The Magnetic North

oral climate in a hou

e great problem of the dwelle

ad or had not, they would have a warm house to live in. And when they

to Pymeut myself, and let him know we are going

since the hour Nicholas had vanished in that direction; but until winter quarters were

istinction to the hut of the Trio) consisted of a single ro

ght was magnificently increased in the middle by the angle of the mildly gable r

ot the plate-g

a grrand-piana

says the Boy to the Schoolmaster-Miner, "if you haven't learned t

n air of elev

, not to learn

it'll be dark as the i

of that before you left t

ter, window or no wind

he candles give out we'll have the fire

nd had given him at parting, containing a dozen tall glass jars of preserved fruit. The others had growled at the extra bulk and weight, when the B

to "Not before the House-Warming." But one morning the Boy was

you

that week, got him to melt a couple of buckets of snow o

y, "bring along that buck-s

n one after another he set up six of the tall glass jars in a row, and showed how, alternating with the other six bottles turned upside down, the thick belly of one accommodating itself to the thin neck of the other, the twelve made a very decent rectangle of glass. When they had

s immensel

aid Mac depreciatingly. "Why

-Why didn't y

out this kind o' life, and you

not feel called upon to help to split logs for the roof of the Big Cabin, but he sat cutting and whittling away at a little shelf which he said was to be na

brought forth out of his medicine-ches

arp look-out for frost-bite, and when Perry Davis freezes solid, you'd better mind your eye and stay in your cabin, if you don't want to die on the trail." With which he

stoms and family names. If there were more than a half-truth in the significant lament of a very different man, "I shoul

olcanic shore of St Michael's Isla

itably (considering his talents) be employed in helping to fortify the camp

e days' unexpectedly mild weather. When the split logs had been marshalled togeth

racks in the walls were chinked with moss and mud-mortar. The floor was the naked ground, "to be carpete

Boy about on that first encounter in the wood. Nicholas, it seemed, had given him a noose made of twisted sinew, and showed how it worked in a running loop. He had illustrated the virtue of this noose when attached to a pole balanced in the crotch of a tree

hasten to the scene of action, and set a new snare, piling brush on each side of the track that the gam

ome away from these preparati

et a Xema Sabinii," or so

h meat, when Mac, with the nearest approach to enthusiasm he permitted himself, had brought in some mi

abine gulls," Mac wo

had been bird tracks, but the creature that swung in the air next day was a baby hare. The Schoolmaster looked upon the incident as being in the nature of a practical joke, and resented it. But the others were enchanted, and professed thereafter a rooted suspicion of the soundness of the School

; that's just the remarkable thing about Mac. He

t the Boy sympathised with his resolution to make a Collection. What they wanted was eatable game, and they affected no intell

who one day responded to Mac's gravely jubila

n! What do y

aid he might be sickening for an attack of Parus H

impress the greatest naturalist alive, let alone a lo

eft of the precious planks out of the bottom of the best boat they had made the door-two by four, and opening directly in front of that maste

Cabin than he had thought necessary for his own. But everybody had a share in the glory of that fireplace. The Colonel, Potts, and the Boy selected the stone, and brought it on a rude litter out of a na

f feet deep, three and a half feet high, and four feet wide, and when furnished with ten-inch hack logs, packed in glowing ashes and laid one above another,

autumnal gales revealed the fact that the sole means of ventilation had been so nicely contrived that whoever came in or went out admitted a hurr

t an edge on his chopper. "It's stopped snowin', an' you better come al

houlder to-day," says Potts,

ething wrong with y

e great mouth; but he had turned

e woods the Boy repeated the conversation to the Colonel, who

loodshot. I should think he'd rather feel we lay it to his

said I wa

much." "I haven't op

he would come out and show us how to whip-saw. You haven't said anything, but you'v

ng-shelf a week back, before this heavy snowfall. Besides,

es get all righ

e a sound like "Sh!" and

Boy's tree came down. Then he sto

by a long shot, for all Potts'

that starts tha

or, but I can see Potts's rheumati

you min

nly mind Mac. What's the

old feet. Maybe he'l

sir, he's the livin' image of a monkey-wrench. I'm comin' to think he's as much like it inside as he is out. He can screw up for a prayer-meetin', or he can screw down for business-

great body a good many aches and bruises, but he was a capital axeman now, a

ply he regretted that in all his young years on a big place in the c

is difficulty of the boards. O'Flynn whistled "R

e Boy a little hotly, "if we hadn't let you fellows use nearly all th

! Faith! we had

s out of

the whip-saw to make more,

aw! Why, it's mine,

got belongs to all of us, except a sack o' coffee, a medicine-che

nterrupted the Colonel, hurriedly. "What's the goo

in' a guardjin angel to

f the dimmi-john. The Boy had dropped behind to lo

ner," says he, catching up the ot

Caribou can teach ye annything it's Jimmie O'Flynn that

show us af

e I

as good a

rs have to learn; for, even if they are disposed to sleep on the floor, and to do without shelves, th

