Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1915-07-17

AlAbHNs
Kit nodded
Tumble out, you sleepers, was
shorty's answer, couched In 8 roar as
be began casting otf the guy ropes OF
the tent.
they broke their way through tue
thin Ice In the little harbor ana came
out on the lake, where the water
heavy and CLASSY, frozs on their oars
with every stroke The water soon De.
came like mush. clogging the stroke OF
the oars and freezing in the air even as
Il dipped Later the surface began
to form a skin. and the boat proceeded
slower and slower.
Often afterward. when Kit tried 70
remember that night and failed 10
bring up aUght but nightmare recoI'
Iections, be wondered what must have
been the suferings Of Stlne and
sprsgue. His one impression OF him.
self was that be struggled through bit
ing frost and intolerable exertion for
thousand years. more or less.
Morning found them stationary
Slime complained OF frosted fingers.
and sprague Of bis nose, while the pain
In Kits cheeks and nose told him that
be-, too, bad been touched. With each
accretion OF daylight they could see
farther. aud as far as they could see
was Icy surface The water Of the lax
was gone.
A hundred yards away was the shore
OF the north end. Shorty Insisted that
II was the opening Of the river and
that he could see water he and Kit
alone we're able to work, and with their
oars they broke the ice and forced
the boat along. And at the last gasp
Of their strength they made the suck
Of the rapid river. One look back
showed them several boats which had
fought through the night and were
hopelessly frozen In; then they whirled
around a bend IN a current running SIX
miles an hour.
Day BY day they Gogted down tho
swift river. and day by day the shore
Ice extended farther out When they
made camp at nlghtfall they chopped
space In the ice In which 10 lay the
boat and carried the camp outfit hun
dreds Of feet to shore. In the morning
they chopped the boat out through the
new ice and caught the current.
Shorty set up the sheet iron stove in
the boat. and over this Sdue and
sprugue hung through the long drift
ing hours. They had surrendered, no
longer gave orders, and their one de-
sire was to gain Dawson.
The last night ashore was 1pent be-
tween the mouths Of the White river
and the Stewart. At daylight they
found the Yukon. half mile wide,
running white from Ice trimmed bank
to ice rimmed bank.
"We1l be the last boat this year to
make Dawson" Kit said.
But they aln't no water, Smoke"
Then we'll ride the Ice down.
Come on"
Fuhlely protesting, Sprague and
Slime were bundled on board For
half an hour with axes Kit ana Shorty
struggled to cut way into the swift
but solid stream. When they did sue,
ceed In clearing the shore ice the boat'
Ing Ice forced the boat along the edge
for a hundred yards, tearing away half
VI one gunwale and making a partial
wreck OF IL Then at the lower end Of
the bend they caught the current that
dung or shore.
They proceeded to work farther to.
wanl the middle. The stream was no
longer composed OF mush Ice. but OF
hard cakes, In between the cakes
only was mush ice that froze sOlldIy
as they looked at II Showing with the
ours against the cakes, sometimes
climbing out on the cakes In order to
force the boat along. after 40 hour
they gained the middle.
Five minutes after they ceased their
eSertions the boat was frozen IT, The
whole river was cOagulatlng as II ran
Cake froze TO cake until 1t last the
boat was the center VI d cake seventy.
Owe feet IN diameter. Sometimes they
coated sldewise, sometimes stern first,
while gravity tore asunder the forming
fetters In the movlng mass, only to be
mnnacled b. faster forming ones
Night came, and after many Efforts
they gave no the attempt to force the
boat to Shore and through the dark.
ness they swept helplossly onward
Their speed began TO diminish and
cakes OF Ice 70 upend and crash and
smash about them The river was
lamming. one cake, forced inward
sud across their cake aud carried one
side OF the boat away. It did not sink
Tor Us own cake still upboun t. bnt In
"hlrl they saw dark water show for
an instant within foot OF them rbor
nll movement ceased
AZ the end OF half IN hour the wbols
river picked Itself No and beran N
move This continued FOR an borr
whom aSaln Il was brought 20 npst by
q jan. onye again IL started running
swiftly and aytgely with A vre,t
s5'ndins Then they saw lights ashore
ana when abreas, gravity and ,be w,
.On SURRENDERED, ard TIE river ceased
FOE SIX months ''u
For three days Hit sud shorty labor.
ed carrying the ton aud , hair ,,,s,
f7om the middle u the rivrr IN tNa w., ~.
| NUNln Slim