known him from the time she first cast her lot +among the people of her father's race; and to her half-barbaric +mind it seemed that in him was centered the wisdom of the ages, +that between his vision and the future there could be no +intervening veil. + +There were false ideals in the land. The social strictures of +Dawson were not synonymous with those of the previous era, and +the swift maturity of the Northland involved much wrong. Malemute +Kid was aware of this, and he had Cal Galbraith's measure +accurately. + +He knew a hasty word was the father of much evil; besides, he was +minded to teach a great lesson and bring shame upon the man. So +Stanley Prince, the young mining expert, was called into the +conference the following night as was also Lucky Jack Harrington +and his violin. That same night, Bettles, who owed a great debt +to Malemute Kid, harnessed up Cal Galbraith's dogs, lashed Cal +Galbraith, Junior, to the sled, and slipped away in the dark for +Stuart River. + +II + +'So; one--two--three, one--two--three. Now reverse! No, no! Start +up again, Jack. See--this way.' Prince executed the movement as +one should who has led the cotillion. + +'Now; one--two--three, one--two--three. Reverse! Ah! that's +better. Try it again. I say, you know, you mustn't look at your +feet. One--two--three, one--two--three. Shorter steps! You are not +hanging to the gee-pole just now. Try it over. + +'There! that's the way. One--two--three, one--two--three.' Round +and round went Prince and Madeline in an interminable waltz. The +table and stools had been shoved over against the wall to +increase the room. Malemute Kid sat on the bunk, chin to knees, +greatly interested. Jack Harrington sat beside him, scraping away +on his violin and following the dancers. + +It was a unique situation, the undertaking of these three men +with the woman. + +The most pathetic part, perhaps, was the businesslike way in +which they went about it. + +No athlete was ever trained more rigidly for a coming contest, +nor wolf-dog for the harness, than was she. But they had good +material, for Madeline, unlike most women of her race, in her +childhood had escaped the carrying of heavy burdens and the toil +of the trail. Besides, she was a clean-limbed, willowy creature, +possessed of much grace which had not hitherto been realized. It +was this grace which the men strove to bring out and knock into +shape. + +'Trouble with her she learned to dance all wrong,' Prince +remarked to the bunk after having deposited his breathless pupil +on the table. 'She's quick at picking up; yet I could do better +had she never danced a step. But say, Kid, I can't understand +this.' Prince imitated a peculiar movement of the shoulders and +head--a weakness Madeline suffered from in walking. + +'Lucky for her she was raised in the Mission,' Malemute Kid +answered. 'Packing, you know,--the head-strap. Other Indian women +have it bad, but she didn't do any packing till after she +married, and then only at first. Saw hard lines with that husband +of hers. They went through the Forty-Mile famine together.' 'But +can we break it?' 'Don't know. + +'Perhaps long walks with her trainers will make the riffle. +Anyway, they'll take it out some, won't they, Madeline?' The girl +nodded assent. If Malemute Kid, who knew all things, said so, why +it was so. That was all there was about it. + +She had come over to them, anxious to begin again. Harrington +surveyed her in quest of her points much in the same manner men +usually do horses. It certainly was not disappointing, for he +asked with sudden interest, 'What did that beggarly uncle of +yours get anyway?' 'One rifle, one blanket, twenty bottles of +hooch. Rifle broke.' She said this last scornfully, as though +disgusted at how low her maiden-value had been rated. + +She spoke fair English, with many peculiarities of her husband's +speech, but there was still perceptible the Indian accent, the +traditional groping after strange gutturals. Even this her +instructors had taken in hand, and with no small success, too. + +At the next intermission, Prince discovered a new predicament. + +'I say, Kid,' he said, 'we're wrong, all wrong. She can't learn +in moccasins. + +'Put her feet into slippers, and then onto that waxed +floor--phew!' Madeline raised a foot and regarded her shapeless +house-moccasins dubiously. In previous winters, both at Circle +City and Forty-Mile, she had danced many a night away with +similar footgear, and there had been nothing the matter. + +But now--well, if there was anything wrong it was for Malemute +Kid to know, not her. + +But Malemute Kid did know, and he had a good eye for measures; so +he put on his cap and mittens and went down the hill to pay Mrs. +Eppingwell a call. Her husband, Clove Eppingwell, was prominent +in the community as one of the great Government officials. + +The Kid had noted her slender little foot one night, at the +Governor's Ball. And as he also knew her to be as sensible as she +was pretty, it was no task to ask of her a certain small favor. + +On his return, Madeline withdrew for a moment to the inner room. +When she reappeared Prince was startled. + +'By Jove!' he gasped. 'Who'd a' thought it! The little witch! Why +my sister--' 'Is an English girl,' interrupted Malemute Kid, +'with an English foot. This girl comes of a small-footed race. +Moccasins just broadened her feet healthily, while she did not +misshape them by running with the dogs in her childhood.' But +this explanation failed utterly to allay Prince's admiration. +Harrington's commercial instinct was touched, and as he looked +upon the exquisitely turned foot and ankle, there ran through his +mind the sordid list--'One rifle, one blanket, twenty bottles of +hooch.' Madeline was the wife of a king, a king whose yellow +treasure could buy outright a score of fashion's puppets; yet in +all her life her feet had known no gear save red-tanned +moosehide. At first she had looked in awe at the tiny white-satin +slippers; but she had quickly understood the admiration which +shone, manlike, in the eyes of the men. Her face flushed with +pride. For the moment she was drunken with her woman's loveliness; +then she murmured, with increased scorn, 'And one rifle, broke!' +So the training went on. Every day Malemute Kid led the girl out +on long walks devoted to the correction of her carriage and the +shortening of her stride. + +There was little likelihood of her identity being discovered, for +Cal Galbraith and the rest of the Old-Timers were like lost +children among the many strangers who had rushed into the land. +Besides, the frost of the North has a bitter tongue, and the +tender women of the South, to shield their cheeks from its biting +caresses, were prone to the use of canvas masks. With faces +obscured and bodies lost in squirrel-skin parkas, a mother and +daughter, meeting on trail, would pass as strangers. + +The coaching progressed rapidly. At first it had been slow, but +later a sudden acceleration had manifested itself. This began +from the moment Madeline tried on the white-satin slippers, and +in so doing found herself. The pride of her renegade father, +apart from any natural self-esteem she might possess, at that +instant received its birth. Hitherto, she had deemed herself a +woman of an alien breed, of inferior stock, purchased by her +lord's favor. Her husband had seemed to her a god, who had lifted +her, through no essential virtues on her part, to his own godlike +level. But she had never forgotten, even when Young Cal was born, +that she was not of his people. As he had been a god, so had his +womenkind been goddesses. She might have contrasted herself with +them, but she had never compared. + +It might have been that familiarity bred contempt; however, be +that as it may, she had ultimately come to understand these +roving white men, and to weigh them. + +True, her mind was dark to deliberate analysis, but she yet +possessed her woman's clarity of vision in such matters. On the +night of the slippers she had measured the bold, open admiration +of her three man-friends; and for the first time comparison had +suggested itself. It was only a foot and an ankle, but--but +comparison could not, in the nature of things, cease at that +point. She judged herself by their standards till the divinity of +her white sisters was shattered. After all, they were only women, +and why should she not exalt herself to their midst? In doing +these things she learned where she lacked and with the knowledge +of her weakness came her strength. And so mightily did she strive +that her three trainers often marveled late into the night over +the eternal mystery of woman. + +In this way Thanksgiving Night drew near. At irregular intervals +Bettles sent word down from Stuart River regarding the welfare of +Young Cal. The time of their return was approaching. More than +once a casual caller, hearing dance-music and the rhythmic pulse +of feet, entered, only to find Harrington scraping away and the +other two beating time or arguing noisily over a mooted step. +Madeline was never in evidence, having precipitately fled to the +inner room. + +On one of these nights Cal Galbraith dropped in. Encouraging news +had just come down from Stuart River, and Madeline had surpassed +herself--not in walk alone, and carriage and grace, but in +womanly roguishness. They had indulged in sharp repartee and she +had defended herself brilliantly; and then, yielding to the +intoxication of the moment, and of her own power, she had +bullied, and mastered, and wheedled, and patronized them with +most astonishing success. And instinctively, involuntarily, they +had bowed, not to her beauty, her wisdom, her wit, but to that +indefinable something in woman to which man yields yet cannot +name. + +The room was dizzy with sheer delight as she and Prince whirled +through the last dance of the evening. Harrington was throwing in +inconceivable flourishes, while Malemute Kid, utterly abandoned, +had seized the broom and was executing mad gyrations on his own +account. + +At this instant the door shook with a heavy rap-rap, and their +quick glances noted the lifting of the latch. But they had +survived similar situations before. Harrington never broke a +note. Madeline shot through the waiting door to the inner room. +The broom went hurtling under the bunk, and by the time Cal +Galbraith and Louis Savoy got their heads in, Malemute Kid and +Prince were in each other's arms, wildly schottisching down the +room. + +As a rule, Indian women do not make a practice of fainting on +provocation, but Madeline came as near to it as she ever had in +her life. For an hour she crouched on the floor, listening to the +heavy voices of the men rumbling up and down in mimic thunder. +Like familiar chords of childhood melodies, every intonation, +every trick of her husband's voice swept in upon her, fluttering +her heart and weakening her knees till she lay half-fainting +against the door. It was well she could neither see nor hear when +he took his departure. + +'When do you expect to go back to Circle City?' Malemute Kid +asked simply. + +'Haven't thought much about it,' he replied. 'Don't think till +after the ice breaks.' 'And Madeline?' + +He flushed at the question, and there was a quick droop to his +eyes. Malemute Kid could have despised him for that, had he known +men less. As it was, his gorge rose against the wives and +daughters who had come into the land, and not satisfied with +usurping the place of the native women, had put unclean thoughts +in the heads of the men and made them ashamed. + +'I guess she's all right,' the Circle City King answered hastily, +and in an apologetic manner. 