Martin burst forth, gleefully: "They caught MacDonald at Holy Cross and ran him out on a limb. He"ll never start another stampede. Old man Baker gun-branded him."
"What"s the matter with Mort?" inquired the second traveler.
"He"s resting up. Yesterday, during the storm he--" Johnny was upon the point of saying "played out," but changed it to "had an accident. We thought it was serious, but a few days" rest "ll bring him around all right. He saved me at Katmai, coming in. I petered out and threw up my tail, but he got me through. Come inside and tell him the news."
"Sure thing."
"Well, well!" Martin said. "So you and Mort are still partners, eh?"
"_Still_ partners?" Johnny took up the pail of water. "Well, rather!
We"ll always be partners." His voice was young and full and hearty as he continued: "Why, Mort"s the best d.a.m.ned fellow in the world. I"d lay down my life for him."
THE STAMPEDE
From their vantage on the dump, the red gravel of which ran like a raw scar down the mountainside, the men looked out across the gulch, above the western range of hills to the yellow setting sun. Far below them the creek was dotted with other tiny pay dumps of the same red gravel over which men crawled, antlike, or upon which they labored at windla.s.s. Thin wisps of smoke rose from the cabin roofs, bespeaking the supper hour.
They had done a hard day"s work, these two, and wearily descended to their shack, which hugged the hillside beneath.
Ten hours with pick and shovel in a drift where the charcoal-gas flickers a candle-flame will reduce one"s artistic keenness, and together they slouched along the path, heedless alike of view or color.
As Crowley built the fire Buck scoured himself in the wet snow beside the door, emerging from his ablutions as cook. The former stretched upon the bunk with growing luxury. "Gee whiz! I"m tuckered out. Twelve hours in that air is too much for anybody."
"Sure," growled the other. "Bet I sleep good to-night, all right, all right. What"s the use, anyhow?" he continued, disgustedly. "I"m sore on the whole works. If the Yukon was open I"d chuck it all."
"What! Go back to the States? Give up?"
"Well, yes, if you want to call it that, though I think I"ve shown I ain"t a quitter. Lord! I"ve rustled steady for two years, and what have I got? Nothing--except my interest in this pauperized hill claim."
"If two years of hard luck gives you cold feet, you ain"t worthy of the dignity of "prospector." This here is the only honorable calling there is. There"s no compet.i.tion and cuttin" throats in our business, nor we don"t rob the widders and orphans. A prospector is defined as a semi-human being with a low forehead but a high sense of honor, a stummick that shies at salads, but a heart that"s full of grit. They don"t never lay down, and the very beauty of the business is that you never know when you"re due. Some day a guy comes along: "I hit her over yonder, bo," says he, whereupon you insert yourself into a pack-strap, pound the trail, and the next you know you"re a millionaire or two."
"Bah! No more stampedes for me. I"ve killed myself too often--there"s nothing in "em. I"m sick of it, I tell you, and I"m going out to G.o.d"s country. No more wild scrambles and hardships for Buck."
A step sounded on the chips without, and a slender, sallow man entered.
"h.e.l.lo, Maynard!" they chorused, and welcomed him to a seat.
"What are you doing out here?"
"D"you bring any chewing with you?"
Evidently he labored under excitement, for his face was flushed and his eyes danced nervously. He panted from his climb, ignoring their questions.
"There"s been a big strike--over on the Tanana--four bits to the pan."
Forgetting fatigue, Crowley scrambled out of his bunk while the cook left his steaming skillet.
"When?"
"How d"you know?"
"It"s this way. I met a fellow as I came out from town--he"d just come over--one of the discoverers. He showed me the gold. It"s coa.r.s.e; one nugget weighed three hundred dollars and there"s only six men in the party. They went up the Tanana last fall, prospecting, and only just struck it. Three of "em are down with scurvy, so this one came over the mountains for fresh grub. It"ll be the biggest stampede this camp ever saw." Maynard became incoherent.
"How long ago did you meet him?" Crowley inquired, excitedly.
"About an hour. I came on the run, because he"ll get into camp by eleven, and midnight will see five hundred men on the trail. Look at this--he gave me a map." The speaker gloatingly produced a sc.r.a.p of writing-paper and continued, "Boys, you"ve got five hours" start of them."
"We can"t go; we haven"t got any dogs," said Buck. "Those people from town would catch us in twenty miles."
"You don"t want dogs," Maynard answered. "It"s too soft. You"ll have to make a quick run with packs or the spring break-up will catch you. I wish I could go. It"s big, I tell you. Lord! How I wish I could go!"
They were huddled together, their eyes feverish, their fingers tracing the pencil-markings. A smell of burning food filled the room, but there is no obsession more absolute than the gold-l.u.s.t.
"Get the packs together while me and Buck eats a bite. We"ll take the fox-robe and the Navajo. Glad I"ve got a new pair of mukluks, "cause we need light footgear; but what will you wear, boy? Them hip-boots is too heavy--you"d never make it."
"Here," said Maynard, "try these." He slipped off his light gossamer sporting-boots, and Buck succeeded in stamping his feet into them.
"Little tight, but they"ll go."
They s.n.a.t.c.hed bites of food, meanwhile collecting their paraphernalia, Maynard helping as he could.
Each selected a change of socks and mittens. Then the grub was divided evenly--tea, flour, bacon, baking-powder, salt, sugar. There was nothing else, for spring on the Yukon finds only the heel of the grub-stake.
Each rolled his portion in his blanket and lashed it with light rope.
Then an end of the bundle was thrust into the waist of a pair of overalls and the garment closely cinched to it. The legs were brought forward and fastened, forming two loops, through which they slipped their arms, balancing the packs, or shifting a knot here and there. A light ax, a coffee-pot, frying-pan, and pail were tied on the outside, and they stood ready for the run. They stored carefully wrapped bundles of matches in pockets, packs, and in the lining of their caps. The preparations had not taken twenty minutes.
"Too bad we ain"t got some cooked grub, like chocolate or dog-biscuits,"
said Crowley, "but seeing as we"ve got five hours" start over everybody we won"t have to kill ourselves."
Maynard spoke hesitatingly. "Say, I told Sully about it as I came along."
"What!" Crowley interrupted him sharply.
"Yes! I told him to get ready, and I promised to give him the location an hour after you left. You see, he did me a good turn once and I had to get back at him somehow. He and Knute are getting fixed now. Why, what"s up?"
He caught a queer, quick glance between his partners and noted a hardness settle into the lined face of the elder.
"Nothing much," Buck took up. "I guess you didn"t know about the trouble, eh? Crowley knocked him down day before yesterday and Sully swears he"ll kill him on sight. It came up over that fraction on Buster Creek."
"Well, well," said Maynard, "that"s bad, isn"t it? I promised, though, so I"ll have to tell him."
"Sure! That"s all right," Crowley agreed, quietly, though his lip curled, showing the strong, close-shut, ivory teeth. His nostrils dilated, also, giving his face a pa.s.sing wolfish hint. "There"s neither white man nor Swede that can gain an hour on us, and if he should happen to--he wouldn"t pa.s.s."
Be it known that many great placer fortunes have been won by those who stepped in the warm tracks of the discoverers, while rarely does the G.o.ddess smile on the tardy; in consequence, no frenzy approaches that of the gold stampede.