"We'll take it," he said promptly.

"But, dad, can we four sleep in one room?" objected Jerry.

"We'll have to, son, and we ought to be glad to get it. Many persons
will have to sleep in tents while this rush is on. How much is the
room?" he asked the clerk.

"Thirty dollars a day."

"Thirty dollars a day!" exclaimed Fred.

"Yes, and if you don't want it say so," snapped the clerk. "There are
plenty that do."

"Oh, we'll take it," said Mr. Baxter quickly. "That's cheap, according
to some prices they're asking," he added. "When ordinary meals are five
dollars each, the cost of living soon runs up."

"But if our expenses are going to be so high, how can we stand it until
we discover the----" began Jerry.

"Hush!" interrupted Mr. Baxter. "Don't say a word about what we're
after. There are too many rascals in this locality. I'll manage about
the expenses."

"But meals at five dollars each!"

"Don't worry. We'll not pay that long. The prices are high because there
is a big crowd just in off the steamer, and the dealers want to make hay
while the sun shines. Things will go down in a day or so, when the
miners begin to travel into the interior."

"But won't it cost a lot to buy our provisions at that rate?"

"It would if we had to buy them, but I brought them along with me. We
will have to buy very little. The principal things we will need are
dogs, sledges and guides for a certain distance. We will stay here a day
or so until I can arrange about them, and then we will start for the
interior."

Mr. Baxter had signed his own name and those of the two boys on the
hotel register, and had taken them into a comparatively quiet corner to
impart this information.

"Now, Jerry," he said, "if you and Fred will go help Johnson get our
stuff up here to our room, I'll go see if I can hire some guides and
sledges. Pile the stuff right in our room. That's the only place it will
be safe. We'll have to rough it for a night or so, but we can stand it,
I guess. My, but it's getting cold out," he added as he glanced from the
window at a thermometer hanging on the side of the hotel.

"How much?" asked Fred.

"Twenty-two degrees below zero."

"Twenty-two below!"

"That's nothing. Wait until it goes to forty and fifty below. Then the
mercury in the ordinary thermometer freezes solid, and only spirit
gauges are of any use. Then you'll feel the cold. There is no wind,
fortunately, or you'd notice it even in here, with the bi