'Tom Dixon's got charge of my +interests, you know, and he sees to it that she has everything +she wants.' Malemute Kid laid hand upon his arm and hushed him +suddenly. They had stepped without. Overhead, the aurora, a +gorgeous wanton, flaunted miracles of color; beneath lay the +sleeping town. Far below, a solitary dog gave tongue. + +The King again began to speak, but the Kid pressed his hand for +silence. The sound multiplied. Dog after dog took up the strain +till the full-throated chorus swayed the night. + +To him who hears for the first time this weird song, is told the +first and greatest secret of the Northland; to him who has heard +it often, it is the solemn knell of lost endeavor. It is the +plaint of tortured souls, for in it is invested the heritage of +the North, the suffering of countless generations--the warning +and the requiem to the world's estrays. + +Cal Galbraith shivered slightly as it died away in half-caught +sobs. The Kid read his thoughts openly, and wandered back with +him through all the weary days of famine and disease; and with +him was also the patient Madeline, sharing his pains and perils, +never doubting, never complaining. His mind's retina vibrated to +a score of pictures, stern, clear-cut, and the hand of the past +drew back with heavy fingers on his heart. It was the +psychological moment. Malemute Kid was half-tempted to play his +reserve card and win the game; but the lesson was too mild as +yet, and he let it pass. The next instant they had gripped hands, +and the King's beaded moccasins were drawing protests from the +outraged snow as he crunched down the hill. + +Madeline in collapse was another woman to the mischievous +creature of an hour before, whose laughter had been so infectious +and whose heightened color and flashing eyes had made her +teachers for the while forget. Weak and nerveless, she sat in the +chair just as she had been dropped there by Prince and Harrington. + +Malemute Kid frowned. This would never do. When the time of +meeting her husband came to hand, she must carry things off with +high-handed imperiousness. It was very necessary she should do it +after the manner of white women, else the victory would be no +victory at all. So he talked to her, sternly, without mincing of +words, and initiated her into the weaknesses of his own sex, till +she came to understand what simpletons men were after all, and +why the word of their women was law. + +A few days before Thanksgiving Night, Malemute Kid made another +call on Mrs. Eppingwell. She promptly overhauled her feminine +fripperies, paid a protracted visit to the dry-goods department +of the P. C. Company, and returned with the Kid to make +Madeline's acquaintance. After that came a period such as the +cabin had never seen before, and what with cutting, and fitting, +and basting, and stitching, and numerous other wonderful and +unknowable things, the male conspirators were more often banished +the premises than not. At such times the Opera House opened its +double storm-doors to them. + +So often did they put their heads together, and so deeply did +they drink to curious toasts, that the loungers scented unknown +creeks of incalculable richness, and it is known that several +checha-quas and at least one Old-Timer kept their stampeding +packs stored behind the bar, ready to hit the trail at a moment's +notice. + +Mrs. Eppingwell was a woman of capacity; so, when she turned +Madeline over to her trainers on Thanksgiving Night she was so +transformed that they were almost afraid of her. Prince wrapped a +Hudson Bay blanket about her with a mock reverence more real than +feigned, while Malemute Kid, whose arm she had taken, found it a +severe trial to resume his wonted mentorship. Harrington, with +the list of purchases still running through his head, dragged +along in the rear, nor opened his mouth once all the way down +into the town. When they came to the back door of the Opera House +they took the blanket from Madeline's shoulders and spread it on +the snow. Slipping out of Prince's moccasins, she stepped upon it +in new satin slippers. The masquerade was at its height. She +hesitated, but they jerked open the door and shoved her in. Then +they ran around to come in by the front entrance. + +III + +'Where is Freda?' the Old-Timers questioned, while the +che-cha-quas were equally energetic in asking who Freda was. The +ballroom buzzed with her name. + +It was on everybody's lips. Grizzled 'sour-dough boys,' +day-laborers at the mines but proud of their degree, either +patronized the spruce-looking tenderfeet and lied eloquently--the +'sour-dough boys' being specially created to toy with truth--or +gave them savage looks of indignation because of their ignorance. +Perhaps forty kings of the Upper and Lower Countries were on the +floor, each deeming himself hot on the trail and sturdily backing +his judgment with the yellow dust of the realm. An assistant was +sent to the man at the scales, upon whom had fallen the burden of +weighing up the sacks, while several of the gamblers, with the +rules of chance at their finger-ends, made up alluring books on +the field and favorites. + +Which was Freda? Time and again the 'Greek Dancer' was thought to +have been discovered, but each discovery brought panic to the +betting ring and a frantic registering of new wagers by those who +wished to hedge. Malemute Kid took an interest in the hunt, his +advent being hailed uproariously by the revelers, who knew him to +a man. The Kid had a good eye for the trick of a step, and ear +for the lilt of a voice, and his private choice was a marvelous +creature who scintillated as the 'Aurora Borealis.' But the Greek +dancer was too subtle for even his penetration. The majority of +the gold-hunters seemed to have centered their verdict on the +'Russian Princess,' who was the most graceful in the room, and +hence could be no other than Freda Moloof. + +During a quadrille a roar of satisfaction went up. She was +discovered. At previous balls, in the figure, 'all hands round,' +Freda had displayed an inimitable step and variation peculiarly +her own. As the figure was called, the 'Russian Princess' gave +the unique rhythm to limb and body. A chorus of I-told-you-so's +shook the squared roof-beams, when lo! it was noticed that +'Aurora Borealis' and another masque, the 'Spirit of the Pole,' +were performing the same trick equally well. And when two twin +'Sun-Dogs' and a 'Frost Queen' followed suit, a second assistant +was dispatched to the aid of the man at the scales. + +Bettles came off trail in the midst of the excitement, descending +upon them in a hurricane of frost. His rimed brows turned to +cataracts as he whirled about; his mustache, still frozen, seemed +gemmed with diamonds and turned the light in varicolored rays; +while the flying feet slipped on the chunks of ice which rattled +from his moccasins and German socks. A Northland dance is quite +an informal affair, the men of the creeks and trails having lost +whatever fastidiousness they might have at one time possessed; +and only in the high official circles are conventions at all +observed. Here, caste carried no significance. Millionaires and +paupers, dog-drivers and mounted policemen joined hands with +'ladies in the center,' and swept around the circle performing +most remarkable capers. Primitive in their pleasure, boisterous +and rough, they displayed no rudeness, but rather a crude +chivalry more genuine than the most polished courtesy. + +In his quest for the 'Greek Dancer,' Cal Galbraith managed to get +into the same set with the 'Russian Princess,' toward whom +popular suspicion had turned. + +But by the time he had guided her through one dance, he was +willing not only to stake his millions that she was not Freda, +but that he had had his arm about her waist before. When or where +he could not tell, but the puzzling sense of familiarity so +wrought upon him that he turned his attention to the discovery of +her identity. Malemute Kid might have aided him instead of +occasionally taking the Princess for a few turns and talking +earnestly to her in low tones. But it was Jack Harrington who +paid the 'Russian Princess' the most assiduous court. Once he +drew Cal Galbraith aside and hazarded wild guesses as to who she +was, and explained to him that he was going in to win. That +rankled the Circle City King, for man is not by nature monogamic, +and he forgot both Madeline and Freda in the new quest. + +It was soon noised about that the 'Russian Princess' was not +Freda Moloof. Interest deepened. Here was a fresh enigma. They +knew Freda though they could not find her, but here was somebody +they had found and did not know. Even the women could not place +her, and they knew every good dancer in the camp. Many took her +for one of the official clique, indulging in a silly escapade. +Not a few asserted she would disappear before the unmasking. +Others were equally positive that she was the woman-reporter of +the Kansas City Star, come to write them up at ninety dollars per +column. And the men at the scales worked busily. + +At one o'clock every couple took to the floor. The unmasking +began amid laughter and delight, like that of carefree children. +There was no end of Oh's and Ah's as mask after mask was lifted. +The scintillating 'Aurora Borealis' became the brawny negress +whose income from washing the community's clothes ran at about +five hundred a month. The twin 'Sun-Dogs' discovered mustaches on +their upper lips, and were recognized as brother Fraction-Kings +of El Dorado. In one of the most prominent sets, and the slowest +in uncovering, was Cal Galbraith with the 'Spirit of the Pole.' +Opposite him was Jack Harrington and the 'Russian Princess.' The +rest had discovered themselves, yet the 'Greek Dancer' was still +missing. All eyes were upon the group. Cal Galbraith, in response +to their cries, lifted his partner's mask. Freda's wonderful face +and brilliant eyes flashed out upon them. A roar went up, to be +squelched suddenly in the new and absorbing mystery of the +'Russian Princess.' Her face was still hidden, and Jack +Harrington was struggling with her. The dancers tittered on the +tiptoes of expectancy. He crushed her dainty costume roughly, and +then--and then the revelers exploded. The joke was on them. They +had danced all night with a tabooed native woman. + +But those that knew, and they were many, ceased abruptly, and a +hush fell upon the room. + +Cal Galbraith crossed over with great strides, angrily, and spoke +to Madeline in polyglot Chinook. But she retained her composure, +apparently oblivious to the fact that she was the cynosure of all +eyes, and answered him in English. She showed neither fright nor +anger, and Malemute Kid chuckled at her well-bred equanimity. The +King felt baffled, defeated; his common Siwash wife had passed +beyond him. + +'Come!' he said finally. 'Come on home.' 