now it is a serious undertaking for any one to make a journey to the gold regions at the headwaters of the yukon, as every one will admit who has been there. all know of the starvation which threatened the people of dawson city during the winter of 1897-98, when the whole country was stirred with sympathy, and our government made use of reindeer to take food to the suffering miners.
no dangers of that kind confronted roswell palmer and frank mansley, but their parents could not contemplate the undertaking without anxiety. the mothers held more than one consultation, and there was a time when both were inclined to object to the boys going at all. the dread of that desolate, icy region in the far northwest grew upon them, until it is safe to say that if the departure had been postponed for only a few days mrs. mansley and mrs. palmer would never have given their consent. but mr. palmer laughed at their fears, and assured them there was no cause for alarm. he spoke so cheeringly that they caught his hopefulness, but neither noticed the lump he swallowed, nor with what difficulty he kept back the tears when the hour for parting came. he was fully as anxious as they, but he knew how to dissemble, and would not have confessed his real emotions for the world.
after all, it was jeff graham who deserved the credit for the willingness of the parents to see their sons venture upon the long and dangerous journey. to him the trip was much the same as a visit to los angeles or the yosemite valley. his self-confidence never faltered. he was sure it would be only a pleasant outing, with the certainty of a big reward at the end of it. the sly fellow dwelt on the pale complexion and debilitated appearance of the lads. he even said that a cough which he heard frank try to suppress (in swallowing some fruit, a bit of it went the "wrong way"—it was nothing more) indicated the insidious approach of consumption. jeff was the only one who was able to see any paleness in the countenance of the young athletes, or suspect them of being otherwise than fine specimens of youthful health and vigor; but since he was as solemn as a judge when making his declaration, the father and mother of the one and the mother of the other could not feel quite certain there were not grounds for his fears.
and so it being settled that the boys were to go to the klondike gold fields under the care of the grim old argonaut, it only remained to complete the preparations in the short time at their disposal.
had the mothers been free to carry out their wishes, their sons would have been loaded down with baggage upon leaving san francisco. there are so many things which seem indispensable, when an affectionate mother is considering the comfort of her only son, that she is sure to overwhelm him. at first the mothers insisted upon each being furnished with a large trunk, which would have to be crowded to bursting to contain what was needed, but jeff put his foot down.
"nothin' of the kind. didn't i tell you that we'll git all that's needed at juneau or dyea or some point on the road? you've forgot that."
"but, jeff, there are some articles which they must take with them."
the old miner lit his pipe, sat down in the rocking-chair at the palmer home, where the mothers had met while the boys and mr. palmer were down-town making a few forgotten purchases. the old fellow chuckled a little and then became serious.
"in the fust place, not a trunk!" and he shook his head decisively.
"do you expect them to take what they want in their pockets?"
"umph! it would be the sensiblest thing they could do, but we can't be bothered with any trunks, that would be sure to be lost in the first shuffle. each of us will have a good, big, strong carpet-bag, and nothing more. you can cram them as full as you choose, but what you can't git in has got to be left at home."
there could be no mistake as to jeff's earnestness, and neither mother attempted to gainsay his words.
"now," said he, "jest lay out on the floor what you have in your mind that the youngsters need, and i'll tell you what they do need."
"you mustn't forget," observed mrs. palmer, as she started to comply, "that the boys are now down-town buying some things which they positively cannot get along without."
"as, for instance, what?"
"well, tooth-brushes, soap, combs, courtplaster, handkerchiefs, buttons, thread, quinine, and pain-killer."
"is that all?" asked jeff so quizzically that both ladies laughed.
"you have forgotten," added mrs. mansley, "the shirts, underclothing, socks, and shoes."
"they are here," replied mrs. palmer, stepping briskly into the next room and returning with her arms full.
"i've got to lay down the law," observed jeff, just as mr. palmer and the two boys came in, glowing with excitement. "here are the young men, and they look as if they had bought out half the town. dump everything on the floor, and let's sort 'em out."
when the pile was complete the miner gravely remarked:
"nothing less than a freight-car will answer for all that stuff, and i don't b'lieve we can charter one through to dawson. in the first place, i s'pose the tooth-brushes will have to go, though i never found any use for such things, and i can crack a bull hickory-nut with my teeth. the same may be obsarved of the soap and combs, while a roll of court plaster don't take up much room. we'll be likely to need thread, buttons, and some patches for our clothes, though i've got a supply in my carpetbag. the quinine and pain-killer they may take if you can find a corner to squeeze 'em in. as to the underclothing, extra shirts, it depends whether there is room for 'em; but the boys mustn't think of taking their dress suits along, 'cause i'm not going to. there ain't any room for violins, pianos, or music-boxes, and the only clothing and shoes that can go with this party is what we wear on our bodies and feet."
