THE VISION
It was not until they had practiced a week at the mock trail work that
Clay decided they were in shape to tackle the real work of the trail.
The week had wrought changes in them. It had been real work. Everything
they had learned of the work from the old timers they had put into
practice again and again until they had learned to do the thing with
neatness and despatch. They were astonished at the miracle the week had
wrought in themselves. Their bodies were stripped of every ounce of fat
and new unknown muscles had sprung into notice while the old prominent
ones had become as things of elastic steel. Their hunger was of the
order of famished wolves and they grew to understand the look of knowing
hunger in the eyes of their dogs as they wistfully watched them eat
breakfast and supper, of which two meals the animals were not allowed to
partake, but could only look on in wretched misery at their masters
eating with such relish.
Before leaving Dawson the boys had cleared out the forehold and had
filled it with a great store of dried salmon. Of this, they gave their
dogs more than double the quantity usually given by dog drivers. But
they gave it to them only at night, according to the iron law of the
trail, whose motto was that a full dog travels slow. Their first real
trip was to the nearest of the Indian villages which seemed to inclose
the Catholic Mission of the Holy Cross in a kind of semi-circle. They
started with the usual trail traveler's pack, containing only the things
absolutely necessary, such as frying pan and a big kettle to cook in, a
change of footgear and clothing for each, an axe and a fair amount of
the staple food of the trail, beans, pork, coffee, flour and sugar. A
smaller pack contained the supply of dried salmon for the dogs, and
another of trading trinkets, while over all was strapped down tightly
over the load a large square of waterproofed canvas, another of the
Kid's suggestions. It being the first trip and a novelty, all were eager
to go, but none liked to leave the _Rambler_ alone. For, although well
protected from view, there was the possible chance that some traveler
might stumble upon the tiny cove and relieve the _Rambler_ of some of
her already diminishing stock of provisions. So it was decided that one
should be left to guard the boat, that one to be decided by the drawing
of straws. The short straw fell to Case to his intense disgust.
"Just my luck," he grumbled, "to be left behind on a day like this when
the snow has just got a crust an elephant could not break through, and
everything seems to promise the finest kind of weather. When I get a
chance to go the snow will be five feet deep and we will have to pack
trail every foot of the way right in the teeth of a sixty-mile gale."
What Case said about the conditions for traveling were true. They could
hardly have selected a better time. The start was made long before
daylight, Clay running side by side with the leader and striving to keep
to the due south course by his pocket compass, but he soon realized that
Buck sensed their destination and, like one on familiar ground, was
picking his way toward a certain goal. Now and then he would swerve to
one side to avoid a clump of trees or a steep gully, but always swinging
back again and ever bearing back again to the south.
"No use trying to guide that dog," Clay panted as he fell back to join
his companions who were half running to keep up with the flying sled.
"He knows where we are going and the best way of getting there far
better than I do myself. I don't believe there's another team like this
in the world. Look how they run in perfect harmony with each other."
Their admiration for their team was further increased when, upon the
rising of the sun, they looked back at the distant mountain from whose
base they started only a few hours before. All the boys were feeling the
tremendous pace at which they had traveled and Clay called a brief halt
for them all to gain their breath. The dogs, obedient to his commands,
dropped down in their traces and instantly curled up in the hard snow.
"Look how much trail wisdom they've got," said Alex in admiration. "They
go like the wind, by they don't waste a second when they get a chance to
rest."
"We have got to borrow a little of their wisdom," Clay observed. "If we
don't we will all of us be tired to death and have to camp long before
the day is over. We had better take turns in riding on the sled, one at
a time. That will give each man thirty minutes of running and fifteen
minutes to rest up in. We ought to be able to hold on at that."
Even under this liberal arrangement, the boys were well pleased when the
whole team stopped and curled up in their traces, close beside a bunch
of cottonwood trees.
"Get up! Push on there!" shouted Clay, surprised at the sudden action,
but Buck only gave him a reproachful look.
