PHIL FEEDS HIS DOGS
It did not seem to Phil that he had any more than closed his eyes
before he was awakened by such a babel of yelps and barkings as
notified him that further sleep was out of the question, and also that
his dogs were waiting to be fed. Hearty imprecations showered on the
heads of the vociferous team from the direction of Mr. Sims’s room,
and threats to treat them to a dose of duck-shot, so hastened Phil’s
movements that in a few seconds he had slipped on his seal-skin boots
and fur parka, and was outside in the stinging cold. There in the
moonlight stood Kurilla, with a broad grin on his good-humored face,
holding in leash Phil’s team. Every member of it, but big Amook loudest
of all, was vigorously demanding his three meals of the day before and
the one already due on the present morning, or four in all.
On the Yukon it is customary to feed sledge-dogs once in every
twenty-four hours, and that at night, after the day’s work is ended.
In order that Musky and Luvtuk and the others might be so unusually
hungry as to fully appreciate the first meal from the hands of their
new master, Kurilla had withheld their meal of the previous evening,
so that now they were fairly ravenous. Near at hand stood Chitsah,
restraining with the utmost difficulty another team of dogs that were
destined to be driven by Serge. As they had been regularly fed the
evening before, they could not have been so hungry as Phil’s team,
though from their howlings one would think they had not tasted food
for a week.
Appreciating the seriousness of the situation, and shouting to Serge
to come out and attend to the wants of his own team, Phil ran to the
storehouse, from which he took two dried salmon. They were so large
that he proposed to cut each into several pieces of such size as seemed
to him fitted to a dog’s throat. As he approached his team he called to
Serge to fetch him a knife; but almost as he uttered the words he was
given to understand that it was not needed.
With a savage spring Amook reached his side, seized one of the big
fish in his powerful jaws, and with a couple of convulsive gulpings
swallowed it whole. Having accomplished this feat he wagged his tail
cheerfully, and looked up into his young master’s face, as much as to
say, “That sample was so good that I think I’ll take some fish, if you
please.”
“Well, if you aren’t an ostrich!” Phil started to say; but even as
he opened his mouth to speak he was overthrown and instantly buried
beneath an avalanche of dogs. Incited by Amook’s brilliant success,
Musky, Mint, Shag, and Luvtuk followed his example, while the dogs held
by Chitsah broke loose at the same moment, and all projected themselves
with the energy of living catapults towards the single fish that Phil
still held.
Both Kurilla and Chitsah instantly flung themselves on top of the
confused mass of howling animals, and for the space of a minute the
scene enacted in full view of the aroused inmates of the station was
equal to any first-class football scrimmage. Women screamed, while men
shouted and ran towards the place of battle.
In another minute the fierce animals had been torn apart, flung this
way and that, and were sneaking off in so many different directions
with lowered tails. The two Indians were breathlessly but calmly
readjusting their disordered garments, the salmon had disappeared,
and Phil, sitting on the hard-packed snow, was tenderly feeling of
different parts of his body.
“Are you much hurt, old man?” cried Serge, anxiously, as he reached his
friend’s side.
“Serge,” replied Phil, solemnly, “did you ever happen to see a good
little book called the Franklin Primer?”
“I don’t think I ever did. Why?”
“Because it contains a picture that you would do well to study. The
picture is that of a small boy, with a very anxious expression,
hanging by his hands from the outer end of a branch that projects over
a tropical river. Immediately beneath him swim a dozen open-mouthed
crocodiles regarding him with evident expectancy. Beneath the picture
is a legend to the effect that Johnny is about to feed his pets. Now
let’s turn in again and finish out our nap.”
But there was too much to be done that day to admit of further
sleeping, and both lads quickly found themselves full of business. To
begin with, stores for the expedition were to be selected and carefully
packed. Of these the largest single item was fish, to be used as dog
food, and with this one sledge was wholly laden. Then came flour, tea,
sugar, salt, bacon, hard bread, evaporated fruit, a package of fine
pemmican――which is made of dried and pounded moose meat mixed with
berries and boiling fat in a rawhide bag, where it becomes perfectly
solid――oatmeal, a can of baking-powder, molasses, a case of canned
goods for special occasions, a quantity of reindeer-back fat, to be
used in place of butter or lard, and a few pounds of tobacco for
trading with Indians.
For cooking utensils there was first and most important of all the
chynik, or copper tea-kettle, and an extra one in case of accident.
Then came a long-handled fry-pan, a large iron pot, a brass kettle, a
saucepan, half a dozen tin plates, as many cups, spoons, and forks.
Besides these there was a wash-basin, and each man carried a knife in a
sheath attached to his belt.
At the head of the miscellaneous list came a fine rifle for Phil’s
especial use, and a double-barrelled shotgun, with an ample supply
of fixed ammunition for both. Besides these Kurilla would carry his
well-beloved old flint-lock musket. Then came three axes, one for each
sledge, two hatchets, a case of awls, another of needles, a supply of
stout thread and sinew for sewing, a thermometer, and a bolt of cotton
cloth to be used as wanted.
