Datasets:
NNEngine
/
Gutenberg-Clean

Dataset card Data Studio Files
xet
Community
id
stringlengths
16
16
text
stringlengths
151
2.3k
word_count
int64
30
60
source
stringclasses
1 value
twg_000012934200
country. They were disposed to be less censorious, and I for my part was only too glad Mother was well enough to write, even if she did scold me sometimes. So I was able to open my mail without misgivings. But I was still aglow with memories of the last few hours. Once more I had seen Berna, spent moments
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934201
with her of perfect bliss, left her with my mind full of exaltation and bewildered gratitude. She was the perfect answer to my heart's call, a mirror that seemed to flash back the challenge of my joy. I saw the love mists gather in her eyes, I felt her sweet lips mould themselves to mine, I thrilled with the sheathing
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934202
ardour of her arms. Never in my fondest imaginings had I conceived that such a wealth of affection would ever be for me. Buoyant she was, brave, inspiring, and always with her buoyancy so wondrous tender I felt that willingly would I die for her. Once again I told her of my fear, my anxiety for her safety among those
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934203
rough men in that cesspool of iniquity. Very earnestly she strove to reassure me. "Oh, my dear, it is in those rough men, the uncouth, big-hearted miners, that I place my trust. They know I'm a good girl. They wouldn't say a coarse thing before me for the world. You've no idea the chivalrous respect they show for me, and
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934204
the rougher they are the finer their instincts seem to be. It's the others, the so-called gentlemen, who would like to take advantage of me if they could." She looked at me with bright, clear eyes, fearless in their scorn of sham and pretence. "Then there are the women. It's strange, but no matter how degraded they are they try
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934205
to shield and protect me. Only last week Kimona Kate made a fearful scene with her escort because he said something bad before me. I'm getting tolerant. Oh, you've no idea until you know them what good qualities some of these women have. Often their hearts are as big as all outdoors; they would nurse you devotedly if you were
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934206
sick; they would give you their last dollar if you were in want. Many of them have old mothers and little children they're supporting outside, and they would rather die than that their dear ones should know the life they are living. It's the men, the men that are to blame." I shook my head sadly. "I don't like it,
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934207
Berna, I don't like it at all. I hate you to know the like of such people, such things. I just want you to be again the dear, sweet little girl I first knew, all maidenly modesty and shuddering aversion of evil." "I'm afraid, dear, I shall never be that again," she said sorrowfully; "but am I any the worse
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934208
for knowing? Why should you men want to keep all such knowledge to yourselves? Is our innocence simply to be another name for ignorance?" She put her arms round my neck and kissed me fervently. "Oh, no, my dear, my dear. I have seen the vileness of things, and it only makes me more in love with love and beauty.
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934209
We'll go, you and I, to Italy very soon, and forget, forget. Even if we have to toil like peasants in the vineyards we'll go, far, far away." So I felt strengthened, stimulated, gladdened, and, as I lay on my bunk listening to the merry crackle of the wood fire, I was in a purring lethargy of content. Then I
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934210
remembered something. "Oh, say, boys, I forgot to tell you. I met McCrimmon down the creek. You remember him on the trail, the Halfbreed. He was asking after you both; then all at once he said he wanted to see us on important business. He has a proposal to make, he says, that would be greatly to our advantage. He's
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934211
coming along this evening.--What's the matter, Jim?" Jim was staring blankly at one of the letters he had received. His face was a picture of distress, misery, despair. Without replying, he went and knelt down by his bed. He sighed deeply. Slowly his face grew calm again; then I saw that he was praying. We were silent in respectful sympathy,
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934212
but when, in a little, he got up and went out, I followed him. "Had bad news, old man?" "I've had a letter that's upset me. I'm in a terrible position. If ever I wanted strength and guidance, I want it now." "Heard about that man?" "Yes, it's him, all right; it's Mosher. I suspicioned it all along. Here's a
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934213
letter from my brother. He says there's no doubt that Mosher is Moseley." His eyes were stormy, his face tragic in its bitterness. "Oh, you don't know how I worshipped that woman, trusted her, would have banked my life on her; and when I was away making money for her she ups and goes away with that slimy reptile. In
