When the steamship Excelsior arrived from Alaska, bringing the news of the Klondike strike that set the country mad, Kit made a purely frivolous proposition.
“Look here, O'Hara,” he said. “This gold rush is going to be big—the days of '49 over again. Suppose I cover it for The Billow? I'll pay my own expenses.”
O'Hara shook his head.
“Can't spare you from the office, Kit. Then there's that serial. Besides, I saw Jackson not an hour ago. He's starting for the Klondike to-morrow, and he's agreed to send a weekly letter and photos. I wouldn't let him get away till he promised. And the beauty of it is, that it doesn't cost us anything.”
The next Kit heard of the Klondike was when he dropped into the club that afternoon, and, in an alcove off the library, encountered his uncle.
“Hello, avuncular relative,” Kit greeted, sliding into a leather chair and spreading out his legs. “Won't you join me?”
He ordered a cocktail, but the uncle contented himself with the thin native claret he invariably drank. He glanced with irritated disapproval at the cocktail, and on to his nephew's face. Kit saw a lecture gathering.
“I've only a minute,” he announced hastily. “I've got to run and take in that Keith exhibition at Ellery's and do half a column on it.”
“What's the matter with you?” the other demanded. “You're pale. You're a wreck.”
Kit's only answer was a groan.