CHAPTER VII.
INTO THE WILDERNESS.
Skookum Joe, equipped with a dog tent and some provisions, had been lefton the point of the junction of the Lewes River and Gold Creek, to awaitthe arrival of the down-river steamer of the Yukon and White Pass RailroadCompany to arrive that day, and he waved them a friendly farewell as theIndians slowly poled their boats out into the stream. The current of GoldCreek was by no means as swift as that of the Lewes, and, while SwiftwaterJim took command of one boat, Rand was made captain of the other. Bothboats had been built with narrow walking boards along the sides after themanner of the celebrated pole boats that plied on the Mississippi and itstributaries in the upstream journies in Lincoln's time. One of the boyswas told off to work with the three Indians in each boat for shortstretches at a time, thus placing two men on each side with poles abouttwelve feet long, while the commander of each boat with a long oar gave anoccasional impulse to the direction in the way of steering, althoughlittle of this was necessary. Two of the pole men would start at the bowof the boat, placing their poles on the bottom of the creek and walk thefull length of the "running board." As they reached the stern, two otherswould start at the bow and walk down the boat while their predecessorsreturned to the bow.
The Indians seemed to be able to continue this performance withoutintermission, and feel no fatigue from it, but the Scout who was detailedto aid the Indians soon found himself suffering from a peculiar aching inthe side and back, that Swiftwater described as the "Siwash Curve," dueentirely to the fact that the white man in poling up a river would exerthimself in a way that the average Indian considered unprofessional, andwould try to hold back, thus adding to the "white man's burden." Heinsisted that the white man usually got over this after the first day'swork, and tried to make it pleasant for the Siwash ever after. He limitedthe trick of each boy at the pole for the first day to one hour, and hehimself and Rand took their own turns at the poles to relieve the achingand untried muscles of the younger Scouts. Soon after leaving the sandybanks and tundra of the lower stream, the creek began to wind its waythrough dense forests of spruce, poplar and oak with the ghostly bark ofthe birch lighting up the dim that marks the tangled wildwood of moresouthern climates, showing how little the sunlight of these northernclimes penetrated the overshadowing canopy.
"Fine woods for huntin'," remarked Swiftwater to Jack, as they poledslowly up stream, "also for travelin' in winter. Bresh won't grow very farin from the streams this far north. Great country for garden stuffhowsomever."
"Do you mean to say that vegetables will grow this far north?" inquiredthe interested reporter.
"Finest garden sass in the world in some sections. Why, there's a valleybetween the Yukon and the Tanana, three hundred miles north of here, thatcan grow anything but bananas and cocoanuts. I'm told they grow biggerpotatoes and cabbages, and carrots and other plain, ordinary cookingvegetables up there within a couple of hundred miles of the Arctic Circlethan they do down in Oregon, where every man's truck patch looks like thefloral hall at the county fair when I was a boy."
"How can anything ripen in the short summers up here?" asked Don.
"All vegetation has got to have light, and the more it has the harder itwill grow. Sun up here is on the job all the time. Reminds me of the yearthat I started out to be star performer with old John Robinson's circusback in Injianny. Got up at three a. m. to help feed the animals andhosses, and assist the chef in the cook tent; waited on table for thecanvas men and other nobility from six to nine a. m., 'doubled in brass'as the sayin' goes, with the band, by carryin' the front end of the bassdrum in the gra-a-nd street parade, wore a toga as a Roman senator in thegreat entree, handled jugglin' and other apparatus durin' twoperformances, and at midnight helped to take down the big top. The otherthree hours I had to myself. I don't mean to say that the sun up here inthe summer time performs all those gymnastics, but he works the samenumber of hours and everything up here that wants to live must keep rightup with him. Ground is frozen twenty feet deep, and thaws out abouteighteen inches in the summer time. That furnishes moisture. Consequently,grass and vegetable are on the jump all the time, working twenty hours aday, and they manage to mature. Oats and other grains that have to growlong stalks, I understand, however, never top out."
