[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

deserted the army. I was reluctant to get off the train until we could lose ourselves in the confusion of
Gold Rush San Francisco.
Likewise, we didn't get off at Cheyenne, early the next day, which was the last regular stop for over a
thousand miles.
As we rose into the Rockies we were treated hourly to scenes of wondrous beauty. Mountains
snow-capped in July. Boiling cataracts a hundred feet below us, as we crawled along trestle bridges that
seemed none too substantial.
I couldn't properly enjoy the scenery, for my concern over what might be waiting in San Francisco.
Daniel had stopped shaving in an attempt at disguise, but three days' growth wasn't going co make much
difference.
Chance favored us the second night. At dinner we were seated with two men, a father and son named
Doc and Chuck Coleman, who were also headed for the Yukon. They were better prepared than we,
having received two letters from a friend who was already there, and information from provisioners in
Seattle.
The Canadian government, they told us, wisely would not allow any prospector to enter the country
unless he brought in a year's worth of food, as well as necessities for panning. That's a ton of supplies.
Over coffee, after dinner, I made a copy of the list for Daniel, and later copied it into my diary:
Food
Bacon, 100-200 lbs.-Flour, 400 lb.-Dried fruits, 75-100 lbs.-Cornmeal, 50 lbs.-Rice, 20-40
lbs.-Coffee, 10-25 lbs.-Tea, 5-10 lbs.-Sugar, 25-100 lbs.-Beans, 100 lbs.-Condensed milk, 1
case-Salt, 10-15 lbs.-Pepper, I#._Rolled oats, 25-50 lbs.-Potatoes, 25-100 lbs.- Butter, 25
cans-Assorted evaporated meats and vegetables
Equipment
Stove-Gold pan-Granite buckets-Cups & plates (tin)-Knives, forks, & spoons -Coffee!teapot-Picks &
bandies-Saws & chisels -Hammer & nails-Hatchet-Shovels-Drawknife -Compass--Frying
pan-Matches-Small assortment of medicines
Clothing
1 heavy mackinaw coat-3suits heavy underwear -2pairs heavy mackinaw trousers --I doz. heavy wool
socks -6heavy wool mittens -2 heavy overshirts-2pairs rubber boots -2pairs heavy shoes -3pairs heavy
blankets -2rubber blankets -4 towels-2pairs overalls-1 suit oil clothing- Assorted summer clothing
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
They said you could buy an outfit all assembled for around a thousand dollars, but you could save money
and probably get better quality if you shopped around, which was what they planned to do.
Daniel stared at the list. "You can't carry all this stuff from the boat to the goldfields on your back."
"Some do, partway," Doc said. "About a hundred pounds at a time, maybe more on a sledge. You go up
a ways and start piling it up, and go back for another hundred pounds. When you've got it all piled up in
the new place, you start over." He laughed at Daniel's expression. "Not all the way. You get to the
Yukon River and build a raft, and let the current take you to Dawson."
"Won't somebody steal your stuff while you're going back and forth?"
"Reared not. I suspect it goes hard on someone who gets caught. Besides, everyone has about the same
stuff anyhow."
"We're hoping to get mules, too," Chuck said. "They have lots of them in Skagway."
"Depending on what they cost. We don't want to be flat when we get to the fields." He gave his son a
look that bespoke past arguments. "Man'd be a fool not to hold back enough to get home on. Not
everybody pans out. It's a gamble."
Chuck changed the subject. "Were you planning on going along with Charles, Mrs. Flammarion?"
"Oh, no! This ishis adventure."
"Wise decision," Doc said. "Hear tell some've done it. Hard place for a woman, especially"-he looked
down at the table-"one as handsome as you, you don't mind me sayin' it."
"I don't fancy pulling a hundred-pound sled," I said, "or even leading a mule through ice and snow. I'll find
a job in Skagway, and wait for... Charles to come back with his fortune."
"Skagway ain't no church picnic, neither," Doc said. "You might ought to stay in Seattle."
"I want to see him off. Make sure he's got a good mule and his shoes are tied."
"Mom..."
"But if Skagway is too rough, or I can't find a good job, I won't stay there. Go back to Juneau or
Seattle."
"Not back home?"
I'd been telling the lie so long it almost felt true. "Philadelphia, no. We left because there are too many sad
memories there. My husband died recently."
"Oh." Doc and Chuck exchanged glances. "Then we have that in common, too. After my wife passed
away, I couldn't bear living on the farm. So we sold it and decided to head for the Yukon."
"Neighbors said we were running away," Chuck said angrily.
"And if we were?"
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"I'm sorry," I said. "Where was the farm?"
"Sedalia, Missouri." He gave me a wry smile. "It ain't Philadelphia. I took you for a city woman, Mrs.
Flammarion." He pronounced it"Flam-reon."
"Call me Rosa," I said. "Everyone does."
"And I prefer Daniel," Daniel said. "Never did like Charles."
"Me neither," Chuck said.
"Saw you get on back there. You got kin in Kansas?"
Half a lie. "No, I took a temporary job teaching there. The school year's over, and when Daniel
graduated, he decided he wanted to join the stampeders. I came along to see that he got a good
start-and to see this part of the world."
"Yeah...." He looked out the window at the vague shapes sliding by in the darkness.
"Pop... ," Chuck started.
"Uh-huh." He put his elbows on the table and looked straight at me. "Rosa, is your boy easy to get along
with?"
"I generally find him so."
He shifted his gaze to Daniel. "Son, Chuck and me, we were just talkin' about takin' on a partner or two,
at least as far as Dawson. Cost everybody less that way."
"Dad and me don't have ten years of school between us," Chuck said, "so you could help that way. But
we know a heck of a lot about mules and shovels and all."
Daniel chewed his lower lip for a moment. He didn't look at me. "I would be glad to. Proud to." He
smiled. "I don't know much about shovels."
Doc laughed. "Called 'em idiot sticks in the army. A stick with an idiot on one end and a shovel on the
other." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

  • zanotowane.pl
  • doc.pisz.pl
  • pdf.pisz.pl
  • supermarket.pev.pl

    •