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- Стр. 20/42
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Thirty
days
from
the
time
it
left
Dawson
,
the
Salt
Water
Mail
,
with
Buck
and
his
mates
at
the
fore
,
arrived
at
Skaguay
.
They
were
in
a
wretched
state
,
worn
out
and
worn
down
.
Buck
's
one
hundred
and
forty
pounds
had
dwindled
to
one
hundred
and
fifteen
.
The
rest
of
his
mates
,
though
lighter
dogs
,
had
relatively
lost
more
weight
than
he
.
Pike
,
the
malingerer
,
who
,
in
his
lifetime
of
deceit
,
had
often
successfully
feigned
a
hurt
leg
,
was
now
limping
in
earnest
.
Sol-leks
was
limping
,
and
Dub
was
suffering
from
a
wrenched
shoulder-blade
.
They
were
all
terribly
footsore
.
No
spring
or
rebound
was
left
in
them
.
Their
feet
fell
heavily
on
the
trail
,
jarring
their
bodies
and
doubling
the
fatigue
of
a
day
's
travel
.
There
was
nothing
the
matter
with
them
except
that
they
were
dead
tired
.
It
was
not
the
dead-tiredness
that
comes
through
brief
and
excessive
effort
,
from
which
recovery
is
a
matter
of
hours
;
but
it
was
the
dead-tiredness
that
comes
through
the
slow
and
prolonged
strength
drainage
of
months
of
toil
.
There
was
no
power
of
recuperation
left
,
no
reserve
strength
to
call
upon
.
It
had
been
all
used
,
the
last
least
bit
of
it
.
Every
muscle
,
every
fibre
,
every
cell
,
was
tired
,
dead
tired
.
And
there
was
reason
for
it
.
In
less
than
five
months
they
had
travelled
twenty-five
hundred
miles
,
during
the
last
eighteen
hundred
of
which
they
had
had
but
five
days
'
rest
.
When
they
arrived
at
Skaguay
they
were
apparently
on
their
last
legs
.
They
could
barely
keep
the
traces
taut
,
and
on
the
down
grades
just
managed
to
keep
out
of
the
way
of
the
sled
.
"
Mush
on
,
poor
sore
feets
,
"
the
driver
encouraged
them
as
they
tottered
down
the
main
street
of
Skaguay
.
"
Dis
is
de
las
'
.
Den
we
get
one
long
res
'
.
Eh
?
For
sure
.
One
bully
long
res
'
.
"
The
drivers
confidently
expected
a
long
stopover
.
Themselves
,
they
had
covered
twelve
hundred
miles
with
two
days
'
rest
,
and
in
the
nature
of
reason
and
common
justice
they
deserved
an
interval
of
loafing
.
But
so
many
were
the
men
who
had
rushed
into
the
Klondike
,
and
so
many
were
the
sweethearts
,
wives
,
and
kin
that
had
not
rushed
in
,
that
the
congested
mail
was
taking
on
Alpine
proportions
;
also
,
there
were
official
orders
.
Fresh
batches
of
Hudson
Bay
dogs
were
to
take
the
places
of
those
worthless
for
the
trail
.
The
worthless
ones
were
to
be
got
rid
of
,
and
,
since
dogs
count
for
little
against
dollars
,
they
were
to
be
sold
.
Three
days
passed
,
by
which
time
Buck
and
his
mates
found
how
really
tired
and
weak
they
were
.
Then
,
on
the
morning
of
the
fourth
day
,
two
men
from
the
States
came
along
and
bought
them
,
harness
and
all
,
for
a
song
.
The
men
addressed
each
other
as
"
Hal
"
and
"
Charles
.
"
Charles
was
a
middle-aged
,
lightish-colored
man
,
with
weak
and
watery
eyes
and
a
mustache
that
twisted
fiercely
and
vigorously
up
,
giving
the
lie
to
the
limply
drooping
lip
it
concealed
.
Hal
was
a
youngster
of
nineteen
or
twenty
,
with
a
big
Colt
's
revolver
and
a
hunting-knife
strapped
about
him
on
a
belt
that
fairly
bristled
with
cartridges
.
This
belt
was
the
most
salient
thing
about
him
.
It
advertised
his
callowness
--
a
callowness
sheer
and
unutterable
.
Both
men
were
manifestly
out
of
place
,
and
why
such
as
they
should
adventure
the
North
is
part
of
the
mystery
of
things
that
passes
understanding
.
Buck
heard
the
chaffering
,
saw
the
money
pass
between
the
man
and
the
Government
agent
,
and
knew
that
the
Scotch
half-breed
and
the
mail-train
drivers
were
passing
out
of
his
life
on
the
heels
of
Perrault
and
Francois
and
the
others
who
had
gone
before
.
When
driven
with
his
mates
to
the
new
owners
'
camp
,
Buck
saw
a
slipshod
and
slovenly
affair
,
tent
half
stretched
,
dishes
unwashed
,
everything
in
disorder
;
also
,
he
saw
a
woman
.
"
Mercedes
"
the
men
called
her
.
She
was
Charles
's
wife
and
Hal
's
sister
--
a
nice
family
party
.
Buck
watched
them
apprehensively
as
they
proceeded
to
take
down
the
tent
and
load
the
sled
.
There
was
a
great
deal
of
effort
about
their
manner
,
but
no
businesslike
method
.
The
tent
was
rolled
into
an
awkward
bundle
three
times
as
large
as
it
should
have
been
.
The
tin
dishes
were
packed
away
unwashed
.
Mercedes
continually
fluttered
in
the
way
of
her
men
and
kept
up
an
unbroken
chattering
of
remonstrance
and
advice
.
When
they
put
a
clothes-sack
on
the
front
of
the
sled
,
she
suggested
it
should
go
on
the
back
;
and
when
they
had
put
it
on
the
back
,
and
covered
it
over
with
a
couple
of
other
bundles
,
she
discovered
overlooked
articles
which
could
abide
nowhere
else
but
in
that
very
sack
,
and
they
unloaded
again
.
