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"Well"--he put his chin down under the rabbit-skin once more--"how goes
the world, Princess?"
She flashed her quick smile again and nodded reassuringly. "You stay
here now?"
"No; goin' up river."
"What for?" She spoke disapprovingly.
"Want to get an Orange Grove."
"Find him up river?"
"Hope so."
"I think I go, too"; a... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Hey?"
"How much?"
"Oh, your pardner--he pay."
"Humph! I s'pose I'll know the worst on settlin'-day."
Then, after a few moments, making a final clutch at economy before the
warmth and the whisky subdued him altogether:
"Say, Nicholas, have you got--hasn't the Ol' Chief got any--less
glorious breeches than those?"
"Hey... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
The Boy had been obliged to sit up to watch this spirited encounter.
The only notice the Colonel took of him was to set the kettle on the
fire. While he was dining his pardner gathered up the blankets and
crawled out.
"Comin' in half a minute," the Boy called after him. The answer was
swallowed by the tunnel.
"Him go ... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
The ragged child had climbed upon the pile of drift-wood, and stood
hunched with the cold, his shoulders up to his ears, his hands
withdrawn in his parki sleeves, but he was grinning still. The Boy, a
little concerned as to possible reprisals upon so impudent a young
woman, had gone on and on, watching the race down t... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"What's the trouble between you two?"
They looked at each other, and then away. Joe turned unexpectedly, and
shambled off in the direction of the village. Not a word out of Anna as
she returned by the side of her protector, but every now and then she
looked at him sideways. The Boy felt her inexpressive gratitude, and... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Yes; can't Yagorsha protect you?"
She looked about doubtfully and then over her shoulder.
"That Joe's ighloo," she said.
He pictured to himself the horror that must assail her blood at the
sight. Yes, he was glad to have saved any woman from so dreadful a
fate. Did it happen often? and did nobody interfere? Muckluck ... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
He meant not to look at it at all, and he jerked his head away after
the merest glance that showed him the ornament was tarnished silver, a
little bigger than an American dollar, and bore no device familiar to
his eyes. He quickened his pace, and walked on with face averted. The
Colonel appeared just below the Kachime... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Yagorsha know. Joe give him nice mitts--sealskin--_new_ mitts."
"Hear that, Colonel? For a pair of mitts he sells his daughter to that
ruffian."
Without definite plan, quite vaguely and instinctively, he shook
himself free from Muckluck, and rushed down to the scene of the
tragedy. Muffled screams and yells issued wi... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"In your country when girl marry--she no scream?"
"Well, no; not usually, I believe."
"She go quiet? Like--like she _want_--" Muckluck stood still with
astonishment and outraged modesty.
"They agree," he answered irritably. "They don't go on like wild
beasts."
Muckluck pondered deeply this matter of supreme importance... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
And they left her, shivering in her "Holy Cross clo'es," staring after
them, and sadly swinging her medal on its walrus-string.
"I don't mind sayin' I'm glad to leave Pymeut behind," said the
Colonel.
"Same here."
"You're safe to get into a muss if you mix up with anything that has to
do with women. That Muckluck o' y... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
After about half an hour of oblivion the Boy started up with the drowsy
impression that a flying spark from the dying fire had set their stuff
ablaze. No. But surely the fire had been made up again--and--he rubbed
the sleep out of his incredulous eyes--yes, Muckluck was standing
there!
"What in thunder!" he began. "Wh... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"The Colonel'll have to take over the breeches," said the Boy, with the
air of one wandering in his head. Then, desperately: "What _am_ I to
do? What am I to _say?_"
"Say? You say you no like girl scream, no like her fight like Anna.
Heh? So, me--I come like your girls--quite, quite good.... Heh?"
"You don't understan... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
Again she hid her eyes.
Go home? How could he send her home all that way at this time of night?
It was a bothering business!
Again her hands fell from the wet unhappy face. She shivered a little
when she met his frowning looks, and turned away. He stooped and picked
up her mitten. Why, you couldn't turn a dog away on ... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"But how the devil do you do it?"
She paid no heed to the interruption, seeming busy in taking something
over her head from round her neck.
"To-morrow," she said, lowering her tear-harshened voice, "you find
blow-hole. You give this to Yukon Inua--say I send it. He will not hate
you any more." She burst into a fresh f... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
CHAPTER XI
HOLY CROSS
"Raise the stone, and ye shall find me; cleave the wood, and there am
I."
