Klondike Nuggets


Klondike Nuggets, by E. S. Ellis

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Title: Klondike Nuggets and How Two Boys Secured Them
Author: E. S. Ellis
Illustrator: Orson Lowell
Release Date: June 1, 2007 [EBook #21652]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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[Illustration: THE HEAD AND SHOULDERS OF A MAN INTENTLY STUDYING THEM]

KLONDIKE NUGGETS
AND
HOW TWO BOYS SECURED THEM

By
E. S. ELLIS
AUTHOR OF "Deerfoot Series," "Boy-Pioneer Series," etc.

24 ILLUSTRATIONS AFTER ORSON LOWELL

DOUBLEDAY & McCLURE CO. NEW YORK 1898
Copyright, 1898, by Doubleday & McClure Co.

CONTENTS
Page
THE GOLD-HUNTERS 3
AT JUNEAU 13
UP THE LYNN CANAL 37
THE AVALANCHE 47
THROUGH CHILKOOT PASS 58
A SIGNIFICANT DISCOVERY 71
THE PLOTTERS 80
ON LAKE BENNET 90
INTO BRITISH TERRITORY 100
AT WHITE HORSE RAPIDS 111
ON THE YUKON 120
AT DAWSON CITY 131
ON THE EDGE OF THE GOLD-FIELDS 141
PROSPECTING 151
A FIND 159
THE CLAIM 169
A GOLDEN HARVEST 180
A STARTLING DISCOVERY 191
THE TRAIL INTO THE MOUNTAINS 200
A SOUND FROM OUT THE STILLNESS 209
A TURNING OF THE TABLES 218
A LION IN THE PATH 227
A GENERAL SETTLEMENT OF ACCOUNTS 236
CONCLUSION 246

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Page
THE HEAD AND SHOULDERS OF A MAN INTENTLY STUDYING THEM Frontispiece.
JEFF 9
"ROSWELL, DO YOU KNOW THAT STRANGE MAN HAS BEEN FOLLOWING US FOR THE PAST HOUR?" 33
CATCHING THE EYE OF THE AMAZED BOYS, TIM WINKED 43
THE TENT-POLES WERE SHOVED DOWN INTO THE SNOW 53
ALL JOINED IN PUSHING AND PULLING ONE SLED 65
SUDDENLY HARDMAN MADE A SIGN 75
"YOU'RE A PRETTY FELLOW TO STAND GUARD," SAID FRANK 85
"OH, LOOK THERE! ISN'T IT DREADFUL?" 97
"WE'RE AT THE FUT OF THE LAKE," SHOUTED TIM 105
THE CURRENT WAS NOT ONLY VERY SWIFT, BUT THE CHANNEL WAS FILLED WITH ROCKS 113
TIM AND JEFF LIT THEIR PIPES; HARDMAN SAT APART 127
AND THE THREE CHEERS WERE GIVEN WITH A WILL 137
"I DON'T SEE THE USE OF YOUR HARPING ON THAT AFFAIR," SAID HARDMAN 147
"IT'S GOLD!" HE EXCLAIMED 161
THE BOYS STOOD ATTENTIVELY WATCHING THE OPERATION 175
"I HAVE JUST THOUGHT WHAT TIM'S BUSINESS IS AT DAWSON," SAID FRANK 189
"WE HAVE BEEN ROBBED! ALL THE GOLD IS GONE," 195
THE TELL-TALE FOOTPRINTS 203
WATCHING AT THE TURN IN THE TRAIL 215
"HANDS UP, YOUNKER!" 223
"WE HAVE MADE A MESS OF IT," WAS THE DISGUSTED COMMENT OF FRANK 231
TIM AND HIS PRISONERS 241
"SAY, TIM, YOU HAIN'T ANY IDEA OF GOING TO COLLEGE, HAVE YOU?" 251

KLONDIKE NUGGETS AND HOW TWO BOYS SECURED THEM
CHAPTER I.
THE GOLD-HUNTERS.
Jeff Graham was an Argonaut who crossed the plains in 1849, while he was yet in his teens, and settling in California, made it his permanent home. When he left Independence, Mo., with the train, his parents and one sister were his companions, but all of them were buried on the prairie, and their loss robbed him of the desire ever to return to the East. Hostile Indians, storm, cold, heat, privation, and suffering were the causes of their taking off, as they have been of hundreds who undertook the long journey to the Pacific coast in quest of gold.
Jeff spent several years in the diggings, and after varying fortune, made a strike, which yielded him sufficient to make him comfortable for the rest of his days. He never married, and the income from his investments was all and, indeed, more than he needed to secure him against want.
He was now past threescore, grizzled, somewhat stoop-shouldered, but robust, rugged, strong, and, in his way, happy. His dress varied slightly with the changes of the seasons, consisting of an old slouch hat, a red shirt, coarse trousers tucked in the tops of his heavy boots, and a black neckerchief with dangling ends. He had never been addicted to drink, and his only indulgence was his brierwood pipe, which was his almost inseparable companion. His trousers were secured at the waist by a strong leathern belt, and when he wore a coat in cold weather he generally had a revolver at his hip, but the weapon had not been discharged in years.
There were two members of that overland train whom Jeff never forgot. They were young children, Roswell and Edith Palmer, who lost both of their parents within five years after reaching the coast. Jeff proved the friend in need, and no father could have been kinder to the orphans, who were ten and twelve years younger than he.
Roswell Palmer was now married, with a son named for himself, while his sister, Mrs. Mansley, had been a widow a long time, and she, too, had an only son, Frank, who was a few months older than his cousin. The