'I beg pardon,' she +replied; 'I have agreed to go to supper with Mr. Harrington. +Besides, there's no end of dances promised.' + +Harrington extended his arm to lead her away. He evinced not the +slightest disinclination toward showing his back, but Malemute +Kid had by this time edged in closer. The Circle City King was +stunned. Twice his hand dropped to his belt, and twice the Kid +gathered himself to spring; but the retreating couple passed +through the supper-room door where canned oysters were spread at +five dollars the plate. + +The crowd sighed audibly, broke up into couples, and followed +them. Freda pouted and went in with Cal Galbraith; but she had a +good heart and a sure tongue, and she spoiled his oysters for +him. What she said is of no importance, but his face went red and +white at intervals, and he swore repeatedly and savagely at +himself. + +The supper-room was filled with a pandemonium of voices, which +ceased suddenly as Cal Galbraith stepped over to his wife's +table. Since the unmasking considerable weights of dust had been +placed as to the outcome. Everybody watched with breathless +interest. + +Harrington's blue eyes were steady, but under the overhanging +tablecloth a Smith & Wesson balanced on his knee. Madeline looked +up, casually, with little interest. + +'May--may I have the next round dance with you?' the King +stuttered. + +The wife of the King glanced at her card and inclined her head. + + + +An Odyssey of the North + +The sleds were singing their eternal lament to the creaking of +the harness and the tinkling bells of the leaders; but the men +and dogs were tired and made no sound. The trail was heavy with +new-fallen snow, and they had come far, and the runners, burdened +with flint-like quarters of frozen moose, clung tenaciously to +the unpacked surface and held back with a stubbornness almost +human. + +Darkness was coming on, but there was no camp to pitch that +night. The snow fell gently through the pulseless air, not in +flakes, but in tiny frost crystals of delicate design. It was +very warm--barely ten below zero--and the men did not mind. +Meyers and Bettles had raised their ear flaps, while Malemute Kid +had even taken off his mittens. + +The dogs had been fagged out early in the after noon, but they +now began to show new vigor. Among the more astute there was a +certain restlessness--an impatience at the restraint of the +traces, an indecisive quickness of movement, a sniffing of snouts +and pricking of ears. These became incensed at their more +phlegmatic brothers, urging them on with numerous sly nips on +their hinder quarters. Those, thus chidden, also contracted and +helped spread the contagion. At last the leader of the foremost +sled uttered a sharp whine of satisfaction, crouching lower in +the snow and throwing himself against the collar. The rest +followed suit. + +There was an ingathering of back hands, a tightening of traces; +the sleds leaped forward, and the men clung to the gee poles, +violently accelerating the uplift of their feet that they might +escape going under the runners. The weariness of the day fell +from them, and they whooped encouragement to the dogs. The +animals responded with joyous yelps. They were swinging through +the gathering darkness at a rattling gallop. + +'Gee! Gee!' the men cried, each in turn, as their sleds abruptly +left the main trail, heeling over on single runners like luggers +on the wind. + +Then came a hundred yards' dash to the lighted parchment window, +which told its own story of the home cabin, the roaring Yukon +stove, and the steaming pots of tea. But the home cabin had been +invaded. Threescore huskies chorused defiance, and as many furry +forms precipitated themselves upon the dogs which drew the first +sled. The door was flung open, and a man, clad in the scarlet +tunic of the Northwest Police, waded knee-deep among the furious +brutes, calmly and impartially dispensing soothing justice with +the butt end of a dog whip. After that the men shook hands; and +in this wise was Malemute Kid welcomed to his own cabin by a +stranger. + +Stanley Prince, who should have welcomed him, and who was +responsible for the Yukon stove and hot tea aforementioned, was +busy with his guests. There were a dozen or so of them, as +nondescript a crowd as ever served the Queen in the enforcement +of her laws or the delivery of her mails. They were of many +breeds, but their common life had formed of them a certain +type--a lean and wiry type, with trail-hardened muscles, and +sun-browned faces, and untroubled souls which gazed frankly +forth, clear-eyed and steady. + +They drove the dogs of the Queen, wrought fear in the hearts of +her enemies, ate of her meager fare, and were happy. They had +seen life, and done deeds, and lived romances; but they did not +know it. + +And they were very much at home. Two of them were sprawled upon +Malemute Kid's bunk, singing chansons which their French +forebears sang in the days when first they entered the Northwest +land and mated with its Indian women. Bettles' bunk had suffered +a similar invasion, and three or four lusty voyageurs worked +their toes among its blankets as they listened to the tale of one +who had served on the boat brigade with Wolseley when he fought +his way to Khartoum. + +And when he tired, a cowboy told of courts and kings and lords +and ladies he had seen when Buffalo Bill toured the capitals of +Europe. In a corner two half-breeds, ancient comrades in a lost +campaign, mended harnesses and talked of the days when the +Northwest flamed with insurrection and Louis Riel was king. + +Rough jests and rougher jokes went up and down, and great hazards +by trail and river were spoken of in the light of commonplaces, +only to be recalled by virtue of some grain of humor or ludicrous +happening. Prince was led away by these uncrowned heroes who had +seen history made, who regarded the great and the romantic as but +the ordinary and the incidental in the routine of life. He passed +his precious tobacco among them with lavish disregard, and rusty +chains of reminiscence were loosened, and forgotten odysseys +resurrected for his especial benefit. + +When conversation dropped and the travelers filled the last pipes +and lashed their tight-rolled sleeping furs. Prince fell back +upon his comrade for further information. + +'Well, you know what the cowboy is,' Malemute Kid answered, +beginning to unlace his moccasins; 'and it's not hard to guess +the British blood in his bed partner. As for the rest, they're +all children of the coureurs du bois, mingled with God knows how +many other bloods. The two turning in by the door are the +regulation 'breeds' or Boisbrules. That lad with the worsted +breech scarf--notice his eyebrows and the turn of his jaw--shows +a Scotchman wept in his mother's smoky tepee. And that handsome +looking fellow putting the capote under his head is a French +half-breed--you heard him talking; he doesn't like the two +Indians turning in next to him. You see, when the 'breeds' rose +under the Riel the full-bloods kept the peace, and they've not +lost much love for one another since.' 'But I say, what's that +glum-looking fellow by the stove? I'll swear he can't talk +English. He hasn't opened his mouth all night.' 'You're wrong. He +knows English well enough. Did you follow his eyes when he +listened? I did. But he's neither kith nor kin to the others. +When they talked their own patois you could see he didn't +understand. I've been wondering myself what he is. Let's find +out.' 'Fire a couple of sticks into the stove!' + +Malemute Kid commanded, raising his voice and looking squarely at +the man in question. + +He obeyed at once. + +'Had discipline knocked into him somewhere.' Prince commented in +a low tone. + +Malemute Kid nodded, took off his socks, and picked his way among +recumbent men to the stove. There he hung his damp footgear among +a score or so of mates. + +'When do you expect to get to Dawson?' he asked tentatively. + +The man studied him a moment before replying. 'They say +seventy-five mile. So? Maybe two days.' The very slightest accent +was perceptible, while there was no awkward hesitancy or groping +for words. + +'Been in the country before?' 'No.' 'Northwest Territory?' 'Yes.' +'Born there?' 'No.' + +'Well, where the devil were you born? You're none of these.' +Malemute Kid swept his hand over the dog drivers, even including +the two policemen who had turned into Prince's bunk. 'Where did +you come from? I've seen faces like yours before, though I can't +remember just where.' 'I know you,' he irrelevantly replied, at +once turning the drift of Malemute Kid's questions. + +'Where? Ever see me?' 'No; your partner, him priest, Pastilik, +long time ago. Him ask me if I see you, Malemute Kid. Him give me +grub. I no stop long. You hear him speak 'bout me?' 'Oh! you're +the fellow that traded the otter skins for the dogs?' The man +nodded, knocked out his pipe, and signified his disinclination +for conversation by rolling up in his furs. Malemute Kid blew out +the slush lamp and crawled under the blankets with Prince. + +'Well, what is he?' 'Don't know--turned me off, somehow, and then +shut up like a clam. + +'But he's a fellow to whet your curiosity. I've heard of him. All +the coast wondered about him eight years ago. Sort of mysterious, +you know. He came down out of the North in the dead of winter, +many a thousand miles from here, skirting Bering Sea and +traveling as though the devil were after him. No one ever learned +where he came from, but he must have come far. He was badly +travel-worn when he got food from the Swedish missionary on +Golovin Bay and asked the way south. We heard of all this +afterward. Then he abandoned the shore line, heading right across +Norton Sound. Terrible weather, snowstorms and high winds, but he +pulled through where a thousand other men would have died, +missing St. Michaels and making the land at Pastilik. He'd lost +all but two dogs, and was nearly gone with starvation. + +'He was so anxious to go on that Father Roubeau fitted him out +with grub; but he couldn't let him have any dogs, for he was only +waiting my arrival, to go on a trip himself. Mr. Ulysses knew too +much to start on without animals, and fretted around for several +days. He had on his sled a bunch of beautifully cured otter +skins, sea otters, you know, worth their weight in gold. There +was also at Pastilik an old Shylock of a Russian trader, who had +dogs to kill. Well, they didn't dicker very long, but when the +Strange One headed south again, it was in the rear of a spanking +dog team. Mr. Shylock, by the way, had the otter skins. I saw +them, and they were magnificent. We figured it up and found the +dogs brought him at least five hundred apiece. And it wasn't as +if the Strange One didn't know the value of sea otter; he was an +Indian of some sort, and what little he talked showed he'd been +among white men. + +'After the ice passed out of the sea, word came up from Nunivak +Island that he'd gone in there for grub. Then he dropped from +sight, and this is the first heard of him in eight years. Now +where did he come from? and what was he doing there? and why did +he come from there? He's Indian, he's been nobody knows where, +and he's had discipline, which is unusual for an Indian. Another +mystery of the North for you to solve, Prince.' 