The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-08-28

away So near and yet so very far. To
attempt to reach and scale 1t with no
food and scarcely any equipment, even
blankets, was sheer madness. And yet
we were 10th to give up the attempt
We had come so far and had suffered
so much.
A caucus was held upon the noun
tain side. Up to this time L had dl-
rected the movements of the party, but
now it seemed right that every man
should have his vote and that the ma
jority should decide.
Frank Price, the Arctic sailor or the
little band, whose great strength had
pushed US through many a tight place
in the days gone by, declared that tine
jig was up Frank thought or ms
home and friends in Oakland, Cal, ana
it was evident that he never expected
to see them any more. De Hass, the
old mountaineer of the party, who had
spent his life in the Rockies, muttered
something under his breath about the
present lack even of a wooden over
coat which did not serve in any way
to raise our spirits.
The old Chilkat 'Indiaunk,' who
had been with me for many months and
who was always brave and courage
o,1s said briefly: mo good. No get
back home any morei' Usually bright
and of talkative disposition, he was
now gloomy and taciturn. 1t was
Iugubrious crowd that night upon the
mountain, and few were the hours that
any of us slept. What of the morrow!
was the haunting question.
Next day a band of sheep appeared
upon the mountain crest above u.s.
There was intense excitement In the
camp. Even the old Indian lost his
elf-possession and let off a subdued
whoop Could we get the sheep We
could dry the meat and press on for
Mount Wrangell! The possibility was
alIuring De Hass and myself, as the
supposed best shots in the party, under
took to ascend the mountain on the
far side and rising over the crest, shoot
down upon our intended victims.
Weak from lack of food, but buoyed
up by the excitement, we scaled the
mountain with slow steps and Infinite
pain and difficulty. It took us nearly
half day, but the quarry waited. with
trembling hands we pointed the two
guns over the top of the rocks and
fired.
Both missed! The sheep bounded
away down the declivity and were soon
lost to view. Blankly De Hass and 1
| looked at each other. Then, as the
realization of what our failure meant
came over us, we started silently down
the mountain for our camp, stumbling
recklessly over rocks and bushes, care
less of what happened. Long after dark
we reached the campfire and found
Price and the old Indian eagerly ex-
pecting our appearance with meat. The
disappointment was grievous. could
not help feeling for them, even despite
the weight of my own personal suffer-
ing.
A small unknown, uncharted stream
flowed past the camp. 1t issued from
the mountains In the direction Of
Mount Wrangell and from its trend
we SUSPECTED 1t to be the Toxic, which
we had deserted several days previous
ly for a direct course over the
mountains 1t was determined to build
a small raft and trust ourselves to the
mercies of the waters, knowing that
the flow would be toward larger waters
and ultimately to the sea. A few taste
less roots, which the Indian dug, fur
nished our only breakfast.
While the other men were busy get
ting small dry logs into the water,
took the shotgun and went out among
the spruces, being so fortunate as to
secure two grouse and a red squirrel.
These gave us a much needed repaSt
Fastening our logs together, We drifted
off down the stream. So far / have
not mentioned one of the MEMBERS of
the party-a faithful, lean four-footed
friend, our Siwash dog. / do not like
to think of him even now Poor fell
low. 1t seemed like cannibalism, but
we ate him! There was nothing else
| to do. For days we had contemplated
the distressing possibility and had
| shrunk from 1t. Even the old Chilkat
didn't want to eat dog.
| We came to 1t and for three days
| got nothing else as we foated down
/ the stream, which we found was in