t is well fitted o

the fire after dinner. "Make it about four feet deep, and as long as

en the light tailed. Two days more of s

-man' on top sthradlin' yer timberr, watchin' the chalk-line and doin' the pull-up, and the otherr fellerr in the pit lookin' afther the haul-down, ye'll be able to play a chune wid that there whip

d a quarter planks. Then the Colonel, down in the pit, and O'Flynn on top of the frame, took the great two-handled saw between t

called on to wurruk befure. An' whin ye've been at it an hour ye'll find it goes bet

nd by making a crane to swing the pots over the fire, he surprised them all still more in these days by an apparent eclipse of his talents. It was unaccountable. Pot

get on without his "nigger," as the Boy said, slyly indicating that it was he who occupied this exalted post. These two soon had the bunks made out of th

ng-shelf to hang up high in the angle of the roof, where the

ed (whereon the granite-ware tea-service, etc., was kept), a dinner-table to be made, and three-legged stools. While these additions-"fancy touches," as the Trio called them-were being made, Potts and O'Flynn, although occasionally they went out for an hour or two, shot-gun on shoulder, seldom brought home anything, an

ed into the position of Boss of the camp. The Trio were still just a trifle

a little t

, O'Flynn, the Colonel, and the Boy were bringing into the cabin the last of

east or a hu

nt-"no, two men, single file, and-yes-Colo

an driving five dogs, which were hitched tandem to a low Esquimaux sled, with a pack and two pairs of web-foot snow-shoes lashed on it, and followed by a white man. The Indian was a fine fello

"I am glad to see we have such substantial neighbours." He wa

," said the Colonel in his most grand and g

orty mil

bserved his eagerness cloud slightly. Hadn't Nicholas said

er went on, misinterpreting the fading gladne

"but you must come in and have some dinner wi

deep crow's-feet raying out from the corners scanned the country in s

you a pro

her Wills fro

ck every now and then to watch the dogs or examine the harness. The driver spoke English, a

dian n

determined not to be lacking in hospitality. O'Flynn was overflowing, or would have been had the Je

rior up there?" says the Iris

Father Brachet. That'

t five hundred yards still to travel bef

houted th

ing along so briskly over the low hummocks th

ing caught sight of his face, called out: "He

hered up a handful of snow, and bega

of-" The Boy was d

ht to watch one another in such weather as this. When a man turns dead-white like that, he's touched with fros

a little shame-faced. "It's

in, and you may be a little sore-nothing to speak

into a jog-trot now, but w

heir food?"

? No,

ian go on like tha

-drivers used to say 'mahsh.' Now you never hear anything but swearing and 'mush,' a corruption of the French-Canadian marche." He turned

" says O'Flynn proudly, turning out his enormous f

arkis too, like this of mi

the cabin, close behind the dogs, who were pu

bare of snow. "You see that?" he said to O'Flynn, while the Boy stopped, and

med to have forgotten not alone the Indian, but the dogs, and was walking

different

he Colonel struck in sharply on their growling comment

at means, and the other's a Catholic priest." It was this bomb that he had hurried

s heavy eyes with fight

riest is wh

eat his di

actly what

ed to steady himself against the table with a shaking hand. But he set those square fe

hen, that you'

f I kn

g-shelf, he pulled his great figure up to its full height, and standing there like a second Goliath, he said quite softly in that lingo of his childhood that always came back to his tongue's tip in times of excitement:

growled Potts. "You know he cou

s throat and turned, as if he meant to go out. The Colonel came

trying to shield you for ten days. Don't give yourself away now-before the first white neighbour that comes to see us. You call yourself a Christian. Just see if you can't behave li

and when the newcomers were brought in and introduced, he "did the honou

s, there'd be fewer failures." They gave him the best place by the fire, and Potts dished up dinner. There were only t

endid blaze as you can get, or you will have trouble with that cheek." So th

were at St. Michael's?" said the prie

carry. Besides, I thought we could buy

the priest smiling. "You mu

r my ears and goes all round my neck-just

f-hair. You see"-he picked his parki up off the floor and showed it to the company-"those long hairs standing out all

at he didn't seem to see was Mac, he

elightful, accomplished master-mason over there on the beanbags

inist thought, he had quite wit enough to overl

nt twelve years at the mission of the Holy Cross. The Yukon wasn't a bad place to live in, he told them, if men only to

e and see our sch

t Mac echoed him. "We were so afraid," he went o

e more visitors

a modified rapture: "Indians, I

on the great highway of winter travel. Now that there's a good hard crust on th

s goo

looking wonderfully pleased at the prospect the priest had

ow Nicholas"; and

as if some slighting criticism

that look of quiet amusement on the worn fac

he's sick,"

"He was educated at Howly Cros

o Holy Cross, am

do you

on there, as the father had been before him, and was a Greek-in religion-till he was fourteen. There was a famine that year down yonder, so Nicholas turned Catholic and came up to us. He was at Holy Cross some years, when business ca

ddressed himself, took his pleasantry gravely. "Nicholas is not

el, "are you not afraid the others you spend your life teac

is a true son of the Church. But even if it were otherwise, we, you know"-the Jesuit rose from the table with that calm smile of

