"What is the meaning of that?" he asked.
"That," replied Tim, "marks the grave of some poor chap that died on his way to the Klondike. Do ye obsarve that cairn of stones a bit beyont?"
Each saw it.
"That marks anither grave; and ye may call to mind that we obsarved more of the same along Lake Lindeman."
Such was the fact, though this was the first reference to them.
"And we shall hardly be out of sight of some of the same all the way to the Klondike; and I'm thinking," was his truthful remark, "that hundreds more will lay their bones down in these parts and niver see their loved ones again."
It was a sad thought. In a few years improved routes, railway-tracks, and houses for food and lodging will rob the Klondike region of its terrors, but until then death must exact a heavy toll from the gold-seekers crowding northward, without regard to season or the simplest laws of prudence.
Roswell was standing on the upper deck, near a corner, when he exclaimed excitedly:
"Oh, look there! Isn't it dreadful?"