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"Them's the kind that does freeze their lungs," he lamented. "If Daylight pulls out before this snap breaks, he'll never get through an' him travelin' without tent or fly." "It's a thousand miles to Dyea," Bettles announced, climbing on the chair and supporting his swaying body by an arm passed around Daylight's neck.
So Stanley Prince, the young mining expert, was called into the conference the following night as was also Lucky Jack Harrington and his violin. That same night, Bettles, who owed a great debt to Malemute Kid, harnessed up Cal Galbraith's dogs, lashed Cal Galbraith, Junior, to the sled, and slipped away in the dark for Stuart River. 'So; one two three, one two three. Now reverse! No, no!
But it allus come out the nighest side-channel, an' not bubblin' up an' up. 'But with niver a wink at the helm? 'No; nor you. It's agin reason. I'll leave it to any man! Bettles appealed to the circle about the stove, but the fight was on between himself and Lon McFane. 'Reason or no reason, it's the truth I'm tellin' ye.
But Passuk and I were trail-sore and tired, and weak with hunger; and we did all the work and he did none. But he had the streak of fat of which our brother Bettles has spoken. Further, we gave the man always his fair share of grub. "Then one day we met two ghosts journeying through the Silence. They were a man and a boy, and they were white.
He started off with a pleased grin on his face, but Malemute Kid halted him. 'Lon! It's a long while since you first knew me? 'Many's the day. 'And you, Bettles? 'Five year next June high water. 'And have you once, in all that time, known me to break my word' Or heard of me breaking it? Both men shook their heads, striving to fathom what lay beyond.
An' like so much porridge it was, slickin' along the bark of the canoe, stickin' like glue to the paddles. It's many's the time I shot the self-same riffle before, and it's many's the time after, but niver a wink of the same have I seen. 'Twas the sight of a lifetime. 'Do tell! dryly commented Bettles. 'D'ye think I'd b'lieve such a yarn?
When the inhabited wilderness has become an uninhabited wilderness, when the only people who will ever make their homes in it are exterminated, when the placer-gold is gone and the white men have gone also, when the last interior Alaskan town is like Diamond City and Glacier City and Bearpaw City and Roosevelt City; and Bettles and Rampart and Coldfoot; and Cleary City and Delta City and Vault City and a score of others; let at least the native names of these great mountains remain to show that there once dwelt in the land a simple, hardy race who braved successfully the rigors of its climate and the inhospitality of their environment and flourished, until the septic contact of a superior race put corruption into their blood.
She's a-coming, fellows, gold from the grass roots down, a hundred dollars to the pan, and a stampede in from the Outside fifty thousand strong. You-all'll think all hell's busted loose when that strike is made." He raised his glass to his lips. "Here's kindness, and hoping you-all will be in on it." He drank and stepped down from the chair, falling into another one of Bettles' bear-hugs.
"By Yupiter, I ban take that bet," Olaf Henderson said, dragging Daylight away from Bettles and Kearns. "Winner pays!" Daylight shouted, closing the wager. "And I'm sure going to win, and sixty days is a long time between drinks, so I pay now. Name your brand, you hoochinoos! Name your brand!"
The great Scandinavian, with the tragic events which shadowed his passing, had made a deep mark on the mining engineer. "He lies up there, somewhere." He swept his hand in the vague direction of the mysterious east. "Biggest man that ever turned his heels to Salt Water, or run a moose down with sheer grit," supplemented Bettles; "but he's the prove-the-rule exception.
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