I don't believe that two fellows were ever better fitted to be companions, under such circumstances, than Meade and I were. He was a very cheerful man, always looking at the bright side of things, full of resources, an excellent bushman.
He told me much about his English home, spoke often of his mother, for whom he had the greatest love and veneration. His father had been dead for years. Money was not too abundant with his mother and his two sisters; he was often saying what a blessing the gold that he had got would be to them.
I could tell, too, that there was one person in England around whom all his warmest feelings were centred. He did not say very much to me about her, for, as he knew from me that I was perfectly heart-whole, I believe he thought that I could not sympathise with him, nor understand his feelings. Meade was very well read, and his conversation was always very pleasant. As for me, he was kind enough to say that he could not have had a better "mate."
It was in the beginning of September, our health was not good, and the season was hurrying towards winter, when we deemed it wise to begin to carry out some plan for getting away. We had not acted wisely, I must admit; that is, we should have arranged as well for getting out as for getting in. How were we to take our camping gear, our grub, and our gold down to our boat?
We should have brought up two canoes with us—one for Fan and Jim to get away in, another for ourselves.
Meade saw this now, and was always blaming himself for the error, saying that as he knew the lie of the land he should have known better.
These points he and I had discussed again and again, and had not really settled what to do, when this time arrived.
Certainly we could not "pack" our stuff. There was no decent trail, and even if there had been, we knew we were not robust enough to take a dozen journeys to our boat and back, heavily laden, as we should have to be. No! By some means we must float down to the Klondyke, to the main stream, where our boat was cached.
And about the boat, too, we had some anxiety. Supposing it had been found and carried off, where should we be?
Certainly we had acted most unwisely.