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934214
the old days I would have torn him to pieces, but now----" He sighed distractedly. "What am I to do? What am I to do? The Good Book says forgive your enemies, but how can I forgive a wrong like that? And my poor girl--he deserted her, drove her to the streets. Ugh! if I could kill him by slow
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934215
torture, gloat over his agony--but I can't, can I?" "No, Jim, you can't do anything. Vengeance is the Lord's." "Yes, I know, I know. But it's hard, it's hard. O my girl, my girl!" Tears overran his cheeks. He sat down on a log, burying his face in his hands. "O God, help and sustain me in this my hour
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934216
of need." I was at a loss how to comfort him, and it was while I was waiting there that suddenly we saw the Halfbreed coming up the trail. "Better come in, Jim," I said, "and hear what he's got to say." We made McCrimmon comfortable. We kept no whisky in the cabin, but we gave him some hot coffee,
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934217
which he drank with great satisfaction. Then he twisted a cigarette, lit it, and looked at us keenly. On his brown, flattish face were remarkable the impassivity of the Indian and the astuteness of the Scot. We were regarding him curiously. Jim had regained his calm, and was quietly watchful. The Prodigal seemed to have his ears cocked to listen.
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934218
There was a feeling amongst us as if we had reached a crisis in our fortunes. The Halfbreed lost no time in coming to the point. "I like you boys. You're square and above-board. You're workers, and you don't drink--that's the main thing. "Well, to get right down to cases. I'm a bit of a mining man. I've mined at
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934219
Cassiar and Caribou, and I know something of the business. Now I've got next to a good thing.--I don't know how good yet, but I'll swear to you it's a tidy bit. There may be only ten thousand in it, and there may be one hundred and ten. It's a gambling proposition, and I want pardners, pardners that'll work like
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934220
blazes and keep their faces shut. Are you on?" "That's got us kodaked," said the Prodigal. "We're that sort, and if the proposition looks good to us we're with you. Anyway, we're clams at keeping our food-traps tight." "All right; listen. You know the Arctic Transportation Co. have claims on upper Bonanza--well, a month back I was working for them.
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934221
We were down about twenty feet and were drifting in. They set me to work in the drift. The roof kept sloughing in on me, and it was mighty dangerous. So far we hadn't got pay-dirt, but their mining manager wanted us to drift in a little further. If we didn't strike good pay in a few more feet we
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934222
were to quit. "Well, one morning I went down and cleaned away the ash of my fire. The first stroke of my pick on the thawed face made me jump, stare, stand stock-still, thinking hard. For there, right in the hole I had made, was the richest pocket I ever seen." "You don't say! Are you sure?" "Why, boys, as
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934223
I'm alive there was nuggets in it as thick as raisins in a Christmas plum-duff. I could see the yellow gleam where the pick had grazed them, and the longer I looked the more could I see." "Good Lord! What did you do?" "What did I do! I just stepped back and picked at the roof for all I was
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934224
worth. A big bunch of muck came down, covering up the face. Then, like a crazy man, I picked wherever the dirt seemed loose all the way down the drift. Great heaps of dirt caved in on me. I was stunned, nearly buried, but I did the trick. There were tons of dirt between me and my find." We gasped
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934225
with amazement. "The rest was easy. I went up the shaft groaning and cursing. I pretended to faint. I told them the roof of the drift had fallen in on me. It was rotten stuff, anyway, and they knew it. They didn't mind me risking my life. I cursed them, said I would sue the Company, and went off looking
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934226
too sore for words. The Manager was disgusted, he went down and took a look at things; declared he would throw up the work at that place; the ground was no good. He made that report to the Company." The Halfbreed looked round triumphantly. "Now, here's the point. We can get a lay on that ground. One of you boys
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934227
must apply for it. They mustn't know I'm in with you, or they would suspect right away. They're none too scrupulous themselves in their dealings." He paused impressively. "You cinch that lay agreement. Get it signed right away. We'll go in and work like Old Nick. We'll make a big clean-up by Spring. I'll take you right to the gold.
