be made for the present, but in the
spring they will go back to Nome.

CHAPTER XXIII.

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF THE MINING CAMP.

Again the boys are starting for the Koyuk River country. Although it is
the twenty-eighth of January, and between twenty-five and thirty degrees
below zero, nothing can deter Mr. L., who has made up his mind to go to
the headwaters of the big river regardless of weather. L., B. and a
native are to compose the party, and this time they are going with
reindeer. They will take with them a tent, stove, fur sleeping bags,
matches, "grub," guns and ammunition, not to mention fry pans and a few
tins for cooking purposes. Then they must each take a change of wearing
apparel in case of accident, and make the loads as light as possible. B.
has made it a point to look well at his guns and cartridges, and has
been for days cleaning, rubbing and polishing, while hunting knives have
also received attention. The party may have, in some way, to depend upon
these weapons for their lives before their return.

January twenty-ninth: Twenty-five degrees below zero, but without wind,
and the boys have started off on their long trip up the Koyuk. The
reindeer were fresh and lively, and when everything was loaded and
lashed upon the three sleds, the animals were hitched to them, when,
presto! the scene was changed in a moment. Each deer ran in several
directions at the same time as if demented, overturning sleds and men,
tossing up the snow like dust under their hoofs, and flinging their
antlers about like implements of battle. Now each man was put to his
wit's end to keep hold of the rope attached to the horns of the deer he
was driving, and we who had gone out upon the ice to watch the departure
feared greatly for the lives of the men interested.

At one time Mr. H., who was kindly assisting, was flung upon the ground,
while a rearing, plunging animal was poised in mid-air above him; and I
uttered a shriek of terror at the sight, thinking he would be instantly
killed. However, he was upon his feet in an instant, and pursuing the
animals, still clinging to the rope, as the deer must never, under any
consideration, be allowed to get away with the loaded sleds.

When one of the boys attempted to sit upon a load, holding the rope as a
guide in his hands, there would be a whisk, a whirl, and quicker than a
flash over would go the load, sled and man, rolling over and over like a
football on a college campus.