Project Gutenberg's The Magnetic North, by Elizabeth Robins (C. E. Raimond)
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Title: The Magnetic North
Author: Elizabeth Robins (C. E. Raimond)
Release Date: November 10, 2003 [EBook #10038]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAGNETIC NORTH ***
Produced by Suzanne Shell, Anita Paque, Shawn Wheeler,
David Schaal, Anuradha Valsa Raj and PG Distributed Proofreaders
THE MAGNETIC NORTH
By ELIZABETH ROBINS
(C. E. Raimond) Author of "The Open Question," "Below the Salt," etc.
_With a Map_
1904
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. WINTER CAMP IN THE YUKON
II. HOUSE-WARMING
III. TWO NEW SPISSIMENS
IV. THE BLOW-OUT
V. THE SHAMAN
VI. A PENITENTIAL JOURNEY
VII. KAVIAK'S CRIME
VIII. CHRISTMAS
IX. A CHRISTIAN AGNOSTIC
X. PRINCESS MUCKLUCK
XI. HOLY CROSS
XII. THE GREAT WHITE SILENCE
XIII. THE PIT
XIV. KURILLA
XV. THE ESQUIMAUX HORSE
XVI. MINOOK
XVII. THE GREAT STAMPEDE
XVIII. A MINERS' MEETING
XIX. THE ICE GOES OUT
XX. THE KLONDYKE
XXI. PARDNERS
XXII. THE GOING HOME
THE MAGNETIC NORTH
CHAPTER I
WINTER CAMP ON THE YUKON
"To labour and to be content with that a man hath is a sweet life; but
he that findeth a treasure is above them both."--_Ecclesiasticus_.
Of course they were bound for the Klondyke. Every creature in the
North-west was bound for the Klondyke. Men from the South too, and men
from the East, had left their ploughs and their pens, their factories,
pulpits, and easy-chairs, each man like a magnetic needle suddenly set
free and turning sharply to the North; all set pointing the self-same
way since that July day in '97, when the _Excelsior_ sailed into San
Francisco harbour, bringing from the uttermost regions at the top of
the map close upon a million dollars in nuggets and in gold-dust.
Some distance this side of the Arctic Circle, on the right bank of the
Yukon, a little detachment of that great army pressing northward, had
been wrecked early in the month of September.
They had realised, on leaving the ocean-going ship that landed them at
St. Michael's Island (near the mouth of the great river), th
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