Part 10 (1/2)
While he was gone, the task of bringing the goods from the steamer's hold was started, for no one wanted to be delayed in Juneau any longer than was necessary Randy and Earl watched the work closely, and as soon as their things appeared they claimed them and had the lot transferred to a spot at the end of the rather rotten and shaky dock
Presently, as they stood waiting for the reappearance of their uncle and Captain Zoss, who had gone with Mr Portney, they noticed a commotion on board the _Golden Hope_ A stoay had been found in the hold of the vessel, and the sailors and stevedores had brought the fellow out more dead than alive
”Get off of here!” cried the captain of the steae, as he booted the fellow not once, but half a dozen times ”Get out, I say! If ere down in San Francisco I'd have you locked up in a minute It's a pity I didn't find you out ere on the trip--I'd a-e, and more! Go, before I heave you overboard!”
And with a final kick the stoas run off the gang-plank, to fall in a heap on the dock, too weak from the confinement and want of proper food to stand
”It's Fred Dobson!” ejaculated Randy ”Oh, Earl, look!”
”It is Fred, true enough!” replied Earl, as etful of their outfits for the ti, both ran forward and picked up the son of the squire of Basco Fred's eyes were closed, his face was as white as chalk, and they saw at a glance that he had fainted
[Illustration: ”WITH A FINAL KICK THE STOWAWAY WAS RUN OFF THE GANG-PLANK”--_Page 72_]
”Get soan to work over the prostrate figure ”I wonder if there is a doctor handy He looks as if he was half starved to death”
As Randy ran off, a crowd began to collect, a few to sympathize, but the majority to look on merely in curiosity or to ht, since he had no business to steal a trip
”Got a crazy notion to go to the gold fields, I reckon,” said one bystander ”He ought to be home where his mah, which was quickly hushed when anotherfellow of not more than twenty-three, stepped forward, and announced that he was a doctor He soon succeeded in bringing Fred around
”He wants so,” said the newcomer
”There is a restaurant over yonder Better take hiet hih to bear a regular meal”
Randy and Earl thanked the doctor and did as advised, while the crowd gradually melted away to tend to its own affairs Fred was ravenously hungry, yet he ate with difficulty when the food was set before hi to eat for about forty hours,” he said, when he felt strong enough to talk ”I spent that four dollars you two gaveprovisions, crackers, cheese, and the like, but on the second day out the rats got at the crackers and cheese and ate nearly the whole of the that storh it was as close as pepper down there I hadn't ato die just before they opened the hold and began to reo”
”But, Fred, what ht of foolishness”
”I' there to make a fortune, and why can't I make a fortune, too?”
”Because you are not fit for life out there, that's why You suffered a good deal in coood deal more than that before the Klondike River is reached and we have endured the hardshi+ps of an Alaskan winter Supposing you succeed in getting away up in Alaska and are taken sick, who is going to care for you, and how are you going to get back hoo back to Basco at once”
”And that's my advice, too, Fred,” broke in Randy ”I know you are as old as I am, but you know you never did such work as Earl and I are used to, and soh at us If Uncle Foster hadn't known that ere used to hard work out in the open, inus to go with him; he told us so”
Randy and Earl both spoke earnestly, and it was not their fault that what they had to say did not take effect But Fred Dobson was both wild and reckless, and he shook his head
”I'o if I have to walk the rest of the way,” he said ”I thought I would strike your uncle again e reached the place, but if you are so dead set against me I'll not say another word, but try to paddle ed for what you did for me in San Francisco and here, and some day I'll make it up to you, see if I don't”
”We don't want you to make it up, Fred; only act sensible and steer for hoo on, when the entrance of his uncle and Captain Zoss into the restaurant caused hiain!” were Foster Portney's words ”I heard there had been a stoay on board of the _Golden Hope_ It was the most foolish est nephew ”Randy, where are our outfits?”
”Oh ot all about the, but he reached the door of the restaurant almost as quickly as his brother There was a crowd in the roadway outside, but they quickly forced a passage through, and ran for the steae number of outfits were spread here, there, and everywhere, but the spot where they had left those belonging to their own party was vacant
CHAPTER X
UP THE LYNN Canal