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934228
There's thousands and thousands lying snug in the ground just waiting for us. It's right in our mit. Oh, it's a cinch, a cinch!" The Halfbreed almost grew excited. Bending forward, he eyed us keenly. In a breathless silence we stared at each other. "Well," I objected, "seems to be putting up rather a job on the Company." Jim was
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934229
silent, but the Prodigal cut in sharply: "Job nothing--it's a square proposition. We don't know for certain that gold's there. Maybe it's only a piffling pocket, and we'll get souped for our pains. No, it seems to me it's a fair gambling proposition. We're taking all kinds of chances. It means awful hard work; it means privation and, maybe, bitter
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934230
disappointment. It's a gamble, I tell you, and are we going to be such poor sports as turn it down? I for one am strongly in favour of it. What do you say? A big sporting chance--are you there, boys, are you there?" He almost shouted in his excitement. "Hush! Some one might hear you," warned the Halfbreed. "Yes, that's
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934231
right. Well, it looks mighty good to me, and if you boys are willing we'll just draw up papers and sign an agreement right away. Is it a go?" We nodded, so he got ink and paper and drew up a form of partnership. "Now," said he, his eyes dancing, "now, to secure that lay before any one else cuts
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934232
in on us. Gee! but it's getting dark and cold outdoors these days. Snow falling; well, I must mush to Dawson to-night." He hurried on some warm, yet light, clothing, all the time talking excitedly of the chance that fortune had thrown in our way, and gleeful as a schoolboy. "Now, boys," he says, "hope I'll have good luck. Jim,
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934233
put in a prayer for me. Well, see you all to-morrow. Good-bye." * * * * * It was late next night when he returned. We were sitting in the cabin, anxious and expectant, when he threw open the door. He was tired, wet, dirty, but irrepressibly jubilant. "Hurrah, boys!" he cried. "I've cinched it. I saw Mister Manager of
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934234
the big Company. He was very busy, very important, very patronising. I was the poor miner seeking a lay. I played the part well. He began by telling me he didn't want to give any lays at present; just wanted to stand me off, you know; make me more keen. I spoke about some of their ground on Hunker. He
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934235
didn't seem enthusiastic. Then, at last, as if in despair, I mentioned this bit on Bonanza. I could see he was itching to let me have it, but he was too foxy to show it. He actually told me it was an extra rich piece of ground, when all the time he knew his own mining engineer had condemned it."
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934236
The Prodigal's eyes danced delightedly. "Well, we sparred round a bit like two fake fighters. My! but he was wily, that old Jew. Finally he agreed to let me have it on a fifty-per-cent. basis. Don't faint, boys. Fifty per cent., I said. I'm sorry. It was the best I could do, and you know I'm not slow. That means
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934237
they get half of all we take out. Oh, the old shark! the robber! I tried to beat him down, but he stood pat; wouldn't budge. So I gave in, and we signed the lay agreement, and now everything's in shape. Gee whiz! didn't I give a sigh of relief when I got outside! He thinks I'm the fall guy,
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934238
and went off chuckling." He raised his voice triumphantly. "And now, boys, we've got the ground cinched, so get action on yourselves. Here's where we make our first real stab at fortune. Here's where we even up on the hard jabs she's handed us in the past; here's where we score a bull's-eye, or I miss my guess. The gold's
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934239
there, boys, you can bank on that; and the harder we work the more we're going to get of it. Now, we're going to work hard. We're going to make ordinary hard work look like a Summer vacation. We're going to work for all we're worth--and then some. Are you there, boys, are you there?" "We are," we shouted with
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934240
one accord. There was no time to lose. Every hour for us meant so much more of that precious pay-dirt that lay under the frozen surface. The Winter leapt on us with a swoop, a harsh, unconciliating Winter, that made out-door work an unmitigated hardship. But there was the hope of fortune nerving and bracing us, till we lost in
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934241
it all thought of self. Nothing short of desperate sickness, death even, would drive us from our posts. It was with this dauntless spirit we entered on the task before us. And, indeed, it was one that called for all in a man of energy and self-sacrifice. There was wood to get for the thawing of the ground; there was
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934242
a cabin to be built on the claim; and, lastly, there was a vast dump to be taken out of the ground for the spring sluicing. We planned things so that no man would be idle for a moment, and so that every ounce of strength expended would show its result. The Halfbreed took charge, and we, recognising it as
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934243
his show, obeyed him implicitly. He decided to put down two holes to bed-rock, and, after much deliberation, selected the places. This was a matter for the greatest judgment and experience, and we were satisfied that he had both. We ran up a little cabin and banked it nearly to the low eaves with snow. By-and-bye more fell on the
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934244
roof to the depth of three feet, so that the place seemed like a huge white hummock. Only in front could you recognise it as a cabin by the low doorway, where we had always to stoop on entering. Within were our bunks, a tiny stove, a few boxes to sit on, a few dishes, our grub; that was all.