" he said; "we

priest's action, and wen

?" said the Colonel politely,

t awhile and smoke and-at least, of c

miled and sh

me I would

re you g

o the Oklahoma, the steamship

?" asked

Russian mission, and a mile o

ked t

e into wint

as so Father Wills pr

you know it they land you in a marsh. This place I'm going to, a little way up the Kuskoquim, out of danger when the ice breaks up, has been chosen for a new station by the N. A. T. and T. Company-rival, you know, to the old-established Alaska Commercial, that i

ry boat that'll be taki

o have a look at her?"

get relief fo

he matter

l summer, st

's got such a lot he wants to

And the long winter is before us. Many of the supply steamers have failed to get in, and the country is flo

ld on to what they've got. A whit

showed no anger,

the natives, and we believe the Government will. All we ask of the captain of the Oklahoma is to sell us, on fai

r-load down in the ice is worth

ys try," repli

tened his bowed back, and lai

you left Pymeut was

en looking after Nicholas's father. The old chief has enough food, but he

s; and Potts flew to close and stamp one he had

ly opened the door to h

ng to hold his precious letter down on the table while he a

ically. "In a wind like this, if the door is open, we have to hold fast to thi

you build a

know; we hadn't

t explained his views on the subject while Potts's

y, Fa

Boy dashed in, put on the Arctic cap he set

go a little way

ill send him back in half an hour," he sai

vined the relation of the elder man

, pulled himself up out of his corner, and, coming t

Warren, and that's what I sta

nel look

n't accept that as the moment for a round. We'll both have forty winks, hey? an

, and allowed himself t

he dinner things, and "

otts a little before two; "that's

don't you and O'Flynn go down to meet the Boy, and come round by the woods? There'll

it had stirred him up, and he offered less opposition to

ait. At three he got up, swung the crane round so that the darting tongues of flame could lick the hot-water pot,

ly, with half-closed eyes. But when he had set the granite cup down again, he stood up alert, like

. The Colonel shot the bar across door and jamb for the second time that da

he said

tts, measure me out two finger

ans

When he had bundled himself out over the side of the

softly, he made his way to the

and shuffled in a sleepy sort of way.

pened his eye

ee a little while

N

r; it'

e's P

f the strong, black decoction, and presented it to his c

ithout seeming to bo

fter that, till the Co

ittle account to s

rea

moved for se

en't been ill or anythi

toneless decision. Mac's voice was machine-made-as innocent of modulation as a buzz-saw, and with

l. "Glad o' that, for I'm just

his feet

p against any man alive. And when I sit down again it's

d back t

e Colonel slowly. "I've been wanting for a fortnight to see yo

in no mood f

d of a crisis. Things in this camp are either g

ou quit asking dirty Jesuits

thing worse out o'

ited w

of us that didn't think things looked pretty much like the last o' pea time. There was

lonel

ressionless as t

help us pull through." "That was you, I s'po

cks. Potts's petering out wasn't altogether a surprise, and nobody expected anything from O'Flynn till we got to Dawson, when a lawyer and a fella with capital behind him may come in handy

the wall. His face began to look a little more natur

rd about that man last night

, but never o

r you wouldn

ys in and out. Th

at supper-time and went do

I was doin'-t

to come to supper. I met Potts hurrying up for his grub, and I said, 'Where's Mac? Isn't he coming?' and your pardn

that s

out, Mac, was the man we h

teach

heaven-perhaps to hell, before he'll learn any g

n on the stool with

ly, "but he said something this morning to show he w

, when we've got enough for a month. Potts

n't care about Potts.

say that?"

lonel

imney, you know, you were a

The cabin's been c

ing to rem

r into camp. You must adm

admi

his big demijohn out of the inventory and

you

to act on the 'medicin

it

had happened before ... for ... I'd had experience. Drink was the curse of Ca

t the temptation is much greater in cold countries," said the Kentuckian unblushingly. "Italians and Greeks don't want fiery drinks half as much as Russians and Scandin

n when I don't deserve it; but you know so much you might a

d being the one to

t it

oached. Even so, Mac's prolonged spree was something of a mystery to the Kentuckian. It must be that a very little was too much for Mac. The Colonel

s that

want to s

't got a

Colonel produced out of his

th the neck. Then, placing upright on the cork the helve of th

button that hung by a thread from the old militia jacket he was wearing. He put hi

Kentuckian, "that'll

think, Colonel. The top of

ijohn, and apply the initialled end of the Colonel's property. While Mac, without any further wa

kian hurriedly. "But we've settled our

atic fashion that with him meant

O'Flynn want to

ays Mac. And the Colone

he was turning in that night, "I-a-I've as

u did,

es

better have a talk

w I'd square Mac. Of course, I kno

n you ju

hard on me, you'll come to t

c on that subject. Wh

t Jesuit's

out of th