Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 101, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 March 1912 — BURNING DAYLIGHT [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BURNING DAYLIGHT

BY JACK LONDON

Authod Of " The Call OeTke W/ld7 U Wfi/TE /AN<L "MAPr/NfDENfre Illustrations By Dearborn Melvill

(Copyright, 1910. by the New York Herald Company.) (Copyright. 1310, by tie MacMillan Company.

CHAPTER IV.

This time the trail 'was easier. It Was better packed, and they were not carrying mail against time. At Forty lllle they laid over two days for the sake of the dogs, and at Sixty Mile Daylight’s team was left with the trader. Unlike. Daylight, after the terrible run from Selkirk to Circle City, they had been unable to recuperate on the back trail. So the four men pulled on from Sixty Mile with a fresh team of; d Bled. The toiler, irvrr r : : > camped in the :v: < r the 'mouth of tl.. S*- •' " talked town si' others laughed • - P whole maze of “Just supposing *'.f i . ?tk '4cmf come on the St “MU-.be ycu-all ’ll ; again mebbe you-a’l t will. Ycu-all ’d bet: r.r< , go In with me on it " * But they were atul "You’re as bad as i.iarj • r, a: i J >e Ladue,” said Joe Hines, “Tl. • re always at that game. You k ,--.v that

big flat jest below the Klondike and under Moosehide Mountain? ’Veil, the recorder at Forty Mile was tollin’ toe they staked that not a month ago —The Harper & Ladue Town Site. Ha! Ha! Ha!” Elijah and Finn joined in his laughter; but- Daylight was gravely In earnest “There she is!” he cried. “The hunch Is working! It’s In the air, I tell you-all! What’d they-all stake the big flat for if they-all didn’t get the hunch? Wish I’d staked it.”

The regret in his voice was provocative of a second burst of laughter. “Laugh, dang you, laugh! Why ycur eyes ain’t open yet. You-all are a bunch of little mewing kittens. I tell you-all if that strikes come on Klondike, Harper and Ladue will be millionaires. And if it comes on Stewart, you-all watch the Elam Harnish town site boom. In them days, when you-all come around makin’ poor mouths . . He heaved, a sigh of resignation. “Well, I suppose I’ll have to give you-all a grub-stake or soup, or something or dther.” In the meantime there was naught, to show for it but hunch. But it was coming. As he would stake his last ounce on a good poker hand, so be staked his life and effort op the hunch that the future held in store, a big strike on the Upper River. So he and his three companions, with dogs, and sleds, and snowshoes, toiled up the frozen breast of the-Stewart, toiled on and on through the white wilderness whoi.e the unending f. I never broken by the voices of men, the stroke of an ax, or the distant crack of a rifle. Gold they found on the bars, but not in paying quantities, and in the following May . ti: y returned to Sixty Mile. Ten days later. Harper and Joe Ladue arrived at Sixty Mile, and Daylight, strong to obey the hunch that had come to him, traded a third interest in his Stewart town site for a third interest in theirs on the Klondike. They had laith in the Upper Country, and Harper left down-stream, with a raft-load of supplies, to start a small post at the. mouth of the Klondike. “Why don’t you tackle Indian River, Daylight?” Harper advised, at pafttpg. “There’s whole slathers of creeks and draws draining in up there, and somewhere gold just crying to be found. That’s my hunch. There’s a big strike coming, and Indian River ain’t going to be a million miles away.”

“And the place is swarming with moose,” Joe Ladue added. “Bob Henderson’s up there somewhere, been there three years now, swearing something big is going to happen, living off’n straight moose and prospecting around like ~a crazy man.” Daylight decided to go Indian River a flutter, as he expressed it ; and lingered a few days longer arranging his meager outfit. He planned to go in light, carrying a pack of seventy-five pounds and making his five dogs pack as well, Indian fashion, loading them with thirty, pounds each. Depending on the report of Ladue, he intended tp follow Boh Henderson’s example and live practically on straight meat. When Jack Kearns’ scow, laden with the sawmill from Lake Linderman, tied up at Sixty Mile, Daylight bundled his outfit and dogs on k board, turned bis towm-site application over to Elijah to be filed, and the same day was landed at the mouth of Indian River. He continued down Hunker to the Klondike, and on to the summer fishing camp of the Indians bn the Yukon. Here for a day he camped with Carmack, a squaw-man, and his Indian brother-in-law, Skookum Jim, bought a boat, and, with his dogs on board, drifted down the Yukon to Forty Mile. Then It was that Carmack, his broth-er-in-law, Skookum Jim, and Cultus Charlie, another Indian, arrived in a canoe at Forty Mile, went straight to the gold commissioner, and recorded three claims and _a discovery claim on

Bonanza Creek. After that,Tn the Sourdough Saloon, that nightr tbey exhibited coarse gold to the skeptical crowd. Daylight, too. was skeptical, and this despite his faith in the Upper Country. Had he not, only a few days before. seen Carmack loafing with his Indians and with never a thought of prospecting? But at eleven that night, sitting on the edge of his bunk and un'r.cing his moccasins, a thought canse to him. He put cn his coat and k. t and went back to the Sourdough. Carm? was still there, flashing his ■ ar.-.> gold in the eyes, of an unbe’u: generation. Daylight ranged Iri-reside of him and emptied Car- • into a blower,! This he ter a I ng time. Th'cn, from - • ok. into another blower, lie - ■ 1 - > veral ounces of Circle City < F ty Mile gold. Again, for a long ■•* riudied and compared. Final- * ; icketed his own gold, returned 1 ks, and held up his hand for skvr.ro.

i-oys. I want to- tell you-all something,’ he said. “She's sure come—the up-river strike. And I tell you-all, clear and forcible, this is it. There nint never been geld like that in a blower in this country bdfere. It’s new gold. It’s got more silver In it

You-all can see it by the color. Carmack’s sure made a strike. Who-all’s got faith to come along with me?” No ope volunteered. “ib&n who-all ’ll take a job from nie, cash wages in advance, to pole up a thousand pounds of grub?” Curly Parsons and another, Pat Monahan, accepted, and, with his customary speed, Daylight paid them their wages in advance and arranged the purchase of the supplies, though he emptied his sack in doing so. He was leaving the Sourdough, when he suddenly turned back to the bar from the door. “Got another hunch ?” was the query. “I sure have,” he answered. “Flour’s sure going to be worth what a man will pay for it this winter up on the Klondike. Who’ll lend me some money ?” ' . On the instant a score of the men who had declined to accompany him on the wild-goose chase were crowding about him with proffered goldsacks. “How much flour do you Want?"’ asked the Alaska Commercial Company’s storekeeper. “About two ton.” The proffered gold-sacks were not withdrawn, though their owners were guilty of an outrageous hurst of merrl ment. , i ■ ■

“What are you going to do with two tons?” the storekeeper demanded. “I’ll tell you-all in simple A, B, C and one. two, three.” , Daylight held up one finger and began checking off. “Hunch number one: a Big strike coming in Upper iCountry. Hunch number two: Carmack’s made it. Hunch number three: ain’t ho hunch at all. It’s a cinch. If one and two is right, then flour just has to go sky-high. If I’m riding hunches one and two, I just got to ride this cinch, which is number' three: If I’m right, flour " ’ll balance geld on the scales this winter.”

“Who-all’s Got Faith to Come Along With Me?”