'Thanks awfully, +but I've got too many on hand as it is,' he replied. + +Malemute Kid was already breathing heavily; but the young mining +engineer gazed straight up through the thick darkness, waiting +for the strange orgasm which stirred his blood to die away. And +when he did sleep, his brain worked on, and for the nonce he, +too, wandered through the white unknown, struggled with the dogs +on endless trails, and saw men live, and toil, and die like men. +The next morning, hours before daylight, the dog drivers and +policemen pulled out for Dawson. But the powers that saw to Her +Majesty's interests and ruled the destinies of her lesser +creatures gave the mailmen little rest, for a week later they +appeared at Stuart River, heavily burdened with letters for Salt +Water. + +However, their dogs had been replaced by fresh ones; but, then, +they were dogs. + +The men had expected some sort of a layover in which to rest up; +besides, this Klondike was a new section of the Northland, and +they had wished to see a little something of the Golden City +where dust flowed like water and dance halls rang with +never-ending revelry. But they dried their socks and smoked their +evening pipes with much the same gusto as on their former visit, +though one or two bold spirits speculated on desertion and the +possibility of crossing the unexplored Rockies to the east, and +thence, by the Mackenzie Valley, of gaining their old stamping +grounds in the Chippewyan country. + +Two or three even decided to return to their homes by that route +when their terms of service had expired, and they began to lay +plans forthwith, looking forward to the hazardous undertaking in +much the same way a city-bred man would to a day's holiday in the +woods. + +He of the Otter Skins seemed very restless, though he took little +interest in the discussion, and at last he drew Malemute Kid to +one side and talked for some time in low tones. + +Prince cast curious eyes in their direction, and the mystery +deepened when they put on caps and mittens and went outside. When +they returned, Malemute Kid placed his gold scales on the table, +weighed out the matter of sixty ounces, and transferred them to +the Strange One's sack. Then the chief of the dog drivers joined +the conclave, and certain business was transacted with him. + +The next day the gang went on upriver, but He of the Otter Skins +took several pounds of grub and turned his steps back toward +Dawson. + +'Didn't know what to make of it,' said Malemute Kid in response +to Prince's queries; 'but the poor beggar wanted to be quit of +the service for some reason or other--at least it seemed a most +important one to him, though he wouldn't let on what. You see, +it's just like the army: he signed for two years, and the only +way to get free was to buy himself out. He couldn't desert and +then stay here, and he was just wild to remain in the country. + +'Made up his mind when he got to Dawson, he said; but no one knew +him, hadn't a cent, and I was the only one he'd spoken two words +with. So he talked it over with the lieutenant-governor, and made +arrangements in case he could get the money from me--loan, you +know. Said he'd pay back in the year, and, if I wanted, would put +me onto something rich. Never'd seen it, but he knew it was rich. + +'And talk! why, when he got me outside he was ready to weep. +Begged and pleaded; got down in the snow to me till I hauled him +out of it. Palavered around like a crazy man. + +'Swore he's worked to this very end for years and years, and +couldn't bear to be disappointed now. Asked him what end, but he +wouldn't say. + +'Said they might keep him on the other half of the trail and he +wouldn't get to Dawson in two years, and then it would be too +late. Never saw a man take on so in my life. And when I said I'd +let him have it, had to yank him out of the snow again. Told him +to consider it in the light of a grubstake. Think he'd have it? +No sir! Swore he'd give me all he found, make me rich beyond the +dreams of avarice, and all such stuff. Now a man who puts his +life and time against a grubstake ordinarily finds it hard enough +to turn over half of what he finds. Something behind all this, +Prince; just you make a note of it. We'll hear of him if he stays +in the country--' 'And if he doesn't?' 'Then my good nature gets +a shock, and I'm sixty some odd ounces out.' The cold weather had +come on with the long nights, and the sun had begun to play his +ancient game of peekaboo along the southern snow line ere aught +was heard of Malemute Kid's grubstake. And then, one bleak +morning in early January, a heavily laden dog train pulled into +his cabin below Stuart River. He of the Otter Skins was there, +and with him walked a man such as the gods have almost forgotten +how to fashion. Men never talked of luck and pluck and +five-hundred-dollar dirt without bringing in the name of Axel +Gunderson; nor could tales of nerve or strength or daring pass up +and down the campfire without the summoning of his presence. And +when the conversation flagged, it blazed anew at mention of the +woman who shared his fortunes. + +As has been noted, in the making of Axel Gunderson the gods had +remembered their old-time cunning and cast him after the manner +of men who were born when the world was young. Full seven feet he +towered in his picturesque costume which marked a king of +Eldorado. His chest, neck, and limbs were those of a giant. To +bear his three hundred pounds of bone and muscle, his snowshoes +were greater by a generous yard than those of other men. +Rough-hewn, with rugged brow and massive jaw and unflinching eyes +of palest blue, his face told the tale of one who knew but the +law of might. Of the yellow of ripe corn silk, his frost-incrusted +hair swept like day across the night and fell far down his coat of +bearskin. + +A vague tradition of the sea seemed to cling about him as he +swung down the narrow trail in advance of the dogs; and he +brought the butt of his dog whip against Malemute Kid's door as a +Norse sea rover, on southern foray, might thunder for admittance +at the castle gate. + +Prince bared his womanly arms and kneaded sour-dough bread, +casting, as he did so, many a glance at the three guests--three +guests the like of which might never come under a man's roof in a +lifetime. The Strange One, whom Malemute Kid had surnamed +Ulysses, still fascinated him; but his interest chiefly +gravitated between Axel Gunderson and Axel Gunderson's wife. She +felt the day's journey, for she had softened in comfortable +cabins during the many days since her husband mastered the wealth +of frozen pay streaks, and she was tired. She rested against his +great breast like a slender flower against a wall, replying +lazily to Malemute Kid's good-natured banter, and stirring +Prince's blood strangely with an occasional sweep of her deep, +dark eyes. For Prince was a man, and healthy, and had seen few +women in many months. And she was older than he, and an Indian +besides. But she was different from all native wives he had met: +she had traveled--had been in his country among others, he +gathered from the conversation; and she knew most of the things +the women of his own race knew, and much more that it was not in +the nature of things for them to know. She could make a meal of +sun-dried fish or a bed in the snow; yet she teased them with +tantalizing details of many-course dinners, and caused strange +internal dissensions to arise at the mention of various quondam +dishes which they had well-nigh forgotten. She knew the ways of +the moose, the bear, and the little blue fox, and of the wild +amphibians of the Northern seas; she was skilled in the lore of +the woods, and the streams, and the tale writ by man and bird and +beast upon the delicate snow crust was to her an open book; yet +Prince caught the appreciative twinkle in her eye as she read the +Rules of the Camp. These rules had been fathered by the +Unquenchable Bettles at a time when his blood ran high, and were +remarkable for the terse simplicity of their humor. + +Prince always turned them to the wall before the arrival of +ladies; but who could suspect that this native wife--Well, it was +too late now. + +This, then, was the wife of Axel Gunderson, a woman whose name +and fame had traveled with her husband's, hand in hand, through +all the Northland. At table, Malemute Kid baited her with the +assurance of an old friend, and Prince shook off the shyness of +first acquaintance and joined in. But she held her own in the +unequal contest, while her husband, slower in wit, ventured +naught but applause. And he was very proud of her; his every look +and action revealed the magnitude of the place she occupied in +his life. He of the Otter Skins ate in silence, forgotten in the +merry battle; and long ere the others were done he pushed back +from the table and went out among the dogs. Yet all too soon his +fellow travelers drew on their mittens and parkas and followed +him. + +There had been no snow for many days, and the sleds slipped along +the hardpacked Yukon trail as easily as if it had been glare ice. +Ulysses led the first sled; with the second came Prince and Axel +Gunderson's wife; while Malemute Kid and the yellow-haired giant +brought up the third. + +'It's only a hunch, Kid,' he said, 'but I think it's straight. +He's never been there, but he tells a good story, and shows a map +I heard of when I was in the Kootenay country years ago. I'd like +to have you go along; but he's a strange one, and swore +point-blank to throw it up if anyone was brought in. But when I +come back you'll get first tip, and I'll stake you next to me, +and give you a half share in the town site besides.' 'No! no!' he +cried, as the other strove to interrupt. 'I'm running this, and +before I'm done it'll need two heads. + +'If it's all right, why, it'll be a second Cripple Creek, man; do +you hear?--a second Cripple Creek! It's quartz, you know, not +placer; and if we work it right we'll corral the whole +thing--millions upon millions. I've heard of the place before, +and so have you. We'll build a town--thousands of workmen--good +waterways--steamship lines--big carrying trade--light-draught +steamers for head reaches--survey a railroad, perhaps--sawmills-- +electric-light plant--do our own banking--commercial +company--syndicate--Say! Just you hold your hush till I get +back!' The sleds came to a halt where the trail crossed the mouth +of Stuart River. An unbroken sea of frost, its wide expanse +stretched away into the unknown east. + +The snowshoes were withdrawn from the lashings of the sleds. Axel +Gunderson shook hands and stepped to the fore, his great webbed +shoes sinking a fair half yard into the feathery surface and +packing the snow so the dogs should not wallow. His wife fell in +behind the last sled, betraying long practice in the art of +handling the awkward footgear, The stillness was broken with +cheery farewells; the dogs whined; and He of the Otter Skins +talked with his whip to a recalcitrant wheeler. + +An hour later the train had taken on the likeness of a black +pencil crawling in a long, straight line across a mighty sheet of +foolscap. + +II + +One night, many weeks later, Malemute Kid and Prince fell to +solving chess problems from the torn page of an ancient magazine. +The Kid had just returned from his Bonanza properties and was +resting up preparatory to a long moose hunt. + +Prince, too, had been on creek and trail nearly all winter, and +had grown hungry for a blissful week of cabin life. + +'Interpose the black knight, and force the king. No, that won't +do. See, the next move-' + +'Why advance the pawn two squares? Bound to take it in transit, +and with the bishop out of the way-' 'But hold on! That leaves a +hole, and-' 'No; it's protected. Go ahead! You'll see it works.' +It was very interesting. Somebody knocked at the door a second +time before Malemute Kid said, 'Come in.' The door swung open. +Something staggered in. + +Prince caught one square look and sprang to his feet. The horror +in his eyes caused Malemute Kid to whirl about; and he, too, was +startled, though he had seen bad things before. The thing +tottered blindly toward them. Prince edged away till he reached +the nail from which hung his Smith & Wesson. + +'My God! what is it?' he whispered to Malemute Kid. + +'Don't know. Looks like a case of freezing and no grub,' replied +the Kid, sliding away in the opposite direction. 