“Nonsense!” cried Dallas, going down on his knees; “the dog’s alive.”
“I’m blessed!” said his big friend. “Well, some things can stand being froze hard and thawed out again better than we Christians. I s’pose it’s having such a thick coat. Look at him; he’s got one eye open, and he’s winking.”
In proof thereof came a low whine, as if in appeal for food.
“Look here, my sons,” said Tregelly one day, as he came in last from the dismal darkness without to the bright warmth of the hut, where the fire was burning cheerily and an appetising odour of tea, damper, and fried ham proclaimed how busy, weak as he still was, Abel had been; “I used to grumble a deal down in old Cornwall because we had a lot o’ wet days, and say it was a country not fit for anything better than a duck to live in; but I’m an altered man now, and I repent. It’s a regular heaven compared to this Klondike country. Hullo, Scruff, my son, how are you?” The dog gave an amiable growl, and seemed to enjoy the gentle caress the big miner gave him with his heavy boot, as he lay stretched out by the fire.
“Don’t grumble, Bob,” said Dallas. “This looks cheery enough, and we’ve done some good to-day.”
“Oh, I’m not grumbling, my son; only making comparisons as is ojus. That’s what I used to write at school. This is a reg’lar Lord Mayor’s banquet for a hungry man. But my word, how dirty I am!”
“So am I,” said Dallas. “What with the gravel and the wood-smoke, I feel like a charcoal burner. I should like a wash, though.”
“Wash, my son! I should like a bathe in our old Cornish sea, with the sun shining on my back. And I say, a bit of our old fish. A few pilchards or grilled mackerel, or a baked hake, with a pudding inside him—or oh! a conger pie.”
“Don’t, Bob,” said Dallas. “This is painful. And look here; either you or I must go down to Yukon City with the sledge again, for the stores are getting low.”
“Nay,” said the big Cornishman; “we’ll have up what I’ve got down yonder first. Clear out the place. There’s enough there to last us a fortnight longer; and I want to go there badly.”