The stars were shining frostily, in a clear sky, when the Boy crawled
out from under his snow-drift in the morning. He built up the fire,
quaking in the bitter air, and bustled the breakfast.
"You seem to be in something ... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Hey?" inquired the Boy, straining at his sled-rope and bending before
the blast. "What's that?"
"Don't you know what makes snow?" said Henry.
"No. What does?"
"Ivory whittlings. When they get to their carving up yonder then we
have snow."
What was happening to the Colonel?
The mere physical comfort of riding, instead... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
_"Glass!"_ ejaculated the Colonel.
One of the Indians had run on to announce them, and as they drew up at
the door--that the Boy remembered as a frame for Brother Paul, with his
lamp, to search out iniquity, and his face of denunciation--out came
Father Brachet, brisk, almost running, his two hands outstretched, his
f... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"How long since you've been home?"
"Oh, I go back every year."
"He goes all over ze world, to tell ze people--"
"--something of the work being done here by Father Brachet--and all of
them." He included the other priests and lay-brothers in a slight
circular movement of the grizzled head.
And to collect funds! the Colo... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
The Boy looked at him with something very like reverence. Here was a
man who could give you tips!
"You have travelled abroad, too," the Colonel rather stated than asked.
"I spent a good deal of my youth in France and Germany."
"Educated over there?"
"Well, I am a Johns Hopkins man, but I may say I found my education i... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
Father Brachet answered, "Morning will bring counsel, my son. I sink ze
bleezzar-r will not let us lose you so soon."
They overslept themselves, and they knew it, in that way the would-be
early riser does, before ever he looks into the accusing face of his
watch. The Boy leapt out of bed.
"Hear that?" The wind was boo... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
The Colonel went to the door. Father Richmond was struggling with his
snow-boots.
"With your permission, sir," says the Colonel in his most magnificent
manner, "we will accompany you, or follow if you are in haste."
"With all my heart. Come," said the priest, "if you will wait and
breakfast with us after Mass."
It was... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Beautiful creature!" ejaculated the Colonel under his breath, glancing
back.
His companion turned his head sharply just in time to see Sister
Winifred come last into the church, holding by either hand a little
child. Both men watched her as she knelt down. Between the children's
sallow, screwed-up, squinting little v... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"The fella can play," the Colonel admitted.
The native choir, composed entirely of little dark-faced boys, sang
their way truly through the service, Father Brachet celebrating Mass.
"Brother Paul's ill, isn't he? Look!" The lay-brother had swayed, and
drooped forward over the keyboard, but his choir sang steadily on. ... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
After grace Father Richmond took the floor, conversationally, as seemed
to be his wont, and breakfast went on, as supper had the night before,
to the accompaniment of his shrewd observations and lively anecdotes.
In the midst of all the laughter and good cheer Brother Paul sat at the
end of the board, eating absently,... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
He called to a pupil passing the door, and told him the strangers would
like to inspect the school work. Very proudly the lad obeyed. He
himself was a carpenter, and showed his half-finished table. The Boy's
eye fell on a sled.
"Yes," said the lad, "that kind better. Your kind no good." He had
evidently made intimate ... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
Two of the elder girls recited, and some specimens of penmanship and
composition were shown. The delicate complexion of the little nun
flushed to a pretty wild-rose pink as these pupils of hers won the
Colonel's old fashioned compliments.
"And they are taught most particularly of all," she hastened to say,
"cooking, h... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Yes, to-morrow."
"Oh! Father Brachet thought you would stay for a few days, at least."
"We have no time."
"You go, like the rest, for gold?"
"Like the rest."
"But you came before to help poor Nicholas out of his trouble."
"He was quite able to help himself, as it turned out."
"Why will you go so far, and at such risk... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Oh, you have a sister?"
He nodded.
"How long since you left her?"
"It's a good while now."
"Perhaps your sister won't want that particular home any more than you
when you two meet again." Then, seeming not to notice the shade on her
companion's face: "I promised my children they should sing for you. Do
you mind? Will... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Well," said the Colonel when he stood up to say good-night, "I haven't
enjoyed an evening so much for years."
"It is very early still," said Father Brachet, wrinkling up his face in
a smile.
"Ah, but we have to make such an early start."
