The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 14, 1903, Page 7

THE SUNDAY CALL. & s s n side De Carthagina in Seymour 'Norrow Swiftwater i 1902, by Jack London.] t Montana Mext he ened that the were hese he met and ted their names and pos- He had a good irtues ways eager for news, beheld Kid's heading down and went on the ice to meet newspapers was hanged ho Dreyfus was: but O'Brien? O'Brien. why. he te Horse: Sitka Ch ie of the party wh Both legs frozen e Five Fingers. And wn up on the Sea Lion d Bettles? Wrecked on of three hundred. Gone through the Lake Le Barge with six fe- mbers of the opera troupe he was Governor Walsh? Lost with and eight sleds on the Thirty reaux? Who was Devereaux? srier! Shot by Indians on Lake The word was passed shouldered In to ask after partners, and in turn were d out, too stupned for blas- By the time Montana Kid gained nk he was surrounded by several fur-clad miners. When he the barracks he was the, center srocession. At the opera hause he icleus of an excited mob, each struggling for a chance to ask some zbsent comrade. On evéry being invited to drink. Never before had the Klondike thus opened lis arms to a che-cha-qua. All Dawson was humming. Such a series or catastrophes had never occurred in its history. Every of note who had south in the been wiped o The cabins t occupants. Wild- d down from the creeks seek out tnis man who of such disaster. The wite of Bettles sought inconsolable, and ‘rocked Dawson mc Why Montana Kid did know T beyc y Constantine And then one vernment courfer, ore the gold com- Who sal k and he'd show wad. Why, Governor p on the Little Sal- coming in on the first ve him a moose steak that Montana Kid oblite- iscape. And usual, at the s dog team headed down godspeed he case-ha became with spring. The Yukon was growling and straining at its t & detours became necessary begun to fall thre rrent beneith, while. the rest, was thundering great gaping Through i through cou hales the sweep across the surface 1 by the time he pulled i er's cabin on the point ¢ the dogs were being rushed feet and were swimming more often not. He was greeted sourly by the residents e unharnessed and were fair specimens inefficients. Canadian-born, n a foolish moment they ing-house desks, drawn yings and gone Klondiking. 7 ¢ the rough Gr spiritless for home in their hearts, they bad been staked by the P. C. Company to cug wood for its steamers, with the prom- ix6 at the end of a passage home. Dis- regarding the possibilities of the ice run they had fitt demonstrated their in- ciency by their choice of the island on which they located. Montana Kid, though possessing little knowledge of the break- up of a greag river, looked about him du- biously cast yearning glances at the distant K, where the towering bluffs promised immunity from all the ice of the northiand Aficr fegding himself and dogs, he light- ed his and strolled out to gel a bet- er id {tuation. The island, like all its rive H ren, stood higher at the vpper end t was here that Donald and Davy had built their cabin and piled many cords of wood. The far shore was a full mile away, while between the isl- and and the near shore lay a back chan- nel perhaps a hundred yards across. At first sight of this ~aOntana Kid was tempted to take his dogs and escape to the mainland, but on closer inspection he aiscovered a rapid current flooding on top. Below the river twisted sharply to the west, and in this turn its breast was studded by a maze of tiny islands. “That’'s where she’ll jam,” he remark- ed to himseif. A half-dozen sleds, evidently bound up- stream to Dawson, were splashing through the chill water to the tail of the island. Travel on the river was passing from the precarious to the impossible, and jt was nip and tuck with them till they gained the island and came up the path of the woodchoppers toward the cabin. One of them, snow-blind, towed helplessly at the rear of a sled. Husky young fellows they were, rough-garment- ed and trail-worn, yvet Montana Kid had met the breed before and knew at once that it was not his kind. “Hello! How's things up Dawson- way?": queried the foremost, passing his eve over Donald and Davy and settling it upon the Kid. - A first meeting in. the wilderness is not characterized by formality. The talk .evcHAa Ro DAY SEe o) e “And what of the woodpiles quickly became general and the news of the upper and lower countries was swapped equitably back and