<h2 id="c2"><span class="small">CHAPTER II</span> <br/>ON ARCTIC FEATHERS</h2>
<p>A tardy dawn had scarcely come creeping
over the surface of the glacier when they broke
camp. Having breakfasted heartily on sourdough
flapjacks, warmed-over baked beans and
coffee, they were ready for anything.</p>
<p>“We’ll sleep in a better bed to-night,” remarked
Jennings as he rolled up the canvas
floor to their tent and threw it on his sled.</p>
<p>“Couldn’t be warmer,” said Curlie.</p>
<p>“No, but softer.”</p>
<p>“Cheer-o,” shouted Joe, “that sounds good
to me.”</p>
<p>“Now,” said Jennings, producing from the
depths of his pack two small double pulleys and
a coil of rope, “the next thing is to get over
the ridges. Have to use block and tackle.”</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</div>
<p>“That sounds all right,” smiled Curlie, “but
how you going to hitch a block to a smooth
surface of ice?”</p>
<p>“Leave it to me,” laughed the miner. “Between
four and five thousand of us went over
this glacier in ’98. Had mighty few dogs and
pulled 1400 pounds of outfit apiece too. That
was tough sledding. Didn’t make a thousand
feet progress in a day sometimes. Three of
our crowd never did get over; froze to death
right here on the glacier. But I tell you,” he
exclaimed suddenly, “those were the days!
Those were the men! It’s always the bravest
and the best that go first in a rush like that.
The cheap, the idle, the crooked ones come later
to live off the gains of those who dared much
in the beginning.” Having ended this little
oration, he got down to business.</p>
<p>“You boys string the rope through those
blocks. When you get that done, throw me up
one of the blocks.”</p>
<p>“Here,” he exclaimed, “better strap these
on your shoes. They’ll help you a lot.”</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</div>
<p>The things he threw at their feet were made
of steel and leather. When they were strapped
upon the soles of one’s shoes they transformed
their plain, heavy felt-lined shoes into something
resembling baseball shoes.</p>
<p>“Great stuff!” exclaimed Joe, driving the
sharp steel barbs beneath the balls of his feet
into the ice. “Couldn’t slip in these if you
tried to.”</p>
<p>A moment later they tossed one of the blocks
into which the rope had been threaded up to
Jennings on the icy ridge above.</p>
<p>“All right,” he sang out a moment later.
“Hitch the other block to the sled and heave
away.”</p>
<p>Much to the surprise of the boys, when they
pulled at the rope, the block, out of sight on
the ridge above, held firm, and the sled climbed
slowly up the almost perpendicular bank. A
moment later, they saw Jennings drag the sled
to a safe position on the icy bench.</p>
<p>“How does he do it?” whispered Joe.</p>
<p>“Got me,” Curlie whispered back. “He
surely couldn’t hold it.”</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</div>
<p>“Say not! Took both of us to pull it up
and we had the advantage of the blocks.”</p>
<p>“All right,” came from above as a block
glided back to them, “let’s have the next one.”</p>
<p>When the three sleds were upon the bench
and the dogs had been induced to follow, the
boys climbed up, eager to discover the miner’s
secret.</p>
<p>“Oh!” exclaimed Joe. “Only a stake in
the ice. Who could have left it?”</p>
<p>He was staring at a stout stake which stuck
ten inches above the surface of the ice.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</div>
<p>“Nobody. I put it there,” Jennings smiled.
Then, seeing their look of incredulity, he went
on, “You’ll remember I left the cabin last night
with a package under my arm. Also, you will
remember that I melted a bucket of snow water
while supper was cooking. In the bundle there
was nothing but stout stakes; a dozen of them.
You’ll find them up the glacier, all frozen in.
All I had to do was to chip a hole in the ice,
then thrust in a stake. After that I filled the
hole full of snow, then poured water over it.
The snow and water froze together almost instantly
and here we have our stakes. We’ll
have lunch on the other side of the ridge and
to-night we will sleep in a spruce forest. We
shall then have gained a full two days on our
journey. With the trail in its present condition
we could not have made the journey
over the roundabout valley in less than four
days and even then we would have worn down
our dogs.”</p>
<p>When, a few hours later, all the miner’s
prophecies had been fulfilled and the boys were
preparing the second night’s camp, they were
enthusiastic in their praise of their new-found
friend.</p>
<p>“To-night,” smiled the miner, “we will sleep
on a bed of Arctic feathers.”</p>
<p>“Arctic feathers!” exclaimed Curlie in surprise.
“What are they?”</p>
<p>“Wait and see.”</p>
<p>Jennings studied the shapely spruce trees
which towered about them on every side. Then
he allowed his eyes to wander over the surface
of the earth’s two-foot-thick mantle of snow.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</div>
<p>“That’s a good place,” he pointed at a
smooth spot which was surrounded by trees.
“First we’ll tramp down the snow. No need
of shoveling it away.”</p>
<p>At once they set to work packing down a
square of snow.</p>
<p>“Might as well start right,” said the miner.
“We’re going into a land of long nights. Fairly
long now but they’ll get much longer. Get to
be twenty hours. If we start making camp
right we’ll have all the comforts of home.”</p>
<p>“There,” he said at last, “guess that’ll do.
Now we’ll divide up the work and make the
jobs regular; each fellow do the same thing
every night. System, that’s what you need
on the trail, as well as in business.”</p>
<p>Turning to Joe he said: “There’s a likely
looking tree right there. Cut it down.”</p>
<p>“It won’t burn; it’s green.”</p>
<p>“Who said it would?”</p>
<p>Joe grinned as he seized an axe to drive it
into the thick bark of the tree.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</div>
<p>“There’s a dead tree for you, Curlie,” said
the miner. “Get it down and cut it into wood
for the Yukon stove.”</p>
<p>Turning to the camp kit, he was soon at
work straightening out the tent, which had
collected dampness from the previous night and
was frozen stiff in spots.</p>
<p>He spread it over their tent-site and set it
up as best he could. Then, crawling inside, he
set up the sheet-iron stove and started a fire.
As the tent, warmed by the fire, began to
soften, he gradually drew it into its accustomed
shape.</p>
<p>In the meantime each boy had felled his tree
and had trimmed it up.</p>
<p>“Now, Joe,” said the veteran camper, “cut
your tree into lengths to go across each side of
our tent and chop the first six inches of each
end half off as if you were building a log
house.”</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</div>
<p>When this had been accomplished, he assisted
Joe in placing the poles in a square about
the tent. He next drew the lower edges of the
tent out over the logs and packed snow over them
to the depth of several inches. After that he
spread a square of canvas as a floor to the
tent.</p>
<p>“There,” he sighed at last; “won’t any air
get into our tent to-night. Next thing is a
lot of spruce boughs. Cut ’em right off and
drag ’em inside.”</p>
<p>When the tent was packed half full of
boughs, he took out a large clasp knife and
began to clip off the small twigs on the branches.
The boys followed his example. In a few
moments the shorn branches were all outside
the tent and the canvas floor was buried ten
inches deep with spruce needles and fine twigs.</p>
<p>“Now,” said the miner, “the two of you
hold up the stove while I spread a canvas over
the whole of it and our camp is made.”</p>
<p>“Just like an old-fashioned feather bed!”
exclaimed Joe, as he bounced down upon the
springy bed of twigs.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</div>
<p>“That’s it,” smiled the miner. “Those are
Arctic feathers. If we take time to make a
camp like this every night, we’ll get a lot of
comfort out of it and be all the better fitted
for the trail. I’ll go out and set up a shelter
for the dogs while you boys get supper, then
we’ll be through for the night.”</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</div>
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