Most important of all for a winter journey in that region of arctic
cold was the outfit of fur clothing with which each of the boys was
liberally provided, and some of which was made that very day by the
nimble fingers of Indian women. In each case this consisted of a round,
close-fitting fur cap of marten-skin; a heavy caribou parka, or outer
shirt, trimmed with wolverene and wolf skin; an inner shirt of softest
fawn-skin, trousers of Siberian reindeer, boots of moose-shank and
seal, plenty of moccasins and fur-lined arctic socks, and two pairs
of mittens that reached to the elbow. Of these the outer pair was of
moose-hide lined with heavy flannel, while the inner pair, the right
hand of which had a trigger finger as well as a thumb, was made of
lynx, with the fur inside.
A warm sleeping-bag for each boy was made by taking a fine and extra
heavy Mackinaw blanket, lining it with marmot-skins, fur side out,
covering the other side with stout canvas as a protection against
sparks and the wet of melting snow, and sewing up the edges. This,
with a small pillow filled with geese feathers and a large bear-skin,
constituted an arctic bed in which one might sleep out-of-doors with
comfort in the coldest of weather.
These things, together with snow-shoes and native snow-goggles, made of
wood pierced with a long slit and blackened on the inside, completed
the outfit of our young travellers. They were to use the ingalik, or
regular Yukon sledge, which is much lighter than the Eskimo, or coast
sledge, but heavier and stronger than the Hudson Bay toboggan commonly
used in the interior.
The getting together of these things occupied all hands for the greater
part of the day, though after satisfying himself as to his outfit of
fur garments Phil left the rest to Serge and Gerald Hamer, for he
had another very important duty to perform. This was arranging the
exhibition drill of his native soldier boys, who had looked forward to
it with such eagerness that he could not bear to disappoint them.
[Illustration: THE EXHIBITION DRILL AT ANVIK]
Fortunately the day was fine and not very cold, for the school-room
was so utterly inadequate to the accommodation of both performers and
spectators that the drill was necessarily held outside.
Noon was the hour appointed for this most important event, and by that
hour the space reserved for spectators was occupied by every inhabitant
of the native village. Their curiosity was raised to the highest pitch
of expectation, for the boys had kept their secret so well that no one
knew anything concerning the nature of the exhibition.
For some minutes excitement was kept at fever heat by strange sounds
issuing from behind the closed school-house doors, where the company
was forming. Then the door was flung open, and to the measured beating
of a drum that gruff Mr. Sims had made for Little Sidorka, who was Big
Sidorka’s brother, and at that moment the proudest boy in Anvik, the
dusky company marched forth in single file, headed by Big Sidorka,
who still wore the badge of honor that made him the envied of all his
fellows. Phil came last, and at his command of “Company, _halt_! Right
_face_! Right _dress_! _’Tention!_” the long line stood straight and
motionless facing their awe-stricken relatives.
Then came in rapid succession the sharp, crisp orders now so familiar
to nearly every school-boy in the United States, but never before heard
by the public of Anvik: “Present _arms_! Carry _arms_! Right shoulder
_arms_!” and the rest, until every movement of the manual had been
executed with a promptness and precision that drew forth a storm of
applause from the delighted spectators. But when Phil handed his wooden
sword to Sergeant Sidorka, and the company was put through the same
drill without a mistake by one of their own number, the enthusiasm of
the onlookers knew no bounds.
Then the company was put through the few simple marching manœuvres that
it had been able to practise in the limited area of the school-room.
Finally, when, at the command “Charge _bayonets_! Double quick
_march_!” it advanced on the run with levelled guns directly towards
its admiring friends, they scurried away in every direction with
apprehensive screams as though their brothers had become sure enough
soldiers, armed with real guns, and bent upon their destruction.
At the conclusion of the exercises Phil promoted Sergeant Sidorka to a
captaincy, formally turned over the command of the company to him, and
hung about his neck a medal beaten out of a silver dollar and engraved
with the single word “Captain.” To this day if there is a prouder young
fellow in all Alaska than Big Sidorka, or a more exacting drill-master,
it would be hard to find him.
Serge bade his reading-class farewell that evening, and commended them
to the kindness of Mr. Sims, the engineer, who to the surprise of every
one had volunteered to continue the work so successfully begun by the
young Russo-American.
That evening, too, Gerald Hamer gave Phil a list of goods that the
_Chimo_ would take to the Forty Mile Mining Camp in the spring, and
the prices at which they would be sold. He also gave him money enough
to defray the expenses of a trip to San Francisco, and a long letter
of instructions to the agent of the new trading company in that city.
This Phil was to supplement by a verbal statement of the condition of
affairs in the Yukon diggings, and the class of goods most in demand.
Thus was everything made ready for the morrow, on which Phil and
Serge were to set forth on a midwinter search through the vast
Alaskan wilderness for the former’s dearly loved father, and begin
the tremendous journey which they hoped would carry them to the very
head-waters of the Yukon, and finally land them in green Sitka town.