The Winds of Chance

yed with men, it wore them out, it stripped them of their strength and their manhood, it wrecked their courage and it broke their hearts. The canon sucked them in and swallowed

elf is not long, immediately below it are other turbulent stretches equally treacherous. It seems as if here, within the space of some four miles, Nature had exhausted he

by explosions of spray or pitted by devouring vortices resembling the oily mouths of marine monsters. Below this, in turn, is the White Horse, worst of all. Here the flood somersaults over a

like a kettle over an open fire, and Five Fingers, so-called by reason of a row of knobby, knuckled pinnacles that reach up like the stiff digits of a drowning hand and split the st

crest and to avoid the destroying fangs that lie in wait on either side is a feat that calls for nerve and skill and endurance on the part of boatmen. The whole four miles is a place of ma

nd white, creeks and rivulets were steadily dwindling and shelf ice was forming on the larger streams, the skies were low and overcast and there was a vicious tingle to the air. Delays had slowed them up, as, for instance, at Windy Arm, where a gale had held them in camp for several days; then, too, their boats were built of poorly seasoned lumber and

ers were occupied by voyagers who preferred to chance a winter's delay as the price of portaging their goods around rather than risk their all upon one throw of fortune. The great majority of the arrivals, however, were restowing thei

One bore a finger pointing up the steep trai

ay-two

directly into the throa

r

ay-two

e turned up the trail, for in his soul was a consuming c

e coming down-a tall, upstanding French-Canadian

the new-comer and burst i

t live' to be hung yet, eh? Now

the very man

tak' you

I'm in charge of a big outfit and I'm looking for a pilot and

' 'em up pretty bad." He grinned cheerily. "Dese new-comer get scare' easy an' forget to row, den dey say 'Poleon she'

out from projecting irregularities in the walls; here and there the waters tumbled madly and flung wet arms aloft, while up out of the gorge came a m

ced on wide-spread legs and he held his weight upon a steering-sweep. Down the boat came at a galloping gait, threshing over waves and flingi

an' he knows swif' water. But dere's lot of feller here who ain't so good.

knowledged. "You earn all the

care for '

ce, but-what chance would a fellow ha

's r

panion curiously. "You mus

ut, you see-plenty people drowned if somebody don' tak' dem t'rough, so-I stay. Di

Pierce was incredulous; he cou

id he. "I ain't care much for seein' beeg city. I'm lonesome feller." After a moment

He and Bridges had not taken the trouble to acquaint themselves with the canon, but imme

e for yourself," the

Not me," he declared. "

ong life ahead of me an

guys in Dyea, but what's the good of runnin' up to an undertaker and g

tend to chance it?

er. "Say! I wouldn't walk dow

bler seconded. "Not for

hat way. Not for a mil

fully: "I'm a cheap guy. I might risk it once-for five hundred tho

ome amusement; now he said, "Yo

shame. "Wider'n, a swam

." The pilot walked up th

ess Courteau. Calling Pierce aside, the woman said, swiftly: "We can't get

he best we have," he tol

ot afraid

lacked the courage to do so. He smiled feebly and shrugged, whereupon th

to the water's edge and addressed the two gamblers in a business-like tone: "W

finally spoke. "We been figuring it would

walk from here to Dawson." She turned back to Pierce and said: "Yo

g with laughter, and anger at his own weakness flared up in

eas of entertainment," said he. "Some folks is absolutely depraved that way

n! I'm not going to be held up. There's a chance, of course, but hundreds h

ech by rising from his seat and announcing: "Deal the cards! I came in on

hocked and aggrieved b

ckle it?" he ask

of intense abhorrence

t to miss all this

" Bridges told him, with a bleak and cheerless expression,

ou!" cried

in the world for me. I'm grand-standing and you know it. So's Lucky, but

ty feller mak' fool of demse'f on dat woman. I know all

an?" Pierce in

sooner die so long she don't know it. Plenty oder feller jus' lak' dat." He

on uneasily at these preparations. "What's

ed off his mackinaw, then seated himself and tugged at his footg

, Kid. I squ

ng to we

mebody 'll find me after I've been drow

d by that time." Kid Bridges tried to smile, but the result was a failure. "Y

grumbled: "The idea of calling me 'Lucky'! It ain't in the cards." He spat o

n the Courteau boats a close race all the way from Linderman, was just pulling into the bank. Lines had

that the shores were running past with amazing swiftness. Even as they looked, those shores rose abruptly and closed in, there came a mounting roar, then the skiff was sucked in between high, ru

hard!" he shouted. "Hi! Hi! Hi!" He swayed in unison to their straini

t ash steering-oar bent like a bow; he flung his whole strength into the battle with the waters. Soon the roar increased until it drowned his shouts and forced him to pantomime h

d twisted; it rolled and plunged as if in a demented effort to unseat its passengers and scatter its cargo. To the occupants it seemed as if its joints were opening, as if the boards themselves were being wre

scudding walls, of hydrophobic boulders frothing madly as the flood crashed over them, of treacherous whirlpools, and of pursuing breakers that reached forth licking tongues of destruction. Then the rive

an eddy raced up against the flood; some one f

t you t'ink of 'im, eh?" He smiled down at the white-li

it?" Lucky Broad

ook! Dere's

river. Directly across the expanse of whirlpools stood a v

ot plenty right no

ntess didn't come

es and put on their boots they set out

extremely oppressive sense of apprehension. How or why it had come to obsess him he could not imagine, but for some reason Miles Canon and the stormy waters below it had assumed terrible potentialities and he could not shake off the conviction that they were destined to prove his undoing. This feeling he had allowed to grow un

she inquired. "You'll

"Boatmen! They don't know as

hatever th

ll Sam knows is 'gee' and 'haw,' and I can't steer anything that don't wear a bridle. Why, if

r as you are. He won't admit it, but I can tell. It has gotten

started on THAT!" Dann

D be the l

st m

urned from a voyage of exploration. Said he: "There's

Danny could not co

his gray head. "Ha

the portage and trust the pilot t

on first one then the other of his comp

lently admitt

ou and Letty

d y

going t

l began, but old

ase bet, and I'm

re than ever a withered apple. "Then I'll stick, too

out you

ust you boys out of my sight for a m

ou were along. You're a game kid, too, and I want you to be like that, always. Be a thoroughbred. Don't weaken, no matter how bad things break for yo

peech for "One-armed" Kirby; it sh

reathed the girl. "D

led. I don't aim to take my eyes off t

r eyes-a gladness half obscured by tears. "Double and quit. Oh-I'

was at last ready to mold his future in accordance with her desires. Letty had never liked their mode of life; she had accepted it under protest, and with the passing years her unspoken disapproval had assumed the proportions of a great reproach. She had never put that disapproval into words-she was far too loyal for that-but Danny had known. He knew her ambitions and her possibilities, and he had suf

aused on the river-bank to stare with gloomy fascination at the jaws of the gorge they returned to plague him. Th

e, when he heard himself spoken to, he whirled with a scowl upon his

x in 'noder feller's bizneses, bu

r from head to foot. "How d'y

-I'm pilo

e GOOD ones." Danny's air wa

es

der-five hundred seeds for fifteen minutes' work. Soft graft, I call it.

d indifferently. "I charge

d. "The devil you

our scow's no good-but

' dollar or

g," snapped t

s canon. Dere's beeg rock dere. Don't touch 'im or you goin' spin lak' to

Everybody's got some feed-box information-especial

the other man. "Everybod

this place is as safe as a chapel and I bet our scow goes through with her tail up. Let he

ce Phillips; then he looked on in fascination while they removed their outer

at!" muttered t