As soon as the boys were comfortable, she continued:
“I was about seventeen when I read the exciting tales of gold in California and the wealth to be obtained in Seattle—a town that was boomed in a night. I knew my father would never consent to my leaving home, so I said nothing, but pawned my watch and ring, drew my savings from the bank, and raised enough money to pay my way West. I worked part of my way, and stole rides on freight cars part of the way, until I found myself in Seattle. I was not particular where I went as long as it was in the West. Well, in Seattle I found that the fever of gold mining in Alaska was reaching a boiling point, and every steamer bound for Sitka was already overloaded, but I managed in some way to steal aboard and hide until the captain could not turn me off. I had to do some awfully dirty work, however, and had very little to eat.
“We arrived at Sitka, and there I spent some more of my money for a passage to Juneau City. There I landed with forty dollars left in my pockets. Ten of this was paid out for a hard bed and some scanty food, and I soon feared that I would be left without a cent unless I started somewhere for the gold mines. I heard all kinds of stories about the gold found up on the Yukon River, so I found a shed where outfits were sold, and paid twenty dollars for an outfit that was said to be all I would need. I still had a few dollars left when I started on the road, with my outfit strapped to my back, visions of finding millions of dollars’ worth of gold always before my eyes.
“I walked along a trail that seemed to be well traveled, and felt glad to get away from the drink-sodden town. I had tramped for hours, when the outfit began to rub painfully on my back. I was hungry, too, for the food given me at the eating-houses was unfit to eat. In buying my outfit, I added a strip of bacon and a loaf of black bread, so I decided to rest for a bit and have my dinner.
“The country, as far as I could see, was very beautiful, so I sat down beside the trail and dropped my pack. I took out the tiny frying pan and cut some bacon into it. I gathered some sticks, and then tried to light one of the matches that was in the waterproof box, but it merely sputtered and went out. I used so many matches in this way that I became nervous lest the supply give out. Finally I ate my bread and bacon as it was, and was about to strap the outfit together again when I spied a caravan leaving the town several miles beyond the point where I sat. I was so interested in watching the long line, as it lengthened out along the trail, that I forgot how soon night comes down in this country. I had no plans for the night, and expected to go much farther before I struck camp. When the caravan had come halfway the distance from town toward me, I picked up my pack and started on.
“I found the pack dreadfully heavy this time, and had to rest several times. I was thus resting on a large rock when the caravan passed me.
“The sledges were piled high with camp equipment. At the end of the line was a cumbersome-looking affair that was covered with canvas and drawn by four horses. A grizzled man drove these horses, and seemed intent upon his job.
“So interested was I in watching them go by that I was startled when one of the men in the sledge called to me:
“‘Hello, Kid! What are you doing—picking flowers?’
“A number of the men laughed, but the younger one who sat with the man in the sledge shouted: ‘Want to join us as far as your road lies? This is no place for a boy to travel alone. Beasts on two and four legs are too powerful about here.’