Chapter 16 Chapter 1 Winter in the Klondike

This area of ​​the Klondike, between the border crossed by the middle Forty Mile River and the Yukon, has just had a well-defined earthquake. Truth be told, earthquakes don't happen very often in the Klondike.However, its underground has a combination of quartz: igneous rock.This shows that the power generated at the beginning has already had an effect here.These powers simply slumber, and sometimes wake up with far less than usual violence.What's more, there are several volcanoes towering throughout the Rocky Mountain region from near the Arctic Circle, and it is not certain that they are all completely extinguished.

Generally speaking, there is no need to worry about earthquakes or volcanic eruptions in this county, but flooding caused by sudden surges of river water is a cause for concern. Dawson City was not spared either, with a bridge linking the city with its suburb Klondike City washed out several times. This time, the Sishilihe area suffered a double disaster.The earthquake completely destroyed installations on plots in vast areas on both sides of the border.In addition, the flood flooded the original mine.In the future, any business activities will be impossible. At first, it was difficult to estimate how small the loss was.The whole area was dark.It was only on the second day that I realized that the small houses, wooden houses and thatched houses had been washed away. Most of the miners had no place to live. There were many injured and dead people. drowned.After seeing the seriousness of the disaster, it was known that the immigrant army scattered in various mines had to leave the area.

In any case, it seems that the irreparable disaster was caused by the Sishili River partially filling the mines on the right bank.Under the impetus of underground forces, the river bed was raised until it was level with the river bank.Therefore, it stands to reason that the flood was not temporary.In this case, there is five or six feet of water on the ground that cannot be drained, so how can we start digging again? What a night of terror and anxiety will pass for the poor souls who have been struck by this sudden calamity!They don't have any shelter from the elements.The storm lasted until five o'clock in the morning.Families hiding in birch and aspen groves were struck repeatedly by lightning.At the same time, it began to rain cats and dogs with hail.There would be nowhere for the wounded to hide if Rorik hadn't discovered a small cave on his way up the valley and he and Sammy Skinn had carried Ben Rado into it.

It's easy to imagine what the two brothers are thinking now.They traveled thousands of miles and went through hardships to come here, but they became victims of earthquakes and floods!All their efforts were in vain.Nothing remains of their inheritance, not even the production proceeds of recent weeks.None of the gold collected by themselves and their unfortunate girlfriend remained.The flood washed away the little house and took everything away; not a single item could be recovered, and now the gold is going with the water. Sammy Skin and the foreman left the cave for some time after the storm had ceased, leaving Ben Rado to the care of Jane Egerton; they intended to find out the extent of the disaster.Like Lot 129, Lot 1272 and Lot 131 were also flooded.The border problem was solved at once.Whether the 141st meridian moves east or west, owners of both parcels are not interested.It doesn't matter whether the place is in Alaska or Canada.The overflowing river water flows on the ground.

As for the victims of the earthquake, the number of them will be known only after the investigation.What is certain is that whole, whole families were suddenly struck by an earthquake or flood in their wooden or thatched huts, and most probably died before they could escape. It was a miracle that Ben Rado, Sammy Skin, Lorrick, and Jane Edgerton were spared, and the engineer was injured.Transportation should be found to take him to Dawson City as soon as possible. Naturally, the matter of Hunter Skin was out of the question.The next day's duel was canceled on its own.The two adversaries have other things to do, and they may never meet again.

Besides, the two Texans were not seen when the clouds cleared and the sun returned to the troubled land.From the house where they lived to the entrance of the valley, there is now a vast ocean, and nothing remains.None of the equipment, stones, pans, or pumps built on the plot left a trace.Yesterday's heavy rain made the water level soar, and the water surface expanded faster, and the water level expanded, but the water level did not drop. Were the two Texans and their men safe, or were they among the number of victims?No one knew now, and in fact it hadn't occurred to Sammy Skin to ask about it.The only thing that troubled him was sending Ben Rado to Dawson City, where medical conditions were better, to await his recovery there, and to embark on his way home to Skagway, Vancouver, and Montreal if it was still possible.Ben Rado and he had no reason to extend their stay in the Klondike. Lot 129 is now lying in deep water, and there is no chance of a buyer.It was best to get out of this abominable region as soon as possible, Sammy Skin often said with good reason: a man of sound mind and body would never set foot in this land.