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934245
Often we regretted our big cabin on the hill, with its calico-lined "den" and its separate kitchen. But in this little box of a home we were to put in many weary months. Not that the time seemed long to us; we were too busy for that. Indeed, often we wished it were twice as long. Snow had fallen in
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934246
September, and by December we were in an Arctic world of uncompromising harshness. Day after day the glass stood between forty and fifty below zero. It was hatefully, dangerously cold. It seemed as if the frost-fiend had a cruel grudge against us. It made us grim--and careful. We didn't talk much in those days. We just worked, worked, worked, and
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934247
when we did talk it was of our work, our ceaseless work. Would we strike it rich? It was all a gamble, the most exciting gamble in the world. It thrilled our day hours with excitement; it haunted our sleep; it lent strength to the pick-stroke and vigour to the windlass-crank. It made us forget the bitter cold, till some
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934248
one would exclaim, and gently knead the fresh snow on our faces. The cold burned our cheeks a fierce brick-red, and a frostbite showed on them like a patch of white putty. The old scars, never healing, were like blotches of lamp-black. But neither cold nor fatigue could keep us away from the shaft and the drift. We had gone
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934249
down to bed-rock, and were tunnelling in to meet the hole the Halfbreed had covered up. So far we had found nothing. Every day we panned samples of the dirt, always getting colours, sometimes a fifty-cent pan, but never what we dreamed of, hoped for. "Wait, boys, till we get a two-hundred-dollar pan, then we'll begin to whoop it up
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934250
some." Once the Company Manager came down on a dog-team. He looked over our shaft. He wore a coon coat, with a cap of beaver, and huge fur mits hung by a cord around his neck. He was massive and impassive. Spiky icicles bristled around his mouth. "What luck, boys?" His breath came like steam. "None, so far," we told
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934251
him, wearily, and off he went into the frozen gloom, saying he hoped we would strike it before long. "Wait a while." We were working two men to a shaft, burning our ground over night. The Prodigal and I manned the windlasses, while the old miners went down the drifts. It was a cold, cold job standing there on that
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934252
rugged platform turning the windlass-crank. Long before it was fairly light we got to our posts, and lowered our men into the hole. The air was warmer down there; but the work was harder, more difficult, more dangerous. At noon there was no sunshine, only a wan, ashen light that suffused the sky. A deathlike stillness lay on the valley,
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934253
not a quiver or movement in leaf or blade. The snow was a shroud, smooth save where the funereal pines pricked through. In that intensity of cold, that shivering agony of desolation, it seemed as if nature was laughing at us--the Cosmic Laugh. Our meals were hurriedly cooked and bolted. We grudged every moment of our respite from toil. At
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934254
night we often were far too weary to undress. We lost our regard for cleanliness; we neglected ourselves. Always we talked of the result of the day's panning and the chances of to-morrow. Surely we would strike it soon. "Wait awhile." Colder it grew and colder. Our kerosene flowed like mush. The water froze solid in our kettle. Our bread
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934255
was full of icy particles. Everything had to be thawed out continually. It was tiresome, exasperating, when we were in such a devil of a hurry. It kept us back; it angered us, this pest of a cold. Our tempers began to suffer. We were short, taciturn. The strain was beginning to tell on us. "Wait awhile." Then, one afternoon,
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934256
the Something happened. It was Jim who was the chosen one. About three o'clock he signalled to be hoisted up, and when he appeared he was carrying a pan of dirt. "Call the others," he said. All together in the little cabin we stood round, while Jim washed out the pan in snow-water melt over our stove. I will never
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934257
forget how eagerly we watched the gravel, and the whirling, dexterous movements of the old man. We could see gleams of yellow in the muddy water. Thrills of joy and hope went through us. We had got the thing, the big thing, at last. "Hurry, Jim," I said, "or I'll die of suspense." Patiently he went on. There it was
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934258
at last in the bottom of the pan--sweeter to our eyes than to a woman the sight of her first-born. There it lay, glittering, gleaming gold, fine gold, coarse gold, nuggety gold. "Now, boys, you can whoop it up," said Jim quietly; "for there's many and many a pan like it down there in the drift." But never a whoop.