The Colonel went up to bed, leaving the Boy to go to Father Richmond's
room to l... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Be persuaded, my son."
Dimly the Boy knew he was even now borne along upon a current equally
irresistible, this one setting northward, as that other back to the
south. He found himself shaking his head under the Jesuit's remonstrant
eyes.
"We've lost so much time already. We couldn't possibly turn back--now."
"Then h... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Satisfies?" echoed the Colonel, pushing his chin over the bed-clothes.
"Who expects to be satisfied?"
"Why, every man, woman and child on the top o' the earth; and it just
strikes me I've never, personally, known anybody get there but these
fellas at Holy Cross."
The Colonel pushed back the bedclothes a little farthe... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"So you are all ready--eager to go from us?"
"No; but, you see--"
"I see."
He held the door open, and the Boy went in.
"I don't believe the Colonel's awake yet," he said, as he took off his
furs. "I'll just run up and rouse him."
"It is very early"--the priest laid his hand on the young man's
arm--"and he will not sle... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"I don't deny that the life here has been a revelation to me. I'm not
talkin' about creeds (for I don't know much about them, and I don't
think it's in me to care much); but so far as the work here is
concerned--" He paused.
"We can take little credit for that; it is the outcome of our Order."
The Boy failed to catch ... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
They were silent awhile, and still the young face gave no sign.
"To many," the Travelling Priest went on, "the impulse is a blind one
or a shy one, shrinking from calling itself by the old names. But none
the less this instinct for the Quest is still the gallant way of youth,
confronted by a sense of the homelessness ... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"I cannot tell. It is but our cow-house."
They followed, and, looking in at the door, the Boy saw a picture that
for many a day painted itself on his memory. For inside the dim,
straw-strewn place stood the big Kentuckian, with one arm round the
cow, talking to her and rubbing her nose, while down his own a tear
trick... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"I must go carefully or I might slip, and if I spilt the milk--"
"Oh, you mustn't do that!"
She paused suddenly, and then went on, but more slowly than before. A
glaze had formed on the hard-trodden path, and one must needs walk
warily. Once she looked back with anxiety, and, seeing that the
precious milk was being ca... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
As he came near to where the Colonel and his hosts were, he slipped the
cross into his pocket. His fingers encountered Muckluck's medal. Upon
some wholly involuntary impulse, he withdrew Sister Winifred's gift,
and transferred it to another pocket. But he laughed to himself. "Both
sort o' charms, after all." And again... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
About five o'clock the gale went down, but it came on to snow. At seven
the Colonel said decidedly: "We can't make that cabin to-night."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm not going any further, with this foot--" He threw down the
sled-rope, and limped after wood for the fire.
The Boy tilted the sled up by an ice-hummock, and sp... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
In his sense of irritation at a conscientious duty to perform and no
clear notion of how to discharge it, he made believe it was the
difficulty in finding the rubber sheet he didn't want that made him out
of sorts.
"It's bitter work, anyhow, this making beds with your fingers stiff and
raw," he said.
"Is it?"
Dignity ... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Ask the same of any parson."
But the Colonel didn't care to.
"I suppose," he said severely, "you could even make a hero out of that
hang-dog Brother Etienne."
"No, but he _could_ do something else, for he's served in the French
army."
"Then there's that mad Brother Paul. What good would he be at anything
else?"
"Well... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"I said last night, you know," the Boy put in quite meekly, "that it
all seemed very un-American."
"Huh! Glad you can see that much." The Colonel drove his huge fist at
the provision-bag, as though to beat the stiffnecked beans into a
feathery yielding. "Blind submission don't come easy to most Americans.
The Great Re... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Yes, sah," the Colonel thundered again, "all that have got good
fightin' blood in 'em, like you and me. 'Tisn't as if we came of any
worn-out, frightened, servile old stock. You and I belong to the
free-livin', hard-ridin', straight-shootin' Southerners. The people
before us fought bears, and fought Indians, and beat... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
But never in all that weary march did it manifest again any such modest
alacrity. If, thereafter, in the long going "up river" there came an
interval of downhill, the sled turned summersaults in the air, wound
its forward or backward rope round willow scrub or alder, or else
advanced precipitately with an evil, low-co... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Can't make fire with green cotton-wood," was the Colonel's rejoiner.
"Then let's stop and rest, anyhow."
"Nuh! We know where that would land us. Men who stop to rest, go to
sleep in the snow, and men who go to sleep in the snow on empty
stomachs don't wake up."
