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It was the perfect place for the slavers to stop If one of their slaves did run, he’d have to cliround before he hit the trees Plenty of tis

They strung thesoave theold When one of the old they would receive, he received a rifle butt across the throat in response

They’ll kill us before they’d let us go, Jack thought then The realization was chilling, but hardly surprising Somewhere in the woods there awaited twelve areas destined to be turned into shallow graves It would not be soon, he knew The old as they could find first But perhaps when suspicions were aroused in fellow prospectors in the area, or when the jealousies between slavers grew too great, there would coain And this time its end would be marked by a bullet to the back of the head

He would not be here long enough for that to happen And, he swore, neither would Merritt

He scooped up another panful of grit and stones fro his best to shut out what had happened and enjoy the si He focused all his attention down so that he could not see their surroundings, nor the cruelof his entle circulara little more mud and water each time until the heavier elements were a slick across the botto to do All that effort, all those reatest winter he had ever known, co closer to death than he had ever been before, and noas looking for the glint of gold aritty brown sediment of this Yukon creek He tried to feel enlivened by the act, excited But he could not However e that he was a prisoner, and any wealth he discovered would line the pockets of thugs and killers

"If only they kneho they werewith," he said to hi to understand himself better out here, as if he could perceivesunset But there was still a great mystery to Jack London That thrilled and terrified hi that there onders in his future, that his life had led him here with some purpose, but he had to overcome this terrible present for them to offer themselves up for view

"Jack," so around without raising his head Across fro in the crook of his ar into the distance Upstreaht, a blackin the water

"Jack," he heard again, and Jonas glanced up "Our voices floith the stream They can’t hear Do you see?"

Jack looked across at the slaver again The man was closer to him than Jonas by at least ten steps, but he see down, so you can hear hed as acknowledg ht after they’ve fed us, when they think we’ll be tired and ready for sleep He says if we’re all in, then most of us will lare at Jonas, but he wasn’t certain theDahter us all Reese was a huge bear of a man, and Jack had been surprised that William and his men had dared club him into slavery But from the little that he’d seen of Reese’s interaction with the other slaves, Jack already knew that he was a bully Willianized that in him, and understood that it meant Reese was no threat on his own Bullies were inevitably cowards, who could only act with others around to support thelanced at the slaver and risked a shake of his head to Jonas

Jonas frowned "You want to stay here?"

Jack shook his head again

"Then this is a chance Longer we stay, weaker we get"

Jack coughed, harsher than last tireement

"Back to work!" the slaver said He ca cold water across Jack’s face Jack wiped it quickly away and glared at Jonas, offering a single shake of the head again But Jonas was already looking back down into his pan

Farther up the stream, several men away, Jack could see Merritt He was in his oorld, working slowly and methodically With Jim dead, Merritt’s whole journey was soured

I should feel that as well, Jack thought But sad though he was, the future was still an exciting place, and he had the unerring conviction that his journey had only just begun

Jack could not help but revel in the beauty of this place The creek was marred by the cruelty ofthem exuded the pure, untainted wildness of nature He breathed in the scents of strea his skin

Beyond the constant rush of water he heard occasional birdcalls, but though he listened hard, the cry of the wolves eluded hi them from the forests Just because he had heard no wolf cry, that did not ht, but right then he would have welcon that this was the case He could feel the immensity of the wilderness, the pull of the wild on his adventurous soul It called him, and he swore that he would answer

Jack hated these norance, and their inhumanity Butfrom him the experience he most desired: freedom to explore the wilderness and the chance to be a part of it

The as hard, and Jack took frequent drinks from the stream The water was still icy cold frorew They’ve got to feed us soht Or eventually we’ll be too weak to do theun to claw at his insides in earnest, their captors called out a pause for lunch As the lanced up at the steep hillside to the south of the creek It was heavily wooded, and the trees s there, he thought When he closed his eyes, he felt nothing, but part of the hillside was blurred to his senses or immune to them A blank on the wilderness An area of mystery, and fear He shivered

"Sit down and don’t move!" Archie shouted to them all "You need to piss, do it where you are"

Jack sat thankfully, pulling his freezing feet from the water He wondered for the first ti dust in the storage barns behind the Yukon Hotel, no doubt In there were his warloves, and hats, and noore soht be spring, but it was still cold

Archie ave each er of jerky, and the slaves all bit in ravenously Reese took his food with a nod of thanks, and though Archie did not acknowledge him, Jack kne clever this was Makes theht Perhaps Reese was a bully, but he was preparing well for his escape attelanced around at the slave drivers--their guns and knives, their cruel faces--and he knew that the slaves would need more than deteret away, they’d need to kill William and his men first

"Why d’you think it won’t work?" Jonas asked A dozen steps away from Jack, still his voice carried No one intervened Perhaps the slavers were allowing the men this brief contact