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With that, he rushed off through the crowd, many of whoh others were only just now learning A chorus of co any of them could do about it They’d come too far and spent too ht the preparation for the journey a breathless scra in comparison to the chaotic rush as the Uet their supplies and equipround Would-be prospectors, who’d been dubbed "staht for space aboard the oods and people ashore

Many of the e, and sohts about the journey they’d set out upon Jack, on the other hand, felt as though heas he and Shepard sat in a s to packs full of their ust, it was already growing cold up here, but Jack ar their last few days in the city, he had used Shepard’swas a necessity: heavy mittens, hats, fur-lined coats and trousers, warainst the ingress of water and snow He purchased tools hich they could chop trees and construct boats and cabins, a year’s supply of food in sealed containers--dried, preserved, and pickled Ca equipment was vital, and Jack had thetents and blankets, shovels, groundsheets, and the Klondike stoves that would keep theht

He had also packed his all-important books Jack never traveled without at least some work of Melville’s, and Moby-Dick rode in his pack now

He breathed in the Alaskan air, caught the scent of the wild, and after eight long days aboard ship, felt ready to run the Chilkoot Pass All of the preparations here in Dyea would only in If he could have set off that very day and left all the supplies behind, he would have done so, and eagerly But though he had coed by whatever obstacles ht be put in his path, only a fool took unnecessary risks

Best to be cautious, and srin stretched his lips as the rowboat slid onto the shore of Dyea Beach Jack took two steps--quite used to the sway of the surf by now--and then stood on dry land for the first time in more than a week He turned to watch Shepard climb out of the boat and nearly offered his brother-in-law a hand before realizing the n of weakness

Once on land, though, Shepard threw his head back and breathed deeply Jack expected another of his ragged coughing fits to follow, but it did not con Shepard peered up the beach toward the s froet to work, boy," Shepard said

Boy That dreaded word Yet today, Jack did not object Perhaps it was merely a term of endearment, or the way the old soldier chose to re wife’s stepbrother which of thee here It didn’t matter Jack would not be broken by the frozen north, and certainly, despite his often quick-draw tele word

And so they set to work

With Jack as the runner and foreroup of willing locals As their equipan to arrive on the beach in crates and packs, those enterprising Tlingit Indians carried theed the no one but themselves, Jack remained on the beach with their equipment while Shepard oversaw its safe delivery

The tide cae crates were partially da surf Jack exhorted the men to work faster or they wouldn’t be paid a died several feet to avoid having the contents swamped before it, too, was finally hauled away to safety

Halfway through the job, the price changed The Indians charged twenty dollars an hour when the tide was low--already an astronorew closer and the tide rolled in, the price went up to fifty dollars an hour

"They ought to have been pointing guns at us, asking that price!" Jack funant, as the ht of soer

Shepard seemed barely to have heard him The man wore a smile Jack had never seen on him before, not even in his most tender moments with Eliza

"I’ve sent a boy ahead to secure rooht"

Then he noticed Jack studying hi at?" Shepard demanded

"You look well," Jack told hiive the question a hthearted reply, a rallyingmore Indian porters to carry their equipment into town, but his brother-in-law seeaveup all along the beach "At night, I drea o find soed Indian porters to carry their supplies and equipment to the hotel--and paid handsomely--Jack and Shepard shouldered their packs and walked froenerous The single s wereupon it from the coast, Jack had a queer h they had found the that town’s run of gold fever

The sky had been a crystalline blue when the Uhtpermanently above Dyea, and the pluauzy veil that obscured the eastward view They could see the outline of icy hills in the distance, but as they started along the ht they passed a row of nearly identical barnlike buildings, each with a smalljust below its peaked roof and with a shop entrance below Jack glanced at the signs: YUKON TRADING POST, US POST OFFICE, COUGHLIN-LANDRY HARDWARE, DUTCHER BILL’S SALOON

The left side of the street seehtly painted façade on a stand-alone structure whose sign read only DANCE HALL Beyond that stood Hayley’s Hotel, a big box of a building--clapboard like all the others--with its sign painted right on the side wall

"Looks like it’s about to fall down," Shepardabout railroad sidings and jail cells "It’ll be nice to have a soft bed for a night, especially since it’s going to be a long while before we encounter another And a bath wouldn’t go amiss for either of us"