"suppose the shoes wear out?" asked mrs. mansley in dismay.
"then we'll go barefoot. now, see here, we shan't be away more than three months. a pair of well-made shoes will last longer than that, and the same is true about our clothes, though we have the means of mending them, if modesty calls for it, which ain't likely to be the case in the diggings. caps, coats, vests, trousers, and shoes are to sarve from the day we start till we come back. if one of the boys casts a shoe and loses it, we'll find some way of getting him another. what's this?" suddenly asked jeff, picking up a small volume from the floor and opening it.
he looked at the fly-leaf, on which was written: "to my dear boy roswell, from his affectionate mother. read a portion every day, and be guided in your thoughts, words, and deeds by its blessed precepts. then it shall always be well with thee."
there were two of the small bibles, the other being similarly inscribed with the name of frank mansley. the boys and their parents were standing around the seated miner, and no one spoke. he looked at each precious volume in turn, and then reverently laid them among the pile of indispensables.
"that's the mother of it," he said, as if speaking with himself; "it's a good many years since my poor old mother done the same thing for me when i started for californy, and i've got the book among my things yet, though i don't read it as often as i should. them go if we have to leave everything else behind."
when the task was completed, every one acknowledged the excellent judgment displayed by jeff graham. the three were arrayed in strong, thick, warm clothing, and, in addition, each carried a heavy overcoat on his arm. in the valises were crowded underclothing, shirts, handkerchiefs, and the articles that have been already specified. it was wonderful how skilfully the mothers did the packing. when it looked as if every inch of space was filled, they found a crevice into which another bottle of standard medicine, an extra bit of soap, more thread and needles and conveniences of which no other person would think were forced without adding to the difficulty of locking the valises.
nothing remaining to be done, on the following day the boys kissed their tearful mothers good-by, and warmly shook hands with mr. palmer, who brokenly murmured, "god bless you! be good boys!" as he saw them off on the steamer bound for seattle, and thence to juneau, where they safely arrived one day early in april, 1897.
in making such a voyage, many people are necessarily thrown together in more or less close companionship, with the result of forming numerous acquaintances and sometimes lasting friendships. following the advice of jeff, the cousins had little to say about their plans, though they became interested in more than one passenger, and often speculated between themselves as to the likelihood of certain ones meeting success or failure in the gold regions.
there were three sturdy lumbermen all the way from maine. a curious fact about them was that, although they were not related at all, the name of each was brown. they were light-hearted and the life of the large party. one brown had a good tenor voice, and often sang popular ballads with taste and great acceptability. another played the violin with considerable skill, and sometimes indulged in jig tunes, to which his friends, and occasionally others, danced an accompaniment.
"they'll succeed," was the verdict of roswell, "for they are strong, healthy, and will toil like beavers."
"and what of the two men smoking their pipes just beyond the fiddler?" asked frank.
"i had a talk with them the other day; one has been a miner in australia, and the other spent two years in the diamond mines of kimberley, south africa. meeting for the first time in san francisco, they formed a partnership; they, too, are rugged and must understand their business."
"no doubt of it. do you remember that stoop-shouldered old man whose room is next to ours?"
"the one who has such dreadful coughing spells in the night?"
"yes; he is far gone with consumption, and yet he won't believe there's anything the matter with him. he is worse than when he came on board: but he says it is only a slight cold which will soon pass off, and he is just as hopeful as you or i of taking a lot of nuggets home with him."
"he never will see the other side of chilkoot pass."
"i doubt whether he will ever see this side."
thus the boys speculated, sometimes amused and sometimes saddened by what they saw. there was a big san francisco policeman, who said he had cracked heads so long that he thought he knew how to crack some golden nuggets; a correspondent of a prominent new york newspaper, whose situation was enviable, since his salary and expenses were guaranteed, and he was free to gather gold when the opportunity offered; a voluble insurance agent, who made a nuisance of himself by his solicitations, in season and out; a massive football-player, who had no companion, and did not wish any, since he was sure he could buck the line, make a touchdown, and kick a goal; a gray-haired head of a family, who, having lost his all, had set out to gather another fortune along the klondike. he walked briskly, threw back his shoulders, and tried hard to appear young and vigorous, but the chances were strongly against him. there were a number of bright clerks; a clergyman, pleasant and genial with all; gamblers, with pallid faces and hair and mustaches dyed an intense black, who expected to win the gold for which others dug; young and middle-aged men, some with their brave wives, serene and calmly prepared to bear their full share of privation and toil; and adventurers, ready to go anywhere for the sake of adventure itself. in truth, it was a motley assemblage, which to the boys was like a continually shifting panorama of hope, ambition, honesty, dishonor, pluck, and human enterprise and daring, that was ever present throughout the thousand miles of salt water that stretches from seattle to juneau.
