be back before
sundown.... Ain't you goin' to git supper?"

She was on the point of refusing to carry out the necessary abhorrent
domestic work, but the chance of escape which his words gave rise to
brought discretion to the forefront. She cooked a dish of beans and opened
some canned fruit, and they took their meal, thrusting it beneath the
shielding mosquito-nets which seldom left their heads.

Half an hour later they made ready for sleep, in very close proximity to
the hard ground, with a hanging canvas curtain between them.

"Good-night, Angela!" he said.

She returned no answer.

Down in the town things were just beginning to wake up. No one worried
about time in Dawson City. The nights were like the days, the only
difference being that the nights were more noisy. Time was stretched and
manipulated with as much ease as an elastic band. Men went to bed at eight
in the morning, and woke up to take their breakfast at three or four in
the afternoon. Thereafter came dancing, drinking, mirth, and boisterous
song. The conditions of the northern summer aided and abetted this queer
juggling with time, for it was never dark, and 3 A.M. was not much
different to 3 P.M. And as a rule, the life of the saloons was too busy a
thing to take notice of any changes in the position of the sun.

The next morning Jim, armed with a pick and shovel and some stakes, left
for Red Ruin. Angela watched him disappear over a bluff, and immediately
prepared to put into operation her scheme for escape. She packed a small
sack with the few things she would require, and wrote a short note which
she pinned to the flap of the tent.

"I warned you I should go. There is no other way but this.--ANGELA."

She took the sack and descended to the crowded town. The river was still
belching ice into the Bering Sea, but the last floes were leaving the
upper reaches, and she knew that in a few hours navigation would be
possible, up-stream. Whilst many parties were content to wait for the
steamer's arrival, others, less patient, were preparing to "make out" up
the river and lakes and over the Chilcoot.

She began to put out a few furtive inquiries, and secured the names of
several men who were preparing for immediate departure. She was wise
enough to take a look at these worthies before committing herself to their
charge, and most of them did not please her. Wandering in the back areas
at noon, she noticed a rough shack bearing an obviously new announ