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A cruel east wind blew in his teeth from Tagish, but he got the oars over the side and bucked manfully into it, though half the time he was drifting backward and chopping ice from the blades. According to the custom of the country, he was driven ashore at Windy Arm; three times on Tagish saw him swamped and beached; and Lake Marsh held him at the freeze- up.
I had their assistance for a day or two, and "Jim's" presence aided indirectly in inducing the Indians to come to my relief. "The Tagish are little more than slaves to the more powerful coast tribes, and are in constant dread of offending them in any way.
"Say, Burke!" he continued in an awe-struck voice "this is like a leaf out of O'Brien's book, with a vengeance. You remember him, that cold-blooded devil who Pennycuik nailed up in the Yukon used to shoot 'em and shove their bodies under the ice?" Slavin nodded gloomily. "At Tagish, ye mane? Yeah! I 'member ut. Penny sure did some good wurrk on that case."
This man had a good deal of influence with the Tagish tribe, of whom the greater number were then in the neighborhood where he resided, trying to get some odd jobs of work, and I sent him to the head of the inlet to try and induce the Tagish Indians to undertake the transportation, offering them $5 per hundred pounds. In the meantime Capt. Moore and the Indian "Jim" had rejoined me.
Then, unbidden and against his will, there rose up the image of the man who had saved his life in Tagish Lake. Spurling had forestalled him, bribed him beforehand, by restoring him his own life in exchange for the life which he was doomed to take. Did that not make amends? Also he had rescued Mordaunt from disaster on the Skaguay trail, where he would certainly have perished had he been left.
The piece of river connecting Tagish and Marsh Lakes is about five miles long, and averages 150 to 200 yards in width, and, as already mentioned, is deep, except for a short distance at the head. On it are situated the only Indian houses to be found in the interior with any pretension to skill in construction.
There were no telephones in the country, hence no way of informing the waiting Flora that the Willis was four days late, but coming. When the W. H. Willis pulled into White Horse, it was learned that the Flora had waited three days over the limit, and had departed only a few hours before. Also, it was learned that she would tie up at Tagish Post till nine o'clock, Sunday morning.
They fought the gale up to their waists in the icy water, often up to their necks, often over their heads and buried by the big, crested waves. There was no rest, never a moment's pause from the cheerless, heart-breaking battle. That night, at the head of Tagish Lake, in the thick of a driving snow-squall, they overhauled the Flora. Antonsen. His clothes barely clung to him.
Say, Kid, if you mush over to Tagish with that load of timothy on your spine, the police will put you on the wood-pile for the winter." While Mr. Lucky Broad and his business associates were thus busied in discussing the latest decree of the Northwest Mounted Police, other townsmen of theirs were similarly engaged.
And the wires were kept hot in all directions, while patrols also were sent out to locate the men who had not turned up at the usual points. At that time murder was not necessarily a theory connected with their disappearance. Nearly ten days after Christmas the alert Police at Tagish post saw a man with horse and sleigh making a detour of the trail on passing their quarters.
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