They pushed on another mile. When the Colonel at last ca... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
Still the Boy sat there, with his head sunk between his shoulders.
"First rule o' this country is to keep your feet dry, or else
pneumonia, rheumatism--God knows what!"
"First rule o' this country is mind your own business, or else--God
knows what!"
The Colonel looked at the Boy a moment, and then turned his back. The... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
Now, snow-blindness is not usually dangerous, but it is horribly
painful while it lasts. Your eyes swell up and are stabbed continually
by cutting pains; your head seems full of acute neuralgia, and often
there is fever and other complications. The Colonel's was a bad case.
But he was a giant for strength and "sound a... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Ha! you haven't seen a wood like this since we left 'Frisco. It's all
right now, Kentucky;" and he bent to his work with a will.
When he got to the edge of the wood, he flung down the rope and
turned--to find himself alone.
"Colonel! Colonel! Where are you? _Colonel!_"
He stood in the silence, shivering with a sudden... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Colonel!"
Silence. No wonder men went mad up here, when they didn't drown this
silence in strong drink.
On and on he ran, till he felt sure he must have passed the Colonel,
unless--yes, there were those air-holes in the river ice ... He felt
choked and stopped to breathe. Should he go back? It was horrible to
turn. I... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
He felt faint and dizzy. It occurred to him that he would pray. He was
an agnostic all right, but the Colonel was past praying for himself;
and here was his friend--an agnostic--here he was on his knees. He
hadn't prayed since he was a little chap down in the South. How did the
prayers go? "Our Father"--he looked up a... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
At last, on there in front, the cliff! Below it, the sharp bend in the
river, and although he couldn't see it yet, behind the cliff the
forest, and a little hand-sled bearing the means of life.
The Colonel was down again, but it wasn't safe to go near him just yet.
The Boy ran on, unpacked the sled, and went, axe in h... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"What in hell made you think of it?"
"Ask me an easy one," says the Boy. "But I know what the Jesuit Fathers
would say."
"Jesuits and George Warren! Humph! precious little we'd agree about."
"You would about this. It flashed over me when I looked back and saw
you peltin' after me."
"Small wonder I made for you! I'm no... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
The second day out from Anvik they had decided that it was absurd,
after all, to lug about so much tinware. They left a little saucepan
and the extra kettle at that camp. The idea, so potent at Anvik, of
having a tea-kettle in reserve--well, the notion lost weight, and the
kettle seemed to gain.
Two pairs of boots and... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
The Boy, returning from trail-breaking to the river, kicked at the butt
to draw attention to the omission. The Colonel flung down the end of
the ice-coated rope he had lashed the load with, and, "Pack it
yourself," says he.
The Boy let the rifle lie. But all day long he felt the loss of it
heavy on his heart, and no r... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
But few things on earth are more exasperating than trying to work
mounted on clumsy, long web-feet that keep jarring against, yet holding
you off from, the tree you are felling, or the fire you are cooking
over. You are constrained to stand wholly out of natural relation to
the thing you are trying to do--the thing yo... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Grub's ready!"
The Boy came up and dropped on his heels in the usual attitude. The
Colonel tore a piece off the half-charred, half-raw pancake.
"Maybe you'll think the fire isn't thoroughly distributed, but _that's
_got to do for bread," he remarked severely, as if in reply to some
objection.
The Boy saw that somethi... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"What's the good o' rememberin'?" returned the Boy sharply. Then more
mildly: "People talk about the bare necessaries o' life. Well, sir,
when they're really bare you find there ain't but three--food, warmth,
sleep."
Again in the distance that hollow baying.
"Food, warmth, sleep," repeated the Colonel. "We've about go... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
But the real trouble came when, after felling the dead tree, splitting
an armful of fuel and carrying it to the Colonel, he returned to the
task of cutting down the tough green spruce for their bedding. Many
strained blows must be delivered before he could effect the chopping of
even a little notch. Then he would shif... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
On getting back to the fire, he found the Colonel annoyed at having
called "Grub!" three times--"yes, sah! three times, sah!"
And they ate in silence.
"Now I'm going to bed," said the Boy, rising stiffly.
"You just wait a minute."
"No."
