THE FATE OF A STOWAWAY.
"My gracious! We're going to the bottom sure!"
It was Randy who made the observation. The storm had struck the steamer
in all its fury, and the pitching of the vessel made it almost
impossible for a person to keep his feet. Randy clutched a handrail
fastened near by, and Earl did the same; while Mr. Portney and Captain
Zoss braced up against a ceiling post. The only thing that kept many
from falling was the fact that there was no vacant floor space. "They
were in it like sardines in a tin," as Randy expressed it.
"Some of the outside freight is bound to go," remarked Foster Portney, a
minute later. "Ah, as I thought--the captain has ordered it cut away.
There goes some poor fellows' outfits! Too bad!"
"I hope our stuff isn't among it!" cried Earl. "But they'll be
responsible, won't they?"
"Yes, they'll be responsible, Earl. But we don't want their money--we
want our goods, for it may be difficult, if not impossible, to duplicate
the things at Juneau. But I imagine our goods are in the hold."
"Our clothing and provisions are," said Randy. "I saw them put down just
before we started. But the tools may be out there."
"If they--" began Captain Zoss, but broke off short as a mighty crash
was heard from the rear deck. The crash was followed by the jingle of
broken glass and sharp cries of pain and alarm.
There was every evidence of a panic, but the cooler heads restored
order, and then it was found that a miner's outfit had caused all the
trouble. It had been loosened from the deck, but before it could be
thrown overboard a lurch of the steamer had sent it sailing through the
air straight through a cabin window. The miner to whom the outfit
belonged had been one of those to be most scared by its unceremonious
entrance.
For three hours the storm raged in all its fury, and during that time no
one but the officers and crew were allowed on deck. Nearly all the
outside freight was thrown away, a loss which amounted to several
thousand dollars. At last the wind and the rain gradually abated, and by
nightfall the _Golden Hope_ was again proceeding on her journey
northward.
On the following day they ran by Vancouver Island, and it was calculated
that they would reach Juneau by noon of the day following. All were
anxious concerning the outfits which had been lost overboard, and the
miners and officers tried to make out a list of them. The work
proceeded all day, and it was not until nightfall that it was learned
positively that the goods belonging to the Portneys and to Captain Zoss
were safe.
The first sight of Juneau was rather disappointing to the boys, who had
expected to see a much larger place. Juneau is but a small town, lying
on the western coast of a peninsula formed by the Lynn Canal and the
wide mouth of the Taku River. Directly opposite is Douglas Island. The
town lies on a small patch of flat ground, backed up by several high
mountains. It is principally a trading centre. The harbor is a fairly
good one, and, on account of the rush to the gold fields, the stores
were increasing constantly.
As soon as the steamer reached her landing place a wild rush for shore
ensued, and then began a hunt for some vessel which might take the party
up to Dyea, where the journey by water would, for the present, come to
an end. The water up the Lynn Canal, as it is termed, although it is not
at all a canal as we know them, and through Dyea Inlet, is shallow, and,
consequently, ocean steamers do not go beyond Juneau.
"I'll hunt up passage on some boat," said Foster Portney to the boys.
"You remain here and watch our goods. Those fellows who lost their
outfits are angry enough, and some of them would like nothing better
than to appropriate ours and let us look to the steamboat company for
redress."
While he was gone, the task of bringing the goods from the steamer's
hold was started, for no one wanted to be delayed in Juneau any longer
than was necessary. Randy and Earl watched the work closely, and as soon
as their things appeared they claimed them and had the lot transferred
to a spot at the end of the rather rotten and shaky dock.
Presently, as they stood waiting for the reappearance of their uncle and
Captain Zoss, who had gone with Mr. Portney, they noticed a commotion on
board the _Golden Hope_. A stowaway had been found in the hold of the
vessel, and the sailors and stevedores had brought the fellow out more
dead than alive.
"Get off of here!" cried the captain of the steamer, in a rage, as he
booted the fellow not once, but half a dozen times. "Get out, I say! If
we were down in San Francisco I'd have you locked up in a minute. It's a
pity I didn't find you out when we were on the trip--I'd a-made you work
your passage, and more! Go, before I heave you overboard!"
And with a final kick the stowaway was run off the gang-plank, to fall
in a heap on the dock, too weak from the confinement and want of proper
food to stand.
