"Look here," he said, firing up, "you needn't say 'of course.' Harvard is my college!"
I was engaged in reinforcing my overalls with a piece of bacon sack; I could not help being amused at this fair-haired savage being a college man. "That makes no difference," I replied. "Harvard's our college too—all of us."
"What are you giving me?" he ejaculated, and at first I thought he looked a little angry, as if he thought we were trifling with him; and then a little supercilious, as he surveyed the forlorn condition of my clothing, which the removal of the overalls I wore instead of trousers had exposed.
"Hard facts," I said. "Classes of '92 and '93. Lend me your sheath-knife."
"Why-ee!" he exclaimed. "Ninety-three's my class. Shake!—Rah, rah, rah! Who are we?—You know!—Who are we? We are Harvard ninety-three—what can we do?—What can we do?—We can lick Harvard ninety-two—cocka-doodle-doodle-doo—Harvard, Harvard—ninety-two—hooray!"
The next day we tramped over to American Creek together, where some new gold diggings were just being developed. The Harvard miner had had no tea for several months, as he told us (and one who has been living in Alaska knows what a serious thing that is) so we brought a pound package along to make a drink for lunch. At American Creek we got a large tomato can outside of a miner's cabin, and the Harvard man offered to do the brewing.
"How much shall I put in?" he asked.
"Suit yourself," was the answer.
He took a tremendous handful. "Is this too much?" he asked, apologetically. "You see, I haven't had tea for three months, and I feel like having a good strong cup." We assured him that the strength of the drink was to be limited only by his own desires. He was tempted to another handful, and so little by little, till half the package was in the can. When he was satisfied, we told him to keep the remaining half pound for the next time. He was disappointed.
"If I had known you intended giving it to me," he replied, "I wouldn't have used so much." We drank the tea eagerly, for we were tired, but my head spun afterwards.