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934259
What was the matter with us? When the fortune we had longed for so eagerly came at last, we did not greet it even with a cheer. Oh, we were painfully silent. Solemnly we shook hands all round. "Now to weigh it," said the Prodigal. On the tiny pair of scales we turned it out--ninety-five dollars' worth. Well, it was
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934260
a good start, and we were all possessed with a frantic eagerness to go down in the drift. I crawled along the tunnel. There, in the face of it, I could see the gold shining, and the longer I looked the more I seemed to see. It was rich, rich. I picked out and burnished a nugget as large as
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934261
a filbert. There were lots of others like it. It was a strike. The question was: how much was there of it? The Halfbreed soon settled our doubts on that score. "It stands to reason the pay runs between where I first found it and where we've struck it now. That alone means a tidy stake for each of us.
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934262
Say, boys, if you were to cover all that distance with twenty-dollar gold pieces six feet wide, and packed edge to edge, I wouldn't take them for our interest in that bit of ground. I see a fine big ranch in Manitoba for my share; ay, and hired help to run it. The only thing that sticks in my gullet
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934263
is that fifty per cent. to the Company." "Well, we can't kick," I said; "we'd never have got the lay if they'd had a hunch. My! won't they be sore?" Sure enough, in a few days the news leaked out, and the Manager came post-haste. "Hear you've struck it rich, boys." "So rich that I guess we'll have to pack
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934264
down gravel from the benches to mix in before we can sluice it," said the Prodigal. "You don't say. Well, I'll have to have a man on the ground to look after our interests." "All right. It means a good thing for you." "Yes, but it would have meant a better if we had worked it ourselves. However, you boys
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934265
deserve your luck. Hello, the devil----" He turned round and saw the Halfbreed. He gave a long whistle and went away, looking pensive. * * * * * It was the night of the discovery when the Prodigal made us an address. "Look here, boys; do you know what this means? It means victory; it means freedom, happiness, the things
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934266
we want, the life we love. To me it means travel, New York, Paris, evening dress, the opera. To McCrimmon here it means his farm. To each according to his notion, it means the 'Things That Matter.' "Now, we've just begun. The hardest part is to come, is to get out the fortune that's right under our feet. We're going
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934267
to get every cent of it, boys. There's a little over three months to do it in, leaving about a month to make sluice-boxes and clean up the dirt. We've got to work like men at a burning barn. We've worked hard, but we've got to go some yet. For my part, I'm willing to do stunts that will make
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934268
my previous record look like a plugged dime. I guess you boys all feel the same way." "You bet we do." "Well, nuf sed; let's get busy." So, once more, with redoubled energy, we resumed our tense, unremitting round of toil. Now, however, it was vastly different. Every bucket of dirt meant money in our pockets, every stroke of the
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934269
pick a dollar. Not that it was all like the first rich pocket we had struck. It proved a most erratic and puzzling paystreak--one day rich beyond our dreams, another too poor to pay for the panning. We swung on a pendulum of hope and despair. Perhaps this made it all the more exciting, and stimulated us unnaturally, and always
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934270
we cursed that primitive method of mining that made every bucket of dirt the net result of infinite labor. Every day our two dumps increased in size (for we had struck pay on the other shaft), and every day our assurance and elation increased correspondingly. It was bruited around that we had one of the richest bits of ground in
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934271
the country, and many came to gaze at us. It used to lighten my labours at the windlass to see their looks of envy and to hear their awe-stricken remarks. "That's one of them," they would say; "one of the lucky four, the lucky laymen." So, as the facts, grossly exaggerated, got noised abroad, they came to call us the
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934272
"Lucky Laymen." Looking back, there will always seem to me something weird and incomprehensible in those twilight days, an unreality, a vagueness like some dreary, feverish dream. For three months I did not see my face in a mirror. Not that I wanted to, but I mention this just to show how little we thought of ourselves. In like manner,