But is it possible to go back anytime soon?Wouldn't it take days, weeks, or even months for Bin Lado's wounds to heal? Mid-August passed quickly, and before late August was over, the early winter in this high latitude would close the Lake District and the Chilkoot Pass.The Yukon would soon be unnavigable as well, and it was feared that Ben Rado would not be too fit to board until the last steamers down the river to the mouth of the river had departed. If so, the whole winter will be spent in Dawson.The prospect of seven or eight months of snow closing the door and freezing temperatures of -50 or 60 degrees is not at all pleasant.In order to avoid such a disaster, it was necessary to rush back to Dawson City with all speed, hand over the wounded to Dr. Pilcox, and order him to cure the injured as soon as possible.

As luck would have it—transportation was no longer a problem—Neruto found his wagon intact on an elevated spot that hadn't been flooded.As for the horse, it was grazing freely when the calamity struck, and so escaped; it could be recovered and brought to its master. "Let's go!" Skinn said loudly at once, "Let's go now!" Ben Rado took his hand. "My poor Sammy," he said, "will you forgive me? You know how I regret having you involved in this sad business! . . . " "It's not me that's involved, it's you," said Sammy Skinn in a gruff voice, "for example, please be good, or else! . . . Miss Jane wraps your legs as best she can, and then, Patrick and I'll put you in the car and lay you down on the hay mat. I'm in the car with Miss Jane and Neruto. Lorrick and Patrick find their own way to join us in Dawson City. Let's hurry... ...no, I mean to avoid jolts, let's walk slowly as long as we need to. Once you get to the hospital, you'll be pain free. Dr. Peelcox will put your leg back together just by looking at it...but May he not watch for too long, before the cold season comes, we can set off!"

"Dear Sammy," Ben Rado said at this time, "my recovery may take several months, and I understand your urgency to return to Montreal...why don't you go?" "Leave you behind, Ben? . . . You're talking in your sleep, I think. I'd rather break a leg, Ben!" The carriage carried Bin Lado along the right bank of the Forty Mile River and onto the road leading to Kudashi Fortress.The road is full of people who are looking for work in other gold mines.Along the river, work is still going on on some undamaged parcels.However, although some plots have not been flooded, they cannot be operated for now.The ground tremors spread far from the border, equipment was smashed, mines were filled in, poles fell, and houses collapsed, presenting a desolate scene.However, all in all, this is not a complete ruin.Next year, work can resume here.

The carriage was not going fast, and the road was rough and jolted violently, causing great pain to the wounded.On the third day, the carriage arrived at Kudashi Fortress. Sammy Skinn certainly took care of Ben Rado in every possible way, but it must be admitted that he was a little clumsy at times; without Jane Egerton's help, Ben Rado would have complained.Jane managed to lift her injured leg, to find always new and better postures for Ben, and above all to say the words most suitable for comforting and encouraging patients without effort. Unfortunately, neither she nor Sammy Skin will heal the fracture.Need a doctor, not only there is no doctor in the Kudaxi Fortress, but there is no doctor in the Reliance Fortress they arrived 48 hours later.

