id not necessarily include one another; so far as
Spurling was concerned, when once the gold had been acquired, it was
"each man for himself." There was no loyalty between them; they were
kept together only by a common avarice, and by fear of the wideness of
the Northland.

Yet there were times when Granger would waken to a sense of something
that was better. By the end of August they had washed out all the dust
and nuggets that they could possibly carry, and it was then that he
had recognised that greed, regardless of consequence, had become the
master-passion of both their lives. The words which the Dead Soul had
spoken to him would come back, "I will make a man more precious than
fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir"--and he would
look at Spurling and, bending down above the water, he would regard
himself. Going over to Spurling he would say, laying his hand upon his
shoulder, "Druce, in spite of the harsh things which we have spoken,
we must still be friends, and seek out El Dorado together."

After such a reconciliation they would talk together of their plans
and the various ways in which they would amend their lives; but
gradually they came to know that, while they lived, their hatred never
could be dead, and, defiant of whatsoever resolutions they might make,
would surely reassert itself. It was the spirit of the North which
spoke through them, and not they themselves--the spirit of silence,
striving to utter itself, and of enmity to all the world.

They carried out their treasure from the hut and placed it in the
canoe. It was done up in all kinds of packets, in flour-sacks, empty
tobacco-tins, torn strips of blanket which they had sewn together, and
abandoned clothing tied up at the arms and legs. Before they had
placed it all in, together with what remained to them of their outfit,
the little craft sat so low in the water that it was evident that it
would be swamped if there was added to its burden the weight of two
men. They were compelled to sit down and consider how much of their
outfit could be abandoned. Even then, when they had rejected all the
provisions, save those which were necessary for a five days' journey,
and their blankets and their rifles, the canoe was still unsafe.

At Spurling's suggestion they limited themselves to half rations and
took off all their clothing except their trousers and shirts; and
still it was too heavy. Very reluctantly they set to work to take out
some