'Watch out! It +may be mad,' he warned, coming back from closing the door. + +The thing advanced to the table. The bright flame of the slush +lamp caught its eye. It was amused, and gave voice to eldritch +cackles which betokened mirth. + +Then, suddenly, he--for it was a man--swayed back, with a hitch +to his skin trousers, and began to sing a chantey, such as men +lift when they swing around the capstan circle and the sea snorts +in their ears: Yan-kee ship come down de ri-ib-er, Pull! my bully +boys! Pull! D'yeh want--to know de captain ru-uns her? Pull! my +bully boys! Pull! Jon-a-than Jones ob South Caho-li-in-a, Pull! +my bully. He broke off abruptly, tottered with a wolfish snarl to +the meat shelf, and before they could intercept was tearing with +his teeth at a chunk of raw bacon. The struggle was fierce +between him and Malemute Kid; but his mad strength left him as +suddenly as it had come, and he weakly surrendered the spoil. +Between them they got him upon a stool, where he sprawled with +half his body across the table. + +A small dose of whiskey strengthened him, so that he could dip a +spoon into the sugar caddy which Malemute Kid placed before him. +After his appetite had been somewhat cloyed, Prince, shuddering +as he did so, passed him a mug of weak beef tea. + +The creature's eyes were alight with a somber frenzy, which +blazed and waned with every mouthful. There was very little skin +to the face. The face, for that matter, sunken and emaciated, +bore little likeness to human countenance. + +Frost after frost had bitten deeply, each depositing its stratum +of scab upon the half-healed scar that went before. This dry, +hard surface was of a bloody-black color, serrated by grievous +cracks wherein the raw red flesh peeped forth. His skin garments +were dirty and in tatters, and the fur of one side was singed and +burned away, showing where he had lain upon his fire. + +Malemute Kid pointed to where the sun-tanned hide had been cut +away, strip by strip--the grim signature of famine. + +'Who--are--you?' slowly and distinctly enunciated the Kid. + +The man paid no heed. + +'Where do you come from?' 'Yan-kee ship come down de ri-ib-er,' +was the quavering response. + +'Don't doubt the beggar came down the river,' the Kid said, +shaking him in an endeavor to start a more lucid flow of talk. + +But the man shrieked at the contact, clapping a hand to his side +in evident pain. He rose slowly to his feet, half leaning on the +table. + +'She laughed at me--so--with the hate in her eye; and +she--would--not--come.' His voice died away, and he was sinking +back when Malemute Kid gripped him by the wrist and shouted, +'Who? Who would not come?' 'She, Unga. She laughed, and struck at +me, so, and so. And then-' 'Yes?' + +'And then--' 'And then what?' 'And then he lay very still in the +snow a long time. He is-still in--the--snow.' The two men looked +at each other helplessly. + +'Who is in the snow?' 'She, Unga. She looked at me with the hate +in her eye, and then--' + +'Yes, yes.' 'And then she took the knife, so; and once, +twice--she was weak. I traveled very slow. And there is much gold +in that place, very much gold.' 'Where is Unga?' For all Malemute +Kid knew, she might be dying a mile away. He shook the man +savagely, repeating again and again, 'Where is Unga? Who is +Unga?' 'She--is--in--the--snow.' 'Go on!' The Kid was pressing +his wrist cruelly. + +'So--I--would--be--in--the snow--but--I--had--a--debt--to--pay. +It--was--heavy--I--had--a-debt--to--pay--a--debt--to--pay I--had-' +The faltering monosyllables ceased as he fumbled in his pouch and +drew forth a buckskin sack. 'A--debt--to--pay--five--pounds--of +--gold-grub--stake--Mal--e--mute--Kid--I-' The exhausted head +dropped upon the table; nor could Malemute Kid rouse it again. + +'It's Ulysses,' he said quietly, tossing the bag of dust on the +table. 'Guess it's all day with Axel Gunderson and the woman. +Come on, let's get him between the blankets. He's Indian; he'll +pull through and tell a tale besides.' As they cut his garments +from him, near his right breast could be seen two unhealed, +hard-lipped knife thrusts. + +III + +'I will talk of the things which were in my own way; but you will +understand. I will begin at the beginning, and tell of myself and +the woman, and, after that, of the man.' He of the Otter Skins +drew over to the stove as do men who have been deprived of fire +and are afraid the Promethean gift may vanish at any moment. +Malemute Kid picked up the slush lamp and placed it so its light +might fall upon the face of the narrator. Prince slid his body +over the edge of the bunk and joined them. + +'I am Naass, a chief, and the son of a chief, born between a +sunset and a rising, on the dark seas, in my father's oomiak. All +of a night the men toiled at the paddles, and the women cast out +the waves which threw in upon us, and we fought with the storm. +The salt spray froze upon my mother's breast till her breath +passed with the passing of the tide. But I--I raised my voice +with the wind and the storm, and lived. + +'We dwelt in Akatan--' 'Where?' asked Malemute Kid. + +'Akatan, which is in the Aleutians; Akatan, beyond Chignik, +beyond Kardalak, beyond Unimak. As I say, we dwelt in Akatan, +which lies in the midst of the sea on the edge of the world. We +farmed the salt seas for the fish, the seal, and the otter; and +our homes shouldered about one another on the rocky strip between +the rim of the forest and the yellow beach where our kayaks lay. +We were not many, and the world was very small. There were +strange lands to the east--islands like Akatan; so we thought all +the world was islands and did not mind. + +'I was different from my people. In the sands of the beach were +the crooked timbers and wave-warped planks of a boat such as my +people never built; and I remember on the point of the island +which overlooked the ocean three ways there stood a pine tree +which never grew there, smooth and straight and tall. It is said +the two men came to that spot, turn about, through many days, and +watched with the passing of the light. These two men came from +out of the sea in the boat which lay in pieces on the beach. And +they were white like you, and weak as the little children when +the seal have gone away and the hunters come home empty. I know +of these things from the old men and the old women, who got them +from their fathers and mothers before them. These strange white +men did not take kindly to our ways at first, but they grew +strong, what of the fish and the oil, and fierce. And they built +them each his own house, and took the pick of our women, and in +time children came. Thus he was born who was to become the father +of my father's father. + +'As I said, I was different from my people, for I carried the +strong, strange blood of this white man who came out of the sea. +It is said we had other laws in the days before these men; but +they were fierce and quarrelsome, and fought with our men till +there were no more left who dared to fight. Then they made +themselves chiefs, and took away our old laws, and gave us new +ones, insomuch that the man was the son of his father, and not +his mother, as our way had been. They also ruled that the son, +first-born, should have all things which were his father's before +him, and that the brothers and sisters should shift for +themselves. And they gave us other laws. They showed us new ways +in the catching of fish and the killing of bear which were thick +in the woods; and they taught us to lay by bigger stores for the +time of famine. And these things were good. + +'But when they had become chiefs, and there were no more men to +face their anger, they fought, these strange white men, each with +the other. And the one whose blood I carry drove his seal spear +the length of an arm through the other's body. Their children +took up the fight, and their children's children; and there was +great hatred between them, and black doings, even to my time, so +that in each family but one lived to pass down the blood of them +that went before. Of my blood I was alone; of the other man's +there was but a girl. Unga, who lived with her mother. Her father +and my father did not come back from the fishing one night; but +afterward they washed up to the beach on the big tides, and they +held very close to each other. + +'The people wondered, because of the hatred between the houses, +and the old men shook their heads and said the fight would go on +when children were born to her and children to me. They told me +this as a boy, till I came to believe, and to look upon Unga as a +foe, who was to be the mother of children which were to fight +with mine. I thought of these things day by day, and when I grew +to a stripling I came to ask why this should be so. + +'And they answered, "We do not know, but that in such way your +fathers did." And I marveled that those which were to come should +fight the battles of those that were gone, and in it I could see +no right. But the people said it must be, and I was only a +stripling. + +'And they said I must hurry, that my blood might be the older and +grow strong before hers. This was easy, for I was head man, and +the people looked up to me because of the deeds and the laws of +my fathers, and the wealth which was mine. Any maiden would come +to me, but I found none to my liking. And the old men and the +mothers of maidens told me to hurry, for even then were the +hunters bidding high to the mother of Unga; and should her +children grow strong before mine, mine would surely die. + +'Nor did I find a maiden till one night coming back from the +fishing. The sunlight was lying, so, low and full in the eyes, +the wind free, and the kayacks racing with the white seas. Of a +sudden the kayak of Unga came driving past me, and she looked +upon me, so, with her black hair flying like a cloud of night and +the spray wet on her cheek. As I say, the sunlight was full in +the eyes, and I was a stripling; but somehow it was all clear, +and I knew it to be the call of kind to kind. + +'As she whipped ahead she looked back within the space of two +strokes--looked as only the woman Unga could look--and again I +knew it as the call of kind. The people shouted as we ripped past +the lazy oomiaks and left them far behind. But she was quick at +the paddle, and my heart was like the belly of a sail, and I did +not gain. The wind freshened, the sea whitened, and, leaping like +the seals on the windward breech, we roared down the golden +pathway of the sun.' Naass was crouched half out of his stool, in +the attitude of one driving a paddle, as he ran the race anew. +Somewhere across the stove he beheld the tossing kayak and the +flying hair of Unga. The voice of the wind was in his ears, and +its salt beat fresh upon his nostrils. + +'But she made the shore, and ran up the sand, laughing, to the +house of her mother. And a great thought came to me that night--a +thought worthy of him that was chief over all the people of +Akatan. So, when the moon was up, I went down to the house of her +mother, and looked upon the goods