hill atmosphere of the tent; but the sounds of movement were everywhere. Commands, embellished with profanity, were being shouted. When the th

these supplies; "and it won't do any harm to hang our bacon sack from a rafter while we are away, as a

sing the reserve stores, to the summit and cache them; then, on the following day, to carry the remainder of the stuff right thr

scores of outfits setting out

their masters, watched the proceedings. The dogs belaboured were soon tangled among the traces in fine confusion. Each animal, as he saw a stroke coming his way, jumped sideways with a how

in this country; you'll only get into troub

belabouring, Hugh asked to

hem about, but saying nothing. Then he took the gee-pole, and ordered "mush." The leader looked back over his shoulder, as did the dog next him. "Mush!" again cried Hugh. The dogs drew steadily

ent-like, puts fear in their souls. You see, that fellow wasn't really hurting them; they could hardly feel that light whip through their fur, and their fee

trength of the three men and the dogs was sufficient to l

he sight, for there was a great rattling of rock and a general shout calling attention to the catastrophe. The unfortunate creatures soon reached the base of the slide and were lost in the soft snow. They struggled, and they disappeared. One more sacrifice to that dreadful trail, which, during the Klondike rush, had claimed the lives of thirty-

the dog-food comes

rwards two men were seen floundering through the soft snow down the s

luck," Hugh

ing how near he could go to the side without falling off, t

utfit we

ernment owns the supplies-pol

t on down the trail

iquities of the royalty on gold, and the grafting current

il. Veterans of the trail will tell weird tales of horses, goaded by whip and burden, deliberately throwing themselves into the canyon below-seeking surcease from suffering in death. As the canyon became narrower, so did the trail become more congested. It also grew steepe

y in trouble, and o

u get over the summit until you pay my wages for four days more, that is, two days from the summit to Lake Bennett loaded, and two days back again from Ben

t to do is show me over the summit, and we're quits. I've paid you forty dollars already: three days doing nothing at White Pass City during t

You can't bluff me. I'm an officer of the U

ting," mut

with authority more or less real,

he most difficult portion of the trail, and the excitement was general. There was a deal of

appeared, with strewn tents and an endless promise of supplies; and-most conspic

n and out of a tent, half buried in snow, which served as an office. This was the second great depot out from Skagway, and piled about everywhere were loa

e, and the charges against the few American goods were of no great amount. Hugh selected a projecting rock on which to make his ca

this side," said the man

r if the trail was clear," Hugh rem

ass City, which they reached at noon-as a man was pounding a

well pleased with

ter passing the goods they had time to climb the ridge on which the police tents were erected. From thence they gazed down the valley, which they knew was the uppermost watershed of the mighty Yukon, whose course makes a great cu

s desolation; they felt that stirring incidents w

o-morrow, and I guess we had better have our s