The work of poling the boats up stream was varied at times by whatSwiftwater described as "canal work." At stretch where the banks of thestream were reasonably high and precipitous, and the water of considerabledepth close to the shore, the three Indians in each boat fastenedthemselves tandem to a long cable stretched from the bow of the boat tothe shore, and towed the craft for miles at a time, while one of the boyswith the long steering oar kept the bow away from the shore and headed upstream. This method was considerable relief from the steady poling whichtold perceptibly upon the back and shoulders of the novice, and it formeda method of rest for the Indians. The progress was about three miles perhour, and the boys alternately spent considerable time ashore, walkingalong the banks and occasionally relieving one or two of the Indians inthe harness. The miner on the occasion of these tows spent most of histime ashore, directing the Indians and making frequent excursions into theneighboring forest with one or the other of the young Scouts, examiningthe timber and pointing out the peculiarities of the different trees. Hecarried with him a repeating shotgun, and was constantly on the lookoutfor game, both birds and mammals.
"Might run across a caribou," said he, "but I scarcely think so this timeof year. Besides, up here he doesn't take to heavy timber like this sameas he does in Maine and the Kanuck provinces. He runs in droves ofhundreds and thousands up this way, and seems to like the scrub timber."
A short time before noon they came to a sharp bend in the creek where thenature of the bank hid the current ahead from the boys in the two boats.Suddenly the Indians towing the leading craft stopped, and as three heldit against the current, the leader of the team beckoned to Swiftwater, whohad fallen behind.
"Carry," he said, briefly, to the latter as he came up, and pointed to thestream ahead.
"He means a portage," said the miner to Jack, who was walking with him, asthey topped the rise, they went forward to inspect the creek. Directly infront of them where the stream had made a turn, the heavy timber of theforest had retreated back from the water for several hundred yards and theelevated shore sank to almost the level of the water, and became halfswamp and half meadow, covered with tufts of grass, and nearer the woodswith a stunted growth of brush and small dwarf birches. Gold Creek itselfspread out to nearly twice its former width, with innumerable littlesandbars and a few boulders protruding from the bottom. Even Jack'sunpractised eye could see that the current had no depth of any moment.
"Stake out," said Swiftwater to the Indians. "We'll have to portage." TheIndians at once drove the steel anchorage stakes which they carried intothe soil and drew the bow of the boats up against the bank and tooksimilar precautions with the stern of each. The Scouts had all joined Jackand Swiftwater at the top of the bank, where the commander of theexpedition pointed out that the widening of the Gold had so reduced thedepth of the channel that it would be impossible to take the fully loadedboats over the route. As a result most of the cargo if not all of it wouldhave to be unloaded, and perhaps "toted" around the shallow to the deepwater of the channel.
"A good deal of work, isn't it?" inquired Dick.
"There's no freighting de luxe up in this country that I ever found,"replied the miner. "We shall be lucky if we can get along without a'carry.' First thing we've got to know is how much water we're drawing oneach boat fore and aft. Gerald, you're nominated boat measurer, and youcan take Pepper with you. You will find two or three lumber gauges in thedunnage in the rear boat. Each of you take one, and let me know at oncewhat each boat is drawing. Rand, you and Dick are leadsmen of this voyage,and you will each take a pair of knee boots and a lumber gauge and followthe channel of the Creek from shore to shore and give me the greatestdepth of water you can find in a continuous channel up to
where the creeknarrows again and the water will naturally deepen. If you will wait a fewminutes we will give you the data to work on. Jack, you and I will take upa job of stevedorin' and get our longshoremen to work. You take three ofthese Injuns and get to work unloading this first boat, and I'll take theothers and rustle cargo on the other. Most o' these pieces can be jackedup the gangplanks, but where they're too heavy in either boat we'll callall hands and get 'em ashore."
By this time, Gerald and Pepper were armed with two slim paintedwoodstaffs, not unlike the wands of the Boy Scouts, but marked withfigures, and having at one end a movable arm about two inches long thatcould be screwed fast at any point. These they fastened at the extreme endof each gauge, and hooked them under the bottoms of the boats and markingthe top of the water were able to tell just what each boat was drawing.They found, however, that the boats did not trim exactly even, and that atone point or another, bow or stern, the draught was more or less byperhaps an inch. The general average was about twenty-six inches in oneboat and twenty-eight inches in the other.