juneau, the metropolis of alaska, was founded in 1880, and named in honor of joseph juneau, the discoverer of gold on douglas island, two miles distant. there is located the treadwell quartz-mill, the largest in the world. the city nestles at the base of a precipitous mountain, thirty-three hundred feet high, has several thousand inhabitants, with its wooden houses regularly laid out, good wharves, water works, electric lights, banks, hotels, newspapers, schools, and churches.
"here's where we get our outfit," said jeff, as they hurried over the plank to the landing. "but where can tim be?"
he paused abruptly as soon as he was clear of the crowd, and looked around for the one who was the cause of his coming to this out-of-the-way corner of the world. he was still gazing when a man, dressed much the same as himself, but short, stockily built, and with the reddest hair and whiskers the boys had ever seen, his round face aglow with pleasure stepped hastily forward from the group of spectators and extended his hand.
"ah, jiff, it does me good to see your handsome silf; and how have ye been, and how do ye expect to continue to be?"
tim mccabe was an irishman who, when overtaken by misfortune in san francisco, found jeff graham the good samaritan, and he could never show sufficient gratitude therefor. it was only one of the many kindly deeds the old miner was always performing, but he did not meet in every case with such honest thankfulness.
jeff clasped his hand warmly, and then looked at the smiling boys, to whom he introduced his friend, and who shook their hands. he eyed them closely, and, with the quizzical expression natural to many of his people, said:
"and these are the laddies ye wrote me about? ye said they were likely broths of boys; but, jiff, ye didn't do them justice—they desarved more."
"tim is always full of blarney," explained jeff, who, it was evident, was fond of the merry irishman; "so you mustn't mind him and his ways."
roswell and frank were attracted by jeff's friend. he was one of those persons who, despite their homeliness of face and feature, win us by their genial nature and honest, outspoken ways. no one ever saw a finer set of big, white teeth, nor a broader smile, which scarcely ever was absent from the irishman's countenance. he shook hands with each lad in turn, giving a warm pressure and expressing his pleasure at meeting them. "i'm glad to greet ye, me friends," he said, as the whole party moved out of the way of the hurrying, bustling swarm who were rushing back and forth, each intent on his own business; "not only on your own account, but on account of me friend jiff."
"i do not quite understand you," said roswell with a smile.
"well, you see, i've met jiff before, and formed a rather fair opinion of him; but whin a gintleman like mesilf is engaged on some important business, them as are to be favored with me confidence must have their credentials."
"and you accept our presence with him as proof that he is what he should be?"
tim gravely inclined his head.
"do ye think i would admit jiff as a partner if it was otherwise? not i."
"but," interposed frank, "how is it with us? you never saw us before."
"one look at them faces is enough," was the prompt reply; "ye carry a certificate wid ye that no one can dispoot."
"and i should like to know," said jeff, with assumed indignation, "what credential you have to present to us, young man."
"mine is the same as the young gintlemen," answered tim, removing his thick fur cap and displaying his whole wealth of fiery red hair; "obsarve me countenance."
his face became grave for the first time, while all the rest laughed.
"i'm satisfied and hungry," said jeff; "take us where we can get something to eat."
"i knew by that token that i had forgot something, and it's me breakfast and dinner. in honor of yer coming, i've engaged the best quarters at the leading hotel. come wid me."
it was but a short distance up the street to a frame hotel, which was kept by a corpulent german who had been in the country for a couple of years. the men registered, during which tim remarked to the landlord, who seemed never to be without his long-stemmed meerschaum pipe between his lips:
"this gintleman isn't the burglar that ye would think from his looks. he belongs to a good family, or ye wouldn't obsarve him in my company. the young gintlemen are two princes that are travelling in cog. in consideration of all of them having delicate appetites like mesilf, not forgetting the honor of their company, ye will be glad to make a reduction in your exorbitant rates, baron fritz, i am sure."
the phlegmatic german smiled, and in a guttural voice announced that his terms were three dollars a day, including rooms and meals, which, when all the circumstances are considered, was not extravagant. the party carried their luggage to their rooms, where they prepared themselves for the meal, which was satisfactory in every respect and better than they expected.
