Herbert Farris

“ Four gallons of oil isn’t worth a hundred dollars.”
“Say, what in thunder are you drivin’ at?” Murtry cried angrily. “Are you tryin’ to kid somebody?”
“Not at all. You’ve made your offer, and now I’ll make mine.” Benton spoke slowly and distinctly. “As you said a moment ago, that oil is really worth nothing at all to me, so I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll just give you the oil, provided that you’ll give me something that’s worth nothing whatever to you. In case you don’t know, I mean a sluice head of water from Caribou Creek. Are you on?” ”

“ He’s the meanest man in Alasky, bar none. Joe Murtry never done no man a favor, an’ he never will. Mark what I tell you, son. He’ll chase you off his ground just as soon as you show up an’ tell him what you want. You’re just wastin’ your time. But, then, that’s the trouble with all chechahcos; they won’t listen to an old-timer’s advice.”
Young Benton went at once to Caribou Creek. In spite of what he had heard of Joe Murtry, he was not convinced. There was an abundance of water in Caribou Creek, and surely no man would be mean enough to refuse to allow the use of the surplus. ”

“ The dealer who had sold him the oil—either unscrupulous or a practical joker—had seriously informed him that “greased sled runners makes mighty easy slippin’ on the trail.” Harris Benton had innocently bought five gallons of the lubricant.
Where a musher pulls without dogs, as young Benton was doing, every pound of excess weight is an additional check to his progress. And besides the five gallons of lubricating oil, Harris Benton was hauling other nonessentials. He had more clothing than he really needed ”

“ Murtry,” he said, speaking swiftly, as if anxious to break the news as quickly as possible, “there ain’t a single drop of engine oil. I spoke to Sam about it last night after we’d loaded the other stuff aboard, an’ he said there was plenty of oil here. But I just looked an’ there’s nothin’ but gasoline. There’s more gasoline than we need, but there ain’t a drop of——”
“You idiot!” Murtry exclaimed. “Chase right up to camp an’ get some out of the cache an’ hurry!” ”

“ Surely if he favored Murtry, he might expect the big fellow to reciprocate. “I’m not looking for work for the season,” he said, “but I’ll be glad to help out for a few days—if that will do you any good.” ”

“ The smallest of them, he decided, was fully twice as large as a five-dollar gold piece; the largest was surely worth more than twenty dollars. The six slugs would total almost a hundred dollars. Chechahco that he was, Benton still knew that he had uncovered bonanza dirt.
Young Benton went again to his cut. This time he worked feverishly for two hours. His pay streak was rich, extremely so, but there was a heavy overburden to handle. In other words, above the pay he had discovered on bed rock, lay ten, twenty, possibly as much as fifty feet of muck and gravel. ”