MIDNIGHT ON A YUKON STEAMER.
The bright and yellow full moon drifted slowly upward. The sun had just
set at nine in the evening, casting a warm and beautiful glow over all
the lonely landscape, for it was the most dreary spot in all the dreary
wilderness through which the mighty Yukon passes.
The steamer had tied up for wood, and now the brawny stevedores with
blackened hands and arms were pitching it to the deck.
To the passengers, of whom there were a goodly number, time hung
heavily, and the younger ones had proposed a dance. Musical instruments
were not numerous, but such as there were, were brought out, and two
non-professionals with an accordion and a banjo, were doing their very
best.
A small number of sober ones were to be seen on deck pacing restlessly
back and forth, for the ruthless mosquito was distinctly on evidence,
and threatened to outgeneral the quiet ones, if not the orchestra and
the hilarious dancers.
On the upper deck, a lady, clad in warm cloak and thick veil, walked
tirelessly to and fro. A big stump-tailed dog of the Malemute tribe at
times followed at her heels, but when she had patted his head and
spoken kindly to him he appeared satisfied, and lay down again with his
head between his paws. Then sounds from the dancers below, the shrill
laughter of the women mingled with the strum of the banjo and the wheezy
accordion seemed to disturb the dog's slumber, and he would again pace
up and down at the lady's heels.
At times there would come a lull in the tumult, and the click of the
glasses or crash of a fallen pitcher would make a variety of
entertainment for the lady and her dog on the upper deck; but the short
and dusky midnight was well passed before the dancing ceased and partial
quiet and order were restored.
Two figures remained near the stern of the boat. One, a young woman with
a profusion of long auburn hair, the other a man with flushed face and
thick breath.
"I cannot tell now which one it will be," said the girl coquettishly,
"but if you wait you will see."
"No more waitin' in it," he growled. "I have waited long enough, and too
long, and you must choose between us now. You know we will soon be at
'Five Fingers,' and you must be good or they may get you," with a wicked
leer and clutch at her arm calculated to startle her as she carelessly
sat on the deck rail.
"I'm not afraid of 'Five Fingers' or any other fingers, and I'm not
afraid of your two hands either," making her muscles very tense, and
sitting rigidly upright, "and you can't scare me a bit; I'll do as I
like, so there!"
By this time the moon shone high above the tops of the tall slender
pines, and spread its soft light over all the swift and swirling waters.
To the west, the hills faded first from green to blue, then to purple,
and lastly to black, silhouetted as they were against the quiet sky.
The swift flowing current pushed the waters up among the weeds and
bushes along the river's edge and the loose rocks were washed quite
smooth. Now and then might be heard the bark of a wood-chopper's dog
stationed outside his master's cabin, and the steady thud of the steamer
never stopped. At two o'clock it was growing light again, and still the
young man pleaded with the girl on the deck. She was stubborn and
silent.
Swiftly now the boat neared the "Five Fingers." Only a few miles
remained before the huge boulders forming the narrow and tortuous
channels called the "Five Fingers" would be reached, and the face of the
pilot was stern. It was a most dangerous piece of water and many boats
had already been wrecked at this point.
Suddenly above the noise of the waters and the steamer's regular
breathing there arose on the quiet air a shrill shriek at the stern of
the boat.
The lady on the upper deck had retired. The captain was sleeping off his
too frequent potations, and only the pilot on the lookout knew that the
scream came from a woman; but it was not repeated.
The pilot's assistant was off watch, and his own duty lay at the wheel;
so it happened that a guilty man who had been standing by the deck rail
crept silently, unnoticed, and now thoroughly sobered, to his stateroom.
His companion was nowhere to be seen.
A small steamer following next day in the wake of the first boat, came
to Five Finger Rapids.
"See the pretty red seaweed on the rocks, mamma," cried a little boy,
pointing to the low ledge on the bank of the east channel.
Those who looked in the direction indicated by the boy saw, as the
steamer crept carefully up to the whirlpool, a woman's white face in the
water, above which streamed a mass of long auburn hair, caught firmly on
the rocks.
Standing by the side of his pilot, the captain's keen eye caught sight
of the head and hair.
"It's only Dolly Duncan," he said, with a shrug of his shoulders. "No
one else has such hair; but it's no great loss anyway; there are many
more of such as she, you know."
[Illustration: UPPER YUKON STEAMER.]