of Yash-Noosh, which were piled +by the door--the goods of Yash-Noosh, a strong hunter who had it +in mind to be the father of the children of Unga. Other young men +had piled their goods there and taken them away again; and each +young man had made a pile greater than the one before. + +'And I laughed to the moon and the stars, and went to my own +house where my wealth was stored. And many trips I made, till my +pile was greater by the fingers of one hand than the pile of +Yash-Noosh. There were fish, dried in the sun and smoked; and +forty hides of the hair seal, and half as many of the fur, and +each hide was tied at the mouth and big bellied with oil; and ten +skins of bear which I killed in the woods when they came out in +the spring. And there were beads and blankets and scarlet cloths, +such as I got in trade from the people who lived to the east, and +who got them in trade from the people who lived still beyond in +the east. + +'And I looked upon the pile of Yash-Noosh and laughed, for I was +head man in Akatan, and my wealth was greater than the wealth of +all my young men, and my fathers had done deeds, and given laws, +and put their names for all time in the mouths of the people. + +'So, when the morning came, I went down to the beach, casting out +of the corner of my eye at the house of the mother of Unga. My +offer yet stood untouched. + +'And the women smiled, and said sly things one to the other. I +wondered, for never had such a price been offered; and that night +I added more to the pile, and put beside it a kayak of well-tanned +skins which never yet had swam in the sea. But in the day it was +yet there, open to the laughter of all men. The mother of Unga was +crafty, and I grew angry at the shame in which I stood before my +people. So that night I added till it became a great pile, and I +hauled up my oomiak, which was of the value of twenty kayaks. And +in the morning there was no pile. + +'Then made I preparation for the wedding, and the people that +lived even to the east came for the food of the feast and the +potlatch token. Unga was older than I by the age of four suns in +the way we reckoned the years. I was only a stripling; but then I +was a chief, and the son of a chief, and it did not matter. + +'But a ship shoved her sails above the floor of the ocean, and +grew larger with the breath of the wind. From her scuppers she +ran clear water, and the men were in haste and worked hard at the +pumps. On the bow stood a mighty man, watching the depth of the +water and giving commands with a voice of thunder. His eyes were +of the pale blue of the deep waters, and his head was maned like +that of a sea lion. And his hair was yellow, like the straw of a +southern harvest or the manila rope yarns which sailormen plait. + +'Of late years we had seen ships from afar, but this was the +first to come to the beach of Akatan. The feast was broken, and +the women and children fled to the houses, while we men strung +our bows and waited with spears in hand. But when the ship's +forefoot smelled the beach the strange men took no notice of us, +being busy with their own work. With the falling of the tide they +careened the schooner and patched a great hole in her bottom. So +the women crept back, and the feast went on. + +'When the tide rose, the sea wanderers kedged the schooner to +deep water and then came among us. They bore presents and were +friendly; so I made room for them, and out of the largeness of my +heart gave them tokens such as I gave all the guests, for it was +my wedding day, and I was head man in Akatan. And he with the +mane of the sea lion was there, so tall and strong that one +looked to see the earth shake with the fall of his feet. He +looked much and straight at Unga, with his arms folded, so, and +stayed till the sun went away and the stars came out. Then he +went down to his ship. After that I took Unga by the hand and led +her to my own house. And there was singing and great laughter, +and the women said sly things, after the manner of women at such +times. But we did not care. Then the people left us alone and +went home. + +'The last noise had not died away when the chief of the sea +wanderers came in by the door. And he had with him black bottles, +from which we drank and made merry. You see, I was only a +stripling, and had lived all my days on the edge of the world. So +my blood became as fire, and my heart as light as the froth that +flies from the surf to the cliff. Unga sat silent among the skins +in the corner, her eyes wide, for she seemed to fear. And he with +the mane of the sea lion looked upon her straight and long. Then +his men came in with bundles of goods, and he piled before me +wealth such as was not in all Akatan. There were guns, both large +and small, and powder and shot and shell, and bright axes and +knives of steel, and cunning tools, and strange things the like +of which I had never seen. When he showed me by sign that it was +all mine, I thought him a great man to be so free; but he showed +me also that Unga was to go away with him in his ship. + +'Do you understand?--that Unga was to go away with him in his +ship. The blood of my fathers flamed hot on the sudden, and I +made to drive him through with my spear. But the spirit of the +bottles had stolen the life from my arm, and he took me by the +neck, so, and knocked my head against the wall of the house. And +I was made weak like a newborn child, and my legs would no more +stand under me. + +'Unga screamed, and she laid hold of the things of the house with +her hands, till they fell all about us as he dragged her to the +door. Then he took her in his great arms, and when she tore at +his yellow hair laughed with a sound like that of the big bull +seal in the rut. + +'I crawled to the beach and called upon my people, but they were +afraid. Only Yash-Noosh was a man, and they struck him on the +head with an oar, till he lay with his face in the sand and did +not move. And they raised the sails to the sound of their songs, +and the ship went away on the wind. + +'The people said it was good, for there would be no more war of +the bloods in Akatan; but I said never a word, waiting till the +time of the full moon, when I put fish and oil in my kayak and +went away to the east. I saw many islands and many people, and I, +who had lived on the edge, saw that the world was very large. I +talked by signs; but they had not seen a schooner nor a man with +the mane of a sea lion, and they pointed always to the east. And +I slept in queer places, and ate odd things, and met strange +faces. Many laughed, for they thought me light of head; but +sometimes old men turned my face to the light and blessed me, and +the eyes of the young women grew soft as they asked me of the +strange ship, and Unga, and the men of the sea. + +'And in this manner, through rough seas and great storms, I came +to Unalaska. There were two schooners there, but neither was the +one I sought. So I passed on to the east, with the world growing +ever larger, and in the island of Unamok there was no word of the +ship, nor in Kadiak, nor in Atognak. And so I came one day to a +rocky land, where men dug great holes in the mountain. And there +was a schooner, but not my schooner, and men loaded upon it the +rocks which they dug. This I thought childish, for all the world +was made of rocks; but they gave me food and set me to work. When +the schooner was deep in the water, the captain gave me money and +told me to go; but I asked which way he went, and he pointed +south. I made signs that I would go with him, and he laughed at +first, but then, being short of men, took me to help work the +ship. So I came to talk after their manner, and to heave on +ropes, and to reef the stiff sails in sudden squalls, and to take +my turn at the wheel. But it was not strange, for the blood of my +fathers was the blood of the men of the sea. + +'I had thought it an easy task to find him I sought, once I got +among his own people; and when we raised the land one day, and +passed between a gateway of the sea to a port, I looked for +perhaps as many schooners as there were fingers to my hands. But +the ships lay against the wharves for miles, packed like so many +little fish; and when I went among them to ask for a man with the +mane of a sea lion, they laughed, and answered me in the tongues +of many peoples. And I found that they hailed from the uttermost +parts of the earth. + +'And I went into the city to look upon the face of every man. But +they were like the cod when they run thick on the banks, and I +could not count them. And the noise smote upon me till I could +not hear, and my head was dizzy with much movement. So I went on +and on, through the lands which sang in the warm sunshine; where +the harvests lay rich on the plains; and where great cities were +fat with men that lived like women, with false words in their +mouths and their hearts black with the lust of gold. And all the +while my people of Akatan hunted and fished, and were happy in +the thought that the world was small. + +'But the look in the eyes of Unga coming home from the fishing +was with me always, and I knew I would find her when the time was +met. She walked down quiet lanes in the dusk of the evening, or +led me chases across the thick fields wet with the morning dew, +and there was a promise in her eyes such as only the woman Unga +could give. + +'So I wandered through a thousand cities. Some were gentle and +gave me food, and others laughed, and still others cursed; but I +kept my tongue between my teeth, and went strange ways and saw +strange sights. Sometimes I, who was a chief and the son of a +chief, toiled for men--men rough of speech and hard as iron, who +wrung gold from the sweat and sorrow of their fellow men. Yet no +word did I get of my quest till I came back to the sea like a +homing seal to the rookeries. + +'But this was at another port, in another country which lay to +the north. And there I heard dim tales of the yellow-haired sea +wanderer, and I learned that he was a hunter of seals, and that +even then he was abroad on the ocean. + +'So I shipped on a seal schooner with the lazy Siwashes, and +followed his trackless trail to the north where the hunt was then +warm. And we were away weary months, and spoke many of the fleet, +and heard much of the wild doings of him I sought; but never once +did we raise him above the sea. We went north, even to the +Pribilofs, and killed the seals in herds on the beach, and +brought their warm bodies aboard till our scuppers ran grease and +blood and no man could stand upon the deck. Then were we chased +by a ship of slow steam, which fired upon us with great guns. But +we put sail till the sea was over our decks and washed them +clean, and lost ourselves in a fog. + +'It is said, at this time, while we fled with fear at our hearts, +that the yellow-haired sea wanderer put in to the Pribilofs, right +to the factory, and while the part of his men held the servants +of the company, the rest loaded ten thousand green skins from the +salt houses. I say it is said, but I believe; for in the voyages +I made on the coast with never a meeting the northern seas rang +with his wildness and daring, till the three nations which have +lands there sought him with their ships. + +'And I heard of Unga, for the captains sang loud in her praise, +and she was always with him. She had learned the ways of his +people, they said, and was happy. But I knew better--knew that +her heart harked back to her