Samuel Alexander White

“ Rooney's ax was overboard, and Cronin found him painfully rubbing the back of his skull as he conferred with Marlin and Simons by the port rail.
"You boys going to use your canoe?" Hess asked. "I'd like to know because it's the only craft aboard. We unshipped the steamer's boats at Whitehorse to make more room for grub."
"You bet we're going to use it," Ryan answered. "We've just put it to a vote. We're all in favor of taking a chance on beating the freeze-up to Dawson rather than stay for a month on this junk heap or even stagnate back at Selkirk. And don't try to take our canoe. ”

“ You scorch your face, and your back is freezing all the time. I'll go. A run'll warm me better."
He dropped down on to the makeshift raft, cut the rope, and the three poled across to the western shore of the Yukon. They retained one lantern, and by its glare they broke a channel in the shore ice and through the channel came to land. The moment they struck dry ground they were off, running with the stampeder's swift lope, Gayle to the fore with the lantern, Cronin next, and Thorpe warming his congealed blood in the rear. ”

“ It's one Hades of a fix you've put the Voyageur in, Ravigne, tying her up for all winter, and it's one Hades of a fate you've pulled down on Dawson! They'll never get a whiff of bacon or a bloody bean from our bags till it's freighted in by dog teams. Savvy what that means? But there's no gain cursing about it. Gather the crew and get the stuff out of the hold and up on deck before it gets wet. It'll be safe there when she hits the gravel."
CAPTAIN RAVIGNE darted out of the wheel-house on his mission. Outremont helped the wheelsman below, while the ex-marshal looked about for Rooney Ryan. ”

“ We'll perforate the first man as drops a stick."
"Gayle," requested Cronin, turning to Outremont, "yonder's storm-feller spruce on the edge of the plateau. The chasm's fifty feet wide. Two sixty foot trunks'll do it. Take the men and get them."
A CLAMOR of approbation from the crowd backed Hess's ultimatum. Hundreds with Outremont at their head rushed oft to the storm-felled timber and bore back like staffs in their hands two long, straight trees. ”

“ No man'll be forced into the controversy against his will. Rather than have that, I'll call for volunteers. I don't think numbers'll be lacking. Look at the horde coming up the street already!"
Gayle looked out of the door on a main street packed from wall to wall with befurred humanity marching thousands strong. There had been little need for Trudis to enlarge in spreading the news. The snow avenues of the golden city were already full of men looking for the Voyageur's coming. All Trudis had had to do was to explain the plight of the steamer at that moment. ”

“ I want to send Thorpe on to wire Trudis, that's Gayle's wife, warning her of the situation. She's running the Arctic Circle store, and it's imperative that she should know what a fix we're in. Thorpe can get her from Stewart City. The wire's down between Selkirk and Stewart City or we could wire from the post."
"But we can wire ourselves," protested Ryan, "without lugging Thorpe's extra weight all the way to Stewart."
"I know, but I want him to go on to Dawson then to take charge of the relieving dog trains. If Thorpe's there, I'll know that the teams'll start the minute the ice'll bear. ”

“ Within ten feet of the base of the rock they flung their weapons in the face of the wolf-dog horde and flung themselves upon the rock needle, clutching, clambering, clawing a way up with their hands while kicking off the animals that clung to their feet. ”

“ Condemn their hasty hearts and condemn our rotten luck! They flip up at the time when we least want them. Three more stomachs to fill, for by the look of things they're traveling light and grubless!"
THE canoe, shooting across the Voyageur's stern, showed an empty bottom. It rounded to on the port side and worked into the shelter of the steamer's hull. The bowsman upturned his face as he caught the rope Gayle and Cronin threw to him, and the partners recognized him as Rooney Ryan. Amidships squatted Monte Marlin, while the steersman's seat was filled by Seattle Simons. ”

“ In the middle of his tirade the three men burst into guffaws.
"Oh, quit it, Severil!" chuckled Gayle. "Hess sure got your goat with the word grub. But we're not going to eat you out this time. All we want is a boat that floats."
"By thunder!" exclaimed the abashed Severil. "It's you boys, eh? Bit of a fooler, eh? Tarnation, you've lifted such a weight from my mind that I forgive you your laugh! What's wrong? Steamer smash?"
"You've plugged it first crack," Cronin informed. ”

“ Dark saw her on the bottom, and while Gayle and Cronin directed by lantern light the tarpaulin lashing over all on deck, there came a hail from under the steamer's stern. Gayle flashed his lantern over the side, and below he saw a man in a streaming parka supporting himself with his arms upon a small-sized ice floe.
"Who are you?" Gayle yelled. "And what are you doing there?"
"Thorpe—Thorpe," a familiar voice chattered. "I broke a floe from the shore and breasted it across. Hurry up. Throw a rope. It's certain degrees cold here." ”

“ The three stepped in and, one chopping the ice in front as the craft progressed and the other two working the sweeps which served better than poles, they forged out to midstream.
"Thanks, Severil," yelled Hess, waving the lantern in good-by as they swung with the current. "And don't forget to give them sixteen placer men a good breakfast."
DOWN from Selkirk past the place of disaster the light poling boat drove. The Voyageur lay as quiet as a derelict, only with rail lights suspended to warn chance prospectors journeying off the creeks. ”

“ Cronin cast himself in front the weapons.
"Hold on, boys," he commanded "You pull trigger and you knot your own noose. Remember Inspector Strickland and his mounted men over in the barracks yonder. Put the guns down That play won't fill your stomachs anyway. Look at Marlin intrenched behind the stone cache and Simons like a badger in his hole. You plug Ryan and you have to reckon with them still You'll reckon a long while. You'll reckon till your caved-in stomachs hit your spines, and they'll sit tight an gorge and gaze on your emaciated mains. Let your hammers down gent—so! ”

“ Then they can guess what sunk the Canadian and the Hannah. And Thorpe," turning to the youth, "you shuffle yourself too. Marshal your dogs as you would for the frozen-in Voyageur. In the name of the Arctic Circle Company solicitor buy up every handy team you can and take them and enough drivers to handle them across the ice to the foot of them cliffs. Also, take a big cask with you—one of them big ones there in the back yard."
"What's the cask for, Cronin?" asked Gayle as Thorpe and Tru sped out of the store on their respective missions. ”

“ Instead of a month from now, we start for Dawson now. If they beat the freeze-up to the golden city, we can too."
"Cronin," protested Gayle in amazement, "not on this raft! We'll never make the White River."
"No, on a boat procured at Selkirk Post. Savvy? It's back trail for us right sharp."
The slack of the raft rope drawn up by those on deck, Cronin and Gayle worked back to the Voyageur. There they hung a little while they explained things to Captain Ravigne, pocketed a few handfuls of grub dropped to them and called for Thorpe. ”

“ And all the drivers he gathers together'll be old-timers like himself. Savvy? Don't you worry about the huskies. All you got to worry about is the grub. Gayle, you lead the bunch down to the river bank and pick the soundest crossing—that path we used coming to shore. I forgot to give Thorpe explicit instructions about sinking yon cask. I'll have to sprint after him and tell him. I'll meet you down there in a minute."
AT the river bank the horde of Dawson men picked the spot where several ice jams had piled one on top of the other, forming a ridge of considerable height. ”

“ So I ask you in the interests of humanity and famine-pressed Dawson to give Thorpe passage."
"Well," returned Ryan slowly, "you ain't been any too courteous to us since we climbed aboard, but if you put it that way, in the interests of humanity and famine-pressed Dawson we will give Thorpe passage. But he's got to work. We ain't going to freight any dead idle weight." ”