Sammy Skin had reason to worry: wouldn't his cousin's condition worsen with time and lack of medicine?Indeed, in order not to worry Sammy, Ben suppressed what should have been great pain and kept silent; Sammy knew this, because when Ben's fever was high, he couldn't help moaning in pain. In any case, therefore, it was imperative to get to the Klondike capital as soon as possible. On the afternoon of August 16, when the carriage finally stopped in front of Dawson Hospital, Sammy Skin was greatly relieved. At this time, Edith Egerton happened to be at the entrance of the hospital because of work needs.She recognized the patient at a glance, and she was probably very excited, because everyone present would notice that her face suddenly turned pale.No matter how excited she was, she didn't show it with other external signs, otherwise, she just forgot to kiss her cousin.Without saying a word, she quickly took all measures that could relieve the pain of the wounded man, who was already in a semi-conscious state due to high fever.Under her command, the wounded were lifted off the carriage lightly and steadily and brought to the hospital, so that the patient did not groan. Ten minutes later, he was placed in a special ward, where he fell asleep between two blindingly white sheets that tucked tightly at the sides. "You see, Miss Edith, when I brought you to Dawson City, I had reason to say that your presence was very much in our personal interest!" said Sammy in a regretful voice. "What happened to Mr. Rado?" Edith asked, not directly responding to Sammy's words. It was Jane who told the cousin what happened, in short, the end of what the latter had seen.If Edith hadn't immediately had Dr. Peelcox called in, the story would have continued. The people of Dawson City have known for several days that there was an earthquake in the Forty Mile River area.Now, thirty or so people are known to have been killed or injured, but Dr. Peelcox did not suspect that one of them was an engineer. "What!" he exclaimed, in the habit of garrulous, "Mr. Rado! . . . and a broken leg!" "Yes, Doctor, that's him," replied Sammy Skinning, "...poor Ben is in great pain." "Okay!...Okay!...It doesn't matter," said the doctor again, "we'll connect his leg!... What he needs is not a doctor, but a quack who does his own work. We will attach his leg bones according to the specification!" Ben Rado had only a general fracture below the knee. The doctor skillfully butt-jointed the bones, and then fixed the severed limb in an apparatus, making it completely still.While doing these things, the doctor chattered according to his habit: "My dear patient, you can boast: good luck indeed! As the saying goes: If you want a stronger limb, break the limb. You will have a deer's leg, unless you don't want me to take the other The legs were broken too!" "Thanks a lot!" Ben Rado, who was fully awake, murmured, showing a pale smile at the same time. "Don't be restrained!" said the joking doctor, "I'm at your command...No?...You can't make up your mind?...Then we have to treat one leg first." "How long does it take to heal?" Sammy asked. "Well! . . . a month . . . six weeks . . . that's bone, Mr. Skinner, and not as easily welded together as two red-hot iron plates. Since there is no stove and mallet, it will take time." .” "Time! . . . time! . . . " said Sammy Skin in a low, whining voice. "What can you do," said the doctor, "it's nature at work, and you know that, and nature is never in a hurry. That's why patience was invented." Patience, now Sammy Skin better do it.Be patient and bear to see Ben Rado recover before the cold season has come!Can one imagine a place where winter begins the first week of September, with snow and ice piling up and the entire area impassable?How could Ben Rado bear the fatigue of the journey home, cross the Chilkoot Pass, go to Skagway to catch the steamer for Vancouver, if he was not fully recovered?As for those who make their way down the Yukon to St.-Michel, the last one will be leaving in 15 days, leaving the river choked with ice behind him! To be precise, the Scouts returned to Dawson City on August 20th. Bill Steer's first order of business was to find out if Mr. Ben Rado and Mr. Sammy Skin were done with Lot 129 and were ready to return to Montreal.For this purpose, he went to the hospital to see Dr. Piercox. He was taken aback when he learned that Bin Lado was hospitalized and would not recover until six weeks later! "Yes, Bill," Sammy Skinn announced to him, "that's where we are. Not only have we not sold 129, but 129 doesn't exist; not only is 129 gone, we can't get out of this Terrible Klondike to a more habitable place!" At this time, the scout knew about the disaster at the Forty Mile River and how Ben Rado was seriously injured in this situation. "That's the saddest thing about it," concluded Sammy Skin, "because, in the end, we can give up No. 129. Me, I don't care about No. 129! Of