it came out during the conversation that tim mccabe had not a dollar to his name, and he spoke the truth when he said that he had not eaten a mouthful that day. it would have gone hard for him but for the arrival of jeff graham, though there is such a lively demand for labor in juneau that he must have soon found means to provide himself with food.
as for jeff, he was glad in his heart that his old friend was in such sore straits, inasmuch as it gave him the pleasure of providing for him. tim had taken out some five hundred dollars, but a companion whom he fully trusted robbed him of it, and the small amount left barely kept the irishman afloat until the arrival of the old miner.
jeff graham showed prudence in bringing a plentiful supply of funds with him, and since he expected to take back a hundredfold more than he brought, he could well afford to do so. stowed away in his safe inside pocket was fully two thousand dollars, and inasmuch as gold is the "coin of the realm" in california, as well as in alaska, the funds were in shining eagles and half eagles—rather bulky of themselves, but not uncomfortably so.
the experience of mccabe and jeff prevented any mistake in providing their outfit. they had good, warm flannels, thick woollen garments, strong shoes, and rubber boots. those who press their mining operations during the long and severe winter generally use the water boot of seal and walrus, which costs from two dollars to five dollars a pair, with trousers made from siberian fawn-skins and the skin of the marmot and ground squirrel, with the outer garment of marmot-skin. blankets and robes, of course, are indispensable. the best are of wolf-skin, and jeff paid one hundred dollars apiece for those furnished to himself and each of his companions.
the matter of provisions was of the first importance. a man needs a goodly supply of nourishing food to sustain him through the trying journey from juneau to dawson city, the following being considered necessary for an able-bodied person: twenty pounds of flour, twelve of bacon, twelve of beans, four of butter, five of vegetables, five of sugar, three of coffee, five of corn-meal, one pound of tea, four cans of condensed milk, one and one half pounds of salt, with a little pepper and mustard.
because of the weight and bulk, jeff omitted from this list the tea, the condensed milk and butter, and while the supply in other respects was the same, respectively, for himself and mccabe, that of the boys was cut down about one third; for besides the food, the party were compelled to take with them a frying-pan, a water-kettle, a yukon stove, a bean-pot, a drinking-cup, knives and forks, and a large and small frying-pan.
since they would find a good raft necessary, axes, hatchets, hunting-knives, nails, one hundred and fifty feet of rope, and two juneau sleds were purchased. to these were added snow-shoes, a strong duck-tent, fishing-tackle, snow-glasses to protect themselves against snow-blindness, rubber blankets, mosquito-netting, tobacco, and a few minor articles.
the start from juneau to the gold fields should not be made before the beginning of april. our friends had struck that date, but the headlong rush did not begin until some time later. one of the principal routes is from seattle to st. michael, on the western coast of alaska, and then up that mighty river whose mouth is near, for nearly two thousand more miles to dawson city. the river is open during the summer—sometimes barely four months—and our friends took the shorter route to juneau on the southern coast, from which it is about a thousand miles to dawson. while this route is much shorter, it is a hundred times more difficult and dangerous than by the yukon.
from juneau there are four different routes to the headwaters of the yukon, all crossing by separate paths the range of mountains along the coast. they are the dyea or chilkoot pass, the chilkat, moore's or white pass, and takon. at this writing the chilkoot is the favorite, because it is better known than the others, but the facilities for passing through this entrance or doorway to the new el dorado are certain to be greatly increased at an early day.
it was learned on inquiry that another day would have to be spent in the town before the little steamer would leave for dyea. while tim and jeff stayed at the hotel, talking over old times and laying plans for the future, the boys strolled through the streets, which were knee-deep with mud.
the curio shops on front and seward streets were interesting, and from the upper end of the latter street they saw a path leading to the auk village, whose people claim to own the flats at the mouth of gold creek. on the high ground across the stream is a cemetery containing a number of curious totemic carvings, hung with offerings to departed spirits. it would cost a white man his life to disturb any of them.
it was early in the afternoon that the cousins were strolling aimlessly about and had turned to retrace their steps to the hotel, when frank touched the arm of his companion and said, in a low voice:
"roswell, do you know that a strange man has been following us for the past hour?"
"roswell, do you know that strange man has been following us for the past hour?"
"roswell, do you know that strange man has been following us for the past hour?"
"no; where is he?"
"on the other side of the street and a little way behind us. don't look around just now. i don't fancy his appearance."
a minute later, roswell managed to gain a good view.
"i don't like his looks as well as he seems to like ours. shall we wait for him and ask him his business?"
"no need of that, for he is walking so fast, he will soon be up with us. here he comes, as if in a great hurry."
a few minutes later the boys were overtaken by the suspicious stranger.