at us.
They were ever watchful. No matter how apparently deep their slumber,
they saw every falling crumb, they knew where we had hung our fish,
and were ready as we turned our backs to make away with it. It was
impossible to leave anything eatable for a single instant. Nothing
but the sleight of hand of a conjurer could equal the mystery of
their stealing.

After buying a fourth pack animal and reshoeing all our horses, we
got our outfit into shape for the long, hard drive which lay before
us. Every ounce of superfluous weight, every tool, every article not
absolutely essential, was discarded and its place filled with food.
We stripped ourselves like men going into battle, and on the third
day lined up for Teslin Lake, six hundred miles to the north.

SIWASH GRAVES

Here in their tiny gayly painted homes
They sleep, these small dead people of the streams,
Their names unknown, their deeds forgot,
Their by-gone battles lost in dreams.
A few short days and we who laugh
Will be as still, will lie as low
As utterly in dark as they who rot
Here where the roses blow.
They fought, and loved, and toiled, and died,
As all men do, and all men must.
Of what avail? we at the end
Fall quite as shapelessly to dust.

LINE UP, BRAVE BOYS

The packs are on, the cinches tight,
The patient horses wait,
Upon the grass the frost lies white,
The dawn is gray and late.
The leader's cry rings sharp and clear,
The campfires smoulder low;
Before us lies a shallow mere,
Beyond, the mountain snow.
"_Line up, Billy, line up, boys,_
_The east is gray with coming day,_
_We must away, we cannot stay._
_Hy-o, hy-ak, brave boys!_"

Five hundred miles behind us lie,
As many more ahead,
Through mud and mire on mountains high
Our weary feet must tread.
So one by one, with loyal mind,
The horses swing to place,
The strong in lead, the weak behind,
In patient plodding grace.
"_Hy-o, Buckskin, brave boy, Joe!_
_The sun is high,_
_The hid loons cry:_
_Hy-ak--away! Hy-o!_"

CHAPTER XII

CROSSING THE BIG DIVIDE

Our stay at Hazleton in some measure removed the charm of the first
view. The people were all so miserably poor, and the hosts of
howling, hungry dogs made each day more distressing. The moun