course! How could Uncle Josias Foolish idea: Buy 129 and leave us 129 after death!" Number 129! . . . with what contempt Sammy Skinn uttered that damned figure! "Ah! Scout," he exclaimed, "if poor Ben doesn't get hurt, I'd be thankful for the earthquake! He's got us out of this annoying legacy! No land! No more business! I think it's It’s a great thing.” "Then you're going to have to," interrupted the Scout, "winter in Dawson City?" "Wintering at the North Pole, so to speak," replied Sammy Skin. "So I've come to you..." Bill Steel went on. "You go, we're not going, Bill," answered Sammy Skinn with a tone of patience bordering on despair. Scout bid farewell to the two Canadians and promised to return at the beginning of spring. "In eight months!" sighed Sammy Skin. Ben Rado's treatment proceeded as it should.No complications occurred.Dr. Peelcox declared he could not be more satisfied.The patient's legs will only get stronger, and one leg can hold two legs. "Three legs if I calculate correctly," he said, as was his custom. As for Ben Rado, he was patient with his pain.Under Edith's loving care, he seemed to be well adjusted to the hospital regime.The most one could accuse him of was asking too much of his gentle nurse.The nurse had to stay at his bedside endlessly, or leave for a few minutes for other work, otherwise, it would arouse his strong objection.It should be added that this victim of tyranny is not angry.She was willing to lose track of time during long conversations, and while the engineer was asleep, she was able to work miracles without making other patients in the hospital uncomfortable by her special attention to one patient. During the face-to-face conversation, the two young people did not think of falling in love.Whenever the weather was fine and his cousin and his faithful Neruto were out hunting, Ben Rado knew about the Dawson City market and new discoveries in the goldfields.Edith was his living magazine.She read the local papers for him, the Yukon Sun, the Midnight Sun, the Klondike Nugget, and more. No. 129 does not exist, so there is nothing to do in this place?Can't it just get another plot and keep going?The engineer really became interested in the work of Sishilihe. He did not tell Sammy Skin of these vague plans, and on this occasion the latter might have trouble controlling his well-founded anger.However, when Edith was alone with him, he had a chance to confide.Edith was not intimidated by her cousin's bankruptcy, nor was her confidence in the future shaken.She discussed with the engineer the value of this or that place in the county.They are making plans for the future with the utmost seriousness.Obviously, the fever caused by the wound did not destroy Bin Lado's body, so the golden fever did not leave his soul.This fever of the mind is not the desire to own the precious metal, but the passion of discovery and the ecstatic feeling that audacious dreams can come true in the mind. How could the news of Bonanza, El Dorado, and the plots in the hills of Less Skukum not stimulate his imagination? Here, a worker can launder $100 worth of gold an hour!Over there, $8,000 of gold can be extracted from a hole 24 feet long by 14 feet wide!A major London firm has just bought two sites on the banks of the Bear and Dominion for 1.75 million francs.The No. 26 gold mine on the Eldorado River was sold for 2 million, and the workers in the mine can recover 60,000 francs of gold every day!At the Dome on the Klondike-Indian River divide, did not Mr. Ogilvie, who is very capable, predict that a total of 150 million francs worth of gold will be unearthed? But despite such phantasms, Ben Rado, wise as he might be, should not forget that the father of Dawson City had a great deal of respect for a Frenchman named Amé Semire (the most well-studied traveler to these gold-growing regions). 1) What has been said repeatedly: "Before you go, you should secure a bed in my hospital. If you catch gold fever while traveling, you won't regret it. As long as you find a little gold (there's gold everywhere) , you will definitely work hard, so you will definitely get scurvy or other diseases. With a deposit of 250 francs per year, you can get a bed and free treatment when you are sick. Everyone takes orders from me. This It's your order." Experience now told Ben Rado that he would not be short of care in Dawson's hospital in the future.But wouldn't his irresistible need for adventure take him far from Dawson City, into unexplored regions where new gold was found? During this time, Sammy Skin asked the police about the whereabouts of Hunter and Malona.Has anyone seen them since the Sishilihe disaster? The answer is no.The two of them did not come to Dawson City, otherwise, as usual, their excesses would have exposed their existence.People meet them in clubs, casinos, in all entertainment venues, and they're always front row.Therefore, they probably died during the Sishilihe earthquake