The Opelousas courier., 1902-08-30
y OR land travel or seafaring the
world over a companion is

q In the klondtke, as Tom Win
cent found out, such a companion is at
solutely essential. But he found it out
rot by precept, but through bitter ex
perience.
Never travel alone" is a precept O
the north. He had heard 1t man.
times and laughed, for he was a strap
ping young fellow, big boned and biz
muscled, with faith In himself and i,
tie strength of his head and hands.
1t was on a bleak January day whe1
the experience came that taught hin
respect for the frost and for the wis
dom Of the men who hadbattled with it
He had left Calumet Camp ON the
Yukon with a light pack on his back
to go up Paul Greek to the divide be
tween 1t and Cherry Greek, where's
party was prospecting and hunting
moose.
The frost was sixty degrees below
zero, and he had thirty miles Of lonely
trail to cover, but he did not mind. In
fact he enjoyed it, swinging along
through the silence, his blood pounding
warmly through his veins and his mind
care free and happy. For he and his
comrades were certain they had struck
pay" up there ON the Cherry Greek
Divide, and, further, he was returning
to them from Dawson with CHEEKY
home letters from the States.
At Z o'clock, when he turned the
hnp1c of hic noooasinc kouy,rd CoI,,,o4
Camp 1t was still black night. And
when day broke at go he had made
the four-mile cutoff across the flats
and was six miles up Paul Creek. The
trail, which had seen little travel, fol.
lowed the bed of the creek, and there
was no possibility of his getting lost.
He had gone to Dawson by way of
Cherry Creek and Indian River, so
Paul Greek was new and strange. BY
11.30 he was at the forks, which had
been described to him, and he knew he
had covered fifteen miles, half the dis
lance.
He knew that in the nature Of things
the trail was bound to grow worse
from there on, and thought that, con-
sidering the good time he had made he
merited lunch. Casting off his pack
and taking a seat on a fallen tree he
unmittened his right hand, reached in
side his shirt next to the skin and
ished out q couple Of biscuits sand
WICKED with sliced bacon and wrapped
In a Misunderstanding only way they
could be carried without freezing cold.
He had barely chewed his first
nouthful when his numbing fingers
warned him to put his mitten on again.
This he did, not without surprise at the
bitter swiftness with which the frost
bit in. Undoubtedly 1t was the coolest
snap he had eyer experienced, he
thought.
He spat upon the snow-a favorite
northland trick-and the sharp crackle
Of the instantly CONCEALED Spite star
lied him. The spirit thermometer at
Calumet had registered sixty below
when he left, but he was certain It had
grown much colder, how much colder,
he could not imagine.
Half Of the first biscuit was yet I'M
touched, but he could feel himself be-
ginning to clill-a thing most unusual
for him. This would never do, he de-
cided, and slipping the pack straps
across his shoulders he leaped to his
feet and ran briskly up the trail.
A few minutes Of this made him
warm again, and he settled down to a
steady stride, munching the biscuits as
he went along. The moisture that ex-
hailed with his breath crusted his lips
and mustache with pendant ice and
formed a miniature glacier on his chin.
Now and again sensation forsook his
nose and cheeks, and he rubbed them
till they burned with the returning
blood.
Most men wore lose straps; his part
ners did, but he scorned such feminine
contraptions." and till now he had
never felt the need of them. Now he
did feel the need, for he was rubbing
constantly.
Nevertheless he was aware of al
thrill of JOY, of ex~ultation. He wasl
doing something, achieving something,
mastering the elements. Once he
laughed aloud In sheer strength of life,
and with his clenched fist defied the
frost. He was its master. What he
did he did in spite Of it. 1t could not
stop him. He was going to the Cherry
Greek Divide.
@CfronO nc wora |bo .ioroaptc - -r,.i
stronger. At such times animals
crawled away into their holes and re-
NAMED in hiding. But he did not hide.
He was out In Il, facing it, fighting it.
He was q man, a master Of things.
In such fashion, rejoicing proudly, he
ETamped On. After half an hour he
rounded a bend, where the creek ran
TO the mountainside, and came
upon n Of the most Insignificant APP
but most formidable dangers
northern travel.
The creek itself was frozen solid to
is rock bottom, but from the mountain
,ame the outflow Of several springs.
These springs never froze, and the only
effect Of the severest cold snaps was
lessen their discharge. Protected
from the frost by the blanket Of snow,
he water Of these springs seeped down
INTO the creek, aud, on top Of the creek
&c. formed shallow pools.
The surface Of these pools. In turn,
.ook on a skin of ice which grew thick
r and thicker, until the water overran,
Ind SO formed q second ice-skimmed
pool above the first.
Thus at the bottom was the solid
creek Ice, then probably six to eight