But what was I to do? The shanty was but one room: I must either go altogether, or stay; there was nothing else for it. I put this to Miss Bell, who said decidedly that I must stay, that she knew my presence would do her father good, and he backed her up with much vigour, for him. The tears came to his eyes when he besought me to stay as long as I possibly could.
What could I do, then, but accede to his wishes? for indeed I did not wish to go away—far, very far from it.
This shanty was perhaps twenty feet by twelve; the floor was clay. The only furniture besides the two beds behind the blanket curtains was a very rough table of split wood, fastened on to four unbarked stakes driven into the ground. The seats were a couple of three-legged stools, a block or two of wood, and an empty keg. Of table furniture there was nothing but some granite-ware cups and plates, some iron spoons, and a few knives and steel-pronged forks. Their cooking gear was a frying-pan, a tin billy, black and battered, and an iron camp oven.
I perceived they had no bread, only "flap-jacks," a species of griddle cake cooked in the frying-pan. I said something about this, which caused May to say that she could not make bread.
"I'm a first-rate hand at it," said I; "let me make you some."
"It's hardly fair to set a visitor to cooking," she answered, with a smile.
"Nonsense," I went on; "I'm a good all-round cook, really—I've had plenty of experience during the last few years; let me show you what I can do—I'd like to."
Blushing, she agreed, explaining that with a proper stove and the right appliances she had managed when they were in a civilised country, but here, she had to confess, she was a perfect failure.
I set to work, much to their amusement, and as I busied myself they talked to me, and by degrees I got to understand how they came to be in this terrible predicament.
I learned that their party originally consisted of four besides themselves: they had come up the Yukon from St Michael's, had rested a few days at Dawson, and had then continued up the Yukon, and by degrees had crept up a branch river, always prospecting, and without much success until they hit on this spot. Here they had found gold plentiful. They all worked hard until winter was near, and it was time to go out.