"These here ocean greyhoun's had a displacement, as they say in oceangoin' craft, of six inches before they were loaded," said Swiftwater,"when I had 'em measured in White Horse, and if the channel anywhere abovehere peters out to that it's a case of carrying all this stuff around thismeadow land. If we can get even two inches above that the job'll beeasier." With the above figures in mind, Rand and Dick plunged into theshallows of the broad channel. Working from rock to sandbar, and bar toboulder, they followed the deepest pools in a tortuous path thatcorkscrewed nearly from one shore to another, and in an hour's time wereable to report to Swiftwater that they could find passageway sufficientlywide for the boats with a minimum depth of fourteen inches.
When they made their report to Swiftwater, a look of intense satisfactioncrossed his face, and he remarked:
"Wa-al, I guess that cuts out one big engineerin' problem that might o'kept us here a week. Hustle that freight off; smallest pieces first." Thechannel figures were reported to Gerald and Pepper, and they wereinstructed to measure frequently the draught of the boats as the stuff wasmoved ashore, and to report to the miner when the draught was reduced toeleven inches.
"Better be on the safe side," he remarked. "Poor place to move freight ifwe should get stuck out there through any mistake of our survey men."
So fast had the Indians worked while the leadsmen were in the channel thatit required but a few minutes more to reduce the draught of the batteausto the scale.
"S-s-say," said Pepper with an anxious look, "isn't it a long time sincebreakfast? I can hardly remember it."
Swiftwater grinned.
"It surely is, Pepper," he said, "and I guess we'll camp right now and doa little business with the inner man before we go any further. I'm apt tobecome int'rested at times, and forget all about that other feller."
At his orders the Indians constructed a small fireplace, and the voyagerswere soon sitting about on the bank and boats enjoying with eight hourappetites, strong black tea, ship's biscuits and canned baked beans, towhich they did full justice.
As soon as the meal was over, Swiftwater ordered all six Indians toharness themselves to a single boat, and placed Rand in it to handle thesteering oar while he himself waded along with the Indians over theshallows to direct their movements, Dick accompanying him to point out thechannel. The current was very sluggish, and rapid progress was made overthe half mile that intervened before reaching deep water again. Arrived atthe desired point the boat was tied to the bank and the remaining cargoquickly removed. Then with all hands aboard, and poles in hand the crewfloated the scow back to their former landing place. Here two of theIndians were left to work with Gerald, Jack, Pepper and Don in replacingcargo on the empty boat while the other was towed up stream and unloaded.The first trip had been so easy and successful that Swiftwater told Geraldto allow a load sufficient to give thirteen inches draught. The secondboat returning was loaded to the same capacity, leaving still a smallamount of cargo, requiring a third trip for one of the boats. On this lasttrip the boat also took in the boys, and as the Indians had by this timelearned the channel the trip was made by poling without mishap.
By the middle of the afternoon the cargo had all been replaced on the twoboats, and the miner announced that as they could not reach theirdestination before dark they would make camp and take the rest of the dayto themselves. At this point the forest came down close to the water'sedge, and the ground was high and dry, and Swiftwater told the boys to"camp out" if they so desired, and had double tarpaulins placed on theground for them and "dog tents" erected for them near the Indians.
A roaring big fire was built, and one of the Indians told off to keep itup. The Scouts thought it was very soldierlike. They talked excitedly fora while, and being weary fell into an early deep sleep. Later there was agood deal of restlessness and turning and twisting. Then through thestarlight, occasionally a mysterious figure could be dimly discernedstealing silently toward the boats. There was a quiet grin on the face ofSwiftwater, who had bunked on one of the boats, when he arose at an earlyhour and found three recumbent figures sleeping peacefully on thecomfortable mattresses in his own boats, and on going ashore saw that the"dog tents" were empty.
"Not quite seasoned yet," he said to himself, as he quietly awakened theIndians.