forth. But the little the newcomers had was® soon over with, for they had wintered at Mi- nook, a thousand miles below, where nothing was doing. Montana Kid, how- ever, was fresh from Salt Water amd they annexed him while they pitched camp, swamping him with questions concerning the outside, from which they had been cut off for a twelve-month. A shrieking split, suddenly lifting itselt above the general uroar on the river, drew everybody to the bank. The surfacs water had increased in depth, and the ice, assailed from above and below, was struggling to tear itself from the grip of the shores. Fissures reverberated into life before their eyes and the air was filled with multitudinous crackling, crisp and sharp, like the sound that goes up on a clear day from the firing line. From up the river two men were racing a dog team toward them on an uncovered stretch of ice. But even as they looked the pair struck the water and began-te flounder through. Behind, where thelr feet had sped the moment before, the ice broke up and turned turtle. Through this opening the river rushed out upon them to their waists, burying the sled and swinging the dogs off at right angles in a drowning tangle. But the men stopped their flight to give the amimals a fightiug @chance, and they groped hurriedly in the cold confusion, slashing at the detaining traces with their sheath knives. Then they fought their way to the bank through swirling water and grinding ice, where, foremost In leaping to the ‘rescue among the jarring fragments, was the Kid. “Why, blame me, if it ain't Montana Kid!” exclaimed one of the men whom the K14 was just blacing upon his feet at the top of the bank. He wore the searlet tunic of the mounted police and jocularly raised his right hand.in salute, “Got a warrant for you, Kid,” he con- tinued, drawing a bedraggled paper from his breast pocket, “‘an’ I 'ope you'll come along peaceable.” Montana Kid looked at the chaotic river and shrugged his shoulders, and the po- liceman, following his glance, smiled. “Where are the dogs?’ his companion asked. “Gentlemen,” interrupted the policeman, “Not Suytherland of 927" broke in the snow-blinded Minook man, groping feebly toward him. “The same.” Sutherland gripped his hand. “And )ou’ - “Oh, I'm after your time, but I'remem- ber you in my freshman year. You were doing P. G. work then. Boys,” he called, turning half about, “this is Sutherland, Jack Sutherland, erstwhile fullback on the varsity. Come up, you gold chasers, and fall upon him! Sutherland, this is Greenwich—played quarter two seasons back.” “Yes, T read of the game,” Sutherland sald, shaking hands. “And I remember that big run of yours for the first touch- down.” Greenwich flushed darkly under his \ tanned skin and awkwardly made room for another. “And here's Matthews—Berkeley man. And we've got some Eastern cracks knockinig about, too. Come up, y9, Princeton men! Come up! This is Sut , erland, Jack Sutherland,” Then they fell upon him heavily, car- ried him into camp and supplied him with dry clothes and numerous mugs of black tea. Donald and Davy, overlooked, had re- tired to their nightly game of crib. Mon- tana Kid followed them with the police- ma ere, get into some dry togs,” he sald, pulling them from out his scanty kit. “Guess you'll Have to bunk with me, too.” “Well, I say, fiou're a good 'un,” the policeman remarked as he pulled on the other man's socks. “Sorry I've got to take you:back to Dawson, but I only ‘ope they won't be "ard on you.” “Not so fast.” The Kid smiled curious- ly, “We ain’t under arrest yet. When I g0 I'm going down the river, and I guess the chances are you'll go along.” “Not if T know myself—"" “Come on outside and I'll show you, then. These damn fools,” thrusting a mumh over his shoulder at the two Scots, “played smash when they located here. Fill your pipe first—this is pretty good plug—and enjoy yourself.while you can. You haven't many smokes before you.” The policeman went with him wonder- ingly, while Donfld and Davy dropped their cards and followed.