The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-08-15
= OR land travel or seafarlng the
Z world over companion Is
usually considered desirable.

hulNttly esHtulldA hul ne lOuhu TT oNlt
rot by precept, but through bitter e%
perlence.
Never travel alone" Is a precept Of
the north. lie had heard It many
times and laughed, for he was a strap
ping young fellow, big boned and big
muscled, with faith IN himself and IN
the strength Of his head and hands.
It was on a bleak January day when
the experience came that taught him
respect for the frost and for the wis
dom Of the men who had battled 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 Creek, where his
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
heels Of his moccasins toward Calumet
Camp it was still black night And
when day broke at $50 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 Greek 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
fished out a couple of biscuits sand
WICKED with sliced bacon and wrapped
in a handkerchief-the only way they
could be carried without freezing cold
He had barely chewed his first
routhful when his numbing finger:
warned him to put his mitten on again
This he did, not without surprise at the
bitter swiftness with which the fros
bit in. Undoubtedly it was the coldes
snap he had ever experienced, ht
thought.
He spat upon the snow-a favorit'
Morthland trick-and the sharp crack,
of the instantly CONCEALED spittle star
tied him. The spirit thermometer a
Calumet had registered sixty below
when he left but he was certain it hat
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 chill-a thing most unusua
for him. This would never do, he dc
cided and slipping the pack strap
across his shoulders he leaped to hi
feet and ran briskly up the trail
A few minutes Of this made hiT
warm again, and he settled down to
steady stride, munching the biscuits a
he went along. The moisture that ey
hailed with his breath crusted his lip
and mustache with pendant ice an
formed a miniature glacier on his chil
Now and again sensation forsook hi
nose and cheeks, and he rubbed thel
till they burned with the returnin
blood,
Most men wore nose straps; his par
ners did, but he scorned such "feminir
contraptions," and till now he ha
never felt the need of them. Now /
did feel the need, for he was rubin
constantly.
Nevertheless he was aware of
thrill of JOY, of exultation. He WI
doing something, achieving somethin
mastering the elements Once !
laughed aloud in sheer strength of liz
and with his clenched fist defed Il
frost. He was its master. What
did he did in spite Of it, 1t could n
stop him. He was going to the Cher
Greek Divide
Strong as were the elements, he W
stronger At such times anima
crawled away into their holes and I
NAMED in hiding But he did not hid
he was out in it, facing it, fighting
He was a man. a master of things.
In such fashion, rejoicing proudly,
tramped on. After half an hour
rounded a bend, where the creek II