own people by the yellow beach of +Akatan. + +'So, after a long time, I went back to the port which is by a +gateway of the sea, and there I learned that he had gone across +the girth of the great ocean to hunt for the seal to the east of +the warm land which runs south from the Russian seas. + +'And I, who was become a sailorman, shipped with men of his own +race, and went after him in the hunt of the seal. And there were +few ships off that new land; but we hung on the flank of the seal +pack and harried it north through all the spring of the year. And +when the cows were heavy with pup and crossed the Russian line, +our men grumbled and were afraid. For there was much fog, and +every day men were lost in the boats. They would not work, so the +captain turned the ship back toward the way it came. But I knew +the yellow-haired sea wanderer was unafraid, and would hang by +the pack, even to the Russian Isles, where few men go. So I took +a boat, in the black of night, when the lookout dozed on the +fo'c'slehead, and went alone to the warm, long land. And I +journeyed south to meet the men by Yeddo Bay, who are wild and +unafraid. And the Yoshiwara girls were small, and bright like +steel, and good to look upon; but I could not stop, for I knew +that Unga rolled on the tossing floor by the rookeries of the +north. + +'The men by Yeddo Bay had met from the ends of the earth, and had +neither gods nor homes, sailing under the flag of the Japanese. +And with them I went to the rich beaches of Copper Island, where +our salt piles became high with skins. + +'And in that silent sea we saw no man till we were ready to come +away. Then one day the fog lifted on the edge of a heavy wind, +and there jammed down upon us a schooner, with close in her wake +the cloudy funnels of a Russian man-of-war. We fled away on the +beam of the wind, with the schooner jamming still closer and +plunging ahead three feet to our two. And upon her poop was the +man with the mane of the sea lion, pressing the rails under with +the canvas and laughing in his strength of life. And Unga was +there--I knew her on the moment--but he sent her below when the +cannons began to talk across the sea. + +As I say, with three feet to our two, till we saw the rudder lift +green at every jump--and I swinging on to the wheel and cursing, +with my back to the Russian shot. For we knew he had it in mind +to run before us, that he might get away while we were caught. +And they knocked our masts out of us till we dragged into the +wind like a wounded gull; but he went on over the edge of the sky +line--he and Unga. + +'What could we? The fresh hides spoke for themselves. So they +took us to a Russian port, and after that to a lone country, +where they set us to work in the mines to dig salt. And some +died, and--and some did not die.' Naass swept the blanket from +his shoulders, disclosing the gnarled and twisted flesh, marked +with the unmistakable striations of the knout. Prince hastily +covered him, for it was not nice to look upon. + +'We were there a weary time and sometimes men got away to the +south, but they always came back. So, when we who hailed from +Yeddo Bay rose in the night and took the guns from the guards, we +went to the north. And the land was very large, with plains, +soggy with water, and great forests. And the cold came, with much +snow on the ground, and no man knew the way. Weary months we +journeyed through the endless forest--I do not remember, now, for +there was little food and often we lay down to die. But at last +we came to the cold sea, and but three were left to look upon it. +One had shipped from Yeddo as captain, and he knew in his head +the lay of the great lands, and of the place where men may cross +from one to the other on the ice. And he led us--I do not know, +it was so long--till there were but two. When we came to that +place we found five of the strange people which live in that +country, and they had dogs and skins, and we were very poor. We +fought in the snow till they died, and the captain died, and the +dogs and skins were mine. Then I crossed on the ice, which was +broken, and once I drifted till a gale from the west put me upon +the shore. And after that, Golovin Bay, Pastilik, and the priest. +Then south, south, to the warm sunlands where first I wandered. + +'But the sea was no longer fruitful, and those who went upon it +after the seal went to little profit and great risk. The fleets +scattered, and the captains and the men had no word of those I +sought. So I turned away from the ocean which never rests, and +went among the lands, where the trees, the houses, and the +mountains sit always in one place and do not move. I journeyed +far, and came to learn many things, even to the way of reading +and writing from books. It was well I should do this, for it came +upon me that Unga must know these things, and that someday, when +the time was met--we--you understand, when the time was met. + +'So I drifted, like those little fish which raise a sail to the +wind but cannot steer. But my eyes and my ears were open always, +and I went among men who traveled much, for I knew they had but +to see those I sought to remember. At last there came a man, +fresh from the mountains, with pieces of rock in which the free +gold stood to the size of peas, and he had heard, he had met, he +knew them. They were rich, he said, and lived in the place where +they drew the gold from the ground. + +'It was in a wild country, and very far away; but in time I came +to the camp, hidden between the mountains, where men worked night +and day, out of the sight of the sun. Yet the time was not come. +I listened to the talk of the people. He had gone away--they had +gone away--to England, it was said, in the matter of bringing men +with much money together to form companies. I saw the house they +had lived in; more like a palace, such as one sees in the old +countries. In the nighttime I crept in through a window that I +might see in what manner he treated her. I went from room to +room, and in such way thought kings and queens must live, it was +all so very good. And they all said he treated her like a queen, +and many marveled as to what breed of woman she was for there was +other blood in her veins, and she was different from the women of +Akatan, and no one knew her for what she was. Aye, she was a +queen; but I was a chief, and the son of a chief, and I had paid +for her an untold price of skin and boat and bead. + +'But why so many words? I was a sailorman, and knew the way of +the ships on the seas. I followed to England, and then to other +countries. Sometimes I heard of them by word of mouth, sometimes +I read of them in the papers; yet never once could I come by +them, for they had much money, and traveled fast, while I was a +poor man. Then came trouble upon them, and their wealth slipped +away one day like a curl of smoke. The papers were full of it at +the time; but after that nothing was said, and I knew they had +gone back where more gold could be got from the ground. + +'They had dropped out of the world, being now poor, and so I +wandered from camp to camp, even north to the Kootenay country, +where I picked up the cold scent. They had come and gone, some +said this way, and some that, and still others that they had gone +to the country of the Yukon. And I went this way, and I went +that, ever journeying from place to place, till it seemed I must +grow weary of the world which was so large. But in the Kootenay I +traveled a bad trail, and a long trail, with a breed of the +Northwest, who saw fit to die when the famine pinched. He had +been to the Yukon by an unknown way over the mountains, and when +he knew his time was near gave me the map and the secret of a +place where he swore by his gods there was much gold. + +'After that all the world began to flock into the north. I was a +poor man; I sold myself to be a driver of dogs. The rest you +know. I met him and her in Dawson. + +'She did not know me, for I was only a stripling, and her life +had been large, so she had no time to remember the one who had +paid for her an untold price. + +'So? You bought me from my term of service. I went back to bring +things about in my own way, for I had waited long, and now that I +had my hand upon him was in no hurry. + +'As I say, I had it in mind to do my own way, for I read back in +my life, through all I had seen and suffered, and remembered the +cold and hunger of the endless forest by the Russian seas. As you +know, I led him into the east--him and Unga--into the east where +many have gone and few returned. I led them to the spot where the +bones and the curses of men lie with the gold which they may not +have. + +'The way was long and the trail unpacked. Our dogs were many and +ate much; nor could our sleds carry till the break of spring. We +must come back before the river ran free. So here and there we +cached grub, that our sleds might be lightened and there be no +chance of famine on the back trip. At the McQuestion there were +three men, and near them we built a cache, as also did we at the +Mayo, where was a hunting camp of a dozen Pellys which had +crossed the divide from the south. + +'After that, as we went on into the east, we saw no men; only the +sleeping river, the moveless forest, and the White Silence of the +North. As I say, the way was long and the trail unpacked. +Sometimes, in a day's toil, we made no more than eight miles, or +ten, and at night we slept like dead men. And never once did they +dream that I was Naass, head man of Akatan, the righter of +wrongs. + +'We now made smaller caches, and in the nighttime it was a small +matter to go back on the trail we had broken and change them in +such way that one might deem the wolverines the thieves. Again +there be places where there is a fall to the river, and the water +is unruly, and the ice makes above and is eaten away beneath. + +'In such a spot the sled I drove broke through, and the dogs; and +to him and Unga it was ill luck, but no more. And there was much +grub on that sled, and the dogs the strongest. + +'But he laughed, for he was strong of life, and gave the dogs +that were left little grub till we cut them from the harnesses +one by one and fed them to their mates. We would go home light, +he said, traveling and eating from cache to cache, with neither +dogs nor sleds; which was true, for our grub was very short, and +the last dog died in the traces the night we came to the gold and +the bones and the curses of men. + +'To reach that place--and the map spoke true--in the heart of the +great mountains, we cut ice steps against the wall of a divide. +One looked for a valley beyond, but there was no valley; the snow +spread away, level as the great harvest plains, and here and +there about us mighty mountains shoved their white heads among +the stars. And midway on that strange plain which should have +been a valley the earth and the snow fell away, straight down +toward the heart of the world. + +'Had we not been sailormen our heads would have swung round with +the sight, but we stood on the dizzy edge that we might see a way +to get down. And on one side, and one side only, the wall had +fallen away till it was like the slope of the decks in a topsail +breeze. I do not know why this thing should be so, but it was so. +"It is the mouth of hell," he said; "let us go down." And we went +down. + +'And on the bottom there was a cabin, built by some man, of logs +which he had cast down from above. It was a