“We hate to go back now,” Case said gloomily. “We’ve put all the money we had in on this trip, and I, for one, hate to go back and to be laughed at too.”
“I am not advising you what to do. But I know what I would do myself in like case,” said the Kid slowly. “I wouldn’t give up. A thing not worth pushing through is not worth starting. I’d go on up as far as Dawson maybe, kinder going along easy and learning the ways of the Yukon and having as much sport as I could, and buying more supplies when I could get them cheap. As soon as it started to get cold at Dawson, I’d start down the river, stopping only at a few big settlements to trade. I would try to get close to the lower Yukon before the river froze up. I wouldn’t take any chances. As soon as floating ice began to form, I’d run my boat in some cozy cove, pull her out on shore, and make myself cozy for the winter. Then I’d find me a sled and dogs and hit for the nearest settlement. I’d be pretty liberal with my first buying and it wouldn’t be long before the Indians would be coming from hundreds of miles to exchange their pelts for tobacco, beads and trinkets. Tobacco tempts them most, tobacco and cheap watches. Did you bring any of those cheap watches?”
“We’ve got a case of the kind that is making the dollar infamous,” grinned Alex.
“Them’s the kind,” grinned back the Kid. “Just show them how to keep them wound up and ticking and they will fall for them all right. They think the ticking inside is a spirit and they back it up to keep the evil spirit of the Yukon from bothering them. But to go on, by spring I would have my boat loaded with valuable furs and when the ice went out, I would make Nome and hike back for the States with the satisfaction of knowing that I had cleaned up a few thousand dollars on the trip.”
“But a winter on the Yukon!” gasped Case.
“A winter on the Yukon is largely what a man makes of it, as in all things,” said the Kid gently. “If a man is strong of soul, he will thaw out with ice a still stronger man. If he’s a weakling, it’s just as well for him to find it out early in life. You boys are fixed comfortable for the winter and had ought to go through it all right. The main thing is to keep busy and cheerful. Remember, boys, I am not advising you boys to do this, for you might come to grief and I would always blame myself. I am merely telling you what I would do in your case.”
“Thanks for what you have told us,” said Clay, gravely. “We know that you know what you are talking about, but it knocks the wind out of us for the moment. We had built so on the plans made in our ignorance that, now they are all shattered, we don’t just know what to do until we have slept over it and talked it over. Now, I have got a question to ask you,” he said abruptly. “Do you know or have you ever seen two men that fit this description,” and he described Jud and Bill.
“I’ve crossed their trail many a time, and Jud is one of the most powerful men on the Yukon and a right gentle good man when you get him away from his partner, but Bill is as full of poison as a rattlesnake. Don’t know why Jud sticks to him, but he does. Bill seems to have some hold on him. You seldom see them apart. Don’t know as any serious crime could be proved against them, but the Injins have brought me some ugly stories and I believe they are true. Anyway, they are men I want nothing to do with.”
“Say, Mr. Kid,” Ike asked, eagerly. “How far up the Yukon is Rainbow Bend?”
“Don’t know of any such place,” replied the Kid, promptly. “And I know the Yukon like a book. Yet the name has a familiar sound. I’ll try and think it up. I will remember in time what it is, for I never really forget anything. Well, so long, boys. It’s time for all of us to go to bed. I expect to go up on the steamer tomorrow afternoon. I make my trip by water when the ice is out. If you start early, I reckon we’ll catch you at the mouth of the Yukon and you can keep in our wake as long as you can see us.