It's two and a half
everywhere else."

But the recorder of the Skookum District laughed carelessly and resumed
his windlass. "Sorry you ain't pleased. Maybe you'll learn to like it."

As they turned away he continued: "I don't mind giving you a hunch,
though. Tackle that big creek about five miles down yonder. She
prospected good last fall, but you'll have to go clean to her head,
'cause we've got everything below."

Eight hours later, by the guiding glare of the Northern Lights, the two
stumbled back into camp, utterly broken.

They had followed the stream for miles and miles to find it staked by
the powers of attorney of the six. Coming to the gulch's head, to be
sure, they found vacant ground, but refused to claim such unpromising
territory. Then the endless homeward march through the darkness! Out of
thickets and through drifts they burst, while fatigue settled on them
like some horrid vampire from the darkness. Every step being no longer
involuntary became a separate labor, requiring mental concentration.
They were half dead in slumber as they walked, but their stubborn
courage and smoldering rage at the men who had caused this drove them
on. They suffered silently, because it takes effort to groan, and they
hoarded every atom of endurance.

Many, many times Buck repeated a poem, timing his steps to its rhythm,
rendering it over and over till it wore a rut through his brain, his
eyes fixed dully upon the glaring fires above the hilltops. For years a
faintness came over him with the memory of these lines:

Then dark they lie, and stark they lie, rookery, dune, and floe,
And the Northern Lights came down o' nights to dance with the
houseless snow.

Reaching the cabin, they found an army of men sleeping heavily upon the
wet moss. Among them was the great form of Knute, but nowhere did they
spy Sully.

With much effort they tore off the constricting boots and, using them
for pillows, sank into a painful lethargy.

Awakened early by the others, they took their stiffly frozen footgear
beneath the blankets to thaw against their warm bodies, but their feet
were swelled to double size and every joint had ossified rheumatically.
Eventually they hobbled about, preparing the first square meal since the
start--two days and three nights.

Still they saw no Sully, though Crowley's eyes darted careful inquiry
among the horde of stampeders which moved about the cabin. Later, he
seemed bent on some hidd