here were two or three
men already disappearing towards Little Minook here was Maudie, all by
herself, sprinting along like a good fellow, on the thin surface of the
last night's frost. She walked in native water-boots, but her
snow-shoes stuck out above the small pack neatly lashed on her straight
little shoulders. They waited for her.

She came up very brisk and businesslike. To their good-mornings she
only nodded in a funny, preoccupied way, never opening her lips.

"Charlie gone on?" inquired the Colonel presently.

She shook her head. "Knocked out."

"Been fightin'?"

"No; ran a race to Hunter."

"To jump that claim?"

She nodded.

"Did he beat?"

She laughed. "Butts had the start. They got there together at nine
o'clock!"

"Three hours before jumpin' time?"

Again she nodded. "And found four more waitin' on the same fool
errand."

"What did they do?"

"Called a meetin'. Couldn't agree. It looked like there'd be a fight,
and a fast race to the Recorder among the survivors. But before the
meetin' was adjourned, those four that had got there first (they were
pretty gay a'ready), they opened some hootch, so Butts and Charlie knew
they'd nothing to fear except from one another."

On the top of the divide that gave them their last glimpse of Rampart
she stopped an instant and looked back. The quick flash of anxiety
deepening to defiance made the others turn. The bit they could see of
the water-front thoroughfare was alive. The inhabitants were rushing
about like a swarm of agitated ants.

"What's happening?"

"It's got out," she exploded indignantly. "They're comin', too!"

She turned, flew down the steep incline, and then settled into a
steady, determined gait, that made her gain on the men who had got so
long a start. Her late companions stood looking back in sheer
amazement, for the town end of the trail was black with figures. The
Boy began to laugh.

"Look! if there isn't old Jansen and his squaw wife."

The rheumatic cripple, huddled on a sled, was drawn by a native man and
pushed by a native woman. They could hear him swearing at both
impartially in broken English and Chinook.

The Colonel and the Boy hurried after Maudie. It was some minutes
before they caught up. The Boy, feeling that he couldn't be
stand-offish in the very act of profiting by her acquaintance, began to
tell her about the crippled but undaunted Swede. She made no answer,
just trotted steadily on. The Boy hazarded an