"Again I had to gulp when I thought of my mother.
"'I see the hull fool thing. Yeh jus' went crazy readin' trashy papers, an' yeh run away widdout tellin' a soul, 'cause yeh knew they wouldn't let yeh come otherwise.'
"I marveled at how close he had come to the truth.
"'Well, yer here, kid, an' I s'pose Old Hal's got to see yeh through wit it, so thet worritin' mother of yourn'll see yeh agin, some day.' And he swung the whip over the horses' heads with a crack that saved me from his ire.
"We came to a bad grade then, and Old Hal had to keep a wary eye on the trail, for the horses were not as sure-footed as the dogs and deer.
"It must have been four o'clock before we halted. The air was growing colder as we advanced, and I was glad enough to open my pack for a chunk of bread and a slice of bacon.
"'Hist, kid, stow that away!' whispered Hal, as he began to unhitch the horses for the night.
"In a short time the two men from the sledge came up.
"'Hello, youngster! You did come, after all, didn't you?' said the older man.
"As the supper was being cooked by an Indian guide, I was welcomed in the circle sitting about a blazing fire and asked about myself. To each question I replied truthfully, and wondered at the smiles and surprise shown at my answers.
"One of the two men who owned the expedition turned to the old guide after a time and said: 'Hal, what shall we do with the kid? Send him back home?'
"'If 'twere me, I'd give him his fill. He'll be safe enough wid us, an' we kin git heaps of work outen him; but he'll never 'mount to nothin' ef yeh send him home, 'cause he'll allus think of the gold he might have got,' said Hal astutely.
"'Guess you've hit the nail on the head, Hal,' laughed the younger man, as he looked at me.
"So I became a member of the Yukon Gold Expedition, under the management of John Herrick and Julius Dwight, engineers.
"We traveled over hundreds of miles of snow, for we were trying to reach a certain trail that Old Hal knew, before the thaw set in.
"We did not quite get there, however, before the general thaw struck us. Then the canoes were needed. I had wondered why we delayed our traveling to cart those canoes with us, for there were no streams or lakes to cross, but the moment the thaw set in it seemed that every piece of ice and snow in the North was turning to water. Instead of trails, we had to travel by green-blue rivers, or over deep, dark seas.