Alex grinned with delight. "Don't disgust Buck right at the start by
letting him know that you are a blamed chekako," he advised. "He knows
that it's dinner time and that this is a mighty good place to cook with
all the dead cottonwood lying around."
The boys fell to the work of getting dinner with the system of old
timers. While Clay cut dead cottonwood, Ike built a fire and melted snow
for coffee. Alex brought out a frozen sausage-like length of beans,
ready cooked with a generous mixture of cubes of pork, from which he
hacked short pieces and placed them into the frying pan to heat,
continuing the operation until the pan was full. Then in a short time
dinner was ready and the boys sat down to it with keen appetites. A
short rest after, and they were off again. Before daylight ended, they
swept around a high bluff into full sight of the village they sought.
Buck, in his knowledge of the country, had brought them straight to
their destination. Barking dogs and a crowd of natives met them at the
village limits. The dogs' barking ceased at sight of Buck who, with hair
raised and teeth bared, gave utterance to one low ominous growl at which
the dogs in front shrank back silently, leaving a path through their
midst for the sled. Down it Buck walked in state with never a glance to
left or right, moving like a king before his subjects.
"He's grand," Clay exclaimed. "He's the Yukon Kid of the dog trails."
It was evident that the natives thought so too, for they crowded around
with grunts of envy and admiration.
"Sell him?" queried one native, but Clay shook his head.
"No sell."
"Trade?"
"No trade for dogs. Trade for furs plenty. Got a pack full of wonderful
things."
The crowd of Esquimaux greeted this announcement with grunts of
satisfaction. No trader had come their way as yet and their igloos were
crowded with furs of the finest. Would the strangers come and look and
be convinced? But Clay declined the invitation. He had learned too much
of the stuffiness and smells of the average Esquimau dwelling to care to
enter one again. "No," he announced, "they would camp in the open. When
the night fires were lit all who had fine furs could come and exchange
them for many wonderful things."
The preparations for the night were simple and speedily made. While one
cut wood, another put on a huge pot of bacon and beans to boil and the
third cut poles and drove them down in the snow, then all three joined
in stretching the big square canvas over the poles, bringing it down to
the snow on one side and raising it at the side nearest the fire so the
heat would radiate downwards.
The whole village gathered around the fire and watched the boys as they
cooked and ate; they were of a far superior class to any the boys had
yet seen, due, perhaps, to the efforts of the priests from the not far
distant mission, who labored constantly to teach and help all within
their reach. Nearly all had brought valuable furs with them and the
trading was quickly concluded, for Clay frowned down all of Ike's
attempts to drive long, close bargains and their customers departed well
pleased at having received for their furs much more than they had
intended to demand.
While the village was yet asleep the boys struck camp next morning and
headed back for the _Rambler_, for they knew Case would worry until they
returned. They reached the boat shortly after midday to find Case
sitting in the cabin gloomily playing solitaire. He greeted them with
joy, and, as they had not stopped for dinner on the trail, he flew
around and got them a hasty lunch while he listened to the story of
their trip. The first time he could do so unnoticed by Alex and Abe and
Ike, he gave Clay a signal that he wanted to see him alone. Clay, quick
to note the anxiety in his partner's face, quickly finished his dinner
and turned to the others.
"Will you two clean up and pack away the furs when you get through?" he
inquired. "Case and I want to take a hunt and see if we can not get a
few squirrels or something else fresh to eat."
The two were quick to agree. Their feet and legs were aching from their
long, hard run and they were thinking longingly, of a nice long rest in
their bunks after the simple tasks were performed.
Taking the rifle and shot gun with them, Clay and Case made their way
out on the ice.
"What's the matter, old chap?" Clay asked as soon as they were beyond
the hearing of those on board the _Rambler_.
"First, I want you to keep your eye on that mountain," Case replied.
"It's due to come at any minute now. I noted the time it came yesterday
by my watch, and it is nearly it now."
