The San Francisco call., 1904-02-07

the Government? So I was taken on q
warship sleds and dogs and evaporated
foods, and with me came Passuk. And
we went north to the winter ice rim OF
Bering Sea, where we were landed-my-
self and Passuk and the dogs. 1 was
also given moneys of the Government,
for l was its servant, and charts of
lands which the eyes of man had never
dwelt upon. and messages. These mes
sages were sealed and protected shrewd-
ly from the weather. and 1 was to de-
liver them to the whale ships of the
Arctic, icebound by the great Macken-
zie
-Afterward. in the spring when the
days heightened and there was a crust
TO the snow, we came south, Passuk
and I. to the country of the Yukon. A
weary journey. but the sun pointed out
the way of our feet. 1t was a naked
land then. as l have said, and we
worked W the current with pole and
paddle till we came to FOrty-mile Good
it was to see white faces once again.
so we put in to the bank And that
winter was a hard winter. The dark
ness and the cold drew down upon US.
and with them the famine. To each
man the agent gave forty pounds of
flour and twenty of bacon.
Then came We together in the store
one night, and the empty shelves made
US feel our own emptiness the more.
We talked low. by the light of the fire.
for the candles had been set aside for
those who might yet gasp in the
spring. Discussion was held, and il
was said that a man must go forth
TO the Salt Water and tell to the
world our misery. At this all eyes
turned to me, for it was understood
that I was a great traveller. 1T is 700
L-es,' said l. to Haines Mission by
the sea, and every in h of it snowshoe
work. Give me the pi of your dogs
and the best of your grub and I will
60. And with n s. II go Passuk'
ITO this they were agreed. But there
arose one. Long jeff. a Yankee man,
big boned and big muscled. Also his
talk was big. He, too, was a mighty
traveller, he said, born to the snowshoe
and brought up on buffalo milk lie
would go with me, in case 1 fell by the
trail, that he might carry the word on 20
the Mission How was l to know that
L.
that Yankee men who did great things
kept their teeth together? So we took
the pick of the dogs and the best of the
grub and struck the trail, we three
Passuk. Long jeff and I.
Il will talk little OF the toll, save
that on some days we made ten miles.
and on others thirty, but more often
ten. And the best of the grub was not
good, while we went on stint from the
start. Likewise the pick Of the dogs
was poor. and we were hard put to
keep them on their legs. At the White
River our three sleds became two sleds.
and we had only come 200 miles. But
we lost nothing. The dogs that left the
traces went into the bellies Of those
that remained.
Not a greeting. not curl Of smoke.
TIL we made the Pelly. Iere 1 had
counted on grub; and here 1 counted
on leaving Long JEFF, who was whining
and trail sore. But the factors lungs
were wheezing. his eyes bright. his
cache nigh empty; and he showed us
the empty cache of the missionary. also
his grave with the rocks piled high to
keep OF the dogs. There was a bunch
OF Indians there, but babies and old
men there were none, and II was clear
that few would see the spring.
so We pulled on light-stomached
and heavy-hearted, with half q thous
and miles of snow and silence between
us and Haines Mission by the sea. The
darkne~- was at its worst, and at mid
day the sun could not c. .ar the sky
line to the south. But the ice Jams
were smaller, the going better; SO I
pushed the dogs hard and Travelled late
and early.
'As 1 said at Forty mile, everv inch
Of it was snowshoe work And the
shoes made great sores on our feet.
which cracked and scabbed but would
not heal. And every day those sores
grew more grievous, till in the morn
ing when we girded on our shoes
Long jeff cried like a child. nut
him at the fore of the sled to break
trail, but he slipped off the shoes for
comfort. Because of this the trail
was not packed, his moccasins made
great holes. and into these holes the
dogs wallowed. The bones Of the dogs
were ready to burst through their
hides, and this was not good for them.
So spoke hard words to the man. and
he promised, and broke his word
Then ] beat him with the dog-whip.
and after that the dogs wallowed no
more. He was a child. what of the
pain and the streak of fat.
But Passuk? While the man Ia v
by the fire and wept she cooked. and
in the morning helped lash the sleds
and in the evening to unlash them.
And she saved the dogs. Ever was
she To the fore lifting the wehhad
shoes and making the way easy.
''Passuk-how shall l say?-I took
ii for granted that she should do