THE ONE THOUSAND DOZEN 157

across the shining ofiice floor to raise a second
mortgage from the bank people. His hollow
cheeks betrayed themselves through the
scraggly beard, and his eyes seemed to have
retired into deep caverns where they burned
with cold fires. His hands were grained from
exposure and hard work, and the nails were
rimmed with tight-packed dirt and coal dust.
He spoke vaguely ‘of eggs and ice-packs, winds
and tides; but when they declined to let him
have more than a second thousand, his talk
became incoherent, concerning itself chiefly
with the price of dogs and dog-food, and such
things as snowshoes and moccasins and winter
trails. They let him have fifteen hundred,
which was more than the cottage warranted,
and breathed easier when he scrawled his signa-
ture and passed out the door.

Two weeks later he went over Chilkoot with
three dog sleds of five dogs each. Gne team
he drove, the two Indians with him driving
the others. At Lake Marsh they broke out
the caché and loaded up. But there was no
trail. He was the first in over the ice, and to

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