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CHAPTER SIX

CITY OF HOPE AND GREED

FROM A DISTANCE, Dawson City had looked gri its air--Jack realized it orse than that It was a wild place draped in false civilization Like the rough clapboard buildings lining the streets behind extravagant, colorful façades, its reality was dour and gray Here is a place that was never ht, and even his newfound enthusias Jis, Jack and Merritt ventured in, hoping to find cheap accoear The s food, the stench of beasts of burden kept out in the open Beneath that, however, were the aro food and spilled drinks, and both n daubed with the words FRONT STREET, and before thes rose on either side with ties belied the true nature of their construction Saloons, dress shops, a dentist, outfitters, markets, hotels, a laundry--a whole nen built in this wild place with the river as its real source of life And yet, where Jack had expected enthusiasm and excitee listlessness that he worried that an illness had swept through the city So the street had a dazed expression, their haggard, thin faces drooping and their eyes vacant

"What’s wrong with them?" Merrittman was

"I don’t know," Jack said "Let’s ask"

"But--" Merritt tried to grab hi the hand of a passing man He was taller than Jack, with a bald headmustache that hid his mouth and dipped below his chin "What’s the e question, but Jack could think of no other way of posing it

"Dawson?" thethe New York lilt that Jack rehost town"

"Doesn’t look like a ghost town toto sound enthusiastic

The et in? Been out in the wilds for the winter, huh?"

"That’s right," Merritt said

"Coold, huh?"

Jack nodded There was so into the hed, as if towith hih land had leached the color even from those

"I been here close on six months," the man said "Never went any farther From what I hear up the trail, there’s no need Gold? There’s some But no new strikes fer some time now So Dawson’s jus’ where the weak ones finish their journey an’ stay The strong ones turn around and head home"

"We haven’t cory now "Haven’t been through all we’ve been through--"

"Think you’ve been through tough ti low as he leaned in closer "Don’t compare to what you’ll find here, or beyond There are stories--"

"Listen here," Jack said, and he took a step forward He felt his fury rising, his fists clenching; and a few heads turned their way But nobody seemed particularly alarhts these people saw on the streets of Dawson every day

"Jack, co his arlanced back at Merritt and nodded I’m fine, that look said, but Merritt’s expression spoke otherwise Perhaps he saw so in Jack that he’d never seen before

The h the mud He did not once look back but stared down at his feet as if in an effort to not see anything else

"Let’s find a place to stay first," Merritt said "Then we need to store our stuff, rest, get our strength up See if we can find soetables to eat, stave off the scurvy What do you say?"

"I say yes," Jack said, again nodding But the listless man preyed on his mind, and he vowed to hier than necessary

They walked farther along the street, watching h the mud They passed a bar and heard the noise of jollity from inside, and that raised Jack’s spirits rasp on the good things, he thought, glancing around the street at faces that hovered like ghosts He looked up at the bar’s name where it was painted across the façade: DAWSON BAR Original As with Front Street, and the Dawson Food and Clothing Market, it seeination along the way, and named their places purely for functionality Nevertheless, he promised hiood to take a drink, and he saw frohtly wider eyes, the flicker of tongue across lips--that he was thinking the same

They passed a place that advertised GOLD DUST BOUGHT FOR CASH Merritt grinned, and Jack grinned back

"Be doing so h the shop’s dusty izened little man sat behind a table in the small room, spectacles perched on his nose Before hi scales and a set of weights Theoff to sleep, the rest of the shop empty He did not see the ay He was pointing across the street at the Yukon Hotel Jack sht not inspire, but the thought of a bed, a warood o, then," Jack said "We’ll arrange for roo the stuff into town"

"Hoe e that?" Merritt asked

"Look around you! We’ll hire a teas"

"We’ll need to buy the

"Coive you that But we still have the hunger! Not like that poor son of a bitch" Jack waved along the street back the way they had coht, and he’d been thinking on that for the last fewto haul it, and very littlefor someone else or they’d have to cos and sled they’d need to continue their adventure

A problem for later that day, Jack decided For now--

"Get off me!"

The raised voice cahboring building, one proudly extolling itself as THE ONLY SHAVING PARLOR AND LAUNDRY IN DAWSON