MR. DACRE EXPLAINS.
Both Mr. Dacre and his companion, Colton Chillingworth, regarded the
boys smilingly as the latter filed into the charthouse, wide-eyed with
expectation at the news they were confident they were to hear.
"Well," began Mr. Dacre, "I suppose you young men are anxious to know
a good deal more about this voyage than you have yet been told?"
"Anxious is no word for it," rejoined Tom. "Sandy has even forgotten
seasickness so that he can hear what you have to tell us."
"It will not take long. Mr. Chillingworth, here, is my partner in the
enterprise on which we are bound. We are going to Alaska in search of
foxes."
Had Mr. Dacre said that they were going to the moon in search of
green cheese, the boys could not have looked more astonished.
"Foxes!" exclaimed Tom. "Just common foxes?"
"By no means. The kind we are after are silver grays and blacks. Mr.
Chillingworth and I have decided to start raising them on his ranch.
When I tell you that a good skin of a silver fox is worth anywhere
from twenty-five hundred dollars upward, you will see why we have
spent so much in equipping this expedition and chartering this
steamer. You will wonder why we did not embark on a regular passenger
steamer. For many reasons. One was that we could not care properly for
such valuable and timid animals on a regular craft. Another was that
we do not want any details of our plans to leak out till the business
is well established. Such creatures as silver foxes might well tempt
unscrupulous persons to steal or kill them, so that on all
considerations, it was deemed best to charter this craft, which we
managed to get cheap, and to form our own expedition."
"What country are we going to hunt for the foxes in?" asked Tom, his
eyes shining at the prospect before them. The other boys looked
equally excited and delighted.
"Along the Yukon River," was the reply. "That is why that light
draught portable steam launch is on deck."
"How long shall we be gone?" came the next question.
"That is impossible to say. If we do not 'get out,' as they call it,
before the winter sets in, we may have to remain in the north till the
spring."
The boys exchanged delighted glances.
"The prospect appears to please you," said Mr. Chillingworth.
"Please us!" cried Tom. "We're tickled to death."
"Well, I think you will have an instructive and, I hope, a pleasant
time," said Mr. Dacre, "and at the same time be useful to us. Both Mr.
Chillingworth and myself have been in the Yukon country before, and I
can assure you that it won't be all picnicking. It is a wild country
we are going to. North of fifty-three lies one of the few really wild
territories left in the world. It's a great chance for you boys to
show what you are made of."
Soon afterward the boys left the charthouse, half wild with
excitement. The lure of the north was upon them. Each hastily went
over in his mind all that he could recall about the land for which
they were bound. There was magic in the name of Yukon, that mighty
river of frozen lands, whose course winds through golden sands and
solitudes undisturbed by the foot of man.
"Fellows, it seems too good to be true," exclaimed Jack warmly. "It's
the chance of a lifetime."
"We'll have lots of good hunting. I'm glad we brought our rifles,"
said Jack.
"Maybe we'll find gold!" exclaimed Sandy.
"Well, at the market rate for silver and black foxes, a few of them
would be as good as a gold mine," declared Tom.
"But who ever heard of raising foxes to sell?" objected Jack.
"Foxes wi' siller coats, too!" added Sandy incredulously.
"Don't try to be funny, Sandy," struck in Tom. "It appeals to me as a
great business and one with lots of possibilities in it for the
future."
"Well, it seems at any rate that we are going to get plenty of fun out
of it," declared Jack. "I wouldn't much mind if we did get stuck up
north for the winter. It would be a great experience."
The gong for dinner cut short their chat, and they hastened to their
cabins to get ready for the meal. As the _Northerner_ had once been a
passenger steamer, she was well provided with cabins, and each boy
had a well-equipped stateroom on the main deck. Their elders occupied
cabins forward of midships, and on the opposite side of the
superstructure the captain, his two mates and the engineers had their
quarters.
They entered the dining saloon to find it a handsomely fitted white
and gold affair, a relic of the passenger-carrying days of their ship.
Electric lights gleamed down on the table and the boys, when joined by
their elders, set to with sharp appetites on a meal excellently cooked
and served by two Chinese stewards. As they ate, the object of the
trip was, of course, the main topic of conversation, and Mr. Dacre
gave them much valuable information concerning the country whither
they were bound. As we shall accompany the boys in their own
experiences "north of fifty-three," there is no need to set down here
all that the enthusiastic man told his eager young listeners.
Absorbed in the wonders which were being described, the two Bungalow
Boys and Sandy MacTavish sat late at the table, listening to accounts
of the great river for which they were bound, of the flaming volcanoes
of the Aleutian Archipelago, of the seal poachers, the midnight sun
and the vast undeveloped riches of Uncle Sam's northerly possession.
The thought that soon they would be up there themselves, participating
in the marvelous life of which they had heard, sent them to bed in
anything but restful moods. It was long before they slept, and then
their dreams were of the most jumbled description, in which huge bears
and other denizens of the wild figured, together with golden rivers
and snow-capped mountains.
When they awakened and hastily dressed, it was to find the
_Northerner_ out of sight of land and rolling briskly along in a sea
flecked with white-caps. Ahead of the ship flashed the wet backs of a
school of porpoises, seemingly intent on a race with the _Northerner_.
The boys watched them with interest, although they were no novelty to
them, many such schools having been encountered during their cruise in
the tropics. But there was, nevertheless, a fascination in watching
the sportive creatures as they rolled and tumbled along, from time to
time leaping right out of the water and showing their black,
glistening bodies.
"This is the life for me," exclaimed Jack. "How is the seasickness,
Sandy?"
The sandy-haired youth gave him a reproachful look.
"I dinna ken what you mean," he said. "I wonder how soon breakfast
will be ready?"
"You're cured, all right," chuckled Tom. "But glorious as all this is,
I can hardly wait till we get that steamer together and go chugging up
the Yukon into the heart of Alaska."
"I guess we all subscribe to that," echoed Jack with enthusiasm. Just
then the breakfast gong boomed out its summons.
"I'll beat you to the table!" shouted Jack. The challenge was accepted
and off they all dashed, while the long silent decks of the converted
_Northerner_ rang with their shouts of merriment.