Now, the Colonel himself had enunciated the law that whenever one of
them was read... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
Certainly the wind was worse, the going was worse. The sled kept
breaking through and sinking to the level of the load. There it went!
in again. They tugged and hauled, and only dragged the lashing loose,
while the sled seemed soldered to the hard-packed middle of the drift.
As they reloaded, the thermometer came to l... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
It was at a bad place towards the end of that forced march that the
Colonel, instead of lifting the back of the sled, bore hard on the
handle-bar. With a vicious sound it snapped. The Boy turned heavily at
the noise. When he saw the Colonel standing, dazed, with the splintered
bar in his hand, his dull eyes flashed. W... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"And we didn't either of us think we'd come down from eighteen miles a
day to six," returned the Colonel, a little mollified by any sort of
answer. "I don't believe we're going to put this job through."
Now this was treason.
Any trail-man may think that twenty times a day, but no one ought to
say it. The Boy set his t... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
In these hours they saw nothing of the grim and splendid waste; nothing
of the ranks of snow-laden trees; nothing of sun course or of stars,
only the half-yard of dazzling trail in front of them, and
--clairvoyant--the little store of flour and bacon that seemed to
shrink in the pack while they dragged it on.
Apart fr... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"If it wasn't for him"--so and so; till in the gradual deadening of
judgment all the hardship was somehow your pardner's fault. Your nerves
made him responsible even for the snow and the wind. By-and-by he was
The Enemy. Not but what each had occasional moments of lucidity, and
drew back from the pit they were bending... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
As he took Mac's aneroid barometer out of his pocket, a sudden gust cut
across his raw and bleeding cheek. He turned abruptly; the barometer
slipped out of his numb fingers. He made a lunge to recover it,
clutched the air, and, sliding suddenly forward, over he went, flying
headlong down the steep escarpment.
He struc... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
Suddenly the beauty that for days had been veiled shone out. Nothing in
all the earth was glorious with the glory of the terrible white North.
And he had only just been wakened to it. Here, now, lying in his grave,
had come this special revelation of the rapture of living, and the
splendour of the visible universe.
Th... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
It was in no normal state of ordinary waking senses that the work went
on--with never a downward look, nor even up, eyes riveted to the patch
of snow on which the mittened hands fell as steady and untrembling as
steel hammers. In the seconds of actual consciousness of his situation
that twice visited him, he crouched ... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Got the axe? Let her down."
* * * * *
The night was bright with moonlight when the Boy stood again on the top
of the bluff.
"Humph!" says the Colonel, with agreeable anticipation; "you'll be glad
to camp for a few days after this, I reckon."
"Reckon I won't."
* * * ... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
And the Boy, seeing without looking, taking in every move, every shade
in the mood of the broken-spirited man, ready to die here, like a dog,
in the snow, instead of pressing on as long as he could crawl--the Boy,
in a fever of silent rage, called him that "meanest word in the
language--a quitter." And as, surreptitio... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Indians!" said the Colonel.
But with the rubbing out of other distinctions this, too, was curiously
faint. Just so there were human beings it seemed enough. Within four
feet of the deerskin door the Colonel stopped, shot through by a sharp
misgiving. What was behind? A living man's camp, or a dead man's tomb?
Succour... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
He led the way behind a little shack, a troop of children following,
and there were two wolf-dogs, not in the best condition, one reddish,
with a white face and white forelegs, the other grey with a black
splotch on his chest and a white one on his back.
"How much?"
"Fiftee dolla."
"And this one?"
"Fiftee dolla." As t... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Well, I'll give you fifty for him," said the Colonel.
"Sixty."
"Well, all right, since he's a leader. Sixty."
The owner watched the dog as it walked round its master smelling the
snow, then turning up its pointed nose interrogatively and waving its
magnificent feathery tail. The oblique eyes, acute angle of his short... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"But dogs are no good to us without something to feed 'em."
The Ingalik looked round as one seeking counsel.
"Get fish tomalla."
"No, sir. To-day's the only day in my calendar. No buy dogs till we get
fish."
When the negotiations fell through the Indian took the failure far more
philosophically than the white men, as ... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
Well, it was magnificently done, and it certainly looked as if the
Leader was going to have a troubled evening. But he didn't seem to
think so. He "fixed" the Red Dog as one knowing the power of the
master's eye to quell. Red's reply, unimaginably bold, was, as the Boy
described it to the Colonel, "to give the other f... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
As the Leader feigned to be going home, he made a dash in passing at
the stranger's fish. It was held tight, and the pirate got off with
only a fragment. Leader gave one swallow and looked back to see how the
theft was being taken. That surprising stranger simply stood there
laughing, and holding out the rest of a fin... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"And dogs?"
