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Even hunkered down around the fire, welcoht, he could barely connect with his ancestors of o Here, he and his two companions relied on these flames to survive And yet beside the equipht the tools of civilization, and Jack felt like a stranger here

They dried their wet socks and boots, war their feet and hands, but with every breath Jack knew that they would have to move soon

"We could split up," Jim said "Take a different point of the compass each, meet back here in an hour"

"That’s crazy talk," Jack said "If you fall and break your ankle, Jiht of ice on your beard?" They all laughed, but it was a subdued hulancing beyond the reach of the fire’s light Is he still spooked? Jack wondered, but Merritt said no more

"I can feel the wild all around us," Merritt said

"We’ll be all right," Jack said "We were all wild once But ins, conquered the wildness both within hihts that separate us froh to taers I say we leave the boat here, take only essentials for now, and head toward Dawson City I figure we’re seventy miles away at least, and we’d be dead in ten But the closer we get to the city, the more likely we’ll find some sort of shelter"

"Trappers," Jies around here?" Merritt laughed

"I think they’d have more sense," Jack said "And besides, I doubt they’d welcoh this on our own It’s a challenge, that’s all You up for it, boys?"

He saw a glimmer of annoyance pass across Jim’s features at his use of the word boys, but then all three of theet

Jack was very aware of the darkness behind hi the skin of his face and glittering in his eyes, he would have been sed by the darkness before him as well Hope was kept alive by the fla

Yet still you’ll die in the snow, that vision of his mother had told hi on his heels "No, no" Jilanced at him, but neither of the It see their own fates that evening

They found an abandoned fur traders’ cabin It was built into the base of a steep hillside, protected froe rooms, and in the center of one they found an old Klondike stove Jack had left his own stove way back in Dyea, and it was a welcoood fire going, and there was even a lean-to behind the cabin beneath which a pile of logs had been drying for soh The cabin grearloves and hats

Over the course of the next few days they brought all their possessions up from the boat It was a three-mile hike across the base of a hill and down to the river, and after each excursion they had to rest for several hours to gather their strength The journey along the treacherous rivers had weakened them ain soh for the three of the, and the other here they spent old they would find coh Jack was, he sensed the twoup to him This appealed not to his pride, but rather to his intellect He had always felt himself the leader of their little team, and their time in the cabin confires to the other two in of Species, Milton’s Paradise Lost, and others, each of which seemed particularly pertinent to the situation they found themselves in For their part, Jis, and thethe e

"Godless heathen," Jiain frolanced at Merritt

"You’re not a fan of Mr Darwin’s?" Merritt asked

"Fan?" Ji more animated than Jack had seen hi He shuns God, who put hie to--"

"And God gave hience?" Jack asked "A mind to inquire?"

"Of course he did," Jim said "It was Darwin’s choice to misuse it"

Jack leaned forward, ready to say some more, but he bit back his words For his he had never witnessed, and he wasn’t ignorant enough to dismiss hienius and aesthetic beauty as Darwin’s book--his theories bold, extravagant, and challenging--should not be shunned If God had given Darwin such a mind, he had surely meant for him to use it

"So where’s your book?" Merritt asked, voice raised in surprise and growing angry

"I have it all up here," Ji his temple "And I believe it here" He tapped his chest

"Well, if Daras right and it’s survival of the fittest, I’ll see you get a good burial," Merritt snapped

Jack stood and raised both hands, ied the subject quickly, reading another long passage fro voice to try and break the icy atmosphere arm huh the winter had found root in that cabin