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934273
never did I have a moment's time to regard my inner self in the mirror of consciousness. No mental analysis now; no long hours of retrospection, no tte--tte interviews with my soul. At times I felt as if I had lost my identity. I was a slave of the genie Gold, releasing it from its prison in the frozen bowels
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934274
of the earth. I was an automaton turning a crank in the frozen stillness of the long, long night. It was a life despotically objective, and now, as I look back, it seems as if I had never lived it at all. I seem to look down a long, dark funnel and see a little machine-man bearing my semblance, patiently,
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934275
steadily, wearily turning the handle of a windlass in the clear, lancinating cold of those sombre, silent days. I say "bearing my outward semblance," and yet I sometimes wonder if that rough-bearded figure in heavy woollen clothes looked the least like me. I wore heavy sweaters, mackinaw trousers, thick German socks and moccasins. From frequent freezing my cheeks were corroded.
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934276
I was miserably thin, and my eyes had a wild, staring expression through the pupils dilating in the long darkness. Yes, mentally and physically I was no more like myself than a convict enduring out his life in the soulless routine of a prison. The days were lengthening marvellously. We noted the fact with dull joy. It meant more light,
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934277
more time, more dirt in the dump. So it came about that, from ten hours of toil, we went to twelve, to fourteen; then, latterly, to sixteen, and the tension of it was wearing us down to skin and bone. We were all feeling wretched, overstrained, ill-nourished, and it was only voicing the general sentiment when, one day, the Prodigal
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934278
remarked: "I guess I'll have to let up for a couple of days. My teeth are all on the bum. I'm going to town to see a dentist." "Let me look at them," said the Halfbreed. He looked. The gums were sullen, unwholesome-looking. "Why, it's a touch of scurvy, lad; a little while, and you'd be spitting out your teeth
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934279
like orange pips; your legs would turn black, and when you squeezed your fingers into the flesh the hole would stay. You'd get rotten, then you'd mortify and die. But it's the easiest thing in the world to cure. Nothing responds to treatment so readily." He made a huge brew of green-spruce tea, of which we all partook, and in
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934280
a few days the Prodigal was fit again. It was mid-March when we finished working out our ground. We had done well, not so well, perhaps, as we had hoped for, but still magnificently well. Never had men worked harder, never fought more desperately for success. There were our two dumps, pyramids of gold-permeated dirt at whose value we could
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934281
only guess. We had wrested our treasure from the icy grip of the eternal frost. Now it remained--and O, the sweetness of it--to glean the harvest of our toil. "The water's beginning to run, boys," said the Halfbreed. "A few more days and we'll be able to start sluicing." The news was like a flood of sunshine to us. For
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934282
days we had been fixing up the boxes and getting everything in readiness. The sun beat strongly on the snow, which almost visibly seemed to retreat before it. The dazzlingly white surface was crisp and flaky, and around the tree boles curving hollows had formed. Here and there brown earth peered nakedly through. Every day the hillside runnels grew in
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934283
strength. We were working at the mouth of a creek down which ran a copious little stream all through the Springtime. We tapped it some distance above us, and ran part of it along our line of sluice-boxes. These boxes went between our two dumps, so that it was easy to shovel in from both sides. Nothing could have been
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934284
more convenient. At last, after a day of hot sunshine, we found quite a freshet of water coming down the boxes, leaping and dancing in the morning light. I remember how I threw in the first shovelful of dirt, and how good it was to see the bright stream discolour as our friend the water began his magic work. For
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934285
three days we shovelled in, and on the fourth we made a clean-up. "I guess it's time," said Jim, "or those riffles will be gettin' choked up." And, sure enough, when we ran off the water there were some of them almost full of the yellow metal, wet and shiny, gloriously agleam in the morning light. "There's ten thousand dollars
