“I guess the Klondyke is good enough for me. See here, Angela, I bin pretty rough with you—but—it wasn’t that I meant it that way. You gotta make allowances for me. I lived among animals for years. Maybe I kinder got like one, without quite knowing it.”

“Perhaps you may make allowances for me, too. I was born in luxury, where hardship and suffering never entered, where flattery and gifts were the daily portion. I have never had a chance——”

“Cut that,” he grunted. “You got grit and pluck and——”

“All aboard!” yelled a stentorian voice.

“They’re off,” said Jim. “I—— Good-bye, Angela. Maybe you’ll remember—sometimes.”

His eyes suddenly swam and he turned his head away. 310

“Good-bye!” she murmured, and held his hand.

“All aboard!” yelled the voice again.

A man began to move the gangway. The hand in Jim’s suddenly clung on.

“I gotta go,” he moaned; “they’re pulling in the plank.”