Show STUDENT LIFE retorted the irate Londoner between set teeth Stranger had crawled from under a dislodged head line and was licking off an ocean wave when Tom appeared “Almost as close a call as starvation once eh Stranger?” broke in “on the amused Tom Bonanza the ‘fall o’ 98 I guess you remember the time you couldn’t forget it You were the only dog I had left — the only friend in the world We had tramped and prospected two summers long — nigh on two years together We went on every ‘stampede’ that came and sunk on fine( ?) locations to our sorrow The second winter was treading hard on the heels of fall Snow blanketed the surrounding mountain The mercury was falland Cabin fast proing I was none had we visions hungry — lean to had and you you against a tree to bark That day seemed cold and dark our whole world wore a ‘no pay’ windlass expression That day too we “mushed” the bed of Bonanza passing by the richest claims in the Klondike That day you chased a something across the creek up the face of the hill and into the pine saplings on I waited for you t’ come top back again — a long time it seemed All at once your barking stopped I called and called You did not ‘Has he answered his last come I threw off my call?’ I wondered pack to go and see From the brow of the hill I could see in the distance you had pawed a hole —dug the wild thing out When I got 229 closer I found you expecting punishment and rabbit fur and bones strewn ’round But from the hole from that shallow bed — rock reef — that gravel ! ! It was rich old boy —it panned out well we found Hardships past were soon forgot We’d struck the payiron-stain- ed ing ground !” “Stranger this discovery and all I owe to you We’re go to the land of sunhome now ing shine pleasure and orange blossoms Dog sleds and heavy packs privations and rough trails — memories of the past” The last long horizontal rays of the summer sun had long been sunk beneath the Pacific horizon The last stroller had found the warm cabin more comfortable than the deck in the cool night air The Islander was entering the waters of Sound — mountainous Frederick glaciers to port and starboard The search light fell on acqua-marin- e colored things ahead — serpents of moving ice The old man was loathe to go Patting Stranger on the head he pulled himself away The dog followed to the end of his chain and watched his master into darkness As Tom Sinclair closed his eyes in his stateroom the marine clock struck one but he did not understand In his dreams he was again under that lonely Arctic sky poking his fading camp-fir- e and listening to his dogs as they howled at the night A crash ! A fearful grating-O - |