On a Torn-Away World | Page 8

Alaska, and accepted the ten thousand dollars to defray expenses.
Andy Sudds made characteristic preparations for hunting the big game of the Alaskan
mountains. Washington White built a traveling coop of very light but strong material for
his pet Shanghai, and then announced himself as ready to depart for the Arctic Circle.
The instructions and map furnished by Dr. Todd, locating the very spot beyond the
Endicott Range where the rare herb had been plucked by the miner, showed it to be in a
very wild region indeed. There was a native settlement named Aleukan within a hundred
miles of the valley where the herb was supposed to grow in abundance. Professor
Henderson determined to lay their course for this place.
But the nearest white man's town was Coldfoot, on the other side of the mountains. There
was a trail, however, passable in summer for a dogtrain from Coldfoot to Aleukan; and a
dogtrain could likewise pass from the native village to the valley where the miner had
found the herb.
These facts the professor and his young associates discovered as soon as Dr. Todd's
instructions arrived. They made their plans accordingly.
By telegraph the professor ordered a trainload of supplies to be started at once from Fort
Yukon. First, these supplies would go by boat down the Yukon Flats and up the Chandler
River, past Chandler and Caro, beyond which latter town there was a good road over a
small range of hills to Coldfoot. This trail was open at all seasons and there was a regular
system of transportation into Coldfoot.
From that town dogs and men would be hired to take the supplies on to Aleukan. These
arrangements were made through an express company, and in three days the professor
received word that the supplies were already aboard a small steam vessel which had left
the Fort Yukon dock for the trip to Caro.
The trip by boat and overland for the supply train would consume about a week or two,
providing nothing untoward happened to delay it. And the season was favorable to a
quick journey.
But the professor and his young comrades figured that the Snowbird, following the
shortest air-line to the far side of the Endicott Range, could make the trip in much shorter
time. The distance "as the crow flies" was from 3,700 to 3,800 miles from their point of
departure. Under favorable conditions the great flying machine should travel ninety miles
an hour on the average. Unless there was a breakdown, or they ran into a heavy storm,
which would necessitate their descending to the earth, they could count upon the
Snowbird being in the vicinity of Aleukan within three or four days' time at the longest.
In the flying machine itself they could carry a supply of concentrated foods, medicines,
necessities of many kinds, and their arms. It was probable that meat could be had for the
killing in the valley to which they were bound, and the Indians at Aleukan could be hired
to supply necessary food for a time. But the professor did not propose to take his friends
into the wilderness without completely warding off disaster.

Considerable space in the Snowbird was occupied by Professor Henderson's scientific
instruments. He was amply supplied with powerful field glasses, a wonderful telescope,
partly of his own invention; instruments for the measuring of mountains heights, the
recording of seismic disturbances, and many other scientific paraphernalia of which Jack
and Mark did not know even the uses.
The boys were as well supplied with firearms as Andy Sudds himself. They knew that
they would probably see and be obliged to kill dangerous beasts; and although the several
tribes of Indians inhabiting Alaska are all supposed to be semi-civilized and at peace with
the whites, they had had experience enough in wild countries before to warn them that the
temper of aboriginal man is never to be trusted too far.
Their own readiness for departure in the Snowbird had been gauged by the telegraph
dispatches from Fort Yukon. When the final message came that the boat bearing the
supplies had started, Professor Henderson asked: "And now, boys, when can we leave by
the air route?"
Jack and Mark glanced at each other and nodded. Jack said:
"All you have to do, Professor, is to put your bag aboard the ship and step in. We are
ready to start the Snowbird at any moment. Andy has his guns aboard, and plenty of
ammunition. Mark and I are all ready. At your word we will leave."
"It is already dark," said the professor, slowly. "Shall we wait until morning?"
"The moon will be up in an hour--and it is almost at its full," Mark said, quickly. "The
quicker we are off the better, it seems to me."