“‘Nothing. He doesn’t know, and he will not know till aunt gets my letter, and she tells him.’
“‘As if the poor old woman hadn’t enough to suffer without you going off, sir,’ he said.
“‘But I can’t stop and live upon her now, uncle.’
“‘Of course you can’t, sir. But what about the soldiering, and the scarlet and gold lace?’
“‘Good-bye to it all, sir,’ I said with a gulp, for it was an awful knockdown to a coxcomb of a chap like I was, who had reckoned on the fine feathers and spurs and the rest of it.
“‘Humph!’ he grunted, ‘and you think I am going to give—lend you a hundred pounds to go on such a wild goose chase?’
“‘I hope so, uncle,’ I said.
“‘Hope away, then; and fill yourself with the unsatisfactory stuff, if you like. No, sir; if you want to go gold-digging, shoulder your swag and shovel, pick and cradle, and tramp there.’
“‘How?’ I said, getting riled, for the old nut seemed harder than ever. ‘I can’t tramp across three thousand miles of ocean. I could hardly tramp over three thousand miles of land, and when I did reach the Pacific, if I could, there’s the long sea journey from Vancouver up to Alaska, and another tramp there. No, uncle,’ I said, ‘it isn’t to be done. I’ve gone into it all carefully, and cut it as fine as I might, it will take fifty pounds for outfit and carriage to get to Klondike.’
“‘Fifty! Why, you said a hundred,’ he growled. ‘That’s coming down. Want the other fifty to play billiards and poker?’