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934286
if there's an ounce," said the Company's man, and the weigh-up proved he was right. So the gold was packed in two long buckskin pokes and sent into town to be deposited in the bank. Day after day we went on shovelling in, and about twice a week we made a clean-up. The month of May was half over when
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934287
we had only a third of our dirt run through the boxes. We were terribly afraid of the water failing us, and worked harder than ever. Indeed, it was difficult to tell when to leave off. The nights were never dark now; the daylight was over twenty hours in duration. The sun described an ellipse, rising a little east of
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934288
north and setting a little west of north. We shovelled in till we were too exhausted to lift another ounce. Then we lay down in our clothes and slept as soon as we touched the pillow. "There's eighty thousand to our credit in the bank, and only a third of our dump's gone. Hooray, boys!" said the Prodigal. About one
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934289
o'clock in the morning the birds began to sing, and the sunset glow had not faded from the sky ere the sunrise quickened it with life once more. Who that has lived in the North will ever forget the charm, the witchery of those midnight skies, where the fires of the sun are banked and never cold? Surely, long after
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934290
all else is forgotten, will linger the memory of those mystic nights with all their haunting spell of weird, disconsolate solitude. One afternoon I was working on the dump, intent on shovelling in as much dirt as possible before supper, when, on looking up, who should greet me but Locasto. Since our last interview in town I had not seen
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934291
him, and, somehow, this sudden sight of him came as a kind of a shock. Yet the manner of the man as he approached me was hearty in the extreme. He held out his great hand to me, and, as I had no desire to antagonise him, I gave him my own. He was riding. His big, handsome face was
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934292
bronzed, his black eyes clear and sparkling, his white teeth gleamed like mammoth ivory. He certainly was a dashing, dominant figure of a man, and, in spite of myself, I admired him. His manner in his salutation was cordial, even winning. "I've just been visiting some of my creek properties," he said. "I heard you fellows had made a good
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934293
strike, and I thought I'd come down and congratulate you. It is pretty good, isn't it?" "Yes," I said; "not quite so good as we expected, but we'll all have a tidy sum." "I'm glad. Well, I suppose you'll go outside this Fall." "No, I think I'll stay in. You see, we've the Gold Hill property, which looks promising; and
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934294
then we have two claims on Ophir." "Oh, Ophir! I don't think you'll ever take a fortune out of Ophir. I bought a claim there the other day. The man pestered me, so I gave him five thousand for it, just to get rid of him. It's eight below." "Why," I said, "that's the claim I staked and got beaten
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934295
out of." "You don't say so. Well, now, that's too bad. I bought it from a man named Spankiller; his brother's a clerk in the gold office. Tell you what I'll do. I'll let you have it for the five thousand I gave for it." "No," I answered, "I don't think I want it now." "All right; think it over,
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934296
anyway. If you should change your mind, let me know. Well, I must go. I've got to get into town to-night. That's my mule-train back there on the trail. I've got pretty nearly ten thousand ounces over there." I looked and saw the mules with the gold-packs slung over their backs. There were four men to guard them, and it
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934297
seemed to me that in one of these men I recognised the little wizened figure of the Worm. I shivered. "Yes, I've done pretty well," he continued; "but it don't make any difference. I spend it as fast as I get it. A month ago I didn't have enough ready cash to pay my cigar bill, yet I could have
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934298
gone to the bank and borrowed a hundred thousand. It was there in the dump. Oh, it's a rum business this mining. Well, good-bye." He was turning to go when, suddenly, he stopped. "Oh, by the way, I saw a friend of yours before I left. No need to mention names, you lucky dog. When's the big thing coming off?
60
gutenberg
twg_000012934299
Well, I must congratulate you again. She looks sweeter than ever. Bye-bye." He was off, leaving a very sinister impression on my mind. In his parting smile there was a trace of mockery that gravely disquieted me. I had thought much of Berna during the past few months, but as the gold fever took hold of me I put her
60
gutenberg