"No. Dogs in the mountains. Hunt moose--caribou."
The old Ingalik came in, followed by others. "Some" of the bucks? There
seemed no end to the throng.
Opposite the white men the Indians sat in a semicircle, with the sole
intent, you might think, of staring all night at the strangers. Yet
they had brought i... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
Anyhow, these men with their sack of tea and magnificent bundle of
matches, above all with their tobacco--they could buy out the
town--everything except Peetka's dog.
The Colonel and the Boy opened the ball by renewing their joint offer
of eighty dollars for Red and Spotty. Although this had been the old
Ingalik's own... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Belly far," said a young hunter, placing ostentatiously in front his
brace of grouse.
"We're used to going belly far. Take all your game away, and go home."
A sorrowful silence fell upon the room. They sat for some time like
that, no one so much as moving, till a voice said, "We want tobacco,"
and a general murmur of... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Who is Unookuk?"
"Him guide."
"Him know."
"Where is him?" asked the Boy.
"Him sick."
But there was whispering and consultation. This was evidently a case
for the expert. Two boys ran out, and the native talk went on,
unintelligible save for the fact that it centred round Unookuk. In a
few minutes the boys came back w... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
The Colonel with much regret admitted that he did not.
"But I am Dall's guide--Kurilla."
"Oh, Dall's guide, are you," said the Boy, without a glimmer of who
Dall was, or for what, or to what, he was "guided." "Well, Kurilla,
we're pleased and proud to meet you," adding with some presence of
mind, "And how's Dall?"
"It... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Even at Holy Cross--" the Boy began, but Kurilla struck in:
"When you there?"
"Oh, about three weeks ago."
Peetka made remarks in Ingalik.
"Father MacManus, him all right?" asked Kurilla, politely cloaking his
cross-examination.
"MacManus? Do you mean Wills, or the Superior, Father Brachet?"
"Oh yes! MacManus at Tana... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
When he lifted his head there was a rustle of expectation and a craning
forward.
"It is the same." Kurilla spoke slowly like one half in a dream. "When
I go down river, thirty winter back, with the Great Dall, he try buy
this off Nicholas's mother. She wear it on string red Russian beads.
Oh, it is a thing to remember... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"No liars. Sell dog," adding, with regretful eye on the apostate
Leader, "Him bully dog!"
And that was how the tobacco famine ended, and how the white men got
their team.
CHAPTER XV
THE ESQUIMAUX HORSE
"Plus je connais les hommes, plus j'aime les chiens."
It doesn't look hard to drive a dog-team, but just you try ... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
No sooner has he published this conviction of high calling than he is
set upon by the others, punishes them soundly, or is himself vanquished
and driven off. Whereupon he sits on his haunches in the snow, and,
with his pointed nose turned skyward, howls uninterruptedly for an hour
or two, when all is forgiven and forg... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
While the Colonel and the Boy were staking out this future stronghold
of trade and civilisation it came on to snow; but "Can't last this time
o' year," the Colonel consoled himself, and thanked God "the big,
unending snows are over for this season."
So they pushed on. But the Colonel seemed to have thanked God
prematu... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
He might be too tired to answer the Colonel; he was seldom too tired to
talk nonsense to Nig, never too tired to say, "Well, old boy," or even
"Well, _pardner_," to the dumb brute. It was, perhaps, this that the
Colonel disliked most of all.
Whether the U.S. Agent at Nulato was justified or not in saying all the
regio... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Oh, that's when you rile him! He's just like any other American
gentleman: he's got his feelin's. Ain't you got feelin's, Nig? Huh!
rather. I tell you what, Colonel, many a time when I'm pretty well beat
and ready to snap at anybody, I've looked at Nig peggin' away like a
little man, on a rotten trail, with a blizzar... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"They've got keen noses. _I_ don't smell the village this time. Come
on, Nig, Spot's had enough; he's sorry, good and plenty. Cheer up,
Spot! Fish, old man! You hear me talkin' to you, Red? _Fish!_ Caches
full of it. Whoop!" and down they rushed, pell-mell, men and dogs
tearing along like mad across the frozen river, ... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
The Boy, blinking hard, said: "Yes, old man, I know, that was a mean
breakfast; and he patted the shaggy chest. Nig bent his proud head and
licked the rescuing hand with his bleeding tongue.