"It's Fred Dobson!" ejaculated Randy. "Oh, Earl, look!"
"It is Fred, true enough!" replied Earl, as much surprised as his
brother. Forgetful of their outfits for the time being, both ran forward
and picked up the son of the squire of Basco. Fred's eyes were closed,
his face was as white as chalk, and they saw at a glance that he had
fainted.
[Illustration: "WITH A FINAL KICK THE STOWAWAY WAS RUN OFF THE
GANG-PLANK."--_Page 72._]
"Get some water, Randy," said Earl, as he began to work over the
prostrate figure. "I wonder if there is a doctor handy. He looks as if
he was half starved to death."
As Randy ran off, a crowd began to collect, a few to sympathize, but the
majority to look on merely in curiosity or to make audible comments that
it served the boy right, since he had no business to steal a trip.
"Got a crazy notion to go to the gold fields, I reckon," said one
bystander. "He ought to be home where his mamma could spank him."
At this there was a coarse laugh, which was quickly hushed when another
man, a young fellow of not more than twenty-three, stepped forward, and
announced that he was a doctor. He soon succeeded in bringing Fred
around.
"He wants something to eat as much as anything," said the newcomer.
"There is a restaurant over yonder. Better take him there and get him
some soup and stale bread--his stomach isn't strong enough to bear a
regular meal."
Randy and Earl thanked the doctor and did as advised, while the crowd
gradually melted away to tend to its own affairs. Fred was ravenously
hungry, yet he ate with difficulty when the food was set before him.
"I've had nothing to eat for about forty hours," he said, when he felt
strong enough to talk. "I spent that four dollars you two gave me in
buying provisions, crackers, cheese, and the like, but on the second day
out the rats got at the crackers and cheese and ate nearly the whole of
them. Then one of my bottles of water was smashed during that storm, and
though it was as close as pepper down there I hadn't a mouthful to
drink. I thought I was going to die just before they opened the hold and
began to remove the cargo."
"But, Fred, what made you do it?" asked Earl, reproachfully. "It was the
height of foolishness."
"I'm bound to go to the gold fields, Earl. You two are going there to
make a fortune, and why can't I make a fortune, too?"
"Because you are not fit for life out there, that's why. You suffered a
good deal in coming this far, but let me tell you that I expect to
suffer a good deal more than that before the Klondike River is reached
and we have endured the hardships of an Alaskan winter. Supposing you
succeed in getting away up in Alaska and are taken sick, who is going to
care for you, and how are you going to get back home? Now I don't want
to preach, but my advice is, to go back to Basco at once."
"And that's my advice, too, Fred," broke in Randy. "I know you are as
old as I am, but you know you never did such work as Earl and I are used
to, and some of the experienced miners even laugh at us. If Uncle
Foster hadn't known that we were used to hard work out in the open, in
midwinter at that, he would never have dreamed of asking us to go with
him; he told us so."
Randy and Earl both spoke earnestly, and it was not their fault that
what they had to say did not take effect. But Fred Dobson was both wild
and reckless, and he shook his head.
"I'm bound to go if I have to walk the rest of the way," he said. "I
thought I would strike your uncle again when we reached the place, but
if you are so dead set against me I'll not say another word, but try to
paddle my own canoe, as the saying is. Of course I'm much obliged for
what you did for me in San Francisco and here, and some day I'll make it
up to you, see if I don't."
"We don't want you to make it up, Fred; only act sensible and steer for
home when you next strike out," said Earl. He was about to go on, when
the entrance of his uncle and Captain Zoss into the restaurant caused
him to stop.
"Humph! so you've turned up again!" were Foster Portney's words. "I
heard there had been a stowaway on board of the _Golden Hope_. It was
the most foolish move you could make, lad." The prospector turned to his
youngest nephew. "Randy, where are our outfits?"
"Oh my!" burst out Randy, leaping to his feet. "Earl, we forgot all
about them!"
Earl said nothing, but he reached the door of the restaurant almost as
quickly as his brother. There was a crowd in the roadway outside, but
they quickly forced a passage through, and ran for the steamer dock. A
large number of outfits were spread here, there, and everywhere, but the
spot where they had left those belonging to their own party was vacant.