is life. He of the Otter Skins ate in silence,
forgotten in the merry battle; and long ere the others were done he
pushed back from the table and went out among the dogs. Yet all too
soon his fellow travelers drew on their mittens and parkas and followed
him.

There had been no snow for many days, and the sleds slipped along the
hardpacked Yukon trail as easily as if it had been glare ice. Ulysses
led the first sled; with the second came Prince and Axel Gunderson's
wife; while Malemute Kid and the yellow-haired giant brought up the
third.

'It's only a hunch, Kid,' he said, 'but I think it's straight. He's
never been there, but he tells a good story, and shows a map I heard of
when I was in the Kootenay country years ago. I'd like to have you go
along; but he's a strange one, and swore point-blank to throw it up if
anyone was brought in. But when I come back you'll get first tip, and
I'll stake you next to me, and give you a half share in the town site
besides.' 'No! no!' he cried, as the other strove to interrupt. 'I'm
running this, and before I'm done it'll need two heads.

'If it's all right, why, it'll be a second Cripple Creek, man; do you
hear?--a second Cripple Creek! It's quartz, you know, not placer; and
if we work it right we'll corral the whole thing--millions upon
millions. I've heard of the place before, and so have you. We'll build
a town--thousands of workmen--good waterways--steamship lines--big
carrying trade--light-draught steamers for head reaches--survey a
railroad, perhaps--sawmills--electric-light plant--do our own
banking--commercial company--syndicate--Say! Just you hold your hush
till I get back!' The sleds came to a halt where the trail crossed the
mouth of Stuart River. An unbroken sea of frost, its wide expanse
stretched away into the unknown east.

The snowshoes were withdrawn from the lashings of the sleds. Axel
Gunderson shook hands and stepped to the fore, his great webbed shoes
sinking a fair half yard into the feathery surface and packing the snow
so the dogs should not wallow. His wife fell in behind the last sled,
betraying long practice in the art of handling the awkward footgear,
The stillness was broken with cheery farewells; the dogs whined; and He
of the Otter Skins talked with his whip to a recalcitrant wheeler.

An hour later the train had taken on the likeness of a black pencil
crawling in a long, straight line across a mighty sheet of foolscap.

II

One night, many