The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1929-08-02
CHAPTER v

II was spring when we set sail on
the sunlit waters of Lake Bennett
Never had | felt so glad. And indeed
il was vastly merry mob that sailed
with Us. straining their eyes once
more to the EldOrado of their dreams.
Yet, under all the mirth and gayety.
you could feel. tense, ruthless and
dominant, the spirit of the trait
KlOndike or bustI Once more the
more the gold-lust smoldered in their
eyes. The old primal lust resurged.
OF all who had started out with
US but a few had got this far. OF
these Mervin and Hewson were far
in front. victors of the trail. qualified
to rank with the Men of the High
North, the sourdoughs of the Yukon
valley. Three days start ahead were
the Winklesteins.
| kept a keen lookout for them AND
every day hoped we would overtake
their scow, for constantly | thought
of Berna. Her face. so wistfully ten
der, haunted me, and over and over
in my mind | kept recalling our last
meeting.
Al times l blamed myself for let
ting her go so easily. and then again
was thankful that | had not al
lowed my heart to run away with my
head For ! was beginning to wonder
if | bad not given her my heart. Civ
emit easily, willingly and without re-
serve And in truth at the idea ! felt
a strange thrill of joy. The girl
seemed to me all that was fair, low
able and sweet
We were now skimming over Tag
ish lake; dead calm, blazing sun
a seething mist of mosquitoes. We
sweitered in the heat; we strained.
with blistered hands. al the oars; we
cursed and toiled like thousand 9th
ers of that grotesque feet We
entered the Fifty-mile river; we were
in a giant valley; tier after tier of
benehland rose TO sentinel mountains
of ausrerest grandeur.
The river was our beast of burden
now. a tireless. gentle beast Then
one evening as we were sweeping
down the placid river, the current
suddenly quickened. The banks were
sliding past at strange speed Swift.
ly we whirled around bend. and
there we were right on top of the
dreadful canyon. Straight ahead war
what seemed 70 be a solid wall CT
rock. The river looked to have no
outlet; but as we drew nearer we
saw that there was a narrow chasm
in the stony face. and at this the
water was rearing and charging with
an angry roar.
| was in the how. All al once .
saw directly in front a scow strug
Cling TO make the shore. In her
there were three people, two women
and a man. | saw the man Jump out
with a rope and try to snub the scow
TO a tree Three times he failed.
running along the bank and shouting
frantically. saw one of the women
jump for the shore. Then at the
same instant the rope parted. and the
scOw, with the remaining woman.
went swirling on into the canyon
All this | saw, and so fascinated
was thai | forgot our own peril Z
heard a shrill scream of fear; ] saw
the solitary woman crouch down in
the bottom of the scow, burying her
face in her hands; saw the scow
rise. hover. and then plunge down
ward into the angry nav of the can
yon.
The river hurried Us on helplessly.
We were in the canyon now. About
midway was a huge basin, like the
old crater of a volcano, sloping up
ward to the pine-fringed skyline.
Here was giant eddy. and here.
circline round and round. was the
runaway scow. The fOrSaken woman
was still crouching on it
Keep clear of that scow." | hearo
some one shout Avoid the eddy"
Ii was almost too late The iIl-far-
ed scow spun round and swooped
down on Us Jim and the Jam wagon
gave a desperate strain al the oars
| saw the scow swirling past, just 1--WE
feet from US. ! looked again-then
with a wild panic of horror | saw
thai the crouching figure was that OF
Berna
! remember jumping-it must have
been i've feet-and | landed half In
half out of the wafer renenbef
clinging moment then pulling my
self aboard. ! heard shouts from the
others as the current swept them in
TO the, canyon I remember looking
round and cursing because both
sweeps had Deen lost overheard. and
lastly ! remember bending over Berna
and shouting in her ear.
H., --:xh