een
some likely lookin' bars first time he come down the Stewart, and we're
goin' to sample 'em while the river's froze. You listen, Daylight, an'
mark my words, the time's comin' when winter diggin's'll be all the go.
There'll be men in them days that'll laugh at our summer stratchin' an'
ground-wallerin'."

At that time, winter mining was undreamed of on the Yukon. From the
moss and grass the land was frozen to bed-rock, and frozen gravel, hard
as granite, defied pick and shovel. In the summer the men stripped the
earth down as fast as the sun thawed it. Then was the time they did
their mining. During the winter they freighted their provisions, went
moose-hunting, got all ready for the summer's work, and then loafed the
bleak, dark months through in the big central camps such as Circle City
and Forty Mile.

"Winter diggin's sure comin'," Daylight agreed. "Wait till that big
strike is made up river. Then you-all'll see a new kind of mining.
What's to prevent wood-burning and sinking shafts and drifting along
bed-rock? Won't need to timber. That frozen muck and gravel'll stand
till hell is froze and its mill-tails is turned to ice-cream. Why,
they'll be working pay-streaks a hundred feet deep in them days that's
comin'. I'm sure going along with you-all, Elijah."

Elijah laughed, gathered his two partners up, and was making a second
attempt to reach the door.

"Hold on," Daylight called. "I sure mean it."

The three men turned back suddenly upon him, in their faces surprise,
delight, and incredulity.

"G'wan, you're foolin'," said Finn, the other lumberjack, a quiet,
steady, Wisconsin man.

"There's my dawgs and sled," Daylight answered. "That'll make two
teams and halve the loads--though we-all'll have to travel easy for a
spell, for them dawgs is sure tired."

The three men were overjoyed, but still a trifle incredulous.

"Now look here," Joe Hines blurted out, "none of your foolin, Daylight.
We mean business. Will you come?"

Daylight extended his hand and shook.

"Then you'd best be gettin' to bed," Elijah advised. "We're mushin' out
at six, and four hours' sleep is none so long."

"Mebbe we ought to lay over a day and let him rest up," Finn suggested.

Daylight's pride was touched.

"No you don't," he cried. "We all start at six. What time do you-all
want to be called? Five? All right, I'll rouse you-all out."

"You oughter have some sleep," Elijah counselled gravely. "You can't