Mystified, Clay gazed up at the lofty mountain. Being so early in the
winter and still in the midst of the windy season, the mountain was free
from snow, save where it nestled in the pockets and crevices, and the
main part of it lay naked and exposed to the eye. It was like a huge
cake packed layer after layer, each layer getting smalled and smaller
until the apex was hidden in eternal snows. Each layer was made of a
different strata of which the mountain was composed. Here was a dull-red
streak indicating the presence of iron ore, above it the dull grey of
granite, and below that a curious blend of green. As Clay stood looking
up, the miracle happened. The low slanting sun lingered on the
mountain's face for a minute and it became as a thing transformed, all
its varying hues stood out blended softly together by the sun's
lingering rays. Pink, red, lavender and green blended for a moment in
one harmonious whole, then the sun's rays passed on and--the vision of
beauty was gone.
Clay drew in a breath of keenest pleasure. "Glorious," he exclaimed.
"Don't it suggest anything to you?" questioned Case.
"A great big, beautiful rainbow seen close to, of course," Clay replied
promptly.
"Nothing more?" Case suggested.
Clay thought for a moment. "I've got it," he suddenly exclaimed. "That
mountain marks the bend in the river, and that rainbow furnishes the
rest. It's Rainbow Bend, the place Ike's uncle lives. He must have a
camp in the next cove. Funny that we should be neighbors so long and
never know it."
"I wouldn't say anything to Ike about it, not just now at any rate,"
Clay said slowly. "I--well, I did a little exploring myself after I saw
that rainbow yesterday and I found a little cabin of logs in that next
cove. The door was open a bit and the cabin was partly full of snow, but
in one corner, back behind the door, was a sight that made me hustle out
into the open air with my legs shaking a bit, I guess, Clay," and the
lad's voice lowered. "It was the skeleton of a man, a big man with bent
shoulders. His skull was smashed to pieces and an axe lay close by with
some grayish hairs sticking to it."
Clay turned back for the _Rambler_. "Let's be getting back," he said
quietly, "we will slip away tomorrow and bury the body and say nothing
to the boys until winter is over. This country is no place to brood in
over anything."
"But I haven't told you the worst yet, Clay," Case blurted out. "Our
potatoes are all gone, and part of our provisions also."
Clay stopped in his tracks, his face paling. This was the last straw.
"When did it happen. Who did it?" he said, bewilderedly.
"Goodness knows," Case said despairingly. "It may have happened a week
ago. You see we have been light on the potatoes because we did not have
more than enough to last until spring anyway. We have kept a supply in
the kitchen locker so as not to have to burrow around in the hold for
them every time we wanted a mess. I guess I was the last one to fill the
locker, about a week ago. I went to fill it again yesterday but could
only find a handful scattered in the hold. Part of our flour, beans and
bacon is gone too."
"It must have been done when we were getting in that week of practice
work with the snow shoes and team," said Clay, thoughtfully. "There were
hours at a time when all of us would be out of sight of the _Rambler_.
It strikes me something like this," he continued, after another pause.
"It looks like the work of those two wretches. Bill and Jud, from
beginning to end. They knew Ike's uncle well enough so that he trusted
them to carry a letter to Ike. He may have let out a hint to them that
he had found something of value. Likely they demanded to have a share in
it. A quarrel arose over it and the old man was killed without their
learning his secret. But they had the letter to Ike. They opened it but
apparently could not make out its meaning. They tore off a corner of it,
however, so that Ike could not make out its meaning either, without
their help. Then they came to the States and delivered it to Ike. We all
know how they pestered Ike all winter and in the end how they tried to
kill or rob him. When we get up here, we find them here ahead of us and
ready to do us harm at the first opportunity. They know of Rainbow Bend.
They likely reasoned that Ike knew its whereabouts too and would land
here sooner or later and they proposed to be not far off when he came.
We know from what the Kid said that they are up the river somewhere. I
believe that it is they who have stolen our stuff. I believe that their
main plan is to get Ike and torture him until he reveals the secret in
his uncle's letter. Well, there is a lot of theory in what I've been
saying, but it fits in nicely with the facts."
"What are we going to do?" asked Case hopelessly.
"Do," said Clay, straightening up. "We are going to face it like men.
Trust in the Lord, and do our best."