my
arrival, to go on a trip himself. Mr. Ulysses knew too much to start on
without animals, and fretted around for several days. He had on his
sled a bunch of beautifully cured otter skins, sea otters, you know,
worth their weight in gold. There was also at Pastilik an old Shylock
of a Russian trader, who had dogs to kill. Well, they didn't dicker
very long, but when the Strange One headed south again, it was in the
rear of a spanking dog team. Mr. Shylock, by the way, had the otter
skins. I saw them, and they were magnificent. We figured it up and
found the dogs brought him at least five hundred apiece. And it wasn't
as if the Strange One didn't know the value of sea otter; he was an
Indian of some sort, and what little he talked showed he'd been among
white men.

'After the ice passed out of the sea, word came up from Nunivak Island
that he'd gone in there for grub. Then he dropped from sight, and this
is the first heard of him in eight years. Now where did he come from?
and what was he doing there? and why did he come from there? He's
Indian, he's been nobody knows where, and he's had discipline, which is
unusual for an Indian. Another mystery of the North for you to solve,
Prince.' 'Thanks awfully, but I've got too many on hand as it is,' he
replied.

Malemute Kid was already breathing heavily; but the young mining
engineer gazed straight up through the thick darkness, waiting for the
strange orgasm which stirred his blood to die away. And when he did
sleep, his brain worked on, and for the nonce he, too, wandered through
the white unknown, struggled with the dogs on endless trails, and saw
men live, and toil, and die like men. The next morning, hours before
daylight, the dog drivers and policemen pulled out for Dawson. But the
powers that saw to Her Majesty's interests and ruled the destinies of
her lesser creatures gave the mailmen little rest, for a week later
they appeared at Stuart River, heavily burdened with letters for Salt
Water.

However, their dogs had been replaced by fresh ones; but, then, they
were dogs.

The men had expected some sort of a layover in which to rest up;
besides, this Klondike was a new section of the Northland, and they had
wished to see a little something of the Golden City where dust flowed
like water and dance halls rang with never-ending revelry. But they
dried their socks and smoked their evening pipes with much the same
gusto as on their former visit, though one or two bold