® The Minook men noticed Montana Kid pointing now up the river, now down, and came over. What's up?” Sutherland demanded. “Nothing much.” Nonchalance sat well upon the Kid. “Just a case of ra hell and putting a chunk under. See that bend down there? That's where she’ jam millions of tons of ice. Then she'll Jam in) the bends up above, milllons of tons. Upper jam breaks first, lower jam holds, pouf!” He dramatically swept the island with his hand. “Millions of tons,” he added reflectively. Davy questioned. The Kid repeated his sweeping gesture < ».and Davy wailed: . “The Jabor-of months! t canna be! Na, na, lad, it canna be. I doot not it's a jowk. Ay, say that it is,” he_appealed. Biit when the Kid laughed barshly and BN ROTICED W MMONTANA PRID POLTING opP turned on his heel Davy flung himself upon the piles and began frantically to toss the cordwood back from the bank. “Lend a hand, Donald!” he cried. “Can ye 1o lend a hand? 'Tis the labor of months and the passage home Donald caught him by the arm and shook him, but he tore free. “Pid ye no hear, man? Millions of tons; and the island shall be sweeptit clean. “Straighten yersel' up, man,” said Don- ald. “It's a bit fashed ye are. But Davy fell upon the ¢ordwaod. Den- ald stalked back to the cabin, buckled on his money belt and Davy's and went out to the point of the island where the 1 highest and whers & Buge bove its fellows. e cabin heard the smiled. Greenwich island with the were pi"’r‘ed in. It was ross the back channel. r ceased'suddenly. about them. The ing. Up e cama, switt and silent, for twenty feet, till the huge cakes rubbed softly Rxahst the crest of the bank. Tha tall of ‘the“island, being lower, was Then, without ef- fort, the white flood started down stream. But the sound increased wi and soon the whels is and” quivering with th ng bergs. Under pres- sure the mighty cakes weighing hun- dreds of tons, were shot Into the alr like peas. warchy increased its to shout into one eard. Occasionally the back chagnel could be heard above the tumult. The island dered with the impact of the enor- mous cake which drove in squgrely upon its point. It ripped a score of pines out by the roots, then, swinging around and , lifted its muddy base rrom the bot- tom of.the river 1 bore down upon the cabin, slicing the bank and .trees away like a gigantic e. It seephed barely to graze the-c of the cabin, but the cribbed logs t up like matches. and the structure, like a toy house, fell back- of months! The labor of the passage home!” Davy , while Montana and the po- ed him backward from the ty o' hoppertunity all passage ‘ome,” the ceman growled, clouting alongside he head and sending him. fiying into safety. Donald, from the top of the pine, saw the devastating berg sweep away the cordwood and disappear down stream. As h satisf with this damage, the ice flood quickly dropped to its level and began to slacken its pace. The noise like- eased down, and the others could routing from his eyrie to look eam. As forecast, the jam had come among the islands in the bend, and the ice was piling up in a great bar- er which stretched from shors to shore. e river came to a standstill, and the ter, finding no began to rise. shed up tI men_splast A knee* and the dogs swimming to the ruins of the cabin. At this stage it ab- ruptly became stationary, with mo pere ceptible rise or-fall. Montana Kid shook his head. “It's jammed above and no more's coming down.” “And the gamble is, which jam will break first,” Sutherland added. “Exactl fAirmed. “If the upper jam we haven't & chancey Nothing will stand before it.” The Minook men turned away in silence, but soon “Rumsky Ho floated upon the quiet air, followed by “the Orange and the Black.” Room was made in the cir- cle for Montana Kid and the policeman, and they quickly caught the ringing rhythm of the choruses as they drifted from song to song. “Oh, Donald, will ye no lend a hand?" Davy sobbed at the foot of the tree into which his comrade had climbed. *“Oh, Donald, man, will ye no lend a hand?" he sobbed again, his hands bleeding from vain attempts to scale the slippery trunk. But Donald had nxed his gaze up river, and now his voice rang out, vibrant with fean: “lod Almighty, hers she comes!™ Standing knee-deep in the icy water, the Minook man, with Montana Kid and the policeman, gripped hands and raised thelr volces in the terrible “Battle Hymn of the Republic But the ' words wers drowned-in the advancing roar. And to Donald was vouchsafed & sight such as-no man may see and live. A great wall of white flung itseif upon the igland. Trees, dogs, men, were blotted opt as though the hand of God had wiped the face of nature clean. This much he saw, then swayed an instant longer im his lofty perch and hurtled far out info the frozen hell. e - Twentieth Century Episode. BY MADGE MORRIS. NEXT SUNDAY. o R i S f | { | { —