d, he said with that simplicity which any one would find
hard to resist:

"You see poor Hardman is in bad luck; he hain't any outfit, and wants
to go to the gold fields, but will have to git some one to stake him.
Obsarving the same, I made bowld to remark that it would give me frind
Jiff the highest plisure to do it for him, not forgetting to obsarve
that I knew his company would be agreeable to the byes, and he will be
of great hilp to the same."

"Well, I'm blessed!" exclaimed the old miner, removing his hat and
mopping his forehead with his big red handkerchief. Then he turned half
way round and looked steadily at the fellow, who was standing with his
head down.

"Poor dog! let him come along, but if he makes any trouble, I'll hold
you responsible, Tim."

"And I'll be happy to take charge of the same 'sponsibility, and if he
don't toe the mark, it's mesilf that will make him. Do you hear that,
Ike?" he roared, turning fiercely toward the fellow, who started, and
meekly replied that he heard, though it was impossible for anything to
reach him except the last thunderous demand.

"It isn't for us to say anything," remarked Roswell aside to his chum,
"but that means trouble for us all."

"It surely does; we must be on our guard against him."

The outfits were piled on a sandspit about a mile below the trading
posts of Healy and Wilson. In the foreground were the ranch and store
owned by them, and beyond towered the coast mountains, their tops
gleaming in the sunshine with enormous masses of snow, while hundreds
of miles still beyond stretched the immense Yukon country, toward which
the eyes of the civilized world are turned at the present time.

One of the strange facts connected with Alaska and the adjoining region
is that in May the sun rises at 3 o'clock and sets at 9, while in June
it rises at 1.30 and sets at 10.30. Thus the summer day is twenty hours
long, and it has a diffuse twilight. The change from winter to summer
is rapid, winter setting in in September, and in the Klondike region
zero weather lasts from November to May, though at times the weather
moderates early in March, but does not become settled until May. The
Yukon generally freezes shut in the latter part of October, and breaks
up about the middle of May, when the western route to the gold fields
by the river becomes practicable.

The hour was so late when our friends had finished carrying their
outfit beyond reach of the high tide, which