AT DAWSON CITY.
Naturally the route over which the little party of gold-seekers were
journeying steadily improved. The Yukon, like many other great rivers
of the world, comes into being a lusty, vigorous infant, the junction
of the Lewis and Pelly making it a stream of considerable proportions
from the moment it takes its name.
Other gold-hunters were seen from time to time, and there were pleasant
exchanges and greetings with most of them. It was the custom of Jeff
Graham to keep going so long as daylight lasted, when the raft was
worked into shore and an encampment made. For a time the old miner kept
his Winchester within immediate reach, hoping to gain sight of some
deer or wild game, but as day after day and night after night passed
without the first glimpse of anything of the kind, he gave up in
disgust.
"It's the most villainous country on the face of the earth," he said,
as he lit his pipe at the evening fire. "If it wasn't for the gold that
we know is here, no decent man would stay over night in it. Frank, tell
me something about the confounded country."
"Me!" replied the boy, with a laugh. "I don't know half as much as you
and Tim."
"Yes, you do. Tim don't know anything more than the best way to travel
through the mountains and across the lakes."
The Irishman took his pipe from between his lips to offer protest
against this slur, but changed his mind, and resumed smoking, though
his eyes twinkled.
"A man that takes a lot of gold out of the ground and then lets a thief
steal it isn't fit to go alone."
"Which is why I've provided mesilf with a chap that knows it all," said
Tim, not the least offended, though Hardman scowled, for the remark was
a pointed reflection upon him; but he held his peace.
"What about the Injins here?" pursued Jeff, addressing the boys;
"they're different from ours in Californy."
Frank had no wish to air his knowledge, but he replied:
"I have read that the natives belong to the red and yellow races--that
is, the Indian and Mongolian. There are two stocks of Indians--the
Thlinkets and the Tenneh. There are only a few Thlinkets, and they live
along the coast. That old Indian who ferried us over Lake Lindeman is a
Tenneh, as are the natives of the interior. You may not think they are
much like our Indians, but they belong to the Chippewayan family, the
same as the Apaches, who have caused so much trouble in Mexico and
Arizona."
"That has been my 'pinion," said Tim, who now heard the fact for the
first time; "and the raison why the Alaska redskins ain't as bad as the
Apaches is 'cause the weather is so cold it freezes up all the diviltry
in them."
"Roswell," continued Jeff, who was proud to show off the learning of
his young friends, "why do they call the Eskimos that name?"
"The name, which means those who eat raw flesh, was given to them by
the Indians. They call themselves Aleuts, or Innuits. The Innuits are
the same as the Eskimos of Greenland and the Arctic regions, while the
Aleuts belong to Alaska, the long, narrow peninsula which extends
southwesterly from the mainland and the Aleutian Islands, that look
like a continuation of the peninsula. As for the climate, temperature,
and size of Alaska, you and Tim know as much as we do," said Roswell,
who disliked as much as his cousin to seem to display his knowledge.
"Why not be modest," gravely asked Tim, "and say that ye knows almost
as much as Mr. McCabe, leaving Mr. Graham out of the quistion, be the
token that he knows nothing at all, and I'm afeard will niver larn?"
"As you please," replied Roswell; "you and Jeff may settle that between
you."
"And ther's nothing to sittle, as me mither used to obsarve whin she
looked into the impty coffee-pot; Jiff won't pretind that he knows
anything of this country so long as he is in the prisence of mesilf."
"Very true," gravely replied the old miner; "but if I do scoop in any
gold, I think I'll know 'nough to shoot any man that tries to steal
it."
As he spoke he darted a glance at Hardman, who was sitting a little
back from the fire, also smoking, but glum and silent. The boys
wondered why Jeff should make these pointed references, when he had
never hinted anything of the kind before, but the old miner had a
purpose in mind. While not seeming to pay any special attention to
Hardman, he had studied him closely for the past few days, and felt
little doubt that he was planning mischief. The words, therefore, that
Jeff uttered were meant as a warning to the rogue of what he might
expect if he attempted any crooked work.
No further reference was made to the unpleasant subject, although Jeff
and Tim chaffed each other for a long time, even after the boys had
wrapped themselves in their blankets and lain down to sleep. No watch
was set, as would have been the case had they been journeying through a
wild part of their own country, for there was nothing to be feared from
wild animals or Indians. The only being whom Jeff and the boys
distrusted was a member of their own company, and they did not believe
he would do anything wrong until after the party had secured something
worth the risk on his part.
Deprived of many of the comforts of home and a mother's care, it did
not take the boys long, under the tutelage of the older ones, to attend
to their own wants. Roswell and Frank soon learned how to sew on a
button and do the mending which their garments occasionally required.
They washed their clothing and kept themselves in better form than do
many men when placed in a similar situation.
With the weather growing more summery and hardly a bit of ice in the
river, the raft glided down the Upper Yukon. Ninety-eight miles from
the head of the Yukon, the craft passed the mouth of the Milk River,
and in this case the party saw the appropriateness of the name, for its
water has a perceptible whitish color.
A goodly distance remained to be passed, for it was ten miles to
Stewart River, and twenty-five more to Fort Ogilvie, where they spent
the night. They were now nearing their journey's end, and all showed a
peculiar agitation, such as is natural when we feel ourselves close
upon the solution of a problem that has baffled us for a long time.
One form of this emotion was the impatience to get forward faster than
before. There was nothing of the feeling when leaving Seattle or Juneau
or Dyea, nor did they experience it to any degree while toiling through
the hundreds of miles from lake to lake and down the upper waters of
the streams which help to form the Yukon.
Roswell and Frank were grateful for one blessed fact--they were
stronger and in more rugged health than ever in their lives. When
making their way through the passes and helping to drag the sleds, they
felt more than once like giving up and turning back, though neither
would have confessed it; but now they were hopeful, buoyant, and eager.
They had sent the last letter which they expected to write home for a
long time upon leaving Dyea, where they bade good-by to civilization.
The afternoon was young when the raft drifted into a portion of the
Yukon which expanded into a width of two miles, where it was joined by
another large stream. On the eastern shore loomed a straggling town of
considerable proportions.
"Tim," said Frank, suspecting the truth, "what place is that?"
"Frinds," replied Tim, vainly trying to conceal his agitation, "that
town is Dawson City, and the river flowing into ours is the Klondike.
Ye have raiched the goold counthry, which, being the same, I
rispictfully asks ye all to jine mesilf in letting out a hurrah which
will make the town trimble and the payple open their eyes so wide that
they won't git them shet agin for a wake to come. Are ye riddy?
Altogither!"
[Illustration: AND THE THREE CHEERS WERE GIVEN WITH A WILL.]
And the cheers were given with a will.