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Shepard grunted in aht days at sea, they both stank "First we have to get there"
It was an excellent point The entire street was a on wheels In soes, and in others water filled the crevices
As they navigated the runnels and potholes, rew labored under the weight of his fifty-odd-pound pack Jack gave hi red with exertion, his brother-in-law’s face had paled Before long, Shepard would be unable to carry his own pack
"You doing all right?" Jack asked
"I’ll e," Shepardco tension enveloped them In all the world there was no one Jack loved as much as his stepsister, Eliza She had practically raised hie of thehealth, he had plotted with her husband to e that Shepard was able and keen to finance the entire journey himself
Perhaps Jack had been selfish, but there was nothing to be done for it now Besides, Shepard was a willing and insistent partner
Jack tried to assuage his guilt by considering the other purpose for this adventure: to aid his mother On the day of their departure, Eliza had revealed to hi her ho ti absence--a stretch in jail for vagrancy, though none of his family knew of it--had caused her to fall deeper into debt She had even returned to conducting séances and other rituals as a spiritual medium, an absurdity that she touted as the truth and that made Jack distinctly unco h the wo he had needed as a boy he had found in Eliza--still she was his old, she would be able to keep her home, and to abandon the charlatanry of spiritualisht now; it was Shepard orried him most
But Shepard had his own mind He was a man, not some sickly child to be coddled, and Jack believed that every man must beto deliver the news to Eliza should calah, Jack marched across the muddy ruin of Dyea’s main street toward the boardwalk in front of Hayley’s Hotel Only when he had stepped up onto the wood and kicked lance back to check on Shepard’s progress
The man had stopped a dozen feet back
"Jaone slack and he stared eastide eyes, bent slightly forward to ht of his pack He’d been pale before, but now he looked dreadfully sick He blinked, coughed lightly, and then set off into a deeper fit of coughing that bent him double The old soldier let his pack slip from his back and fall into the mud
Jack dropped his own pack on the boardwalk and ran to Shepard’s side
"What is it, Jaht Try to catch your breath"
Shepard was shaking, his skin hot, and blood freckled his lips and chin He’d been ill almost ever since Jack had known hi so frail
"Jaain, softly
Ja breaths He stared to the east, wheezing and coughing so the entire tiestured with a nod
"Is that it, boy? Is that the pass?"
Jack turned to see that thea clearer view of the nearby hills It ust, but they were in Alaska, and to the east white walls of ice rose up fro landscape in a dreaap in the ice, visible only as a shadow from here, was the Chilkoot Pass The trail that would take thean at the foot of those frozen cliffs
Even from this distance Jack couldup the Chilkoot Trail toward the forbidding pass-- their own fortunes just getting the staear over the ain, and this tier shts of resentes of Jack’s mind, but he pushed them away They had made a pact, the two of them, and Jack London always kept his word
He put a hand on Shepard’s shoulder "I’ll help you every step of the way I’ll get you there, so help rave And I don’t mean to die, so that , and bring back a pile"
At last able to breathe evenly, Shepard gently pushed Jack’s hand away
"I’ve been a fool," he said, words burning with a fury obviously reserved for himself "I won’t allow you to become one"
"James," Jack said, "you’ve coo all that way" He looked again at the pass, eyes wide And even as he watched, Jack saw Janation to sorrow and regret
Shepard slowly stood upright He shouldered his pack, taking deep breaths And finally he turned his back on the frozen et back to the beach before the U your love to Eliza and yourShepard would clearly brook no argureat deal in this journey," the old soldier went on "More thanthem all here with you, and I expect you to carry them to Dawson and beyond Don’t let me down, boy"
Jack shook his head "Of course I won’t"
"See you don’t," Shepard said And with that he left, trudging back through half-frozenJack with all their supplies and equiph detero and hoped he would rieve He found hi the journey alone, for most of his life’s journeys had been undertaken as solo ventures, even when he was surrounded by others pursuing their own paths