| Show P MAIN in N 5 r alm COURTNEY RYLEY courtney Court ncy ryley cooper service CHAPTER I 1 jack hammond reflected as he walked up from the wharf that train rain was prince most bountiful crop he made the climb from the water front and cut across the little terraced park where totem poles stood gleaming with moisture and grotesquely 1 lonely 0 n e I 1 y everything dripped in prince rupert this morning even the discolored stuffed ka diak bual bear in in front of al mansons Mon sons trading store at last hammond halted abruptly looking over the wooden fence of a back yard howls and whines had centered his attention what are you trying to do with that dog doa he asked A man halted in his efforts to kick a harnessed mongrel into progress along a muddy space before a makeshift sleigh weighted with stones going to make a sled dog out of him that bozo he got the weight for it oh lies hes pretty strong the man grinned say be buying anything a where this dogs going wheres that the pseudo trainer jerked his head toward the white pinnacles of distant mountains over the hills there in B C the man said up the caribou rv river somewhere around the valley of the you heard about it hammonds features had become strangely grim going on wherever reve you been that you read the papers on the aleutian coming up from vancouver the dog trainer stared the ship that got in this morning he asked and you know about it then you must have been deaf dumb and blind there were plenty of others who came on that boat just because of it because of what jack hammonds hands where they gripped the fence were strangely discolored well if you aint kidding the gold rush two fellows found placer gold up there A couple of guys named mckenzie joe britten and his partner jack hammond oh I 1 see said hammond jerkily yeh the volunteer trainer rubbed casually at the loose fur of his dog guess figured to keep it quiet all for themselves you know but this hammond goes down 1 to seattle to see some old girl hed been stuck on ever since he was a kid then he got on a big bust and spilled everything its been in all the papers I 1 guess quite a romance yes quite said hammond thinly so figuring on going up there eh everybody and his brother why I 1 thought id train this dog I 1 that dog cant make the grade in the country zeros a hot day around there this time of year no chest thin legs A light coat from being around this coast country no hair on his feet hed last about two days on the trail that aint my worry let the fellow who buys him lose sleep over that he gave the dog a kick shouting outing Bh mush mush on there the dogs howls remained in jack hammonds ears as he walked slowly up the street so this was a gold rush this an echo of the broken laughter and excited jabber i ings of himself and mckenzie joe i britten one day last autumn up there in the faraway far away country then their discovery of placer or nugget gold poor mans gold as it is so often called had brought great visions here was new money waiting to be washed from the gravel of a river and of value the minute it was found no need for great shafts and expensive machinery to extract this wealth there had been big talk that day of what new gold meant to a wait ing world the happiness it would bring the accomplishments there had been no thought of the greed the suffering the jealousies and hatred which must inevitably follow he passed al mansons Mon sons trading store and ben deacons both were jammed with purchasers many had the white faces of persons who knew nothing 0 or wind or pelting ice particles the whip of a blizzard or the blaze of sun on ice hammond tried to tell himself that it was none of his business he entered the hotel joe here he asked the clerk mckenzie joe no he pulled out yesterday morning all in a rush down north say must have got out on a work train left a note for you though mr hammond jack unfolded the scrawled letter that had been left by his bearded partner it was brusque and jerkily frank well I 1 figured you might play the fool if yo you U ever got to seattle and met that girl bu but t I 1 never thought aoud spill the beans like you did why you wait until you hit the bush again before you got drunk therell be a thousand fools up in the country before breakup break up im hitting bitting out of here with short supplies to get in there and protect our interests before the rush starts see our lawyer and be sure our claims and leases are in good shape then come on with supplies as quick as you can hammond turned to the waiting boy beside him and ordered his bags taken to his room then he headed for the door again 7 on the street he started toward a three story building a few blocks away his course was a broken one townspeople he knew halted him to question the accuracy of news if M X i ag 01 14 S U ar ej you tou try to throw Us off the trail paper stories which jack hammond had not seen his evasiveness only y nettled them what if you seen the newspapers they asked Y you au made the discovery the vancouver papers have been full of it you know all about it the use of trying to keep it a secret soon a crowd had gathered about him hammond fenced frantically A big man with a faint break of accent in his voice poked a hard skinned hewed out face close to to that of hammond my names olson he announced noun ced ive got a map here suppose you point out the place to us hammond pulled at his breath maybe id better he agreed then as olson poked the map before him I 1 see you on the boat from vancouver yah you saw me said olson and a lot of others why you come to me then I 1 could have explained all this to you maybe you have been so anxious about getting oft off here you got off you asked the man with the pack on his back that was enough for me came another voice then a short man red faced and with an excitable manner edged forward how about me I 1 saw the story in in a winnipeg paper and took a plane for jasper park then caught the train up here yell yeh and I 1 came from prince george cut in another member of the crowd 1 I thought wed go in from alaska around wrangell look here asked olson you try to throw us off the trail getting othere of here at prince rupert hammond spread his hands in a gesture of disgust and for a moment silenced them how in the world could I 1 try to throw you aff when I 1 even know you were on my trail none of you came near me on the boat yah laughed olson how could we you were in your cabin most of the time getting over that head you must have had when you got aboard down at seattle so some I 1 lie time you had down there there y yah ah hammond straightened he raised a work thickened hand and Fe removing moving his hat allowed the cooling rain to fall for a moment on his dark tousled hair he regarded the crowd which hemmed him in with a look almost of pity in his dark eyes listen fellows he began you dont know what youre getting into by trying to beat that country 11 but the map shows that its just back of wrangell olson insisted to hell with the map hammond broke forth angrily certainly its back of wrangell maybe seventy five miles a hundred I 1 dont know just below the river against the alaskan border supplemented ted the red faced man from winnipeg the newspaper said so 1 I suppose that makes it a fact hammond answered sarcastically then why dont you go on to wrangell by boat and up the river you cant go up the this time of year an hutsi outsider der argued might as well try to walk on ici icicles will you let me explain the setup hammond insisted if you go in b by y way of the youve got to make nearly miles and double back you cant turn off that river runs through canyons almost to telegraph creek way past the discovery its next to impossible to cover the route on the ice boats make that river in in the summer time someone insisted certainly paddle wheelers but this summer the spring breakup break up in that country due for months think that 0 over vel then jack hammond stood silent listening to the jangle of words about him men were arguing about whether or not the newspaper was correct as if any inaccuracy were a personal affront all in an instant the thought of gold had torn reason to shreds then olson caught him by the arm and shot the question yah it if you cant go in by way of wrangell how do you go in by Four cross it if you want to be a fool and try it so tough about that the weather jack insisted you dont get any warm winds from the japanese current once youre over the coastal range its 35 and 40 below all the way to the 1 I know that said olson laconically but why fight the bush for miles with dog team when in a few months therell be airplanes or easy travel along the river and mountain trails yah said and find all the claims gone or youve gobbled up the country through a set of dummies the red faced man added you can figure that out for yourself hammond answered abruptly and shouldering through the crowd again moved up the street leaving the throng muttering behind him but again a block farther on his progress was halted this time it was a woman well prospector she asked cant you say hello hammond looked up into the features of a wrinkled person valiantly battling her age with thick foundation cream high rouge mascar aed eyes and a heavily lip mouth yet it was a sprightly face blue eyes set in crows feet of humor and experience lips which life had hardened without leaving them grim TO BE CONTINUED |
