The Young Treasure Hunter Part 10

"We're headed for Alaska!" cried Fred enthusiastically.

"Aye, aye!" answered Jerry, sailor-fas.h.i.+on. "And there's no telling when we'll be coming back."

"I don't want to until we get that treasure," went on Fred.

"Hus.h.!.+ Don't speak about it," cautioned Jerry.

At that moment a man, who, from a peculiarity in his look, was seen to have one gla.s.s eye, pa.s.sed the two lads. He glanced sharply at Fred, and the boy regretted he had mentioned the treasure.

"Do you think he heard me?" he asked Jerry in a low tone.

"I'm afraid so. But I guess it doesn't matter. He can't know what you meant, and there is any amount of treasure in Alaska. Still, it's better not to speak of it on the s.h.i.+p."

"I'll not after this. Say, this air makes me hungry."

"Same here. Let's go to breakfast."

Little happened on the days that followed. The _Sea Lion_ steamed steadily north, and the boys were not the only ones counting the days until they should arrive on the Alaskan coast, for there were many who were taking the voyage in the hope of bettering their fortunes.

The man with the gla.s.s eye was frequently seen on deck, but, as Fred and Jerry were careful not to mention the treasure again, they paid little attention to him. Once the man, whose name Fred learned was Jacob Callack, tried to get into conversation with the lad.

"You and your friends going to prospect or buy up some claims?" asked Callack.

"Prospecting," replied Fred, for surely hunting for a buried treasure was "prospecting" for gold if anything was.

"Whereabouts?"

[Ill.u.s.tration: "The glittering pinnacles towered high in the air"

_Page 57_]

"We haven't quite decided," said Fred, truthfully enough, and then, seeing Mr. Baxter coming, he went to join him.

"Oh, you think you'll throw me off the track," murmured the man with the gla.s.s eye as Fred left him. "But I'll find out yet. Jake Callack can see more with his one eye than some folks can with two. You can't lose me so easily as all that."

As the days pa.s.sed there was a noticeable change in temperature. The winter was just setting in, and winter in the northern regions means something very different from what it does in the United States.

When Fred and Jerry came on deck one morning there was a sharper tang than usual in the air.

"We'll sight ice to-day," remarked one of the sailors.

"Do you mean an iceberg?" asked Fred.

"That's what. I can tell by the smell. We'll sight a big one before night."

The sailor proved a good prophet, and that afternoon the steamer pa.s.sed an immense berg, the glittering pinnacles of which towered high into the air. The presence of it added to the cold, which was becoming sharper every hour.

"Time to get out our fur garments, I guess," said Mr. Baxter that night, and from the baggage he had Johnson take out thick fur coats, caps and mittens, while heavy fur-lined boots were gotten in readiness for the journey on land, which would soon begin.

If there had been confusion on the dock in San Francisco over the sailing of the s.h.i.+p, there was more when she arrived at her destination and proceeded to land the pa.s.sengers and stores. The _Sea Lion_ went up the Yukon River as far as it was navigable for her and there docked.

There was a settlement on sh.o.r.e, but even in the wildest mining region of California there was nothing to equal it.

A fierce snowstorm the day before the s.h.i.+p arrived had covered everything with a coat of white. The cold was bitter, and even in their fur garments the little party of adventurers felt it keenly.

On every side there was a rush and confusion. Almost as many as had come on the s.h.i.+p wanted to take pa.s.sage back in her. Some had made their fortunes and were returning happy. Others had failed to find any gold, or had lost it by theft or gambling. Some had barely enough to pay their way home.

There were only the rudest kind of shacks, which served for houses, stores and hotels.

With the help of Johnson, whose great strength stood the travelers in good stead, the baggage of the four gold hunters was landed. It was piled up on the wharf, together with that of scores of other adventurers, for so great was the gold rush that there were no facilities for caring for freight as it should be.

"What are we going to do, dad?" asked Jerry as he and Fred gazed in wonder at the scene of confusion about them.

"Well, we'll see if we can't find quarters in some hotel, or what pa.s.ses for one here. Then I'll have to see about getting guides and dog teams."

"Are we going to travel with dogs and sledges like the Eskimos?" asked Fred.

"That's about the only way we can travel where we're going," replied Mr.

Baxter.

"Let's discover the north pole while we're at it," suggested Jerry jokingly.

"I'd rather discover a warm place where I could get something to eat,"

remarked Fred.

"Come along," invited Mr. Baxter. "If we don't hurry all the places in the hotels will be taken, and we'll have to camp out our first night here."

Fred was scarcely able to realize that he was really in Alaska; that wonderful land of gold, of which he had heard so much, and which might hold for him a great treasure. Would they find it? Would they get it safely home?

These were questions that came to the young treasure hunter, and he tried to find a hopeful answer to them as he followed Mr. Baxter and Jerry. As they turned away from the wharf, leaving Johnson in charge of their goods, the man with the gla.s.s eye arose from behind a pile of boxes.

"I must keep my one good optic on you," he muttered. "I think you're up to something besides prospecting."

CHAPTER IX

INTO THE INTERIOR

With all the a.s.surance of an old campaigner Mr. Baxter made his way through the throng of miners and others, down the single street of the settlement which ran along the river until he saw a hotel he thought would answer. On making inquiries he found that there was only one room left.

"We'll take it," he said promptly.

"But, dad, can we four sleep in one room?" objected Jerry.

"We'll have to, son, and we ought to be glad to get it. Many persons will have to sleep in tents while this rush is on. How much is the room?" he asked the clerk.