very old cabin, for +men had died there alone at different times, and on pieces of +birch bark which were there we read their last words and their +curses. + +'One had died of scurvy; another's partner had robbed him of his +last grub and powder and stolen away; a third had been mauled by +a baldface grizzly; a fourth had hunted for game and starved--and +so it went, and they had been loath to leave the gold, and had +died by the side of it in one way or another. And the worthless +gold they had gathered yellowed the floor of the cabin like in a +dream. + +'But his soul was steady, and his head clear, this man I had led +thus far. "We have nothing to eat," he said, "and we will only +look upon this gold, and see whence it comes and how much there +be. Then we will go away quick, before it gets into our eyes and +steals away our judgment. And in this way we may return in the +end, with more grub, and possess it all." So we looked upon the +great vein, which cut the wall of the pit as a true vein should, +and we measured it, and traced it from above and below, and drove +the stakes of the claims and blazed the trees in token of our +rights. Then, our knees shaking with lack of food, and a sickness +in our bellies, and our hearts chugging close to our mouths, we +climbed the mighty wall for the last time and turned our faces to +the back trip. + +'The last stretch we dragged Unga between us, and we fell often, +but in the end we made the cache. And lo, there was no grub. It +was well done, for he thought it the wolverines, and damned them +and his gods in one breath. But Unga was brave, and smiled, and +put her hand in his, till I turned away that I might hold myself. +"We will rest by the fire," she said, "till morning, and we will +gather strength from our moccasins." So we cut the tops of our +moccasins in strips, and boiled them half of the night, that we +might chew them and swallow them. And in the morning we talked of +our chance. The next cache was five days' journey; we could not +make it. We must find game. + +'"We will go forth and hunt," he said. + +'"Yes," said I, "we will go forth and hunt." 'And he ruled that +Unga stay by the fire and save her strength. And we went forth, +he in quest of the moose and I to the cache I had changed. But I +ate little, so they might not see in me much strength. And in the +night he fell many times as he drew into camp. And I, too, made +to suffer great weakness, stumbling over my snowshoes as though +each step might be my last. And we gathered strength from our +moccasins. + +'He was a great man. His soul lifted his body to the last; nor +did he cry aloud, save for the sake of Unga. On the second day I +followed him, that I might not miss the end. And he lay down to +rest often. That night he was near gone; but in the morning he +swore weakly and went forth again. He was like a drunken man, and +I looked many times for him to give up, but his was the strength +of the strong, and his soul the soul of a giant, for he lifted +his body through all the weary day. And he shot two ptarmigan, +but would not eat them. He needed no fire; they meant life; but +his thought was for Unga, and he turned toward camp. + +'He no longer walked, but crawled on hand and knee through the +snow. I came to him, and read death in his eyes. Even then it was +not too late to eat of the ptarmigan. He cast away his rifle and +carried the birds in his mouth like a dog. I walked by his side, +upright. And he looked at me during the moments he rested, and +wondered that I was so strong. I could see it, though he no +longer spoke; and when his lips moved, they moved without sound. + +'As I say, he was a great man, and my heart spoke for softness; +but I read back in my life, and remembered the cold and hunger of +the endless forest by the Russian seas. Besides, Unga was mine, +and I had paid for her an untold price of skin and boat and bead. + +'And in this manner we came through the white forest, with the +silence heavy upon us like a damp sea mist. And the ghosts of the +past were in the air and all about us; and I saw the yellow beach +of Akatan, and the kayaks racing home from the fishing, and the +houses on the rim of the forest. And the men who had made +themselves chiefs were there, the lawgivers whose blood I bore +and whose blood I had wedded in Unga. Aye, and Yash-Noosh walked +with me, the wet sand in his hair, and his war spear, broken as +he fell upon it, still in his hand. And I knew the time was meet, +and saw in the eyes of Unga the promise. + +'As I say, we came thus through the forest, till the smell of the +camp smoke was in our nostrils. And I bent above him, and tore +the ptarmigan from his teeth. + +'He turned on his side and rested, the wonder mounting in his +eyes, and the hand which was under slipping slow toward the knife +at his hip. But I took it from him, smiling close in his face. +Even then he did not understand. So I made to drink from black +bottles, and to build high upon the snow a pile--of goods, and to +live again the things which had happened on the night of my +marriage. I spoke no word, but he understood. Yet was he +unafraid. There was a sneer to his lips, and cold anger, and he +gathered new strength with the knowledge. It was not far, but the +snow was deep, and he dragged himself very slow. + +'Once he lay so long I turned him over and gazed into his eyes. +And sometimes he looked forth, and sometimes death. And when I +loosed him he struggled on again. In this way we came to the +fire. Unga was at his side on the instant. His lips moved without +sound; then he pointed at me, that Unga might understand. And +after that he lay in the snow, very still, for a long while. Even +now is he there in the snow. + +'I said no word till I had cooked the ptarmigan. Then I spoke to +her, in her own tongue, which she had not heard in many years. +She straightened herself, so, and her eyes were wonder-wide, and +she asked who I was, and where I had learned that speech. + +'"I am Naass," I said. + +'"You?" she said. "You?" And she crept close that she might look +upon me. + +'"Yes," I answered; "I am Naass, head man of Akatan, the last of +the blood, as you are the last of the blood." 'And she laughed. +By all the things I have seen and the deeds I have done may I +never hear such a laugh again. It put the chill to my soul, +sitting there in the White Silence, alone with death and this +woman who laughed. + +'"Come!" I said, for I thought she wandered. "Eat of the food and +let us be gone. It is a far fetch from here to Akatan." 'But she +shoved her face in his yellow mane, and laughed till it seemed +the heavens must fall about our ears. I had thought she would be +overjoyed at the sight of me, and eager to go back to the memory +of old times, but this seemed a strange form to take. + +'"Come!" I cried, taking her strong by the hand. "The way is long +and dark. Let us hurry!" "Where?" she asked, sitting up, and +ceasing from her strange mirth. + +'"To Akatan," I answered, intent on the light to grow on her face +at the thought. But it became like his, with a sneer to the lips, +and cold anger. + +'"Yes," she said; "we will go, hand in hand, to Akatan, you and +I. And we will live in the dirty huts, and eat of the fish and +oil, and bring forth a spawn--a spawn to be proud of all the days +of our life. We will forget the world and be happy, very happy. +It is good, most good. Come! Let us hurry. Let us go back to +Akatan." And she ran her hand through his yellow hair, and +smiled in a way which was not good. And there was no promise in +her eyes. + +'I sat silent, and marveled at the strangeness of woman. I went +back to the night when he dragged her from me and she screamed +and tore at his hair--at his hair which now she played with and +would not leave. Then I remembered the price and the long years +of waiting; and I gripped her close, and dragged her away as he +had done. And she held back, even as on that night, and fought +like a she-cat for its whelp. And when the fire was between us +and the man. I loosed her, and she sat and listened. And I told +her of all that lay between, of all that had happened to me on +strange seas, of all that I had done in strange lands; of my +weary quest, and the hungry years, and the promise which had been +mine from the first. Aye, I told all, even to what had passed +that day between the man and me, and in the days yet young. And +as I spoke I saw the promise grow in her eyes, full and large +like the break of dawn. And I read pity there, the tenderness of +woman, the love, the heart and the soul of Unga. And I was a +stripling again, for the look was the look of Unga as she ran up +the beach, laughing, to the home of her mother. The stern unrest +was gone, and the hunger, and the weary waiting. + +'The time was met. I felt the call of her breast, and it seemed +there I must pillow my head and forget. She opened her arms to +me, and I came against her. Then, sudden, the hate flamed in her +eye, her hand was at my hip. And once, twice, she passed the +knife. + +'"Dog!" she sneered, as she flung me into the snow. "Swine!" And +then she laughed till the silence cracked, and went back to her +dead. + +'As I say, once she passed the knife, and twice; but she was weak +with hunger, and it was not meant that I should die. Yet was I +minded to stay in that place, and to close my eyes in the last +long sleep with those whose lives had crossed with mine and led +my feet on unknown trails. But there lay a debt upon me which +would not let me rest. + +'And the way was long, the cold bitter, and there was little +grub. The Pellys had found no moose, and had robbed my cache. And +so had the three white men, but they lay thin and dead in their +cabins as I passed. After that I do not remember, till I came +here, and found food and fire--much fire.' As he finished, he +crouched closely, even jealously, over the stove. For a long +while the slush-lamp shadows played tragedies upon the wall. + +'But Unga!' cried Prince, the vision still strong upon him. + +'Unga? She would not eat of the ptarmigan. She lay with her arms +about his neck, her face deep in his yellow hair. I drew the fire +close, that she might not feel the frost, but she crept to the +other side. And I built a fire there; yet it was little good, for +she would not eat. And in this manner they still lie up there in +the snow.' + +'And you?' asked Malemute Kid. + +'I do not know; but Akatan is small, and I have little wish to go +back and live on the edge of the world. Yet is there small use in +life. I can go to Constantine, and he will put irons upon me, and +one day they will tie a piece of rope, so, and I will sleep good. +Yet--no; I do not know.' 'But, Kid,' protested Prince, 'this is +murder!' 'Hush!' commanded Malemute Kid. 'There be things greater +than our wisdom, beyond our justice. The right and the wrong of +this we cannot say, and it is not for us to judge.' Naass drew +yet closer to the fire. There was a great silence, and in each +man's eyes many pictures came and went. + +The End + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Son of the Wolf, by Jack London + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SON OF THE WOLF *** + +This file should be named snwlf11.txt or snwlf11.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, snwlf12.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, snwlf11a.txt + + + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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