t for a hard bed and some scanty food,
and I soon feared that I would be left without a cent unless I started
somewhere for the gold mines. I heard all kinds of stories about the
gold found up on the Yukon River, so I found a shed where outfits were
sold, and paid twenty dollars for an outfit that was said to be all I
would need. I still had a few dollars left when I started on the road,
with my outfit strapped to my back, visions of finding millions of
dollars' worth of gold always before my eyes.

"I walked along a trail that seemed to be well traveled, and felt glad
to get away from the drink-sodden town. I had tramped for hours, when
the outfit began to rub painfully on my back. I was hungry, too, for the
food given me at the eating-houses was unfit to eat. In buying my
outfit, I added a strip of bacon and a loaf of black bread, so I decided
to rest for a bit and have my dinner.

"The country, as far as I could see, was very beautiful, so I sat down
beside the trail and dropped my pack. I took out the tiny frying pan and
cut some bacon into it. I gathered some sticks, and then tried to light
one of the matches that was in the waterproof box, but it merely
sputtered and went out. I used so many matches in this way that I became
nervous lest the supply give out. Finally I ate my bread and bacon as it
was, and was about to strap the outfit together again when I spied a
caravan leaving the town several miles beyond the point where I sat. I
was so interested in watching the long line, as it lengthened out along
the trail, that I forgot how soon night comes down in this country. I
had no plans for the night, and expected to go much farther before I
struck camp. When the caravan had come halfway the distance from town
toward me, I picked up my pack and started on.

"I found the pack dreadfully heavy this time, and had to rest several
times. I was thus resting on a large rock when the caravan passed me.

"The sledges were piled high with camp equipment. At the end of the line
was a cumbersome-looking affair that was covered with canvas and drawn
by four horses. A grizzled man drove these horses, and seemed intent
upon his job.

"So interested was I in watching them go by that I was startled when one
of the men in the sledge called to me:

"'Hello, Kid! What are you doing--picking flowers?'

"A number of the men laughed, but the younger one who sat with the man
in the sledge shouted: 'Want to join us as far as your ro