Amador ledger., 1902-02-21

ner and the sailor had stretched the
tents. and everything was beside them
ready to be taken in. Hasting creek
is long fiat creek whose serpentine
windings twist its way toward the clear
blue mountains to the north. In the
deep gaps of the mountains, glacial ice
sparkle and scintillate in the sunlight.
The tundra on its sides welter in water
aud as ones foot is set down upon it
the water spurts with sissing sound
from under. A good deal of wood lay
upon the beach, thrown into inconceiv-
able shape together. This wood had
come down the great Yukon, and car
ried inward by the sea; is driven by
high tide up Hasting creek, and left
upon the shore by the receding waves
Close to our tent, a man, his wife
and two children had stayed the long
cold winter. The little boy, five or six
years old, was soon at the tent. His
loquacity run to overfowing. He could
ask more questions in one minute than
criminal lawyer could ask in the most
desperate cross examination in ten.
| smiled at the boys interlocutions, for
his tongue was veritable chatterbox.
"Was it cold here this winter?" l
queried. Don't know" he answered,
MON didn't let me out to see. :"
'Much ice?" I asked. ''Golly! yes, all
ice around here" AS he finished, his
mothers voice sang out clear aud dis
tinct in the distance, summoning him
to supper. He sprang like a deer to
his feet, and with boyish delight he
bounded along the sandy beach home
ward. We now proceeded to cook
supper. We fried great mess of fish,
and when [ tasted them l said to my
partners that they equaled the noun
tain trout of California. If 1 had had
that school of smelt close to Amador, |
would have turned fish monger and
supplied AmadOr county with surfeit
of fish that would have sent the price
of mountain trout down in the scales
with a jerk. The next morning was
the 4th of July. No guns doomed out
with joyous greeting; no happy voices
rang along crowded streets. We were
in the wilds of Alaska with a heavy
rain pattering down upon the tent. A
heavy fog hung like mantle o'er the
ocean, shutting out the sight of the
waves that beloved with continuous
roar in our ears.
Putting on our gum suits we started
up Hasting creek. Half mile from
our camp we found the creek bedded
in ice. The water had cut channel
through it in places six or eight feet
deep. We did not feel as cold as might
be supposed. We met the fresh pure
air without shiver or shudder, and
looked DER the vast ice bed with de-
light. The earth close to the creek
was frozen hard as a stone. The stream
with its tributaries we're so fiat as to
appear to be almost level, and little
lakelets stood in silvery sheets every
where. Not an atom of life matter did
we see, save solitary duck winging
his way southwark. To dig; as well
try TO dig in pig iron as the hard
frozen ground on the creek. We turn
ed back to camp satisfied that no pros
pecting could be done here for month.
The rain had fallen heavily all day,
and we were glad to be beneath the
shelter of the tent. We lit q fire in
our Yukon stove and cooked our
evening meal. The rain continued to
fall heavily all day and without a NOM
ent of intermission. Wrapt in our
wolf skin robe we fell into a deep,
peaceful slumber, while the storm
played in all its fury without.
CHAS. S. BELL.
Stops the Cough and works off the Cold
T.ayatiua -Ouipipa To blat @