and were swept away by the ensuing flood.However, since none of the Americans who worked on Lot 131 have returned, and since it is unlikely that all of them perished in the disaster, it is possible that Hunter and Malone took their men to their start The gold mines of Circle City and Birch River. In early October, Ben Rado was able to get out of bed.Dr. Peelcox was not proud of it, for Edith's careful care was as important as his treatment. Although the engineer was able to get out of bed, he still had a few things to watch out for; he couldn't yet afford the trip from Dawson City to Skagway.Besides, it was too late.The first snow of winter had already fallen, and the rivers were beginning to freeze, making the Yukon River and lakes impassable for navigation.The average temperature has dropped to minus 15 degrees, and it will drop to minus 10 or 60 degrees. The brothers took a room in a hotel on Front Street and dined at the Le Royal; the meal was not very pleasant.They rarely speak.Even in the unhappy atmosphere, however, the differences in their characters continued to show themselves. Sammy Skin sometimes shook his head and said: "The most irritating thing about this is not being able to leave Dawson City before winter." Ben Rado always answered invariably: "Perhaps the most irritating thing was not being able to sell the land before the disaster and certainly not being able to continue to operate it." At this moment, in order not to cause a useless argument, Sammy Skin took off his shotgun, called Neruto, and went hunting near the city. Another month passed.During this period, the changes in the mercury column of the thermometer are indeed magical.Depending on the direction of the wind, it dropped to minus 30 or 40 degrees and went back up to minus 15 or 10 degrees. Over the course of a month, Bin Lado's injury continued to heal in the most satisfactory fashion.Soon he was walking greater distances every day in the company of Sammy Skin; Edith was out for work, and usually Jane was with them.It was a real joy for 3 people walking.When the weather was nice, they went for walks; or sledged on the frozen snow in warm fur coats. On November 17th, the three of them set off on foot to about a mile north of Dawson City.Sammy Skinn had had a good hunt and they were getting ready to return.At this time, Jane Egerton stopped suddenly, pointed to a tree about 50 paces away, and shouted: "A person... over there!" "Alone?" Sammy Skin repeated. Sure enough, a man was lying in the snow under a birch tree.He was motionless, probably dead, frozen to death, because the temperature was so low. Three walkers ran towards him.The stranger was about 40 years old, with his eyes closed and a very distressed expression on his face.He was still breathing, but his breathing was so weak that he was almost on the threshold of death. Naturally, Ben Rado immediately assumed leadership. "Sammy," he said plainly, "you try to find a car. Me, I'll run to the nearest house and get some blood-boosting medicine. Meanwhile, Miss Jane rubbed him with snow and tried to Bring him back to life." The order was carried out immediately.Ben Rado ran as fast as he could, Sammy Skin had already set off, and he was running at full speed in the direction of Dawson City. Jane, left alone with the stranger, began to rub against him heroically and tenaciously; first the face, then unfastened the rough leather robe to rub his shoulders and chest. A wallet slipped from his pocket, and some papers were scattered on the floor.One of the papers in particular caught Jane's attention, and she picked it up and glanced at it quickly.It was a 4-fold parchment, and the folds were almost torn due to long-term wear and tear.When I opened it, it was just a map, a map of the seaside, with no other markings on it, only a latitude line, a longitude line, and a thick red cross at a point on this unknown coast. Jane folded the map and put it in her pocket involuntarily.She picked up the other papers, put them in her wallet, and continued with the vigorous massage.Good results are unquestionable.The frozen man begins to move.Soon, his eyelids began to tremble, and indistinct words spit out from his bruised lips; at the same time, the hand that had been covering his chest weakly grasped Jane Egerton's hand. The girl leaned down, only to hear a few intermittent words that she found meaningless: "Here..." said the dying man, "...the wallet...you give it to...Gold Volcano...thanks...to you...my mother..." At this time, Ben Rado came back.There was the sound of a carriage galloping along the road. "Here's what I found," said Jane, handing the wallet to the engineer. There were only letters in the wallet, addressed to only one: M. Jacques Ledan from Nantes or Paris. "A Frenchman!" Ben Rado yelled. A moment later, the man who had passed out again was carried into the carriage that Skinn had found, and drove towards Dawson Hospital at full speed.