"An' you say that dog hasn't got feelin's!"
They hitched the team and pushed on. In the absence of a trail, the
best they could ... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
Nothing more was said for a full half-hour, till the Colonel, taking
off his fur hat, and wiping his beaded forehead on the back of his
hand, remarked: "Think of the Siege of Paris."
"Eh? What?" The Boy stared as if afraid his partner's brain had given
way.
"When the horses gave out they had to eat dogs, cats, rats ev... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Haven't you had about enough of this?" the Colonel sang out at dusk.
"Pretty nearly," said the Boy in a rather weak voice. He flung off the
pack, and sat on it.
"Get up," says the Colonel; "give us the sleepin'-bag." When it was
undone, the Norfolk jacket dropped out. He rolled it up against the
sled, flung himself d... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Good old Nig! You feel lonesome, too?" He gathered the rough beast up
closer to him.
Just then the Colonel called, "Nig!"
"Sh! sh! Lie quiet!" whispered the Boy.
"Nig! Nig!"
"Good old boy! Stay here! He doesn't mean well by you. _Sh!_ quiet!
_Quiet_, I say!"
"Nig!" and the treacherous Colonel gave the peculiar whistl... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
It is curious to see how soon travellers get past that first cheeckalko
feeling that it is a little "nervy," as the Boy had said, to walk into
another man's house uninvited, an absolute stranger, and take
possession of everything you want without so much as "by your leave."
You soon learn it is the Siwash[*] custom.
[... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
The dogs outside were howling like human beings put to torture. But the
sound no longer had power to freeze the blood of the trail-men.
The Colonel merely damned them. The Boy lifted his head, and listened
for Nig's note. The battle raged nearer; a great scampering went by the
tent.
"Nig!"
A scuffling and snuffing rou... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
The Colonel gave a distinct grunt of disapproval, and then, "Keepin'
that brute in here?"
"He's a lot cleaner than our two-legged friends," said the Boy sharply,
as if answering an insult.
"Right," said the Colonel with conviction.
His pardner was instantly mollified. "If you wake another baby, you'll
get a lickin'," ... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
It was a great moment.
"Shake, pardner," said the Boy. The Colonel and he grasped hands. Only
towering good spirits prevented their being haughty, for they felt like
conquerors, and cared not a jot that they looked like gaol-birds.
It was two o'clock in the morning. The Gold Nugget Saloon was flaring
with light, and a... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Have you got some property here?" asked the Boy.
The man, without putting down his glass, simply closed one eye over the
rim.
"We've heard some bad accounts of these diggin's," said the Colonel.
"I ain't sayin' there's millions for _every_body. You've got to get the
inside track. See that feller talkin' to the girl? ... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
She laughed good-naturedly.
"Pity you're tired," said the mackinaw man. "There's a pretty good
thing goin' just now, but it won't be goin' long."
The Boy turned his head round again with reviving interest in his own
group.
"Look here, Si," Maudie was saying: "if you want to let a lay on your
new claim to _anybody_, mi... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Why, there's Butts down from Circle City."
"Butts?" repeated the Boy, with little affectation of interest.
"Yep. Wonder what the son of a gun is after here." But he spoke
genially, even with respect.
"Who's Butts?"
"Butts? Ah--well--a--Butts is the smartest fellow with his fingers in
all 'laska"; and McGinty showed h... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"How far out are the diggin's?"
"What diggin's?"
"Yours."
"Oh--a--my gulch ain't fur."
There was a noise about the door. Someone bustled in with a torrent of
talk, and the pianola was drowned in a pandemonium of shouts and
laughter.
"Windy Jim's reely got back!"
Everybody crowded forward. Maudie was at the Colonel's e... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 | |
"Huh! don't I wish they would!"
"It's all right. _They will._"
"And then trust Bonsor to git even."
Salaman, "the luckiest man in camp," who had come in from his valuable
Little Minóok property for the night only, had to pay fifteen dollars
for his mail. When he opened it, he found he had one home letter,
written seve... | The Magnetic North | Robins, Elizabeth | 1862 | 1952 | ['en'] | 22 | {'Yukon -- Fiction'} | PG10038 |
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